Chapter Twenty Nine
Origin of Evil
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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