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bíblícal term for those angels who
rejected God's way ís
demons.
Those three scriptures combined
(JI Pe ter 2:4, Jude 6 and Hebrews
2:5) tell us tha t thc destruction of
that first creation was brought about
by the sin of the rulers of the earth
a t that time - spirit beings called
angels, created by God. But this
raises other questions. Why did
those angels leave their own ha bita–
tion in the first place? What was
their motive for sin?
Enter the Devil
Demons, or fallen angels, follow a
very powerful leader, the one who is
ultima tely responsible for encour–
aging their sin in the first place. He
is described in various places as " the
prince of this world" (John 12:31 ,
14:30 and 16:
11)
and ís also called
th e "god of thi s world "
(II
Corinthians 4:4).
Who was - or is - this spi rit
being? There are two accounts in
the Bi ble wbich show how a very
powerful and talented spi rit being,
very close to the throne of God, de–
liberately threw away his responsi–
bility and ruined his future.
One of the two accounts is found
in Ezekiel 28. This chapter is con–
structed in the form of a prophecy
against a man called the prince of
Tyrus. (Tyrus or Tyre, a city located
on the easl coast of the Mediterra–
nean, was a rich and powerful com–
mercial center.) Hislorically, this
prince of Tyre was an evil man, an
aggressor and oppressor of other
people. He imagined himself to be
somewhal of a re ligious ruler, be–
cause he announced to the people
lhal he was God and sal in the seat
ofGod (Ezekiel 28:2). The true God
warns the prince in this chapter of
his coming destruction.
Ha lfway through the chapter ,
however, the prophecy changes sub–
jects. 1n verse 12, God inspired Eze–
kiel lo speak of a diffcrent being -
one quite simila r to the prince of
Tyre in attitude, but obviously not a
human.
PLAIN TRUTH July·August 1973
" Thou Wast Perfect"
God calls this being the "king" of
Tyrus or Tyre - nol the " prince."
This king has much the same prob–
lem the prince had, only on an im–
mensely larger scale. This king of
Tyre is described by God: "Thou
sealest up the sum, full of wisdom,
and perfect in beauty. Thou hast
been in Eden lhe garden of God:
every precious stone was tby cov–
e ring ... the workmanship of thy
tabrets and of thy pipes was pre–
pared in thee in lhe day that thou
was t created" (Ezekiel 28: 12-13).
Obviously, this passage is not re–
ferring to a me re human king or
even a human being! No man ex–
cept Jesus Christ has approached
perfection in God's eyes. Further–
more, this personage was created,
not born! This mysterious bei ng
spoken of here in Ezekiel must be a
nonhuman, a spirit being. But who
is this spi ril of s uch exquisite
beauty?
The account continues: "Thou a rt
the anointed cherub that covereth:
and
I
bave set thee so: thou wast
upon the holy mountain of God ;
thou hast walked up and down in
the midst of the stones of tire" (verse
14).
Here is a being of great beauty,
but even more than that, he held a
very important position in the gov–
ernment of God. He was a "cov–
eri ng cherub " who ruled over
millions of other lesser angels. In
Exodus 25: 16-22 is a description of
the throne of God, symbotized by
an "ark" and a "merey seat" in the
tabe rnacle built by ancient Israel.
On the merey seat of that symbolic
throne were placed two hand-carved
cherubim, symbolizing the two great
c herubs whose wi ngs cover th e
throne of God. Che rubs, or more
properly, cherubim, are not , as most
people assume, chubby little baby
boys with wings. A cherub is a pow–
erful and inte lligent spirit being cre–
ated by God to occupy a top
position in his spiritual government.
Conti nu ing in Ezekiel 28: 15:
"Thou wast perfect in thy ways from
the day that thou wast crealed, till
iniquity was found in thee." Wha t
was that iniquity?
Verse 17 te lls us: "Thine heart
was lifted up because of thy beauty,
lhou hast corru pted thy wisdom by
reason of thy brighlness: 1 will cas t
lhee to the ground ,
1
will lay thee
before kings, tha t they may behold
thee." Here is a greal spirit being, a
cherub, a ruler over multitudes of
angels. who is guilty of iniquity -
sin. That great cherub was smitten,
knowingly, with his own self-impor–
tance, his intelligence and beauty.
This be ing is none other than the
one who. through sin. became the
devil! He became a devil when he
thought he should take the place of
Almighty God as ruler of the uní–
verse.
From Lucifer to Satan
The 14th chapter of Isaiah is sim–
ilar to the 28th chapter of Ezekiel.
rt,
too, pictures an evil king - this
time lhe king of Babylon - an op–
pressor of the people and an un–
merciful conqueror. God warns lhis
ruler of impending punishment for
his wretched misdeeds. That punish–
ment included the des truction of lhe
ci ly of Babylon and ultimately, the
death of thal wicked king.
Like the prince of Tyre described .
in Ezekiel , the king of Babylon was
a human being wi th many of the
very same character attributes as lhe
devi l. And, just as in the 28th chap–
ter of Ezekiel, the devil himself is
also described in lsaiah 14. This
time be is called by his original
name. Verse 12 reads, "How art
thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,
son of the morning! how a rt thou
cut down to the ground, which didst
weaken the natíons!"
Lucifer 's name in its Hebrew
form means "shining ooe" or "shin–
ing s tar o f th e dawn. " (Sym–
bolicatly, the Bible refers to angelic
beings as stars, part icularly in pro-
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