THE (101-102) tenor of the Scriptures upholds the assertion that there is such a being as Satan and that he is in opposition to God. If we were.to suppose the everlasting continuance of Satan as a being, as an adversary of God, the matter would seem strange to us, because irreconcilable with our conception of divine power. We have the statement of the Scriptures respecting his reign and ultimate destruction. (Hebrews 2:14) With this information we have a reasonable, logical thought on the subject. When we consider the Scriptural presentation further, that originally Satan was not an evil being, but that he made himself evil by the exercise of personal liberty and became the enemy of God, the subject seems to be clear and reasonable. In fact, this is the only rational solution to the problem of his existence. To suppose that there is no Satan is to suppose that God has permitted his Word to deccive mankind in this respect, or that the devil is a manifestation of God himself—a position which is unthinkable. Nor is it logical to say that there is a devil, an opponent of God, and at the same time to maintain that God is all in all, and omnipresent—everywhere present. But we do not find this latter statement to be Biblical. The Scriptural proposition is that at the close of the Millennial age, when Christ shall have conquered sin and Satan, when Satan shall have been destroyed, and when the empire of the universe shall he in absolute harmony, then God will be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:28) To all eternity there will be no opposition to his will. There is opposition now, however, in many places and at many times. But ultimately, God will have full control. THE OMNIPOTENCE OF JEHOVAH To say that God is all power is sophistry of language which often misleads the one questioning as well as the one attempting to answer him. The statement is not correct. If God is all power, then he is not love or justice or wisdom. He would thus be limited to the one great attribute of power, or force. Such cannot be the thought entertained by any logical mind. It is, nevertheless, a form of statement that is often used, perhaps unintentionally, but very injuriously to the reasoning faculties. The Bible nowhere says God is all power. There is a marked difference between being power and exercising power. God is all-powerful. Hfe has the ability to exercise power in any direction to the extent that he wills. If he had chosen, he could have so created Satan that he could not think or do other than in harmony with the divine will; or he could have exercised his power to crush the adversary and thus have destroyed him long ago. But he has permitted Satan to exist for six thousand years, in the sense that he does not restrain the devil from doing evil. The Scriptures, however, tell us that xod will eventually destroy him. The scope of the excercise of divine power is the universe, hut it is difficult for our finite minds to comprehend the meaning of this word—-universe. Astronomers tell us that by the aid of photo-astronomy they ean see nearly 125,000,000 suns— the centers of solar systems like our own, with supposedly more than a billion of planets more or less like our earth. These, we may assume, are in process of development, are in preparation for inhabitants, whom the great Creator will in due time provide. From the Scriptural standpoint, however, the great work of human creation began with our earth. What a boundless thought we have in the mere suggestion that the billion worlds are to he peopled, and that the lessons of righteousness and sin, of life and death eternal, now being taught to humanity, will never need to be repeated! We stand appalled at the immensity of space and at the law and order which everywhere reign! We heartily assent to the words of the Prophet David, ‘‘Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.’’ (Psalm 19:2, 3) The person who can look upon this wonderful display of superhuman power and believe that these worlds created themselves, shows to the majority of us that, if he has brains, they are sadly disordered, unbalaneed. Whoever, after mature thought, coneludes that there is no God, that everything came to be what it is by chanee or hy the operation of some blind foree—that person is deserihed in the Seriptures in the following words, ‘‘The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.’’ —Psalm 14:1. As scientific instruments demonstrate to us the immensity of the universe, we perceive that the Prophet used very moderate language indeed in his description of the majestic power and greatness of the Creator, when he represents Jehovah as weighing the mountains in his balance and holding the seas in the hollow of his hand. (Isaiah 40:12) From his standpoint, a thousand years are but as a watch in the nicht. (Psalm 90:4) How insignificantly small we all feel in the presence of our Gad! No wonder some great men are inclined to say that WATCH TOWER Brooktyn, N. Y, humanity is too insignificant from the divine standpoint to be worthy of the least consideration—much less to be objects of divine care and providence! THE OMNISCIENCE OF JEHOVAH To say that God is all knowledge is also an inaccurate statement. If God were all knowledge, how could he be all power? God has all knowledge, possesses all knowledge. But this is a different matter. If we say, ‘‘The boy has a hoop,’?’ we do not mean that he is a hoop. To be a hoop and to have ° hoop are not the same. God is omniscient; that is, he knows all things. This very fact proves that he is a personal God. There can be no knowledge without personality. Knowledge implies cognizance of external things. Amongst the things outside the divine Person are things both good and evil. When we read that God created man in his own image and likeness (Genesis 1:26, 27), we may know that man is not God. He was merely made in the image of God. Because God is perfect, therefore the human being made in his image would be satisfactory to God. That human being had knowledge. But he neglected the Word of God, and thus he learned something by his neglect. What he learned is mentioned in the Scriptures. ‘‘He is become as one of us [the Elohim], to know good and evil.’’ (Genesis 3:22) This statement proves that God knows good and evil. If God did not know evil from good, then he could not be our Instructor. By his laws, his principles, God sets before our minds that which is right and that which is wrong. Adam knew how to discriminate between right and wrong, but his disobedience increased his knowledge of both good and evil. In his fallen condition man cannot always determine between them. Therefore God gave Israel a law, and man’s knowledge of that law assists him to discriminate between good and evil. One of old time said, ‘‘Thou art a God which hidest thyself.’’? (Isaiah 45:15) How true! As a result the world by wisdom knows not God. He is near in his wisdom and love, yet he can be seen only by those whose eyes of understanding have been opened. But we are glad that the time is coming when all the blind eyes shall see clearly. “‘As truly as I live,” says Jehovah, “all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Num. 14:21; Hab. 2:14) Then all shall see what God hath wrought, and our temporary blindness wil] but accentuate the glorious brightness of his wisdom, justice, love and power. “GOD IS LOVE”’ God is love in the sense that the term love represents the central principle of the divine character. There is nothing contrary to love in God. The Scriptures do not teach that there is nothing except love anywhere—that God is everywhere and love is everywhere. But they teach that God is a loving character. This does not militate against the other statements that God is just, wise and powerful. But this quality of love best of all represents the divine Being. All of his justice is in harmony with his love. There is no exercise of justice or power in an evil sense, for all his attributes work together for good to all his creatures. The Scriptures eneourage us to reason from the known to the unknown. They tell us that although God is so great, so wise, so powerful, he is also just and loving. And the more we consider the matter, the more reasonable the Bible description of the Almighty appears. His power we see demonstrated. The wisdom of One so great cannot be doubted. When we come to consider, Could One so wise and so powerful be unjust or ungenerous? Our hearts answer, No! No one is really great who is devoid of justice and love. So surely as our God is Jehovah, he must possess these qualities. ‘When we came in contact with the Bible, and particularly after we learned something of its teachings and got rid of the misrepresentations which gathered abeut it during the dark ages—then we began to recognize it as the message of Jehovah to his ereatures. It informs us that the great Creator of the universe is not only almighty and all-wise, but loving and kind, with Justice as the foundation of his empire. (Psalm 89:13, 14) From the Bible we learn, too, that our Creator has heen pleased to make us in his own image, in his own mora] likeness, to the intent that we may enjoy him and the fruits of his righteousness to all eternity. All the power, all the justice, all the wisdom, of God must be used in accordance with his own character, which is love. It will therefore be loving wisdom, loving justice, which he will use toward all creation in the exercise of his loving power for their good. He created man. He permitted Adam to disobey [5210]
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