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Thus we see th a t the earth and the air are the scene of his un tiring ac tivity, and his many demons go forth at his bidding. Thank God! It will not always be so! He is a defeated foe. 6. Satan’s certain doom was pro nounced in the Garden of Eden, when God said th a t “the seed of the wo man” (the Lord Jesus) would “bruise” Satan’s head. For the terrible picture of his eternal torment, read Rev. 20: 10. TIME IN THE GOSPELS Q. Please explain the difference in the time of the crucifixion, as given by Mark and John. Is there not a dis crepancy here? A. Not a t all. The common and cor rect explanation is th a t M ark 15:25 speaks according to the Jewish com putation of time, saying, “And it was the th ird hour,” whereas John 19:14 speaks according to the Roman computation of time of “the sixth hour.” Of course we know th a t Rome ruled the civilized world in the day of Christ, including the land of Pales tine. And many Roman customs pre vailed along w ith m any Jewish cus toms strictly adhered to by the Hebrew people. In a word, Mark is speaking of Jewish time; John, of Roman time. PICTURE OF ISRAEL Q. W ha t is the meaning of Matt. 24:28, “Wheresoever the carcass is, there w ill the eagles be gathered to gether”? A. The carcass represents the corrupt and apostate part of the Jewish n a tion; the eagles are symbols of God’s judgment. Of course, a t th e ' battle of Arma geddon, the Gentile nations w ill also be gathered, m any of whom w ill also ¡go into everlasting condemnation. But M atthew 24 was spoken to the disciples concerning Israel during the tribulation period, and at the return of Christ in glory.
be dogmatic, for beyond what God has seen fit to reveal in His Word, we may not go. 2. The Lord Jesus said, in Luke 10: 18, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” This is a remarkable proof of the deity of Christ. Satan’s fall certainly preceded the fall of m an — possibly a long, long time; and Adam and Eve sinned about 4,000 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Yet the eternal God and our Creator, even Jesus, “beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” 3. Satan tempted Eve in the Gar den of Eden, speaking through the serpent (Gen. 3:1-13). 4. Though Satan w ill one day be in hell, which was “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41), yet he is not in hell today, nor has he ever been in hell. No one ever re turns from the lake of fire. Satan is still “going to and fro in the earth . . . walking up and down in it” (Job 1:7; 2:2). Even as he had access to the presence of God when he accused Job—you see, he is still an angel, though a fallen angel; and as a spirit being, he still has access to God, though he was cast out of heaven as his place of abode—bu t even as he accused Job, so also he is still “the accuser of our brethren” (Rev. 12: 10). He is our “adversary” and “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (I Pet. 5:8). It is Satan’s delight to have occasion to accuse us to God, and we should be ashamed to give him such occasion. When we do, however, “we have an Advocate w ith the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (I John 2:1). And our risen Lord is more powerful than Satan and all his hosts! (See also Luke 22:31; Heb. 2:14). 5. As “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit th a t now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2), Satan is very powerful. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood (other hum an beings), but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wicked ness in high places” (Eph. 6:12).
IS THE DEV IL REAL? Q. Do you believe in a personal devil? Please explain what the Bible teaches about Satan. A. Most assuredly I believe in a per sonal devil. He is not a dragon w ith a red body, horns, and a forked tail, as legends picture him. He himself is the instigator of such caricature, for it is his purpose to lead men to believe th a t he is a m yth and a joke. But he is no joke, let me tell you! For the Bible teaching on this im portant subject, let me briefly outline a few facts, which you w ill do well to study for yourself from the Word of God for the plain teaching of Scrip ture on the arch-enemy of our souls. 1. Before Satan fell through pride, he was a cherub, beautiful, bright, and wise. He was called “Lucifer, son of the morning,” and “the anointed cherub th a t covereth.” (See Isa. 14: 12-17; Ezek. 28:12-19.) (Names are given to only two other angels in the Bible: Gabriel and the archangel Michael; while the “angel of the Lord” is often mentioned in Old Testament Scripture as the appear^ ance of God in angelic form before Christ came into the world.) Evident ly, Satan was a powerful angel. While there is no definite statement in the Bible to prove that, in his unfallen state, he was given dominion over the earth in its original beauty, yet there are inferences and intimations of this fact. As we have explained in answer to another question in this series of studies, the Lord Jesus called him “the prince of this world” (John 14: 30; 16:11), while Paul wrote of him as “the god of this world” (II Cor. 4:4). The Lord Jesus did not deny his righ t to offer H im “the kingdoms of the world” in His temptation (Matt. 4:8). M any Bible students think th a t the fall of Satan may have been accompanied by the chaos into which the world was thrown, out of which, at an indefinite time later, God renovated the earth and created all life. In these things we dare not
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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