The second inevitable concomitant of victory is copartnership with Jesus, the Captain of our salvation—“looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” Diabolus and his minions cannot stand before this Name. His final overthrow was when Jesus cried out on the Cross: “It is finished.” Now at the sight of Jesus, the Cross, or the Blood, the phalanx of darkness slinks away. Let us lay hold of eternal life by an unfaltering faith in the Blood that cleanseth, and “The Name high over all: in earth, in heaven, in hell.” “And they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony.” Amen and Amen.
XXXIII
THE ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT
“For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”—Revelation xii. 12.
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him.”—Revelation xx. 1-3.
The fact of a possible victory through the Name of our great Conqueror does not alone satisfy all the items of the indictment. If such were the only background to the picture, great as it is, the human drama is not only a fierce tragedy, but a miserable farce. Thank God, personal victory is not all; there is a rift in the dark satanic cloud which has hung over the world for so many millenniums. Satan is in great wrath, and his power and influence grow steadily stronger; more and more his iron grip fastens about the throat of the world. The Apostasy of which Christ and His Apostles wrote is becoming a reality.
Satan will score one more gigantic victory; then is our “blessed hope of His glorious appearing,” when He shall come and catch away His Bride—the Church, both dead and alive; that part of His following who are united to Him and are earnestly yearning for His coming. This event is called by devout scholars “The Rapture.” Just where, how, when, or how long, we have only a vague prophetic conjecture. “Where, Lord?” they ask. “And He said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.”
When the Rapture shall have taken place, Satan will have undisputed dominion; then shall the “Man of Sin” appear, setting himself up as God—to be worshipped. His reign will be the Great Tribulation; all the influences of righteousness will, for the time, be removed—the earth will reek in corruption and bloodshed. It is implied that, so terrible will be this time, divine intervention must necessarily shorten the Tribulation, else no flesh will be left on the earth. The Great Tribulation will be the climax of the Devil’s rule on earth. It seems that he will incarnate himself in a Man, giving him supernatural knowledge and power.