Salvation History. Chapter 8: - The Rebellion of Lucifer.

Chapter 8: - The Rebellion of Lucifer.

WHERE THE REBELLION BEGAN.


Colossians 1:16.
“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”

As we noted in an earlier chapter, this appears to be a description of the angelic hierarchy.
Paul seems to be endorsing the idea of this structure and gives these orders of angels: Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers.

The Bible seems to indicate that rebellion against God broke out in the Principality, or Archangel, realm. Lucifer, who seems to have been the chief archangel, appears to have lead a third of the angels in rebellion against God.


Revelation 12:1-4.
“A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. “

The Dragon is later identified as Satan, or Lucifer.

Revelation 12:9.
“The great dragon was hurled down (to earth) - that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray...”

This passage, though it appears in the book of Revelation, is not completely prophetic, in the sense that it is not all future. Rather it is a description of the Conflict between God and Satan over human history.

One of the features of Apocalyptic literature, the genre of literature Revelation belongs to, is that it seeks to two sets of connections:
(i) The connection between events in the spiritual realm and events on the earth.
In this case John is going to show us the connection between the incredible evil that comes on the world in the last 3 ½ years of human history and the expulsion of Satan from the mid-heavens where he has had a kingdom, rivaling God’s kingdom, set up.
(ii) The connection between events in past history and events in the present and in the future.
In this case John is going to show us the connection between the victory of the manchild, Christ, the victory of the Church and the expulsion of Satan from the mid-heavens. The victory of Christ, won on the Cross, was past when John wrote, but it is the foundation that makes possible the victory of the saints in the future. There is an indissoluble link between the two events even though they are separated by more than 2000 years of human history. It is the victory of the saints which enables the expulsion of Satan and his forces from the mid-heavens.

This passage tells us that Satan took with him a third of the stars, or angels, when he rebelled.

This Satanic host seems to be organized into a very tight knit army, or kingdom. They work together, though the motivation appears to be fear from the domination of the stronger spirits in the structure. However the Bible is clear - the kingdom of the enemy, for whatever reason, is united.


Matthew. 12:22-26.
“Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?" But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons." Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided
against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?”

Christ here tells us, at least by strong implication, that Satan’s kingdom is united.


THE LOCATION OF THE SATANIC KINGDOM.


This kingdom, Paul tells us. is "in the heavenlies".

Ephesians 6:12.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

As we have seen, this is the second, or mid, heavens. This is an area of Authority between God's heaven and Earth in which these rebellious angels have been able to take refuge.

The mid-Heavens seems to be the major area of this war. Satan, when he rebelled, was cast out of God's heaven, but remains in the heavenlies, in the mid-heavens.

It seems as if the Fallen angels, by and large, do not want to come down to earth - their action is in the heavens. Satan therefore carries out his work on earth with the aid of another host of evil spirits, called demons. The nature and origin of demons we will consider later.


THE ANGELIC REBELLION.


The Bible does not tell us much about the angelic rebellion. However Jewish tradition is very clear, and is supported by the few comments the Bible makes that relate to the question. We shall cover all the relevant material as we proceed through this book.

The Satanic rebeliion seems to have come in two phases:

(a) The Rebellion of Satan.

This was the first phase. It seems as if Lucifer had a third of the angels under his authority, and when he rebelled he managed to sway them to go with him. The details of Satan's rebellion, and how he influenced the other angels, are found later in this chapter.

(b) Affliction of Mankind by the Fallen Angels.

Some of the Angels who fell later on began to directly attack mankind. We shall look at this episode in a later chapter.


THE CHIEF FALLEN ANGEL - SATAN.

A Warning:
Before we start we need to be Reminded of the words of Martin Luther: "Satan is God's Satan"

God created him as Lucifer, his tasks were originally given to him by God though he has now corrupted them. Hence he is not all powerful, or to be feared.

1. First Mention.

Genesis 1:31 "God looked at everything he had made and it was all very Good".

God looked at "all that he had made" - this includes "the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) and declared it all to be "very good". We must assume from this that evil had not yet entered into God’s creation. Lucifer had not yet rebelled and become "Satan", "the Adversary".

But we turn the page and it seems things are not all that good.

Genesis 3:1
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

Clearly, as the story unfolds, we see that the Snake is not so good. We are probably not intended to see here a literal talking snake, rather another intelligent being is using the snake as a mouthpiece.

A Side Note:
Eve did not seem to see the fact that an animal was talking to her was anything out of the ordinary - and, presumably, neither did Adam, as the text says that "he was there with her". This may indicate that, before the Fall, men had the ability to communicate with some or all of the animals. Walt Disney may not be so far fetched afer all.

Back to our main thought:
This is the first hint we have that there is some being that is not doing the will of God perfectly. We are not told here where he came from but his existence is simply assumed.

Revelation 12:9(above) - The snake is Satan.


2. Where did he come From?


Luke 10:17-19.
“The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

"I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
Is this a historical statement referring to the ministry of Jesus and Satan’s defeat by Christ? Or is Jesus referring to Satan’s pre-history? The second option is probably preferable.

The words of Jesus here imply:
(i) Satan was at one time in Heaven.
(ii) He fell from there.
(iii) There is a war going on.
(iv) Satan still has real power.
(v) The disciples of Christ have power over Satan’s power.
(vi) Our names are now written in the Heaven Satan fell from.

This suggests that it is Satan’s fall from the Third Heaven that is in view – where our names are written.

Note: These words of Jesus are a clear claim to have existed in heaven before he lived on earth. I.e. it is a claim that he is divine.


THREE REFERENCES THAT SHED SOME LIGHT ON SATAN’S ORIGINS.


1. Ezekiel 28:11-19.
“The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him:
`This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "`You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. 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.
Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come
to a horrible end and will be no more.'"


This passage is generally held to be a description of Lucifer in his unfallen state, and how he rebelled against God. Some statements in it clearly cannot refer to the human king of Tyre as they go beyond human experience.

(a) Ezekiel 28: 11-15(a) His Unfallen State.

v12 "you were the seal of perfection"

Apparently Lucifer was created by God as the most beautiful and most powerful of his angels. In all the angelic hosts he was second to none.

v12 "full of wisdom"

God placed his wisdom in this angel; he had access to all the wisdom of God.

It is felt by many that Lucifer was created by God to be the protector of God's law. He was to represent God in trying and sifting Justice, like the Public Prosecutor in a court. He was the greatest of God's law enforcement officers.

This function he now continues, but in a perverted way. He has become a legalist. He shows an inflexibility of Law and no mercy. This is a corruption of the truth of God because judgment is God's strange work, it is not what God wants to do, there is more to God - love and mercy. Law and judgment are the opposite to this. Satan ends up opposing God's true purposes by over-emphasizing a part.

There is a clear parallel between Satan and the Law in the writings of Paul which confirms this idea. The Law of God, when it becomes an end in itself, becomes Demonic, Satanic.

v12 "perfect in beauty"

There was no being more beautiful.

v12 "you were in Eden, the Garden of God"

This may refer to the garden of Paradise in Heaven (2 Corinthians 12), but more likely refers to the Garden of Eden on Earth (Genesis 2,3). I am not aware of anywhere in scripture that calls any part of Heaven by the name "Eden".

It seems that Lucifer was given a special task in the Garden of Eden.
Lucifer was clearly, like all angels, given an area of authority before his fall. This area seems to have included earth. We infer this from the fact that he still operates in this area. This idea is also confirmed by Scripture:

John 12:31.
“Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.”

John 14:30.
“I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me,…”

John 16:11.
“… and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”

This title, "the prince of this world", suggests that Satan has a legitimate authority in this area. The fact that Jesus gives him this title suggests that Jesus knew the authority was legitimate, and was originally God given. God appointed him as the guardian archangel over earth.

So it would seem that Lucifer was appointed by God to be the angel prince over earth as part of his responsibilities.

The fact that God later on created man and gave to man a higher authority in this area may be the prime reason for Satan's rebellion and fall. Three factors could have been at play here:

(i) The jealousy he would experience at being, at least in his own eyes "usurped",

(ii) Also the sense of resentment and shame at being the only "Prince angel" in the universe who did not have absolute authority in his own fiefdom.

(iii) Resentment at being “ordered around” by this lowly, physical being that did not have, as he had, access to God in heaven.

Lucifer seems to have had a special relationship with earth and man before the Fall. It seems as if he - alone of all the angels - had insight into God's special plan for man, and the special place man had in God's heart. This special insight is implied by the earlier phrase “full of wisdom” where wisdom must be understood in the Biblical sense to mean, “the plan of God from Eternity”.


"every precious stone was your covering"

Compare this with:
Exodus 28:15-21.
"Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions- the work of a skilled craftsman. Make it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. It is to be square- a span long and a span wide- and folded double. Then mount four rows of precious stones on it. In the first row there shall be a ruby, a topaz and a beryl;
in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald;
in the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst;
in the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper. Mount them in gold filigree settings.
There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

Revelation 21:19,20.
The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.”

In both of these passages the stones symbolise/represent the people of God. Was Lucifer the original priest, the representative of God to man? The reference to the "holy mountain" may confirm this. He is clearly interested in religion today!


NASB "the anointed cherub that covereth"

He appears to have been given the task of ensuring that God's plan for man came to pass. Under the Trinity he seems to have had the top position of authority in Heaven and earth. "Covereth" has the idea of being a guardian, hence a guardian angel.

v13 "and your engravings "

NASB = “tambourines” i.e. music.

It seems that Lucifer had the particular responsibility for organizing worship in Heaven. Music is still a major part of his deception today.

v14 "you were on the mountain of God"

The place where God especially dwells. It implies that Lucifer had special access to God, a special relationship ahead of all the angels.

"in the midst of the stones of fire you walked"

He was absolutely pure and could walk in the presence of God's holy fire.

v15 "you were blameless in all your ways"

God was pleased with this part of his creation.


(b) Ezekiel 28:15(b) -18(a) Lucifer's Rebellion.

v15 "till iniquity was found in you"

Iniquity, Hebrew = rebellion. i.e. the act of will in opposition to God.

It appears that angels are not just robots without a will. If that had been the case Lucifer could not have rebelled, nor could his associates. The difference between men and angels is not in the presence of will, but in the presence of a physical body. We are created differently for living in different spheres of life.

v16 "in the abundance of your trade"

Hebrew = "by your slanders, to go up and down as a tale bearer, to agitate secretly."

Other Uses: - Leviticus 19:16, Proverbs 11:13, 20:19 Jeremiah 6:28, 9:4, Ezekiel 22:9.

This was Lucifer's method. He went about slandering God to all and sundry. He is still the same today. Slander is his main tool. He:
(i) Slanders God to us.
(ii) Slanders us to God.
(iii) Slanders us to each other.

All slander starts with Satan. By this process of slander he gained the allegiance of some angels and led them in rebellion against God. Possibly these were those angels he already had authority over.
“Satan”, Hebrew = literally “the slanderer, the accuser”.

v16 "you were internally filled with violence"

In his heart he plotted to overthrow God by force. It does not seem as if he actually had the chance to try this out. Our next passage of scripture talks more of this.

v17 "your heart was proud"

His problem was pride. Pride is the root of all rebellion.

v17 " because of your beauty"

The writer keeps going back to the idea that Lucifer was beautiful - exceedingly so.
He is still promoting the beauty cult today.

v17 "you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor"

He began to think too much about his own importance instead of who he was in relation to God. Wisdom begins with fearing God, and to do this we must see ourselves in the light of God.

(c) Ezekiel 28:1618. His Judgment.

v16 "so I cast you from the mountain of God"

He lost his intimate fellowship with God, hence his access to God's knowledge and secrets. All of Satan's knowledge is now "old hat" - 6000 years old in fact. He does not know the up-to-date of God's plan of redemption, or his plans for us.

v17 "I exposed you"

What he is really like is plain for all to see.

v18 "it consumed you".

Satan will be destroyed by his own devices.


2. Isaiah 14:12-15.
“How you have fallen from heaven, O 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 heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."
But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.”


(a) His Name.

Again this passage goes beyond the literal application to an earthly ruler. It is believed to be a description of Satan.

v12 "O Day Star" = Hebrew “Lucifer”.

Lucifer = The Shining One, The Light Bringer.

His name implies that he was, even by angelic standards, an angel of great glory. In fact, it implies he was the most glorious of the angels.
Presumably he had a function of "bringing light". This primarily would mean in the sense of "bringing God's wisdom to the rest of creation" but there is no reason why it cannot have a physical meaning. Lucifer could have been created to be the original light in our universe when God said, "Let there be light."

Question: Why did God create Satan?
Answer: He didn't - he created Lucifer, Lucifer became Satan by his own rebellious will.

(b) The Process of his Fall.

v13,14 - "I will..." five times.

The exercise of self will against God to take God's place and be like God.

Two main sins of Satan:
(i) Pride - exaltation of the ego.
(ii) Rebellion - self will.

These two are the cause of all sin.

3. John 8:44.
(Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and rulers) “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”


Question: When did Lucifer rebel?

There are Four Theories Today:
(i) Before the creation of the world.
(ii) Between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.
(iii) Between Genesis 2:1,2 and 3:1.
(iv) His fall was the same as the Fall of Man.

It seems that (i) & (ii) are not likely because of Genesis 1:31: "It was all very good".
This statement of God’s applies to all of creation, the heavens and the earth including all of their inhabitants. If we allow this verse its full weight we must assume Lucifer had not yet rebelled.

This statement by Jesus in John 8:44 sheds some light on the question of when Lucifer rebelled.

"from the beginning".
This cannot mean:
(i) "from the beginning of creation" - as this would imply Satan was eternal, which he is not.
(ii) "from the beginning of Lucifer's (Satan's) existence" - as he was not created evil.

It must mean “from the beginning of his rebellion.”

Thus, according to these words of Christ, Lucifer’s initial crime was an act of murder surrounded by lies. This is exactly the picture we find in Genesis 3 where the Serpent tempts Eve and the result is that man “died”. In other words the beginning of Satan's sin was also the beginning of man's. That was the decisive moment when Satan forsook his true identity and resolved to entice man against God. This was "murder" because as a result man died spiritually and (eventually) physically.

The fact that Satan and man are cursed together in Genesis 3 suggests that their sin was together.

Question: Why did God not just blot Lucifer out when he rebelled?

Answer: If Lucifer had tied in his rebellion with the defection of man from God then he had pulled off a masterful stroke. Lucifer was, and still is, a legalist. He knew the law of God. He knew that God could not judge him unless he also judged man. But man was the object of God’s love in a special way. Lucifer knew that for God to be righteous, if he blotted out Lucifer then he would have to blot out man as well.

The late Derek Prince used to put it something like this:
"In a sense Satan is arrogant. He knows he is guilty and destined to Hell, but he also knows that God is righteous and just - so he plays on that. His argument with God goes something like this: "I know I am guilty - but you can't judge me unless you judge man as well because they are guilty of the same sin. You can't send me to Hell unless you send all of mankind there too." And he knows the special place man has in God's heart - a place that means God will not send man there. So - as long as he can continue to accuse us he can prolong his own rebellion."

So as long as man exists Lucifer is safe from judgment. Unless….

Unless God becomes man and takes the judgment man should take. Then God can justly judge Lucifer without touching man. And, as we shall see, this is the course God chose to take.