In a certain sense--a bad sense--that which Satan told the woman--they should "be as God"--was fulfilled. As the disposition that had been confirmed in him was that in his own estimation he was equal with God; and as that mind had been received by them, and that disposition was now reflected in them; so in their own estimation they would now count themselves as God in that they could do no wrong, and would in- volve the Lord in wrong rather that they admit they they had done wrong.
The Mind of Self-Exaltation
Thus the same evil mind that in Lucifer would exalt self to equality with God, was now in the man and the woman, and caused them to exalt self to the same point. This is not only the philosophy of the case, but it is the fact; for after this talk of the Lord with them,
"The Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil." (Genesis 3:22)
Not indeed become as one of them in truth and righteousness; but in this evil way, in their own mind, and in their own estimation, self was exalted to equality with God.
This is further shown by another scripture:
"He has showed you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to humble yourself to walk with God." (Micah 6:8)
That is to say, in his own mind and estimation man considers himself above God, and capable of walking there alone.
Invited to Walk Humbly
But God wants man to walk with Him. Yet in order to do this, man must humble himself--he must step down from where he is. The scripture thus shows in itself that in man's own estimation as he naturally is, he is above God, and would walk alone rather than with God. And the Lord simply invites him:
"Humble yourself, be content to step down and take a lower place,--even the place where I am,--and come, walk with me."
Again this is shown in the text which is the theme of this study:
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, Who thought it not a prize to be seized and held fast, to be equal with God, But humbled himself." (Philippians 2:5-7)
This in itself shows that in mankind as they are, there is a mind that is not the mind of God, but another mind. And the Lord invites all to let this mind of His return to them, and abide in them, that they may walk with him.
And as Christ humbled Himself, "therefore God also has highly exalted Him." And forever and to all people it is written,
"He that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted." (Luke 14:11)
Therefore,
"He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to humble yourself to walk with God?" (Micah 6:5)
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, Who. ...humbled Himself." (Philippians 2:5-7)
Man was a Slave
But as man was when he had sinned, as he was when he yielded himself a servant to Satan, he had no power to humble himself. He had no power to confess his fault. He had no means of knowing anything else than that he was right, when he was wholly wrong.
He was a captive, and no longer free. He was a slave, and could no longer do as he would. His very mind itself was en slaved to the evil one to whom he had yielded himself; and he had no power even to think otherwise than as dictated by the master mind to whom he had yielded.
The man was now overwhelmed with that darkness of sin of which the evil one was the author, which he had brought with him, and into which he had succeeded in drawing the in habitants of this world.
Then it was, as well as ever since, that
"...darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people..." (Isaiah 60:2)
That darkness was complete. In it was no element of light. No suggestion of good could possibly reach him from that realm where the ruler of the darkness of this world reigns alone.
Yet as with the angels that sinned, God would not give man up to that darkness, without giving him another opportunity to choose the Light and the Life. And then if he should persist in refusing all offers of the Light and Life and joy of the Lord of all, he would be allowed to have his own choice, and could only, like the others, be given up to the impenetrable darkness which they had chosen, and which by their persistent refusal of light they themselves had made impenetrable.
God Sets Man Free
And God did not leave mankind in this abject slavery and total darkness. Although they had freely chosen it, the Lord of love and mercy would give them another chance. And therefore it is written,
"And the Lord God said unto the serpent... I will put enmity between you and the woman, and be tween your seed and her seed." (Genesis 3:14-15)
In this declaration God broke up the pall of total darkness which through sin enshrouded mankind. By this He opened the way for light to shine once more to the enslaved captive sitting helpless in the darkness. In this blessed word, God again gave to mankind freedom of choice.
Yet God did not bind man to Himself even now, in an irre sistible, absolute, and irresponsible bondage, as Satan had bound him. No, no. God is ever the Author of intelligence, of freedom of choice, and of freedom of thought. He would not compel man, even now, to take the way of righteousness and keep it. He simply made man free again to choose for himself, whom he will serve.
And mankind is now perfectly free to make the choice for himself as to whether he will serve God or Satan, whether he will have the mind of God or the mind of Satan, whether he will choose Christ or self.
Man's will is now, and by this word, freed, and abides free, to choose and serve whom he will--to choose deliverance from the bondage of sin, or to remain in the bondage of sin. God will deliver no man from bondage against his will. But whoever will submit his will to God, there is no power in the universe that can hold him in sin.
And just here Satan was again surprised in his misreading of the character of God. Again he discovered his reasoning to be at fault. He had reasoned that if he could succeed in draw ing the inhabitants of the world into the darkness where he himself was, that character of sternness and arbitrary dealing which he had attributed to the Lord would cut them off at once; and this would assure him a foothold and a vantage ground forever.
He had succeeded in drawing these inhabitants into sin and into darkness with himself. He had succeeded in getting them to adopt his word and thoughts, his mind and will, instead of the word and mind and will of God. He had suc ceeded in drawing them into full union with himself, where there was complete friendship between them and himself.
But lo, just as he was congratulating himself upon the suc cess of his plan, he was surprised by a turn that had never en tered his thoughts. He was more than surprised, he was alarmed when he heard the word of God,
"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and be tween your seed and her seed." (Genesis 3:15)
With enmity forever at work between him and mankind, he could not help but know that his dominion would ever be in dispute, and that as a result some might escape his yoke. And when these new and startling words were followed with the still new and also ominous sentence,
"...It [the seed of the woman] shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel..." (Genesis 3:15)
...he knew that his cause was endangered.
Thus, just at the point when Satan had felt surest of his tri umph, he was caused to fear most for his success. That which had appeared as his certain, complete, and assured conquest, was suddenly made to take an aspect of doubtfulness, defeat, and utter loss. Here was opening up a phase of the subject that had never occurred to him, raising questions that were to him as baffling as they were new. It was all a mystery.
The Mystery of God
It was indeed a mystery, even "the mystery of God." For this enmity against Satan, this hatred of evil, which God, by his word, puts in every person that comes into the world, causes each soul to hate the evil and desire the good, and to long for deliverance from the bondage of evil into the rest and satisfaction of the good. And as this deliverance is found alone in Christ (Romans 7:14-25), that promise to put enmity between Satan and mankind, is the promise of Christ, "the Desire of all nations" (Haggai 2:7).
This word of God which plants in each soul, enmity against Satan; this hatred of evil that calls for deliverance which is found alone in Christ; this is the gift of faith to man.
The object of this faith is Christ, and the author of it is Christ; and so he is "the author and finisher of faith" ( Hebrews 12:2). By faith Christ dwells in the heart (Ephesians 3:17); and Christ in men the hope of glory is the mystery of God ( Colossians 1:26, 27).
And so the planting of enmity between Satan and the woman, and between the seed of each, was the beginning of the revelation of the mystery of God which had been "kept in silence through times eternal" (Romans 16:26, RV).
"But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might re ceive the adoption of sons." (Galatians 4:4-5)
Then were seen and heard things which many prophets and righteous men had desired to see and had not seen, and had desired to hear and had not heard (Matthew 13:17). Then, in the words of Him who spake as never man spake, there were uttered things which had "been kept secret from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 13:35).
To Christ was offered all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. But He could have these only by falling down and worshiping Satan, the God of this world. Besides, Christianity is not rulership or overlordship, but service.
"The princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:25-28)
The liberty wherewith Christ makes men free, the liberty in which Christians stand fast, is the liberty by love to serve one another.
"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Galatians 5:14)
Christ emptied himself to take upon Him the form of a servant and to be made in the likeness of men.
Christ, Man's Example, by E.G. White, 1887:
He voluntarily assumed human nature. It was His own act, and by His own consent. He clothed His divinity with humanity. He was all the while as God, but He did not appear as God. He veiled the demonstrations of Deity, which had commanded the homage, and called forth the admiration of the universe of God. He was God while upon earth, but He divested himself of the form of God, and in its stead took the form and fashion of a man. He walked the earth as a man.
For our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. He laid aside His glory and His majesty. He was God, but the glories of the form of God he for a while relinquished.
Though He walked among men in poverty, scattering His blessings wherever He went, at His word legions of angels would surround their Redeemer and do Him homage. But He walked the earth unrecognized, unconfessed, with but few exceptions, by His creatures. The atmosphere was polluted with sin and curses, in place of the anthem of praise. His lot was poverty and humiliation. As He passed to and fro upon His mission of mercy to relieve the sick, to lift up the depressed, scarce a solitary voice called Him blessed, and the very greatest of the nation passed Him by with disdain.
Contrast this with the riches of glory, the wealth of praise pouring forth from immortal tongues, the millions of rich voices in the universe of God in anthems of adoration. But he humbled himself, and took mortality upon Him. As a member of the human family, he was mortal; but as a God, He was the fountain of life to the world. He could, in His divine person, ever have withstood the advances of death, and refused to come under its dominion; but He voluntarily laid down His life, that in so doing He might give life and bring immortality to light.
He bore the sins of the world, and endured the penalty, which rolled like a mountain upon His divine soul. He yielded up his life a sacrifice, that man should not eternally die. He died, not through being compelled to die, but by his own free will. This was humility. The whole treasure of heaven was poured out in one gift to save fallen man. He brought into His human nature all the life-giving energies that human beings will need and must receive.
Wondrous combination of man and God! He might have helped His human nature to withstand the inroads of disease by pouring from his divine nature vitality and undecaying vigor to the human. But He humbled himself to man's nature. He did this that the Scripture might be fulfilled; and the plan was entered into by the Son of God, knowing all the steps in His humiliation, that He must descend to make an expiation for the sins of a condemned, groaning world.
What humility was this! It amazed angels. The tongue can never describe it; the imagination cannot take it in. The eternal Word consented to be made flesh! God became man! It was a wonderful humility.
But he stepped still lower; the Man must humble himself as a man to bear insult, reproach, shameful accusations, and abuse. There seemed to be no safe place for Him in His own territory. He had to flee from place to place for His life. He was betrayed by one of His own disciples. He was denied by one of His most zealous followers. He was mocked. He was crowned with a crown of thorns. He was scourged. He was forced to bear the burden of the cross. He was not insensible to this contempt and ignominy. He submitted, but oh! He felt the bitterness as no other being could feel it. He was pure, holy, and undefiled, yet arraigned as a criminal! The adorable Redeemer stepped down from the highest exaltation.
Step by step He humbled himself to die,--but what a death! It was the most shameful, the most cruel,--the death upon the cross as a malefactor. He did not die as a hero in the eyes of the world, loaded with honors, as men in battle. He died as a condemned criminal, suspended between the heavens and the earth,--died a lingering death of shame, exposed to the tauntings and revilings of a debased, crime-laden, profligate multitude!
"All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head." (Psalm 22:7). He was numbered with transgressors, He expired amid derision, and His kinsmen according to the flesh disowned Him. His mother beheld His humiliation, and He was forced to see the sword pierce her heart. He endured the cross, despising the shame. He made it of small account in consideration of the results that He was working out in behalf of, not in behalf of, not only the inhabitants of this speck of a world, but the whole uni- verse, every world which God had created.
Christ was to die as man's substitute. Man was a criminal under the sentence of death for transgression of the law of God, as a traitor, a rebel; hence a substitute for man must die as a malefactor, because He stood in the place of the traitors, with all their treasured sins upon His divine soul. It was not enough that Jesus should die in order to fully meet the demands of the broken law, but He died a shameful death. The prophet gives to the world his words, "I hid not my face from shame and spitting."
And when the great enemy--the great self-exalted one-- had thus accomplished the death of the great Friend--the selfemptying One--it was demonstrated to the wide universe that this was what was involved in his self-exalting course from its inception in heaven, and so demonstrated to the universe that he was only "a murderer from the beginning." But God.
"...raised Him from the dead, and set Him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the Church, Which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all." (Ephesians 1:20-23)
And He, being thus at.
"...the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost..." (Acts 2:33)
...shed forth this Holy Spirit, by whom He came to His dis ciples and dwelt in their hearts by faith, so that they knew that He was in the Father, and they in Him, and He in them (Acts 2:33; John 14:18-20; Ephesians 3:16, 17).
Christ was in them, the hope of glory. They had received the knowledge of the mystery of God,
"Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." (Ephesians 3:5)
Thus, they went forth preaching this mystery of God, which had been.
"...hid from ages and from generations, but was now made manifest to His saints, To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:26-27)
In preaching the riches of the glory of this mystery, they preached "the unsearchable riches of Christ," (Ephesians 3:8) so as to...
"...make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Ephesians 3:9-11)
In order that this might be, they preached,
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not a thing to be seized upon, to be violently striven for and eagerly retained, to be equal with God."
They preached that by this mind of Christ, each one should empty self, take upon him the form of a servant, obedient unto death, being made conformable unto His death.
A Falling Away
But there came a "falling away." Instead of an emptying of self, there was an exalting of self in those who professed the name of Him who emptied himself: grievous wolves entered in, not sparing the flock; men arose, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them (Acts 20:29, 30).
And in this exalting of self there was developed the man of sin, the son of perdition, the mystery of iniquity; which again hid from ages and generations the mystery of God.
Thus this mystery of iniquity is the papacy; the mystery of God is Christianity. Christianity is self-renunciation; the papacy is self-exaltation. The spirit of Christianity is the spirit of humility and self-renunciation; the spirit of the papacy is pride and self-exaltation. Christianity is the incarnation of Christ; the papacy is the incarnation of Satan.
Thus by Satan there is continued on the earth the same controversy that was begun in heaven. By the great apostate, through the great apostasy there is continued here, the same opposition to Christ, to God, and to the law and government of God, that was begun in heaven. And indeed through the great apostasy here, the great apostate accomplished in his measure that which he could not in any degree accomplish in heaven--the change of the law of God (Daniel 7:25).
For, to accommodate the image worship which she would have, the papacy leaves out the Second Commandment; and to accommodate sun worship, she set aside the Sabbath of the Lord and set up Sunday in its place. (For the full history of this change of the Sabbath for Sunday, see Great Empires of Prophecy, chapter 32).
Then in order to fill out the number ten of the Ten Commandments, she has divided the Tenth into two: thus forcing upon God "tautology in the only document ever written with. His own hand."
She has deliberately changed the law and government of God into one wholly her own; she has excluded God from the world, and in herself has set up a "regency of God:" and so in fullest measure and intent has counted it a usurpation to be meditated to be equal with God.
Thus fully and so certainly is the papacy only the incarna tion of the spirit of Satan.