A Son of the Morning

As we discussed the premortal existence today in Sunday School, it occurred to me that at least a part of the reason for Satan’s rebellion was due to his jealousy of the Savior.  In the revelation on the three degrees of glory, Joseph recorded, “And this we saw also, and bear record, that an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved and who was in the bosom of the Father, was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son” (D&C 76:25).  Lucifer “rebelled against” the Savior, a detail suggesting that he had not simply offered a plan that was an alternative to what the Father proposed, but that it was the prominence of Jehovah in that plan that he fought.  Satan, it appears, couldn’t stand that thought that Jehovah would take the center role instead of himself.  As President Benson said, “it was pride that felled Lucifer.”

               The scriptures suggest the Lucifer did already have a place of prominence in the premortal existence.  The previous verse says that he was “in authority in the presence of God,” and to me that suggests that He knew Jesus very well since Christ was also “in authority” in the premortal realm.  The fact that “a third part of the hosts of heaven” would follow him also suggests that he was well known and held positions of importance in the premortal world.  Isaiah wrote about Satan saying, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” (Isaiah 14:12)  Joseph similarly recorded that he “was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him—he was Lucifer, a son of the morning” (D&C 76:26).  Someone suggested today that the phrase “son of the morning” means that he was one of the first spirit children to be born.  This seems consistent with how Elder Talmage used the phrase in Jesus the Christ, “In that distant past, antedating the creation of the earth, Satan, then Lucifer, a son of the morning, had been rejected; and the Firstborn Son had been chosen.”  He seems to have contrasted how Jesus was the Firstborn Son with how Lucifer was a son of the morning.  We use the phrase “morning of the first resurrection” to describe those who are going to be resurrected first, and so it makes sense that being a “son of the morning” might refer to how Lucifer was one of the first (but obviously not the first) spirit child of Heavenly Father.  If this is correct then it may very well be that he was jealous of the Savior’s position in front of his own as the Firstborn.  Christ was, in the words of the Father, “my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning” (Moses 4:2).  Lucifer wanted that kind of distinction for himself, and he must have been filled with anger when both Christ and he offered to be sent by the Father but the Father picked Jehovah: “I will sent the first” (Abraham 3:27).  Ultimately, it seems to me, the fall of Lucifer was precipitated by the fact that he was jealous of Christ’s place of prominence, and it serves as a warning to us to not let that same kind of jealousy for position canker our souls.