WWUTT 1904 How You Have Fallen, O Lucifer (Isaiah 14:1-32)

We come to a challenging passage of Isaiah today, one that's very famous, for many have attributed this passage as talking about Satan. But it's not. It's addressing the King of Babylon, when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it. Visit our website at www .utt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Isaiah 14 and the Oracle Against the King of Babylon

Thank you, Becky. So we come back to our study of Isaiah today, and we are in Chapter 14. And as I said in the teaser, it's in this particular chapter that Lucifer gets his name. Traditionally in the history of the church, this hasn't always been in the history of the church, but going back several hundred years, it's been believed that the devil's real name is Lucifer.

I'm going to address that as we come to Isaiah 14 today. We begin with an oracle that concerns the King of Babylon. Then we're also going to read an oracle about the Assyrians and another oracle concerning Philistia.

But let me begin here, reading in Chapter 14. This is Isaiah 14, starting in verse 1 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. And it will be in the day when Yahweh gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh slavery in which you have been enslaved, that you will take up this taunt against the King of Babylon and say how the taskmaster has ceased and how fury has ceased.

Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, which used to strike the people in fury with unceasing strokes, which had dominion over the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.

The whole earth is at rest and is quiet. They break forth into shouts of joy. So let's stop there for now and come back to the start of 14. Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel and put them in their own land.

So remember, because they had worshiped false gods, because they disobeyed the Lord, he was going to drive them out of the land into the captivity of the Babylonians. But God will have compassion on them again.

He's not going to allow them to be wiped out. He is still going to fulfill his promise to the children of Abraham, to the children of David. So Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, again choose Israel, put them in their own land.

They will be able to come back to this place. Then sojourners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. So this is going to be as they're coming out of Babylonia and they will come back into their own land as they go.

There are sojourners that will identify these Israelites that are carrying on back to their own land and the sojourners will join them. So like nomads, people from other clans, they don't have a land of their own, but when they see that Israel is receiving their land back to them, the sojourners think, well, we don't have a land, let's go with Israel and we'll be with them.

So they affix themselves to the Israelites and the Lord rewards Israel with these captors or their captives rather. It's like they will be slaves to them. So that's how they know they're being blessed by God because even though they haven't come into their own land yet, God is going to give them slaves.

The house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of Yahweh for their male and female slaves and they will take their captors captive and will have dominion over their taskmasters. So there will even be some of those who are from Babylon and they just don't want to stay there in Babylon, so they go back with Israel.

So those who have been the taskmasters now become the slaves of the Israelites. And it will be in that day when Yahweh gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh slavery in which you have been enslaved, that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon.

So you're going to come out of Babylon and you're even going to have the courage to taunt Babylon and they won't be able to do anything about it. See, that's really the thing. The Lord's favor will be so with Israel that they will taunt Babylon and Babylon's not going to retaliate.

So you'll take up this taunt against the king and you will say how the taskmaster has ceased and how fury has ceased. Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, which used to strike the peoples with fury and unceasing strokes, which had dominion over the nations in anger with under strain persecution.

And that's certainly what we see from the Babylonians, the persecution that they will afflict Israel with. And yet when God delivers them out of their hands, Israel is going to turn around and taunt those who had previously been their taskmasters and persecutors.

Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, which used to strike the people in fury with unceasing strokes, with unrestrained persecution. Verse seven, the whole earth is at rest and is quiet.

They break forth into shouts of joy. Now this isn't every single nation on earth, but it just goes to say the Babylonians had such control that when Israel comes out of their captivity, that the land is going to experience peace because Babylon will not have strength in those days.

Verse eight, even the cypress trees are glad over you and the cedars of Lebanon saying, since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us because the Babylonians used to go into Lebanon and they would cut down the big cedars there in Lebanon to be able to use them for their Babylonian temples and structures.

But since Babylon has now been broken down, and remember what we read at the end of 13, the Medes are going to end up coming against Babylon so that they will be broken down and they will not even be able to pursue Israel who's going back to their land.

So the trees in Lebanon, they rejoice because the Babylonians aren't coming to cut us down anymore. Verse nine, Sheol from beneath trembles excitedly over you to meet you when you come. Boy, that's a fantastic line.

It awakens for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth. It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. The grave is just aching for you that you would come down to it and it will certainly be filled with the lives of Babylonians.

Verse 10, they will all answer and say to you, even you have been made weak as we. You have become like us. Your pride and the music of your harps have been brought down to Sheol. Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you and worms are your covering.

So it's not just that they're going to be weakened. It's not just that they're going to lose their strength and their power. Many Babylonians are going to die. And again, this is an oracle against the king.

So it's specifically the king of Babylon who will suffer this fate. Verse 12, how you have fallen from heaven. Oh, star of the morning, son of the dawn, you have been cut down to the earth. You who have weakened the nations, but you have said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven.

I will raise my throne above the stars of God and I will sit on the Mount of Assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high.

Nevertheless, you will be brought down to Sheol to the recesses of the pit. I'm going to stop there for a moment. Let's let's come back here to verse 10. They'll all answer and say to you, even you have been made weak as we, you've become like us.

Your pride and the music of your harps have been brought down to Sheol. Maggots are spread as your bed beneath you and worms are your covering. And then what do we have next? Beginning in verse 12. Now, this is a very, very popular passage that is often used to say Satan is being described here.

I don't think that's necessarily wrong, but it's not the immediate application because who is this being delivered to? This is being spoken to the king of Babylon and the king of Babylon fancied himself to be a God.

And so you have all this language that's being used here with regards to a man who thinks he could ascend into heaven. He could even ascend to the very place of God. His own people would worship him as a God.

And yet he's going to be brought low and his bed is going to be laid with maggots. That's certainly not a God. A God isn't going to have his grave in Sheol or be consumed by bugs. But that's how low this prideful king is going to be torn down.

So let's look at the symbolism here. And then I'm going to come back and talk about the Satan connection, how some people will read this and see this as applying to Lucifer. How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn.

You have been cut down to the earth. You have weakened the nations. But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. So this verse right here, verse 12, this is where Satan gets his name from or where we get the name Lucifer that we have attributed to Satan.

Because Lucifer means morning star. So we read, you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn. In Latin, when you read Isaiah 14 in Latin, not that many of you probably read Isaiah in Latin, but anyway, when you read this passage in Latin, Lucifer is the word that gets used there for morning star.

Now that doesn't mean that that's Satan's name. It doesn't mean it's the name of the king of Babylon either. The word Lucifer in the Latin is also attributed to Jesus. Even Jesus gets called that. Revelation 22, 16, I, Jesus sent my angel to bear witness to you of these things for the churches.

I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. And if you were to find that in Latin, it would say, I am Lucifer because that's what Lucifer means. It's a reference to the star of the morning.

Also the planet Venus. I don't know why, but even the planet Venus is referred to as Lucifer. So here, how you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning. And since it's understood or believed to be that this passage is in reference to Satan, therefore his real name must be Lucifer.

That's where that concept comes from, but it's really just a word. There's no reason to read that as a proper noun as if it's being attributed as somebody's name here in Isaiah 14, 12. And of course, as I'm reading from the legacy standard version, the legacy, the translators here don't attribute that as being somebody's name either.

So you've fallen from heaven, O star of the morning. I mean, the morning star is just a reference to somebody who's like a deity who has great ascent because the morning star is continuing to rise in the sky, right?

The morning star is the sun, and as it continues to go up, it rises in the sky. So therefore there's something about the morning star that has a divine quality to it. So you are the star of the morning, son of the dawn.

You have been cut down to the earth. You have weakened the nations. So you who are rising above the earth, you've been cut down to the earth. Verse 13, but you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven.

I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the Mount of Assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high, and it's not difficult to see how that would apply to Satan, because is that not the way that that Satan would have regarded God?

He wanted the very place of God to ascend to that place. So therefore God tears him down and brings him down to hell, to the grave, to shield, to hell, as mentioned in verse 15. So because of the symbolism that's used here, this high and lofty language is one who could ascend to the throne of God and bring him down.

That's why Isaiah 14 is read as pertaining to Lucifer. And I don't think that's wrong. Like I said that before, I think you can make that application, but you shouldn't read Isaiah 14 as being attributed directly to Satan, because that's not the context here.

This is being spoken to the king of Babylon. And like I said, he thought he was a god. He thought he could ascend to the place of the gods, but he's going to be torn down to show he is as weak as any man.

He will even go down to the grave. Gods don't die, but men die. This is the judgment that will come upon this wicked king. There's also a like tower of Babel language that's similar here, because that is the ancestry of Babylon.

They originate from the very place where the tower of Babel was being built. And so as it says here in verse 13, you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God.

That's what the people who are constructing the tower of Babel were attempting to do. So this is a, an ambition that has continued in the hearts of Babylonians ever since for thousands of years. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

I will make myself like the most high. Nevertheless, you will be brought down to shield, to the recesses of the pit. Those who see you will gaze at you. They will carefully consider you saying, is this the man who made the earth tremble, who caused kingdoms to quake, who made the world like a wilderness and pulled down at cities who did not allow his prisoners to go home.

Now again, the direct attribution here, that's talking about the king of Babylon, but it's also easy to see how this could be descriptive of Satan. So the king of Babylon is rather behaving as his father, the devil, is he not?

So it's in that way that we could attribute this to Satan, though it's not directly being said about him. Verse 17, he made the world like a wilderness and pulled down at cities. He did not allow his prisoners to go home.

All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own place. But you have been cast out of your grave like an abhorred branch clothed with those killed who are pierced with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse.

You will not be united with them in burial because you have ruined your country. You have killed your people. May the seed of evildoers not be called upon forever. Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter because of the iniquity of their fathers.

They must not arise and take possession of the earth and fill the face of the world with cities. So what it seems like is being said here about the king of Babylon is that he was so utterly annihilated that there was nothing left of him to be able to bury in the land where he came from.

Either that or he was driven off the land and then killed somewhere else, killed on foreign soil. But either way, the king of Babylon is completely annihilated. But what was the promises given to Israel?

They would not be annihilated, but the Lord would in fact deliver them. Verse 22, I will raise up against them, declares Yahweh of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity, declares Yahweh.

I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with a broom of destruction, declares Yahweh of hosts. Their land will not be occupied again. Next, Yahweh has an oracle for the Assyrians.

This is verses 24 to 27, Yahweh of hosts has sworn saying, surely just as I have intended, so it has happened. And just as I have counseled, so it will stand to break a Syria in my land and I will trod him down on my mountains.

Then his yoke will be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulder. This is the counsel that is counseled against the whole earth. And this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations.

For Yahweh of hosts has counseled and who can thwart it? And as for his outstretched hand, who can turn it back? That's a theme we're going to see come up again over the course of Isaiah's book. Let's finish up the rest of the chapter, beginning in verse 28.

In the year that King Ahaz died, this oracle came. Do not be glad, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken. For from the serpent's root, a viper will come out and its fruit will be a flying, fiery serpent.

And the foremost of the poor will eat and the needy will lie down in security. I will put to death your root with famine, and it will kill off your remnant. Wail, O gate, cry, O city, melt away, O Philistia, all of you, for smoke comes from the north and there is no straggler in his ranks.

Verse 32 now. How then will one answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and the afflicted of his people will take refuge in it. So even though they come back to their land unprotected and vulnerable, even the Philistines will not be granted an ability to conquer them and take over.

God has founded Zion, and the afflicted of his people will take refuge in it, and no one can turn back his hand. Let's finish there with prayer. Heavenly Father, we've read here these prophecies concerning these kingdoms and these lands, these evildoers, Babylon, Assyria, the Philistines.

We have people today that want to come against the church, that want to afflict us and destroy us. But just as we read in verse 32, Yahweh has founded Zion, and the afflicted of his people will take refuge in it.

You have founded the church under the head who is Christ, and we will take refuge among your people, in your church, in Christ our Lord. So, continue to give to us a church that loves the word of God, that loves the gospel that proclaims Christ, and desires to see your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Let us find good churches where we can fellowship with Christians, and partake in the Lord's table, and rejoice in the gospel, and celebrate baptism until the day that Christ returns and brings us to himself in glory.

Let not the enemies have us, though there are going to be people in this world that will no doubt ridicule us and persecute us, but we have nothing to fear of them, because we are safe in the hand of Christ.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

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