Question
Dear Gramps,
Was rebellion the only reason that Lucifer and his followers were cast out? In this life, if someone rebels, but later repents, they can be forgiven and partake of church ordinances again. SO, what was it about Lucifer’s rebellion that merited such an everlasting penalty? Is there more to it than has been revealed to us.
Susan
Answer
Dear Susan,
There are rebellions and then there are rebellions. A child who rebels against its parent’s wishes would not be in the same category as a soldier who, in time of war, rebelled against his country. The one would deserve to be spanked, the other, shot.
What was the nature of Satan’s rebellion? In the first place he was a son of the morning (Isaiah 14:12; 2 Nephi 24:12). Jehovah, or Jesus Christ, however, was the first born son of God (Col. 1:15) In the grand council in heaven, when the Father asked for a plan for the salvation of man, Lucifer (Satan) stepped forth and said,
Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. Moses 4:1
Let’s examine that great offer of Satan. In the first place, the phrase, and surely I will do it, gives us to know that Satan would have forced everyone to be good, thus robbing them of their of volition in the matter, and their own agency before God. Such a plan would benefit mankind not one bit. There would be no growth or development, because no choice between alternatives would have been possible. God’s plan was to develop His children so that they would grow to become like Him, and qualify themselves to inherit the blessings of eternity. Such a proposal as Satan offered would have completely frustrated the plan of God.
Secondly, Satan said, wherefore give me thine honor. In his arrogance he wanted to replace God as the benefactor of mankind. So Satan’s entire plan was completely self centered, and would have benefited no one except himself.
Then Jehovah stepped forth and said,
Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever. Moses 4:1
The Father accepted the Savior’s plan,, and we read in the following verses in the Book of Moses 4:3-4
Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;
And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.
.Now all sins may be forgiven of those who repent and conform their lives to the truth. However, Satan did not repent of his actions, did not change his ways, and became an enemy of God forever, with the avowed objective to thwart God’s plan and try to make men subject to himself, by trying to cause them to rebel against God also.
God will save in one or another of His kingdom’s of glory all of His children, except those who choose to follow Satan after they have come to have a sure knowledge by their own experience of who God the Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ really are. Of those, from Doctrine and Covenants 76:44-46, we learn the following:
Wherefore, he saves all except them–they shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, to reign with the devil and his angels in eternity, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment–
And the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows;
Neither was it revealed, neither is, neither will be revealed unto man, except to them who are made partakers thereof.
Gramps
