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From Here to Forever
government of God. During the Saviour’s earthly ministry, the great
deceiver was unmasked. The daring blasphemy of his demand that
Christ pay him homage, the unsleeping malice that hunted Him from
place to place, inspiring the hearts of priests and people to reject
His love and to cry, “Crucify him! crucify him!”—all this excited
the amazement and indignation of the universe. The prince of evil
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exerted all his power and cunning to destroy Jesus. Satan employed
men as his agents to fill the Saviour’s life with suffering and sorrow.
The pent-up fires of envy and malice, hatred and revenge, burst forth
on Calvary against the Son of God.
Now the guilt of Satan stood forth without excuse. He had
revealed his true character. Satan’s lying charges against the divine
character appeared in their true light. He had accused God of seeking
the exaltation of Himself in requiring obedience from His creatures
and had declared that while the Creator exacted self-denial from all
others, He Himself practiced no self-denial and made no sacrifice.
Now it was seen that the Ruler of the universe had made the greatest
sacrifice which love could make, for “God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself.”
2 Corinthians 5:19
. In order to destroy sin
Christ had humbled Himself and become obedient unto death.
An Argument in Man’s Behalf
All heaven saw God’s justice revealed. Lucifer had claimed
that the sinful race were beyond redemption. But the penalty of the
law fell upon Him who was equal with God, and man was free to
accept the righteousness of Christ and by penitence and humiliation
to triumph over the power of Satan.
But it was not merely to redeem man that Christ came to earth
to die. He came to demonstrate to all the worlds that God’s law is
unchangeable. The death of Christ proves it immutable and demon-
strates that justice and mercy are the foundation of the government
of God. In the final judgment it will be seen that no cause for sin
exists. When the Judge of all the earth shall demand of Satan, “Why
hast thou rebelled against Me?” the originator of evil can render no
excuse.
In the Saviour’s expiring cry, “It is finished,” the death knell of
Satan was rung. The great controversy was then decided, the final