"How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit."
Isaiah 14:12, NIV
Now I know you probably thought I was going to reference Genesis and the fall of man, but even that began right here. When you think about it, there would not have been a tempter in the Garden if the enemy had not fallen. Without that fall, the first fall of the morning star, there would not have been an attempt to convince Adam and Eve to have the knowledge of good and evil, which we will get to in a later section.
For now, I'm going to run by you the short version of my interpretation of the story of this fall, just as I ran it by a dear friend of mine (a Seminary professor I checked with to make certain I was on point, and not inventing extra things), so that the basics can be put into play.
See, there was this angel... you've probably heard of him... lucifer was his name. He was the first among the angels, and was called the "morning star." One day, he decided that he should be able to sit in the same place as the Father, and so he began to rally other angels around himself and his cause. When he brought this matter forward, however, God the Father sent lucifer and his company (1/3 of the angels in Heaven) straight to hell for their pride. They were literally brought low, as low as they could possibly be brought to a place beneath everything else, just as it says in the verse above. From there, we have our enemy; the prince of lies; the great deceiver; the devil; satan.
In researching some of this before my initial thoughts began to flow, I actually ran across an interesting piece of information from Peter Binsfield in 1589, who paired each of these deadly sins with a specific demon. Pride, as I'm certain you can imagine, was paired with the demon lucifer. I haven't decided yet whether to use all of these references, but this one seemed to fit right in, given that the same name for the angel who was once, for lack of a better descriptor, the number one angel, the leader of the worship of the Father, is now the name ascribed to the demon who brings forth pride within us all. Humbling, right?
Truth be told, we all wrestle with pride. Two of my closest spiritual friends, both mentors to me, have been reminding me (and encouraging me) that all humans fight this issue, and that all humans want other people to think that it's not a big deal, which drags ALL HUMANS right back into the fight with their own pride, respectively. Sadly, as I am a firm believer that demons are very real, and that Spiritual Warfare is very real, this would mean that we have a demon by the name of lucifer attacking us at a vulnerable point... but it doesn't always seem like an attack, does it? I mean, I deserved that promotion that the other guy got, so I should be mad, right? And I work harder than the lady across the hall, so I should be the one with the better assignments, right? And I should be getting the praise and glory for the idea that is now taking shape across the landscape of the company, because I thought of it, right? And it's just not fair, not fair, not fair that another person gets credit for all the things that I have worked so hard to accomplish and achieve, and I am left sitting here with nothing to show for my efforts, right? I should be mad, right?
Wrong. Here's what you are left with, Christian sibling: the other people that "took the credit" or whatever the case may be have been blessed by your efforts, and (Shakespeare moment coming) there art thou happy. Another human being has been lifted through your effort, and there art thou happy. Perhaps an entire organization has grown and improved through your keen insight, and there art thou happy. But most of all, as a Christian, anything you do, regardless of what it is or what realm it is in, as long as it is done with a Christian spirit to serve others more than and before yourself, further edifies the Kingdom of God, and there art thou JOYFUL!
Oh, and by the way, life isn't fair. Fairness is not a Biblical concept, because if we were to receive that which we have actually earned, we'd all be fireside buddies with the aforementioned demon and his pals. Be grateful and blessed that the Father is not fair, but rather looks at us through the blood atonement of Christ. I know that point stings, but the truth is that way sometimes... hurts me every time I type it to think of all the times I've complained about things being fair or unfair.
The enemy is real, friends, and although there are many names for him and his evil, the one we all know and can relate to is pride. I would ask, though, that you look to his story and see if it's one you wish to repeat in your own life. Getting to the place where you are referred to as the "morning star," then throwing it all away because the praise and name you have received from the Almighty just doesn't feel like quite enough anymore, and becoming the chief liar and offender in the history of history across the universe just doesn't sound like fun to me. Yet every time any one of us associates with pride, we associate with this story and it's subject... and that hurts.
Focus on Christ, friends... keep all your focus on Christ, and emulate Him in all things.
God bless you all!!!
P.S. - I refuse to capitalize the name of the enemy, in case you were wondering why it wasn't done. He has been brought low by the Father, and so I purposefully use only lowercase letters.
Cool... I was wondering about the lower-case "l" in lucifer. Nice shot. Of course, lucifer can't be everywhere; He's not omnipresent as God is. But still, by succesfully attacking our first human parents, their fall (original sin) took us all down. The seed of pride goes so far back and is planted so deep, that it bears its deadly fruit in us all even without the encouragement of our enemy and his helpers. But, of course, they apply their own fertilizer (manure, I'm sure!) to that seed as well. Good reminders in your post, and nicely written... a seminary professor.
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