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Sin—Exceedingly Sinful, March 5
That sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Romans 7:13
.
In great mercy, according to His divine character, God bore long
with Lucifer. The spirit of discontent and disaffection had never before
been known in heaven. It was a new element, strange, mysterious,
unaccountable.
Lucifer himself had not at first been acquainted with the real nature
of his feelings; for a time he had feared to express the workings and
imaginings of his mind; yet he did not dismiss them. He did not see
whither he was drifting. But such efforts as infinite love and wisdom
only could devise, were made to convince him of his error. His disaf-
fection was proved to be without cause, and he was made to see what
would be the result of persisting in revolt. Lucifer was convinced that
he was in the wrong. He saw that “the Lord is righteous in all his ways,
and holy in all his works” (
Psalm 145:17
); that the divine statutes are
just, and that he ought to acknowledge them as such before all heaven....
He nearly reached the decision to return; but pride forbade him.... He
persistently defended his own course, and fully committed himself to
the great controversy against his Maker....
Satan’s rebellion was to be a lesson to the universe through all
coming ages—a perpetual testimony to the nature of sin and its terrible
results. 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
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 a perpetual
safeguard to all holy beings, to prevent them from being deceived as
to the nature of transgression, to save them from committing sin, and
suffering its penalty.
The infinite value of the sacrifice required for our redemption reveals
the fact that sin is a tremendous evil.
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