The Usurper’s Authority Disputed

After his defection in heaven, the Lord declares of Satan that he abode not in the truth. After his sin, he became a rebel, an avowed antagonist of God, and for the purpose of working out his rebellion, he established an infernal empire, and unfurled the Standard of rebellion, rallying around him the powers of evil. Satan worked upon such principles as would conform those who sympathized with him to his own corrupt standard, and would assimilate them with his own Satanic nature. It was his determined purpose to efface from man the image of God, and stamp upon the souls of his subjects his own image and superscription. He employed in his work the most deceptive methods, and was successful in leading men to cooperate with him in rebellion against God. Christ gives to him the title of «the father of lies,» «the accuser of the brethren,» «a murderer from the beginning.» By his bewitching power he instilled into man the same spirit of opposition and hatred of God as he himself had, and set up his throne as the rallying point for the confederacy of wickedness.

Satan claims the world as his kingdom, and counts as his subjects those who unite with him in opposition to the God of heaven, because they have chosen him as their ruler. He is unable to dethrone Jehovah; but he exalts himself as the ruler of this world, and plants his throne between the soul who would worship toward heaven, and the divine being Jehovah, who alone is worthy of all honor, glory, and praise, to whom alone belong all power, dominion, and might. Satan arranges his plans in such a way as to intercept the worship due to God, and to transfer to himself the adoration due to God alone. But the Lord did not leave the fallen race to the mercy of the devices of the enemy. He selected a people for himself, and gave directions for the erection of a temple for the benefit of those who would be his true worshipers, in order that the presence and the name of the Lord might not be forgotten in the earth. This temple of the true God was to stand as a protest against the usurpation of the enemy, a testimony to the fact that there is a living and true God, a proclamation of the character of Jehovah, and his right to the supreme regard of men. Satan was stirred with enmity toward the worshipers of God, and determined to seduce this people into idolatry, and cause the name of God to be blotted from the earth.

Satan determined to sit up the throne of God in the earth, to sit in the temple of God, showing himself to be God. For ages he seemed to rule as though the world was entirely his own, and his assumption to supreme authority seemed undisputed. The powers of hell seemed to hold men under their control, and Satan revealed his hellish principles in taking possession of the human body, and plunging his subjects into misery and crime. To all appearances the world had become his subjects, with the exception of a small minority who dared to withstand his power and to dispute his authority. Through his agents he invented instruments of torture, and put his victims to cruel suffering, and then he charged his own attributes upon God, and indicted the law of God as the cause of men’s misery. Temptation became a science in his hands, and men were educated to be sinners. The confederacies of evil were numerous, and every demon power had a part to act in carrying out the plottings of evil, and every worker was to be ready to spring into action to do his assigned work at an instant’s notice. Could the curtain have been withdrawn so that men could have seen what measures were being taken to gain access to the human soul, could they have realized how successful the demoniacal plottings were to prove, they could have stood back with horror, and would have broken with Satan without delay.

But though men failed to see the deep plottings of the enemy of God and men, these plottings were not hidden from the hosts of heaven. They were known to God, and a way of escape was provided for all who would believe in the plan of salvation, devised from the foundation of the world. Jesus came to our world to oppose the usurper, and Christ was the object of Satan’s hate. Christ was the rightful sovereign of the world, and Satan proposed to seduce him from his loyalty to the law of God. He led him into the wilderness of temptation, and tempted Christ, saying that if Jesus would bow down and worship him he would make him the king of the world. He declared: «All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them; for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.» But Christ had come to the world to dispute the assumed authority of Satan, and to overthrow his claims to the kingdom of this world. «And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.»

Christ came to reveal to the world, in the sight of heavenly intelligences, the true character of the Father, and to present his claims to the sovereignty of the universe. Jesus represented the character of the Father in a way to disprove the lying representations of the enemy, for the Son of God revealed the Father as a being full of mercy, compassion, goodness, truth, and love. Far from casting off the fallen sons of Adam, Jesus had come to take upon himself their guilt, woe, and misery, and to suffer the penalty of the law which man had transgressed. In him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He was the express image of this Father’s person, the brightness of his glory.

Christ was the way, the truth, and the life. He came down from the royal courts of heaven, and appeared in untarnished glory, in perfection of beauty, in holiness of character, the chiefest among ten thousand, and the One altogether lovely. So unblemished was he that he could say, «Satan cometh, and hath nothing in me.»

But though no taint of evil could be found in the Son of God, though no flaw could be detected, though men could find no fault in him, yet, controlled by the Satanic hate of their leader, men rose up against the Prince of life, and with demoniacal fury they cried, «Away with him, away with him, crucify him.» When Pilate brought forth Jesus and Barabbas, and asked, «Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? they said, Barabbas.» They preferred a robber and a murderer to the Son of God, and when asked what should be done with Jesus, they cried, «Let him be crucified.» But the great object for which Christ had come to the earth was not defeated by his death and suffering. Though he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth, yet he revealed the love of God for a fallen world; for «God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.» —

«Purifieth Himself»

«Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.» The heritage of the people of God is discerned through faith in the word of God. «This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.» Through faith the children of God obtain a knowledge of Christ, and cherish the hope of his appearing to judge the world in righteousness, until it becomes a glorious expectation; for they shall then see him as he is, and be made like him, and ever be with the Lord. The sleeping saints shall then be called forth from their graves to a glorious immortality. When the day of deliverance shall come, then shall ye return, and discern between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. When Christ shall come, it will be to be admired of all those that believe, and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Those who are looking for the revelation of Christ in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, as King of kings and Lord of lords, in life and character will seek to represent him to the world. «And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.» They will hate sin and iniquity, even as Christ hated sin. They will keep the commandments of God, as Christ kept his Father’s commandments. They will realize that it is not enough to acquiesce in the doctrines of truth, but that the truth must be applied to the heart, practiced in the life, in order that the followers of Christ may be one with him, and that men may be as pure in their sphere as God is in his sphere. There have been men in every generation who have claimed to be the sons of God, who paid tithes of mint and anise and cummin, and yet who led a godless life; for they neglected the weightier matters of the law,—mercy, justice, and the love of God. There are today many who are in a similar deception; for while bearing an appearance of great sanctity, they are not doers of the word of God. What can be done to open the eyes of these self-deluded souls, except to set before them an example of true piety, and be ourselves not hearers only, but doers of the commandments of the Lord, thus reflecting the light of purity of character upon their pathway?

The sons of God will not be like the worldling; for the truth received in the heart, will be the means of purifying the soul, and of transforming the character, and of making its receiver like-minded with God. Unless a man becomes like-minded with God, he is still in his natural depravity. If Christ is in the heart, he will appear in the home, in the workshop, in the market place, in the church. The power of the truth will be felt in elevating, ennobling the mind, and softening and subduing the heart, bringing the whole man into harmony with God. He who is transformed by the truth will shed a light upon the world. He that hath the hope of Christ in him will purify himself even as He is pure. The hope of Christ’s appearing is a large hope, a far-reaching hope. It is the hope of seeing the King in his beauty, and of being made like him.

When Christ shall come, the earth will tremble before him, and the heavens will be rolled together as a scroll, and every mountain and every island will be moved out of its place. «Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; for God is judge himself.» In view of the great day of God, we can see that our only safety will be found in departing from all sin and iniquity. Those who continue in sin will be found among the condemned and perishing. John saw the fate of those who choose the path of transgression: «And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?»

A terrible doom awaits the sinner, and therefore it is necessary that we know what sin is, in order that we may escape from its power. John says, «Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law.» Here we have the true definition of sin; it is «the transgression of the law.» How often the sinner is urged to leave his sins, and come to Jesus; but has the messenger who would lead him to Christ clearly pointed out the way? Has he clearly pointed out the fact that «sin is the transgression of the law,» and that he must repent, and forsake the breaking of God’s commandments? Christ will come to consume the false prophet, to sweep away the hosts of apostasy, to take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of God; and it is of the highest importance to each one of us that we know the conditions by which we shall escape the sinner’s doom. It is of the greatest moment that we understand the nature of our fall and the consequences of transgression. Man’s conscience has become hardened by sin, and his understanding darkened by transgression, and his judgment has become confused as to what is sin. He has become benumbed by the influence of iniquity, and it is essential that his conscience be aroused to understand that sin is the transgression of God’s holy law. He who does not obey the commandments of God is a sinner in the sight of God.

«All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,» and for this reason the Lord has provided a remedy for sin: «For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.» «And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not; whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.» The true test of religious experience is here given. He that abideth in Christ is perfected in the love of God, and his purposes, thoughts, words, and actions are in harmony with the will of God expressed in the commandments of his law. There is nothing in the heart of the man who abides in Christ that is at war with any precept of God’s law. Where the Spirit of Christ is in the heart, the character of Christ will be revealed, and there will be manifested gentleness under provocation, and patience under trial. «Little children, let no man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.» Righteousness can be defined only by God’s great moral standard, the Ten Commandments. There is no other rule by which to measure character. «He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.» It was the refusal of Satan to obey the commandments of God that brought sin and apostasy into the universe. «For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.»

Through the devices of the great apostate, man has been led to separate himself from God, and has yielded to the temptations of the adversary of God and man in committing sin and breaking the law of the Most High. God could not alter one jot or tittle of his holy law to meet man in his fallen condition; for this would reflect discredit upon the wisdom of God in making a law by which to govern heaven and earth. But God could give his only-begotten Son to become man’s substitute and surety, to suffer the penalty that was merited by the transgressor, and to impart to the repentant soul his perfect righteousness. Christ became the sinless sacrifice for a guilty race, making men prisoners of hope, so that, through repentance toward God because they had broken his holy law, and through faith in Christ as their substitute, surety, and righteousness, they might be brought back to loyalty to God and to obedience to his holy law.

It was impossible for the sinner to keep the law of God, which was holy, just, and good; but this impossibility was removed by the impartation of the righteousness of Christ to the repenting, believing soul. The life and death of Christ in behalf of sinful man were for the purpose of restoring the sinner to God’s favor, through imparting to him the righteousness that would meet the claims of the law, and find acceptance with the Father. But it is ever the purpose of Satan to make void the law of God, and to pervert the true meaning of the plan of salvation. Therefore he has originated the falsehood that the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary’s cross was for the purpose of freeing men from the obligation of keeping the commandments of God. He has foisted upon the world the deception that God has abolished his constitution, thrown away his moral standard, and made void his holy and perfect law. Had he done this, at what terrible expense would it have been to Heaven! Instead of proclaiming the abolition of the law, Calvary’s cross proclaims in thunder tones its immutable and eternal character. Could the law have been abolished, and the government of heaven and earth and the unnumbered worlds of God maintained, Christ need not have died. The death of Christ was to forever settle the question of the validity of the law of Jehovah. Having suffered the full penalty for a guilty world, Jesus became the Mediator between God and man, to restore the repenting soul to favor with God by giving him grace to keep the law of the Most High. Christ came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them to the very letter. The atonement of Calvary vindicated the law of God as holy, just, and true, not only before the fallen world, but before Heaven and before worlds unfallen. Christ came to magnify the law and to make it honorable.