Paradise Lost - Rumor notes 94 version 2

 Revelation 12

7 There was war in the sky [heaven]. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. 8 They didn't prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven.

neither was a place found for him any more in heaven

This phrase is loaded with implications and insights that often are given little attention. The concept of having a place to live, to exist, to be accepted and to fit in is a creation design principle built into the psyche of many living creatures. We are not created to be alone, isolated, independent or aloof from others. We are designed to function and interact dependently with others to make up a united body. This makes perfect sense as we were made for joy, and joy requires more than one to experience realistically, and it grows exponentially the more we become involved. This is the 'place' for which we intuitively long, where we feel cared for, wanted, nourished in every respect and find our sense of home. We are made for love, for joy, for fellowship and intimacy. Without this 'place' we feel lost, disconnected, constantly wandering and searching for security and peace but never finding it, which leaves our internal spirit filled with dissonance because our very design is violated and short-changed.

But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and doesn't find it. Then he says, 'I will return into my house from which I came out,' and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation. (Matthew 12:43-45)

What I find compelling about this description by Jesus is that the spirit He is referring to here is one of the angels who originally could find no place in heaven after joining the accuser of God, the great Satan, the one who turned himself into the dragon of Revelation. We can use the patterns of operation as templates to learn how things in the past repeat themselves over and over throughout the history of this war. This spirit found himself looking for rest and doesn't find it. This resonates strongly with the very first time that he and all the other angels who aligned themselves with fallen Lucifer against God's government of love learned that there was no place in heaven to be found for them to remain.

I believe it would be very enlightening to spend some time unpacking this passage, both for coming to a better appreciation of how this war came to its first decisive turning point long ago in heaven, and also for what it has to say about our relationship to this war and what it involves when it comes to each one of our own situations.

I want to compare this story with another passage that at first may seem like it has little to do with this but in reality exposes underlying issues of conflict in this war and how we are to overcome.

Don't be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God.

Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:16-25)

What might this have to do with an unclean spirit leaving and then reentering a man with seven other spirits more evil than himself? It is because this is how the war is being fought, for keep in mind that this is a war of truth versus deception, lies about God, about how reality should function and about where to source our perceptions about our identity, our value, purpose and how to act like ourselves.

What James begins by pointing out here is the issue that was under dispute in the very early stages of this war the dragon was conducting in reaction to the war Michael initiated to expose his lies with the actual truth of God's heart and character that was under attack. James warns us not to be deceived, and then goes on to detail the area of deception in particular. Here we can see that the issue under dispute is the source of everything that is good, where our gifts come from as well as whether or not God has a dual disposition or is pure and singular in His constant attitude of honesty, love, humility and truthfulness. James declares that with God there is never any shiftiness, never any darkness or even hint of darkness like a shadow but that He is the Father of lights. John also emphatically declares the same thing when He says in 1 John 1:5 that God is light and in Him is no darkness whatsoever. This is in contrast to what Lucifer began to insinuate and later openly assert as his infected the minds of angels with doubts about God's purity of integrity and trustworthiness. Later he used similar assertions with Eve when he insisted that being like God involves knowing both good and evil. That contradicts the testimony of the Son of God who stands for the truth about God and stands for all those who choose loyalty with God, both unfallen angels and humans on earth who believe and choose to trust God.

Clearly we see that the war here is over what we will choose to believe is truth. James says that God brought us forth by the word of truth. This can refer to the original creation of humanity who by design are to be reflectors of God's light of glory. This design means that we will reflect in our lives either the Son's view of God or the dragon's version of God. Clearly an unclean spirit having access to our inner spirit would be a deceiving spirit finding a place to hang out because we have allowed his lies to find residence in our thinking and choices. I suspect that many of us have such deceiving spirits with easy access to us without our ever being aware of it because their lies are so familiar that we simply assume most of our life that they are merely facts of reality rather than lies that prevent us from living out the freedom and joy of liberty in Christ Jesus.

James mentions another thing I find compelling here that I won't take a lot of time to unpack but is very relevant to informing us about one of the key issues in this war that needs to be clarified in our mind.

the anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God.

I will simply say this: when we allow Satan to cause us to project our feelings of anger and desires for revenge, punishment of evil-doers and notions about justice back onto God, we remain blinded by the lies of the enemy and are not living in the light that the Son of God has brought into the world about how God relates to those who fight against Him. Most of our propositions and doctrines involving God's wrath and the punishment of the wicked are riddled with false assumptions about God's ways and character and come from our first parents embracing the lies of Satan about God being a mix of light and darkness, good and evil who relies on enticements of rewards and threats of punishments to manipulate others to conform to His commandments. So long as we cling to such ideas about God we discredit the truth about the Father of lights and reject His mercy which is the only way we can become prepared to come into His presence and thrive instead of experiencing torment.

James goes on to instruct us to put away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness. We may not be aware of how much filth there is inside of us, and this is part of the curse of living in the darkness of deception, for a deceived person almost never is aware that they are deceived. When a person is clueless as to some extreme danger they are in, there is no incentive to heed warnings meant to save them because they assume the warnings are for others and not themselves. I believe we need to plead with God and give Him permission to do whatever it takes to come to an awareness of our true condition and the grave danger we are in and unmask the true nature of the diabolical enemy who has kept us in bondage under the tyranny of fear all our lives and humbly accept that what the Word of God says to us is the only thing we can trust in spite of our feelings and traditions to the contrary. This is how the war is being conducted, a war over what spirit we will believe about who we are and what reality looks like and what is coming in our future.

James tells us that what is able to save our soul is to receive the implanted word. This of course is the word of God, not the word of the dragon. Again, this entire war revolves around whose word we will trust, whose words we will choose to believe as defining who we are and how to live. In turn, whatever word we receive and becomes planted inside our mind and heart determines the defining characteristics of how we perceive reality and what we will believe God is like. The war between Michael and His angels and the dragon and his spirit angels is entirely a war over how God needs to govern and achieve unity and cohesiveness of society and maintain harmony and peace in the universe. This may seem like an exaggeration to many, but our traditional opinions about the nature of the war have been far too small and have blinded us as to how intense the battle is happening all the time in our own individual lives. These instructions from Scripture need to be taken seriously if we are to come into the light and be rescued from the deep darkness that covers the entire world.

This is where the parallel passages begin to fit together tightly. Evidently in the story Jesus tells, the unclean spirit who leaves a person had already been residing in them for who knows how long already. And if there is a point of time when the spirit goes out of a person, it would not be because they simply decided to go look for other places voluntarily or simply got bored. No, deceiving spirits are always seeking minds and hearts where they can find access to take control, to deceive, to manipulate and exploit. And inferred in this story by Jesus is that so long as they can remain in a person and have access to them, they find at least what we might call relative rest even though they never experience the kind of rest explained in Hebrews 3 and 4. But they do claim such person's as being their place of rest.

That leads us to the next question. If an unclean or demonic spirit has already been hanging out in a person's life and suddenly leaves, what might be the cause of their sudden eviction? This is also where the pattern informs us that something similar likely transpired in heaven as described in the passage we are looking at in Revelation 12 here. The original question we are exploring tangentially is the nature of the place in heaven that was somehow not able to be found by the dragon and his angels, and I believe we can glean clues from analyzing similar or parallel situations where those same spirits either find a place to hang out or find themselves without rest and constantly wandering around restlessly looking for a place of their own to dwell in and control.

Jesus said that one of these spirits passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and doesn't find it. A waterless place clearly involves symbolic language, so we should become aware of what the symbol of water may mean here. In prophecy, waters usually represent peoples, but there are other meanings as well. Jesus talked about the water of life that potentially can gush out from our inner parts, and Paul says that we need to experience a washing of the word.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word. (Ephesians 5:25-26)

Given that unclean spirits refer to the angels who lost their original place in heaven by aligning with the dragon, we can put the clues together to see that their loss of place continues to cause them to restlessly look for places of rest which apparently has to do with how much of the word of God is active in a person's soul. Paul seems to indicate that this word involves loving our spouses like Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us that He might sanctify us and cleanse us by washing with the water of the word. This would be in direct contrast to the implied condition of a person while an evil spirit is allowed to remain in them, for Jesus infers that such a spirit introduces filth and in effect is trashing the 'house' he is living in. We see similar illustrations of this in stories of irresponsible young people conducting parties in mansions while their parents are away that end up trashing the premises and causing huge amounts of damage. This is the nature of selfish indulgence which is motivated by these very spirits. These are merely outward expressions of similar conditions internally by people who do this. But the same thing can be happening internally in people who appear to be just the opposite externally, for darkness and lies can produce opposite symptoms as Paul points on in Romans 1 and 2. The cause of dysfunction, whether expressed through pious religious prigs judging open sinners as worthy of severe punishment, or in reckless sinners flaunting their supposed freedom to indulge in all sorts of base passions, is actually the same. It is the exchanging of the truth about God for the lie, and this is at the crux of this entire war as we have been talking about since the beginning of this study in Revelation.

So back to the question of what caused this unclean spirit to suddenly leave off residing in a person where he had previously been able to hang out and trash his life? If we look at the parallel passage in James or take into account the various stories of Jesus or His followers casting out demons from people, it likely involves something along the lines of having the truth of the word of God brought into the life that causes such torment to this kind of spirit that they simply vacate because they cannot tolerate living that close to the truth of God's love. Truth and love are intolerable by demonic spirits who thrive on circulating and promoting lies, deceptions and innuendoes about God's untrustworthiness and keeps their place secure in our lives. When the truth comes too close to them they lose their power over us because the authority we have given them is withdrawn and they are compelled to exit.

Yet what we see in both the account of Jesus as well as in the passage in James is the potential for a relapse, and such a relapse can result in a condition far worse than the original problems caused by a single dark spirit hanging out in our life keeping us numb to our actual condition of being deceived. Jesus speaks of such an expelled demon as wandering about looking for another place to rest and not being able to find any. This is like what happened originally in heaven, where the dragon Satan and his angels found no place for them in heaven and came to this earth previous to the creation of humans. We have almost no information about what transpired at that time except that they could no longer remain in heaven and later ended up here on earth. I suspect that during part of that time these fallen angels could have wandered many places throughout the universe seeking a place to rest but with no success because everywhere they went they found themselves unwelcome by the unfallen inhabitants of other planets and unfallen angels who had determined to remain loyal to Michael and trust His testimony about God's nature rather than Satan's.

In the case that Jesus told, this spirit decided to return to observe what may have become of the residence he had been evicted from originally, and to his demonic delight discovers that while that person's life has radically improved and cleaned up from all the havoc the demon had brought into that person's soul, no other spirit had been invited to take up residence there and the person in effect was available for occupancy by whomever could find a way to get in.

This is the main point of this story by Jesus, that it is not enough to simply be set free and get cleaned up by the power of the word of God declared over a person's life. Yes, the truth did set them free, and the truth did cause much restoration, healing and new hope and love in that person's experience. Yet if they did not make choices to authorize and keep authorizing continued growth by giving permission for the Spirit of God to be in charge, then their situation could become extremely hazardous and yet they themselves were oblivious to their own danger. Such a person may presume that now that they are free of the control of the lies that the former spirit occupant had used to manipulate them and trash their life, that was good enough. Any suggestion that they needed to continue to move deeper into the word of God and apply it to their own lives might be seen as legalistic or works oriented, and such ideas were considered out of line with the gospel of freedom in Christ. Yet both Jesus and James make it clear that simply receiving freedom from the power of sin and control by an evil spirit does not make us secure and safe from reinfection. In fact, Jesus says plainly that if a dwelling place (a human heart and mind) is left unoccupied and unattended, that they are like sitting ducks simply inviting a relapse that may prove the total ruin of that person's life because of their own negligence.

Jesus does not explain what this person should have done, but this is where James can serve to fill in what is vital to understand if we want to avoid the fate that Jesus describes and happening to such a person. There are several things in this passage from James that we would do well to heed when we become aware that we may well be in a similar situation after finding deliverance and feeling good while in reality we may be in even greater danger than before.

James says that we need to embrace a spirit of humility, and from that posture we need to receive the word of God as an implant inside of us.

James also warns that it is very dangerous to simply hear the word but fail to actually act on it.

Then in the analogy that James uses to illustrate his point, we find out what he actually was describing as to what it means to do the word and not merely hear it and maybe experience its initial power to set us free. In other words, it is just as important if not more so, to make choices that will keep us free and moving forward in our freedom as it is to initially experience deliverance that has the power to set us free from the lies, confusion and destructive habits of thinking and living that ruin our lives. This action that defines what it means to be a doer of the word of God involves looking into what James says is like a mirror and later identifies as being the Law of Liberty.

This is where traditional views of the purpose and function of the Law of God usually brings in confusion as we jump to conclusions about what we expect to see when we come to look at the law closely. Most of the time, people assume that the Law is designed to show us how sinful we are, how out of harmony we are with God's expectations, and almost instantly we then begin to feel condemnation and begin trying to figure out how to escape these negative feelings and the illustration gets hijacked from that point on out. This is how I read this and heard it taught for most of my life until the Spirit brought this to my attention not long ago and I suddenly realized I had not been paying close attention to what James actually was saying.

But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and doesn't find it. Then he says, 'I will return into my house from which I came out,' and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation. (Matthew 12:43-45)

Don't be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God.

Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:16-25)

And the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be by himself: I will make one like himself as a help to him. (Genesis 2:18 BBE)

God is love, and just as love requires a minimum of three to fully function as love, so too do all the inhabitants of His creation who are designed to be expressive of the Godhead's heart. This sense of innate longing to find our place and fulfill our purpose is a God-implanted motivation designed to propel us toward our fuller potential. Intuitively we search for this experience all our lives, but it can only be found and experienced by embracing our place in our Creator. This is what is called the unity of faith, and without it we cannot thrive.

He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live, and move, and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.' (Acts 17:26-28)

When we participate in a group who shares common motives, interests and desires (in the groove as some used to say), we feel synchronized with those who challenge, compliment and resonate with us. That is when we feel fulfilled, where we experience a sense of satisfaction and discover the power that is inherent in knowing our group identity, even if that identity is not what God created us to experience.

Because all creation is modeled after the character of agape love describing how the Godhead has always existed, sentient beings can only find their place, their niche in the society of the universe, as they choose to live in harmony with the principle of agape love which is the design template of true reality. Our longing for this place for us springs from the deepest levels of our being and is experienced in our longings to feel accepted, loved and in sympathy with others around us.

We crave to find that place where we may thrive within a group identity that gives us meaning far greater than just ourselves. This is not unique to humans but is the design of God for all created beings. It is a propelling force intended to provide impetus toward joy as each individual seeks to discover their unique place where the heart comes fully alive and finds fulfillment and peace.

In God's design, knowing our place, feeling settled, accepted and fulfilled is not about living under subjugation or forced obedience. Our true place is where we discover true freedom and joy in willing, selfless service to bless others as we receive freely from God.

As you go, preach, saying, 'The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Freely you received, so freely give. (Matthew 10:7-8)

This has been counterfeited in Satan's kingdom by a different sort of finding your place. In this counterfeit system of hierarchy, everyone's identity is derived apart from creation design and purpose. This alternative reality depends on shame, blame and pride that drives us to jostle for position on an artificial scale of relative worth. This violates our very design and is what brought about the fall of Lucifer. When he abandoned his design identity as a joy-filled light-bearer of God's selfless love to launch his new ideas involving trading and commerce, all predicated on the notion of relative fluid value and propped up by artificial law and stratified by a system of hierarchy.

This grand experiment with new concepts all transpired in the pristine, vulnerable atmosphere of heaven where there had always been only trust with never a trace of fear or shame. Yet it was not long before the effects of this experiment began to sour, for where there had previously always been freedom, joy and constant gratitude in dependence on God to supply every need, now there was haggling, trading, competition, coveting and growing discontent. These resulted in foreign feelings, attitudes and motivations that had never existed, and their effect was to mar and distort the image of God as their disposition was altered by lack of reflecting His love. The no longer freely received from their Creator but looked for how to supply their own wants. Lucifer himself was transformed through this experience from an efficient messenger of God's love, wisdom and peace, as well as heaven's choir instructor and director, into something quite opposite – filled with bitterness, jealousy, hatred and finally the greatest accuser ever. As an incessant complainer, the ultimate fault-finder, the great agitator and the father of lies, there could no longer be found any place in heaven that was fit for such attitudes, because he had chosen to abandon his original identity to carve out an entirely different one for himself, one that competed with God instead of reflecting God.

By inventing a new identity foreign to that given him in his creation, Lucifer turned into the great Satan, the father of lies and the original murderer, even though no one had ever died. Jesus says that if you hate your brother in your heart it is the equivalent of murder. This is because identity comes from the realm of the spirit rather than based on what one does or possesses. Satan became the first to experience and cultivate hatred, and that hatred was primarily focused on the Son of God more than anyone else. Years later that hatred produced its outward fruit in his vicious attack on that same Son employing all the agencies of evil that he could amass to unleash the stored up venom in Satan's heart as well as what infected all who reflected his selfish resentment.

Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute? (Psalms 94:20)

Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them. (Ephesians 5:11)

This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don't tell the truth. (1 John 1:5-6)

The point here is that everything Satan was becoming was foreign to God's design for him, so the place he had once enjoyed and where he had experienced greatest fulfillment and happiness in selflessly serving others now was despised by him. He lost all desire and at last even all capacity to live in sync with that original design. This fake identity now shaped who he became, and it was impossible for that spirit to fit in with the spirit of the rest of the inhabitants of heaven. Love and fear, light and darkness, truth and lies share no common ground. There was no place where he could continue to find sympathy and synchronize with others. This is the tragic outcome of choosing to pursue a direction of believing and acting out of an identity that does not originate from God.

Likely we have witnessed this pattern in our own experience. It is an all too familiar pattern but it is predictable, because the same spirit that launched the original rebellion and was resisted by Michael in defense of His Father's reputation, uses the same tactics to infect others with the motives that gave him traction in the beginning. The result is always disharmony, tension and disruption of peace and harmony and societal disruption, and polarization is the inevitable outcome.

Angels who didn't keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. (Jude 1:6)

Let's explore a bit more this concept of a place to fit in as found in Scripture as we pick up clues of how events may have transpired in heaven, resulting in Satan and his angels losing their place through their own disruptive agitation. Beginning in Revelation, we see a pattern emerging involving this design principle of everyone having their place and what happens when we don't find our place.

The fruits which your soul lusted after have been lost to you, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous have perished from you, and you will find them no more at all. (Revelation 18:14)

I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. (Revelation 20:11)

He sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground, but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship; for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship. (Genesis 8:8-9)

Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land! In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: "Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."

Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them! The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don't regard the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands. Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst. Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it. So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled; but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness. (Isaiah 5:8-16)

This passage gets to the heart of the problem exposed by the war in heaven between Michael and the great dragon. It reveals what developed in the heart and mind of Lucifer as he turned away from reflecting the light of God's selfless glory, choosing instead to indulge a spirit of self-importance and domination over others. He shifted his source for identity from living out the design God made him for, to believing that his value and worth came from his own attributes, appearances, giftings and from the admiration from those under his charge who thought so highly about him.

Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre [a metaphor for Lucifer who turned himself into the great dragon in heaven], and tell him, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and beryl. Gold work of tambourines and of pipes was in you. In the day that you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers: and I set you, so that you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you.

By the abundance of your traffic they filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings, that they may see you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your traffic, you have profaned your sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of you; it has devoured you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who see you. All those who know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you: you are become a terror, and you shall nevermore have any being. (Ezekiel 28:12-19)

The dragon no longer believed the light that his true identity as Lucifer was designed to share with others. By believing lies about himself and where his value and purpose originated, he became the dragon using threats, force, exploitation and unbridled thirst for power and worship that ruined his character. Imagining his worth came from his abilities, capacity for wisdom and stunning appearance, he came to think these were inherent in him instead of being gifts from his Creator. Thus in believing lies about the source of his value, sin and selfishness displaced love for the truth, and his inner sanctuaries, his heart being the place where God wanted to dwell, became a place of frustrated passion, fueled by his own bitterness and jealousy. The principle that resistance to love produces internal heat of dissonance, results in a flame of hatred against God and all His ways that made Satan totally incompatible to live in the presence of Love any longer.

You said in your heart, "I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north! I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!"

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, "Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms; who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn't release his prisoners to their home?" All the kings of the nations, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house. But you are cast away from your tomb like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trodden under foot. You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The seed of evil-doers will not be named forever. (Isaiah 14:13-20)

Lucifer destroyed his own fitness for his first place until there was nothing left. He and his followers became so infected with selfishness they were incompatible with the atmosphere of humility and vulnerability that defines heaven. There is no compatibility between these two versions of reality, so the only thing left was to separate. This is an important lesson we need to be aware of today.

Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness? What agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people." (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)

The dragon could no longer receive God's love or trust His ways as best for the universe. The sweet fellowship and joy of worshiping God became repulsive to him, as the spirit of self-exaltation and pride resulting from his counterfeit system of trading was totally out of sync with the design of God for him internally. By profaning his original design, God was no longer allowed to dwell in him, because the dragon seeks only control and craves worship for himself which is the opposite of God's disposition. There was no longer find a place for himself and his demons in paradise, because heaven is a place of sweet selfless love, humility, willing vulnerability expressed in other-focused service which now had become reprehensible and even torment to him.

My hand shall be against the prophets who see false visions, and who divine lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh. (Ezekiel 13:9)

Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2:35)

In that day they will take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, saying, 'We are utterly ruined! My people's possession is divided up. Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!'" Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in the assembly of Yahweh.

"Don't prophesy!" They prophesy. "Don't prophesy about these things. Disgrace won't overtake us." Shall it be said, O house of Jacob: "Is the Spirit of Yahweh angry? Are these his doings? Don't my words do good to him who walks blamelessly?"

But lately my people have risen up as an enemy. You strip the robe and clothing from those who pass by without a care, returning from battle. You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you take away my blessing forever. Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction. If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: "I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;" he would be the prophet of this people. (Micah 2:4-11)

The system the dragon has developed here on earth likewise has no place for those who are tuned to heaven's mindset. Just as there was no place left for the dragon and his angels in heaven, there is no compatibility for those whose hearts are being reformatted to reflect the glory of selfless love. Those who are controlled by the mindset of this world hate the light of love. All those who dwell in heaven and all who dwell on the earth are incompatible with each other.

She brought forth her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7)

Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." (Luke 9:58)

In the next chapter we find the explicit revealing of this hostility toward any who refuse to cooperate.

He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. He makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs, even making fire come down out of the sky to the earth in the sight of people. He deceives my own people who dwell on the earth because of the signs he was granted to do in front of the beast; saying to those who dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who had the sword wound and lived. It was given to him to give breath to it, to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause as many as wouldn't worship the image of the beast to be killed. (Revelation 13:12-15)

The finality of this condition of incompatibility and loss of place in God's design is tragic. Worse yet, it will be replicated in the lives of all who resist and reject heaven's way of living until like Satan and his angels, they destroy their internal sanctuary designed for God to dwell in. They at last become the habitation of demons, and such ones experience love as torment when encountering the presence of the passionate love of Jesus.

He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. (Revelation 14:11-11)

For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears. (Hebrews 12:17)

Angels who didn't keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. (Jude 1:6)

For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6)

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. A man who disregards Moses' law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will he be judged worthy of, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:26-29)

But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things for you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we speak like this. (Hebrews 6:9)