A plan was laid out by our Father in Heaven that we would all come down to this earth as mortals and experience good and evil in hopes that we would choose the good over the evil. We were to have free will to choose because the nature of progression is to learn to be a good being in and of ourselves. This requires that we of ourselves choose to be a good being. God knew that we were not perfect beings and that we would make mistakes along this path. Thus he provided a means whereby we could be redeemed from our bad choices by repenting and receiving forgiveness of our sins. For this to happen, a Savior was needed. I don't think that it was well understood how this salvation would take place however. God did ask his children, "whom shall I send to be the Savior?". Two individuals volunteered for the task.
Abraham 3:22-28
22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the
intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;
23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.
24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
26 And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.
27 And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.
28 And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.
In the above verse we read of God the Father asking, "Whom shall I send?". He is asking who will volunteer to be the Savior. Jesus first volunteers for the task but Lucifer also volunteers but is rejected. Lucifer becomes angry and gets others to follow after him. In another place we read about things that occurred before we came to this earth.
Moses 4:1-4
1 And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—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.
2 But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.
3 Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;
4 And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.
Here we learn that Satan (Lucifer) not only volunteered to be the Savior but had his own plan that he would save all, that not one soul would be lost. His plan was to take away mankind's free will and force all to be good beings. This of course would not work because in order to truly become a good being, one must choose in and of himself to be a good being. Taking away mankind's free will would never accomplish what God wanted for mankind. We would simply be forced to do good and not be able to choose it in and of ourselves. Satan (Lucifer) was very proud of his plan and thought it was better than the plan of God and sought to take the honor of God and his power. When God heard the plan of Jesus Christ who only sought to do the will of the Father, he chose Jesus over Lucifer. It was then that Lucifer rebelled against the Father and sought to convince all the spirit children of the Father to choose him as their God and to follow his plan over that of the Father's. He was very influential and managed to convince 1/3 of all the hosts of heaven to follow after him. This was the War in Heaven. God caused that Satan and his followers (angels) should be cast out of heaven into the earth. Jesus who sought to follow the will of the Father was chosen to be the Savior.
Even though God set forth to choose a Savior before the foundation of the world, I don't think that Satan fully understood how this was to be accomplished here on this earth. Because his plan was rejected and he because he rebelled against God, he was cast into the earth to tempt mankind toward evil. Satan's whole plan on this earth is to thwart God's plan and destroy the works of righteousness. However, I don't believe he understood how God would accomplish is plan here upon the earth. Satan understood that Jesus was to come to this earth to be a Savior but didn't fully comprehend how this was to be accomplished. Thus at every turn he has sought to turn God's children away from keeping his commandments and to do evil. All the time thinking to thwart the plan of the Father. When he saw Jesus come into the world, he tried to get Jesus to follow after him but failed. I think he then thought that if he could destroy Jesus by having him killed, he could then thwart God's plan. Thus he worked very hard on those Jews, Pharasees, etc of those days to be jealous of the power of Jesus and to seek his death.
What Satan did not understand was that the Son of God was a being who never sinned and by killing him he would commit the greatest injustice ever to be committed. Satan was allowed to bring upon Jesus the greatest amount of suffering ever to be suffered. No ordinary mortal man could have suffered for all the sins of the world and lived through it. But Jesus, being born of an immortal Father and never ever falling into sin in this world had the power within him to go through all the suffering of the sins of all mankind and still walk out of the Garden of Gethsemane. However, Jesus also being born of a mortal woman, had the capacity to lay down his life if he so chose to do so.
John 10:17-18
17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Satan got his minions to seek the death of Jesus but I was really Jesus alone who chose to lay down his life. Jesus was a perfect and sinless sacrifice. He did no sin and never deserved any of the wickedness that was brought upon him. Thus the suffering and death of Jesus was not justified. The greatest of all injustices was brought upon him by Satan and his followers. Because an infinite and Holy being suffered and died the greatest injustice was done. Now according to the justice of God, would not the Christ deserve a recompense for the injustice he bore? Would not Jesus deserve a recompense to the extent of the injustice he bore when he took on the sins of all the world? YES!!! And his recompense was that he could forgive mankind of their sins and allow them to return unto the presence of God if they would only repent of their sins. Jesus accomplished the atonement and won the right to forgive all who draw unto him. I think if Satan had understood this principle, he would not have sought the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. He did what he did out of ignorance and hatred but all the while he was being used by God to bring about God eternal plan of redemption. Satan still thinks that he can thwart the plan of God by getting all of us to disobey God and fall short of the kingdom of heaven. But free will must be held inviolate and we must be allowed to choose in and of ourselves to be good beings. Thus those who list to obey Satan and reject the gospel of Jesus Christ will do so at their own free will and choice. But those who choose to follow Jesus and apply the plan of redemption in their lives will become heirs of eternal life. Satan may be clever but he is no match for the infinite and eternal wisdom of our Father and God. Had Satan understood the plan of redemption fully, he likely would have avoided turning those who sought the life of Jesus against him.
Our first estate was in the premortal world of spirits. All of us who come to this earth and receive a body were valiant in the War in Heaven. Those who did not keep their first estate were Satan and his angels. We are now in our second estate and if we prove faithful, we can receive immortality and eternal life in the world to come.
