The Battle I'm In - Part 2 - Two Powers

Dear Jesus - Glorify Yourself today as we seek to understand the basic dynamics of the universe we are a part of...

For Part 1 of our series - go here.  The Bible presents two opposing forces:  good and evil.  The Bible clearly states that only God is good.  In fact, when Jesus was in sinful human flesh on the earth, He Himself clearly stated:

Mark 10:18 (CEB)  (see also Luke 18:19 for the parallel story)
Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except the one God.

And here are just a few of the many other scriptures we could use to bolster our tenet that God indeed is good:

1 Chronicles 16:34 (CEB)
Give thanks to the Lord because he is good,
because his faithful love endures forever.  1 Chronicles 16:34 (CEB)

The Lord is good and does the right thing;
he teaches sinners which way they should go.  Psalm 25:8 (CEB)

And WHAT is the name of this blog?!  That's right!  Psalms 34:8 CEB encourages us:

Taste and see how good the Lord is!
The one who takes refuge in him is truly happy!

Don't you feel like getting your praise on?  It is good to praise the Lord for His excellent greatness indeed!

The antagonist in our story is Lucifer or Satan.  There is a sort of comfort in knowing Jesus had enough confidence in His people not to devote a single book or even an entire chapter to the antagonist in the story.  Similarly, we don't want to elaborate needlessly.  Before we piece together what the Bible says and let it tell the story however, let's examine the name Lucifer.

Outline of Biblical Usage

1. Lucifer = "light-bearer"
   1. shining one, morning star, Lucifer
      1. of the king of Babylon and Satan (fig.)
   2. (TWOT) 'Helel' describing the king of Babylon

The prophet Ezekiel gets a vision from God regarding the 'prince of Tyre' and the 'king of Tyre'.  Now - previously in the Bible the leaders of Tyre were specified by their names.  In this account, they are referenced by the position title alone.  And further reading of the verses makes clear that since the human holding that position was never resident in the Garden of Eden - this is a direct parable referencing Lucifer.  Let's go to the Word:

Ezekiel 28:11-15 NASB
Again the word of the Lord came to me saying, 12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God,

“You had the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 “You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The ruby, the topaz and the diamond;
The beryl, the onyx and the jasper;
The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald;
And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets,
Was in you.
On the day that you were created
They were prepared.
14 “You were 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.
15 “You were blameless in your ways
From the day you were created
Until unrighteousness was found in you.

In fact, verse 12 'had the seal' indicates this angel was the pattern for all future angelic beings!  Verse 13 actually references the workmanship of his 'tambourines' and 'lutes'.  He was perfect musically.  He was a covering cherub of God - the highest position next to the Godhead.  

What happened?  We see enough to satisfy us in Isaiah 14:13-14. 

13 “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.
14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’

We can see herein that pride was at the root of Lucifer's problem.  As he continued to choose to dwell on his own perfection, he became 'lifted up' in his own eyes.  And soon found himself coveting that which belonged to God alone.  The cautionary tale for each of us is here.  Fix our eyes on Jesus and never left self interpose.

To finish the story of the antagonist - the Bible tells the story.  First - let's use the Bible itself to define 'stars' and 'tail'.  Jesus will show us how simply the Bible tells the story:

Revelation 1:20 (KVJ) 

The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

Job 38:7 (KJV) (referencing God's account of creation to Job...)

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Isaiah 9:15 (KJV)
The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

Revelation 12:4 (KJV)
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Revelation 12:7-9 (KJV)
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,  8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Our next question is - what were the lies?  Lucifer's 'merchandise' in the KJV or 'abundance of trade' was the lies he successfully peddled to one-third of the angels leading to a subsequent war in which they were cast to the earth.

Ezekiel 28:16 (NASB)
16 “By the abundance of your trade
[a]You were internally filled with violence,
And you sinned;
Therefore I have cast you as profane
From the mountain of God.
And I have destroyed you, O [b]covering cherub,
From the midst of the stones of fire.

Footnotes:
Ezekiel 28:16 Lit They filled your midst
Ezekiel 28:16 Or guardian

By way of contrast - the Bible clearly shows us that there is only once source of truth:

John 14:6 (NASB)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

This was true before Earth was created - it is true now - and it will be true for all time.

Now as we look back upon the Eden scene - we gain new perspective of what actually transpired.  The loving Creator places the dear Adam within the Garden of Eden and informs him there is 1 rule that must never be violated for Adam's own happiness.

Genesis 2:15-17 (NASB)
Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat from it, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Beautiful thought - Adam knew only good intimately!  Until he ate of that tree, he never need experience an intimate knowledge of evil!

Lucifer - on the other hand - pours in melodic strains over Eve a lie:  (a reference to the language in Isaiah 9:15)

Genesis 3:4-5 (NASB)
The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Almost as a childlike taunt, verse 5 is added.  Can't you hear it in a sing-song tone?  One gets rather the sense that the speaker has been using this line so long it is comes out from force of habit.  You see, that is our glimpse into the lies spread and formulated about among angelic beings in the beginning.  The lie - at its most basic is that Jesus does not tell the truth and He doesn't want you to be like Him and of course this can all be summed up as God is not love.  Thank You Jesus for 1 John 4:8!

1 John 4:8 (NASB)
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

In addition - let us never forget the beauty in the verse below which simply takes the sting out of temptations by reminding us they aren't new but rather repeats of old ones.  Then the beautiful promise is given that for every temptation, a WAY OF ESCAPE will be provided!  Hallelujah!

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NASB)
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to betempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Dear Jesus - We praise You for Your offering of grace.  Grace - the power that alone can subdue our willful and self-filled hearts.  We praise You for Romans 5:8 which always reminds us that WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS - unbelievable thought - Jesus died for US!  Thank You that we can rest knowing God is LOVE!