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I'm a mom to three boys. My middle son asked me questions I could not answer. What is the birth date of angels and what caused God to banish his most loved angel, Satan? If the Bible speaks about forgiving people, why couldn't God forgive his favorite angel?
- Rosa D.
Children ask the most interesting questions, and often we confuse them by offering correct but complicated answers when a simple, straightforward explanation is best. This is how I would respond to the questions your middle son has asked:
Angels don’t have birthdays. They don’t have mothers and fathers, and they were never born. God just made them, probably all at the same time. At the time God created them, they were complete and wonderful. They were never baby angels and they never had to grow up.
God created Satan as one of the best and most beautiful angels, but instead of being thankful, Satan became proud. He thought he was better than everyone, even God. Instead of loving God and doing what God planned, Satan began to fight God and tried to get other angels to sin. The problem isn’t that God will not forgive Satan; the problem is that Satan will not stop fighting God. Even now he tries to get people to sin.
My belief is that Lucifer was the first angel--the most powerful, most beautiful, and most intelligent angel to have ever been created, which is why his sin was pride. Others say that Michael was the first and most powerful angel. I understand that Michael fought Lucifer and one-third of the fallen angels until they left heaven to live on earth. Who was created first, Michael or Lucifer? Who is (or was) the most powerful, beautiful, and smartest angel? Is Lucifer also known as the "Angel of Light"?
- Dave G.
God created all angels at once, so no angel was created first in time. "Praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts…for He spoke and they were made. He commanded and they were created" (Psalm 148:2-5; Colossians 1:16-17). The Bible does not answer which angel is the most powerful, but we know that in any showdown, God will always be on Michael’s side and the power of God will prevail.
The word “lucifer” is found nowhere in the Bible in the original languages. The biblical word for the devil is "Satan." The word "lucifer” is found in the King James Version of the Bible and some older translations of Isaiah 14:12 which reads, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” Lucifer is a Latin name, and it was a name unknown to Isaiah because there was no Roman language when Isaiah wrote. What Isaiah did write was “O morning star, son of the dawn.” The morning star is the first to be seen in the morning and now we call it by the name Venus. When Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, "lucifer" was the Latin word for "morning star."
Later English translations did not translate the words “morning star” as it was in the original Hebrew but followed Jerome’s example instead, using the Latin word “lucifer” which means “light bearer.” Most modern translations translate the Hebrew directly into English so the verse reads, “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn.” Clearly in this verse, Isaiah is referring to the King of Babylon in his day. Many see this also as a double reference referring to Satan, but if this is the case, the words mean “morning star,” not “light bearer.” This means that Satan is not the “angel of light.” In the Bible, Jesus is “the bright and morning star” (Revelation 22:16), but “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
Read More Angel FAQs:
• The Fall of Satan
• Good Angels vs. Bad Angels
• Do Angels Rebel Against God?
