February 26, 2010
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Ezekiel 28 – lucifer, the king of Tyre by Pastor Don Moore
Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 speak about satan. There are supernatural and natural forces both active in the world. What we see in the natural also has supernatural components, from a hidden realm of information, a supernatural realm. The bad supernatural entities do not want us to know that they exist. The want us to think they are good.
Ezekiel 28:11-13 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.”
In this case the king of Tyre was a evil spirit, and Tyre was where he manifested. There are many governments that have had evil entities behind some of what they did – think of Adolph Hitler, Idi Amin. It is evil to kill masses of people. In Tyre, satan was behind the scenes. The physical ruler of Tyre is referred to as the Prince of Tyre, the king of Tyre was lucifer. Notice that satan was beautiful, covered with precious stones and his timbrels and pipes were prepared for him – he was the worship leader in Heaven. Music was used to accomplish what he did.
Ezekiel 28:14 You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
Cherubs are not the little cupid figurines we see today. The devil is happy to have us believe such lies though. God established lucifer, but then lucifer got proud and rebeled against God.
Ezekiel 28:15-16 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.
The trading for power caused lucifer’s downfall, he was created perfectly, but he traded to magnify himself over God. What is God’s picture of this?
1 Peter 2:13-16 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
God gives us free will and we can choose to either follow God or follow lucifer. lucifer can’t take our liberty, he needs our will to cooperate in order for him to subject and oppress us.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring usf]’> in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
The answer of a good conscience is TOWARD God, through the resurrection of Christ.
1 Peter 3:22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.
The angels, and authority were subject to Him. Jesus went to hell and preached to those in hell.
2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
Jesus did not spare the angels who sinned. Why? We operate in the realm of the “seen” what we can see. We don’t see the Father sitting on a throne, but the angels in heaven do. Dr. E.B (who died and was restored to life), came back and spoke of heaven, saying that no matter which direction you look in Heaven, you see the throne. Saved or forgiven, you are not accountable for what you didn’t know but angels had all the information. Those who disobeyed and sinned did so knowing what they did.
2 Peter 2:5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
2 Peter 2:8-9 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,
When things are so bad, people need to be delivered. There is no problem that is too big for God to deliver us from. But what will prevent our deliverance is if we are unjust, and refuse to obey God, preferring lawless deeds to the truth of God.
2 Peter 2:10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,
This gets heavy, presumptuous and self-willed. Love cannot exist where there is no free will.
2 Peter 2:11-12 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,
They need to be caught and destroyed.
2 Peter 2:13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you,
Carousing in the daytime and in their own deceptions while they feast.
2 Peter 2:14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.
Their eyes are full of adultery, they cannot cease from sin and can’t stop what they are doing. They listen to the voice of evil and can’t stop.
2 Peter 2:15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness
They will do anything to trade for power and might, including enticing believers to sin.
2 Peter 2:16-17 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds
i would love to have 18 inches of snow! i didn’t get any snow this year (since im in cali), 1st time in 4 years i did not have a white christmas. 
This is not the 1st time I’ve heard the Ezk. 28 passage as a means of describing Lucifer. In fact, some use this to suggest that Lucifer once walked in the garden with God, and that then would indicate the fall of Lucifer came “after” the creation of the garden. Though we do acknowledge the existence of principalities and the influence of evil spirit, including Satan, among leaders of nations, however… is that what is being talked about here? Let’s examine a few things.
First of all, prophecies are never (at least to my knowledge, if otherwise extremely rare) ever spoken against spirits. Prophets are God’s spokesman, speaking to the people. Typical OT prophets are usually covenantal lawsuit prophets, even those who speak against foreigners were speaking against people’s wickedness by God’s law. So if this is indeed a prophecy against Satan or any evil spirit, it would be the only one, while all the other prophecies are against man. So what is more likely?
2nd thing about prophecies is that they are often poetic and described like parables, using allegories and metaphors. Is this the case here? This picture talks about Eden. We don’t know if Satan ever walked in Eden, but we do know 1 person did… Adam. If this is talking about Adam, then Ezekiel here is comparing the King of Tyre’s corruption and fall with that of the fall of man in Eden. We know this because the 9 stones listed were among the 12 worn by priests in God’s holy place. (ex. 28:17-20) So there’s a comparison of the king to a fully clothed ordained priests, allusion also to Adam as God’s 1st priest. This is also in the allsion of the cherub, remember the cherubim in Gen 3 were stationed at the garden… replacing Adam as the garden’s caretaker.
when we examine Scripture, we’re always examinging for “the reflection fo the text”… the “most likely interpretation.” the very 1st criterion is always whether it is exclusive. If an idea or phraseology only appears once, then it is a big signal to examine it deeper. The 2nd thing is to examine based on evidence of what we know, base on Scripture foundation. Eden is known as associated with man’s fall more than it does with Satan’s fall.
and when it comes to spiritual warfare, we must remember… not to remain in the 2nd heaven view, but to rise above to the kingdom view. many are unaware that by certain actions and beliefs, we “enable” the demons to have more power than they actually do, by crediting them the attentions they don’t deserve and freedom of power they do not have. for example, attributing certain scriptures to them as well as certain responsibilities. man is responsible for his choices and decisions, God will not allow us to excuse it to demons or satan. we can’t say to God “hey i sinned because satan influenced me” or “that demon made me do it.” hence why this prophecy against the king of tyre… it is unlikely it is a prophecy against the principalities, it is more likely as a prophecy against the actual king of tyre… Ethbaal II.
Aite, something for you to chew on. Good luck!
Heather, just coming by to see who is all still here on Xanga! It’s good to see that you are still teaching the Word of God! Blessings to you, sister!
I took a break, but, am coming back to blog, so, I will be looking for your updates!
Hugs!
Connie
@stylish_e - I am forwarding your comment to Pastor Don, but I have a few thoughts. Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 do seem to talk about the enemy and much of what is said there is verified in Revelation. There are many prophesies that are both people (history) based and end times based, and this is one of them. Just like the prophesies that portrayed Jesus’s coming, 1st and 2nd coming, also had their physical components that have been fulfilled – near and far fulfillment. That is what confused the priests of Jesus’ day who expected a victorious king, not a suffering innocent lamb for slaughter. The truth is that Jesus is both, but the different aspects are manifested at different times.
As far as I can see from Genesis 1, the fall must have occurred somewhere between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 because God would NOT create something without form and void, so what happened to make the earth without form and void? Most probably we can speculate the fall of satan. What satan did in the Garden is what he does even today, tempt people with the same things that he fell for himself. He tempted Eve to want to usurp God’s power by eating the fruit to gain knowledge to be LIKE God, same thing mentioned in these passages of Isaiah and Ezekiel. He also uses the Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life. The same things that he used to tempt satan in the wilderness.
What happens in the Physical is not the only thing that happens, we are taught by Paul that there are principalities and powers that influence the earth, these principalites and powers are what is referred to in Ezekiel and Isaiah. If satan did not walk in the garden, what tempted Eve? And Adam and Eve did try to pass the blame -Adam to the Woman that God gave him (passed the blame to both the woman and God), Eve to the serpent. Yes, both of them made the CHOICE to sin. Yet, the enemy cast the doubt and questions that caused them to make the choice. Adam and Eve could have refused satan’s ideas, but they didn’t.
Yes, we need to maintain a kindom view, but our kingdom is here on earth while we are living, and it would be very foolish to not understand the enemy since Jesus wants us to have dominion here until His coming. God would not leave us unarmed and ignorant of satan’s devices, which is why I think that these passages were included, to show us enough about the enemy so we can be armed and dangerous to him.
Heather
Hmm, yes there are implications in the OT concerning prophetics of future events, such as the coming of Christ, etc… However, majority of the text are prophecies were never meant to be taken out of the context it was placed in and often can be dangerous when we try to do that. Some people used OT prophecies to describe the 911 bombing of the twin towers and the forecoming of the end of the world, these are taking OT prophecies against the nations then during that time period and applying it irresponsibly to modern day. Therefore we have to examine each case carefully, and draw upon the most likely interpretation, not to assume too much with the “default” view of the text “as is.”
One thing I do challenge believers on these passages is… have you considered where your information about Lucifer came from? Majority of Evangelicals are completely unaware that Scripture doesn’t really mention anything concerning Lucifer! Our whole concept of Lucifer, being the most beautiful angel and God’s greatest lover, wanted to be God, and then fell from heaven because of this arrogance… is a remenant of our Catholic history, a religion that was formulated from a pagan cult based on Neo-Platonic duality philosophy. And because we keep such ideas in our head when we read Scripture, we end up drawing our own conclusions based on these biases.
Here are some intriguing questions:
If Satan IS God’s greatest lover… then we assume he was intimate with God and in which the love he has is drawn from the love that God is. Remember, God IS love. If Satan is God’s greatest lover, he would then be considered one who “knows” God in depth and intimacy, not unlike any of the prophets such as Jeremiah, Isaiah, etc… How then can one who has tasted “irresistable grace” then not understand all that which God is? So much so to be corrupted and then even to imagine he can possibly surpass God, which is perfection?
Also, he who is capable to love God, MUST be one who is capable of God’s love. He who loves God, must be in fact a reflection of God. Then Satan must be created in God’s image, else he would not be capable of loving God at all. God IS love. People never really gave it a thought, there is only 1 person mentioned in Scripture that was created in God’s image, which ironically was created “to love God”…. yeah Adam. These are all theories, you don’t have to agree. But it does bring up questions, doesn’t it? People never wondered, was Satan really in the garden? Scripture never mentioned it, we just assumed the snake is Lucifer because somewhere during our children’s Sunday school, someone told us so.
But I digress, let’s return to the topic at hand:
Yes, there exist the principalities which we’re called to face. However, again, we have to understand the roles of the nabim, which are spokesmen of God “to the people.” Prophets prophecize to the people, not to the principalities, hence the consequences fall unto the people regardless of the principalities. Isaiah 14:13-15 is what led most people to believe this passage is talking about Lucifer, but this is only because prior to reading this, we already have a preconceived idea of Lucifer as this cliche of an angel that wanted to be like God and then casted down. This is not Scripturally based, but a Catholic story, based on their pagan roots. Now, erase those bias, read the text as it is. A quick cultural study of mesopotamian culture will reveal that kings during those times were regarded as “gods,” and not unusual for one to be considered enthroned in heaven, no matter what religion they believed in. This belief actually goes much farther out, including Chinese, Japanese, and many of the ancient cultures. So knowing this cultural fact, then this passage is very clear as a rebuke of an arrogant king. Now, whether one wants to equate that he is “tempted” by Satan or not is a different question, but we do know certainly this is a prophecy against the king of Babylon.
Concerning Spiritual Warfare:
Ephesians passage on the “armor of God,” a popular passage used to call believers to arm themselves for spiritual warfare. However, when read carefully, the passage never called people to go and cast out demons, or do intercessions, or exorcists, etc… it said to combat the principalities by “standing firm in faith.” Every element mentioned in the Ephesians armor passage is for us to be equipped so we can stand firm in faith and walk blamelessly and upright.
Anyhoo, I like to talk more about Eden, but those are materials for my 2nd book. However, I will leave you with this thought… Strictly from the text, we know the garden has 3 people. God, Adam, Eve. You asked, who tempted Eve? Well, Eve is the tempted. God is just God. …. who is the actual tempter? Where was Adam when Eve was being tempted? hmmmm ….
hope I jot your brain to intrigue!
I left you a secret message!
@YouTOme - LOL, I love snow – but would prefer it Camelot style – beautiful to play in for the evening, and then disappears by morning.
haha. Thats a cute way of putting it. Same here.
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