God's Work with Planet Earth

One could be forgiven for thinking that Adam and Eve eating fruit from a forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden was the origin of sin. After all, the Bible begins with Genesis 1 and 2 describing the Creation and then jumps right to the fall into sin in chapter 3. So many of us think that sin began here:

…with the mother of humanity drawn to the only tree humans were supposed to leave alone. The idea is not entirely wrong, because this is where sin began in our world. But if a serpent-deceiver introduced sin to Eve, then where did he get it? It had to originate somewhere else. We don’t need to go further than the Bible to find the answers.

War in Heaven

“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they [a]did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

“Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” Revelation 12:7-9, 12

War in Heaven… Seems odd for this to happen in the perfect dwelling place of the God of the Universe. What could have led to this outcome?

First, let’s clarify some things:

• In Revelation, John is receiving visions in pieces from a God Who lives outside of time. These visions are not linear in their order, and often we see a principle of “repeat and enlarge” showing up, where the same time period is retraced with more details.
• The Apostle John leaves no doubt as to who the “dragon” is by tying several names of this being together.
  • The great dragon
  • That serpent of old (the one in Eden)
  • The Devil
  • Satan
• “Short time”? Yes, 6,000 years (from Creation to the present) compared to eternity is a relatively short time for the dragon to deceive the whole world.
• Twice these passages tell us that the Devil was cast down out of Heaven to the Earth, along with his angels.

From God: to a fallen angel

Let’s go back to the war in Heaven, because we’re looking for the origin of sin. How did this start?

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?’” Isaiah 14:12-17

So a created archangel wanted to be in the place of the Creator God, and rule over both,

• All the angels (the stars of God)
• All humans (the mount of the congregation)

This is rebellion. And obviously some angels sided with Lucifer, and some with God, as we see in Revelation 12.

Isaiah 14 also summarizes the work of this fallen archangel in the world:

• “weakened the nations”
• “made the earth tremble”
• “shook kingdoms”
• “made the world as a wilderness”
• “destroyed its cities”
• “did not open the house of his prisoners”

Fortunately, Jesus can open that house of prisoners when they call on His name. But it’s clear here that the blame for all of these tragedies in the world is set squarely on Satan’s shoulders.

But there’s more. What prompted Lucifer, who this next passage says was created perfect, to rebel and do these things against God and His Creation?

“Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. You defiled your sanctuaries
by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, and shall be no more forever.” Ezekiel 28:12-19

Whoa! That’s a long passage. Let’s break some of that down. In the verse right before these, it appears God is addressing “the King of Tyre”. The problem is: the human king of Tyre at the time of Ezekiel does not match the identifiers we see for the person being addressed:

• Was in Eden
• Was in the holy mountain of God (Heaven)
• An anointed cherub who covers
• Perfect in your ways since the day you were created
• Cast out of the mountain of God (Heaven)

It’s pretty clear this is an angel and not a human, and that last point loops us back into Revelation 12.

Corrupted Wisdom

Back to the question, what prompted Lucifer to turn bad, if he was created perfect, as it states here?

• “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty”
• “You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor”
• “You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude or your iniquities” (no more peace in the heart)
• “You became filled with violence within, and you sinned”

I’m not saying snapping a selfie is a sin. But we can look around and see that it’s easy enough to become fascinated and obsessed with oneself. One can easily get sucked into seeking the praise, admiration, and affirmation of others. This is what happened with a perfect angel in Heaven. Why? Because God gives both angels and humans freedom of will and choice. He doesn’t program us to be incapable of disagreeing with Him.

Lucifer looked at the amazing qualities that God gave him, and became proud of something he did not give himself. Then he wanted the worship of the other angels. Obviously, some gave it because he was their leader, and he was mind-blowingly beautiful and amazing, as God had created him. His focus shifted from the purpose he was created for, to himself.

Side note: You can read in Revelation 19:10 and 22:9, where John became overwhelmed by the visions a holy angel was showing him, and fell on his knees in front of the angel. The angel, in both cases, adamantly tells John NOT to worship him.

Trading in Iniquity

The Hebrew word “rekullah” (trading) means to traffic or peddle something.

The Bible does not say this specifically, so I’m expressing personal belief. I think Lucifer was telling the other angels they didn’t need God’s regulations and rules. That they were smart enough to be right on their own, and that this would bring more freedom. He was peddling the ideas that “God just wants to restrict and control you, and hold you back from your true potential.” He wouldn’t be that obvious, of course, because angels aren’t idiots. But he would very subtly spread these ideas, maybe starting with innocent sounding questions.

I think this because that’s exactly what he insinuated to Eve under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden (which we’ll explore in the next post), and these are the same lies he tells humans today.

The Definition of Sin

What is “sin” anyway? People disagree about what is, or is not, a sin. Let’s first look at the English dictionary:

“an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law”

Alright, just to be clear, what is “divine law”?

“Divine law is a set of rules that are thought to come from a higher power, such as God.”

Thanks Google. So according to the dictionary, sin is breaking or violating God’s law. Does the Bible agree with this definition?

“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3:4

When you think of a place that is lawless, what comes to mind? Is it order and justice, or chaos and victimization?

So if you know and understand what God’s law is, then you know what is and is not a sin. (Romans 7:7) That’s why we should know what the Bible says, if we want to follow God and avoid sin.

To summarize:

• God created Lucifer to be a glorious, beautiful, perfect archangel
• Lucifer at some point started thinking highly of himself, and that he was fully wise and capable enough to govern himself without God telling him what to do
• He spread these ideas to other angels through what God called “the iniquity of your trading”
• This eventually caused a rebellion and a war in Heaven, which resulted in Lucifer-turned-Satan, and angels loyal to him, to be cast out of Heaven to the earth.
• This is how “that serpent of old” came to be tempting Eve in the paradise Garden of Eden