There was a show on the Food Network called ‘Throw Down’ where a renowned chef would travel and challenge the best cooks at their own favorite specialty. Jesus issued Satan His own version of a Throw Down. It was a geographic throw down and we are going to look at in this week’s Light on Life podcast as we continue to look at Jesus majestic victories over the host of darkness.

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You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This week’s call is:

Meditate on your connection with Jesus. He is the Head and you are His body. The body has the same authority as the Head. Use the Name of Jesus from this level of understanding.

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: What has knowing how closely knit to Jesus you are affected your spirit walk? Please share your comments, in the comments section below.

Episode Resources:

You can find additional information on the Name of Jesus in the resources listed below.

1. #S3-011: What’s the Value of a Good Name? [Podcast]
2. #S3-012: Why the Name of Jesus Works for Your Life [Podcast]
3. #S3-015: How the Mighty Names of God Energize Your Life [Podcast]
4. #S3-016: How to Obliterate Temptation in Jesus Name [Podcast]
5. #S3-017: Why the Name of Jesus Is So Powerful [Podcast]
6. #S3-018: How God Reacquired Adam’s Stolen Authority [Podcast]
7. #S3-020: How Jesus Destroyed Demons in One on One Encounters [Podcast]

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

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Podcast Notes

Philippians 2:5–11 (AMP) 5 Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] 6 Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, 7 But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being. 8 And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross! 9 Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, 10 That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

• As we mentioned in a previous podcast, demons congregate in mass in certain sections of planet earth.
• From what we can tell from the ministry of Jesus, unclean spirits swarmed the Roman Empire.
• Jesus successfully eclipsed these demons in one on one encounters during the course of three and a half years of ministry.
• But, on a certain day towards the end of His ministry, Jesus got in the face of the hosts of darkness.
• The place?
• The ancient city known in the Old Testament as Bashan.
• Bashan was located east of the Jordan and northeast of the Sea of Galilee.
• Why Bashan?
• Why did Jesus go to this particular place?

Israel Defeats the Ammorites

• While Israel was on their way to the promised land, they came to the land of the Amorites.

Numbers 21:21–24 (KJV) 21 And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22 Let me pass through thy land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well: but we will go along by the king’s highway, until we be past thy borders. 23 And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 24 And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.

• After the defeat of Sihon, God gave the nation a proverb to quote concerning Sihon.

Numbers 21:27–30 (KJV) 27 Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, Let the city of Sihon be built and prepared: 28 For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, A flame from the city of Sihon: It hath consumed Ar of Moab, And the lords of the high places of Arnon. 29 Woe to thee, Moab! Thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: He hath given his sons that escaped, And his daughters, into captivity Unto Sihon king of the Amorites. 30 We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, And we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, Which reacheth unto Medeba.

• After the defeat of the inhospitable king of the Amorites, Israel turned its attention north to the region of Bashan.

Deuteronomy 3:1–2 (KJV) 1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2 And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.

• The two main cities of Bashan were Edrei and Ashtaroth.

The False God of the City of Ashtaroth

• Does the name Ashtaroth ring a bell in your hearing?
• The city of Ashtaroth was the home for the worship of Ashtoreth, a fertility sex goddess. She was a naked version of the Babylonian god Ishtar who was the god of love and war. ¹
• In the nineteenth-century archaeologists made a significant discovery which gave us background information on Ashtaroth, the Amorites and the region of Bashan.

The Moabite Stone

• In 1868, F. A. Klein, a German missionary, discovered a stone in a town in Jordan called Dhiban which today has a population of about 15,000 practicing Islamics.
• The stone was dated from the 9th century B.C
• On the stone was 34 lines of information written by Mesha, king of Moab.

Contents of the Moabite Stone

1. I am Meshaʿ, son of Chemosh[-yat], king of Moab, the Di-
   • Chemosh was the chief little ‘g’ god of the Moabites. 1 Kings 11:7 (KJV) 7 Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.
2. bonite. My father ruled over Moab thirty years, and I became
3. king after my father./ I made this high place for Chemosh in Qarḥoh/as a high [place of de]liverance
4. because he delivered me from all assailants (?) and caused me to triumph over all my enemies./ Omri,
5. the king of Israel, had oppressed Moab many days because Chemosh was angry with his land.
   • 1 Kings 16:23–25 (KJV) 23 In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah. 24 And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria. 25 But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that were before him.
6. His son succeeded him, and he too said, “I will oppress Moab.”/ In my time he spoke thus,
7. but I triumphed over him and his house./ Israel has utterly perished forever. Now Omri had occupied al[l the lan]d
8. of Medeba./ He had dwelled in it his days and half the days of his son, forty years. But Chemosh
9. restored it in my days. I built Baʿal-meʿon and made in it the reservoir; and I built
10. Qiryaten./ Now the people of Gad had dwelled in the land of ʿAtarot from of old, and the king of Israel had built for himself
    • Numbers 32:33–35 (KJV) 33 And Moses gave unto them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and unto half the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, with the cities thereof in the coasts, even the cities of the country round about. 34 And the children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer, 35 And Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah,
    • Gad dwelled in the land of Ashtaroth.
11. ʿAtarot./ But I fought against the city and took it./ I killed all the people of
12. the city as satiation for Chemosh and for Moab. I brought back from there ʾArʾel (?), its DWD, and I
13. dragged it before Chemosh into Qiryat./ I settled in it people of Sharon and people
14. of Maḥarit./ Then Chemosh said to me, “Go, seize Nebo from Israel.” So I
    • In some way, this little ‘g’ god was communicating with Mesha, King of Moab.
15. went by night and fought against it from the break of dawn until noon./ I
16. seized it. I killed all of them, seven thousand men and male aliens,/ women, and female aliens
17. and female slaves; for I had devoted them to destruction to ʿAshtar-Chemosh./ I took from there the
    • The name ‘Ashtar-Chemosh’ ties the little ‘g’ god Chemosh to the Babylonia entity Ashtar.
      • In Babylonia and Assyria, Ishtar was the goddess of love and war. ²
    • The point is Chemosh and Astoreth are little ‘g’ gods of the Ammonities who originated in Babylon.
    • Notice in the next line what Ashtar-Chemosh did.
18. [ves]sels of Yahweh and dragged them before Chemosh./ The king of Israel had built
19. Yahaṣ and lived in it when he fought against me./ But Chemosh drove him out before me, and
20. I took from Moab one hundred men, all its chiefs (?),/ and set them against Yahaṣ and seized it
21. to add on to Dibon./ It was I who built Qarḥoh, the wall of the forests and the wall of
22. the citadel./ I am the one who built its gates. I built its towers./ I
    • Dibon is the city where this stone was discovered in the nineteenth century.
23. built the royal palace. And I am the one who made the pair of reservoirs (?) [for the spr]ing in the midst
24. of the city./ But there was no cistern in the midst of the town at Qarḥoh. So I said to all the people, “Each of
25. you make for yourselves a cistern in his house.”/ And it was I who cut the beams (?) for Qarḥoh with Israelite
26. prisoners./ I am the one who built ʿAroʿer and made the highway in the Arnon (valley)./
    • The King of Moab used Israelite prisoners to do construction work for the nation of Moab. You know forced ‘chain gang’ type labor.
    • Israel got into this because they disobeyed the first two of the Ten Commandments.
    • They bowed down and worshiped false gods and made graven images (Ex. 20:3-4).
27. It was I who built Bet-bamot, for it was destroyed./ I built Beṣer—for it was in ruins
28. with fifty men (?) of Dibon, because all Dibon is subject (to me)./ And I ruled over
29. [ ] hundreds in the towns which I added to the land./ It was I who built
30. Medeba and Bet-diblaten/ and Bet-baʿalmeʿon; and I brought there
31. [ ] the flock of the land./ And as for Ḥauronen, there dwelled in it [ ]
32. [And] Chemosh said to me, “Go down, fight against Ḥauronen.”/ And I went down [ ]
33. [and fought against the town and seized it]; and Chemosh [dwelled] in it in my days …
34. … [1. P. D. Miller Jr., “Moabite Stone,” ed. Geoffrey W Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 396.

The Rephaim

• First, it was ruled by a king named Og.
  • Og was the king of Bashan.
  • But, he was more than that.
  • He was one of the last remaining giants in the land.

Deuteronomy 3:13 (KJV) 13 And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants.

• When the Bible says ‘giants’, just how big were these people?

Deuteronomy 3:11 (ESV) 11 (For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.)

• According to the common cubit, the most famous giant in the Bible, Goliath was nine feet nine and one-half inches tall.
• By the same measure, Og King of Bashan, was over thirteen feet tall.
• He wasn’t just a giant. He was a giant man’s giant. Huge.
• The Hebrew word ‘giants’ is the word ‘Rephaim.’
• The first place you see the actual word Rephaim is in the book of Genesis.

Genesis 14:5 (KJV) 5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

• So way back in Genesis, during the time of Abraham, the Rephaim were settled in the region of Bashan.
• But, they go back even further than Abraham.

Genesis 6:1–3 (KJV) 1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

• There is a great discussion among scholars about just what happened here.
• There are two main views concerning the identity of ‘the sons of God.’
• Just who were they?
• The first view is that sons of God were the godly line of Seth.
• The second view is that the sons of God are some rebellious angels who illegally committed sexual acts with humans and spawned a line of super tall humans.
• Whichever way you look at, you have to come to verse four.

Genesis 6:4 (KJV) 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

• Right after the happenings of the three previous verses, the giants appeared.
• The word ‘giants’ in verse four is the Hebrew word Nephilim.
• Another translation will show this.

Genesis 6:4 (ESV) 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

• The Nephilim were the original giants.
• The Rephaim, which we have already noted in Genesis fourteen are either descendant of the Nephilim or another name for them.
• The Rephaim also are associated with these names.
  • The Anakim
  • The Emim
    • Emim was the Moabite name for the Rephaim.
  • The Zamzummim
    • The Zamzummin was the Ammonite name for the Rephaim.

Deuteronomy 2:8–11 (KJV) 8 … we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9 And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. 10 The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; 11 Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.

Deuteronomy 2:19–20 (KJV) 19 And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. 20 (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;

• But, the name Rephaim didn’t just mean giants.
• Words evolve over time.
• The original word is called the root meaning.
• The root meaning of the word Rephaim means ‘the dead.’
• In the Old Testament, the word Rephaim has translated both ways.

Isaiah 14:9 (KJV) 9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: It stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; It hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

Isaiah 14:9 (NASB95) 9 “Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.

• The NASB translation, which is an extremely literal translation, states that hell from beneath rouses the spirits of the Rephaim.
• According to Isaiah 14:9, when a person dies and goes to hell, the spirits of the Rephaim escort them in.
• ILLUSTRATION: Brother Hagin – ‘I Went to Hell’
  “I gave my heart to the Lord and was born again the very first night I became bedfast. That was Saturday, April 22, 1933, at 7:40 p.m. in the south bedroom of 405 North College Street in McKinney, Texas. Earlier that evening, my heart had stopped beating and the spiritual man who lives in my body had departed. When death seized my body, my grandmother, my younger brother, and my mother were sitting in the room. I had time only to tell them “goodbye.” Then the inner man rushed out of my body and left my body lying dead, with eyes set and flesh cold. I went down, down, down until the lights of the earth faded away. I don’t mean I fainted — I don’t mean I was unconscious — I have proof that I was actually dead. My eyes were set, my heart had stopped beating, and my pulse had ceased. The Scriptures tell us about the lost being cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 25:30). The farther down I went, the blacker it became until it was all blackness — I could not have seen my hand if it had been one inch in front of my eyes. And the farther down I went, the hotter and more stifling it became. Finally, far below me, I could see lights flickering on the walls of the caverns of the damned. The lights were caused by the fires of hell. The giant, white-crested orb of flame pulled me, drawing me as a magnet draws metal to itself. I did not want to go, but just as metal jumps to the magnet, my spirit was drawn to that place. I could not take my eyes off of it. The heat beat me in the face. Many years have gone by, yet 1 can see it just as clearly today as I saw it then. It is as fresh in my memory as if it just happened. I came to the entrance of hell. People ask, “What does the entrance of hell look like?” I cannot describe it because if I tried, I would have to have something with which to compare it. (Similarly, if a person had never seen a tree in his life, it would be impossible to tell him what a tree looks like.) Coming to the entrance, I paused momentarily, because I did not want to go in. I sensed that one more foot, one more step, one more yard, and I would be gone forever and could not come out of that horrible place! Upon reaching the bottom of the pit, I became conscious of some kind of spirit being by my side. I had not looked at him because I could not take my gaze off of the fires of hell. But when I paused, the creature laid his hand on my arm to escort me in.”
• Brother Hagin said that he didn’t know who this creature was which was escorting him into hell. Later on, he said, he found this verse in Isaiah.
• Who was this creature?
• According to the Hebrew, this creature was the Rephaim.
• So, the name or the word Rephaim was both a name for the giants in the region of Bashan but it was also a name for a particular set of dead spirits in hell.
• What does all this have to do with Bashan?
• In Old Testament times, the people of Bashan, the Canaanite peoples who lived there, thought that the cities of Ashtaroth and Edrei were thought to contain the gateway to the realm of the dead. ¹
• Now, that’s what the Canaanites thought and archaeologists have found supporting material for this, specifically, the Ugarit texts.
• Ugarit was a city located in what is today modern Syria.
• Archaeologists found tablets in the 1920’s and 30’s.
• Some scholars think these tablets are as important as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
• Why did these people who lived in Bashan think that their capital cities were gateways to the Underworld?
• Now, understand I am not saying that Bashan contained the gateway to the Underworld. I am saying the people in that region thought it did. And this got out into the culture and the stories and the legacy of that region.
• In my mind, there had to be some evil supernatural stuff going on in Bashan.
• We know about the little ‘g’ gods Ashtaroth, Chemosh, Ishtar.
• We also know from the Ugarit texts that their main little ‘g’ god of that city was a being named El.
• Does that sound familiar?
• Yes, El is one of the six main names of the Most High God.
• The people of Ugarit stole the name of the Most High God.
• But, it’s even more than that.
• The Ugaritic little ‘g’ god El had a son and his name was Baal.
• You see the little ‘g’ god Baal a great deal in the Old Testament.
• You remember Elijah and how he took on the eight hundred and fifty prophets of Baal in 1 Kings eighteen?
• It seems reasonable to presume that there was a lot of demon activity in the region of Bashan.
• Remember these are Canaanite people.
• They didn’t just fabricate these false gods.
• This little ‘g’ god was communicating with the Moabite king according to the Moabite Stone.
• Now the images, the idols, the figurines made out of wood and stone were fabrications in the minds of the Canaanites as to what these little ‘g’ gods looked like.
• But the ‘gods’ were real. Real meaning there were demons which were speaking through these idols or making their presence known.
• This is why, in many places in the Old Testament, you have God making sure His people understand that He is number one above all other gods.

Deuteronomy 10:17 (KJV) 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

• We went through all of these Old Testament verses and archeological background to establish that there’s some mighty fishy stuff going on in the region of Bashan.
• What does all of this have to do with the Name of Jesus?

Jesus Issues Satan a Throw Down

• We have already seen in the Wilderness how Jesus defeated the enemy’s three different temptations.
• In these temptations, the enemy was the instigator.
• He was the one who came in an attempt to overthrow the plan of God.
• But, there was a day in the ministry of Jesus when He became the instigator.
• When He issued the devil a throw down.

Matthew 16:13 (NKJV) 13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

• Caesarea Philippi is the region of Bashan.
• Jesus went to, what was commonly thought of, as the Gateway to the Underworld.
• What did He there?
• He issued Satan a throw down.
• And, He instigated it in the form of a question.
• “Who do men say that I am?”
• What is Jesus asking them?
• He is asking them, ‘What is my Name?
• What do people say my name is?
• Who am I?’

Matthew 16:14-18 (NKJV) 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

• What did the disciples say?
• They said some say your Name is John.
• Some say, your Name is Jeremiah.
• Some say, your Name is of the prophets.
• Jesus then said, ‘But, what do you say my Name is?’
• Peter responded from the revelation that God gave him in his heart and he said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’
• Jesus uttered these words standing in the region of Bashan known as the Gateway to the Underworld, He said, On this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades, the Gates of the Underworld, shall not prevail against it.
• What is Jesus doing?
• He was issuing Satan a challenge.
• Jesus was saying, ‘Come on bring it, bring it. You think you have game, bring it on, BRING IT ON.’
• And then Jesus said these words right in the face of the enemy.

Matthew 16:14-18 (NKJV) 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

• And you know what happened after this right?
• Jesus went to the cross and God raised him up.
• Jesus stands forward with these words.

Revelation 1:18 (NKJV) 18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

• Jesus said, “I have the keys of Hades. I have the keys to the Gateway to the Underworld.”
• Jesus victory is rolled up in His Name.
• Jesus defeated Satan by going to the geographic location of Caesarea Philippi, known anciently as Bashan.
• Today, this exact piece of real estate is known as the Golan Heights.
• Who do you say Jesus is to you?
• Is Jesus the Conquering King to you?
• Does He have the keys to death, hell, and the grave?
• Have you received Him in this way?
• Are you doing kingdom business using the victory which is in His Name?