Ezekiel 28:17, commentary and pictures

Though spoken as a lamentation over the king of Tyrus, the description declares that his heart was lifted up because of his beauty and his wisdom was corrupted by reason of his brightness, for which God will cast him to the ground and lay him before kings to behold him, and it refers primarily to Lucifer, the once-perfect covering cherub in whom iniquity arose. Before his fall he stood next to Christ, highest in favor and power and glory among the inhabitants of heaven, created noble and beautiful and full of wisdom as gifts given him in love by God. His heart being lifted up means pride in glory that was all from God as though he had originated it himself, and his wisdom being corrupted means his thinking turned to discontent, self-exaltation, coveting the homage due to the Creator alone and the power that was the prerogative of Christ alone, desiring supremacy and equality with God. Through rebellion he was expelled from heaven and cast to the earth with the angels who joined him, stripped of honor, and he will ultimately be destroyed by fire and reduced to ashes in the sight of beholders until he is no more. His course stands as a lasting safeguard and warning, for when any man treats his own judgment as infallible and will not yield or be corrected, or takes credit for God-given wisdom and cherishes ambition to be first, he takes Lucifer's position and will fall as he fell unless he humbles himself daily and gives glory to God.

Subject and Setting

The verse belongs to a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, declaring that his heart was lifted up because of his beauty, his wisdom was corrupted by reason of his brightness, and therefore God would cast him to the ground and lay him before kings that they might behold him. That description refers primarily to Lucifer, the fallen angel, the once-perfect created cherub after iniquity arose in him. The figure of the prince of Tyrus is applied to Satan as a highly honored angel who was not content with his position but sought homage and power belonging to God and Christ.

Though his glory came from God, he treated it as his own, and his beauty and brightness fostered pride that corrupted his wisdom as he sought self-exaltation. Ambition and selfish desire took control of him, and his sinful influence led to the loss and ruin of heavenly beings. Satan is represented as the actual king of Tyre because he fully controlled that government and worked through it.

The account also has broader significance as a warning about a general movement that would be witnessed. Its warning calls God's people to walk in the light God has given so as not to be deceived in the last days. The hearts of angels of great power were lifted up because of beauty and their wisdom was corrupted by brightness through the spirit of self-exaltation, feeling they should be above Christ, and God cast them to the ground and laid them before kings to be beheld. These fallen angels are now at work playing the game of life for souls, stealing away true conviction of the Holy Spirit and deceiving all who will give heed in order to delay and hinder the work of God, so the whole twenty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel must be read carefully and prayerfully to understand God's dealing with fallen angels and fallen men and to discern the signs of the times.

The verse gives the 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 creation of man and his fall and the origin of the earth. This true history keeps the mind from fables and conjectures, false theories, superstition and falsehood, and from the enfeebling of the intellect that comes from entertaining error, so that human conjectures and unreliable theories are not needed.

Exalted Position and Gifts

Before his fall Lucifer stood next to Christ, highest in God's favor and highest in power and glory among the inhabitants of heaven. He was the anointed covering cherub, the light-bearer and sharer of God's glory, first of the covering cherubs, holy and undefiled. He stood in the immediate presence of the Creator with the beams of glory enshrouding God resting upon him, next to Jesus in power and majesty. He had once been most honored of God, an honored angel honored by the angels, exalted to high honor among the angelic host.

He had been created noble and beautiful, one who seals up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. His appearance was of a mild countenance expressive of happiness, a high and broad forehead showing great intelligence, a perfect form, and a noble and majestic bearing. His beauty, brightness, wisdom, glory, learning and agency, including the wisdom God had given him and the glory and wisdom that were gifts from God, were given him in love by God, who could also remove them, but he came to regard that glory as pertaining to himself as though he had originated it.

Though so exalted he was not placed beyond the possibility of evil and remained free to pervert his gifts. He could have remained beloved and honored in favor with God and all the angels, exercising his noble powers to bless others and to glorify his Maker. Instead of devoting all his powers to the service of his Creator he turned them toward self-honor and praise.

His original wisdom and brightness explain why thoughts of an elevated character attractive to the mind are still found apart from God. They are still found in the writings of pagans and infidels, placed in a framework of error to give luster to human sentiments and to make attractive the utterances inspired by the prince of evil.

Pride Corrupting Wisdom

The lifting up of the heart because of beauty was pride in glory that had all come from God, which came to be regarded as belonging to self as though self-originated and as ground for claiming honor, and the corrupting of wisdom by reason of brightness was the turning of thought into discontent with a position honored above the heavenly host, into misuse of powers and corruption of character and into seeking of self-glory instead of God's glory and the good of others. The gifts of beauty, wisdom, glory, learning and agency had been given in love, yet they were misused to exalt self as though originated by self, and pride thus begun led to revolt when Christ's place could not be taken, for pride cannot enter God's kingdom. Little by little the desire for self-exaltation was indulged, with the seeking of own honor and the employing of powers to attract attention and win praise to self, and gradually with leading the angels ruled over to do service to self instead of devoting all their powers to the service of the Creator, perverting both own imagination and those who yielded authority. Instead of using noble powers to bless others and glorify the Maker, though remaining beloved and honored in favor with God and all the angels had been possible, self-exaltation was chosen and the heart was set as the heart of God.

Homage due alone to the Creator was coveted, with endeavor to secure the service and loyalty of all created beings to self instead of seeking to make God supreme in their affections and allegiance, and the glory with which the infinite Father had invested His Son was coveted by aspiring to power that was the prerogative of Christ alone. Christ's preeminence next to God would not be accepted, but supremacy was desired, even equality with God, a throne above God's, to be like the Most High and to rule the universe. Though most beautiful next to Jesus Christ who was one with God, due honor was felt to be withheld by being second to Christ, it was insinuated that the place should be next to God, and own appearance was constantly exalted until angels sympathized and were deceived into agreeing to war against God, while the loyal angels would not yield the point of Christ's place. The more exalted honors bestowed upon the Son stirred ambition and envy, with claim that position demanded honor not received and assertion of equality in honor with Christ, and designs were concealed and worked by deceptive insinuations to win support and turn angels against Christ until rebellion led to expulsion from heaven with sympathizers who fell from high and holy estate. That same work is repeated in strange things in America, especially since the destruction of San Francisco by fire.

Jealousy arose because of the exaltation of Christ as the One equal with the Father, with questioning why Christ should have supremacy and be honored above, and with envy of Christ that became jealousy when God said to His Son, Let us make man in our image, wishing to be consulted concerning the formation of man and desiring to receive the highest honors in heaven next to God. The covering cherub, once holy and undefiled and standing in the immediate presence of the Father with beams of glory resting upon him as first of the covering cherubs, supposed anything desired could be done and tried to obtain Christ's position, claimed that position placed him above suspicion and made wrongdoing impossible, left his place to diffuse discontent, and fell and was cast out. Dissatisfaction grew because God had not revealed every secret purpose, what God had revealed about assigned work was disregarded, and the same discontent was stirred among angels under command. Laws governing heavenly beings were suggested to impose unnecessary restraint, with urging that holy angels should obey only their own will and that seeking greater power and honor was not self-exaltation but effort to secure liberty and a higher state of existence, while doubts were insinuated that God's law was arbitrary and needed change. It was declared that man is bound and fettered if he makes God first and last and best in everything, and aims were concealed through falsehood, sophistry, mystery and deceptive insinuations, with added force from exalted place in the divine government, until even loyal angels could not fully see character or where the work would lead.

The fall was not caused by any lack in what God had given, by any deficiency in God's government, or by any withdrawal of divine influence, and God was not responsible for the sin that arose. There was no just reason, no real excuse, and no cause for disaffection, and outward excellence did not excuse the rebellious, envious heart. Aspiration to be as God began alienation from God and effort to establish an empire under own rule, making the aspirant the author of sin and the originator of sin through jealousy and desire for Christ's place. The change accompanying sin and disloyalty was pride over beauty and brightness corrupting wisdom, with self-exaltation, pride of position and self-importance, ambition to be first and refusal to accept restraint, misusing great abilities given by God until true religion dies where these qualities take hold.

Expulsion and Final Destruction

God casts him down and lays him before kings, making his downfall publicly visible as a spectacle to be beheld by rulers and all onlookers. The pride of heart because of beauty and the corrupting of wisdom by brightness brings this casting to the ground and this exposure before kings. The description refers primarily to the once-perfect created cherub after iniquity arose in him, and it also carries broader significance as a warning about a general movement to be witnessed, calling for walking in the light given so as not to be deceived in the last days. His fall was not caused by any lack in what was given him, and the surrounding prophecy declares that he will ultimately be destroyed and cease to exist.

Through defiance and refusal to accept correction, through pride and desire for supremacy and for equality with God, rebellion grew into war in heaven. He who stood next to Christ in power and glory coveted the honor belonging to the Son, fostered criticism of God's government, concealed his designs and used deceptive insinuations to win support and turn angels against Christ. He obtained sympathizers, and angels joined him in rebellion and fell with their leader from their high and holy estate. He was banished from heaven and cast out to the earth with those who joined him, stripped of honor and position, his apostasy taking one-third of the heavenly family with him, and a rebellious party has continued on earth ever since.

He is now degraded and excluded from the place of honor he once held. At Christ's coronation he sees another receive the exalted position he might have had and recognizes how far he has fallen. The end foretold is humiliation followed by destruction: God will destroy him by fire, reducing him to ashes upon the earth in the sight of those who behold him, to the astonishment of those who knew him, and he will be no more and cease to exist.

That end will be fulfilled when God vindicates His law and delivers His people and cuts off the prince of evil who set his heart as the heart of God, together with all who joined him in rebellion. Sin and sinners will perish root and branch, Satan the root and his followers the branches, all punished according to their deeds. This is not arbitrary power but the result of their own choice: God is the fountain of life, and by choosing the service of sin rebels separate from God and cut themselves off from life. God gives them existence for a time to develop character and reveal principles, then they receive the results of their choice, and by rebellion they place themselves so out of harmony with God that His very presence, glorious because He is love, is to them a consuming fire that destroys them; when the plan of redemption is completed and sin has manifested its nature and Satan his character, this extermination will vindicate God's love and establish His honor before created intelligences whose delight is to do His will with His law in their heart, His law seen to be perfect and immutable.

Even after being compelled to acknowledge God's justice and bow to Christ's supremacy he remains unchanged and bursts out again in frenzy for a last desperate struggle against the King of heaven until his power ends. The wicked, seeing their case hopeless, turn their rage against him and his agents. The sentence means God will bring him down to the pit, remove him from among the stones of fire, throw him down to the earth and expose him publicly before rulers and all onlookers, reduce him to ashes on the earth, and make him an object of horror who ceases to exist forever. This sentence is carried out by fire coming down from God out of heaven that breaks up the earth and consumes the wicked completely, with Satan suffering longest and far greater than those he deceived because he bears guilt for his own rebellion plus all the sins he caused God's people to commit, until the full penalty of the law is visited and justice is met.

Continuing Deception and Opposition

The corrupted wisdom still works by mingling sophistry with truth to deceive and captivate minds. Though educated and disciplined in heaven and knowing both good and evil, the fallen light-bearer mixes what is precious with what is vile to mislead. Thoughts of an elevated character that attract the mind are therefore still found apart from God, placed in a framework of error to give luster to human sentiments and to make attractive utterances inspired by the prince of evil. He can still impart enchanting sentiments when it suits his purpose and inspire his agents with thoughts that appear elevating and noble.

He still knows all the beauty, wisdom, brightness, glory, learning and agency once possessed in the heavenly sanctuary and courts, and quotes them as though they still belong to him. He works upon minds with sophistries mixed with that heavenly learning and presents the light he once had so that people think him excellent, very intelligent and very good. By that display he gains their confidence and then leads them to perdition, although those excellencies can be possessed undefiled.

The fall did not destroy powers, wisdom and strength, nor make him a beast or a fiction to be made light of with childish illustrations. He kept mighty strength and subtlety and turned them against the government of heaven, growing more artful and learning the most successful way to come with temptation. He dared to face, tempt and taunt Christ and had power to take Him and carry Him to a pinnacle of the temple and up into an exceeding high mountain. He will exercise his power in marvelous manner upon the present generation, who are far inferior in wisdom to Christ and almost wholly ignorant of his subtlety and strength, affecting the bodies of those naturally inclined to do his bidding. When his exalted origin and retained power and subtlety are understood, minds are prepared to resist successfully instead of being taken captive while thinking him inferior and being wholly unprepared for his wisely laid plans.

With heart lifted up and wisdom corrupted he casts a gloomy shadow between man and God. He ascribes to God all the evils to which flesh is heir, representing God as delighting in the sufferings of creatures and as revengeful and implacable, and portrays Him as arbitrary and harsh. He originated the doctrine of eternal torment as punishment for sin in order to lead men into infidelity and rebellion, distract souls, and dethrone human reason. Through accumulated misrepresentations men were led into delusion, ignorance and moral darkness and came to worship a false god clothed with attributes of the satanic character, so that heaven saw a divine Instructor must come to earth. The Lord Jesus alone as the light of the world could roll back the clouds, dissipate the shadow, and reveal God to human understanding.

He comes to Christ with quotations of Scripture to overthrow Him with specious temptations and comes to men as an angel of light who disguises temptation under an appearance of goodness to make men believe he is friend rather than enemy. His beauty and brightness accompanied the disguise by which he approached Christ as an angel from heaven and hoped to overcome Him. He was the most lovely being in all the world, with loveliness and glory given by God, but his heart was lifted up because that glory did not make him as the only-begotten Son, and wanting the highest place he insinuated to angels that there would soon be a change in the heavenly courts, for which he fell from his high estate and was cast to the ground. Therefore wicked men imbued with satanic agencies are not degraded-looking beings, for Satan himself was most lovely when he fell through pride over beauty and brightness.

Powerful angels were expelled from heaven because they exalted themselves and claimed a place above Christ, with hearts lifted up because of beauty and wisdom corrupted by brightness through self-exaltation, feeling they should be above Christ, and God cast them to the ground and laid them before kings to be beheld. These fallen angels now work to deceive people and hinder God's work, playing the game of life for souls, stealing away true conviction of the Holy Spirit and deceiving all who will give heed in order to delay and hinder the work. On earth he planted his standard and established a rival empire in which all powers of evil combine in opposing God's influence, actuated by intense hatred for the God he dishonored, leaving no means untried to attract men to himself and conform them to his nature. There he seeks to eclipse every ray of light, to efface the likeness of God from men, to plant his throne between the human worshiper and God, and to lead men to invest talents entrusted for God's service in building up his kingdom, so that Satan and not God is worshiped. That same work is repeated in strange spirits working through deception and confusion, in strange things in America especially since the destruction of San Francisco by fire, in watching for children whose parents have not taught them faithfully about snares, in ensnaring through commercialism and commercial strife, and in seeking capable human agents while valuing refinement and beauty.

Pride arose in the covering cherub because of his beauty, his brightness corrupted his wisdom, envy entered his heart, and he was cast out of heaven. His self-exaltation caused him to lose his high and holy estate and wage war against God and humanity. Through his subtlety he led people into degradation, he now works to destroy people and delights in ruining souls, and their redemption cost the life of the Son of God.

Warning and Personal Application

When any person treats plans he suggests as infallible and never to be revoked, persistently following his own judgment as unchangeable and refusing to yield or be corrected, he takes Lucifer's position. Lucifer stood next to Christ in the heavenly courts, yet his heart was lifted up because of his beauty and brightness, his wisdom was corrupted, and he decided he was entitled to a higher place, even to be next to God in efficiency with Christ second to him. When the Lord sought to correct him he would not be corrected, but worshiped his own ideas and plans, cherished wrong ideas and wicked ambition with seemingly sublime theories, held exalted theories of commercialism as unchangeable, refused to give them up or exchange them, refused to harmonize with Christ, and was determined to carry out his own plans. To hold that a decision once made must never be altered or given up, to claim infallibility for one's own judgment, is to stand on the same ground as Lucifer in his rebellion and to pattern after him. God does not endorse this course and has no more use for such a one unless he changes his ideas.

There is help if they will be helped, for they need reconversion. The remedy is first to search the Word to know whether a position taken is infallible from its pure statements, and not to take a position on important subjects hastily. Unless people humble themselves daily they will be humbled, giving up opinions and accepting counsel and admonition from brethren, for no one can lay claim to infallibility. Men who for years refuse to give up their own opinions by cherishing and strengthening wrong ideas and refusing to alter them follow the same course as Lucifer in developing character, place themselves on dangerous ground where counsel cannot help, and become unacceptable to God through the actions those opinions produce. However great a man's wisdom, capabilities, talents, endowments and intelligence may appear, he is not to be trusted as a safe guide unless Christ abides in his soul. Unless he is breathed upon by the Lord Jesus, unless the life-giving current from Christ circulates through his soul, unless he is sustained by the life-giving power of the leaves of the tree of life and receives nourishment from Christ as branches of the vine receive sap from the parent stock, he will lead feet in false paths. One who follows the covering cherub's course in misappropriating wisdom and placing his judgment supreme is to be feared and turned from to the living God, for each human being has a soul to save or a soul to lose and must under all circumstances be a conscientious Christian.

Pride in wisdom repeats his fall and brings a person under the working of Satan and the angels expelled from heaven. Exalting human wisdom to pick flaws, to magnify jots and tittles and differences of opinion that are not a testing question, and to bring confusion into the ranks is his devising and gives him hold. He is still watching every movement, ready in disguise to fill places, enlarge little differences, confuse believers and unbelievers, hinder the advancement of the work, and stop the saving of perishing souls. Therefore wisdom is to bury every difference, press together, hold peace where silence is eloquence, and give all power to the great message. Intellectual ability and knowledge alone do not protect from ruin, for a being of great intellect and high rank among the angels became a rebel, proving gifts can become a power for destruction when corrupted or undirected by trust in God.

Knowledge alone in the hands of the enemy of all good can destroy its holders, with many minds of superior intellectual attainments now led captive by his power. His superior knowledge was used to blind the mind and judgment of those connected with him, as his course away from God proceeded step by step in plans of deception as the archdeceiver, warning against setting aside God's wisdom, relying on turned wisdom, boasting, turning intellect from God, and pride in science and learning that lifts up the heart and blinds judgment. Students must learn that only sanctified knowledge imparted by God is of the right quality and tells to His glory, giving power through connection with Christ to discern God, resist Satan, and render efficient service. The same folly appears when people take credit for God-given wisdom and abilities instead of giving glory to God, misuse great abilities, become self-exalted and self-sufficient, and cherish ambition to be first with unwillingness to accept restraint. Self-exaltation, pride of position, and self-importance were his sins in heaven, and when these take hold true religion dies out of the heart, while those who follow his course will fall as he fell.

His pride stands in contrast to Christ, the higher Being next to God, who left the royal courts and consented to live the life of humanity and experience all the afflictions humanity must share. Humanity should humble itself as Christ humbled Himself, learning true conversion, self-denial, self-sacrifice, and humble obedience instead of moving in self and unconverted pride that ruins souls. Studying his fall alongside Christ's first advent calls for less self-esteem, earnest prayer, and dependence on God for wisdom to distinguish good from evil and righteousness from sin. His ambition and desire to overthrow God's established order reveal the same spirit of self-exaltation that later stirred envy and rebellion among Korah and his companions. His act of exalting himself, lifted up in heart by beauty and brightness until wisdom was corrupted and he was cast down to be exposed before kings, is a pattern that can influence people in present and future experience. The warning is never to place confidence in human greatness by looking to man as angels looked to Lucifer in losing the sense of the presence of Christ and God, especially when false sentiments must be met.

His fall disproves the doctrine of once in grace always in grace and demonstrates the sure result of transgressing God's law. A lifting up of the soul unto vanity and a feeling of false security is a dangerous deception. God will only introduce people who keep His commandments into heaven so that there will not be a second rebellion, as shown by the first rebellion in heaven by one who had been the most exalted angel next to Jesus Christ and who contaminated a large number of God's angels so that they had to be turned out. The history of that rebellion stands as a lasting safeguard, revealing sin's terrible results. The effects of rejecting God's authority and law show that rebellion harms His creatures, guarding against being deceived into sin and suffering its punishment.