Question
Gramps,
Today in my mission prep class we were discussing the premortal life and while we were on the topic we were discussing the fate of the 1/3 of the hosts of heaven who chose to follow Satan and therefore not receive a body. I have always been taught and always believed that these spirits made their choice and were therefore damned and have no further chance for progression, seeing as they have no body and a body is required for any degree of glory. I couldn’t find a scripture to back me up on this but i would love to hear any insights you may have about what the fate of these souls may be.
Cameron
Answer
Cameron,
24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
26 And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.
27 And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.
28 And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.
Now, what does the word estate mean here? Well the word generally means property or a possession. In common terms, real estate means real property, or land. However there was no land in heaven to possess, so what did we possess in heaven?
What about using estate to mean righteousness? After all, we did possess righteousness in Heaven before we came down here. Also because we had agency then, righteousness was a possession we were indeed capable of losing. So how do we maintain our righteousness? Why, by doing all things whatsoever the Lord our God commands us.
Thus our first estate would be our first stage of righteousness. As long as we kept that, we could work on our second stage of righteousness, also called mortality. However if we failed to maintain our first stage of righteousness, we could not have a chance to work on our second stage at all.
Then we must agree that the final verse in the quote is not only instructional, but deeply tragic for the tremendous loss it represents. Lucifer failed to maintain his first stage of righteousness, and thus lost any opportunity to obtain his second stage.
“And, at that day, many followed after him.”
Gramps
