“For Thou Hast Said I Will Ascend into Heaven I Will Be Like the Most High”

Bryan Richards

"Isaiah delighted in the future binding of Satan for one thousand years and the eventual banishment of Satan to outer darkness following the Millennium.

“In teaching this concept Isaiah employed a satirical song. He portrayed the ancient king of Babylon as a type for Lucifer. Similar to the king of Babylon, Lucifer has ruled over an empire built upon tyranny and oppression. As Isaiah expressed concerning Lucifer, ’For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: … I will be like the most High’ (Isa. 14:13Isa. 14:14Isa. 14:13-14). Isaiah prophesied that the day will come when Lucifer will ’be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit’ (Isa. 14:15Isa. 14:15). John the Revelator was shown an angel who had the key of a bottomless pit. ’He laid hold on … that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled’ (Rev. 20:2Rev. 20:3Rev. 20:2-3). Satan will be held in such low regard that people will mock him, saying, ’Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; … that opened not the house of his prisoners?’ (Isa. 14:16Isa. 14:17Isa. 14:16-17).” (Voices of Old Testament Prophets: The 26th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1997], 75 – 76 as taken from Commentaries on Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, ed. by K. Douglas Bassett, [American Fork, UT: Covenant Publishing Co., 2003], 212)

2 Nephi 24:16-17 Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?

"What a record could be written of Satan’s activities to accomplish the very things Isaiah foretold! Lucifer is fallen from heaven; he has weakened the nations; he has decreed to exalt his throne above the stars of God and to be like the Most High; he has made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof.

"John the Revelator declared that Satan’s reign upon this earth should be practically universal:

’it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.’ (Revelation 13:7.)

“In order to be able to hold dominion over the kingdoms of the world, Satan’s plan has been to destroy all who in any way can detract from his power. Hence, he has put it into the hearts of men to destroy the prophets and servants of the Lord, whose commands he must obey.” (A Marvelous Work and a Wonder [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1950], 395.)

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