The New Life

The Might of Satan.
head of the world of evil spirits, to combat him and
to overcome him. ^ After that time the eyes of the
Lord were always open to the power and working of
Satan. In all sin and misery.He saw the revelation
of the mighty kingdom of the very same superior,
the evil one.
Not only in the demoniacs, but also in
the sick, He saw the enemy of God and man.^
the advice of Peter to avoid the cross, and in his denial
of his Lord, where we should think of the revelation
of the natural character of Peter, Jesus saw the
work of Satan.* In His own sufifering, where we
rather speak of the sin of man and the permission of
God, Jesus perceives the power of darkness. His
whole work in living and in dying was to destroy the
works of Satan, as He shall also at His second coming
utterly bruise Satan himself.*
His word to Peter, compared with the personal experience
of the Lord, gives us a fearful insight into
the work of the enemy. ** Satan hath eagerly desired
you," says Jesus. "As a roaring lion, he walketh
about, seeking whom he may devour," says Peter
himself later on.^ He has no unlimited power, but
he is always eager to make use of every weak or unguarded
moment. " That he might sift you as
wheat "
: what a picture ! This world, yea, even the
Church of Christ, is the threshing-floor of Satan.
In
^Matt. iv. I, 10.
•^Matt. xii. 28 ;
Mark iv. 15 ; Luke xiii. 16 ;
Acts x. 38.
8 Matt. xvi. 23 ; I,uke xxii. 31, 32.
lyuke X. t8, xxii. 3, 53 ;
John xii. 31, xiv. 30 ;
xvi. 11 ; Rom.
xvi. 20 ; Col. ii. 15
; 2 Thess. ii. 8, ;
9 i John iii. 8.
6 1 Cor. vii. 5; 2 Cor. ii. 10; i Pet. v. 8.
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