THE END OF SIN'S DOMINION.
By George W. Reaser
Will Saved Man Fall Again?
In the minds of some, the beauties of the world to come are tarnished, its glories dimmed, its hope shaded with sadness, by the thought of the possibility of a second fall, another reign of sin and death. This feeling may be fostered by disappointment and discouragement resulting from repeated failure to overcome sin in this present life and under existing conditions. If such could have the experience of living absolutely and positively above sin now, it would give them courage and brighten their hope. What assurance have we that, having once gained the bliss of heaven, we will not fall again? Adam fell under favorable conditions to stand. Before he yielded, he was not weakened by original sin, nor by a nature obtained from sinning ancestry, and therefore had no hereditary5tendency toward sin. Everything that heart could desire was his to enjoy. His associations were pure and elevating, living, as he did, in daily communion with angels of light and glory. There was no possible excuse for disobedience on his part. Lucifer, possessed of the nature of angels, and occupying a position in heaven next to the Son of God, fell to the lowest depths of the condition and regions of the lost; and in his fall one-third of the angelic host, who, for untold ages had enjoyed the privilege of worshiping around the throne of the eternal Father, crying, “Holy, holy, holy,” were, by their own choice of leadership, dragged down to utter ruin and despair with him. What, then, will protect the inhabitants of the world to come from the possibility of a second fall? We have a positive statement from the Lord, upon which the true believer can rest. He says, “He will make an utter end; affliction shall not rise up the second time.” Affliction is an essential concomitant of sin. Now, is it arbitrarily decreed by the Creator that it “shall not,” or will it be a physical impossibility for the redeemed to sin, and thus cause it to “rise up the second time”? We are persuaded that neither of the positions stated gives the reason for which we seek, but rather is it found in the thought that sin, having once lost its power and dominion, being effectually crushed by facts, principles, and that great teacher, experience,—which will be patent to all who then have existence, the same appealing, not only to their reason and intelligence, but also to the deepest emotions of the heart, and to the keenest sense of right and wrong, constituting the restraining and upholding power,—will be thus prevented from ever again precipitating grief, woe, ruin, desolation, into the universe of God. With Whom Did Sin Originate?
It “originated with him, who, next to Christ, had been most honored of God.” Like fire it could have been quenched at its inception, and the head of its author, like a serpent, could have been crushed by a sufficiently powerful heel, when the first seeds of rebellion were sown in heaven, had not an eternal principle been involved which prevented. Sin could have been forgiven its originator, and infinite love and mercy would gladly have extended pardon to Lucifer, had he accepted it, but neither sin nor Satan could be wisely conquered by force. The only power in the universe that could consistently conquer sin and Satan, was infinite love. But love must, per force of circumstances, develop, ripen, yield its legitimate fruit; and then one who never yielded to sin, yet who was placed under the most severe possible circumstances and conditions to be tested by the power of sin and Satan, still overcoming and gloriously triumphing over both, making “a show of them openly,” can crush the power of both, and, in so doing, solve the question which has been held in the balance for ages, as to the claims of Satan concerning God's love, justice, and power; and in the solution demonstrate to all the universe “who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords:” at which time “every knee shall bow, . . . and every tongue confess that Jesus is Christ, to the glory of God the Father.” This brings us to the first reason why sin and sinners, their power once fully crushed, will never again gain the ascendency, namely,— The Object-Lesson of Sin and Its Results
will have been so complete, so appalling, so repulsive, that no creature in the universe will ever care to risk its direful consequences again. “Who writes the history
Of men, and writes it true, must write them bad;
Who reads, must read of violence and blood.
The man who could the story of one day
Peruse, the wrongs, oppressions, cruelties,
Deceits, and perjuries, and vanities,
Rewarded worthlessness, rejected worth,
Assassinations, robberies, thefts, and wars,
Disastrous accidents, life thrown away,
Divinity insulted, heaven despised,
Religion scorned,—and not been sick at night,
And sad,—had gathered greater store of mirth,
Than ever wise man in the world could find.”
Thus will sin's dominion be broken, for it will be recognized that everything that has ever been done in the universe that is sinful, everything that has caused misery, woe, and death, was wrapped up in the first seed of evil sown in eternity—the rebellion of Satan in heaven—wrapped up, hence concealed from view, as is the most poisonous plant in its seed. Many are perplexed, and question the overruling power and infinite love of the Creator, when they behold the suffering of the innocent in this present world, forgetting that, as one of the natural results of sin, “the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him [Adam] who hath subjected the same,” and ignoring the important fact that when sin once entered the universe, it must continue, run its course, give its seed opportunity to grow and ripen into suffering and death—its legitimate fruits—to the end that when in the fulness of “times” it can be wisely crushed, the object-lesson will have been so complete that its second rise will be impossible. Thus will be secured to all creatures having existence, eternal protection against sin. Certainly the inhabitants of this sin-sick world will have felt its power and tasted its terrible train of woes so keenly, that those of them who are redeemed from this “vale of tears,” will shrink with horror from the thought of entering its gloomy shades again. Even now we live in anxious yet glad anticipation of the end of sin's dominion, and the ushering in of a sinless state, and “we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” It seems reasonable that those who attain to righteousness under adverse circumstances, and receive its God-given seal of immortality at the appearing of our Saviour, will never lose character thereafter. But the Lord makes ample provision for escape from the power of sin, even while we dwell in sinful flesh and in a sinful world. Hear Him saying, “Sin shall not have dominion over you;” “for what the law could not do, in that it was weak thru the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” and thus “strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man,” we “can do all things thru Christ Jesus who strengtheneth” us. The power, then, which must be appropriated to overcome sin in sinful flesh, is the same as that by which our Saviour overcame under exactly the same conditions as our own; and to help our humanity to grasp the thought, the Holy Spirit is sent in the name of Christ, altho the Spirit of the Father and Son is one and the selfsame Spirit. Hence by His dwelling in our hearts by faith, we can do the will of the Father. He not only sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, but in answer to faith and prayer He sends Him now to dwell in our sinful flesh. The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that He (Christ) could solicit from His Father for the exaltation of His people. The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. . . . It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Thru the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church.—Desire of Ages, Workers' Edition, pp. 802, 803.