How did Lucifer have the ability to desire to commit sins?
Lucifer had (and has) the ability to desire to commit sins because God created human and angelic beings such as Lucifer with free will. God did not create any robots. God desires genuine relationships with the beings that He creates. He wants humans and angels to choose to love and serve Him instead of being pre-programmed to do so. The end result of free will is that some humans and angels will choose to serve God, while other humans and angels will reject God.
Concerning humans, there are many Bible verses that make it plain that we have free will. For example, we read in Deuteronomy 30:19, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” We have the same truth in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus said in Mark 8:34, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. In Revelation 22:17 we read, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
Concerning angels, we read about Lucifer’s free will in Isaiah 14:12-15. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”
Lucifer was not the only angel who rebelled against God. There have been many other angels who chose to sin and disobey their Creator. We read in 2 Peter 2:4, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” In Jude 6 we read, “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.”
Concerning your own free will, where do you stand with the Lord, dear reader? Have you repented of your sins and placed your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? He loved you so much that He died for you. If you have not yet done so, please use your free will to accept Christ today. (DJ) (655.5)