Forgiveness Part 2 | The Birthplace of Offense

Let’s get back to the moment where the Son of God was introduced. What if Lucifer was caught off guard while thinking all these things? As he was captured in the moment, what if he didn’t bow down when all of heaven did? What if he stood standing tall while all other beings worshipped God and the Son of God, Jesus? What if he felt—even if just for a moment—what it was like to be worshipped by all of heaven? What if he stole what was intended for God and the Son of God? What if he projected or perceived it was intended for himself? For the first time, perfect worship was broken, interrupted, or stolen.

Let’s continue reading in Ezekiel.

“You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. Your great wealth filled you with violence, and you sinned. So I banished you from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty stones of fire. Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings. You defiled your sanctuaries with your many sins and your dishonest trade. So I summed you. I let it burn you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All who knew you are appalled at your fate. You have come to a terrible end and you are no more.” – Ezekiel 28:15-19 (NLT, emphasis mine)

Did you see this phrase?

“You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. Your great wealth filled you with violence, and you sinned.”

Could this be the birthplace of not only pride but also of offense? Violence filled him. Offense can be defined as “evil within or to be filled with violence.” The birthplace of offense is from Lucifer himself. In fact, within Lucifer’s heart is the birthplace of this evil and violence.

What was this evil? We see an explanation from the book of Isaiah.

“How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. For you said to yourself, “I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of gods far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the most High.” – Isaiah 14:12-14 (NLT, emphasis mine)

From this passage, we see Lucifer became proud and said to himself that he would ascend to heaven, set his throne above God’s, and be like the Most High. He wanted to become like God and be even greater than his Maker.

Let’s look back to Ezekiel 28:16,18 in the NKJV where we read,

“By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within and you sinned….You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading;”

What does this mean? What sanctuaries did he defile, and what was he trading?

This word trading or trafficking in merchandise is interesting. It is also exactly what the sex and human trafficking business is all about—the use of people and their sex to gain wealth. In this type of business, an individual exploits another’s sexual resources or assets for their own benefit by making money and gaining wealth.

Lucifer was a pimp. He was pimping, stealing, and taking worship from God that was not his and becoming very rich from it.

What Lucifer was trading was not only goods and merchandise but gossip! Lucifer became offended by God and began to have negative thoughts and feelings about God as well as dwelt on how his rights were violated. Then he began to share with others his negative opinion of God through speech and gossip. Can you imagine how seriously God must consider gossip? God takes this VERY seriously.

The passage below explains the seven things God hates.

These six things the Lord hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.
– Proverbs 6:16-19 (NKJV)

There are seven things the Lord hates, and each can be linked to Lucifer himself and the birthplace of offense. A false witness is one who sows discord. This looks like and sounds like gossip to me.

People who become easily offended may become consumed with some, if not all seven, of these items. Think about how true this can be. When people get offended, what do they do? They go to others and tell them all about it.

“Can you believe what this person did to me? Well, let me tell you about _____.”
“I got this awful email today from ______. Let me tell you about how ______ treated me!”
“I cannot believe how I was disrespected by that organization, church, waiter, husband, wife, police officer, pastor, therapist, etc.”
“I deserve to be treated better.”
“My rights were violated.”

You get the idea. Wow, how convicting is this? God takes this very seriously. So seriously, that it is the very offense that removed Lucifer from heaven.

Unfortunately, we don’t know much time passed between the offense and Lucifer being cast out of heaven. However, once he was offended with God, I believe he became deceived by his own pride. He began to gossip about God the Father and His Son, Jesus, believing he had a right to be like God and be worshipped. As this transpired, he began to win over other angelic beings to the dark side. We can see how this plays out in passage below.

“How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. For you said to yourself, “I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of gods far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.” – Isaiah 14:12-14 (NLT)

Through this Scripture, we see what Lucifer believed about himself in that he would ascend to heaven, set his throne above God’s, and become like the Most High! This sounds rather grandiose. What was he thinking? Did he truly believe he could overpower his own Maker, the God of heaven who created him? Think of the level of narcissism Lucifer must have had? How does this happen?

As we have read, Lucifer was perfect in beauty and wisdom, ordained, and anointed. He was becoming very rich and wealthy by trading merchandise that was not his. In addition, he was talking poorly behind God’s back, believing God did him wrong.

Lucifer still believes he can and will continue to get away with it. This is very similar to an addiction. He has been offended, deceived by his sin and now addicted to himself and his great wealth. He was deceived. Deception is an interesting thing due to the fact that it is so…deceptive. He was deceived spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically, and financially.

The problem is that he didn’t believe he was deceived. He believed he should have things that were not intended for him. Offense and deception came from within Lucifer’s heart and his essence.

Lucifer is offense and deception, and offense and deception is who he is. Deception is his greatest tool, which he uses to his advantage. However, this did not go unnoticed. God has the final say in the rest of the passage.

But instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths. Everyone there will stare at you and ask, “Can this be the one who shook the earth and the kingdoms of the world? Is this the one who destroyed the world and made it into a wilderness? Is this the king who demolished the world’s greatest cities and had no mercy on his prisoners?” – Isaiah 14:15-17 (NLT) Offended Deceived Addicted page 10-14

You should be starting to understand how an offense is violence or evil with in you. It starts with an offense or a belief that something is not far. In that moment, we are deceived in every way physically, emotionally, relationally and spiritually. This gives birth to pride which entraps us.

Cory Schortzman Executive Director

Cory Schortzman is an author, speaker, teacher and licensed mental health professional. Since 2008, he has served as the Executive Director of Transformed Hearts Counseling Center in Colorado Springs, CO. He is the founder of SARA, the Sexual Addiction Recovery Association. Cory is passionate about helping couples and individuals overcome sex addiction. He is also passionate about bringing awareness to the public and supporting the elimination of sex and human trafficking. Cory has been married since 1998 to his beautiful wife, Kerry, and lives in Colorado with their four daughters. He and Kerry have been seen on the CBS Early Show, Inside Edition, and ABC Good Morning America, Fox 21 News, and TLC/Discovery discussing the harm of sex addiction and the joys of recovery. He has also been heard on numerous radio programs.

Cory’s books include: Out of the Darkness, Into the Light the Workbook, Into the Light the Steps, Ashes to Beauty the Steps, 301 Dating Ideas, 301 Conversational Ideas, 301 Ways to Say I Love You, 301 Ways to Love Your Children & 301 Recovery Tools & Tips.