When God’s written word was given through the Hebrew prophets, Satan studied with diligence the messages concerning the Messiah. Carefully he traced the words that outlined with unmistakable clearness Christ’s work among men as a suffering sacrifice and as a conquering king. In the parchment rolls of the Old Testament Scriptures he read that the One who was to appear was to be “brought as a lamb to the slaughter,”(Isaiah 53:7) “His visage ... so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.”(Isaiah 52:14). The promised Saviour of humanity was to be “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; ... smitten of God, and afflicted;”(Isaiah 53:3, 4) yet He was also to exercise His mighty power in order to “judge the poor of the people.” He was to “save the children of the needy,” and “break in pieces the oppressor.” Psalm 72:4. These prophecies caused Satan to fear and tremble; yet he relinquished not his purpose to thwart, if possible, the merciful provisions of Jehovah for the redemption of the lost race. He determined to blind the eyes of the people, so far as might be possible, to the real significance of the Messianic prophecies, in order to prepare the way for the rejection of Christ at His coming. (PK 686.1) MC VC