The very first effort of Satan to overthrow God's law--undertaken among the sinless inhabitants of heaven--seemed for a time to be crowned with success. A vast number of the angels were seduced; but Satan's apparent triumph resulted in defeat and loss, separation from God, and banishment from heaven.
When the conflict was renewed upon the earth, Satan again won a seeming advantage. By transgression, man became his captive, and man's kingdom also was betrayed into the hands of the archrebel. Now the way seemed open for Satan to establish an independent kingdom, and to defy the authority of God and His Son. But the plan of salvation made it possible for man again to be brought into harmony with God, and to render obedience to His law, and for both man and the earth to be finally redeemed from the power of the wicked one.
Again Satan was defeated, and again he restored to deception, in the hope of converting his defeat into a victory. To stir up rebellion in the fallen race, he now represented God as unjust in having permitted man to transgress His law. "Why," said the artful tempter, "when God knew what would be the result, did He permit man to be placed on trial, to sin, and bring in misery and death?" And the children of Adam, forgetful of the long-suffering mercy that had granted man another trial, regardless of the amazing, the awful sacrifice which his rebellion had cost the King of heaven, gave ear to the tempter, and murmured against the only Being who could save them from the destructive power of Satan.
There are thousands today
echoing the same rebellious complaint against God. They do not
see that to deprive man of the freedom of choice would be to rob
him of his prerogative as an intelligent being, and make him a
mere automaton. It is not God's purpose to coerce the will. Man
was created a free moral agent. Like the inhabitants of all other
worlds, he must be subjected to the test of obedience; but he
is never brought into such a position that yielding to evil becomes
a matter of necessity. No temptation or trial is permitted to
come to him which he is unable to resist. God made such ample
provision that man need never have been defeated in the conflict
with Satan.
As men increased upon the earth, almost the whole world joined the ranks of rebellion. Once more Satan seemed to have gained the victory. But omnipotent power again cut short the working of iniquity, and the earth was cleansed by the Flood from its moral pollution.
Says the prophet, "When
Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will
learn righteousness. Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will
he not learn righteousness, . . . and will not behold the majesty
of Jehovah." Isaiah 26:9, 10. Thus it was after the Flood.
Released from His judgments, the inhabitants of the earth again
rebelled against the Lord. Twice God's covenant and His statutes
had been rejected by the world. Both the people before the Flood
and the descendants of Noah cast off the divine authority. Then
God entered into covenant with Abraham, and took to Himself a
people to become the depositaries of His law. To seduce and destroy
this people, Satan began at once to lay his snares. The children
of Jacob were tempted to contract marriages with the heathen and
to worship their idols. But Joseph was faithful to God, and his
fidelity was a constant testimony to the true faith. It was to
quench this light that Satan worked through the envy of Joseph's
brothers to cause him to be sold as a slave in a heathen land.
God overruled events, however, so that the knowledge of Himself
should be given to the people of Egypt. Both in the house of Potiphar
and in the prison Joseph received an education and training that,
with the fear of God, prepared him for his high position as prime
minister of the nation. From the palace of the Pharaohs his influence
was felt throughout the land, and the knowledge of God spread
far and wide. The Israelites in Egypt also became prosperous and
wealthy, and such as were true to God exerted a widespread influence.
The idolatrous priests were filled with alarm as they saw the
new religion finding favor. Inspired by Satan with his own enmity
toward the God of heaven, they set themselves to quench the light.
To the priests was committed the education of the heir to the
throne, and it was this spirit of determined opposition to God
and zeal for idolatry that molded the character of the future
monarch, and led to cruelty and oppression toward the Hebrews.
During the forty years after the flight of Moses from Egypt, idolatry seemed to have conquered. Year by year the hopes of the Israelites grew fainter. Both king and people exulted in their power, and mocked the God of Israel. This grew until it culminated in the Pharaoh who was confronted by Moses. When the Hebrew leader came before the king with a message from "Jehovah, God of Israel," it was not ignorance of the true God, but defiance of His power, that prompted the answer, "Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice? . . . I know not Jehovah." From first to last, Pharaoh's opposition to the divine command was not the result of ignorance, but of hatred and defiance.
Though the Egyptians had so long rejected the knowledge of God, the Lord still gave them opportunity for repentance. In the days of Joseph, Egypt had been an asylum for Israel; God had been honored in the kindness shown His people; and now the long-suffering One, slow to anger, and full of compassion, gave each judgment time to do its work; the Egyptians, cursed through the very objects they had worshiped, had evidence of the power of Jehovah, and all who would, might submit to God and escape His judgments. The bigotry and stubbornness of the king resulted in spreading the knowledge of God, and bringing many of the Egyptians to give themselves to His service.
It was because the Israelites
were so disposed to connect themselves with the heathen and imitate
their idolatry that God had permitted them to go down into Egypt,
where the influence of Joseph was widely felt, and where circumstances
were favorable for them to remain a distinct people. Here also
the gross idolatry of the Egyptians and their cruelty and oppression
during the latter part of the Hebrew sojourn should have inspired
in them an abhorrence of idolatry, and should have led them to
flee for refuge to the God of their fathers. This very providence
Satan made a means to serve his purpose, darkening the minds of
the Israelites and leading them to imitate the practices of their
heathen masters. On account of the superstitious veneration in
which animals were held by the Egyptians, the Hebrews were not
permitted, during their bondage, to present the sacrificial offerings.
Thus their minds were not directed by this service to the great
Sacrifice, and their faith was weakened. When the time came for
Israel's deliverance, Satan set himself to resist the purposes
of God. It was his determination that that great people, numbering
more than two million souls, should be held in ignorance and superstition.
The people whom God had promised to bless and multiply, to make
a power in the earth, and through whom he was to reveal the knowledge
of His will--the people whom He was to make the keepers of His
law--this very people Satan was seeking to keep in obscurity and
bondage, that he might obliterate from their minds the remembrance
of God.
When the miracles were wrought before the king, Satan was on the ground to counteract their influence and prevent Pharaoh from acknowledging the supremacy of God and obeying His mandate. Satan wrought to the utmost of his power to counterfeit the work of God and resist His will. The only result was to prepare the way for greater exhibitions of the divine power and glory, and to make more apparent, both to the Israelites and to all Egypt, the existence and sovereignty of the true and living God.
God delivered Israel with the mighty manifestations of His power, and with judgments upon all the gods of Egypt. "He brought forth his people with joy, and His chosen with gladness: . . . that they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws." Psalm 105:43-45. He rescued them from their servile state, that He might bring them to a good land--a land which in His providence had been prepared for them as a refuge from their enemies, where they might dwell under the shadow of His wings. He would bring them to Himself, and encircle them in His everlasting arms; and in return for all His goodness and mercy to them they were required to have no other gods before Him, the living God, and to exalt His name and make it glorious in the earth.
During the bondage in Egypt many of the Israelites had, to a great extent, lost the knowledge of God's law, and had mingled its precepts with heathen customs and traditions. God brought them to Sinai, and there with His own voice declared His law.
Satan and evil angels were
on the ground. Even while God was proclaiming His law to His people,
Satan was plotting to tempt them to sin. This people whom God
had chosen, he would wrench away, in the very face of Heaven.
By leading them into idolatry, he would destroy the efficacy of
all worship; for how can man be elevated by adoring what is no
higher than himself and may be symbolized by his own handiwork?
If men could become so blinded to the power, the majesty, and
the glory of the infinite God as to represent Him by a graven
image, or even by a beast or reptile; if they could so forget
their own divine relationship, formed in the image of their Maker
as to bow down to these revolting and senseless objects--then
the way was open for foul license; the evil passions of the heart
would be unrestrained, and Satan would have full sway.
At the very foot of Sinai, Satan began to execute his plans for overthrowing the law of God, thus carrying forward the same work he had begun in heaven. During the forty days while Moses was in the mount with God, Satan was busy exciting doubt, apostasy, and rebellion. While God was writing down His law, to be committed to His covenant people, the Israelites, denying their loyalty to Jehovah, were demanding gods of gold! When Moses came from the awful presence of the divine glory, with the precepts of the law which they had pledged themselves to obey, he found them, in open defiance of its commands, bowing in adoration before a golden image.
By leading Israel to this daring insult and blasphemy to Jehovah, Satan had planned to cause their ruin. Since they had proved themselves to be so utterly degraded, so lost to all sense of the privileges and blessings that God had offered them, and to their own solemn and repeated pledges of loyalty, the Lord would, he believed, divorce them from Himself and devote them to destruction. Thus would be secured the extinction of the seed of Abraham, that seed of promise that was to preserve the knowledge of the living God, and through whom He was to come--the true Seed, that was to conquer Satan. The great rebel had planned to destroy Israel, and thus thwart the purposes of God. But again he was defeated. Sinful as they were, the people of Israel were not destroyed. While those who stubbornly ranged themselves on the side of Satan were cut off, the people, humbled and repentant, were mercifully pardoned. The history of this sin was to stand as a perpetual testimony to the guilt and punishment of idolatry, and the justice and long-suffering mercy of God.
The whole universe had been
witness to the scenes at Sinai. In the working out of the two
administrations was seen the
contrast between the government
of God and that of Satan. Again the sinless inhabitants of other
worlds beheld the results of Satan's apostasy, and the kind of
government he would have established in heaven had he been permitted
to bear sway.
By causing men to violate the second commandment, Satan aimed to degrade their conceptions of the Divine Being. By setting aside the fourth, he would cause them to forget God altogether. God's claim to reverence and worship, above the gods of the heathen, is based upon the fact that He is the Creator, and that to Him all other beings owe their existence. Thus it is presented in the Bible. Says the prophet Jeremiah: "The Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King. . . . The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion." "Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like them: for He is the former of all things." Jeremiah 10:10-12, 14-16. The Sabbath, as a memorial of God's creative power, points to Him as the maker of the heavens and the earth. Hence it is a constant witness to His existence and a reminder of His greatness, His wisdom, and His love. Had the Sabbath always been sacredly observed, there could never have been an atheist or an idolater.
The Sabbath institution,
which originated in Eden, is as old as the world itself. It was
observed by all the patriarchs, from creation down. During the
bondage in Egypt, the Israelites were forced by their taskmasters
to violate the Sabbath, and to a great extent they lost the knowledge
of its sacredness. When the law was proclaimed at Sinai the very
first words of the fourth commandment were, "Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy" --showing that the Sabbath
was not then instituted; we are pointed back for its origin to
creation. In order to obliterate God from the minds of men, Satan
aimed to tear down this great memorial. If men could be led to
forget their Creator, they would make no effort to resist the
power of evil, and Satan would be sure of his prey.
Satan's enmity against God's law had impelled him to war against every precept of the Decalogue. To the great principle of love and loyalty to God, the Father of all, the principle of filial love and obedience is closely related. Contempt for parental authority will soon lead to contempt for the authority of God. Hence Satan's efforts to lessen the obligation of the fifth commandment. Among heathen peoples the principle enjoined in this precept was little heeded. In many nations parents were abandoned or put to death as soon as age had rendered them incapable of providing for themselves. In the family the mother was treated with little respect, and upon the death of her husband she was required to submit to the authority of her eldest son. Filial obedience was enjoined by Moses; but as the Israelites departed from the Lord, the fifth commandment, with others, came to be disregarded.
Satan was "a murderer from the beginning" (John 8:44); and as soon as he had obtained power over the human race, he not only prompted them to hate and slay one another, but, the more boldly to defy the authority of God, he made the violation of the sixth commandment a part of their religion.
By perverted conceptions of divine attributes, heathen nations were led to believe human sacrifices necessary to secure the favor of their deities; and the most horrible cruelties have been perpetrated under the various forms of idolatry. Among these was the practice of causing their children to pass through the fire before their idols. When one of them came through this ordeal unharmed, the people believed that their offerings were accepted; the one thus delivered was regarded as specially favored by the gods, was loaded with benefits, and ever afterward held in high esteem; and however aggravated his crimes, he was never punished. But should one be burned in passing through the fire, his fate was sealed; it was believed that the anger of the gods could be appeased only by taking the life of the victim, and he was accordingly offered as a sacrifice. In times of great apostasy these abominations prevailed, to some extent, among the Israelites.
The violation of the seventh
commandment also was early practiced in the name of religion.
The most licentious and abominable rites were made a part of the
heathen worship. The gods themselves were represented as impure,
and their worshipers gave the rein to the baser passions. Unnatural
vices prevailed and the religious festivals were characterized
by universal and open impurity.
Polygamy was practiced at an early date. It was one of the sins that brought the wrath of God upon the antediluvian world. Yet after the Flood it again became widespread. It was Satan's studied effort to pervert the marriage institution, to weaken its obligations and lessen its sacredness; for in no surer way could he deface the image of God in man and open the door to misery and vice.
From the opening of the great controversy it has been Satan's purpose to misrepresent God's character and to excite rebellion against His law, and this work appears to be crowned with success. The multitudes give ear to Satan's deceptions and set themselves against God. But amid the working of evil, God's purposes move steadily forward to their accomplishment; to all created intelligences He is making manifest His justice and benevolence. Through Satan's temptations the whole human race have become transgressors of God's law, but by the sacrifice of His Son a way is opened whereby they may return to God. Through the grace of Christ they may be enabled to render obedience to the Father's law. Thus in every age, from the midst of apostasy and rebellion, God gathers out a people that are true to Him--a people "in whose heart is His law." Isaiah 51:7.
It was by deception that Satan seduced angels; thus he has in all ages carried forward his work among men, and he will continue this policy to the last. Should he openly profess to be warring against God and His law, men would beware; but he disguises himself, and mixes truth with error. The most dangerous falsehoods are those that are mingled with truth. It is thus that errors are received that captivate and ruin the soul. By this means Satan carries the world with him. But a day is coming when his triumph will be forever ended.
God's dealings with rebellion
will result in fully unmasking the work that has so long been
carried on under cover. The results of Satan's rule, the fruits
of setting aside the divine statutes, will be laid open to the
view of all created intelligences. The law of God will stand fully
vindicated. It will be seen that all the dealings of God have
been conducted with reference to the eternal good of His people,
and the good of all the worlds that He has created. Satan himself,
in the presence of the witnessing universe, will confess the justice
of God's government and the righteousness of His law.
The time is not far distant when God will arise to vindicate His insulted authority. "The Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity." Isaiah 26:21. "But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth?" Malachi 3:2. The people of Israel, because of their sinfulness, were forbidden to approach the mount when God was about to descend upon it to proclaim His law, lest they should be consumed by the burning glory of His presence. If such manifestations of His power marked the place chosen for the proclamation of God's law, how terrible must be His tribunal when He comes for the execution of these sacred statutes. How will those who have trampled upon His authority endure His glory in the great day of final retribution? The terrors of Sinai were to represent to the people the scenes of the judgment. The sound of a trumpet summoned Israel to meet with God. The voice of the Archangel and the trump of God shall summon, from the whole earth, both the living and the dead to the presence of their
