The Devil was not always who he is now, there was a time he was “perfect in beauty” and whom the Lord had created above that of his angels, “till iniquity was found” in him (Ezek 28). Now, #satan is the principal prince of darkness, the deceiver who now deceives the entire world. Who once worked in deep darkness, but today is manifesting himself more and more in the light. Many of his followers revealing themselves for who they truly are and doing so even publicly. #Lucifer was his name, fallen into darkness and yet named as a bearer of light at the first.
1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. 2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. 3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. 4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. 5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. 6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
The first Sunday returned to our original venue and my desire to utter the first words from this pulpit in praise to my Lord.
Much water has now gone under the bridge, much purifying work the Lord has done both in this Church and in the pastor.
Clearly the devil sees the work we have done as a Church and has determined to try to destroy the work from within.
Just as Haman tried to destroy Israel, so did a godless man try to destroy Hope Baptist Church. Just as God turned about the evil of Haman and those who followed his device upon his own head, just so did God turn about the evil of Cody Kereopa and those who followed him upon themselves.
” Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.”
Paul wrote such knowing such men would enter, but such would not prevail when the Lord works his wonderful works and people are warned.
Our Church now wonderfully blessed in the victory of the Lord and this day we celebrate in similar manner the Purim of Israel, with the plotting of the wicked who sought our overthrow a year ago.
Perhaps it should be an annual celebration as is Purim, for public sedition in a Church is the rarest of evils. Christian discord ought to be a work of peace and moderate diplomacy, but open sedition with a disseminated public record, is the indicator we have entered the “Perilous Times” written of by Paul to Timothy in 2 Tim 3. Yet the work God had done all through it was the most incredible work we have seen the Lord do as he blessed and preserved this Church. The darkness that enveloped this Church just over a year ago is now gone, the devil having lost this battle, and we praise God for it.
Every part of this year God has so wonderfully restored and blessed, from our rest and relief, to our sweet fellowship in common love, to the most incredible free youth camp we have yet undertaken, and now finally, to the forgiveness the Lord has worked in the heart of the pastor for the evil that was done both in this Church and against his own family by those associated with this sect.
A renewed spirit in the Church, a return to the venue where we began, a new pulpit and revitalised Pastor, and finally a return to the study on the Devil that almost seemed to start the trouble endured at the first.
Perhaps it was his attempt to derail any revelation of him, perhaps God was revealing to us how perfectly he can manifest himself through those in “the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Tim 2:26). Either way, we now return to revealing this person and that his nature and devices may be better understood by all through the balance of the SIX sermons to be preached of him. This as part of our return to the Statement Of Faith Series.
Today is a symbolic day in many ways.
Now we enter into the study
Who Fell?
13 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. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Iniquity is the defilement of that which was created perfect.
This being, introduced in the first sermon, was created perfect “till iniquity was found”. BUT WHO IS HE?
Verse 12 describes that “He sealed the sum”, he was the summation of Gods creation respecting the angelic realm, “perfect in beauty”.
His appearance is interesting to consider when applied to that which is described of the Messiah in Isaiah;
2 … he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: (Isa 53:4)
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Nothing of the kind is spoken of related to this being, though he be “perfect in beauty”….” We only know that such beauty was seen even by God, Till iniquity was found in thee…”(v15)
We saw that he was clothed with stones of light of diverse colours in verse 13.
We see him built with instruments of music in his members when he was made;
the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created….”…Till iniquity was found in thee”
He is the “anointed Cherub” in v14, and God had set him so.
There are no other angels in the Bible described as “anointed”. Though the word appears 161 times in the scriptures, never is there another allusion to it referring to an angel.
Priests, prophets and kings in the created mortal world are anointed of God.
This person is the only created immortal being described this way, and Christ the Son of God, the only eternal, timeless, Lord of lords and King of kings, is described in such a way. But no other angel.
God had determined that this fellow would be the lead angel, set over the unseen realm separated from man….it was to be a permanent state… “Till iniquity was found in thee”.
God had anointed this covering cherub for a purpose.
It is the book of Isaiah that we obtain another hint as to that purpose, and it is in Isaiah that he is identified by his original name.
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!
“Lucifer” that is his name.
It is a proper name which also carries, just like all the names of the Bible, a meaning.
This is the ONLY place in the Bible where the name is found. In the Hebrew Old Testament, it is likewise the only place where the Hebrew name Heylel is found.
Why it is that so many modern translators discard the name and replace it with its meaning, is beyond strange, they do not do this with any other name in the Bible.
It meaning is ‘light bearer”, or “day star”, the star that rises before the sun.
Yet the words Star and Day are seen nowhere in this passage. These also are seen elsewhere in the scriptures, but the name Heylel ONLY appears here as a proper name. Why translated the meaning and not the name?
It is truly inconsistent at best for any translator to single this name out ONLY, and replace it with its meaning.
Noah means “Comforter”, but they dont replace Noah’s name by its meaning.
Emanuel means ‘God with us”, but again the dont replace his name with the meaning.
Jesus means “Saviour” and yet again they do not ever replace his name with what his name means.
And we can go on and on and on with the names, Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech etc, all of these names have a meaning to them and NEVER are they retranslated in ANY modern version of the Bible by their meaning.
Interestingly, the passage in Isaiah gives the meaning.
When Noah is introduced to us in Genesis 5:29, we are also given the meaning;
29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
So too we see in Isaiah 14:12
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! …
What sense does it make to repeat the meaning? No, the translators of modern versions recognise how ridiculous it would sound to say “ How art thou fallen from heaven, O son of the morning, son of the morning!
so they change the words to synonyms to make it not sound so strange;
“O Day Star, son of the Dawn!” ESV
“O Day Star, son of the Dawn!” NRSV (ref 2 Pet 1:19, Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16)
“O star of the Morning, son of the dawn!” NASB (ref 2 Pet 1:19, Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16)
“morning star, son of the dawn!” NIV (ref 2 Pet 1:19, Rev 2:28)
“O morning star, son of the dawn!” NIV 1984 Study (ref 2 Pet 1:19, Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16)
“morning star, son of the dawn” TNIV ((ref 2 Pet 1:19, Rev 2:28, Rev 8:10, 9:1)
“Shining morning star” Christian Standard Bible (ref 2 Pet 1:19, Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16)
“O shining star, son of the morning!” New Living Translation
Interestingly, no english translation up to and including the KJV does this, even the NKJV retains the proper name.
Reina Valera (Spanish) “Lucero”
Luthers Bible 1912 (German) “Himmel” (A German transliteration of the Hebrew Name Heylel)
It is interesting that the translators could have done that if they had chosen. They could have simply transliterated the proper Hebrew name, they did so with many other words such as “Sheol” and “hades”, they left them almost untouched and untranslated.
Our word “Baptism” is a transliteration of the greek word “Baptismo”.
So they could have done just what the Germans did if they did not like the Latin rendering of the name.
ONLY the name Lucifer is hidden from view and replaced with its meaning….WHY?
Is this negligence or is it iniquity?
Consider the study referencing in Modern Translations.
“O Day Star, son of the Dawn!” NRSV (ref 2 Pet 1:19, Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16)
“O star of the Morning, son of the dawn!” NASB (ref 2 Pet 1:19, Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16)
“morning star, son of the dawn!” NIV (ref 2 Pet 1:19, Rev 2:28)
“O morning star, son of the dawn!” NIV 1984 Study (ref 2 Pet 1:19, Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16)
“morning star, son of the dawn” TNIV (ref 2 Pet 1:19, Rev 2:28, Rev 8:10, 9:1)
“Shining morning star” Christian Standard Bible (ref 2 Pet 1:19, Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16)
16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Is it Jesus who fell from heaven therefore?
It is Iniquity! (Not negligence)
When Lucifer Fell
We don’t know exactly when it was that Lucifer fell.
We do know that it was sometime between the creation of the earth and his interaction with man.
How do we know this for the creation of the angels is not testified to in the Genesis creation account?
But we do have understanding though other portions of the bible that present a creation account with the response of the angels in the light of it.
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
We see that the earth was formed on the first day, but no information is given with respect to the Angels.
That ought not to surprise us too much for the account that is given to us in Genesis is all that reflects the material world.
That it does not refer to the angelic world should not be considered a neglect on God’s part, for an explanation of everything is not the purpose of this creation account.
Its purpose is respecting the beginning of things pertaining to man, and its bigger picture is the beginning of that respecting the fall of man.
The devil is not a consideration on God’s part, for the devil is merely an angel that exists for the BENEFIT of man….that is another sermon.
So where do we find an idea of when Angels were created?
Job 38 is found an incredible scene where God himself breaks upon Job in a four chapter rebuke and exhortation.
Job has just endured four chapters from the rebuke of Elihu who spoke on God’s behalf, and now we see God himself “answer Job out of the whirlwind”.
4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? 9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, 10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, 11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
Verse 4 is the description of the laying of the foundations of the earth and begins to ask the question of Job respecting his own whereabouts when God undertook the work.
Verse 5 we have the laying of the measures thereof, verse 6 the question respecting the basis for the foundations of the earth and its datum point, being the “corner stone”.
If you understand construction you realise that everything has a datum point from which to start. One is respecting a distance measurement and the other related to a HIGHT reference.
Verse 7 is that which identifies a timing juxtaposed to the response of persons who witnessed that which God made.
4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Therefore beloved, the angels must have been created before the foundation of the earth.
How long before, can only be considered in the light of the timeline that is given to us in Genesis 1.
The earth was there on the first day. Therefore, the angels must have been created earlier on the first day BEFORE the foundation of the Earth was laid for them to “shout for joy” in witness to it.
So when can we know Lucifer had fallen?
Well we see it testified to in Eden the Garden of God as he is manifest to Man as a serpent.
Therefore, if the Bible is our only source of reference with respect to the fall of the devil, the boundary that we have is the first day to the fall of man.
Can we narrow it down a bit more?
Sure, before man had kids.
Why Lucifer Fell
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
So we now see WHO it is that fell.
We see WHEN it was that Lucifer Fell.
This passage also teaches us WHY Lucifer Fell.
5 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence,and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Two phrases are given to us in this passage that indicates REASON as to WHY Lucifer fell.
The first is there in verse 15, Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
The word iniquity appears over 300 times in the bible, I have only looked at the first 43 occurrences from Genesis to Deuteronomy, and it is always related to sin. (You can do your own study, simply search the word and check all the passages that are contain the word.)
Iniquity (SIN) was found in Lucifer, but what was it specifically?
This is the next phrase in the passage;
17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty,
The heart lifted up refers to what?
Turn back to the beginning of Ezekiel 28 and let us see how God uses the phrase.
1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: 3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: 4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: 5 By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
Not bad, we are getting an idea of it. If you looked up the word “heart”, together with the phrase “Lifted Up”, you will find more and more testimony that it refers to Pride. But lest we affirm what may not be affirmed, we turn to Daniel 5.
20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
What we see is the lifted heart turns the MIND to pride.
Remember the Bible seems to teach that the heart deceives the mind and the mind becomes the affirmation for the heart into a vicious “Validation Loop”, which is also known as an “error trap” in computer terms.
When the same information is affirming itself it prompts the user to re-enter the data until a valid input is provided.
The ‘Valid Input” is the TRUTH, but; When the heart is lifted up, the mind turns to pride to affirm that which the heart desires, but can never get to the truth because it is in an error trap.
(This can explain a lot more about pride than we have time to get into this morning).
Nevertheless, there is another passage in the Bible that identifies the fall of the devil.
While here he is seen as the power behind the King of Tyrus, in the book of Isaiah he is seen as the power behind the King of Babylon.
Seems the devil has always enjoyed a direct seat at the table of nations.
Let us turn back to Isaiah 14 and read the passage.
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! 13 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: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
It is the chief of all iniquity, for it was the iniquity of him who was created perfect in beauty and was found also in the heart of man before the fall of mankind.
Pride is the principle sin, some may even call it the proto sin, the SIN BEFORE ALL SINS.
Pride is the most egregious of the sins of the world.
It will be pride that prevents reconciliation of people, it is pride that prevents reconciliation with God. It is pride that reflects the fallen heart of mankind and it is pride that is re-presented in the world.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (Lust of the flesh), and that it was pleasant to the eyes (Lust of the eyes), and a tree to be desired to make one wise (the pride of life), she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
The Iniquity Of Pride
There is nothing more that will destroy a man more perfectly than Pride.
It was pride that damned the devil, iniquity was found in him, his heart was lifted up and this in rebellion against God.
Pride is the principle by which this world operates, it is governed by this attitude of the heart respecting oneself, and it is the fundamental cause of almost all relationship problems.
Pride is the arrogant disposition that holds oneself above that which he ought to think of himself. It is a true and literal state of delusion!
Man is never more deluded than when he thinks higher of himself that he does of God.
Man cannot love when pride is his present disposition. For love is not proud, it “is not puffed up” we are told in 1 Cor 13:4.
It is the sin that sees nothing AS IT IS, and sees everything as the heart desires to see it.
Pride is the principle today behind every egregious personality disorder, everything from Narcissism to Psociopathy.
It is the prime source of anxiety and fear in people.
It is the reason why so much has changed respecting our laws today, why an individual who thinks they are offended can now charge a person with an offence.
It is the reason why we now have “trigger warnings”, and the reason “safe spaces” are desired in some schools.
Any disagreement is now being considered as a violence.
The millennial generation (1982 to 2000) are particularly cumbered with this aspect of life, but most particularly those born after 1995.
Since the 1987 book by Allan Bloom titled “The Closing of the American Mind”, ‘how higher education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of todays students’, a multitude of spin-off books have followed;
The Cloning of the American Mind by Beverly Eakman in 1998
The Snapping of the American Mind by David Kupelian in 2015
And finally The Coddling of the American Mind, which began as a brilliant article in The Atlantic Magazine and has now become a best selling book and movie by Greg Lukianoff and Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt in 2018.
This book demonstrates with incredible clarity how a protective exalted view of “Self” (PRIDE) is leading multitudes of people to lives of self destruction.
Speaking of Ussiah the King, the Bible said;
16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: ….
Like Satan, PRIDE is the prime manifestation of the wicked whose hearts deceive them. Interestingly, it is the PRIME CAUSE OF FEARFULLNESS AND ANXIETY.
The Bible seems to affirm this saying;
1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.
In other words, the prouder you are the more anxious and fearful you become and the more you need people to AFFIRM whatever it is you think of yourself. (So much more can be said here).
This has now lead to what has come to be known as “Safe Spaces” in Universities. The authors cite a case on campus at Brown University where students wanted to create a
“safe space”; where anyone who felt triggered could recuperate and get help. The room was equipped with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets, and a video of frolicking puppies, as well as students and staff members purportedly trained to deal with trauma.
But the threat wasn’t just the reactivation of painful personal memories; it was also the threat to students’ beliefs.
One student who sought out the safe space put it this way: “I was feeling bombarded by a lot of viewpoints that really go against my dearly and closely held beliefs. ”29
In 2016 an Australian Psychologist by the name of Nick Haslam recognised the development of what he referred to as “Concept creep”, words are changing in their definition to dramatise acts that never should have been considered.
Today words such as Trauma, which used to refer to physical things such as “traumatic brain injury” has now morphed into a psychological predisposition through what is called PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
What was once physical, is now mental but it is the same word.
Psychologist Jean Twenge from San Diego University identifies a demand for SAFETY respecting nothing more than being safeguarded from Ideas, is leading people to destruction, self destruction!
“that iGen suffers from far higher rates of anxiety and depression than did Millennials at the same age—and higher rates of suicide. Something is going on; something has changed the childhood experience of kids born in the late 1990s.”
Members of iGen are “obsessed with safety,” as Twenge puts it, and define safety as including “emotional safety.” Their focus on “emotional safety” leads many of them to believe that, as Twenge describes, “one should be safe not just from car accidents and sexual assault but from people who disagree with you.”36
Such is the state of all those who are compassed about with pride.
The Bible places them among the wicked and they cannot stand on any matter with any assurance. They become cowards not courageous.
They are affraid to speak in private conversation, or deal with a matter one on one, but rather in groups.
Only those who stand in humility can have the confidence of doing that which is right and in the light of day, the wicked cannot.
The HUMBLE man is NOT affraid of being in error, indeed, he looks to be corrected.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
But such is not the case for the fool who thinks he is wise enough never to be corrected;
1 A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.
And it makes no difference trying to convince a man or woman caught in a vallidation loop, they are in an error trap they cannot escape from without a willingness to humble themselves and be wise.
10 A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.
You literally cannot speak to those who are fearful of being corrected. Those who desire the truth, those who know they have been in error before and will likely be in error again, stand strong.
1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.
Beloved, These last two years I have experienced how easily triggered individuals filled with pride can be. It is the sad state of the last days Church. If the attacks I have endured in the last year or so are anything to go by, and with MILLENNIALS being the ones to take over, many of whom cry at a falling leaf, it is unlikely there will be any pastors left once this generation is gone.
The origin of pride is satanic.
It leedes to all kind of fear and anxiety.
It will lead to self destruction.
The post The Devil Pt 2: His Fall appeared first on Hope Baptist Church.
