The Story of Patriarchs and Prophets
by Ellen G. White
Chapter 29: Satan's Enmity Against the Law
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 [p. 332] 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 [p. 333] 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 [p. 334] 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 [p. 335] 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 [p. 336] 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. [p. 337]
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 [p. 338] 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 [p. 339] 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 Judge. The Father and the
Son, attended by a multitude of angels, were present upon the
mount. At the great judgment day Christ will come "in the glory
of His Father with His angels." Matthew 16:27. He shall then
sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered
all nations.
When the divine Presence was manifested upon Sinai, the
glory of the Lord was like devouring fire in the sight of all
Israel. But when Christ shall come in glory with His holy angels
the whole earth shall be ablaze with the terrible light of His
presence. "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a
fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous
round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and
to the earth, that He may judge His people." Psalm 50:3, 4. A
fiery stream shall issue and come forth from before Him, which
shall cause the elements to melt with fervent heat, the earth also,
and the works that are therein shall be burned up. "The Lord
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in [p. 340] flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and
that obey not the gospel." 2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8.
Never since man was created had there been witnessed such a
manifestation of divine power as when the law was proclaimed
from Sinai. "The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the
presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of
God, the God of Israel." Psalm 68:8. Amid the most terrific
convulsions of nature the voice of God, like a trumpet, was heard
from the cloud. The mountain was shaken from base to summit,
and the hosts of Israel, pale and trembling with terror, lay upon
their faces upon the earth. He whose voice then shook the earth
has declared, "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also
heaven." Hebrews 12:26. Says the Scripture, "The Lord shall
roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation;"
"and the heavens and the earth shall shake." Jeremiah
25:30; Joel 3:16. In that great coming day, the heaven itself
shall depart "as a scroll when it is rolled together." Revelation
6:14. And every mountain and island shall be moved out of its
place. "The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and
shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof
shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again."
Isaiah 24:20.
"Therefore shall all hands be faint," all faces shall be "turned
into paleness," "and every man's heart shall melt. And they
shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them."
"And I will punish the world for their evil," saith the Lord,
"and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will
lay low the haughtiness of the terrible." Isaiah 13:7, 8, 11;
Jeremiah 30:6.
When Moses came from the divine Presence in the mount,
where he had received the tables of the testimony, guilty Israel
could not endure the light that glorified his countenance. How
much less can transgressors look upon the Son of God when He
shall appear in the glory of His Father, surrounded by all the
heavenly host, to execute judgment upon the transgressors of
His law and the rejecters of His atonement. Those who have
disregarded the law of God and trodden under foot the blood of
Christ, "the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich
men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men," shall hide
themselves "in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains," and [p. 341] they shall say to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, and hide
us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the
wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and
who shall be able to stand?" Revelation 6:15-17. "In that day a
man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, . . . to the
moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into
the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the
glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the
earth." Isaiah 2:20, 21.
Then it will be seen that Satan's rebellion against God has
resulted in ruin to himself and to all that chose to become his
subjects. He has represented that great good would result from
transgression; but it will be seen that "the wages of sin is death."
"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and
all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and
the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts,
that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Malachi 4:1.
Satan, the root of every sin, and all evil workers, who are his
branches, shall be utterly cut off. An end will be made of sin,
with all the woe and ruin that have resulted from it. Says the
psalmist, "Thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their
name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to
a perpetual end." Psalm 9:5, 6.
But amid the tempest of divine judgment the children of
God will have no cause for fear. "The Lord will be the hope of
His people, and the strength of the children of Israel." Joel 3:16.
The day that brings terror and destruction to the transgressors
of God's law will bring to the obedient "joy unspeakable and
full of glory" "Gather My saints together unto Me," saith the
Lord, "those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.
And the heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God is
Judge Himself."
Find out more today how to get a special discount when you purchase a
hardcover or
paperback
copy of Patriarchs and Prophets.
|
|
"Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and
the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth
Him not." Malachi 3:18. "Hearken unto Me, ye that know
righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law." "Behold,
I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, . . . thou
shalt no more drink it again." I, even I, am He that comforteth
you." Isaiah 51:7, 22, 12. "For the mountains shall depart, and
the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, [p. 342] neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the
Lord that hath mercy on thee." Isaiah 54:10.
The great plan of redemption results in fully bringing back
the world into God's favor. All that was lost by sin is restored.
Not only man but the earth is redeemed, to be the eternal abode
of the obedient. For six thousand years Satan has struggled to
maintain possession of the earth. Now God's original purpose
in its creation is accomplished. "The saints of the Most High
shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even
forever and ever." Daniel 7:18.
"From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same
the Lord's name is to be praised." Psalm 113:3. "In that day
shall there be one Lord, and His name one." "And Jehovah shall
be king over all the earth." Zechariah 14:9. Says the Scripture,
"Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven." "All His
commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever."
Psalms 119:89; 111:7, 8. The sacred statutes which Satan has hated
and sought to destroy, will be honored throughout a sinless
universe. And "as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the
garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so
the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth
before all nations." Isaiah 61:11.
Click here to read the next chapter:
"The Tabernacle and Its Services"
|
