Gary Pollard
The prophet Isaiah tells us about another enemy of God. He says: “How you have fallen from heaven, O light-bearer, morning star! You once rose like the dawn, but now you are crushed to the ground—you who attacked all nations. You said in your heart, ‘I will climb to heaven. I will set my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the highest mountain in the far north. I will rise above the clouds. I will be like the Most High.’ But now you will be brought down to the world below, to the very depths of the earth.
Those who see you will stare in shock and say, ‘Is this the one who shook the earth, who made kings tremble, who turned the world into a wasteland, who destroyed cities, and never freed his prisoners? All the kings of the nations rest in honor in their own graves, but you will be thrown away among the dead on the mountains—cursed and pierced by the sword—down to the world below.
Like a blood-stained robe that cannot be made clean, you will never be clean again. You destroyed my land and killed my people. You will never last, evil seed. Prepare your sons for death because of their father’s sins, so they will not rise to take the earth or fill it with war. I will rise against them, says the Lord of hosts. I will erase their name, their survivors, and their children.’”
From these words it is clear that the morning star—once a bringer of light—fell from heaven. If, as some think, he was always a creature of darkness, how could Scripture call him “light-bearer” or “morning star”? Even Jesus said about the devil, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning,” showing that at one time he was light. Jesus also compared His own return to lightning: “As the lightning flashes from one end of the sky to the other, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” By comparing Satan’s fall to lightning, Jesus showed that Satan once lived in heaven, had a place among God’s holy ones, and shared in the same light that all God’s saints enjoy. This light is what makes angels “angels of light,” and is why Jesus called His apostles “the light of the world.”
So this being once existed in light before turning away from God. When he fell, his glory turned to dust—a mark of the wicked. That is why he is called the “prince of this world,” meaning he rules here on earth over those who follow his evil ways. As Scripture says, “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” God also calls him “the runaway dragon” in the book of Job, meaning he is an enemy who has fled from the truth. The dragon is the devil himself.
If these enemies of God were once pure, then it’s clear that only the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are pure by their very nature. Every created being is pure only because God gives them that purity—and they can lose it. Since these evil powers were once pure but fell, we see that no one is born evil, and no one is pure by nature alone. This means it is in our own hands—through our choices and actions—to live in happiness and holiness, or to fall into sin and ruin. If we grow deeply in evil through neglect and laziness, we can sink so low that we become an “opposing power” against God, just as the morning star once did.
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