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Adversary,” not in the first place of man, but of God. He attacks Adam as the crown of God’s
handiwork, works destruction and is therefore called Apollyon (the Destroyer), and assaults
Jesus when He undertakes the work of restoration. After the entrance of sin into the world he
became Diabolos (the Accuser), accusing the people of God continually, Rev. 12:10. He is
represented in Scripture as the originator of sin, Gen. 3:1,4; John 8:44; II Cor. 11:3; I John 3:8;
Rev. 12:9; 20:2,10, and appears as the recognized head of those that fell away, Matt. 25:41;
9:34; Eph. 2:2. He remains the leader of the angelic hosts which he carried with him in his fall,
and employs them in desperate resistance to Christ and His Kingdom. He is also called
repeatedly “the prince of this (not, “of the”) world, John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11, and even “the god
of this world,” II Cor. 4:4. This does not mean that he is in control of the world, for God is in
control, and He has given all authority to Christ, but it does convey the idea that he is in control
of this evil world, the world in so far as it is ethically separated from God. This is clearly
indicated in Eph. 2:2, where he is called “the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that
now worketh in the sons of disobedience.” He is superhuman, but not divine; has great power,
but is not omnipotent; wields influence on a large but restricted scale, Matt. 12:29; Rev. 20:2,
and is destined to be cast into the bottomless pit, Rev. 20:10.
3. THEIR ACTIVITY.
Like the good angels, the fallen angels, too, are possessed of superhuman
power, but their use of it contrasts sadly with that of the good angels. While the latter
perennially praise God, fight His battles, and serve Him faithfully, they as powers of darkness
are bent on cursing God, battling against Him and His Anointed, and destroying His work. They
are in constant revolt against God, seek to blind and mislead even the elect, and encourage
sinners in their evil. But they are lost and hopeless spirits. They are even now chained to hell
and pits of darkness, and though not yet limited to one place, yet, as Calvin says, drag their
chains with them wherever they go, II Pet. 2:4; Jude 6.
V. Creation of the Material World
A. The Scriptural Account of Creation.
Other nations, as well as the Hebrews, had their accounts respecting the origin of the material
universe, and of the way in which the original chaos was changed into a cosmos or habitable
world. Some of those accounts reveal traces of similarity with the Biblical record, but contain
even more striking dissimilarities. They are as a rule characterized by dualistic or polytheistic
elements, represent the present world as the result of a fierce struggle among the gods, and
are far removed from the simplicity and sobriety of the Biblical account. It may be advisable to
preface our discussion of its details with a few general remarks.