Tis spoken of as a very great day indeed, a wonderful time and doubtless a time greatly calling for preparation. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. He became corrupt, and his name changed from Lucifer (morning star) to Satan (adversary). It would seem from the context of Ezekiel 28 that the first ten verses of this chapter are dealing with a human leader. All rights reserved. But it also explains perhaps why the Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 passages came to be associated with Satan even though they are not explicitly about him. In which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, The Lord said to Satan, From where have you come? Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it., For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.. (Isaiah 14:12-17). In other words, Edwards speculated that while Lucifer was only near the throne, Christ, being supremely higher and more excellent in His being, sat down forever with God on the throne. . K First, we know that the Lord created the angels prior to the Creation, according to Job 38:4-7: The sons of God in v.7 refers to angels, just as it does earlier in the book of Job and in Genesis 6. The sin that corrupted Lucifer was self-generated pride. Blog, A You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." Read Chapter All Versions Romans 16:20 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. Satan has been finally and irretrievably disfellowshipped by a holy God. Jonathan Edwards, Miscellanies No. The word in Hebrew for sanctuary literally means holy places. Bible Verses About Grace His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. Gouge, The Whole-Armour of God, 40. In Luke 1:10-11, Why Does Gabriel Appear on the Right? These passages describe why Satan fell, but they do not say when the fall occurred. But, as it reflects a spiritual puppet master BEHIND such a proud and shiny king, its no stretch at all. 2. It was the very excellency and greatness of Lucifer, according to Edwards, that became the occasion of his fall from heaven. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. He was the angel closest to the glory of God. On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. The Lord said to Satan, From where have you come? Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it. And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Does Job fear God for no reason? Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel. Bible Verses About Prayer, Bible Verses About Children Notice in v.12, we hear thatSatan had the seal of perfection. This view sees Isaiah 14:12-17 as having a dual reference. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but liebehold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O [ a]Lucifer, son of the morning! To be sure, the Devil still has access to the judicial throne room of the . The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. Pride As we examine the Bible, we find that pride was a factor in Satan's fall. 28:14) points to the fact that Lucifer was created as the highest of all the angels. William Gouge (15751653) wrote, The devils by creation were good angels, as powerful, wise, quick, speedy, invisible, and immortal as any other angels. [2] The Puritans believed that demons shared the same nature as angels, but through rebellion against God they became subject to divine judgment. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.Revelation 20:1-3 - And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. The writer of Hebrews mentions this later in his letter in chapter12, andin Revelation 21, we hear that this heavenly Zion willdescend from Heaven to become our newdwelling place foreternity. So why use them as such? In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. They parted from Pantheistic thought that tended to see good and bad in balance. Apparently, this represents the actual beginning of sin in the universepreceding the fall of the human Adam by an indeterminate time. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. 14; Ezek. And threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. Edwards, Miscellanies No. Edwards noted that this was a great honor and caused him to be exalted above all other angels. . Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com. W By Dustin Benge October 4, 2022 The fall of Satan and his angels is shrouded behind a veil and cloaked in mystery. Lucifer became so impressed with his own beauty, intelligence, power, and position that he began to desire for himself the honor and glory that belonged to God alone. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it? And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. Are We Ready for Our Journey to Eternity? 13. Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God: You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 320, in Works, in 13:401402. Edwards, Miscellanies No. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. 1. This is a moment when Satan sets a man in the Holy of Holiesand declares himself to be God. @dustinbenge So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. He was assigned to cover it, to husband it, and because he was so close to Gods glory, he wasfilled withviolence. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. A fall in ages past. Bible Verses About Hope, Bible Verses About Divorce And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole worldhe was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Isaiah also writes that he had a throne that he desired to exalt over all the "stars"angelsof God. Publisher: OpenBible.info. Edwards, Miscellanies No. Satan also accomplishedsomethingsimilar with Antiochus Epiphaniesshortly before Christs birth, andhe will repeat it again with the Antichrist inTribulation. . What Does Scripture Say about the Fall of Satan? And the dragon and his angels fought back. 908, in Works, 20:299. Because their language is prophetic and profound, and because here more than anywhere else do we get the sense of what Satan as angel really means: that he was PERFECT; that he was GOOD. 11. As a result of this heinous sin against God, Lucifer was banished from living in heaven (Isaiah 14:12). Bible Verses About Husbands 344, in Works, 13:418. NIV. Evidently, God had at some point also given him the earth to govern, as this passage shows him ascending to heaven, implying that he must have come from the earth. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Though this is about the King of Babylon, the reference to a starbrings to mind Job 38:7 which calls angels morning stars celebrating Gods work at creation. S If a verse or topic does not belong, please contact us. The Jews said one is eternal, the other doomed to fade away. The answer is most definitely, he does so on numerous occasions, but most notably in theAbomination of Desolation described inDaniel and by Jesus inMatthew 24. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. Box 702107 How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! All rights reserved. 3. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. Was this king really perfect or blameless? Bible Verses About Healing Jesus described seeing this moment in the Gospels: This is largely the extent of what we know concerning the timeline of Satans fall. "Devil," meaning slanderer, is the second most common, appearing 35 times. Regarding the fall of Satan and the Creation, there is no exact timeline in scripture, though in Ezekiel 28 we learn the full story of how Satan fell prior to the Creation while he lived in Heaven: Ezek. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. Bible Verses About Marriage And they said that God is the hero in the war who we should be cheering for the LORDis a warrior! and the God of gods. Luke 10:18 - And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. Christian Truth. How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. His station was in the holiest place in the tabernacle. In doing so, he profaned the Heavenly tabernacle. Sin originated in the free will of Lucifer in whichwith a full understanding of the issues involvedhe chose to rebel against the Creator. When the Bible says that Satan fell from heaven in Luke 10:18, that refers to his original fall in Isaiah 14:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:11-19. For example, Satan was on the holy mountain of God. Y Tell me, if you have understanding. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. When these angels fell, Gouge said, They lost not their natural substance, and essential properties thereof, no more than what man lost when he fell. But originally allIsaiah meant was morning star he was not giving us Satans name. We must be frank in admitting that some Bible scholars see no reference whatsoever to Lucifer in this passage. Bible Verses About Death 937, in Works, 20:195. For example, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 which Ill comment on later. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Some debate whether this war takes place before human history, or during the end times drama that John is describing, or around the time of Jesus birth. Badness they realized, has no intrinsic value. U 320, in Works, 13:401. In describing this king, Ezekiel also gives us glimpses of the superhuman creature, Satan, who was using, if not indwelling, him. But God, in His infinite wisdom, is using Satan's appetite for destruction as a way to further His plan and strengthen His people. 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; Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. 10. Editors note: This article was originally published in Tabletalk Magazine. You were an anointed guardian cherub. 940, in Works, 20:192. He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. 6. It cannot be known for certain if hell was created because of Satan's fall. However, the application of these passage for clues to Satans origin and fall have long precedent in Jewish thought before Christ and in the church, and they are perfectly consistent with what we ALREADYknow from other explicit scriptural teaching. I think the answer is no. The Jewish mind was trained on Scripture and the most fundamental idea about God in the Bible is that God is Good and God is Self Existent. Edwards, Miscellanies No. . Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. Rom. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. Who determined its measurementssurely you know! [17]. After that he must be released for a little while. You were an anointed guardian cherub. 28:12 "Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, 4. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. VERSE BY VERSE Our text tells us that this king was a created being and left the creative hand of God in a perfect state (Ezekiel 28:12-15). And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. Badness was, therefore, only corrupted goodness, there is nothing that is bad for its own sake. Satan is the father of lies, we can see that in John 8:44 when Jesus says," Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. In this context, Edwards believed this cherub to be the being who was in the closest proximity to the throne of God. (Ezekiel 28:11-19). He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. The Vikings Comeback and our Miraculous Existence, 12/24/2022 Christmas, Take 3: Christmas Retake, 12/18/2022 Christmas, Take 3: Take 3, Word and Flesh, 12/04/2022 Christmas, Take 3: Take 1, Dreams and Wisemen. 14. Now, there are things that are true of this king thatat least ultimatelycan not be said to be true of human beings. This likely occurred when God cursed the serpent. For instance If the self existent God is good, then goodness must be primary; badness must be secondary. Because Jesus Christ was fashioned in the likeness of men in His incarnation, Edwards said, Lucifer and a vast host of the other angels could not bear that such a being in human form, whom they considered below themselves, should rule over them in glory. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. Edwards, Miscellanies No. Treading on Serpents. On the day that you were created they were prepared. The role of angels in Heaven prior to the Creation seems to be to praise the Lord singing before His throne. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Cite this page: Editor: Stephen Smith. Edwards believed the title of the anointed cherub (Ezek. 12). And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.. Satan can never enter the third heaven again. The angels were created before the Earth. Edwards, Miscellanies No. At this point in Revelation chapter 12 Satan has just been cast out of heaven. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. This mighty angelic being was rightfully judged by God: I threw you to the earth (Ezekiel 28:18). Bible Verses About Strength Christ the Son of God manifested himself as an opposite head, and appeared graciously to dissuade and retrain by his grace the elect angels from hearkening to Lucifers temptation. Trade is a term in Hebrew meaning merchandise, and in this context it refers to Satans trade as the covering cherub. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Mountain, Brightness, Stars, sons of God are all standard O.T. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. Bible Verses About Love The Loveliest Place: The Beauty and Glory of the Church. Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? Nevertheless, we do get some details in the Bible. degrees from Dallas Theological Seminary. So the spiritual powers in the world that drove evil (and all Bible writers agreed that there were spiritual powers in the world) must have been, at one point, good since everything came from a good God. The temple mount is a representation of Mt. Why does God allow Satan and the demons to attack us? Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! In the absence of other clear Biblical teaching regarding Satan's fall, it would be a very unwise course of action fraught with questionable hermeneutics to declare this scripture as a description of the fall of Satan. It is argued that the being mentioned in this verse is referred to as a man (Isaiah 14:16); is compared with other kings on the earth (verse 18); and the words, How you have fallen from heaven (verse 12), is alleged to refer to a fall from great political heights. The story of Lucifers fall is described in two key Old Testament chaptersEzekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. P Thus we can infer a lot from just these two passages: that Satan must have been one of Gods creations, one of his angels and his rebellion happened in prehistory and he was not alone in his rebellion, taking many angels with him. He is author of many articles and several books, including The Loveliest Place: The Beauty and Glory of the Church and The American Puritans. How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 5. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. language for the unseen realm, and spiritual forces, used ubiquitously (Job 38, Psalm 82, Gen 6). And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. It might sound counterintuitive, but there are verses throughout the Bible that reveal this truth. Is the devil real? He was very good originally. Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. What are demons? Christianity.com is a member of the Salem Web Network of sites including: Copyright 2023, Christianity.com. Geocoding 1 Timothy 3:6 which makes reference to Satans conceit). However,given what WAS explicitly known about Satan from Genesis, and Job, the Jews already in the inter-testamental period began to associate this passage with Satan. The history of angels (and demons) is sparsely covered in scripture, probably because they are secondary to the purposes of God in authoring scripture. True enough. 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! G The only explicit reference to Satans Fall is found in Jesus teaching and in Revelation. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole worldhe was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Clearly, the stars of Revelation 12:4 match the fallen angels of Revelation 12:7, Revelation 12:9. How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! Ezekiel 28:13-19 - Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. This is summarized in His covenant name, Yahweh literally I AM. This is what was sown along the path. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Benge came to Southern from Union School of Theology in the United Kingdom, where he served as provost and professor of church history. R The holy mountain of God is Mt. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. L The covering cherub refers to those angels whose wings covered themercy seat on top of the ark of the covenant. In eternity past there was God alone, and there existed only one will at that point God's. No, Satans counterpart is Michael, not God who has no counterpart. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil., Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. At verse 16 the text focuses on Satan's fall from God's grace. He became conceited and was envious of God. In a passage that may speak of the original fall of this anointed angel, we read the following. Can you explain Satan's origins and his fall? T How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! But the Lord is faithful. After the creation of man, angels fulfill their primary purpose, which is to minister to the saints: Regarding the fall of Satan and the Creation, there is no exact timeline in scripture, though in Ezekiel 28 we learn the full story of how Satan fell prior to the Creation while he lived in Heaven: First, the writer says Satan was an angel created by God and perfectly made. This pride represents the actual beginning of sin in the universepreceding the fall of the human Adam by an indeterminate time. If this passage contains a reference to the fall of Lucifer, then the pattern of this passage would seem to fit that of the Ezekiel 28 referencethat is, first a human leader is described, and then the dual reference is made to a human leader and Satan. Verses 1 and 11 are clear that this is speaking regarding the king of Tyre. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.. This is where Satan got that name. What was supposed to be an honor to Satan became a cause for him torebel against God, and he so loved seeing his privileged position next to the glory ofGod that he began to think he was equal toGod. Then, in verses 12 through 17, we find a dual reference that includes not just the king of Babylon but a typological description of Lucifer as well. The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. John agrees, the Dragons starting place was heaven. Naturally, we assume this refers to the garden than Adam andWoman occupied, andof course, Satan was in the earthly garden in Genesis 3.But if we look more closely at this passage, we see clues thatsuggest this garden isnt the same one asthat in Genesis 3. The Significance of Angelic Echoes and the Nativity. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole worldhe was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. So I dont dismiss the Isaiah or Ezekiel passages as clues to Satans origin and fall as easily as some scholars do. On the day that you were created they were prepared. Benge has served in itinerant preaching and pastoral ministry for 26 years, and currently travels extensively to preach in churches and conferences. When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased! This doesnt mean that Satan had no further access to heaven, for other Scripture verses clearly indicate that Satan maintained this access even after his fall (Job 1:6-12; Zechariah 3:1,2).
