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The Premortal First Estate: From Innocence to Rebellion and Back
The Three Stages of the Premortal First Estate
The premortal first estate began with the birth of premortal spirits and ends when those spirits enter their mortal second estate.
The first estate has three stages, each defined by unique spiritual conditions:
Stage One – Innocence and Holiness
Began with the spirit birth of God’s children, who grew and matured in conditions of holiness, purity, and innocence.
These conditions continued until the time of the Grand Council on Kolob, when the Father convened His children to reveal the plan of salvation—also known as the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Stage Two – Rebellion and Fall
Began during the Grand Council, when Lucifer (Satan) rebelled against the plan of salvation and against Christ’s selection as the Redeemer.
Lucifer’s rebellion polluted the spiritually pristine environment of Kolob, making it a fallen world filled with uncleanness and evil.
The spiritual fall of Lucifer on Kolob was in the likeness of Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden.
Stage Three – Restoration and Victory
Began when Lucifer and his fallen angels were defeated at the end of the war in heaven (Revelation 12:10–12).
Salvation came to Kolob and to those who kept their first estate (Abraham 3:22–24).
Lucifer and his angels were cast down to this physical earth, and holiness, purity, and innocence were restored on Kolob.
Since then, every spirit born into mortality on this earth “was innocent in the beginning.” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:38)
The Agency of Spirits in the First Estate
God’s premortal spirit children always had agency in the first estate.
“God granted to each of his spirit children the gift of agency that they might, through its proper use, become as he is.” — Joseph Fielding McConkie & Donald W. Parry, Answers: Straightforward Answers to Tough Gospel Questions, p. 187 |
Agency is an eternal principle. However, it functioned differently in each stage of the first estate:
Before the Grand Council:
God’s spirit children had agency but could not sin, because they were not yet accountable.
They were like unaccountable children on earth, or like Adam and Eve before the Fall.During the Grand Council:
God implemented gospel law, and His spirit children became accountable.
This is why sin came to exist at the time of the Grand Council—because agency now carried the possibility of rebellion.
Lucifer’s Rebellion During the Grand Council
When God instituted gospel law during the Grand Council, Lucifer and many spirits who followed him became accountable.
They used their agency to reject the gospel and rebel against the Father.
“The inhabitants of heaven, who were selected to come on this creation, were agents, just as much as we are. They had a law given to them, just as much as we have. They had penalties affixed to that law, just the same as we have. They could keep that law given to them in heaven, just as well as we could keep a law given to us. They could rebel against that law, because of their agency, the same as we rebel against the laws of heaven.” — Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 21, p. 287 |
Lucifer offered to become the Redeemer, claiming he could save all of God’s children—but only by eliminating their agency.
“This would have been a philosophical impossibility.” — Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, pp. 91–92 |
Learn More
To learn why Lucifer’s plan was an impossibility and an ultimate act of rebellion, listen to my podcasts from:
🎧 October 5, 2025 – Click here to listen.
🎧 October 7, 2025 – Click here to listen.
(Also available wherever you get your podcasts 🎧)
John Cassinat
Unveiling Jesus Christ
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