SupernaturalisticFallenAngelsAreAtrocious (Ezekiel 28)

You’ve likely heard of the Upside Down.

It is the dark parallel dimension affecting the real-world in the SyFy mega hit, Stranger Things.

In Ezekiel 28 God shows us the unseen realm and how it affects the nations of the earth.

The chapter divides like this:

1. The Prince of Tyre, historically Ethbaal III, is rebuked for claiming to be a god, or god (v1-10).
2. A supernatural menace, the King of Tyre, is at work in the unseen realm (v11-19).
3. God pronounces judgement on Sidon, a sister-city to Tyre (v20-24).
4. The future promise of Israel’s restoration, ultimately pointing to the certainty of the Millennial Kingdom (v25-26).

When confronted by Hulk during the Battle for New York Loki declared, “I am a god.” Hulk grabbed Loki around both ankles and proceeded to slam him into the floor from one side to the other. Afterward the Hulk uttered the iconic line, “Puny god.”

The Prince of Tyre was a puny god.

Ezk 28:1  The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,

Ezk 28:2  “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because your heart is lifted up, And you say, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, In the midst of the seas,’ [He was referencing the sea power of ancient Tyre. Maybe he thought he was Poseidon or Triton]. Yet you are a man, and not a god, Though you set your heart as the heart of a god.

• Pharaoh Rameses II referred to himself as “a god in human form.”
• Emperor Hirohito of Japan was considered a living god. He was made to renounce his deity.

Ezk 28:3  Behold, you are wiser than Daniel! There is no secret that can be hidden from you!

Ezk 28:4  With your wisdom and your understanding You have gained riches for yourself, And gathered gold and silver into your treasuries;

Ezk 28:5  By your great wisdom in trade you have increased your riches, And your heart is lifted up because of your riches).”

Torn from his home as a teen, almost certainly mutilated as a eunuch, and trained among Babylon’s Magi, Daniel lived under a king who once ordered their slaughter.

It was definitely a hostile work environment, but Daniel endured & excelled.

Ethbaal considered himself wiser than Daniel. For all his reputation, Daniel was a captive.

Daniel was the LORD’s captive.

Paul, chained by Rome but captive to Christ, turned his imprisonment into a pulpit, writing the Prison Epistles.^[1] We serve the Lord. He decides where, when, and how.

Ezk 28:6  ‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god,

Ezk 28:7  Behold, therefore, I will bring strangers against you, The most terrible of the nations; And they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, And defile your splendor.

Ezk 28:8  They shall throw you down into the Pit, And you shall die the death of the slain In the midst of the seas.”

Being God-like is the lie from Eden. The Serpent tempted humanity with divinity. It’s been his most effective strategy for going on 7000yrs.

You may not crave worship, but every unbeliever (obviously) lives as the god of their own life. Believers sin like our parents in the Garden when something or someone takes Jesus’ rightful place.

Ezk 28:9  “Will you still say before him who slays you, ‘I am a god’? But you shall be a man, and not a god, In the hand of him who slays you.

Is there a level that is below “puny god?”

Ezk 28:10  You shall die the death of the uncircumcised By the hand of aliens; For I have spoken,” says the Lord GOD.’ ”

Circumcision was the physical sign of God’s covenant with believers. Ethbaal would die an unbeliever at the hands of other unbelievers – alienated from Israel’s God – the one, true God.

People play god. For example, some US school boards have initiated gender transitions without parental consent.^[2]

What’s a believer to do?

• Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
• Ephesians 6:13 – 14, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore…”

The equipment is great. Did you notice the strategy that was repeated three times: “Stand.”

In G.I. Jane,^[3] Demi Moore’s character endures strenuous Navy SEAL training. In one scene, she’s ordered to stand her post, unmoving, for hours through storms and exhaustion. She just stands.

In the movies, a scene like that represents our digging deep into our reserves & resolve. In our lives, we depend completely on the grace of God to enable us to obey Him.

A sudden, dramatic shift occurs in verses eleven through nineteen. We meet the King of Tyre. It quickly becomes clear that he is not human.

“Ezk 28:11  Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Ezk 28:12  “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

Ezk 28:13  You were in Eden, the garden of God…”

Some scholars say this is Adam in Eden, but the details soon rule him out.

Ezk 28:13  You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created.

Ezk 28:14  “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.

“Cherub” is a classification of heavenly beings, likely a type of angel. We conclude that this person is the devil, that Serpent of old, Satan.

My favorite part of this description is “timbrels and pipes.” He was his own band.

What is “the mountain of God?” Fragments of the book First Enoch were among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Enoch isn’t to be considered Scripture, but early church fathers received it as a true history. Peter & Jude ‘assigned’ it as recommended reading.

Enoch reported that 200 rebellious angels descended on Mount Hermon. They are those who “in the days of Noah” mated with human women and produced a race of giants, the Nephilim.^[4]

Mount Hermon is adjacent to Caesarea-Philippi. The Hebrews, especially the sect known as the Essenes, referred to the geography there as… “The Gates of Hell.” This suddenly got a whole lot more interesting!

Jesus deliberately went to the place of the rebellion described by Enoch and threw down, saying the Gates of Hell would not prevail.^[5] A few days later He went up the mount and was transfigured. It was a sign of things to come – the glorified Lord Jesus ruling & reigning.

Ezk 28:15  You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.

Ezk 28:16  “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones.

Charles Feinberg says the “fiery stones” reflect “the surroundings of divine glory,” suggesting the Cherub had free access to Heaven until God banished him.

Ezk 28:17  “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor…

The cause of Satan’s fall is his pride^[6] caused by his beauty.^[7]

Ezk 28:17  … I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you.

Ezk 28:18  “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you.

Ezk 28:19  All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.” ’ ”

When did this happen?? The fourteenth chapter of Isaiah is always paired-up with Ezekiel 28. There we read, “Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, And consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world as a wilderness And destroyed its cities, Who did not open the house of his prisoners?’”^[8]

• Isaiah wrote about this episode as future.
• Ezekiel wrote about this same episode as past.

God speaks of the future as if it has been fulfilled.

Let’s explore a little more Angelology. In Deuteronomy 32:8&9, when translated according to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint,^[9] reveals that at Babel^[10] God disinherited the nations. God established a new nation, Israel, through one man, Abraham. He would Himself govern that special, precious, apple-of-His-eye people to the end, and “all Israel will be saved.”^[11]

When God disinherited the nations at Babel He assigned them to “Sons of God.”^[12] These are angels. Besides the King of Tyre, we know the locale of two more such Sons of God in the Bible. Both are referenced by Daniel. They are the Prince of Persia,^[13] and the Prince of Greece.^[14]

In his final chapter, Daniel reveals that the archangel Michael is the special protector of Israel.

Does every nation have fallen angels who hinder and faithful ones who help? Can’t say for sure.

You cannot hope to make sense of history – past or future – without factoring in the unseen realm.

Minneapolis AND ??? St. Paul.

Some cities just seem to go together. Tyre AND… Sidon are like that in the Bible.

Ezk 28:20  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Ezk 28:21  “Son of man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against her,

Ezk 28:22  and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Sidon; I will be glorified in your midst; And they shall know that I am the LORD, When I execute judgments in her and am hallowed in her.

Ezk 28:23  For I will send pestilence upon her, And blood in her streets; The wounded shall be judged in her midst By the sword against her on every side; Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezk 28:24  “And there shall no longer be a pricking brier or a painful thorn for the house of Israel from among all who are around them, who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.”

Sidon is depicted here and elsewhere as havingcontempt and hostility towards the Hebrews.

Ezk 28:25  ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob.

Ezk 28:26  And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God.” ’ ”

This succinctly describes Israel in the Millennial Kingdom. It is a one-thousand year dispensation in which “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”^[15]

The Millennial Kingdom is not spiritual; it is material. It immediately follows the 7yr Great Tribulation and Second Coming of Jesus. It is the fulfillment of God’s unconditional covenant promises to Israel.

The Mind Flayer in the Upside Down wages war on the human mind.

Here in the real ‘real’ world, the battle is for our minds. Second Corinthians 10:3-5 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

Jesus called Satan “the father of lies.”^[16] In Second Thessalonians 2:11, Paul writes, “God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie.” The use of the definite article “the” suggests a specific, well-known falsehood. Many scholars identify this as the same lie Satan told Eve in Genesis 3:5: “You will be like God.” This deception, that humans can become divine or autonomous from God, is seen as the foundational falsehood that has permeated human history.

The lie affects us now. Marriage, for instance. Speaking in generalities, if there is no biblical basis for a divorce, then you are believing a lie rather than the truth in God’s Word. Blameshifting, citing unhappiness, concluding you no longer love someone. These all spring from the lie because we are dethroning God when we disobey Him.

Stand in the storms.