THE ORIGIN OF SIN
There is no other topic which God addressed more than that of sin. He has been especially clear as to what sin is, that we are all filled with sin from birth, that He hates it with all his being and might, and finally that through His only son, Jesus Christ, did He find a way for all of us to be saved. Our Lord God in Heaven laid down numerous covenants with a host of different kings and prophets warning us against sin, only to have each law and commandment violated by man starting with the origin of sin itself.
ORIGIN OF SATAN
Many times I have been asked who sinned first Satan or Eve? If my interpretation is correct of the Holy Bible then the timeline would suggest that most certainly original sin occurred long before the creation of mankind, therefore Satan would have to have sinned first. It is also important to point out that there are several references in the Bible that call Satan by other names, but our most common affiliation to Satan in the association of his own creation and the first name God gave to him, was that of Lucifer. This first name represents how proud God was of Lucifer and thus explains the reasoning behind the station Lucifer held before his fall. His name in Latin simply meant, (Light-bearer), in Hebrew it means, (Morning Star). In this chronology of Lucifer he became prideful and this sin prompted God to punish him by casting him from heaven and in doing so God renamed Lucifer thus calling him Satan which means, (Adversary)in Hebrew. This truly marks the new role Satan then plays throughout the remainder of the Bible and his interference in the affairs of mortal man here on Earth. It still astonishes me how Lucifer went from the ‘Light-bearer’ to the ‘Adversary’ of God. So it is this saga the remainder of this book will explore in the context of the many different types of sin with pride always being the forerunner to the rest and within this how destructive sin in general is to your relationship to God.
But for now armed with this knowledge we turn to the Bible to find evidence for Satan or Lucifer. Some scholars believe that Isaiah 14:12-15 is talking about the fall of Lucifer and the origin of sin since his name is mentioned within the text, and that only a spiritual being could ascend into heaven, starting with verse 12 it reads,
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.
I have always been moved to read the entire text before coming to any conclusions. When observing this method of reading the bible starting at Isaiah 14:1-2 the text specifically states that God is describing how the people of Jacob will become the rulers of the Lord’s land;
14 The Lord will have compassion on Jacob;
once again he will choose Israel
and will settle them in their own land.
Foreigners will join them
and unite with the descendants of Jacob.
2 Nations will take them
and bring them to their own place.
And Israel will take possession of the nations
and make them male and female servants in the Lord’s land.
They will make captives of their captors
and rule over their oppressors.
With this then clearly outlined to say Isaiah 14 was referring to the fall of grace by Lucifer would not be fitting within the context of the entire scripture because among other things it goes on to talk about a mortal death and this does not describe the fait of Lucifer, (a spiritual being) as we know him to be. But the text does make a strange transition as it focuses not on the victory of the House of Jacob but a scenario whereby a physical place we know as Hell is then describes starting at verse 9;
9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
This transition is the first reference of Hell in the classical terms we know of today. Moreover, it is represented as something more real and something which poses a threat not just to mankind but to Heaven above. Moving forward, Isaiah 14:12-15 is very compelling and does warrant the question; “To who was God referring while addressing the king of Babylon?” I will answer this question later in this section. With that said I would like to then look at yet another part of the Old Testament which adds to our goal of finding a description of the fall of Lucifer.
Ezekiel 28: 1-10 in its entirety does not describe Lucifer, but rather the fall of the King of Tyre. But later in the scripture it begins to describe something more like a spiritual being, much like in Isaiah 14:12-15. Therefore, Ezekiel 28:12-19 mirrors that of Isaiah as found below;
12 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘You were the seal of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.”
Coming back to the earlier question raised about Isaiah 14:12-15, in both scriptures God could have been referencing an event which He was still in morning about while directing his comments to an earthly king. Further evidence to this hypothesis is found in more comments that are not befitting any mortal man as the scripture continues;
13 “Thou hast been in Eden,
the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you:
carnelian, chrysolite and emerald,
topaz, onyx and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold;
on the day you were created they were prepared.
14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
you walked among the fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created
till wickedness was found in you.
16 Through your widespread trade
you were filled with violence,
and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God,
and I expelled you, guardian cherub,
from among the fiery stones.
17 Your heart became proud
on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
because of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth;
I made a spectacle of you before kings.
18 By your many sins and dishonest trade
you have desecrated your sanctuaries.
So I made a fire come out from you,
and it consumed you,
and I reduced you to ashes on the ground
in the sight of all who were watching.
19 All the nations who knew you
are appalled at you;
you have come to a horrible end
and will be no more.’”
In closer examination of Ezekiel 28:13 talks about Eden. We know it was impossible for the King of Tyre to have been in Eden, so who else was God addressing? Logically speaking if Lucifer fell from grace before mankind existed then it is possible for Satan to have been present in Eden fully manifested as the Satan we know of today. Further evidence is found in verse 14, ‘You were anointed as a guardian cherub.’ Lucifer was a cherub, in fact Lucifer was the “Morning Star”, chief among all the angels in heaven. Verse 15 describes how blameless he was. Verse 16 describes the transition from Lucifer to Satan with the usage of the word ‘violence and sin.’ Verse 17 blames Lucifer for allowing his heart to become prideful. Then it describes his punishment. Verse 18 and 19 names specific sins which God refuses to tolerate, and again describes the final punishment as it correlates with the New Testament book of Revelations. Once again in both scriptures Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:13-19 could be an example of God talking metaphorically about the sins of Lucifer while addressing the sins of mortal kings. Jesus did this to Peter when he said in Matthew 16:23, 23 “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”
Despite this the argument should also include the emotional state these scriptures place God, as they clearly suggest how moved He was, for God did not have to describe the original sin of pride in such detail. Instead God elected to not just describe the first sin but also its punishment. Here we see how consistent in all three instances God was in dealing with pride, as it warranted the removal of those in power who exhibited this sin for all to see. The sin of pride angers God, thus He rebuked everyone who was filled with it in such a manner He likened them to that of Satan as did Jesus to Peter. Another aspect of this argument comes to light through the very nature of God who has repeatedly stated how much He loves all humanity, but yet his tolerance for pride despite His perfect love is to show absolute rejection of it. In this manner pride then is the chief of all sin, and is the doorway spoke about by St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.),referenced below. I then also contend that jealousy is the chief motivator behind pride as manny of the aforementioned comments spoke directly to jealousy then to the sin of pride. Examples of this can be found in Isaiah 14:13 and Ezekiel 28:16.
DOORWAY OF SIN
In examining the origin of pride there is no other description more fitting and one that goes into as much detail about the revelation and damnation of this one sin had on both the angels in heaven and humans here on Earth than that of pride as described by St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.) who wrote, “'Pride is the commencement of all sin' because it was this which overthrew the devil, from whom arose the origin of sin; and afterwards, when his malice and envy pursued man, who was yet standing in his uprightness, it subverted him in the same way in which he himself fell. For the serpent, in fact, only sought for the door of pride whereby to enter when he said, 'Ye shall be as gods.'”
SIN AND THE FALL OF MANKIND
In Genesis God creates the Earth, the Heavens, and all who dwell there in. He then created all the plants and animals, the water and the sky. God then also created Adam the first human being, once done God declared all His labor was good. But in looking at Ezekiel 28:13 we find that Satan also was in Eden, on planet Earth at the same time as the creation of man. This logically lends itself to the notion, (in relation to the greater timeline), that Lucifer had already fallen and his appearance in the garden of Eden was in large part to prove the sinful nature of all that God has declared good. It also suggests that Earth and the creation as described was within a close timeframe. If you believe in the Holy Bible and its historical significance then we can take an educated guess to what was the root cause of sin and our own iniquity as it was introduced to us through Satan. At this point it also extremely important to understand the three stages Satan brings Eve through which ultimately leads her to abandon the commandment of God and the fall of mankind.
The critical first stage begins with our most basic need to survive, as highlighted in this first conversation between Satan and Eve
Impressum
Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
Texte: Brian Keith Stark
Bildmaterialien: Brian Keith Stark
Lektorat: Brian Keith Stark
Übersetzung: Brian Keith Stark
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 24.11.2012
ISBN: 978-3-86479-918-1
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