I Will Be Like the Most High, Part 1

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

While we’re dealing with Daniel 1 in another series, I want to start this new one while it’s fresh in my mind. In this series, we’re going to look at Satan’s original sin, where it led, and why God didn’t put Lucifer (Satan) into the Lake of Fire that was created for him and his angels (cf. Matthew 25:41). In other words, we are actually going to take the time to look at the big picture of not only God’s redemptive plan but the bigger picture that includes God’s plan of redemption as well as everything else.

If I were to ask you what you think the most important aspect of God’s will is – His highest purpose – what is it do you think most people would say? How would they respond to that? Most people – even after they think about it for a few seconds – would say that God’s highest purpose is found in the offering of salvation to humanity. It seems a no-brainer, right? God loves us because He is love and that love prompted Him to do what no other being in the entire universe could do. He created a way for salvation to be offered to people and with it, a way for Him to redeem His Creation from the ravages of sin itself.

While salvation is extremely important, it is not God’s highest purpose. His highest purpose according to many sections of Scripture, is to glorify Himself. At first glance, to fallen human beings, this seems like something that is borne of arrogance or hubris. When we think of another human being doing something that brings themselves notoriety or “glory,” we naturally think of self-aggrandizement. We see these people as being full of themselves, the type of person that is difficult to be around for any real length of time. Everything they do points to themselves.

But God is God. He is not fallen. He is the opposite of conceited, arrogant, or filled with hubris. He is not self-aggrandizing. He is not those things because He is perfect love. Because of that, He loves perfectly. Because of that love, He can only do those things that are best and perfect. This means that He can never do anything that even smells of sin.

In essence then, when God glorifies Himself, He does that because it is ultimately best for everything. When He created, everything He so created was considered “good” by God (Genesis 1-2). It was good because none of it had yet been tainted by any degree of sin. When things are perfect, they glorify God. At the same time, even though Satan sinned and brought humanity to its knees through temptation and eventual sin (the fall, cf. Genesis 3), even that will bring glory to God because it puts the focus on the only perfect response to sin, God’s ineffable love. The greater the darkness, the greater God’s splendor.

So why is this series titles “I Will Be Like the Most High”? Simply put, because I want to show that though God could have destroyed Satan immediately after sin was found in him, there was something in Satan’s inner discussion with himself that God chose to use. This attitude of Satan’s (Lucifer before the fall) became the catalyst that God would use to eventually allow the entire universe to one day see the logical conclusion of Satan’s sin, prompted by his own inner pride. It would display before the universe the concept that even when Satan was given every opportunity to bring his promises of Isaiah 14 to fruition – though murmured in the secrecy of his own heart – would be publicly displayed and he – Satan – would be just as publicly humiliated before all the universe.

In essence, what we will eventually learn is that while God offering salvation is most definitely something that brings tremendous glory to God, it is not His highest purpose. It is only part of His highest purpose. The overriding higher purpose of God has been to prove the entire universe and every creature within it that this so-called battle between “good” and “evil,” God vs. Satan is no battle at all. Not only that, but it will be forever written into the annals of future history into future eternity that sin was finally exhausted and still, God won. Sin actually will come to an end when Satan will have done everything he can to bring his own paltry, arrogant-driven promises to fruition.

Though God could have sent Satan immediately to the Lake of Fire to begin his eternal sentence, God chose to wait. Satan then went to battle and managed to convince one-third of the angelic host to follow him in his deceit and sin. God could have then thrown Satan and the one-third angelic host into the Lake of Fire, but God chose to wait.

Left alive and in control of much, Satan set his sights on the man and the woman whom God had created and placed on the earth as His guardians, with Adam as the federal head and Eve as his equal helpmeet, though both had unique and differing roles. Satan chose to work through Eve to bring them both down. Satan chose this most likely because he senses that – as Paul tells us later – Eve was more susceptible to deception (cf. Genesis 3). In fact, the apostle Paul spells it out for us very clearly in 1 Timothy 2:12-14.

“I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.”

Please notice several things that Paul points out.

1. Adam was created by God first, and
2. Eve was deceived (not Adam)

While Paul – in the above passage – is explaining why he did not allow women to teach men, the rationale also helps us understand God’s created order. Beyond that, it also enlightens us as to why Satan likely chose Eve as his target. Women, in general, are more feelings oriented. Men, in general, are more cerebral. But with all the “gender-bending” that’s been going on in the world, it’s easy to see why Satan has wanted to turn God’s created order upside down.

Satan clearly knew that if he approached Adam, Adam would likely not give in because he would not be tempted because of the way the forbidden fruit smelled or looked. Eve was and it only took Satan a brief matter of time watching her to figure that out. Satan likely also figured out that Adam would be more inclined to follow Eve into sin, which was also overturning God’s created order.

God made Adam as the head of the home. This, unfortunately, has come to mean that men lord it over their wives. No, what it means is that as far as God is concerned, the man, as the head of home, is responsible for what occurs in that home. It is no different from being an employee under a boss. We don’t question the orders given to us by our boss. We simply carry them out. A boss who is overbearing and obnoxious soon loses employees as they begin to search for better pastures. The boss who understands what it means to lead does so in a way that does not rob those under him of feeling like a human being.

I count it a blessing that my wife allows me to lead. For a woman to do that takes tremendous strength and self-confidence. It’s not like I’ve never made mistakes either, but her willingness to allow me to lead tells me how much she loves me. I dare not mistreat that trust.

We know the outcome of the fall. Eve sinned, then Adam followed suit. Our first parents rebelled against God. In doing so, they lost a tremendous amount and gained a sin nature and death, both spiritually (immediately) and physically (it started immediately).

Our parents also lost something else of extreme importance. They lost the title-deed to the earth and it would require Another to come, live, die, and rise again to get it back.

But why didn’t God send Satan and his angels to the Lake of Fire before any of this took place? Because God had (has) a plan that will showcase His highest purpose to the entire universe one day. Because of that, all mouths who would protest will be shut. All knees will bow. Everything that God ever made will give Him glory and it will be so for all future eternity.

We will be back with part 2 very soon.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective