The Origon of Evil
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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 the 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 the
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 possible 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 the entire universe that
could enter into all the counsels and
purposes of God. By Christ, the
Father wrought in the creation of all
the 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 the 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.
However, 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 was upon the holy mountain of
God; thou hast walked up and down in
the midst of the stones of fire. Thou
was perfect in thy ways from the day
that thou was 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.
However, say 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. Moreover, coveting
the honor that the infinite Father
had bestowed upon His Son, this
prince of angels aspired to power
that it was the prerogative of Christ
alone to wield.
All heaven had
rejoiced to reflect the
Creator’s glory and show forth
His praise. And while God was thus
honored, all had been peace and
gladness. However, a note of discord
now marred the celestial harmonics.
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. However, 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
glorified 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 counsels
of God, Christ was a participant,
while Lucifer was not permitted thus
to enter into the divine purposes.
“Why, questioned the 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 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 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. However,
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. However,
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
mastermind 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 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 that
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 all
might see their true nature and
tendency. 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 clock 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 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 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 creature, He was seeking
merely the exaltation of Himself.
Therefore, it must be demonstrated
before the inhabitants of heaven, as
well as 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. All
must understand the true character of
the usurper, and his real object. He
must have time to manifest himself by
his wicked works.
The discord that 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 the 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
immediately been 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 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 the 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 a 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.
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