PERFECT Was Not Good Enough? How was that possible? For if heaven — where EVERYTHING is perfect — had something or someone that was NOT perfect, how could this “not perfect” thing be allowed??
All of this began many, many years ago — perhaps millions of years ago — before the universe existed. The angelic realm was a place where everything was perfect!
Here’s Why This Message Is Important:
Because — it explains EVERYTHING!
Every problem you have ever had in the past; every problem you have right now; every problem you will ever have in the future; — all these problems are the direct result of events that happened in eternity-past!.
And — wouldn’t you agree:
My goal is to answer these questions:
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Why are there evil beings?
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Where did they come from?
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SO WHAT?? What does that have to do with me?
Start At The Beginning:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1a)
That verse describes the beginning of the “natural realm”. That’s when space and time and all of the galaxies in the universe came into existence.
However:
Critically important events — things that adversely effect your life today — happened in eternity past. They happened…
BEFORE THE BEGINNING.
In eternity past, God performed His FIRST creation event. He created the “heavenly realm”. Then, God created all the angels.
The King Of Tyre
Important Principle:
Wherever there is an evil human being, there is always an evil spirit in the invisible realm controlling and empowering the evil human person.
Lamentation for the King of Tyre
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: (Ezekiel 28:11~12a)
Here’s the description:
12b You were 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 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.
14 “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. (Ezekiel 28:12b~14)
All of the angels were perfect beings
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created…” (Ezekiel 28:15a)
The most magnificent angel was named “Lucifer”, which means “Shining One”.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God… (Ezekiel 28:13a)
Consider…
- PERFECT beings…
- In a PERFECT environment…
- Enjoying intimate fellowship with God Himself…
How could anything possibly go wrong??
Evil Appears In Heaven
Were it not for one little five-letter word, the whole universe and all of humanity might never have been created. Do you see it there?
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, UNTIL iniquity was found in you. (Ezekiel 28:15)
You have to understand:
As we know, all human beings are created with “volition”, a free will. Likewise, Lucifer and all of the angles were given the freedom to choose. And we’re told that Lucifer’s “marketing effort” (referred to in Ezekiel 28:16 below as “the abundance of your trading”) was so persuasive that ONE THIRD of the angels (see Revelation 12:3~4a below) chose to join him in rebellion against God!
Ezekiel 28:16~17
16 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.
17 “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.
18 “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; (Ezekiel 28:16~17)
Revelation 12:3~4a
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. (Revelation 12:3~4a)
Likewise, the phrase “morning stars” in the quote from Job (below) also refers to angels.
The book of Job also identifies angels:
Job 38:7
when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7)
Here, then, is the result of Lucifer’s focus on himself
Lucifer made a fatal strategic error!
This Is What Pride Can Do:
Lucifer was so magnificent in his appearance and strength that pride began to well up in his heart. He decided he would not serve God any longer. He actually believed he could do better on his own than always having to follow God’s agenda. So enticing was his offer to his fellow angels that one third of them chose to join him in rebellion.
13 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.
14 “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. (Ezekiel 28:13~14)
Lucifer’s heart was so blinded by how magnificent he was (think: “mirror, mirror on the wall…”) that he actually overlooked the fact that he was a created being. He forgot that he was totally dependent upon God to sustain his very existence.
What Lucifer Wanted:
13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 14:13~14)
Notice the “I will” statements:
- I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God.
- I will set my throne on high
- I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north
- I will ascend above the heights of the clouds
- I will make myself like the Most High
Lucifer was not thinking about how to carry out God’s Will. Lucifer was planning his own agenda. He was choosing — by his own free will — to execute his own plan.
Why Would He Do That?
After all, look at what he had:
- He was a perfectly-created being
- He was living in a place of perfection
- He was the most powerful angle of them all.
- He was the most beautiful; the most magnificent angel of all
- He walked in direct fellowship with God
- He had authority over all the other angels.
But there were two things God had that Lucifer did not have — and Lucifer wanted them!
Lucifer wanted independence!
Lucifer wanted freedom to plan his own agenda instead of always doing God’s will.
Lucifer also Wanted glory; to be worshiped!!
Remember how Satan tried to tempt Jesus in the wilderness?
8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:8~9)
But God does not share His glory with anyone!
I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. (Isaiah 42:8)
Of course, God saw all of this coming, and had a plan ready to execute. God could have simply destroyed Lucifer and his demon followers, but He chose a different path. He chose to use Lucifer’s rebellion to bring more glory to Himself than He would have had if there had been no rebellion.
What Lucifer got:
Where did evil beings come from?
Lucifer’s identity was changed.
His name became “Satan” which means “accuser”.
Satan and his followers were judged, sentenced, and cast out of the angelic heavenly realm. They were banished to a dark, watery place in the natural realm called “Earth”.
God’s plan was to demonstrate to Lucifer and the angels that He was so in control that He could create lesser beings (humans) who, if they would obey God, would go farther than more powerful angelic beings who would not obey Him. The results: glory for God and humiliation for Satan.
In essence, God wanted to embarrass Satan and rub his face in the mud!
And so Satan and his demons remained in this formless, dumpy place. They were filled with rage over having been denied a kingdom in the heavenly realm. They considered God’s verdict very unfair. They boiled with hatred toward God.
But then…
A moment came when God stepped out of the eternal realm, stood on this dark, watery, formless planet Earth, and spoke:
“Let There Be Light!”
Can you imagine what a rude awakening that moment must have been for Satan and his demons?
But it was about to get even worse!
Satan watched as God created a garden of Eden on Earth. He saw God populate Eden with all manner of plants and animals.
And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. (Genesis 2:8)
But then — and much to Satan’s bewilderment — he watched from the shadows as God created the first humans: Adam and Eve.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26~27)
At that point, this Garden of Eden — including all that was in it — was a place of total perfection.
But Then:
Here’s what must have REALLY — as it were — poured gasoline onto the fire of Satan’s hatred toward God:
In Satan’s hearing, God gave dominion of this totally refurbished Earth over to Adam and Eve!
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. (Genesis 1:28~30)
Imagine Satan’s RAGE!!
Not only was Satan denied a share of God’s glory; not only was he stripped of his beauty; not only was he banished from the angelic realm; now he heard God give these puny human beings domination over the one place that Satan thought was his alone!
Suddenly… Satan got an idea!
Remember that scene in the TV Christmas movie, “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” where the Grinch comes up with a devious, diabolical plan to eliminate Christmas?
“The Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea”
Satan’s “wonderful, awful idea”:
Recall: after Adam and Eve fell for Satan’s deception about the forbidden fruit, Satan also heard God say that the seed (offspring) of the woman would crush Satan’s head, and he (Satan) would bruise her heel.
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)
The Amplified Bible helps to understand the words that the Holy Spirit inspired Moses to write. One of the features I like about the Amplified Bible is that it puts a bit of “commentary” (explanation) directly into the inspired word of the Bible:
And I will put enmity (open hostility) Between you and the woman, And between your seed (offspring) and her Seed; He shall [fatally] bruise your head, And you shall [only] bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:15 AMP)
I’m sure you would agree that to “[fatally] bruise” is much different than simply a bump on the head.
23 Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. (Luke 3:23~38)
Satan must have thought, “That is SOOOO NOT going to happen! I’ll just kill off the seed, and I win. Game over!”
Satan’s First Attempt:
When the opportunity came, Satan caused the “bad seed” — Cain — to kill off the “good seed” — Abel. He probably thought, “That was easy!” But Satan didn’t know that Eve would eventually give birth to another son, Seth:
25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” (Genesis 4:25)
Satan realized the scope of his “containment” operation would have to be expanded. He figured out that the “seed” God referred to would be coming in a future generation. But which generation? So Satan watched as human history unfolded. When he believed that a particular “seed” might be the one God was referring to, he would take action to stop it.
More of Satan’s attempts to thwart God’s plan:
Satan sent wicked demons to possess the bodies of men. These demon-controlled men had relations with the women of the land, producing a whole race of giants. But God wiped them all out with a global flood — except for one righteous man named Noah — along with his family.
In the following Scripture passage, the term “sons of God” refers to the fallen angels that chose to rebel against God.
From Genesis Chapter 6:
1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 6:1-8
From the Gospel of Matthew:
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, (Matthew 2:1)
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. (v6-7)
And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. (v12)
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” (v13)
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. (Matthew 2:16)
Satan really thought he had the situation contained when he got Judas to betray Jesus, then got the religious leaders to persuade the Roman officials to crucify Jesus.
Just look at the “lynch-mob” scene portrayed in these verses:
And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him (Matthew 27:31)
And they cried out again, “Crucify him. (Mark 15:13)
And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” (Mark 15:14)
And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. (Mark 15:20)
but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” (Luke 23:21)
When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” (John 19:10)
They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15)
Clearly, Satan did not know that he was playing right into God’s plan for salvation.
Unlike human men and women, God made no provision for Satan and his followers to repent. They are on a one-way street leading them to “the lake of fire”! There they will burn in torment for all of eternity. The ONLY satisfaction they will ever have will be to take as many human souls as possible away from God into the lake of fire with them.
All of that is well supported by God’s Word!
Referring to the fallen angels, God says in the Book of Hebrews:
16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. (Hebrews 2:16)
And referring to the souls of unrighteous people, He says:
41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41~46)
The courtroom drama described below goes on continuously, day and night. It’s going on right now!
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. (Revelation 12:10)
Unlike humans, Satan and his demons need no sleep. Unlike humans, Satan and his demons are unified; they are highly organized. In contrast, we humans — including Christians — are disorganized and we fight among ourselves.
SO WHAT??
“What does that have to do with me?”
Plenty!
The devil’s goal is to take control of your mind. Here are a few of the main ways he does that:
- TORMENT: — He may inflict so much misery on you that it drives you out of your mind! Then, Satan or a gang of his demons will move in and take control of your way of thinking.
- QUARRELING: — The enemy “divides and conquers” when he gets us to fight among ourselves But we can learn to recognize those demonic provocations and react by blessing and not cursing.
- PROSPERITY: — Satan might afflict you with prosperity, causing you to lean back and lower your guard, making it easy for him to set up a stronghold from which to control you. We can see that so clearly in the lives of a lot of world leaders.
- FALSE RELIGION: — If you must go to church, Satan wants you to remain under the “anesthesia” of one of the easy-chair religions, where virtually no Bible Truth is taught.
- DOUBLE-MINDED: — Satan arranges a myriad of details so that he can raise up a “mental partition” to keep you from applying God’s Truth into your life.
- IDOLATRY — Any THING or any ACTIVITY that is more important to you than God is an idol. It’s not wrong to have “stuff”; the problem is when “stuff” has you.
- TEMPTATION — Satan’s desire is to get us to transgress God’s laws. When we do that, we give the devil a legal right in the Court of Heaven to inflict his wickedness upon us.
- UNWANTED THOUGHTS: — You can’t block thoughts put into your mind by the devil by “trying harder”. But God has put His power into His Word as our weapon against those thoughts.
- IGNORANCE — You can be forgiven for not knowing, or for not knowing that you don’t know. But when you refuse to know, you serve Satan and not God
- IMPATIENCE — The concept of “waiting” pervades the whole Bible. When our attitude is, “I want it, and I want it NOW”, we’re serving Satan, not God.
Satan’s goal for your life is:
He wants you to forget about all of this “stupid church stuff” and to ignore everything you’ve just read here.
He wants you to live according to the common sense “wisdom” of the world — most of which he authored and is vigorously promoting.
Because Then: He HAS You!!
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
- Jan
- Why The Universe And The Human Race Exist
- PERFECT Was Not Good Enough
- Satan Is NOT In Control ~ Part 1
- Satan Is NOT In Control ~ Part 2
- Satan Is NOT In Control ~ Keep short accounts with God
- Satan HATES You!! [but why??]
- The Meaning Of Life Is What?
- God Needs To Lighten Up
- Supernatural Problems Need A Supernatural Solution
- The Lake Of Fire Was Created For Evil Spirits
- God Is More Powerful Than The Devil
- There Will Be Scoffers
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Thank You.
It is my scriptural understanding that Satan was actually a Cherub in the Garden of Eden. His responsibility was to watch over Adam and Eve. He had access to the heavens .In Jobs day he is seen entering to take his station among the rest of the sons of God. His banishment from the spirit realm was when Michael cast him out of heaven which occurred in our generation .I don’t see where he was sentence to a watery deep the Earth that was cover with water.
Hi, Mary,
The “Garden of Eden” referred to In Exekiel 28 was in the eternal realm. It’s not the same garden of Eden that we see in Genesis. When Lucifer sinned, he and his followers were kicked out of heaven, and given the (then) dark, watery place named “Earth” as their”kingdom”.
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