THE TEMPTER: HIS HISTORY AND NATURE
I. _Satan's Fall and its Effects_
We have already reminded ourselves that it is as important to
understand somewhat of the enemy's force and resources as it is to have
our own equipment and training complete. Let us therefore consider the
adversary, for next to the unceasing recollection of the presence,
power, and goodness of God, the most necessary thing for the Christian
soldier is the recollection of the presence and character of the enemy.
Vigilance in maintaining this recollection is what the Apostle solemnly
commands.[1]
We cannot speak with theological exactness of the cause and occasion of
the fall of Satan and his rebel host, for God has revealed but little
concerning it; but when we compare Scripture with Scripture, it seems
inevitable that the sin of Satan was one of pride, and, very probably,
{17} its particular form was a desire to make himself equal with God.
In the account given in Revelation of the war in heaven, St. Michael,
whose name is simply a Hebrew word meaning "Who is like God?" is
mentioned as the captain of God's host, who fought against the dragon
and his angels, and overcame and cast them out.[2] It would seem that
the leader of the loyal angels took his name from the battle cry with
which the armies of God, as they pressed upon the rebel ranks,
repudiated the blasphemous claim of him who was seeking to be like the
Most High.[3]
As we think of Satan as he is to-day, and as he meets us in the
conflict, it will be of great value to us to keep definitely in mind
the effect that his fall must have had upon his nature and powers.
Not only is the adversary finite, with all the limitations common to
finite beings, but he is one who, by his fall from original
righteousness, has become a blasted creature, maimed and wounded in all
his faculties.
Man, too has fallen, and the blight is also upon {18} all his powers;
but with every return to God in penitence man's powers are recuperated;
he regains somewhat of his former strength. Nay, more, the spiritual
strength we lay hold of through penitence is often greater than that
which we lost through sin. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more
abound."[4] God through the Precious Blood of His Son so mightily
overrules the evil that, as we think of our sin, we can indeed
triumphantly cry, "_O felix culpa!_"
Not so with Satan and his companions. From the day of their fall the
poison of the evil that is in them has been working relentlessly, and
with never a moment's cessation, toward their ultimate destruction. By
an humble, earnest effort for God's service in the little opportunities
of daily life, we go on from strength to strength, while our foe,
however powerful he may be in his warfare against the weakness of man,
is daily drawing nearer to the time when he will lie in hell, an
impotent and inert slave of the evil he has chosen as his portion.
Even now, when so much of his ancient might remains, we can see the
signs of his growing weakness.
One illustration of the effect of his fall upon him is found in the
stupidity which marks his {19} work. It is almost incredible that,
after all the long millenniums of his warfare, and especially his
experience since the Incarnation, he should be so incapable of
realizing the inevitable consequence of his warfare against God.
In innumerable cases he has seen the Saints strengthened by his
antagonism; he has seen the weak becoming strong through the right use
of the opportunities his temptations afford them; he has stood at the
Judgment of souls as their accuser, and been covered with confusion as
he saw his accusations rejected, and crowns given them, all the more
glorious because of the occasion for battle and victory his hate had
afforded them. All this he has seen, and yet its real significance has
never dawned upon him.[5]
More astonishing still, in spite of his experience, he has never been
able to see that when he joins the struggle with us he is only seeking
to renew the old warfare which was brought to a final issue on Calvary
to his eternal discomfiture; that it is not the weak human soul he is
fighting, {20} but the omnipotent God Who in human flesh, and by the
exercise of human powers and faculties, bruised him under His feet,
invaded his infernal kingdom, broke the gates of brass, and smote the
bars of iron in sunder.[6]
Are we wiser than Satan? Have we caught the true significance of the
battle, the vision of its final issue? Do we realize, when the
conflict comes, that our heart is but the arena of a struggle between
the omnipotence of God and the weakness of Satan, and that we are
called to fight along with Him "Who is the Author of unconquerable
might, the King of the Empire that cannot be overthrown?" If so, then
there can be no fear or repining because of the battle, but with the
glad war-cry, "Emmanuel,--God with us!" can we plunge into the glorious
strife, knowing that with His own right hand and with His holy arm will
He get Himself the victory.[7]
II. _The Hopelessness of his Warfare_
The hopelessness of Satan's warfare is shown in its final issue. Sin
entered into the world through Satan, and by sin came death.[8] Death
seems, when we first consider it, Satan's triumph; but in reality it is
his destruction. He pursues a {21} soul through life, but the hour of
death marks the absolute cessation of his power and influence. The
faithful departed in the Church Expectant are in the hand of God, and
nevermore can the torment of temptation touch them. The very act of
wreaking the utmost of his power is the act which places them forever
beyond even the possibility of communication with him. So both prophet
and apostle cry out in an ecstasy of triumph, as the Holy Spirit leads
them to this conclusion,--"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where
is thy victory?"[9]
So also is it with "the spirits of just men made perfect,"[10] who,
having been purged of all stain of sin, stand in the glory of the
Beatific Vision in Paradise. Satan thought by means of death to make
eternal life with God impossible; but by the divine overruling death is
made the gateway of everlasting life. He watches the progress of the
effect of sin; he sees the bodily weakness which he introduced into the
race when he induced our first parents to sin, increasing, only to
realize that the supreme result of evil in the world is to remove the
soul he has been pursuing with malignant hate, forever from the sphere
of his action.
Even with the lost the same holds good. With {22} infernal glee he
watches by the deathbed of a reprobate soul, of one that has yielded
himself to his rule. He sees the last hour approaching; the dread coma
of death settles down on the mind and heart where Satan's seat is; and
he watches for the rending of soul and body asunder which will seal for
eternity his claim to his possession of the sinner. The hour strikes;
the horrible spasm of death seizes the frame and passes; the Evil One
clutches with hellish eagerness the liberated spirit that is now his
forever. The lost soul with the swiftness of thought is judged,
Satan's claim is granted, and the lost wretch flees into outer
darkness, the eternal slave of hell. But what a difference now
transpires! for such a soul can no longer be used as the active
instrument of the divine dishonour, and Satan finds satisfaction in
possessing a soul only when he can use it as a co-worker with himself
in his warfare with God.
III. _The Limitations of the Tempter_
Our consideration of Satan's strength has shown us something of the
awful and malignant character of his office. We see that he is not a
foe to be despised, and the soul that thinks lightly of his antagonism
is marked by him as a sure {23} victim. Yet despite all this, to fear
Satan is to dishonour God. What would be thought of a soldier in the
armies of an earthly kingdom who was afraid of the enemy? He may be
far from despising him; he may recognize his power and skill, but to be
afraid of him would be the mark of the caitiff. How much more
dishonourable is it in the soldiers of Jesus Christ, our Captain, to
stand in fear when He is fighting for us, and has promised us certain
victory if only we be faithful.
This is the first consideration that should nerve and enhearten us; but
there is a second and most important one to which God would direct our
attention, namely, the natural limitations of the adversary himself.
The popular notion of Satan is an extraordinarily erroneous one, and
the reaction from it has driven many to a complete denial of his
existence. Many make a god of him, endow him with attributes of deity,
regarding him as both omnipresent and omniscient. But we are ever to
remember that Satan is a creature, finite and limited.
(1) He is in no sense omnipresent. "No angel nor devil has any gift of
ubiquity. If any created spirit be in one place, he is not in another.
If he is busy protecting, or endangering, the soul of {24} one, he is
not with another."[11] Satan has no more power than we have to be in
more than one place at the same time, although, through the faithful
agency of his many evil angels, fellow-devils with himself, he is able
to deal with every soul. We speak in popular language of Satan
tempting us, but it is probable that most of our temptations, though
inspired by him, are not brought to us by him directly and in his own
proper person, but through spiritual or other agencies under his
control.
(2) Again, Satan is not omniscient. This attribute, like that of
omnipresence, belongs to God alone. Doubtless, in common with other
purely spiritual beings, and in spite of his fall, he has, in virtue of
his nature, vaster knowledge of things than we can now grasp, but his
knowledge is necessarily limited and finite, and any attainment, or
increase of it, must be through finite processes.
(3) Another truth that brings us the greatest comfort and courage is
that which is revealed in Holy Scripture, namely, that he has no power
of reading our minds and hearts. It must ever be a consolation to us
to know that in times of temptation neither he nor the fallen spirits
he employs can know what effect their evil suggestions are producing in
our hearts, except in so {25} far as we give outward evidence of
it.[12] Could he at times see how troubled and afraid we are, how near
to yielding, he would redouble his assault with such fury as might
sweep us wholly away; but God in His merciful kindness withholds this
knowledge from him.
This should teach us the necessity of a calm and untroubled front in
times of temptation; giving no outward sign of perturbation that might
encourage him; remembering how Satan's experience has given him skill
beyond our thought in reading such signs. To give such outward
indications would be to notify him of our fear of him; and also would
advertise him that we were not putting our trust wholly in God. Let
him be given these two assurances, and our chance of escape would be
small.
IV. _The Restraint of the Divine Decrees_
As we have seen, Satan is limited as are all creatures, but his
limitations are more than those which belong of necessity to a finite
and created {26} nature. Because of his rebellion and his warfare
against the Saints, God by decree has set him his bounds, as perhaps He
has done with none other of His creatures.
(1) He can tempt a soul that is in grace only with explicit permission
from God. This is taught clearly in the history of the temptations of
Job.[13] He defames the character of this servant of God, challenging
God, as it were, to give him permission to test the Saint. The
permission is given, and then, and not till then, is Satan able to lay
siege to the heart of the patriarch.
(2) After God's permission has been given, the extent of the temptation
is also specially marked out by God. He sends Satan forth with
permission to try His servant, but decrees what he can, and what he
cannot, do. "Behold all that he hath is in thy power; only upon
himself put not forth thy hand." This was the limitation of the first
temptation, and when in it "Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly,"
for the further perfecting of His servant and the confusion of the
tempter, He gives a second permission, for each detailed temptation had
to be stamped with the divine approval. But here again was the
definite bound set. "Behold he is in thine hand, but save his life."
{27}
But in many cases God sets for Satan an even more baffling limitation
than was done in the trial of Job, not allowing him to know definitely
how far he will be allowed to go. He has no rights in his work of
temptation. God has made no covenant with him to allow him anything;
he is permitted to operate little by little, here and there, and from
time to time, not according to his own will or wish, but only as God
wills for His own glory.
If he knew in the beginning the exact limit, if nothing more, he could
so much the more intelligently prepare his plans. He is, however, in
the position of a man who is bidden to prepare for a journey, but is
given no idea of the distance it is to cover, along what road it will
be, or what space of time it will occupy. The plan laid out in such a
case must be, at best, a poor kind of thing. God has promised us that
we shall not be tempted above that we are able. In other words, that
He will preside over this battle, watching it in its every detail, and
when the limit of our strength is reached, the tempter will be
instantly checked. What must be his rage and chagrin to find so often
the spoil of the battle apparently all but within his grasp, when
suddenly his arm is shortened, his power paralysed.
[1] "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."--1 Peter v, 8.
[2] Rev. xii, 7.
[3] "It seems certain that this sin was pride, which is the beginning
of all sin.... More specifically, the pride of the fallen angels seems
to have been a refusal to accept the position of creature, subject in
all things to their Creator."--Hunter, _Outlines of Dogmatic Theology_,
448.
[4] Rom. v, 20.
[5] "According to the divine economy, the Evil One is not consigned at
once to the place of punishment allotted to him, but is permitted to be
at large for the trial and probation of men; that he may, though
contrary to his own design, render the Saints more righteous through
patience, and become the cause of greater glory to them."--St. Macarius
the Egyptian, _Institutes of Christian Perfection_, Bk. IV, ch. ii
(London, 1816).
[6] Ps. cvii, 16.
[7] Ps. xcviii, 2.
[8] Rom. v, 12.
[9] 1 Cor. xv, 55. Compare Hosea xiii, 14.
[10] Heb. xii, 23.
[11] Moberly, _The Administration of the Holy Spirit_, p. 25.
[12] "For Thou, even Thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children
of men."--1 Kings viii, 39.
"After all, with all his vast knowledge and experience, he is but a
creature. He cannot know you from within; he is not omniscient, not
omnipresent. He can only _guess_ at your motives,--the secret spring
of your actions."--Webb, _The Presence and Office of the Holy Spirit_,
pp. 78-79.
[13] Job i and ii.
{28}