He that commits sin is of the devil;
for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8
We begin
by considering this “adversary,” as he is described (1 Peter 5:8), the devil.
The Son of God came because there was a certain state and condition in this
world that had been produced by the devil. Now whether we like it or not, the
fact is that the whole drama of redemption, as it is outlined in the Bible,
simply cannot be understood at all unless you accept the biblical doctrine with
regard to the devil. It is an essential part of this message; it is there from
the very beginning and right through to the end.
And this
is the biblical teaching. The explanation of the problem of mankind and the
whole state of our world is to be traced back to this fact about the devil.
According to the Bible, God made the world perfect; so what has gone wrong with
it? And here is the answer. Someone who is described in various terms and to
whom various names are given in the Bible came and spoke to the man and the
woman whom God had placed in that perfect world. He is called “Lucifer,” “the
son of the morning,” and “the god of this world.” He is called “the serpent,”
“the prince of the power of the air,” and “the strong man armed.”
There are
various names given in the Scriptures, but they all describe the same person.
And according to this teaching, this is the explanation of evil and of sin and
of all our miseries in this world. The devil came and spoke to man, and he
enticed him to sin. So man went against God; and the result of all this is the
state of the world as it has been from the moment that man fell.
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