Look for new heavens and a new earth.
New heavens and new earth
A question here arises whether the new heavens and new earth will be created out of the-ruins of the old. The idea of the annihilation of so many immense and glorious bodies, organised with inimitable skill, is gloomy and forbidding. It ought not to be believed without the most decisive proof. On the other hand, it is a most animated thought that this visible creation which sin has marred will be restored by our Jesus.
1. The words which are employed to express the destruction of the world do net necessarily imply annihilation. The figures taken from the wearing out of a garment and from the vanishing of smoke do neither of them import the destruction of substance. For the substance of a garment when it moulders away, and of smoke when it vanishes, is not annihilated; only the form is changed. Is it said that the world shall perish? The same word is used to express the ancient destruction of the world by the flood. Is it said that the world shall have an end and be no more? This may be understood only of the present organisation of the visible system. The natural power of fire is not to annihilate, but only to dissolve the composition and change the form of substances.
2. Our text and several similar passages compel me to believe that new material heavens and a new material earth will be raised up to supply the place of those which the conflagration shall have destroyed. This being allowed, it seems more natural to suppose that the old materials will be employed than that they will be annihilated and new ones created in their stead. We know that the glorified bodies of the saints will be formed of materials which now exist on the earth, and that even the glorious body of Christ is formed of no other.
3. The new heavens and new earth seem eminently represented as a part of the vast plan of restoration which Christ undertook to accomplish. But it is not the part of Christ in this work to create out of nothing, but only to renew.
4. The time of Christ’s advent to judgment is called “the times of restitution of all things.”
5. But the passage on which the advocates for renovation chiefly rely remains yet to be produced (Romans 8:1-39.). If, then, by “the creature” is meant “every creature” or “the whole creation,” how is the whole creation to “be delivered,” in the resurrection, “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God?” Not by annihilation, but by a glorious renovation. But why, if the heavenly bodies are to be continued in existence, should they be dissolved by fire, since they are not, as far as we know, defiled, as our earth is, by sin? One end of their dissolution may be that by a different composition of their materials they may be rendered more pure and glorious. Another end may be to make a memorable display of God’s abhorrence of everything which has had the most distant connection with sin. They have ministered to apostate man and lighted him in his course of rebellion. Lift up your heads, ye people of God, and sing, for your redemption draweth nigh. What though you are poor in this world, the new heavens and new earth will be all your own. Ye who must now walk on the earth lame and halt, while the world rattle by you in their splendid equipages, shall shortly make easy excursions from star to star, and from world to world. (E. Griffins, D. D.)
The new creation
I. Reflect on the great creation and the purpose of God in making the infinity of worlds. That there is no adequate purpose it would be absurd, indeed almost blasphemous, to suppose. The tornado may work blindly as it tears down the forest trees in its fury; but how unworthy would be such blind, aimless work on the part of the Infinite God! A giant may put forth his portentous strength in mere vain display; but could God exert such stupendous energy in order that some fraction of its wonder might dazzle the few beholders in one world? Surely a devout faith, as well as a reasoning intelligence, must conclude that the purpose which alone explains the creation and arrangement of our earth is that it should be the home of life, and of beings able to apprehend God’s will, is the actuating purpose of all the rest of the creation.
II. But in this world, at least, there has been failure. In man’s inmost nature there has been a collapse. High faith and loyalty, integrity and pureness, persistent endeavour for the right--all this has broken down, and man’s moral and spiritual nature is in ruins. But into the midst of the ruin of human hope there has come the all-renewing power of a great redemption.
III. How boundless is the prospect opened out to man by this new hope! What infinite possibility and promise of the development and application of human faculty! what a future for the researches of science and the plastic skill of art! and what sacred joy in the perfected and permanent relationships of human society!
IV. Our attention is directed to the regnant principle of the new universe. Where vice reigns all is hell; where vice and virtue are in conflict life is mingled joy and pain; but where triumphant righteousness makes its abiding home there must be health without any lurking incipiency of sickness, joy without threat of grief, love without peril of parting, and life without possibility of death. “Wherein dwelleth righteousness”--as the very coherence of the texture of the new world, and the pervasive and penetrating energy of the new life. And for this ultimate triumph of righteousness God is our guarantee. (T. F. Lockyer, B. A.)
A new heaven and a new earth
I. The events looked for.
1. First, the destruction of the world that now is. Not only the heavens, but “the elements.” Light, heat, air, moisture--all these are to come under the action of the final fire. Then “the earth,” where God planted Eden of old, and whose virgin soil was trodden by sinless humanity; earth, where are Bethlehem, Gethsemane, and Calvary, with all their holy memories of suffering and of rejoicing and of triumph. Then not only earth, but the things that are on the earth; all that human art and human labour and human skill may have added to the earth or reconstructed out of material things. Then the means--fire. Fire is the mightiest force with which we are acquainted in the material world. Science has taught us that no material has been found as yet which fire cannot melt. And fire is not only the mightiest force, but it is the most universally diffused. We find it everywhere--in the vegetable, in the animal, and in the mineral. There is fire in the tree which grows, and hence the savage will take two sticks, and, rubbing them briskly together, he produces a spark and flame. Though there is much of moisture in the wood, nevertheless he can produce fire from it. There is fire in the very stone on which you tread. Hence the sparks that you see struck forth beneath the prancing steed, or sometimes occasioned by your own sharp footsteps. There is fire in the water. If there were not it would all be frozen. Fire enters into the constitution of our own body. There is heat in the skin and in the flesh, in the blood and in the bone, and in the sinew; and it causes life to kindle from the sole of the foot to the very crown of the head. This earth of ours was once a sea of molten lava. It is now cooled at the surface, and this constitutes the crust of the globe; but if you were only to dig down seven miles through that crust, you would still come upon the ocean of liquid lava. And God has only to let loose this treasure of fire from its secret place, and then it will rush with destructive fury from world to world and from system to system. No wall can be constructed as a barrier to check its progress. Then you will observe another thing--the manner. “Pass away with a great noise.” The manifestations of God to man are sometimes calm and peaceful and assuring. At other times His manifestations are accompanied with things that awaken terror or create alarm. So it was in connection with Sinai. Then this great crisis is designated the day of the Lord--the day of the Lord Jesus. Why is it designated the day of Christ?
(1) It will be the day of the Lord Jesus, because the transactions of the day will be all based upon the mediatorial work of Christ.
(2) Because it will be the day for the vindication of Christ against all the falsehoods and the prejudices and the wrong judgments which men have entertained concerning Christ.
(3) Then it is the day of the Lord as distinguished from man’s day. It is your day now; and I say to young men it is your day now to do as you please--to rebel against God. But it will be the Lord’s day when the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved.
2. Next, the reconstruction of a new earth out of the material of the old. The renewal of the earth and the heaven will be a something that will take place after the destruction of the old earth and the old heaven. Now we must bear in mind that in the material world nothing is annihilated. He will want all the gold to pave the highways of the New Jerusalem. He will want the diamonds and the precious stones to gem the battlements of the city of the saints. He will put them all into one seething cauldron and melt and purify and purge them, and make them fit material for the erection of the future home of the saints. “We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.” The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. They shall inherit the earth, and the wicked shall not have a part in it at all. But is this old earth to be cursed for ever? No. Jesus Christ’s work as Redeemer would not be complete. After He has saved man, He will have to effect the restitution of things as well as of men. He will have to extract the curse from the heart of the earth, and so silence the cry of a groaning creation. And let me say that this new heaven and new earth, in its purified form, will be far superior to our old home. What do we find here? Beasts of prey are prowling the deserts. In the new heavens and the new earth “no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon.” In the old earth venomous vipers and poisonous reptiles are crawling, and sometimes they inflict pain, and even death, upon our fellow-men. But in the new heavens and the new earth nothing that hurts and destroys shall ever be seen in all God’s holy mountain. In this old earth what do I find? The air is laden with pestilence and desolation and death. But in the new heavens and the new earth the atmosphere shall be purged of all deleterious influences, and the inhabitants shall never say “I am sick.” Here time lays its destroying hand upon the mightiest monuments that man has ever reared. But in the new heavens and new earth “neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and thieves do not break through and steal.” Immortality is possessed by everything there. The inheritance is “incorruptible and undefiled, and it fadeth not away.” In the new heavens and in the new earth there shall be no more sea, no element of destruction there. And then I look at the heavens above me, so magnificent on a bright starry night; but I cannot help being reminded of the alternations of heat and cold, of the insufferable heat of summer and the greater heat endured in other portions of the world than ours, and of the insufferable cold of winter. But in the new heavens and the new earth there will be no such alternations. There is no need of the sun or of the moon, but the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the light thereof. In this old earth the hearts of righteous ones are wounded and pierced to the very quick by the wickedness of those around them. But in the new heavens and in the new earth there “dwelleth righteousness.” There will be no sorrow or suffering through the wickedness of men rebelling against the Lord most high.
II. What should be our attitude with these things before us? “Be diligent”--that is, “Do your best, that ye may be found of Him in peace.” Oh! is it possible to be at peace when the world is in a blaze? Yes, thank God, it is possible to be at peace then. But how are we to be at peace under such conditions? “Found of Him without spot and blame less”--“without spot” inwardly; “blameless “outwardly. A pure heart and a pure life. There will be nothing to fear then. Suppose two men standing side by side at that day gazing upon the upheaving of all things. The one man has been a millionaire commanding his broad acres and his ample revenue, but has died without Christ. The other man has died in the poor-house, and gone to heaven by faith from his humble abode. The two stand side by side. Ah, which of the two would you prefer to be, then? The one loses all. The fire burns all he ever possessed. The other loses nothing. The flames cannot touch his possessions. He has a pure heart, a clear conscience, a spirit delivered from sin; and the fires cannot touch them. (Richard Roberts.)
The final heaven
There was but one word between chaos and creation--there need be but one between the sustentation and the dissolution of the universal frame. And we are looking for these things! To this promise we hope to come! It is the goal of consummated bliss!
I. Let us endeavour from this description to suggest to our minds the true nature of that perfect felicity and satisfaction which are reserved for the people of God.
1. The scene we occupy was evidently intended for a great system of life. There is scarcely spot or element in which it may not be found. It is a great contrivance for all the forms and kinds of existence. It would be unmeaning, running to waste, but for this intention. Air, land, water are crowded with their several tribes. The happiness of every one is consulted, function and habitude agree most perfectly with the province and support provided for them, and none who survey and reason out the final causes of things can doubt the will of the great Master and Lord of all. Still he who was made the last of all earthly creatures is the greatest: to him they are all tributary and ministering, and God has given him dominion over them. Then, assuredly, when there shall be new heavens and a new earth, man, the capital figure of the present system, shall still be more prominently raised. He shall there need for help no inferior creatures. Their spirit has gone downward to that earth which is no more. But he is not alone. The ministering spirits which ministered to the heirs of salvation during this life shall be his companions amidst these fairer fields.
2. The world in which we dwell, with all its proper appendages of circumambient air and supernal light, is a material fabric. If, therefore, new heavens and a new earth shall be constituted, they must be material and related to space, or the figure does not hold. And everything concerning that abode would seem to confirm it. It has its entrances, its dimensions, its boundaries, that which can be “seen,” that which may be “heard.” The flesh of the risen saints is seen in those borders. The glorious body of the Eternal Son is the centre of all the beatific attractions and influences.
3. The visible works of God are the means by which intelligent creatures rise in their thoughts to Him and judge of Him. These are the monu ments of His existence and natural perfections. Heaven and earth but vary and multiply the perfect demonstration of a First Cause, His skill, His might, and His bounty. When we read, consequently, of “the new heavens and the new earth,” we cannot fail to infer that they shall be impressed with the same designations. How shall the depths of those heavens, how shall the ever-spreading horizons of that earth, be “sought out” and interpreted for the praises of Him whose glorious majesty shines forth from their incomparable frame l
4. The community of the saints is now a most pleasing fact: they are one. A new heaven and a new earth shall now embrace their whole multitude. God hath prepared a habitation for them. They are all brought home.
5. While the present state of our sojourn abounds in multitudinous life, while it is chiefly administrative to the life of man, we cannot but be amazed at the contrivance and the fulness of those provisions which give general life, and peculiarly that of man, its greatest possible happiness and freest possible exercise. We, however, boast a life of higher functions and aims. To be spiritually-minded is life and peace. The spirit of life breathes it into our soul. Though the sky and earth cannot affect this new mode of being, this life of faith, yet the passions and concernments of the present do war perpetually with it. But “the new heavens and the new earth” shall as much favour the inward life, the life of the spirit, as these mundane conveniences and laws now sustain our inferior life.
6. If the future condition of happiness and glory which shall be prepared for the redeemed may be thus expressed, we may expect that, notwithstanding the difference between it and “this visible, diurnal sphere,” there shall be certain points of resemblance. What are now the marks of our dwelling? Heavens--earth. How is our eternal abode described? New heavens--new earth. Is not there in the former an analogue to the latter? Is not the second the reflex of the first? Was there not a shadowing out of ideas which shall seem familiar to the saints in that glory? That which is inferior in appetite and instinct is done away. But is there no beauty in form and colour which the eye may behold? Are there no ravishing harmonies for the ear? Everything here may be but rudiment and cypher to be evolved and interpreted in far distant seats of the universe. By a graduated scale we may now rise through an ascending series of progressive changes until we reach the climax of all.
7. But this supposed parallelism, however unequal, between these different scenes of existence, comprehends an exercise of distinct and perfect memory. The “terrible crystal” of the new heavens, the fair paradise of the new earth, must recall the old.
8. The manner in which the present heavens and earth are supplanted by the new declares that a measure of happiness is ensured by the exchange which perfectly corresponds to the solemn revolution. Joy is the invariable fruit of a rightly appreciated Christianity.
9. Nothing more distinctly marks the evil of sin than the variance which is often supposed in Scripture between man and the scenes of his habitation. These are bid to rise up and declare against him. He is represented as alone “coming short of the glory of God.” They are true to their purpose, while he has turned aside from the end for which he was created and endowed. Hence those awful apostrophes with which inanimate objects are invoked, as if even they could but condemn him. They are summoned, like so many witnesses and justices, to denounce his crimes. But “the new heavens and earth” shall environ nothing which can offend. They shall correspond with whatever they embrace. Their pure elements shall only encompass the pure.
10. Since heaven and earth combine all our ideas of the fair and grand, since these complete our present sphere of life and action, the continuance of such machinery in a future state must intimate to us the diversity of its good. Herein is every constituent of our pleasure, whether sensual or intellectual. From above or beneath we derive all our gratifications. There is endless variety.
11. We have no such images of permanence as those works of God concerning which we speak. “For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.” “They shall fear Thee as long as the sun and moon endure.” “The earth abideth for ever.” God suspends the proof of his faithfulness upon these ordinances, upon the covenant of day and night. Yet are we forewarned of their wreck. If, then, these monuments of whatever is durable are themselves to be destroyed, if the azure fade and the globe decay, how certainly may we regard in the new heavens and earth the voucher of a proper immortality! Their sun shall no more go down. Their refulgent tissues shall not decay. They are the perfect signals of a duration which admits no intervals and wants no monitors--which cannot be broken into ages nor counted out by stars!
12. The power of God to protect and bless is not infrequently rested upon His creative achievements. “My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” “The Lord that made heaven and earth, bless thee out of Zion.” “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, which made heaven and earth.” The mourner, the oppressed, the persecuted have sought unto Him who had done all these things--His aid and benediction they could not henceforth distrust nor slight. The meek of the earth were safe beneath the care of Him who made it. The new heavens and earth are fashioned by the same omnipotent artificer, the God of truth and of salvation, and in the same manner does He design that they should support the quietness and assurance of His people for ever! He who reared them shall be their God so long as they endure. They are the standard evidence and voucher of what He can and will work on their behalf.
II. Let us examine the evidence on which this firm expectation rests. To Abraham a covenant was given in which were contained many promises of a more than earthly kind. He had the seal of righteousness by faith. From him was to descend a spiritual seed. We believe in the Lord, and He counteth it to us for righteousness! We take this ancient warrant, which no time can impair nor cancel--a warrant distinct, successive, cumulative--and “according to His promise we look for new heavens and a new earth in which dwelleth righteousness.” Christianity, which brings life and incorruption to light, which is the promise of eternal life, exhibits the true and alone hope of this surpassing condition. We have everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. We depend upon the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began. Promise is a form of Scriptural revelation and encouragement with which we are familiar. It is an infinite condescension in God thus to bind Himself, and to speak to His servants, “for a great while to come.” (R. W. Hamilton, D. D.)
New heavens and new earth
1. We know historically that earth, that a solid, material earth, may form the dwelling of sinless creatures in full converse and friendship with the Being who made them. Man, at the first, had for his place this world, and at the same time, for his privilege, an unclouded fellowship with God, and for his prospect an immortality which death was neither to intercept nor put an end to. He was terrestrial in respect of condition, and yet celestial in respect both of character and enjoyment. This may serve to rectify an imagination, of which we think that all must be conscious--as if the grossness of mater='550 4:4'>Gal 4:4).
5. There is a declarative manifestation of the Son of God in the dispensation of the gospel.
6. He is manifested sacramentally.
7. Christ is manifested in a spiritual and efficacious way in the day of conversion.
8. There is the public and solemn manifestation of the Son of God at the last day (Revelation 1:7). Thus you see how it is that the Son of God is manifested; and in every one of these manifestations He had in view the destruction of Satan and his works.
IV. To speak of the Son of God destroying the works of the devil.
1. The first thing is, to prove that it was the great business of the Son of God to destroy the works of the devil.
(1) Was it the plot of hell to have God dishonoured in all His attributes and perfections by the sin of man? Well, Christ counteracts the devil in this; for He brings a great revenue of glory to the crown of heaven by the work of redemption.
(2) It was the work of the devil to disgrace the holy law of God, by breaking it himself, and teaching man to break in upon it; but the work of Christ is, to “magnify the law, and to make it honourable.”
(3) Was it the work of the devil to disturb God’s government in the world, and to cast all into disorder? Well, God the Father lays the government upon Christ’s shoulders on purpose that He may restore everything into the order wherein He had set them at first (Romans 8:19, etc.).
(4) Was it the devil’s work to establish his own kingdom of darkness in this lower world, by establishing error, ignorance, unbelief, atheism, pride, carnality, profanity, and all manner of sin and wickedness? Well, it is the work of Christ to pull down these strongholds of Satan’s kingdom.
(5) Was it the devil’s work to break all fellowship and friendship betwixt God and man? Well, it is the work of Christ to bring them into friendship one with another; therefore He is called a Mediator, or a Peacemaker.
(6) Was it the work of the devil to bring man under the curse and condemnation of the law, that so he might be in the same condition with himself? Well, it is the work of Christ to “redeem us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.”
(7) Was it the work of the devil to deface the image of God which He stamped upon man? It is the work of Christ to restore it.
2. The second thing here is, to inquire, How is it that Christ destroys the works of the devil? Christ destroys the works of the devil four ways.
(1) By the virtue of His blood.
(2) By the light of His Word.
(3) By the power and efficacy of His Spirit.
(4) By the prudence of His government and administration.
3. The third thing was, to observe upon some particular times and seasons wherein Christ destroys the works of the devil.
(1) The day of Christ’s death gave a notable blow unto the devil’s kingdom.
(2) The day of Christ’s resurrection gave a signal blow to the works of the devil; for He “rose for our justification.”
(3) The day of Christ’s ascension into heaven was a notable destruction unto Satan and his works; for “when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive”; He opened a passage between this world and heaven, through the territories of the prince of the power of the air, by which all His friends might follow Him to glory.
(4) In the day of Pentecost Christ gave another stroke to the devil and his works.
(5) The day of a sinner’s believing in Christ is a time when Satan’s works are destroyed.
(6) Times of espousals, nearness betwixt God and a soul, are times of destroying the works of the devil.
(7) When at any time an honourable testimony is given to the Lord, to the doctrine, discipline, worship and government of His Church, in a day of uncommon defection and backsliding.
(8) When a believer dies, and goes away to glory, under a guard of angels, along that road that Christ opened.
4. The fourth thing here was, to give the reasons why Christ the Son of God is manifested to destroy the works of the devil.
(1) Christ encounters this enemy, and destroys his works, because it was His Father’s will and pleasure; and He did always these things that pleased His Father, rejoicing always before Him.
(2) Christ destroys the works of the devil, because it was for His own honour to engage in this expedition.
(3) Christ destroys the works of the devil, out of the ancient and wonderful love that He did bear to man upon earth.
(4) Out of regard to His own law, which the devil by his works had dishonoured.
(5) Christ destroys the works of the devil that He may “still this enemy and avenger.”
(6) He destroys the work of the devil, for the manifestation of all the Divine perfections.
V. The last thing in the method was the use of the doctrine, which I shall despatch in the following inferences.
1. See hence a glorious ray of the Godhead or supreme independent Deity of the glorious Redeemer.
2. See hence how the kindness and love of God hath appeared toward man upon earth.
3. See hence the evil of sin, and the folly of those that are in love with it, and give themselves up to its power and service.
4. See hence a good reason why the believer is at war with sin in himself, and wherever he finds it.
5. See hence why hell and earth took the alarm when Christ appeared in the world.
6. See one great reason why believers breathe so much after manifestations of the Lord.
7. From this doctrine we may see how much it is our concern to keep up the memorials of a Redeemer’s death, and why the truly godly love to flock to a sacrament.
Use second may be of trial, whether the Son of God was ever savingly manifested to thy soul.
1. If ever She Son of God was manifested in thy soul, thou wilt be for pulling down the works of the devil, and for building up the works of the Son of God.
(1) You will pull down self-righteousness, and put on the righteousness of Christ.
(2) You will be much employed in pulling down the image of the first Adam, and in setting up the image of the second Adam in your souls.
(3) You will be clear for pulling down the wisdom of the flesh, and for setting up the wisdom of God above it.
2. If ever the Son of God was manifested savingly unto thy soul, the union of the two natures in the person of Christ will be the wonder of thy soul.
3. It will be your great design, in attending ordinances, to have new manifestations of His glory, as David (Psalms 27:4; Psalms 63:1-11; Psalms 84:1-12, etc.).
4. You will be concerned to manifest His glory to others. The last inference is this, Is it so that the Son of God was manifested? See hence noble encouragement to all honest ministers and Christians to make a stand against the defections of the day we live in. (E. Erskine, D. D.)
The works of the devil destroyed
I. First, the works of the devil. This very strong expression is descriptive of sin; for the preceding sentence so interprets it.
1. This name for sin is first of all a word of detestation. Sin is so abominable in the sight of God and of good men that its various forms are said to be “the works of the devil.” Think of that, ye ungodly ones--the devil is at work in you, as a smith at his forge.
2. Next, it is a word of distinction: it distinguishes the course of the ungodly man from the life of the man who believes in the Lord Jesus. If you have not the life of God in you, you cannot do the works of God. The mineral cannot rise into the vegetable of itself, it would require another touch from the creative hand; the vegetable cannot rise into the animal unless the Creator shall work a miracle; and, even so, you as a carnal man cannot become a spiritual man by any spontaneous generation; the new life must be imparted to you by the quickening Spirit.
3. The language before us is, next, a word of descent. Sin is “of the devil,” it came from him; he is its parent and patron. Sin is not so of the devil that we can lay the blame of our sins upon him, for that is our own. It is our work because we willingly yield. Let us be thoroughly ashamed of such work when we find that the devil has a hand in it.
4. Consider, next, that we have here a word of description. The work of sin is the work of the devil because it is such work as he delights in. He has led the human race to become accomplices in his treason against the majesty of heaven, allies in his rebellion against the sovereignty of God most high. The works of the devil make up a black picture: it is a thick darkness over all the land, even a darkness that may be felt.
II. The purpose of God--“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” Yes, mark that word, “destroyed,” not limited, nor alleviated, nor neutralised, but destroyed.
1. The work which lies in this purpose is assuredly a Divine work. The Lord who can create can certainly destroy.
2. And there is, to my mind, about it the idea of a conquering work. When are the palaces and the fortifications of great kings destroyed? Not till the kings themselves have been overthrown in fair fight; but when their power is broken then it is that the conquerors raze the castle and burn the stronghold.
3. This means also a complete work. The product of evil is not to be cut down for a time and left to grow again.
4. It is a complete work and a conclusive work; for the Lord Jesus will so break the head of the old dragon, that he shall never wear the crown again. Sin in every shape and form the Lord shall destroy from off the face of the earth forever.
III. Our text plainly tells us how this is to be done--by the manifestation of the Son of God. Behind, and under, and over the works of the devil the Lord had ever the design that this evil should be permitted that He might baffle it with love, and that the glory of His grace might be revealed. My text has in it to my mind a majestic idea, first, of the difficulties of the case--that the Son of God must needs be manifested to destroy the works of the devil; and then, secondly, of the ease of His victory.
1. First, Christ’s manifestation, even in His incarnation, was a fatal blow to the works of Satan. Did God come down to men? Was He incarnate in the infant form that slept in Bethlehem’s manger? Then the Almighty has not given up our nature to be the prey of sin.
2. Next, look to the life of Christ on earth, and see how He there destroyed the works of the devil. It was a glorious duel in the wilderness when they stood foot to foot--the champions of good and evil! All our Lord’s preaching, all His teaching, all His labour here below was in order to the pulling away the corner stone from the great house of darkness which Satan had built up.
3. But oh, it was in His death that Jesus chiefly overthrew Satan and destroyed his works. Man, accepting this great sacrifice, loves and adores the Father who ordained it, and so the works of the devil in his heart are destroyed.
4. Our Lord’s rising again, His ascension into glory, His sitting on the right hand of the Father, His coming again in the latter days--all these are parts of the manifestation of the Son of God by which the works of the devil shall be destroyed. So also is the preaching of the gospel. If we want to destroy the works of the devil our best method is to manifest more and more the Son of God.
5. Lastly, on this point, our blessed Lord is manifested in His eternal power and kingdom as enthroned in order to destroy the works of the devil; for “the government shall be upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Wonderful, the mighty God, the Father of the ages.”
IV. A few words of inquiry as to the experience of all this in ourselves. Has the Son of God been manifested to you to destroy the works of the devil in you?
1. At first there was in your heart an enmity to God; for “the carnal mind is enmity against God.” Is that enmity destroyed?
2. The next work of the devil which usually appears in the human mind is self-righteous pride. Have all those rags gone from you? Has a strong wind blown them right away? Have you seen your own natural nakedness?
3. When the Lord has destroyed self-righteousness in us, the devil generally sets us forth another form of his power, and that is despair. But if the Lord Jesus Christ has been manifested to you, despair has gone, that work of the devil has been all destroyed, and now you have a humble hope in God and a joy in His mercy. What next?
4. Have you any unbelief in your heart as to the promises of God? Down with it! Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. All mistrusts must die. Not one of them must be spared. Do fleshly lusts arise in your heart? In whose heart do they not arise? The brightest saint is sometimes tempted to the foulest vice. Yes, but he yields not thereto. He cries, “Away with them!” It is not meet even to mention these vile things; they are works of the devil, and to be destroyed. Do you quickly become angry? I pray God you may be angry and sin not; but if you are of a hasty temper, I entreat you to overcome it. Do not say, “I cannot help it.” You must help it, or rather Christ must destroy it. It must not be tolerated. Oh, there is to be in every true believer the ultimate abolition of sin. What a prospect this is! (C. H. Spurgeon.)