March 23

If you are Christ's, nothing can come into your life without the permission of God. The One who has given life to yours, has given death also. The One who has given heaven for your inheritance has also given the world with all its afflictions-- including the prince of this world in all his wrath and power. This, indeed, is love and wisdom in a riddle. But you who have the Spirit of Christ can unfold it.

Satan would like nothing better than to convince you that he is "lord over all," even though he knows this title belongs exclusively to God. Satan is a ruler of the "darkness of this world" only and is therefore God's subordinate. The boundaries of his empire are circumscribed and limited. First, the time this prince rules is "in this world," not hereafter. Second, the place he rules is "in this world," not in heaven. And third, the subjects whom he rules are "the darkness of this world," not the children of light.

To begin, then, Satan's empire is bounded by time. "This world" is the little spot of time bounded on either side by vast eternity. On this stage Satan plays the role of a prince. But when Christ calls for the final curtain at te end of the age, Satan will be exposed before everyone, his crown taken off and his sword broken over his head. He will be driven off the stage in utter disrepute, to become the eternal prisoner of hell. No more will he infest the saints or rule the wicked. Instead, both he and all the members of his cast will lie under the immediate execution of God's wrath. The long run of their vile acts will be over forever.

To this very end Christ has His commission, and His work will not be finished until "he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power" (1 Corinthians 15:24). Then, and not until then, He will deliver up His kingdom to the Father, "for he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet" (v. 25). The queston is not whether Christ will subdue Satan-- but when.

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