Thoughts on Hell-part 3

Throughout the course of my life, I have come to see that things in this physical world were designed to represent spiritual realities. One example would be the institution of marriage. Another one, which is more pertinent to this topic (although most marriages today are hell), is something that God instructed Moses to do after the exodus out of Egypt.

The Israelites that immigrated into Egypt were the descendents of a man named Abraham who entered into a covenant with God regarding a blessing that would come to all nations through his posterity. During their sojourn in Egypt, the Israelites lost the value of their identity as Abraham's descendents due to the leavening influence of Egypt's idolatrous culture. God's solution to this was executed through Moses.

After the Israelites left Egypt, they were brought to Mt. Sinai where they were brought into another covenant with God that was a more detailed application of the covenant that was made with Abraham. Part of the covenant involved the 10 Commandments. Another part involved the ministration of a sanctuary system whose design was given to Moses by God. That sanctuary consisted of 3 primary places; a courtyard, and a 2 room tabernacle (tent). The first room was called the Holy Place and the other, separated by a veil, was called the Most Holy Place. Inside the Most Holy Place was a famous piece of furniture called the Ark of the Covenant (you may have seen Raiders of the lost Ark). The Ark was a golden box that contained the 10 Commandments and had a lide, called the mercy seat, with 2 winged beings on it. It is here that we are first told about covering cherubim.

And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. Exo. 25:18-20.

The Most Holy Place is where one came into the immediate presence of God. So in reality, these two beings who are represented in the sanctuary are two individuals who had immediate access to God in heaven. As was shown in part 2, one of them had his heart "lifted up because of his beauty" and had "corrupted his wisdom by reason of his brightness". In other words, this individual started to notice himself and think that he was somebody important. The prophet Isaiah was instructed to take up a proverb against the king of Babylon. In this proverb, he compares the character of the king of Babylon with the character of someone called Lucifer.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Isa. 14:12-14.

The name Lucifer means, "light-bearer", one who has "brightness". In heaven, Lucifer was one of these individuals who had access to the immediate presence of God. Since we are told that the Father does everything through His Son (as stated in part 2), is it not logical to conclude that the other individual represented by the other covering cherub is the Son of God. I have been accused of heresy for such a suggestion by the professing christian majority because they say that the Son of God is Jesus Christ, who is an uncreated human being, and not a covering cherub. Well, I will admit, I due accept that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He is not created, but was born out of the eternal Father. But Scripture doesn't support the notion that He has always been a flesh and blood human being. First of all, flesh and blood beings didn't come into existence until the sixth day of creation. Second of all, Jesus Himself said, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John 4:24. Would this not include the Son? If God is a Spirit, then He can manifest Himself through any of His creation. This is how the Bible can mention the case of a man whose donkey had talked to him. Such a story would be absurd to the natural man.

Based on what has been said thus far, the picture is emerging that Lucifer wasn't aware that this other idividual was the Son of God because he looked too much like himself. This would serve as a test of Lucifer's character. Since Lucifer saw himself as being so important, he started to suggest to the rest of the universe that he should be recognized for his work and position in some gratifying way. Because he couldn't have this, he started to imagine that he was no longer in heaven in the way he thought that heaven should be. He soon started to suggest that since heaven has a system of law, that God was partial and used the law as a means of control. Since Lucifer's work involved music (based on what was quoted from Eze. in part 2), he had the ability to touch the emotional "heart strings" of the heavenly inhabitants. Fortunately, some of those beings had enough sense to realize that they were just as free as they had been all along. But others started to wonder if Lucifer was right. This is where the idea of Hell originated. It is a false sense of reality that is believed as truth. This originated in the mind of Lucifer and has been transmitted to many other since then.

Eventually, the time came when the Father would reveal His Son to the heavenly inhabitants. After this occured, Lucifer and his sympathizers failed the test of character by refusing to relenquish their pride in their point of view of heaven. Their point of view would now be hell and they would have to leave heaven because their choice to belive their own lie would cause dissembling in heaven. Lucifer would now receive a new name that suits his character: Satan (slanderer) and the devil (the accuser). Of course, they never lost their desire to overthrow God's government and replace it with their own. But they are even now coming to their end.

I will get into that later, Lord willing.

[Edited on 4-4-2004 by Timothy]