In this post we shall take a bit of detour before we delve deeper into the details of the fall. To truly appreciate the scale and magnitude of the fall, one must step back in time (in a literary sense of course!) even before creation to understand what drove the events that led to the fall.
It is crucial to recognize that the fall of man occurred in the context of three co-existing wills – the will of God, the fallen will and the will of man. In the absence of the fallen will, the fall would never have occurred in the first place. What would have existed in its place would have been a paradisical earth led by the human race with Adam as its head ruling and reigning over all the things just as God had wished it to be (Gen 1:26-27).
God’s supreme will
In the beginning, before the heavens and the earth were made, there stood a singular, supreme will – the will of God. God’s will was the basis for all His actions. In eternity, He willed to choose man according to His love (Eph 1:4). This is notable in that the choosing of man came first, and then followed the act of creation. Before creating man, God created the angelic race who led His worship in the heavens. They were created with a good nature reflecting God’s goodness, but with a free will that they could exercise.
The fallen will
Scriptures indicate that the archangel named Lucifer who led God’s worship was lifted up in his pride which led to his downfall. This act of choosing a separate will apart from God’s will became the source of his pride that saw him rebel against the supreme will (Isa 14:12-16, Ezek 28:12-19). This was the origin of a second will, a fallen will. A legion of other angels joined Satan by aligning with his fallen will (Rev 12:7). Notice in the passage in Isaiah, Satan is alleged to have declared “I will” on multiple occasions in direct opposition to God.
There is no indication that the Satanic (fallen) will at some point be abandoned in favor of God’s will. In fact, the Bible is emphatic that Satan and his acolytes will forever remain in their condemned state (Rev 12:9, 20:10). This should guard us against certain strands of teaching in the Universalist movement.
Man’s will
God created man with a neutral will just like the angels. As we shall see later, Adam aligned himself with the fallen will by willfully disobeying God’s commandment. But unlike Satan and the fallen angels, there is a recourse for fallen man to be reconciled to God through Christ. The fallen man retains his independent will that he may freely choose the supreme will through repentance and believing in Christ’s redemptive death. This is the unique way for fallen man to return to God’s will through Christ’s redemption (Acts 2:38, 1 Tim 2:4, Jn 14:6). This matter is the central message covered in the New Testament.