What exactly is the real entire story of Lucifer's fall from heaven?

Question

I want to know the whole thing. Is there any real religious document that covers it? Or just Apocrypha and BS books like Paradise Lost? Where did we even get these ideas we have about Satan and demons today?

So the bible never expressly mentions Lucifer/Satan as an angel, but it does say, as in Matthew 25:41 that he commands a host of his own Angels, so at the very least he somehow retains authority over fallen angels whether or not he is one.

Answer 1

Lucifer was an arc angel. thus one of Gods most trusted angels. But Lucifer possesed knowledge and betrayed God by tryung to take over with other angels. But god being all knowing and all seeing cast Lucifer and the other angels who betrayed him into the firey limbo HELL for all eturnity.

Answer 2

Surprisingly, the bible is very sparse with information about Satan. I'll tell you what the bible actually says. You can get more "story" from reading Milton or Dante.

Satan is 1st mentioned in the bible in 1Ch 21:1, *not* in Genesis. Here, he tempts David to count the people of Judah and Israel (I won't go into the reasons that this was a sin). Nowhere in the bible is the claim made that the serpent in the garden of Eden was Satan (though this is common belief both in Jewish and Christian circles). The only verse even mildly supporting this belief is Rev 12:9, but it is questionable whether this verse speaks of the serpent of the Garden of Eden or if it is merely a metaphor ("that old serpent, Satan").

Satan's first significant mention is in Job. Here, Satan appears to be subject to God, and his actions performed on Job are only done *after* God's approval. Some claim that Job happened prior to Satan's rebellion, while others claim that Satan could not operate on Job without God's permission because God had "a hedge" around Job protecting him from Satan.

It is not until the New Testament that Satan's "fall from heaven" is specifically mentioned (Luk 10:18). Old Testament verses used to support this teaching are clearly being interpreted in a manner that is *very* questionable, and not at all plain (or clearly implied).

At no point does scripture claim that Satan, or the devil (same being), was at any time an angel. It *does* claim that Satan can *appear* as an "angel of light" (2Co 11:14). However, this is certainly not the same thing. There is only one angel mentioned in scripture that is also called an archangel (Michael). There are only 3 angels mentioned by name in scripture (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael).

If you consider "apocrypha" to be unreliable (why?), then surely you will consider the Book of Enoch so, only accepted (as far as I know) by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as canonical. This book describes the actions of supernatural beings at great length, and can be found free online (translation from the Greek. Only fragments of the Aramaic original have been discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls).

The teaching that Satan was the serpent of the garden of Eden and also a fallen angel are first observed in early (pre-Christian) Jewish writings. They are not present in Old Testament scripture.

"It is during the late postexilic period (after ca. 200 B.C.) and in the intertestamental literature that one first finds the development of the idea of Satan that is assumed in the NT writings." - HarperCollins Bible Dictionary

Thus, Enoch (and similar books) first describe the "angelic" nature of Satan. The New Testament, however, makes it clear that Satan "fell from heaven", indicating that he was originally some sort of heavenly being. The title "angel", however, is never applied to Satan (other than the statement that he can *appear* as such). Although there is a verse commonly translated "the devil and his angels" (Mat 25:41), it should be noted that "angels" is a word meaning "messenger", and so this translation is questionable (messengers of God are always termed "angels", but this translation is occasionally used over-zealously, such as Rev 2:1, etc.)

Jim, http://www.jimpettis.com/wheel/

Answer 3

Originally, Satan was considered an angel sent to bring enlightenment through trials and tests, this is fairly well illustrated in the book of Job. Over the years he evolved into being a fallen, rebellious angel and eventually into the one that we know today. The same evolution over the years holds true for heaven and hell as well.

Sorry I don't have a good link to the changing role of Satan throughout history, but a little research should turn it up.

Answer 4

Lucifer's fall was well documented in the Bible. And much later books, like Paradise Lost, took reference or created fiction through inspirations from the Bible

He was not only an Archangel, he was also the right hand side of God, alongside Archangel Michael who was the left.

God made Lucifer, to be one of the most beautiful angels, but gave him pride as well. Depending on which versions, He either disobeyed God, by refusing to honor Man, who he deemed to be a lower class of beings.

Or Lucifier grew vain of his beauty and powers and decided to overthrow God. He rose with 1/3 o the heavenly hosts and bitterly fought their previous comrades.

Eventually they lost and was casted out of the heavens. They fell onto Earth, and Lucifier lost his former glory.

However, the concept of satan and hell was much created by the Church. Prior to the Church formation, there where very little mentioned about the hierarchy or the leaders of Hell.

The Bible did not go on further to describe, what became of Lucifier. So, when the Church translated the word "Shaitan", meaning "adversary", they linked it to Lucifier, who was the only entity who had faced God directly. The character Satan was borned. Much of the imagery of current Satan is often linked to pagan dieties, like Cerunnos, the irish deity of the wilderness.

Many of the demon lords, like Beezelbub or Baal, where ancient deities from cultures like Babylonian. The Church needed more believers to grow, and the only way to decieve the worshippers of these gods, where to proclaim God is the one and true god, and the rest where nothing but imposters by the Demon Lords.

Answer 5

The bible was edited. The original bibles, the ones that mentioned a devil, had it written in such a way, that it represented the evil in your head, such as someone who is arguing with their own self between wrong and right. The devil is not a real creature as it can onesself.
It is a very well known fact that the catholic church, around the 1400's or 1600's (maybe my timetime is wrong???), started preaching about the devil to get money out of the people out of fear. It worked well because people were fascinated just like how people are nowadays fascinated with scarey movies.

Answer 6

well to tell you as the holy land says it...lucifer was once an arch angel...he was like a right hand man of God..and as they say knowledge is power..he wanted to be as powerful as God..he even got other angels in a kind of plot that would make them "rulers" of heaven.. God, being himself, knew about this and decided to cast him and all the other bad angels between heaven and earth...therefore when a person dies he goes thru hell to repent and then heaven..sort of like an airport terminal...