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On The Edge of Time
The Origin of Evil
To many minds the origin of evil and the reason for its
existence are a source of great perplexity, and yet it is impossible to explain
its origin, or to give a reason for its existence. It is an intruder, for whose
existence no reason can be given. It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it,
is to defend it. Could it be excused, could a cause be shown for its existence,
it would cease to be sin. Our only definition of sin is that given in the word
of God; it is “the transgression of the law.”
Sin originated with him, who, next to Christ, stood highest
in the favor of God, and highest in power and glory among the inhabitants of
Heaven. Before his fall, Lucifer was the covering cherub, holy and undefiled.
The prophet of God declares, “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that
thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Eze. 28:15. Peace and joy,
in perfect submission to the will of Heaven, existed throughout the angelic
host. Love to God was supreme, love for one another impartial. Such was the
condition that existed for ages before the entrance of sin.
But over this happy state there came a change. Says the
prophet, addressing the prince of evil, “Thine heart was lifted up because of
thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.” Eze.
28:17. Though God had created Lucifer noble and beautiful, and had exalted him
to high honor among the angelic host, yet he had not placed him beyond the
possibility of evil. It was in Satan’s power, did he choose to do so, to pervert
these gifts. He might have remained in favor with God, beloved and honored by
all the angelic throng, presiding in his exalted position with generous,
unselfish care, exercising his noble powers to bless others and to glorify his
Maker. But, little by little, he began to seek his own honor, and to employ his
powers to attract attention and win praise to himself. He also gradually led the
angels over whom he ruled to do him service, instead of devoting all their
powers to the service of their Creator. This course perverted his own
imagination, and perverted those who yielded implicitly to his authority.
He was not immediately dethroned when he first ventured to
indulge the spirit of discontent and insubordination, nor even when he began to
present his false claim and lying representations before the loyal angels. Long
was he retained in Heaven. But as he stubbornly justified his course, and
maintained that he had no need of repentance, it became necessary for the Lord
of Heaven to vindicate His justice and the honor of His throne; and Satan and
all who sympathized with him were cast out.
By the same misrepresentation of the character of God as he
had practiced in Heaven, causing him to be regarded as severe and tyrannical,
Satan induced man to sin. And having succeeded thus far, he declared that God’s
unjust restrictions had led to man’s fall, as they had led to his own rebellion.
In the banishment of Satan from Heaven, God declared his
justice, and maintained the honor of his throne. But when man had sinned through
yielding to the deceptions of this apostate spirit, God gave an evidence of his
love by yielding up his only begotten Son to die for the fallen race. In the
atonement the character of God stands revealed. The mighty argument of the cross
demonstrates to the whole universe that God was in no wise responsible for the
course of sin that Lucifer had chosen; that it was no arbitrary withdrawal of
divine grace, no deficiency in the divine government, which inspired in him the
spirit of rebellion.
In the contest between Christ and Satan, during the Saviour’s
earthly ministry, the character of the great deceiver was unmasked. Nothing
could so effectually have uprooted Satan from the minds and affections of the
heavenly angels and the whole loyal universe as did his cruel warfare upon the
world’s Redeemer. The daring blasphemy of his demand that Christ should pay him
homage, his presumptuous boldness in bearing him to the mountain summit and the
pinnacle of the temple, the malicious intent betrayed in urging him to cast
himself down from the dizzy height, the unsleeping malice that hunted him from
place to place, inspiring the hearts of priests and people to reject his love,
and at the last to raise the cry “Crucify him! crucify him!”— all this excited
the amazement and indignation of the universe.
It was Satan that prompted the world’s rejection of Christ.
The prince of evil exerted all his power and cunning to destroy Jesus; for he
saw that the Saviour’s mercy and love, his compassion and pitying tenderness,
were representing to the world the character of God. Satan contested every claim
put forth by the Son of God, and employed men as his agents to fill the
Saviour’s life with suffering and sorrow. The sophistry and falsehood by which
he had sought to hinder the work of Jesus, the hatred manifested through the
children of disobedience, his cruel accusations against Him whose life was one
of unexampled goodness, all sprang from deep-seated revenge. The pent up fires
of envy and malice, hatred and revenge, burst forth on Calvary against the Son
of God, while all Heaven gazed upon the scene in silent horror.
Now the guilt of Satan stood forth without excuse. His lying
charges against the divine character and government appeared in their true
light. He had accused God of seeking merely the exaltation of himself in
requiring submission and obedience from his creatures, and had declared that
while the Creator exacted self-denial from all others, he himself practiced no
self-denial, and made no sacrifice. Now it was seen that for the salvation of a
fallen and sinful race, the Ruler of the universe had made the greatest
sacrifice which God could make. It was seen, also, that while Lucifer had opened
the door for the entrance of sin, by his desire for honor and supremacy, Christ
had, in order to destroy sin, humbled himself, and become obedient unto death.
Chapter 2
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