Apocalypse Explained, Vol. 6

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become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy magnificence is brought down into hell, the noise of thy psalteries; the worm is spread under thee, and the little worms cover thee. How hast thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. Thou hast been cut down to the earth, thou hast been brought down beneath the nations. And thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, on the sides of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the cloud, I will become like the Most High. Yet in truth thou hast been brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that look upon thee consider thee. Is this the man that moveth the earth, that maketh kingdoms to tremble, that hath made the world a desert, and destroyed the cities thereof? . . . . Thou hast been cast out of thy sepulchre, like an abominable shoot, a garment of those that are slain, thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit, like a carcase trodden under foot. Thou shalt not be joined with them in the sepulchre, for thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people; the seed of the wicked shall not be named for ever. Prepare slaughter for his sons for the iniquity of their fathers, that they rise not up and possess the land, and the faces of the land be filled with cities. For I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of Hosts, and I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son's son. . . . I will make thee a heritage for the bittern and pools of waters, and I will sweep her with the besom of destruction. . . . And I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains will I tread him under foot” (xiv. 1–25).

All this is said of Babylon, and not of any devil who was created an angel of light, and became a rebel and was cast into hell, and from his first state was called “Lucifer, son of the morning.” That Babylon is here described is evident from the fourth and twenty-second verses of this chapter, where the king of Babylon and Babylon are mentioned, for it is said “Thou shalt declare this parable concerning the king of Babylon,” and afterwards, “I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant.” It is to be noted that a king has the same signification in the Word as his kingdom. Babylon is called “Lucifer, son of the morning,” because, as has been said above, Babylon in the beginning is a church that is in zeal for the Lord, for good of love, and for truths of faith, although inwardly a fire of ruling by means of the holy things of the church over all whom they can subdue to themselves lies hidden in the zeal of her pastors. This is why Babylon is called “Lucifer, son of the morning.” For the same reason it is called

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