Devil -- Christianity; Spiritual life -- Christianity
The revelation next in importance is that of his crime; this is clearly
set forth in Isa. 14:12-20. Before reading this passage it should be
noticed that the prophet's vision of Satan, here recorded, is from the
time of his final judgment, and the prophet is looking backward over
Satan's whole career. Much that is still future is, therefore, referred
to as though it were past. The passage is as follows:
"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! For thou
hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought
down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly
look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the
earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a
wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house
of his prisoners? All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in
glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of thy grave
like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain,
thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a
carcass trodden under feet."
Here Satan appears under a different title. When he is seen in the
primal glory, as described in Ezekiel 28:11-19, he bears the earthly
title of "The King of Tyrus" and when fallen from that sphere, he bears
the heavenly title of "Lucifer, Son of the Morning." It is as though,
being out of harmony with the Creator by his sin, he is out of harmony
with every sphere in which he may appear. This glorious heavenly title,
"Lucifer, Son of the Morning," speaks of his first place in the
celestial sphere, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons
of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7). It would indicate a position near to
the unsurpassed glory of "The Bright and Morning Star," "The Sun of
Righteousness" who shall yet arise with healing in His wings.
Satan is here again said to be fallen from heaven. Of this fall Jesus
speaks in Luke 10:18, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven."
The reference in both of these passages is not to Satan's moral
degeneration but rather to a great event when he was, because of his
sin, driven from his place in glory and made to inhabit the earth and
air (Eph. 2:2; 6:12; I Pet. 5:8). Yet he was granted the privilege of
access to the presence of God (Job 1:6; Rev. 12:10).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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