May 6, 2013
Ezekiel 28:12-19; Isaiah 14:12-15
(All quotations are from the New King James Version)
We have an enemy, a very dangerous enemy who is out to destroy what God wants to do in us and through us! And the sooner we realize this fact, the sooner we can be ready and available for the Lord Jesus to use in His kingdom work.
But just to realize we have an enemy is not enough. We have to know who he is, his personality, his background, his purpose and his tactics. So the next series of posts will be about the devil, the enemy of all that God is and does, and whose only purpose concerning us – God’s children – is “…to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” (John 10:10).
There are some who raise their eyebrows in doubt or disbelief when Satan is mentioned. Yes, many who name the name of the Lord Jesus Christ do not believe in the existence of a personal devil. But Jesus did! In the record of the Lord’s work – the Bible – the person of Satan is presented as real and straight-forward as is God! And Jesus dealt with the devil and his minions – demons – as very real and active in their opposition of God and His work.
Who is he, this devil? According to Ezekiel 28:12 through 19 he is a created being of the class of angels called cherubim. He is called in verse 14, “…the anointed cherub who covers….” No, cherubs are not cutesy little boy or girl angels with sweet-looking faces! As a matter of fact, this anointed cherub may have been the most high and powerful angel ever created! Just look at his description in Ezekiel 28:12 through 15:
Thus says the Lord God: You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and
perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone
was your covering…. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was
prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub
who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you
walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your
ways from the days you were created, till iniquity was found in you.
What iniquity was found in him? He is called Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12, and the record of his iniquity and resulting fall is recorded in Isaiah 14:12 through 15:
How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How are you
cut down to the ground, you who weakened 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 also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest 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 lowest depths of the Pit.
His desire was to be God; to reign over all and to control all! This was his motivating purpose at the beginning and, according to II Thessalonians 2:4, he retains that driving motivation to the end.
[He] opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is
worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself
that he is God.
I know this is speaking of the antichrist who will appear at the end of this age. But the antichrist is just the opposite of Christ, and so Jesus Christ being the incarnation of God in human flesh, the antichrist is the incarnation of Satan in human flesh. And Satan wants to be God from beginning to end. This is his driving purpose in all that he does – to defeat God and take His place.
Logically, then, it follows that we are not the devil’s primary enemies. God is his enemy, and Satan is only opposed to us as we are yielded to the Lord and are allowing Him to do His work in us and through us. If we are not yielded to and living for the Lord Jesus, then we are no threat to Satan and he will pretty much leave us alone. The trials in the life of a Christian living outside or on the edge of the Lord’s will are either our own doing or God trying to get our attention.
In our next blog, we will examine why the devil carries the title, “…the god of this world…” (II Corinthians 4:4).