Seven Common Lies, lie #2

Seven Common Lies, lie #2

September 10, 2008 by LizAnn

1. All churches are God’s church
2. Satan was once in heaven
3. An anti- Christ is coming
4. Jesus is coming back here
5. Once you are saved, you will always be saved
6. We are all sinners
7. Baptism washes your sins away

Lie #2 – Satan was Once in Heaven

The Bible shows Satan’s first appearance in the Garden of Eden tempting Eve. Then, in the book of Job, Satan, in answer to a question from God, tells us where he comes from: “And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan anaswered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”  Job 1:7

Many churches quote Isaiah 14 and teach that ‘Lucifer’ was Satan in heaven. But a closer look at this section of scriptures shows us that Lucifer was the King of Babylon and God was pronouncing judgement upon him: “And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, That thou shalt take up this proverb against the King of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! The golden city ceased! The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptor of the rulers. He (the king of Babylon) who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest and quiet: they break forth into singing. Yea the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying (the Bible often refers to men as trees) Since thou art laid down (the King of Babylon had died) no feller is come up against us. Hell 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. all they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of the viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven (this is still speaking of the King of Babylon. He is fallen from his exalted position as a mighty King on earth), O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thy 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. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the most high God. Yet thou shalt be brought down to Hell, to the sides of the pit (the word ‘heaven’ is often used in the Bible to represent an exalted position or high place.) They that see thee shall look narrowly upon thee, and  consider thee saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble and did shake the kingdoms;…Isaiah 14:3-16 We can further see this prophecy is against the King of Babylon in Daniel 4. Here the King of Babylon had a dream that troubled him. Verses 4-5: “I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in my house, and flourishing in my palace, I saw a dream which made me afraid…” and then in verse 10-11 he tells the prophet Daniel the dream so that he would interpret it to him. “Thus were the visions of my head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the the height thereof was great . The tree grew and was strong, and the height thereofreached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth…” Then inverse 20 Daniel is interpretting his dream; “The tree that thou sawest, which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto heavens, and the sight thereof to all the earth; 22- is thou, O King, that are grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth.” So here again we see the word “heaven” is referring to an exalted position, not the heaven we commonly think of where we go when we die.

Another scripture commomly used in teaching that Satan was once in heaven is found in Luke 10:17-20  “And the seventy returned again with joy saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightening fall from heaven. Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”  Jesus said all this in connection with the disciples returning from their work and rejoicing over the fact that they had power through Christ’s name to even cast out devils. Satan had taken a very exalted position at the fall of Adam and Eve- the hearts of men and women, which rightfully belongs to God. Through the power of Christ and his gospel, Satan was defeated and dethroned and cast out of his exalted place in human hearts of men.  Another example of this is found inLuke 10:15 where Jesus exclaims “And thou Cappernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust into hell.” Cappernaum is a city, and we know that is never actually went up into Heaven, but Jesus was referring to their pride of the people being lifted  up in their heart and mind and he was pronouncing judgement  upon them for it.

There are still other places in the Bible, such as the book of Revelations that speak of a war in heaven. Again, it is referring to a spiritual war going on for the souls of men. It is not speaking of the heaven we go to after we die. Heaven is a holy place, where only the holy dwell. Satan never was nor ever will be there.