(NOTES OF AN ADDRESS BY C. CHAIN.) Read John 8 :44 ; Ezekiel 28 :11-19.

It may seem to us strange that God should have an adversary. When we think of God's moral nature, His character, as it is revealed to us in His Word, it seems a marvelous thing that such an One should have an adversary. But the word of God abundantly shows this, and the question arises naturally, not only in the minds of cavilers and unbelievers, but even in the minds of God's children, Why should He have an adversary ? and what is the issue raised by the adversary ? What is this adversary seeking to maintain ?

I believe the word of God gives clear and unmistakable answers to these questions. There is, of course, a certain mystery about the necessity of the conflict between good and evil, which has not been revealed. But the fact that there is such a conflict is abundantly declared in the word of God; and we have only to use our eyes and look around and see, in what is going on, that there is a struggle, a conflict between good and evil.

We shall not speculate on this question, however, but leave it with God. We must not question His wisdom. Surely, if He had seen fit, He could have prevented the coming in of evil, and prohibited this conflict. But He permitted the question to be raised and the conflict to ensue. I believe the Scriptures definitely and clearly answer why God has an adversary-making perfectly clear what the issue is that has been raised by it.

Turning now to the 28th chapter of Ezekiel, I would call your attention to the two parts of this chapter. The first ten verses are a description of one who is called the prince of Tyrus, in the second verse, who was sitting upon the throne of the kingdom of Tyre. But in the 12th verse, it says, " Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God," etc. Here, in ver. 12, it is "the king of Tyrus," not "the prince." It points, therefore to a different person. There is no question that the prince of Tyrus is a man, but is the king the same person as the prince ? We think it quite impossible to read verses 11-19 without being impressed that we are reading a description of, I will not say a supernatural, but of a super-human being. "Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God:Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and full of beauty." Evidently he is an extraordinary being; and if we give close attention to the next verse, the 13th, we shall see in the symbols employed, a description of the personal perfection, excellency and beauties of this super-human being.

Let me say here a few words on the latter part of the book of Revelation, in this connection. The city of God is described there as the city of the Bride, the wife of the Lamb, in language almost entirely symbolic. Why is that ? The Spirit of God, so to speak, is under the necessity of using material things, the uses and character of which we are acquainted with, in order to express spiritual things. That is why the language is exclusively symbolical there ; and for the same reason symbols are used in this 13th verse of Ezekiel, chap. 28, when the Spirit of God describes the personal perfections, excellencies, and beauties of this superhuman being. What do we know about superhuman beings? Nothing whatever beyond what God has revealed. We have not seen them. We have not seen immaterial, invisible beings. We know there are material and immaterial creations. We have a record of the material creation in Genesis, but there is no record given us of the immaterial or spiritual creation. When spiritual beings have appeared among men, as they have from time to time, they assumed a human form. How else could we have any right idea of invisible things unless they are shown to us in some visible, bodily form ? That is what we find here. The Spirit of God uses material things to express or picture invisible ones.

These precious stones, then, are symbols .; each stone has its significance. We may not perhaps be able to correctly or fully interpret these symbols, but this at least is evident :they are stones of beauty, of various colors, reflecting various rays of light; they express the beauties and excellencies of this super-human being, spoken of as the "king of Tyrus." Without attempting to enter into the details of this verse, we may say that this "king of Tyrus" is, in fact, a very wonderful creature. Perhaps there never was a creature possessing like excellencies and perfections as the being described here.

We turn now to verse 14 If in the 13th verse we have a description of what he is personally, in the 14th verse we have his official position. It seems manifest that he held by God's appointment, the very highest office that any creature can occupy. We might perhaps wonder at this; we might think of Michael, who is called " the archangel," and think him to be the highest of all ? But we shall see how this creature, who is spoken of as " sealing up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty," sinned, fell from his exalted position in which by God's will he stood ; then how he became a leader of a movement in opposition to God, His purposes and plans. May it not be that Michael, faithfully refusing to be led away, won for himself the title of chief angel, which "archangel" means?

I can say no more as to this; but notice the 14th verse:"Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so :thou wast upon the holy mountain of God ; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire." Let us call to mind that when man sinned, and God drove him out of Eden, God placed cherubim and a flaming sword at the gate of the garden, on the east, to guard the way to the tree of life. I think we can scarcely fail to reach the conclusion that the cherubim are connected in a special way with God's throne, and are charged with the maintenance of the decisions of the Throne. God's decree, as to men, was :"Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return; " and having driven sinful man out of the garden, He placed these cherubim there, charged with responsibilities of guarding the tree of life. They were to maintain, to carry out, the decree of the Throne. Taking this as a starting point, we find all through the Scriptures that the cherubim have that character; they stand as the executors of the will of God. Now this particular being described here is not only a cherub, but he is the "anointed cherub," which seems to suggest that this marvelous, most beautiful of all God's creatures, stands at the head of the cherubim; and if we are correct in regarding him so, he was in some special way charged with the responsibility of protecting or maintaining the character of God's throne.

"Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God," seems to be symbolic of the place of power. We know from the Scripture that God's throne is in heaven; the earth is His footstool; the mountain here being His heaven, the place of God's throne, the place of power. In the last part of this verse we have, "Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire." " Stones of fire " suggests manifested display. I do not know that God has indicated anywhere how, but it seems that in some way God had proclaimed amongst the spiritual, heavenly beings, His purpose to have one from amongst His creatures to sit with Him on the throne. This is indicated in the 3rd chap, of Revelation, where the Lord says, " Even as I also overcame, and am sat down with my Father on His throne." There we see a Man on the throne of God. The Son of God became a Man, came amongst us, assuming our humanity, and now He is on the throne of God, where He will sit forever and ever.

Now as to verse 15, "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." You will remember that in John 8 :44 the Lord, speaking of this marvelous personage, says that he "abode not in the truth." He was in the truth once, then, but abode not in it. How long he was in, or abode, in the truth, we know not. God's word says nothing as to it. But the time came when iniquity was found in him. And now, mark :"By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned." Now, in verse 7, we read, " Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." The thought may have arisen in the heart of this super-human being, That throne on which one is to sit with God, is for me-casting his eyes, so to speak, upon himself, and conceiving himself to be the most exalted of beings-none is better qualified or more capable for that position than I. Pride would covet it, grasp after it-after equality with God ; that was his sin.

Now this fall took place before the creation of man. How long before we know not; but we know this, that when man was created, he was already an apostate; and I think it is not difficult to understand why Satan came in the Garden of Eden, familiar as he was, surely, with all the others, the heavenly creatures. But God had now introduced into creation another creature. At once the thought could rise in his mind, Is he the creature of God's purpose? Would not this explain the reason why he sought man's fall ? why he intruded himself to encompass man's downfall ?

Directly after man had fallen, the serpent, the tempter, is informed that another Man is going to be introduced; that the woman, who has been the means in Satan's hands to accomplish man's downfall, is going to be the means to introduce another, a Second Man; and Satan is told that it shall bruise his head, though it will be at the cost of His own heel being bruised. Satan knows now that another man is coming. May we not now infer that all along down through the ages he was seeking for this Second Man ?

There is not time to trace this throughout the history, but take for example the persecution of David by Saul. May we not see this super-human being at Saul's back seeking after this Second Man ?

Take another illustration, where Athaliah seeks to destroy all the seed royal-all the royal seed of David-only through sovereign grace one was protected and preserved. Is it difficult to see in that act that Satan was seeking after this Second Man ? Suppose he had succeeded in accomplishing the destruction of all of the seed royal ? What about the promises to David-how could they have been fulfilled ? God was watching, and interposed in His sovereign grace to protect the babe. All were slain but the babe, and Satan was unsuccessful.

Once more. In the days of Esther, see what an attempt there was to destroy the whole Jewish nation. Who was behind all this ? What spirit stirred up that movement ? Surely it was Satan seeking this Second Man.

Satan is wanting that throne. God has purposed to have One to share it with Him, and when the Son of God was born into this world, what an effort on Satan's part to dispose of Him! Again, what a conflict there was after our blessed Lord had been fasting forty days in the wilderness; how fiercely He is assaulted by the arch enemy! He had accomplished the downfall of the first man, could he succeed in accomplishing the downfall of the Second Man ?But he has to retire in absolute defeat. So Satan leaves Him for a season. Then in the Garden of Gethsemane he makes another attempt on the blessed One, as unsuccessfully as before. And the blessed Second Man comes forth from Gethsemane to go to the cross. There, in obedience to the will of God, He lays down His life; and after three days He takes it up again. In Colossians, chap. 2, there is a grand, a mighty celebration of this triumph. When the Romans celebrated some great triumph of their great conquerors, the notable captives and the vast spoils taken in war were led in procession through the streets. A faint picture, this, of the triumph of the blessed Son of God when He arose from the dead, and led captive him that held man captive; " Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly," so that "the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept, arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and appeared to many."

I little doubt that when the blessed Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, these risen ones accompanied Him. What a triumphal procession that was! How Satan and his hosts must have trembled when they beheld a Man passing through the heavens ! What was their consternation when they saw Him seating Himself on the throne of God in heaven ! From that day to this Satan knows he is a defeated foe. The Man of God's purpose is on the throne, and Satan knows it. But think of his audacity in carrying on the conflict in spite of it, and fighting it out to the bitter end! "The time is coming when the conflict shall culminate in a war in heaven-Satan and his hosts will fight, and Michael and his angels will fight under the banner of the Man sitting on the throne of God-the Man of the Cross; and Satan shall be cast out.

In the light of these things, the questions asked at the outset, Why has God an adversary? and what is the issue which God's adversary has raised ? are, I think, fairly answered.