Beyond the mere fact that he impiously did rebel in heaven against God, and that he was impelled thereto by a vaulting ambition which overleaped itself, the Hebrew scriptures give us little information concerning Lucifer. No cause for the rebellion is assigned, though evidence {LVIII} of the fact and reality of the rebellion is abundant. [50] In some ancient scripture revealed to Joseph Smith, however, the cause of that Lucifer-led rebellion is stated. It was immediately connected with man's earth-life, and the means and conditions of his salvation. In order that the reader may appreciate the force of the truth to be presented, it is necessary to remind him that the spirit of man had an existence before he dwelt in his body of flesh and bones--a self-conscious existence, in which he possessed all the faculties and attributes that the spirit or mind of man now possesses; that the time had come when the present earth-life became necessary to his continued progress; that all that would take place in that earth-life was known to God--the fall of man, the wickedness of the human race, the redemption through the atonement of a sinless sacrifice--all was known, and for all these events ample provisions were to be made; one chosen to open the series of dispensations that should make up the history of man's earth-life; one chosen to redeem man from his fallen state. It was at this point that Lucifer came before the grand council in heaven saying: 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. "But, behold," said the Lord, "My Beloved Son, which was My Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto Me--Father, Thy will be done, and the glory be Thine forever. Wherefore, 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, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto My voice." [51] This discloses the reason of Lucifer's rebellion--opposition to the plan of man's redemption--a counter plan that involved the destruction of the agency of man. Then what? "I beheld Satan," says Jesus, "as lightning fall from heaven." [52] "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation. He hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." [53]