Ezekiel 28:7, commentary and pictures

Behold, God will bring fierce foreign strangers against the proud ruler of Tyre, and they will turn their swords against the splendor of his wisdom and bring his brightness to shame, the terrible of the nations being Nebuchadnezzar who conquered Tyre after years of effort and whom God used to punish rebellious nations. The representation refers primarily to Lucifer, so that the human ruler of Tyre also figures Satan, whose God-given glory and wisdom were corrupted by pride and self-exaltation, and Satan is presented as the actual king of Tyre because he fully controlled that government through earthly rulers as his agents. The verse describes the judgment and final punishment of Satan for setting his heart as the heart of God, when the wicked millions he allured into rebellion will no longer acknowledge his supremacy but in fury will draw their swords against the beauty of his wisdom, defile his brightness, and bring him down to the pit to be destroyed and brought to ashes upon the earth to be nevermore. That destruction is not arbitrary power but the reaping of what was sown, for choosing sin separates from God who is the fountain of life, so that His presence is to the rebellious a consuming fire, and the extermination of sin then vindicates God's love and establishes His honor before the universe. The same history of self-exaltation is to be repeated as Satan works today through human minds by disguise and great unsanctified wisdom to deceive and bring confusion among God's people, so because they have great light they must be watchful, walk in all the light given, and press together giving no chance for confusion.

Tyre's Ruler and Satan

God will bring fierce foreign strangers against the proud ruler of Tyre, and they will turn their swords against the splendor of his wisdom and bring his brightness to shame, so that his wisdom and splendor will not protect him. This judgment concerns the defeat of proud opposition to God and warns of the ruin that follows rebellion, belonging also to a broader warning about a wider movement of evil. That wider application is connected with the coming exposure and destruction of the man of sin, said to be nearing fulfillment as the world and professedly Protestant churches take sides with him.

The terrible of the nations are Nebuchadnezzar and his forces, a fierce ruler who brought destruction upon his enemies. God used him as an instrument to punish rebellious nations, and after years of effort he conquered Tyre, while his armies also defeated Egypt as he expanded the Babylonian realm.

The chapter’s representation refers primarily to Lucifer, so the human ruler of Tyre also figures Satan. His God-given glory and wisdom were corrupted by pride and self-exaltation, by the self-exaltation of angels who sought to be above Christ. That same subtle power used to plot rebellion among holy beings in heaven before the fall is the power by which Satan works today through human beings, bringing strange and forbidden things among God’s people. Satan is represented as the actual king of Tyre because he fully controlled that government, showing how he works through earthly rulers and nations as his agents.

The mention of brightness connects with Satan’s beautiful appearance. He came to Christ disguised as an angel from heaven, not as a repulsive fiend, hoping to overcome Him near the end of His long fast.

Final Judgment Foretold

The verse describes the judgment and final punishment of Satan because he set his heart as the heart of God. In that judgment those who followed him no longer acknowledge his supremacy but in fury turn against him and his agents in deception. His wisdom and brightness are brought to shame as he is brought down to destruction.

The strangers who are the terrible of the nations are the wicked millions he allured into rebellion. They draw their swords against the beauty of his wisdom, defile his brightness, and bring him down to the pit. He is to be destroyed as the covering cherub, cast to the ground and laid before kings, brought to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all beholders, to become a terror and never be anymore.

This will be fulfilled at the end when God vindicates His law and delivers His people. Then Satan as the prince of evil and root of rebellion with his followers as the branches is cut off. God will destroy him from the midst of the stones of fire, and he shall become a terror and never be anymore.

That destruction is not arbitrary power but the reaping of what was sown. God is the fountain of life, and choosing sin separates from God and cuts off from life. By rebellion Satan and his followers place themselves so out of harmony with God that His presence, the glory of Him who is love, is to them a consuming fire that destroys them. The extermination of sin then vindicates God's love and establishes His honor before the universe.

The judgment is connected with the coming exposure and destruction of the man of sin. God brings hostile nations against the proud prince, and they turn their swords against his wisdom and splendor and bring him down. The prophecy is nearing fulfillment as the world and professedly Protestant churches take sides with him.

Satan's Present Working

Ezekiel 28 belongs to a revelation of God's dealings with fallen angels and fallen people, and though it refers primarily to Lucifer it has a broader significance beyond one being. It describes a general movement that will be witnessed, for the history of Lucifer's self-exaltation, which gives Satan power to influence people, is to be repeated. Satan works today through human beings with the same subtle power he used to plot rebellion among holy beings in heaven before the fall.

Lucifer and the angels expelled from heaven work upon human minds, with Satan disguised and watching every movement. He works through satanic agencies and strange spirits and through great unsanctified wisdom to deceive and hinder God's work. His aim is to divert minds away from the special light for the time and from the work of saving perishing souls, and to bring confusion among God's people.

That working brings strange and forbidden things among God's people, false theories, commercialism absorbing energies and means, many lords and many gods, and the claim that Christ is here or there. It turns attention to jots and tittles that are not essential and not a testing question, to picking flaws in writings led of God, to hunting up differences of opinion such as over the daily, and to magnifying disagreement until little differences become enlarged and prominent. The result is confusion in the ranks and among believers and unbelievers, misrepresentation before outsiders, rejoicing in the camp of the enemy, and retarding and hindering the advancement of the work at an important period, although the burden to introduce this subject was never given.

Because God's people have great light, precept upon precept and line upon line, here a little and there a little, they must be watchful and labor earnestly to counterwork evil in the church and in the world. They must walk in all the light given lest they be deceived by the deceptions of the last days. The wisdom required is silence, to press together, to bury every difference, and to give no chance for confusion.