God’s Devil - Part 3: The Star that Bit the Dust
We begin to have our first understanding of the full story of God and His devil, Satan, with the passage “You were in Eden, the garden of God”.
In a place far beyond our ability to imagine, a glorious creature chose to take a great gamble that would backfire on him, causing rumblings throughout heaven and earth even to this day. This was a tragedy of great proportions. God would ultimately use it for His purpose. Clearly it was a part of the original plan formed before the foundations of all things.
Who was this creature who traded peace for war? His name was Lucifer (bearer of light) who had no natural light of his own but was created by God to reflect the divine light of God's holiness. Two prophets of the OT tell us the story of this important one. Both Ezekiel and Isaiah tell the same story but just from a different perspective. Both prophets pronounce woes on the proud kings of their day. Both remind these kings that God will not abide their arrogance and rebellion. Because of those factors, God will bring them down from their lofty perches.
These two descriptions are given as stories about certain kings but neither could possibly truly describe any kings of earth. Each tells us a story of the one who stands behind these kings. They tell of a creature who once had awesome beauty but now has become fully evil. This one lived in the garden of God but is now sentenced to fill his eternity within a dark abyss of contempt.
We should look first at the description given us by Ezekiel in 28:11-19.
We know this king mentioned, even though a name is given, King of Tyre, was never “full of wisdom” or “perfect in beauty”. Nor was he the “anointed guardian cherub” or was he ever “blameless in all his ways”. Therefore to make sense of this passage, we must presume Ezekiel was speaking of the being who stood behind this king.
The Eden that is mentioned is not the garden in Genesis. It is a paradise of perfect creatures. Lucifer was the masterpiece of God, a showpiece of creation whose beauty brought glory to the work of the Lord. His creation was God at His best.
The duties this one performed was of the highest calling in the angel world. As the anointed cherub, he was created to serve God at the highest level. He served a priestly function in paradise. We must remember that the wings of the cherub were placed on top of the Ark of the Covenant. The phrase “your sanctuaries” refers to worship. Lucifer evidently directed the worship of other angels.
Lucifer's desire was to “ascend into heaven”. Though he had access to the throne of God, the earth was his domain, and where he seemed to originally attend to his priestly duty. Afterward it was the creation of Adam and Eve that caused Satan to be overcome with jealousy, and it is thought that his sin came shortly after the creation of mankind. Until his sin, he had existed to serve God, without competition. He was God's worship leader.
His gamble was one of extraordinary odds. We are shocked by the statement from scripture that says “You were blameless in your ways, from the day you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you”. With that comment we have a glimpse of how sin entered creation. What was this sin? It can be described as either of two words, arrogance or pride. We are told by the words of the prophet, “In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned … Your heart was proud because of your beauty”. His beauty and position led to hardened pride.
Why would a perfect creature become no longer satisfied with his high position in eternity? Why rebel? Lucifer's bad judgment is a direct warning to us. We must never think that our obedience is best for God but not best for us. Consumed with burning jealousy, he set out to do what he wanted, not what God wanted him to do.
Isaiah tells us a similar story. He begins by giving a warning to the king of Babylon; then like Ezekiel, he describes the being who stands behind the king. He then gives five goals that Lucifer set for himself as he entered his sin. Each statement begins with the phrase “I will” and we see this scripture in Isaiah 14:13-16.
“I will ascend to heaven”
This is not the heavens of sky and clouds that we see each day but he is speaking of the third heaven where God dwells. Lucifer had already enjoyed access there as we see in the first verses of Job. Now he wanted to go there to take the place of God. He wants to ascend not to serve but to rule, not to obey but to rebel.
“I will exalt my throne above the stars of God”
We learned in Job 38:7 that stars are often the symbol for angels. Lucifer already had authority over them but it was authority delegated to him. He now longed for full and independent power of his own. He wanted to be worshiped himself.
“I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north”
Lucifer was obsessed over having a dominion of his own.
“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds”
God's glory is made to be seen in a cloud to His people (Exodus 16:10). Lucifer wants such glory in his own name.
“I will be like the most high”
Finally his heart is revealed to us. He would be like God. He had seen the glory and honor given to God for all eternity past and also in the present and now he wants it all for himself. Until Lucifer's blunder there was harmony in the universe. Every creation was subject to the divine will. But now there would be opposition and Lucifer would recruit other angels to join him in rebellion. Here is a being who knew God and no longer believed God's ways were best.
Pride caused Lucifer to gamble and he did not know that only one third of the angels would join his rebel cause. Revelation 12:4 tells us that the dragon's tail “swept down a third of the stars of heaven”. For every angel who joined Lucifer, two did not.
There was no possibility that Satan/Lucifer might repent. Repentance is a gift from God to the heart of His human creatures who can overcome sins by confession and thereby find forgiveness with restoration of fellowship. Satan was fully evil at this point and there was no good within him nor was he seeking restoration.
Second, and most importantly, there has never been any sacrifice made for his sins which could bring redemption. Christ bore the cross to take away the sins of human creatures, not angels, as we are clearly taught in Matthew 1:21 “... he shall save his people from their sins...” and Hebrews 2:16-17 “... to make reconciliation for the sins of the people”. With no atonement available, Satan's actions were irrevocable and permanent, and there exists no means for them to be rescinded.
He would thereafter win small battles but was predestined to lose the war.
God, as He forever has, was working all things according to His own will. Paul teaches us in 1st Timothy 5:21 that the two thirds of the angels who did not join Satan are to be forever known as “elect angels”, meaning preserved from sin and sealed. God, in His infinite wisdom, chose to use Satan to bring forward to mankind the truths He chose us to know, all revealed in His prophets, His Word, and His Messiah.
Though Satan is intelligent, he is not wise. Each of us, after the garden, is born with a drop of his rebellion in our hearts for which a redeemer has been given to overcome and a comforter gifted to guide and assure the soul victory of the saved.