This need to be like God is at the very core of human nature. However, it existed before mankind was created. Wanting to be like God is the foundation upon which Sin stands. It began from one root cause that then deceived the multitudes.

But sadly, because God has given free will to both angels and men, this seed of Sin perpetuated itself no longer needing a deceiver. Now it became easy enough for both angels and men to deceive themselves. Because only “I” am relevant, only “I” am important.

 “I will make myself like the Most High.”  That statement came out of the mouth of satan, the god of this world back in eternity past…Isaiah 14:14. How do you think he spoke those words of betrayal? Was it spoken quietly in hushed tones? Was it spoken with excitement of one who is confident in his prideful boasting that this was now a foregone conclusion?

I think it was spoken with malice and forethought in arrogance and pride. It was the statement that reverberated throughout Heaven. It was the statement that banded together a group of rogue angels who rallied around Lucifer the Deceiver, the Archangel who had gone astray.

Lucifer the worship director of Heaven had now been given enough lead on his leash by God so he could create a rebellion against the very God who created him; along with the fallen angels who would now blindly follow their Deceiver.

Together they were allowed by God to wreak havoc first in heaven and then on the earth among a second race of beings that God would create…the race of mankind.

War erupted in heaven and then war covered the face of the earth. The battle was spiritual but its casualties were counted in untold billions of people made of flesh. The battle lines were clear because they were drawn as a line in the sand between two opposing forces.

The line in the sand is separated by the statements of both sides. There are the words of satan (a Fallen creature made by God), saying   “I will make myself like the most high”.

And the Words of the Living God as recorded in the book of Isaiah 45:22… “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.”

There are also two sides to the Greatest Story Ever Told. One side is veiled in deception and has been swallowed completely by the fallen angels along with fallen mankind.

That side is like a child’s bedtime story; filled with adventure made up of fairy tales, legends and myths.  A clever story with bits and pieces of truth wrapped up in lies so it can be believed. Yet this story is told at night in the darkness so your senses are dulled as you are rocked to sleep by this lullaby of deception as the words “I will make myself like the most high” penetrate your mind and your soul until you believe it.

God Himself tells the other side to this story. It is story of HIS TRUTH. It tells it like it is. Gods story is filled with prophecy about someone coming to save you from certain death. That Someone is Jesus who would die in your place, so that you would have eternal life rather than eternal death.

The story is unlike any other story you have ever heard. For this story was written in eternity past and now is coming to life daily before your eyes. It is a story of actual events in history played out through time…and you have a role to play in it.  No, it’s not set in stone, your choices in life will dictate your story as it unfolds on the pages of your individual book of Life.

This Greatest Story Ever Told, the story of God, begins in the night, but ends with the statement that would bring forth the Dawn of Eternity and a new race of spiritual beings and later a new creation of the heavens and a new cleansed and purified Earth.

That statement given by the Son of God proclaimed the Dawn of Eternity from HIS CROSS. Because He alone was born to be the CRUCIFIED.

A statement that put all the powers of Hell on notice that God had now established a beachhead in this war-torn place called Earth.

The war of the ages had finally reached the beginning of its end.

God planted HIS Sign into the Judean dirt in Jerusalem. The sign was the Cross; the wood upon which HIS Son Jesus hung. The statement was the one heard throughout the Created Universe, when Jesus the Lion of the Tribe of Judah roared forth Tetelestai… “IT IS FINISHED”

This scene of the life of Christ has been portrayed over and over showing a weak Christ giving up His Spirit to His Father and then whispering it is finished.

I have news for you. Christ came into this battleground called earth as a Lamb, but He left earth as the LION of the Tribe of Judah. That word Tetelestai still echoes throughout the Heavens.

Satan hears its echoes every day, since the Crucifixion of Jesus. And satan knows that his time is short and his ending is sure…and satan trembles before the God who made him and will UN- make him.

“Tetelestai.” The most powerful single word of all of Jesus ministry. It was also his last word. It was the word that turned this apparent tragedy into a scene of Victory that shook the earth, split rocks, changed history, raised saints from the dead and tore away the temple curtain that kept people out of the Holy of Holies.

“Tetelestai” doesn’t translate simply, we have to make a phrase out of it – “It is finished.” But still some of its power is lost in the translation. In the Greek, it implies that something has come to an end, it has been completed, perfected, accomplished in the full and that something has consequences that will endure on and on.

Luke 23:46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

Mark 15:37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.

Mathew 27:50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.