This world is the scene of a great controversy between good and evil, and Christ says, "He that is not with me is against me." (Matthew 12:30)
The enmity is against God. This is an encouraging thought to the believer when the attacks of the enemy come. "The battle is not yours, but God's." (2 Chronicles 20:15)
God's honor is at stake, and so for His sake as well as man's He must triumph. The rebellion against His law began before ever man became involved in the controversy. "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 deceives the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Revelation 12:7-9)
Although the battle is between Christ and Satan, men cannot be mere spectators. There is no neutral ground where one can be on neither side. Satan succeeded in getting man to join his rebellion against God's authority, and so he makes of every natural heart a citadel of opposition against God.
But God, in His love and mercy, did not leave man when he had chosen the side of Satan. "When we were enemies," (Romans 5:10) He gave His life to bring to us deliverance "from the power of darkness," (Colossians 1:13) and to translate all who desire it, "into the kingdom of His dear Son." (Colossians 1:13)
Therefore He calls to everyone, "Choose you this day whom you will serve." (Joshua 24:15)
Every day each one is making the choice. "Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Romans 6:16) "Without me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)
To be with Christ, means that His life is manifested in mortal flesh; to be without Christ means to be against Christ, for the life will inevitably be "according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience." (Ephesians 2:2)
Every act of disobedience is the direct working of Satan against the truth of God. Every act of obedience is the working of Christ's power in the hearts of those who choose Him. "For it is God that works in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)
Satan not only works disobedience in men, but he works this "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:10)
So it was that when he led the powers of this world to condemn Jesus, they knew not what they did. But he knew. And he carried on the war against Christ by turning the wrath of the powers of this world against the followers of Christ. But, "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives under the death." (Revelation 12:11)
The "god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4) will continue the warfare to the end; the conflict will become even more severe as the end draws near, and the remnant of the church of Christ will know the power of God to deliver from the wrath of Satan. "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time. ... And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Revelation 12:12,17)
It is the righteous law of God, against which he rebelled in the beginning, that he still hates.
It is therefore no light thing to make the choice. On the side of Christ is the reproach of Christ. But even this reproach was esteemed by Moses greater riches than all the treasures of the world (Hebrews 11:26), for with it is the life of Jesus, which works to subdue self to God and to cleanse from sin. "The word of God ... lives and abides for ever." (1 Peter 1:23)
He who builds upon that is founded upon the rock which no storm can shake. To choose disobedience means death; obedience is life, for Jesus said, "I know that His commandment is life everlasting." (John 12:50) "Therefore choose life." (Deuteronomy 30:19)--Present Truth, February 21, 1895--Timeline: IV-22 (The Unpardonable Sin)--Matthew 12:30.