Two Thrones At War (continued)
A traitorous attack has been made upon the throne of God, the very seat of God's government and the place of divine worship. A rival to God has made the attempt to dispossess, displace, and dethrone God in His own universe, and to set up a kingdom of his own, with deliberate purpose of assuming sovereignty over the universe. satan's throne will be on a par with the throne of the Most High, the very highest thing in God's universe, and something to which he had not one atom of inherent right. This is the highest that satan could strive for. He would go up, up, UP until there was nothing beyond.
satan's revolt against God is now complete. He has challenged the authority of God, both in heaven and upon earth. He had established his kingdom in both places and has recruits from among both celestial and terrestrial creatures. Fallen angels and fallen men are his subjects and his slaves, given over fully to the carrying out of his desires and his deeds (John 8:44). He is the "prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2), the ruler over evil spirits in the invisible realm, and he is "the prince of this world" (John 12:31), the ruler over evil men in the visible realm. He has won a victory over God in the two initial battles, the one in heaven and the one on earth.
But God neither would nor could leave such consummate treachery and anarchy unjudged and unpunished. He acted immediately in judgment of the most drastic kind - an irrevocable judgment. He cast satan out of heaven and prepared a hell in which he would suffer eternal torment in punishment.
Then in Eden God declared a war of implacable enmity between the serpent and his seed and the woman and her Seed. In this conflict satan would win temporary victories in agelong battles, but it would culminate in one decisive, determining crisis in which satan would meet with such a devastating defeat that he would travel straight down, down, down, to the eternal lake of fire. The victory of God's eternal throne would be won at the Cross of Christ. The Cross is God's way to the throne (Genesis 3:15; Revelation 20:10).
In judgment God begins where sin began - with the serpent. For him there was no repentance; no recourse; no reprieve. His sin against the throne revealed an irrevocable attitude toward God; an attitude of unchangeable rebellion which God exposed as fixed and final enmity. The perpetual brand upon satan is hatred of God. So upon satan God pronounces judgment without any possibility of grace.
Two Seats of Empire
From Genesis 3:15 to Revelation 20:10 is the unfolding before our eyes of these two thrones at war. The contrast between these two thrones and that which proceeds from them is that of midday brightness and the midnight blackness. God's throne is a throne of holiness; satan's one of iniquity. (Psalm 47:8; Psalm 94:20).
God's throne is one of worship, where "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands" of angels in heaven, and the redeemed of earth unite in adoration of "the Lamb that was slain" who "sitteth upon the throne" (Revelation 5:11-13). satan's throne is one of worship, where "they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast... And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven ... And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are NOT written in the book of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:4-8).
The Clash of Wills
"I will" - satan's five-times reiterated assertion of rebellion and revolt against God and His throne.
"I will" - God's once stated stated declaration of a warfare that results in the fall and final defeat of the rival of His throne and the ultimate restoration of everything in heaven and upon earth to His sovereignty through the victory of the Cross.
There are now and have been for centuries two wills in God's universe. One is an "alien" will; the will of a rebel, an anarchist, a usurper, who would rob God of His authority and His glory. But there is room for only one will in a universe which is the creation and possession of God. God has never had the slightest intention of vacating or abdicating. "The Lord reigneth." He always has and always will reign.
A day is coming when our Lord's prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven", will be answered and when all things shall be subdued unto Him (1 Corinthians 15:28). During the Millennium when Christ sits upon His own throne and rules with a rod of iron, there will be obedience to the will of God. With some it will be voluntary and joyous obedience; with others it will be compulsory and unwilling obedience, which is clearly revealed by the fact that when the thousand years of satan's imprisonment in the bottomless pit are over, he goes forth again to war against God and His saints, and the nations in four quarters of the earth follow him (Revelation 20:7-9). But after satan has been cast into the lake of fire, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, in which the perfect will of God will be done perfectly. The victory of the Cross will have become the victory of the throne.
"Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 53 - (Victory Through the Second Man at Calvary - Christ Our Provision)
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