The Neighborhood her Brother Saved her from

Last week we learned how we are related to Jesus. We are joint-heirs with him, being children of God. We found out we are also in the promise God made to Abraham of making him a great nation. We are an Israelite spiritually! This is our family in the new neighborhood! Anytime the bible talks about Israel or the Children of Israel, we can relate that to us spiritually.


This week we are studying about the neighborhood our elder brother, Jesus, saved us from having to live in eternally, forever and ever. This is a bad neighborhood to have to live that long, or for any length of time, for that matter.

In Heaven before any of man was created, God made angels. He made them for His pleasure, doing His will, to praise Him for the majestic God He is, the Creator of Heaven and earth and all its inhabitants. The angels fly around Him continually praising Him for His works and declaring He is holy.

God created one particular angel to do a special work. Apparently he was also very beautiful, having an air about him that was just a notch above all the other angels. God created him for the same beauty as the others, for God’s pleasure. However, this angel rose up thinking more highly of himself than he should and God’s nature could not tolerate that kind of rebellion. God’s nature is love and holiness. Pride has no place around Him. So in order to remove this pride, he had to remove the creature. The scripture says God had already created the earth, but no mention of the creation, Man, as of yet. The scripture says God cast this angel to earth. This angel’s name is Lucifer. This was his heavenly name. The name Lucifer means ‘light bearer’, meaning the light of God, His glory. Lucifer was to bear the light of God, and bring honor to God Himself. Let’s read the scripture where Lucifer rises up in pride:





Isaiah 14:13-14 “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:

Here the scripture repeats what Lucifer says out loud about himself. Let’s take the verses apart to explain further:

“I will ascend into heaven” means he is rising into the very throne room of God.

“I will exalt my throne” means he feels he has some kind of power, first, to do this. To exalt his throne means he is exclaiming he is going to rule in some manner in heaven. We all know there cannot be two Gods. So he was stating he was going to rule over God Himself. Pretty bold statement, isn’t it?

“above the stars of God” mean the angels. Angels were also symbolically called stars, heavenly bodies. Lucifer was stating here, he was going to raise his throne to rule over the angels.

“I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation” means he’s saying he’s going to have control over all that attend in heaven.

“I will be like the most High” means he thought he would be like God. He was comparing himself to God. He had a very high opinion of himself that made him declare he basically was going to take over heaven!

So we see Lucifer made a stand in heaven against God. This was not a very intelligent thing to do. God will not share His throne with anyone. Why should he? He created everyone! The Creator is not ruled by the created.

So, God was given the task of removing this pride from heaven. However, when God did so, the scriptures say that 1/3 of the angels decided to go with him. They rebelled against their Creator also. These are referred to as ‘the fallen angels’. In the book of Revelation, John saw some things and was asked to record it. In these scriptures the story of Lucifer and the Israelites [which is now us] is described in picture form. The dragon is Lucifer, the stars are angels and the Woman is the Israelites [which is now us]. Listen to this true story which is still being played out today:

Revelation chapter 12: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”.

Pretty interesting picture, isn’t it, of Lucifer falling, along with his angels, and persecuting those that are saved by the blood of Christ?

Let’s go back to our original scripture in Isaiah 14 and read about the place God prepared for the devil and the angels that rebelled.

Isaiah 14 “Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming:” “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!”” Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;”

Also in Jude 1:6 “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day”.

Also in 2 Peter 2:4 “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;”

Then in Matthew 25:41 Jesus was telling His disciples “everlasting fire was prepared for the devil and his angels”.

So we see that hell was prepared for the devil and the angels that rebelled against God for an everlasting [forever and ever] place of fire.

Yet there are many, many verses in the bible that also tell mankind that God will not tolerate rebellion from them. We are not exempt from the punishment of fire if we rebel against God and do not accept Jesus Christ as Savior.

Psalm 9:17 says this “the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God”. Some say ‘well I’m not a wicked person. I’m not that bad! Well, let’s see what the original word of wicked means. In this scripture the original Hebrew word wicked is ‘rawshaw’ meaning morally wrong. Morals are your standards, your ethics. So, here the verse can read “those that have wrong standards and ethics shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God”. So, what are right standards? The bible! It is truth!

Back to other scriptures that tell us hell will take humans; Isaiah 5:14 “Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and the wicked’s glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it”.

We as humans are not exempt from being cast into hell as we see in the scripture. And since being wicked, or morally wrong, our standards being against the bible, we too, as Christ followers can go backward and let down our standards of ethics and morals and decline to such a point where when either we die or Christ returns, we too can be turned toward the place prepared for the devil.

This is why our spiritual growth toward Christlikeness is important. We need to know the truth about our lives in the new neighborhood. Our elder brother, Jesus, died to keep us out of hell, and to take us to heaven one day with Him. It’s our responsibility to accept what He did, and continue in it!