It’s mind-numbing to even consider that Lucifer actually believed that it was possible for him as a created being to dethrone the Creator while his entire existence was totally dependent on the Creator. He didn’t ask to be created, but God the Creator in His sovereign will has chosen to bring him into existence. So his existence was nothing more than a privilege granted to him. What he failed to realize was that the same creative power that brought him into existence could have annihilated him in a twinkling of an eye. 

People often say that Satan is an extremely intelligent being, which is true at a large extent. But the way we should look at it is that he’s very intelligent in the area of deception and self-delusion. On the other hand, when it comes to common sense, he’s a very stupid, irrational, and foolish being. Because there’s no way to figure out how just a created being with very limited power and knowledge could end up believing that he could have overthrown the omnipotent and all-knowing Creator. Let’s look at the three main causes that have precipitated his fall from heaven.

1. Envy

Envy was the very first sin that Lucifer committed. That was the main root of his rebellion against God. He greatly envied the position of the Creator as the supreme God of the universe. Interestingly, the thing that he envied the most was the glory of God, which is His essence. What bothered him was that since all the angelic hosts were brought into existence, all he had been witnessing during his lifetime was God being given glory and honor. 

In fact, he was one of the many angels serving God honorably and faithfully. Since he is the only angel that the Word of God talks a great deal of his impressive beauty, he was probably the most beautiful angel. He also witnessed how faithful, committed, obedient, and reverent the angels were to God.

What also incited his envy even further was how God was being worshiped endlessly by another group of angels that surrounded the very throne that he wanted to take for himself. Although, all angels were created to glorify their Creator, but that particular order of angelic being was created just to worship Him without ceasing by falling down in reverence around the Creator in order to exalt His holiness (Revelation 4:8).

Since God has such an extreme thirst for worship, honor, and glory; you have Him sitting on His throne with a great sense of humor, feeling very proud about Himself in the sense that His created beings are doing exactly what they were created for. Then you have Lucifer looking at all of this, feeling very uneasy, and disgruntled.

2. Pride

There’s such a powerful connection between envy and pride. If you’re envious about something someone else has, it’s undoubtedly going to lead to pride. Envy makes you feel like you’re the one who deserves what that person has without even taking into account how much sacrifices that person has made.

You only see yourself by trying to elevate yourself above that person by thinking that you’re somebody just as though you are superior to such individual. People who are envious can never be satisfied with what they have. That’s why they have time to focus their attention on what someone else has. 

They only see themselves by being so concerned about their own personal interests. Envy and pride are intertwined with selfishness. Selfishness is the very thrust that propels them.

Let’s see the connection between both envy and pride in Lucifer’s fall. And I will reveal something very significant about his motive according to those two verses below.

You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon (Isaiah 14:13).

I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High (Isaiah 14:14).

When carefully dissecting those two verses, it’s obvious that the original intent of Lucifer wasn’t to dethrone God at all but to elevate his own throne beside God’s throne. It means that by doing so, he would have been able to operate at the same level of authority, power, greatness, and dominion as God Almighty.

In (Isaiah 14:14), he made that declaration. “I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” While he was filled with pride; however, he did understand that there couldn’t be anyone higher than God since He is the Most High. He could have said, I will ascend my throne above the throne of God. So he also understood that God would have still continued to be God, but he just wanted to become like Him in every way. 

But he didn’t understand that God is the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside Him (Isaiah 45:5). Moreover, he just could not grasp the fact that God doesn’t share His glory with anybody (Isaiah 42:8). But if you pay attention to the Scriptures that refer to his fall in the context of his original motive, none of them mentions the one-third of angels that have also fallen with him except (Revelation 12:3-4). It’s clear that he was alone at the initial stage of the rebellion.

This has led me to believe that Lucifer realized that in order for him to have become like the Most High, he would need to be granted special permission by the Creator since He’s the supreme God of the universe. But the reality was that there cannot be any other God beside the Most High. Therefore, his original motive had met such a disastrous dead end.

In the book of Revelation, Satan is seen as a star that has fallen from heaven to the earth. It also says that one-third of the stars were also cast out with him. Dear readers, what does that mean to you? It’s evident that there was something of massive proportion going on at that point. Why didn’t God cast him out alone? 

The only way, we can make the connection is that Lucifer as a mad angel, in his eagerness to fulfill his ambition to become like God Almighty had no other option left on the table but to get God out of the way by dethroning Him. But wait a minute! There’s another big problem here; he just couldn’t do it all alone. So he enticed that one-third of angels into a massive rebellion against God with the intent of overthrowing Him.

Lucifer became prideful as a result of envying the throne of God. His magnificent beauty unmistakably played a prominent role in him becoming prideful. He wasn’t satisfied with his God-given status as a majestic cherub. His ultimate aim was to become like the Most High.

In his depraved belief, being like God would have placed him in a position of honor and power where he would have been entitled to receive glory from the other angels that would have automatically become subordinate to his reign. Instead of him worshiping and glorifying the Creator, he wanted to be worshiped and glorified by the same beings he was created with to worship the Creator who is worthy of eternal praise (Romans 1:25; Revelation 7:12).

Since obedience or submission is the fundamental law in heaven that governs how the angelic hosts should be functioning in regards to their Creator, I sincerely believe that Lucifer literally reached a point in which he started offering God mediocre, hypocritical, and half-hearted worship since he had already been poisoned by envy and pride.

3) Arrogance

Even though, there’s a great resemblance between pride and arrogance. The reality is that arrogance is the fruit that pride produces. In other words, arrogance pertains to behavior. To put it simpler, pride is internal while arrogance is external. It means that once you become prideful, that pride raging within like an inferno is going to manifest itself outwardly through the means of arrogance.

Pride has to do with what someone thinks about himself. As a result, that person becomes filled up with his own significance. Arrogance is the expression of what that person thinks about himself in the light of his perceived significance.

In the light of this publication, Lucifer finally reached a point where he’s had enough of God being glorified and honored. He then said to himself, “From that moment on, God will no longer receive any worship, honor, glory, and praise from me.” Instead of me worshiping and serving Him, I’ll be worshiped and served by the other angels because I’ll ascend myself above all of them.

Since I’ll be operating in the same dimension as the Creator, He’ll be under an obligation to acknowledge my deity by recognizing that I am as worthy as He is to receive glory and honor after achieving my quest. The truth is that being in such reprehensible state has rendered him totally unfit to fulfill His God-given purpose because he no longer had any desire to submit himself to God’s authority. At that critical stage, there was no turning back for him  

After being completely filled with envy, pride, and arrogance due to selfishness, he has enticed one-third of the angels to join him in his march to becoming the supreme God of the universe. He has failed miserably when he and those that fell into his trap were cast out by God from heaven.

Life Application

The lesson that can be learned from Lucifer’s fall is that God always opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble (James 4:6). Humility is the essence of having a relationship with God, serving Him, and walking with Him. Humility is what enables us to acknowledge our own inadequacy compared to His infinite greatness.

Being humble before Him creates a desire in us to seek His face. Humility compels us to lay aside our own significance by relying on His greatness. Doing so allows His presence, power, and glory to fill up every area of our lives, instead of us being filled up with ourselves.

Conclusion

What Lucifer couldn’t understand was that God is worthy to receive glory and honor because of whom He is which is expressed plainly through what He has done. He’s worthy because He has created all things; in other words, His worthiness is based on Him being the Creator of all things (Revelation 4:11). Lucifer as a created being has never created anything that would have given him some level of worthiness.

Therefore, he had no merit whatsoever to receive the glory and honor due to only God the Creator. By the way, the merit he once had as an exalted angelic being wasn’t based on himself but on the Creator. His goal was to steal what only due to God for himself. That’s precisely what he’s been doing after his fall. But he’s destined to fail once for all when he’s thrown into the Lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).