There is a thought here that we haven't touched on yet and which deserves our attention. Return with me in your minds to the time when sin manifested itself in Heaven. How did evil originate and develop? If originated in the heart of Satan and manifested itself against God, partiularly in attacking His character. Why? Beause God's character was love, and was explained as love to the created beings in Heaven. In our day it isn't hard for us to recognize the difference between the loving nature of God's character and Satan's nature of evil. But where sin did not exist, where there was only perfect holiness and innocence, explaining God's character of love was very difficult. God could say, "My character is love," but so could the angelic beings, for there was no way to compare God's love with Satan's evil.
Well, the Devil took advantage of the situation to strongly challenge God's character, and the ensuing controversy made a tremendous impact on the angels, and resulted in much discussion and great consternation in Heaven relative to what was going on. The angels were in doubt as to who was right. What was this love and how could it be proven? Was God right? Was Satan right? Eventually war broke out in Heaven over this controversy, and Satan and those who sided with him were cast out, as we find described in Revelation 12.
Preplanning
This controversy and the resulting sin did not come as a surprise to God, for in His foreknowledge He had known what was going to happen ahead of time and made preparations to meet the challenge. We have a limited understanding of what dealing with Lucifer and sin meant to God, but even from our limited perspective we recognize that God was manifesting His character of love from the beginning, and will continue to manifest His love to the end. Only a character of love like God's could have created a being like Lucifer, and poured over him all the glory possible without thinking about a future time when a large segment of the angels would be turned against God.
Would you have created a being with Satan's potential if you would have been God? We can't comprehend what God was doing, but God lovingly created not only the heavenly inhabitants, but also the inhabitants of this earth and untold other worlds. When Satan raised the challenge, God activated the plan that allowed one Person to represent and fully reveal His character. Imagine if you were on trial for something that could bring life or death consequences, and were forced to select one person to perfectly represent your character, how careful would you be? In God's case it was even a little more complicated, because this Person needed to perfectly represent all three members of the of the Godhead--we will use the term "Triune God"--to the universe.
I can't add anything to this, it was such a wonderful act of God. I don't understand it, and probably never will even throughout eternity, I will need to be taught about His love, but we can let God give us as much knowledge about this as He is willing to give and be satisfied until we learn more from God Himself. Grandma Joan
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