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Prince Of This World
"The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me."--John 14:30.
OUR Lord's reference here is to the great adversary of God and deceiver
of men who for six thousand years past has pursued a course of systematic
opposition to, and defiance of, the Almighty Jehovah, the great Emperor of the
universe. He is elsewhere called the prince of the power of the air, and that
old serpent which is the devil and Satan. He is also called Beelzebub, the
prince of devils.--Matt. 12:24.
Every reference to him represents him as an intelligent being of great
power and influence, and an ambitious leader. Yet in the beginning of his
existence he was pure and perfect, an intelligent creature of God, created
through the agency of his only begotten Son, without whom nothing was made that
was made.* (John 1:3.) Previous to his fall into sin he is
spoken of as Lucifer, a morning star (a glorious being of creation's early
morning).
*See issue of April 15, '93.
Referring to his fall, the Lord, who declares that he has no pleasure in
the death of him that falls into sin and the consequent condemnation to death,
says, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning!" Then he shows that undue ambition was the cause of his fall,
saying, "For thou hast said in thine heart, Into heaven [the position of
power] will I ascend; above the stars of God [other sons of the morning] will I
exalt my throne; and I will sit also upon the mount of the assembly in the
farthest end of the north [universal dominion]; I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds; I will be equal to the Most High."-- Isa.
14:12-14. (That this language applies also, symbolically, to Papacy is entirely
proper; for Papacy is Satan's own work in his own likeness.)
Thus, instead of humbly and thankfully appreciating the favor of God
which brought him into existence and crowned him with glory and honor as a
bright star of creation's early morning, and instead of returning due filial
reverence, love and submission to his Creator's righteous will, Satan
cultivated a spirit of pride; until his rising ambition aspired first to be a
leader and chief of the other stars of the morning (the position already filled
by the only begotten Son of God--John 1:1-3; Col.
1:15-17), and finally to rival the Most High himself, as king of the universe.
How different was the course of him who was actually above the morning
stars, the angelic sons of creation's morning,--the only begotten Son of the
Father, his honored agent in the [R1686 : page 250] creation
of all things--not only of all the physical universe, but of all intelligences
as well. Of him we read that, "though being in a form of God [a mighty
one], yet he did not meditate a usurpation, but [on the contrary] divested
himself [of his glory], taking a bondman's form, and was made in the likeness
of men. And, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself [yet more],
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
"Wherefore," says the Apostle [because of his humility and
obedience], "God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, both of
things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father." (Phil. 2:6-11--Diaglott.) Thus, in accordance
with a principle which God has laid down-- that he will abase the proud and
exalt the humble (Matt. 23:12; Jas. 4:6)--we
see our Lord Jesus now exalted to the very position to which Satan through
pride and ambition aspired, while Satan has been degraded, "cut down [or
limited] to the earth" (Isa. 14:12), and sentenced to
final destruction.
Satan evidently had no faith in God's power, or perhaps in his
willingness, to destroy him. Reasoning from the fact of his long continued
existence, and his unimpaired powers without any evidence of approaching
dissolution, he concluded that his life could not be terminated. Consequently
his schemes for power and dominion were deep laid and far reaching, having, as
he supposed, ample time for full development.
His ambitious policy seems to have begun to take shape immediately after
the creation of man, through whose posterity, as they should multiply and
attain the grand possibilities which he saw before them, he thought he saw his
opportunity for the gratification of his hopes--for laying the foundation of
his future dominion. And when he realized the restraint placed upon him, which
limited the sphere of his influence to the earth, he seems to have determined
to make the most of his opportunities among men.
From the promise of deliverance to mankind through the coming deliverer,
he learned that a plan was already formed, the intended outcome of which was to
be the triumph of the Son of God, whom he regarded with jealous hatred as a
mighty rival.
It surely was no part of his original policy to prostrate the human race
in death; and when to Eve he contradicted the threat of Jehovah, and declared,
"Ye shall not surely die," he probably believed the lie, having first
deceived himself, as most deceivers do. His object, seemingly, was to transfer
man's allegiance from God to himself. He would represent God as a tyrant,
curtailing the pleasures and powers of his creatures that he might have no
rivals. And hence he said to Eve, "God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods." Thus
too, Satan would pose as benefactor and liberator of men as he has often done
since. And Satan's perverted heart may have reached that conclusion --that God
was an ambitious tyrant and he, Satan, the true friend of liberty and progress.
At all events, the death-penalty pronounced and executed upon the race was, we
believe, an unlooked-for frustration of his plans. With this thought in mind,
we see a continuation of the same line of policy, and an effort on the part of
Satan, to outwit the Almighty, in the introduction of a new element among men,
when some of the angels, under his seductive influence, were induced to leave
their first estate* and to assume and retain the human form and take to
themselves wives of the daughters of men (Gen. 6:1,2,4; Jude
6,7), thus imparting a new life principle to the Adamic stock, the result of
which was a race of "mighty men of renown," who, presumably, might
live forever. This was a desperate and masterly stroke of policy; but again God
put forth his power and frustrated the scheme, destroying with a flood the
whole mongrel race, and preserving only Noah with his family, who was
"perfect in his generation;" i.e., of pure, unmixed Adamic stock.--Gen. 6:9.
*See issue of July 15, '94.
But, nothing daunted, Satan, the defiant rebel, began his work after the
flood among the sons of Noah, and with varying success has since pursued his
policy among the kingdoms of this world. And God has not specially interfered, [R1686 : page 251] and will not, until the end of this
present evil world, when his time will have come for the setting up of Christ's
Kingdom. Then, he declares, Satan shall be firmly fettered and imprisoned for a
thousand years. His policy during the period termed "this present evil
world" --from the flood to the dawn of the Millennium --has been on the
same line of scheming for power. Ever working in the hearts of the children of
disobedience, he has always kept in power a majority who were not lovers of God
and righteousness, as the pages of history fully attest; and, working through
the ambitions and selfishness of men, he has overturned kingdoms and
revolutionized society with reckless indifference to miseries of men, in
establishing his own dominion as "the prince of this world."
To this our Lord referred when, just previous to his crucifixion, he
said to his disciples, "Hereafter I will not talk much with you; for the
prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." All along he had
been in the world, and had been plotting and scheming and manipulating the
affairs of men; but soon he was to come in the power of his kingdom, which we
have seen to be the counterfeit kingdom of Christ, which was actually set up in
the year 800 of the Christian era under the name of "The Holy Roman
Empire." "Hereafter"-- after his death and resurrection--earth's
rightful prince would have little to say; he would not interfere with the
workings of the mystery of iniquity; he would permit the prince of this [R1687 : page 251] world to plot and scheme and
develop his plans for setting up his counterfeit kingdom and doing what he
could to frustrate the plan of Jehovah for the establishment of Christ's
Kingdom.
From the pages of history we see how his kingdom was set up on a
foundation of error, and how it was established on the basest principles of
unrighteousness, with fire and fagot and sword and every device of torture
wherewith to crush out truth and righteousness. And on the other hand, we see
with what cunning craft he has endeavored to ensnare, entrap and lead astray,
or, failing in this, to persecute the embryo Kingdom of God, the Christian
Church, both the Head, Christ Jesus and all the members of his body. But when
God's time for the establishment of Christ's Kingdom comes, Satan's kingdom
will be brought to naught as effectually as was his former purpose at the time
of the flood.
And even after the Millennial reign of Christ, notwithstanding the
manifest futility of all his past endeavors, Satan's ambition, even then, will
lead to an attempt to establish some measure of authority and influence among
men. When, under the reign of Christ, the resurrection of the dead and the
blessing of all the families of the earth has been accomplished, Satan will be
loosed. It will be for only a little season (Rev. 20:7,3);
for, his heart remaining unchanged, he will soon see a new avenue to the
success of his long-cherished ambition, and be inspired with a fresh hope that
his original purpose may yet be accomplished, and that victory may very shortly
be his. Then he will see not merely a perfect human pair with power to produce
a mighty race destined to live forever, but a race restored to life and vigor. His
thought will be, If I can win this mighty race to my standard, my triumph and
exaltation will be speedily accomplished. Again, therefore, he will figure as a
leader, though, as now, unrecognized by men. Doubtless the temptation will
again rest upon his old doctrine--that they shall not surely die, even if they
do disregard and oppose the will of God. And those among men in whom the
goodness of God has not wrought the spirit of humility and filial submission to
his acknowledged superior wisdom, but, on the contrary, in whom pride has
asserted itself, will easily be deceived and led into this error of believing
that God either cannot or will not destroy them in a second death. God will
permit Satan to work for a little season; and no doubt he will work with all
the zeal which a hope of speedy victory would naturally inspire. But he shall
not succeed beyond the point which God permits for the final testing of
mankind, to prove who are worthy and who are unworthy of everlasting life. When
this is accomplished, then will take place the destruction of Satan and all who
follow his leading.
Thus discerning the general policy of our great adversary, we are
enabled the better to understand his various devices and to discover his secret
workings; and hence we should be [R1687 : page 252] the
better guarded against his influence. In all his plottings and workings we see
the evidence of an intellectuality which, though like the human, is far
superior to it in power and scope, and with resources upon which to draw which
are beyond the range of the human powers. Before the mind's eye, as represented
in the Word of God, he stands out as a great intellectual giant, with an
accumulation of more than six thousand years of knowledge and experience. What
a mighty foe for poor fallen humanity to combat, with our present brief
experience of three-score years and ten, and that in a degenerating and dying
condition!
He is full of ambition for self-exaltation, puffed up with arrogant
pride which so over-estimates his own greatness that he considers himself
worthy of the honor, power and glory of God who gave him being, and is moved
with merciless and continuous envy and hatred of the Son of God, as well as of
the Heavenly Father who exalted him; and his whole career is untiringly devoted
to his own ambitions and to frustration of the divine plans, which he vainly
presumes to accomplish. In the pursuance of his policy he is utterly reckless
of its cost to humanity. Men in whose hearts he can work are so many tools in
his hand, whom he uses to oppose the principles of righteousness and truth. (Eph. 2:2.) For the accomplishment of his purposes there is no
measure of hypocrisy which he would spurn (2 Cor. 11:14), no
depth of iniquity to which he would not descend (John 13:27;
2 Thes. 2:9,10), no measure of cruelty that he would spare, and no height of
folly to which he would not lead his deluded victims. He is a hypocrite, a
deceiver, a tyrant and a merciless enemy of all who stand in the way of his ambitions.
Look out for him! He will dog your steps; he will blind your eyes; he will stop
your ears; he will fetter and hand-cuff and mentally chain you to his
chariot-wheels, if you beware not of him. He it is who now "has the
dominion of death"--whose power is manifest throughout the earth among
those under condemnation to death. Here he goes about as a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour. (1 Pet. 5:8.) In the great Papal
system, the most complete representative of his policy, his lionlike strength
has most fully appeared, and his lionlike jaws have greedily devoured every
interest of his deluded victims, while with the fires of persecution he has
sought to devour in another sense the faithful few, who, despite his roaring
anathemas, have bravely withstood his power. But, nevertheless, his days are
numbered and his end is sure; for it is written that God will destroy him
"holding the dominion of death [not the eternal dominion and glory and
power to which he aspired, but an ignominious dominion amid sin and death, over
poor fallen humanity], that is, the devil."--Heb. 2:14
--Rotherham; Rom. 16:20; Rev. 20:10.
A clear distinction, however, should be borne in mind, as between Satan
and those angels that "kept not their first estate." Satan has sinned
wilfully against so great light, and has so persisted in his evil course, that
infinite wisdom finds no place to do more for him.
As children of God, therefore, in the midst of Satan's dominion and in
opposition to his power, let us beware "lest Satan should get an advantage
of us [through one or another of the numerous snares he has set for our feet];
for we are not ignorant of his devices." (2 Cor. 2:11.)
"Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil; for we wrestle not against flesh and blood. [There are
mighty invisible powers under the leadership of the prince of this world
plotting to accomplish the stumbling of the "feet" of the body of
Christ, and flesh and blood are only used as tools for that purpose, by the
great adversary], but [we wrestle] against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in
heavenly places [in places of authority and power." (Eph.
6:11,12, margin.) Yet, if well armed with the whole armor which God supplies,
and following our Captain's leading, we are safe; for greater is he that is for
us than all that are against us.
W.T. R-1686 a : page 249 – 1894 r.