Isaiah 14:15
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down [yarad] to hell [sha'owl], to the
sides [yarekah] of the pit [bowr]. KJV-Interlinear
15 "Nevertheless you will be
thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit. NASB
Lucifer wanted to rise
up above the clouds, above the heights of all that is, and sit in authority and
sovereignty over all that is. That is
the reference to the sides of the north.
And instead, his
arrogance and rejection of truth and of God, will get him a position, and not
even a respectable position, down in the pit, in Sheol, in the land of the
dead, in the underworld, in the sides of the pit.
In graves, back in
Isaiahs time, the dead were buried in caves or in pits, and usually placed
around the sides of the cave or pit. This
was a dreary and dismal place, to say the least.
Instead of having a
prominent place in the sides of the north, off the right flank of the throne of
God, in the place of inheritance and power, Lucifer, now Satan, will reside in
the sides of a pit in utter humiliation and worthlessness and disgrace.
Reject God, reject
Christ, reject doctrine, in which all three go hand and hand together, you
cannot choose between them, because they all three are combined and come
together as a comprehensive unit, anyway, reject any or all and you choose failure
and humiliation and dishonor and loss for yourself.
Choose for these three,
comply with the mandates of God, pursue your life as God intends for you, and
your success and life will be beyond description, beyond imagination.
But even though we all
know this to be the expectation of us, you have to want it, really want it more
than you want the easy way, the lazy way, the works way, your own way. You have to set aside your old habits and
change yourself into new habits and patterns that are compatible and in
compliance with Gods mandates.
It is very easy to do
nothing, to assume that you have no obligations in life or to God.
It is a bigger
challenge to open up your Bible, to log in to an online study, to submit
yourself willingly to the authority of instruction, and to do this over and
over and over and over, again and again, day after day, for your entire life.
But the reward on the
other end is clear. To be in union with
Christ who will occupy the sovereign position in the sides of the north with us
alongside, or to occupy a place along the sides of a pit. Hummm! Which to choose?
