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The Conflict Over, January 6
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Matthew 5:18
.
When Christ entered upon His campaign, Satan met Him and contested
every inch of ground, exerting his utmost powers to conquer Him. Much was
involved in this controversy. Intense interests were at stake. The questions
to be answered were: “Is God’s law imperfect, in need of being amended
or abrogated? or is it immutable? Is God’s government stable? or is it
in need of changes?” Not only before those living in the city of God, but
before the inhabitants of all the heavenly universe, were these questions to be
answered....
From the manger to the cross Satan followed the Son of God. Temptations
beat upon Him like a tempest. But the more fierce the conflict, the more
familiar He became with the temptations wherewith man is beset, and the
better prepared He was to succor the tempted.
The severity of the trial through which Christ passed was proportionate
to the value of the object to be gained or lost by His success or failure.
Not merely the interests of one world were involved. This world was the
battlefield, but all the worlds that God has created were affected by the result
of the conflict....Satan sought to make it appear that he was working for the
liberty of the universe. Even while Christ was on the cross, the enemy was
determined to make his arguments so varied, so deceptive, so insidious, that
all would be convinced that God’s law was tyrannical. He himself laid every
scheme, planned every evil, inflamed every mind to bring affliction on Christ.
He himself instigated the false accusations against One who had done only
good. He himself inspired the cruel deeds that added to the suffering of the
Son of God—the pure, the holy, the innocent.
By this course of action Satan has forged a chain by which he himself
will be bound. The heavenly universe will bear witness to the justice of God
in punishing him. Heaven itself saw what heaven would be, if he were in it....
Not merely in the minds of a few finite creatures in this world, but in the
minds of all the inhabitants of the heavenly universe, has the immutability
of God’s law been established.... With one voice they extolled God as righ-
teous, merciful, self-denying, just.—
Manuscript 1, January 6, 1902,
, “God’s
Justice.”
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