The Entrance of Sin—Shall it Exist Forever?
By John Nevins Andrews
THERE was a time when sin first began to exist. Before that time the universe of God was clean. Sin does not owe its existence to the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Wickedness is not one of the things which he has created. God abhors all iniquity, and has never yet even consented to its existence. He has not indeed forcibly prevented its entrance into his fair creation; but this he could not do if he left angels and men free moral agents. He did leave them such that they might form characters worthy of his approval and of his reward. We cannot fully explain the origin of sin. We know that it had a beginning. We also know that it began with Satan, the highest of all God's creatures. But we have no complete record of the manner in which sin first began in a sinless being. The fact that it did begin is sufficient for us, though we cannot definitely grasp the manner of its origin. Perhaps it would be as difficult to really explain the origin of evil as it is to show how God can take guilt from the penitent sinner, and restore to sinful beings their lost innocence. But the highest created being, as well as all other created intelligences, was subjected to trial. We cannot doubt that Satan's test was with reference to the Son of God. He was called to render obedience to some precept, the reason of which was not clear to his mind. Implicit confidence and cheerful obedience were due from him to his Creator. If other beings owed much to God, he far more. To him the highest place among created beings had been assigned. He had the fullest proof of his Creator's love, and it was eminently proper, and even necessary, that he should in return give proof of his love and fidelity to Him who created him. Some duty therefore was assigned him which was not explained, and which was adapted to prove his fidelity. He was tested with reference to the Son of God. He allowed the thought to enter and remain in his mind that God had bidden him do some unreasonable thing. That one evil thought of God is the root of all the sin that has since existed. This sin began with Satan. It began where all had been purity. How God viewed the entrance of this deadly evil is seen in that he cast it out of Heaven in the person of its author, and of all who sympathized with him. How the tempter gained the confidence of our first mother, and how Adam was drawn with her into rebellion, need not be stated. Though we have in the Bible only scattered hints respecting the fall of the angels, we have quite a full record of the fall of man. Again we see how God viewed sin; for Adam and Eve because of it were banished from paradise. But we need not enlarge upon the origin of this loathsome pestilence. It is a fixed fact that it has gained a foothold in the universe of God. But it is an intruder, a usurper. It came in by fraud. It has gained no rights by possession. God did not will its existence. He is no better pleased with it now than he was at its origin. In fact, it exists in defiance of the Almighty. We can well understand that after sin had broken out in the universe of God, Infinite Wisdom might see it best to suffer it to exist long enough to fully develop its awful character, so that when put down, all might see beyond a question the justice of God in the punishment inflicted, and that rebellion might never again occur. But is sin to be considered an eternal fixture in the universe of God? Having entered by fraud, shall it retain possession by force? We know that God is not pleased with its character, but is he compelled to regard it as a permanent institution in his universe? Sin is high treason against God. In the case of the angels, it was against so great light that it could not be pardoned. A Saviour was possible for man; and infinite love caused Christ to die for man. The blood of Christ is a sovereign antidote for sin, whenever men will avail themselves of it. Yet it is certain that though men can be cleansed from sin through that blood, comparatively few are actually cleansed by it. But God has another agent which he proposes to use in dealing with sin. That agent is fire. He prepared this for the devil and his angels, but he has informed us that all who persist in sin shall share this fire with them, Matt. 25:41. But this is not inflicted till the day of Judgment. This fire has no power to change guilt to innocence. It cannot render a sinful being pure in the sight of God. The only thing that can take guilt from the conscience is the blood of Christ, and this can only be effected when repentance is wrought in the sinner by the power of the Spirit of God. There is a limited time during which this work is possible. The limit is the Judgment. When that point is reached, God consigns all sinners to the fire. But shall sin have an eternal existence? Shall there always be a part of God's universe that shall be filled with everything loathsome and offensive in his sight? Will the endless torment of the wicked make the endless existence of sin a thing tolerable in God's sight? Satan has made evil his good. Shall such good be made by him an eternal fixture in God's creation? The time was, when everything in God's universe was very good? Satan has added to God's creation which was all pure and good, his own creation which is evil and only evil. Shall Satan's work prove as lasting as that of the Almighty? God planted in his garden every kind of good tree, and did not plant therein one evil tree. Satan has planted in God's garden trees of evil. Or to drop the figure, he has introduced into God's clean universe, sin, that loathsome and abominable thing which God abhors. Shall these offensive trees never cease to exist? Shall the universe never again be clean? Shall Satan's work always exist to mar the face of God's creation? Is evil to maintain a perpetual existence where God willed that only good should be found? These questions involve a prior question. It is not questioned that immortality is the gift of God. But the question is earnestly controverted: When is it that God confers immortality upon his creatures? Does he do it in the act of giving them existence, or does he withhold this infinite boon until they have finished the period of their probation? This is the previous question in this discussion. If he gives immortality in the very act of giving existence, then it is certain that Satan in grafting evil upon immortal trees has rendered it immortal. Sin is the empire of Satan. He delights in evil for its own sake. His empire if filled with immortal beings shall have an endless existence. God may fill that empire with pain, but he must forever behold the existence of that which is most displeasing and offensive in his sight. Thus it is assumed that when God made each rational being, he virtually said, “I decree that you shall live as long as I exist.” And thus, though placing every person upon probation to let them determine the question whether they will answer the end for which he created them, he determines in advance that their existence shall be eternal. If it be said that he must either give to his creatures an existence which is absolutely exempt from death as the penalty of rebellion, or else create them subject to disease and death, we answer that such is not the fact. Whatever God can give to his creatures, he can withdraw from them, unless he pledge his word that his gift shall never be recalled. Now God gave to Adam life without planting any seeds of death within him. There was with him no tendency to decay, and so long as he continued faithful, he was incapable of death. But God did not place the life of Adam on such a basis that he could not withdraw his gift from him in case he should rebel. He gave him life with certain conditions prescribed. If he violated these, the gift should be withdrawn. If he was faithful to his Creator until the period of his probation was accomplished, he should no longer hold the gift of God on condition, but should have it his by God's irrevocable decree. The difference between Adam in his unfallen state and that of the immortal saints is, that one held life on condition of obedience; the others by absolute gift, their obedience having been fully tested. The Scriptures nowhere assert the unconditional gift of life at their creation to angels and to men. Why then should we assume that God by absolute decree, or by the exercise of his infinite power, conferred on them by the act of creation such a gift of life that he cannot withdraw it without denying himself? Certainly, he cannot be said to have been under the necessity of acting thus. He could give man life with conditions annexed to it for a certain time and then confirm the gift to him by absolute decree when those conditions had been faithfully fulfilled. Every fact in the Bible goes to show that such was the plan upon which he designed to act in the case of man, and it is every way reasonable to believe that this was his purpose with respect to the angels. We cannot doubt that God created intelligent beings that they might glorify him. They are placed upon trial that they may prove themselves worthy of the place which God has given them. The gift of life is held by them upon conditions during this trial. If they are found worthy, it is confirmed to them without condition. If they rebel, God has it in his power to reduce them to the condition from which he raised them by creation, they having shown themselves unworthy of that existence which he gave them. God has not laid the foundation of an eternal empire for Satan by decreeing the endless existence of every intelligent being that he has created. He has placed all upon probation. The unconditional gift of life without end is given to those who are proved worthy of it by the trial.