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It has been said that there is no prettier sight in the sky to the naked eye than the planet Venus. Go out on a cloudless, clear night and you will find that there are majestic wonders that are overhead, and yet it is the star -- that is really not a star at all -- Venus, that outshines all of the sights overhead. Venus is a planet roughly the size of earth that is nearer to the sun than us. It appears to our eyes as a very bright star either right at sunrise or at sunset depending on the time of the year. When it appears in the morning as it currently is doing, it rises immediately before the sun signaling that day break is coming. At this stage it is commonly referred to as the "morning star." When it appears in the evening, it appears beside the sun, and then sets after it and we call it the "evening star." It is easily identified because it never rises very high in the sky and it shines with the prettiest, pure white light of any star. After the sun and the moon, it is the brightest object in the sky and a small telescope will reveal that it is not a star at all but a planet, with phases, crescent shapes and such just like the moon. But in the days before telescopes and such, it was always referred to as simply a "star."

Being so noticeable and so beautiful, it is no wonder that people in the Bible times would have noticed and talked about "this morning star." There are many references to stars throughout the Bible and the most often mentioned is Venus, the "morning star." The shepherds that kept their sheep by night during lambing time, marked the time until morning by watching the stars traverse across the night sky. When Venus was the "morning star," it's rising in the east would signal to the weary shepherds that the sun's rays -- and the end of their shift of work -- was about to come. This trait of Venus, a positive one, is what Peter referred to in his second letter to the church when he wrote:

Peter was preaching about the sureness of the written Word of God and how that it was a "more sure word of prophecy" than man's words. He then likened it to the rise of Venus in the morning that signaled the coming forth of the sun. The symbolism is obvious: Jesus is the bright, light of the sun pushing away the darkness, and it is when people receive and obey the written Word of God that signals that the great light of Jesus Christ is about to break forth and chase away the darkness in their life. You can always tell when God is about to deliver someone and save them and do a great work through the light of the Gospel because they will begin to look at and see the Word of God as something of beauty! Just as Venus rises as the morning star signaling the end of the night, so does obedience and faith in the Word of God signal the dawning of the great light of Jesus Christ shining within and working within you! I challenge you: if you want Jesus Christ to be active in your life, then you need to look at the Word of God and obey it, for it is the Word of God that will bring the new dawn of God working in your life!

And notice that in this scripture Peter refers to the Word of God as the "morning star" and yet Jesus Christ is the "daystar" or the sun. The Word of God is powerful but Jesus Christ is the "Living Word!" He is the embodiment of every plan and power of God. He is God in flesh, not just God's plan on pages, but God's plan in action! Therefore Jesus Christ is a better -- much better -- "morning star" than even the written Word of God, because as God, He wrote it!

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The "morning star" not only shines with a bright, pure light that makes it stand out in the sky, but is also moves very differently than all of the other "stars." Because of these unique paths up from the horizon and then back down again, many pagan cultures said "there's something special about this star" and worshipped Venus as a God. Venus is also unique among the stars in that in certain times of the year, Venus is visible in broad daylight if you know where to look and so many ancient cultures took all of this uniqueness as a sign that it "must be a god." Because of it's beauty, such groups as the Greeks, Romans, Sumerians, and the Pawnee Indians of North America all worshipped Venus as a "goddess" thinking of it as "female." As recently as April 22, 1838, the Pawnee Indians sacrificed a young girl as a human sacrifice to this "morning star." The uniqueness of this "bright light" in the sky drove men to do weird and evil things in their ignorance of the true God that had created it!

The ancient Mayans of South America built an impressive kingdom and culture. They built magnificent structures based upon complicated mathematical formulas, the ruins of which are still available to be seen today. They developed a full and formal language and wrote through a complex system of "glyphs" which are small square pictures that represent words and ideas. It is such a complex language that there still to this day exists no dictionary for the glyphs as they must be interpreted logically and in context in order to decipher. They built trade routes, and -- unhampered by any other major world power -- ruled much of South America, particularly on the west coast side.

Like so many other ancient civilizations, the Mayans noticed the uniqueness of Venus' actions and light and believed it to be a "god." The Mayans are one of the few that made it male and they said that it represented the "great god, Quetzalcoatl" whom they said was a "light-skinned god that had vanished into the East to found another society predicting that he would return again." Because of Venus' uniqueness and supposed special significance, the Mayans set up an observatory in a place now known as Caracol for the express purpose of studying the "morning star." Without knowing anything as to why it happened and the orbits of the planets around the sun, the Mayans correctly observed and predicted that the unique pattern of Venus repeated itself on a 584 day cycle, and thus would return to the same spot on the same day and time every 52 years. They based their calendar on it, and called the cycle of 52 years their "Calendar Round." To their logic, if "the morning star" returned to the same place every 52 years, then surely this was to teach them that one day the white-skinned god, Quetzalcoatl, would return sometime during a 52nd year of their calendar. And so every 52nd year the Mayans threw great religious celebrations and throughout the year anxiously awaited to see if this just might be the year that their "morning star" returned to them.

It was this religious belief based upon the "morning star" that led to the Mayan's downfall. As the years went by, eventually the year of 1519 dawned as it was a 52nd year on their calendar, the Mayans celebrated and performed their religious duties and again spent the year looking toward the western shores for their "morning star" to show up in flesh. To their amazement, a white skinned man did show up, but he was not their "god" but instead the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez who had come intending to wipe out all of the natives and claim the land for Spain. At first the Mayans gathered their warriors together to meet this strange threat but as the boat got closer and they could see that the leader was "light skinned" somebody shouted "it's Quetzalcoatl," and the warriors laid down their arms and begin to worship who they mistakenly thought was their "morning star." This played right into the gold hungry, blood thirsty explorer from Spain and the Mayans were slaughtered and an entire civilization wiped out! The Mayans found out the hard way that worshipping false gods that claimed to be their saviours and pure and unique as the light of Venus was a fatal mistake!

Some of you are wondering what this has to with the Bible, but it is to the pure white light and unique behavior of Venus that John the Revelator referred to when recording the Words of Jesus in Revelation 22:

"I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." Jesus was saying, "not only was I born a human being in the lineage of King David, but I am also a heavenly being at the same time!" We understand that this is a metaphor and that Jesus is not literally some planet in the solar system but that He very much fulfills the positive characteristics of the "morning star." What the scripture is saying is that Jesus is the "pure One." Jesus is the "unique One." Jesus alone should be worshipped, and not all of these pagan gods that were invented by man! His light alone is that that saves us.

I'm here to remind you that Jesus Christ is the altogether unique One! Out of all of the so called "gods" that have been invented by man, only Jesus Christ is all merciful. Only Jesus Christ loved you enough to die for you. Only Jesus Christ rose again. Only Jesus Christ was born of a virgin and thus was human without the sinful nature of fallen Adam. Only Jesus Christ rules and reigns over the universe. Only Jesus Christ was infallible. Only Jesus Christ was God manifest in flesh. Only Jesus Christ has a name that can save you! Only Jesus Christ has blood that still cleanses from sin. Only Jesus Christ can forgive that sin and let you walk free of condemnation. Only Jesus Christ should be worshiped! Only Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life! He truly is unique. He is the "altogether different One." There's nobody like Him and He is not a "god" invented by man to fulfill their religiosity. He is the only one that is bright and pure and holy enough to really match the beauty of "the morning star!" He alone is the "brightness of the glory" of God. He is still enough. Jesus Christ is still the answer for the darkness of the world today!

And Jesus has promised that He's coming back too, but when He comes He will not slaughter those who gladly receive His coming and that are looking for Him, but instead He will give them a brand-new body that will live forever and will take them with Him to a "place that He has prepared for us!" He will not be coming back to rob us of gold or our jewels, but will instead take us to a place where the streets are lined with gold and the gates and walls are made out of those things! And so I submit to you today that Jesus is a "better morning star" than "Quetzalcoatl." In fact, He's a better morning star than any of the other so-called "gods" of this earth, because He is the unique One full of mercy and truth who will come back as He said and will save His people! I'm preaching to you that Jesus Christ is the "better morning star!"

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In our text in Isaiah, we read the story of the prophet prophesying of the eventual destruction of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. It is one of those passages that is worded in such a way to let us know that it talking about more than just the king of Babylon at that time. Most Bible scholars believe because of the wording and language used in this part of the prophecy that through the words of judgment of Isaiah, that we also get a glimpse of the fall of Satan from his place as a created angel of worship in heaven. In context, the verses are about a heathen king that got too prideful, but the language also seems to allude to the day that Satan -- who was at first an angel created to lead the angelic hosts in worship -- became prideful and was cast down from heaven and became the "fallen angel" and the adversary and enemy of humanity.

We know from a similar passage of scripture in Ezekiel (see Ezekiel 28:13-19) that Satan was created as one of the prettiest angels and was given talent and skill to praise and worship God like no other angel. Most people today think of the devil as some evil looking, hideous monster or as a guy in a red suit with a pitch-fork and a tail, but all of that is just the wild imagination and fantasies of humans. The scriptures describe that Satan was created as a beautiful angel with a "covering" of beautiful jewels and a great anointing from God upon his existence. It was precisely this beauty and ability that caused Satan to become prideful and decide that rather than worshipping the true, living God whom had created him, that he was worthy of such worship. We find this attitude express in our text in Isaiah:

Satan wanted to be like God. He wanted to be worshipped. And so it was for pride that he was cast down from the heaven to roam the earth and try to get as many people to spend eternity in torment as he can. Just so you know, the scriptures in our text go on to prophesy of his ending:

This bright and beautiful angel's final destination is hell! He will be cast into a place of lasting torment. In fact, we find that not only is hell a literal place, but it was created for the devils and the angels whom he tricked into following him into rebellion. The end of the devil has already been spelled out by the God who cannot lie:

And so the devil will lose this holy war! He will end up in eternal torment for his rebellion. And because of this fact, some have asked, "well, if God has already stated how that Satan will spend eternity, and if the devil knows this, then why does he even bother?" It's a good question, but one that's easily answered. The devil, in his pride and rebellion, still thinks that he is better than God Almighty and that he can win. He also wants to take as much of God's prized creation, you and I, with him to hell as he can, as a way of trying to "get back at God." And so Satan has launched a massive campaign in this world to deceive human beings into taking no thought for their eternal destination. He is waging a massive war to promote everything that is ungodly and sinful and every abominable lifestyle that he can. He is active in our churches trying to get your focus off the true light of the world, Jesus Christ, and get you so caught up with sin, or the cares of life, or comfort, or whatever that you fall away and do not pursue an active and close relationship with God. Why? Because he knows that he will fall and burn forever, but if he can trick you into disregarding the commandments of God. From drawing closer to God. From serving Jesus Christ with everything in your life. Then you are doomed to not make it to everlasting life.

The scriptures talk of those who will "believe a lie and be damned" and so the devil acts upon that and tries to get you to believe a lie so that you will be lost. He knows that God sends no human to hell and in fact died on the cross to save us from such a fate by giving us a plan of salvation to follow. But if you choose to live ungodly and against the commandments of love and instruction of God, then you have, in effect, sent yourself to hell by your own choice. Satan knows that he doesn't have to necessarily get you to directly worship him, but if he can get you more involved and to put more priority on other things than Jesus Christ, that the end result will be the same. Satan has an agenda and that is to trap people by getting them bound with the chains of sin, so that they do not even desire to change but justify themselves rather than allow God to cleanse them and recreate them in His image again! This beautiful angel that was created to praise God and yet fell because of his pride, wants you to become so engulfed in your pride that you would never bow a knee or admit that you need God and His Word in your life. That you would push away any Godly authority or preaching from your walk. That you would do things "your way" and "be your own man" and "do yourself proud." Because he knows, that if you just that, then you will have caught the same spirit and thus reap the same judgment that he will experience! Satan, the fallen angel, has an agenda today!

And yet despite knowing this and that they have an enemy of their soul, yet some people fall for the same traps over and over and over again! Why is that? Why does it seem that some Christians even fall for the same trap of sin over and over and over? Why does it seem that some never learn that when I go against the Word of God, there will quite literally be "hell to pay?" It's because the devil doesn't come to you with a grotesque mask and an ugly face. He doesn't present sin as bad or ugly and as worship to a gruesome creature. He is still a beautiful angel, and so his best tactic, his main tool, is to make sin appear beautiful and something to be desired. That's what he did to Eve in the garden. That's what he still does to us today.

In Paul's second letter to the people in the church in Corinth, he warned against this method of Satan:

Paul was saying "don't be amazed that the devil tries to make evil look good and good look evil, because he, himself, appears as an "angel of light." Simply put, Satan doesn't win his greatest converts through force or open rebellion, but rather subtle lies. He doesn't come to you with a pitchfork and a mask and try to force you to live against God's Word. If he did that, then most of you would easily identify him and avoid his traps, so instead, the devil appears to us as what could at first glance be taken for a messenger of God. He tries to appear as an angel of light. He presents sin as the way to go. He tries to paint disobedience to God's Word as not only normal but a path that is blessed and fun. He tries to portray living against God's Word as "freedom" and true fulfillment. He is a master disguiser. He can take a desert and convince people that it is a vineyard. He can take sand and convince people that it's as safe to build upon as a rock! The evil one comes to us with the worst of intentions and destinations and yet presents himself to humans "as an angel of light!"

Understanding that, you can now begin to comprehend why, in our text in Isaiah, it is Satan that is called the morning star and "Lucifer" which literally means "light giver." The New International Version of Isaiah 14:12 reads like this:

Now we know that Satan isn't really the pure, light and the unique One of glory, that is a title for Jesus Christ! But the title "morning star" is used here because Satan tries to appear like Jesus Christ. He wants to be like God, remember? And so he tries to present sin and his evil self as pure and unique and exciting as the light of Venus in the morning time. He wants to appear as a morning star because he wants to replace Jesus in your life. Satan tries to present his ways as the paths that will lead to the darkness and depression of your life being chased away. He tries to make you think that "he has the light in which you need to walk." But here in this scripture, God turns the imagery around on him and says "you're trying to be the morning star alright, but you been cast down from your place in the heavens." The imagery here is again of the beautiful, bright planet Venus rising before the sunrise and yet disappearing when the true rays of the sun shine over the horizon. God is saying, "you tried to exalt yourself like the morning star and yet my light outshines and engulfs you and you will lose your place in the heavens!" So although Lucifer is referred to as the "morning star" here, it is not a positive reference. It is in a negative sense, the only time the morning star is used negatively in scripture.

With all of this in mind, let me share with you some facts:

When you compare the planet Venus with Earth, you will find that in all of the general figures, they are very similar to each other. Venus is just about the same size as the earth. It's mass is 85 percent of the earth's mass. The gravitational forces at it's surface is 90 percent of the earth's. When you view it through a large telescope, you will immediately see white clouds over a blue atmosphere that closely resemble earth's clouds. Not only that but the clouds are "always there" and you can never get a glimpse through the clouds to actually see the surface of the planet Venus.

I did a little historical research and found that because of all of this similarity of Venus and Earth's vital statistics and the fact that cloud cover never allowed us to actually see the surface, that in the late 1800s and the first half of the 1900s people's imagination went crazy with "what might be there." In 1884, a former theology student who was also a semi-professional astronomer in France named Camille Flammarion wrote a book in which he reasoned that since Venus has "nearly the same dimensions, the same weight, the same density, the same surface gravity" as Earth that it must also have rain and water and possible life. After all, those clouds on Venus through the telescope looked very similar to Earth. Another well-known astronomer and very educated French man named Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre also fantasized about Venus being like one huge tropical forest of earth, with lush vegetation and plenty of water and even theorized that if there were life there they might resemble "the happy islanders of Tahiti." His book had pictures drawn by him of what he thought life on the pretty planet Venus would be like.

The French were not the only ones to let their imagination run away with what might be on Venus. In 1888, a scientist named Garrett Serviss studied Venus and suggested in his best-selling book that Venus might "furnish the breath of life to millions of intelligent creatures...!" A well-known chemist who eventually won the Nobel Peace prize, Svante Arrhenius in 1918 suggested that Venus was "a dripping wet" nursery of short-lived plants. The science fiction magazines had a field day with what might be on Venus and even as late as 1960, the science journalist G.Edward Pendray, founder of the American Rocket Society, proposed that "Venus may turn out to be a wonderful place to live... like Florida all over." Those white clouds that appeared so much like earth gave "wings" to the wildest imaginations of human beings. Once again the "morning star" had captivated the minds of human beings.

All the guess work changed in the mid 60s when Russia began sending space probes to Venus every nineteen months. They called their little robotic ships, "Venera." At first they were not successful. Venera 1 and Venera 2 both died on the way to Venus. Venera 3 hit Venus but had already stopped transmitting data back to earth before it crash landed into the planet. Venera 4 parachuted into as close as 16 miles above the Venus landscape and reported back unexpected numbers and temperatures before it died. The next three attempts were all failures and then finally on July 22, 1972, Venera 8 landed safely and survived for nearly an hour and the information that was transmitted back to earth blew all the crazed human theories out of the water.

They found that despite it's pretty appearance and seemingly likeness to Earth, that Venus was no Tahiti and not anything like living in Florida! It's surface is not wet, but dry -- at least a hundred times dryer than Earth. It's average surface temperature is a blistering 864 degrees Fahrenheit -- the hottest of all the planets; hot enough to make the rocks on the surface of the planet glow red like in a huge oven. The atmosphere is 97 percent carbon dioxide, with too little oxygen to measure and it's pressure, 90 times that on Earth at sea level, approximates that experienced by sea divers on earth at about 900 meters -- in other words enough to crush a deep-sea diving suit and most certainly was what took out the first few space probes. The pretty white clouds that were seen from earth? They turned out to not be water vapor at all but were a chemical very similar in composition to battery acid! The surface of Venus turned out to be nothing close to green or brown, but everywhere had a distinctive dark reddish tint. To quote a secular astronomer, Timothy Ferris who was reviewing the data and pictures from Venus: "even a fervent nonbeliever who found himself on Venus could be excused for thinking, during the few moments of life remaining to him, that he was in hell!"

That beautiful planet called "the morning star" was not what it seemed beneath it's pretty exterior. It ended up being quite the opposite of what it appeared to be. And in that way also, Lucifer is the "morning star." Sin is not what it seems on the outside. Satan paints it up and puts pretty package on it, but in the end, when you get beneath the clouds that look so pretty, it turns out to be a desolate place of torment! Like Venus, it causes wonder to view from the outside, but your fantasy of how great it will be always gives away to the reality of torment and trouble and the "heat" that it brings.

Lust and sensuality beckon on every corner as something to be desired, but beneath it's clouds are broken marriages, destroyed trusts, and ruined lives.

"It's Miller Time" the ads proclaim and yet beneath the clouds of that "good time" is the fastest growing addiction in America. Beneath it's pretty white clouds are the abuse, the promiscuity, the health problems, and the hangovers.

Living for the moment and doing as you please and giving in to rebellion seems at first to be an appealing place to live, but the clouds are covering the bitterness and the unhappiness and the lack of fulfillment and emptiness underneath!

Relativism says that nothings really right and wrong anymore and that only narrowed minded people believe that the scripture is to be literally obeyed nowadays. But beneath the clouds are fears, doubts, chaos, and the complete absence of peace.

I read this week where environmental scientists are studying the planet Venus because they are worried that it's prophetic. Our planet is very similar to Venus and because of industrial pollution the average temperature has been steadily rising for the past hundred or so years. And so some scientists have said that "the worrying question when looking at Venus from our polluted planet is whether it presents us with a vision of our potential future." They are worried that because of our actions here on earth we might end up like Venus.

I'm not too worried about that, but I do have a greater concern: those who look at the seemingly blue skies and outwardly shining light of sin and think that it is a better way to live. Their actions in choosing such a place will turn out in disaster and torment and trouble, because like Venus, sin is nothing as it seems at first glance or experience. When you get beneath the initial impression and get beyond the facade, there is nothing but hell and pain and suffering that lasts a lifetime! But the devil has an agenda and so he doesn't want you to think about the price of sin. The devil has tried to portray hell as a party and as a fun place to go. He's succeeded in making it very "non kosher" to preach about hell anymore. I've preached it before, Jesus spoke on hell more than any other subject. You've maybe seen the signs around San Antonio advertising a particular church and it says "hell and judgment not included." I agree that it's not the church's place to judge the outside world and condemn them, but a preacher who will not warn you about hell is not anything like Jesus Christ! We need to be reminded of it! We need to be reminded that:

And so I remind you that Jesus Christ is the better morning star! Satan will make you promises but once you get through the pretty surface that he is showing you, you will be sorely disappointed and hurt. But Jesus Christ calls to you with forgiveness and the promise of a new life. And He's upfront about what it will cost. He tells you plainly that you will "be hated for my names sake." And that "all who live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." He plainly told those who were contemplating Him to "count the cost." Salvation is free but discipleship will cost you everything. It will take the giving up of some sinful habits. It will take the letting go of some old hurts and unforgiveness. It will take learning to live as He did in this world. Jesus said:

You have it up front. That's the cloud cover. That's what you can see and read before you get into this thing. There will be some tough decisions. There will be some bad days. There will be some times when your family is divided among the believers and the unbelievers; between those who trust the Living God and those who do things their own way. You will have to take up your cross to serve Him. You will have to overcome the past and let go of bitterness and allow Him to heal some wounds. Living for Jesus will cost you something. But Jesus went on to say in the very next verse:

If you "lose your life for my sake" you will find it! And so I'm here to preach to you that despite it costing you some sacrifice to live for Jesus that He is a better morning star than anything that this world has to offer! Jesus Christ will not put up a front and then disappoint you, but for those who are willing to dive in and get beyond the clouds of sacrifice and selflessness and persecution. Those who are willing to count the cost and say "I'll choose to live my life as Jesus desires." "I'll lose my life for His sake." When you get beneath all of the clouds of sacrifice, you will find that He is much better than even advertised! Jesus Christ will not only never disappoint you, but He will amaze you with His power and grace and mercy and anointing and the blessings that He has for you! He is truly able to do "exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can ask or think!" Not only can He reverse the curse of sin in your life, but He will never let you down. He's the friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He's the better morning star.

Now perhaps you can know why Jesus promised:

Hear what the Spirit is saying, today! Jesus Christ cannot fail. The gods of this world will fall. Sin will always take you further than you wanted to go and keep you further than you wanted to stay. But Jesus Christ is the better morning star! Worship Him!