A Prequel: Of How the Adversary Came To Be
In the beginning, after the LORD God Most High had created all things through the eternal Logos of His Son Jesus, He placed Lightbearer into the upper-most heights of Eden’s holy mount in order to guard it and protect it. Lightbearer was the anointed guardian cherub of God, the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty (Ezekiel 28:12). As his name and title suggests, he was created as a glorious one, radiant and shining and luminous, reflecting the very glory and image of God in his divine nature. He was the Chief of all the heavenly host. An imperial protector. A divine guardian. A royal warrior. He was assigned to keep watch over the man and his wife, the Lord’s priestly inhabitants within the lush Garden just below.
This lofty mountain summit lay to the sides of the far north, beautiful for situation; it sparkled and gleamed with the radiant beauty of the stones of fire, reaching up to the great heights of the firmament. The name given to this towering place was fittingly called Eden-atarah, for it was the crowning of beauty of Eden. It was the Lord’s Royal Diadem of the Garden.
The LORD God placed Lightbearer into Eden-atarah as his exclusive dwelling place. It was here that he was to remain and abide, for the lower Garden had been given to the man and woman as their portion. The precinct of Eden-atarah was a lofty plateau dotted with the magnificent out-croppings of the stones of fire. Like the Garden below, it was a well-watered place, full of magnificent streams, rivers, water-falls, and fountains.
On the day that the LORD God placed Lightbearer in Eden-atarah He appeared to him in a cloud of bright glory, for no creature could gaze fully upon God and live. Although the majesty of God’s holy glory was veiled in the cloud, the outline of his form appeared as one like the Son of Man. When the God spoke to Lightbearer out of the cloud the heavens shook and the mountain trembled and smoked. Lightbearer fell to the ground like lightning, full of great fear and trembling. The LORD God solemnly commanded him saying, “You may freely drink from any of the water sources that I have given you. They are full of exotic delights. They are given to you for your pleasure, in which to play and frolic and swim. But, in the midst of this place is a little stone well from which you must never drink or even touch. On the day that you touch of that well and drink of its water you shall surely die. The little stone well is called Beautifulness of the Lord, and its waters are forbidden to you.”
So the LORD God left Lightbearer to delight and refresh himself in that well-watered place. As many days passed, Lightbearer came to know Eden-atarah in all of its perfections. He named all of the watercourses after their own unique and perfect delights. All of the limits and boundaries of the summit had been thoroughly explored, measured, chronicled, and mapped. He had learned all of the ancient mysteries of the stones of fire. There only remained one little courtyard that Lightbearer had not yet explored or even ventured into. This was in the middle of that place where the little stone well was located. The well’s stone wall was beautiful in its own little setting. Its seductive round mouth descended into the mysterious darkness beneath, laying hold of the waters of the deep.
As more days passed, Lightbearer began to more seriously ponder the mystery of the forbidden well. It was on his mind continually, day and night. The thought of it gnawed at his own divine perfections and curiosities. Lightbearer could not bear the weight of this seeming incongruity, this paradox – wherein he, being made perfect and beautiful, had been placed in a place of perfect beauty. He was permitted to freely discover all of the summit’s most intimate perfections, and yet he was barred by God’s decree from entering into this one little place of the well.
In his mind the well became a blemish, a mark, a dark spot, an imperfection on the beauty of this place. It became a dark spot within himself too, creating within his soul a void, a deep thirst, a blemish, a longing, a sense of profound loss and imperfection. Lightbearer longed for completion, for full knowing, and the perfection of beauty. To Lightbearer’s perfect mind the well became the ultimate place of mystery, of void, of loss, of blindness, of darkened ignorance, of unfulfillment and incompletion. The well’s mouth was desperately crying out to be discovered and fully known.
Lightbearer could not bear the weight of this seeming imperfection created by the incompleteness of not fully knowing, seeing, tasting, and experiencing all the delights of this heavenly summit. The well’s dark and mysterious void had created a similar dark spot in his own heart.
As more days passed, Lightbearer began to reason within himself that he should enter the place of the well in order to discover its secrets and to know, no longer in part, but in whole, perfectly as he himself was perfect. The desperate need of Lightbearer to know the hidden and forbidden secrets of the well were driving his perfect mind to madness and further causing him to consider hard thoughts against God. For how could God be perfectly loving if He cruelly withheld the perfection of a thing from one who was made perfect in all his ways. The well had clearly become a speck of imperfection and darkness in all the region of Eden-atarah, and it had become a speck of imperfection and darkness in the eyes of Lightbearer too.
After 40 long days of wrestling with these thoughts, Lightbearer resolved to test God’s solemn command and enter into the little courtyard of the stone well, to see whether God’s word was a thing to be truly feared. With much trepidation and apprehension, Lightbearer approached the outer limits of the courtyard and came to stand outside the threshold of the North Gate. He stood there looking and observing and wondering for a very long time. As he cast his gaze more fully upon the beauty of that little place his heart began to fill with warmth and delight at all of the magnificent details of its intricate patterns, colours, designs, and fragrances. These new discoveries flooded all his senses with an intoxicating sensory overload. Feeling a small rush of courage he leaned over the threshold to peer further. The light from his own radiant face made the entire courtyard sparkle and shine with an even greater glory than before, ravishing his eyes and heart.
His heart now beating with thrilling excitement, Lightbearer found his initial fear of God’s promised judgement beginning to diminish and fade. For no threat or crumb of doom had yet come near to him for standing here at the threshold, as surely might have been expected. On the contrary, Lightbearer’s experience was one of growing delight, joy, and great fulfillment.
The light of discovery was now dawning, and Lightbearer’s sullen mood was now lifting. He was feeling the gloom of this little place lifting as his eyes soaked in the wonder of it all. Feeling more confident in his situation Lightbearer reasoned within himself that he would test God’s word yet further by entering into the very courtyard of the little stone well to see whether any doom would come, and if so – even to the slightest degree – he would immediately withdraw and leave from that place.
And so with cautious resolve, Lightbearer delicately and carefully walked softly over the North threshold and sat down upon the lush cool grass of that most beautiful of all places that he had ever yet seen. The magnificence of that little courtyard overwhelmed Lightbearer’s entire being with euphoric pleasures and intoxicating delights that he had never experienced before. All thoughts of impending doom were banished in this wonderful place. How could this supreme jewel in the middle of the Lord’s crown ever be associated with God’s curse of death?
Lightbearer sat in that same spot for untold hours soaking it all in. His sensory intoxication and growing sense of confidence seduced him into needing to know more – to experience, to touch, to feel, to explore all the gleaming gems of this little courtyard – until nothing more was hidden or unknown to his perfect mind. And so Lightbearer spent the period of six days and nights discovering all that there was to know about the little courtyard, being ever so careful never to touch or come close enough to touching the little stone well.
At the end of the sixth day Lightbearer came to a complete and exhausting end of his discoveries within the little courtyard. At twilight, as the sun’s light faded to majestic pink and purple, he sat down on the ground in front of the little stone well. The radiant light from his own glowing face cast a most pleasant glow on the warm-hued stones of the little well’s stone wall. For the first time he noticed that the stone wall encircling the little well was not built of any ordinary stones. They were masterfully cut stones of fire, skillfully fit together and laid row upon row in 7 levels. Each of them gleaming in harmony with multi-coloured beauty.
Filled with all the drunken pleasures of the last 6 days Lightbearer began to wonder what hidden secret the well’s mouth contained – something so secret, so hidden, so special, so precious – that God had to protect it with the threat of death for entering in upon it. But what foothold of ill-will or doom could ever enter into this sacred place of unparalleled beauty and tranquility? There wasn’t the slightest perception of death in this courtyard, only endless pleasures and delights. Up to this point, Lightbearer had never felt so magnificently and wonderfully alive. With all of Eden-atarah’s territory now discovered and known, the little well is all that remained between him and the perfect knowledge of this divine place. The little well was only dark-spot in his perfect vision that cried out for fulfillment, completion, and revelation. Lightbearer had to know the sacred contents of the well’s hidden mystery. It would complete him, as would be fitting for a divine being such as him, made as the pinnacle of glory, the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. This knowledge would quench the longing desire and slake the deep thirst that well had created in him.
Lightbearer reasoned that the knowledge of the well would make him to fully be like God, who was perfect in His being and knowledge, having no darkness, no shadows of turning, and no blemishes of hidden things. He was now filled with a powerful sense of jealousy to discover the mystery of the well’s secret jewel.
In the twilight of that serene evening Lightbearer suddenly stood to his feet before the beautiful stone well, further contemplating the mystery of its hidden depths. With greater resolve than ever before he stepped boldly toward the well. As he neared the rim of its beautiful opening time seemed to slow down and become very heavy. The world around him swooned and swirled. Colours and patterns suddenly melted together into beautiful rivers of undulating wave forms, dancing all around him. He was drunk on how magnificent and perfect everything was to him in that moment. The well was sweetly calling out to him. It was his destiny.
Standing now directly in front of the well, Lightbearer looked down at its perfectly round and seductive mouth. From his angle it looked as though the well was smiling at him, wooing him, beckoning him ever closer to come and peer into its mysterious inky darkness. Lightbearer could now understand why the little stone well had been named Beautifulness of the Lord. It was magnificently and incomparably beautiful! More beautiful than all the other rivers, streams, water-falls, and fountains in that place. It was most beautiful. Simply irresistible. It was unquestionably the precious stone of God’s royal glory set in this lofty crown of Eden-atarah.
With heart beating wildly and electric energy buzzing through him like current, Lightbearer closed in on the final step, at the same time reaching out with both hands to lay hold of the smooth stone ring of the well’s mouth. Ecstasy! The sensation sent shock waves of exotic pleasures through his entire being. He could not let go.
The Lightbearer’s senses now flooded with unimaginable delights, as he slowly leaned himself forward to gaze into the darkened hollow of the well. Still not able to see anything, Lightbearer lowered his radiant face to the very mouth of the well’s opening. The light from his face caused the inner wall of the well to suddenly sparkle and shine like 10,000 stars of light against the inky blackness of the night sky. The sight was breathtaking! Set on a small ledge of stone close to the water’s surface stood a gleaming silver cup, brightly polished and shining.
The darkness that was upon the face of the deep waters was suddenly pierced by light. What Lightbearer saw next was heart-stopping!
There in the still mirror of the water’s glassy surface was a sight that Lightbearer had never seen before. It was most beautiful! It was most perfect! It was most complete! It was the very face of God staring back at him. Blinking as he blinked. Moving as he moved. It was magnificent in majesty. It was the image of perfection, a triumph, a sovereign, a king! He was clothed in splendour, enwreathed in majesty, and enthroned among the 10, 000 stars as the Most High over all things, the most splendid, the most beautiful, and complete in power.
Swirling with wonder and confusion, Lightbearer could not make out whether the image staring back at him from the pool’s glassy surface was really his own reflection or not. He was mesmerized and enchanted with the vision. Was he seeing the hidden face of God or his own face? It was too wonderful to fully comprehend in that moment. So Lightbearer stood there for a long while contemplating the face staring back up at him from the water’s surface, making gestures and movements to see whether the vision was of himself or not. But the face moved and capitulated and blinked and smiled with him, in perfect concert with him, face answering to face.
While he gazed with wonder into the depths of his own glorious reflection, he saw himself as he was created – truly the signet of God’s own perfections, a god, an elohim, a shining one, the perfect fractal image of God’s own image. Made with might and majesty. A king in his own right. A knower of deep things. Full of wisdom. Perfect in beauty.
And seeing himself here in this way, face to face, he wondered yet further how sweet and perfect this water would taste, having now been kissed with the splendid majesty of his own divine image.
And so Lightbearer took hold of the gleaming silver cup on the ledge near the water and lowered it to the surface of the glassy surface now reflecting his own divine beauty. As the final rays of the day’s light slipped away from the night sky above, Lightbearer lowered the silver cup in to the well’s water, sending ripples crisscrossing the surface and suddenly distorting the reflected image of his own god-like face, causing a sudden flash of wrath to well up in him – a burst of jealous rage for the protection of his own glory.
Startled for a moment at the swift eruption of hot anger at the sight of his marred image, Lightbearer allowed the ripples to subside before lifting the silver cup up out of the water. As he lifted the cup to his mouth he did not see as the drops of water that fell from the cup once more marred and defaced the beauty of his reflected image as they struck the surface of the water like rain from heaven.
With all of his rapt attention fixed on the cup of water, Lightbearer brought it close to his face. Like the well itself, the cup and its contents sparkled and shone with his own intoxicatingly beautiful image. How absolutely dazzling! How magnificently perfect! How jealous and fond he was for his own image. It was enchanting.
As he lifted the cup up to his mouth, he paused to sample its fruit-filled bouquet of delights, bursting with all the rich fragrance o f a field that the LORD God had blessed – the aroma was of summer fruits and spices, of honey and all choice delights.
To touch of this nectar, to gaze upon his self-reflected beauty therein, and to smell of its delicate flower was still not enough. Lightbearer had to bring his thirsting desire to full completion now in the drinking, the savouring, and the swallowing of this water of the LORD’s beautifulness. Only then could he be in full and perfect communion with the hidden mystery contained in the deep water’s spiritual essence and knowledge.
Placing the silver cup to scarlet lips, Lightbearer’s desire was now fully aroused. He tilted his head back and allowed the cup’s cool water to glide over lips and teeth, filling his mouth with the most exquisite of flavours. Like the finest of well-aged wines, spiced and twice barrelled. This was an intoxicating substance like no other. Complex. Full-bodied. Fruity. Robust. Earthy. With a smooth and dry finish of exotic spice. Lightbearer’s senses were now fully aroused with all consuming desire.
Unable to control himself, Lightbearer plunged the silver cup back into the water where his own magnificent image was serenely glistening, again and again, drinking greedily, striking the face of the water over and over, swallowing, slurping, and devouring – striking madly at his own reflected image with thirsty desire until he was full to the brim with liquid libations.
His lusty desire being fully satisfied with the exotic liquor of the well’s water, he let himself fall down to the grass to rest and revel in the mysteries of the well’s pleasure that were causing his head to swoon. For all of this there was still no whisper of doom or danger to be perceived. Had God’s threat of death been a simple ruse all along? A cruel trick to keep him from the hidden joys of these intoxicating pleasures? Yes! How could it be otherwise? For Lightbearer now felt whole and complete, like God.
As he sat beneath the stars contemplating these matters, the liquid nectar that had ravished his mouth with intoxicating sweetness suddenly began to make his stomach bitter. Sharp pains abruptly began to roil in his belly and bowels, making him double over in agony. Simultaneously, the intoxicating effects of ecstasy and pleasure gave way to nightmarish visions of dread darkness and doom. He could hear the thrumming and drumming of his own frantic pulse now beating wildly in his own ears, filling him with abject terror.
Lightbearer’s thoughts were suddenly shattered with the horrible realization of the well’s revelation – a prophetic revelation – fuelled by his own actions – a self-fulfilling prophecy of certain doom. Like a king’s signet ring laid in the soft wax, Lightbearer’s own actions in this moment had sealed a divine pattern that would become his unfolding destiny. The entire scene replayed in his mind like a nightmare!
By looking into the well Lightbearer had seen his own glorious reflected image. But by looking thereon, he had actually beheld two faces! Yes, his own. But also, and more terrifyingly, the very face of God which was forbidden for any creature to look upon. You see, he was the fractal image bearer of God. The very signet of God’s own perfections. In seeing himself, he had also seen God’s hidden glory.
When Lightbearer saw his own exalted image as God-enthroned among the starry host he became full of knowing and desire for the very thing that was seen. For such a creature, made so perfectly in God’s image, he became jealous for his own image, for his own glory. Seeing is becoming, from one degree of glory to another. Lightbearer was now supremely jealous for this very image of his own enthroned glory. To be as the Most High.
Simultaneously, in those moments his fear of God became wholly diminished. For this God, whose glorious face he had also seen reflected in his own, had now become his enemy on account of His transgressed commandment. Lightbearer would now forever love the one, the image of himself, but hate the dual image of God that he had also seen.
As he carefully replayed the scene over in his mind, Lightbearer saw himself taking up the silver cup of covenantal union into his hand. With it he proceeded to strike downward at his own glorious face, even God’s very head, defacing both with deadly ruin and chaos, while he himself drank and devoured its substance. Thus, the vision revealed that both faces would be defiled with violence and death. There would be swallowing and staggering, drunkenness and devouring.
Lightbearer could now see the horrible truth of the dire consequences that his rebellious act of transgression had caused. For in striking at his own glorious image with deadly violence, he had also struck at the head of God, and paradoxically in striking at God’s head, he also strikes at his own. For face answers to face, both being of one piece with the Ark of covenantal mystery.
But in that moment Lightbearer was suddenly overcome with a deep sense of regret and remorse. So he clambered back up on his feet and laid hold of the well with both hands. Trembling and shaking, he began to cry out to God with mighty cries. He cried and shouted into the night sky. He fell to his knees weeping and gnashing his teeth, begging for God to answer. Late into the night he stayed there, but there was no voice. No one answered. No one paid attention. The night sky remained silent and cold, like gates of brass and bars of iron.
As the long hours waxed on and the dawning hour drew closer, there was still no answer. Desperate for resolve, Lightbearer thought that maybe he could use the well once more to undo the folly that he had wrought. Perhaps a drop of mercy could be found in its waters. And so Lightbearer stood back up on his feet, laying hold of the well’s round mouth once again. He cried and wept to heaven in all of his deepest earnest. He pleaded over the well for another answer, his bitter tears falling into its waters below. As Lightbearer wearied himself in his entreaties, he took up the silver cup once again in his hand. He lifted the cup up toward heaven, begging that there might be a different answer this time. In a final act of desperation he closed his eyes to prevent himself from seeing any further visions and plunged the cup back downward into the mouth of the well and scooped up the dark liquid. With eyes still closed, he lifted the full cup back up to his mouth, asking and begging the well to provide another answer. As he concluded his entreaty Lightbearer drank the contents of the cup to the very last dregs, but this time the liquid was vastly different.
It was heavier and warmer than before. It was no longer sweet and exotic and fruity. Rather it was metallic and iron-like. Perhaps even coppery, salty, and slightly bitter – with a dense, rich, viscous texture. When Lightbearer opened his eyes to look, he found his answer. The thick sticky liquid was a dark scarlet red. It was splattered upon him. It was in him. It was everywhere. Like a great slaughter.
In that very moment, Lightbearer’s beautiful white radiance became dulled to a glowing crimson red. He felt himself change inside as the red liquid draught was working its way into his very being. Suddenly the night didn’t seem so foreign to him. His senses sharpened. His sight, his hearing, and his perceptions were now perfectly attuned to this darkness. He could see in ways that he could never see before. He could smell things that were previously hidden to him. Most peculiarly he could smell the red crimson liquid in a new way. It’s aroma was delicious and mouth-watering, whetting his appetite, making him ravenous with hunger. He needed more of this!
Thus it was that Lightbearer, in transgressing God’s command, brought doom and death upon his own head. He was no longer full of light and wonder. He became darkness. He had grasped at God. He was jealous now only for his own revealed image in the prophetic well’s seductive pool. His heart was already beginning to writhe and conspire against God, His throne, His sovereign glory. He wanted to ascend above the heavens. He wanted to be God. It was in his heart. He had seen it! Lightbearer could brook no rival or secondary claim to the throne. It must be his. God must be put to death!
As Lightbearer pondered these dark thoughts, his gaze wandered downward toward the lower Garden where man’s dwelling-place was. There he saw a way to the Throne, where man, the lowlier vessel of clay, was also made in God’s image – a fractal image. A parallel kingdom for the taking. If Lightbearer could bring death upon man and woman it would also guarantee that death would be brought upon God himself, for face answers to face. Whatever is done to one, though it be the least, is also done to the other, though it be the greatest.
And so, in seeing his own reflected image for the first time in the well’s watery pool of glass, he also saw the face of God. And looking thereon with eyes unveiled, he desired that glory for himself with utmost jealousy and violent wrath. And in taking to drink, he defiled that image in his grasping and striking. And in drinking of that forbidden cordial, he swallowed and devoured what he had struck with violence. What Lightbearer saw in the well’s reflection pool was a thief in the night and a murderer of God! A defiler of all that was perfect and at peace. A majestic one, who being like God, created as a lesser bene-elohim, he was now discontented with his own lower position. A poisoned and bloody perfection was now in his heart. The mirror’s prophetic reflections had shown it to him. The hidden message of the little stone well’s silent oracle was crystal clear, he alone must ascend and be seated , enthroned above all the stars . . . and to that end, there must be war. There would be bloodshed.
Lightbearer must now strike at the head of God by striking at His reflected image of clay in Eden’s lower Garden, mankind. The kingdom must suffer violence. It must be taken by force. But not directly. And not through the appearance of great might or glory.
Lightbearer determined that he would use the very deceptive means by which he was self-deceived in order to strike back at God. He would put off his royal garments and divine glory. Instead, he would put on the veil of the little stone well, as it were. He would come clothed in unassuming littleness and irresistible mystery. He would become more undignified than this and become humiliated in his own eyes. He would enter Eden’s holy precincts secretly and undetected, clothed upon with all stealth and subtlety. He would cloak himself in the attire of the most crafty beast of the field that the LORD God had made. As the serpent, he would slither in at the heels but strike at the Head.
And so it was that on the blood-red dawn of that seventh morning, Lightbearer left the upper precincts of Eden-atarah, never to return, making his way downward to the lower Garden of Eden, where he would seize for himself a kingdom, and seal it with blood.
