The origin of Satan Ezekiel 28:1-19
A young man went to the drugstore and he told the man behind the counter that he wanted three boxes of chocolates and he said he needed to have them all wrapped up and he’d be back to pick them up in about an hour. So, when he came back the druggist asked him why he needed three boxes of chocolates and he said, “I’ve got a date with the prettiest girl in town tonight and if she lets me hold her hand I’m going to give her the small box but if she lets me put my arm around her I’m going to give her the medium size box but if I get to kiss her I’ll going to give her the big box.”
Well, when he went to her house to pick her up and she said, “Why don’t we stay and have dinner with my family and he said, “Sure, sounds like a great idea.” And as they sat down to eat her father asked him if he would say the blessing. Well, he started praying and he prayed for all the missionaries in the world, the pastor of every church in town and the needs of everyone he could think of. He went on and on and on and finally he said, “Amen.”
After supper they went for a walk and she said to him, “I didn’t know you were so spiritual and then he said, “I didn’t know your father owned the drug store.”
“The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, (that’s Tyre) thus saith the Lord GOD; because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: with thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: by thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
(Now, listen carefully, because there’s a change here in terms of who is being addressed because God began by speaking to the king of Tyre but rather than calling him the king, He called him the prince and here He’s actually addressing one He refers to as the king and who it is, is the spiritual power that’s behind the throne.)
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, thus saith the Lord GOD; thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground; I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.”
A story was told about an Arab who woke up one night and he was really hungry. So, he lit a candle and reached for a bowl of fresh dates. He bit into the first one and he saw a worm so he spit it out and threw the date out the door. Then he took a second one and the same thing happened. Well, when he realized he was going to end up going to bed hungry, he blew out the candle and enjoyed the rest of his dates. You see, man loves darkness rather than light and he lives by the creed that what he doesn’t know; won’t hurt him.
I don’t think we need to be experts in evil but we do need to be aware that we have an enemy who will do everything he can to keep us from being saved and then when we do get saved; he does every thing he can to keep us from being used by God.
Last week we looked at the antichrist in Daniel 11 and this morning I want to look at the person who is behind the antichrist and that of course is Satan himself.
I heard a comedian on T.V. one night talking about the devil and he said he came to the conclusion that Satan was a lot like Santa Claus and it was probably just his father dressed up in a red suit; and as Christians I often wonder if we treat the person of Satan any different. You see, we see Satan as the sole purpose for explaining the presence of sin, in a world that was created by a perfect and a holy God, and then we act as though he simply ceases to exist.
C.S. Lewis wrote, "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race has fallen about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight."
So, on the one hand we realize none of us are called to be demon hunters but on the other; we have to realize that we are in a spiritual battle. And what I hope to do today is to help us to understand just who Satan is and where he came from, what his goals or intentions are, where he’s going to end up and how he’s going to appear and then I’ll conclude with how we are to defend our selves against his attacks.
Now, this passage in Ezekiel 28 is controversial from the standpoint that even conservative theologians are divided in terms of its interpretation. Some think the whole thing is a lot of figurative language that’s used to describe a king who was totally full of himself and then there are others like myself; who take the approach that the first ten verses describe an earthly king while the next nine deal with the spiritual power which is behind his throne and that’s Satan. So, from that perspective:
I First, we’ll look at the earthly prince of Tyre.
a) And I want you to understand that this is describing an actual king who was extremely vain or simply full of himself. And you have to realize that vanity is more than just pride; it’s the kind of feeling that the one who has it doesn’t even recognize it. It’s like someone who’s old and decrepit; acting like they’re young and beautiful.
In almost every list of sins, pride or vanity is considered to be the original and the most serious of sins because they’re the ultimate source of all sin. And as someone said pride is simply identified as an excessive love of self. I heard about a young woman who had been saved and before she had been she was always obsessed with the latest beauty secret and the newest fashion trends. One day she said to her pastor, “I need some advice to help me to have victory over a terrible sin.” And he asked, “Which one?” And she said, “I’m afraid I’m guilty of the sin of vanity. Twice of every day I look in the mirror and I tell myself how beautiful I am.” And he said, “In your case, that’s not a sin; it’s simply a mistake.”
A person who is obsessed with themselves is someone we call an egomaniac. (Don’t you hate people like that? You try to talk about yourself and you can’t get a word in edgewise.)
Let me give you some historical background for the city of Tyre and then you’ll understand why this king and the people of Tyre were so proud and obnoxious. Tyre was one of the capital cities of Phoenicia which was one of the great world powers of ancient days and most archaeologists believe that the Philistines had been Phoenicians who had migrated into Israel.
The word Tyre means rock and it was called this because just off the shore of Tyre lay two large rocks that were joined underwater by a three thousand foot reef. This formed a natural breakwater that provided them not only with one of the greatest harbours in the world but also with a natural means of defence. Their ships were safe in all kinds of weather and no one could just sail straight into their harbour. And then by using the natural resources of their land and taking advantage of the harbour they became experts at building boats, at shipping and all sorts of manufacturing.
And these Phoenicians were famous for being the first at several things. They developed the system of navigating by the stars; they wrote the phonetical alphabet and they invented the ledger method of bookkeeping. I mean, these people were smart. And here in two verses; we have six references to the wealth of this commercial empire which is described in great detail in chapter twenty-seven.
These people had the Midas touch when it came to business. They used their shipping expertise to search out the world for raw resources, then they employed their people in the manufacture of whatever goods were needed and then they delivered them to whoever wanted them.
So, it was their great wealth and their many accomplishments that gave both the king and his people this sense of security and smugness that the prophet Ezekiel was preaching against. They thought they were wise because they were rich and secure because their harbour made them inaccessible and the end result was a sense of obnoxious pride that permeated their kingdom.
b) And then we see the extent of the king’s pride in verse two where the prophet said to him, "You say, I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods." And this particular king, by the name of Ithobal II claimed to have descended from the gods and they say he actually occupied the throne in the temple of the god Melkarth but; when we go down to verses seven to eleven we see where God prophecies that not only would this king die but his kingdom would be destroyed as well.
Listen, this is the great equalizer of all mankind because no matter how rich, how powerful or how influential one is; we all come to the same end and it’s called the graveyard. I think the best illustration of this is found in Luke 16 where God sums up the lives of both the rich man and Lazarus and no matter how rich or how poor, how good or how bad each one was; in the end they both died. And isn’t that true of everyone? The powerful, the prosperous and the poor all die; without exception. And no one can buy five more minutes of time than God allows them to have.
And then as verse nine says; we all have to give account of ourselves to God. Look at the question the prophet asks the king in verse nine, "Will you still say before him who slays you, I am a god?" In other words, when he stands in the presence of God Himself and sees himself in light of who God is; the prophets is saying, you won’t be displaying the same kind of arrogance and pride that you did when you occupied the throne in the temple of Melkarth.
c) There are people in this world who have so given themselves over to certain kinds of sin; that they’ve become kindred spirits with Satan himself and they’ve allowed him to have full control of their lives. They are so sold out to his ways that they lose any resistance to his power and he possesses and uses them to accomplish his purposes and to influence people and situations to fulfil his objectives and that’s what I believe happened to this king.
And there are many examples of how people today can unintentionally fulfil the plans of Satan. For instance, he’s called the deceiver and he uses deception to manipulate people. So, whenever we do anything to deceive anybody to get them to see things our way or to go along with our plans no matter how insignificant they may be or how good our intentions are; we are actually doing the work of Satan. And we deceive when we tell a half truth as much as when we tell a lie. God is truth and Satan is the father of lies. So, if you love God you’ll love the truth and hate lies. We’re told in the scripture that the evidence we are Christians is that we love one another. So, if we love one another then we aren’t going to act like the devil toward each other or behind one another’s back. And since Satan is the ‘accuser of the brethren’ we have to realize that we are doing his job if we gossip or slander one another.
So, the question is, are we going to allow ourselves to be used by the Spirit of God who wants us to build each other up in the faith or are we going to be used of Satan to destroy one another. I think a good rule is, "If you’ve got nothing good to say about someone else...... don’t use the opportunity to display your carnal nature."
So, in the first ten verses we have an egotistical and ungodly king who claims he’s some kind of god and he’s being told that he’s about to make an in person appearance before the one and only God but then verse eleven indicates that a second prophecy is given. As I mentioned in verse two the king of Tyre is called the prince but in verse eleven it’s the king that’s being addressed. And it’s like the prophet is saying, Ithobal, you are called the king but there’s someone else behind your throne and he’s the one who really wields the power. And as we go through the description you can’t help but come to the conclusion that this is none other than Satan himself who is being described.
II The king of Tyre
a) God said to him, “Thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom and beauty.” And this term, ‘you seal up the sum’ means you are the epitome of perfection both inside and out and there was absolutely nothing lacking in terms of who you were or what you had. In other words, you were created with God’s stamp of perfection.
b) Verse thirteen says he was in Eden and other than God and Adam and Eve there was no one there except Satan who appeared in the form of a serpent during the temptation.
c) And then verse fourteen refers to him as the anointed cherub who covers and this had to do with his role prior to his sin of rebellion. Remember back in Exodus 25:9 when God designed the Ark of the Covenant and there were two angels, one was on either side and they spread their wings over the mercy seat. These angels were called the covering cherubs and they were guarding or watching over the mercy seat and their job was to cover the place where atonement would one day be made for salvation by the sprinkling of blood. These covering angels would have been subservient to Satan. So, Satan was an anointed cherub whose job was to guard the holiness of God.
d) And then he’s described further as being dressed or covered with every precious stone available from minute he was created. So, he couldn’t claim he was short changed or made to feel inferior to anybody else. And there’s also a reference to timbrels and pipes which were musical instruments and this has led many to speculate that Satan may have even been in charge of the worship of heaven.
The reference to his walking among the fiery stones is hard to figure out except that God Himself is described as a consuming fire and it’s possible that these fiery stones may simply refer to the very presence of God that he was privileged to spend time in. Simply put, Satan originally had uninterrupted access to the very presence of God Himself.
And just as God would judge the earthly king of Tyre He’s also going to judge the spiritual one. Verse fifteen says he was perfect when he was created but; iniquity was found in him and then there are several things mentioned that relate to his sin.
First, there seems to be an insatiable desire for more. Look again at verses 15 and 16, “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned.” The multitude of thy merchandise seems to indicate that somehow Satan had been involved in trading and accumulating and even though he had every thing he needed and then some, he began demanding more and more until he was finally expelled from the presence of God for his greed. His heart was lifted up because of his beauty and his pride corrupted his wisdom.
Go to Isaiah chapter 14 for a minute and see what God says through Isaiah about Satan’s downfall. In verse 12 it begins, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer!" And when He says this you can just imagine the fall that Satan took from the highest point of heaven to the lowest point of hell. I mean, he went from what he was described in Ezekiel 28 as being the most spectacular angel in the universe and he fell to the absolutely corrupted, vile, despicable and hated being that he is now.
And Isaiah 14 gives us a little bit of insight into what was going on in his mind before he fell because God records five statements that were made and every one of them begins with the words ‘I will.”
First, he said, “I will ascend into heaven” and remember, he was already in heaven, so what he was saying was; I’m going to occupy the very throne of heaven and take over God’s rite to rule that’s the idea of ascension.
And then second, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God” and that’s another way of saying, I’m going to take authority over the angels which means he intended to exert his authority over every bit of heaven.
And then the third "I will" is "I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the side of the north” and this seems to be a position that God favored but Satan wanted that too.
And then fourth, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds” and most commentators say that these clouds are referring to the glory of God and so, what he is saying is I’m going to be above the glory of God.
And then he sums it all up in his last "I will" by saying, "I will be like the Most High." And the term ‘the Most High’ is actually God’s title as possessor or owner of heaven and earth. So, what he’s saying is, everybody get out of the way because I’m here and I’m in charge!
But, God said in verse 15, “Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” So, when he fell he fell fast and every angel who followed him went with him and they’ll all be condemned and contained in hell forever, after God’s plans are complete.
It’s interesting that prior to his fall Satan was called Lucifer, the son of the morning and it meant ‘the shining one’ but after he sinned, God threw him out of heaven and gave him several names and they not only describe his character but they also give us some idea of the kind of things he does. There are many but I’ll just point out a few.
The name Satan means the adversary and this title is used fifty-two times in scripture and it tells us that he is the adversary or the enemy of God, the enemy of good angels, the Jewish people and all believers. The title prince of this world tells us he rules over an evil world system of angels and unbelieving people. Then the prince of the power of the air tells us he has power in the spiritual realms. The god of this age means he is the one who is worshipped by those who are committed to this present world system where he promotes false religion, humanism, materialism and a preoccupation with sensuality. He’s also called Beelzebub, the prince of the demons and Beelzebub is actually a derogatory term, it means "lord of the flies." The word devil simply means "the one who trips or makes us stumble." You see, he knows that if we stumble into sin that he can either make us quit serving God because we’re discouraged or he’ll use our sin to cause someone else to quit. The old serpent is what he’s called in Revelation and I’m sure this is a reference to his appearance in the Garden of Eden and it’s also a reference to his snakelike nature because he’s crafty, deceitful and subtle. He’s also called a roaring lion and they say lions don’t roar when they’re stalking their prey but they do roar just before they eat it. It’s like they want everyone know what they’ve done. And Satan likes nothing better than to advertise when he’s lured a believer into sin and that’s why it’s front page news when someone who preaches falls into sin. You see, Satan is roaring about his victory. Then there’s the name the evil one and that tells us he’s intrinsically evil and he’s not content with his own evil but he also wants to make everyone else is what he is. He’s called the destroyer in the book of Revelation because he wants to destroy everything and everyone; God loves. And he’s called the tempter and just as he tempted Lord Jesus in the wilderness, he tries to tempt you and I today by dangling things in front of us he knows God told us to stay away from because they’ll only cause us harm.
And then he’s called the accuser of the brethren and he doesn’t just accuse us to God but I’m sure he accuses us to one another and even accuses us to ourselves as he constantly reminds us how unworthy we are of the grace of God. According to the book of Job, he even goes before the throne of God and tells the Father that we aren’t worthy of His love and that we should never be used in His service. After all, he doesn’t want us to be saved and he certainly doesn’t want us to be rewarded for serving God. But, every time he stands up and says, he or she doesn’t deserve something, Jesus stands up and says, no they don’t, but I do and I’ve paid the price for their sin and everything I have I’m going to share with them. You see, that’s what Paul meant when he wrote in Ephesians 1:11 and said, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance.” Did you get that? Jesus is going to share with us the rewards the Father has given Him for being faithful and obedient. That’s our inheritance.
So, here we have Satan who was the most beautiful creature in creation who’s been transformed into the devil by his sin and from directing the worship of God he has become the arch enemy of God.
III So, what’s he doing now?
This much we’re sure of; Satan’s character, goals and methods haven’t changed since the beginning of time. He still hates God and since he knows he can’t do anything to God he attempts to hurt anything and anybody God loves. And he has many ways of doing this but let me just mention a few that relate to who he is.
First, there’s his deceptive nature. Satan was created perfect and he had such a sense of beauty that you and I couldn’t even imagine and since he fell, he not only lost this awesome appearance but because of his warped perspective he’s gone as far as deceiving himself into thinking that he’s worthy of our worship. He sees himself from the perspective of pride and those who are blinded by him think like he does and instead of realizing how repulsive they are as sinners in the sight of a holy God they actually think that somehow they’re acceptable. It’s really only when we realize repulsive we are that we understand something about how great Jesus is and how He condescended by coming into this sinful world to save us. Listen, He saved us because of His grace and not because of anything of value in us. So, our only defence against Satan’s deception is to stand firmly on the truth of the word of God and confess we are sinners who are saved by grace.
Second there’s Satan’s destructive nature. He feels fulfilled when he can take something pure and innocent and turn it into something vile and ugly. After all, that’s what happened to him and he tries to make everything over in his own image. And like an experienced fisherman he dangles a little temptation in front of us and then he reels us in if we bite. And if the sin doesn’t destroy us and our reputations are still intact he uses every bit of guilt he can muster, to remind us of the fact that we bit on the bait. So, our only defence against his destructive attacks is to be sure of our salvation and to remind ourselves daily that God saved us from all sin, whether it’s past, present or future.
And then third, there’s his desire to divide the body of Christ. He knows the word of God and he knows that Jesus told us to love one another and Jesus said our love would be the evidence to this world that Jesus has not only been here and but that He has made a difference in our lives. So, our love for one another is the evidence that we’re saved and it’s also one of the keys we have to be assured of our salvation.
So, as he reminds us of our failures and then points out every one else’s, remember that the best defence is a good offence. And whenever you’re tempted to say something derogatory about another believer; just say something good and let me tell you Satan won’t bring that temptation by too often because if it’s going to result in your being positive when you feel like being negative he’s not going to help. Or when someone else criticizes another believer rather than agreeing with them and adding fuel to the fire, have the guts to ask them what they’d say about you when you’re not around. And if this all sounds a little too radical then you aren’t aware of the fact that we’re in a spiritual battle and some of our side often do things that make them appear like they’re on the other side.
You see, we have a tendency to assume that Satan is the power behind all the drugs, violence, prostitution and pornography in this world and I’m sure he is but, I believe his main concern according to scripture is to stop the work of God and he does this by either discrediting or discouraging those who witness. Well, someone might ask," How successful is he?" Well, you tell me. Are you witnessing for the Lord or has the devil somehow managed to silence you? Has he deceived you into thinking that you have nothing of value to say, has he destroyed your assurance of salvation by reminding you of past sin and keeping you from the word or has he used you to be the accuser of the brethren to the point that you no longer enjoy the fellowship of other believers?
We all have to get back to the basics. Remember, we’ve been saved by the blood of the lamb and that’s our testimony, not our good works and not our dynamic conversion. Don’t accept Satan’s message that you have nothing to say because just as the Lord saved us from sin committed prior to salvation; He forgives us for sin that’s committed after salvation; if we confess and forsake it. And never accept Satan’s word that you’ve lost your salvation or that God loves you any less today than He did on the day you were saved.
We have a lot to be grateful for today. Our enemy has been defeated. His power over us was broken on Calvary and we can experience freedom from his grip at salvation. And we can also know the liberating effect of resisting his invitation to be deceptive, destructive and divisive. And one day we’re going to live in a world that’s totally free from his influence.
