The Mystery of Iniquity.
By H. C. Giles
It may be permitted us to stop briefly to inquire why Lucifer was denied the honors conferred upon Christ, and which he so much coveted. The task is not difficult. The difference between Christ and Lucifer was an essential one of character and of nature, and not of mere outward environment. Christ was God, the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He was the creative Word. John 1:1-3. He only was the effulgence of the Father's glory and the very image of His substance (Heb. 1:3), Creator and Upholder of all things (Col. 1:16). Lucifer, altho a being of brightness, was only an angel, the rightful minister of his Creator. Tho "anointed," he was still a cherub. Tho "morning star," he was created by Christ, and should have been content to render Him grateful homage, rather than to covet His superior glory. We see, therefore, that God's dealing with Lucifer, as with all His creatures, was not arbitrary, but that "true and righteous" are all His ways. This appears still more emphatic from the following. Of Christ it is declared, "Being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." Heb. 1:4. With God name is a true index of character. Christ, the Word, was God. John 1:3; Heb. 1:8. Christ was the Word of God (Rev. 19:13), and was therefore incorruptible (1 Peter 1:23). Lucifer, as the event proved, was not incorruptible, for God declared of him, "Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom." Eze. 28:17. Therefore none but Christ could be safely trusted with the sacred responsibilities resting upon God's own Son. To do it would be to jeopardize the whole universe, and render insecure the whole government of God. To show again that God's dealing with Lucifer in this matter was according to character, and not in an arbitrary manner, let the following scripture be noted: Of Christ it is said, "Who, being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but . . . humbled Himself." Phil. 2:6, R.V. For what?—Not to add to His personal glory, but to save the lost. Contrast with this the course of Lucifer. He was not in the form of God at all, yet he counted it a prize to be thought equal with God. He therefore endeavored to exalt himself, even at the expense of casting down to everlasting destruction those who were eternally secure in the glory of heaven. How great the difference! The one, the "love of Christ that passeth knowledge," the blessed and adorable "mystery of godliness;" the other, the strange, incomprehensible working of Satanic cruelty and hate—the "mystery of iniquity"! How much to be cherished and loved the former! How much to be feared and shunned the latter! The query will doubtless be raised in many minds, Why was not God as willing to save Lucifer when he sinned as He has been to rescue fallen man? The answer is, God did offer salvation to Lucifer the same as He has offered and still does offer it to the sons of Adam. God is no respecter of persons. He knows no variableness, neither shadow of turning. It is "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." God must therefore have been just as ready to save, and just as really must have offered salvation to Lucifer in heaven as He did later to man on the earth. Why, then, did Lucifer not accept it?—For the same reason that inspires the children of men to reject God's grace to-day. The power of God to save the lost, whether men or angels, is, and always has been (for, since God changes not, His power remains the same), the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. But then, as now, the way of life through Christ was conditioned upon self-denial and self-humiliation. Lucifer was already jealous of Christ. He looked upon the plan of salvation as a selfish scheme, to add to the glory of Christ, and he determined to oppose it with all the forces he could muster into his service. Says the prophet, as he viewed the scene: "By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned ['thou wast filled to thy center with force, and thou didst sin,' Leeser's translation]; 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." Eze. 28:16. That we may the more clearly understand the meaning of this language, let us compare with it another scripture, "And through covetousness shall they [false teachers] with feigned words ['raving words,' Syriac], make merchandise of you," "having eyes full of adultery, and that can not cease from sin." 2 Peter 2:3, 14. From this we see that when Satan entered upon the path of rebellion against the government of heaven, he decided to make merchandise4of as many as possible of God's created intelligences, and thus rob the Creator of the glory for which they were created. Rev. 4:11; Isa. 43:7. In conducting this soul-destroying "traffic" Lucifer knew that he could not hope for success should he employ the weapons of truth and love. He, therefore, laid aside these and was filled to the center with force and violence. And thus he placed himself beyond the reach of God's mercy, with a mind wholly reprobate. In this way did he become "a murderer from the beginning," and gave himself so fully to evil that there was "no truth in him." John 8:44.