1507. This Cosmos Possesses Glory

This Cosmos Possesses Glory

"Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the cosmos, and the glory of them" (Mat_4:8).

After we have so clearly seen that the cosmos is altogether evil and that it cannot grow better, it seems almost contradictory to admit that it possesses glory, and yet such is the case.

1. Satan's earliest attempts. After God had pronounced the curse in the Garden of Eden, and had said, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee," etc. (Gen_3:17-18), satan got busy.

After God had said unto the woman, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception," etc. (Gen_3:16), satan got busy.

The fourth chapter of Genesis describes how Cain bare Enoch and he builded a city; how Jubal was the father of all such as handle the harp and the organ; how Tubal-cain was an instructor of a forger of every bronze-cutting instrument.

In all of this we see satan's effort to relieve man of the curse and to beautify the cosmos in which man lives.

2. After the deluge. Following the flood, the world once more plunged into efforts of self-improvement and advancement, until, in the days of Babylon's glory, Nebuchadnezzar said, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the glory of my majesty?" (Dan_4:30, \1911 Bible).

In those days there was much glory to the cosmos.

3. In the days of Christ, satan delighted in displaying before Christ the marvelous glories of his realm. Before the vision of the Lord he gave a moving picture, of world-glory. Christ did not discount the fact of that glory, but He disdained to receive it at satan's hands. Besides, Christ knew that back of the glory, was the wreckage of sin.

4. The glory of this present cosmos. What shall we say? Surely the age in which we are now living presents the climax of all world-pomp and world-glory. There has never been any day known to man that has ever reached the advance in science, in invention, and in art, that is before us now.

The cosmos has startled men, and perhaps angels, with her mighty achievements.

The harvest of the earth is ripe. But what of all this glory?

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR