THE
ORIGIN OF EVIL
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 a
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.
here 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 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 impossible to so explain the origin of
sin as to give a reason for its existence.
Yet enough
may be understood concerning both the origin and the final disposition of sin,
to fully make 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 nowise responsible for
the entrance of sin; that there was no arbitrary withdrawal of divine grace, no
deficiency in the divine government, that g 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 all the universe that could enter into all the counsels and
purposes of God.
By Christ, the Father wrought in the creation
of all 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 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.
But 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 wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in
the midst of the stones of fire.
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day
that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”
[Ezekiel 28:12-15,
17.] 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.
But, says
the prophet, “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast
corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.” [Ezekiel 28:12-15, 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.” [Ezekiel 28:6; 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. And,
coveting the honor which the infinite Father had bestowed upon his Son, this
prince of angels aspired to power which it was the prerogative of Christ alone
to wield.
All Heaven had rejoiced to reflect the
Creator’s glory and to show forth his praise. And while God was thus honored,
all had been peace and gladness. But a note of discord now marred the celestial
harmonies.
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.
But 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 gloried
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 this 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 had 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 pardon, on condition of repentance and
submission.
Such efforts
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. But 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 re-instated in his
office.
But 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 master-mind 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 also 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 which 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 their true nature
and tendency might be seen by all.
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 cloak 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 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 497 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 his
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 creatures, he was seeking merely
the exaltation of himself.
Therefore it
must be demonstrated before the inhabitants of Heaven as well as of 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.
The true character of the usurper, and his
real object, must be understood by all.
He must have time to manifest himself
by his wicked works. The discord which 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 of 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 been immediately 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 might
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 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 punishment.
To the very close of the controversy in
Heaven, the great usurper continued to justify himself.
When it was announced that with all his
sympathizers he must be expelled from the abodes of bliss, then the rebel
leader boldly avowed his contempt for the Creator’s law. He reiterated his
claim that angels needed no control, but should be left to follow their own
will, which would ever guide them right.
He denounced the divine statutes as a
restriction of their liberty, and declared that it was his purpose to secure
the abolition of law; that, freed from this restraint, the hosts of Heaven
might enter upon a more exalted, more glorious state of existence. 499 With one
accord, Satan and his host threw the blame of their rebellion wholly upon
Christ, declaring that if they had not been reproved, they would never have
rebelled.
Thus stubborn and defiant in their disloyalty,
seeking vainly to overthrow the government of God, yet blasphemously claiming
to be themselves the innocent victims of oppressive power, the arch-rebel and
all his sympathizers were at last banished from Heaven.
The same spirit that prompted rebellion in
Heaven, still inspires rebellion on earth. Satan has continued with men the
same policy which he pursued with the angels. His spirit now reigns in the
children of disobedience.
Like him
they seek to break down the restraints of the law of God, and promise men
liberty through transgression of its precepts.
Reproof of
sin still arouses the spirit of hatred and resistance.
When God’s messages of
warning are brought home to the conscience, Satan leads men to justify
themselves, and to seek the sympathy of others in their course of sin. Instead
of correcting their errors, they excite indignation against the reprover, as if
he were the sole cause of difficulty.
From the days of righteous Abel to our own
time, such is the spirit which has been displayed toward those who dare to
condemn sin.
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.
And having succeeded thus far, he declared that
God’s unjust restrictions had led to man’s fall, as they had led to his own
rebellion.
But the Eternal One himself proclaims his
character: “The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant
in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.
”
[Exodus 34:6, 7.] In the banishment of Satan
from Heaven, God declared his justice, and maintained the honor of his throne.
But 500 when man had sinned through yielding to the deceptions of this apostate
spirit, God gave an evidence of his love by yielding up his only begotten Son
to die for the fallen race. In the atonement the character of God is revealed.
The mighty
argument of the cross demonstrates to the whole universe that the course of sin
which Lucifer had chosen was in nowise chargeable upon the government of God.
In the contest between Christ and Satan,
during the Saviour’s earthly ministry, the character of the great deceiver was
unmasked.
Nothing could so effectually have uprooted
Satan from the affections of the heavenly angels and the whole loyal universe
as did his cruel warfare upon the world’s Redeemer.
The daring blasphemy of his demand that Christ
should pay
him homage, his presumptuous boldness in bearing him to the mountain
summit and the pinnacle of the temple, the malicious intent betrayed in urging
him to cast himself down from the dizzy height, the unsleeping malice that
hunted him from place to place, inspiring the hearts of priests and people to
reject his love, and at the last to cry, “Crucify him! crucify him!”—all this
excited the amazement and indignation of the universe.
It was Satan
that prompted the world’s rejection of Christ. The prince of evil exerted all
his power and cunning to destroy Jesus; for he saw that the Saviour’s mercy and
love, his compassion and pitying tenderness, were representing to the world the
character of God.
Satan
contested every claim put forth by the Son of God, and employed men as his
agents to fill the Saviour’s life with suffering and sorrow.
The
sophistry and falsehood by which he had sought to hinder the work of Jesus, the
hatred manifested through the children of disobedience, his cruel accusations
against Him whose life was one of unexampled goodness, all sprung from
deep-seated revenge.
The pent-up
fires of envy and malice, hatred and revenge, burst forth on Calvary against
the Son of God, while all Heaven gazed upon the scene in silent horror. 501
When the great sacrifice had been consummated, Christ ascended on high,
refusing the adoration of angels until he had presented the request, “I will
that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.”
[John 17:24.]
Then with inexpressible love and power came forth the answer from the Father’s throne,
“Let all the angels of God worship him.
” [Hebrews
1:6.] Not a stain rested upon Jesus. His humiliation ended, his sacrifice
completed, there was given unto him a name that is above every name. Now the
guilt of Satan stood forth without excuse. He had revealed his true character
as a liar and a murderer.
It was seen
that the very same spirit with which he ruled the children of men, who were
under his power, he would have manifested had he been permitted to control the
inhabitants of Heaven. He had claimed that the transgression of God’s law would
bring liberty and exaltation; but it was seen to result in bondage and
degradation.
Satan’s
lying charges against the divine character and government appeared in their
true light. He had accused God of seeking merely the exaltation of himself in
requiring submission and obedience from his creatures, and had declared that
while the Creator exacted self-denial from all others, he himself practiced no
self-denial, made no sacrifice.
Now it was seen that for the salvation of a
fallen and sinful race, the Ruler of the universe had made the greatest
sacrifice which love could make; for “God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself.” [2 Corinthians 5:19.]
It was seen,
also, that while Lucifer had opened the door for the entrance of sin, by his
desire for honor and supremacy, Christ had, in order to destroy sin, humbled
himself, and become obedient unto death. God had manifested his abhorrence of
the principles of rebellion.
All Heaven saw his justice revealed, both in
the condemnation of Satan and in the redemption of man.
Lucifer had declared
that if the law of God was changeless,
and its penalty could not be
remitted, every transgressor must be forever debarred from the Creator’s favor.
He had claimed that the sinful race were
placed beyond redemption, and were therefore his rightful prey. But the death
of Christ was an argument in man’s behalf that could not be overthrown. The
penalty of the law fell upon him who was equal with God, and man was free to accept
the righteousness of Christ, and by a life of penitence and humiliation to
triumph, as the Son of God had triumphed, over the power of Satan.
He came to
“magnify the law” and to “make it honorable.” Not alone that the inhabitants of
this world might regard the law as it should be regarded; but it was to
demonstrate to all the worlds of the universe that God’s law is unchangeable.
Could its
claims have been set aside, then the Son of God need not have yielded up his
life to atone for its transgression.
The death of Christ proves it immutable.
And the sacrifice to which infinite love
impelled the Father and the Son, that sinners might be redeemed, demonstrates
to all the universe—what nothing less than this plan of atonement could have
sufficed to do—that justice and mercy are the foundation of the law and
government of God.
In the final execution of the Judgment it will be seen that
no cause for sin exists. When the Judge of all the earth shall demand of Satan,
“Why hast thou rebelled against me, and robbed me of the subjects of my
kingdom?” the originator of evil can render no excuse. Every mouth will be
stopped, and all the hosts of rebellion will be speechless.
The cross of
Calvary, while it declares the law immutable, proclaims to the universe that
the wages of sin is death. In the Saviour’s expiring cry, “It is finished,” the
death-knell of Satan was rung.
The great controversy which had been so long
in progress was then decided, and the final 503 eradication of evil was made
certain. The Son of God passed through the portals of the tomb, that “through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.
” [Hebrews
2:14.] Lucifer’s desire for self-exaltation had led him to say, “I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God.... I will be like the Most High.”
God
declares, “I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, ... and never shalt thou
be any more.” [Isaiah 14:13, 14; Ezekiel 28:18, 19.] When “the day cometh that
shall burn as an oven,” “all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be
stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts,
that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” [Malachi 4:1.] The whole
universe will have become witnesses to the nature and results of sin.
And its utter extermination, which in the
beginning would have brought fear to angels and dishonor to God, will now
vindicate his love and establish his honor before a universe of beings who
delight to do his will, and in whose heart is his law.
Never will
evil again be manifest. Says the Word of God, “Affliction shall not rise up the
second time.” [Nahum 1:9.] The law of God, which Satan has reproached as the
yoke of bondage, will be honored as the law of liberty.
A tested and proved creation will never again
be turned from allegiance to Him whose character has been fully manifested
before them as fathomless love and infinite wisdom.
- Enmity
Between Man and Satan “I Will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise
his heel.” [Genesis 3:15.] The divine sentence pronounced against Satan after
the fall of man, was also a prophecy, embracing all the ages to the close of
time, and foreshadowing the great conflict to engage all the races of men who
should live upon the earth.
God
declares, “I will put enmity.” This enmity is not naturally entertained. When
man transgressed the divine law, his nature became evil, and he was in harmony,
and not at variance, with Satan.
There exists
naturally no enmity between sinful man and the originator of sin. Both became
evil through apostasy. The apostate is never at rest, except as he obtains
sympathy and support by inducing others to follow his example. For this reason,
fallen angels and wicked men unite