What God lost
In God’s original kingdom, love reigned supreme. Never was there a doubt, never a fear. Peace pervaded the vast universe of beauty. From the mote that danced in the sunbeam to the sun that gladdened a thousand worlds, happiness caused the sons of God to sing songs of gratitude, completely vulnerable yet unafraid.
The angelic armies served notice to the unnumbered inhabited planets throughout immensity, bringing the good news of the Creator’s approbation and personal messages for them, “Grace and peace from God our Father, and from His Son.” The leading messenger would say, “The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee.” (Ruth 2:4).
The cherubim would fill their sky with thanksgiving and glittering flashes of glory like the colorful birds that fill our skies with song and beauty. Then after blessing the race that populated that planet, the company of angels would depart with their blessings and be sent away with many requests for a soon return. The visits of the angels were always their greatest pleasure.
Then after departing with much loving fanfare, that happy band of heaven’s couriers would travel to another distant world to dispatch another message from the God they all loved. Finally, their commissioned deployment ended, they would return as quickly as possible to the capital of the cosmos, and report to Gabriel who would report to Lucifer, who would report to the Commander-in-Chief, the Son Himself.
At home for a while, they would daily join with the multitudes of cherubim and seraphim surrounding the throne, and thrill in the God who inhabited the praises of the heavenly Israel. At that time no thought of disaffection ever occurred. Among the billions of brilliant messenger hosts and innumerable inhabitants of billions of worlds, distrust never dawned on any mind, suspicion never appeared in any thought. The Creator’s wisdom was never questioned; His integrity always revered. No one ever had a reason to doubt His love.
The Law of God was unknown, though it existed from eternity. The Law was transparent to all, being part of their nature, but never externally demanded. The Law was kept perfectly from within by one and all without any one ever having knowledge of compliance to some external constitution. Love was life; love was the only motivation known.
Yet, as lovely as it was, a potential weakness existed in the kingdom of God. And that weakness was revealed in the sedition of Lucifer. Freedom of choice, even in the most perfect environment of love, allows anyone to go one way or the other, to follow self-sacrifice or self-interest. The risk had always been present, and forever will always exist. In God’s eternal government, freedom of choice will never cease, never to be curbed or monitored. Sin will never rise up the second time because of knowledge, a knowledge of the infinite depth of God’s self-sacrificing love that they didn’t know of before the controversy began.
And God, knowing the fragility of a government depending on loyalty to love, had ever known of a coming conflict that would surface sooner or later. This He shared with His Son, with the Spirit of peace between them both. From eternity They knew of this potential, and from eternity the Son determined to give up Himself for the sake of the kingdom.
At some point, the most exalted one of all God’s creation began to change. The slightest intimation of self awakened unnoticed, deep within him, and the total forgetfulness of self and the being filled with all the fullness of God, was subconsciously pushed back. Imperceptibly he permitted this condition, and God had watched over the evolution of self-centeredness from the start. Once Lucifer’s intelligence was able to be aware of it and when he could be reasoned with, the Holy Spirit brought conviction to Lucifer’s conscience.
He had lived in great acceptance by his subordinates. They had showered him with their innocent praises and ready approval. But that trust which they naively rained upon him led him to eclipse the trust they owed to God alone. He began to indulge himself in their love and trust, rather than faithfully turn them away from himself to their Creator. Thus, more and more, he was proving himself to be an unfaithful servant, and those who were involved were entering an experience unknown by any of them.
Before those angels who played no part in this strange behavior understood the disastrous effects of its end, it had taken deep roots. To manifest this new conduct the decision to create Earth was announced. As terrible an ordeal as it would be, this test must expose the true character of Lucifer. It was a just and merciful act of the Godhead—merciful to the uninfected angels who against their will would unconsciously be taken in by the pretentious overtures of Lucifer if the true character of his friendliness were not made naked and open.
The eyes of the innocent seraphim and cherubim, blinded by love and trust for their leader, needed to be educated concerning the real purposes growing rapidly within the chief angel. Thus it became, that when the Godhead met in council to decide upon the details a new special world and a singular life form revealing the mystery of God more than any other previous creation, Lucifer was not permitted to participate.
The pride and rebellion that had been smoldering for so long, suddenly flashed forth, much to the shock of the kingdom. The unwelcome of the Holy Council was too much for Lucifer. This he called injustice and lack of wisdom, which he declared provided the conditions for disrespect toward his office as the commander of the angelic forces. All those angels in whom Lucifer had cultivated the smallest ties of selfish affection chose to side with him. , They believed, in their blindness, that their cause was a righteous one.
The great controversy was now underway, and the inevitable pain and suffering of the Father began in earnest. “There was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.” (Rev. 12:7,8). While the battle cemented the greater majority of angels in truth and righteousness, the Ancient of Days lost a huge minority.
This disaffected party had previously surrounded Him and adored Him as loving children. They were His children, His beloved. Their loss took a heavy toll on the Giver of all life. But for the sake of an eternal kingdom, one built on righteousness and selflessness and love, and for the safety of the inhabitants of the unfallen worlds, justice must unsheathe its unforeknown sword.
Genuine rebellion is never curable. God had created the angels with immense power and boldness. The outcome of the battle in heaven was a complete and unchangeable separation of the lost hosts from the only Source of love. Now that holy boldness in the mutinous angels became an unholy daring for God to destroy them. Now their pride was forged into indomitable hatred for the government of God. At every opportunity they would seek to overthrow His dominion, if not destroy His reputation and the trust the loyal creation retained toward Him.
Because the Son of God, the Word, had ever been the spokesperson for the Father, the Father's thoughts made audible, the Son had been the focus of truth and grace from God to His creation and their focus of thanksgiving and glory in return to the Father. The royal Son of God was the Mediator between God and His creation.
Now He became the focus of hatred from the expelled hosts. Christ had won the battle, but the war had only begun. The true rebel can never be forced. Pride refuses to surrender to control. It will fight to the death. If squelched, it will wriggle and contrive and plot and scheme until the day it can devise its revenge. Never surrender! Never submit! No one controls me! I control! I overcome!
Satan invented every insidious argument to forge his followers into pure abhorrence of God. Together with them, “he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” (Rev. 13:6).
The cross that Jesus bore and the derision He received show in a small scale the burden borne by the great Ancient of Days. Not only did He lose the angelic children of His heart and soul, but He gained a host of defiantly vile and intolerable devils.
After the great confrontation is past and sin is vanquished, after every tear is dried and the kingdom is once again full of joy, after the only marks of sin can be seen in the scars on the Son of God, and the kingdom of God is safe once again, the Father will forever feel the weight of the controversy and the heavy losses it sustained, the loss of billions in heaven and Earth.
The angelic armies served notice to the unnumbered inhabited planets throughout immensity, bringing the good news of the Creator’s approbation and personal messages for them, “Grace and peace from God our Father, and from His Son.” The leading messenger would say, “The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee.” (Ruth 2:4).
The cherubim would fill their sky with thanksgiving and glittering flashes of glory like the colorful birds that fill our skies with song and beauty. Then after blessing the race that populated that planet, the company of angels would depart with their blessings and be sent away with many requests for a soon return. The visits of the angels were always their greatest pleasure.
Then after departing with much loving fanfare, that happy band of heaven’s couriers would travel to another distant world to dispatch another message from the God they all loved. Finally, their commissioned deployment ended, they would return as quickly as possible to the capital of the cosmos, and report to Gabriel who would report to Lucifer, who would report to the Commander-in-Chief, the Son Himself.
At home for a while, they would daily join with the multitudes of cherubim and seraphim surrounding the throne, and thrill in the God who inhabited the praises of the heavenly Israel. At that time no thought of disaffection ever occurred. Among the billions of brilliant messenger hosts and innumerable inhabitants of billions of worlds, distrust never dawned on any mind, suspicion never appeared in any thought. The Creator’s wisdom was never questioned; His integrity always revered. No one ever had a reason to doubt His love.
The Law of God was unknown, though it existed from eternity. The Law was transparent to all, being part of their nature, but never externally demanded. The Law was kept perfectly from within by one and all without any one ever having knowledge of compliance to some external constitution. Love was life; love was the only motivation known.
Yet, as lovely as it was, a potential weakness existed in the kingdom of God. And that weakness was revealed in the sedition of Lucifer. Freedom of choice, even in the most perfect environment of love, allows anyone to go one way or the other, to follow self-sacrifice or self-interest. The risk had always been present, and forever will always exist. In God’s eternal government, freedom of choice will never cease, never to be curbed or monitored. Sin will never rise up the second time because of knowledge, a knowledge of the infinite depth of God’s self-sacrificing love that they didn’t know of before the controversy began.
And God, knowing the fragility of a government depending on loyalty to love, had ever known of a coming conflict that would surface sooner or later. This He shared with His Son, with the Spirit of peace between them both. From eternity They knew of this potential, and from eternity the Son determined to give up Himself for the sake of the kingdom.
At some point, the most exalted one of all God’s creation began to change. The slightest intimation of self awakened unnoticed, deep within him, and the total forgetfulness of self and the being filled with all the fullness of God, was subconsciously pushed back. Imperceptibly he permitted this condition, and God had watched over the evolution of self-centeredness from the start. Once Lucifer’s intelligence was able to be aware of it and when he could be reasoned with, the Holy Spirit brought conviction to Lucifer’s conscience.
He had lived in great acceptance by his subordinates. They had showered him with their innocent praises and ready approval. But that trust which they naively rained upon him led him to eclipse the trust they owed to God alone. He began to indulge himself in their love and trust, rather than faithfully turn them away from himself to their Creator. Thus, more and more, he was proving himself to be an unfaithful servant, and those who were involved were entering an experience unknown by any of them.
Before those angels who played no part in this strange behavior understood the disastrous effects of its end, it had taken deep roots. To manifest this new conduct the decision to create Earth was announced. As terrible an ordeal as it would be, this test must expose the true character of Lucifer. It was a just and merciful act of the Godhead—merciful to the uninfected angels who against their will would unconsciously be taken in by the pretentious overtures of Lucifer if the true character of his friendliness were not made naked and open.
The eyes of the innocent seraphim and cherubim, blinded by love and trust for their leader, needed to be educated concerning the real purposes growing rapidly within the chief angel. Thus it became, that when the Godhead met in council to decide upon the details a new special world and a singular life form revealing the mystery of God more than any other previous creation, Lucifer was not permitted to participate.
The pride and rebellion that had been smoldering for so long, suddenly flashed forth, much to the shock of the kingdom. The unwelcome of the Holy Council was too much for Lucifer. This he called injustice and lack of wisdom, which he declared provided the conditions for disrespect toward his office as the commander of the angelic forces. All those angels in whom Lucifer had cultivated the smallest ties of selfish affection chose to side with him. , They believed, in their blindness, that their cause was a righteous one.
The great controversy was now underway, and the inevitable pain and suffering of the Father began in earnest. “There was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.” (Rev. 12:7,8). While the battle cemented the greater majority of angels in truth and righteousness, the Ancient of Days lost a huge minority.
This disaffected party had previously surrounded Him and adored Him as loving children. They were His children, His beloved. Their loss took a heavy toll on the Giver of all life. But for the sake of an eternal kingdom, one built on righteousness and selflessness and love, and for the safety of the inhabitants of the unfallen worlds, justice must unsheathe its unforeknown sword.
Genuine rebellion is never curable. God had created the angels with immense power and boldness. The outcome of the battle in heaven was a complete and unchangeable separation of the lost hosts from the only Source of love. Now that holy boldness in the mutinous angels became an unholy daring for God to destroy them. Now their pride was forged into indomitable hatred for the government of God. At every opportunity they would seek to overthrow His dominion, if not destroy His reputation and the trust the loyal creation retained toward Him.
Because the Son of God, the Word, had ever been the spokesperson for the Father, the Father's thoughts made audible, the Son had been the focus of truth and grace from God to His creation and their focus of thanksgiving and glory in return to the Father. The royal Son of God was the Mediator between God and His creation.
Now He became the focus of hatred from the expelled hosts. Christ had won the battle, but the war had only begun. The true rebel can never be forced. Pride refuses to surrender to control. It will fight to the death. If squelched, it will wriggle and contrive and plot and scheme until the day it can devise its revenge. Never surrender! Never submit! No one controls me! I control! I overcome!
Satan invented every insidious argument to forge his followers into pure abhorrence of God. Together with them, “he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” (Rev. 13:6).
The cross that Jesus bore and the derision He received show in a small scale the burden borne by the great Ancient of Days. Not only did He lose the angelic children of His heart and soul, but He gained a host of defiantly vile and intolerable devils.
After the great confrontation is past and sin is vanquished, after every tear is dried and the kingdom is once again full of joy, after the only marks of sin can be seen in the scars on the Son of God, and the kingdom of God is safe once again, the Father will forever feel the weight of the controversy and the heavy losses it sustained, the loss of billions in heaven and Earth.
posted by David | 4:00 PM
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