September 4, 2012 … Satanic Double Entendre

Chronological Bible Reading Plan - Day 248

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Ezekiel 28-30 To study these chapters, go to this link - 
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Highlight Passage: Ezekiel 28: 1-5; 11-12; 14-19; 25-26 : [NLT] … 1 Then this message came to me from the LORD: 2 “Son of man, give the prince of Tyre this message from the Sovereign LORD: In your great pride you claim, ‘I am a god! I sit on a divine throne in the heart of the sea.’ But you are only a man and not a god, though you boast that you are like a god. 3 You regard yourself as wiser than Daniel and think no secret is hidden from you. 4 With your wisdom and understanding you have amassed great wealth—gold and silver for your treasuries. 5 Yes, your wisdom has made you very rich, and your riches have made you very proud. … 
11 Then this further message came to me from the LORD: 12 “Son of man, weep for the king of Tyre. Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: You were the perfection of wisdom and beauty. … 
 14 I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. 15 “You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. 16 Your great wealth filled you with violence, and you sinned. So I banished you from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire. 17 Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings. 18 You defiled your sanctuaries with your many sins and your dishonest trade. So I brought fire from within you, and it consumed you. I let it burn you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. 19 All who knew you are appalled at your fate. You have come to a terrible end, and you are no more.” … 
25 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The people of Israel will again live in their own land, the land I gave my servant Jacob. For I will gather them from the distant lands where I have scattered them. I will reveal to the nations of the world my holiness among my people. 26 They will live safely in Israel and build their homes and plant their vineyards. And when I punish the neighboring nations that treated them with contempt, they will know that I am the LORD their God.” 
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Cross Reference Passage: Isaiah 14: 12-14 : [NLT] … 12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. 13 For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. 14 I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’ 

My Journal for Today: Today’s chronological Bible read took me into three chapters of continued prophesy by God, through Ezekiel, directed toward Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt. The prophesies of Egypt’s fall to the Babylonians, under Nebuchadnezzar, can be found in Chapters 29-30 of today’s reading; and once again the accuracy of God’s predictions speaks to the reliability of God’s word through prophets like Ezekiel. However, in my journaling today I want to focus on a segment of the prophesy in Ezekiel, Chapter 28, mostly verses 14-19, copied above, where Ezekiel, in writing about the qualities of the King of Tyre, is, according to many scholars, inspired by God’s Spirit to write a “heavenly double-entendre,” describing many of the qualities of Satan.

And I hope you’ll take the time to read, study, and meditate on the passage above in bold and underlined, because this is a fascinating technique which the Holy Spirit’s inspiration has used to give us – as seekers after God’s truth – a heavenly insight into the qualities of God’s arch enemy. It is true that Ezekiel, bringing God’s prophesy to the King of Tyre, described the prideful earthly and human qualities of this king, who thought of himself invincible and god-like. Yet, in this passage, God opens up the qualities of another God-created being, Satan, who fell from heaven to his destruction because of his angelic pride.

Interestingly enough this is not the only place in God’s word where a prophet of God used this Spirit-inspired technique of double-entendre to bring out the qualities of Satan. In Isaiah 14: 12-14 [see copied as a cross-reference passage above], the prophet, Isaiah, some 100 years before Ezekiel, was describing a prophesy about Nebuchadnezzar’s pride-driven power; and in this description of another earthly king, God brings out of Isaiah a prophetic picture of the “… shining star, son of the morning,” who was thrown to earth to destroy the nations of the world. And so a picture of an earthly king becomes a picture of a heavenly being who fell prey to his own pridefulness.

And in these two heavenly double-entendres, we have a description of the qualities of Satan which can be assumed by humans, especially earthly leaders who think of themselves as above God, … men who try to ascend to become, as Isaiah 14: 14 says, “like the Most High.” And anytime we let pride consume our attitudes and thought-processes, these passages would warn us that we are becoming like Satan, who pridefully assumed he was higher than God but was ultimately brought to destruction by the humble Lamb of God, Who brought Satan down to his end on the cross.

My friend and fellow seeker of truth, I hope you’re as convicted as am I this morning to avoid any human, but satanic tendencies, toward pridefulness; because as Proverbs 3: 34 (which is quoted by James and Peter in the NT), clearly declares, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

No one was ever more humble than Jesus; and no one ever more prideful than Satan; and we see in today’s study that we must, as followers of Christ, become like Jesus [see Phil. 2: 5, doing all we can to avoid becoming like the Kings of Tyre and Babylon, who became prophetic pictures of Satan.

My Prayer Today: … Lord, help me to be humble like You. Amen