The Fall of Lucifer
and
The Fall of the Christian Church
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To the intent that now the manifold
wisdom of God might be made known
by the church to the principalities and
powers in the heavenly places.
(Ephesians 3:10 NKJV)
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What we do is observed in heavenly
places, and the manifold wisdom of
God is made known there by what
we do here.
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In other words, we are like a
spectacle or something to be
watched:
For I think that God hath set forth us
the apostles last, as it were
appointed to death: for we are made
a spectacle unto the world, and to
angels, and to men. (1Corinthians
4:9)
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So the universe is looking down
on us to see how we uplift God
before others and how we live as
Christians, but we also have the
great privilege of looking into
heavenly places.
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God has given us information that takes
us back in time.
The universe and we can see what is
going on at this moment, but we can also
look backwards to things that happened
long before we were born.
We can look back past the Wright
brothers first flights, for example:
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and past the time of the first
automobiles
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past the time of the
Revolutionary War
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and past the time of the seven
churches of Revelation
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God has given us information
that takes us through space
past the time of the creation of
man...
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to the time when Lucifer
abode in heaven.
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In heaven, Lucifer was
• a high and exalted angel, next in honor to Jesus
himself.
• His countenance was mild and expressive of
happiness.
• His forehead was high and broad, showing a
powerful intellect.
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• His form was perfect, his bearing noble and
majestic.
• A special light beamed in his countenance and
shone around him brighter and more beautiful than
the light around other angels.
BUT
• he was envious of Christ and gradually assumed
command which was Christ’s alone.
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However, Jesus
• had the pre-eminence of all the angelic host,
• and he was one with the Father before the angels
were created.
So
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the Father (called the great Creator
in The Story of Redemption)
• gathered all the angels together and in their
presence conferred special honor on Jesus.
• Jesus was seated with the Father on the throne.
• The Father told the angels that he had decided
that Christ, his Son, should be equal with him, so
that wherever the Son was present, it was as if the
Father were present.
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• The word of the Son was to be obeyed as
readily as the Father’s own word.
• The Father had invested his Son with
authority to command the heavenly host,
• and his Son would work with him in the
creation of earth and every living thing on the
earth.
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• His Son would carry out his will and his
purposes and would do nothing of himself
alone. The Father’s will would be fulfilled in
him.
And
• this made Lucifer jealous, envious, and full of
hate for Jesus because
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• he was not taken into special counsel with the
Father about his plans, but Jesus was.
• Lucifer did not understand, and was not
permitted to know, the purposes of God, but
Jesus was.
• Why should Christ be so honored above him?
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Lucifer concealed his real
purpose (remember he is the
father of lies) and called the
angelic host together. He told
them their sweet liberty was at
an end because now a ruler
had been appointed over them.
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And he, Lucifer, was not going
to stand for it; he would never
again bow down to Christ.
Instead, he would take the
honor that was due him and
would be the commander of all
who would submit to him and
obey his voice!
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Amazing! He had just said their liberty was
at an end because they had a ruler
(Jesus) appointed over them, and now he
said that he should be their commander
and that they should submit to him and
obey his voice!
Couldn’t the angels understand that his
reasoning was illogical and that he was
proposing, in principle, the same thing he
had just condemned?!
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Nevertheless, many of the
angels listened to and
agreed with him.
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They were not happy because they
could not look into the Father’s
wisdom and understand his
purposes in exalting Jesus and in
endowing him with unlimited power
and command. So they rebelled
against the authority of Jesus.
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And there...
was war...
in heaven.
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• Lucifer denounced the loyal angels as slaves
• and promised a better government for them,
full of freedom.
• He flattered himself that all the angels would
eventually side with him and that he would be
equal with God himself.
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Every angel had to choose on
which side to fight—the side of
Christ or the side of Lucifer.
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Jesus and his angels won the
battle, and Satan and the
angels who sided with him
were cast out of heaven.
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When Satan was cast out of heaven,
his happiness disappeared. The
wicked angels cast out with him
became gloomy and despairing. They
argued with one another. Satan
realized the terrible results of his
rebellion. He shuddered and trembled
as he thought about what he had
done. His mighty frame shook as tree
in a storm.
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He asked Jesus to let him back into
heaven, but Jesus could not do that
because even though Satan was
sorry for the consequences of his
actions, he was not sorry for having
done them in the first place. He was
not sorry for rebelling against God’s
law.
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What he did next shows his
heart of rebellion had not
changed and that he wasn’t
really sorry.
He could not go into heaven, so
he stood at the gates of heaven,
and made fun of the good angels
as they went in and out of
heaven and tried to get them to
argue with him. He also decided
to destroy the happiness of
Adam and Eve.
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And we know the rest of
the story, but Satan did
not stop with Adam and
Eve. He continues his war
against us, and he has
fought against the
Christian church since its
beginning.
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The Jews and the Romans
attacked the Christians in the
early years of Christianity, and
since then other religions have
denounced and persecuted
Christians even to this day.
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Why?
Satan is behind it all. His hatred of God
began
in heaven and has only grown more
intense
and mean since then.
Abel was the first martyr for God.
Do you know who is next mentioned in
the Bible as dying for his or her faith?
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Credits:
Slide 7 by “G” jewels g is grandma at flickr
Slides 8 and 9 by Cliff at flickr
Slide 11 by Mark Robinson at flickr
Slide 13 by Carolyn Williams at flickr
Slide 15 by topquark 22 at flickr
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