Page 18 - The Divine Unfolding of God's Plan of Redemption

The contributing factors to this “iniquity” we find in the words, “Thine heart was
lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy

brightness.” It is an age-long, oft-repeated story. Conscious beauty genders pride. The
recipient of divine favors, gifts, abilities, excellencies of any sort, tends to become
intoxicated with his own brilliance and importance rather than to be humbly thankful
to his Benefactor. We become dazzled with our own radiance; our perspective is

dimmed; the equilibrium of sober wisdom is destroyed. Pride of heart is in almost
exact proportion to one‟s appraisal of one‟s own real or imagined beauty. The
immediate corollary of self-esteem is self-assertion, a demand for power and authority
as a reward of superiority.

This obsession of beauty and pride flares forth in an open declaration of
independence in Isa. 14:13, the inauguration of an alien will involving a rebellious
course of action. Not enunciated in words, but formulated in the heart of the

light-bearer, the whole intent was “naked and open” to the soul-searching Occupant of
the throne.

“I will ascend…I will exalt my throne …I will sit also upon the mount…I will

ascend above the heights…I will be like the Most High!” Here, then, is iniquity in
elemental form. There is only room for one supreme authority in this universe, and
this supremacy and sovereignty is naturally and properly vested in the Creator. A
theo-autocracy is demanded, and for the preservation of beauty and harmony, order

and life, each created being must be absorbed into that Will. There must be no thought
of, no claim to individual or independent rights. But that is just what we have here in
its most blatant form―an expression on the part of the anointed cherub, the
light-bearer, of a determination to force the Most High to move over on His throne of

authority to make room for a creature, a shining creature, the most brilliant product of
the creative hand, but a creature nevertheless. It is, in effect, an attempt to unseat the
Almighty and to usurp His throne and powers.

Here is the progression—beauty, pride, “I will.”
It did not work. It never has worked, and it never will work.

The reply to the “I will ascend” is “Thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides
of the pit.” Another eternal principle of divine healing! He that humbleth himself shall
be exalted, and he that exalteth himself shall be abased. The creature grasps at equality
with God. The co-Creator who possessed that equality “took upon Him the form of a
servant…humbled Himself…became obedient” (Phil. 2:7-8). “O the depth of riches,

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