It was late one Friday night when Miu Hikaru placed the book she was reading on the floor of the balcony. Placing her knees close to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs, she turned her dark-brown eyes towards the heavens, admiring the beauty of creation.

Miu, a girl in her late teens with both Japanese and African ancestry, had smooth tawny skin and curly hair – a very dark shade of brown – that almost reached her shoulder blades and, at the moment, framed her peace-filled face. She wore a tallow T-shirt that was a few sizes too big for her and pair of blue shorts.

As was her custom every Friday night, she sat on the balcony, lost in quiet meditation on what she had just read. The sun had set a few hours ago and she loved being out on the balcony where she’d have a perfect view of her Lord’s work. She glanced down at the book beside her and her world dissolved from around her.

---

Miu was now in an ancient land; she had left her physical body behind. She was now invisible, insubstantial. She could now observe a world of her own creation inspired by her reading. This is how she meditated. A bit juvenile, she knew; it had started when she was a young girl and stuck with her ever since. But, she found, it worked.

Miu was not surprised by the slight movement beside her. A dark figure was glaring at a building of unusual significance considering it was only a stable.

“So, it has happened,” the figure muttered. He needn’t say any more. Miu knew his thoughts:

This is what the Scriptures predicted. Coming as a human indeed… Immanuel, they’d said. Well, He’s here now. But He won’t last long. My influence is great and lust for power can be a great motivator; I will make His own kind perform the execution. Even in the dark, Miu could see him sneer. He’ll never finish what He set out to do.

However, Miu knew, the shadowy figure’s plan backfired. Having been warned by a messenger of the Most High, the adoptive father of the figure’s quarry brought the family into hiding. Ironic as it may have been, they had found sanctuary in the land of Egypt, the nation that had persecuted them and enslaved their people only centuries before.

He had failed. The tetrarch, though easily swayed, had not been able to kill the Child. The Almighty had protected Him. The tetrarch did not last long afterward and with his death, and thus the death of his power-hunger, the Child was able to return to His land.

He had been able to grow, to learn more about the Scriptures. He grew and became strong in spirit and filled with wisdom. The grace of God was upon Him. (1) After one Passover Feast, He astonished the religious leaders with His knowledge and curiosity. (2) He was baptised bas a man by the son of His mother’s kin.

Then came the temptation.

Miu was now in an untamed area. Desolate… except for a single figure. A dark-skinned man knelt in the dirt with His eyes closed. He was praying.

He had been led here by the Spirit, a Spirit that was rightly His (3) by inheritance from His Father.

All things the Father has are Mine. (4)

Miu’s Lord had been fasting 40 days in preparation for the temptation He was to endure. Her hair moving slowly as if fluttering in an unfelt wind, she hovered closer to Him. She knew He was hungry.

Miu heard Him sigh. He got to His feet knowingly, His eyes still closed. He turned towards the figure that He knew stood behind Him, the stones and dirt crunching beneath His sandals. Neither Miu nor the dark-skinned man was surprised by what they saw.

Heylel, (5) Lucifer, on of the morning, (6) as beautiful as he always was. However, Yahshua (7) was not deceived. He was the One who made him (8), so He knew that it was this very beauty with which he was blessed that ended up being the very thing that weighted him down, filling his previously perfect (9), untainted heart with darkness.

Lucifer’s brilliant wings brought back memories. Centuries before, He’d commanded the Israelites to build a tabernacle; one that was a shadow of what was in heaven. (10) On either side of the “mercy seat”, representing the throne of the Almighty, was a winged golden cherub. Lucifer had once been the ‘anointed one who covers’ (11) before he had to be punished for his sin; he and his fallen followers were thrown into Tartarus, (12) a place of restraint.

Miu knew what was to follow.

Attempting to win over the sinless, he flexed his beautiful wings. He words were carefully chosen.

Miu’s dark eyes took in what occurred next and it made her heart swell with serene joy. Her Lord had overcome every obstacle that Satan placed before Him. “It is written,” He’d said every time, using the very Scriptures Satan attempted to use against Him.

Now, high on a mountain that loomed over the nations of the world, Miu saw Heylel fuming. His rage would be enough to distort the beauty of any human, but not him. Nonetheless the absolute hatred she saw in his eyes was he looked towards Jesus was unmistakable as the sun in a clear midday sky

As Lucifer vanished, Miu knew his renewed objective: to kill Him. Whatever happened, he had to destroy the One he could not win over. Then, the victory would be his…

Miu watched Jesus close His eyes and sigh. He knew what awaited Him. He counted on Lucifer’s pride, his unruly desire for superiority and his murderous nature. He had to die. The law of His Father pointed directly to Him. He and His Father were righteous; a righteous God must punish sin and the penalty of sin is death. (13) Thus, He would take the sins of the world upon Himself so anyone who chooses may accept the gift He would so freely offer and be freed for the penalty of death. (14) He loved the people of the world; in order to save them, His death was the only option.

Satan tried many times to being the young man down from His pedestal and into the grave. And almost every time he failed. He enlisted the help of many: Jews who thought Him a blasphemer, (15) religious leaders who feared losing their positions of power… But He found a way to avoid death until it was His time.

The great deceiver was as clever as they come: he tried an inside job. Judas Iscariot betrayed his Master and within yours Yahshua was nailed to a Roman cross.

Miu now beheld the scene. Her Saviour stripped to nothing to a loin cloth, blood and puss oozing from his lacerations, the flesh visible where His skin was torn away during the scourging…. Scarlet trailed led from the puncture-holes from his crown of thorns and ran down his dark face. His hair was matted with drying blood.

This was a sad moment indeed; the death of the Creator. At noon, the sun was prevented from sending down its light (16) and, of course, Lucifer was there to behold his handiwork.

Miu turned to Satan who stood beside her, before the dying Lord. The fury and loathing seemed to radiate from him now but Miu sensed that there was a bit of satisfaction there as well.

Now, victory is mine, you pathetic excuse for a deity, he mused. All will see that I am supreme. Your time is over.

And it was.

As Miu watched, the Son of God, flanked by common criminals, spoke His last:

“Father, into Your hands, I commit My Spirit.’ “(17)

With this final yell, He expired and a smug smirk appeared upon Heylel’s face.

“I win,” he muttered self-sufficiently before turning away, turning his back on his former Master’s corpse with utmost contempt and scorn.

However, his victory was short-lived. Following the resurrection of the One who he thought was forever gone, a battle ensued. (17) Upon returning to His rightful place in the heavens, the One Who Is Like God (18) fought with His righteous angels against Lucifer and his fallen followers. When next Miu saw Lucifer, there was a look of bewilderment on his handsome face.

“How did this happen?” he demanded of the empty air around him. “I was to be like the Most High!” (19)

Since their first rebellion, the unholy angels had been cast down to the earth, Tartarus, for containment; they were banished thus as a result of Satan’s master deception. (20) But the Almighty still allowed them visitation rights; there were times when the heavenly beings would gather before the Lord and the fallen were allowed to partake. (21) But now, they were banished forever from the kingdom of heaven (22)… Lucifer had lost.

“My time is short,” he murmured as the realization hit him like a brick. He knew what was to come at the return of the resurrected Lord; the righteous dead would awaken and the righteous living taken along with the newly risen to be with their Lord. (23) Those that chose death would be unable to withstand the brilliance of this spectacular even and would perish. He, Lucifer, would be left with no one to tempt and no chance for victory… and after a millennium of isolated torment, he and his followers would be thrust into the lake of fire; their ultimate destruction was the only thing that waited them. (24)

His body trembling with renewed fury, he stood up straight, his wings spread with unwavering determination.

“I will bring them with me,” he muttered. “He tried to save them, but I’ll make sure He loses them to the lake of fire. I’ll turn them away from Him. I may die, but I’ll do down with as many of those pathetic human fools as I can.” He smirked, pleased with his plan. “Won’t it break His heart to know that they chose death over Him…”

---

Miu got to her feet with a content look on her face. She walked forward and rested her small hands on the rail of the balcony. She breathed in deeply as the cool night breeze brushed against her dark skin, making her hair and clothes flutter slightly. She gazed appreciatively at the stars glistening against the darkness while the moonlight filtered into her brown eyes.

Using a hand to push some dark curls behind her ears, she closed her eyes.

My blessed Lord, thank You for all You have done for me. Thanks for dying for me, ensuring the victory over death and Satan that I am so undeserving of. Please come again soon so I can be with You forever.

A familiar voice called from behind her. “Miu! You’re still out there? Come inside, it’s late.”

Casting one final glance towards the sky, Miu turned. “Coming, Mama.” She walked over to the wall that was behind her; against which she’d been leaning while she sat quietly and read. She picked up the Bible and headed inside, closing the door behind her. Seconds later, the balcony light was switched off, and Miu yawned as she headed for bed.

(1) Luke 2:40

(2) Luke 2:46-47

(3) Romans 8:9, Galatians 4:6

(4) John 16:15

(5) Heylel: The original Hebrew word for “Lucifer” in Isaiah 4:12; apparent meaning: “brightness” or “shining one”

(6) Isaiah 14:12

(7) Yahshua: Jesus real name; translated for the Hebrew to mean “Yahweh is Deliverance” or “Yahweh is Salvation”

(8) Colossians 1:15-16, John 1:1-3

(9) Ezekiel 28:12-13, 15

(10) Hebrews 86, Exodus 25:18-20

(11) Ezekiel 28:14

(12) Tartarus: Greek word used for “hell” in 2 Peter 2:4

(13) Romans 6:23

(14) 1 Peter 2:24

(15) John 8:57-59, 10:29-33

(16) Matthew 17:45

(17) Luke 23: 45

(18) Who Is Like God: the English meaning of the word “Michael” in Revelation 12:7

(19) Isaiah 14:14

(20) Rev 12:4, Job 1:7

(21) Job 1:6

(22) Rev 12:9

(23) 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

(24) Hebrews 2:14, Ezekiel 28:16, 18