It Started With An Argument Series

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel’

(which means, God with us).” [1]

Christmas is right around the corner—literally! Tomorrow is Christmas Day. At the centre of the day is the birth of Christ the Lord—or at least, that should be the case. Certainly, we would hope it to be true in the homes of those who profess the Son of God as Master over life. Even those who don’t go to church have some familiarity with the story of the birth of Jesus the Messiah—the star over Bethlehem, the manger located in the caves overlooking the little village, and especially the child born to a virgin mother. And almost everyone has heard, whether they believe it or not, how that child would grow to manhood to become the Redeemer and the Saviour of humanity.

However, what often isn't talked about are the circumstances that led up to Christ's birth on a cosmic scale. We know He was born for the sole purpose of dying for our sins and bring us back to God, but why did this all have to happen?

It started with an argument.

God created the heavens and the earth. He filled the earth with a stunning variety of creatures according to their kind. Without doubt the angels marvelled at all the Lord had created—vistas never before seen, and so many kinds of animals, and birds, and fishes that they had never seen since God created the angels. Among these angels was one named Lucifer, the most exalted of all the angels. He was known as “the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” [see EZEKIEL 28:12]. This beautiful and wise angel whom God created walked through Eden while covered in precious stones, displaying God’s beautiful work. His responsibility was to be the guardian over all that God had created.

Lucifer was startled when God created one last being, a lowly creature formed out of the dust of the earth. God called this creature He had made, “man.” Here is what must have been startling to Lucifer: God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” [GENESIS 1:26a].

The Lord GOD then gave these weak, finite creatures dominion over all that He had created. These feeble creatures would become heirs to God’s Kingdom! The Lord GOD had determined that these feeble, weak lately created beings would even judge the angels [see 1 CORINTHIANS 6:3]; they would bear the image of God Himself [see ROMANS 8:29]!

Lucifer, witnessing all that God was doing in giving these puny creatures such authority over the holy angels, was overwhelmed by pride. How could these pitiful creatures rule over him—God’s majestic masterpiece! Lucifer determined that he would prove God wrong; Lucifer was determined to demonstrate how misplaced God’s will was in assigning these lately created beings such authority.

Lucifer was not an idiot, despite this puerile attempt to demonstrate that the Lord God was wrong being an idiotic thing to attempt, much less thinking one could prove God to be in error. In the Bible, Lucifer is presented as an incredibly intelligent creature, an angel who was created as wise beyond comprehension, an angel possessing perfect knowledge of cosmic law.

Lucifer, driven by pride of his beauty and by pride in his position, sinned against God. Lucifer rebelled, and paid the price by being cast out of Heaven. God exposed that rebellion, saying,

“Your heart was proud because of your beauty;

you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.”

[EZEKIEL 28:17a]

The disciples, returning to Jesus after being sent them out on their initial mission were ecstatic to realise they had authority over demonic powers. The Master brought them back to earth when He said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” [LUKE 10:18-20].