The Security of the Universe Depends Upon Freedom of Choice

When God created heavenly beings, He hardwired their brains with the ability to make rational choices. If God had created each angel without the capacity to choose, they would have lost the capacity to love. Love by its very nature can never be forced or coerced. To deny the power of choice is to lose the ability to love, and to lose the ability to love is to lose the opportunity to experience life’s greatest happiness.

God did not want robots. He wanted intelligent beings with the ability to respond to His loving initiative on their behalf. There is a fascinating statement in the book Patriarchs and Prophets that outlines the importance God places on our freedom of choice.

The law of love being the foundation of the government of God, the happiness of all intelligent beings depends upon their perfect accord with its great principles of righteousness. God desires from all His creatures the service of love—service that springs from an appreciation of His character. He takes no pleasure in a forced obedience; and to all He grants freedom of will, that they may render Him voluntary service.

( PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS, P. 34)

God also placed these heavenly beings in a perfect environment. They were secure, at peace, and joyfully content in His presence. A loving Creator provided everything necessary for their eternal happiness. He created them perfect without a taint of sin—with no flaws or character deficiencies—but with the freedom to choose.

As strange as it may seem, one of these angelic beings developed thoughts of discontent (Ezekiel 28:12-17). Lucifer, the light bearer of heaven, desired supremacy. He wanted to rule rather than be ruled (ISAIAH 14:12–14). This restless angel began to develop secret thoughts of ascending to God’s throne and ruling the universe. Over an extended period of time, Lucifer indulged these jealous thoughts. Eventually, he began to express his dissatisfaction to some of the other angels. Knowing what was going on in Lucifer’s mind and observing his rebellious attitudes, what would God do? What could God do? How could He assure the angels of His loving care? How could He secure the stability of the universe forever?

God’s authority challenged

One of His creatures challenged His authority. A created being claimed that the Creator was an authoritative tyrant. He claimed God was unjust. If God had immediately destroyed this rebel angel without allowing the universe to see the results of rebellion, the universe would have been paralyzed with fear and gripped with the thought that maybe—just maybe—Lucifer was right.

God in His wisdom permitted Satan to carry forward his work, until the spirit of disaffection ripened into active revolt. It was necessary for his plans to be fully developed, that their true nature and tendency might be seen by all (THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, P. 497).

So an all-wise, all-loving God let the great controversy between good and evil play out. Soon all heaven was embroiled in this conflict. The angels took sides and war broke out in heaven. Heaven is a strange place for war but unless we first understand what went on millennia ago, we will never fully understand what is going on down here (REVELATION 12:7–9).

Lucifer and the rebellious angels were cast out of heaven. They were cast out to the newly created planet Earth. No, earth was not established as a dumping ground for evil. God did not create our planet simply to solve a problem He had up in heaven. This earth was created perfect, without a taint of sickness, suffering, or sin. Disease, disaster, and death did not exist (GENESIS 1:26–31).

God gave our first parents, Adam and Eve, the same freedom of choice that He gave to each of the angels. He placed them in an idyllic garden setting surrounded by everything they needed for their happiness forever. His loving presence filled the Garden. Our first parents had open communion with their Creator. Of course, He clearly explained the conflict raging in the universe and warned them about the evil one.

Paradise lost

The fallen angel, Lucifer, focused his attention on this newly created planet—God’s object of love and care. He desired to hurt God by hurting His creatures. Eve listened to the fallen angel’s lies and her husband, Adam, soon followed her lead. When our first parents disobeyed God and yielded to the temptations of the rebel angel, they opened a door God wanted forever shut—a door of incredible pain, suffering, and death (GENESIS 3:1–13; ROMANS 5:12; 6:23).

Those choices led to devastating consequences, but God is not behind the suffering in our world. There is an enemy of God and of all mankind—Lucifer, also known as Satan or the devil (MATTHEW 13:24–30, 37–43).

The conflict is real, and the war still rages. How would God deal with this planet in rebellion? What would He do to solve the problem of sin? He could have destroyed planet Earth and started over again, but that would not have answered the fundamental question raised in the great controversy between good and evil. Is God an autocratic dictator, demanding servitude, or is He a God of love, desiring only the best for His creatures?

Jesus’ life and death answers Lucifer’s challenge

God chose a course that would ensure the security of the universe forever. He chose the way of love. One day, His Son would come to earth to reveal the Father’s love (GENESIS 3:15) . Jesus’ entire life on earth shouted, “This is what the Father is like.” Jesus opened the eyes of the blind, unstopped the ears of the deaf, healed diseased bodies, fed the hungry, and raised the dead. He forgave the woman caught in adultery, cast the demons out of the demoniacs, and transformed the fearful disciples into men of faith. His life is a picture of God. Jesus forgives, empowers, heals, and delivers. He is compassionate, merciful, just, and all powerful.

Jesus said to His disciples, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (JOHN 14:9). 1 Jesus’ greatest act of love came as He hung on a cruel cross to deliver the human race from the horrible consequences of sin. He was treated as we deserve so we could be treated as He deserves. He wore a crown of thorns so we could wear a crown of glory. Spikes were driven through His hands so we could hold eternal scepters in ours. He hung on a cross so we could sit on a throne. He died the death that was ours so we could live the life that was His.

The Crucifixion is the greatest miscarriage of justice in history. Think of the events surrounding the Cross that dark Friday. Jesus was unjustly condemned. False witnesses lied at His trial. One of His own disciples betrayed Him. The religious leaders falsely accused Him. His followers forsook Him. The Roman soldiers crucified Him. He hung suffering, absolutely alone. The Savior completely understands what it means to be treated unfairly. He understands the pain and suffering that life cruelly throws at us.

On the cross, Jesus experienced all the shame and condemnation sin could bring. He experienced the hell of the second death for us (GALATIANS 3:13; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:21). “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (JOHN 15:13) The principalities and powers of hell were defeated at the Cross. It was on Golgotha’s hill that God revealed the depths of His love.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (JOHN 3:16, 17).

There is no greater revelation of love in the entire universe than Jesus, the One who existed with the Father from eternity, willing to be separated from the Father forever to satisfy the demands of divine justice to save us. Think of the immense pain the consequences of sin brought not only to Jesus as He hung on the cross but also to the Father as He watched His Son suffer and die (HEBREWS 2:9; PHILIPPIANS 2:5–11).

Satan with his fierce temptations wrung the heart of Jesus. The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father’s acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal. Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race. It was the sense of sin, bringing the Father’s wrath upon Him as man’s substitute that made the cup He drank so bitter, and broke the heart of the Son of God ( THE DESIRE OF AGES, P. 753).

The magnitude of this statement is enormous. Jesus was willing to be eternally separated from the Father to save us. He took upon Himself all the guilt of our sins. Calvary reveals not only the excruciating physical pain our Redeemer exper- ienced but also the mental and emotional agony of accepting the full consequences of sin—eternal separation from the Father. This is why we will sing with the heavenly beings throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise” (REVELATION 5:12).

The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God’s government; He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or authority. Only by love is love awakened.

The Cross answers the charges hurled at God by a rebel angel. Calvary shouts in triumphant tones, “God is love.” At the Cross, the devil is unmasked. At the Cross, God’s love is revealed, and through that love we are drawn to the One who loves us so much.

The earth was dark through misapprehension of God. That the gloomy shadows might be lightened, that the world might be brought back to God, Satan’s deceptive power was to be broken. This could not be done by force. The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God’s government; He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or authority. Only by love is love awakened. To know God is to love Him; His character must be manifested in contrast to the character of Satan. This work only one Being in all the universe could do. Only He who knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it known (THE DESIRE OF AGES, P. 22).

But the Cross is not the end of the story of God’s love. God’s love did not begin or end at the Cross. It is true that the Cross reveals the immensity of God’s love, but His love existed for us before the Cross and it is there for us today.