What
was the reason of Lucifer's fall from heaven?
by JACK WELLMAN
Why And When Did Lucifer Fall?
Satan and Mankind’s Fall
Pride
was the main cause for both Satan’s (Lucifer at the time) and mankind’s fall.
For that matter, pride seems to be at the center of all sin.
After
the fall, which we will read about in the next paragraph, Satan was probably
jealous that mankind was given dominion over the earth as Genesis 1:26 says “let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens
and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing
that creeps on the earth.”
Satan
hatched a plan. He would deceive Eve and make her disobey God by taking to eat
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and Adam would do the same.
After
this, “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as
one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” (Genesis 3:22) and so “the
LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he
had been taken” (Genesis 3:23).
Not
only were they banished from the Garden of Eden, they would now receive their
wages and that was death (Rom 6:23) and would eventually die because the soul
that sins will die (Ezekiel18:20).
They
had lost their chance at eternal life and their only hope would be that they
repented but there is no evidence that they ever did. We just don’t know for
sure if they ever did.
The
Fall of Satan
Isaiah
gives us a good look at the cause of Lucifer’s fall from heaven in Isaiah 14:12
“How you have fallen from
heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the
earth, You who have weakened the nations”.
The
Hebrew word for “star” is “Helel” or “Hylel” and means the “shining one” so
Lucifer must have been a glorious angel full of light at one time but then
something drastic happened, “But you said in your heart, ‘I will
ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit
on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north” (Isaiah 14:13).
Here
we read that Lucifer was full of himself, full of
pride, and wanted to “ascend to heaven” and raise his throne about the stars (or angels)
of God and wanted to “sit on the mount of
assembly in the recesses of the north” meaning he wanted to sit on the
throne of God but in place of God.
This
fall must have apparently happened shortly after the earth was created for he
had to have had an earth to be cast down too.
Lucifer
was not satisfied with his state…he wanted more which is why it was written “I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most
High” (Isaiah 14:14).
In
other words, Lucifer (or Satan) wanted to “ascend
above the heights of the clouds” of which the clouds represent God’s
Shekinah glory and he wanted that glory.
Even
more, he lusted in his prideful heart saying “I make myself like the Most High” God and he wanted to be God
because he desired worship.
He
still desires that today but the bad news for him is he “will
be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit” (Isaiah 14:15).
His
final consummation is described in Revelation 20:10 “And
the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone,
where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day
and night forever and ever.”
Pride Before the Fall
Satan
was not the only one to fall and there will yet be more in the future.
That’s
because anyone who is full of pride is at war with God (James 4:6) because “Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit
gain honor” (Proverbs 29:23).
James
wrote “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift
you up” (James 4:10).
The opposite of that is true as well; if you lift yourself up, He will humble
you.
Either
we will humble ourselves before God or He will do it for us and guess which one
is more painful? This is because “God opposes the proud but shows
favor to the humble” (1
Peter 5:5).
For
those who refuse to voluntarily humble themselves God warns “Pride
goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).
The
word “haughty” means lifted up or to look down upon others from a lofty
position and that position is only for God to have. To be haughty is to be full
of pride and God will not tolerate such an attitude, just as He didn’t tolerate
Lucifer’s pride.
The Self-Absorbed Lucifer
Ezekiel
wrote about the prior state of Lucifer by writing “You
had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (Ezekiel 28:11).
At
one time he was “the anointed cherub who covers, and
I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the
midst of the stones of fire” (Ezekiel 28:14).
“You were blameless in your ways from the
day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you” (Ezekiel28:15).
God
describes the reason for Lucifer (or Satan’s) fall “Your
heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason
of your splendor. I cast you to the ground” (Ezekiel 28:17).
He
was in love…with himself and so his “heart
was lifted up” because of pride due to his beauty, wisdom, and splendor.
There
are many in the unsaved world today just like that and their fate will be the
very same fate as Satan’s spoken of in Revelation 20:10-15.
“10 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.”
Judgment
Before the Great White Throne
“11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From
his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne,
and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what
was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the
dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had
done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of
fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake
of fire.”
Conclusion
Why
more of us, including myself, won’t humble ourselves is a mystery to me.
If we
only fully understood the awesome, majestic, glory of God, we would all fall
down before Him and humble
ourselves. No one can truly be saved until he
humbles himself before God, and repents of his sins.
You
have to turn to the only hope of being saved that is Jesus Christ. He will be
your Lord and Savior or He will be your Judge.
That decision is strictly up to
you.
Would you want to have a
deeper relationship with God?
God has made it possible
for you to know Him and experience an amazing change in
your own life by receiving His Son, Jesus Christ, and have eternal life.
Say the following
prayer:
“Father God, I confess I am a sinner and
my sins have separated me from You.
I am truly sorry. I now want to turn away from my past
sinful life and live a new life pleasing to You.
Please forgive me, and help me avoid
sinning again.
I believe that Your Son, Jesus Christ died
for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer.
I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my
life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Thank You that
according to your Word, I am now born again.
Please send Your Holy Spirit to help me
obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life.
Please use me for Your glory.
In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.”
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