The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 59 Discussion

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Isa 14:12-15 How [We] Are Fallen From Heaven

Isa 14:12  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!
Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Yes, it is true. The Bible teaches that we all "fall from heaven". It also teaches that we 'fall from grace'.

Gal 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

What the scriptures do not teach is the fall of man in the garden of Eden. Our 'falling from heaven' here in Isaiah 14 and our 'falling from grace' in Galatians 5 are both experienced only after we have been shown the Lord's grace, and this "king of Babylon" is the picture of us having been shown the Lord's grace. Like Job, we take credit for our works after coming to Him and after receiving His grace.

Our first verse today is the oft-quoted verse which supposedly turns what we are clearly told is a "parable about the king of Babylon" into a false doctrine about the fall of Satan from his exalted heavenly position down into the fabled flames of an eternal hell, where most humans are predestined by God to spend endless ages in excruciating torment in literal flames of fire.

Here is that verse which has been so sadly twisted and distorted by those whose only goal is to control the laity of the churches which still teach this heinous and monstrous false doctrine of a place of eternal torment.

Isa 14:12  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!

But to whom is this entire proverb addressed? Is this not said to be a "proverb"? Are we not commanded neither to add to nor take away from the Lord's words?

This is what is the stated subject of this parable.

Isa 14:3  And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,
Isa 14:4  That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
Isa 14:5  The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
Isa 14:6  He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
Isa 14:7  The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.

Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Because we tremble at those words (Isa 66:2), we want to be very careful to speak only "that which is written" (1Co 4:6), and not "add unto these things". We will take a very close look at the words in this 12th verse of Isaiah 14.

So who or what then is this "Lucifer"? Note that the translators have capitalized this word 'lucifer' as if it were another person, rather than an attribute assumed to himself by the king of Babylon. Capitalizing the word  'lucifer' in itself leads some to conclude that this word is a name instead of something this king thinks of himself, which is exactly what we are told is true of the king of Babylon in the very next two verses:

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

If we insist that the words 'O Lucifer' are bringing Satan into this narrative, then all of a sudden we are making this parable about Satan instead of "the king of Babylon", who we are specifically told by Babylon is the subject of this parable.

Isa 14:4  That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

If we make this parable about Satan, and if we make the king of Babylon anything more than the seed of the serpent, then we are robbing the Word of God of any personal application.

Here is what e-sword reveals is the meaning of this word 'lucifer':

H1966
הֵילֵל
hêylêl
hay-lale'
From H1984 (in the sense of brightness); the morning star: - lucifer.
Total KJV occurrences: 1

This is the only entry in the Old Testament for this Hebrew word 'heylel', but we are told it is "from H1984" which is "a primitive root" which means:

H1984
הָלַל
hâlal
haw-lal'
A primitive root; to be clear (originally of sound, but usually of color);to shine; hence to make a show; to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively to celebrate; also to stultify: - (make) boast (self), celebrate, commend, (deal, make), fool (-ish, -ly), glory, give [light], be (make, feign self) mad (against), give in marriage, [sing, be worthy of] praise, rage, renowned, shine.

This word appears 166 times in the Old Testament, and here is the breakdown of how that word is translated in the King James:

H1984
הלל
hâlal
Total KJV Occurrences: 166
praise, 92
1Ch_23:4-5 (2), 1Ch_23:30, 1Ch_25:3, 1Ch_29:13, 2Ch_8:14, 2Ch_20:19, 2Ch_20:21, 2Ch_23:13, 2Ch_29:30, 2Ch_31:2, Ezr_3:10, Neh_12:24, Psa_22:22-23 (2), Psa_22:26, Psa_35:18, Psa_56:4, Psa_56:10 (2), Psa_63:5, Psa_69:30, Psa_69:34, Psa_74:21, Psa_102:18, Psa_104:35, Psa_105:45, Psa_106:1, Psa_106:48, Psa_107:32, Psa_109:30, Psa_113:1 (5), Psa_113:9, Psa_116:17-19 (3), Psa_117:1-2 (2), Psa_119:164, Psa_119:175, Psa_135:1 (3), Psa_135:3, Psa_135:21, Psa_145:2, Psa_146:1-2 (3), Psa_146:10, Psa_147:1, Psa_147:12, Psa_147:20, Psa_148:1-5 (9), Psa_148:7, Psa_148:13-14 (2), Psa_149:1, Psa_149:3, Psa_149:9, Psa_150:1-6 (13), Pro_27:2, Pro_28:4, Pro_31:31, Isa_62:9, Jer_20:13, Jer_31:7, Joe_2:26
praised, 19
Jdg_16:24, 2Sa_14:25, 2Sa_22:4, 1Ch_16:25, 1Ch_16:36, 1Ch_23:5, 2Ch_5:13, 2Ch_7:6, 2Ch_30:21, Ezr_3:11, Neh_5:13, Psa_18:3, Psa_48:1, Psa_96:4, Psa_145:3 (2), Pro_31:30, Son_6:9, Isa_64:11
glory, 12
1Ch_16:10, Psa_63:11, Psa_64:10, Psa_105:3, Psa_106:5, Isa_41:16, Isa_45:25, Jer_4:2, Jer_9:23-24 (4)
mad, 8
1Sa_21:13, Psa_102:8, Ecc_2:2, Ecc_7:7, Isa_44:25, Jer_25:16, Jer_50:38, Jer_51:7
boast, 6
1Ki_20:11, Psa_34:2, Psa_44:8, Psa_97:6-7 (2), Pro_27:1
praising, 4
2Ch_5:13, 2Ch_23:12, Ezr_3:11, Psa_84:4
boasteth, 3
Psa_10:3, Pro_25:14 (2)
commended, 2
Gen_12:14-15 (2), Pro_12:8
foolish, 2
Psa_5:5, Psa_73:3
fools, 2
Job_12:17, Psa_75:4
rage, 2
Jer_46:9, Nah_2:4
shined, 2
Job_29:3, Job_31:26
sing, 2
2Ch_23:13, 2Ch_29:30
boastest, 1
Psa_52:1
celebrate, 1
Isa_38:18
foolishly, 1
Psa_75:4
gloriest, 1
Jer_49:4 (2)
glorieth, 1
Jer_9:24
marriage, 1
Psa_78:63
praises, 1
2Ch_29:30
praiseth, 1
Pro_31:28
renowned, 1
Eze_26:17
shine, 1
Job_41:17-18 (2)

So the primitive root of the Hebrew word 'heylel' which is found only here in Isaiah 14:12 is the Hebrew word 'halal'.

H1984
הלל
hâlal
Total KJV Occurrences: 166
praise, 92
1Ch_23:4-5 (2), 1Ch_23:30, 1Ch_25:3, 1Ch_29:13, 2Ch_8:14, 2Ch_20:19, 2Ch_20:21, 2Ch_23:13, 2Ch_29:30, 2Ch_31:2, Ezr_3:10, Neh_12:24, Psa_22:22-23 (2), Psa_22:26, Psa_35:18, Psa_56:4, Psa_56:10 (2), Psa_63:5, Psa_69:30, Psa_69:34, Psa_74:21, Psa_102:18, Psa_104:35, Psa_105:45, Psa_106:1, Psa_106:48, Psa_107:32, Psa_109:30, Psa_113:1 (5), Psa_113:9, Psa_116:17-19 (3), Psa_117:1-2 (2), Psa_119:164, Psa_119:175, Psa_135:1 (3), Psa_135:3, Psa_135:21, Psa_145:2, Psa_146:1-2 (3), Psa_146:10, Psa_147:1, Psa_147:12, Psa_147:20, Psa_148:1-5 (9), Psa_148:7, Psa_148:13-14 (2), Psa_149:1, Psa_149:3, Psa_149:9, Psa_150:1-6 (13), Pro_27:2, Pro_28:4, Pro_31:31, Isa_62:9, Jer_20:13, Jer_31:7, Joe_2:26
praised, 19
Jdg_16:24, 2Sa_14:25, 2Sa_22:4, 1Ch_16:25, 1Ch_16:36, 1Ch_23:5, 2Ch_5:13, 2Ch_7:6, 2Ch_30:21, Ezr_3:11, Neh_5:13, Psa_18:3, Psa_48:1, Psa_96:4, Psa_145:3 (2), Pro_31:30, Son_6:9, Isa_64:11
glory, 12
1Ch_16:10, Psa_63:11, Psa_64:10, Psa_105:3, Psa_106:5, Isa_41:16, Isa_45:25, Jer_4:2, Jer_9:23-24 (4)
mad, 8
1Sa_21:13, Psa_102:8, Ecc_2:2, Ecc_7:7, Isa_44:25, Jer_25:16, Jer_50:38, Jer_51:7
boast, 6
1Ki_20:11, Psa_34:2, Psa_44:8, Psa_97:6-7 (2), Pro_27:1

This is what the Lord admonishes all men:

Pro 27:2  Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.

When we simply remember this is a proverb in which God's elect are speaking all these words against the dead "king of Babylon"...

Isa 14:3  And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,
Isa 14:4  That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
Isa 14:5  The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
Isa 14:6  He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.

...and we remember that Nebuchadnezzar built a golden image for himself, and demanded that all men worship his image (Daniel 3), that he spent seven years eating grass like an ox for taking God's glory and praise to himself (Dan 4), then it makes perfect sense that God's elect would remind us that it was the king of Babylon who has "said in [his] heart" that he is "like unto God".  Now it makes perfect sense that God's elect would speak of him according to the idols of his heart:

Isa 14:12  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!
Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell [sheol - the grave], to the sides of the pit.

Knowing the meaning of the root of the Hebrew word 'heylel', we could paraphrase verse 12 in these words:

Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O you who demand the praise of others and who praises himself with his own mouth and his own lips, you who call yourself 'son of the morning'! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

The words 'O Lucifer, son of the morning' are not a statement of fact, rather that is what the king of Babylon, without and within, vainly thinks of himself, and God's elect are speaking this proverb to him in his grave repeating to him his own exalted thoughts of himself as the next verses demonstrate:

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

These words against the dead king of Babylon of verse 12 are spoken for our benefit because of what the now dead king of Babylon, without, in an historical sense, and within, spiritually, "has said in [his] heart". Here is Isaiah 14 in the spiritual words of the New Testament:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

"The king of Babylon" of Isaiah 14 is an Old Testament 'tupos', a type of this "man of sin... the son of perdition", and as the very next verses inform us, this "man of sin" meets the same fate as the king of Babylon:

2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [withholds] will let [withhold], until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

These verses of Isaiah 14 have nothing to do with the verses in the New Testament which the churches of this world have forced upon this proverb against the king of Babylon, who is an Old Testament type of "the man of sin, the son of perdition" who sits upon the throne of God within our hearts and minds, the very temple of God.

For the purpose of demonstrating the attempt to turn a man into a spirit being, here are those New Testament verses which are now manifested to have nothing at all to do with either the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14 or with the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28:

Luk 10:17  And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
Luk 10:18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Here Christ informs His disciples that casting devils out of people is the same as casting Satan out of heaven. So in the sense that the beast within us gets his power and his throne from the dragon, and in the sense that we are all "of [our] father the devil" before we become the children of God, in that sense the man of sin within us is indeed cast out of heaven, but this has nothing to do with a supposed fallen arch-angel called 'Lucifer', but rather refers to "a man... [who] goes down to the grave".

The fact is that the first word of Isa 14:13, the word, 'for...', meaning 'because' you, a mere man, have said in your heart...." connects the words, "O Lucifer, the son of the morning" in verse 12, with the the words of verses 13-15, which tell us just how stuck on ourselves we are.

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell [sheol - the grave], to the sides of the pit.

Verses 13-15 tell us that all of this is in our vain imagination. We will not exalt our throne above the stars of God. We do not sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. We do not ascend above the heights of the clouds, and we certainly are not "like the Most High". Rather we are:

Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

This entire parable is about a mere man who has been "brought down to hell". The Hebrew word is 'sheol'- the grave. It is "the king of Babylon who is brought down "to the sides of the pit", to the sides of the grave. Nowhere do the scriptures ever teach that Satan goes down to the grave.

What we are told about Satan's fate is that "age lasting fire [is] prepared for the devil and his angels", and we are told "the great dragon... and his angels [are] cast out [of heaven] into the earth":

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

In the end, the devil is cast into the lake of fire, but again this is not the grave into which 'Lucifer... the king of Babylon" descends here in Isaiah 14.

Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. [The ages of the ages]

Next week, Lord willing, we will find out what is the message for us, concerning this parable against the dead "king of Babylon" in this 14th chapter of Isaiah.

Here are the verses for our next study:

Isa 14:16  They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
Isa 14:17  That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
Isa 14:18  All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
Isa 14:19  But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
Isa 14:20  Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
Isa 14:21  Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
Isa 14:22  For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.
Isa 14:23  I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.