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Commentary on "From Exalted to Cast Down"

COLLEEN TINKER

 

Day 4: Tuesday, April 5, 2011 - The Fall of a Perfect Being

 

Overview

Tuesday's lesson addresses the fall of Lucifer, a prefect being. It observes that his garments were gorgeous and colorful, covered with expensive jewels reflecting his exalted position. It directs the reader to Ezekiel 28:17 to discover the cause of Lucifer's downfall and asks what important message we should learn for ourselves from this text. The lesson further makes the point that all that Lucifer had was from God; without God, he would be nothing--yet he forgot that point.

The lesson then directs the reader to Deuteronomy 8:1-18 and asks what principle in this text is reflected in what happened to Lucifer. The lesson ends by asking how easy is it to forget how dependent upon the Lord we really are.

 

Observations

Again, the point needs to be emphasized that Ezekiel 28 is not primarily about Lucifer. Even if it is secondarily describing him, it is inappropriate to use this passage to build up a teaching that uses Lucifer as an object lesson for us. The Bible never directs us to learn from Lucifer. His story does not reflect or determine ours. The only reality regarding evil that the Bible tells us is that it exists, that it is driven by spiritual beings, that Satan is our accuser, that he will ultimately stage a physical rebellion against the kingdom of the Lord Jesus, that he is a defeated foe, that he will be eternally destroyed in the lake of fire, and that as people made alive by the Holy Spirit, we can resist the devil by staying dressed in the armor of Christ.

The Teacher's Comments in the quarterly make the point on page 21 that the key concept for this week's lesson is that God gives us freedom to choose Him or not to choose Him. It states:

"While God is sovereign--that is to say that everything is ultimately subject to Him--it is necessary to His purposes that we choose to serve Him of our own free will. This free will is a necessary precondition of the perfection that He wishes for us to achieve. As such it is necessary that we have the freedom not to make the right choice."

This section of the Teacher's Comments ends with this discussion starter: "If Lucifer could reject God's love with eyes wide open while existing in the very presence of God, what does this say about how deceptive our thoughts and perceptions can be if we cut ourselves off from God's influence?"

The great controversy theme hangs upon the assumption that God's reputation depends upon a group of people freely choosing to obey His law, thus proving that Satan is wrong in accusing Him of unfairly requiring obedience to a too-hard-to-keep law. Furthermore, according to the great controversy theme, Jesus cannot return until His people have finished the work of telling the Adventist gospel to the whole world. In fact, Ellen White said that God would have returned before now if we had finished the work.

The Bible shows a much different reality. Ephesians 2:1-3 tell us that none of us is born able to choose God:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind...

Paul continues by explaining how we come to know Jesus:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:4-9 ESV)

We are born dead, spiritually dead. It requires intervention by the Lord God for any of us to be able to choose Jesus. God's purposes do not "require", as the quote from the quarterly says above, for us to "serve Him of our own free will." Rather, Ephesians 1:11-12 states what God has done for the sake of His purpose:

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

Quite the opposite of God's purpose requiring our serving him from their free will, the Bible tells us that God's purpose is that He works all things according to the counsel of his will, and that He predestined us to obtain an inheritance so that we would be for the praise of His glory.

The Bible clearly commands us to "believe in the Lord Jesus" and thus be saved (Acts 16:31). Concurrently, it tells us that God chose and predestined us from before creation. We do not have the ability to see how these apparently contradictory realities work together--but they do. The Bible tells us both things; we must believe them both and refuse to try to explain away either one of them. God asks us to trust Him and His promises and to obey His word. We are not to explain Scripture so we lose the normal meanings of the words.

We have to trust God that in eternity, these two things are part of a whole we cannot perceive here inside time.

I make this point because the great controversy theme requires completely "free will" for both humans and angels. Part of the Adventist assumption is that God has to allow Satan to accuse Him and to falsely represent Him. This assumption is completely contrary to Scripture.

God never depends upon angels or men to vindicate His character. There is no Scripture anywhere that hints at such a heretical belief. Rather, Scripture shows that God limits and determines what Satan is allowed to do (see the book of Job). Satan is not a powerful but malicious force existing in eternity, conducting a "fair" campaign against God.

God is outside of creation. Evil is a subset of creation; it is not free-floating malevolence that comes against God somewhere beyond creation. Rather, God is sovereign over all creation, even over evil. God is not required to allow Satan to play havoc with humanity and with Him. Rather, God preserves humanity by becoming human in the Person of God the Son, and He Himself defeats Satan and gives His people eternal life at the moment they believe.

 

Light Bearer

One last thought: the Teacher's Commentary makes a big point of explaining what it means to be a "light bearer". It points out that "Lucifer" means "light bearer" and discusses that a "light bearer" is different from being a "light source". Being a light bearer, though, is very important, the lesson points out. Apparently, the comments explain, Lucifer began to believe he was also a source of light.

The Teacher's Comments go on to ask, "Why do we , to reflect God's light, need to make an effort to remain in His presence and under His influence?"

This question once again misses the point that when we are truly born again, God remains in us as the indwelling Holy Spirit, and we are kept by God (Jude 1-3). We do not become "light bearers" by making efforts to remain in His presence and under His influence.

In fact, the Bible never calls us "light bearers". It is curious that Adventists have attached to the designation "light bearers", even entitling their official history of the organization, the textbook used at Andrews University for its denominational history class, Light Bearers.

Christians do not identify themselves by using the meaning of the name Lucifer.

 

What about Deuteronomy 8?

Finally, the passage in Deuteronomy 8 is excerpted from Moses' reiteration of Israel's history and of God's covenant with them at Mt. Sinai. After the disobedient generation died in the wilderness and just before the second generation went into the land under Joshua's leadership, Moses renewed the covenant with them so they would remember God's promises to them.

In this particular passage, Moses reminds them how God had sustained and blessed them, how He had provided for them, and how He had promised to prosper them if they kept the terms of their covenant. He warns them against thinking they earned their wealth by the power of their own hands.

The lesson asks the reader to identify the principle found in this passage and to understand how this principle is reflected in what happened to Lucifer.

Quite simply, this is a wrong use to make of this passage. First, Deuteronomy 8 was spoken to a generation of Israelites who were about to enter Canaan, led by the presence of God as He drove out pagan societies in front of them.

Second, we know nothing at all about the details of Lucifer's fall. While it seems clear that arrogance or pride consumed him, we are not told the details, and there is absolutely no purpose in speculating upon Lucifer's experience.

The Bible never uses Lucifer as an example for us. His story is not our story. Jesus did not come to help him but to help us:

For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. (Hebrews 2:16 ESV)

Never does the Bible ask us to consider Lucifer as a source of any sort of insight into how to live holy lives. Never are we to look at evil as a means of avoiding it. We are always instructed to flee from evil and to resist the devil. We gain absolutely NO insight for living from examining Lucifer.

Adventists are led to contemplate the one who became Satan as part of their understanding of their own predicament and as a means of avoiding evil.

 

Summary

  1. Ezekiel 28 is not primarily about Lucifer; only in Ellen White's writings do we find a whole story of Lucifer derived from this passage.
  2. God's purpose does not require us to serve Him out of free will.
  3. God's purpose included His predestining us to be for the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:11-12).
  4. We are asked to believe in the Lord Jesus, and we are told God has predestined us. Both are true.
  5. We are born spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1-3); we cannot choose Jesus unless He intervenes and calls us to Himself (Eph. 2:4-8).
  6. God never depends upon any creature to vindicate His character, nor does He depend upon us to "finish the work" before He comes back. He is sovereign--even over evil.
  7. We are never to learn lessons about how to live by studying Lucifer, nor are we to gain insights for living by examining the one who became Satan.

 

GO TO DAY 5

 

Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised March 30, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

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