A Biography Of Satan Series

- This is considered one of the major Biblical passages in giving us details about Satan. Of course, it is written to the king of Tyre but the details (which we’ll unpack in the sermon) give ample reason to think this passage has two meanings.

- The first is a straightforward prophecy about the king of Tyre. Obviously some of the language is poetic.

- The second is what I’m going to call this evening “a biography of Satan.” We get a brief but insightful life story for Lucifer.

- This is helpful to us because there are many misconceptions about Satan. As we’ll discuss at various points in this sermon, much of the popular conception about Satan doesn’t match the Bible.

- We are not going to get into spiritual warfare tonight, although that is an interesting subject, but it’s worth mentioning here at the start. This is a worthwhile subject to look into because we need to know our enemy. The Scripture makes it clear that he is out for our destruction and so the more we know about him the better equipped we will be to fight him.

- The world we live in is a battleground, not a playground. We had better know the schemes of our enemy so that we don’t get trapped in them.

- So let’s look at the “biography of Satan” that Ezekiel gives us.

ORIGIN STORY: Satan began in an exalted position, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

- Ezekiel 28:12-14.

- That statement has a lot to it. Let’s take it piece by piece and look at the statements in our passages that give us that information.

a. “began”

- v. 13 - “on the day you were created”

- Satan is a created being.

- This is important to understand in order to keep him in the proper context.

- We know that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three are eternal. None of them were created. In fact, it’s a heresy to say that Jesus was created. It is fundamental to our theology to believe that Jesus was preexistent God. Why? Because for Him to be the perfect bridge between humanity and God He had to be fully human and fully God. His birth into the world is the miracle that it is in part because He is God Incarnate. This is a core theological conviction and one that we are unable to compromise on.

- On the other hand, Satan is a created being. God made him.

- One implication of this is that Satan and Jesus are not equal.

- Some people think of Satan and Jesus as the primary combatants in this spiritual battle that is our world and that it’s a battle of near equals, with Jesus maybe being slightly stronger. No. Jesus is God; Satan is not. They are not at all close in power - Jesus is infinitely more powerful.

- The problem is that the battle is over human souls and that's a battlefield where love is more valuable than power. - Jesus can’t “power” us into the Kingdom. No, He has to love us into the Kingdom. Because we as humans are so valuable to Jesus and because we have free will to choose for or against God, that is where the battle rages.

- But it’s important to note that Satan is a created being.

b. “exalted position”

- v. 14 - “You were anointed a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.”

- v. 14 has a lot of details that point to an exalted position. That's the good news. The bad news is that those details, while impressive, are ones that we are pretty fuzzy on the details concerning.

- First, “anointed” and “ordained.”

- Generally when we talk about “anointed” we are looking at someone set aside for a special purpose. I think of an - Old Testament prophet anointing a king who has been picked by God to lead the nation of Israel.

- Satan was “anointed,” which speaks of God choosing him for an important role.

- “Ordained” is similar. That has more of a sense of qualification for that role. He was chosen by God as being qualified to fulfill that role.

- In both cases, we are talking about starting from impressive heights in the role he had, being the greatest of the angels.

- Second, “guardian cherub.”

- Once again, we are limited in our knowledge. It would be great if the Bible had a chapter somewhere that defined the different levels of rank for the angels, but we don't.

- But we can deduce a couple things.

- Knowing the exalted place that Satan held, we can presume that “cherub” (or “cherubim”) is an important type of angel. Elsewhere in the Bible they seem to at least in part be focused on the worship of God. Another way to put that is they seem to be in the presence of God.