mind and then his heart, and there began in Heaven that jealous hatred which after long ages of relentless continuance will find its fearful reward in the eternal darkness of Hell itself. The one wronged is doubly hated. Satan aspired to equality: Christ, whose deity made it natural, rejected it. (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:28.) It was with pangs of the deepest regret that the Lord had seen His erstwhile friend fall like lightning from Heaven: no joy was to be found in that fearful ruin; but rather in the anticipation of those who, faithful unto death, would find their names written in Heaven, and rise to take his place and bring comfort to their Saviour.

As the Lord contemplated that beautiful earth now waste and desolate through the insensate folly of pride and sin, there must have been in His heart a realisation of the desperate need for His atoning death which held the only means of bringing light out of darkness, hope out of despair, and success out of failure. The treachery of Lucifer was the first nail in the Cross of Golgotha.