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CODY - Elder Joseph Anderson in his November 1974 talk entitled, "A Testimony of Christ" said this, "We knew the Father of our spirits as well as we know our earthly father here. We knew our elder brother Jehovah and we also knew Lucifer, who too was a son of the morning." And then in D&C 76:26 it says, " And was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him--he was Lucifer, a son of the morning." Then we can only find that reference once in the Bible in Isaiah 14:12 "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!". I understand based on what I've been taught that Lucifer is Satan's Heavenly before he was cast down. And in D&C it says, "he is fallen, EVEN a son of the morning".....meaning it must have been a big deal that he fell. My question for you is, what do you believe a son of the morning is? If there is no real doctrine that defines a "son of the morning" then what is your valued opinion?

JOEL - Yes it was a big deal that Lucifer fell. We know that Lucifer had some form of authority in the pre-existence as suggested in the following scripture:

"And this we saw also, and bear record, that an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved and who was in the bosom of the Father, was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son," (D&C 76:25)

He may have even been the second born of the spirit of our heavenly parents following Jesus. Notice that the D&C 76 scripture calls Satan "a" son of the morning, which suggests that "Son of the morning" (D&C 76:26) is a title that might be given to any of our Father in Heaven's most senior spirit children. However, in the few places we find this title in the scriptures(D&C 76:26; Isa. 14:12-16; 2 Ne. 24:12-16), it seems to only be used when refering to Satan. In regards to the title "son of the morning", Bruce R. McConkie said:

"This name-title of Satan (Son of the Morning), indicates he was one of the early born spirit children of the Father. Always used in association with the name Lucifer, son of the morning also apparently signifies son of light or son of prominence, meaning that Satan held a position of power and authority in pre-existence. (D. & C. 76:25-27; Isa. 14:12-20.)" (Mormon Doctrine p. 744)

The question one might ask is what kind of authority was this? Was it God-given priesthood authority the same as Jesus had or was this "authority" he had simply a consequence of his seniority above all the other spirits in the pre-existence?

In Hebrew the phrase "son of the morning", means "son of the dawning light." In other scriptures we see similar references associating the word "morning" to pre-mortal spirits, such as the phrase "morning stars" (Job 38:7; D&C 128:23). Christ is called the "bright and morning star" (Rev. 22:16) and the "morning star" (Rev. 2:28), the most eminent of all stars.

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