ANGEL OF LIGHT
The apostle Paul refers to this character saying, “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). Satan is the accuser of the Christians, in heaven (Rev. 12:10). He is the father of lies (Job 8:44; 2 Thess. 2:9). He is the adversary of the saints (1 Pet. 5:8). He is the one who sets traps to make Christians fall (Eph. 6:11; 2 Tim. 2:26). Satan is busy with so many evil jobs that there is no time or space in his agenda to turn into an angel of light. But if Paul, the greatest of apostles, affirmed that, we accept it and believe it.
What is an angel of light? It is a bearer of light. Lucifer is the bearer of light, and Satan is the prince of darkness (Acts 26:18; Eph. 6:12). Who is the bearer of light? Jesus is the bearer of light, who declared, “I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). And Jesus is also the morning star, according to the words of the apostle Peter (2 Pet. 1:19). The very Lord Jesus Christ says about himself that he is the bright morning star(Rev. 22:16).
The title “morning star” was given to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon by the prophet Isaiah (Is. 14:12). The Christian, from the third century on, agreed upon the application of Is. 14:12 to Satan, and therefore, Nebuchadnezzar is a picture of Satan, but this is mere theological interpretation based onLuke 10:18 and Is. 14:12. Luke tells how Jesus saw Satan fall from heaven to earth, and in Is. 14:12it is written that the morning star fell from heaven.
Satan transformed into an angel of light is Satan transformed into Jesus Christ. The works of Satan are dark and evil, but as Christians desire wealth, houses, and big cars, he is distributing these things.
The one who receives them, glorify Jesus, but it is the devil that gives them. Jesus cannot give these things, because he told men to stop seeking the wealth of this world, and to the ones who already possessed it, he told them to give it to the poor in order to be eligible for heaven (Matt. 6:19-24; Matt. 19:16-25). If Jesus does not give these things, but another Jesus comes who is a specialist in giving these gifts to worldly men, this one can only be the devil, and so Satan is transformed into an angel of light. Satan offered Jesus power, glory, and riches, explored his hunger and his vanity in the time of need, for Jesus was fasting in the desert for forty days. Satan appeared to him as an angel of light, to help him. If Jesus would accept, he would have to worship him as God. The Bible verses say, “And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours” (Luke 4:5-8).
Jesus himself warned the disciples that false Christs would precede him. “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many” (Matt. 24:4-5). “Then if any one says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:23-24).
Is the sincere Christian that believes wrongly, that is, in the false Christ, secure in his faith? Can a believer filled with the Holy Spirit believe wrongly? Jesus explained that in his field, that is, in the Church, there grows the wheat and the tares. The tares to which Jesus refers is a plant very similar to the wheat when it is still a young plant, but after it grows to maturity, it is totally different, and it is poisonous. Both the tares and the wheat are the Christians. The new Christian has bad habits in the beginning of his life, because he is not spiritually mature, but he seeks perfection with all his might. In the other hand, the tares is the sincere Christian who does not believe in spiritual perfection, and so becomes a poison to the wholesome doctrine. Only when the two plants mature and differentiate, they can be separated. This happens in the harvest. The tares are the Christians fed by Satan transfigured into angel of light. The wheat is the Christians who hate this world, hate the flesh with its passions and lusts, like Paul, who crucified the flesh (Gal. 2:20), and crucified the world with its illusions and fantasies (Gal. 6:14).Paul taught that the true Christian follows his example. “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24).
Is it possible to have all faith and get eternally lost? Paul said, “And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all the mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2). Everything related to our rights in this world, everything connected to our personal interests in this world, everything that fills our eyes in this world, everything that satisfies the desires of the flesh, everything that is high among men, all these things come from Satan transformed into angel of light, and lead a multitude of Christians to hell. This is why Jesus said, “Not every one who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in Your name, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matt. 7:21-23). They were Christians, they worked in the name of Jesus, but they worked for the angel of light.
By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira