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Creation of the angelic spiritual realm
By Johnny Tatum
PRIDE AND FALL OF TYRE, PRIDE AND FALL OF LUCIFER
I believe the person that God created who was the highest of all creation, the wisest person created, and the most powerful person created is described in Ezekiel 28:12-19. If you are familiar with this Ezekiel passage, you know that there is more going on than just a description about a city-state and its king.
This is a famous picture of the city-state of Tyre and the king of Tyre; behind it is a picture of Lucifer one of the numerous spirit beings called angels.
How do we know that this Ezekiel passage is talking about Lucifer? One way is to compare the Ezekiel 28:12-19 and Isaiah 14:12-17 passages, because unquestionably, the Isaiah passage is about Lucifer. By just glancing over the text, one can see that the Ezekiel passage is talking about the same event, the same person.
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Ezekiel 28 |
Isaiah 14 |
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12 "Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.'" |
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13 "You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz, and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx, and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise, and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared." |
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14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire." |
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15 "You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created, |
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Until righteousness was found in you.'" |
12 "How far you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!" |
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16 "By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned;" |
13 "But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.'" |
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14 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' |
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15 "Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit." |
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"Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire." |
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17 "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor." |
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"I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you." |
16 "Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms," |
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18 "By the multitude of your iniquities, In the unrighteousness of your trade, You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you." |
17 "Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?" |
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19 "All who know you among the peoples Are appalled at you; You have become terrified, And you will be no more." |
INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 28
I feel free to speculate a little as we go through Ezekiel 28, because there are a lot of details given about the city-state of Tyre and the king of Tyre, and it seems to me those details are somewhat gratuitous if there is not more behind it. As we will see, some of the details do not fit the description of the city-state of the king of Tyre.
Perhaps woven within this passage are pictures of Lucifer's kingdom before his fall, specifically:
The passage breaks up into two parts:
In Ezekiel 28, we will want to pay special attention to the similarity between:
PICTURE OF TYRE: A Formidable Power
Note:
The Bible and ancient history give us details about the prominent city-state of Tyre, which was located up the Mediterranean Sea coastline from [Megiddo,] Israel and in what is now Lebanon. In ancient history, this great seaport is often referred to as Phoenicia and its inhabitants as Phoenicians.
Before proceeding with an exposition of Ezekiel 28, let us look at Tyre's prominence as presented in Ezekiel 27.
Ezekiel 27
1-2 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, "And you, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre;"
As we have seen, behind the Ezekiel picture of the city-state and the king of Tyre there is Lucifer. Is this a hint that when Lucifer fell, God did not gloat over his fall? I believe that God lamented and mourned for what happened to Lucifer.
3 "And say to Tyre, who dwells at the entrance to the sea,
Its location at the eastern entrance to the Mediterranean Sea gave Tyre the greatest strategic position in that world [with no airplanes and no trains].
merchant of the peoples to many coastlines, 'Thus says the Lord God, "O Tyre, you have said, 'I am perfect in beauty.'"
Ancient Tyre was a beautiful seaport and island city.
4-6 "Your borders are in the heart of the seas; Your builders have perfected your beauty. They have made all your planks of fir trees from Senir; They have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you. Of oaks from Bashan they have made your oars;
How do we know that this is not just the city-state of Tyre and that this is something different? They did not use those different kinds of wood fir, cedar, and oak for shipbuilding.
With ivory they have inlaid your deck of boxwood from the coastlands of Cyprus.'"
Tyre imported a substantial amount of ivory, which was used by ivory carvers to produce inlays, carvings, and decorations.
7 "Your sail was of fine embroidered linen from Egypt So that it became your distinguishing mark; Your awning was blue and purple from the coastlands of Elishah."
Linen was brought to Tyre from Egypt. The highly prized Tyrian purple, a strong, purplish dye prepared from the glands of mollusks found on the nearby Mediterranean shores, was used to color fine textiles.
8 "The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers; Your wise men, O Tyre, were aboard; they were your pilots."
9 "The elders of Gebal and her wise men were with you repairing your seams; All the ships of the sea and their sailors were with you in order to deal in your merchandise."
Do you see the picture here? The materials came to Tyre from all over the world, and people from all over the world came together to build Tyre the whole world served Tyre!
Let us look at the rest:
10 Persia and Lud and Put
That is Ethiopia and Arabia.
12 Tarshish
13 Javan, Tubal and Meshech
These locations are going into Europe.
16 Aram
Aram is Syria.
17 Judah and the land of Israel
18 Damascus
And so on.
The king of Tyre was known as a genius in commerce, and his desire was to corner the market for trade. People from around the world carried on sea trade and merchant activities with Tyre:
She was the market of the nations. (Isaiah 23:3)
The king also had a strong military:
17 " And all your men of war who are in you,"
The fortified city-state of Tyre, including all classes of infantry and shield bearers who were protected and armed, led to many military victories and conquests. Its sea power was renowned as:
The stronghold of the sea. (Isaiah 23:4)
In the Scriptures there are many more details about Tyre, but we have a picture of:
Tyre was THE world power, but it fell:
27 "And all your men of war who are in you, With all your company that is in your midst, Will fall into the heart of the seas On the day of your overthrow.
Look at the reaction of the people:
32 "Moreover in their wailing they will take up a lamentation for you And lament over you: 'Who is like Tyre, Like her who is silent in the midst of the sea?'"
What is interesting is that when Tyre fell, people were glum (morose) over it, which does not always happen. For instance, when Babylon fell, people did not wail over it; when communism fell back in the late 1980s, people did not wail over it. However, when Tyre fell, people all around the world were shocked and dismayed. Why?
33 "'When your wares went out from the seas, You satisfied many peoples; With abundance of your wealth and your merchandise.'"
Not only was Tyre prosperous, but other countries became prosperous through their dealings with Tyre. Of course they were upset over the fall of Tyre!
CONTEXT OF EZEKIEL 28
Israel had suffered under several nations, including Tyre. Interestingly enough, God let those nations be cruel and vicious to discipline Israel. However, God, speaking through Ezekiel, says to the king of Tyre (Ittobaal II) Tyre, you are responsible to Me, and I am going to punish you. (See Ezekiel 26.) Do you recognize the difference? God allowed Tyre to attack Israel to discipline Israel, but God is going to punish Tyre.
Application:
God never punishes His own children; God disciplines believers. However, God is going to punish unbelievers.
The Prince of Tyre
Ezekiel 28:1-10
1 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord GOD; "Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods Yet you are a man, and not God, though you make your heart like the heart of God;
What happened? Because of his success in commerce and his military victories, the pride of the ruler of Tyre was lifted up; he even started thinking that he was equal with God.
Now [the Lord God through] Ezekiel speaks, I believe with irony in the next passage
3-5 Behold, you are wiser than Daniel;
By the way, this is talking about Daniel (Hebrew exile to Babylon whose apocalyptic literature is a great encouragement to God's people) who we know from Scripture.
Once again, the Lord God instructs Ezekiel saying Tell the prince of Tyre that I am going to punish him.
There is no secret that is a match for you; With your wisdom and with your understanding you have acquired riches, and have acquired gold and silver into your treasuries; and your heart is lifted up because of your riches."
This ruler thought his success was due to the fact that he was a god; that is pride, and God judges pride
6 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; "Because you have set your heart as the heart of God;
7 Behold, therefore I will bring the most ruthless of the nations upon you and they will defile your splendor.
The Lord God is saying You have been cruel and vicious, but believe it or not, there is somebody that is more ruthless than you. I am going to send this brutal empire on you, and I am going to use him as My agent to punish you.
Do you know about which empire the Lord God was talking? He was talking about Babylon, which was located east and across the Arabian Desert from Tyre.
Look what He says will happen:
8 They will bring you down to the pit
Do you know what the pit is? It is Sheol, which is the grave [that we could take to be hell].
Question:
Is hell a place for a god? No!9 Will you still say before him who slays you, "I am God?"
The Lord God is asking When this brutal man from Babylon comes and brings his sword down on you, are you still going to claim that your are God? My guess is that would be the last thing on his mind!
A Great Picture:
For the man who thinks he is God, the sword is coming.
The King of Tyre
Ezekiel 28:11-19
The passage continues on, but there is a definite change.
11 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre
What is different about this picture? The Lord God started off talking to the prince of Tyre, and now He is talking to the king of Tyre.
and say to him, "Thus says the Lord GOD; You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty."
Does that sound like the leader of Tyre? The Lord God has been saying what a vicious, brutal character he was, and now He is saying that this person had the seal of perfection, was full of wisdom, and he was perfect in beauty. It does not seem to fit anymore.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Really? The prince of Tyre was in the Garden of Eden? The Lord God has been talking about the human leader of Tyre, and now it seems that He is talking about somebody else.
I think we have the license to go back, look at that previous picture of Tyre, and realize that Lucifer might have had a similar type of situation. For one thing, let us look at the following:
Every precious stone was your covering, the ruby, topaz, the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the turquoise, and gold; the workmanship of your sockets and of your settings was in you in the day you were created.
14 You were the anointed cherub who covers; and I placed you so; you were upon the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
Do those precious stones ruby, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, turquoise, and gold sound familiar? And do the terms settings and sockets sound familiar? Those were the beautiful objects that were used in association with the Tabernacle, which would mean that Lucifer was a priest.
Note:
A priest is an intermediary between the Lord God and His created beings.
Next:
Creation Of The Angelic Spiritual Realm: PRIDE AND FALL OF BABYLON, PRIDE AND FALL OF LUCIFER
Back To: Creation Series Page
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