Life on the Lowest Plane (subtitle)
Satan and God in Conflict
The Kingdom of God is the central government, the only government recognized by God and the spiritual hosts of heaven and earth. It is composed of all moral intelligences, angelic or human, celestial or earthly, of all centuries and all climes, who willingly place themselves with the circle of the divine will and who of their own free choice acknowledge and accept God as their Sovereign. The Kingdom of God embraces the entire universe over which God is enthroned as the absolute Sovereign.
The Lord Jesus teaches that there is such a Kingdom of God and who are eligible to citizenship in it.
Luke 13:28, 29, "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God."
John 3:5, "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
God states with clearness the essential credentials for entrance into His kingdom.
James 2:5, "Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?"
However unthinkable it may seem there is also in God's universe a kingdom of satan. The Lord Jesus teaches that there is such a kingdom. On one occasion when casting out a demon some of the people charged Him with casting out demons through Beelzebub the chief of demons. Jesus made the following reply in which He brought the kingdom of satan and the Kingdom of God into sharpest contrast:
Luke 11:17-20, "But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.
If satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.
And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you."
God acknowledges that satan did set up a kingdom and that he sits on a throne of his own making.
Revelation 2:12, "I know where thou dwellest, even where satan's throne is; and thou holdest fast my name, and didst not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where satan dwelleth."
Christ never acknowledged satan to be king but three times He did call him "the prince of this world."
John 12:31, "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out."
God also acknowledges the worship satan has succeeded in obtaining for He calls him "the god of this world."
2 Corinthians 4:4, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not."
There is still another title given him in Scripture which shows that satan not only obtained and exercises great power on earth among men but that he carried his rebellion against God even into heaven and secured a following among the angelic host.
Ephesians 2:2, "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."
Ephesians 6:12, "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
It is evident, then, that through satan's treason and Adam's disobedience satan gained a temporary conquest of the earth, which became a revolted province in God's universe. satan is a sovereign over a rebel government; it is a government against government. It is composed of all moral intelligences, angelic or human, celestial or earthly, of all centuries and of all climes, who are without the circle of the divine will and who continue to be subjects of satan. The kingdom of satan embraces the whole world of mankind that is without the Lord Jesus Christ.
Two spheres. In a recent number of the National Geographic magazine there is a remarkable picture. It was a view taken from an airplane at an elevation of five thousand feet of two rivers, the Negro and the Amazon, meeting and mingling. The picture reveals two distinct streams, each identified by its color. The waters of the Negro were dark, those of the Amazon yellow, and even at the place where they meet the sharp color line of distinction can be seen.
One looking down upon humanity from the viewpoint of the heavenlies can see in this world two distinct streams of life, the natural and the spiritual, each easily identified by its color. The waters of the natural are dark, those of the spiritual yellow, and even at the place where they meet and mingle whether in business, in society or in the home, the sharp color line of distinction may be seen.
The Negro and the Amazon have different sources and each partakes all through its course of the color of the water at the fountainhead. The natural and the spiritual in human life come from two distinct sources and each partakes all through its course of the quality of life at its fountainhead.
There are two spheres into which all humanity is divided; the one is the sphere of sin and the other is the sphere of righteousness. These two spheres are identified by three outstanding characteristics: the sphere of sin by darkness, death and disorder; the sphere of righteousness by light, life and liberty. satan is the sovereign in the sphere of sin and Christ is the Sovereign in the sphere of righteousness.
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 23)
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