BEHOLD YOUR
GOD CHAPTER THREE The Character of God In Relation to the Great Controversy Page 13
It is not possible to savingly understand the character of God if the
study of it is isolated from the great controversy between Christ and Satan.
There is very good reason for this. The study of God’s character is not
merely a theme related to the great controversy—it is the very subject of the
great controversy.
The awful struggle commenced at that point where with pride-blinded
eyes, Lucifer could no longer see God as
He is, but, seeing a very different character in Him, committed himself
to war against God. Pride had surfaced before, but the ripening of this into
active rebellion did not occur until he firstly had a misconception of the
character of God. Somehow, Satan recognized the direct connection between the
distortion of the truth about God, and the seeding of rebellion. Therefore,
to achieve his objective of leading the inhabitants of the universe into
opposition to God, he worked at deceiving them into believing God was a liar
and destroyer. Every angel who believed him joined his ranks.
The same policy resulted in the overthrow of man. Millions upon
millions have continued to hold mistaken views of God ever since, directly
resulting in the multiplication of iniquity and immorality and the deepening
and extending of the great controversy.
It was exactly at that point where misunderstanding of God’s character
firstly began to form, that the spirit of rebellion formed. Ever since,
wherever those misconceptions have been continued, that rebellion has raged
on. Therefore, only when those misconceptions have been completely cleared
away will the rebellion end and permanent, universal peace return.
This does not mean that God is seeking a personal vindication of
Himself. That would be the last thing He would do. He is seeking the
vindication of that which will ensure the eternal life and happiness of every
one of His creatures throughout the full immensity of the universe.
God well knows, and almost six thousand years of demonstration should
have proved to us, that Satan’s lying
representations of God’s character and government have brought only misery
and death to the world. It is from this that God is seeking to save. He
knows, and we must come to know, that this is only possible as His character
is revealed for what it really is. Therefore, it is to save us and not Himself that God seeks the vindication of His own
character. Pare 14 This can be better appreciated when it is
seen that God’s law and government are an exact expression of His character.
God does not have one code of behavior for Himself, while His government of
the people is based on other principles. This is so with earthly rulers, but
not with God.
This truth is made clear by comparing the testimonies given of God’s
character with those in regard to His government. As these texts are
presented, bear in mind that they are statements of what God is. He is righteousness.
It is a principle that one does what he does because of what he firstly is.
God then, being firstly and only
righteousness, does only
righteousness.
“Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and upright are Thy judgments.
“Thy testimonies that Thou hast commanded are righteous and very
faithful.”
“Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy law is the
truth.” Psalms 119:137, 142.
“The Lord is righteous.”
“The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and
holy in all His works.” Psalms 129:4, 145:17.
These are statements of what God is. They are declarations of His
state of being, and of the very essence of His nature. In Him is the sum of
all righteousness and there is nothing in Him apart from righteousness.
Therefore, nothing but righteousness proceeds from Him. It is for this
reason that Daniel could testify “O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee.”
Daniel 9:7.
Thus the words of God are righteousness. “I declare things that are
right.” Isaiah 45:19. This being so, all the laws and commandments of God are
also the expression of His righteous character. Because He is the righteous
God that He is, He makes the laws He has made.
“Thy testimonies that Thou hast command are righteous and very
faithful.”
“Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy law is the
truth.” Psalms 119:138, 142.
“Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne.”
“Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and
truth shall go before Thy face.” Psalms 97:2; 89:14.
Therefore, the “law is a transcript of His [God’s] own character.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 315.
There came the time when Lucifer could no longer see this. Instead, he
saw the law as one thing and the character of God as something else. It was
at this point that he committed himself to rebellion, and the great
controversy began.
How did he come to this point?
Lucifer was the brightest and highest of all the angels. He was the
covering cherub, perfect in all his ways till iniquity was found in him. Ezekiel 28:15. Page 15
The time came when God had to say of him, “Thine heart was lifted up
because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy
brightness:” Ezekiel 28:17.
Pride in himself developed in Lucifer. We do
not know how long he had existed from the day of his creation until his fall.
No revelation of this is given. However, it is certain that he must have
lived a very long time, possibly millions of years. During this time, he had
been constantly developing in all his talents and skills by the combination
of the grace of God and his own diligent effort.
To some it may come as a strange thought that Lucifer grew in knowledge, wisdom, and skills
during the entire period of his existence. But it is not to be imagined that
God created him as a total being. Rather, he was created with the potential
of limitless development. He was “educated and disciplined in the heavenly
courts.” Fundamentals of Christian
Education, 167. Therefore, he developed according to the
laws which govern all God’s creatures whether they be
in heaven or on earth. God had made provision that each and all could grow in
every faculty to the highest levels of achievement. This is accomplished by
the exercise of “the grace of God and their own
diligent effort.” The Great
Controversy, 425. So it was with Lucifer, and marvellous was the progress
made, until he became the brightest of all the creatures.
These exceeding riches which should have elicited only perpetual
gratitude and loving service, instead served to undo him. The Scriptures
describe this wealth as the abundance of his merchandise by which his soul
was filled with violence.
“By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of
thee with violence, and thou hast sinned.” Ezekiel 28:16.
The needless corruption of the covering cherub through the abundance
of his merchandise, has repeatedly destroyed men. In
those repetitions is to be clearly read the deterioration of the first
sinner. When a people begin under the Lord’s personal leadership, they are
small in number and poor in material wealth. Their sense of need is
proportionately great, generating a strong sense of total dependency and
faith. God’s liberal responses evoke gratitude and praise from them. This
enrichment of spiritual and material wealth relieves them of the pressure of
immediate necessity, but it introduces a danger against which a watchful
guard must be established. That peril resides in the imperceptible but
certain fading away of the positive sense of dependence on God. History
verifies that most fail this test.
As the sense of dependence upon God wanes, material possessions come
to be looked upon as the basis and guarantee of security. Thus it is an error
to say that men lost faith. Instead they transfer it from the God who gave
the gifts, to the gifts given by God. Increasingly, they become preoccupied
with the accumulation of more of these material treasures until they Page 16 are totally
absorbed thereby. As they successfully add house to house and land to land,
they develop a strong sense of self-sufficiency. They see themselves as being
the sole arbiter of their fate. They make themselves god in the place of God,
and pride is the most distinguished aspect of their characters.
Every time a human being descends this path, he is but travelling the
same way the original sinner trod. Thus Lucifer moved from the sincere,
trusting, loving, and grateful child of God to the self-sufficient, proud devil.
His life ceased to be centered on God and revolved instead, around himself.
Thus he, and not God, became the standard by which he judged all things.
Worse still, whereas in the days of his humility, he had been neither
interested nor concerned in judging other individuals, now even the Son of
God came under his critical measurement. That would have been serious enough,
had it been possible for him to evaluate Christ, as He was, in contrast to
himself, as he was, but so inflated had his view of himself become that he
saw himself as being actually superior to the Divine One. Such a serious
misjudgement was possible to that powerfully clear mind only because he had
destroyed the power to think correctly by allowing pride to separate him from
the source of all wisdom, as it is written, “Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom
by reason of thy brightness.” Ezekiel
28:17.
Yet, to this point, no serious question had entered his mind in regard
to God. For one thing, he had been far too preoccupied with admiring his own
beautiful self to have cared much about his Father. He had known God all his
life as being totally just, impartial, and omniscient.
Therefore, he “knew” without question that God was “as aware” as he
was of his “splendid greatness,” and that, accordingly, God would promptly
elevate him into a position befitting his shining glory. So, he glowed with
pride in his confident expectation of forthcoming honors.
However, even though sinful pride was already filling Lucifer’s life,
no question regarding God’s character and government had yet been raised.
That was still to come. Neither had Lucifer entered into active rebellion
against God. The great controversy, as a controversy, had not yet begun as an
actual confrontation between Satan and God. It had started in the sense that
conditions were developing which would cause its outbreak. A
careful study of Patriarchs and
Prophets, 35, 36, makes this point quite clear. On page 35, the
progression of evil in Lucifer’s sinful character development is described
thus: “Little by little, Lucifer came to indulge the desire for
self-exaltation . . .” until “coveting the glory with which the infinite
Father had invested His Son, this prince of angels aspired to power that was
the prerogative of Christ alone.”
Up to this stage there is no description of any contest taking place
between Christ and Satan, nor does the next paragraph bring the story to this
point. It likewise deals with the developments leading to the opening of
actual warfare. Page 17 “Now the perfect harmony of heaven was
broken. Lucifer’s disposition to serve himself instead of his Creator, aroused a feeling of apprehension when observed
by those who considered that the glory of God should be supreme. In heavenly
council the angels 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 dishonour his Maker, and
bring ruin upon himself. But the warning, given in infinite love and mercy,
only aroused a spirit of resistance. Lucifer allowed his jealousy of Christ
to prevail, and became the more determined.” The
efforts of the fellow angels to save Lucifer only aroused a spirit of
resistance, which strengthened to the point where “To dispute the supremacy
of the Son of God, thus impeaching the wisdom and love of the Creator, had
become the purpose of this prince of angels. To this object he was about to
bend the energies of that mastermind, which, next to Christ’s, was first
among the hosts of God.” ibid., 36.
Now God, foreseeing that which none of His creatures could, stepped in
to give all a clear warning of what would be the outworking of this
rebellion. He did not wait until the battle began, but He did it “before the
great contest should open.” As we read, “But He who
would have the will of all His creatures free, left none unguarded to the
bewildering sophistry by which rebellion would seek to justify itself. Before
the great contest should open, all were to have a clear presentation of His
will, whose wisdom and goodness were the spring of all their joy.” ibid., 36.
Consequently God convened a great assembly at which He presented the
true position of His Son and the reasons of Christ’s occupying His exalted
place in heaven. Lucifer almost yielded, but did not, and then the great
battle began by his “leaving his place in the immediate presence of the
Father,” and going “forth to diffuse the spirit of discontent among the
angels.” ibid.,
37.
This evidence shows that a great deal happened within Lucifer before
he went out to war. The purpose of the line of thought being developed in
this section is to show that it was when he lost the true knowledge of God’s
character and replaced it with a false concept, that then, and not until
then, did he enter into warfare against God.
The substitution in Lucifer’s mind of the false for the true concept of
God’s character came as the result of his incorrect evaluation of God’s
behavior. He attributed to God a motive which in reality was nonexistent. It
developed in the following way.
During the time which elapsed between the first presence of pride in
him and the committal to rebellion, Lucifer waited expectantly for God to
elevate him to the position which, in his own mind, he judged as being
rightly his. He could not see nor understand that God had no plans to pro- Page 18 mote him. It was
not that God would not. He could not, because Lucifer could never occupy
Christ’s place unless he was God as Christ was. He was not qualified and
never would be.
When passing time did not bring Lucifer the fruition of his fond
expectations, a stain of anxiety began to color the brightness of his hopes.
He began an anxious surveillance of God in an endeavour to detect any
indications of preparation on His part for Lucifer’s grand elevation. But, study as he might, he could find nothing to even suggest
it. The longer he searched and waited, the more
deeply compounded his problem became, for while he correctly concluded that
something was decidedly wrong, he utterly failed to comprehend where the
error lay. The whole of the fault lay with himself.
God had not changed but Lucifer had. He who had been the humble servant of
God and his fellow creatures had become a proud self-server.
The understanding of Lucifer’s problem is simplified by its repetition
in the lives of men ever since. To comprehend the development of evil in
Lucifer, it is only necessary to observe the same process in man. Thereby it
will be readily seen that when a person arrives at this point, the last thing
he is inclined to do is recognize that the fault lies in himself.
Everybody and everything else is to blame but never he.
So it was with Lucifer. He summarily rejected as unworthy of
consideration any thought which might lead him to recognize that his
evaluation of himself and the consequent assumption that he should be exalted
to a position equal with Christ was the error. This left him with only one
possible conclusion. It was that the fault lay wholly and solely with God.
Having arrived at this awful point, a radically new concept of God’s
character thrived in Lucifer’s mind, intensified by the acute disappointment
stemming from his realization that he would not be given the position which
alone would satisfy his immediate craving for power.
Heretofore, he had correctly understood God to be perfectly just, fair
and impartial. He rightly knew that God assigned positions in direct
relationship to each individual’s fitness to fulfil the responsibility. It
was in harmony with those convictions that Lucifer had expected God to exalt
him. Those hopes would have been realized if Lucifer’s evaluation of himself
had been correct.
But, when denied the position, he erroneously concluded that God was
with great partiality favouring His Son. Lucifer was incensed. Such a
reaction should evoke no surprise. Further, if Lucifer had been correct in
his assessment of the situation, then his response was justified. God
declares that He “is no respecter of persons.” Acts 10:34. Yet, to Lucifer’s mind, God was showing great respect
to one person. This could only mean that God was a liar, for He had
represented Himself as following out one principle, while in fact He
practised another.
Partiality in itself is serious enough for it is impossible to show
favor to one person except it be at the expense of another. In this
situation, Lucifer Page 19 felt keenly that
he was being called upon to pay a very large price in order that Christ might
exclusively enjoy the special favors of God.
If God had stated that, while all the other creatures were to be
elevated according to merit, Christ was in a class by Himself, and was
consequently to be delegated a position which none of the others could have,
then that would have been one thing. But to declare that Christ was not
specially favored and then, as it appeared to Lucifer thought it was never so
in fact, to be accorded the special position of a favored Son, was indeed to
make God a liar and a deceiver.
If Lucifer’s evaluation had been correct, then he had every right to
be incensed and was justified in calling upon God to reform His ways into
consistency with His stated principles. This needs to be clearly understood.
The fact that Lucifer was entirely wrong in his conclusions is what removes
the justification from his rebellion.
Lucifer fully believed that he had experienced a great awakening. He
felt that he had thrown off the shackles of a terrible bondage. Strangely
enough, he had not even known he was in such bondage till this point, but
looking back he imagined that he could see wherein it had been true all
along. He became hostile toward God and especially toward Christ for having,
as he supposed, held them in deception for so long a time,
and he determined to assert his rights and have the government of God
reformed.
It was by these progressions that, for the first time ever, a
misrepresentation of the character of God came into existence. At first it
was entirely and only in Lucifer’s mind, but soon it would spread to others.
It was at this point where this false conception of God’s character
became the fixed conviction in Lucifer’s mind, that
he entered into active rebellion against God. The great controversy then
began. Having thus begun in the heart of the first rebel, the mutiny extended
to a section of the angels, and then to men as each in turn came to share the
erroneous concepts of God’s character.
This is clearly stated in he following extracts:
“Sin originated in self-seeking. Lucifer, the covering cherub, desired
to be first in heaven. He sought to gain control of heavenly beings, to draw
them away from their Creator, and to win their homage to himself.
Therefore he misrepresented God, attributing to Him the desire for
self-exaltation. With his own evil characteristics he sought to invest the
loving Creator. Thus he deceived angels. Thus he deceived men. He led them to
doubt the word of God, and to distrust His goodness. Because God is a God of
justice and terrible majesty, Satan caused them to look upon Him as severe
and unforgiving. Thus he drew men to join him in rebellion against God, and
the night of woe settled down upon the world.” The Desire of Ages, 21, 22.
“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.” The Great
Controversy, 500. Page 20
“Adam believed the falsehood of Satan, and through his misrepresentation of the character of God, Adam’s
life was changed and marred. He disobeyed the commandment of God, and did the
very thing the Lord told him not to do. Through disobedience Adam fell; but
had he endured the test, and been loyal to God, the floodgates of woe would
not have been opened upon our world.
“Through belief in Satan’s misrepresentation of God, man’s character
and destiny were changed, but if men will believe in the Word of God, they
will be transformed in mind and character, and fitted for eternal life.” Selected Messages 1:345, 346.
By these statements the truth is confirmed that Satan’s objective of
enlisting others in rebellion was achieved through the use of a certain very
successful method. That method was to persuade angels and men that God’s
character was that of a deceiver, an oppressor, and a liar. This was the
method used, and to whatever extent it was successful, rebellion followed. A
tracing of the fall of man certifies this.
Satan’s first recorded words to Eve were, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall
not eat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis
3:1. With that question Satan began the development of his purpose, firstly
to fill Eve’s mind with a false understanding of the character of God and
thereby to lead her into revolt. This first sentence therefore was a vital
one. There had to be injected into it enough to make it effective as the
opening sally of the contact. A.D. Jones outlines something of what Satan was
actually saying in those words:
“But note the expression with which he opens the conversation. It is
an expression which insinuates into her mind a whole world of suspicion. The
common version translates it, ‘Yea, hath God said,’ etc. The Revised Version
gives it the same. The Jews’ English version translates it, ‘Hath God indeed
said,’ etc. But no translation can give it exactly. It cannot be exactly
expressed in letters so as to form a word that would give it truly. Yet
everybody in the world is familiar with the expression. It is that sneering
grunt (*expressed only through the nose) –c-ugh!—which conveys query, doubt,
suspicion, and contempt, all at once. ‘C-ugh! Hath God said,
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’ And everybody knows that to
this day among men there is nothing equal to this sneering grunt, to create
doubt and suspicion; and no other expression is used so much by mankind for
that purpose. And this is the origin of it.” Ecclesiastical Empires, 590, 591.
Thus Satan’s first words to Eve were designed to create suspicion and
doubt of God. It was an idea which not only had never before been presented
to Eve, but which under no circumstances had occurred to her. She had thought
of God as being just, good, righteous, fatherly, and loving, but now it was
strongly suggested to her that He was not what He had appeared to be.
The idea was startling, though she had nothing in her own experienced
knowledge of God to give it the slightest support. All that she knew of God Page 21 positively denied it.
Yet, like so many of her children since that time, she allowed the suspicion
thus suggested to lodge in her thinking even though
there was no visible foundation for it.
That she allowed doubt of God’s character to settle in her mind is
evidenced by the way in which she misstated to Satan the words of God to
them. Whereas God had said that if they ate of the tree they would surely
die, Eve reported Him as saying that they were not to eat of it lest they
die.
There is a decided difference between the two statements. The first
declares the certainty of death, the second
indicates only a possibility of it. What Eve really stated God as having
said, was that they were not to eat of it in case they died. Thus Satan was
immediately successful in having her turn the truth into a lie.
Now he could and did boldly take the next step, which was to present
the living God in a different character from that which is truly His. Satan
said, “Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be a God [margin],
knowing good and evil.” Genesis
3:4, 5.
Satan here presents his arguments as to why God had placed those
restrictions upon them. His assertions were that while God had assured them
that they were to have unlimited development, the real fact was that God was
afraid that they would ascend to an equality with Him. Once this occurred,
then He would have to share with them all the riches He now had reserved for
His own pleasure. This, Satan declared, God wished to prevent at any cost.
This involved preventing them from partaking of the tree of knowledge of good
and evil, whereby such exaltation would be immediately effected. Therefore,
the devil continued, He was forced to lie to them in order to protect His own
position.
Thus the evil one impugned the motives of God and falsified His
character. This was, is, and ever will be his method. The tragedy is that it
works only too well.
There was no truth in Satan’s charges. God had not denied them the
free use of that tree from the motive of self-protection. Neither had He made
any of His laws for this purpose. Those principles of life were a love gift
from God to protect them, not Himself. God needs no
protection from anyone, nor is it His character to restrict anyone else to
His own advantage.
From a heart which overflowed with boundless love, He had given them
the whole of the world in which they lived. Nothing had been withheld. Even
the tree of knowledge of good and evil was a gift to them, for it was a
school designed to teach that which would be a perpetual protection. As they
multiplied upon the earth, all that they had would have to be shared with the
increasing population. Unless the lesson of absolute respect for the property
of another was deeply educated into their minds, contention, strife,
confusion, and open war would develop as men sought to wrest from each other
that which they desired. Page 22 That they did not learn the lesson is well
known, and the present awful situation in the world is a clear fulfillment of
the prediction that if they partook of the tree they would surely die. Every
death taking place today is the direct outworking of the violation of God’s
counsels to them. They did not learn the lesson that the presence of the tree
was designed to teach, and thus cast off the very protection which the Lord
had desired to give them.
But this was not all. In electing to believe Satan’s lie, Adam and Eve
transferred their allegiance from God to Satan. They put another god in the
place of the true God. To do that was also to bring death upon
themselves—practically instant death. They would certainly have died that
very day had not Christ interposed.
“The instant man accepted the temptations of Satan, and did the very
things God had said he should not do, Christ, the Son of God, stood between
the living and the dead, saying, ‘Let the punishment fall on Me. I will stand
in man’s place. He shall have another chance.’” The Seventh-day Adventist Commentary, 1:1085.
It is most important to understand why the setting of another god in
place of the true God would bring swift and certain death. This will be far
more fully developed later in this study, so reference to it will be brief at
this point. Yet sufficient must be said so that it can be seen that Satan was
misstating the character of God to Adam and Eve in the Garden.
In the beginning the Lord made the heavens and the earth. To every
Christian this truth is well known. But not so fully known is the fact that
the Lord, moment by moment, sustains these worlds in space and keeps them on
their ordered way. He did not set the universe in motion to be left forever
independent of His sustenance and guidance. Not only did He make it all, but
He eternally maintains it all.
This dual activity of God as Creator and Sustainer is revealed clearly
in the written word. “God, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in
time past unto the fathers by the prophets.
“Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, Whom He hath
appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds; “Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express
image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when
He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high.” Hebrews 1:1-3.
“The hand that sustains the worlds in space, the hand that holds in
their orderly arrangement and tireless activity all things throughout the
universe of God, is the hand that was nailed to the cross for us.” Education, 132.
“God is constantly employed in upholding and using as His servants the
things that He has made. He works through the laws of nature, using them as
His instruments. They are not self-acting. Nature in her work testifies of
the intelligent presence and active agency of a Being who moves in all things
according to His will. Page 23
‘Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.
Thy faithfulness is unto all generations.
Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.
They continue this day according to Thine ordinances:
For all are Thy servants.’
‘Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He
In heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.’
‘He commanded, and they were created.
He hath also stablished them for ever and ever;
He Hath made a decree which shall not pass.’
Psalms 119:89-91; 135-6; 148:5, 6.
“It is not by inherent power that year by year the earth yields its
bounties and continues its march around the sun. The hand of the Infinite One
is perpetually at work guiding this planet. It is God’s power continually
exercised that keeps the earth in position in its rotation. It is God who
causes the sun to rise in the heavens. He opens the windows of heaven and
gives rain.
‘He giveth snow like wool:
He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.’
‘When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters
in the heavens,
And He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the
Earth;
He maketh lightnings with rain,
And bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures.’
Psalm 147:16; Jeremiah 10:13.
“It is by His power that vegetation is caused to flourish, that every
leaf appears, every flower blooms, every fruit develops.” The Ministry of Healing, 416.
Unquestionably, God is the only being with the power to make the world
in the first case. Likewise, He is the only One Who can sustain it in its
order and system. Therefore, if any one of His Creatures in any part of the
vast universe—except where the presence of a Saviour provides a delaying
factor—puts another god in place of the real God, then the power of God as an
upholder of the might forces of nature will have been removed from that
place, and as surely, they will become uncontrolled forces of terrible
destruction. In that very day, those who have made the fatal mistake will
die, not because God will strike them down, but because they have placed
themselves where life is impossible. Comment by Ron: The above paragraph is a
major thesis of Fred’s entire book. Read it again and absorb it well. End
comment.
The only reason that such a cataclysm of destruction has not
obliterated this earth is because of the merciful interposition of Jesus
Christ. Therefore, God’s instruction to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden not
to partake of the tree was given to protect them from destruction. In no
sense was it given by God to protect Himself or His own position. There was
no trace of self-interest in the work of God. Rightly understood, the
“restriction” placed upon the first couple was a true revelation of the perfectly
righteous Page 24 character of God. It
was an act of kindness and mercy. It was the work of a Saviour, not that of a
despot.
But this is not the way in which the devil represented God.
Instead, he craftily insinuated that God had a completely selfish
motive in refusing them permission to touch the tree, that His purpose was to
protect His own position, reserving it to Himself alone, so that He was
assured of being the one who alone enjoyed the high honor of being supreme
ruler. He claimed that the special tree constituted a threat to these divine
determinations, for it was possessed of magical powers capable of elevating
those who ate of it into a position of equality with God. He maintained that
because God did not want that to happen, yet living in fear that it would, He
had lyingly told them that to eat of the tree was to bring death upon themselves.
Thus Satan represented the God of love and selfless devotion to the
good of His creatures, as being a self-seeking despot Who sought only His own
good at the expense of His subjects. He represented the God of truth as a
liar.
Eve believed that misrepresentation of God’s character.
When she believed it, then she rebelled against God and threw in her
lot with the arch-rebel. She accepted another god in place of the real One
and would have died that very day but for the fact that Jesus stepped in and
said, “Let the punishment fall on Me. Man shall have another chance.”
The study of the appearance of sin in heaven and on this earth
established the very close connection between the misrepresentation of the
character of God and the appearance of rebellion. It was when Lucifer in
heaven first formed an incorrect concept of the character of God, that his rebellion began. When in turn, he was able
to convince a section of the angels of his new views of God, they joined him
in his mutiny, while upon earth Adam and Eve threw in their lot with him when
they, too, obtained these false views of the character of God.
This is the way it began and this is the way in which it has been
maintained throughout the sorrow-filled ages since that time.
“It is Satan’s constant effort to misrepresent the character of God,
the nature of sin, and the real issues at stake in the great controversy. His
sophistry lessens the obligation of the divine law, and gives men license to
sin. At the same time he causes them to cherish false conceptions of God, so
that they regard Him with fear and hate, rather than with love. The cruelty
inherent in his own character is attributed to the Creator; it is embodied in
systems of religion, and expressed in modes of worship. Thus the minds of men
are blinded, and Satan secures them as his agents to war against God. By
perverted conceptions of the divine attributes, heathen nations were led to
believe human sacrifices necessary to secure the favor of Deity; and horrible
cruelties have been perpetrated under the various forms of idolatry.” The Great Controversy, 569. Page 25
“Satan’s effort to misrepresent
the character of God, to cause men to cherish a false conception of the Creator, and thus to regard Him with fear
and hate rather than love; his endeavours to set aside the divine law,
leading the people to think themselves free from its requirements; and his persecution
of those who dare to resist his deceptions, have been steadfastly pursued in
all ages.” ibid., Introduction, x.
Therefore, the subject of the character of God is not something apart
from the great controversy. It is right at the very heart of it. It is
impossible to understand the real issues being contested unless the
characters of God and Satan are understood.
Inasmuch as the destiny of every soul hangs upon the position he
occupies in the great controversy, it follows that the better he understands
God’s true character then the more successfully will he enter into the battle
against evil and at last find eternal life.
The truth of this must be seen when it is recognized that the
particular weapon the devil uses to lead souls into rebellion against God is
the misrepresentation of His character. The more he is able to convince men
of these deceptions, the more they enter into unrighteousness and rebellion.
This is the witness of the Word of God and of history. In the light of these
facts, what study could be more important than the one here being pursued? Click here to return to list of Chapters |