Romans 16:20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Earth is the scene of a great moral struggle between truth and error, right and wrong, God and Satan. This fact invests our planet with an interest which perhaps attaches to no other portion of the universe. The text prophesies a conquest, in every aspect wonderful on account of — I. THE GIGANTIC FOE THAT IS OVERCOME. "Satan." 1. The word means first an accuser, a calumniator, and then an enemy. The Bible represents him as the introducer of evil into the universe, the leader of all the hosts of wickedness, in hell and on earth; at once the instigator and the strength of all opposition to the cause of virtue and the well-being of humanity. 2. To crush him is to destroy the root of the upas, to dry up the fountain of sin and misery. He shall be "bruised"; his purposes thwarted, his influence destroyed, his powers paralysed; the crushed victim of his own gigantic follies and stupendous wickedness. What a blessed event in the history of the universe this will be III. THE CHARACTER OF THE GLORIOUS CONQUEROR. "God of Peace." How sublimely strange — not the God of vengeance, the God of war. Note — 1. That God has the consciousness of a sufficiency of power for the work. There can be no peace of mind to one who has the faintest suspicion of his own insufficiency. Anxious doubt would fill the spirit with agitation. Mighty as Satan is, he is feebleness itself in the grasp of Omnipotence. 2. That God is free from all malevolent emotions in the work. Where anger, revenge, etc., exist, there can be no peace. They agitate the heart. God crushes Satan from impulses the most benevolent. 3. That God has a consciousness of rectitude in the work. Whenever a being has misgivings as to the rightness of a course of action, he cannot be in the enjoyment of peace. God feels He has aright to crush Satan the usurper, etc. III. ON ACCOUNT OF THE CREATURES FROM WHOM THE CONQUEST IS ACHIEVED. Satan is under the feet of angels. They tower in virtue, blessedness, and dignity, in spheres above his influence. It is over men he has control. God will put him under men's feet. 1. Completely. "Under your feet," indicating entire subjection. He will rise no more. 2. Speedily. "Shortly." The conquest is not far off — (l) In the individual history of good men. At death, by God's grace, they obtain the entire mastery over Satan. Death will be "shortly" with all of us. (2) In the general history of this world. Satan has been ruling the world for ages, still a period shall come when he shall be put under its feet. Though this period may be many ages distant, still in a sense it is close at hand — (a) To us. We die, and the intervening period is as nothing. Only as the few hours of a refreshing sleep. (b) To God. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years," etc. Let us, then, take heart. (D. Thomas, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. |
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