Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Temptation Sometimes Disguised as Pleasure, January 15
Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Genesis 3:1.
In order to accomplish his work unperceived, Satan chose to employ as his medium the serpent—a disguise well adapted for his purpose of deception. The serpent was then one of the wisest and most beautiful creatures on the earth. It had wings, and while flying through the air presented an appearance of dazzling brightness, having the color and brilliancy of burnished gold. Resting in the rich-laden branches of the forbidden tree and regaling itself with the delicious fruit, it was an object to arrest the attention and delight the eye of the beholder. Thus in the garden of peace lurked the destroyer, watching for his prey.
The angels had cautioned Eve to beware of separating herself from her husband while occupied in their daily labor in the garden; with him she would be in less danger from temptation than if she were alone. But absorbed in her pleasing task, she unconsciously wandered from his side. On perceiving that she was alone, she felt an apprehension of danger, but dismissed her fears, deciding that she had sufficient wisdom and strength to discern evil and to withstand it. Unmindful of the angels’ caution, she soon found herself gazing with mingled curiosity and admiration upon the forbidden tree. The fruit was very beautiful, and she questioned with herself why God had withheld it from them.
Now was the tempter's opportunity. As if he were able to discern the workings of her mind, he addressed her: “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Eve was surprised and startled as she thus seemed to hear the echo of her thoughts.... To the tempter's ensnaring question she replied: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, 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 as gods, knowing good and evil.” ...
Such has been Satan's work from the days of Adam to the present, and he has pursued it with great success. He tempts people to distrust God's love and to doubt His wisdom. He is constantly seeking to excite a spirit of irreverent curiosity, a restless, inquisitive desire to penetrate the secrets of divine wisdom and power. In their efforts to search out what God has been pleased to withhold, multitudes overlook the truths that He has revealed, and that are essential to salvation.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 53-55.
Monday, January 13, 2025
Labor Necessary Even in Eden, January 14
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. Genesis 2:17.
In creating Adam and Eve, God designed that they should be active and useful. The holy pair was placed in Paradise and surrounded with everything that was pleasant to the eye or good for food. A beautiful garden was planted for them in Eden. In it were stately trees of every description, all that could serve for use or ornament. Flowers of rare loveliness, and of every tint and hue, perfumed the air. Merry songsters of varied plumage caroled joyous songs of praise of the Creator.
Paradise delighted the senses of the holy pair, but this was not enough; they must have something to call into play the wonderful human organism. He who formed them knew what would be for their good; and had happiness consisted in doing nothing, they, in their state of holy innocence, would have been left unemployed. But no sooner were our first parents created than God appointed them their work. They were to find employment and happiness in tending the things which God had created, and their wants were to be abundantly supplied from the fruits of the garden.
Work of brain and muscle is beneficial. Each faculty of the mind and each muscle of the body has its distinctive office, and all require exercise to develop them and give them healthful vigor. Each wheel in the living mechanism must be brought into use. The whole organism needs to be constantly exercised in order to be efficient and meet the object of its creation.—Manuscript 58, 1890.
Christ is called the second Adam. In purity and holiness, connected with God and beloved by God, He began where the first Adam began. But the first Adam was in every way more favorably situated than was Christ. The wonderful provision made in Eden for the holy pair was made by a God who loved them. Everything in nature was pure and undefiled. Fruits, flowers, and beautiful, lofty trees flourished in the Garden of Eden. With everything that Adam and Eve required, they were abundantly supplied.
But Satan came and insinuated doubts of God's wisdom.... Eve fell under the temptation, and Adam accepted the forbidden fruit from his wife's hand. He fell under the smallest test that the Lord could devise to prove his obedience, and the floodgates of woe were opened upon our world.... By one man's disobedience many were made sinners.—Manuscript 20, 1898 (Manuscript Releases 8:39, 40).
Sunday, January 12, 2025
First Transgression Inexcusable, January 13
I made the earth, and created humankind upon it; it was my
hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all
their host. Isaiah 45:12, NRSV.
Adam and Eve received knowledge through direct communion
with God, and they learned of Him through His works. All created
things, in their original perfection, were an expression of the thought
of God. To Adam and Eve nature was teeming with divine wisdom.
But by transgression the human family was cut off from learning
of God through direct communion and, to a great degree, through
His works.... Upon every page of the great volume of His created
works may still be traced His handwriting. Nature still speaks of
her Creator. Yet these revelations are partial and imperfect. And
in our fallen state, with weakened powers and restricted vision, we
are incapable of interpreting aright. We need the fuller revelation of
Himself that God has given in His written word.—Education, 16,
17.
All heaven took a deep and joyful interest in the creation of the
world and of Adam and Eve. Human beings were a distinct order.
They were made “in the image of God,” and it was the Creator’s
design that they should populate the earth. They were to live in close
communion with heaven, receiving and assimilating power from the
great Source of power. Upheld by God, they were to live sinless
lives.
Satan determined to defeat God’s plan. We need not try to
understand the motives that prompted the being next to Christ in
the heavenly courts to bring envy and jealousy into the ranks of
the angels. To many he communicated his disaffection, and there
was war in heaven, which ended in the expulsion of Satan and his
sympathizers. We need not puzzle our minds for a reason that Satan
acted as he did. Could a reason be found, there would be excuse for
sin. But there is no excuse. There is no reason human beings should
travel over the same ground that Satan traveled....
After Satan was thrust from heaven, he determined to set up his
kingdom on this earth. Through him sin entered the world, and death
by sin. By listening to his misrepresentation of God, Adam fell from
his high estate, and the floodgates of woe were opened upon our
world.
There is no excuse for Adam’s transgression. All his wants
were generously supplied. He had need of nothing more. Only one
prohibition was laid upon him.... This prohibition Satan used as a
means of insinuating suggestions of evil.—Manuscript 97, 1901.
Saturday, January 11, 2025
Significance Of The Sabbath, January 12
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host
of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he
had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work
which he had made. Genesis 2:1, 2.
Human philosophy declares that an indefinite period of time was
taken in the creation of the world. Does God state the matter thus?
No; He says, “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for
ever; for in six days [not six indefinite periods of time, for then there
would be no possible way for us to observe the day specified in the
fourth commandment] the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the
seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Please read carefully the
fifth chapter of Deuteronomy. God says again, “Remember [do not
forget] the sabbath day, to keep it holy.... For in six days the Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested
the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and
hallowed it.”
Yet with the living oracles before them, those who claim to
preach the Word present the suppositions of human minds, the max-
ims and commandments of humans. They make void the law of
God by their traditions. The sophistry in regard to the world’s being
created in an indefinite period of time is one of Satan’s falsehoods.
God speaks to the human family in language they can comprehend.
He does not leave the matter so indefinite that human beings can
handle it according to their theories. When the Lord declares that
He made the world in six days and rested on the seventh day, He
means the day of twenty-four hours, which He has marked off by
the rising and setting of the sun.
God would not pronounce the death sentence for a disregard
of the Sabbath unless He had presented before His people a clear
understanding of the Sabbath.... When the foundation of the earth
was laid, the foundation of the Sabbath was laid also. When the
morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy,
God saw that a Sabbath was essential for Adam and Eve, even in
Paradise. In giving them the Sabbath, God considered their spiritual
and physical health.
God made the world in six literal days, and on the seventh literal
day He rested from all His work which He had done, and was re-
freshed. So He has given human beings six days in which to labor....
By thus setting apart the Sabbath, God gave the world a memorial.
He did not set apart one day and any day in seven, but one particular
day, the seventh day. And by observing the Sabbath, we show that
we recognize God as the living God, the Creator of heaven and
earth.—Letter 31, 1898.
The Controversy Recalled, January 11
Thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of
the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering
cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Ezekiel 28:16.
I am writing out more fully the volume of Great Controversy,
containing the history of the fall of Satan and the introduction of
sin into our world, and I can have a more vivid sense of this great
controversy between Christ, the Prince of light, and Satan, the prince
of darkness, than I have ever had before. As I see the various devices
of Satan to compass the ruin of erring people and make them like
himself, a transgressor of God’s holy law, I would that angels of God
could come to earth and present this matter in its great importance.
Then I feel so intensely for souls who are willfully departing
from light and knowledge and obedience to God’s holy law. As
Adam and Eve believed the lie of Satan, “Ye shall be as gods,” so
these souls hope through disobedience to rise to greater heights, to
gain some flattering position. I am so anxious that, while others
are sleeping, I spend hours in prayer that God will work in mighty
power to break the fatal deception upon human minds and lead them
in simplicity to the cross of Calvary. Then I quiet myself with the
thought that all these souls are purchased by the blood of the Lord
Jesus. We may have love for these souls, but Calvary testifies how
God loves them. This work is not ours, but the Lord’s.
We are only the instruments in His hands to do His will, not our
own. We look at those who are doing despite to the Spirit of grace,
and tremble for them. We feel sorry, and are disappointed, that they
prove untrue to God and the truth; but we feel a deeper sorrow as
we think of Jesus, who has purchased them with His own blood. We
would give all our possessions to save one, but we find we cannot
do this. We would give life itself to save one soul unto life eternal,
but even this sacrifice would not do the work.
The one great sacrifice has been made in the life, the mission,
and the death of Jesus Christ. Oh, that minds would contemplate
the greatness of that sacrifice! Then might they be better able to
comprehend the greatness of salvation.—Testimonies for the Church
5:625, 626
Friday, January 10, 2025
Thursday, January 9, 2025
Setting Aside Divine Authority, January 10
Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine
iniquities. Ezekiel 28:18.
The high honors conferred upon Lucifer were not appreciated
as the gift of God and called forth no gratitude to the Creator. He
gloried in his brightness and exaltation, and aspired to be equal with
God. He was beloved and reverenced by the heavenly host. Angels
delighted to execute his commands, and he was clothed with wisdom
and glory above them all. Yet the Son of God was the acknowledged
Sovereign of heaven, one in power and authority with the Father.
In all the councils of God, Christ was a participant, while Lucifer
was not permitted thus to enter into the divine purposes. “Why,”
questioned this mighty angel, “should Christ have the supremacy?
Why is He thus honored above Lucifer?”—The Great Controversy,
495.
To the very close of the controversy in heaven, the great usurper
continued to justify himself. When it was announced that with all
his sympathizers he must be expelled from the abode of bliss, then
the rebel leader boldly avowed his contempt for the Creator’s law.
He denounced the divine statutes as a restriction of their liberty, and
declared that it was his purpose to secure the abolition of law. With
one accord, Satan and his host threw the blame of their rebellion
wholly upon Christ, declaring that if they had not been reproved,
they would never have rebelled.
Satan’s rebellion was to be a lesson to the universe through
all coming ages, a perpetual testimony to the nature and terrible
results of sin. The working out of Satan’s rule, its effects upon both
humans and angels, would show what must be the fruit of setting
aside the divine authority. It would testify that with the existence of
God’s government and His law is bound up the well-being of all the
creatures He has made. Thus the history of this terrible experiment
of rebellion was to be a perpetual safeguard to all holy intelligences,
to prevent them from being deceived as to the nature of transgression,
to save them from committing sin and suffering its punishment.
At any moment God can withdraw from the impenitent the tokens
of His wonderful mercy and love. Oh, that human agencies might
consider what will be the sure result of their ingratitude to Him and
of their disregard of the infinite Gift of Christ to our world! If they
continue to love transgression more than obedience, the present
blessings and the great mercy of God that they now enjoy, but do
not appreciate, will finally become the occasion of their eternal
ruin.—Manuscript 125, 1907 (Sermons and Talks, 1:389).
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Worship The Creator And Redeemer, January 9
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve. Matthew 4:10.
It is those who obey that will be blessed of God. He says that
He will bless your children and your lands and all that you lay your
hand unto. Do you think that Satan is going to allow this without
making a struggle for the mastery?
The enemy is working just as sharply and decidedly now as he
worked upon the minds of Adam and Eve in Eden. The people
are gathering under his banner, and he is encircling them with his
power. But everyone who sees that the law of God is changeless in
its character will decide on the side of Christ. If God could have
changed one precept of His law to meet the fallen human race, then
Jesus Christ need never have come to our earth to die.
Did Christ die to let loose the whole of humanity to worship
idols instead of God, when the commandment said, “Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve”? And
“the Lord made heaven and earth,” and what then? “And rested the
seventh day” and “sanctified it,” and gave it to you to observe as
God’s memorial—a memorial that He is the living God who created
the heavens overhead and the earth upon which we stand. He made
the lofty trees and put the covering upon every flower. He gave to
each one its tints, and the Lord of heaven made human beings and
gave them the Sabbath. What for? For all the posterity of Adam; it
was a gift to all his posterity. If they had always obeyed the fourth
commandment there never would have been an infidel in the world,
because it testified that “the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that in them is.”...
His hands are over His created works. Can you wonder that
the devil wants to make void the law of God, the standard of His
character? It will be the standard in the judgment when the books
shall be opened and every person judged according to the deeds that
are done. And the names are written—what does He say?—engraven
“upon the palms of my hands.” The marks of the crucifixion have
engraven them. Humans are His property, and they are God’s by
creation and by redemption....
What do we give to Satan when we concede the point that the law
of God needs to be taken away? We give the whole creative universe
a defective God, a God that made a law and it was so defective that
He had to take it away. That is all Satan wants. Can we afford
to be working on any side but that of God?—Manuscript 10, 1894
(Sermons and Talks, 1:234-235).
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
By Their Fruits, January 8
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7:20.
When those who are in God’s service resort to accusation, they
are adopting Satan’s principles to cast out Satan. It never will work.
Satan will work. He is working upon human minds by his crooked
principles. These will be adopted and acted upon by those who claim
to be loyal and true to God’s government. How shall we know that
they are untrue, disloyal? “By their fruits ye shall know them.”
The Lord saw the use that Satan was making of his power, and
He set before him truth in contrast with falsehood. Time and again
during the controversy Satan was ready to be convinced, ready to
admit that he was wrong. But those he had deceived were ready to
accuse him of leaving them. What could he do—submit to God, or
continue in a course of deception? He chose to deny truth, to take
refuge in misstatements and fraud. The Lord allowed Satan to go on
and demonstrate his principles.
God did establish Himself, and He carried the worlds unfallen
and the heavenly universe with Him, but at a terrible cost. His only
begotten Son was given up as Satan’s victim. The Lord Jesus Christ
revealed a character entirely opposite to that of Satan. As the high
priest laid off his gorgeous, pontifical robes, and officiated in the
white linen dress of a common priest, so Christ emptied Himself and
took the form of a servant and offered sacrifice, Himself the priest,
Himself the victim.
By causing the death of the Sovereign of heaven, Satan defeated
his own purposes. The death of the Son of God made the death of
Satan unavoidable. Satan was allowed to go on until his admin-
istration was laid open before the worlds unfallen and before the
heavenly universe. By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he
uprooted himself [from sympathy], and was seen by all to be a liar,
a thief, and a murderer.
God sees that the same course of action is being pursued the
world over. Men and women come to the place where the road di-
verges: it is either right or wrong. Thousands upon thousands clothe
themselves in what they suppose to be an impenetrable disguise, and
choose the wrong.... God does not force anyone. He leaves all free
to choose. But He says, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” The
Lord will not write as wise those who cannot distinguish between a
tree that bears thorn berries and a tree that bears olives.—Manuscript
57, 1896 (Manuscript Releases 18:361-363)
Our Choices Determine Our Destiny, January 7
Sometimes there is a way that seems to be right, but in the end
it is the way to death. Proverbs 16:25, NRSV.
The principles of the character of God were the foundation of
the education constantly kept before the heavenly angels. These
principles were goodness, mercy, and love. Self-evidencing light
was to be recognized and freely accepted by all who occupied a
position of trust and power. They must accept God’s principles and
convince all who were in the service of God, through the presentation
of truth and justice and goodness, [that] this was the only power to
be used. Force must never come in....
These principles are to be the great foundation of education
in every administration on the earth. The rules given by God are
to be observed and respected in every church. God has enjoined
this. His government is to be moral. Nothing is to be done by
compulsion. Truth is to be the prevailing power. All service is to
be done willingly and for love of the service of God. All who are
honored with positions of influence are to represent God, for when
officiating they act in the place of God....
Satan’s representations against the government of God, and his
defense of those who sided with him, were a constant accusation
against God. These murmurings and complaints were groundless.
Yet God allowed Satan to work out his theories. He could have
handled Satan and all his sympathizers as easily as one can pick up
a pebble and cast it to the earth. But by this He would have given
a precedent for the violence of human beings that is so abundantly
shown in our world in the compelling principles.
The Lord’s principles are not of this order. All the compelling
power is to be found under Satan’s government. God would not
work in this line. He would not give the slightest encouragement
for any human being to set himself up as God over another human
being, and cause him mental or physical suffering. This principle is
wholly of Satan’s creation....
In the councils of heaven it was decided that principles must
be acted upon that would not at once destroy Satan’s power, for
it was His [God’s] purpose to place things upon an eternal basis
of security.... God’s order must be contrasted with the new order
after Satan’s devising. The corrupting principles of Satan’s rule
must be revealed. The principles of righteousness expressed in
God’s law must be demonstrated as unchangeable, eternal, perfect.—
Manuscript 57, 1896 (Manuscript Releases 18:360, 361).
Sunday, January 5, 2025
Satan’s Tactics Exposed, January 6
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! Isaiah 14:12.
Rejecting with disdain the arguments and entreaties of the loyal
angels, he [Satan] denounced them as deluded slaves.... He would
never again acknowledge the supremacy of Christ. He had deter-
mined to claim the honor that should have been given him, and take
command of all who would become his followers; and he promised
those who would enter his ranks a new and better government, un-
der which all would enjoy freedom. Great numbers of the angels
signified their purpose to accept him as their leader....
Still the loyal angels urged him and his sympathizers to submit
to God, and they set before them the inevitable result should they
refuse: He who had created them could overthrow their power and
signally punish their rebellious daring....
Many were disposed to heed this counsel, to repent of their
disaffection, and seek to be again received into favor with the Father
and His Son. But Lucifer had another deception ready. The mighty
revolter now declared that the angels who had united with him had
gone too far to return; that he was acquainted with the divine law,
and knew that God would not forgive.... The only course remaining
for him and his followers, he said, was to assert their liberty, and
gain by force the rights that had not been willingly accorded them.
So far as Satan himself was concerned, it was true that he had
now gone too far to return. But not so with those who had been
blinded by his deceptions.... But pride, love for their leader, and the
desire for unrestricted freedom were permitted to bear sway, and the
pleadings of divine love and mercy were finally rejected....
God could employ only such means as were consistent with truth
and righteousness. Satan could use what God could not—flattery
and deceit.... God permitted him to demonstrate the nature of his
claims, to show the working out of his proposed changes in the
divine law. His own work must condemn him. Satan had claimed
from the first that he was not in rebellion. The whole universe must
see the deceiver unmasked.
Even when he was cast out of heaven, Infinite Wisdom did not
destroy Satan. Since only the service of love can be acceptable to
God, the allegiance of His creatures must rest upon a conviction of
His justice and benevolence.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 40-42.
No Excuse For Sin, January 5
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast
corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. Ezekiel
28:17.
The sin of Lucifer is unexplainable. He was disloyal to God. His
mourning and complaining aroused sympathy among the angelic
hosts, and many took the same position as did Satan [Lucifer]. How
did the Lord break the force of these accusations?
Because of Satan’s accusing power, it was not the plan of God to
deal with him as he deserved. The tempter would throw all the blame
of his course upon others who were below him. He would make it
appear that if he could have moved according to his own judgment
all this demonstration of rebellion would have been avoided.
The condemning power of Satan would lead him to institute a
theory of justice inconsistent with mercy. He claims to be offici-
ating as the voice and power of God, claims that his decisions are
justice, are pure and without fault. Thus he takes his position on
the judgment seat and declares that his counsels are infallible. Here
his merciless justice comes in, a counterfeit of justice, abhorrent to
God.
But how shall the universe know that Lucifer is not a safe and
just leader? To their eyes he appears right. They cannot see, as
God sees, beneath the outward covering. They cannot know as God
knows. To work to unmask him and make plain to the angelic host
that his judgment is not God’s judgment, that he has made a standard
of his own and exposed himself to the righteous indignation of God,
would create a state of things that must be avoided.
It was on account of Satan’s deceiving power that many angels
became disloyal to God. God was true and right. Satan was wrong
and he was convinced that he was wrong. He must now choose,
either by submission to place himself on the Lord’s side, or by lying
to sustain himself. By sophistry and fraud he appeared to gain an
advantage, but it was only for a short time. God cannot lie; He
moves in a direct line. Lucifer could speak the truth when it served
his purpose best, but he could move in a crooked course to avoid
humiliation and defeat....
Satan could not be presented to the universe at once in his real
character. His crooked course must be allowed to continue until he
should reveal himself as an accuser, a deceiver, a liar, and a murderer.
In the latter act, Satan uprooted himself from the affection of the
loyal universe. In the death of the Son of God the deceiver was
unmasked.—Letter 16a, 1892.
A Tragic Change, January 4
He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the
truth, because there is no truth in him. John 8:44.
Once Satan was in copartnership with God, Jesus Christ, and the
holy angels. He was highly exalted in heaven and was radiant in
light and glory that came to him from the Father and the Son, but
he became disloyal and lost his high and holy position as covering
cherub. He became the antagonist of God, an apostate, and was
excluded from heaven.... He invited all the powers of evil to rally
about his standard, in order to form a desperate companionship of
evil to league against the God of heaven. He worked perseveringly
and determinedly to perpetuate his rebellion, and to cause members
of the human family to turn from Bible truth, and to stand under his
banner.
As soon as the Lord through Jesus Christ created our world and
placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Satan announced his
purpose to conform to his own nature the father and mother of all
humanity, and to unite them with his own ranks of rebellion. He was
determined to efface the image of God from the human posterity,
and to trace his own image upon the soul in the place of the divine
image. He adopted methods of deception by which to accomplish
his purpose. He is called the father of lies, an accuser of God and
of those who maintain their allegiance to God, a murderer from
the beginning. He put forth every power at his command to win
Adam and Eve to cooperate with him in apostasy, and succeeded in
bringing rebellion into our world....
Through generation after generation, from age to age, Satan has
gathered human agencies through whom to work out his diabolical
purposes, and to bring about the enforcement of his plans and devices
in the earth. The great putrid fountain of evil has been continually
flowing through human society. Though unable to expel God from
His throne, Satan has charged God with satanic attributes and has
claimed the attributes of God as his own.... Through his serpentine
sharpness, through his crooked practices, he has drawn to himself
the homage that human beings should have given to God, and has
planted his satanic throne between the human worshiper and the
divine Father.—Manuscript 39, 1894 (The Review and Herald, April
14, 1896).
Saturday, January 4, 2025
Thursday, January 2, 2025
“Perfect In Thy Ways”, January 3
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast
created, till iniquity was found in thee. Ezekiel 28:15.
So long as all created beings acknowledged the allegiance of
love, there was perfect harmony throughout the universe of God.
It was the joy of the heavenly host to fulfill the purpose of their
Creator. They delighted in reflecting His glory and showing forth
His praise. And while love to God was supreme, love for one another
was confiding and unselfish. There was no note of discord to mar
the celestial harmonies. But a change came over this happy state.
There was one who perverted the freedom that God had granted to
His creatures. Sin originated with him who, next to Christ, had been
most honored of God and was highest in power and glory among the
inhabitants of heaven. Lucifer, “son of the morning,” was first of the
covering cherubs, holy and undefiled. He stood in the presence of
the great Creator, and the ceaseless beams of glory enshrouding the
eternal God rested upon him....
Little by little Lucifer came to indulge the desire for self-ex-
altation.... Though all his glory was from God, this mighty angel
came to regard it as pertaining to himself. Not content with his
position, though honored above the heavenly host, he ventured to
covet homage due alone to the Creator. Instead of seeking to make
God supreme in the affections and allegiance of all created beings, it
was his endeavor to secure their service and loyalty to himself. And
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...
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 master mind, which, next to Christ’s, was first among the hosts
of God. 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.—Patriarchs and Prophets,
35-37
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
The New Creation, January 2
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it
was very good. And the evening and the morning were the
sixth day. Genesis 1:31.
How beautiful the earth was when it came from the Creator’s
hand! God presented before the universe a world in which even His
all-seeing eye could find no spot or stain, no defect or crookedness.
Each part of His creation occupied the place assigned it and answered
the purpose for which it was created. Like the parts of some great
machine, part fitted to part, and all was in perfect harmony.... There
was no disease ... and the vegetable kingdom was without taint of
corruption. God looked upon the work of His hands wrought out
by Christ and pronounced it “very good.” He looked upon a perfect
world, in which there was no trace of sin, no imperfection.
But a change came. Satan tempted Adam, and he fell. He who
in heaven had become disloyal and had been cast out made lying
reports of God to the beings He had created, and they listened to his
reports and believed his lie. And sin entered the world, and death
by sin.—Letter 23, 1903 (see also The Review and Herald, July 21,
1904).
When Christ saw that there was no human being able to be
humanity’s intercessor, He Himself entered the fierce conflict and
battled with Satan. The First Begotten of God was the only one
who could liberate those who by Adam’s sin had been brought in
subjection to Satan.
The Son of God gave Satan every opportunity to try all his
arts upon Him. The enemy had tempted the angels in heaven, and
afterward the first Adam. Adam fell, and Satan supposed he could
succeed in ensnaring Christ after He assumed humanity. All the
fallen host looked upon this engagement as an opportunity to gain
the supremacy over Christ. They had longed for a chance to show
their enmity against God. When the lips of Christ were sealed inNew Creation,
death, Satan and his angels imagined that they had obtained the
victory....
In the death struggle the Son of God could rely only upon His
heavenly Father. All was by faith. He Himself was a ransom, a gift,
given for the freeing of the captives. By His own arm He has brought
salvation to humanity; but at what a cost to Himself!—Manuscript 125,
1901 (The Upward Look,)357).
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