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The Conflict Over, September 1
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
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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
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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 righteous, merciful,
self-denying, just.
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