Editor’s Note: We are receiving interesting questions from new people in response to our advertisement campaigns. We recently answered one question regarding the biblical teaching that Lucifer and his angels occupied the earth prior to man. We are sharing our response with you:
When Adam and Eve were created and placed in the Garden of Eden, the serpent was already there, in order to deceive Eve. The serpent is later identified as Satan the devil (Rev. 12:9). But Satan was not always Satan.
We understand from the bible that Satan was originally the archangel and cherub Lucifer (which name means light-bringer), but that he became Satan when he sinned against God (Is. 14:12-15; Ez. 28:11-17). Lucifer wanted to “ascend to heaven” to dethrone God (Is. 14:13) – he wanted to “ascend above the heights of the clouds” (Is. 14:14). This shows, then, that he was here on this earth, as he wanted to ascend above the clouds to go to heaven. When he sinned, and was thrown back to this earth (Is. 14:12), he became Satan, which means enemy or adversary. Lucifer or Satan was already here on earth, when Adam and Eve were created. Since he appeared to them as the deceiver, he must have lived here on earth prior to man as Lucifer, when he was not yet the deceiver – before he began to “ascend to heaven.”
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