Lucifer_ The Fallen Angel
Before the biblical God created the world, he first created the heavens and inside the
heavens he created the cherubs, the angels and the archangels.
The archangels were essentially the highest rank of the angels and were the chief messengers
of God himself.
Amongst these archangels was the being known as Lucifer, the highest archangel of all.
He was described as being the most beautiful creature that God had ever created, a splendid
being that was perfect in every way.
Ezekiel 28.15 described Lucifer as, thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou
wast created.
But Lucifer was so perfect, so handsome, so divine and so strong when in comparison to
his peers that he grew arrogant.
His superior qualities to God's other creations caused him to become prideful and pretty soon
he believed that it was he who should be in God's place.
He wanted to be God himself and given that he was deemed worthy to be in the presence
of God more than any other and that he arguably understood God better than any other, Lucifer
could think of no one better than himself to be the one to overthrow his lord.
As noted in Isaiah 14.12.14, the prophet Isaiah quotes what some suggest is Lucifer,
saying I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God.
It can even be argued that Lucifer's ambition is greater than God's, that not only does
he want to take God's place but wants a place even higher than which God sits.
Pride would spur on Lucifer to act on his thoughts that he was indeed more powerful
than God.
It was pride in which blinded him, pride which led him down a path of haughtiness and pride
which saw him begin to manipulate the other angels into serving him.
After all, his intellect was superior to that of the other angels and so deceiving them
was not beyond his means.
While some did remain loyal to God, many of the angels who like Lucifer would become known
as fallen angels began to recognise him as the superior being.
While Ezekiel 28.15 notes Lucifer as being perfect in every way, he also notes that inequity
was found in him, thus diminishing his perfection.
With a third of the angels on side, Lucifer launched an attack on God and a mighty war
for the heavens took place.
But Lucifer was not counting on the strong resistance put up by another archangel, the
one known as Michael.
Unable to defeat Michael in his current form, thus lending Lucifer to doubt his own perfection
at this point, Lucifer transforms into a dragon as noted in Revelation 12.7-8 and there was
war in heaven.
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon and his angels prevailed
not, neither was there a place found anymore in heaven.
While you might say Lucifer had the courage to rebel in the first place, although many
would say this was not courage and more so blind arrogance, he is ultimately defeated
by Archangel Michael.
By this we understand how powerful the biblical God actually is, that Lucifer is defeated
without God actually having to get involved in the battle.
You might argue that God worked through Michael in order to overcome Lucifer, but in any case
Lucifer's defeat is absolute.
Revelation 12.9 goes on to state, And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent
called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, as he was cast out into earth,
and his angels were cast out with him.
This is also where we see Lucifer referred to by his other name, Satan, which he earns
after he has been defeated.
His defeat is more than just a loss of pride though, Lucifer loses everything.
He is not only shunned by God, but he is cast out from heaven along with all the other
angels who had sided with him.
Gone are his glory days of being the most splendid, perfect being of all of God's creations
and instead he takes the role of the complete opposite.
His fall to earth is described by Luke, who quotes Jesus in 10.18, I beheld Satan as lightning
fell from heaven.
Lucifer's ultimate fate is detailed in Revelation 20.10 where it's understood that the devil
that deceived them was cast out into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and
the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night, for ever and ever.
It's understood though that Lucifer would not tolerate his sentence quietly.
In fact, from the very day of him being cast out, Lucifer began to plot his revenge against
God.
Seeing as Lucifer was no longer God's favourite creation, Lucifer would target his vengeance
against that which took his place, mankind itself.
When God created Adam and Eve, he tested them, forbidding them from eating from the tree
of knowledge.
Seeing an opportunity to scorn God, Lucifer snuck his way into the garden of Eden, posed
as a snake.
However, in the early passages of Genesis, which detail the temptation of Eve, the serpent
is never explicitly stated as being Lucifer.
In Genesis 3.1, the snake is merely described as being a crafty animal.
Therefore, it's likely that the idea that Lucifer is this serpent is merely ascertained
by the members of the faith.
While it's taught as scripture, it's not necessarily stated in these opening passages.
Some may counter this argument though by saying that Lucifer is referred to as the serpent,
most notably in Revelation 12.19 where he is called that old serpent, and perhaps therefore
the original serpent.
Others argue that Lucifer wasn't the snake itself in the garden of Eden, but that he
manipulated the snake to speak on his behalf.
However, again, there is no scripture to actually support this.
Furthermore, when we look at the origin of Lucifer's name, we'll find that Lucifer
is actually Latin for Lightbringer or Morning Star, or even the planet Venus.
But how could Latin find its way into a Hebrew manuscript when the manuscript was written
before Latin was even a language?
Let's take the 14th chapter of Isaiah to analyse this, seeing as, believe it or not,
it's the only point in the scripture where the name Lucifer is actually explicitly mentioned.
Isaiah 14.12 states
Many believe that here, Isaiah is referring to Lucifer the devil, but there is another
argument that this passage is actually in reference to a fallen Babylonian king, one
who is mortal and not one who is created as a divine perfect angel.
It's understood that this king had sinned greatly in his persecution of Israel and likely
believed that he was beyond the power and punishment of the biblical god.
In this argument, Isaiah in this chapter seeks to explain the king's folly and not
the folly of the archangel Lucifer.
In fact, his usage of the term Lucifer isn't universal across all translations.
In some versions, Isaiah simply refers to the subject as the Morning Star or Helel,
the Hebrew word referring to Venus.
It implies that the king of Babylon, whose identity is not confirmed in scripture, was
once someone considered in high regard before his downfall as predicted by Isaiah.
But if this is the case, then how did it all become about Lucifer the fallen angel?
Well, that's not exactly known, but we can speculate that early Christian scribes who
were by this time writing in Latin, simply decided for themselves that this would be
a great opportunity to fit in a story about a fallen angel.
And by this argument, Isaiah's 1412 was therefore hijacked by these scribes and moulded to fit
their own narrative about the character Lucifer.
By the time of King James I's translations into English, Saint Jerome, who was largely
responsible for these translations, would incorporate Lucifer into the final version
and thus the metamorphosis of what was a Babylonian king who'd sinned for his arrogance, would
instead become Lucifer, the fallen angel of God.
It would be interwoven into the biblical account of the fall and would eventually become
canon for some believers.
The same can be said for Ezekiel's words in 2815 where he states,
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, until iniquity was
found there.
While there are many who believe that Ezekiel is addressing Lucifer, other accounts indicate
that Ezekiel is actually referring to an unnamed mortal king of Tyre.
In conclusion to this video, regardless of how you interpret the story of Lucifer, whether
as an unnamed Babylonian king or the fallen angel of God, the moral of the tale is quite
profound.
It echoes the old saying, pride goes before a fall, or in the biblical sense in Proverbs
16.18, pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
It serves to show us that like Lucifer, if we are too confident and believe ourselves
to be more powerful than we actually are, we could risk to set ourselves up for our
own failure.
The tale also seeks to teach us to be modest and to be thankful for what we have and while
we should aspire, we should not rush into things and be impulsive with our desires.
It also echoes the idea that we should respect our elders, our parents and those that paved
the way before us, in that in some cases they know better than we do and hold wisdom that
we may not be able to conceive at the time.
Lucifer for example, believed he was stronger than God and even though God had made him
what he was, Lucifer threw it back in his face and went against him because he believed
he was better.
The result of this of course leads to Lucifer's banishment, which shows us that the consequences
for such disrespect to those who came before us can and should be severe.
Let me know your thoughts on Lucifer below and what tales and ideas that you believe
in when talking about this convoluted and yet powerful figure.
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Until the next time guys.
