Question:
If God knew before creation that Lucifer would rebel and that man would fall into sin, why did He proceed with creation? Why prepare a plan of redemption instead of preventing the fall altogether?
If you have not already done so, you may wish to read our previous article, “Did God Create Sin? Understanding Isaiah 45:7.”
Answer:
This question is really asking whether God’s foreknowledge made Him responsible for what happened. The answer is no.
Knowing something will happen is not the same as causing it to happen.
Throughout Scripture, God presents Himself as One who desires willing obedience, not forced submission. Love cannot exist where there is no freedom to choose. When God created angels and mankind, He created intelligent beings capable of loving Him because they were also capable of rejecting Him. Had there been no freedom to choose otherwise, there could have been no genuine love, no real loyalty, and no meaningful obedience.
The possibility of rebellion was therefore inseparable from the gift of freedom.
That does not make God the author of rebellion any more than a parent becomes responsible for every sinful decision made by an adult child.
What makes the love of God so remarkable is not merely that He knew man would fall. It is that before the fall ever occurred, He had already determined what He would do to save him.
The Bible describes Christ as, “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8)
How powerful it is to know that the plan for our redemption was not an afterthought!
God did not devise redemption after Adam sinned. Before He ever spoke this world into existence, He knew what sin would cost Him. Yet He still chose to create because His purpose was not simply to have creatures who obeyed Him. He desired children who would love Him freely.
The plan of redemption was never evidence that God intended sin to exist. It was evidence that God was willing to bear the cost if His creatures chose rebellion.
That naturally leads to another question. If God already knew what Lucifer would do, why didn’t He simply destroy him when he first rebelled?
That question deserves careful consideration because it takes us to the very heart of the great controversy.
