Kingdom Come

“O Lucifer / Bringer of light, son of the morning…

What morning is that? What else but when the Singularity first expressed itself in the light spectrum in Creation, “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:7)

Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty…

every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold.” (Isaiah 14:12; Ezekiel 28:12-14)

Lucifer is described not just by gold – the yellow sun we see through the earth’s atmosphere – but light refracted into its entire spectrum. We can understand this as a poetic expression of Lucifer containing the entire spectrum of light’s forms of energy as well.

This portrayal of Lucifer’s tremendous power is confirmed by comparing his to that of the Singularity God himself.

“…behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.” (Revelation 4:2-3)

This is not a contradiction. The reference to “like an emerald” is not to this gem’s color property, but to its refraction.

Emeralds exhibit double refraction, meaning they refract light in two different patterns. This often causes the Emerald to exhibit two different distinct color patterns.

Could this be a reflection of the unified Father and the Son together on the throne?

Lucifer was flying high. He was as close to the image of God as any created being could be.

Then he learned of God’s plan to create a race of adams, sons of God made with bodies of clay, i.e. “mud people“, in order to create the Image of God and a family and heirs, giving humans dominion and power and glory while keeping the likes of him mere servants.

“we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory…as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (I Corinthians 2:7-9)

“the bride, the Lamb’s wife….Having the glory of God…garnished with all manner of precious stones…jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolyte, beryl, topaz, chrysoprasus, jacinth, amethyst, pearls.” (Revelation 21:2-24)

Being made so much better than the angels…

• • For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?
  • And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. 
  • And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.”

But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand:” (Hebrews 1)

Lucifer chose to rebel rather than remain in service to God.

“Thus saith the LORD God…Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God…Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth [guards]; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created…till iniquity was found in thee…Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty [pride].” (Ezekiel 28:12-15)

The terrible downfall that comes from self-exaltation, AKA pride, is a foundational biblical doctrine that applies to all created beings. Lucifer is just the prototype of the “king over all the children of pride.” (Job 31:34)

“But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:” (Daniel 5:20)

“Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.” (I Timothy 3:6)

No agency has done more to wipe out the significance of “sin” than Christianity with fundamentalists relegating sin to a list of behavioral does and don’ts and liberals updating what constitutes allowable social interactions from Puritanical or Victorian restrictions.

 “sin is the transgression of the law.” (I John 3:4)

The essential problem with transgressing God’s laws is that these are not, as some people claim, legal restrictions or arbitrary rules established by certain cultures which change over time as circumstances change. 

God’s laws are natural laws, like gravity, established when he designed the universe. “A phenomenon of nature that has been proven to invariably occur whenever certain conditions exist or are met.”

We understand this process in the material world physics that we can observe, but this also applies to social and spiritual domains that are more or less hidden. Can we not extrapolate the same point of view that human actions within these domains cannot break these laws without causing chaos and inevitable destruction. Conflict within the social domain is an obvious result of breaking social contracts, is it not?

Unless counteracted, unchecked transgressions of established rights and natural boundaries protecting the various elements of Creation results in ever-spreading chaos and ultimate utter destruction. Current scientists are saying exactly the same thing. We humans are destroying our ecology, our social interdependency, our ability to survive as a civilization and even our own selves through our refusal to sacrifice our self-indulgence to promote the welfare and sheer existence of our interdependent social and physically sustaining world.

This is sin, a disruption in the “right-ness” of that person’s relationship / connection to Creator/Sustainer God and others, which spreads and contaminates every dimension, not just moral. Anyone who has experienced a relationship breakdown should be able to personalize this concept to their own life.  There is much more than a cessation of relationship with the ex-spouse – there is loss of time and experiences with children during split custody, loss of financial security, loss of shared friends, loss of a home, and it goes on and on, loss of emotional stability, loss of physical health. Then there are the effects felt by the children, and family members, and friends, and school associates, and work colleagues, and…

The documentation of the first known occasion of sin committed by Lucifer provides a thesaurus of other words for sin.

• iniquity 
• violence
• sin
• profane
• lifted up [with pride]
• corrupted
• defiled  (Ezekiel 28:12-18)

The most basic definition of sin is making oneself the authority over the Singularity / Creator.

“How art thou fallen…For thou hast said in thine heart…I will be like the most High.” (Isaiah 14:12-14)

We defy God’s authority when we imagine that we can escape from the restrictions outlined in God’s laws. We selectively obey the parts we like and revise the rest. This is how the serpent tempted the woman in the Garden of Eden to break away from God’s authority.

Every reference in the Bible to “law” is not about the law of Moses. Long before God made a particular covenant with the descendants of Jacob / nation of Israel there were basic laws of holiness – perfection in relationship.

“after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil…For there is no respect of persons with God. For when the Gentiles…do by nature the things contained in the law…shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.” (Romans 2:14-15)

These are built into human conscience with at least the common sense awareness that trouble will follow misbehavior.

• Cain knew that it was a sin to murder. (Genesis 4:8-9)
• Ham knew it was a sin to watch pornography and exploit the vulnerable. (Genesis 9:20-25)
• Pharaoh knew it was a sin to take another man’s wife. (Genesis 12:9-19)

God responded to Lucifer’s sin by decreeing destruction by fire.

“Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41)

This was not out of petty revenge, but to cauterize the damage. No doubt, if not contained, Lucifer is powerful and spiteful enough to generate a world-destroying black hole.

Lucifer’s “opposite reaction to God’s action” is described by the first night of Creation with the destruction of the Earth and the imposition of darkness. While not explicitly stated in Genesis, it is understood because “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (I John 1:5)

The Enuma Elish does explicitly describe a state of conflict during Creation, focusing its attention on one son right from the start. This individual is recognizable by his parallel attributes of the Hebrew lead angel Lucifer.

And Anu begot Nudimmud in his likeness.

He, Nudimmud, was superior to his forefathers…

Abounding in all wisdom, […]

He was exceeding strong […]

He had no rival among the gods his peers.

We can get a sense of Lucifer’s reaction by reviewing what happened when King David elevated Solomon, born not from a princess but a woman of a trashed reputation, as his heir over his older, more experienced and highly politically connected brothers. Adoni-jah / My lord is YHVH revolted, along with his supporters who imagined themselves being raised to higher levels of power in the new administration.

Lucifer’s reaction to his unexpected demotion was, likewise, rebellion. It is documented in the book of Job, which predates Moses’ compilation of human history in Genesis.

“Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said…Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence,

and I heard a voice, saying, Shall mortal man be more just [competent to pass judgment so put in charge] than God? shall a man be more pure [the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but truth] than his maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay [easily and routinely destroyed, mortal], whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.” (Job 4)

It takes infinitely good judgment and wisdom to process data and devise solutions to multiple and competing needs simultaneously, which surely humans don’t possess.  Most of all, it requires use of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, because truth is reality, and as soon as you act on a falsehood you aren’t dealing with reality, and the inevitable results clash with reality, I.e. are dysfunctional and destructive.  Anyone capable of maintaining the perfect balance of forces in nature has to be absolutely right-acting (righteous), all-knowing, and 100% accurate in judgment calls. Lucifer questioned God’s judgment in preferring humans, who compare so unfavorably to angels.

“What is man, that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?  Behold, he [God] putteth no trust in his saints [sinless ones, angels]…How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?” (Job 15:14-16)

“How then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold…the stars [angels] are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm?” (Job 25:4-6)

Lucifer revolted against his ruler, like Joab against King David.

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! …For thou hast said in thine heart: (Isaiah 14:12-14)

• I will ascend into heaven, i.e. lay hold of the knowledge of heaven, be omniscient.
  • “I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. Who hath ascended up into heaven…?” (Proverbs 30:3-4)
• I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, i.e. rule over the other stars / sons of God.
  • “After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman…and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.” (Esther 3:1)
• I will sit also [upon the mount of the congregation,] i.e. sit while everyone else either bows or stands out of respect, be honored by everyone else, as still is the case in a court of law when the judge enters and takes his seat.
  • “And all the king’s servants, that were in the king’s gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence.” (Esther 3:2)
• I will ascend above…the clouds, i.e be the judge of what is right and wrong, bringing  judgment of wrongdoers in the clouds.
  • “…can any understand the spreadings of the clouds…For by them judgeth he the people…(Job 36:29-31)
• I will be like the most High.” i.e. in the full attributes of power and authority.
  • “…who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee?” (Psalm 89:6-8)

It is commonly reported that Lucifer determined to take God’s place, but if we pay attention we realize that the prerogatives Lucifer wanted to seize for himself were being freely given to human sons of God.

• Gifted with knowledge
  • “When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men….apostles…prophets …evangelists…pastors and teachers…till we all come in…the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man.” (Ephesians 4:8-13)
• Rule over the angels
  • “…we shall judge angels.” (I Corinthians 6:3)
• Sit in honor
  • “…God…made us sit together in heavenly places in Yahweh’s Chosen Savior/Messiah Yeshua/Christ Jesus…” (Ephesians 2:4-6)
• Ascend above the clouds
  • “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in The Chosen One / Messiah / Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in te air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (I Thessalonians 4:16-17)
• Identified with God
  • “…in him [Messiah] dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians 2:9-10)

Humanity has a mass murdering adversary to contend with. We need to take his opposition seriously.