Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction

VERSES

12 ?How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer?d?, son of the morning!

/how/ art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

?

13 ?For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:?

14 ?I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.? 15 ?Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.? d O Lucifer: or, O day star

/The Holy Bible : King James Version./ 1995 (Is 14:12-15).

Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Luke 10:18-20 (KJV)

18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

[1]

[1] The Holy Bible : King James Version.

1995.

Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

10 ?And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet /are/, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.? /The Holy Bible : King James Version./ 1995 (Re 20:10).

Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

10 ?Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.? /The Holy Bible : King James Version./ 1995 (2 Co 12:10).

Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

*Rebellion in the Heavenlies and on Earth*

*4*

How was it possible for sin to arise in a kingdom of complete sinlessness, that is, the kingdom of God? How could sinless angels sin?

The Scriptures nowhere attempt to explain how or why Satan and the angels were created with the capability for sin.

Nor do they explain how or why human beings were created with the same capability.

These represent but two in a series of givens which are recorded in Scripture.

By /given/ I mean a fact or event which is recorded in the Bible without any explanation.

The first and greatest given in all of Scripture is found in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God. . .

.”

No attempt is made to explain the existence of God.

His existence is simply declared.

The second greatest given is found in the same verse, “God created the heavens and the earth” (v. 1b).

No explanation either of the time or the manner of the original creation is revealed.

The third great given is found in the very next verse, “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep” (v.

2a).

In verse one the heavens and the earth are mentioned.

Beginning with verse two the focus is exclusively upon the earth.

No explanation about the earth’s state of formlessness, void, and darkness is revealed.

The six days of creation (or recreation) which follow are, themselves, givens.1

The same is true with the sin of both angels and men.

They, also, are givens.

The following explanation provides a partial answer.

I share it in common with many biblical commentators.2

God is the only non-creature in the universe.

As eternal God, He is without beginning and without end.

He exists but He was not created.

He is here, but He never began.

He always was, is, and shall be.

Thus He and /He alone is absolutely perfect/.

He has perfect /mind/.

He knows everything about everything.

He has perfect /emotions/.

What He feels is always what should be felt.

He has perfect /will/.

He always chooses what is right.

Indeed, by very definition as perfect God, He cannot choose evil.

He cannot sin.

All creatures are imperfect, however.

By very definition God cannot create God.

He can create only beings which are less than God, and therefore, imperfect.

The creation can never be equal to the Creator.

By the very act of creating creatures in His own image and likeness, God is creating creatures with mind, emotions, and a will similar to His own.3

By definition He cannot create creatures in His own image and likeness which are not free to think, feel, and choose for themselves.

Furthermore, creatures cannot be created in God’s image and likeness and, at the same time, be preprogrammed only to do God’s will.

Paul Schilling in his excellent book, /God and Human Anguish,/ says if this had occurred

even though all participants might think they were free, /they would not actually be free,/ and though superficially happy, they would be unable to make their own decisions or to grow in genuinely responsive relations to other persons. . . .

They would /lack all intrinsic value,/ since all would be /robots/ unconsciously living out their predetermined destiny in one vast and tightly organized system. . . .

This arrangement would conceive /God as the Great Hypnotist,/ whose subjects would unknowingly and irresistibly carry out the commands given them during hypnosis . . .

/the notion of human beings/ [and angels] /created so that they would always choose the good is self contradictory/.

If they were /really free,/ there could be /no guarantee/ that they would always choose rightly, while if they were so constituted as to exclude choices, they would not be free.

(italics mine)4

Furthermore, freedom of choice /untested/ is only theory, not reality.

Therefore, both angels and mankind had to face the choice between obedience to God and disobedience.

The American psychiatrist, Dr. Scott Peck, in his book /People of the Lie,/ tells of his conversion to Christ.

He too wrestles with the problem of evil.5

To create us in His image, God gave us free will.

To have done otherwise would have been to make us puppets or hollow mannequins.

Yet to give us free will God had to forswear the use of force against us.

We do not have free will when there is a gun at our back . . .

/In agony He must stand by and let us be/.

(italics mine)

Freedom of choice was given to Lucifer (if that was his name) and the angels, also.

In the heavenly realm all of God’s angels were evidently put to the test of obedience.

Although the story of that test is nowhere recorded, it is everywhere implied.

Those who withstood the deception of the fallen angel, possibly Lucifer (Isa.

14:12),6 were confirmed in holiness.

They are described as “the holy angels” (Mark 8:38) and the “elect angels” (1 Tim.

5:21, kjv).

Those who were deceived and followed the rebellious Lucifer are now, like their master, confirmed in their iniquity.

According to Scripture, no provision is made for their redemption.7

Experience with demons confirms this fact.

They hate God and will never repent or seek His forgiveness, even though they recognize with horrible fear that they are doomed to the lake of fire.

They are truly confirmed in evil.8

That the rebellion in heaven had its origin in the initial rebellion of one angelic being, Satan or the Devil, seems certain.

All through Scripture He is revealed as the sole originator of evil and temptation (John 8:44; Luke 4:1–13).

Furthermore, the Devil is always seen as the master over an angelic army of evil supernaturalism (Matt.

25:41; Rev. 12:3–17).

It is his tail which swept away “a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth” (Rev.

12:4).

(These stars probably represent angels.9)

He is revealed to be in command of “principalities, . . .

powers, . . . the rulers of the darkness of this age, . . .

spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph.

6:12).

*Two Kinds of Evil on Earth*

This cosmic rebellion reached earth soon after man’s creation.