Wrested Scriptures

Satan, Devil and Demons
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Satan/Demons
  The Truth
   About Satan
  Every Satan
  Every Devil
  Edenic Covenant
  Satan Prelim
  Demon Prelim
  Genesis 3:4-5
  Genesis 6:2
  Job 1:6
  Isaiah 14:12-14
  Ezekiel 28:13-16
  Matthew 4:1-11
  Matt. 12:43-45
  Luke 10:18
  Luke 22:3,31
  John 12:31
   14:30; 16:11
  John 13:2,27
  2 Cor. 11:14
  James 2:19
  1 Peter 5:8
  2 Peter 2:4
  Jude 6
  Jude 9
  Rev. 12:7-9
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Isaiah 14:12-14
"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 be like the most High."

Problem:
This verse is used to prove that Satan is a fallen angel. A S.D.A. book of official doctrine puts it this way:

"As to Satan, or the devil, we hold the uniform teaching of the Word to be that he is definitely a personal being - the supreme adversary of God and man . . . He was, however, once an angel of light, the highest of the angels. He was named Lucifer, son of the morning (Isa. 14:12-14). But he fell from his high estate (Eze. 28:13-18; Luke 10:18; John 8:44), and drew down with him a host of angels, first unto disaffection and then into open rebellion against God and His government . . . "1

Solution:
  1. This passage nowhere mentions the terms "devil", "satan" or "fallen angel". The argument in support of a fallen angel is, therefore, an inferred argument.

  2. Lucifer is identified in the narrative, but not with a rebel angel. It is explicitly stated: "Take up this proverb2 against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased!" (vs. 4). (The preceding chapter is a prophecy against Babylon itself, but now the prophecy is directed against the king of Babylon).

  3. Some questions require answering:
    1. Is Satan really accompanied by the noise of viols (sound of harps, R.S.V.)? (vs.11).
    2. Is Satan to be covered by worms in the grave (vs. 11) or is he not rather to be cast into the lake of fire? (Rev. 20:10).
    3. Why is Satan desirous of a place "in the sides of the north"? (vs. 13).
    4. If Satan is a rebel angel, why is he called "the man"? (vs. 16).
    5. Why did Satan say, "I will ascend into heaven" if in fact he had access to heaven until 1914? (As J.W.'s assert.)
    6. What land has Satan possessed, the destruction of which merits him dishonourable burial? (vs. 20).
    7. Where are Satan's people buried? (vs. 20) Is not the lake of fire said to be the common receptacle of Satan and his cohorts?
    8. When did Satan have charge over a prison, refusing to let the people go home? (vs. 17 R.S.V.).

  4. Lucifer means "Day Star" (R.S.V.) and the verse employs the figure of the brilliant planet Venus which appears low in the sky just before dawn and climbs higher and higher in the sky until unseen in the daylight.3 The same bright planet is also an "evening star" seen at sunset and going lower and lower until lost beneath the horizon. Hence the figure of Lucifer, king of Babylon, rising in power to his zenith and saying in his heart "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God" (which parallels the arrogance of another king of Babylon - Nebuchadnezzar - who said: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" (Dan. 4:30). The "evening star" seen at sunset going lower and lower until lost beneath the horizon portrays the demise of Lucifer - "brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." (vs. 15).

  5. "Ascending to heaven" is a Biblical idiom for increase in pride or exaltation, and "falling from heaven", an idiom for complete humiliation. See Jer. 51:53 (refers to Babylon); Lam. 2:1; Matt. 11:23 (refers to Capernaum).
Footnotes:
  1. Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine: An Explanation of Certain Major Aspects of Seventh-day Adventist Belief, (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Ass., 1957), pp. 618, 619. Return

  2. The "proverb" was a "taunting speech" (mg.) in which trees spoke (vs. 8), and the dead in hell were made to speak when the king died with his pomp and glory. (vs. 9-10). Return

  3. See James Hastings (ed.), Dictionary of the Bible, (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1963), p. 936. The Amplified Old Testament, (Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1962), comments in a footnote to Isaiah 14 as follows: ". . . the application of the name Lucifer to Satan, in spite of the long and confident teaching to that effect, is completely erroneous. . . . Nowhere in the Bible is Satan called Lucifer. The misapplication of the name has existed since the third century A.D., and is based on the false supposition that Luke 10:18 is an explanation of Isaiah 14:12 . . . It is the satanic king himself who is being addressed." p. 503. The J.W.'s, for example, have recognized the force of these arguments and now no longer in their official publications refer to Satan as "Lucifer", nor is Isaiah 14 cited in support of their belief that Satan is a fallen angel. Return