DISPENSATIONAL TRUTH

Satan and Redemption

The katabole or overthrow of the world (Gen. 1:2) was a judgment upon sin, and that sin the sin of those who were not men. Scripture declares that the Devil sinneth from the beginning and abode not in the truth: that he fell, and in his fall drew away other angels with him. His glorious position is forfeited, and man, headed by Christ, is destined to take the place of rule whether in the heavenlies or on the earth. As soon as man was given dominion, Satan saw his rival and plotted his downfall. What other bait should he use than that which caused his own fall?:

• ‘Yea, hath God said?’ -- the slander (traffic).
• ‘Ye shall be as God’ -- the impious pride that caused his fall.
• ‘Ye shall not surely die’ -- the vain hope that sustained him (see parallels in Ezek. 28:9; Psa. 82:6,7).

Just as the sin of Satan ‘profaned’ his sanctuaries, so the sin of man introduced by Satan made them ‘ashamed’. Just as the sin of Satan caused him to be cast out of the mountain of God, so the sin of man caused him to be cast out of the garden of God. Man however had been attacked, and for him redemption was provided in the great Kinsman. Redemption assumes a vaster import when seen as a whole, and as related to man’s inheritance and Satan’s attack upon the purpose of the ages. While the ages last, enmity will exist between the two seeds; the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent. At last the serpent’s head shall be crushed, all the true seed of promise shall be restored, paradise shall be regained, with its river and tree of life, the former things shall pass away and God shall once again be all in all.

An Alphabetical Analysis