Page 20 - The Divine Unfolding of God's Plan of Redemption

upon the “vessels of mercy” who would “will to do His will.”

It is basic in this divine philosophy that the adversary and all his hosts will one day

be destroyed. Of this purpose Satan himself and all his cohorts are well aware.
Furthermore, they know by Whose hand their destruction will be compassed. Note in
this connection the frantic shriek of the demons possessing the men of Gadara when
the Christ of God appeared in their presence, “What have we to do with thee, Jesus,

thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time” (Matt. 8:29).
This is a most significant utterance. The demons knew that this was the very Person
who would destroy them, yet they were aware that the time predetermined for this
general punishment was not at His first advent.

Before leaving this subject, we cannot forbear to call the reader‟s attention to
another most significant Scripture—Luke 10:17-18: “And the seventy returned again
with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils [demons] are subject unto us through thy name.

And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Christ is here
plainly drawing a connection between the perpetual power He Himself and His name
exerts over Satan and his demons and the fact of His presence there in the glory when
the light-bearer was hurled forth. If we may reverently paraphrase His whole thought,

it would run like this: “Is there anything strange in the fact that demons are subject to
you in My name? Was I not present when the Lord of all the demons fell from heaven,
and was I not with the Father and Holy Spirit, responsible for it?”

Having been hurled from the Garden of God, Satan became the prince of the power
of the air. He and his hosts took up their abode in the atmosphere surrounding this
earth of ours. We incline very strongly to the idea that though the fullness of his
wisdom was in no sense diminished, he and his minions were disembodied and

completely deprived of any perfection of beauty. We believe this disembodied state to
be a source of acute pain and anguish and a cause of unquenchable fury against God.
They passionately yearn for a body that they may indwell. We recall in connection
with those demons dwelling in the men of Gadara and referred to previously that when

they knew that Christ would exorcise them they “Besought Him saying, If thou cast us
out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.” If they cannot stay in the men, then
by all means they would prefer a swine‟s body to the state of being unclothed. Even

though the Creator permitted this, the reprieve was short-lived, for when the swine
were drowned they were disembodied. How they did and do hate to be exorcised!
Their malevolent hatred before being driven out by the name and power of Christ is
usually shown by a final attack on the body of their victim, which leaves him or her in
a state of complete physical collapse. We have seen this very same thing in heathen

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