Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 28, 1912

Editorial

By Editor

Closing the Controversy

FROM Eden lost to Eden restored, we read the long record of a continuous controversy. “There was war in heaven,” instigated by a mind that had set itself at variance with the mind of its Maker.

That controversy and that war were transferred to this earth when Satan purposed to do for man what he had done for the inhabitants of heaven who listened to his conspiracy.

God’s first admonition to the perfect pair in Eden was controverted by the arch-deceiver. There was a plain contradiction of the word of God, and a flattering encouragement to the pair to disobey God and become like gods themselves.

When they had accepted Satan’s suggestion and had disobeyed God, they realized in their own hearts and in their own appearance that they had done what they could never undo. Then, for the first time, they felt remorse, conviction, shame; for the first time realized the feeling of wrong committed. Satan had won his first battle over man. From then till now the agencies of God have been carrying on the operations that are to counteract the result of that victory of Satan over man.

But the deceiver had not desisted during any of that time. God taught Adam and Eve the consequences of their rash act, and then laid before them the only hope there was for the race. That hope lay in One who was to be the offspring of woman. So at the birth of Cain, Eve declared, “I have gotten a man from the Lord,” evidently thinking that this was the One through whom salvation would come. Presumably Satan thought so, too, for he put it into Cain’s heart to kill his brother Abel, and thus forestall the possibility of Cain’s ever being that One and doing that redemptive work. Then, when God promised a Seed to Abraham, Satan sought to adulterate and thwart the plan by bringing in a child in a way altogether different from what God purposed. Ishmael was born; but he was not the child of promise, and he soon showed a malignant spirit toward the one who did fill that place.

When Jacob and Esau, sons of Isaac, came to the estate of manhood, a deep and skilful plan was laid to bring about an enmity that would result in the death of Jacob, who was to be the father of the twelve tribes, through one of whom Messiah was to come. God overruled in this, and Jacob was spared, to become Israel, the prevailer with God, and the father of “the twelve tribes.”

Then the malignity of Satan established itself in the hearts of Israel’s children, and they sold their own brother into slavery; but God so overruled the result of that act that the slave boy became the instrument through which not only Israel and his offspring, but the inhabitants of Egypt and other countries, were enabled to subsist through the grievous seven-year famine. Satan meant to cut off the promised Seed by destroying Israel and his entire family.

When the time was ripe for the deliverer to be born who should lead the hosts of Israel out of Egyptian bondage and into the promised land, Satan caused a decree to go forth that all the male children born to the women of Israel should be put to death. The command was repeated and emphasized when the midwives were unwilling to become the executioners. Every male child was ordered to be thrown into the river. That this command was being carried out was shown by the course taken by the mother of Moses, first in hiding him three months at home, and then in secreting him in the little water-tight basket among the reeds and rushes of the Nile. Satan meant that Israel should never leave the bondage of Egypt; that Moses, the type of Christ, should never lead the people of God into the typical land of promise, but perish under the decree of Pharaoh. God preserved him, and he led the people out.

We find the same spirit manifested toward the youthful David in the court of Saul. Satan knew that David had been anointed to be king over Israel. This accounts for the seemingly erratic course of Saul toward him, and the satanic spirit which he showed on the occasions when he attempted to take David’s life, and for the persistency with which he sought to accomplish that object. David was destined not only to be the ruler over Israel, but one of the greatest of the prophets, through whom have come to the world the most blessed promises and encouragements in all the Bible. Satan would gladly have forestalled all that, as well as the wonderful teachings of wisdom by the son who followed him.

But the controversy was not over with that defeat. The enemy of God and man finally brought about the overthrow and scattering of the whole Jewish nation. He brought them into a bondage apparently as dark as that under which their fathers served in Egypt. But God remembered his promise concerning the Seed through whom should be restored the lost inheritance, through whom man should gain the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Israel, in repentance and deep humility, returns to the promised land; for Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea. He was born of the tribe of Judah, and he was born in the tribal home of Judah.

When the time of Christ’s birth was at hand, Satan felt that the crucial day had come. So he began to stir up the Roman ruler of Palestine, and finally the decree went forth that the male children of two years and younger in Bethlehem and the region round about should be slain. Satan intended, and Herod supposed, that thus would be accomplished the death of the child Jesus. Note the similarity between this decree and that of Pharaoh. Foiled in this, Satan pursued the “Seed of the woman” till the seal of the Roman official closed the door of Joseph’s new tomb over the sacrificed Redeemer. That seal and all Satan’s power could not hold him, and he came forth bringing with him the guaranty of eternal life for every soul who would believe and accept him.

From then till now the wrath of man’s enemy has been turned in deadly earnestness against those who accept that sacrifice and that infinite gift. Christ’s followers were worn out by that power during the twelve hundred sixty years of papal persecution, and we are drawing near to that time when another decree is to go forth by the instigation of that same power. This decree is to be directed against “as many as would not worship the image of the beast.” The penalty for refusing to perform that act of idolatry is death. Rev. 13:15-17. That is the decree that faces all who will be loyal to God and his truth in the not-distant future. It is not in the least difficult to see in this decree the same spirit, the same malignant animosity, the same cruel handiwork, that we have seen at work down through the ages against the purpose of God and the people of God. This last decree, unlike the others prompted by Satan, is to be a universal decree. It is to be against every soul in the world who will not bow to the dictates of that “beast” power, worship it, and receive its mark or the number of its name. We hear more and more frequent mutterings of that on-coming storm which is

to try the loyalty of every soul. The warnings of the Word concerning it have been faithful warnings, and are now being given. The same being who deceived Adam and Eve into death, plotted the destruction of their posterity, conspired against the life of Moses, against David, against all Israel, against Christ, is planning this last onslaught upon those who purpose to be faithful to their Maker. But the Protector of his people will not leave them in this their “time of Jacob’s trouble.” Those who stand at last upon the sea of glass, having the harps of God, are they who have “gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.” Rev. 15:2. That seals the destiny of every soul upon the earth, and events now occurring in the nations of earth are telling in very certain tones that the time of that sealing is near at hand.

C. M. S.