The Usurper

Read: Isaiah 14:12-15

You said to yourself, “I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods.” Isaiah 14:13

IN WORD

Something went wrong in the King’s domain. It happened before any of us were born, and Scripture doesn’t explain the details, so we don’t know the full picture. All we know, from piecing together the story, is that one of God’s highest creatures rebelled against Him, taking plenty of angels and eventually the heart of humanity with him.

At the core of this rebellion was a spirit of pride, a desire to be ruler rather than a subject in God’s realm. In his heart, the usurper wanted to raise his throne above all others. He didn’t want to be part of God’s story; he wanted to write his own.

That’s a common theme running throughout the history of humanity. We see it in this passage about the king of Babylon, though the words seem to point to the original usurper from another realm. We see it in the first act of human disobedience in a garden long ago. And unfortunately, we see it in our own lives. At many points, every one of us has decided to create our own path, write our own story, dictate our own agenda either in direct contradiction to God’s purposes or in careless negligence of them. Any time we say, “Not His will but mine,” whether overtly or subtly, we conform to the ways of the usurper. That original act of pride has spread like a deadly contagion into every corner of our world.

IN DEED

There’s only one way to turn back to the ways of the King, and that’s through deep humility. Humility is reflected in our worship, in what Scripture calls repentance, and in the way of the cross that Jesus walked and called His disciples to follow. There’s more at stake in this walk than simply doing the King’s will; it’s a matter of forsaking the spirit of the usurper and stopping the spread of the deadly contagion. And it’s fully embracing the culture of the Kingdom—and the heart of the King.

ADDITIONAL READING: James 4:5-7

Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil’s reach as humility.

JONATHAN EDWARDS