Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

CHAPTER EIGHT 

"DIVINITY DID NOT DIE"—THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST'S DEATH AND RESURRECTION: GREAT IS THE MYSTERY OF GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESH. THE SPIRIT OF SATAN DOES NOT DIE UNTIL THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM. 

There are incomprehensible mysteries associated with the plan of redemption. "Great is the mystery of Godliness: God was manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim. 3:16). The Lord's servant says: 

"It is impossible for the finite minds of men to fully comprehend the character or the works of the Infinite One. . . To the keenest intellect, to the most powerful and educated mind, that holy Being must ever remain clothed in mystery. The apostle Paul exclaims, '0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!' . . . 
"The word of God, like the character of its divine Author, presents mysteries which can never be fully comprehended by finite beings.... The entrance of sin into the world, the incarnation of Christ, regeneration, the resurrection and many other subjects presented in the Bible, are mysteries too deep for the human mind to explain, or even to fully comprehend . . . yet behind these truths, so easily understood, lie mysteries which are the hiding of His glory–mysteries which overpower the mind in its research, yet inspire the sincere seeker for truth with reverence and faith. . . . 
"There are mysteries in the plan of redemption, . . And these will be the study of the redeemed through eternal ages. As, they contemplate the work of   God in creation and redemption new truth will continually unfold to the wondering and delighted mind" (5T 698-702). 

Who is there among Christian philosophers that has exhausted all the mysteries connected with the incarnation of the Almighty Son of God? Who can adequately answer all the questions that rush into one's mind in contemplation of One possessing all the essence and attributes of Deity; One Who is God, equal with His Father, and possessing all the Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnipresence and eternal majesty of the Godhead, becoming what one might imagine it necessary for Him to become in order to grow normally into a human baby as the scriptural records indicate? Observe the following statement from the Spirit of Prophecy: 

"In contemplating the incarnation of Christ in humanity. we stand baffled, before an unfathomable mystery that the human mine cannot comprehend. The more we  reflect upon it, the more amazing does it appear. How wide is the contrast between the divinity of Christ and the helpless infant in Bethlehem's manger! How can we span the distance between the mighty God and the helpless child? And yet the Creator of the worlds, He in Whom was the fullness of the Godhead bodily, was manifest in the helpless babe in the manger. Far higher than any of the angels, equal with the Father in dignity and glory, and yet wearing the garb of humanity. Divinity and humanity were mysteriously combined, and man and God became one. It is in this union that we find the hope of our fallen race. Looking upon Christ in humanity, we look upon God, and 

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see in Him the brightness of His glory, the express image of His Person."—Signs of the Times, July 30, 1896. 

Who can philosophically combine or divide Christ's dual nature of God and man; for the Scriptures declare that during His earthly pilgrimage He was truly God and truly man? "Christ was the Son of God, equal with the Father; and yet He was abused, ridiculed, scourged, and crucified." Signs of the Times, Nov. 25, 1889. 

" 'He was made in the likeness of man; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death.' He voluntarily assumed human nature. It was His own act, and by His Own consent. He was all the while as God, but He did not appear as God. He veiled the demonstrations of Deity which had commanded the homage, and called forth the admiration of the universe of God. He was God while here upon earth, but He divested Himself of the form of God, and in its stead took the form and fashion of man." —Rev. & Her., Sept. 4, 1900. 

"But although Christ's glory was for a time veiled and eclipsed by His assuming humanity, yet He did not cease to be God when He became man. The human did not take the place of the divine, nor the divine of the human. This is the mystery of Godliness." —Rev. & Her., Jan. 7, 1890. 

"As the human was upon Him, He felt His need of strength from His Father.... His humanity made prayer a necessity and privilege." (2T. 201, 202 . 

"But while bearing human nature, He was dependent upon the Omnipotent for His life. In His humanity, He laid hold of the divinity of God.”—Signs of the Times, June 17, 1897. 

"He veiled His divinity with the garb of humanity, but He did not part with His divinity. A divine-human Saviour . . .” —Rev. & Her., June 15, 1905. 

"Jesus was the Commander of heaven, One equal with God, and yet condescended to lay aside His kingly crown, His royal robe, and clothe His divinity with humanity. The incarnation of Christ in human flesh is a mystery."—Signs of the Times, July 30, 1896. 

"Christ was God manifested in the flesh. In Him divinity and humanity were united. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."—Signs of the Times, April 26, 1905. 

"Christ had two natures, the nature of man and the nature of God. In Him divinity and humanity were combined  . . . He exhibited a perfect humanity, combined with Deity.”—General Conference Bulletin, 4th Quarter, 1899, para. 20. 

"Equal with the Father, yet His divinity clothed with humanity. . . One with the Father in dignity and power, yet in His humanity tempted in all points like as we are tempted!"—Signs of the Times, April 26, 1905. 

The incarnation of the Son of God in human form is certainly a "great mystery"; but the mystery of Godliness is not limited to the birth of the Saviour, for the cross of Calvary presents a mystery equally as profound.  

Who is able to know all the mysteries connected with the death and the resurrection of this God-man; for the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy declare that since His death and His resurrection He still is God and He still is man. One of the mysteries which lie beyond the ken of human comprehension is how Jesus could lay down His life at will and then take it up again. Listen to His 

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calm declaration: "I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:17, 18). The inspired comment upon these verses contributes to our comprehension of this divine mystery. The Lord's servant says: 

"When the voice of the mighty angel was heard at Christ's tomb, saying, 'Thy Father calls Thee', the Saviour came forth from the grave by the life that was in Himself. Now was proved the truth of His Words, 'I lay down My Life that might take it again.... I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again'. Now was fulfilled the prophecy He had spoken to the priests and rulers, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up' (John 2:19). 
"Over the rent sepulchre of Joseph, Christ had proclaimed in triumph ‘I am the resurrection and the life'. These words could be spoken only by the Deity. All created beings live by the will and power of God. They are dependent recipients of the life of God. From the highest seraph to the humblest animate being, all are replenished from the Source of Life. Only He Who is one with God could say, ‘I have power to lay down My life and I have power to take it again. In His divinity, Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of death" (DA. 785). 

Further illumination concerning the profound mystery of the death and the resurrection of our Lord comes to us from the pen of God's servant: 

"'I am the resurrection and the life.' He Who has said, 'I lay down My life, that I may take it again', came forth from the grave by the life that was in Himself. Humanity died: divinity did not die. In His divinity, Christ possessed The power to break the bonds of death. He declares that He has life in Himself to quicken whom He will."—"The Youth's Instructor," Aug. 4, 1895. 

Another clarifying statement reads: 

"While as a member of the human family, He was mortal, as God He was the fountain of life. He could have withstood the advances of death, and refused to come under its dominion; but voluntarily He laid down His life, that He might bring life and immortality to light.” DA. 483, 484). 

"He had power to lay down His life and to take it up again. . It was no marvel to the heavenly host that He Who controlled the power of death, and had life in Himself, should awaken from the sleep of the grave."—Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. III, p. 204. 

"Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that He should be holden of it" (Acts 2:24). 

“For Christ also hath suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit" (1 Pet. 3:18). 

"The body crucified upon the cross did not detract from His divinity, His power of God to save, through the human sacrifice, all who accept His righteousness" (Ms. 84a, 1897). 

"When Christ was crucified, it was His human nature that died. Deity did not die; that would have been impossible" (Ms. B 280, 1904, pp. 4, 5). 

"Jesus Christ laid off His royal robe, His kingly crown, and clothed His divinity with humanity, in order to become a substitute and surety for humanity, that dying in humanity, He might by His death destroy him who had the power of death  He could not have done this as God, but by coming as man, Christ could die. . . . Christ lived as a man, that He might be God both of the living and the dead" (Ms. B 9-98, pp. 5, 6). 

"He Who said, 'I lay down My life, that I might take it again', came forth from the grave to life that is in Himself. Humanity died; divinity did not die. In His divinity, Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of death. He 

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declares that He has life in Himself to quicken whom He will."—Youth's Instructor, Aug. 4, 1898. 

"Jesus said to Mary, `Touch Me not: for I am not yet ascended to My Father'. When He closed His eyes in death upon the cross, the soul of Christ did not go to Heaven.... The Spirit of Jesus slept in the tomb with His body and did not wing its way to heaven, there to maintain a separate existence, and to look down upon the mourning disciples embalming His body from which it had taken its flight. All that comprised the life and intelligence of Jesus, remained with His body in the sepulchre:  and when He came forth it was the whole being; He did not have to summon His spirit from heaven. He had power to lay down His life and to take it up again. . . It was no marvel to the heavenly host that He Who controlled the power of death and had life in Himself, should awaken from the sleep of the grave. But it was a marvel to them that their loved Commander should die for rebellious men."—Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. III, pp. 203, 204. 

"Christ was invested with the right to give immortality. The life He laid down in humanity, He again took up and gave to humanity."—Youth's Instructor, Aug. 4, 1898. 

The Bible teaches that Christ died—see 1 Cor. 15:3; Rom. 5:8; etc. And yet the Scriptures just as clearly declare that Jesus is still God and still shares the glory of the Godhead with His Father, see John 17:5, 24; etc. The fact that humanity died, and "divinity did not die" is a mystery, indeed. 

In this book we cannot consider at length the theme of the nature of the eternal sacrifice of Jesus. Suffice to say, though still God, yet He will always be a "Son of Man". "In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is linked with us. . . . God gave His only begotten Son to become one of the human family, forever to retain His human nature. . . . God has adopted human nature in the person of His Son, and has carried the same into the highest heaven. It is the ‘Son of Man’ who shares the throne of the universe. It is the, `Son of Man' whose name shall be called, `Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.' The I AM is the Daysman between God and humanity, laying His hand upon both. He . . . is not ashamed to call us brethren. In Christ the family of earth and the family of heaven are bound together. Christ glorified is our brother. Heaven is enshrined in humanity, and humanity is enfolded in the bosom of Infinite Love" (DA. 25, 26). For further thought-provoking study see also page 669 (DA.). 

The Spirit of Satan Does Not Die Until the End of the Millennium 

As we have already shown, one of the principles employed in the Revelation is that of revealing Jesus in the fullness of His glory and the majesty of His redemptive work. In order to show that Satan and his false system of religion is a blasphemous counterfeit, the Revelator employs similar language when referring to the mystery of iniquity as he does when extolling the 

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wonders of Jesus as the great Jehovah and Saviour of His people. The designations thus employed are fittingly descriptive of Jesus as the true Saviour and Redeemer; those same or similar designations when descriptive of the mystery of iniquity reveal a superficial similarity, but they also cause the peerless majesty of the eternal God to stand out in marked and glorious contrast to the puny make-believe imitations of the fallen and finite hosts of evil. 

There must remain mysteries too great for our complete comprehension regarding the incarnation, the death and the resurrection of Jesus the Almighty Creator, the all-powerful Jehovah, the great I AM, yet one fact is clear: namely, He is still God, possessing Almighty power and infinite wisdom. Not only in such verses as Rev. 1:8 does Jesus declare Himself to be "the Almighty", the One Who "was dead, and is alive" (Rev. 1:17, 18; 2:8), but Rev. 5:6 pictures Him, after His death and His resurrection in His heavenly ministry before the Father's throne, as "a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns &and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all earth". He is thus pictured in the symbolism of the Revelation as One possessing perfect and complete power and perfect and complete wisdom: Almighty in power and Infinite in wisdom. 

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8). "This same Jesus ... shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). Jesus is the unalterable God; the great convenant-keeping Jehovah Who, through His Deity, is able to fulfill all His promises. "I am the Lord, I change not"  Mal. 3:6). 

One of the ways in which Satan is like God is that he, too, cannot change–his character is fixed as the eternal hills. He will retain his fallen, Satanic nature until he ends his existence in the lake of fire at the end of the millennium. For a time, through the intervention of God on behalf of His people and His work, Satan may be forced to work less effectively in his evil machinations; but, when the Lord permits, he will gladly avail himself of the divine permission to press forward his dastardly work with his utmost vigour. The greatest weapon which he employs in active warfare against the Lord's people is to unite his counterfeiting church with the State. During the 1260 years of Papal supremacy he employed this awful combination of worldly power so effectively that if the Lord had not intervened "there should no flesh be saved" (Matt. 24:22). But then, according to the Lord's blueprint for the ages, Jesus intervened and caused circumstances to arise in the world that brought about democratic forms of government. 

The founding of the American nation considerably advanced the cause of freedom in religious and civil life. For a long period 

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of time now, the world has enjoyed the precious fruitage of the principles of religious liberty. But the prophecy of Rev. 17 was written to show that the forces of Babylon–"the synagogue of Satan"–though in a state of enforced quiescence, being still the same in character and purpose, though apparently in a state of death, will, in imitation of the Lord's resurrection, rise from the grave to renewed activity. When Jesus came forth from His grave He was still God, still the unchanged and the unchanging Jehovah Whose divine energies are devoted to the salvation of His people. When the beast of Rev. 17 rises from the bottomless pit it is still the same beast, still the unchanged and unchanging Satanic system whose energies are devoted to the destruction of the people of God. It is to make this fact clear: both in relation to the Lord's covenant-keeping power and assurances to His people, and also in relation to the unchanging hatred of evil for good: that the beast, in imitation of the Lord's death and resurrection, is said to be slain with a "death-stroke" and for a period be in a state of death; but later it will rise and reveal its unchanging animosity toward the church of Jesus, even as Jesus arose and revealed His unchanging purpose–the salvation of His people. 

Rev. 17 shows how that as long as the evil principles exist that caused Lucifer to launch his subtle, camouflaged attack upon God's Government, so long will there be trouble. As long as there exists a germ of the belief that God's law should be and can be changed in any degree, whether supposedly for the glory of God or for the supposed happiness of His creatures, that germ, permitted by infinite wisdom to develop, will grow into its true fruitage as a great evil resulting in discord, misery, and ultimate selfdestruction. To conceive of altering any one of the Divine precepts, particularly one of the explicitlydeclared Ten Commandments, is an impious thought which reflects upon the character and the wisdom of an Infinite Creator. This thought is the very essence of Satan's revolt against the Government of Heaven. And as this belief has found acceptance among those who profess to be Christians, followers of the Lord Jesus, He must afford it an opportunity to reveal itself to be an evil thing, which will result in hatred toward those who love God and trust implicitly in His love and goodness, believing that His righteousness is expressed in His holy Law and must remain unchanged because God's character is unalterable. 

Protestantism rose up in protest against the iniquitous practices of the church of Rome, and repudiated the persecutions of that apostate church, which employed the strong arm of the State to enforce its dogmas upon the populace. But Protestantism, 

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generally, came out of the apostate church still retaining a germ of Papal teaching, namely, that God's Law could be changed and has been changed in the substitution of the first day of the week for the seventh day as the day of rest; and this, too, in direct opposition to the clearly-expressed will of God to "Remember the seventh day" to keep it holy. This substitution, it has been declared, has been done out of loyalty to Christ, in honouring His resurrection. In the past, many noble men and women have religiously observed Sunday, thinking it to be the Sabbath, but the Bible prophecies have pointed out that there will be a call from God, a call which is now going throughout the world, for all the children of the Lord to return to the observance of the day anciently set aside by infinite love and wisdom by which to remember the Creator, even Jesus our Lord. The seventh day is "the Lord's Day". Those who do love their Lord will heed His call to return to His plan for their holiness and their happiness. 

However, the prophecies also make it clear that those who reject this call will maintain the original thought that the change in God's Law has been changed for the glory of God and for the benefit of mankind. In His infinite wisdom, the Lord will permit this camouflaged rebellion against His Commandments to grow to maturity and to reveal itself to be actuated by the prince of darkness. Under the profession of honouring Christ they will be led to seek the strong arm of the State in the enforcement of this day that is supposed to signalize "liberty", that we are not "under law but under grace". Their rebellion against God's Government will not only be revealed by following Rome’s principle of the union of church and State, but also by following Rome's principle of seeking to destroy those who will not fall in line with their alteration of a clearly-stated Commandment of the Decalogue. 

Rev. 17 shows that so long as any belief is held–it matters not by whom or how high the profession–that God's Law can be altered and should not be implicitly obeyed, so long will such thoughts result in persecution of those who are loyal to God's Government, and that until all those who hold that germ of belief are destroyed they will be a menace to the happiness of His eternal kingdom. 

What does it matter if death apparently lays those principles (or the institutions or persons holding them) low for a time? The moment they rise again they recommence their evil work. The death and the resurrection of Jesus did not alter His character nor His unalterable design to save those who look unto Him for salvation. It is to further illustrate this solemn fact that the Lord will destroy the whole of mankind at His second advent. For a thousand ears this earth will be the prison house of Satan and 

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his evil hordes. When the 1,000 years expire and the wicked are resurrected it will be revealed that, because those evil principles still exist in the fallen and fixed characters of the evil angels, they immediately operate as they did during the 6,000 years experience of sin in this world. The Revelator says that when Satan's state of incarceration ceases with the resurrection of the wicked at the end of the millennium, he goes "out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them to battle. . . . And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them (Rev. 20:1-9). 

Thus it is revealed that until the utter destruction of Satan and all the hosts of evil; until the principles of Lucifer's rebellion are extirpated by the annihilation of those who have those principles inwrought in their characters, sin with its horrors must continue. The following extract from the pen of the Lord's servant shows that right until the end Satan pursues his work of deception and until the end there is revealed the hatred or lack of love controlling the unsaved which necessitates their utter destruction: 

"Now Satan prepares for a last mighty struggle for the supremacy. While deprived of his power, and cut off from his work of deception, the prince of evil was miserable and dejected; but as the wicked are raised, and he sees multitudes upon his side, his hopes revive, and he determines not to yield the great controversy. . . the wicked are Satan's captives. They are ready to receive his suggestions and to do his bidding. Yet, true to his early cunning, he does not acknowledge himself to be Satan. He claims to be the Prince who, is the rightful owner of g the world and whose inheritance has been unlawfully wrested from him. He represents himself to his deluded subjects as a redeemer assuring them that his power has brought them forth from their graves, and that he is about to rescue them from the most cruel tyranny. The presence of Christ having been removed, Satan works wonders to support his claims [as he does before the millennium.] He makes the weak strong, and inspires all with his own spirit and energy [this, he also does before the millennium. as revealed in Rev. 17]. He proposes to lead them against the camp of the saints [this, too, he does before the 1,000 years]." 

Note how the servant of the Lord draws attention to the fixity of the character of the lost: "In death these experienced no change. As they come up from the grave, they resume the current of their thoughts just where it ceased. They are actuated by the, same desire to conquer that ruled them when they fell." Again we read: 

"For thousands of years this chief of conspiracy has palmed off falsehood for truth. But the time has come when the rebellion is to be finally defeated, and the history and character of Satan disclosed. In his last great effort to dethrone Christ, destroy His people, and take possession of the city of God, the archdeceiver has been fully unmasked. Those who have united with him see the total failure of his cause. . . . He rushes into the midst of his subjects, and endeavours to inspire them with his own fury, and arouse them to instant battle. But of all the countless millions whom he has allured into rebellion, there are none now to acknowledge his supremacy. His power is at an end. The wicked are filled with the same hatred of God that inspires Satan; but they 

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see that their case is hopeless, that they cannot prevail against Jehovah. Their rage is kindled against Satan and those who have been his agents in deception, and with the fury of demons they turn upon them" (GC. 663-672). 

Before the millennium, when the wicked are prevented by the Lord's intervention from slaying the people of God, they turn upon their religious leaders who have been Satan's "agents in deception" (see GC. 655, 666). Thus there are precisely the same principles at work before and after the millennium. The writer has given an extended consideration of this important feature of prophetical exposition in "The Certainty of the Third Angel's Message: Proved by Important Principles of Prophetic Interpretation; also Armageddon–Before and After the Millennium." In that larger book we have shown that all last-day prophecies are so written that they have an application to events before and also after the millennium. And it is important that this principle be not lost sight of, for by it there is a considerable clarification of the details of, and an added significance seen in, the prophetic word. 

As long as God exists, so long will righteousness remain. As long as Satan exists, so long will evil remain–hatred of God and those who are loyal to Him. By God's intervention, Satan and his Babylonian forces have for a time been unable to employ political power in persecuting God's people. Their enforced state of inactivity may be likened to a state of death, but through God's mysterious providences they will be permitted to rise to power again to reveal that, until utterly destroyed, they will continue their hatred and attempted murder of the people of God. This is the significance of the beast rising from the bottomless pit.