The first recorded rebellion did not take place on planet earth. It took place in Heaven, before the creation of Man. Man, was later created to glorify God in the midst of this ongoing battle in the spiritual realm.
Fallen Man perceive themselves, and not God, as being the center of attention with everything else revolving around them. It's beyond human ability for most of us to completely comprehend that there was a time when Man did not exist, or that once created, every soul will live on throughout endless eternity future, either in divine glory, or separated from God in never-ending torment in what Scripture (1) calls the lake of fire.
Fallen Man’s focus of attention is on the here and now, with little interest or concern for what had taken place in eternity past, or what will take place in eternity future.
This frame of mind plays right into the devil’s hand.
Present day rebellion in the spiritual realm can take place when one chooses to deny or to disobey divine authority, or divinely-appointed authority (2). Most of the trouble we see in what has become our godless society, organized religion, and deteriorated family structure is the result of neglect or abuse on the part of persons in positions of authority, and or rebellion on the part of persons in positions of subordination.
The leader of this first rebellion was the one we now call Satan. He had been created in the form of a cherub (winged angelic being) who served as a guardian in the very throne room of God in Heaven (3), for an undisclosed period of time during eternity past.
This period of time could have been relatively brief or for trillions of years, or more.
God did and does not desire to be worshiped or served by creatures who have no choice in the matter, but by ones that choose to do so.
In order to do so, God had given free will to the members of the angelic realm with which they could make this choice to do so, or not.
god would later do the same with the members of the human race.
Satan served God in the place, position, and function for which God created him until unrighteousness was revealed in him (4).
This unrighteousness that was revealed in him was the result of Satan choosing to make negative use of his God-given free will.
It manifested itself in a desire to be prosperous, while being independent of God. Like Man, who would later be created, members of the angelic nrealm were given free will, with which they could choose for or against God and the things of God. By the choices THEY made, they would reap either the blessings or the consequences of their own decisions.
Many of God’s angels chose to follow Satan, splitting the angelic realm into two categories. The angels who chose for God would henceforth be referred to as elect angels, and those who chose to follow Satan would henceforth be referred to as fallen angels.
Be it in the heart of an angelic being, or in the heart of a human being, rebellion begins with the desire to get out from under an existing authority, with the immediate objective of establishing his own independence, with the long term objectives of improving” one’s present situation, and/or the freedom to do his or her own thing, his or her own way, fulfilling his or her own plans or desires.
The deceived woman, later named Eve, thought that the eatingof the forbidden fruit would improve the situation and environment that she and Adam shared (5).
Freedom can become a blessing or a curse. Absolute freedom from all authority opens the door to chaos and anarchy. Freedom without restraint places one on the road of inevitable destruction.
With our God-given freedom to make choices, we are free to choose to what, to Who, or to whom we are going to submit ourselves, but we are not free from having to make those choices. Nor are we free from the consequences of making the wrong decisions.
Total freedom is an illusion.
Freedom from one source will inevitably result in bondage to another.
The “mind of the rebel” is outlined in Isa. 14: 13, 14. It reflects the thinking of Satan prior to his rebellion, and the thinking of everyone who entertains a rebellious heart.
Our actions or inactions are the manifestation of the thoughts that we have entertained.
“For as he thinks within himself, so he is (Prov. 23: 7 NASB2020).”
As a member of the fallen human race, we do not like being told what we are, or what we are not, to do.
Many times our “compliance” with authority is often only to avoid the negative consequences of getting caught.
To our own hurt, when we think we might get away with the enjoying the “temporary pleasures of sin (Heb. 11: 25 NASB2020),” there is a good chance we might risk doing it in order to satisfy the desires of the fallen nature within us.
Such risk-taking takes place when we live in denial of the omniscience of God and disregard the Gal. 6: 7 principle of reaping what we sow.
Satan encourages weak believers to rebel by pointing to the prosperity of the wicked. Maturing believers will have less and less of an interest in all that this world has to offer, whereas a weak believer can be overcome by envy and jealousy.
Other times, our compliance with authority is the means to gain the favor (in order to get something we want) from those is positions of authority.
this pseudo-loyalty becomes evident by the change in attitude and behavior when it becomes evident to the manipulator that such compliance is not getting him or her what they desired.
He or she may maintain the appearance of going along with the program, but in the heart of any rebel, the wheels are always turning, looking for the opportunity and or the means to achieve his or her independent agenda (6).
a spiritually-mature follower of the Lord Jesus Christ has no independent agenda (7). He or she will desire to learn (8) and to do (9) the right thing, regardless of the immediate outcome, or the long term persecution That those who live godly will experience (10).
f we were honest, we would all have to concede that we have all (11) listened and followed the rebellious voice of the fallen nature within us.