Derek Prince - How Satan's Kingdom Came Into Being
But let us consider briefly how this satanic kingdom came into being. I want to turn to Isaiah Chapter 14 and read a few verses there. These verses deal with a being called Lucifer. The word Lucifer, which is from a Latin root, means the one who brings light; a shining being. The Hebrew is ḥêlel ta shaḥar which is the morning star. At any rate, whichever form or name you use, it means a very bright, shining, glorious person.
Now the word arch, again from a Greek root, don't worry about all that, means ruling. So an archangel is a ruling angel; an angel who rules others. The same word occurs in archbishop. An archbishop is a bishop who rules other bishops. And here we have, I believe, a picture of one of the main archangels in God's heavenly hosts. His name was Lucifer. He was called that because he was so glorious and so beautiful. But he made a sad error. He turned in rebellion against his Creator and sought to make himself equal with God. Very interesting, we have a comparison between Lucifer on the one hand and Jesus on the other.
Lucifer was a created being, not equal with God. He sought equality with God and fell. Concerning Jesus it says in Philippians, Chapter 2: He did not think equality with God something to be grasped at. He had it by divine right. But He humbled Himself and God exalted Him. Now let's look at this little picture here, beginning in verse 12. How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning (morning star)! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
Now we get the motivation of Lucifer’s rebellion. And in the following verses we get the phrase: I will, five times. It's the will of the creature set against the will of God. The key word is rebellion. For you have said in your heart. Remember that God knows what we said in our hearts. You said in your heart I will ascend into heaven. (I'm going up). I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit in the mount of the congregation on the farther sides of the north; I will ascend (you notice, the whole thing is going up) above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. The most High is Almighty God. And the word means also I will be equal to God.
So Satan’s ambition was to elevate himself to a position of equality with God. He was motivated because he was so wise and so beautiful and so glorious that he said to himself: I could be like God. My personal opinion, and this is just an opinion, is that he motivated the angels who were under his charge to join him in rebellion. And I just picture this... if you can imagine this kind of thing going on in heaven. All this started in heaven, believe it or not, but it did.
I can imagine him going around to the angels who were under his charge and saying: Now, you really have talent; you are unusually gifted. God does not really appreciate all that you have. But if I were in charge, you see, I would give you the position that you really deserve. And apparently... again, this is not necessarily, it is a matter of inference, he undermined the loyalty of one-third of the angels to God. And drew them with him in his rebellion and in his fall. And so God says: You shall be cast down to the sides of the pit.