Part 6 (2/2)

What a sneer and laughter, what a triumphant shout Satan must have uttered when the deed was done! And with the fall of man he laid hold again on this earth and became its prince.

Satan's Doom Announced

Then the Lord sought that which was lost, the guilty pair, and addressed the serpent. The words the Lord then spoke contain the first prophecy of the Bible. It concerns Satan, how G.o.d will deal with him and his final doom. ”And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. iii:15). Without fully explaining this prophecy, which may well be termed the germ of all subsequent prophecy, we but point out what it means. From the woman there is to come a seed, an offspring who is to bruise the head of the serpent (Satan), that is, overcome the serpent, and that the serpent is to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman. Furthermore, there is to rage a conflict between the serpent and the woman and between the serpent's seed and the seed of the woman. There can be no question whatever that the seed of the woman means the Son of G.o.d in His incarnation. Paul writes to the Galatians, ”But when the fulness of time was come G.o.d sent forth His Son made of a woman” (Gal. iv:4). He is the seed of the woman, the virgin-born Son of G.o.d. His death is mentioned in this first prophecy as the bruising of His heel. Then the final victory over Satan and his final doom, his head is to be bruised. And till that is accomplished there is to be conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, a conflict between those who side with G.o.d, believe on and wait for the promised One, and those who side with Satan and his works. Satan heard then from the lips of Jehovah that the seed of the woman would conquer him and seal his doom.

His Work and the Conflict Begins

The predicted conflict began at once. Two sons are born to Adam and Eve. Satan watched them. He is interested to see if one of them might be ”the seed.” He saw Cain bringing an offering of the fruit of the ground (the labor of his hands) unto the Lord.[2] Satan must have been delighted with Cain, as he beheld him, as a self-righteous man, rejecting G.o.d's provision for him as a sinner. He knew Cain was his man and belonged to his seed. It was different with Abel. Abel brought of the firstlings of the flock and of the fat thereof. ”By faith Abel offered unto G.o.d a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, G.o.d testifying of his gifts” (Heb. xi:3). He was a believer, who owned himself as a sinner and because he believed, G.o.d accepted his offering. As Satan beheld this scene he must have imagined that Abel was ”the seed of the woman.”

Then he filled Cain with wrath and moved him to slay his brother Abel.

Thus Satan manifested himself in the beginning of the human race as the liar and the murderer. Our Lord testified of this character of the enemy when He spoke to those who conspired to kill Him and who belonged to the Devil's seed: ”Ye are of your father the devil, and the l.u.s.ts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar and the father of it” (John viii:44). But the murder of Abel was unavailing. Eve bore another son ”and called his name Seth, for G.o.d, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew” (Gen.

iv:25). Satan was defeated for the first time.

An Interesting History

An interesting history follows. The Old Testament history is the history of conflict between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. Satan continually worked to oppose G.o.d, attempting to prevent the coming of that promised seed of the woman. He knew if he succeeded in this he would not again be dispossessed from this planet and his own doom would never come. Besides trying to prevent the coming of the promised One, his aim is to control the nations, have dominion over them, and to deny the truth of G.o.d made known to man by revelation. He corrupted the human race before the deluge so that the earth was corrupt before G.o.d and filled with violence (Gen. vi:11). This great being knew well that G.o.d is holy and cannot tolerate evil. He plunged the race into great wickedness in the hope that G.o.d would destroy the whole race and leave him possessor of the earth. But Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord.

When Satan received the knowledge that the seed to conquer him and seal his doom would come through Abraham, he then opposed the seed of Abraham to frustrate G.o.d's purpose. The land which was promised by Jehovah to Abraham and his descendants was settled by the nations which were Satan-controlled and were his willing instruments. Satan's power in wickedness and vileness was manifested in the Canaanites. That is why the Lord commanded their utter extermination. So that in the land itself there was a steady conflict between the seed of the serpent, the Canaanites, and the seed of the woman, G.o.dly Israelites.

When Pharaoh gave the command to kill all the male children born to Israel in Egypt, it was another attempt of Satan to make the coming of the promised seed impossible (Ex. i:16). But G.o.d took care and used the Hebrew midwives, the weaker vessels, to bring to naught the wicked plan. Pharaoh brought up in his own palace one of the Hebrew boys, whom Satan would have killed; and that boy became the great leader and deliverer of Israel. All the persecutions of the people Israel in Egypt were Satan's work. When at last they had left the house of bondage, Satan in impotent rage stirred up Pharaoh to attempt their destruction; but Pharaoh and his army found their graves in the Red Sea.

Afterward Jehovah announced that the promised seed should be of the house of David. Then Satan watched David and his descendants. Through Saul he persecuted G.o.d's anointed, but failed to touch his life.

Immediately after the Lord had made the covenant with David (2 Sam.

vii) promising him a son whose Kingdom shall be established (the seed--Christ), Satan led David to commit his awful sin. Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, belonged to the seed of the serpent. This wicked son of David slew all his brethren. It was Satan's attempt to exterminate the descendant of David (2 Chronicles xxi:4). Then the Arabians came and slew all his sons except Ahaziah. Still greater was Satan's attempt to end forever the house of David through wicked queen Attaliah. She was the mother of Ahaziah. When her son had been slain ”she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah” (2 Chronicles xxii:10). Satan had made the awful suggestion to her and when the seed royal was destroyed he thought he had triumphed at last.

”But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the King, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from the King's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehorada the priest, hid him from Attaliah so that she slew him not. And he was with them hid in the house of G.o.d six years” (2 Chron. xxvii:11-12). Satan was defeated.

Through Haman he made still another attempt to have all the Jews, men, women, and children, killed. G.o.d watched over His people again and Satan's plan was frustrated. And how much else might be added!

Throughout Old Testament history he had his chosen instruments, like Nimrod, the kings of Babylon, the Pharaohs, the a.s.syrian, the Persian Kings, Alexander and others through whom he attempted world dominion.

He instigated the cruel and terrible wars. Israel, the people of G.o.d, were led by him into idolatry and apostasy. In all this and much besides his aim was the defiance of G.o.d and to keep G.o.d from carrying out his plan of redemption though the promised seed.

The Promised Seed and Satan's Opposition

The promised seed came. The Son of G.o.d took on the creature's garb and became man, the son of David and son of Abraham, according to the flesh. All Satan had done for 4,000 years had been in vain. G.o.d had kept His promise. King Herod was the seed of the serpent and when the child was born, Satan moved him to seek the young child to destroy him.

Herod, inspired by the murderer from the beginning, ”exceeding wroth, sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof from two years old and under” (Matt. ii:16). But G.o.d had watched, and the young child was on the way to Egypt when Satan's suggestion was carried out by the Roman soldiers.

And how many more times he must have made the same attempt! When Satan had taken him on the pinnacle of the temple and suggested ”cast thyself down,” he tried it once more. The people of Nazareth were the serpent's seed and under his control when they rushed him out of the city and attempted to cast him headlong down a precipice. The storms on the lake were Satan's work to take His life. Little did he know that the s.h.i.+p in which the Son of G.o.d slept peacefully, though it filled with water, was the only unsinkable s.h.i.+p which sailed the seas.

He could not touch the seed of the woman, for He was holy, without sin, and death had not claim on Him.

Yet He had come to die ”that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” He knew that the Lord Jesus would get the victory and the dominion over this earth by the way of the Cross. That is why he took Him on the exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.

He offered all to the Son of Man, if He but would fall down before him.

<script>