What Of Lucifer?

Of all the Lord's creatures, man stands alone;
God forgives transgressions, if they repent,
Wipes remorseful eyes, till tears are gone,
Sin's dread wages He does always relent!
What of Lucifer, the father of sin?
Was he not chosen to fill that role?
Where is his second chance, like that of man?
Can he not ever re-enter the fold
A mortal the second death can evade,
By repenting, accepting Christ his Lord;
But never will Satan dwell in God's glade,
Though he repent, God will yet disregard!
It must have been intended so to be,
So that man's will to choose could remain free!

"And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels foughr back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down---that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him." (Revelation 13:7-9)

The "dragon", of which the passage speaks, was the chief angel in heaven, called Lucifer before he rebelled against God. He conceived the idea that he could overthrow his Creator; he carried one-third of all the angels with him, and fought against God. The other angels, now led by the archangel Michael, fought in defense of God and won (There was never any chance for Lucifer to succeed.). The traitor-angels were exiled from heaven foever; they were cast down to earth. They continue opposing God by enticing men and women to choose a life that excludes God and dooms them to the same punishment in store for the fallen angels.

We wonder sometimes why God didn't kill Lucifer and be done with it. That might have removed evil from the world, thus saving the eternal lives of every human. However, God needs Satan in the world to be a stern test for every person. He gave each of us freedom of choice; if we choose God, as He wants very much, He wants to be sure we can pass a loyalty test. We have to prove strong enough to reject the world's lifestyle for the life prescribed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

What about you? Will you choose His way of love, sacrifice, refraining fron sin, obeying the Commandments? Or will you continue living by the world's standards. which aids Satan in his hopeless rebellion against God?