CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Satan’s Demonstration
This demonstration has been permitted
to continue until now. And what a demonstration it has been! From the
time Cain killed Abel there have been hatred, bloodshed, cruelty, and
oppression in the earth. Virtue, goodness, and justice have suffered;
vice, vileness, and corruption have triumphed. The just man has been
made a prey; God’s messengers have been tortured and killed; God’s
law has been trampled in the dust. When God sent His Son, instead of
honoring Him, evil men, under the instigation of Satan, hanged Him on a
tree.
Even then God did not destroy Satan.
The demonstration must be completed. Only when the last events are
taking place, and men are on the point of exterminating one another,
will God interfere to save His own. There will then remain no doubt in
the mind of anyone that, had he the power, Satan would destroy every
vestige of goodness, hurl God from the throne, murder the Son of God,
and establish a kingdom of violence founded in self-seeking and cruel
ambition.
What Satan has been demonstrating is
really his character and the lengths to which selfish ambition will
lead. In the beginning he wanted to be like God. He was dissatisfied
with his position as the highest of created beings. He wanted to be God.
And the demonstration has shown that when he set his mind upon this goal
he would stop short of nothing to attain it. Whoever
stands in the way must be put out of the way. If it be God Himself, He
must be removed.
The demonstration shows that high
position is not satisfactory to the ambitious individual. He must, have
the highest, and even then he is not satisfied. Often a person in
a lowly position is tempted to believe that he would be satisfied if his
position were improved. He is at least sure that he would be satisfied
if he had the highest position possible. But would he? Lucifer was not.
He had the highest position possible. But he was not satisfied. He
wanted one still higher. He wanted to be God Himself.
In this respect the contrast between
Christ and Satan is pronounced. Satan wanted to be God. He wanted
it so much that he was willing to do anything to attain his goal.
Christ, on the other hand, did not consider it a thing to be grasped to
be like God. He voluntarily humbled Himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. He was God, and He became man. And
that this was not a temporary arrangement only for the purpose of
showing His willingness, is evidenced by the fact that He will ever
remain man. Satan exalted himself; Christ humbled Himself. Satan wanted
to become God; Christ became man. Satan wanted to sit as God on a
throne; Christ, as a servant, knelt to wash the disciples’ feet. The
contrast is complete.
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