8. THE FINAL OVERTHROW OF THE
TEMPTER AND BLESSEDNESS OF THE TEMPTED.
"That through death He might destroy him that had the
power of death, that is, the Devil; and deliver them who through fear of
death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."-Heb. ii. 14, 15.
The mission of the Son of God in the flesh compassed a
twofold object as it referred to Satan. The first, to destroy the works
of the Devil; the second, to destroy the Devil himself. With
regard to the first object, we read-"For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that He might destroy the works of this Devil." The second
is equally as clear-"That He might destroy him that had the power of
death, that is, the Devil." No facts are more distinctly and solemnly
revealed than the final overthrow and everlasting destruction of the Evil
One, and the victory and eternal blessedness of the saints of the Most High,
consequent upon that destruction. The "god of this world" is not to reign
for ever! Too long, too widely and uninterruptedly has he maintained his
supremacy and power over this fallen and sinful empire. In its history, as
it will then be read and studied in the clear light of eternity, will be
seen how central, significant, and appalling was the place usurped by him in
the government of the race. And, as in the first creation of the world, he
appeared conspicuous and active upon the scene, ere sin had yet defiled and
the curse had yet blighted,-so, in the end of the world, he will reappear
"the observed of all observers," to be arraigned and tried, overthrown and
"punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and
from the glory of His power." The prophetic and significant words of our
Lord-the great Tempted One concerning the great Tempter are yet to receive
their full and solemn accomplishment-"I beheld Satan as lightning fall from
heaven." Oh, yes! the rebellious, bloodstained standard of Satan is not for
ever to float over this dark empire of sin and woe. His overthrow is
certain-his doom is fixed-his days are numbered-"the chain which is to bind
him is forged, and the fires which shall encircle him are kindled;" "the
breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, has kindled them." And all
who followed his standard, who wore his fetters, and who obeyed his behests,
will share his sentence, condemnation, and punishment-"Depart, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels." We have
alluded, in our opening remarks, to the destruction of the works of
the Devil, as constituting an important part of Christ’s mission. Let us
briefly advert to this interesting and consolatory fact, as preparing us for
the consideration of the final, ignominious, and total overthrow of the
power and kingdom of the Devil himself at the Coming of the Lord. The
passage we have placed at the head of this chapter limits our view to one
particular work of Satan-his "power over death." And, probably, we
could not specify any exercise of his power more terrible to the saints of
God, or their deliverance from which is more firmly anticipated and ardently
longed for than this.
"Him that had the power of death." The words are
profoundly significant and solemn. They are not intended to ascribe to the
Devil, originally and independently, an arbitrary and supreme power over
death. This alone belongs to God, "with whom are the issues of death." And
yet the language is strikingly significant and impressive-"Him that had the
power of death." It refers, doubtless, to the fact that the Devil was the
first introducer of sin, and consequently, of death; that he was the cause
of death, and the instigator of death throughout his empire. That this power
is limited and controlled by a higher power is implied and unquestionable.
He has no power to inflict death in any single instance, beyond the
permission of this superior and governing authority. But how appalling and
far reaching this power! "He was a murderer from the beginning:" and
all murders are the result of his instigation, and in the permitted exercise
of his power. "The lust of your father the Devil ye will do," said Christ,
addressing Himself to the Jews. And the crowning act of his murderous lust
was his instigation of Judas to betray, and the Jews to murder, the "Lord of
life and glory." And not content with thus suggesting and abetting the
murder of our Lord, he strove with all the argument and persuasion he could
command to prompt Him to an act of self-murder. "Cast Thyself down from
hence." And still he exercises this terrible, though limited and curbed,
power of death-as we have shown in a preceding chapter-by suggesting to the
human mind the idea of self-destruction as a convenient and expeditious mode
of escape from existing trouble, suffering, and shame. How graphically and
accurately has our great national dramatist portrayed the mental exercises
of the soul under the influence of this Satanic temptation to self-murder!
"To die,-to sleep;
No more; and, by a sleep, to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,-’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die,-to sleep;-
To sleep perchance to dream:-ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long a life;
For who would hear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,-
The undiscovered country, from whose bourne
No traveler returns,-puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pitch and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn away,
And lose the name of action."
But a more awful illustration of the power of death as
possessed by Satan is yet to appear-his power to inflict the inconceivable
and indescribable horrors of the "Second Death." That this power is
conferred-under the control of a yet higher power-to his hands, who can
reasonably doubt? When the "wicked shall be cast into hell," and "whosoever
is not written in the Book of Life" into the "lake of fire," the power of
death then entrusted to Satan will be exhibited in its most appalling form.
But let me relieve this awful picture by presenting a bright and blessed
contrast-the contrast of those over whom the Devil will have no such
control: "Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection:
on such the second death has no power; but they shall be priests to
God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."
An interesting and important inquiry here occurs! in what
way did Christ thus destroy the Devil? "That He might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the Devil." We see not as yet his destruction.
Far from it! The world is still Satan's empire, ruled with a despot’s
unlimited sway. And, seeing that his time is short, and his overthrow
inevitable and total, he would seem, in these "last days," to have ‘come
down in great power and wrath,’ more wicked and fierce than ever. There are
those who are blind to this fact. They tell us that the world as it grows
older grows better! And, as proof of this assertion, they are wont to point
to the rapid strides of civilization and refinement, of education, science,
and social progress. They assure us that humanity is not so depraved, that
the people are not so ignorant, and that society is more highly cultivated
and refined. But what, and where, are the solid evidences of all this
improvement? That civilization has increased-that education is on the
march-and that luxury of living, polished manners, and advanced intelligence
are the result, we readily admit. Nor do we overlook the results of sanitary
reform-the efforts to reach the lowest strata of society-the great
spread of Christian knowledge-the increased and honored labors of the
evangelist at home, and those of the devoted missionary abroad. But with all
this, the question still returns-Is the world really growing better? We trow
not. Crimes the most hideous-social evils the most appalling-commercial
immorality the most humiliating-atheism and infidelity the most
bold-massacre and butcheries, legalized by the term of ‘war,’ and prosecuted
in the name of Christ and under the holy banner of the cross,-are more rife,
conspicuous, and widespread than ever! Who, as he intelligently surveys the
present state of the world, and reads its history by the clear light of
God’s Word, can with any show of reason and of truth affirm that Satan is
losing his power-that his sceptre is passing from his hand-and that the
world, which has so long groaned beneath his iron will, is growing wiser,
holier, and happier? And yet, with all this, there is a present moral
destruction of Satan by Christ going on, typical and anticipatory of his
final and eternal overthrow and destruction when the Redeemer shall come to
restore all things to their more than pristine holiness and beauty. We can
only suggest for the further study of the reader two or three illustrations
of this moral victory of Christ over Satan.
In the conversion of the sinner it is palpable and
indisputable. When the Holy Spirit regenerates a soul-and there is no
spiritual regeneration but that which He imparts-"It is the Spirit that
quickens, the flesh profits nothing"-the supremacy of Satan in that soul is
destroyed. "No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods,
except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house."
Oh, what a blessed overthrow, spoiling, and casting out of Satan is this! He
is now dethroned-his scepter broken-his kingdom supplanted-his captive
delivered-and, henceforth, Jesus reigns in that regenerated and emancipated
soul, triumphant, supreme, and for ever! My reader! is Satan’s empire thus
destroyed in your soul?
And what are the foiling and defeats in the after history
and experience of the Christian but the continuous decreasing of Satan’s
power by Christ? ‘When first emancipated from the supreme tyranny of Satan,
by converting grace, it does not follow that the holy war is complete. The
temporarily defeated foe-as in the case of our Lord-retires but "for a
season," to return again and yet again to the battle, armed with a new
shaft, and hurled with yet more skilful precision and potent effect. Thus we
are taught that, when by Christ’s grace we foil him in one attack, we have
need to expect another, and to strengthen those weak points of the citadel
the most exposed to the renewed charge. The physical power of Christ over
demoniacal power was, doubtless, typical of His moral power over Satan in
the soul. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might
destroy the works of the Devil." Your daily life, O believer! is a
continuous destroying by the Son of God of the works of Satan in you. The
overthrow of his kingdom in the souls of the regenerate is a progressive,
lifelong work: the last stone of the unholy edifice not cast down until the
"earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved," and the freed spirit is
clothed upon with its house from heaven. Oh, what a Divine and skilful
Captain of Salvation is ours! He observes the shaft drawn from the
quiver-places his finger upon the bow that hurls it-diverts its winged
course-and covers the head in the day of battle. How sweet is then the new
song we sing-"Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us a prey to their
teeth! Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the
snare is broken and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who
made heaven and earth."
"And deliver them who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage." There are few portions of God’s Word
over which the Christian mind has lingered with more painful and intense
interest than this. Some of the most eminent saints-distinguished alike for
great grace and heroic achievement-have dragged this oppressive chain for
many a weary stage of the Christian life, nor dropping it until their feet
smote the chill waters, and they passed over with the shout of victory upon
their expiring lips-"O death! where is your sting?"
Having destroyed him that had the power of death, the
destruction of death itself by Christ naturally and logically follows.
The words of the Apostle in his letter to Timothy places this truth in a yet
more clear and forcible point of light "Our Savior Jesus Christ, who has
abolished death, and has brought life and immortality to light by the
Gospel." In what sense has Christ thus abolished death in the history of His
Church? Not literally, of course, since death still reigns, and will
continue to reign until the Second Advent-"Whom the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His
coming:" then shall Antichrist be destroyed, and Death utterly and for ever
abolished-"swallowed up in victory." But there are several senses in which
Christ may be said already to have "abolished death" in the history of His
Church. He has abolished death by destroying the law of sin and of death
in the case of His people; and that law, thus repealed, death has no
more legal power over them that believe in Jesus. Christ has abolished death
as a penal evil, since, by putting away the sins of His people, He
has taken from death its sting, rendering it a harmless foe! And how
completely has Christ abolished death by changing the character of death
in the dissolution of His saints! To these it is no longer death to die,
but a gentle falling asleep, the soul awaking perfected in the
likeness of Christ. How sweetly did Jesus thus speak of the death of the
beloved brother of Bethany: "Our friend Lazarus sleeps: I go to wake
him out of sleep." And it is recorded of Stephen-Christ’s first
martyr-"He fell asleep"-Oh! glorious death!-amid the infuriated
shouts of his murderers and the storm of missiles beating around his
head-his bruised and bleeding brow reposed upon the bosom of Jesus! And,
addressing the bereaved Thessalonians, how tender and consolatory the
language of the Apostle-"I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have
no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also
which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." To have so transformed
this most appalling event of our being as to represent it by the exquisite
image of a sleep-the very poetry of death-surely it may
in truth be said-and in a sense most assuring to all those who dread the
approach of the ‘last enemy’-"Christ has abolished death." In your
case, O believer! Christ, by His obedience and sacrifice, has so changed the
character and the conditions of death that it no longer is a penal crime,
but a covenant blessing; no longer a stern law, but a precious privilege; no
longer to die, but sweetly and calmly to sleep. Oh, what must
Jesus have endured in His personal conflict with Death, thus to have changed
the entire character of death in behalf of all His saints! He met death as
none had ever met the "king of terrors" before-in all its unmitigated
bitterness, unalleviated agony, and most appalling circumstances: His dying
pillow, a cross; His attendants, murderers; His restorative,
wormwood and gall! What do we not owe to You, You precious
Jesus! of love, obedience, and service, who met ten thousand deaths in one,
that, when we die, we might fall sweetly asleep in You?
"What is Life?-’tis sitting,
Jesus, at Your feet,
All things gladly quitting
For that favored seat:
Where, in sacred union,
Earth and Heaven meet!
"What is Death?-’tis springing,
Savior, to Your breast;
’Tis the freed bird winging
To her glory-nest:
Life and Death with Jesus-
Heritage how blest!"
The ‘love of Christ’! truly "it passes knowledge." The
Lord the Spirit direct our hearts into this infinite ocean of love, tiding
over all our sins, sorrows, and fears. "O Savior! was it not enough for You
to be manifested in flesh? Did not that elementary composition carry in it
abasement enough without any further addition; since, for God to become man,
was more than for all things to be returned to nothing; but that, in the
rank of miserable manhood, You would humble Thyself to the lowest of
humanity, and become a servant? O Savior! in how despicable a condition do I
find You exhibited to the world! lodged in a stable, cradled in a mange;
visited by poor shepherds, employed in a homely trade, attended by
fishermen, tempted by presumptuous devils, persecuted by the malice of
envious men, exposed to hunger, thirst, nakedness, weariness, contempt. How
many slaves, under the vassalage of an enemy, fare better than You did from
ungrateful man, whom You came to save! Oh, let me not see only, but feel,
this great mystery of godliness, effectually working me to all hearty
thankfulness for so inestimable a mercy! And now, O Savior! what a
superabundant amends is made to Your glorified humanity for all Your bitter
sufferings on earth! Your agony was extreme, but Your glory is infinite;
Your cross was heavy, but Your crown transcendently glorious; Your pains
were inconceivably grievous, but short; Your glory everlasting. You, that
stood before the judgment-seat of a Pilate, shall come in all heavenly
magnificence to judge both the quick and the dead; You, that would stoop to
be a servant on earth, rules and reigns for ever in heaven, as the King of
eternal glory!"
The final overthrow and doom of the Great Tempter will
not be more certain and appalling than it is distinctly and emphatically
predicted. Among the apocalyptic visions which floated before the eye of the
exiled Seer of Patmos, was one graphically and sublime descriptive of this
signal and stupendous event. The prophecy would seem to divide itself into
two parts-the one bearing upon the present scene of Satan’s empire,
the other referring to his future judgment and everlasting doom. With
regard to the first, we thus read:-"And I saw an angel come down from
heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and
Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit,
and shut him up, and set a seal upon him." This vision clearly refers to the
position of Satan in the Millennium. During that blissful period of the
world’s history the devil will be relegated to "his own place." For six
thousand years this Archfiend has maintained his cruel despotism over the
entire earth, walking to and fro, seeking whom he may devour. Then a new and
more blissful era in the world’s history will have dawned. The
Millennium-long the inspired song of the poet and the evangelical prediction
of the prophet-will have arrived; and banished to the prison-house from
whence he came-pinioned with a massive chain-the door of his dungeon secured
with a great seal from heaven-Satan is "permitted to deceive the nations no
more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled." Oh, what a halcyon
period of holiness and rest will the earth-long travailing in weariness and
woe-now experience! How changed the scene! The curse giving place to
blessing-sin and crime to holiness and security-pestilence and sickness to
perfect sanity and health;-national wars and feuds to universal concord and
love-want and misery to plenty and delight; suffering, bereavement, and woe
to a deathless, sorrowless, and tearless world. Blessed inhabitants! "God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the
former things are passed away."
"No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear;
From every face He wipes off every tear;
In adamantine chains shall death be bound,
And hell’s grim Tyrant feel the eternal wound."
But this thousand years of millennial holiness and
repose-like all earth-bound objects-has an end. It must be remembered that
Satan, though confined, is not yet cast into Gehenna; sin, though
suppressed, is not yet extinct; and War, though ceasing, has not yet
sheathed its sword. Humanity, though restrained, is still fallen and
depraved; and Satan, though fettered and sealed, waits but his release. His
temporary imprisonment terminates. "After that he must be loosed a little
season," and resume his cruel reign of sin and bloodshed until his final and
everlasting overthrow and doom, as thus graphically predicted in the
apocalyptic vision of St. John, shall have arrived. "And when the thousand
years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of prison, and shall go out to
deceive the nations of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather together to
battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on
the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and,
the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured
them. And the devil, that deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast (the Papal power) and the false prophet (the
Mohammedan) are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
How awfully sublime the scene! The doom of Satan is at hand-the last scene
in the dark drama of his history is reached-and the chief Criminal of the
universe is about to receive the due and just reward of his deeds. The great
white throne is fixed; upon it the "Ancient of Days" is seated-and before
Him all beings,-angels and men,-are cited to appear. Central, and towering
above all of that countless throng, is Satan, the Head-Centre of
Pandemonium. His trial commences and takes precedence of all the rest. In
that trial, O tempted Christian! you will personally
participate. "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" You who once
stood as a target for his flaming darts, frequently foiled, wounded, and
cast down: you into whose mind this malicious Fiend-the seducer and
destroyer of our first parents-often suggested the skeptical doubt-the
blasphemous thought-the unhallowed imagination-the hostile will-you shall
hear the voice of the Judge saying-"Come near, My saints, sit with Me upon
My throne and aid the judgment, approve the sentence, and witness the doom
of your great Adversary, malicious Tempter, false Accuser, and fiendish Foe.
Come, place your feet upon his neck-and unite with the grand chorus of all
the host of heaven in the universal acknowledgment of the holiness, equity,
and truth of the sentence which consigns him to the "everlasting fire
prepared for the Devil and his angels."-"You art righteous, O Lord, which
art, and was, and shall be, because You hast judged thus." Tempted
Christian! fight on-pray on-hope on. A few more flaming shafts, a few more
hard fights, and the last battle is fought and the glorious victory won: and
you shall see your great Tempter no more for ever. "The God of peace shall
bruise Satan under your feet shortly." "And they overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb."