What is Free Will?

God has given angels and humans the gift of free will. Everyone makes a choice. We can choose whether or not we will love God. If we love God, we will trust and obey Him.

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The Angels’ Choice

God created angels as eternal beings with supernatural powers. They have seen God’s amazing glory and power face-to-face. Having seen the awesomeness of God, they could choose to love and serve Him – or they could choose to rebel against Him.

⁶ And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. (Jude 1: 6)

¹⁴ It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. (Revelation 9: 14-15)

Those angels who remained faithful to God still serve Him but those angels that sinned against God have been permanently cast out His presence. They are in Hell, bound until the time of God’s judgment. At the 6th Trumpet, 4 angels who had been bound are released to do the evil that they have been kept from for many years. (See: What is the 6th Trumpet?)

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Satan’s Choice

⁷ The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” (Job 1: 7)

⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. (Job 2: 7)

⁸ Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5: 8)

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4: 7)

⁹ The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. ¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. (Revelation 12: 9-10)

Satan is still allowed to be in God’s presence in order to accuse God’s people of sin. He also afflicts God’s people. There will be a time when Satan is permanently cast out of heaven. When it happens, he will know that his time is short and he will rage against God’s people. (See: What is the Great Tribulation?)

Satan will eventually receive the punishment he deserves: he will be cast in to a lake of fire for eternal torment. (See: What is the Lake of Fire?)

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Adam & Eve’s Choice

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2: 15-17)

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3: 4-5)

²² And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. (Genesis 3: 22)

When God made Adam and Eve, He walked with them in the garden of Eden each day. They saw Him face-to-face but in a different way than the angels did. They were deceived by Satan and they sinned against God. When sin entered the world, death also entered the world. Humans were mortal. Their earthly bodies will eventually die. (See: What was the Beginning of this Age?)

If God had allowed Adam and Eve to live eternally in their sin, they would forever be separated from Him. But God loved them and had a plan to redeem them from their sin. (See: What are the Messianic Prophesies?)

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Humanity’s Choice

²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6: 23)

²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss^[d] your servant in peace. ³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation, ³¹ which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: ³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2: 29-32)

¹¹ Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ ¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4: 11-12)

Each person is given a choice to make: love God or rebel against Him. Since humans are sinful, even those who choose God are separated from Him. That is why God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be sacrificed for the sin of the world.

The Lamb of God paid the price for sin so that humans could be forgiven. But in order to be forgiven, each person must choose to accept the gift of salvation. In addition, each person must choose to love God and make Him the Lord of their life. (See: What is the debate about Jesus Christ?) (See: Why didn’t the Jews recognize their Messiah?) (See: What did Jesus say about Himself?) (See: What’s in a Name?)

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The People of the End Times Choice

¹⁵ The second beast was given power to give to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.¹⁶ It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. (Revelation 13: 15-17)

² The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. (Revelation 16: 2)

¹¹ And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14: 11)

¹² This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. (Revelation 14: 12)

⁴ I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20: 4)

During the Great Tribulation, everyone will be forced to choose. They will either choose to worship the Beast or they will choose to remain faithful to Jehovah God. The choice they make will have eternal consequences. (See: What is the Great Tribulation?)

Anyone who worships the beast or its image or takes its mark will share the same fate as the beast: eternal torment in a lake of fire. (See: What is the Mark of the Beast?)

Those who remain faithful to God will be severely persecuted during the Great Tribulation but they will be rewarded in the after life. (See: What is the Great Multitude in White Robes?) (See: What is Faithfulness and Patient Endurance?) (See: What is the Rapture?)

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 The Millennium’s Choice

² He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. ³ He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. (Revelation 20: 2-3)

¹⁶ Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. ¹⁷ If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. (Zechariah 12: 16-17)

²⁰ “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. (Isaiah 65: 20)

⁷ When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison ⁸ and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. ⁹ They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. ¹⁰ And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20: 7-10)

After the end times, humans will no longer rule the earth: God will. Satan will be bound for a thousand years and he will not be allowed to mess with humans during that time. During this time, humans will still be born and will live many  years. But humans are still mortal and they will die because the thousand year reign is still not heaven.

After the thousand years, Satan will be released. He will deceive humans again and lead them in one final war with God. Satan will will lose and God will pass judgment on Satan and his followers. (See: What is the Beginning of the Next Age?)

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A Multitude of Choices

God has chosen to give His creation many opportunities to choose Him. God also provides many different scenarios for that choice:

• A time when angels saw the glory of God face-to-face
• A time when Adam & Eve walked with God in the garden of Eden
• A time when mankind has been given dominion over the earth
• A time of great distress to force humans out of their complacency
• A time when God will live on the earth and rule over humans

God does not desire that anyone should perish so He has provided many different ways to reach His creation. Despite the abundance of opportunities and scenarios, some people will not choose God. But some people will.

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