HATRED OF SATAN TO CREATIVE POWER.
By W. S. Ritchie
All through the history of the controversy between evil and good the enmity of Satan has been especially directed against everything that reveals the creative power of God. For instance, when Moses threw down his rod before Pharaoh,—it became a serpent, in token of the character and power of the One who had sent him. Satan, alarmed lest the source of creative power should be discerned, immediately counterfeited the miracle, that he might bring doubt into the minds of those present. The healing of the lame man by Peter and John at the Beautiful gate, excited the anger of Satan, because it revealed a power that was able to take the captive from his own cruel grasp. When Lazarus was raised from the dead, Satan’s wrath was aroused to such an extent that he sought to put not only Jesus but Lazarus also to death. This was because the latter’s presence was ample proof that a power existed which was able to undo Satan’s greatest triumph — death. He also sought to kill Paul for preaching the resurrection of the dead. No wonder that Satan hates everything that reveals the goodness shown in the wonderful power of God to create. If man once knows the secret of it, he escapes like a bird from the snare of the fowler. The most desperate efforts of the enemy will be put forth to keep this knowledge from us. He will imitate the healing of the sick, conversion, and everything that reveals God’s power to save. And the Sabbath, which was made for the express purpose of pointing us to this creative power, will be hated, and opposed to the utmost by every device that a great and fallen angel can invent. Our only safety, therefore, is in the Lord Jesus, to whom all power is given, both in heaven and in earth.