3月26日 你的名字记在生命册上
你的名字记在生命册上
魔鬼的权势范围，不仅在地点和时间上受限，在牠所能统治的对象上也受限。
即便你仍然身处这地，你也可以确信，你的父始终在看顾着你。魔鬼曾夺去约伯的家产，使他一时陷入赤贫；但约伯在天上有一位神，能够重新丰盛地供应他。作为圣徒，你拥有属灵的质押物：你的信心就是资本储备，还有你作为天国公民的继承凭据。无论在现今还是将来，这些都是你极大的保障。撒但深知这一点，也会竭尽全力地想从你手中夺走它们；但无论牠如何努力，牠都不能从生命册上涂抹掉你的名字。牠不能废掉你的信心，也不能断绝你与神的关系。尽管牠也许能暂时堵住那流向你的溪流，但牠不能使你安慰的泉源干涸。同样，牠也不能阻碍你与罪的整场属灵争战最终的荣耀结局。神——就是圣经说祂用自己的大能保守我们的那一位，“因信蒙神能力保守的人，必能得着所预备、到末世要显现的救恩”（彼前1:5），祂将这一切都保存在天上，如同祂冠冕上的珠宝，远远高过撒但所能触及的范围。
撒但的国度在统治对象上也受到限制。魔鬼的权势范围，不仅在地点和时间上受限，在牠所能统治的对象上也受限。这些人被描述为“这幽暗世界的”，简单来说，就是那些处在黑暗中的人。
“黑暗”一词在圣经中，有时用来表达一个人身处极大困苦的状态（赛50:10），有时也用来描述一切罪的本质（弗5:11），还有时则专门指无知这种罪。它常被比作黑夜或生理上的瞎眼。为了阐明这段经文，我将从以下两方面来理解“黑暗”：第一，它是指普遍意义上罪的黑暗；第二，它是特别指无知的黑暗。
在开始论述前，请务必记住这个区别：魔鬼统治的是那些“处于”罪与无知状态中的人，而不是那些“偶然”陷入过犯或偶尔表现出无知的人。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：出37章，约16章，
个人灵修：箴13章，弗6章
MARCH 26, THURSDAY
YOUR NAME IN THE BOOK OF LIFE
The devil’s principality is bounded not only by place and time, but also by those he is allowed to govern.
Even while confined to this earth, you can be confident that your Father is watching over you. The devil took away Job’s purse and left him temporarily destitute, but Job had a God in heaven who replenished his account. As a saint, you have some collateral: your stock of faith, and your deed of inheritance as a citizen of heaven. These are great security both now and for the future. Satan knows it, and will do his best to snatch them away from you. But no matter how hard he tries he cannot blot your name from the Book of Life. He cannot annul your faith, make void your relationship with God, or dry up the spring of your comfort though he may dam up the stream for awhile. Nor can he hinder the glorious outcome of your whole war with sin. God, who is said to preserve us by His power “through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5), keeps all these things in heaven among His own crown jewels, well out of Satan’s reach.
Satan’s empire is also restricted as to subjects. The devil’s principality is bounded not only by place and time, but also by those he is allowed to govern. They are described as “the darkness of this world” or, more simply, those who are in darkness.
The word darkness is sometimes used in Scripture to express the condition of a person in great distress (Isaiah 50:10), sometimes to describe the nature of all sin (Ephesians 5:11), and sometimes to refer to the particular sin of ignorance. It is often compared to the darkness of night or to physical blindness. To enlighten this particular passage, I will take the word in the two following interpretations: first, for the darkness of sin in general; and second, for the darkness of ignorance in particular.
Mark this distinction before we begin: The devil’s rule is over those who are in a state of sin and ignorance, not over those who are sometimes sinful or ignorant.