1. The Fall of
Lucifer
Lucifer in
heaven, before his rebellion, was a high and exalted angel, next in honor to
God’s
dear Son. His
countenance, like those of the other angels, was mild and expressive of
happiness. His forehead was high and broad, showing a powerful intellect. His
form was perfect; his bearing noble and majestic. A special light beamed in his
countenance and shone around him brighter and more beautiful than around the
other angels; yet Christ, God’s dear Son, had the pre-eminence over all the
angelic host. He was one with the Father before the angels were created.
Lucifer was envious of Christ, and gradually assumed command which devolved on
Christ alone.
The great
Creator assembled the heavenly host, that He might in the presence of all the
angels
confer special
honor upon His Son. The Son was seated on the throne with the Father, and the
heavenly throng of holy angels was gathered around them. The Father then made
known that it was ordained by Himself that Christ, His Son, should be equal with
Himself; so that wherever was the presence of His Son, it was as His own
presence. The word of the Son was to be obeyed as readily as the word of the Father.
His Son He had invested with authority to command the heavenly host. Especially
was His Son to work in union with Himself in the anticipated creation of the
earth and every living thing that should exist upon the earth. His Son would
carry out His will and His purposes but would do nothing of Himself alone. The
Father’s will would be fulfilled in Him. Lucifer was
envious and jealous of Jesus Christ. Yet when all the angels bowed to Jesus to acknowledge His
supremacy and high authority and rightful rule, he bowed with them; but his
heart was filled with envy and hatred. Christ had been taken into the special
counsel of God in regard to Hisplans, while Lucifer was unacquainted with them.
He did not understand, neither was he permitted to know, the purposes of God.
But Christ was acknowledged sovereign of heaven, His power and authority to be
the same as that of God Himself. Lucifer thought that he was himself a favorite
in heaven among the angels. He had been highly exalted, but this did not call
forth from him gratitude and praise to his Creator. He aspired to the height of
God Himself. He gloried in his loftiness. He knew that he was honored by the
angels. He had a special mission to execute. He had been near the great
Creator, and the ceaseless beams of glorious light enshrouding the eternal God
had shone especially upon him. He thought how angels had obeyed his command
with pleasurable alacrity. Were not his garments light and beautiful? Why
should Christ thus be honored before himself? He left the immediate presence of
the Father, dissatisfied and filled with envy against Jesus Christ. Concealing
his real purposes, he assembled the angelic host. He introduced his subject,
which was himself. As one aggrieved, he related the preference God had given
Jesus to the neglect of himself. He told them that henceforth all the sweet
liberty the angels had enjoyed was at an end. For had not a ruler been
appointed over them, to whom they from henceforth must yield servile honor? He
stated to them that he had called them together to assure them that he no
longer would submit to this invasion of his rights and theirs; that never would
he again bow down to Christ; that he would take the honor upon himself which
should have been conferred upon him, and would be the commander of all who
would submit to follow him and obey his voice. There was contention among the
angels. Lucifer and his sympathizers were striving to reform the government of
God. They were discontented and unhappy because they could not look into His unsearchable
wisdom and ascertain His purposes in exalting His Son, and endowing Him with
such unlimited power and command. They rebelled against the authority of the
Son.
Angels that were
loyal and true sought to reconcile this mighty, rebellious angel to the will of
his Creator.
They justified the act of God in conferring honor upon Christ, and with
forcible reasoning sought to convince Lucifer that no less honor was his now
than before the Father had proclaimed the honor which He had conferred upon His
Son. They clearly set forth that Christ was the Son of God, existing with Him
before the angels were created; and that He had ever stood at the right hand of
God, and His mild, loving authority had not heretofore been questioned; and
that He had given no commands but what it was joy for the heavenly host to
execute. They urged that Christ’s receiving special honor from the Father, in
the presence of the angels, did not detract from the honor that Lucifer had heretofore
received. The angels wept. They anxiously sought to move him to renounce his
wicked design and yield submission to their Creator; for all had heretofore
been peace and harmony, and what could occasion this dissenting, rebellious
voice? Lucifer refused to listen. And then he turned from the loyal and true
angels, denouncing them as slaves. These angels, true to God, stood in
amazement as they saw that Lucifer was successful in his effort to incite
rebellion. He promised them a new and better government than they then had, in
which all would be freedom. Great numbers signified their purpose to accept him
as their leader and chief commander. As he saw his advances were met with
success, he flattered himself that he should yet have all the angels on his
side, and that he would be equal with God Himself, and his voice of authority would
be heard in commanding the entire host of heaven. Again the loyal angels warned
him, and assured him what must be the consequences if he persisted; that He who
could create the angels could by His power overturn all their authority and in
some signal manner punish their audacity and terrible rebellion. To think that
an angel should resist the law of God which was as sacred as Himself! They warned
the rebellious to close their ears to Lucifer’s deceptive reasonings, and
advised him and all who had been
affected by him to go to God and confess their wrong for even admitting a
thought of questioning His
authority. Many of Lucifer’s sympathizers were inclined to heed the counsel of
the loyal angels and repent of their dissatisfaction and be again received to
the confidence of the Father and His dear Son. The mighty rebel then declared
that he was acquainted with God’s law, and if he should submit to servile
obedience, his honor would be taken from him. No more would he be entrusted
with his exalted mission. He told them that himself and they also had now gone
too far to go back, and he would brave the consequences, for to bow in servile
worship to the Son of God he never would; that God would not forgive, and now
they must assert their liberty and gain by force the position and authority
which was not willingly accorded to them. [THUS IT WAS THAT LUCIFER, “THE
LIGHT-BEARER,” THE SHARER OF GOD’S GLORY, THE ATTENDANT OF HIS THRONE, BY
TRANSGRESSION BECAME SATAN, “THE ADVERSARY.” - PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS, P. 40.]
The loyal angels
hastened speedily to the Son of God and acquainted Him with what was taking place
among the angels. They found the Father in conference with His beloved Son, to determine the
means by which, for the best good of the loyal angels, the assumed authority of
Satan could be forever put down. The great God could at once have hurled this
arch deceiver from heaven; but this was not His purpose. He would give the
rebellious an equal chance to measure strength and might with His own Son and
His loyal angels. In this battle every angel would choose his own side and be
manifested to all. It would not have been safe to suffer any who united with
Satan in his rebellion to continue to occupy heaven. They had learned the
lesson of genuine rebellion against the unchangeable law of God, and this is
incurable. If God had exercised His power to punish this chief rebel,
disaffected angels would not have been manifested; hence, God took another
course, for He would manifest distinctly to all the heavenly host His justice
and His judgment. It was the highest crime to rebel against the government of
God. All heaven seemed in commotion. The angels were marshaled in companies,
each division with a higher commanding angel at its head. Satan was warring
against the law of God, because ambitious to exalt himself and unwilling to
submit to the authority of God’s Son, heaven’s great commander. All the
heavenly host were summoned to appear before the Father, to have each case determined.
Satan unblushingly made known his dissatisfaction that Christ should be
preferred before Him. He stood up proudly and urged that he should be equal
with God and should be taken into conference with the Father and understand His
purposes. God informed Satan, that to His Son alone He would reveal His secret
purposes, and He required all the family in heaven, even Satan, to yield Him implicit,
unquestioned obedience; but that he (Satan) had proved himself unworthy of a
place in heaven. Then Satan exultingly pointed to his sympathizers, comprising
nearly one half of all the angels, and exclaimed, “These are with me! Will you
expel these also, and make such a void in heaven?” He then declared that he was
prepared to resist the authority of Christ and to defend his place in heaven by
force of might, strength against strength. Good angels wept
to hear the words of Satan and his exulting boasts. God declared that the rebellious
should remain in heaven no longer. Their high and happy state had been held
upon condition of obedience to the law which God had given to govern the high
order of intelligences. But no provision had been made to save those who should
venture to transgress His law. Satan grew bold in his rebellion, and expressed
his contempt of the Creator’s law. This Satan could not bear. He claimed that
angels needed no law but should be left free to follow their own will, which
would ever guide them right; that law was a restriction of their liberty; and
that to abolish law was one great object of his standing as he did. The
condition of the angels, he thought, needed improvement. Not so the mind of God,
who had made laws and exalted them equal to Himself. The happiness of the
angelic host consisted in their perfect obedience to law. Each had his special
work assigned him, and until Satan rebelled, there had been perfect order and
harmonious action in heaven. Then there was war in heaven. The Son of God, the
Prince of heaven, and His loyal angels engaged in conflict with the arch rebel
and those who united with him. The Son of God and true, loyal angels prevailed;
and Satan and his sympathizers were expelled from heaven. All the heavenly host
acknowledged and adored the God of justice. Not a taint of rebellion was left
in heaven. All was again peaceful and harmonious as before. Angels in heaven
mourned the fate of those who had been their companions in happiness and bliss.
Their loss was felt in heaven. The Father consulted His Son in regard to at
once carrying out their purpose to make man to inhabit the earth. He would
place man upon probation to test his loyalty before he could be rendered eternally
secure. If he endured the test wherewith God saw fit to prove him, he should
eventually be equal with the angels. He was to have the favor of God, and he
was to converse with angels, and they with him. He did not see fit to place
them beyond the power of disobedience.
2. The Creation
The Father and
the Son engaged in the mighty, wondrous work they had contemplated - of
creating the
world. The earth came forth from the hand of the Creator exceedingly beautiful.
There were mountains and hills and plains; and interspersed among them were
rivers and bodies of water. The earth was not one extensive plain, but the
monotony of the scenery was broken by hills and mountains, not high and ragged
as they now are, but regular and beautiful in shape. The bare, high rocks were never
seen upon them, but lay beneath the surface, answering as bones to the earth.
The waters were regularly dispersed. The hills, mountains, and very beautiful
plains were adorned with plants and flowers and tall, majestic trees of every
description, which were many times larger and much more beautiful than trees
now are. The air was pure and healthful, and the earth seemed like a noble
palace. Angels beheld and rejoiced at the wonderful and beautiful works of God.
After the earth was created, and the beasts upon it, the Father and Son carried
out their purpose, which was designed before the fall of Satan, to make man in
their own image. They had wrought together in the creation of the earth and every
living thing upon it. And now God said to His Son, “Let us make man in our
image.” As Adam came forth from the hand of his Creator he was of noble height
and of beautiful symmetry. He was more than twice as tall as men now living
upon the earth, and was well proportioned. His features were perfect and
beautiful. His complexion was neither white nor sallow, but ruddy, glowing with
the rich tint of health. Eve was not quite as tall as Adam. Her head reached a
little above his shoulders. She, too, was noble, perfect in symmetry, and very
beautiful. This sinless pair wore no artificial garments. They were clothed
with a covering of light and glory, such as the angels wear. While they lived
in obedience to God, this circle of light enshrouded them. Although everything
God had made was in the perfection of beauty, and there seemed nothing wanting upon
the earth which God had created to make Adam and Eve happy, yet He manifested
His great love to them by planting a garden especially for them. A portion of
their time was to be occupied in the happy employment of dressing the garden,
and a portion in receiving the visits of angels, listening to their
instruction, and in happy meditation. Their labor was not wearisome but
pleasant and
invigorating.
This beautiful garden was to be their home. In this garden
the Lord placed trees of every variety for usefulness and beauty. There were trees laden with
luxuriant fruit, of rich fragrance, beautiful to the eye, and pleasant to the
taste, designed of God
to be food for the holy pair. There were the lovely vines which grew upright,
laden with their burden of fruit, unlike anything man has seen since the fall.
The fruit was very large and of different colors; some nearly black, some
purple, red, pink, and light green. This beautiful and luxuriant growth of
fruit upon the branches of the vine was called grapes. They did not trail upon
the ground, although not supported by trellises, but the weight of the fruit
bowed them down. It was the happy labor of Adam and Eve to form beautiful
bowers from the branches of the vine and train them, forming dwellings of
nature’s beautiful, living trees and foliage, laden with fragrant fruit. The
earth was clothed with beautiful verdure, while millions of fragrant flowers of
every variety and hue sprang up in rich profusion around them. Everything was
tastefully and gloriously arranged. In the midst of the garden stood the tree
of life, the glory of which surpassed all other trees. Its fruit looked like
apples of gold and silver, and was to perpetuate immortality. The leaves
contained healing properties. Very happy were the holy pair in Eden. Unlimited
control was given them over every living thing. The lion and the lamb sported
peacefully and harmlessly around them, or slumbered at their feet. Birds of
every variety of color and plumage flitted among the trees and flowers and
about Adam and Eve, while their mellow-toned music echoed among the trees in
sweet accord to the praises of their Creator. Adam and Eve were charmed with
the beauties of their Eden home. They were delighted with the little
songsters around them, wearing their bright yet graceful plumage, and warbling
forth their happy, cheerful music. The holy pair united with them and raised
their voices in harmonious songs of love, praise, and adoration to the Father
and His dear Son for the tokens of love which surrounded them. They recognized
the order and harmony of creation, which spoke of wisdom and knowledge that were
infinite. Some new beauty and additional glory of their Eden home they were
continually discovering, which filled their hearts with deeper love and brought
from their lips expressions of gratitude and reverence to their Creator.
3. Consequences
of Rebellion
In the midst of
the garden, near the tree of life, stood the tree of knowledge of good and
evil.
This tree was
especially designed of God to be the pledge of their obedience, faith, and love
to Him. Of this tree the Lord commanded our first parents not to eat, neither
to touch it, lest they die. He told them that they might freely eat of all the
trees in the garden except one, but if they ate of that tree they should surely
die. When Adam and Eve were placed in the beautiful garden they had everything
for their happiness which they could desire. But God chose, in His all-wise
arrangements, to test their loyalty before they could be rendered eternally
secure. They were to have His favor, and He was to converse with them and they
with Him. Yet He did not place evil out of their reach. Satan was permitted to tempt
them. If they endured the trial they were to be in perpetual favor with God and
the heavenly angels. Satan stood in amazement at his new condition. His
happiness was gone. He looked upon the angels who, with him, were once so
happy, but who had been expelled from heaven with him. Before their fall not a
shade of discontent had marred their perfect bliss. Now all seemed changed. Countenances
which had reflected the image of their Maker were gloomy and despairing.
Strife, discord, and bitter recrimination were among them. Previous to their
rebellion these things had been unknown in heaven. Satan now beheld the
terrible results of his rebellion. He shuddered, and feared to face the future
and to contemplate the end of these things. The hour for
joyful, happy songs of praise to God and His dear Son had come. Satan had led the heavenly
choir. He had raised the first note; then all the angelic host had united with
him, and glorious strains
of music had resounded through heaven in honor of God and His dear Son. But
now, instead of strains of sweetest music, discord and angry words fall upon
the ear of the great rebel leader. Where is he? Is it not all a horrible dream?
Is he shut out of heaven? Are the gates of heaven never more to open to admit
him? The hour of worship draws nigh, when bright and holy angels bow before the
Father. No more will he unite in heavenly song. No more will he bow in
reverence and holy awe before the presence of the eternal God. Could he be
again as he was when he was pure, true, and loyal, gladly would he yield up the
claims of his authority. But he was lost! beyond redemption, for his
presumptuous rebellion! And this was not all; he had led others to rebellion
and to the same lost condition with himself - angels, who had never thought to
question the will of Heaven or refuse obedience to the law of God till he had
put it into their minds, presenting before them that they might enjoy a greater
good, a higher and more glorious liberty. This had been the sophistry whereby
he had deceived them. A responsibility now rests upon him from
which he would faint be released. These spirits had become turbulent with
disappointed hopes. Instead of greater good, they were experiencing the sad
results of disobedience and disregard of law. Never more would these unhappy beings
be swayed by the mild rule of Jesus Christ. Never more would their spirits be
stirred by the deep, earnest love, peace, and joy which His presence had ever
inspired in them, to be returned to Him in cheerful obedience and reverential
honor. Satan trembled as he viewed his work. He was alone in meditation upon
the past, the present, and his future plans. His mighty frame shook as with a
tempest. An angel from heaven was passing. He called him and entreated an
interview with Christ. This was granted him. He then related to the Son of God
that he repented of his rebellion and wished again the favor of God. He was
willing to take the place God had previously assigned him, and be under His
wise command. Christ wept at Satan’s woe but told him, as the mind of God, that
he could never be received into heaven. Heaven must not be placed in jeopardy.
All heaven would be marred should he be received back, for sin and rebellion originated
with him. The seeds of rebellion were still within him. He had, in his rebellion,
no occasion for his course, and he had hopelessly ruined not only himself but
the host of angels also, who would then have been happy in heaven had he
remained steadfast. The law of God could condemn but could not pardon. He
repented not of his rebellion because he saw the goodness of God which he had
abused. It was not possible that his love for God had so increased since his
fall that it would lead to cheerful submission and happy obedience to His law
which had been despised. The wretchedness he realized in losing the sweet light
of heaven, and the sense of guilt which forced itself upon him, and the disappointment
he experienced himself in not finding his expectation realized, were the cause
of his grief. To be commander out of heaven was vastly different from being
thus honored in heaven. The loss he had sustained of all the privileges of
heaven seemed too much to be borne. He wished to regain these. This great
change of position had not increased his love for God, nor for His wise and
just law. When Satan became fully convinced that there was no possibility of
his being reinstated in the favor of God, he manifested his malice with
increased hatred and fiery vehemence. God knew that such determined rebellion
would not remain inactive. Satan would invent means to annoy the heavenly
angels and show contempt for His authority. As he could not gain admission
within the gates of heaven, he would wait just at the entrance, to taunt the
angels and seek contention with them as they went in and out. He would seek to
destroy the happiness of Adam and Eve. He would endeavor to incite them to
rebellion, knowing that this would cause grief in heaven. His followers were
seeking him, and he aroused himself and, assuming a look of defiance, informed
them of his plans to wrest from God the noble Adam and his companion Eve. If he
could in any way beguile them to disobedience, God would make some provision
whereby they might be pardoned, and then himself and all the fallen angels
would be in a fair way to share with them of God’s mercy. If this should fail,
they could unite with Adam and Eve, for when once they should transgress the
law of God they would be subjects of God’s wrath, like themselves. Their
transgression would place them, also, in a state of rebellion, and they could
unite with Adam and Eve, take possession of Eden, and hold it as their home.
And if they could gain access to the tree of life in the midst of the garden,
their strength would, they thought, be equal to that of the holy angels, and
even God Himself could not expel
them. Satan held a consultation with his evil angels. They did not all readily
unite to engage in this hazardous and terrible work. He told them that he would
not entrust any one of them to accomplish this work, for he thought that he alone
had wisdom sufficient to carry forward so important an enterprise. He wished
them to consider the matter while he should leave them and seek retirement, to
mature his plans. He sought to impress upon them that this was their last and
only hope. If they failed here, all prospect of regaining and controlling
heaven, or any part of God’s creation, was hopeless. Satan went alone to mature
plans that would most surely secure the fall of Adam and Eve. He had fears that
his purposes might be defeated. And again, even if he should be successful in
leading Adam and Eve to disobey the commandment of God, and thus become
transgressors of His law, and no good come to himself, his own case would not
be improved; his guilt would only be increased. He shuddered at the thought of
plunging the holy, happy pair into the misery and remorse he was himself
enduring. He seemed in a state of indecision: at one time firm and determined,
then hesitating and wavering. His angels were seeking him, their leader, to
acquaint him with their decision. They would unite with Satan in his plans, and
with him bear the responsibility and share the consequences. Satan cast off his
feelings of despair and weakness, and, as their leader, fortified himself to brave
out the matter and do all in his power to defy the authority of God and His
Son. He acquainted them with his plans. If he should come boldly upon Adam and
Eve and make complaints of God’s own Son, they would
not listen to him for a moment but would be prepared for such an attack. Should
he seek to intimidate them because of his power, so recently an angel in high
authority, he could accomplish
nothing. He decided that cunning and deceit would do what might, or force,
could not. God assembled the angelic host to take measures to avert the
threatened evil. It was decided in heaven’s council for angels to visit Eden
and warn Adam that he was in danger from the foe. Two angels sped on their way
to visit our first parents. The holy pair received them with joyful innocence, expressing
their grateful thanks to their Creator for thus surrounding them with such a
profusion of His bounty. Everything lovely and attractive was theirs to enjoy,
and everything seemed wisely adapted to their wants; and that which they prized
above all other blessings, was the society of the Son of God and the heavenly
angels, for they had much to relate to them at every visit, of their new
discoveries of the beauties of nature in their lovely Eden home, and they had
many questions to ask relative to many things which they could but indistinctly
comprehend. The angels
graciously and lovingly gave them the information they desired. They also gave them the sad
history of Satan’s rebellion and fall. They then distinctly informed them that
the tree of knowledge was placed in the garden to be a pledge of their
obedience and love to God; that the high and happy estate of the holy angels
was to be retained upon condition of obedience; that they were similarly
situated; that they could obey the law of God and be inexpressibly happy, or
disobey and lose their high estate and be plunged into hopeless despair. They
told Adam and Eve that God would not compel them to obey - that He had not
removed from them power to go contrary to His will; that they were moral
agents, free to obey or disobey. There was but one
prohibition that God had seen fit to lay upon them as yet. If they should
transgress the will of God they would surely die. They told Adam and Eve that
the most exalted angel, next in order to Christ, refused obedience to the law
of God which He had ordained to govern heavenly beings; that this rebellion had
caused war in heaven, which resulted in the rebellious being expelled
therefrom, and every angel was driven out of heaven who had united with him in
questioning the authority of the great Jehovah; and that this fallen foe was
now an enemy to all that concerned the interest of God and His dear Son. They
told them that Satan purposed to do them harm, and it was necessary for them to
be guarded, for they might come in contact with the fallen foe; but he could
not harm them while they yielded obedience to God’s command, for, if necessary,
every angel from heaven would come to their help rather than that he should in
any way do them harm. But if they disobeyed the command of God,then Satan would
have power to ever annoy, perplex, and trouble them. If they remained steadfast
against the first insinuations of Satan, they were as secure as the heavenly
angels. But if they yielded to the tempter, He who spared not the exalted
angels would not spare them. They must suffer the penalty of their
transgression, for the law of God was as sacred as Himself, and He required
implicit obedience from all in
heaven and on earth. The angels cautioned Eve not to separate from her husband
in her employment, for she might be brought in contact with this fallen foe. If
separated from each other they would be in greater danger than if both were
together. The angels charged them to closely follow the instructions God had
given them in reference to the tree of knowledge, for in perfect obedience they
were safe, and this fallen foe could then have no power to deceive them. God
would not permit Satan to follow the holy pair with continual temptations. He
could have access to them only at the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam
and Eve assured the angels that they should never transgress the express
command of God, for it was their highest pleasure to do His will. The angels
united with Adam and Eve in holy strains of harmonious music, and as their
songs pealed forth from blissful Eden, Satan heard the sound of their strains
of joyful adoration to the Father and Son. And as Satan heard it his envy,
hatred, and malignity increased, and he expressed his anxiety to his followers
to incite them (Adam and Eve) to disobedience and at once bring down the wrath
of God upon them and change their songs of praise to hatred and curses to their
Maker. all be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
WRITTEN BY
ELLEN .G. WHITE
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