“I saw Satan fall as lightning from heaven.”
Many times I have read this verse.
Each time I have tried to picture what our Lord was talking about. I imagine lightning striking across the sky. So bright and awful. I have always thought about the fall of an angel.
Today I was reading it again and I couldn’t stop thinking about one word.
Lightning.
It falls so fast.
That’s when those words really hit me.
How fast did he fall.
Lucifer was once believed to be one of the greatest angels. He was made good. He was given everything that was beautiful and wonderful by God. Nothing he had wasn’t given to him.
But pride took over.
He wanted to be greater than what God gave him.
We are given these words by the prophet Isaiah that we believe are spoken to Lucifer.
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!”
“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:”
“I will.”
Just two words.
He decided to want something that wasn’t his.
And he fell.
Like lightning.
I keep thinking about how fast he fell. It amazes me how something so quick can bring on such an awful fall.
So how does pride effect us?
In today’s society we are taught to be proud. Proud of ourselves. Proud of what we’ve achieved. We are taught to want recognition for what we do. Even the little things we accomplish we become proud of.
Humility. We don’t know much about that.
We see people who are humble and we think they must be weak or insecure about themselves. They probably think they’re not worth anything.
The Saints however knew about humility.
They knew that all of what we are and have comes from God. Our minds. Our talents. Even the air that we breathe. What is there to be proud of when it was all given to us.
“What hast thou that thou didst not receive?”
This can free us from pride.
When we are proud we worry about what others think of us. We get upset if someone doesn’t like us or praise us for doing something we felt we deserved.
Sometimes pride can creep into our spirituality as well.
We may feel proud about how we pray or fast or know about our faith. Maybe even think that we are better than others because they don’t know as much as we do.
You can even become proud of being humble.
The fathers knew this and warned about pride. It can blind us from seeing our faults.
Another thought that comes to mind when we think about Lucifer falling.
Jesus.
Lucifer wanted to ascend to heaven.
Jesus descended to earth.
“Your will”
He came down to us the ones He created. No one can contain Him and yet He chose to be in the womb of a virgin. Born in a stable and suffered with us.
He went without food and rest. Was betrayed and killed by His own people.
He washed the feet of his disciples.
He allowed them to beat Him and spit on Him.
He allowed them to nail Him to the cross.
Jesus showed more humility than we will ever know.
“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
Even death didn’t hold Him.
Jesus descended into Hades.
To save us from death he went to the one place we all would end up if left in sin. Death.
Jesus died for us and went to hell to pull us out.
Isn’t that amazing. How low God was willing to go to save us.
Jesus descended into the belly of hell to save us from death.
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:”
Something that we can meditate on for the rest of our lives.
Lucifer was proud and fell from Heaven.
Jesus humbled himself to save mankind.
“I saw Satan fall as lightning from heaven.”
I think about that verse and how fast it happened.
How easy it is to become proud. We can become angry when things don’t go our way. Forget about God when we are feeling good.
After spending your whole life being humble you can still need to watch out for pride.
Let’s remember this about each other.
We all make mistakes. Let’s not judge each other and remember that everyone falls at some point.
Maybe we should look at the lives of the Saints that lived close to God.
Many times the ones who lived the closest to God were the most humble. Because they knew how they depended on God.
Which is why we say the prayer of the publican.
“God be merciful to me a sinner.”
We aren’t proud when we say this prayer.
And Jesus told the Pharisees that this man went home righteous.
When I think of Lucifer and how he was created so great and how he fell from pride.
I can’t help but think of Jesus and how humble he was to descend into the belly of hell to save us.
Why are we so proud of ourselves.
Maybe we should be less proud and thank God for all He has given us.
Ask Him to reveal to us our sins that we are proud of.
Afterall.
Lightning is fast.
Lord Jesus Christ Son of God Have mercy on us.
-Dan
Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss my upcoming articles, songs, prayers, and psalms.
☕ Enjoyed this? Support my work by buying me a coffee:
or
Check out my work and purchase faith and patriotic wood work at
🔔 Subscribe for more soul-nourishing insights: Join Bread & Life
📢 Share this with someone who needs a deeper kind of fulfillment.
Bread and Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.