You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
12 How art
thou fallen [naphal] from heaven [shamayim], O
Lucifer [heylel], son [ben] of the morning [shachar][yalal]! how art thou cut down [gada`] to the ground ['erets],
which didst weaken [chalash] the nations [gowy]!KJV-Interlinear
12
"How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You
have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! NASB
The context of this chapter is Babylon.
Beginning with Babel, a high tower whose objective was to reach the heights and equality, bringing man to an equal level with God, proving man’s ability and ingenuity as equal to or better than that of God.
Then we had the city of Babylon. The city that withstood through the ages, accumulating wealth and beauty and design and saw itself as being self-directed and the best of the best in all that was in the world.
Then came the empire. Amassing vast chunks of real estate stretching from North Africa to India, and presuming that it occupied and was ruler of the entire world. Which of course we know is not true, as there is far greater territory that exists beyond its borders. But from Babylon’s point of view, it ruled everything.
Babylon today does not exist. It fell from the heights of its existence a long time ago.
And in our context, the occupants of Babylon, its rulers, it’s celebrities, it’s elite, who presumed greatness among and within themselves, are likewise gone, their destination being the land of the dead in the underworld called Hades.
Our context is also one which occurs in the last days of man’s rule of the world. The Old Testament refers on numerous occasions to the end times or the final days of history wherein the evil of the world destroys the world, and God rescues his people just in time, and begins his kingdom here on earth.
Now we have a little bit of background behind Babylon. Was it its own origin? Did it cause itself?
And the answer of course is no.
Something or someone fell from heaven, and it was not the tower nor the city nor the empire.
Babylon, represents an attitude and a system of belief that totally rejects God. And here is named the source of that attitude and belief system that originally rejected God, and eventually resulted in this symbolism that is called Babylon.
The word for Lucifer, ‘heylel,’ is a reference to a morning star, or a day star, in the sense of its brightness. It means to shine, to make a show, to boast, and therefore to be foolish, to celebrate by means of raving.
Back in ancient times, the Babylonian kings were often times compared to a morning star, which was Venus. But this reference to a morning star is singular, and though it refers to a king, it has nothing to do with any of the earthly Babylonian kings. None of them were ever in, nor originated from, heaven, subsequently none of them could have fallen from heaven.
Lucifer is called a day star, or morning star, who is the son of the morning. The word for morning here refers to dawn, early light, and is a reference to the beginning, or a beginning.
To be cut down, as in the chopping down a tree, and in this case a great tree, refers to the fall or the destruction of that tree. Babel fell, Babylon, both city and empire, fell, and likewise the one for whom all of this describes, himself fell. And when one falls from heaven, that falling is a reference to a disgrace, then that fall is from grace, namely from God’s grace.
The ground is in contrast to heaven, and therefore refers to planet earth, or to a lower position as far as status is concerned, and range of ability or activity.
To weaken means to prostrate, to overthrow, to decay, to waste away.
The nations, is a reference to a foreign nation, a heathen nation, a people. It also refers to a troop of animals or a flight of locusts. Nations, also refers to the back of people as in the burdens placed on them. And all of these things refer to godlessness and the burdens that accompany that state.
In the next verse we will see that Lucifer is capable of thought and therefore is a person who was thoroughly familiar with God, such that he wanted to replace God.
Only one individual has existed continually throughout history with the objective of being equal to or better than God, who has deceived the nations of the world, beginning with Adam and Eve, and continuing through the various empire building attempts, and will continue to exist as an individual until the final times of human history. And that person of course is Satan or the devil himself.
In the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ is called the bright morning star within the context of promise and life and all that is good.
Here we have individual, since the early dawn of time, who did not create himself but was the son of, therefore, created by someone else. And of course we know Jesus Christ creates all life, therefore Jesus Christ created Lucifer, who at the time was a bright star in his early beginnings, but he fell from grace, which was of his own doing and arrogance.
All of the descriptive phrases relating to Babylon came from the origin of Satan who was caught up in his own pomp and beauty, and of course lost track and lost sight of the realities that were present around him.
At some point in eternity past, God created the angelic realm. The Bible tells us that they were a happy and contented lot. Then God had a second creation, which was the universe. And all of these angels including Lucifer, were witness to and saw that creation before their very eyes.
Then somewhere along the line, Lucifer lost track of everything, and decided that he was or could be, as good as or better than God.
Lucifer was created. He did not cause his own existence. Lucifer saw the universe come into being. He did not create the universe. And as far as we know, by then Lucifer hadn’t created or done anything himself, which makes him delusional with respect to his own ability.
And in other studies we already know that he was tried in a court of law, as it existed in heaven way back then, and was found guilty, and instead of repenting as did two thirds of all of the angels, he has held fast to his stubborn attitude throughout all of these ages.
One might think that he is a fool of fools for being so stubborn in the face of overwhelming proofs of God’s grace and superiority. But then, people have in front of their eyes throughout their lives, overwhelming proofs of God, and Christ, through doctrine, and yet people stubbornly reject the truth.
To receive notice of each days Bible Study, please go to my twitter page and sign up.
