The Dragon
Revelation 12:3-4, 9-17; Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel
28:12-19
Who is the Dragon? The first
mention of the Dragon in the book of Revelation is in Revelation 12, when John
is shown the great sign in the heavens of the great fiery Dragon. In the sign,
the Dragon has seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads (v3).
No explanation is given as to the
heads with the crowns, nor of the ten horns, but concerning the Dragon, he is
identified as “that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan” in verse 9. As we have covered the heads and the crowns
and horns in our lessons from the book of Daniel and Revelation 12, here we
will look at the identity of the one referred to as “the Dragon.”
The apostle John had been with
Jesus throughout His earthly ministry.
He had been taught and given understanding of the Scriptures by Jesus Himself.
John would have understood that Satan was not always a dragon or a serpent. He would have clearly known that Satan was of
a special order of created beings called “cherubim,” an angelic creation of
spirit beings created for the purpose of being ministers in the affairs of
God’s government over His earthly realm (Ps.104:4). God called His ministers
“angels,” meaning “messengers.”
The prophet Isaiah tells us that
one of God’s angel ministers conceived in his heart a desire to have God’s
creation for himself, under his power of rule. He was of the order of
“cherubim” and Isaiah 14 tells us his name was Lucifer (“the shining one”). In
the enmity of his mind against God and His purposes, Lucifer made himself the
adversary of God and therefore he is called Satan, which means “Adversary.”
Satan purposed to build a city
with a system of politics, economics and religion powerful enough to overthrow
God’s earthly rulers of mankind, godly men who ruled as God’s representatives.
As Satan is a spirit being and does not have a corporeal body, he would need
men in bodies of human flesh, whom he could mentor as his representative
rulers, to take the jurisdiction over man on the earth.
In the mind of the Adversary,
true representatives of God, mediating God’s power and authority on earth, must
be replaced with Satan’s false rulers working with him to take over the world
of mankind and God’s earth. Politics would rule, and economics would be the
driving force, and religion the opiate of the people. The political, economic,
religious system would work together, each part making use of the other.
On the fourth day of creation the
sons of God, bene ha elohim, His angelic ministers, watched as God put
His light-holders, the luminaries, in the heavens to declare the glory of God
in “The Heavenly Revelation of the Son of God’s Covenant” (Gen.1:14-19; Job
38:2-7; 9:6-9; 38:31-33; Ps.19:1-6;
97:6; Amos 5:8). God’s purpose of His Covenant being to make man in His image,
after His likeness (Gen.1:26).
To show how this would be
accomplished, God set twelve signs in order in the heavenly constellations.
Each sign was given three constellations of decans. All the work of the
Covenant is seen in figures of the true Son of the Covenant and revealed there.
“The Heavenly Revelation of the Son of the Eternal Covenant” is the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God as seen in the face of the Anointed Son of
the Covenant. To serve the Adversary’s purpose, the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God must be darkened. The truth of the righteousness of God
through faith in the coming Son of God must be suppressed, that man would not
hear the truth that they might obey the truth to become a born son of God (see
2 Cor.4:4).
Man himself is spirit being and,
therefore, designed for worship. True worship of the Son, whose glory is seen
in “The Heavenly Revelation,” must be suppressed, but, as man is designed for
worship, the truth must be replaced with a perversion, a false worship of “the
Host of Heaven,” the stellar signs set by God Himself and named (see Deut.4:19;
17:3; 2 Ki.17:16; 21:5; 23:5; 2 Chron.33:3-5;
Ezek.8:5-16; Ac.7:43; Ps.147:4; Is.40:25-26; Amos 5:8). There in the
heavens God made Himself known, that His mankind would come to know Him.
In “The Heavenly Revelation” are
two figures of a serpent and one a dragon. Both serpents are decans of a sign
and both figure the same reality. One is Hydra and the other Serpens.
Hydra is the first
decan in the sign of Leo. Leo is a figure of “the
Lion of the tribe of Judah,” Israel’s King-Priest who will come to rule forever
over an everlasting Kingdom of sons of God (Ps.110:4; Lk.1:31-33; Heb.7:1-22;
Rev.5:5-14). Hydra is an immense serpentine constellation
extending alongside the first four signs - with the tail in Libra
and extending alongside Libra, Virgo, and Leo,
and having the head alongside Cancer.
In the twelfth and final sign Scorpio,
the serpentine figure Hydra reappears as simply Serpens
(“the serpent”). In Scorpio, Serpens is being
restrained in the powerful hands of Ophiuchus (“the Serpent
Holder”). In the sign Libra, the first sign, we have
figured the Eternal Covenant which God made with Himself to have man in His
image. God made His Covenant in eternity past, before He made a beginning of
time (see Tit.1:2; 2 Tim.1:9-10).
Virgo is the sign
of the prophesied Son of the Covenant born of a virgin (Is.7:14). This was the
first prophecy of the Son given to Adam and Eve in the garden in the east of
Eden (Gen.3:15). Here in the stellar heavens is figured something that will be
all through time - from the beginning in the garden with the first man and
woman through the final 1,000 years of the Kingdom Age.
What is figured?
The meaning of Hydra,
“the abhorred,” is very significant.
What is it that God abhors? The enemy of man - the sin, which so easily
besets man and which also makes man at enmity against God in his mind.
What is sin? It is lawlessness (1
Jn.3:4). It is man choosing to exercise his will over the will of his
Creator-Redeemer.
The brightest star is in the
heart of the serpent Hydra. Where is the sin? In
the heart of mankind. An ancient Arabic name, Al Phard,
means “the separated, the put away.” Another star is named Minchar al
Sugia (“the piercing of the deceiver”).
How is it that the Anointed Son
of God put sin away once for all? As the last Adam He took His first creation
of mankind in the first Adam into death with Himself and buried him and raised
him up to walk in newness of life. Through the spirit of life in Christ man has
power to choose to not have his will over the will of his Creator-Redeemer
(Rom.4:25-8:32).
In Christ the creation in Adam
died to the sin. In Christ one is freed from serving his own will to
serve himself. If one will reckon himself dead indeed unto the sin and
alive unto God, he will not let the sin reign in his mortal body and
will not obey the lust of the deceit of his own heart (Rom.6:11-12).
The other constellation of Serpens
is the first decan in the sign of Scorpio. The serpent is
held immobile in the powerful grasp of Ophiuchus, a figure of
“the Strong Man” of “The Heavenly Revelation of the Covenant Son” (see
Ps.19:1-6).
Through the 1,000 years of the
Kingdom Age the lawlessness of having one’s will over the will of the
King-Priest will be subdued (see Rev.12:5; 19:15; Dan.7:13-27). One may do so
in his heart but if one acts out the lawlessness in public, one will be put to
death (Is.65:20; 66:22-24). Deceit is not permitted in the Kingdom of
righteousness and peace and justice. The Dragon will have been cast into the
pit of the abyss (Rev.20:1-3). The word of God will cover the earth as waters
cover the seas (Is.11:9; Hab.2:14).
At the end of the 1,000 years
Satan will be loosed out of his prison. He will immediately gather together
those who are at enmity against God in their mind. Deceived in the imagination
of their own heart, the rebel enemies will go up to Jerusalem to overthrow the
rule of the King of kings and Lord of
lords. Fire will come down from heaven and devour them (Rev.20:7-15).
God will then have a Kingdom in which each subject has been born from above a
son of God. All will be in forever living bodies and the Kingdom will go into
eternity an everlasting Kingdom.
The sign next to Scorpio
is Sagittarius (“the Archer”).
The Dragon, Draco, is in the sign of Sagittarius.
Sagittarius is figured as “a conqueror riding a horse.” We see that
figured which is prophesied in Revelation 19:11-16. Here is the victorious
King-Conqueror coming as the Judge.
The brightest star in the first
decan of Sagittarius has a Hebrew name Thuben (“the
subtle”). Some 4,620 years ago it was the Polar star. It is still a very
important star in nautical reckonings, guiding the commerce of the seas.
The next brightest star is in the
head and is called by the Hebrew name Rastaban, and means
“the head of the subtle, deceiver.” In Arabic it is called Al Waid,
which means “who is to be destroyed.” The next star, also in the head, is
called Ethanin (“the long serpent, or dragon”).
In “The Heavenly Revelation” Serpens
is represented as winding in his contortions around the pole of the world with
his merchandising and his deceit enticing men who will have their manner of
life in the lusts of the flesh and of the mind (see Eph.2:1-3).
No one has ever seen a dragon.
From of old, down through the ages, we find the dragon described and depicted
in legend and art among the nations, especially in Eastern cultures like China
and Japan.
“In the Babylonian belief Tiamet,
the power of darkness and chaos, is the opponent of light. Tiamet is
represented as a gigantic dragon. In classical mythology a dragon is often a
supernatural serpent. Inner Buddhism names its deity Sheitan. Buddhists did not
allow the name to be pronounced because of dread. So the Dragon was worshiped
under that form and name in Babylon and many lands.” (Biblical Cycl-, McClintock and Strong)
In Old Testament Scripture the
“Dragon” is also known as “Leviathan” (“the twisted one”). “O Jehovah
... the earth is full of Your riches. So is this great and wide sea,
wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
There go the ships; there is that leviathan, whom You have made
to play therein” (Ps.104:24-26; 74:12-14; Job 26:13; 41:1-34).
Two Old Testament passages give
us insight into this Dragon. One is Isaiah 14 and the other is Ezekiel 28. In
both passages we see the god of this age as the one behind the actual king in
that past age to which the prophecies were addressed. The Dragon is the one who
had the power and the authority in his created world system to put the king on
the throne (see Mt.4:8-9; Lk.4:5-7; Eph.6:12).
The prophet Isaiah recorded the
thoughts of Lucifer’s heart: “How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,
son of the morning! How are you cut down to the ground, who did weaken
the nations! For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will
exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
to the sides of the pit. They that see you shall narrowly look upon you, and
shall consider you, saying, Is this the man who made the earth to tremble,
who did shake kingdoms, who made the world like a wilderness, and
destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?”
(Is.14:12-17). Ezekiel’s prophecy also speaks of Lucifer being cast out of
God’s kingdom above (Ezek.28:11-19).
So sure is the prophecy of the Lord given through Isaiah that it is
given in the past tense as though it had already taken place. It has not yet
taken place. When John saw the vision of Lucifer, the old serpent, called the
Devil and Satan, being cast out of heaven in the form of a dragon, it was yet
future, and still is (Rev.12:7-12). Also future is the Dragon being cast into
the pit of the abyss after his world system is burned up, where he will spend
the 1,000 years of the Kingdom Age, after which he will be loosed for a short
season and then be cast into the lake of fire, where he forever be for all
eternity (Rev.20:7-10).
Through the prophecies of Isaiah
and Ezekiel we understand that Lucifer was warned as to the end of the desire
of his heart if he proceeded to carry it out. Satan has purposed to begin
fulfilling his desire by taking the kingdom of this earth and its inhabitants.
Satan persuaded one-third of the angelic creation to follow him and to war for
God’s creation of the earth and the flesh beings upon it (see Rev.12:3-4).
Satan’s angels are called “demons” (see Mt.9:34; Lk.11:14-20; Jas.2:20).
“You have been in Eden, the
garden of God; every precious stone your covering, the sardius, topaz, and the
diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and
the carbuncle, and gold” (Ezek.28:13a). (1967
Scofield Study Bible, KJV)
“Eden” translates into English as
“delight.” The place of delight in Ezekiel is not the geographical location on
earth. This is not the garden that the Lord
God planted eastward in Eden. In that garden there were trees of every kind and
the two named trees in the middle of the garden - the Tree of Life and the Tree
of Knowledge of Good and Evil. There a river went out of Eden to water the
garden. From the garden the river parted and became four heads. The rivers are
named and the geographical location is given. Two of the rivers survived the
Flood of Noah’s day, the third river, the Hiddekel, the ancient name for the
Tigris, and the Euphrates (Gen.2:8-15).
The garden on earth is referred
to as “a garden” (Gen.2:8), “the garden of Eden” (v15), and “the garden” in
verses 1, 2, 3, 8, 23 and 24 of Genesis 3. It is not called “the garden of God”
[Elohim]. The garden on earth was planted by the One with a more
personal relationship with His creation of man. The garden planted eastward in
Eden was planted by the Lord God, Jehovah
Elohim. The name Jehovah relates Elohim, the Creator, to His
Eternal Covenant.
The Eden (“delight”) in Ezekiel
28 is called “the garden of God” and it is on the holy mountain of God [Elohim].
In Scripture, “mountain” is a symbol for a “kingdom” (see Is.2:1-4;
Dan.2:34-35, 44-45). Elohim is
the Creator of the angelic creation. They are His sons by right of creation
(see Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). He has created an Eden, a garden of delight, in their
habitation. The holy mountain is the seat of God’s government in heaven.
In His garden on His holy
mountain God does not have trees. There is no earth to root trees and no river
to water the garden. In God’s garden there are “stones of fire,” a mysterious
thing. Nine stones are named, and gold, but no explanation is given. These are
gem stones. Gem stones are beautiful and costly and precious. Gold is a setting
for the stones.
The gem stones named remind us of
the stones set in the breastplate of the high priest of the Aaronic order of
the Levitical Law of the sacrifices and offerings (see Ex.28:15-21; 39:8-14).
This gives us a clue to the stones of fire in the garden of God on His holy
mountain.
In the economy of Israel, God’s
representative government on earth, the twelve tribes of Israel were
represented on a breastplate worn by the high priest of the Levitical order.
The high priest himself represented God’s Son begotten from the dead as the
King-Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Ps.110:4; Heb.6:11-22). Each tribe
was represented on the breastplate by a precious stone. Each stone represented
the begotten Son in His person and work of salvation. The key to understanding
is in the colors of the stones, as well as in the prophetic blessings of Jacob
given to his twelve sons on his deathbed and also in the Song of Moses and his
blessings for the tribes (see Gen.49:1-33; Deut.33:1-29). The stones were set
in gold, as “gold” signifies “the outshining of the glory of the Son of the
Covenant.”
As the Lord is a God of order, we would expect the “stones of fire”
to also represent “Messiah’s work of the Law of the Covenant.” Psalm 104 is our
clue. Psalm 104 is a praise psalm to the God of creation. “Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, You are very great; You are
clothed with honor and majesty, who covers Yourself with light as a
garment; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain; who lays the beams of
His chambers in the waters; who makes the clouds His chariot; who walks upon
the wings of the wind; who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flaming
fire” (vv1-4).
The angelic creation was brought
forth before man was brought forth (Job 38:7). The angels were to minister to
the heirs of salvation (Heb.1:14). They would be ministers of the Covenant Son
in His work of building a Kingdom of sons of God. The designated gems, the
stones of fire, would represent the Covenant Son in His person and work. Set in
gold, the glory of the Son shines forth as declared in the stellar heavens.
Psalm 104 is a praise to the work
of the Lord. Verse 31 declares,
“The glory of the Lord shall
endure forever; the Lord shall
rejoice in His work,” and the psalm ends with, “Let the sinners be consumed out
of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord”
(v35).
It is interesting that it is in
this psalm, Psalm 104, that the shipping trade is mentioned (v26), and as we
have seen, it is in connection with leviathan. Back in Ezekiel 28 the Lord has Ezekiel taking up a funeral
dirge concerning Lucifer. At that day of the prophecy of Ezekiel the king of
Tyre is Satan’s man in the economy of his world system. And the Lord is about to destroy the king of Tyre
and his glorious kingdom built through the merchandising of his shipping trade.
Satan has been the mentor of the king of Tyre. The Lord intends, through the prophecy of Ezekiel, for Satan to
see that his own funeral dirge is foreseen in the destruction of what he has
built using the kings of Tyre. In the prophecy the Lord is speaking to Lucifer of his beginning in the holy
mountain of God, his Creator.
The Lord continues, “The workmanship of your timbrels and of
your flutes was prepared in you in the day that you were created.” “Timbrels”
and “flutes” speak of “wind movement and music.” The angelic spirit beings, in
their very movement, are musical, which is a means of expressing their joy and
their praise in their Creator and His work.
“You are the anointed
cherub that covers, and I have set you so,” the Lord reminded Lucifer, who has become the Deceiver and the Lord’s Adversary. “You were upon the
holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of
fire” (Ezek.28:14).
First the Lord spoke of every precious stone being the covering of the
anointed cherub. The Hebrew for “covering” has the meaning of “a hedge,” “a
closing in.” That is God controlling the bounds of life upon God’s holy
mountain. The angelic creation were brought forth and hedged in to the ministry
of the work of God’s Eternal Covenant to be worked out in time upon the earth.
The precious stones “the boundaries” of the work, the angelic ministers were
set to, was the work of the Covenant Son with whom they would minister and to
whom they would minister. The work and the glory was declared in “The Heavenly
Revelation of the Son of the Eternal Covenant” and seen in the stellar
constellations.
And in the work, the angelic
creation were not only covered, but were set to cover, Satan having been one of
them in his creation. We have much the same meaning in the Hebrew word in verse
14 translated “that covers.” The basic meaning is to “fence in,” “to join
together,” “to shut up.”
During the earthly ministry of the
Covenant Son there would be times when the attending, unseen angelic protectors
would be required to close in and join together and fence Jesus in that He
might escape out of the hands of wicked men.
Upon the holy mountain of God
formerly Satan had walked up and down among the stones of fire. He himself
being one. “Walked up and down” is a metaphor for “conduct.” In his beginning
Lucifer conducted himself among the stones of fire on the holy mountain of God
as one of the ministering spirits of the Lord.
In chapter 15 of “The Revelation
of Jesus Christ” as seen and written by the apostle John we have a most
enlightening discovery. Seven angels came out of the tabernacle of the
testimony in heaven. They came out of the temple in heaven having the seven plagues,
the seven golden bowls of God’s anger to be poured out on the earth to finish
the judgment and be done with sin. The angels are described as being clothed.
Angels are spirit beings and do not have corporeal bodies and therefore do not
wear clothing. Our Bibles say they “were clothed in pure and white [shining]
linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles” (Rev.15:6).
In the Greek language there is
one letter difference in the word for “linen” and the word for “stone.” In
Scripture, “pure white linen” is symbolic of the “righteousness of God one
becomes through faith in God’s Anointed Son, who became sin for us.”
The angelic creation are sons of
God by right of creation only. They have no destiny to become the righteousness
of God. As they have no body, there is no redemption planned and no birth as a
son of God in Jesus Christ.
In the Revelation of Jesus Christ
the Holy Spirit intentionally chose the word “stone” as the “clothing” of the
angels. The angels are covered in stone; pure white [shining] would be the
“jasper” (see Rev.4:3). The angelic creation share the likeness of their
Creator. Not hard gemstone, but “like” jasper, “clear.”
In heaven the angelic beings
surround the throne of God (Rev.4:6-11; 5:11-14; Is.37:16). “Our God is
a Consuming Fire” (Heb.12:29). Not fire as we know the destructive force, but
One to consume and transmute into His likeness. “God is light” (1 Jn.1:5). He
dwells in “the light which no man can approach unto” (1 Tim.6:16).
The angelic beings dwell in the
light of the Consuming Fire. In the likeness of clear jasper, each one would be
as a prism flashing forth the colors of the One who is light and whose person
and work is represented as precious gems. Each angelic being as a stone of fire.
The angels carrying the bowls of
anger were said to also have “their breasts girded with golden girdles”
(Rev.15:6). As the angels do not have
bodies, again it is symbolic as being signified to John. In the breast is the
heart. The “physical heart” becomes symbolic. We speak of “the heart” in
metaphorical terms.
The heart of man is the inner
man, the personal being with intellect to think, and emotions to desire and
have feelings, and a will to choose whom one will serve - the righteousness of
God or the sin. We are clothed in a tent of human flesh and blood. Man looks on
the outward appearance. God looks on the heart - the inner man (1 Sam.16:7;
Heb.4:13).
The angelic creation are all
heart, so to speak. We might say, all personal being. They have a heart of
gold. They are girded to carry out their ministry to the glory of God. All is
for the glory of God. And God has set them so. God’s ministering spirits only
mind the things of God and His work.
Lucifer, when he was perfect in
his ways, walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire - as one of
them. The Lord reminds him, “You were
perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till iniquity was
found in you” (Ezek.28:15).
“Perfect” does not mean “absolute
perfection.” It has the meaning of “blameless.” Lucifer was blameless until the
iniquity of his heart was found in him. In the prophecy of Isaiah, the iniquity
of Lucifer is seen as expressed in each “I will” said in his heart (Is.14:13-14). Lucifer was not straight with the Lord God. In him was a twisted plan to
have a city and take over God’s earthly realm through God’s creation of man and
to have the kingdom for himself.
The Lord God gave freedom of choice concerning the will to two
of His creations. First to His angelic creation, and then to mankind in bodies
of human flesh. Each personal being of either of these creations had freedom to
choose to obey and serve the lawlessness of the sin of serving self - or - of
choosing to obey the truth of God and serve the righteousness of their Creator.
We have the record of the proving
of man’s heart in Genesis chapter 3. We do not have a record of the proving of
the angelic creation. In Revelation 12:3-4 we do have a record of the rebel
cherub drawing one-third of the angelic creation to follow him in his plan that
seemed to him so full of wisdom and a perfect beauty of a plan which surely he
could seal and consummate it.
The cherub Lucifer, anointed as a
minister of the Son of the Covenant, found other personal beings of the angelic
creation who were anointed for the ministry they were set to by the Lord, who were willing to serve their
own personal desires. They willingly and willfully chose to follow the rebel
and also became adversaries of the Lord
and His Anointed Son of the Covenant.
The angelic creation had “The
Heavenly Revelation of the Son of the Eternal Covenant” signed in the heavens.
The Lord had made clear to His
angelic ministers the work He had set before them. Had they believed the truth
shared with them? Would they willingly fulfill the office to which they were
anointed? Each one would have understood it was a onetime decision. There would
be no turning back. As already stated, no redemption has been provided for the
angelic creation since they do not have bodies to be redeemed. Each personal
being is spirit being, the life of spirit having been shared with each one in
his creation.
If an angel decided to follow the
Deceiver and Adversary, he would have been self-deceived also and he would have
become an enemy against God in his mind. As self-deceived and self-serving and
at enmity against God in his mind, that angel would no longer profit God in the
work he was set to. A place must be prepared for these angels to spend eternity
in the end. A “lake of fire” was
prepared for the Devil, the Deceiver, and his angels (Mt.25:41; Rev.20:10).
The Lord is just and righteous and fair. He would have warned
those who were thinking to follow the Deceiver of the destruction in the end
when the Lord had consummated His
Covenant to have a Kingdom of sons of God, conformed to His image and sharing
His likeness.
The Lord could permit Satan to build his world city in
opposition to God’s Kingdom. Satan could build it on God’s earth. The city of
politics and economics and religion would furnish God’s creation of man in
human flesh an alternative to the truth of the Kingdom God is building, a
Kingdom of born sons of God. Man is permitted his freedom of choice. Would he
believe God and obey the truth to be born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word
of God, who lives and abides forever - or - would he believe the lie? Would one
in the flesh, born of Adam’s seed, be drawn away from the Lord God through his own desires of the
flesh and of the mind and choose to walk according to the course of Satan’s
world? (see Eph.2:1-3). Men must be warned that following the course of the
prince of the power of the air ends in a lake of fire prepared for Satan and
his angels (Rev.20:15). The end of that course is destruction.
Iniquity was found in the
anointed cherub when he waited for Cain to rule over the sin of his own heart.
When Cain went out from the presence of God, the Devil had found a man who
would build his city (see Jn.8:44; 1 Jn.3:12). Cain went east of Eden and began
building, and kept on building the system of a civilization of politics,
economics and religion (Gen.4:16-17). The city is built through merchandising
for power and wealth. We see this in the first city. In time, the ambitious
Lamech was born. With his sons, Lamech built a family dynasty. As recorded in
verses 19 through 24 of Genesis 4, the wealth and the power of the city were in
one family. We can see who the politicians were at that time.
In Ezekiel’s lamentation, it is
by the multiplied merchandising of Satan’s strategies that they of the city
have filled the midst of the city with violence. In the context of Ezekiel’s
prophecies against the kingdoms of the cities, recorded in chapters 25 through
32, we understand the lamentation upon the one behind the merchandising.
Through Ezekiel the Lord was prophesying of coming judgment
on the nations of this world, with an eye to the final judgment of the world
system. Beginning in chapter 26, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel telling him to take up a lamentation
against Tyre and Sidon, but principally Tyre. The city kingdom of Tyre was
situated an island city of great beauty rising up like a mountain out of the
sea of the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean.
Tyre had designs on having God’s
city, Jerusalem. The Lord was
sending Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the king of kings from the north, to
destroy Tyre and make it a desolate city (Ezek.26:7). The lamentation became a
funeral dirge.
The lamentation continues in
chapter 27 under the metaphor of an overloaded ship sunk by the east wind
(Ezek.27:25-26). The east wind is the king of Babylon. Laden with all the
wealth of the nations who traded with her resulted in Tyre’s great pride in her
material wealth.
The ships of Tyre became
vulnerable to Babylon. The city and the ship are all to end, never more to be.
All the cargo and all the wealth of the proud city and the shipwrights, the
merchants, the soldiers and everything else on board the ship will sink in the
heart of the sea on the day of her shipwreck. Suddenly all sunk, Tyre to be no
more. All who had handled the oars to man the ship and move it forward, so to
speak, stood stunned and shocked and bitterly mourned Tyre (Ezek.27:26-36; see
Rev.18). All of the plunder has become that of Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom
which, in that day, was considered the heart of the sea of humanity.
In chapter 28, Ezekiel was to
take up a lamentation against the prince of Tyre, the ruler. Here in this
chapter there are two princes. There is the human prince who sits the throne
and there is the prince of this world, the one who is the god of the age
(Jn.12:31; 2 Cor.4:4). The prince of this world is the one who has the power
and the authority to seat a prince on a world throne. The two princes are so
closely identified that they can be spoken of as one ruler.
According to the Jewish historian
Josephus, the reigning king of Tyre at that time was Ithobaal II. His name
shows the king to be a worshiper of Baal. In this false religion, the king is
considered to be a god incarnate.
The word to the prince of
Tyre: “Thus says the Lord God [Adonai
Jehovah]: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am
a god [el, deity], I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the
seas, yet you are a man, and not god, though you set your heart as the
heart of God. Behold, you are wiser than Daniel. There is no secret that
they can hide from you” (Ezek.28:2-3).
The passage is full of irony.
Daniel did not claim wisdom of his own. Daniel was a revealer of the secrets of
God (Dan.2:24-30). Through Daniel God laid out the future of Gentile dominion
and the destruction of all Gentile power in the end (Dan.2:44-45; 7:1-12:7).
Does the one behind the throne think that he can thwart those purposes revealed
to Daniel?
“With your wisdom and with your
understanding you have gotten riches for yourself, and have gotten gold and
silver into your treasures. By your great wisdom and by your merchandise
you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your
riches” (Ezek.28:4-5).
Throughout the East the majesty
and glory of the people, the kingdom, were gathered in their monarch, who was
worshiped as a god. The ruler is considered the embodiment of the community.
Their glory is his glory. Their pride is his pride.
This ruler, the prince of Tyre,
was also the embodiment of a government opposing itself to the Divine Sovereign
of the universe. Mentored by the evil one, the prince has led his people into
the world system, which lies in the evil one. The wisdom of merchandising for
wealth and glory and world power is sourced in the spirit of this world, where
the creature is served rather than the Creator, the true Master and Owner of
all (see Rom.1:18-25; Jn.8:44).
The mystery of iniquity has ever
been working down through the ages (2 Thess.2:7a). It is the working of the
evil one and his world system. The prince of this world and of the power of the
air, the wicked spirits in high places ever working, world rulers of darkness
cooperate in the system (Eph.2:1-3; 6:12; 1 Jn.5:19).
There is judgment because of
iniquity. Ezekiel 28 verse 6: “Therefore, thus says the Lord God [Master of the Universe]: Because
you have set your heart as the heart of God, behold, therefore, I will bring
foreigners upon you, the terrible of the nations, and they shall draw their
swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and they shall defile your
brightness. They shall bring you down to the pit, and you shall die the deaths
of those that are slain in the midst of the seas” (vv6-8).
The beauty and the brightness of
glory through the accumulated wealth of all the trade relations throughout the
ancient Near East has caused the arrogant pride and the self exaltation of the
prince of Tyre and his kingdom. It has also brought a rebuke of God and a
judgment upon the proud ruler and his kingdom.
Continuing to address this proud
ruler, the Lord [Adonai] asks, “Will you yet say before him who slays
you, I am a god? But you shall yet be a man and not God, in the
hand of him who slays you. You shall die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the
hand of foreigners, for I have spoken, says the Lord God [Adonai Jehovah]” (Ezek.28:9-10).
In the end, the proud ruler of
Tyre and his kingdom would be humbled by God bringing them to a horrible,
disgraceful death of the uncircumcised at the hands of ruthless, uncircumcised
foreigners. Phoenicians practiced circumcision, so to be slain as an
uncircumcised male would be to die a barbarian’s death. God was mocking the
ruler and his claim to divinity. He might claim to be deity before his captors,
but they would consider him a mere human being, a man, and mortal in their
hands.
The ruler would claim to be a god
but the Lord God declared that he
would be a mere mortal in the hands of the foreigners who would come cut off
the kingdom of Tyre and take away the wealth of the riches gained through
merchandising.
The king and the slain of the
kingdom will be brought down to the pit by the swords of the invader. The life
blood of the mortal body being shed, the body will be left lifeless and the
soul of spirit being must depart the dust tent and leave it to return to dust.
The “pit” is a reference to a
place in “Hades,” the place God prepared for the spirit of man after he has
departed the lifeless tent of his mortal body. There must be a place to go
while awaiting the resurrection. In the Old Testament this place is called
“Sheol” in Hebrew. “Hades” is the Greek name.
Sheol/Hades is divided into two
compartments, with a great gulf fixed between them so that one could not pass
over from one to the other. We know this from Jesus’ description in Luke
16:19-31. Jesus’ account is of two specific men and one, the righteous one, is
named. This is not a parable. Jesus does not name names in a parable. The
departed spirit of Lazarus, a righteous man, is taken to the compartment of the
righteous, called by the Jews “Abraham’s Bosom.” After the Babylonian
captivity, it was called “Paradise.” The other compartment is for the
unredeemed, unrighteous dead.
After Jesus had finished the work
of redemption on the cross, the gates of Hades did not open for one of His
(Mt.16:18). For a member of the Body of Christ, “absent from the body, at home
with the Lord” (2 Cor.5:6-8). During the Church Age no spirit beings are taken
to Abraham’s Bosom in Hades. The compartment for the unbelieving, unrighteous
spirit beings is continually receiving those who have departed their lifeless
bodies.
In Ezekiel 28, when the proud
prince found himself in Sheol, he would learn that he is only a man and not a
god with power and glory and riches, only a man, a creation of the living and
true God. Satan knew that he had a mere man on the throne in Tyre. In Satan’s
world system, men are expendable. When Satan finds himself in the pit, he will
know his power and his authority was not enough to seal up the beauty of his
plan (see Rev.20:1-3).
The funeral dirge for the prince
and his kingdom being ended, Ezekiel is to take up a lamentation for the true
king of Tyre, the mentor of the prince, the one behind the throne, the true
power and authority of the wisdom of the world merchandising.
In showing the deplorable ruin of
the beauty and brightness of the prince of Tyre and the extent of the ruin of
his kingdom, what is seen is a foreshadowing of the world kingdom Satan is
building and will have accomplished through the Global Society, the new kingdom
of Babylon (Rev.17 & 18).
The poetic language is full of
suggestion. Poetical and pictorial passages in Scripture are based on literal
happenings. The significance of the use of poetical pictorial passages in
Scripture lies in the illustrative power of the language. The effectiveness of
the message is, in this way, being illustrated to the heart and feelings of the
reader or the hearer, to receive the very spirit of the message for reality.
Ezekiel 28:11: “Moreover, the
word of the Lord came to me,
saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre.” First there
was the lamentation, the funeral dirge, for the great city kingdom of Tyre
(Ezek.27:2). Then the funeral dirge for the prince, the ruler of Tyre
(Ezek.28:2).
Though Ezekiel speaks of “princes”
throughout his prophecies, here in this passage alone, he uses the word nagid.
“Nagid” is a term frequently used in the Old Testament for a charismatic
“ruler.” The idea of prominent leadership is conveyed by this more general
term, i.e., man at the top. “King” would be more specific. This king
claims to be a god, i.e., divinity.
Finally the lamentation for the one
with the power and the authority of the world city who gives the prince his
throne, Lucifer himself. “Thus says the Lord God:
You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty” (Ezek.28:12b).
Here are concepts already
conveyed by what is said of the prince of Tyre (Ezek.28:2-7). You are sealing -
or closing up - a sum - a measure - a plan, a pattern full of wisdom and
perfect in beauty. The measure - when the pattern has reached full
wisdom and perfect beauty, it is complete, sealed.
“And you have sinned. Therefore I
will cast you as profane out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy you, O
covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire” (Ezek.28:16b).
Lucifer sinned in his heart. He
was deceived and enticed by his own desire. He persuaded one-third of the
angelic beings to follow him. The sin in his heart came out in his action. He
is no longer blameless. He has put himself outside the sacred. The stones of
fire have been brought forth and made a holy order. Each one set apart unto God
as ministers in the work of the Son of the Covenant as the things done in the
Eternal Covenant are carried out upon earth.
God has His holy angels on the
mountain of His holy sanctuary. Satan, the Adversary, has his angels. Cast as
profane out of the mountain of God, they operate from the heavenlies - the
realm between the holy mountain of God and the earth.
We know from the book of Job that
Satan can still report to God before His throne (Job 1:6; 2:1), but he is
destroyed from the stones of fire. We have the record in Revelation 12 where he
goes to war with Michael and his angels to hold on to his place in the heavenlies,
but he and his angels are cast down to earth in the middle of the trial to come
upon the whole earth (vv7-17). We also have the record in Revelation 20:10 when
he will, with his angels, be cast into the lake of fire. So we have the final
end of the rebel ministers of the angelic creation.
“Your heart was lifted up because
of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness. I
will cast you to the ground. I will lay you before kings, that they may behold
you. You have defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by
the iniquity of your merchandise. Therefore I will bring forth a fire from the
midst of you. It shall devour you, and I will bring you to ashes upon the earth
in the sight of all those that behold you. All they that know you among the
people shall be appalled at you; you shall be a terror, and never shall
you be anymore” (Ezek.28:17-19).
The prophecy of the lamentation
continued. It is the funeral dirge for the great city built through
merchandising. Ezekiel is looking into the far future at the great demise of
the “Great City” called “Babylon the Great.” In the visions shown him,
the apostle John was given to see the end prophesied by Ezekiel, that we might
have more details than given in Ezekiel.
To John was given the Revelation
of Jesus Christ; that is, the unveiling of Jesus, the Anointed Son, in His second
coming to earth to establish His Kingdom of righteousness and peace. At
that time Satan will have his great city system of politics, economics and
religion unified in a universal Global Society under one man as the head of all
nations and kindreds and languages and peoples - a monarchy. We see in
Revelation 14 that it will be called “Babylon” (Rev.14:8). And from chapter 18
of Revelation, we see that it was the great global city system built through
merchandising through a global economy, as the kings of the earth and the
merchants are the ones most lamenting its destruction.
The reason for the funeral dirge
in Ezekiel 28 was to reveal Lucifer’s heart being lifted up because of his
thinking he had a beauty of a plan, full of wisdom, and that he could seal the
deal. Satan overestimated the man in the flesh upon whom he must depend to seal
up his plan. The city must be built through unregenerate man in the flesh.
Through his brightness, Lucifer
corrupted his wisdom. The wisdom of God was made known to His created angelic
beings. Satan thought to come to men as an angel of light and persuade men to
build the city through merchandising. He should have believed in the wisdom of
God and His Eternal Covenant. Satan corrupted himself to end up in the lake of
fire with nothing (Rev.20:10).
The Dragon’s self-deification
will bring him down in disgrace. By the multitude of his iniquities and the
dishonesty and ill-gotten gain of his merchandise he has defiled his
sanctuaries, his world cities built through greedy, power hungry men.
The Lord Himself will see to the
righteous judgment of a just recompense. He will cast the Dragon to the ground
and lay him before the kings whom he has deceived into building his world
system into a great Global Society. All the while he has it in his heart to
devour the society with his ten nation federation and the little horn beast
prince as the king, his representative.
When the kings of the earth see
how they have been tricked into giving up their sovereignty, God will call them
to the War of the Great Day of God Almighty (Joel 2:1-11; Rev.14:6-16:21). They
will come together against the new king of the great city Babylon and in the
nuclear war of the Great Tribulation they will destroy the new kingdom of
Babylon, the beauty of Satan’s strategy, his wisdom to complete his plan of a
world city of all peoples and nations. God will bring forth this fire in the very
midst of the Dragon’s new kingdom and it will burn Babylon to ashes, never to
be anymore. This is covered in our lessons of chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation.
With the destruction of his
global society so carefully built, the Dragon, that old serpent, who is the
Devil and Satan, was laid hold of by an angel come down from heaven, and bound,
and he was cast into the pit of the abyss, where he was shut up, and a seal set
upon him, that he should no more deceive the nations until the 1,000 years of
the Kingdom Age be fulfilled. And after that he must be let loose a little
season (see Rev.20:1-3).
All that know him, the world
rulers who served Satan’s cause, will be appalled (Ezek.28:19). Satan’s
identity of himself was as the king of the great world kingdom. That was not to
be or ever will be.
Isaiah prophesied that when Satan
is brought down to Sheol, to the sides of the pit, they that see him shall
narrowly look upon him, and ask, “Is this the man who made the earth to
tremble, who did shake kingdoms, who made the world like a wilderness,
and destroyed its cities, who opened not the house of his prisoners?”
(Is.14:16-17).
The man of flesh, who dwells on
the throne of his kingdom, and the old Dragon, his mentor Satan, are closely
identified in the prophecies (see 2 Thess.2:3-9; Rev.13).
Ezekiel 28 ends with a glorious
prophecy of the future regathering of God’s people Israel back to their land
and the receiving of their inheritance of the kingdom promised to their
forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord God will then gather His people from where they are
scattered and they shall dwell safely in their land that He has given them, and
they shall know the Lord, their
God (Ezek.28:25-26). And they shall be His people.
Though this concludes our lesson,
we have added -
Other Bible Version
Listings of Stones in Ezekiel 28:13
|
New
King James
Row 1: sardius, topaz, and diamond
Row 2: beryl, onyx, and jasper
Row
3: sapphire, turquoise, and emerald
|
New
American Standard
Row 1: ruby, topaz, and diamond
Row 2: beryl, onyx, and jasper
Row
3: lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald
|
|
English
Standard Version
Row 1: sardius, topaz, and diamond
Row 2: beryl, onyx, and jasper
Row
3: sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle
|
New
International Version
Row 1: ruby, topaz, and emerald
Row 2: chrysolite, onyx, and jasper
Row 3: sapphire, turquoise, and beryl
-or-
Row 1: carnelian, chrysolite, and emerald
Row 2: topaz, onyx, and jasper
Row
3: lapis lazuli, turquoise, and beryl
|
