Judgment
of
The Bible is very clear in its revelation that there is a future
judgment for sin and evil, a future resolution for the problem of evil as it is
often expressed. It not only informs us as to what will happen in regard to the
future destiny of sin and evil but it tells us about the origin of sin and
evil.
Both of the contexts in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 relate to what goes on
in Revelation, specifically between Revelation chapter twelve and chapter
nineteen. It is important for us to step back und understand the role and
function of angels as a whole because that is going to help us understand what
is happening with these angels, both in terms of the holy angels and the fallen
angels in Revelation.
A brief overview of the way angels are used in the outworking of
prophecy in Revelation. As we have seen, approximately one third of the
references to angels in the New Testament occurs in Revelation between chapters
four and nineteen, the passages that deal with prophecy. First of all we see
the angels surrounding the throne of God in heaven in chapters four and five.
There is a return to the heavenly scene in chapter seven and again we see the
angels singing praise and glorifying God in relation to the judgments that are
being poured out on the earth in Revelation 7:9-11. In 7:1 we also see that the
meteorology of the earth at the time of the Tribulation is under the control of
angels. There are four angels who are said to control the winds and they are
preparing to execute judgment with various weather disasters upon the earth.
But then we see another angel come on the scene in verse 2 who restrains them
until the 144,000 Jews can be sealed and protected from the judgments of God
during the Tribulation period. We also see that angels are involved in
announcing and then carrying the three series of judgments that form the focal
point of the Tribulation judgments. First there are the seal judgments, then
the trumpet judgments, and finally the bowl judgments. Each of these is
initiated by an angel. We see, too, a focus on demons and their role in the
judgments of the Tribulation. In Revelation 9:1-12 we see that there is a
demonic army that is released from the bottomless pit to torment the unsaved on
the earth.
Revelation
9:1 NASB “Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven
which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to
him.
This is described as a woe. The fifth, sixth and seventh trumpet
judgments as the three woes because they step- up the intensity of judgments
upon the earth to a high degree. The sixth trumpet judgment, which is the
second woe, is then described in Revelation 9:13-21. This is a misunderstanding
on this. There are a couple of popular prophecy writers who have identified the
200,000,000 million horsemen in verse 16 as the Chinese or some oriental army
invading. However, if we pay close attention to the text of verse 14 the sixth
angel who has the trumpet says, “Release the four angels who are bound at the
great river
So we have a demonic army that is bound at the river
Then when we go over to Revelation chapter twelve we will see the
introduction of Satan for the first time in the book of Revelation. Revelation
12:1, 2 “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the
moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;
Revelation 12:4 NASB “And his tail swept away a third of the
stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the
woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour
her child.” The child, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ. [5] “And she gave
birth to a son, a male {child,} who is to rule all the nations with a rod of
iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.” This is a
reference to Psalm 2. … [7] “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his
angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war” … This
war is an intensified war that occurs between the elect angels who have
remained obedient to the Lord and the fallen angels… [8] “and they were not
strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.” They
had been in heaven throughout most of human history. There are regular
convocations of angels, including both elect angels and demons, before the
throne of God. This is seen in Job 1 & 2; 1 Kings 22, and a number of other
places. There is no longer going to be found a place for them in heaven so at
this point in the Tribulation: [9] “And the great dragon was thrown down, the
serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world;
he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” So
it is at that point that they come to the earth. And just like that period in
human history between the fall in the garden and Genesis 6 and the flood, the
angels, the demons will be visible to the human race.
At the end in the Tribulation we see everything coming together again so
that there is a judgment by the Lord Jesus Christ of sin and evil in every
realm of creation. This culminates at that great battle that occurs at the end
of the Tribulation which is actually the campaign of Armageddon.
Then we learn that when the demons are cast to the earth they set up
their headquarters in
Most of us, if we have had a background in studying the Bible to any
degree, and have studied dispensations and prophecy, we were probably taught
that in Revelation chapter seventeen we have the destruction of economic
Babylon and in chapter eighteen the destruction of political Babylon.
Furthermore, in verse 3 it says: “For all the nations have drunk of the
wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have
committed {acts of} immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have
become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.” This reason for going on to this
verse is because it focuses on the earth as a whole, the kings of the earth,
and it will then go on in v. 8 to describe the nature of the judgments.
Revelation 18:8 NASB
“For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and
mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who
judges her is strong. [9] And the kings of the earth, who committed {acts of}
immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when
they see the smoke of her burning,
Revelation
Again, we see that the events of Revelation are set within a context of
a heavenly war between the angels, Revelation 12:7. In
Introduction to this problem
of identifying the individuals mention in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28
There are basically three interpretations of these passages. The first
is the view that we believe in the correct interpretation. It refers to Satan
in some sense. There are some who think that this refers to the Antichrist,
thus it is speaking of the power behind the throne. There are others who think
it refers specifically to Satan. Ultimately what we are saying is that either
typologically or directly these passages refer to Satan. The second view is a
historical view, trying to identify these rulers as historical individuals. For
example in Isaiah 14 they try to identify the ruler as either Sennacherib or
Nebuchadnezzar. There are problems with both of those views but there are many
people who take that historical approach. The third view came into popularity
in the late 19th century out of a background of 19th
century religious liberalism which started with the assumption that God has not
spoken to man at all, the Bible is just a record of people’s religious
experiences, so you can’t rely on it for its infallibility or inerrancy. There
was a complete rejection of the infallibility of Scripture and there was the
assumption that the Bible was a reflection of religious thought just as human
history is based on the evolution of man. So they are influenced by Darwinism
in the area of religion. So there is this idea of mythology, that a lot of
these stories in the Old Testament are really legends, some of which have been
absorbed from other cultures and then been modified by the Jews. It is part of
that whole 19th century religious viewpoint.
1) Any methodology,
any approach to Scripture interpretation that identifies the figure in Isaiah
14 or Ezekiel 28 as some Canaanite or Phoenician myth—or another way they try
to handle it is an idealised but non-historical man—is incompatible at its very
core with the view of divine inspiration and inerrancy. Furthermore, no pagan
myth has ever been discovered that could be such a source. This is just some
scholar’s imagination because of his presuppositions related to the history of
religion.
2)
What is said in both of these passages goes far beyond
the abilities of any human figure. There is no historical figure that fits the
description in Isaiah 14 or Ezekiel 28. Attempts have been made to identify
this king in Isaiah 14 Tiglath-pileser of
3)
Isaiah states: “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!” No Babylonian ruler or Assyrian existed, lived
or fell from heaven. There are those who attempt to say that this is simply
hyperbole or metaphor but you can not document that from either comparing it
with other Scripture or with comparisons with other Babylonian judgment
passages in Isaiah and Jeremiah. Remember the standard is the Scripture, not in
what you find in archaeological texts outside of the Scripture. The Bible
doesn’t use this terminology loosely.
4)
Ezekiel addresses his lament to two individuals. He
begins talking with the prince of
5)
In the New Testament Paul, identifies Satan’s sin as
pride or arrogance in 1 Timothy 3:6, 7. How did Paul know that Satan’s original
sin was pride or arrogance if there is no reference to it in the Old Testament?
If Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 do not describe the original sin of Satan then we
have nothing in Scripture related to the original sin of Satan. In other words,
if we don’t have a Scripture, a revelation related to the origin of sin and
evil in the universe then why don’t we believe in dualism, the eternal
existence of both good and evil?
6)
The descriptions found in Isaiah and Ezekiel 28,
thought they are very grand, cannot apply to a human king and there is not
contextual evidence that these are hyperbole or metaphor; they are viewed
historically or prophetically. There is no indication in the text that the
writer is talking simply in exaggeration. In Scripture there are always
contextual clues that the writer is using figures of speech, you can’t just
read it into the text because a literal interpretation just doesn’t quite make
sense to you.
7)
No human king could be said to be “blameless in your
ways from the day you were created,” which is what is said of the king of
8)
In Ezekiel 28 the king of
9)
In Ezekiel 28 there is the statement that the king in
Ezekiel was in the