And There Was War In Heaven
But over what matter?
In the beginning of the great controversy we read that Christ, as Commander of the heavenly host,1 fought with his angels against the great dragon — and that old serpent (called the devil and Satan) fought, and his angels fought with him. But why? What exactly brought about the great controversy? What was the instigative precursor to this mighty war in heaven?
We read in Ezekiel that the arch-apostate was once full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty;2 the anointed covering cherub3 who was perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him.4 What iniquity? His heart was lifted up because of his beauty, and his wisdom corrupted by reason of his splendor.5 But this was not all. Before we expound any further, additional context necessitates our deliberation.
Let us first turn to John the revelator—
And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
Revelation 5:11 (ASV)
And every created thing which is in the heaven… heard I saying, Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped.
Revelation 5:13–14 (ASV)
As relevant as these verses have been throughout the ages unto the time of the end and thereafter in the new heaven and new earth, even so are they pertinent to the beginning afore Lucifer and his angels were cast out of heaven.6 Over time, as he beheld the whole heavenly host giving praise, and blessing, and honour, and glory, and adoration to the Father and the Son without ceasing, Lucifer began to harbour thoughts in his heart towards the Son of God. “Why,” thought Lucifer, “has Jehovah chosen Jesus to take seat beside Him upon the throne of Majesty?7 Why is it that this Jesus is daily His delight, privy to all His counsels, and not me?” Thus he started along the path of covetousness, and his desire for self-exaltation grew. “It is an injustice to me,” thought Lucifer, “that the Son of God should be made equal with God.”
Set up from everlasting,8 Christ Jesus – the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature9 who came forth from the Father10 when there were no depths nor fountains abounding with water;11 whose goings forth have been from old, from the days of eternity;12 the only begotten Son of God13 who shared the Father’s throne – was the only other being brought fully into the purposes of the Most High. The unnumbered heavenly host were to worship Him as God, because He is the only other like God;14 it is from the Father that Jesus inherited His divinity. Christ, then, necessarily and rightfully holds supremacy not solely over the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but over all the heavenlies, “For by Him were all things created… whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him:”15 — “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven… And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”16
This same Jesus, who is exalted above all save the Father Himself,17 having been established at the right hand of God, held a position desired fiendishly by Lucifer, and yet a position never attainable to him. The “cherub that covereth” coveted the homage which the whole host of heaven paid to Them, and due to Them alone. In spite of the fact that God had appointed him to the highest station of all created beings, his glory in the heavenly courts wasn’t enough. Lucifer burned with jealousy after the worship and adoration rightfully rendered to the Son, and considered such as He received was due to him also.
The prophet Isaiah reveals the diabolic motivations of the arch-fiend:
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Lucifer, once first of the covering cherubs, wanted to be like God, which was and is and ever shall be the position and authority of Jesus Christ alone. Through the Light given to sister Ellen White, God makes manifest the thoughts and intents of the heart of he who would fast as lightning fall from heaven:18
Lucifer, he was striving; he had glory in the heavenly courts, but he was striving for Christ’s place next to God. Next he wanted to be God, but he could not obtain that. Christ was the only begotten Son of God, and Lucifer, that glorious angel, got up a warfare over the matter, until he had to be thrust down to the earth.
E. G. White
Self-exalting Lucifer coveted not only the homage due to the Son of God and the prerogatives of divinity alone, as though that were not enough, but lusted after being the Son of God; to be like Jehovah Himself. Lucifer is a created being; he was not begotten of God, and therefore equality with God was not available to him. No matter the strength and stamina fuelling his objective, he could not obtain divinity. It was for this reason that he purposed within himself to dispute the supremacy of the Son of God and got up a warfare over the matter of His divine Sonship. Through sophistries and flattery, the arch-deceiver took aims against Jehovah and the Son of God, and in the process attracted the support of thousands of thousands of the host of God, even a third of the angels.19 Lucifer thus claimed the position next to the Father, but there had been no change in the position or authority of Christ.
Lucifer's envy and misrepresentation and his claims to equality with Christ had made necessary a statement of the true position of the Son of God; but this had been the same from the beginning. Many of the angels were, however, blinded by Lucifer's deceptions.
E. G. White
This same warfare waged by the devil and his angels has persisted since the very onset of the controversy of all ages. Through evil men the great dragon persecutes every man, woman and child who bears the testimony that Jesus is literally the only begotten Son of God. From the very beginning, Lucifer’s argument has been that being begotten and being created mean the same thing. For if he could persuade angels, so could he deceive the children of men by obscuring the two terms so as to be made synonymous. Then, Lucifer argues, he would be as equally entitled to Christ’s position as the Son of God, so as to destroy the distinction between Christ’s relationship to the Father and his own.
Our Redeemer declares that the devil was a liar from the beginning.20 And who is a liar according to Scripture? It is he “that denieth the Father and the Son.”21 Again, from sister White we read:
Angels were expelled from heaven because they would not work in harmony with God. They fell from their high estate because they wanted to be exalted. They had come to exalt themselves, and they forgot that their beauty of person and of character came from the Lord Jesus. This fact the angels would obscure, that Christ was the only begotten Son of God, and they came to consider that they were not to consult Christ. One angel began the controversy and carried it on until there was rebellion in the heavenly courts among the angels. They were lifted up because of their beauty.
E. G. White
Even after Christ’s forty day fast and temptation in the wilderness, Satan, employing the same stratagem of invoking doubt towards God with which he beguiled Eve, said to Him:
If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
In this innuendo charged by a challenge to perform a miracle, Satan with great subtlety sought to place doubt in Christ’s mind concerning His Sonship. If He had accepted the challenge to evidence His divinity based upon the work of some miracle, He would have inadvertently denied the word of His Father, which was already evidence of His Sonship. But the Lord Jesus, cognizant of the devil’s scheme, gives an answer that we may imitate, and that is worthy of all acceptation:
It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
The Father’s voice descended from heaven, bestowing the assuring words upon the Saviour of the world, “Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased.”22 It was this very declaration from the Father that Satan sought to cause Christ to question.
After the pattern which began in heaven, from the fall of man to Christ’s first advent and the early church; the Dark Ages to the Reformation; from the present unto the great final conflict between truth and error, God’s people have been and will be mocked, scorned, reviled, and persecuted for believing every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.23
Satan flattered himself that he could lead Christ to doubt the words spoken from heaven at His baptism. And if he could tempt Him to question His sonship, and doubt the truth of the word spoken by His Father, he would gain a great victory.
E. G. White
Still today, Satan flatters himself on the fact that he has caused so many among Jehovah’s professed to disbelieve the plainest words24 of the Almighty. He prides himself over his power to suggest doubt in the most sharpened minds, even God’s remnant, that they might wander off from the pillar and ground of the truth in which they have been established. To know and have the knowledge of the only true God and His only begotten Son is eternal life.25 Without it the Gospel loses its authenticity and power to call the unregenerate soul into the fullness of the cause of God. Though we will face many who (harbouring disdain or indifference to the divine precepts) are not counted among the divine Shepherd’s fold—whose minds “the god of this world hath blinded… of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them,”26 and whilst we will encounter many who profess Jesus all the while denying His Sonship—the true follower of Christ should not be dismayed. For when the true Father and the true Son are preached, all the sheep, who have a love for the truth, flock to the divine Shepherd:
To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me:
In the days to come, those counted worthy to receive the outpouring of the latter rain27 shall boldly testify to the truth of the Father and the Son, even having the faith that loves not their lives unto the death.28 The very warfare waged by the arch-deceiver in heaven shall be waged again, with the fury of the great dragon, against the servants of God like never before in all the face of the earth. The great second advent of our Lord is nigh, and each of us must examine ourselves whether or not we are prepared to stand before the wicked servants of Satan, saying, “It is written,” unashamedly living by and preaching every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Let us perpetually contemplate Christ and His sacrifice, that His holy spirit may influence our thoughts, conversations, and joy, speaking of His goodness and lovingkindness always. May we trim and light our lamps each evening and morning, that the spirit of Christ might burn brightly in us, ruling continually in our lives – even unto the return of He who saith:
Blessed is the man that heareth Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My doors. For whoso findeth Me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
God bless,
Brandon
Scripture Index & Footnotes
The very title “Mi-cha-el” signifies “He who is like God is,” whereas “Arch-angel” means “commander, captain, chief, or head of the angels [or messengers],” therefore “Michael, the Archangel” means “He who is like God, Commander of the angels [or messengers].” Christ is the Archangel. There are no other archangels (refer to footnote 1). See also the title “the Angel [messenger] of Jehovah” throughout the Old Testament for pre-incarnate appearances of Christ: Gen 16:7-11, 22:11-15; Exo 3:2; Num 22:22-35; Jdg 2:1-4, 5:23, 6:11-12,21-22, 13:3,13-21; 2Sa 24:16; 1Ki 19:7; 2Ki 1:3,15, 19:35; 1Ch 21:12-30; Psa 34:7, 35:5-6; Isa 37:36; Zec 1:11-12, 3:1-6, 12:8. See also “the Messenger of the Covenant” (Mal 3:1-4).
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