Lucifer As Worship Leader In Heaven
I have heard for a long time, in quiet whispers and uncertain comments, passing remarks, and unsupported speculations, that Lucifer (the archangel that fell and became Satan) was the music/worship leader in heaven. I had heard that somewhere, the bible referred to his harp, etc. But for the life of me in scouring my bible, I had never been able to find the reference.
In a fit of not being able to sleep, I decided to resort to Google. After sifting through more unhelpful and unsupported claims on whacko Web sites, I finally came across one whose views I didn’t agree with completely, but at least they had supporting scripture to the theory. Finally! Thus ends a several year off-and-on search for this reference.
Isaiah 14 is typically seen as prophetic and speaking to the king of Babylon, which represents satan:
verse 11: Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers.
12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.
Ezekiel 28 is also seen as a similar passage, against the king of Tyre, who also apparently represents Satan. The reason I’d never seen this is because I don’t read the NKJV, which renders the passage like so:
Verse 12 “ You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
14 “ You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. 16 “ By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones.
Harps, Timbrels, and Pipes. Musical instruments. Interesting, slightly trivial, though perhaps a tad unsettling for me, being a worship leader. All I know for sure is that Satan is our enemy, and he is trying to kill us, and we are to resist him.
*Painting “Cast Down” by Duncan Long.
Technorati Tags: Lucifer, worship, christianity
I guess it makes sense that lucifer would have become a worship leader… Pride is a big sin and someone too prideful would try to become a leader for the wrong reasons….
Sadly he is the “worship leader” for many these days. Thanks Matt… I was praying that I’d be able to find the verse describing Satan’s beginning. I had thought it had something to do with vanity… I’ll have to read those in some other versions now.
The other day flipping through radio channels, I heard an advertisement that caused me to stop surfing on 103.3 FM. It was advertising their station. Something about Satan, the music they play on the station, and burning flesh. Can you be shocked and yet not really surprised??
Steve - Most scholars agree that this is indeed talking about Satan, but it’s definitely not explicit in the text. Others say that this is talking about Adam and the garden. I am not aware of anywhere in scripture that actually says Satan is a fallen angel.
Matt,
I’m not sure about that ‘most scholars’. Many recognize the fallen angel picture we have of Satan as having more of a background in John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
But, the devil is real and active and eagerly seeking to disrupt and destroy God’s good works and name. (Other scriptures, but not necessarily Is 14 or EWz 28).
It is Christians’ obsession with Satan that invites these strange interpretations which, when Satan is removed from the discussion, become pretty clear in their meaning, and that these texts (where the ‘mystery meat’ is found) are quite harmonious with the surrounding texts. However, when you insist on interpreting one king of one nation as “satan” and then another king of another nation as “satan,” whose to say we should stop at that point. As for “most scholars,” i say “birds of a feather…” there are other scholars who won’t venture in the discussion cause they simply don’t see anything there to discuss in that regard.
I am wondering: Is the fact that Lucifer was made of instruments and was Heaven’s worship leader REALLY that important?
Instead of dwelling on that, let’s learn how to FIGHT our enemy with effectual prayer, worship and reverence toward a God that is GREATER than our enemy, the devil!
1 John 4:4 (NAS) You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world!
Satan, in his extreme grandiosity, desired to be worshiped by all of Heaven. He wanted to be God. Long story short, this didn’t go over with God very well, and satan was booted from Heaven. Now, one of the hundreds of proofs to convict him of counterfeit, of islame for instance, is that he now has his dream come true. There are people by the millions worshipping him, actually believing that they are worshipping God Himself, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. However, it is the god of this world, the god of lies, the god of hate, the god of violence and the god of deception that they are worshipping and they don’t even know it.
Another proof is the denial of the deity of Jesus and His death on the cross, since this is the foundation for the faith of Christians that they are saved, forgiven, healed, delivered, etc. Satan has, as bad as I hate to admit it, clearly counterfeited a cult to resemble the real thing and millions have fallen for it (pun definitely not intended).
To counterfeit a $20 bill you must use green ink, a picture of a president, use the same size and shape paper, etc. Otherwise no store cashier would ever believe that it was a real $20 bill. For someone to take the counterfeit bill they must believe that it’s real. To counterfeit a religion, you must also use ingredients to add validity such as the use of Abraham, Moses and even Jesus Himself. However, the koran mentions Jesus as “one of God’s prophets”, but that He was replaced on the cross by someone else who simply resembled Him and a host of other lies.
Lies are fingerprints of satan and on and on. The fact that islame’s founder, muhammad, who was a proven child molester, thief, liar, rapist, murderer, extortionist and false prophet even believed originally that he was “demon possessed” would send a message to anyone with simple common sense that this cult could not be in any way “holy” or of the true and living God of The Bible. There are hundreds more pieces of evidence that prove the god of islame is none other than the ol’ boy satan himself.
That last comment was largely off topic. Why did you post it?
Ezekiel 28:13 says ….thy “tabrets” and thy “pipes” was prepared in thee in the day thou wast created.
Tabrets = tambourine
pipes = Groove, socket, hole, cavity, settings, technical term relating to jewellers work.
Our God created him for a purpose. Lucifer is a work of “art”. Ezekiel 28:14 says he is the “anointed” Cherub.
anointed comes from th greek “mimshach” and is only used one time in the bible it relates to root word “mashach” in the sense of expansion.
Mashach = consecrated
Anaointed is used many times from the greek “mashiyach” but only once from “mimshack” which attaches a sense of expansion to it.
so we “could” say Lucifer was created and consecrated by God and that he was expanded or made “greater”.
Ezekiel 28 verse 13 has lucifer covered in 9 of the 12 stones(representing the 12 tribes) the levite priests were required to wear on their breast plates (reference Exodus 28:17-20)
tamborine and Pipes artistically designed as part of the creature that is Lucifer not carried around but physically in him, apart of his physical person, leads me to belive he was created to make music for the Lord.
being Anointed in an expanded sense and covered by the stones insenuates leadership role.
Ezekiel 28 verse 14 says he was the cherub that “covereth”
Covereth = Hedge or fence in, to screen cover overshadow or protect.
Psalms 22:3 says God inhabits the praise of his people.
we can safely say Lucifer was designed as a musical instrument for God and anointed to lead all of the hosts of heaven in worship of God. to create a covering for God to inhabit.
He failed to do this and was cast out (Jude 6). In Luke 10:18 Jesus said he watched Lucifer, as lightning, fall from heaven. Satan is a very real creation of God. and does not want any one or any thing to replace him.
If I may add, We as God’s creation have the glorious opportunity and resposnibility to replace this fallen angel to not only worship but to Call all of God’s creation to worship Him.
Rev 4:11 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
It is completely speculative to interpret these passages in this way. Firstly, how many times does the title of Lucifer appear in the Bible. The answer is ONCE in the KJV. Now, if we wish to use the term “Morning Star” (which the NIV uses), then we have a problem because on several occasions the New Testament refers to Jesus as the “Morning Star.” Think about it, Lucifer=Morningstar=Jesus.
If the Isaiah passage is about “Satan,” then I would have to find some evidence elsewhere where Satan is discussed more specifically and clearly that would make this harmonious. And it doesn’t. Satan is shown as a submissive (not rebellious) character in the Job story. Satan plays the role of accuser in Zechariah, not some seething, vile character… he’s playing his part. Peter and Jude indicate that angels who are rebellious are bound and kept in darkness. If Satan is still running around doing his thing, it is because his thing is not rebellion, otherwise, he’d be bound and gagged. Satan is just doing what God created him to do. There is a story in Kings, I think, where a prophet has a vision of heaven and God asks how he may entice the king of Israel to battle so that God could kill him. A spirit approaches and says “let me put a lying word in the king’s prophets, so that he will listen to them and go out.” God said “Go!” I’m not saying this is Satan. I’m saying that spirits/angels/demons are not really understood. In this story, we would typically say Satan deceived the prophets, or a demon influenced them. The story indicates that regardless of who it was that put the lie in the mouth of the prophets did so NOT because God knew they would, nor that God merely permitted it. God initiated this.
I actually got into this discussion the other day…
First, Lucifer - as a name, is the Latin translation given by St. Jerome to Isaiah’s obvious reference to the King of Babylon who was historically recognized wit hthe “Day Star” or Venus. In fact, the King of Babylon was often considered the offspring of the Sun, and since Venus also shown during the day, etc… anyways.
Secondly, Babylonian and Persian kings were known for their extravagance in everything, especially music and parties. Hence, again the references to music and extravagance.
Now, believe me, as a believer in the Christian faith, I recognize evil, and even the “devil” as real, but, I ask that people dig deeper and realize most terms we have, i.e Lucifer, are more modern conventions - I seriosuly doubt God named an angel Lucifer… in a language that didn’t quite exist yet. Also, even the term satan is grossly misjudged in the O.T. for satan usually represents an angel… i,e. a spy for God to discover the people’s wickedness and report back to God… also as a tester.. i.e. with Job.
Faith is important… and ideology can mesh well with faith, but history and accurate context are equally important when researching and studying the Scriptures. Lastly, I challenge the person who cannot even spell Islam right, and ask him how many times he has read an Explaination of the Hoyl Qu’ran? probably never :) God Bless!
Saepe Nihli Cogitamus,
JAred
I never seen the relevance with the scriptures in Ezekiel 28 refering to Satan as the worship leader in heaven. I see alot of room for assumptions, perceptions, and speculations but no revelation. I came from a background that use to teach the samething but couldnt show real evidence other than those two scriptures mentioned by the above commentators. I think it is safe to assume that other angels have harps, tambourines, electric bass (lol kidding) or whatever God made for them to praise Him with. Why is it that we see a scripture and it has one instrument in there and next thing you know he is a worship leader that led billions of angels in worship he was second in command to God and add whatever else in there that you feel necessary. I guess this is something that I would have to seek the Lord about in prayer. Also maybe it isnt ment for us to know right now until later. There are a bunch of holes in the bible where you have no choice but to get on our knees and receive revelation from Him.
I don’t think all of this is necessary. whether satan was lucifer or not is now not so important. the thing is to believe that he is here in this world roaming and trying to destroy us by preventing us from going to heaven. we should just concentrate on worshipping christ and obeying the commandments of God so we will live rightly on earth. Also.i would recommend that we be careful what we say. it is possible for us to say something contradictory to what is written in the Bible coz we did not understand or study the Bible well b4 talking bout it and that is a sin. we shouldn’t change anything that’s written in the Bible. we don’t have to worry bout the devil. After all,we have The Holy Spirit. He is everything. God bless u all.
Hummmm, well, Satan has a perversion for every good thing God created, sex, music, etc. I especially think about how music has such a huge impact on our culture particularly beginning with our children, I think is is relevant to acknowlege certain attributes that Satan had and still has but now uses to pervert what God had originally intended it for….in explaining to my children that many forms of music are designed to capture our fleshly desires and lead us away from our personal relationship with God, it seems to me that Satan has a monopoly on every age group and culture thru music - very clever and successful means of leading many astry with the envy of rockstars with their life of overindulgence and idol worship of the rockstars I am still leaning that Satan has a position of worship in Heaven and when he fell he took that gift from God and is still using it today to lead many away from the true music that brings us closer to our Lord. Just my view and some of you are rather harsh in your opionions, this is a place to share and discuss, not attack and cause stumbling blocks….