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word of God; it is “the transgression of the law.”
Sin originated with him, who, next to Christ, stood highest in the
favor of God, and highest in power and glory among the inhabitants
of Heaven. Before his fall, Lucifer was the covering cherub, holy
and undefiled. The prophet of God declares, “Thou wast perfect in
thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found
in thee.” [Ezekiel 28:15.] Peace and joy, in perfect submission to the will of Heaven, existed throughout the angelic host. Love to God
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was supreme, love for one another impartial. Such was the condition
that existed for ages before the entrance of sin.
But over this happy state there came a change. Says the prophet,
addressing the prince of evil, “Thine heart was lifted up because
of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy
brightness.” [Ezekiel 28:17.] Though God had created Lucifer noble and beautiful, and had exalted him to high honor among the angelic
host, yet he had not placed him beyond the possibility of evil. It was
in Satan’s power, did he choose to do so, to pervert these gifts. He
might have remained in favor with God, beloved and honored by all
the angelic throng, presiding in his exalted position with generous,
unselfish care, exercising his noble powers to bless others and to
glorify his Maker. But, little by little, he began to seek his own
honor, and to employ his powers to attract attention and win praise
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to himself. He also gradually led the angels over whom he ruled to
do him service, instead of devoting all their powers to the service
of their Creator. This course perverted his own imagination, and
perverted those who yielded implicitly to his authority.
The heavenly councils admonished Lucifer to change his course.
The Son of God warned and entreated him not to venture thus to
dishonor his Maker, and bring ruin upon himself. But instead of
yielding, Satan represented to those who loved him, that he had
been wrongly judged, that his dignity was not respected, and that
his liberty was to be abridged.
That Christ should regard him as needing to be corrected, and
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should presume to take the position of a superior, aroused in him a
spirit of resistance, and he charged the Son of God with a design to
humble him before the angels. By misrepresentation of the words
of Christ, by prevarication and direct falsehood, Satan secured the
sympathy of the angels under his control, and they united with him
in revolt against Heaven’s authority.
To the last, he refused to acknowledge his own course to be
deserving of censure. When the consequence of his disaffection
became apparent, and it was decreed that with all his sympathizers he
must be forever banished from the abode of bliss, the arch-deceiver
threw the blame wholly upon Christ. With one accord, Satan and
his hosts declared that had they not been reproved, the rebellion
would never have occurred, thus making Christ responsible for their
course. Thus stubborn and defiant in their disloyalty, seeking vainly
to overthrow the government of God, yet blasphemously claiming
to be themselves the i
rebel and all his sympathizers were at last banished from Heaven.
The rebellion in Heaven was prompted by the same spirit which
inspires rebellion on earth. Satan has continued with men the same
policy which he pursued with the angels. His spirit now reigns in the
children of disobedience. There is a constant hatred of reproof, and
a disposition to rebel against it. When God sends to wrong-doers a
message of warning or correction, Satan leads them to justify them-
selves, and to seek the sympathy of others. Instead of changing their
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wrong course, they manifest great indignation against the reprover,
as if he were the sole cause of difficulty. From the days of righteous
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Abel to our own time, such is the spirit which has been displayed
toward those who dare to condemn sin.
Satan had excited sympathy in his favor by representing that
God had dealt unjustly with him in bestowing supreme honor upon
Christ. Before he was sentenced to banishment from Heaven, his
course was with convincing clearness shown to be wrong, and he
was granted an opportunity to confess his sin, and submit to God’s
authority as just and righteous. But he chose to carry his points at
all hazards. To sustain his charge of God’s injustice toward him,
he resorted to misrepresentation, even of the words and acts of the
Creator.
Here, for a time, Satan had the advantage; and he exulted in his
arrogated superiority, in this one respect, to the angels of Heaven,
and even to God himself. While Satan can employ fraud and
sophistry to accomplish his objects, God ca
like the serpent, can choose a tortuous course, turning, twisting, glid-
ing, to conceal himself, God moves only in a direct, straight-forward
line. Satan had disguised himself in a cloak of falsehood, and for a
time it was impossible to tear off the covering, so that the hideous
deformity of his character could be seen. He must be left to reveal
himself in his cruel, artful, wicked works.
He was not immediately dethroned when he first ventured to in-
dulge the spirit of discontent and insubordination, nor even when he
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began to present his false claim and lying representations before the
loyal angels. Long was he retained in Heaven. Again and again was
he offered pardon on condition of repentance and submission. Such
efforts as God alone could make, were made to convince him of his
error, and restore him to the path of rectitude. God would preserve
the order of the heavens, and had Lucifer been willing to return to his
allegiance, humble and obedient, he would have been re-established
in his office as covering cherub. But as he stubbornly justified his
course, and maintained that he had no need of repentance, it became
necessary for the Lord of Heaven to vindicate his justice and the
honor of his throne; and Satan and all who sympathized with him
were cast out.
By the same misrepresentation of the character of God as he
had practiced in Heaven, causing him to be regarded as severe and
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far, he declared that God’s unjust restrictions had led to man’s fall,
as they had led to his own rebellion.
But the Eternal One himself proclaims his character: “The Lord
God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in good-
ness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and