Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
The prince of Tyre claimed divine status, yet he is only a mortal man. He will die by the hand of strangers, foreign enemies and invaders, suffering the death of the uncircumcised among the slain, and because the Lord has spoken it this judgment is certain to come to pass. Satan is represented as the actual king of Tyre because he fully controlled its government and worked through it.
The representation in the chapter refers primarily to Lucifer, the fallen angel and covering cherub who set his heart as the heart of God and exalted himself. The judgment on the ruler of Tyre also represents Lucifer and his fall and destruction and a wider movement of rebellion against God. Beyond one being, it has broader significance as a general movement to be witnessed in the last days, in which sympathies and interests are enlisted in a work opposed to the teachings of the Word of God, false theories and strange forbidden things are advocated, and commercialism absorbs energies and means that should be given to the work of God. Satan works with great determination through human beings with the same subtle power he used in plotting rebellion among holy beings in heaven, to fulfill his purposes of evil and if possible deceive the very elect.
It shows the work of Lucifer and the angels expelled from heaven in turning human minds away from saving perishing souls to unessential jots and tittles, where strange spirits figure and Satan in disguise fills openings to bring confusion into the ranks, enlarge little differences until they become prominent, magnify disagreement, watch every movement, and hinder the advancement of the work. The act of self-exaltation shows how pride can influence people to oppose God and persecute others, and that history is to be repeated in present and future experience. The verse warns God's peculiar people who have had great light, precept upon precept, to be watchful, to refuse union with those God has not sent, to labor earnestly to counterwork evil in the church and in the world, and to walk in all the light God has given lest they be deceived.
The prophecy applies to the approaching judgment of the man of sin, as the world and professedly Protestant churches take sides with him, a conflict connected with the coming issue over the seventh-day Sabbath. The word to the prince of evil will be fulfilled at the end when God vindicates His law and delivers His people, when Satan the root and his followers the branches will be cut off and sin and sinners will perish. Satan will be destroyed from the midst of the stones of fire and die the death of the rebellious, will be a terror and never be any more, and the wicked shall not be but shall be as though they had not been. This destruction is not arbitrary power, for the rejecters of mercy reap what they have sown, since God is the fountain of life and choosing the service of sin separates from God and cuts off from life, so that the glory of Him who is love destroys those out of harmony with Him as a consuming fire. The cross made this destruction of sin and Satan forever certain, and its completion reveals God's character, shows His law perfect and immutable, vindicates His love, and makes the universe eternally secure.
The prince of Tyre claimed divine status, yet he is only a mortal man. He will die by the hand of strangers, foreign enemies and invaders, suffering the death of the uncircumcised among the slain, and because the Lord has spoken it this judgment is certain to come to pass. Satan is represented as the actual king of Tyre because he fully controlled its government and worked through it.
The representation in the chapter refers primarily to Lucifer, the fallen angel and covering cherub who set his heart as the heart of God and exalted himself. The judgment on the ruler of Tyre also represents Lucifer and his fall and destruction and a wider movement of rebellion against God. Beyond one being, it has broader significance as a general movement to be witnessed in the last days, in which sympathies and interests are enlisted in a work opposed to the teachings of the Word of God, false theories and strange forbidden things are advocated, and commercialism absorbs energies and means that should be given to the work of God. Satan works with great determination through human beings with the same subtle power he used in plotting rebellion among holy beings in heaven, to fulfill his purposes of evil and if possible deceive the very elect.
It shows the work of Lucifer and the angels expelled from heaven in turning human minds away from saving perishing souls to unessential jots and tittles, where strange spirits figure and Satan in disguise fills openings to bring confusion into the ranks, enlarge little differences until they become prominent, magnify disagreement, watch every movement, and hinder the advancement of the work. The act of self-exaltation shows how pride can influence people to oppose God and persecute others, and that history is to be repeated in present and future experience. The verse warns God's peculiar people who have had great light, precept upon precept, to be watchful, to refuse union with those God has not sent, to labor earnestly to counterwork evil in the church and in the world, and to walk in all the light God has given lest they be deceived.
The prophecy applies to the approaching judgment of the man of sin, as the world and professedly Protestant churches take sides with him, a conflict connected with the coming issue over the seventh-day Sabbath. The word to the prince of evil will be fulfilled at the end when God vindicates His law and delivers His people, when Satan the root and his followers the branches will be cut off and sin and sinners will perish. Satan will be destroyed from the midst of the stones of fire and die the death of the rebellious, will be a terror and never be any more, and the wicked shall not be but shall be as though they had not been. This destruction is not arbitrary power, for the rejecters of mercy reap what they have sown, since God is the fountain of life and choosing the service of sin separates from God and cuts off from life, so that the glory of Him who is love destroys those out of harmony with Him as a consuming fire. The cross made this destruction of sin and Satan forever certain, and its completion reveals God's character, shows His law perfect and immutable, vindicates His love, and makes the universe eternally secure.