Your
question on "How could Lucifer sin in Heaven when Heaven is
perfect?" is an excellent question.
Thanks for sending it in.
The
reference in the Bible to Lucifer is found in Isaiah 14:12 which says,
"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you
are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in
your hear: I will ascent into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides
of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like
the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depth of
the Pit. Those who see you will
gaze at you, and consider you, saying: Is this the man who made the earth
tremble, Who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed
its cities, Who did not open the house of his prisoners?"
(Isaiah 14:12-17)
While
this has been said by numerous books to be about the fall of the devil or
Satan, if you read the context of Isaiah 14 it becomes obvious that Isaiah was
talking about the fall of the king of Babylon.
He used some symbolic language about how strong and mighty the king
thought he was. He thought his kingdom was so great he could exalt it up to
heaven itself but when his pride became so great, it was brought down to the
pit itself. God used the nation
of Babylon to punish Israel for the sinfulness they were going through.
But they should never have become proud over their place in God's use
of them.
Lucifer
is not the devil.
Now,
if we come back to the question of how could the devil or Satan fall from
heaven when heaven is perfect it is still a good question.
For he still fell. What we
know is that He fell because of pride (I Timothy 3:6).
We
also know that not only did the devil himself fall but others of the angels
have fallen with him (Matthew 25:41). Both
2 Peter 2:4 and Jude Verse 6 mention the angels who sinned.
The point evidently is that as perfect as heaven is there is still a
choice for those angels who dwell there as to whether they will stay with God
or go with the way of evil. How perfect is any way if there is no choice for
one to make?
The
Garden of Eden was a perfect place for Adam and Eve but they had a choice as
to whom they would serve. They
chose to follow the devil. It led
to dire circumstances.
The
ultimate difference in heaven in the last days for those who go there is that
Satan and temptation will no longer be there because they have already made
the choice to be with God. Time
will have passed away.
Eternity
is always in the present.
I
hope this is helpful.
Leon Barnes