THE faith of devils is stronger than that of men, and far more influential. They believe in future punishment, and they live under a wholesome dread of it. They “believe, and tremble.” Men disbelieve the fact of coming judgment, and live accordingly.
When Christ was dispossessing poor “Legion,” the devils, on finding that they must let their captive go, said to Him, “What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” (Matt. 8:2929And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? (Matthew 8:29)). They knew full well that He was their judge, as they knew that the time of their judgment was fixed. To them “torment” and the “Son of God” were closely connected together. For them He had no salvation, no mercy, no pity. Whatever their sin, or its causes, their case was utterly hopeless. They could look for no clemency. The blood of the cross, so divinely efficacious for men, had no saving virtue for them. They lay under eternal ban, and in the darkness of God’s immutable displeasure.
Hence, when Jesus came for man, with healing in His wings and pardon in His bosom, He carried but forebodings of terror to them. That lovely name, fragrant of salvation to sinful men, had no meaning but damnation to fallen angels. “What have we to do with thee, Jesus?” was their despairing cry. There was nothing in common. Can you conceive such a state, dear reader? But it was known and felt by these miserable deceivers. Their fall from their first estate was the result of their pride. Fearful fall! Who can tell the light, and glory, and intelligence of that estate? who fully picture the depth of their present degradation, or who conceive the agonies of their future and eternal woe? Then, to add to their criminality, they must alienate man from his allegiance to God! It is bad enough to sin for oneself, ― worse far to plunge others into a common ruin. But so with the devils, the whole history of man, from Eden downwards, is but a melancholy record of Satan’s enmity, subtlety, cruelty, malice, and detestation of that which proved God’s chief work in creation, ―man.
By the devil’s subtlety Adam fell; by the devil’s craft David brought pestilence on his people; by the devil’s malice Job was bereft, ruined, and diseased; by the devil’s permitted touch Paul suffered from the thorn; by the devil’s lion-like ferocity the early Church was persecuted; ―whilst we read of Satan’s accusations reaching the very throne of God. He is man’s persistent enemy. He found ingress to the garden of Eden; he scales the heavens, and acts there with wiles and darts. He has full control over his children; he tempts, though with broken snares, the children of God. He appears as a serpent or a lion, as a dragon or as an angel of light.
Legion was possessed, as we say, of the devil, and became a terror to the community and a source of misery to himself. The evil under which he suffered was unmitigated. In point of fact we see in this man an instance of the concentrated malevolence of Satan.
But Jesus comes on the stage, at the sight of whom the devils tremble. Well did they know Him. They owned Him Son of God, but this acknowledgment was not the fruit of faith in a Saviour-God, it was rather a forced confession of His almighty power. As a guilty conscience quails before an officer of justice, so the sense of rebellion against heaven made them tremble at the presence of its Lord. “Art thou come,” said they, “to torment us before the time?” Coming torment at His hand they knew was their desert whatever their then condition, and here was the appointed Judge! Is there not something mournfully plaintive, hopelessly desperate in the words “before the time”? As though the period of comparative ease were finished, and that of deeper, fuller woe were about to begin! As though the dreaded moment, long anticipated and profoundly feared, had at last arrived, when outraged holiness must inflict her full and final award, and retributive justice mete out the only desert that is commensurate with the gravity of the crime! For where sin is not atoned for by the blood of Christ, its punishment is eternal.
Yes, these words declare all this. To the devils the certainty of coming doom is a settled conviction, a mere matter of cause and effect, ―sin against God, and an eternity of punishment as the only consequence. Hence, as quoted above, “the devils believe, and tremble.”
But man has also sinned, and is sin in him less reprehensible than in devils? No, but whilst sin is the same in all cases, we do not read of redemption for devils, but for man. “He took not up (the cause of) angels; but he took up (the cause of) the seed of Abraham” (Heb. 2:1616For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. (Hebrews 2:16)). And thus God has “so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Blessed redemption! ineffable love! and that for man, ―for you, dear reader, and for me!
But mark, it is “whosoever,”―it is any one, but not everyone. The word discriminates. It implies a condition, ―that of personal faith in the Son of God as Saviour. It precludes universalism, ―none but they who believe are blessed; all others are as fully exposed to judgment as are the devils. “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)). Alas! the time is coming for the unbeliever’s doom. If perchance, reader, you are one, you have but a moment of respite ere your sentence be executed. When your time may be I cannot tell, but it is appointed by God. He regulates the motions of the universe; He has fixed your time of judgment.
Ah, soul, you have not one moment to spare! If “Jesus” meant nothing but woe to the devils, shall that blessed name not mean to you what it means to multitudes, ―salvation in all its present and eternal blessedness? The devils believe, and tremble; sinner, may you tremble too. But ye who trust in Jesus, let your terror cease, let your fear be gone. You are the objects of His love, and the happy subjects of His salvation. When Legion was dispossessed of the devils, his heart was so filled with the love of Jesus that he prayed to be with Him always, ―the magnetism of His love proved its own irresistible power. May it be so with you. J. W. S.