The Author of Death
Satan is the author of death. Faith and Works page 74.
Yet, Satan has tried to portray God as the author of death.
Satan represents God's law of love as a law of selfishness. He declares that it is impossible for us to obey its precepts. The fall of our first parents, with all the woe that has resulted, he charges upon the Creator, leading men to look upon God as the author of sin, and suffering, and death. DA 24
If Satan is the author of death then he is the one who originated the idea. When God laid down the foundations of His government and framed His law, if He planned to put to death the transgressors of His law then He Himself must have been the author of death. Yet we are told that Satan is the author of death. If Satan is the author of death and then God puts people to death then God is using an idea that was originated by Satan. Does God do anything authored by Satan?
Is it possible for God who is the source of life to also be the source of death? Can sweet and bitter waters come from the same fountain? If God is the author of death then how can something God authored be the last enemy to be conquered? (1 Cor 15:26) It is a logical impossibility.
As Satan is the author of death it is natural that he had the power of death.
Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Satan is the author of death. What did Christ do after He [74] brought Satan under the dominion of death? The very last words of Christ while expiring on the cross were, "It is finished" (John 19:30). The devil saw that he had overdone himself. Christ by dying accomplished the death of Satan and brought immortality to light. {FW 73.4}
How did Christ accomplish the death of Satan without being the author of death? He revealed Satan as a murderer. In giving up His life in self-sacrifice Christ revealed Satan’s spirit of self-preservation and in revealing the serpent on the cross, He brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. The death of Christ reveals that God is not the author of death but that God gave up His Son to the death of the wicked which was accomplished through the wages of sin. What are the wages of sin? A guilty conscience tortured through the weight of sin. Christ was made sin for us and so Christ revealed what sin does to a person – it kills them!
Yet we esteemed Christ smitten of God and afflicted! But He was wounded by our transgressions and bruised by our iniquities.
I was just sent this quote from my friend John Penman. He will put this in another article but it also fits well here. A.T. Jones reveals the impossibility of death being connected to the self-sacrificing love of God. Only self- preservation leads to the use of force and force is not part of the government of God.
The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God's government; He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or authority. DA 22.
"The Two Sides in the Great Controversy" The Bible Echo 12, 24 , p. 188. June 14, 1897
“SELF-PRESERVATION is the first law of nature.” But self-sacrifice is the first law of grace. In order to self-preservation, self-defence is essential. In order to self-sacrifice, self-surrender is essential. In self-defense, the only thing that can be employed is force. In self-surrender, the only thing that can be employed is love. In self-preservation, by self-defence, through the employment of force, force meets force, and this means only war. In self-sacrifice, by self-surrender, through love, force is met by love, and this means only peace. Self-preservation, then, means only war; while self-sacrifice means only peace. But war means only death. Self-preservation, then, meaning only war, means only death; while self-sacrifice, meaning only peace, means only life. Self-preservation being the first law of nature, nature then means only death; while self-sacrifice being the first law of grace, grace means only life. But death only is the wages of sin; nature, then, meaning only death, it is so only because nature means sin; while life, being only the reward of righteousness; grace, meaning only life, it is so only because grace means righteousness. Sin and righteousness, nature and grace, are directly opposite and antagonistic elements. They occupy realms absolutely distinct. Nature, self-preservation, self-defence, force, war, and death, occupy only the realm of sin; grace, self-sacrifice, self-surrender, love, peace, and life occupy only the realm of righteousness. The realm of sin is the realm of Satan. The realm of grace is the realm of God. All the power of the domain of grace is devoted to saving men from the dominion of sin. This in order that, “as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign, thru righteousness, unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” On which side do you stand in this great controversy?
In him was life; and the life was the light of men. John 1:4
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: 2 Tim 1:10
