Satan

by Lewis Sperry Chafer

When the testimony of all Scripture upon the Man of Sin is considered, he is seen to be a person whose superhuman power is plainly ascribed to Satan. He appears upon the scene, after the removal of the heavenly people and during the great tribulation, as the climax of all Satanic exaltation and opposition to God. He is the last and greatest of earthly rulers, and, from his position of unsurpassed influence, speaks great words and manifests great wisdom. He is externally religious, and the promoter of great righteous projects and principles which in God's sight are only hypocrisy and blasphemy because of the subtle Christ-denying motive which prompts it all. His hold upon the public mind is by a process which is natural. Great miracles are performed by himself and by his prophet,—fire is called down from heaven; a dumb idol is made to speak and live; and he himself has been wounded to death and yet lives. By such supernatural works his assumption to be very God is accepted, and he becomes the world's ideal of all that is supreme. The people are said to first marvel and wonder; then to worship at his feet; and at last, in mad devotion, they challenge the universe to produce his equal—"Who is like the beast?" they cry. He has been wounded to death and yet lives; he performs as great miracles as the world has ever seen; his teachings are based upon Scripture; and he must, therefore, be God manifest in the flesh. His wisdom, beauty and majesty are a seeming warrant for every element of adoration.

Thus the Man of Sin will appear as the culmination of all the counterfeit methods of Satan; which method had its beginnings in the last days of the age, even before the calling away of the true Church, the Body of Christ. The subtle doctrines of devils will be adopted as creeds in assemblies and so called churches, and these deep things, with the Satanic ambition for moral improvement, will be voiced by ordained ministers who appear as apostles of Christ and ministers of righteousness. Yet in God's sight it is all a deep lie and hypocrisy, for they are distorting His truth and subtly denying His redemption.

All this, as has been stated, is but the Satanic preparation of humanity that they may wholly acknowledge him as their god, and that he may himself become like the Most High. This program is permitted in the purpose of God, for "that that is determined shall be done" (Dan. II:36). It will be only for a moment; for the resistless coming of the "Ancient of Days" will unveil all this deception, banish the enemies, and bring in His own long-predicted and glorious reign of everlasting blessedness upon the earth.

Chapter IX.

The Fatal Omission.

To some extent it has been necessary to anticipate the subject of this chapter in dealing with those counterfeits which are predicted for the last days, when there will be found a "form of godliness, denying the power thereof," and also the deep "doctrines of devils" which are "lies in hypocrisy." This chapter deals with that which is so vital in the true faith, and which is to be so carefully omitted in the false; that which makes the true so potent, and without which the false becomes an immeasurable deception. Everything depends upon this one point of distinction; for, according to prophecy, it is the only difference that is finally to exist between the false and the true. The issue is, therefore, as important as life itself.

It has already been seen that the method of counterfeiting, if successful, will require Satan to appropriate and incorporate in his false systems every available principle of the true; for the deception of the counterfeit depends wholly upon its likeness to the real. Herein is revealed the reason for calling that a lie or deception which is externally so like the truth. Certainly there could be no greater pitfall for souls than a system which seems to be the truth of God, and yet robs its followers of any basis for a true hope, and it will be found that the most terrible condemnation of Scripture is uttered against such systems and their promoters.

In seeking to discover the actual point of difference between the false and the true, it will be well, first, to consider the present perverted relation which exists between the Creator and the fallen human creature; for herein is revealed the necessity of that which God proposes to accomplish by redemption.

Two important points in Satan's doctrine were announced by him in the Garden of Eden when he first approached the woman, and these two declarations kave been an important part of the world's creeds throughout the history of man. The first was a bold denial of a positive statement of God, when Satan said: "Ye shall not surely die." Whether Satan intended here simply to deny the truth of God's statement, or whether he overestimated his own resources and proposed to shield them from their God-appointed doom, is not clear. Certainly the latter view is in keeping with Satan's original purpose, as well as with his evident sincerity. It is quite reasonable to conclude that, if he could be so misguided as to attempt to be like the Most High, he would willingly have undertaken to protect man from judgment which followed as a result of loyalty to himself. Satan is striving, at any rate, to direct the lives of those who are under his power into a degree of self development that will be a substitute for the revealed purpose of God for men.

The second announcement of Satan assured the woman that they would, by this independent action, "be as God;" and this, so far from promising death, seemed to them the immediate realization of the highest human ideal. It was undoubtedly the original purpose of God in creation that humanity should eventually become like Himself. By what process of development this was to have been accomplished, had not sin entered, has not been revealed. It is enough to know that even after man had fallen from his high estate through sin, this Divine purpose was not abandoned, though the problems involved were immeasurably increased: and now, through the unsearchable riches of His grace, the realization of that which surpasses all human dreams has been made possible, even to fallen and polluted man.