The Question of Evil (2 of 3)

The Where of Evil
 
by George Sidney Hurd
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Having considered the what of evil in the previous blog, we will now be looking at the where of evil. Where and when did evil first originate?
 
We have already seen that evil did not exist in the beginning. God is perfect and just, and therefore all that He originally created was good (Gen 1:31; Deut 32:4). For that reason, evil had to have entered into the world by an independent agent other than God, subsequent to creation. And as I hope to demonstrate from Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, that free agent was the anointed cherub prior to his fall, originally called Helel, or in Latin, Lucifer, which means “morning star.”
 
Ezekiel 28:1-10 begins by speaking directly to the earthly king of Tyre who had become lifted up with pride, proclaiming himself to be a god. God said to Ezekiel: “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre…” Everything said in these ten verses is applicable to the human leader himself.
 
However, beginning in verse 11 thru to verse 19, Ezekiel is not told to speak directly to the king, but rather to sing a lamentation or song of mourning over him. In this dirge, which is sung over the king of Tyre while yet still alive, it immediately becomes evident that the Lord is no longer addressing him alone, but rather the prince of darkness who was actually the one who incited the king of Tyre to pride and self-exaltation, bringing him under the same judgment which had previously befell him.
 
What many are unaware of is that national leaders have spiritual principalities assigned to them. That is partly what Paul meant when he said: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). When Daniel sought the Lord with prayer and fasting for his people Israel, it was the spiritual prince of Persia who opposed the angel sent to answer Daniel’s prayer, requiring the assistance of Michael the archangel who was the prince of Daniel’s people Israel (Dan 12:12-13, 20-21). With this in mind, upon reading this dirge, it becomes evident that God is speaking primarily to Satan himself, who is the god of this age and the principality exercising influence over the king of Tyre:
 
“Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 12 "Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord God:
"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. 17 "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.” (Ezek 28:11-17)
 
There are numerous things said of this ruler which could not be said of a mere human ruler: 1) He was created, rather than procreated. 2) He was a cherub. Cherubim are created spiritual beings, not men. 3) He was perfect and without iniquity, something that God would never say of any sinful human king. 4) He was originally in the heavenly Eden on the holy mountain of God.
 
Therefore, we see that even Satan, who originally was called Helel or Lucifer, was perfect and free from iniquity, just as God had created him, until his heart was lifted up with pride because of his exceptional beauty and wisdom. Once pride was fully conceived in his heart, he committed the first sin of self-determination in the form of five “I wills” which led to active rebellion against God, as we see described in Isaiah 14. Just as in Ezekiel 28, the chapter begins by speaking to a mortal king and then addresses Lucifer who is the principality behind him. Beginning in verse 12 God says:
 
“How you are fallen from heaven, o Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' 15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.” (Isa 14:12-15)
 
As a result of his rebellion, he was cast out of the holy mountain of God. While Satan will not be totally deprived of access to God’s heavenly throne until he is finally confined to the earth along with a third of the angels, three and a half years before Christ’s Second Coming (Rev 12:6-9), he is no longer the glorious cherub that covered God’s throne. Now he is the prince of the power of the air and the god of this age. And he only has that position because Adam relinquished his God given authority over the earth to Satan when he obeyed the serpent, rather than God.
 
That these passages are primarily making reference to Lucifer’s fall is confirmed by Paul’s allusion to it when he instructed Timothy to not appoint a recent convert as a bishop or pastor “lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil” (1 Tim 3:6). The only passages in Scripture revealing that the devil’s fall was due to pride are here in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14.
 
Numerous quotes from the Early Church Fathers also indicate that they likewise understood these two passages to be referring to the fall of Lucifer. For brevity, I will just include one quote from Origen. He said:
 
“But the angels also wonder at the peace which is to be brought about on account of Jesus on the earth, that seat of war, on which Lucifer, star of the morning, fell from heaven, to be warred against and destroyed by Jesus.” [1]
 
The Liberal Higher Critics of the sacred text, in their attempts to discredit the Scriptures, point out similar beliefs of cultures which predate the writing of the Old Testament Scriptures. For example, the Canaanites spoke of a mighty warrior called Helal, who sought to ascend higher than the other gods, but was defeated and cast down to the depths.
 
However, to me, the fact that these similarities exist in other ancient post diluvian cultures further confirms the truth of the biblical account, since after the flood all would have shared a common oral tradition. As time went on and Noah’s descendants were dispersed at Babel, these oral traditions lost their purity compared to the divinely inspired biblical account, but their similarity only serves to demonstrate that they shared a common prior source.
 
I have heard some argue that Satan was originally created evil, based upon the words of Jesus when He said that the devil was a murderer from the beginning and the father of lies (John 8:44). However, we have already seen that Lucifer was created perfect and remained perfect until iniquity was found in him. So, clearly the “beginning” Jesus was referring to was not the moment of Lucifer’s creation. One cannot be a murderer before a physical being even exists to kill. Clearly, the beginning Jesus was referring to was the moment of the first acts of Satan which were recorded in Genesis when he lied to Eve and brought physical death to mankind. That was the beginning of his career as a murderer and the father of all lies.
 
So, in answer to the “where” of evil, clearly evil was first conceived in Lucifer’s own heart. Some have trouble seeing how a perfect being in a perfect environment could be capable of conceiving evil. However, I personally don’t see that as a problem, considering that God created men and angels as free rational beings, capable of thinking and acting independently from Him. As I understand it, the angels were enamored by his majestic beauty and wisdom in a way that he couldn’t help but notice. Apparently, at some point, due to all the admiration he continually received, he began to look away from God to himself and became inflated with pride, which in turn led to independent self-determination and finally rebellion.
 
The primary question still remains: why would God create free rational beings, knowing all along that they would introduce evil into His good creation? That is the question I hope to answer in the next blog.
 


[1] Origen, Commentary on John, book 1, chapter 13

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