Chapter 2 The Defiled Image Isaiah 14:12-15 says, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine 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. Yet thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.". In Chapter 1 we saw how God created man in his image. How man has a physical body controlled by his soul ( mind and emotions or self will ), but that God also gave him a Spirit to control his soul, that is, direct it into the paths of righteousness. This Spirit controlled man, when in control of the Spirit, always did God's will. God being just, though, also gave man the freedom of choice. In Isaiah 14:12-15 we see how Lucifer or Satan was thinking when he was cast out of heaven. The heart talked about here is the soul or mind. The usage is the same as when we say, we have set our hearts on something we want, such as a new car or a different house. What we are doing is setting our minds on a goal, and then thinking on that goal and ways of obtaining it, until, finally, our bodies are set into motion to accomplish that goal. The process is always the same, regardless of the goal, whether it be the car or house mentioned above, or a bite of food from our plate. Physical action is always preceded by thought. So Satan thought to the point of believing that he could set himself above God. He believed he was God and then took action to exert his will rather than God's will. Thence, he was cast down. But read more carefully. It says, " ... how art thou cast down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! ". Now, keeping that in mind, let's see how man was changed from what God intended to what you and I are today. In Genesis 3:1-7 we read, "Now the 9 ____________________________________________________________________________ made. And he said unto the woman, Yea hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.". Once again we need to search the scriptures to see what God would have us know. We need to let the scriptures speak for themselves, with Holy Spirit leading, and not lean to our own understanding. In the scripture above we see that Satan, the serpent, deceptively worded his first question to the woman so that she was on the defensive. He worded it, so as to put God in the position of being a tyrant and selfish. "Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?". The woman wasn't prepared for the wiles of the devil, as I'm afraid we are most of the time. We underestimate the power that Satan has, and treat the threat from him too lightly. Eve, as well as, Adam was guilty of listening to God's word haphazardly. We are too. They hadn't heard God's word. Hearing is more than receiving auditory signals in our ears; it also involves understanding and acting on that understanding. At this point you have probably asked, why is he talking about Adam as well as Eve not hearing God? Eve was there alone talking with Satan. Was she? That is what Milton in "Paradise Lost" would have us believe, but Genesis 3:6 the last part says, "... she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.". With her? The scripture does not say that Eve hunted up Adam as 10 __________________________________________________________________________________ |
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