2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
We can get into a very interesting discussion of the nature of God's omniscience when the meaning of the name, Lucifer, is discussed. Suffice it to say that one famous pastor, who has written an otherwise excellent book on the defense of the Christian faith, and I disagree about this. He believes that God doesn't know everything that will happen until it happens. I believe that God's omniscience is total. I won't take the time here to lay out all the reasons for this disagreement, other than to tell you that a lot of people hold my view of it. However, in truly understanding Satan's origin, it is helpful to examine the meaning of his name. Once you read through this, you can draw your own conclusions (hopefully with God's help) about how you feel on this issue of God's omniscience. You will remember that names in the Jewish culture are of great importance. This is often seen in the Scriptures.
The name, Lucifer, appears in IS 14: 12 of the KJV. "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 is the name used here for the king of Babylon, the evil one we know as Satan. In Hebrew, Lucifer is "Heylel" or "Helel," which means "in sense of brightness, the morning star." The Theological Word Book of the Old Testament discusses it as meaning "praise" or "boast," the main act that seraphim and cherubim do continuously before the throne as they worship God. You'll remember that I have already mentioned that Lucifer, was created to be God's favored angel in charge of worship in heaven. This is one of the reasons that his decision to pervert the boasting that he should have been doing about God to boasting about himself had to have come as unbelievably painful to the Father, painful enough to motivate God to have this fallen angel cast down to earth with the one-third of the heavenly host who followed him [REV 12: 4]. Lucifer is the "son of the morning," the one who lived amongst sparkling gems, who according to EZK 28: 17 was "so proud of being handsome that he began acting like a fool." This is the bright one who became the "prince of darkness," God's arch-enemy, all because he was so caught up with his own beauty and splendor.
Here's a real lesson for us, especially when we remember that we are created for God's for God's pleasure and glory. If we look at all the "I wills" that are in IS 14: 3-15, we get a lucid picture of Satan's attitude toward God, the real reason why he and his followers will go to eternal destruction. I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will be like the Most High. If these words make you want to choke, then you join me in hating the blasphemy inherent in them. This is the same Satan who undoubtedly influenced the Pharisees to ague with the Son in the temple during the last week of his incarnation, accusing Him of blasphemy!
In contrast to this, Christ always understood that while God was in Him and He was in God, He was not equal to God. This can be seen in MT 24: 36, when he answers the questions His disciples asked about the time of the final judgment. "No one knows, however, when that day and hour will come-neither the angels in heaven nor the Son; the Father alone knows." It must always be remembered that Christ never did anything without going to the Father in prayer first, just as He did right after feeding the five thousand and sending His disciples without him in the boat on the Sea of Galilee [MT 14: 22-23]. His use of the name "Son of Man," indicated his humility, that He saw Himself as a bondservant and being made in the likeness of man. God highly exalted Christ. But, there was never any question Who is the Father and what His position is with regard to the Son.
All of this leads me to realize that we must ask: what are our "I wills?" One of the Father's great purposes in telling us to study His word daily and have an active two-way prayer life with Him where He speaks first is to encourage us to examine our lives. Psychologists call this our life scripts. In other words, we are to see what are our main attitudes and motivations in this life. That kind of examination can be very revealing when placed on the backdrop of the teachings from God in His word. It is a wonderful way for us to expose subtle sin that still is in us, sin which keeps us separated from God. This pursuit is not directed at producing guilt. Instead, it is a way to let the Holy Spirit convict us of these not so easily recognized sins and to give us the chance to turn from them before it is time for us to hear that last trump that will signal the rapture, that meeting with Christ in the air that will be followed by the wedding feast of the lamb [1 THESS 4: 13-17; REV 19: 5-9].
PRAYER: O Lord, David and Daniel are two men for whom You hold high esteem. That is because they realized the need to seek You out in humble submission. We read the humility in David's words in PS 17: 3-7, "You know my heart. You have come to me at night; You have examined me completely and found no evil desire in me. I speak no evil as others do; I have obeyed Your commands and have not followed paths of violence. I have always walked in Your way and have never strayed from it. I pray to You, O God, because You answer me; so turn to me and listen to my words. Reveal Your wonderful love and save us; at Your side we are safe from our enemies." David understood that he could not deal with his own problems; he knew He needed to seek God out for help. PS 47: 5-7 shows us humble acknowledgment of Your true position. "God goes up to His throne. There are shouts of joy and the blast of trumpets, as the Lord goes up. Sing praise to God; sing praise to our King! God is King over all the world; praise Him with songs!" Daniel is so esteemed by You that You directed Gabriel to tell him so in DN 10: 12. It is because he was so humble in everything he said and did. You give us the extraordinary contrast between Satan's attitude and Christ's because You want us to see how important our humility is. It frees the Holy Spirit to be heard and engenders in us a willingness to trust and obey You. You teach us the way to walk through that narrow gate, to traverse that hard path, the only one that leads to eternal life. How many ways You show us Your love! We pledge to accept Your love and to return it in a way which is genuinely pleasing to You. You have our adoration, worship, diligence, loyalty, trust, obedience, glory, honor, praise and thanksgiving. In Christ's name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at some citations that will further illuminate many of the things I've been discussing in this segment of our series on Satan's origin. Then, we will move on to deal with the question of should we fear Satan. I am reminded daily that no matter what I do or where I go, I'm never alone. Had I been filled with self-hatred, the kind of mind-set that comes from rejecting God and pleasing the adversary, I would take that fact as something to evoke fear and guilt. Instead, because I have come to faith and am willing to work at expunging sin in my life, God's presence is a comfort to me. I would wish that each one of you could feel like this. None of what I say here is an assertion that I have gotten rid of all the sin in my life or that I'm perfect, and you're not. Hardly! That would be a lie! Instead, it is another way of saying that God's knows the contents of our hearts, and He loves each of us, even though we are imperfect, as long as we will endure through whatever pain and suffering the devil sends us. David didn't go into battle against Goliath alone, and we don't face the challenges in our lives to our faith alone either. Hallelujah! We have our Father in heaven and His Son to love us forever. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn