I was stunned as I looked at one angel. He had all that constituted the full perfection of beauty and wisdom. He was on the mountain of God and walked on the sapphire stones of fire.
Some time ago I wrote about the magnificence and terror of free will. I’m realizing that more deeply but something else is becoming increasingly apparent. I’ve been praying for deeper holy fear and reverential awe and the thoughts that are coming lately make my soul tremble. At times my thoughts seem too big for my mind to be able to process into words. So with total dependence on the Holy Spirit, I follow Him as I try to delve into and discover more of the wonder – mystery – shocking unselfishness of the Triune Almighty God.
Why do I emphasize responsibility?
Once again I need my time machine and I travel back beyond the count of years to the beginning of no beginning. I entered Heaven and was immediately enraptured by the glory – the radiance – the adoration and worship of the Most High. I saw winged cherubim and seraphim serving at the throne of God and I saw myriads of angels. But I was stunned as I looked at one angel. He had all that constituted the full perfection of beauty and wisdom. He was on the mountain of God and walked (Ezekiel 28:12-14) on the sapphire stones of fire. I heard him speaking to a large group of angels as he led the heavenly choir in worship and his voice was so beautiful it sounded like lovely music. He was called light-bringer – son of the morning – day star (Isaiah 14:12) and his name was Lucifer. Sometime later I saw him talking to a large group of angels who were standing apart from all the others. I thought my ears were deceiving me as I heard him planning a revolt and urging them to join him. He said (Isaiah 14:14) – actually said – I will ascend above the heights of the clouds and make myself like the Most High.
They barely had time to agree when they were all cast out of Heaven. With one choice Lucifer became Satan and angels became demons and he set up the kingdom of darkness with his principalities and powers (Ephesians 3:10) in the heavenly sphere.
As I travelled ahead to get back to the present time I had a deeper insight as to why pride is the greatest of all sins because it seems to me that pride is the root of every sin. Look at Lucifer. His PRIDE in his God-given beauty and wisdom, led him to:
COVET the worship rightly given to God
SELFISHNESS in the extreme ego-centricity
LIE that he could win
STEAL by wicked manipulation and rob heaven of 1/3 of its angels
BLASPHEME that he a creature – had any hope of being like the Sovereign Creator.
But also I had other thoughts – stunning thoughts – and they formed a question. So I asked the Holy Spirit. God is perfect and knows everything in every detail from the beginning to the end. Why would our all-wise God create Lucifer knowing he would choose to become Satan? The answer shook me to the core of my being. Think carefully with me - - this is deep – heavy – almost too huge to comprehend. After God had created the world and everything in it, He said – let Us make man in Our Own Image. We are the work (Ephesians 2:10) of God’s own hands and before we were born (Psalms 139:13-16, Jeremiah 1:5) God knew that He would love each individual one of us more than we can grasp. God did not create a population of robots or a labour force – He created humans in order to have a loving relationship with them. So He gave each one a magnificent God-like gift – the power of free-will – choice.
But to exercise choice I must have something to choose. If I choose to love God there has to be something else I could choose - - or this is no choice at all. Are we starting to get it? It would have been much more comfortable for God if harmony and holiness had never been disrupted. Before I continue on that path I want to insert another thought.
Have you ever wished or prayed that God would MAKE you do or be something? Take a long look at that. We know that God cannot sin or even (James 1:13) be tempted to sin. In Him (1 John 1:5) is no darkness at all. Just think - - if God forced me to do something or make certain choices – He would have to violate the free will He gave me - - - and that would mean that God would sin! We need to spend more time in probing the depths of these essential truths. God’s gifts are never recalled or withdrawn and that includes our gift of free will.
We all know that every choice has a consequence. God made a choice and the consequences of His choice was extremely and painfully costly to Him. God was willing and chose to give the angel beings one choice – one eternal choice – so that we would be free to have many choices throughout our sojourn on earth. Through all the centuries the consequences of God’s choice brought Him continual grief and heartache and culminated on a hill called Mount Calvary where His beloved Son was hammered and nailed to an old rugged cross.
Why would God make such a pain-filled choice even while knowing the consequences? Because (Ephesians 2:4) He chose to be rich in mercy in order to satisfy His great – wonderful – intense love with which He loved us. And that is beyond explanation amazing GRACE.
I continue to ponder and explore the wonder – beauty – unselfish love and mystery of God. What is that mystery? Certainly nothing mystical. It is TRUTH that cannot be discovered in any way apart from revelation by the Holy Spirit. In the light of all this can we see our tremendous obligation to be responsible for all our free-will choices - - no matter the circumstances?
Jesus prayed (John 12:27-28) not that the Father would save Him OUT of the agony but that IN that very agony the Father would glorify His Name.
If I want to ascend into the mountain of the Lord (Psalms 24:3-4) and stand in His holy place I must choose to have clean hands and a pure heart. Therefore whatever you do (1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17) in word or deed do all to the glory of God with thanksgiving.
BECAUSE
Nothing (Romans 8:37-39) anywhere – any time – any circumstance – can ever separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.