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Why Was Sin Permitted?
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not have been fully destroyed, nor the spirit of rebellion eradicated.
For the good of the 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.
Satan’s rebellion was to be to the universe a testimony to the
terrible results of sin. His rule would show the fruit of setting
aside the divine authority. The history of this terrible experiment of
rebellion was to be a perpetual safeguard to all holy intelligences to
save them from sin and its punishment.
When it was announced that with all his sympathizers the great
usurper must be expelled from the abodes of bliss, the rebel leader
boldly avowed contempt for the Creator’s law. He denounced the
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divine statutes as a restriction of liberty and declared his purpose to
secure the abolition of law. Freed from this restraint, the hosts of
heaven might enter upon a more exalted state of existence.
Banished From Heaven
Satan and his host threw the blame of their rebellion upon Christ;
if they had not been reproved, they would never have rebelled. Stub-
born and defiant, yet blasphemously claiming to be innocent victims
of oppressive power, the archrebel and his sympathizers were ban-
ished from heaven. See
Revelation 12:7-9
.
Satan’s spirit still inspires rebellion on earth in the children of
disobedience. Like him they promise men liberty through transgres-
sion of the law of God. Reproof of sin still arouses hatred. Satan
leads men to justify themselves and seek the sympathy of others in
their sin. Instead of correcting their errors, they excite indignation
against the reprover, as if he were the cause of difficulty.
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. He declared that God’s unjust
restrictions had led to man’s fall, as they had led to his own rebellion.
In the banishment of Satan from heaven, God declared His jus-
tice and honor. But when man sinned, God gave evidence of His
love by yielding up His Son to die for the fallen race. In the atone-
ment the character of God is revealed. The mighty argument of
the cross demonstrates that sin was in no wise chargeable upon the