12 Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God.
From all that we know about God the Father, which admittedly
is not a whole lot, we can conclude that he has a purpose for everything he does.
There is no wasted act, no wasted effort, and no wasted creation. What would
make something wasted effort, of no value, or, as Lehi puts it, “a thing of
naught?” If it does not support God’s work and His glory, which is to “bring to
pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1: 39), then it is a thing
of no eternal value to Him, or a thing of naught. We are in this life to be
trained and tested, but for what purpose? To see if we are worthy of eternal
life with our Heavenly Father. Key to that effort is the exercise of agency, as
has been discussed. That’s why everything created needs to have its opposite.
If our agency is destroyed, then our chances for exaltation are also destroyed.
Then even we would have been created
as a thing of naught. That’s why Satan’s plan could not work or be accepted. If
there is no chance of failure there is no chance of success. If there is no
chance of success, then the whole effort is for naught. All the mercy and
justice in the eternities would have no value or purpose if there were no
agency. And if God cannot accomplish His work and glory, then he is essentially
powerless, at least in that thing. So opposition is key to agency. Therefore it
is key to God’s wisdom, eternal purpose, power, mercy, and justice. Without
opposition, all of these things would be destroyed.
Using a sports metaphor, if there is no winner, there is no
loser, and the whole point of a sporting event is to determine who is better at
that particular event. If it is impossible to make that determination, there is
no point to the contest. In terms of our current discussion, God needs to
determine who is worthy to join Him in godhood, and he can’t do that without a
test, which is opposition.
