This fall of Lucifer gets my attention. Why? Because here is a being created by God who was:

1. Created perfect,
2. The embodiment of wisdom, and
3. In the perfect environment with total harmony around him.

Yet he was capable of such pride, of such sin!

All of us are prone to pride, and it is going to be a lot easier for us to fall into pride than it was for Lucifer.

Pride is a tendency that we all have. That can be hard to grasp because most of us do not have the correct idea about pride. We all think of the extremely obvious pride: I am the greatest or I am so much better than everybody else is. However, pride is a more fundamental, basic problem.

I believe pride is not so much thinking that I am better than everybody else is, although that is part of it; primarily:

In a sense, that kind of pride is the origin of all of our specific sins. If we wanted to narrow pride down to one little phrase, I believe we could say:

That kind of pride is addressed in the Book of Isaiah:

There are just two ways in the universe — (1) God's way, which is being subject to the power of God, and (2) my way, which is saying My way is over God's way. When we do that [and I guarantee you we all do] — Is there a remedy?

For Satan: There is no remedy for Satan, because God did not have a plan for him — that amazes me! Lucifer was God's highest created being and God loved Lucifer; consider the way He talked to him How you have fallen, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! So God loved Lucifer, but He did not have a plan for him, and when Lucifer fell and became Satan, he fell into eternal punishment — there is not going to be any forgiveness for him. Satan's punishment (judgment) is eternal separation from God in hell.

For Wandering Sheep [Believers]: In eternity [past] — before we were born — God set His heart on us, and He decreed a plan to deal with our pride. What does that mean? God loved us (a lower creation than Lucifer) more than He loved Lucifer (the highest creation). Though our pride is as bad as Lucifer's and we deserve the same judgment that he got — God is no respecter of persons — there is a plan for those who acknowledge their pride, which is presented in the same verse:

As we see, our judgment fell on the Lord.

The God of the universe died because of our pride? Here we are creatures in a corner of this physical universe, we are worms, and yet we have the nerve to strut our pride, for which the God of the universe died. That is shameful, is it not?

God loves us, but He hates pride and we have pride. Think about the things that God hates. [I always think of real gross sins and say He hates those sins the most. Wrong!] Proverbs 6:16-19 says:

1. Haughty eyes,
2. A lying tongue,
3. And hands that shed innocent blood,
4. A heart that devises wicked plans,
5. Feet that run rapidly to evil,
6. A false witness who utters lies,
7. And one who spreads strife among brothers.

Pride is deceiving, as shown in the Book of Obadiah, which is directed to the Nation of Edom (the descendants of Esau):

Pride is dangerous, as we know from another Proverb:

To understand that, I believe we have to remember what happened to Lucifer because of his pride. For Lucifer, pride twisted his thinking, pride perverted his thinking, and pride made him think ridiculous things.

Undoubtedly, that is what pride will do to us:

• Pride will twist our thinking.
• Pride will pervert our thinking.
• Pride will make our thinking ridiculous.

The Egyptian Pharaohs thought they were divine, and their followers agreed with them.

It seems to me that if a pharaoh claims that he is a god and that he can do a lot of miracles, then everyone might believe him. However, once the pharaoh would die and his body would rot, he would be busted (found out) — obviously, a dead man is not an undying god.

What always amazes me is that was not the case; the people continued to believe that the dead man was a god and they would deny the one true God. Was their thinking right? No!

This is similar to a well-known heavyweight champion who was flying first class on an international flight. Prior to the pilot landing the plane, he lit the Fasten Your Seatbelts indicator; however, the champ deliberately ignored the message. The airline attendant instructed him politely Sir it is time to fasten your seatbelt. With great pride the champ said Superman don't need no seatbelt, and the attendant responded Superman don't need no plane!

Application: Believers are not going to be destroyed; God has locked His own children in eternity so they do not need no plane nor do they need no seatbelt. But in this physical life, pride of individuals can bring destruction to some part of their lives, because anytime they have pride, they are blocking God out of some part of their lives.

There are a lot of other devices that do not always lead to destruction, so why is it that pride leads to destruction? My premise is that God does not always just unilaterally see every act of pride and destroy it. [Otherwise, there would be no human race.]

I believe that pride has its own natural consequences that bring destruction. God does not necessarily have to step in and bring on the consequences for pride — although He can.

God does not say There is a guy that has pride, and I am going to punish him. Do you know why? I believe God knows what pride is going to do in our lives — it will make our thinking twisted, perverted, and not right — and He does not want His children to suffer those consequences of pride.

Whoa! Getting rid of pride seems like a catch 22 (a condition very hard to fulfill); its seems like you cannot win. Obviously, self-effort is not going to cut it (make a difference); it makes pride worse. So how do we get rid of it???

Do you recognize that your controlling, proud nature is, in fact, a result of your rebellion and sin against God's holiness? Isaiah 53:6 tells us that we are all going our own way; does this verse echo what you know about yourself? This verse also tells us that God planned that Messiah would come into this world and would take the punishment (judgment) for the sins of those who believe in Him. Anyone — including you — can be reconciled to God because of the sacrifice of Messiah Jesus. If you want to be reconciled to God, simply acknowledge in prayer to Him:

If you believe Messiah Jesus died and rose again for you, then you can know that you are reconciled to God and: there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner — over you — who repents. (Luke 5:10)

Now that I Am Redeemed: How do I get rid of pride when it rears it ugly head in my life? I believe the best way is to recognize when you are prideful and acknowledge it to Him Lord God, I know I have pride and I do not want it, because I hate it. Thank You, Messiah Jesus, for giving Your life as a ransom for my pride; please turn my focus from mySELF to YOU.

Come to God as you are! When you do that, you have reached a condition expressed as follows:

That is what God wants; the result is you will stop thinking about yourSELF, and you will start focusing on GOD.

Based on what we know about Satan — the created being who could never: occupy the throne of God, reign in heaven, sit at the center of the government of this universe, make his glory above the glory of God, and make himself like God — let us pause to realize how ridiculous and twisted this creature's thinking is by looking at God's immensity.

Immensity is a theological term used, which is unfortunate because it gives the wrong connotation. Immensity means size, therefore someone who has immensity is big.

Illustration: When I was in high school, I had a Model-A Ford that I restored. One of my friends liked to ride in the car. However, because of his immensity the only way my friend could get into the car was for us to take out the front passenger seat, and then he could sit in the back seat, but he was also in the front seat because he was huge. I could say My friend is in the back seat and in the front seat at the same time. Do you know something? Not ALL of him was in both places; part of him was in the front seat and part of him was in the back seat. That is what is meant by the word immense: someone who fills a huge place.

The immensity of God does NOT mean that God is so huge that He covers the entire universe, meaning His head would be in one place and His feet would be in another; it is not that way, because God does not have a body. Also, the immensity of God does not just mean that God is everywhere at the same time (omnipresent), although He is. God's immensity means:

God is equally present at every point in the universe.

The immensity of God is presented in Jeremiah when God says:

This is amazing! God is 100 percent present at every point in this vast universe — so vast that no human can imagine it — and all of God is there.

For the Unredeemed (those who have not trusted in Messiah Jesus as their Redeemer): That is very bad news, because God is 100 percent present wherever those individuals are. That means every sin an unbeliever commits is see, recorded, and marked down by God for future judgment of that individual by God; not one unbeliever is going to slip away.

For the Redeemed (those who have trusted in Messiah Jesus as their Redeemer): That is very good news, because wherever believers are, God is there. Do you realize that mathematically, 100 percent of God's presence is with each believer who has 100 percent of God's attention? It is as if each believer is the only person in the universe. It seems that mathematically that does not work, because God has 100 percent of my attention — and yours — and the attention of all other believers.

King David recognized that each believer has 100 percent of God's attention focused on him when he penned the following:

Because God is everywhere 100 percent of the time, He sees all of our faults and all of our flaws. With that in mind, look at David's response:

Father, thank You for allowing us to look into the spiritual dimension, so we would know that angels are real, substantial, numerous, and uniquely and individually created by Your Son, Messiah Jesus.

Thank You that we understand what happened when the highest ranking and most powerful angel, Lucifer — the embodiment of wisdom and beauty — rebelled against You. It amazes us that, even though it broke Your heart, You let Your own creation rebel against You! And what really amazes us is that You do not have a plan for that perfect created being who, because of his pride, fell and became Satan, but you do have a plan for those human beings who believe that Your Son — the God of this universe — died for them [because of their pride, their sin].

Father, could some of my difficulties be a consequence of my own pride? That makes me want to eliminate that sin in my life. I do not want twisted and ridiculous thinking, so please, change me from a proud, SELF-centered person into a spiritually thirsty individual who seeks to have YOUR WAY [and not my way] in all aspects of my life. And please, Lord God, help me to trust in You, so that You, who began a good work in me, will complete it.

All the heavenly hosts give You, their Creator, praise, and Your holy angels proclaim You are Holy, Holy, Holy. In unison we open our mouths and say Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of Your glory.

We bless You, the living God, and ask that You will be glorified in this day. In the name of our Creator and Messiah, Jesus. Amen.

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