Singing the Devil’s Song

 August 7, 2022

Awhile ago, I passed along a photo of some of the stars and galaxies as seen by the James Webb telescope. Along with the photo was an audio track of sounds of the stars captured by their instruments. My comment for the post was a reference to Job 38:7, where God is challenging Job in response to the latter’s questioning of the former. “Where were you when the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”

The telescope purports to capture images that are billions of light years away, which means they are images of things that happened at the dawn of Creation—with the light, there is also sound. The Bible calls Jesus “the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:6). So who or what was the other star that sang with the Son of God at creation?

In a round-about way, we are given a clue by Isaiah:

““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 heart: ‘I will ascend 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 depths of the Pit.” —Isaiah 14:12-15 

Lucifer! A different translation of this text reads, “How you are fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn. You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations…” (NIV). Lucifer was the other morning star, lesser than the Son of God, perhaps singing the harmonies when the thought began to rise within him that he wanted to sing the melody, or even more, to be the one for whom the song was sung.

Pride welled up within him, and seeking to be worshipped instead of to worship, what was once melodious starry praise in tune with Jesus Christ descended into inharmonious discord.

Here’s the Good News: We get to usurp him when we sing praises to the Lord. His seat in the choir is empty and waiting for the children of God to take their place singing the songs of salvation. Satan trembles with rage before the praises of God’s people as he paces in jealous fury, knowing that his pride has brought him lower than we who have no  claim to praise other than the blood of Jesus Christ. His pride is wounded, which means he will go to almost any extreme to keep God’s people from worship. We live in a culture with so many distractions, where worship is not seen for what it really is—an assault upon the very gates of hell. Worship is a most potent form of spiritual warfare.

So let us humbly sing the praises of Him who has invited us to stand beside him in joyous salvation songs, displacing the Enemy of our souls and worshipfully sticking our fingers in his eye.