The Question of God's Supremacy Settled

Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White

The Question of God's Supremacy Settled

Today's Text: Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Psalm 24:7

The Message:      All heaven is watching the controversy.... Here upon the earth Satan stirs up the enmity that is in the human mind to resist the salvation that has been brought to them at such an infinite cost. He [Christ] was the light of the world, and yet the world knew Him not. He created the world, and yet the world would not acknowledge Him. But when His life was sought for, the Majesty of heaven had to go from place to place; heaven marked this. And He was despised and rejected; He was mocked at, reviled; but when He was reviled, He reviled not again. But Satan did not stop his persecutions until Christ hung upon the cross of Calvary. All heaven, and all the worlds God had created, were watching the controversy; would Christ carry out the plan He had undertaken to lift lost souls from the pit of sin? ...      The great rebel was uprooted from the thoughts of everyone as they saw Christ's resurrection; the question was settled that the law of God was immutable and covered all that were in heaven and in earth, and all the created intelligences. Christ was with His disciples forty days and forty nights and then ... He was taken up from them into heaven; and the multitude of captives were with Him; and a multitude of heavenly host was around Him; and as they approached the city of God, the angel that was accompanying Him said, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in."...      Now this Saviour is our intercessor, making an atonement for us before the Father... And that precious Saviour is coming again.... When He cometh the second time, it is not to wear the crown of thorns, it is not to have that old purple robe placed upon His divine form. The voices will not be raised, Crucify Him, Crucify Him, but there is a shout from the angelic host and from those who are waiting to receive Him, Worthy, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. A divine Conqueror, in the place of the crown of thorns He will wear a crown of glory; in the place of that old kingly robe that they put upon Him in mockery, He will wear a robe whiter than the whitest white. And those hands that were bruised with the cruel nails will shine like gold....      The righteous dead come forth from their graves, and they that are alive and remain are caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall they ever be with the Lord. And they will listen to the voice of Jesus, sweeter than any music that ever fell on mortal ear, ... "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."-Manuscript 11, 1886.

Commentary: My friend, the question of God's supremacy was settled at the cross.  Prior to that event, the lies and doubts that he had unleashed in heaven had not been completely unmasked.  There were still some in the heavenly realm that sympathized with Lucifer.  Though they did not side with him, there was still some semblance of doubt that remained.  Prior to his fall, Lucifer was next to the Son of God in power and authority.  His wisdom and majesty were great, and in his perfection, he was loved by all of heaven.  When he set out to overthrow the kingdom of God, he did not do so outwardly, but used his great intellect and wisdom to cunningly sew seeds of doubt that, unless fully unmasked, would fester and grow in the minds of the heavenly beings. For these seeds of doubt to uprooted, Satan, the adversary of God must be allowed time to demonstrate the true nature of his rebellion.  At the cross, when he incited the hatred of the people to crucify the beloved Son of God, the true intent of his rebellion was fully unmasked and the seeds of doubt had been forever destroyed. At the cross Satan, the adversary of souls, was completely unmasked.  His rebellion was shown to be completely without merit.  In the eyes of those in heaven, Satan had been show to be the liar that he is.  But the final vindication of the character of God is still to be accomplished just before the second coming of Christ, by the 144,000.  While Satan no longer bears sway with the heavenly beings, the controversy still is being played out on this earth.  Satan still holds that God cannot forgive fallen man and destroy him and his angels. The last scenes of the great controversy are being played out right before our eyes.  The world is as corrupt today as it was in the time just before the flood.  God is working with His people, to prepare them for the great and final battle with sin.  He is preparing a people that will show Satan to be a liar, and vindicate His character.  He is preparing a people that will perfectly reflect His image, that He may present them as His evidence to refute the claim of Satan.  The question that we have to ask ourselves today is will we be one of those people? May we all strive to vindicate the character of God in our lives today. God bless,

Video of the Week What is Righteousness? - Nader Mansour What is righteousness according to the Bible? Does it mean right doing only? Is there something that precedes that? Why does it matter? Nader Mansour explores this important and practical topic in this study.  Presented in Toronto Canada, June 2018.