Satan Knows the Power of Worship (2)

Satan Knows the Power of Worship

Ezekiel 28:14–15 NKJV

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

Scripture carries layers and layers of revelation about the Kingdom of God. Just when we think we have understood everything, God’s Spirit shows us something new.

Paul calls this the “manifold wisdom of God” (Ephesians 3:10).

We will spend eternity discovering the limitless shining facets of His glory.

Woven into the fabric of Ezekiel 28 is one of those unexpected revelations.

The chapter is a curious one because its verses, while apparently describing the same individual, a sovereign ruler of the city of Tyre (in modern-day southern Lebanon, just north of Israel), the “prince of Tyre” (addressed in verses 1-10) seems in fact to be quite distinct from the “king of Tyre” (addressed in verses 11-19).

These two rulers received two different declarations from God through the prophet Ezekiel.

The first was of judgment, and

The second was of lamentation.

It is very evident that both of these individuals were guilty of the sin of pride.

Both possessed great wisdom and wealth;

however, they abused their privileges and, thus, offended the God of Heaven.

Many theologians believe that the

prince of Tyre mentioned in verses 1-10 was a ruler of the city of Tyre when Nebuchadnezzar invaded in about 573 B.C.;

but they view the king of Tyre (in verses 11-19) as Satan, the enemy of God and of the Jewish people.

They base their interpretation, in part, on the fact that the

prince is called “a man” in verse two, but

the king is called the “anointed cherub” in verse fourteen.

The use of the word cherub shows that this king is an angelic creature. A cherub is a powerful angel (not a chubby baby angel, as is often portrayed on old-fashioned valentines).

Another clue to the subject of these verses is found in verse 14, which relates that this angelic creature was once found in the Garden of Eden and in the holy mountain of God.

Here is the entire passage about the fallen angelic being known for the prophet’s purposes as the king of Tyre:

Ezekiel 28:11–19 NKJV

11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 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. 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. 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. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. 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. 17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. 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. 19 All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.” ’ ”

In interpreting this passage, people often refer to Isaiah 14:12 for its portrayal of the heavenly rebellion and fall of a powerful angel:

Isaiah 14:12–14 (NKJV)

12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!

13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’

I believe that the king of Tyre, Satan, must have energized the earthly ruler known as the prince of Tyre, using him to accomplish Satan’s own evil purposes.

This also occurred elsewhere in the scriptural accounts, such as in the book of Daniel and in the Revelation of John, where the Antichrist, who is an earthly ruler, is energized by Satan to accomplish his wicked agenda during the end-times tribulation.

Other places in the Bible tell how Satan tries to control the leaders of nations.

One, in First Chronicles 21, deals with Satan as he inspired David to take a census, after which David repented.

Later, there is the account of Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.

In the latter example, Satan clearly “tips his hand” regarding his agenda of maintaining earthly control:

Matthew 4:8–10 NKJV

8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

A Look at Angelology and Demonology

We will not go into a great deal of detail, since the indications we get from Scripture are that neither angels nor demons were intended by God to be the focus of our attention.

There is real danger in becoming fascinated with angelic or demonic spirits, because God insists on being the sole focus of our worship (Mat 4:10).

However, there is value in understanding how the protagonists of the spirit world function.

Ephesians 6:12 NKJV

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

It is certainly helpful to know who we are fighting, and who is helping us in the fight.

(Theology for the rest of us - Steven Nix)

SATAN’S ORIGINAL ROLE

Satan, also known as Lucifer, began as an obedient angel, but he rebelled against God and led an attempt to steal God’s throne.

Priestly Role

Before he rebelled, his coverings were jewel-studded and glorious to behold: “Every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold” (Ezekiel 28:13).

These are the same jewels found on the breastplate of the high priest of the people of Israel (see Exodus 28:17-20), which speaks of Lucifer’s special priestly authority.

Musical Abilities

According to Ezekiel 28:13 and Isaiah 14:11, the angel Lucifer also had special musical abilities.

Various translations mention a range of instruments—timbrels, pipes, viols, harps, lyres, and stringed instruments.

In essence, Lucifer functioned as a heavenly worship leader.

(With all of the world’s perverted music and lyrics, one must wonder if Satan is still playing music in his rebellious state.

Could the world’s music be emulating the wicked sound from the fallen angel?)

The next verse is the one about the anointed cherub, and it goes on to provide an important clue as to the identity and function of this powerful personage: “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. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created…” (Ezekiel 28:14-15).

His Authority

The clause “who covers” indicates a heavenly being with a specific assignment of authority over something.

The question becomes “What does he control?”

The answer is found in several passages. To find the answer, we can refer back to the same two verses of Ezekiel, where we read that he was in the Garden of Eden and also upon the holy mountain of God, neither of which means Heaven.

It seems that Isaiah 14:12 confirms the conclusion that he was positioned on earth and that he had authority over the earth.

The next few verses provide more of the story about Satan’s rebellion and fall from authority:

Isaiah 14:13–15 NKJV

13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ 15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.

If Lucifer were already in Heaven, why would he need to ascend to get above the heights of the clouds?

The clouds are part of earth’s atmosphere.

The implication is that Satan was an angel who was assigned at one time authority over the earth.

Evidently, he tried to lead a rebellion to overthrow God, and a large contingent of the angels joined him in the mutiny.

WHAT SATAN KNOWS ABOUT WORSHIP

So we see that Lucifer was no ordinary angel.

He was an angelic creature of unusual beauty with a powerful gift for leading worship.

He was persuasive; many lesser angels followed him.

He covered the earth in his authority—before his rebellion.

Now we can see why Satan fights the worship of believers as he does!

With his history of a firsthand experience of the effect of worship upon God and the angels,

but also with his fury at losing his position of authority over the earth because of his great rebellion,

he was further enraged at God’s reassignment of dominion over the earth to the human race He had created.

For all intents and purposes, human beings—the ones who are believers—have become Satan’s replacement.

When people were newly created, they were given dominion over the earth (see Genesis 1:28).

That dominion was lost almost immediately through their rebellion, then regained by the sacrifice of the Son of God Jesus Christ.

Now, through their vocal chords, hands, fingers, and feet, human believers represent the Father on earth, and they have the ability to produce music and express worship to Him.

Do you see why the enemy

interferes with the affairs of nations,

sets people against each other, and

instigates conflicts even within the Church, and

why he tries to interfere with true worship wherever possible?

Satan’s former authority was associated with his worship abilities;

so, no wonder he tries to corrupt true worship in any way possible.

No wonder, also, that one of our greatest warfare tools is the weapon of worship.

Nothing moves the heavens like worship!

Satan knows this without a doubt because he has seen the effect of worship upon the heavens and our God.

He does not want the Body of Christ to discover something so powerful about worship.

To pervert worship, Satan constantly attempts to draw men away from true worship to false worship, the worship of idols and other gods.

Because human beings were created to worship, people will always worship something!

It might be

beauty or

wealth or

some definition of success,

a husband or

a wife or

other special person, or

the traditions of an institution.

People can’t help worshipping something because worship was built into them from the very beginning.

Satan fights day and night to keep people from discovering the power of worship

because he knows that true worship is the pathway to God-ordained dominion for the Christian Church and its individual members.

Now that we are aware of Satan’s strategies we can better resist his ploys with true worship, one of our strongest weapons in triumphing over him.