The Scriptures Our Only Safeguard
By W. A. Colcord
The Scriptures Our Only Safeguard.
WHEN Satan, in his final deception, personates Christ, and in kingly appearance and with a glory surrounding him surpassing anything mortal eyes have seen, professes to be Christ come the second time, how may we know that it is Satan and not Christ Himself? This is an interesting and an important question. One thing is certain, God would never permit such a deception to occur without first giving us both a warning concerning it, and a means of detecting it when it comes; for He has promised not to permit us to be tempted “above that ye are able,” and that with every temptation He would make a “way of escape,” so that we would be able to bear it. 1 Cor. 10:13. No one, therefore, need be deceived. Eve need not have been deceived by Satan in the beginning. God not only warned Adam and Eve of the wily foe, but He gave them sufficient instruction to shield them from his temptations, and enable them to detect him in whatever form he might appear. He had given them a plain command, an explicit “Thou shalt not,” and had also told them what would be the consequences should they disobey. In other words, He had given them His Word. So long as they held to that, and followed that, they were safe. Nothing could harm them. So now, God has given us His Word. As a means of detecting all manner of sorceries and false teachings He has said to all the world, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:19, 20. And in order to prepare the world for the deceptions of the last days, He has caused His Word to be multiplied as never before, so that every soul who desires may have a copy, and know for himself what God has said. Just now, when Satan is to work “with all power and signs and lying wonders,” God is giving the world His Word by the millions of copies, so that whoever is deceived may be without excuse. It is God’s design that all should study the Bible just as diligently as Christ studied it when He was on earth, and to meet the sophistries and temptations of the devil just as He met them. When Satan, in the form of a kingly and beautiful young person, tempted Christ to fall down and worship him, Christ detected the true character of the one with whom He was conversing, and said, “Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Matt. 4:8–11. So when Satan again appears, this time to deceive the whole world, and if possible the very elect, there will be one, and but one, sure and infallible means of detecting him, and that will be the Word of God. But no one will be prepared to meet him with this unless he has familiarized himself with it. No one can say, “It is written,” unless he knows what is written. From this we may see the imperative necessity of studying the Word of God now while we have opportunity; and not only of studying it, but of believing every word we find in it. Adam and Eve were led first to doubt, then to disbelieve, and finally openly to disobey God’s word. Christ, our Example, believed every word of God. He, the author of the Word, had said, “Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” Deut. 8:3. He clung to the Word. So also must we. What, therefore, is there in the Bible that will enable us to detect Satan as Satan when he appears in the assumed character of Christ? Two points especially are worthy of note. When he comes, both the manner of his coming, and what he teaches when he comes, will be out of harmony with the Word of God. 1. When Christ comes, the Bible says He comes “in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory;” with “all the holy angels with Him;” “with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God;” as visible as the lightning flash spanning the whole heavens; and that “every eye shall see Him.” Matt. 24:30; 25:31; 1 Thess. 4:16; Matt. 24:27; Rev. 1:7. Satan will not come in this way. He will not be permitted to counterfeit the manner of Christ’s second advent, but will appear in different parts of the earth, working miracles, and professing that he is Christ. 2. Christ ever taught in harmony with the Word. He upheld the law of God, and said that whosoever would break one of the least of God’s commandments, and teach men so, would be of least esteem in the reign of heaven. But when Satan, in the assumed character of Christ, appears, he will do this very thing. He will teach that Sunday is the Sabbath; that he, as Christ, has changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and that those who refuse to observe this day are dishonoring him and blaspheming his name. But in all His Word, God has said nothing of the kind. Nowhere has He called Sunday the Sabbath or Lord’s day, or commanded men to observe it in honor of Christ. Nowhere has He pronounced a blessing for keeping it, or threatened a curse for not keeping it. By this also, therefore, may the true character of Satan be detected when he appears. He will teach contrary to the Word. We are to apply the rule to him, the same as to all who are inspired by him: “To the law and to the testimony; if he speaks not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in him.” He who began a warfare against the law and government of God in heaven, will keep it up to the last on earth. How thankful, therefore, should we be that we have the Bible! We should prize it above rubies. And how carefully, how diligently, and how faithfully should we study it, to know just what God has said! The perils of the last days are upon us; deceptions innumerable surround us; and the “hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev. 3:10), is near at hand. Who will now prepare himself to pass through all these safely, and to stand before the Son of man when He appears? May God bless every one who has followed us through the studies of this series of articles; and when Christ Himself comes, may we be prepared to look up and say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” Isa. 25:9.