136
The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 3
Satan and the powers of darkness! Thou hast swallowed up death in
victory! “And I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven, Now is come
salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of
his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accused
them before our God day and night.”
The casting down of Satan as an accuser of the brethren in Heaven
was accomplished by the great work of Christ in giving up his life.
Notwithstanding Satan’s persistent opposition, the plan of redemption
was being carried out. Man was esteemed of sufficient value for Christ
to sacrifice his life for him. Satan, knowing that the empire he had
usurped would in the end be wrested from him, determined to spare no
pains to destroy as many as possible of the creatures whom God had
created in his image. He hated man because Christ had manifested for
him such forgiving love and pity, and he now prepared to practice upon
him every species of deception by which he might be lost; he pursued
his course with more energy because of his own hopeless condition.
[195]
Christ came to earth to vindicate the claims of his Father’s law,
and his death shows the immutability of that law. But Satan thrusts
upon man the fallacy, that the law of God was abolished by the death
of Christ, and he thus leads many professed Christians to transgress
the Father’s commandments, while they assume devotion to his Son.
The Christian world is not sufficiently acquainted with the history
of Satan, and the terrible power that he wields. Many look upon him
as a mere imaginary being. Meanwhile he has crept into the popular
mind; he sways the people—he assumes the character of an angel
of light—he marshals his trained forces like a skilled general—he
has gained profound knowledge of human nature, and can be logical,
philosophical, or hypocritically religious.
He now prepared to work upon the minds of the priests in regard
to the event of the resurrection of Christ. He knew that, having already
fallen into his trap, and committed the horrible crime of slaying the
Son of God, they were entirely in his power, and their only course to
escape the wrath of the people was to persist in denouncing Jesus as
an impostor, and to accuse his disciples of stealing away his body that
they might declare him to be risen from the dead.
After the exceeding glory of the angelic messenger had faded from
the heavens and from the sepulcher, the Roman guards ventured to
raise their heads and to look about them. They saw that the great