The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1879-09-03

time exerted a mighty power on this
earth, influencing bodies Of men, and con-
trolling even the movements of the atmos-
phere. He also had access to the pre-
sence of the Lord, wherever that is.
In Kings xxi: 10, q, the prophet
Micaiah speaks the word of the Lord say
ing, 4" I saw the Lord sitting on his throne,
and all the host of heaven standing by
him, on his right hand and on his left.
And there came forth spirit and stood
before the Lord and said" etc. From
this it appears that lying spirit was in
heaven where "the Lord was sitting on
his throne and all the host of heaven
standing by him, on his right hand and
on his left. As far as we can see, this
may have been and probably was, the same
place where Satan presented himself IN
Jobs time, and this lying spirit himself
may have been Satan.
In Zechariah iii, Joshua, the high priest,
is seen Standing before the angel of the
Lord, and Satan standing at his right
hand to resist him And the Lord said
unto Satan, the Lord rebuke thee, 0 Sa-
tan. Here Satan is seen again in the
presence of the Lord, wherever that is.
But the 10Th chapter of Revelation
goes further: "And there was war in
heaven; Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon; and the dragon fought
and his angels, and prevailed not; neither
was their place found any more in heaven.
And the great dragon was cast out, that
old serpent called the Devil, and Satan,
which deceiveth the whole world: he was
cast out into the earth, and his angels
were cast out with HIM" There follows
rejoicing in heaven, but woe to the earth
and to the inhabiters of the sea, "for the
Devil is come down unto you, having
great wrath because he knowth that he
hath but short time" (Rev. xii; 7-12)
From this passage it is clear that the
Devil and his angels at some time in their
history are in heaven, that they lose their
place there after struggle to retain it,
and that this is short time before the
end of his career.
Here arises the interesting question,
Is Satan with his angels now in heaven,
or has this casting out already taken
place?
In Luke x: IS, when the seventy whom
the Lord had sent out, returned from
their mission with Joy, saying, Lord,
even the devils (demons) are subject unto
us through thy name, the Lord said unto
them, II beheld Satan as lightning fall
from heaven" We might suppose this to
mean the casting out described in Rev.
xii, and doubtless that was in our Lords
mind, but not accomplished at that time.
The Lord could see it before it occurred.
And the casting out of demons by his dis
.iplesiwas be ginning or sample of what
would end in Satan's being cast down
from heaven with allihis5angels.
We find similar anticipate OF the
future by our Lord in John xii: 20-52.
Certain Greeks came up to the feast and
desired to see Jesus. When told of it, He
said, 1.-The hour is come that the Son OF
man should be glorifed. He goes on to
speak of his death, the dark shadow OF
the cross comes over His spirit, He cries
to the Father to save Him from that hour,
and afterwards to glorify His name. The
answer comes to Him audibly from the
Father, and Jesus says, Now is the judg-
ment of this world now shall the prince
of this world be cast out. And I, if be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all
men unto Me.
Itseems, then, that the coming to Him
of few Gentiles desiring to see Him,
suggests to His mind the cross by which
He is to draw all men unto Him, and on
which the great question is to be decided
between the seed of the woman and the
serpent, as to which of the two is to be
the prince Of this world Jesus sees the
end as fulfilled the prince of this world,
Satan, Judged and because of His own
humiliation on the cross where Satan is
conquered, sees every knee brought to
bow to Jesus and confess Him as Lord, to
the glory of God the Father. (Phil. il:
6-1l)
We conclude, therefore, that the Sa-
viour's vision in Luke x, of Satan's fall
from heaven is only an anticipation in
His omniscient mind of what John wrote
of long after in Rev xii, as still future.
Is Satan, then, still in heaven?
No believer in the Scriptures doubts
his power and activity on the earth, but
does the range of his influence extend to
heaven? He is called in the New Testa-
ment, "the god of this world, 1.-The prince
of this world, the prince Of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience." Eph ii:
3 This last passage may throw light on
the whole subject. The air is in Scrip
ture called heaven, as in the phrases, "the
birds Of the air, and the fowls Of heav-
en-. And Eph. ii: 2, would seem to