Several years ago a popular evangelist in our city announced as one of his subjects, "What I would do if I were the devil." That was a very suggestive and interesting theme indeed. I suppose if he had been the devil, and as shrewd as the devil he would have done pretty much what the devil is doing now. And from that we can get some valuable information. In this present war every movement of the enemy is being closely watched and scrutinized. Every step of the opposing forces comes in for careful study. Why does the enemy make such and such a move, and what is his aim, and what does he hope to accomplish by it? These are the questions the leaders of the army ask themselves, and by this means they get an insight into the plans and purposes of the enemy. If he makes particularly strenuous effort to attain some special point, we want to know why he considers that object so desirable, and why he goes to all the expense and trouble to gain it.

      Now in the Bible we have not only the revelation of God, but also a revelation of Satan. There some of the devil's secret counsels are laid bare, and we can learn of some of his special aims and objectives, and may get the main sketch of his grand strategy in his conflict against God and man. There we see also what special points he considers to be of paramount importance; and thus we are put on guard against his movements. Let us note a few of Satan's chief objectives.

      First of all it is plain that the devil attaches great importance to the Word of God. In the explanation of the parable of the sower, the Lord Jesus says, "The seed is the word of God; and those by the wayside are those that have heard: then cometh the devil and taketh away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved." (Luke 8:11, 12.) The wayside-hearer is the dull, indifferent, unconcerned man, who when the word is preached to him cares nothing for it, one way or another. But the devil is watchful, prompt, and on the job, to snatch the seed quickly out of that heart--lest, after all, the man might consider it and believe and be saved. Evidently Satan has a healthy respect for the power of God's word; and it would seem that he understands its peculiar effectiveness better than most Christians do. He will take no chances with it. In so far as his interests are concerned he regards it as a soldier would an unexploded hand-grenade or time-bomb. What a great and important thing the Bible is in the devil's estimate! And is it not on that account that he has put many of his servants, high and low, to work, to discredit its truth and authority? So let us esteem that Word all the more and scatter, it abroad--for that is one of the things of which the devil stands in fear. [40]

      Have you not wondered why Satan has such relentless hate toward the human race in general and every individual in particular? According to the scriptures, Satan, though fallen and much degraded and sure of final doom, is a being of high position and dignity, of consummate intelligence and great authority and power. The Bible never speaks lightly or scurrilously about the devil, but always in a reserved and solemn manner. His greatness and power is incomparably above man's and it would Perhaps seem that a human being would be an insignificant thing in his sight and far beneath his notice. Why would he go to all the trouble to seek a man's ruin? What is it to him whether a man stands or falls? Would he pursue a driven leaf or chase the dry stubble? Here clearly can be seen Satan's understanding of the worth of a man. We know from the Bible that in the eyes of God a human being counts for much. There is joy in heaven, in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. And in like manner Satan betrays his estimate of a man by the extreme efforts he makes to destroy him. Obviously Satan thinks that the overthrow of even one man is an object worthy of all his thought and planning. And if he has any preference he would rather destroy a woman; for from the days of the garden of Eden he has hated womankind, and counts it a special triumph when and wherever he can degrade womanhood. And you may be sure he has his reasons. For upon the purity and goodness of woman hangs the moral welfare of all our race.

      In the pages of God's word, in the pages of secular history and in the events of our own days, we read of Satan's most concentrated venom and hatred of the Jew. From the time that God began to form the nation of Israel, that nation has been the object of his most especial malice. Satan is the original anti-Semite. In the land of Egypt he tried to destroy that nation while it was yet in the making. When they dwelt in Canaan he spared no effort to deceive and mislead and to corrupt them. And he raised up enemies against them on every side. Of all the nations that surrounded Israel (with the one short-lived exception of the friendship of Hiram, King of Tyre in the days of David and Solomon) none of them were friendly toward Israel. After their captivity, and when they were scattered over the world, they were almost everywhere hated, persecuted, mistreated. Haman, prime-minister of the kingdom of Persia, sought to compass their destruction; and a worse Haman, more dreadful and successful than his ancient predecessor, is today slaughtering countless, helpless multitudes of that unhappy people in wanton and ferocious cruelty. The history of Israel through the centuries has been the saddest of all the histories of the nations. No people [41] have ever suffered so terribly--and, survived. Like the bush which their Moses saw in the desert of Sinai, they have been ever burning, but never consumed. But it is written in God's word that though all other nations come to an end, Israel shall remain so long as the earth endures. They have failed greatly, and have fallen, and because they rejected their Messiah, they are now rejected, and their God has hid His face from them. But though some Christians may not know it, Satan knows that there is a glorious destiny frought with blessing for all the world, reserved for them when they repent and return. From the first, Satan knew that Israel was destined to become God's center of operations on the earth, and His door and gateway to all the Gentile world--as the Lord Jesus said in John 4:22, "Salvation is from the Jews." Therefore his might and power has been directed against them, and he has tried through all their history to destroy and extirpate them. In this object he has enlisted all his servants and henchmen, yea, and has even misled some well-meaning folk to foster his program of anti-Semitism. But He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. As He has watched over them in the past so will He keep and protect them in the future, till the great indignation is past and they turn again and He will turn His hand against their enemies, Lord hasten the day!

      Another outstanding object of Satan"s attack today is the church, and individual Christians, till "with the warfare, without and within" their strength and their hope would seem nearly gone. It is strange to witness the peculiar hate and antagonism, now open, now hidden, that rises in many places, against the church, and the true, devoted Christian. The term "hypocrite," readily leaps to the lips of many at the sight or mention of a faithful child of God, and the contempt felt and manifested in some points toward such and toward the Lord's church is all but fathomless. The times of bloody persecution is past--in most parts of the world, and for the time present; thought we know not where and when it may flare up again. But "all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (2 Tim. 3:12.) Now back of all this we can discern Satan's dark and evil power. By his assaults against the Lord's church from without and from within the devil betrays his knowledge of the church's exceeding value, and the importance of each faithful individual member. And she need not fear--far greater is He that is in her than he that is in the world; and her victory is sure.

      Finally, all the power of intensest devilish hatred and opposition that Satan can summon is focused upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Him the devil hates supremely. He pursued and harassed and oppressed Him through all His life and ministry, and finally wreaked the full force of his fierce hatred against our Lord upon the cross. Nor has he ever desisted from his desperate opposition. From the day that He rose from the dead, and from the first proclamation of the gospel of Christ, he has not ceased his efforts to destroy the claims of Christ and to resist the truth of His gospel. He has labored in every way possible to misrepresent Him. A spawn of false teachers, from the apostles' day until now and yet--some of them Satan's devoted servants, some merely his dupes; some wild and ignorant, some learned and cultured--have risen to dispute Christ's high name and the glory of His Person. To some He is just another man; according to others not a man at all, only an emanation or some sort of ideal concept; or, again a "world-teacher" of the same class with Sakya Muni,^b or Confucius, or Mohammed. The Arian doctrine, the Socinian heresy, the anti-Christian denial of His flesh (1 John 2:22, 23); the deniers of His virgin-birth, of His resurrection; the "Unitarian" cults--all these and more, to this day (perhaps today more than ever) make their attacks upon Jesus Christ at Satan's instigation. He well knows that upon a true faith in Christ hangs all man's hope and salvation. (John 8:24.)

Him the world hated, and still hates; and those who are true to Him will find no favor from the world.

      This, and much else, can we learn from the enemy. What Satan hates most is seen to be of greatest importance to God's people. [43]

[SSS 40-43]