The Promise in Eph 3:6 #5

By Oscar M. Baker

The passages show that Satan at one time occupied the position of King-Priest: "The workmanship of they tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee." (Kingship). "Thy pomp is brought down to the grave and thy viols." (Kingship). "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth...upon the holy mountain of God." (Priesthood.) He may have typified that office which can now only be fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ, the office of Priest upon His throne.

These then are some of the pointers which, considered together, indicate to us the probable explanation of the phrase, "The Devil was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." By means of such scriptural hints we are able to understand in a measure some of those mighty happenings that shook the first heaven and earth.

The devil sinned from the beginning (1 John 3:8) by hating the One to Whom he bare some relationship. Because of this hatred he abode in death. What then was this new condition called death? Primarily, it was the opposite or cessation of life, and this fundamental definition has since applied to death which is natural or spiritual. Further it is the negation of those things which God had desired His creation to enjoy. However, this is not all, for in its far reaching effects death has become that state or condition of complete and effectual separation from Christ - the one in Whom life is inherent. Again, death is God's just punishment for sin, and although the full effects of such a sentence may be delayed for a time (as in the case of Satan and Adam) yet is complete outworking is certain. Satan sinned in Eden the Garden of God and was judged accordingly. But the complete fulfilment of the sentence passed upon him awaits that future destroying agency, the lake of fire. This will immediately precede the final restoration of God's creation, for after describing this awful scene of the second death, John proceeds: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away." Thus we realize that God's Word will not fail, and even though it takes many centuries for His purposes to be worked out they will, nevertheless, be fully accomplished.

The desire to be As God was the direct cause of Satan's downfall and, remarkable as it may seem, a repetition of this sin eventually brought a similar ruin upon the whole human race. It is written: "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12).

The fact of this ruin is clear, but what of its background? The lie that Satan had propounded in the early creation had been repeated. To Eve it was first uttered.

Contd.