Theology of the Second Estate

Satan in the Garden

			The story of Satan in the Garden must begin with Lucifer before the Council in Heaven. As I discussed earlier, there were two aspects of Lucifer's presence in the Council which are of critical importance. The first is that he "sought to destroy the agency of man" (Moses 4:3). This made it impossible to select Satan's plan because is was insufficient to accomplish the goals of God. The second was the unrighteous exercise of his pride. The war which followed resulted in the expulsion of Lucifer and his followers. Of greatest importance to the Garden, however, is God's disposition of Lucifer and his followers after the expulsion: 9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:9, italics added). Satan is in the Garden, because God sent him there. Our trust in God's omniscience assures us that God knew what He was doing. Surely He had no fear of the effect of Satan on the new earth, or He would have found another way to banish Satan and his followers. If God foreknew the events, what did Satan think he was doing there? There are several suggestions in the scriptures. 6. And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world (Moses 4:6). 18. And because he had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind.. (2 Nephi 2:17). 28. And while we were yet in the Spirit, the Lord commanded us that we should write the vision; for we beheld Satan, that old serpent, even the devil, who rebelled against God, and sought to take the kingdom of our God and his Christ - 29. Wherefore, he maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasseth them round about (DC 76:28-29). Each of these verses imputes a malice on the part of Satan that would thwart the plan of God. While this is clearly Satan's current desire, to destroy mankind by creating too great a barrier of sin, I suggest that at the time of the "great deception", there may have been a different motive. The direction taken by Lucifer's pride in the Council was to rebel against God, "saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power" (DC 29:36). The Book of Moses highlights the same theme: "Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor" (Moses 4:1). Lucifer desired to be the Savior. He could not handle the rejection of that desire. I suggest that his motive in the garden was to forcibly usurp the role of savior as he knew it. To understand how, we must examine the very nature of the Garden. The crucial symbols of the Garden are the two Trees. The relationship between these symbols is one of polar opposites, Life and Death, Knowledge and Ignorance. The symbolic state is one which is out of balance however, for life in the Garden was a condition of Life and Ignorance, with one positive attribute, and one negative attribute. The whole of the Garden was designed to place Adam and Eve in the very position Eve found herself in during her encounter with the serpent. The Garden existed to force a choice upon Adam. The principle of Free Agency is fundamental to eternal reality. I will examine that principle more later, but for now it may be accepted as of supreme importance. I suggest that the principle of Free Agency was so important, that the participation of the children of God in this earth life required the free choice of that condition. Of course we know that we chose this plan in the Pre-Mortal life, but there is a great difference in choosing a theoretical situation, and making a similar choice when actually faced with the circumstances. There are many who proclaim that they would give their lives for Christ as they sit in a Sunday School class. There would be fewer who would make the same choice in front of an angry mob as many of the early Saints were required to do. I suggest that it was part of the eternal justice of God that the final phase of God's plan be implemented by the free choice of the representatives of the children of God while they were faced with the immediate ramifications of that choice. That principle would explain the Garden, and why God might give contradictory commandments to Adam and Eve. The conditions of the Garden were deliberately set to place Adam and Eve on the horns of a dilemma, to choose to multiply and replenish the earth, or to choose everlasting life. The two choices were mutually exclusive in the parameters of the Garden, although they are made one in the eternal plan of God. If the point of the Garden was to bring Adam and Eve to the point of making the choice, then what was the role of Satan? Clearly he did no more than accomplish the desires of the father when he convinced Eve to partake of the fruit. There is text from the temple ceremony which corroborates Satan's presumption that he was merely proceeding with the normal course of events. It seems logical from the peripheral evidence in the scriptures, buoyed by the temple ceremony text, that it would have been the role of the Savior to stand before Adam and Eve and explain to them the nature of the choice before them. God condemns Satan in the Garden not for what was done, but for the fact that it was Satan who did it. The prideful desire to take the Kingdom of God for himself which caused his expulsion from heaven was still the goal of Satan in the Garden. Not having been chosen to be the Savior, Satan attempts to usurp the role, and for that continuation of his wicked pride, he was censured by God. One last point remains in the story of the Fall of Man. We should understand the comparative roles of Eve and Adam in the Fall. If the Fall were the desired result, and Eve was the first to see it, why wasn't she congratulated on her decision rather than berated? The answer may lie in the nature of the choice which had to be made. Eve's decision was correct, but from an eternal standpoint, was tainted by the temptation of Satan. It might be argued that Eve's choice was not made of an entirely free will. Adam's choice, on the other hand, fit all of the requirements of the eternal principle of Free Agency. There was no coercion on Adam, but a clear presentation of the nature of the options. With the heavy burden of the penalty upon him, Adam made the choice to subject man to an earth permeated with the principle of Free Agency, a world which could, and frequently does choose evil. In full sight of the consequences, the choice was made to put God's plan for the salvation of man in motion. Adam's choice was no more right than Eve's, but the conditions of his choice more fully accomplished the demands of justice.
			by Brant Gardner. Copyright 1998