(I) the Gospel of God's Great Love - Part 1 (In the Beginning)

Ever since God decided to create beings that had free moral agency there has been a struggle between the free moral agents will and God's will. God existed eternally in loving fellowship within the Godhead and was complete in Himself (see John 17:24). But God wanted to bring many sons unto glory as additional objects of His love, with which He could fellowship in a loving relationship (Hebrews 2:10, Job 1:6).

God the Father did not need to create any creatures, He already enjoyed an eternal loving fellowship with the Son and the Holy Spirit. God is and has always been love and God has always had withing the three persons of the Trinity objects of His love. But God wanted to add to this loving relationship, so He began creating beings that had a nature like Himself. He wanted to bring many 'sons' unto glory.

God did not create preprogrammed 'robots' that would love Him mindlessly. He created beings that understood what God's will was and yet they possessed the ability to chose their own will. These creations were also known as "the sons of God." These creatures we know as angels and along with the whole of his creative works were created for God's own pleasure (Rev. 4:11).

A dear brother once said that, "God has chosen to reveal to us information about the angels on a need to know basis." Angels are not the primary subject of scripture, but there are some relevant events in their history that impacts ours. Understand that the angels were created long ago in the eternal past. They have a completely different 'story' than we as human beings have. The Bible is primarily the story of man and God's dealings with him. Only as necessary does God reveal to us information about the angels. here are some things that we do know:

* We know first that God created an innumerable number of angels (Hebrews 12:22).

* We know that they are greater in power, might and intellect than human beings (II Peter 2:11).

* Some of their names are words beyond our comprehension (Judges 13:18).

* Lucifer was perhaps the greatest of all the angels- being referred to as the Anointed Cherub that Covers (Ezekiel 28).

* God ordained that Lucifer would dwell in the Mountain of God with Him. He walked up and down in the stones of fire that are before the throne. He was exceedingly awesome as God's creation.

* But at some point in Lucifer's existence his heart began to be lifted up in pride because of his beauty. In Ezekiel 28:15 we read, Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. The iniquity that formed in Lucifer's heart would eventually lead to a terrible and radical change in his nature.