NEGATIVE VOLITION AND THE ANGELIC CONFLICT: THE CAUSE OF HUMAN HISTORY

A prehistoric warfare existed between the forces of Satan and the forces of God. The war commenced following the creation of the universe but before the advent of human history, when the initial heavenly mutiny divided the angelic creation into two opposing forces. . . . Satan, as the preeminent angel Lucifer, was God’s most treasured creation, consistently exercising positive volition as he guarded God’s throne room, securing the Holy of Holies and protecting the holiness of God until he went negative on his volition (Ezekiel 28:14-15). By exerting his will over God’s Will (Isaiah 14:13-14), Lucifer committed the first sin, defiling the Holy of Holies and inheriting for himself a new title: Satan, meaning “accuser” or “adversary.” As a result of his fall, Satan was expelled from the third heaven (Isaiah 14:12; cf. Ezekiel 28:16; Luke 10:18), consequently igniting the expansion of the universe. Perfect and holy God could never stand to be in the presence of sin [imperfection] (Isaiah 59:2), thus, He had to remove the creature in whom the sin existed in order to comply with His very nature [essence]. The initial mental attitude sin of arrogance initiated the trajectory of the cosmic system and set into motion every atomic particle in the universe. God in His love, desiring not for those particles to drift into nothingness, pulled back the particles with His righteous right hand [gravity]. Jesus Christ, as the second Person of the Trinity and perfect humanity in hypostatic union, held [and continues to hold] the universe together with His Word (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3). However, the perfectly sovereign hand of Christ did not reverse the trajectory of fallen Lucifer in order that God might preserve the function of volition (Jude 1:6). Satan’s initial exercise of negative volition locked him into a trajectory of degeneration and ignited a series of other sins as Satan became entrenched on the planet earth. While there, Satan set up headquarters and declared war against God (Isaiah 14:12-14). Through the power of persuasion, Satan amassed an army comprising one-third of God’s angels (Revelation 12:4) to stand in opposition to God’s army (Ezekiel 28:11-19). Satan’s campaign against God turned the original earth [original creation] (Genesis 1:1) into desolation and chaos (Genesis 1:2; Psalms 82:5-8). God quelled the rebellious army and convened a trial to sentence Satan and the fallen angels to the Lake of Fire. God’s perfect righteousness [+R] could not tolerate anything less than perfect righteousness [+R], so God’s perfect justice had to judge Satan (Hebrews 2:2). Although God justly condemned Satan and the fallen angels to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire (Matthew 25:41), Satan would not suffer defeat without an intense struggle. Satan appealed the sentence, setting out to prove the judgment unfair and foil the execution of his sentence. Satan’s appeal was “How can a loving God cast His own creatures into the Lake of Fire . . . isn’t that unfair?” Satan impugned [called into question] the essence of God by seeking to elevate divine love above divine justice and righteousness. Although God could have instantly cast the offending angels into eternal perdition, He did not. God granted Satan’s appeal in response to His virtue love in order to maintain His integrity and satisfy all of the attributes of His essence. Yet, even before the events unfolded, God’s antecedent omniscience had already foresaw the solution to this angelic conflict. God would create a lower creation (Hebrews 2:6-7) and institute a parallel set of conditions to that of the angels to prove to Satan that He is perfectly fair in His judgment. The commencement of the Angelic Appeal Trial (Job 1:6; 2:1) [see diagram] interrupted the execution of Satan’s sentence as God created mankind in order to test volition [an aspect of His creation responsible for sin]. From seeing the role of volition unfold in man, God would provide evidence in the appeal trial to prove to Satan that is He perfectly fair in His dealings with all His creation. From Satan’s perspective, he had been given an appeal trial and a deferment of execution; from God’s perspective, the creature is not on trial but an attribute of its essence is: volition. Thus, when Satan and his army set up headquarters on the earth (Isaiah 14:12) and completely spoiled it (Isaiah 14:16-17), God quelled the rebellious army (Isaiah 14:15; Ezekiel 28:18), covered the earth in ice and darkness (Genesis 1:2; 2 Peter 3:5-6), convened a trial sentencing the fallen angels to the Lake of Fire (Matthew 25:41), granted the appeal trial deferring Satan’s execution (Job 1:6; 2:1), and restored the earth and created mankind in six days (Genesis 1:3-31) to set up the parallel volition test (Genesis 2:15-17).

Under the parallel test of volition, mankind would begin perfect with free-will (Genesis 2:19), as were the angels (Job 1:12). Under perfect environment (Genesis 2:8-9), Adam and Eve also went negative on their volition and sinned (Genesis 3:6), fell from their state of perfection, and was, too, condemned (Genesis 3:16-19). Foreknowing the event of the fall, God made provisions to redeem mankind to manifest His love, righteousness, and justice and to ultimately resolve the angelic conflict (1 Corinthians 6:3). Through the freewill decisions of man, God would reveal His grace (Ephesians 2:4-10), an outgrowth of His love, righteousness, and justice. The grace of God would corroborate irrefutable evidence against Satan’s allegations by affirming that divine love, righteousness, and justice are fully compatible with each other and without compromise through the function of volition. Man’s positive volition toward God’s protocol plan, entered through faith alone in Christ alone, nullifies Satan’s appeal and vindicates the perfect justice of God’s decision to sentence Satan to the Lake of Fire. Adam and Eve accepted God’s offer of eternal salvation by believing in Jesus Christ and were saved from eternal condemnation. Each person after Adam and Eve to accept Jesus Christ as Savior is a tactical victory and a blow to Satan’s appeal (2 Corinthians 5:20). Believers are even given the privilege of judging angels (1 Corinthians 6:3), and God’s angels rejoice when an unbeliever accepts Christ (Luke 15:10).

Although the prehistoric rebellion was quelled before the advent of man, the angelic conflict extends to this day and continues to rage on around us as spiritual warfare in human history. The angelic conflict spilled over into the human realm at the fall of Adam with the soul of man as the battleground. Because of Adam’s fall, man gave rulership of this world to Satan (Genesis 3; John 12:31, 16:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2), but man’s positive volition toward Jesus Christ and toward God’s protocol plan can free him from Satan’s domination while living in Satan’s kingdom (Galatians 5:1). Today in this present parenthetical Dispensation of the Church [see diagram], we are in the covert intensified stage of the angelic conflict; the Great Tribulation will be the overt intensified stage. Thus, this conflict has real impact on Christians today and, thus, we are to ready ourselves for effective spiritual warfare. We must know how to fight and how to win. We must be prepared for battlefield confrontation by putting on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-17). We must renovate our thinking with divine viewpoint thinking (Matthew 11:27) by taking in the Word of God and Bible Doctrine (2 Corinthians 4:16). We must inherit the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) by saturating our soul with the Word of God and Bible Doctrine (Psalms 138:2b). We must resist the influence of Satan’s cosmic system (1 Timothy 4:1-2) by growing to spiritual maturity (2 Peter 3:18). We must maintain momentum in our spiritual advance by consistently inculcating [impressing on our mind] the Word of God and Bible Doctrine on a daily basis (Hebrews 10:32-39; 12:1-3; Philippians 3:12-14). We must take offensive and defensive action. We must take offensive action by seizing the high ground of spiritual maturity to gain a tactical advantage and wider vantage point. We must take defensive action by holding on to that high ground position, holding fast to the assimilated Word of God and Bible Doctrine we have circulating in our soul. We must utilize the entire content of the Word of God and the entire realm of Bible Doctrine we have stored in the right lobe of our soul to repel the “flaming missiles of the evil one” [Satan’s attacks on the human race through the tactics of distraction and deception]. As a well-equipped Christian soldier, we become invisible heroes in the invisible war. God is glorified [God’s essence is reflected] as we lock shields and stand firm on His power and Word.

As a result of winning the tactical victory of the angelic conflict, we believers are positionally higher than angels in time (Hebrews 1:14), and will be experientially—both positionally and physically—higher than angels in eternity (Philippians 3:20-21).

Human history is an interruption and extension of angelic history. Had mankind not been created, angelic history would have ended with the execution of Satan and the fallen angels to the Lake of Fire. The closing of angelic history had been postponed so that God might test volition through man. The progression [unfolding] of both angelic and human history is the result of the failure of both tests of volition. Thus, the whole creature was never the point of testing but an aspect of its essence is: volition. Volition was the one aspect created out of the hand of God that had the potential to become imperfect. Negative volition initiated the fallen state of both the angels and of man and ignited the trajectory of the cosmic system. Negative volition was already tried and judged in the case of the angels (John 16:11). Negative volition will eventually be tried and judged in the case of man and will be removed along with any creation tied to it (Revelation 20:11-15).