Poet: John Milton A Dedicated Bible Student, James Aguilar [e textbook reader .TXT] 📗

John Milton became a very dedicated bible student along with Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, and Albert Einstein. John Milton uses three themes in his literature, which are Garden of Eden’s rebellion, humanity’s real ruler, and Jehovah’s sovereignty. John Milton was born in London. While considering himself destined for the ministry, he began to write poetry in Latin, Italian, and English. One of Milton’s earliest works, “Inventorem bombardae,” (On the inventor of gunpowder), a piece in a series on the occasion of the Gunpowder Plot, contains Milton's first portrayal of Satan. Milton traveled in France and Italy in the late 1630s, meeting in Paris the jurist and theologian the astronomer Galileo Galilei in Florence. There are references to Galileo's telescope in “Paradise Lost.” Humanity thinks that God is hardhearted. They look around and see a world full of war, hatred, and misery. As individuals, everyone gets sick, suffer, and lose loved ones in death. Thus, many say, ‘If God cared about us and our problems, would he not prevent such things from happening?’ Worse yet, religious teachers sometimes lead people to think that God is hardhearted. How so? When tragedy strikes, they say that it is God’s will. In effect, such teachers blame God for the bad things that happen. Granted, God does allow bad things to happen. There is a big difference between allowing something to happen and causing it. In the poem “Paradise Lost,” Milton explains many themes on why humanity is passing through suffering.

The first book of the Bible and in “Paradise Lost” tells of an enemy of God who showed up in the Garden of Eden. John Milton is known for his epics written in English. Milton lived in a time when there is violence and his nation was in a civil war. He seeks the truth found in the bible and wrote, “Of Man’s first disobedience and the fruit, / Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste, / Brought death into the world and all our woe” (Milton lines 1-4). In these lines the poet explains Adam and Eve join Satan in a rebellion against God. The first human couple believes Satan and they both want to be like God so they eat the fruit as an act of disobedience. People of various religions have gone to their religious leaders and teachers to ask why there is so much suffering. Often, the response is that suffering is God’s will and that he long ago determined everything that would ever happen, including tragic events. Many are told that God’s ways are mysterious or that He brings death upon people and children, so that God can have them in heaven with him. As Milton explains, Jehovah God never causes what is bad. Milton does say how God will save mankind. Milton says, “With loss of Eden, till one greater Man, / Restore us and regain the blissful seat” (Milton lines 4-5). Of the many gifts anyone could ever hope to receive, there is one that stands out above all others. It is a gift from God to mankind. Jehovah has given humanity many things, but his greatest gift to everyone is the ransom sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ. As Milton expresses in this poem, the ransom is the most valuable gift anyone could possibly receive, for it can bring everyone untold happiness and can fill mankind’s most important needs. The ransom is really the greatest expression of Jehovah’s love for everyone. Mr. Hays says, “The ransom is Jehovah’s means to deliver, or save, humankind from sin and death” (On Line). John Milton understood the origin of mankind’s suffering like Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, and Albert Einstein did. Something went wrong with God’s purpose. Milton answers who in reality is governing humanity.

The real ruler of this world is Satan the Devil. Jesus never doubted that Satan is the ruler of this world. In some miraculous way, Satan once showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Satan then promised Jesus: “All these things I will give you if you fall down and do an act of worship to me” (Matthew 4:8, 9; Luke 4:5, 6). Would that offer have been a temptation to Jesus if Satan was not the ruler of these kingdoms? Jesus did not deny that all these worldly governments were Satan’s. Surely, Jesus would have done that if Satan was not the power behind them. Of course, Jehovah is the Almighty God, the Creator of the marvelous universe. Yet, nowhere does the Bible say that either Jehovah God or Jesus Christ is ruler of this world. In fact, Jesus specifically referred to Satan as the ruler of this world. The Bible even refers to Satan the Devil as the god of this system of things. Milton says, “Say first for Heaven hides nothing from thy view, / . . . , / Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off, / From their Creator and transgress his will, / . . . , / Who first seduced them to that foul revolt? / The infernal serpent” (Milton lines 27-34). When Satan led Adam and Eve into disobeying Jehovah, an important question is raised. Satan did not call into question Jehovah’s power. Even Satan knows that there is no limit to Jehovah’s power. Rather, Satan questioned Jehovah’s right to rule. Satan calls God a liar who withholds well from his subjects. Satan charged that Jehovah is a bad ruler. Satan implied that mankind would be better off without God’s ruler ship. This was an attack on Jehovah’s sovereignty, his right to rule. Milton writes, “Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host, / Of rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring, / He trusted to have equalled the Most High” (Milton lines 37-40). How Jehovah handled the rebellion would greatly affect all those angels and eventually all intelligent creation. Jehovah God has allowed Satan to show how he would rule mankind. God has also allowed humans to govern themselves under Satan’s guidance. Milton explains why God let the rebellion last so long.

Why, though, has Jehovah allowed suffering to go on for so long? And why does he not prevent bad things from happening? Consider two things that Jehovah has determined not to do. First, he has not stopped Satan and those who side with him from trying to prove that they are right. Allowing time to pass has thus been necessary. Milton says, “From Reason, and to servitude reduce, / Man, till then free. Therefore, since he permits, / Within himself unworthy powers to reign” (Milton XII lines 89-91). In the thousands of years of human history, mankind has been able to try every form of self-rule, or human government. Mankind has made some advances in science and other fields, but injustice, poverty, crime, and war have grown ever worse. Human rule has now been shown to be a failure. Milton says, “Yet sometimes nations will decline so low, / From virtue, which is reason, that no wrong, / But justice, and some fatal curse annexed, / Deprives them of their outward liberty” (Milton XII lines 97-100). Milton explains that man made government has encountered flaws. Since mankind is imperfect, human beings have difficulties governing. Jehovah knows that all honest hearted humans and angels will benefit from seeing that Satan and his fellow rebels have failed and that humans cannot govern themselves. Second, Jehovah has not helped Satan to rule this world. If God were to prevent horrible crimes, for instance, would he not, in effect, be supporting the case of the rebels? Would God not be making people think that perhaps humans can govern themselves without disastrous results? If Jehovah were to act in that way, he would become party to a lie. God will thus use Jesus to break up the works of the Devil. Jehovah will bring all of this about at just the right time. Mankind can be glad that he has not acted sooner, for his patience has given people the opportunity to learn the truth and to serve him. Meanwhile, God has been actively seeking sincere worshipers and helping them to endure any suffering that may come upon them in this troubled world. Milton explains how Satan’s world will be removed.

Some might wonder, Could all this suffering have been prevented if God had created Adam and Eve in such a way that they could not rebel? Humans are created with free will. It is a very precious gift. Anyone can be glad to have the freedom to make choices about what kind of person to become, what course of life to pursue, what friendships to form, and so on. Human beings love to have a measure of freedom, and that is what Jehovah wants everyone to enjoy. Satan, Adam, and Eve made the worst possible use of free will. They rejected Jehovah God. Since a perfect human life was lost, no imperfect human life could ever buy it back. What was needed was a ransom equal in value to what was lost. This is in harmony with the principle of perfect justice found in God’s Word, which says: “Soul will be for soul” (Deuteronomy 19:21). So, what would cover the value of the perfect human soul, or life, that Adam lost? Another perfect human life was the corresponding ransom that was required. How did Jehovah provide the ransom? He sent his only begotten son to the earth. Milton says, “Thy ransom paid, which Man from Death redeems, / His death for Man, as many as offered life” (Milton XII lines 424-425). Jesus stepped into Adam’s place in order to save mankind. By sacrificing, or giving up, his perfect life in flawless obedience to God, Jesus paid the price for Adam’s sin. Satan has questioned whether Jehovah has any human servants who would remain faithful under trial. Jesus proved that a perfect man possessing free will could keep perfect integrity to God no matter what the Devil did. Milton says, “In sin forever lost from life; this act, / Shall bruise the head of Satan, crush his strength, / Defeating Sin and Death, his two arms” (Milton XII lines 429-431). Jesus being bruised in the heel meant that he would suffer only a temporary blow by being killed while on earth, for Jehovah would resurrect him to heavenly glory. The bruising of the serpent in the head means that the Devil would receive a death blow from which he would never recover. Intelligent minds of the past were very dedicated bible students.

John Milton became a very dedicated bible student along with Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, and Albert Einstein. Sir Isaac Newton, upon whose work nearly all of classical physics is built, was a deeply religious Christian, who saw the hand of God in all things. To him, all of the great laws of physics which he discovered were the laws of God that testify of his design. He would have been appalled to know centuries later, atheists would be claiming that he had really discovered self-existent laws, which explain the universe so well that God is no longer needed in the equation. Albert Einstein defends God with his discovery about evil. Einstein claims evil does not exist, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love, that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat