A step further, and the struggle of the dualism of the
earth was preluded in the skies by the angels, as the representatives
of the different powers and nations. In this struggle a place was
assigned to Satan; at first he was merely the accuser whom God Himself
had appointed, and in this character he drew attention to the sins
of the Jews before God's judgment-seat, and thereby delayed the judicial
sentence in their favour; but ultimately (though this took place late,
and is not met with in the Book of Daniel) he came to be the independent
leader of the power opposed to God, God's cause being identified
with that of the Jews. But as this prelude of the struggle took
place in heaven, its result was also anticipated. The kingdom of
God is on earth a thing of the future, but even now it is preserved
in heaven with all its treasures, one day to descend from there to
the earth. Heaven is the place where the good things of the future
are kept, which are not and yet must be; that is its original and
true signification. But the most important question came at last
to be, how individuals were to have part in the glory of the
future? How was it with the martyrs who had died in the
expectation of the kingdom of God, before it came? The doctrine of
the _zakuth_ was formed: if their merit was not of service to
themselves, it was yet of service to others.
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