Why Satan Exists by W. S. Chapman

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Aug 21, 1913

Why Satan Exists

By W. S. Chapman

W. S. CHAPMAN

“I THOUGHT that the course of the Christian to heaven Would be bright as the summer and glad as the morn. Thou showed’st me the path; it was dark and rough, All rugged with rocks, all tangled with thorn. I dreamed of celestial rewards and renown; I asked for the palm branch, the robe, and the crown; I asked, and thou showed’st me a cross and a grave.”

“When Satan rebelled, why was he not destroyed at once? Why has he been permitted to live and to cause such terrible suffering and such frightful woes to come upon the world?”

How often such questions are asked! How often the justice and love of God are impugned when an answer is not speedily forthcoming! Yet it is a fact that in sparing Satan and in permitting suffering and sorrow to fill the world through Satan’s acts, God is proving not only his infinite wisdom, but his wonderful love. It is a fact, too, that the necessities of the situation compelled the Father to spare Satan, for a season, and allow sin to develop and be seen as “exceeding sinful.” There was no other way through which God could reveal himself so that his character could be comprehended by angels and by men.

“Even when he was cast out of heaven, Infinite Wisdom did not destroy Satan. Since only the service of love can be acceptable to God, the allegiance of his creatures must rest upon a conviction of his justice and benevolence. The inhabitants of heaven and of the worlds, being unprepared to comprehend the nature or consequences of sin, could not then have seen the justice of God in the destruction of Satan. . . . For the good of the entire universe through ceaseless ages, he must more fully develop his principles, that his charges against the divine government might be seen in their true light by all created beings, and that the justice and mercy of God and the immutability of his law might be forever placed beyond all question.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, page 42.

In all things God overrules for good. In permitting sin and suffering to continue, he uses both to rescue, to purify, and to prepare man for an eternal life in his presence.

“Christ can look on the misery of the world without a shade of sorrow for having created man. In the human heart he sees more than sin, more than misery. In his infinite wisdom and love he sees man’s possibilities, the height to which he may attain. He knows that even though human beings have abused their mercies and destroyed their God-given dignity, yet the Creator is to be glorified in their redemption.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VII, page 269.

Finite minds can exercise judgment only by means of comparison. Satan accused God of being unjust, tyrannical, and cruel. The angels had no means of ascertaining the truth or falsity of the charges. They knew nothing of evil. They knew God only as a God of love. They had never witnessed an act of mercy on his part, and knew nothing of the nature of mercy. Its exercise did not become a possibility until after the introduction of sin. Angels knew not that they were under a law until sin made it apparent and revealed Satan as a transgressor of the law of God, and a being needing an exercise of mercy. The grace of God then became apparent, and the mercy of God found a channel of usefulness.

“The angels look with awe and amazement upon the mission of Christ to the world. They marvel at the love that moved him to give himself a sacrifice for the sins of men.” “Angels marveled that Christ should undertake what seemed to them a hopeless task. They marveled that God could tolerate a race so sinful. They could see no room for love.”—Id., pages 266, 225.

If God had stricken Satan at once before sin developed, there would always have remained a query regarding the truth or falsity of his charge. Possibly this might in time have become a seed which, germinating, would result in another rebellion. With the introduction of sin it became necessary that God should be comprehended not only as a God of love, but also as a God of mercy.

“God’s love for the fallen race is a peculiar manifestation of love,—a love born of mercy; for human beings are all undeserving. Mercy implies imperfection of the object toward which it is shown. It is because of sin that mercy was brought into active exercise.”—Id., page 264.

And so we read:—

“Take away suffering and need, and we should have no way of understanding the mercy and love of God, no way of knowing the compassionate, sympathetic Heavenly Father.”—Id., page 226.