God's
government rests on love. The moral foundation of the universe is based
on reason, love, and justice. If God ever chose to act arbitrarily and
exercise superior force, there would be a danger that He would have to
rule by fear, rather than love. What He wants are people who love and
serve Him voluntarily, not merely because they are afraid of Him. When
God allows Satan a certain amount of leeway, He is permitting the
exercise of free will on the part of one of His created beings. He is
carrying forth a drama on earth that is cosmic in nature, whereby men
and women, created in the image of God, freely choose to serve Him.
If God just reached out with His power and struck Satan, other
created beings could say He did it because He could not win by love, and
so He had to resort to force and fear.
God's plan for the triumph of love over hate is breathtaking. God
placed on earth a being--man--who was made in God's image. Then He
permitted Satan to tempt man, and man gave in to bring about his own
downfall. Then before all of the angels in heaven, there unfolded the
drama of redemption whereby God Himself sent His Son to die for fallen
man. The church began to grow out of the multitudes who chose freely to
follow God's love rather than to participate in Satan's rebellion.
The time will come when God has assembled a body of people who freely
love Him, which will prove beyond any doubt that love is the most
powerful force in the universe. With the triumph of love complete, God
will then deal with Satan.
First, God will put Satan in a place where he cannot escape for a thousand years (see Revelation 20:2-3).
Then God will demonstrate how beautiful the world would be without
Satan. At the end of that time, Satan is going to be set free, will
deceive the nations again, and will be defeated totally. Then God will
cast him into eternal torment.
Satan is a tool of God's love in the sense that he forces us to see God's loving patience (see 1 Timothy 1:18-20, 1
Corinthians 5:3-5). People would have a harder time understanding the
love of God without the obvious evil and hatred of His enemy. But God
did not cause Satan to rebel just so we could have a better picture of
His love. Satan sinned willingly because of pride. He thought his wisdom
exceeded that of God's (see Isaiah 14:12-15, 1 Timothy 3:6). We must always remember that the devil and God are not coequal (see Ezekiel 28:13-19). The devil is a creation of God, and God can do with him whatever He pleases (see Revelation 20:7-10).
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