Falling Star

Introduction

As Halloween gets close - you will undoubtedly see some characters

Bedsheet with holes is a ghost

Wrapped in fabric is a mummy

Dirty clothes and a stick with a fabric bag is a hobo

Yet, there are things we won’t dress up as

Holocaust victim, terrorist, blackface are unacceptable

And with good reason! We shouldn’t do those things...

However, there is someone you will probably see

You know - Red horns, a pointy tail, a goatee and a pitchfork

We would likely be upset if someone walked by dressed as Hitler

But we think nothing of Satan ringing our doorbells

Trick-or-treat! Aren’t you a cute little devil!

For some reason, our culture has turned the greatest enemy of mankind into a cartoon character

Today we’re starting a new series - Deep State

And we are taking at look at this being who goes by many names

The Satan, Lucifer, the Devil, the Adversary, the Enemy, the Lawless One, the Father of Lies...

The list goes on and on

We’re examining him because we often do see him as just a cartoon character...

Look at the screen

These are all portrayals of this being that seem harmless or even comical

And yet, as Christians, we should know better!

Billy Graham: “Don’t think of Satan as a harmless cartoon character with a red suit and a pitchfork. He is very clever and powerful, and his unchanging purpose is to defeat God’s plans at every turn - including His plans for your life.”

The purpose of this new series, is to understand who are enemy is and how he is a threat to mankind and the church specifically

By the end, my hope is that you will take our enemy a little more seriously

That you will recognize the method of his attacks a little better

And also to understand God’s victory in our lives and in this world more thoroughly

Let’s get to the beginning of all this

YouVersion: Falling Star

We’re looking at 4 different passages

Each one comes from a different place describing the same story

Isaiah 14:12-15 is an OT prophets perspective

Isaiah is talking about king of Babylon

Suddenly, he switches to a picture of Satan

It seems that this is either talking about Satan and Babylon king at the same time

OR using Satanic imagery to describe king

Either way, we can learn about Satan’s story here

Ezekiel 28:11-19 is another OT prophets perspective

Here, Ezekiel is talking about the king of Tyre

Suddenly, he stops and starts again and it not longer sounds like the king of Tyre

He talks about how is is a Cherub (angel) and says he was in the garden of Eden

Sounds more like Satan than some earthly king

Luke 10:17-20 is Jesus’ perspective in the NT

In this one, Jesus is definitely talking about Satan

However, the disciples have just returned from casting out demons

His focus was more on the disciples actions than telling Satan’s story

Still, Jesus describes him falling from heaven

Rev 12:3-9 is John’s NT prophetic perspective from the future

The book of Revelation talks about God’s future judgment on the earth in the Tribulation

Scary, end of the world type stuff

Then, John sees an image that seems to tell the story of how the whole fight between good and evil started

There is picture of a dragon (Satan), attacking a woman (Israel) who gives birth to a male child (Jesus)

This child is to rule the world, so the dragon tries to eat the child, who then ascends to heaven

With that, let’s look to each of these passages to learn about the origin of Satan and his hatred of God and His creation:

4 Parts of Satan’s Fall

1. Satan is not how God created him

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth

Heaven includes the heavenly beings known as angels

Side note - Jesus is not part of this creation, John 1 tells us He was the creator

Genesis 1:31a (ESV)

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

So this includes Satan - he was good

However, God created everything with it’s own potential

This is because Satan, like people, have free will

2. Lucifer was amazing before his fall

So we know that in the beginning, everything was good

Ezekiel 28:11–15 (ESV)

11 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: 12 “Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God:

“You were the signet of perfection,

full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

13 You were in Eden, the garden of God;

every precious stone was your covering,

sardius, topaz, and diamond,

beryl, onyx, and jasper,

sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle;

and crafted in gold were your settings

and your engravings.

On the day that you were created

they were prepared.

14 You were an anointed guardian cherub.

I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God;

in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.

15 You were blameless in your ways

from the day you were created,

till unrighteousness was found in you.

Again, Ezekiel writes about the king of Tyre, but clearly begins talks about a higher, heavenly being

This “signet of perfection” describes a strong representation

Likely describes a seal - like one on a letter

A seal indicates the power it represents

If a police officer walks in and flashes a badge - that indicates power

It’s not that they are powerful necessarily, but there is something backing them

A cop is a representative of the law, acting with the power of the law

During Satan’s original role, he had the power of perfection, the authority of God

He was in Eden, meaning he was there at the beginning of creation

And he was adorned in Jewels

The same jewels that were on the breastplate of the high priest in the temple

This is symbolic of high honor, and a connection between creation and God

This part in v. 13 may give us another clue

The “crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared” often has another translation

The word for “settings” is “toph” which means “timbrel” or “tambourine”

The word for “engraving” is Nekeb which can mean “cavern or to bore through”

Think of a pipe

Scholars trying to translate this don’t agree on the meaning here

In the ESV, they looked at all the jewels and said it makes sense these are things for the jewelry

But others look at the tambourine and pipes and think it’s talking about music

Let’s look at the KJV version of this

Ezekiel 28:13b (NKJV)

13 ...The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes

Was prepared for you on the day you were created.

If this is correct, it implies that Satan was created to lead musical worship for God

Obviously, Satan’s original purpose was for good

He was the “star of the morning”

Held a high-ranking position in the angelic host (maybe worship)

Had exquisite beauty and great wisdom

Given a position of great power and influence

V.15 says he was blameless - perfect!

Until what? Unrighteousness was found in you.

When did this happen?

We know he was perfect at creation...

However, we know Satan is the one tempting Eve in Genesis 3 (Satan was fallen at this time)

Sometime between creation and the fall of man, something terrible happened

3. Satan faced God’s judgment

Let’s flip over to Isaiah 14

Isaiah 14:12–14 (ESV)

12 “How you are fallen from heaven,

O Day Star, son of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

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.’

Satan was once the guardian cherub - the highest angel

God gave him authority

He was considered to be perfect

He was adorned with priestly jewels

He may have even been in charge of musical worship in the throne room of God!

His name/title is the word Lucifer - means the Day Star or the Morning Star!

Satan was absolutely beautiful we learn in Ezekiel!

But there was a problem...

Satan was all these things, and he knew it

He loved it

He believed it was all about him...

In his heart he believed he was better than God

That scares me a little - Satan wasn’t stupid

He believed he was better than God, so there must have been good reason for him to believe that

Satan is likely a lot smarter than me, stronger than me, more experienced than me...

That’s a pretty formidable enemy!

But as smart as he is, that would become his downfall

Ezekiel 28:17a (ESV)

17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;

you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.

See, his beauty turned to pride...

AND his wisdom is actually what corrupted him

He was too smart for his own good

You ever meet someone who is clearly smart?

You know, has all the answers, wins all the games, holds all the accolades?

And yet, they are friendless, constantly arguing and more arrogant than you can stand?

The funny thing is, oftentimes as smart as they are, they don’t seem to understand how annoying they are!

Our own smarts can cloud our minds!

That’s what happened to Satan, that’s probably why he tries so hard to appeal to our own arrogance

Clearly, if Satan wanted to be held above God, wanted to be worshipped himself, God couldn’t stand for that

Isaiah 14:15 (ESV)

15 But you are brought down to Sheol,

to the far reaches of the pit.

This is known as the fall of Satan

Actually falls 4 different times:

From his position

From his access

To the pit

To the lake of fire

The first already happened, the next 3 are in the future

All of this fits into one grand narrative

Book of Revelation is a future book

Jesus comes back to John the Apostle on Patmos

Gives him messages for the churches, then a vision of the end times

In this vision, he sees a big picture situation

Let’s read this and break it down

Revelation 12:1 ESV

1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

This is very Jewish!

The sun, moon and stars were all a part of Joseph (Jacob’s son’s) dream for the nation of Israel being started in Genesis 37

So this woman represents the nation of Israel

Revelation 12:2 (ESV)

2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.

This is speaking of the Savior being born of Israel being brought to the earth

This is the birth of Jesus!

Revelation 12:3 (ESV)

3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.

This is the Satan

All the heads and horns and stuff link to other prophecies for the end times...

BUT notice 2 things here:

First, he has diadems or crowns

Satan is claiming authority and power over the earth

Second, notice where the sign appears - HEAVEN!

This is after the first fall - this dragon does not worship God, but wants authority himself

But before the second fall - watch this

Revelation 12:4–5 (ESV)

4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,

Here is the 4th thing we need to know:

4. Satan took 1/3rd of heavens angels

This is how Satan got his demons

Hebrews tells us that the number of angels is innumerable

Revelation tells us it’s more than 10,000 x 10,000 (100 million)

Satan likely persuaded 1/3rd of them to join his cause

After the fall, it turns out Satan HATES God’s creation of good

And he hates YOU

Understand he wants you to fail, he wants you to fall

Think about it, the first thing we see Satan do when he’s not in heaven...

He goes right after mankind

He went right after Eve to talk her into thinking she could be like God

Just what Satan thought about himself

When we fell, God sent us a rescuer - a Savior

As Jesus came to save us, the dragon was waiting to kill Him

And just when Satan thought he was victorious - seeing the Christ crucified

The child went to God and His throne - which is where Jesus is now

The rest of this passage talks about future stuff

For now, Satan has lost his role as guardian cherub in heaven

Instead, he comes back to heaven to stand before God and accuse us

He’s become a rat essentially

However, even that will change eventually

Revelation 12:7–9 (ESV)

7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Eventually, Satan’s power shrinks and shrinks and shrinks until he’s thrown into the lake of fire

But we’ll learn more about that in the coming weeks

But for now, we need to know Satan is against God, he’s against Jesus, and he’s against His Church

And he is powerful - sometimes we get a little cocky with that

It’s okay to find joy in victory, but we shouldn’t be foolish

We need to realize that Satan has power and he does use it

He has 1/3rd of all the angels in creation who have become his demons

Jesus warns:

John 10:10a (ESV)

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

Satan does have his victories - there is a lot of stealing, killing and destroying going on

We think about things like the Holocaust, terrorist attacks, cults, serial killers...

Who do you think it is behind those things spiritually?

It’s the enemy working with 1/3rd of the angels...

That is significant power!

We need to realize something about that power:

As Christians, Satan can’t force us into anything

He knows our weaknesses and he can’t exploit them

He knows our desires and he can tempt us

He can make us doubt God’s power

But in all those things, we are in control of our response

If you’re like me, knowing I have a say is pretty scary

However, we are not the be all end all

You can be - you have the option to face this enemy all by yourself if you choose

Or, there’s plan B

If Satan is fighting with 1/3rd, there are still 2/3rds with God!

But more than that, we have Christ!

Let’s go back to when Jesus saw Satan fall:

Luke 10:17–20 (ESV)

17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Satan’s rebellion in heaven is done

His ability to stand before God and accuse us day and night is removed

His demons that cause so much havoc, are still subject to Christ’s authority

And as His church, we have access to the power of that name

But more than all of that, Jesus reminds His disciples:

Defeating Satan is wonderful, but there’s something more important

To have your name written in heaven means we get to spend eternity in the presence of God

Satan may want to drag you into the pit with him - like he did with the demons

But with Christ, the victory is already won

Satan may attack you in this world, it may not be fun, but he cannot steal eternal life from you

When you are a follower of Jesus, it’s a done deal

Communion