Angelic Conflict II: Fall of Satan

When the angels were first created God created them through the Lord Jesus Christ, according to John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16. Since God is perfect He cannot create anything that is less than perfection. He could not be involved in the creation of evil—Habakkuk 1:13. Thus all the angels were originally created perfect, holy and righteous. In the New Testament we are told that angels rebelled against God and that approximately one third of the angels rebelled with Satan (Revelation 12:7) and that they were assigned to the lake of fire as their destiny (Matthew 25:41). So they have been condemned and been sentenced to the lake of fire, and this all happened before the creation of man. The question then is: Why has that not occurred? The conclusion that we will discover is that the creation of man somehow is related as an exhibit in this trial; that somehow Satan has challenged the veracity of God saying that he was never given a chance to prove what he could do, and so God has created the human race as a test case to demonstrate before Satan and all of the angels that the creature cannot function as the creator, that the creature must function in complete dependence upon the creator, exhibiting the values of the creator Himself.

There are two passages that describe the fall of Satan and they are being disputed today. Up until the 19^th century the personages described in these two passages, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, were identified in three options: a) that this was some sort of historical figure. Usually, the Isaiah passage was interpreted by Jews to relate to Nebuchadnezzar; b) that is a historical but future figure, a typological significance, but it goes further than that. That future figure would be the Antichrist as the ruler of Babylon; c) that this is a picture of the fall of Satan himself. In the late 19^th century with the development of Protestant liberalism a fourth view came along. This fourth view sought to identify these passages with some Canaanite men or some other pagan men. That fits with their view that this is not divine revelation, that this is just man’s attempt at explaining things, and so we can reject the liberal view out of hand because it is not based on an understanding of Scripture as the divinely inspired Word of God.

So basically what we are left with is that it is either a human figure, historical in the past or in the future, or it is referring to Satan. This presents several problems if we are going to identify the figure with a human being. The problem is that once Satan is excluded as the figure identified no definite solution can be given as to who these two passages are talking about. So once it is said that it is not Satan there is no clue who it is really, and it really doesn’t fit anyone we know historically. The other problem—and this is not talking about Satan—is that if these passages in Isaiah and Ezekiel is not talking about the original of evil and the fall of Satan then we don’t have any place in the Bible that talks about the origin of evil, and that would leave us with the impression that evil is also eternal; and that would fit a dualistic view of the universe, i.e. that good and evil have always existed. But rhe Bible presents evil as something that began in time. God is eternal, righteous and just, and so His goodness extends for all time and it is not co-equal or co-extensive with evil. The biblical view of evil and sin is that evil begins at a particular point in time. Christianity claims that evil began at a point in time; God allowed it to come into existence. It is not eternal and eventually it will be judged and separated and have an eternal destiny and be confined into the lake of fire. So good goes to heaven and evil is restricted to punishment. Evil is not normal but God still controls it and its impact and will eventually restrict it. Any other view has to see evil as being part of the normal, natural process. And if evil is normal and natural then we can’t say it is evil. Ultimately if we push the argument far enough the distinction has to break down. On what basis can we say that something is evil or good? Whose values are we going to use to define what is good and what is evil?

If these passages do not inform us as to the origin of evil in the universe then we are left hanging, and the Bible claims to give us all the information we need for life and godliness and this is a vital, crucially important question. For God to leave us without information regarding this it5 would not fit with the biblical claim of its own sufficiency.

There are major difficulties with identifying the figures in Isaiah 14 or Ezekiel 28 with a human or mythological figure.

1. A methodology which identifies the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 with some ancient Canaanite or Phoenician myth, or some kind of idealised but not historical man, is incompatible with a view of divine inspiration, inerrancy and the infallibility of Scripture. A side note on this same point: No pagan myth has ever been discovered that could possibly provide such a basis.

2. What is sin in both passages about these figures goes far beyond the abilities of any mortal human being. The descriptions in these passages are such that they can’t be fulfilled by any normal human being. Even in order to make a claim of allegory or metaphor you have to be able to go in and show where terms like “the anointed cherub” in Ezekiel 28 is ever used metaphorically in Scripture, and it is not. Often such claims are made and there is absolutely no support for such claims.

3. The Ezekiel passage addresses a lament to two individuals. The first 10 verses are addressed to the prince of Tyre; the second half of the chapter is addressed to the king of Tyre. Those are two distinct individuals and the Hebrew uses two distinct words to refer to those individuals. The prince is viewed as a human who wants to be like God, but on contrast, beginning in verse 11, the king is a heavenly being. He is called the anointed cherub and a covering cherub, and he is a heavenly being who is ejected from heaven. The interesting thing is that at the time Ezekiel wrote, the god of Tyre was Melkart, and Melkart means the king of the city. The Old Testament makes it clear that these idolatrous gods are just figments of human imagination and are the creation of the demons that empower them. Remember, demons lie behind all of the ancient myths, according to Deuteronomy 32:16, 17. So that means that if this is addressing Melkart who is an idol there is a demon behind that idol, the king of the city. Therefore Ezekiel must be addressing the demonic power behind the human leader of Tyre, and that would be Satan, the leader of the demons.

4. In the New Testament Paul identifies Satan’s sin as pride in 1 Timothy 3:6, 7. Aside from the fact that God could have revealed that to Paul, Paul seems to indicate that this is common knowledge, and the only place he could have got that in the Scriptures that had been revealed up to that point would have been from Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28.

5. The descriptions, though grand, could not have applied to a human king and there is no indication that these are figures of speech or metaphor.

6. Example: No human king was ever said to be “blameless in your ways from the day you were created.” Ezekiel 28:15.

7. Building on that, the guardian cherub is said to have been created [bara] from God. Bara is an immediate creation; only God can bara. Human beings are never the subject of that verb. It indicates a direct creation; human beings would be indirectly created through the process of normal procreation.

Ezekiel 28:1 ^NASB “The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, [2] “Son of man, say to the leader [prince] of Tyre…” A prince is not as authoritative as a king. [12] “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre …” “… ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” We should note that this is poetry, and poetry can make use of figurative language, but in doing so the metaphors have literal meanings. What is being done here is piling up adjectival descriptions of this creature. It is not just one thing but each one builds on the other until the total picture of his perfection, glory, attributes are given. The “seal of perfection” indicates that he is the ultimate in perfection, he becomes the standard.

Ezekiel 28:13 ^NASB “You were in Eden, the garden of God…” That is a statement that cannot be said of any single human being, and the only way to get around that is to say that this is some sort of metaphor. But them you have to demonstrate from somewhere else that this is used metaphorically or symbolically, that Eden is used as some metaphor or symbol for some sort of perfect environment. But everywhere Eden is used it refers to the abode of God, specifically on the earth; not just the abode where Adam and Eve were created but it is a term that indicates God’s presence. “… Every precious stone was your covering…” None of this could be said to have ever applied to any of the human kings. “…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.” If you were a Jew and were reading this, what would come to mind? The breastplate of the high priest. These nine stones are among the twelve that were on the breastplate. So the high priest would come to mind. The writer is using imagery here. He wants to associate this creature and his function with that of the high priest of Israel. Musical instruments are associated with him “on the day that you were created.”

Ezekiel 28:14 ^NASB “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.” None of that could be said of a human figure. The fiery stones indicates, for example, Isaiah 6:5 where the cherub flew and picked up a burning coal and put is on the lips of Isaiah to purify his lips. Where did that come from? Apparently there are these fiery stones in the throne room of God. So this entire picture here is in the presence of God in an environment that is not earthly. . [15] “You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you.” So he is perfect and then there is sin. We can’t say that about any human figure. Then verse 16 gives us a suggestion: “By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; 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.”

Tyre was a maritime community. There was a sea port and there was trade from all over the world. So the writer is using this image of commerce and is applying it to the role of the cherub as a high priest, indicating that as the cherub trafficked, as it were, in the praises of the creatures to the creator, somehow he lusted for that praise for himself. That becomes the source of his internal arrogance, and as that is discovered he is cast as a common thing out of the mountain of God.

Ezekiel 28:17 ^NASB “Your heart [thinking] was lifted [arrogance] up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.”

The sin itself is described in Isaiah 14 which is taken up as a lament to the king of Babylon, but once again it is the power behind the throne. These events transcend any Babylonian monarch. Verse 12 “How 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! [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. [14] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’” The punishment: [15] “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.”

So in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 we have the arrogance of the creature we call Satan, and his fall.