This month we are looking at our completeness in Christ. To build a complete picture of what Christ has done for us, it is important to realize how limited and how defeated the devil is. There is a teaching that has gone around that Lucifer was the worship leader in heaven for billions of years before the earth was created, then he started a massive war of angels versus demons. This idea leads to many people being scared of the devil. They magnify the devil. As we find out we are complete in Christ – it’s also important to find out that the devil is incomplete!
This study is going to show up some of the lies that we often believe about the devil because we do not check things out with the Bible.
LIE#1: satan was the worship leader in heaven
This is a common idea that satan was the worship leader in heaven before the fall. Ezekiel 28.14 refers to satan as the “anointed cherub who covers”, and the teaching goes that he covered the throne as a worship leader. They cite Eze. 28.13 which says that he has tabrets and pipes in him – picturing him as a walking musical instrument. But the words “tabret” and “pipes” are references to the place holders for precious stones.
Satan didn’t cover the throne – he wasn’t the number 1 guy in heaven! There is no Scripture that even calls him an archangel. JESUS WAS THE NUMBER ONE GUY IN HEAVEN – STILL IS! NO SCRIPTURE TO BACK UP IDEA SATAN WAS THE WORSHIP LEADER IN HEAVEN! This is important because it leads directly to our views on music.
LIE#2: satan has all the best tunes
The truth is he doesn’t have ANY TUNES! The lie goes like this: the devil was a big worship leader guy and therefore knows all about music and the power of music. Therefore, certain beats and melodies are the devil – sometimes we are told if the harmony is greater than the melody, it’s devil music; or if the beat is too dominant, it’s devil music.
When people say “that song’s anointed” “that song’s demonic” = talking about the MUSIC – they are completely saying “I like that” “I don’t like that” … you are allowed personal taste. It’s great we all like different music – but don’t start saying this is holy, this is unholy: reserve that judgement for the words! The lyrics! The lyrics of a song can be about adultery or fornication or glorify sickness or death – then the lyrics are wrong. But the tune is neutral. David wrote Psalm 84 to a Gittite tune – they were a Philistine tribe. He took the tune and wrote godly words to it! That’s a clever idea, and it may surprise you to know that a lot of old hymns were to the tune of old bar songs. So, let’s stop attacking the worship leaders: they don’t have a Lucifer spirit; and stop judging people on their personal taste in music.
LIE#3: There is a big war going on in heaven with angels and demons
This is another image that we have picked up – big war in heaven, God and the devil. When Jesus rose from the dead He stripped the devil of all power and authority. Satan was not always the accuser of the brethren – he fell. Not always God’s enemy! He was created an anointed cherub! Satan was created BY GOD – there is only one CREATOR. Satan and GOD ARE NOT EQUAL IN POWER, they are not even CLOSE!
He is not wise, not powerful, not even orderly. He is bound by fear, strife, envy, confusion. HIS KINGDOM IS FULL OF CHAOS – people in his kingdom kill each other! His time is short (Rev 12.12) Also Satan is NOT THE LORD OF HELL! He didn’t torment Jesus in hell (Jesus suffered in hell – he died sin, but he wasn’t tormented – he’s never been there! He will go there – but never to come out and he’s not going there as the lord, but as the conquered enemy – tormented! Don’t over-exalt the devil; don’t sell God short – and don’t paint a picture of man as a helpless little guy between two superpowers. That’s not right!
LIE#4: satan is not better than you
God loves you! You are not an afterthought – you are the pinnacle of creation! You are precious! So we know from Scripture that satan covered something before his fall (Ezekiel 28.14), but it wasn’t the throne of God – he was not worship leader! Not super intimate with God! WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Because your IDENTITY CAN ONLY EXIST in the light of how you see GOD and how you see satan! If your belief about the devil gives you wrong views of God, you will have a wrong view of yourself.
Some people say: satan was the worship leader, he fell and missed it! So God needed a new worship leader and therefore God made man to be a replacement worship leader Once again – violates idea of a loving God made you out of love! GOD IS LOVE – didn’t need you, wanted you! You are not a pawn, not created for a job – there are works and there is a work. But you were created for fellowship!
Some people think the devil was lord over earth – that somehow it was his planet. It’s not, it isn’t and it never will be – he is the “god of this world” but that is the structures – not the legal right to the planet. Matthew 28.18 tells us all authority is in JESUS – if Jesus has it all, then there is nothing left for the devil. He has no authority, and you cannot give him the right to attack you.
LIE#5: satan is a wise being
No – he is arrogant, and arrogance and foolishness are entwined! In 1 Tim 3.6-7 it says to not appoint novices as elders as they will end up in the trap of the devil. This does not mean the trap the devil sets, but the trap the devil fell into. The trap he fell into was pride. Pride turned Lucifer into the devil – if you think you are so awesome you can mess with God and start accusing the brethren, you have a pride problem – and you also have a foolishness problem.
The devil is not some super-smart guy: you know the most demonised people (except in the movies – but that’s all lies) don’t get super smart – they cut themselves, they engage in destructive behaviour, they tell lies that everyone know are lies – they get dumb. And on a personal level: you know you didn’t fall for that temptation because you were having a good day and you were just totally out-manoeuvred. You know you were just dumb. The devil wasn’t smart, you were just super-dumb.
The devil’s trap is the TRAP he fell into! The trap of pride, and the trap of reproach: the defamation of others. Where 1 Tim. 3.7 says must have a good report of outsiders: it doesn’t mean the outsiders should be talking good about him, it means that an elder should never be critical of people. So the devil thought he was better than he was, and started defaming others. That is his condemnation and his trap. Not the ones he set, the ones he fell into! THIS PASSAGE IS NOT saying watch out for the big bad devil – it’s saying whenever you get given authority – don’t think you are all that, and really, really, really don’t start thinking others are not all that. That’s how the devil fell!
THIS IS SCRIPTURE NOW, not wild assumptions about musical instruments and so on!
PRIDE is a worldview that is solely centred on SELF. When you move into pride your paradigm is myopic: it’s like wearing a pair of sunglasses that blind you to seeing how important other people are. You can’t see what is going on. You can’t see what is important. You can’t see the worth of other people. The Bible says “Only by pride comes contention” (Proverbs 13.10, KJV).
Any situation of strife means someone is walking in pride. Any situation of strife = one or both walking in pride (if you think it’s just them, that’s a good indicator it’s you!) Stop walking in pride and walk in love = switch strife off!
NOW if the devil is FULL OF PRIDE = he is very blind! And PRIDE IS A DESTRUCTIVE FORCE – it doesn’t build anything! NOT PASSIVE! PRIDE centres around you so anything not centred around you – you have to attack. A pride man’s identity is them and their achievements – threaten that and you rip them apart. Prideful people are insecure people. The devil is insecure! Insecure people can’t bear to be wrong, have to always look perfect. If you question them about anything, they will lash out. Psalm 36.11 says “save me from the foot of pride” – pride always leads to violence!
The full verse of Proverbs 13.10 reads: “Only by pride comes contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom”. There are two kinds of people in the world: the proud and the well-advised. The proud say “I can do it all by myself”, the well-advised say “help me, I can’t do it, I need wisdom”. The proud say “I’ll just skip church this morning, I need some me time anyway”, the well-advised say “I need to hear a message. I need to hear another person preach the Word. I need to get to Living Church and learn and get advise from others. I need to be well-advised”. Those are the people who get wisdom!
YOUR PROBLEM ISN’T THE DEVILS master trap = it’s falling into the devil’s trap by a paradigm that says the world revolves around you, that you don’t need advice, that you don’t need support. Remember you need advice!
LIE#6: satan is closer to God than you
YOU ARE A SON OF GOD – satan is an out of work servant! According to Hebrews 1.14 satan was just a servant! We are royalty – satan is an unemployed butler. We are seated in heavenly places with Christ. We are not even in the victory, but we are in the triumph which is the victory celebration!
LIE #7: satan tried to attack God directly!
Even satan is not that dumb. This brings us back to the original question: when did satan fall? We know his fall was caused by pride. We also know from Genesis 1.31 that when Adam was made everything God had made was good! That means everything – you couldn’t have God saying everything was good if the devil was roaming around. So the fall happened between Genesis 1.31 and Genesis 3. It happened after man was made.
You see pride cannot stand other people getting attention. And when man was made he got a lot of attention. Read Psalm 8.
Psalm 8.4 says “what is man that you are mindful of him?”, v.5 says “you made him a little lower than the angels”. That is a mistranslation – the word is Elohim which means God. Man was made a little lower than God! PRIDE hates people getting that kind of attention, and when the rest of the angels were rejoicing at Adam’s creation, Lucifer was getting jealous. Adam had fellowship with God, a whole realm to be in charge of, a beautiful wife – and worse than that seemed to be God’s favourite. So because Lucifer couldn’t have it all, he decided to destroy it. Ezekiel 28.12 is clear that Lucifer was in Eden. He never fell until he got to Eden – he was a ministering spirit to minister to humanity (Hebrews 1.14). He was Adam’s servant – a butler, a helper, a bodyguard. But he couldn’t hold the number 2 spot because arrogance never can. Satan can never be well-advised, never go to another for help. The well-advised love the number 2 spot as they are always learning, the proud hate it!
Ezekiel 28.17 says his heart was lifted up due to his beauty. He looked at himself and thought “I am covered in jewels, you are naked. I am a beautiful spirit being, you are made from mud.” It also says that his brightness or splendour corrupted his wisdom. He thought “I am so awesome, how can I possibly be a servant?”
Whenever your thoughts are “I am exempt from the rules because I am so amazing” you are about to fall into the same trap as the devil. It comes in different forms “I am too gifted to make teas”, “I am too talented to teach the children”, “I’ve been to Bible School, I don’t usher anymore”. The devil didn’t attack God – he is not the accuser of God, he is the accuser of the brethren. He attacked Adam.
Lucifer could have been the number 1 servant of humanity. Every human in all of history would have thanked Lucifer for keeping Adam safe and keeping the world pure. He would have been the stuff of legend, but he attacked Adam and Eve instead. Next week we will look at how exactly he did that, but let’s end this week’s study on a high note:
Ephesians 4.8 tells us that Jesus took CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE. If captivity has been taken captive then there is no way the devil can take us captive again because captivity has been taken captive. The devil has no way to capture you anymore! He has nothing on you!
The war is over. Jesus once and for all beat satan! And right now it is triumph time. Let’s celebrate the victory with our declaration and let’s say together right now:
I WILL NEVER FEAR THE DEVIL AGAIN
THE WAR IS OVER
I AM AT THE TRIUMPH PARTY
NO MORE FEAR!
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