Ezekiel 28:14, commentary and pictures

The verse describes Lucifer before his fall as the anointed covering cherub whom God Himself appointed to that office, placed upon the holy mountain of God to walk in the midst of the stones of fire in God's immediate presence. He was a created being made perfect and holy, the highest in honor and glory among the inhabitants of heaven next to Christ, set to veil God's glory and reveal His purposes to the universe. Though endowed with wisdom, beauty and great responsibility to serve God, he became proud of his brightness and position and coveted the worship and supremacy belonging to God and Christ alone. Working deceptively until disaffection ripened into open war, he drew a third of the angels with him and was overcome and cast out, losing the high estate entrusted to him after long forbearance and refused repentance. His course warns that high rank and great intellect cannot keep one from falling, and calls all to humility and dependence on God rather than self-exaltation and refusal of correction.

Original Position in Heaven

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth describes Lucifer, that is Satan, before his fall as the anointed covering cherub whom God Himself appointed and set in that office. He was placed upon the holy mountain of God and walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. That was service in God's immediate presence, where divine glory rested upon him and enshrouded him. He was a created being, a created angel, made holy and undefiled and perfect from the day he was created. He remained perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him.

He was the first of the covering cherubs, the highest in honor, power and glory among the inhabitants of heaven after Christ. He stood next to Christ and next to God in the heavenly courts, second only to Christ in position, the most honored of God and highest among the heavenly host. His office was to cover, to veil God's glory and to hide God's glory from the heavenly intelligences. He was foremost in revealing God's purposes to the universe.

He was greatly loved by the heavenly beings and had strong influence and confidence among them. He led the heavenly choir and joined the angels in worship. He shared in the work of God, Christ and the holy angels, standing radiant with light and glory from the Father and the Son.

Glory Wisdom and Honor

Ezekiel 28:14 is joined to the sealing of Lucifer as full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, endowed with priceless intellectual gifts, great brightness, excellence and personal charm, with a master mind made good and beautiful as near as possible like God. He was given beauty, power, honor and greatness, and nothing was withheld that could excuse rebellion. He was an angel of great power, perfect in his ways from the day he was created, blessed with a powerful intellect and honored by the angels in a high and holy estate. He stood as chief of the angels, next in honor to Christ, abundantly enjoying light and experience and knowing the character of God, His goodness, mercy, wisdom, excellent glory and terrible majesty. His heart was lifted up because of his beauty and his wisdom was corrupted by reason of his brightness, when in self-exaltation he felt he should be above Christ and equal with God.

He was the light-bearer who shared God's glory in heaven and stood next to Jesus in power and majesty. He stood in the presence of the great Creator with the ceaseless beams of glory enshrouding God resting upon him continually, radiant with light and glory from the Father and the Son. He served in a radiant and lovely state upon God's holy mountain, walking among the stones of fire where the glory surrounding God rested upon him. He was first of the covering cherubs, holy and undefiled, honored above the heavenly host, and his honored position included radiant garments.

He was clothed in glory and entrusted by God with power, wisdom, greatness, a high and holy estate, a special mission and a position of great responsibility among the heavenly host. He was endowed by the Creator with greatness and power as the anointed covering cherub upon the holy mountain of God, given a place next to Christ and knowledge gained through connection with God. Though entrusted with that lofty place and the work assigned to him, he became dissatisfied because God had not revealed every secret of His purposes, and disregarded what had been revealed about his own work.

Those gifts were from God and were meant to serve God, not grounds for self-exaltation. His honor above the heavenly host did not make that glory his own, for his exalted place and honor came from God. He came to regard that glory, wisdom, place and honor as his own, sought homage, supremacy and loyalty for himself, and coveted the glory, authority, supremacy and homage due to God and belonging to Christ.

Pride Rebellion and Expulsion

Though so exalted he was not content with his position but became discontented, proud and self-exalted because of his beauty, brightness, wisdom, position and honor, coming to regard his wisdom and glory as his own rather than as entrusted gifts whose honor did not make that glory his own. His heart was lifted up because of his beauty and his wisdom was corrupted by reason of his brightness, and ambition and selfish desire took control of him to his destruction. In that self-exaltation he coveted the homage, supremacy, worship and loyalty due alone to the Creator and to Christ, cherishing envy and seeking to secure the service and loyalty of angels for himself. He desired to be first in heaven, to be as God and like the Most High, to be above Christ, to have equality with God, and to occupy the place of Christ and even the place of God. Standing next to Christ in power and glory with Christ holding preeminence next to God as the express image of the Father, he coveted the honor and glory given to Christ, gradually took upon himself authority belonging to Christ alone, supposed he could do anything he desired, and commenced war because he wanted that preeminence for himself. He also sought to rule the earthly kingdom which had been appointed to Christ under God, setting his grasping for exaltation opposite to Christ who left the royal courts to live as man and suffer with humanity. Envy and jealousy of Christ entered him when he saw Christ's preeminence, honor and glory as the only-begotten Son and express image of the Father, becoming ambitious for the more exalted honors bestowed upon the Son and insisting he should be exalted equal in honor with Christ. When the Father consulted the Son about forming this world with its beasts and living things and making man in the image of God to reign over every living thing, and did not consult him, he learned of the purpose and grew envious and jealous, unwilling to submit to the authority of God's Son and unwilling to occupy a secondary place. His own glory was very precious in his own sight, his beauty led him to become proud and jealous of Jesus Christ, and he craved to be the highest one next to God, even wanting Christ to be second to him.

He concealed his purpose and worked deceptively mind upon mind, winning support through deception in so hidden a way that his sentiments could not be dealt with until developed. By planting criticism of God's government among his fellow angels, secretly spreading discontent and evil surmising, insinuating dissatisfaction, and presenting those ideas as theirs, he introduced rebellion while making it appear he sought the good of the universe. He misrepresented God, attributing to Him the desire for self-exaltation and investing the loving Creator with his own evil characteristics, causing angels and men to doubt God's word, distrust His goodness, and look upon Him as severe and unforgiving because He is a God of justice and terrible majesty. He claimed angels should follow their own will and that his striving was for their liberty, seeking to gain control of heavenly beings, to draw them away from their Creator, and to win their homage to himself, until many listened, believed, sympathized, and were won before his purpose was clear. His course ripened from disaffection into open war in heaven against God and Christ, in which he supposed he could do anything and lead angels and other worlds into rebellion. That rebellion became open revolt, loyal angels refused to yield, he and the angels who joined him were overcome and expelled from heaven and cast to the ground, falling from their holy estate and losing the honor, supremacy, place and high and holy estate entrusted to him.

His apostasy drew large numbers, taking one-third of the heavenly family with him, because his former unquestionable character, exalted place, love, influence and mystery gave weight to his claims, fraud and sophistry. His power to deceive was very great, and by disguising himself in a cloak of falsehood he gained an advantage, so that even the loyal angels could not fully discern his character or see to what his work was leading until disaffection ripened into active revolt and his plans were fully developed to show their true nature and tendency. He was not cast out at the first sign of discontent but was long retained in heaven when he first indulged discontent and insubordination and began presenting false claims and lying representations. Again and again he was given repeated opportunities to repent and offered pardon on condition of repentance and submission, with every effort made to convince him of his error, restore him to rectitude and preserve the order of heaven. Had he been willing to return to allegiance humble and obedient, to acknowledge the Creator's wisdom, accept the place assigned to him and be satisfied with his appointed place, he would have been restored and re-established in his office as covering cherub, but pride kept him from submitting and by stubbornly justifying his course, maintaining he had no need of repentance and refusing correction it became necessary to vindicate God's justice and the honor of His throne and cast him out with all who sympathized with him.

Because he rebelled in the very presence of heaven's inexpressible glory with abundant light and experience of God's character, goodness, mercy, wisdom, excellent glory and terrible majesty, there was no greater exhibition left to impress him and no more favorable condition in which to prove him. His guilt was therefore unpardonable and his punishment must be in proportion to his exalted privileges next in honor to Christ as chief of the angels. The rebellious angels were left to perish with no hope of redemption and no possible hope for his redemption, while Christ determined to save fallen man and stretched forth His hand to rescue perishing man cut off from intercourse with God by Adam's transgression.

Present Work and Final End

From being the anointed covering cherub he became the avowed antagonist of God and His avowed enemy, the prince of evil, the originator of sin and of evil, the source of sin, envy, jealousy, deception and strife, and the head of an apostate race. He worked with all deceptive power and satanic subtlety to become equal with God in heaven as the Son of God was, that he might sway the heavenly angels as he desired, carrying on that specious work secretly and concealing his identity so far as possible while God permitted the rebellion to develop. Christ's victory over death destroyed any affection the universe might have retained for him and showed his accusations unjust.

He planted his standard on the earth and established a rival empire and a rival kingdom on earth, in which all the powers of evil combine in opposing the influence of God. Actuated by intense hatred for the God he dishonored, he leaves no means untried to attract men to himself and conform them to his nature, trying to eclipse every ray of light from the world and to efface the likeness of God from men. He has planted his throne between the human worshiper and God, and the talents God entrusted to men to be used in serving Him he leads them to invest in building up his own kingdom, so that he and not God is worshiped, determined to allure the world to his apostate banner.

Though fallen his powers were not destroyed and made him not a beast, and since his fall he has turned his mighty strength against the government of heaven and has grown more artful. He retains much of his given wisdom and power, learning and light in perverted form, having corrupted his wisdom through pride in his beauty, yet remaining cunning through his wisdom and brightness. He uses his intellectual abilities and former knowledge gained through connection with God to control the angels who fell with him, to misrepresent God, to stir rebellion against Christ heaven's Commander, to blind minds, and to carry on sophistry and misrepresentation in the heavenly courts and among men. His power, false theories, temptations and snares to deceive human minds are so great that no one can discern them, resist them, or escape the corruption in the world through lust except through divine aid by individually receiving a knowledge of Jesus Christ and by the exceeding great and precious promises becoming a partaker of the divine nature.

He places those retained gems of truth in a framework of error to give luster to human sentiments, mingles sophistry with truth and his knowledge of good with what is vile, and thus makes utterances inspired by him appear enchanting, noble and attractive. When it suits his purpose he can still impart enchanting, elevating and noble sentiments to men, inspiring his agents with thoughts that appear elevating and noble, and many minds of superior intellectual attainments are still led captive by his power when they do not trust God. He comes to man disguised under an appearance of goodness as friend rather than enemy, as an angel from heaven rather than as a hideous fiend, and as an angel of goodness, beguiling and seducing the race with subtle temptations and specious deceptions, just as he came to Christ with quotations of Scripture to overthrow Him and as he speaks of heavenly glories as though still his. That is why the writings of pagans and unbelievers still contain thoughts of elevated character that are attractive to the mind, for knowledge alone is dangerous, since in the hands of the enemy of all good it becomes a power to destroy, and only the sanctified knowledge which God imparts is of the right quality and tells to His glory.

He came to this earth and entered with great zeal into commercialism to carry out his strange devisings, laying plans to make the world his own rule and to turn it into a place for his own rule. Restrained from carrying out his plans in heaven, he determined to be his own god and laid plans to plunge the world into commercial strife and an uncivilized condition, and the great controversy between good and evil continues under his leadership through men because God remains Ruler of heaven and earth. Unless people stand loyal and true by the side of Prince Emmanuel they will be ensnared by him, and ministers who will not follow the light God gave them depart from the faith and follow the fallen angel without realizing it.

The same being who visited the holy pair in Eden and counseled them to partake of the forbidden fruit and to transgress the laws of God, thus introducing sin into the world and defacing the image of God in man, now hovers about men as a very busy personal attendant and adviser and seducing spirit. He leads them into degradation and great departure from truth and refusal to humble the heart despite many reproofs and warnings. His rebellion shut him out of heaven but turned his mighty strength against heaven's government, affecting in a marvelous manner the bodies of those naturally inclined to do his bidding and exercising his power to a wonderful degree upon the present generation.

At the end God will vindicate His law and deliver His people, and Satan the root with all who joined him in rebellion the branches will be cut off, with sin and sinners perishing root and branch. The covering cherub will be destroyed from the midst of the stones of fire, become a terror, and never be any more, so the wicked shall not be and shall be as though they had not been. This is not by arbitrary power but by their own choice, for those who choose sin separate from God the fountain of life and cut themselves off from life, placing themselves so out of harmony with God that His loving presence is to them a consuming fire.

He remembers whence he has fallen and sees another standing near the Father veiling His glory in the exalted position in the council that might have been his and that could have been his again when Christ was crowned. Once he was shining, innocent, and at peace, a shining seraph, son of the morning, set in honor upon the holy mountain of God near the Father, dwelling in innocence and purity with peace and content in the council of heaven where he was honored. He fell through murmuring against God and envy of Christ, and is now changed, degraded, and forever excluded from that council where he was honored, facing his own ruin.

Historical Scope and Meaning

Ezekiel 28 presents Satan as the actual king of Tyre because he fully controlled that government and worked through it. The whole chapter must be read and prayed over to understand God's working in dealing with fallen angels and fallen men and to discern the signs of the times, for it explains His working in relation to them. That working includes angels who exalted themselves and claimed superiority to Christ, were expelled from heaven for self-exaltation, and now labor to deceive, to steal away true conviction and to delay and hinder God's work.

The description refers primarily to Lucifer as a created, perfect, anointed cherub appointed by God to honor upon the holy mountain of God among the stones of fire, before iniquity was found in him. It also has a broader significance, portraying a general movement opposed to God that would be seen among His people and warning them against deception. The verse gives authentic history of the beginning of the world, telling of the fall of the covering cherub and the introduction of sin into the world, together with the origin of the earth, the creation of man and his fall. Without this true account in the Bible the mind is left to fables and conjectures, human conjectures and unreliable theories, false theories, superstition and falsehood, and the enfeebling of intellect that comes from entertaining error.

That history, with Satan's plots for the destruction of the human race, was opened to Adam and Eve in Eden by heavenly messengers to warn them of the danger threatening them. It more fully unfolds the nature of God's government and exposes Satan as the prince of evil trying to overthrow it. The verse is relevant to the activity of strange spirits and Satan's disguised efforts to bring confusion among God's people and to hinder the saving of souls. The same rebellious work begun when he sought preeminence for himself instead of Christ holding preeminence next to God and worked upon angels until many agreed to war while loyal angels refused to yield is now being repeated in strange events, especially in America since San Francisco was destroyed by fire.

Warning and Moral Lessons

The anointed covering cherub stood next to Christ in the heavenly courts in a high appointed place, yet decided he was entitled to a higher place and held his own plans and judgment as infallible and never to be revoked. When God sought to correct him he would not be corrected but refused correction and refused to alter opinions he felt were never to be given up, and by cherishing and strengthening wrong ideas his character was developed until God could not accept him because those opinions led into actions unacceptable to God. Anyone who will not yield up his own way but persistently follows his own judgment as unchangeable repeats Lucifer's position and claims infallibility, and God has no further use for such a one unless he changes and is reconverted; holding sentiments of infallibility in judgment is that angel's specious seductive device, and prideful ambition and devotion to his own ideas led to expulsion with loss of claim on mercy and love. His course is the example and warning against men claiming infallibility and exalting their own wisdom, position and ideas, for being next to God in efficiency he would have no one higher than himself and claimed he must be above Christ though Christ was above him as the only-begotten Son united with God. The same warning reaches ministers who become self-sufficient and refuse correction, for such a spirit is evidence that God has forsaken him, and it reaches all in whom self-exaltation, pride in position and self-importance take hold and shape character until true religion dies from the heart; the account of the fall belongs among the teachings that call for humility and dependence on God for wisdom.

High rank and great intellect did not keep him from falling, for though created by God and placed as covering cherub in high position among the angelic throng he became a rebel through self-exaltation. Knowledge alone is dangerous, for in the hands of the enemy of all good it becomes a power to destroy, and many minds of superior intellectual attainments are still led captive by his power; only sanctified knowledge imparted by God is of right quality and tells to His glory, and his use of knowledge to lead others away from God is the model to be feared. His wisdom became dangerous when he misused it and treated his own judgment as supreme, so people should fear such a guide and turn instead to the living God and plant their feet on God's truth in the rock Christ Jesus. Angels in heaven looked to Lucifer with confidence in his greatness and lost the sense of the presence of Christ and God, which shows that trust placed in a created being displaces trust in God and warns never to place confidence in human greatness in the same way. Having once been in grace in heaven he fell by transgressing God's law, which disproves the doctrine of once in grace always in grace and demonstrates the sure result of breaking God's law.

His former exalted state as a bright angel in glory does not make his advice trustworthy, and though he claimed his position in the heavenly courts placed him above suspicion and above the possibility of doing wrong, his former position now contrasts with his present role as Christ's rival. After his fall he stirred the same envy, discontent and ambition for position and honor in people, leading them toward distrust and rebellion against God, and history is to repeat this pattern as pride influences people to oppose God and persecute others. Having coveted the honor and glory given to Christ as the express image of the Father, and having become self-exalted in his place as covering cherub so that he supposed he could do anything he desired and tried to obtain Christ's position, he fell and was cast out; now he works on human minds to implant the same desires he cherished, filling them with self-exaltation to dishonor God, to turn from allegiance to truth, and to invent many things not after God's order, so that those today who follow the same self-sufficiency and pride will fall as he fell. His prideful grasping for exaltation in supposing he should occupy the place of Christ, even the place of God, stands opposite to Christ, the Being next to God who left the royal courts to live as man and suffer all the afflictions humanity partakes of, and therefore humanity is called to humble itself as Christ humbled Himself in true conversion, self-denial, self-sacrifice and obedience rather than following Lucifer in self-exaltation.

He declared his position as covering cherub proof that he was worthy of higher honor and used it to press mysterious theories and reasons for desiring Christ's place, working insidiously to gain the highest place, and that same selfish desire to have none honored more highly, to keep abreast with fellow workers and gain the lead if possible, is now repeated by many professing children of God, while his later spirit of disaffection illustrates selfish ambition that weakens others' faith. His power, false theories, temptations and snares to deceive human minds are so great, after he rebelled and led astray angels and was cast out to set up a kingdom of his own to allure the world to his apostate banner, that no one can discern them, resist them or escape worldly corruption through lust except through divine aid by individually receiving a knowledge of Jesus Christ and by the promises becoming a partaker of the divine nature. By accumulated misrepresentations he clothed God with his own character and cast gloomy shadow between man and God, enveloping the world in ignorance and moral darkness and leading deceived men to worship a false god, so that only Jesus as light of the world could by His presence dissipate the darkness and reveal God. Knowing well the position Christ had held as Beloved of the Father and the glory, peace and joy of communion with God, since losing heaven he is determined to take revenge by causing others to share his fall, causing them to undervalue heavenly things and set the heart on earth, while his selfish soul could not understand Christ's love in coming to dispute his dominion and was filled with amazement and apprehension.

He was created and placed by God in high position as covering cherub upon the holy mountain, yet fell through self-exaltation by misusing given abilities, by ambition to be first and unwillingness to accept restraint and to submit to restraint. He refused to yield his will to God's will and worked deceptively in heaven until cast out and compelled to leave the courts, taking one-third of the heavenly family with him, so that to walk apart from God is to walk and work after his counsel. He wandered away from God step by step, using his knowledge to blind mind and judgment while working out deceptive plans, showing that ambition to be first and unwillingness to submit lie behind the falls of many others.