However victorious Satan may have been over the first Adam, it is certain that he met a complete and final judgment and sentence in the Second Adam; and that bruising of the serpent’s head was realized which was a part of the Adamic covenant.  Referring to His Cross, Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (Jno. 12:31).  And again in Jno. 16:11, “Of judgment because the prince of this world is judged.”  Still another Scriptural testimony to this great defeat of Satan is recorded in Col. 2:13-15:  “Having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”  It is, therefore, clear that, though Satan may have triumphed over the first Adam and thereby become the god and prince of this world; he himself was perfectly and finally triumphed over and judged by the second Adam in the Cross.

It is quite possible, however, that a sentence may be pronounced and made known some time before that sentence is actually executed.  During such an interval a criminal is said to be under sentence awaiting his execution, which some higher authority has decreed.  This period of sentence is that in which Satan appears in the present age; which age had its beginning with the Cross.  Execution of this sentence would have banished him forever.  That he is not banished is revealed in the fact that he, even after his judgment in the Cross, is referred to in Scripture as still being in authority over this world.

An illustration of Satan’s present relation to this world may be taken from the history of Saul and David.  It is natural that David, the first to occupy the Davidic throne, should be a type of Christ, the last and most glorious occupant of that throne (Luke 1:31-33).  As there was a period between the anointing of David and the final banishment of Saul, in which Saul reigned as a usurper, though under Divine sentence and David was the God-appointed king:  in like manner there is now a similar period in which Satan rules as a usurper, though under sentence; and the actual occupation of the throne by Christ is still future.  In this period Satan, the rejected monarch, still rules; hunting to the death all those who have allied themselves with Christ, the God-anointed King.

Why Satan is thus allowed to continue his reign is perhaps but partly revealed.  The real Church which is the Bride of Christ, is to sit with Him upon His throne (Rev. 3:21; I Cor. 6:2, 3; Matt. 19:28), and the present age must continue until that glorious heavenly people are gathered out from the world by regeneration.  Again, it seems the course of Divine wisdom to make a sufficient and final trial of every claim of His adversaries; and when this age, with all its developments, shall have passed by, every