They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
They shall bring the proud ruler of Tyre down to the pit, and there strangers and foreign attackers shall slay him, so that he dies the deaths of those slain in the midst of the seas. The judgment falls because with lifted-up heart he set his heart as the heart of God, claiming to sit as God in the seat of God in the midst of the seas. He was lifted up through his wisdom and understanding and through his riches and traffic, therefore the terrible of the nations are brought against the beauty of his wisdom to defile his brightness, to lower him to destruction and prove he is a man and not God.
The representation refers primarily to Lucifer, and points also to a broader movement of evil that will be witnessed and destroyed. Satan is presented as the actual king of Tyre because he fully controlled that government, as an example of working through earthly rulers and nations. The verse foretells the final end and destruction of Satan, the prince of evil and covering cherub who set his heart as the heart of God. After his last desperate rebellion his power is at an end and none acknowledge his supremacy, and the wicked, seeing their cause is hopeless, in hatred and fury turn upon him and his agents. God destroys him from the midst of the stones of fire, casts him to the ground before kings, brings him to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all beholders, and he shall be a terror and never be any more.
Satan and all who joined him in rebellion will be cut off, with sin and sinners perishing root and branch, Satan the root and his followers the branches. The wicked shall not be, but shall be as though they had not been. His punishment is far greater than those he deceived, because he suffers for his own rebellion and for all the sins he caused others to commit, living and suffering on after his followers perish in the cleansing flames until the full penalty is visited. This destruction is not arbitrary power but the reaping of what was sown, for God is the fountain of life and choosing sin separates from God and cuts off from life. Rebels place themselves out of harmony so that His loving presence destroys them as a consuming fire. When completed it vindicates His law and love, delivers His people, reveals His character, shows His law perfect and immutable, manifests the nature of sin and the character of Satan, makes redemption assured and the universe eternally secure.
The Scripture is nearing fulfillment in connection with the coming conflict over the Sabbath. Its warning calls for following the light God has given so as not to be deceived in the last days. Lucifer and the strange spirits and angels expelled from heaven with him are still at work in disguise, watching every movement to divert from the special light and the saving of perishing souls. He fills openings with confusion and magnifies jots and tittles and little differences over non-testing questions into enlarged and prominent disagreements, to divide believers and unbelievers and retard the work. His self-exaltation is a pattern that repeats when unconverted people oppose God's work and persecute others. Therefore silence on such differences is eloquence and pressing together in united labor is required.
They shall bring the proud ruler of Tyre down to the pit, and there strangers and foreign attackers shall slay him, so that he dies the deaths of those slain in the midst of the seas. The judgment falls because with lifted-up heart he set his heart as the heart of God, claiming to sit as God in the seat of God in the midst of the seas. He was lifted up through his wisdom and understanding and through his riches and traffic, therefore the terrible of the nations are brought against the beauty of his wisdom to defile his brightness, to lower him to destruction and prove he is a man and not God.
The representation refers primarily to Lucifer, and points also to a broader movement of evil that will be witnessed and destroyed. Satan is presented as the actual king of Tyre because he fully controlled that government, as an example of working through earthly rulers and nations. The verse foretells the final end and destruction of Satan, the prince of evil and covering cherub who set his heart as the heart of God. After his last desperate rebellion his power is at an end and none acknowledge his supremacy, and the wicked, seeing their cause is hopeless, in hatred and fury turn upon him and his agents. God destroys him from the midst of the stones of fire, casts him to the ground before kings, brings him to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all beholders, and he shall be a terror and never be any more.
Satan and all who joined him in rebellion will be cut off, with sin and sinners perishing root and branch, Satan the root and his followers the branches. The wicked shall not be, but shall be as though they had not been. His punishment is far greater than those he deceived, because he suffers for his own rebellion and for all the sins he caused others to commit, living and suffering on after his followers perish in the cleansing flames until the full penalty is visited. This destruction is not arbitrary power but the reaping of what was sown, for God is the fountain of life and choosing sin separates from God and cuts off from life. Rebels place themselves out of harmony so that His loving presence destroys them as a consuming fire. When completed it vindicates His law and love, delivers His people, reveals His character, shows His law perfect and immutable, manifests the nature of sin and the character of Satan, makes redemption assured and the universe eternally secure.
The Scripture is nearing fulfillment in connection with the coming conflict over the Sabbath. Its warning calls for following the light God has given so as not to be deceived in the last days. Lucifer and the strange spirits and angels expelled from heaven with him are still at work in disguise, watching every movement to divert from the special light and the saving of perishing souls. He fills openings with confusion and magnifies jots and tittles and little differences over non-testing questions into enlarged and prominent disagreements, to divide believers and unbelievers and retard the work. His self-exaltation is a pattern that repeats when unconverted people oppose God's work and persecute others. Therefore silence on such differences is eloquence and pressing together in united labor is required.