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YOUR BIBLE AND YOU
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H o w D i d E v i l B e g i n
At some awful but unrecorded moment in the history of the universe
there entered the mind of this beautiful angel the foolish and most perilous
thought, Why am I of less account than God’s Son Why is His glory greater
than mine Why is His association with the Father closer than mine
As he brooded upon fancied injustices there developed the first concept of
rebellion. It was but a step from this to a plot to exalt himself “above the
stars of God.” “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,” he said to himself,
“I will make myself like the Most High” (RSV).
Further light is thrown on this epochal occurrence in the book of Ezekiel,
where Lucifer, or Satan, is referred to under the title of “the king of Tyrus.”
“Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, foil of wisdom,
and perfect in beauty.
“Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone
was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the
onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle,
and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared
in thee in the day that thou wast created.
“Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so:
thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and
down in the midst of the stones of fire.
“Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created,
till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezekiel 28:12-15).
What a picture this gives us of Lucifer before he sinned! What a magnificent
creature he must have been, glistening with all the colors of the rainbow as
he stood close to the throne of God!
Yet even though he was so greatly privileged and so richly endowed he was
not satisfied. Pride led him on to envy, jealousy, hatred, rebellion, and finally to
ruin. Banished from heaven, he came to this earth, where he thought he could
hurt God most by leading astray the innocent creatures recently created here.
But why, you ask, did not God destroy him there and then
This involves both God’s nature and character and His whole marvelous plan
of redemption.
Of course, He could have killed the devil instantly with a word. But had He
done so, He would have lent support to Lucifer’s jealous charges that He
was an autocratic tyrant, not the great lover He claimed to be. In order to