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Fall of Lucifer
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glory, the attendant of his throne, by transgression became Satan,
“the adversary.”—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 40
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The loyal angels hastened speedily to the Son of God and ac-
quainted 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 as-
sumed authority of Satan could be forever put down. The great God
could at once have hurled this archdeceiver 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 mani-
fested 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.
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
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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 Fa-
ther, 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