CHOOSING HEAVEN OR HELL
The Devil/Lucifer/Satan had a choice to stay or leave the heavenly presence of God. It is always a choice and function of our will …then and now… to choose God or not…or the devil.
As Frederick Buechner wrote: “Lucifer was an angel who even in paradise itself was free to get the hell out.” I agree.
Isaiah 14:12: “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!
“But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’”
These verses have been bantered about for centuries as to exactly what they mean. And, Jesus referenced this in Luke 10: “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
If I had never read any of the scriptures about good and evil, darkness and light, death and life, etc.… out of my natural self… I would choose one or the other.
Lucifer means ‘bright star’ or ‘morning star’ or several other interpretations. What if none of it is true? We still must choose and decide for the heavenly atmosphere of the text or the hellish atmosphere… the Devil or the Father… good or evil… love or hate…sin/death or life/light. I am not trying to be a theologian, but I am trying to enjoy my Cuban Coffee and Apricot Fruit Spread and Hot Biscuits. The devil can go to hell…I’m busy with my biscuits.
“Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.” Jesus