The crime of Satan is concisely stated in the fourteenth verse as being a purpose in his heart to become like the Most High.  His heart was lifted up because of his beauty; he who was created and placed as the “Covering Cherub,” with the high honor of guarding the throne of God, has corrupted his wisdom by reason of his brightness; he has struck at the throne he was set to protect.  It was a purpose in his heart which would require the time of the ages to wholly destroy.  There could be but one Most High, and the purpose of Satan to become like him could, naturally, be nothing less than an attempt to dethrone the Almighty.

The secret purpose in his heart reveals his method to be, not a violent attack upon the throne:  but, like Absalom’s, to steal the hearts of the unfaithful in the kingdom, and, through subtlety, to gain a government.  He would thus become an object of worship, and attract attention from other beings to himself.  To accomplish this, a hindering attitude must be assumed toward the purpose and projects of the Most High.  No adequate appreciation can be formed of Satan’s present projects and devices, and the motive that prompts them, without a clear understanding of his age-abiding attitude toward the Person of God.

There are two prominent events revealed in the history of Satan, falling within the period of time when he proposed in his heart to become like the Most High, and his yet future banishment and execution.  The first of these was his meeting with and triumph over the first Adam; when he wrested the scepter of authority from man, by securing man’s loyal obedience to his own suggestion and counsel.  This earthly scepter Satan held by the full right of conquest, seemingly without challenge from Jehovah, until the first advent of the Second Adam; this meeting of the Second Adam, Christ, with Satan being the second great event which is revealed during this period in his career.  Only the unfolding of the coming ages can reveal the magnitude of this terrible conflict.  A glimpse is revealed from time to time of the unceasing effort of Satan to triumph over the Second Adam, as he had done over the first.  He met Him in the wilderness, offering Him all he had gained from the first Adam, even the kingdom of this world; if only he might become like the Most High, and receive the obedient worship and adoration of the Second Adam, the Son of God.  Again he is seen voicing his attempt to dissuade the Christ from His sacrificial death, through the impetuous Peter; and still again in the crushing attack upon the very life of Jesus in the Garden, when, it would seem, Satan attempted to take that life before it could be offered for the sins of the world.