What Is the War in Heaven? Agency, the Redeemer, and a Third Part Cast Out

What it wasA premortal conflict over the Father’s plan

The war in heaven was not a comic-book brawl between two rival gods. It was a conflict in the premortal world among the spirit children of God, over how the plan of salvation would be administered, whether men and women would keep their agency, and who would be the Redeemer. The Bible names it: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:7–9).

The Church’s Bible Dictionary is blunt about the issue: Lucifer wanted salvation to come automatically, “without regard to individual preference, agency, or voluntary dedication.” That is not generosity. It is a bid to cancel the very thing that makes a soul a soul. See What Is the Premortal Life? and What Is the Plan of Salvation?.

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The councilTwo answers to “Whom shall I send?”

Abraham was shown “the intelligences that were organized before the world was,” and “there stood one among them that was like unto God,” who said, “We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:22–25). Then: “And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first. And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him” (Abraham 3:27–28).

Moses was given the same scene in the Father’s own words. Lucifer said, “Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.” The Beloved Son, “Beloved and Chosen from the beginning,” said, “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.” And then the verdict: “because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies” (Moses 4:1–4).

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A third partCast out, and still at war

John wrote that the dragon’s tail “drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth” (Revelation 12:4). The Lord said the same thing in modern revelation: the devil “rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency; And they were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels” (D&C 29:36–37). Those who “keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate” (Abraham 3:26). They did not receive mortal bodies.

The war did not end at the fall of Lucifer. Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon saw “an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved … and was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him—he was Lucifer, a son of the morning.” And then: “he maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasseth them round about” (D&C 76:25–29). They who kept their first estate “overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11).

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Not equalsThe Father remains the Father

This is the place where the internet tries to turn a family doctrine into a smear. Yes, God is “the Father of spirits” (Hebrews 12:9), and yes, that includes the being who became Satan. Job even places Satan among “the sons of God” (Job 1:6). That is origin, not office. Jesus Christ “was in the beginning with the Father, and [is] the Firstborn” (D&C 93:21). Lucifer was “an angel of God who was in authority” and rebelled. They were never peers. For the full argument, see Are Jesus and Satan Brothers?.

The Father is not a temporary office-holder. “Worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten” (Moses 1:33). By that Son “the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (D&C 76:24). Exaltation does not bump the Father aside. We are always below Him, and He is always our Father. See Do Latter-day Saints Believe They Get Their Own Planet?.

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The BibleThe war, the fall, the third part

Isaiah’s taunt song is the Bible’s other window on the same rebel: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! … For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God … I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12–15). The Savior told the Seventy, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18). Jude wrote of “the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation” (Jude 1:6). And Job heard the Lord ask where he was “when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7). The Bible is not silent. People just stop reading after they have a headline.

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The Book of MormonA fallen angel, and men who are free

Lehi taught, “an angel of God, according to that which is written, had fallen from heaven; wherefore, he became a devil, having sought that which was evil before God. And because he had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind” (2 Nephi 2:17–18). That is why agency is not a side issue: “men are free according to the flesh … And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Nephi 2:27). Jacob added that without the Resurrection our spirits would become “subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more” (2 Nephi 9:8–9). See What Do Latter-day Saints Believe About the Fall?.

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Check the premiseThe presuppositions baked into the question

Before this question can be answered fairly, the person asking has to justify a few assumptions packed inside it:

1. That the war in heaven is an LDS invention. Revelation 12:7–9 names the war. Isaiah 14, Luke 10:18, Jude 1:6 and Job 38:7 sit in the same Bible.
2. That Jesus and Lucifer were rivals of equal rank. Jesus is the Firstborn, Beloved and Chosen. Lucifer was an angel in authority who rebelled and was cast down. Origin is not office.
3. That “a third part” is a modern Mormon gloss. It is the language of Revelation 12:4 and of D&C 29:36. The Lord used it.
4. That the conflict was a physical battle that ended long ago. It was a conflict over agency and the Redeemer. Satan “maketh war with the saints of God” still (D&C 76:29).

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FAQQuick answers

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Sources

• King James Bible (churchofjesuschrist.org): Revelation 12:4 · Revelation 12:7–11 · Isaiah 14:12–15 · Luke 10:18 · Jude 1:6 · Job 1:6 · Job 38:7 · Hebrews 12:9
• Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 2:17–18 · 2 Nephi 2:27 · 2 Nephi 9:8–9
• Doctrine and Covenants: D&C 29:36–38 · D&C 76:24–29 · D&C 93:21 · D&C 27:11 · D&C 107:54
• Pearl of Great Price: Moses 4:1–4 · Abraham 3:22–28 · Moses 1:33
• Bible Dictionary, “War in Heaven” · “What We Know about Premortal Life,” New Era, Feb. 2015

• Featured image and in-article graphic: original graphics by thebookofmormon.ai (painterly backgrounds; no photographs or likenesses of real people).