Ministration of Angels

SATAN having lost his place in Heaven, resolves to obtain a kingdom for himself. Man had just been created and put into possession of this earth. Proof: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Gen. 1:26. "The Heaven, even the Heavens, are the Lord's, but the earth hath he given to the children of men." Ps. 115:16. God made man the ruler over all the earth; it was his to occupy and enjoy. Probably good angels warned him of the fall of Satan, and cautioned him to beware of the devil's temptations. But Satan resolved to make an effort to cheat man out of the dominion of the earth, and make it his own home.

Did the devil have anything to do with the fall of man? We think that he did, and that by that transaction he accomplished more than simply the fall of man. He deceived our first parents, and led them into sin. Rev. 12:9, he is called "that old serpent, the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." If he "deceiveth the whole world," he must have deceived our first parents in the beginning. John says, "He that committed sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning." 1 John 3:8. In verse 12, he says that Cain "was of that wicked one, and slew his brother." Then "that wicked one" was in the world in the days of Cain, and had a hand in instigating him to kill his brother. By turning to Gen. 3:1-15, we find that that old serpent, the devil, and Satan, "which deceiveth the whole world," did indeed deceive Eve. "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat."

Here we see that the serpent did really lie to the woman and make her believe that it was for her good to eat of that fruit. Says Paul, "The woman being deceived was in the transgression." 1 Tim. 2:14. They did not do this deed willfully, but were deceived. "And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me and I did eat." Gen. 3:13. To argue that it was simply the reptile which we call the serpent, that did all this, is absurd. But when we understand that Satan was there with all his cunning, and simply used the serpent as his medium through which to deceive Eve, all is rational and harmonious. This makes Jesus' saying true, that the devil was a liar from the beginning.

But Satan had a grand object in view in this transaction; something more than to simply revenge himself on God. To ascertain what this object was; we will inquire what man lost by his fall. He was created, and then crowned with glory and honor (Heb. 2:7), and given a right to the tree of life (Gen. 2:9,16,17), which would perpetuate his life forever (chap. 3:22,23). The whole earth was given him as his dominion. But by his transgression, man lost all that God had given him. 1. He lost his life. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5:12. Death came, then, as the result of sin. If man had never sinned, he never would have died. 2. He lost his dominion over the world. Paul quotes David as above, and then comments on it as follows; "For in that he hath put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that was not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him." 1 Cor. 15:27

Ah! something has happened. Once all things were under him; but now we see a different state of things—man has lost his dominion. Into whose hands did this possession go when man had lost it? Back into the hands of God? No it did not. Says Paul, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Rom. 6:16. God told Adam and Eve not to touch the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan told them to eat freely of it. They heeded his advice, and took the fruit as he told them to do. By this act they left the service of God, and entered into the service of Satan. Thus they became his servants. This fact is too clear to be disputed.

Paul says Jesus suffered death that he might destroy the devil, "and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Heb. 2:15. If men are in "bondage," who is their master? Let Peter answer: "For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage:" 2 Pet. 2:19. This is another testimony to the point. Adam and Eve were overcome by the arts of the devil. Thus, according to Paul, they became his servants, and according to Peter, his bondmen, his captives. Of course all their possessions went into the hands of their captor, or master, Satan. When Adam was overcome, his possession, the world, passed out of his hands into the hands of his captor, Satan. If man had deliberately rebelled against his Maker, then he would have forfeited his possession, which, of course would have gone back to its original giver, God. But Adam and Eve were deceived, cheated, and overcome, by an enemy. Hence, instead of forfeiting their possession, they were defrauded out of it.

Thus the devil "beguiled" man out of his dominion, and usurped his place and authority. Hence he is now "the god of this world," or "the prince of this world." He now holds the dominion of the world, the same as Adam did before he lost it. Says Paul, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 2 Cor. 4:3,4. Said Jesus: "For the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." John 14:30. That Satan has a kingdom, is proved by the following text: "And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?" Matt. 12:26. A testimony to the same effect is found in Eph. 6:12: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits [margin] in high places."

Rev. 11:15, puts this question beyond dispute. "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in Heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever." When the seventh, or last, angel shall sound, the kingdoms of this world "become" the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. Then it is certain that they were in the possession of some other person previous to that time, or else they could not "become" the Lord's at that time. We regard this as decisive proof on this point. We do not claim that Satan rules with unlimited authority. He has only the limited dominion which God gave Adam. God restricts him within certain limits beyond which he cannot go. God, for a limited time, simply permits Satan to do as he does.

But all we need to convince us that Satan has great authority in this world is, to cast our eyes over its history from Adam to the present time. Lying, robbing, hatred, war, murder, and bloodshed, have been the order of the day. Even in this boasted, enlightened age, where is there a Christian nation? Three-fourths of the world today do not believe in the true and living God, and nine-tenths of the rest are practical infidels!! Man of reason, open your eyes and tell us whom the world is serving—God, or Satan? Is this the way the Lord rules? Is this his government? Look even at the brute creation, and you will see the same evil principle actuating them. From the least to the greatest of them, they are continually warring and preying upon each other. Paul says of them, "For we know that the whole creation [margin, every creature] groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, . . . . waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Rom. 8:22,23. Thus he shows that they are also under the curse, in the hands of the devil.

John makes this point very emphatic. He says, "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness." 1 John 5:18,19.

Dr. Adam Clark comments on this passage thus: "The whole world lieth in wickedness . . . . Lieth in the wicked one,—is embraced in the arms of the devil, where it lies fast asleep, and carnally secure, deriving its heat and power from its infernal fosterer. What a truly awful state! And do not the actions, tempers, propensities, opinions, and maxims, of all worldly men prove and illustrate this? 'In this short expression,' says Mr. Wesley, 'the horrible state of the world is painted in the most lively colors; a comment of, which we have in the actions, conversations, contracts, quarrels, and friendships, of worldly men.' Yes, their actions are opposed to the law of God; their conversations, shallow, simulous, and false; their contracts, forced, interested, and deceitful; their quarrels, puerile, ridiculous, and ferocious; and their friendships, hollow, insincere, capricious, and fickle:—all, all the effect of their lying in the arms of the wicked one; for thus they become instinct with his own spirit; and because they are of their father, the devil, therefore his lust they will do."

The children of God in this world are so few that they only form an exception to the general rule. They are not of the world, but are chosen out of the world. Of them Jesus said, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." John 15:19. This is conclusive proof that the world is now under the control of Satan, serving him. If God ruled in this world, to be a child of God would be to do as the world does. But the truth is, this world is in rebellion against God, and is serving Satan, God's great enemy. Hence James says, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God." James 4:4. We will now leave the reader to judge whom the world is serving—God, or Satan.