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From Heaven With Love
tified that the Messiah’s coming was at hand. There was widespread
expectation of a mighty prince who should establish his kingdom in
Israel and come as a deliverer to the nations.
How Satan Almost Succeeded
“The fullness of the time” had come. Humanity, degraded
through ages of transgression, called for the coming of the Redeemer.
Satan had been working to make the gulf deep and impassable be-
tween earth and heaven. He had emboldened men in sin. It was
his purpose to wear out the forbearance of God so that He would
abandon the world to satanic jurisdiction.
Satan’s strife for supremacy seemed almost wholly successful. It
is true that in every generation, even among the heathen, there were
men through whom Christ was working to uplift the people from
sin. But these men were hated. Many suffered a violent death. The
dark shadow Satan cast over the world grew deeper and deeper.
Satan won his great triumph in perverting the faith of Israel. The
heathen had lost a knowledge of God and had become more and
more corrupt. So it was with Israel. The principle that man can save
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himself by his own works lay at the foundation of every heathen
religion; it had now become the principle of the Jewish religion.
The Jews defrauded the world by a counterfeit of the gospel.
They had refused to surrender themselves to God for the salvation of
the world, and they became agents of Satan for its destruction. The
people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth
were doing the work Satan desired them to do, taking a course to
misrepresent the character of God and cause the world to look upon
Him as a tyrant. Priests in the temple lost the significance of the
service they performed. They were as actors in a play. Ordinances
which God Himself had appointed were made the means of blinding
the mind and hardening the heart. God could do no more for man
through these channels.
God Pities the Lost World
All the agencies for depraving the souls of men had been put in
operation. The Son of God, looking upon the world with compassion,