1950 This Means Everlasting Life - A2Z.org

DIVINE PROMISES OF BLESSING 41
the devil is come down unto you, having great
wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a
short time . And . . . the dragon saw that he was
cast unto the earth ."-Revelation 12 :7-13 .
This account and that of Job show who is behind
all the sorrows and afflictions upon mankind
for the past six thousand years, and especially
since A.D. 1914, the year World War I began .
Why God has permitted wickedness to rage over
earth since the rebellion of Satan also becomes
clear. The malicious purpose of Satan in bringing
all the calamitous woes upon humankind has been
the same as in the case of Job, to turn all men,
even the righteously disposed, God-fearing ones,
to bitterness and revolt against the Creator and
rightful Sovereign, Jehovah God . The issue during
all these millenniums of the prevalence of
wickedness has been the universal sovereignty of
the Most High God . Therefore he has let the wicked
one have ample opportunity in the earth and
even access to the holy courts of heaven to back
up his claimed ability to turn all living creation
against the universal Sovereign. Only by letting
Satan have all this time and such a wide range of
action could the supreme issue be settled for all
eternity .
6 This has been hard upon mankind . But the
hardness of the experience is due to Satan . For
God's part, it has been very merciful to mankind,
for while sinners have been let live on earth God
5 . Why has God permitted wickedness to rage since
Satan rebelled?
6 . Why has this been very merciful for mankind on
God's part?