From Exalted to Cast Down
By Stephen Terry
You were anointed as a guardian
cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of
God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your
ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.
Ezekiel 28:14-15, NIV
The Bible tells us that all things were
created by God through Jesus. It tells us, "For in him all things were created: things in
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers
or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He
is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Colossians
1:16-17, NIV But
when we look around, we wonder how that could be. Minute by minute we are
inundated with news reports of tragedies, violence, oppression and myriad evils
complete with full-color pictures and video documenting the sadness and
heartache. Is this what God brought about? Did He create the evil that
surrounds us? Yes and no.
God did create the source of the evil
that is in the world. That evil arose in an angel's heart, an angel named
Lucifer. But the Bible says that when God created Lucifer, He created him
"perfect" according to the King James Bible or "blameless"
according to the New International Version. So how did evil come about?
God created all sentient beings with the
capacity to love. In order to freely love, one must have the ability to choose
not to love. God could have made the angels with a little button He could
push that would make the angel say "I love you." But even a
little girl with a doll that does the same quickly gets tired of this robotic
response and grows to desire a love with real meaning behind it. But God
took a risk in making the angels this way. They were self aware. They
could choose not to love Him. They could even choose to love something else.
Lucifer chose to love himself. We all have known the temptation to
let praise and congratulations "go to our heads." Lucifer did
exactly that.
The Bible tells us of him, "Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and
you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor." Ezekiel 28:17, NIV Other
verses in Ezekiel 28 reveal that Lucifer was beautiful and adorned with
precious stones and metals. He held a very high position in heaven. No
doubt he was highly honored and looked up to by those in his charge, but rather
than directing the honor and praise to God, he stored them up in his own heart.
There, like something left in the back of the refrigerator too long, it began
to spoil and corrupt his understanding. He began to have doubts about God
and attempted to see himself as equal to God and as rightful ruler over all the
angels.
Isaiah wrote of him, "How you have
fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast
down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in
your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my
throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on
the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of
Lucifer wanted to assume the place that
God held in relation to the rest of the Angels. How could he do this? Why would
the other angels even allow this? He was obviously successful to a greater
degree than one would think possible. Eventually he led many of the angels in
open rebellion and although the Bible says that his rebellion was defeated, a
third of the angels followed him. "Then
another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and
ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars
out of the sky and flung them to the earth." Revelation 12:4, NIV The
dragon according to verse 9 is a representation of Lucifer who eventually
became known as Satan or the Devil.
How could he have such influence over
the angels? First, he held a respected position in heaven. His word was honored
and believed. Second, before Lucifer, lying had been unknown among the
angels. Jesus told us that Lucifer invented lying. In John 8:44, He says of the
Devil "...When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is
a liar and the father of lies." NIV
Third, he was
willing to malign the motives of others, probably even God by accusing them of
evil. In Revelation 12:10 we are told that he carries on this work of
accusation "day and night."
When we consider these three tools, we
begin to understand why he had such success. Once he led the angels into
his camp, it would have been easy to add one more lie, the lie that they had
gone too far for God to ever accept them back. He uses these same tools on us. And
when we succumb he also tells us it is too late to come back to God.
A loving, accepting God is a danger to
everything Lucifer stands for. He would have us believe in a God who
takes a perverse delight in keeping people alive for all eternity simply so He
can torment and torture them. Is this what God is really like? Jesus
revealed God's true character when He came in the flesh. He said of
Himself, "...Anyone who has seen me has seen the
Father..." John 14:9, NIV As seen in Jesus, God takes no delight in the
misfortunes of others.
Jesus traveled all over
A God like this is a threat to Lucifer.
Lucifer continues to work to bring everyone on Earth to his point of view. He
succeeded with one third of the angels, why not us? But God is exactly
the opposite of how Lucifer portrays Him. Instead of arbitrary and petulant, He
is kind and caring. Isaiah says He is so gentle that He will not add extra
burdens to break a bruised reed or put out a smoldering wick of hope. (See
Isaiah 42:2-3) I choose to love that kind of God. Do you?
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