Why Was Sin Permitted?
9
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....
The Master Plan of Deception
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
[3]
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