And God said, “Let there be Light.” And there was Light. And God saw the Light and said it was good. And God divided the Light from the Darkness. And Lucifer (Light-bearer) was given the name Satan (Adversary), and the Devil and his angels were cast out of heaven.

Desiring in his heart to exalt himself as God, Lucifer spread accusations against God throughout heaven, planting doubts in the hearts of some regarding the proper order of power. The Lord put down the rebellion and cast Lucifer out with the angels that conspired with him.

Willing to dispel all doubts, the Lord proposed to allow evil to prosper for a time to bring forth its fruit and expose itself for the evil it is, and that the goodness and purity of God might be made manifest.

It was necessary for a battle between Good and Evil to occur on equal footing—one that could not take place in the presence of God, where the power of His holiness would consume Evil before the depths of it could be fully made manifest. The battleground must be a temporal one that could be eternally disposed of when its purpose was fulfilled.

Thus, the Lord in his wisdom created a temporal theater where Satan and his angels could accomplish their works until their deeds were clearly manifested and judged.

And so it is that those in heaven and earth who, by God, are appointed to either eternal life or everlasting destruction are separated—both are given an appointed time to bring forth fruit until the harvest is ripe. Then comes judgment when the fruit they produced becomes evidence for or against them—”And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” (Matthew 3:10)

God wisely created a temporal theater (Creation) to pit good against evil and make manifest the righteousness of God, as well as all the evil things that are outside of God. For this purpose, the world was made a stage—God said, “Let there be Light.” (knowledge). And God saw the Light and said it was good. And God divided the Light from the Darkness. Creation is the theater where light and darkness are made evident.

Moreover, just as theatrical productions feature heroes and villains, each involving various characters played by different actors, so does creation itself.

And whereas in the rendering of a story there is inequality between characters—for in every act there are heroes, villains, leading roles, supporting roles, and lesser characters—so also, reality contains every character type necessary for the fulfillment of all roles.

It is absurd to expect perfect equality, as it is absurd to demand that every character in every artistic production be equal in all ways.

There is, however, a significant difference between the theater God has created and productions for entertainment. In God’s work, the world is a stage and a dressing room for eternity. Every day, every soul is preparing their everlasting attire. We are either putting on white robes of righteousness or costumes of wickedness that will be stripped away in judgment, revealing our nakedness for all to see.

Everyone born has a role in life, regardless of how small or great. Every role fulfills a purpose. God has endowed us with freedom, unlike the pretenders who have their parts to rehearse and their lines to memorize. God has written the plot of the story. We can choose who we are, how we act, and whose side we are on. We develop our character as we go through life and speak what we will, but the Lord has the final word.

Are you rich or poor, male or female, Black, white, or other? Truth be told, ultimately none of these things matter. We will all be judged by God according to only one thing. How much do you love God? Love does no harm. Therefore, love is the keeping of God’s commandments, for God is love. (Romans 13:10)

Seeing that we will not be judged by any worldly measurement of differences but by our love, or lack thereof, worldly differences are rendered irrelevant regarding eternity. Many among the renowned who are now first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

Some are given the leading roles on center stage—those who choose to play a vile character speaking perverted lines shall be cast down. There are many others whose lives may have seemed inconsequential but who loved greatly and shall be exalted. The Lord has given hearts and souls to each of us; we each can choose to offer them back to Him or live for ourselves.

Hold to fairness and righteous judgment, but the equality this world preaches is inequality. To exalt equality where all things are not equal breeds hatred, envy, divisions, and every other evil. This is the root of bitterness that destroyed Lucifer.

Small or great, everyone’s role is immensely important; more important to us is how we each perform our roles. Do not envy the role of someone else or the place given to them. That was Lucifer’s folly, who imagined in his heart to be like the Most High.

God has no equal; he is far above all, higher than the heavens above the earth, but we can be like him if we love and obey him. It is his gift offered to us through his Son, Jesus Christ. As it is written: “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.” “It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his lord.” (Matthew 10:24-25)

And again, “But we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)