To many minds the origin of sin and the reason for its existence are a source of great perplexity. They see the work of evil, with its terrible results of woe and desolation, and they question how all this can exist under the sovereignty of One who is infinite in wisdom, in power, and in love. Here is a mystery of which they find no explanation. And in their uncertainty and doubt they are blinded to truths plainly revealed in God's word and essential to salvation. There are those who, in their inquiries concerning the existence of sin, endeavor to search into that which God has never revealed; hence they find no solution of their difficulties; and such as are actuated by a disposition to doubt and cavil seize upon this as an excuse for rejecting the words of Holy Writ. Others, however, fail of a satisfactory understanding of the great problem of evil, from the fact that tradition and misinterpretation have obscured the teaching of the Bible concerning the character of God, the nature of His government, and the principles of His dealing with sin.
It is impossible to explain
the origin of sin so as to give a reason for its existence. Yet
enough may be understood concerning both the origin and the final
disposition of sin to make fully manifest the justice and benevolence
of God in all His dealings with evil. Nothing is more plainly
taught in Scripture than that God was in no wise responsible for
the entrance of sin; that there was no arbitrary withdrawal of
divine grace, no deficiency in the divine government, that gave
occasion for the uprising of rebellion. Sin is an intruder, for
whose presence no reason can be given. It is mysterious, unaccountable;
to excuse it is to defend it. Could excuse for it be found, or
cause be shown for its existence, it would cease to be sin. Our
only definition of sin is that given in the word of God; it is
"the transgression of the law;" it is the outworking
of a principle at war with the great law of love which is the
foundation of the divine government.
Before the entrance of evil there was peace and joy throughout the universe. All was in perfect harmony with the Creator's will. Love for God was supreme, love for one another impartial. Christ the Word, the Only Begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father,--one in nature, in character, and in purpose,--the only being in all the universe that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God. By Christ the Father wrought in the creation of all heavenly beings. "By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, . . . whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers" (Colossians 1:16); and to Christ, equally with the Father, all heaven gave allegiance.
The law of love being the foundation of the government of God, the happiness of all created beings depended upon their perfect accord with its great principles of righteousness. God desires from all His creatures the service of love--homage that springs from an intelligent appreciation of His character. He takes no pleasure in a forced allegiance, and to all He grants freedom of will, that they may render Him voluntary service.
But there was one that chose
to pervert this freedom. Sin originated with him who, next to
Christ, had been most honored of God and who stood highest in
power and glory among the inhabitants of heaven. Before his fall,
Lucifer was first of the covering cherubs, holy and undefiled.
"Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of
wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden
of God; every precious stone was thy covering. . . .Thou art the
anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast
upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in
the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways
from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in
thee." Ezekiel 28:12-15.
Lucifer might have remained in favor with God, beloved and honored by all the angelic host, exercising his noble powers to bless others and to glorify his Maker. But, says the prophet, "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." Verse 17. Little by little, Lucifer came to indulge a desire for self-exaltation. "Thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God." "Thou hast said, . . . I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation....I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." Verse 6; Isaiah 14:13, 14. Instead of seeking to make God supreme in the affections and allegiance of His creatures, it was Lucifer's endeavor to win their service and homage to himself. And coveting the honor which the infinite Father had bestowed upon His Son, this prince of angels aspired to power which it was the prerogative of Christ alone to wield.
All heaven had rejoiced
to reflect the Creator's glory and to show forth His praise. And
while God was thus honored, all had been peace and gladness. But
a note of discord now marred the celestial harmonies. The service
and exaltation of self, contrary to the Creator's plan, awakened
forebodings of evil in minds to whom God's glory was supreme.
The heavenly councils pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God presented
before him the greatness, the goodness, and the justice of the
Creator, and the sacred, unchanging nature of His law. God Himself
had established the order of heaven; and in departing from it,
Lucifer would dishonor his Maker, and bring ruin upon himself.
But the warning, given in infinite love and mercy, only aroused
a spirit of resistance. Lucifer allowed jealousy of Christ to
prevail, and he became the more determined.
Pride in his own glory nourished the desire for supremacy. The high honors conferred upon Lucifer were not appreciated as the gift of God and called forth no gratitude to the Creator. He gloried in his brightness and exaltation, and aspired to be equal with God. He was beloved and reverenced by the heavenly host. Angels delighted to execute his commands, and he was clothed with wisdom and glory above them all. Yet the Son of God was the acknowledged Sovereign of heaven, one in power and authority with the Father. In all the councils of God, Christ was a participant, while Lucifer was not permitted thus to enter into the divine purposes. "Why," questioned this mighty angel, "should Christ have the supremacy? Why is He thus honored above Lucifer?"
Leaving his place in the immediate presence of God, Lucifer went forth to diffuse the spirit of discontent among the angels. Working with mysterious secrecy, and for a time concealing his real purpose under an appearance of reverence for God, he endeavored to excite dissatisfaction concerning the laws that governed heavenly beings, intimating that they imposed an unnecessary restraint. Since their natures were holy, he urged that the angels should obey the dictates of their own will. He sought to create sympathy for himself by representing that God had dealt unjustly with him in bestowing supreme honor upon Christ. He claimed that in aspiring to greater power and honor he was not aiming at self-exaltation, but was seeking to secure liberty for all the inhabitants of heaven, that by this means they might attain to a higher state of existence.
God in His great mercy bore
long with Lucifer. He was not immediately degraded from his exalted
station when he first indulged the spirit of discontent, nor even
when he began to present his false claims before the loyal angels.
Long was he retained in heaven. Again and again he was offered
pardon on condition of repentance and submission. Such efforts
as only infinite love and wisdom could devise were made to convince
him of his error. The spirit of discontent had never before been
known in heaven. Lucifer himself did not at first see whither
he was drifting; he did not understand the real nature of his
feelings. But as his dissatisfaction was proved to be without
cause, Lucifer was convinced that he was in the wrong, that the
divine claims were just, and that he ought to acknowledge them
as such before all heaven. Had he done this, he might have saved
himself and many angels. He had not at this time fully cast off
his allegiance to God. Though he had forsaken his position as
covering cherub, yet if he had been willing to return to God,
acknowledging the Creator's wisdom, and satisfied to fill the
place appointed him in God's great plan, he would have been reinstated
in his office. But pride forbade him to submit. He persistently
defended his own course, maintained that he had no need of repentance,
and fully committed himself, in the great controversy, against
his Maker.
All the powers of his master
mind were now bent to the work of deception, to secure the sympathy
of the angels that had been under his command. Even the fact that
Christ had warned and counseled him was perverted to serve his
traitorous designs. To those whose loving trust bound them most
closely to him, Satan had represented that he was wrongly judged,
that his position was not respected, and that his liberty was
to be abridged. From misrepresentation of the words of Christ
he passed to prevarication and direct falsehood, accusing the
Son of God of a design to humiliate him before the inhabitants
of heaven. He sought also to make a false issue between himself
and the loyal angels. All whom he could not subvert and bring
fully to his side he accused of indifference to the interests
of heavenly beings. The very work which he himself was doing he
charged upon those who remained true to God. And to sustain his
charge of God's injustice toward him, he resorted to misrepresentation
of the words and acts of the Creator. It was his policy to perplex
the angels with subtle arguments concerning the purposes of God.
Everything that was simple he shrouded in mystery, and by artful
perversion cast doubt upon the plainest statements of Jehovah.
His high position, in such close connection with the divine administration,
gave greater force to his representations, and many were induced
to unite with him in rebellion against Heaven's authority.
God in His wisdom permitted Satan to carry forward his work, until the spirit of disaffection ripened into active revolt. It was necessary for his plans to be fully developed, that their true nature and tendency might be seen by all. Lucifer, as the anointed cherub, had been highly exalted; he was greatly loved by the heavenly beings, and his influence over them was strong. God's government included not only the inhabitants of heaven, but of all the worlds that He had created; and Satan thought that if he could carry the angels of heaven with him in rebellion, he could carry also the other worlds. He had artfully presented his side of the question, employing sophistry and fraud to secure his objects. His power to deceive was very great, and by disguising himself in a cloak of falsehood he had gained an advantage. Even the loyal angels could not fully discern his character or see to what his work was leading.
Satan had been so highly
honored, and all his acts were so clothed with mystery, that it
was difficult to disclose to the angels the true nature of his
work. Until fully developed, sin would not appear the evil thing
it was. Heretofore it had had no place in the universe of God,
and holy beings had no conception of its nature and malignity.
They could not discern the terrible consequences that would result
from setting aside the divine law. Satan had, at first, concealed
his work under a specious profession of loyalty to God. He claimed
to be seeking to promote the honor of God, the stability of His
government, and the good of all the inhabitants of heaven. While
instilling discontent into the minds of the angels under him,
he had artfully made it appear that he was seeking to remove dissatisfaction.
When he urged that changes be made in the order and laws of God's
government, it was under the pretense that these were necessary
in order to preserve harmony in heaven.
In His dealing with sin, God
could employ only righteousness and truth. Satan could use what
God could not-- flattery and deceit. He had sought to falsify
the word of God and had misrepresented His plan of government
before the angels, claiming that God was not just in laying laws
and rules upon the inhabitants of heaven; that in requiring submission
and obedience from His creatures, He was seeking merely the exaltation
of Himself. Therefore it must be demonstrated before the inhabitants
of heaven, as well as of all the worlds, that God's government
was just, His law perfect. Satan had made it appear that he himself
was seeking to promote the good of the universe. The true character
of the usurper, and his real object, must be understood by all.
He must have time to manifest himself by his wicked works.
The discord which his own course had caused in heaven, Satan charged upon the law and government of God. All evil he declared to be the result of the divine administration. He claimed that it was his own object to improve upon the statutes of Jehovah. Therefore it was necessary that he should demonstrate the nature of his claims, and show the working out of his proposed changes in the divine law. His own work must condemn him. Satan had claimed from the first that he was not in rebellion. The whole universe must see the deceiver unmasked.
Even when it was decided
that he could no longer remain in heaven, Infinite Wisdom did
not destroy Satan. Since the service of love can alone be acceptable
to God, the allegiance of His creatures must rest upon a conviction
of His justice and benevolence. The inhabitants of heaven and
of other worlds, being unprepared to comprehend the nature or
consequences of sin, could not then have seen the justice and
mercy of God in the destruction of Satan. Had he been immediately
blotted from existence, they would have served God from fear rather
than from love. The influence of the deceiver would not have been
fully destroyed, nor would the spirit of rebellion have been utterly
eradicated. Evil must be permitted to come to maturity. For the
good of the entire universe through ceaseless ages Satan must
more fully develop his principles, that his charges against the
divine government might be seen in their true light by all created
beings, that the justice and mercy of God and the immutability
of His law might forever be placed beyond all question.
Satan's rebellion was to be
a lesson to the universe through all coming ages, a perpetual
testimony to the nature and terrible results of sin. The working
out of Satan's rule, its effects upon both men and angels, would
show what must be the fruit of setting aside the divine authority.
It would testify that with the existence of God's government and
His law is bound up the well-being of all the creatures He has
made. Thus the history of this terrible experiment of rebellion
was to be perpetual safeguard to all holy intelligences, to prevent
them from being deceived as to the nature of transgression, to
save them from committing sin and suffering its punishments.
To the very close of the controversy in heaven the great usurper continued to justify himself. When it was announced that with all his sympathizers he must be expelled from the abodes of bliss, then the rebel leader boldly avowed his contempt for the Creator's law. He reiterated his claim that angels needed no control, but should be left to follow their own will, which would ever guide them right. He denounced the divine statutes as a restriction of their liberty and declared that it was his purpose to secure the abolition of law; that, freed from this restraint, the hosts of heaven might enter upon a more exalted, more glorious state of existence.
With one accord, Satan and
his host threw the blame of their rebellion wholly upon Christ,
declaring that if they had not been reproved, they would never
have rebelled. Thus stubborn and defiant in their disloyalty,
seeking vainly to overthrow the government of God, yet blasphemously
claiming to be themselves the innocent victims of oppressive power,
the archrebel and all his sympathizers were at last banished from
heaven.
The same spirit that prompted
rebellion in heaven still 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. Like him
they seek to break down the restraints of the law of God and promise
men liberty through transgression of its precepts. Reproof of
sin still arouses the spirit of hatred and resistance. When God's
messages of warning are brought home to the conscience, Satan
leads men to justify themselves and to seek the sympathy of others
in their course of sin. Instead of correcting their errors, they
excite indignation against the reprover, as if he were the sole
cause of difficulty. From the days of righteous Abel to our own
time such is the spirit which has been displayed toward those
who dare to condemn sin.
By the same misrepresentation of the character of God as he had practiced in heaven, causing Him to be regarded as severe and tyrannical, Satan induced man to sin. And having succeeded thus 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 goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." Exodus 34:6, 7.
In the banishment of Satan
from heaven, God declared His justice and maintained the honor
of His throne. But when man had sinned through yielding to the
deceptions of this apostate spirit, God gave an evidence of His
love by yielding up His only-begotten Son to die for the fallen
race.
In the atonement the character
of God is revealed. The mighty argument of the cross demonstrates
to the whole universe that the course of sin which Lucifer had
chosen was in no wise chargeable upon the government of God.
In the contest between Christ
and Satan, during the Saviour's earthly ministry, the character
of the great deceiver was unmasked. Nothing could so effectually
have uprooted Satan from the affections of the heavenly angels
and the whole loyal universe as did his cruel warfare upon the
world's Redeemer. The daring blasphemy of his demand that Christ
should pay him homage, his presumptuous boldness in bearing Him
to the mountain summit and the pinnacle of the temple, the malicious
intent betrayed in urging Him to cast Himself down from the dizzy
height, the unsleeping malice that hunted Him from place to place,
inspiring the hearts of priests and people to reject His love,
and at the last to cry, "Crucify Him! crucify Him!--all this
excited the amazement and indignation of the universe.
It was Satan that prompted the world's rejection of Christ. The prince of evil exerted all his power and cunning to destroy Jesus; for he saw that the Saviour's mercy and love, His compassion and pitying tenderness, were representing to the world the character of God. Satan contested every claim put forth by the Son of God and employed men as his agents to fill the Saviour's life with suffering and sorrow. The sophistry and falsehood by which he had sought to hinder the work of Jesus, the hatred manifested through the children of disobedience, his cruel accusations against Him whose life was one of unexampled goodness, all sprang from deep-seated revenge. The pent-up fires of envy and malice, hatred and revenge, burst forth on Calvary against the Son of God, while all heaven gazed upon the scene in silent horror.
When the great sacrifice
had been consummated, Christ ascended on high, refusing the adoration
of angels until He had presented the request: "I will that
they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am."
John 17:24. Then with inexpressible love and power came forth
the answer from the Father's throne: "Let all the angels
of God worship Him." Hebrews 1:6. Not a stain rested upon
Jesus. His humiliation ended, His sacrifice completed, there was
given unto Him a name that is above every name.
Now the guilt of Satan stood forth without excuse. He had revealed his true character as a liar and a murderer. It was seen that the very same spirit with which he ruled the children of men, who were under his power, he would have manifested had he been permitted to control the inhabitants of heaven. He had claimed that the transgression of God's law would bring liberty and exaltation; but it was seen to result in bondage and degradation.
Satan's lying charges against the divine character and government appeared in their true light. He had accused God of seeking merely the exaltation of Himself in requiring submission and obedience from His creatures, and had declared that, while the Creator exacted self-denial from all others, He Himself practiced no self-denial and made no sacrifice. Now it was seen that for the salvation of a fallen and sinful race, the Ruler of the universe had made the greatest sacrifice which love could make; for "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." 2 Corinthians 5:19. It was seen, also, that while Lucifer had opened the door for the entrance of sin by his desire for honor and supremacy, Christ had, in order to destroy sin, humbled Himself and become obedient unto death.
God had manifested His abhorrence
of the principles of rebellion. All heaven saw His justice revealed,
both in the condemnation of Satan and in the redemption of man.
Lucifer had declared that if the law of God was changeless, and
its penalty could not be remitted, every transgressor must be
forever debarred from the Creator's favor. He had claimed that
the sinful race were placed beyond redemption and were therefore
his rightful prey. But the death of Christ was an argument in
man's behalf that could not be overthrown. The penalty of the
law fell upon Him who was equal with God, and man was free to
accept the righteousness of Christ and by a life of penitence
and humiliation to triumph, as the Son of God had triumphed, over
the power of Satan. Thus God is just and yet the justifier of
all who believe in Jesus.
But it was not merely to accomplish the redemption of man that Christ came to the earth to suffer and to die. He came to "magnify the law" and to "make it honorable." Not alone that the inhabitants of this world might regard the law as it should be regarded; but it was to demonstrate to all the worlds of the universe that God's law is unchangeable. Could its claims have been set aside, then the Son of God need not have yielded up His life to atone for its transgression. The death of Christ proves it immutable. And the sacrifice to which infinite love impelled the Father and the Son, that sinners might be redeemed, demonstrates to all the universe--what nothing less than this plan of atonement could have sufficed to do--that justice and mercy are the foundation of the law and government of God.
In the final execution of the judgment it will be seen that no cause for sin exists. When the Judge of all the earth shall demand of Satan, "Why hast thou rebelled against Me, and robbed Me of the subjects of My kingdom?" the originator of evil can render no excuse. Every mouth will be stopped, and all the hosts of rebellion will be speechless.
The cross of Calvary, while
it declares the law immutable, proclaims to the universe that
the wages of sin is death. In the Saviour's expiring cry, "It
is finished," the death knell of Satan was rung. The great
controversy which had been so long in progress was then decided,
and the final eradication of evil was made certain. The Son of
God passed through the portals of the tomb, that "through
death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is,
the devil." Hebrews 2:14. Lucifer's desire for self-exaltation
had led him to say: "I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God: . . . I will be like the Most High." God declares:
"I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, . . . and never
shalt thou be any more." Isaiah 14:13, 14; Ezekiel 28:18,
19. When "the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;. .
. .all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble:
and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of
hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch."
Malachi 4:1.
The whole universe will have become witnesses to the nature and results of sin. And its utter extermination, which in the beginning would have brought fear to angels and dishonor to God, will now vindicate His love and establish His honor before the universe of beings who delight to do His will, and in whose heart is His law. Never will evil again be manifest. Says the word of God: "Affliction shall not rise up the second time." Nahum 1:9. The law of God, which Satan has reproached as the yoke of bondage, will be honored as the law of liberty. A tested and proved creation will never again be turned from allegiance to Him whose character has been fully manifested before them as fathomless love and infinite wisdom.
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