Chapter 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. {SR 13.1}
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. {SR 13.2}
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 His plans, 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? {SR 14.1}
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. {SR 14.2}
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. {SR 15.1}
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? {SR 15.2}
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 reasoning’s 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. {SR 16.1}
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
revolter 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, 40.] {SR
16.2}
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. {SR 17.1}
War in Heaven--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. {SR 17.2}All the heavenly host was 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 understands 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. {SR 18.1}
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. {SR 18.2}
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. {SR 19.1}
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. {SR 19.2}
Chapter
2—The Creation
This
chapter is based on Genesis 1.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
