The casual reader may wonder why that since Lucifer is used so often elsewhere in the Bible that nowhere in these verses is that well-known name mentioned. They might think that since it was by the spirit of revelation John heard, saw, and wrote concerning this infamous character, that every base would be covered and Satan's original name would have been included. That is, if Lucifer had ever been this adversary's name.

I am sure we are all familiar with the popular concept that much of the world has of Lucifer. You know, that he was created the most beautiful angel in the universe, full of wisdom and with power second to none except for God Himself. He is seen to have been heaven's choir director who led all the angels in their high praises before God. He was unequaled by anyone or anything throughout the universe. Some believe that he was one of the "three" archangels who ruled over all the hosts of heaven prior to his coup d'état. It was then that everything came crashing down and a third of the angels with him. We understand, of course, that there can only be one archangel. I believe that was made clear in our previous study, and the first verse of the book of Revelation plainly says that this war in heaven was to be a future event rather than one before Adam was formed and placed in the garden, eastward in Eden.

Lucifer

The above scenario is generally what is believed and taught; however, with observation, I believe we will find this is not quite the case. First, it is not realized by most just how many times Lucifer is found in the Bible. It is assumed that Lucifer is interchangeable with Satan and is used as often. Would you be surprised to find that it is used only once? One time alone! Not ten or twenty, not three or four, not even twice. Only once! One time in the entire Bible! And amazingly, contrary to Jesus and Paul saying to let every word be established by two or three witnesses, orthodoxy has built a worldwide doctrine upon this single verse. That's shaky ground to stand upon to say the least.

This lone occurrence is found in Isaiah 14:12. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" By the way, have you checked to see if this is true, that there is no other place Lucifer is found in scripture? And were you surprised? It was years ago after being challenged to the same task.

Again, only once is it used in the King James Version. Having checked nineteen other translations I only found three that cite Lucifer in this verse: the Darby Translation, the 21st Century King James Version, and the New King James Version, and this one has the note: "literally Day Star." The overwhelming majority of the newer translations render the word properly.

The etymology of the word is interesting and sheds some light. The Hebrew word is heylel (from the root halal) which means shining one (Young's Concordance), morning star (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance), and bright star or splendid star (Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon).The fact is, Lucifer is a transliterated French word from the Latin lucifer and is not a proper noun. It is a title and not a name. It is a word that describes the subject in question. It has never been the name of the devil, and neither was it the name of the king who was being indicted in Isaiah 14. The word was found throughout Latin manuscripts and especially in Jerome's Vulgate which became the common Bible for the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Therefore, by the end of the dark ages, the word had become the accepted name to most of the world. Milton's Paradise Lost also had a lot to do with Lucifer being the former name of Satan.

The other verse in question is in reference to what Jesus' statement after the seventy returned from their mission and reported to Him, saying that even the demons were subject to them through His name: "And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven." Luke 10:18. This might seem to give credit to the traditional thought; however, if we look at it in the context of what had just happened, we will see something else. The falling of Satan from his place of power had taken place at the time that the seventy were casting out the demons by the authority of Jesus. Satan fell from his place of dominion over the people who were sick and demon possessed. It was at that time Jesus had seen him falling from heaven rather than falling from the sky thousands of years in the past.

The Amplified Bible speaks of these very things in a footnote of Isaiah 14:12:

"Some students feel that the application of the name Lucifer to Satan is erroneous, even though it is commonly taught to that effect. Lucifer, the light bringer, is the Latin equivalent of the Greek word phosphoros, which is used as a title of Christ in II Peter 1:19 (...until the day star arise in your hearts.) and corresponds to the name `bright morning star' in Revelation 22:16, which Jesus called Himself. The application of the name Lucifer has only existed since the third century A.D., and is based on the supposition that Luke 10:18 (I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven) is an explanation of Isaiah 14:12, which authorities feel is not true."

Jesus said that the father of the Pharisees, the devil, had never stood in the truth at anytime. And don't we understand that truth is light? And without truth there is no light to shine. The authorities of the Greek say this about this deceiver that is void of light: "...In the truth he has not stood." John 8:44, The Emphatic Diaglott, Westcott & Hort, and Marshall's Interlinear Grk/Eng N.T.). Since he has never stood in the light of the truth, and also since he "...has been sinning from the beginning," I John 3:8, (The Diaglott), there is no honest way we can say that Satan was ever a glorious, shining angel of light who bore the name, Lucifer. The simple fact is, Isaiah 14:12 cannot possibly be speaking of Satan.

Fallen angels before the age of man is a common belief by almost everyone in Christendom. However, we have seen that the war in heaven between Michael and his angels and the dragon with his angels (Revelation 12:7-9) is not of the past but would take place in the future, sometime after John received the apocalypse. Thus, orthodox religion's foundation of sand is being washed away by the sound waves of truth. But what about the angels who left their first estate? Do we think that the verse in Jude is a bit more stable? Brace yourselves for another washing word.

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude 1:6. Allow me, please, to present one more short lesson from the original language. In so doing, another a truth will be known. Both Greek words for kept and left are in the aorist active participle as in the imperative sense. For instance, the imperative aorist expresses action in the simplest form. It is undefined and does not distinguish between complete or incomplete action. The perfect tense in the Greek, which we do not have with these words, speaks of an action that has been completed. Both of these words are in the aorist active imperative. A good example of this is found in John 17:11: "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me." The only way this word, keep, could be used in the perfect tense, kept, would be if someone was speaking or writing about this event after the death of the apostles. They would then say, "The Holy Father kept through His name those whom He had given to Jesus." Do you see the difference between perfect past and the imperative sense, which is the case with? Jude1:6 and John 17:11.

Since these two verbs are not in the perfect (past tense), it is clear as to why the Concordant Literal translates them as keep and leave, rather than kept and left. This, therefore, indicates that those being held in darkness with unbreakable chains are the ones who were at that time, when Jude wrote his letter, not remaining in the place of their initial walk. These angels, or messengers (aggelos), were those in the days of the early church who were leaving and going on tangents from where they first began. They fell into and submitted to the same temptations of which Sodom and Gomorrah had lusted. Verse 7 speaks of this; and remember as you read that angels, unlike men, are not tempted with fleshy lusts. And angels of heaven neither marry nor are given in marriage. Therefore, we believe Jude is referring to men who are the earthly messengers rather than spirit-being angels, and because of their perverted desires they were at that time of the early church held in darkness. They were held, even as we see with some today, in their strong delusions to believe a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). And this is until the day of judgment when they find themselves in the midst of the lake among the flames of refining theion/godfire.

Sodom and Gomorrah were used as examples concerning these messengers who had left their first estate at the time Jude penned those words of warning. The illustration of Sodom and Gomorrah giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh portrayed why the same vengeance of age-abiding judgment awaits those who were leaving the place they started. They were ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. They were false teachers at that time, not angelic beings before there was any flesh on earth to lust after. These angels were also compared to the people who were saved out of the land of Egypt, and afterwards they were destroyed for not believing (vrs. 5). These messengers who wandered from the faith were asleep. They were dreamers of grandeur who defiled the flesh, despising dominions, and spoke evil of dignities (vrs 8). (The Greek for dignitaries is doxa, meaning: glory, that which is apparent.)

Not only that, the angels of the first century A.D., and those today come at times as raging waves of power. Before TV cameras, thousands of bodies fall in rapid succession as if a literal ocean wave is sweeping over them, but only to find shame awaiting the exalted ones at the end of their day. The man of God for the hour, the one so many believed would change the world and set the stage for Christ's return is exposed--caught in adultery, homosexuality, embezzlement, et al. His foam of shame goes streaming through the airwaves, highways, byways, and subways. Again, there is no stability in them. They roam the heavens as wandering stars. Reserved in their souls is the blackness of gross darkness, and they will be chained in that lifeless void unto the end of the age. They will be bound by their own darkened delusions until the Lord comes in myriads of the saints of Himself to execute remedial judgment upon them, and all others, yet in everyone's own order. This flaming judgment will convict, convince, and correct all who are ungodly. All their ungodly deeds will be consumed in that fiery lake, and the hardness of the ungodly sinners that have spoken ignorantly or intentionally against Him will find their part in the lake of fire that burns with brimstone (godfire). Jude 1:3 through Jude 1:15.

To be continued...