As the current prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson, invited us to do, I am currently in the process of reading the Book of Mormon from beginning to end by the end of the year. This week involved a lot of reading in the book of 2 Nephi where the prophet Nephi quotes extensively from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. In chapter 24 of 2 Nephi, Nephi quotes from Isaiah 14 in the Old Testament.
Isaiah’s words about Satan in this chapter really struck me. Lucifer was a son of God who, instead of following God’s plan and doing things God’s way, decided he would rather do things his own way. Isaiah tells us in this chapter how that worked out for Lucifer, and I thought it was a nice parallel to how things go in our lives when we choose to do things our own way rather than submitting our will to the Lord and doing things His way.
Starting in verse 12 of Isaiah 14 (quoted by Nephi in verse 12 of 2 Nephi 24), Isaiah says the following:
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!...
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
So, Satan’s goals were to ascend into heaven, above the height of the clouds, and be like the most High, or possibly even better than Him. Isaiah tells us what happened instead, when Satan decided to take matters into his own hands and do things his own way to try to attain his goals. His ending, according to the prophet Isaiah, will be much different than what he was hoping to accomplish:
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
Basically, Satan, by doing things his way, accomplished the exact opposite of what he hoped to accomplish. Instead of being exalted in the heavens like God, his actions will result in him bringing brought down low into hell, where he will be even lower than those he leads astray in mortality.
The ironic thing is that if Satan had chosen instead to submit his will to the Lord and follow God’s plan instead of trying to do things his own way, he would have achieved exactly what he wanted all along. God’s goal is to exalt all His children and bring them to live with Him again in the heavens, glorified like He is. Following God’s plan would have given Satan everything he dreamed of. But he was convinced his way was better and would make him happier than God’s way.
I went through a period of my life when, while outwardly keeping the commandments and doing what God asked, in my heart I was saying, “God, you just stay over there, and don’t interfere, and I’ll take care of making myself happy. I know what I need to be happy, and I’ll take care of it. You just let me do my thing.” And I went on that way for quite a while, until things started to fall apart, and I realized that I was being more successful at making myself miserable than making myself happy. Humbled, I finally came to the Lord with my whole heart and said, “Heavenly Father, I have no idea what I need to be happy. My way is not working. Will you teach me your way?” And He did teach me. And His way was better, and I found the peace and joy I had been seeking all along but could not find while I was insisting on doing things my way. I fought God’s way for so long, when it was the key to my happiness all along.
I think by telling us Lucifer’s story, Isaiah is trying to teach us this truth: that the Lord’s way is always better than our way, and the quicker we submit to His will and do things His way, the happier we will be and the quicker we will achieve our ultimate goals of happiness and exaltation. No matter how convinced we are that our way will make us happier than God’s way, that’s never the way things turn out. It is only by following the Lord and submitting our will to His that we will find the true happiness we seek. I know this to be true from my own personal experience, and I share these words with you in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
