(Through the Bible) Ezekiel 26-30 — Chuck Smith

Through the Bible: Ezekiel 26–30

Tonight turn in our Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 26. According to verse 1 this prophecy came to Ezekiel in the 11th year of the King Zedekiah's reign which would make it the year 586 BC. The year in which Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

So it came to pass in the 11th year the first day of the month that the word of the Lord came unto me saying son of man because Tyrus has said against Jerusalem aha she is broken that was the gates of the people she has turned unto me I shall be replenished now as she laid waste therefore thus saith the Lord God behold I am against thee oh Tyrus and will cause many nations to come up against thee as the sea causes his waves to come up.

It is interesting to me that God does not like the wicked rejoicing in the judgments of his people. There is a quality of love in 1st Corinthians 13 that rejoices not in iniquity but rejoices in the truth.

And here God brings his judgment against Tyre because Tyre was rejoicing in the judgment of God that he brought against his people against the city of Jerusalem. Thinking that somehow they were going to prosper from the devastation of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

So God declares that first of all there will be many nations that will be used in the judgment of Tyre not Nebuchadnezzar only. So that the prophecy would not be completed with just Nebuchadnezzar's conquering of Tyre but God would bring other nations against it for its destruction.

And speaking of the total destruction first and then dropping back to give us details. First of all the overall destruction they shall destroy that is the many nations the walls of Tyrus break down the towers will scrape her dust from her and make her like the top of a rock.

It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea for I have spoken it saith the Lord God and it shall become a spoil to the nations. And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword and they shall know that I am the Lord.

For thus saith the Lord God behold I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon a king of kings from the north with his horses and chariots and with the horsemen and companies and much people.

And he shall slay with a sword thy daughters in the field and he shall make a fort against thee and cast a mound against thee and lift up the buckler against thee and he notice the personal pronouns he Nebuchadnezzar shall set engines of war against thy walls and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.

By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen and of the wheels and of the chariots when he shall enter into thy gates as men enter into his city wherein is made a breach.

And with the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets he shall slay thy people by the sword and thy strong garrison shall go down to the ground. And thus is described that destruction of Tyre that would come about by Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Siege and the Island City

Now one year after the prophecy was written or in the year 585 BC Nebuchadnezzar began his siege of Tyre. The common practice of the Babylonian army was to and of course in warfare in those days was to lay siege upon a city by surrounding the city and cutting off all outside supplies and by cutting off all the outside supplies they could soon deplete the city of its food resources.

Once the food resources were depleted the people began to starve to death with a shortage of water shortage of food with the famine usually would come pestilence disease and then when the people were weakened by the pestilence and by the famine then they would move in and it would be much easier to take the city because the people have been so weakened as the result of the siege.

But because Tyre was on the seacoast and it was a beautiful port city in fact it was one of the major ports of the ancient world a very rich city of merchandise and from Tyre of course were the Phoenicians and the Phoenician Navy of historic war.

He was not able to totally cut off the supplies the city of Tyre was continually supplied by her navies from the sea so that the people were able to live under the siege of Nebuchadnezzar and so the siege went on for 13 years during which time the majority of the city moved from the mainland to the island that was about a half mile offshore and that became then the major city of Tyre this island offshore so that by the time Nebuchadnezzar finally made the onslaught against the city there was only a small garrison and a small part of the population left within the city there on the mainland.

The majority of the people had moved to the island along with the wealth of the city so that there were no spoils to be taken by Nebuchadnezzar in the conquering of the city of Tyre so it was a very empty and hollow victory by Nebuchadnezzar in as much as there was no spoil for Nebuchadnezzar from the destruction but as is described here the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar did come to pass beginning one year after the prophecy and continuing for the next 13 years in his siege of the city of Tyre but now as we get into verse 12 there's a change of pronoun significantly because the prophecy was that many nations would come against Tyre its destruction was not to be fully accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar.

So the city of Tyre went on prospering for 240 years now an island city and it became extremely strong and powerful especially now that it was an island city just a half mile off the shore it was almost impregnable as far as any enemy was concerned unless you would try to attack by sea.

But the Phoenician Navy ruled the seas in those days and so Tyrus became a very powerful well-defensed city because it was on this island a half mile offshore. So they shall make a spoil change of pronoun from he Nebuchadnezzar to they shall make a spoil of thy riches and make a prey of thy merchandise.

They shall break down my walls and destroy thy pleasant houses. And they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water. And extremely interesting and yet a bizarre prophecy because unparalleled in history to my knowledge is any city when destroyed the stones the timbers and the dust were put in the midst of the water.

And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease. The sound of the harp shall be no more heard. I will make thee like the top of a rock. Thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon. Thou shalt be built no more.

For I the Lord have spoken it now. That's pretty powerful statement. I the Lord have spoken it sayeth the Lord God I've spoken it. This is what's going to be now. Did God really speak that. Is this really the Word of God to the prophet Ezekiel.

Or is Ezekiel making calculated guesses. Well did it really come to pass. In 322 BC when Alexander the Great began his move towards Persia he was fearful that if he moved all of his troops in a war against Persia that the Phoenicians would take advantage of it and that the Phoenician Navy would then attack Greece.

So he felt essential to his moving further against Persia was the conquering of Tyrus and so he moved down the coast to Tyrus and gave an ultimatum to the city of Tyrus to surrender to him or he would destroy them.

The people of Tyrus scoffed at Alexander's ultimatum because they knew that it would be difficult for any army to besiege their city. Alexander went up to Sidon and to some of the other port cities in the area and confiscated many ships and he attempted a naval assault against Tyrus which was defeated.

He next decided that he would take the rubble of the ancient city of Tyre which had not been rebuilt on the mainland and with the rocks and the timbers the ruins of the ancient city. He would make this wide causeway out to the island taking first and throwing the rocks and the timbers into the Mediterranean beginning to form this causeway and then putting and scraping the dirt and putting it over the top of the rocks.

So he made this wide causeway out to the island. As he began to get near the island the people of Tyre began to heat sand until it was almost molten and then shoot this molten sand on his troops and so they built kind of defenses against that special types of towers and all to defend the workers against this hot sand and oil that they began to shoot over at them from the city and he began to move up these towers and these weapons of war and finally with a combined naval assault and the assaulting of the walls themselves.

Alexander the Great was able to conquer the city of Tyre in 322 after about an eight-month siege of Tyre because Tyre had resisted him he sought to make an example of the city of Tyre to strike fear in the hearts of the neighboring areas.

And so he really devastated and destroyed the city of Tyre a tremendous slaughter and destruction. As the result the other nations the other cities and kingdoms around were terrified. They opened their doors to Alexander the Great.

They began to capitulate one after another including Jerusalem. And Alexander the Great was of course a very religious person not godly religious and there's a difference a lot of people that are religious but not really very godly but but very religious and he was an extremely religious person and he did come to Jerusalem and was received by the Jews and the city was open to him.

And he gave sacrifices unto the priest in Jerusalem to offer for him unto their gods. And he was actually many cities open to him after the conquest of Tyre. Now in his taking the stones the timbers and the dust and scraping it he caused the prophecy of Ezekiel to be literally fulfilled some 240 years after the prophecy was made.

So the prophecy was made by Ezekiel 240 years later it was literally fulfilled. God is not in a hurry. Ezekiel prophesied he never lived to see the the fulfillment of it. But yet we now in looking back have that advantage of of seeing how that history finally confirmed the fact that it evidently was God speaking to Ezekiel it would have been impossible for him to have made these predictions just out of his own mind or head.

The things that he declared were too impractical. Now it will make it like the top of a rock. It is impossible to accurately determine the actual site of the original city of Tyre on the mainland because it was so totally devastated and destroyed by the dirt even being scraped and cast into the sea.

We can only guess that this area which is barren rock today was no doubt somewhere in the these perimeters and in this area was the ancient city of Tyre. But there are no ruins no walls nothing to indicate where the city itself might have been.

And so the the place of it has never been found or discovered or nor can we ascertain it with any certainty at all. Which of course is another fulfillment here. But because the dirt was scraped the rocks are an excellent place for the fishermen to dry their nets.

And if you go to that area today you will find even today fishermen drying their nets in on these rocks which were once the great city of Tyre the nemesis of the ancient world because of the power of their Navy a city that was great in glory and power.

But God pronounced his judgment because they rejoiced in the judgment of God upon Jerusalem. Thus saith the Lord God. Verse 15 to Tyrus shall not the isles or the coast shake at the sound of your fall when the wounded cry.

And when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones and lay away their robes and put off their broidered garments. They shall clothe themselves with trembling and they shall sit upon the ground and shall tremble at every moment and be astonished at thee.

And so the great fear that did come into the other neighboring cities and areas. And they shall take up a lamentation for thee and say to thee how art thou destroyed that was inhabited of seafaring men.

The renowned city which was strong in the sea she and her inhabitants which caused their terror to be all that haunted. Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall. Yea the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.

For thus saith the Lord God when I shall make thee a desolate city like the cities that are not inhabited when I shall bring up the deep upon thee and the great water shall cover thee when I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit with the people of old time and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth in places desolate of old with them that go down to the pit that thou shall not be inhabited.

And I shall set glory in the land of the living and I will make thee a terror and thou shalt be no more though thou be sought for yet shall thou never be found again saith the Lord God. Such is the case.

We can't tell exactly where the city was because it was so totally devastated and all you have is barren rock in that area where Tyre once existed. Now there is a modern city of Tyre which is a Palestinian stronghold in southern Lebanon.

However it is a few miles from the site of the ancient city so though it bears the name of Tyre it has not been built again in the area where the original Tyre once existed. There is however a spring there in Tyre known as Resolene which the engineers have measured a water flow of 10 million gallons a day.

So it would be a very likely spot for a city to be built because of this abundance supply of fresh water. And yet in spite of that the city has never been built on that site again so God's word holding to the present day.

And you can go over there today and walk on that peninsula and see the causeway that was built by Alexander the Great looking down into the water seeing the stones that were thrown and the timbers. Well the timbers of course have since you have gone but you can still see the stones and you can see the fishermen drying their nets and you can see the barren rocky area that was once the city of Tyre but God's word still holding true to the present time.

Tyre’s Commercial Power and Revelation’s Babylon

Tyre of course was a city of tremendous merchandise. It was almost the commercial center of the world because the Navy the powerful Navy carried the goods from Tyre all over the Mediterranean and they supplied all of the nations around the Mediterranean as far as England with all of the merchandise and the goods and so forth and thus because of the commercial aspects it was an extremely wealthy city.

But it is interesting that God has a dislike for commercialism as such people taking advantage of people. And in the book of Revelation chapter 18 we find the judgment of God that is yet to come against the commercial system that has enslaved men's souls.

How many people have become slaves to the whole commercial system that is most of your paycheck is going out on the various credit accounts and all and you're really a slave in a sense you're you're laboring to to pay the commercial accounts.

And so God speaks against commercialism in Revelation 18 but also in the lamentation now against Tyre that is taken up by the Prophet. And it is interesting and important for you that when you get a chance this week you read Revelation 18 in the light of Ezekiel 27 and you will find the very same things that God is saying against the commercial system of the last days that is being destroyed was said at the destruction of Tyre.

In fact there are there are similar parallel passages that are here in 27 that are also found in Revelation chapter 18. So the word of the Lord came again unto me saying now son of man take up a lamentation.

This is a wailing a cry for Tyre. This is lamenting the destruction that is come and saying to Tyre all thou that are worse that are situated or situated at the entry of the sea which are a merchant of the people of many coasts.

Thus saith the Lord God O Tyrus thou hast said I am a perfect beauty. Now the city of Tyre is in the first part of chapter 27 likened unto one of the ships of Tyre and the city was the perfection of beauty.

It was a very extremely of course the Mediterranean area there is just beautiful anyhow it's just a glorious area along the Mediterranean. The weather is just ideal. It has a ideal year-round type of a climate.

And the the island just there in the sea was no doubt extremely beautiful. And there was so much wealth that the homes and all were no doubt just luxurious. So he likened it unto a beautiful ship of Tyrus.

Thy borders are in the midst of the seas. Thy builders have perfected by beauty. They have made all thy shipboards of fir trees. They have taken cedars from Lebanon to make the mast for thee of the oaks of bastion have they made your oars.

The company of the azurites have made your benches of ivory. That would be azurites would be Cyprus and brought out the isles of Chittim is Cyprus. The coast of Chittim is Cyprus. And have brought out the isles of the coast of Chittim.

Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which you have spread forth to be thy sail. And the blue and the purple from the coast of Elisha was that which covered thee. The inhabitants of Sidon which is a sister city some 15 miles north also a seaport and Arved were thy mariners thy wise men.

O Tyrus that were in thee were thy pilots the ancients of Gebel and the wise men thereof were in thee. Thy caulkers and the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.

And so all of this merchandise the ivory the linens from Egypt with the embroidered work the furs the cedars the oaks and and all of the luxury items that were a part of the whole system of Tyrus. Verse 10.

They of Persia and Lod and of Put were in thine army. Thy men of war. They hang the shield and helmet in thee. They set forth thy comeliness. So they had a mercenary army from various nations. The men of Arved with thine army were upon thy walls roundabout.

And the Gamadins were in thy towers. They hang their shields upon thy walls roundabout. They have made thy beauty perfect. Tarsus England was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches with the silver and the iron the tin and the lead and they traded in thy fairs.

And so the trade fairs that were there. Javan, Tubal, Meshach they were thy merchants. They traded in slaves and vessels of brass in your markets. And they have the house of Torgarmah the Balkan states.

They traded in your fairs with horses horsemen and mules. And the men of Dedan down towards Saudi Arabia were thy merchants. And many coasts were the merchandise in your hand. They brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.

Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making. They occupied in thy fairs with emeralds and purple embroidered work and fine linen and coral and agate. Judah and the land of Israel they were thy merchants.

They traded in your market wheat and honey and oil and balm. Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making for the multitude of all the riches in the wine of Helban and the white wool.

Dan also in Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs bright iron Cassia Calamus were in thy market the various spices. Not actually if you go through the old city of Jerusalem walking through the souk you get somewhat of an idea of what was the ancient tire as far as all kinds of merchandise the white wool coats and the linens the embroidered work that you can purchase the various jewelry stores and the spice stores and and the shops they and so in Tyrus was a tremendous commercial center with all of these goods that were brought from all of the areas of the ancient world.

And it was sort of well sort of a Hong Kong of the ancient world as far as a you're able to shop and buy almost anything it at great prices you know. But there is tremendous market their entire Dan also Javan going to and fro occupied thy fairs.

Bright iron Cassia Calamus is in my market. Then did and was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. Arabian all the princes of Kedar they occupied the in the lambs and in the Rams in the goats and in these were thy merchants.

The merchants of Sheba and Rama they were thy merchants they occupied in thy fairs with the chief of all the spices and with all precious stones and gold. Heron, Cana, Eden. The merchants of Sheba, Asher, and Kilmad were thy merchants.

These were thy merchants in all sorts of things in the blue clothes embroidered work in the chest of rich apparel bound with cords and made of cedar among thy merchandise. And the ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market and thou was replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.

The Fall of Tyre and the Lament of Merchants

And your roars have brought thee into great waters. But the east wind has broken thee in the midst of the sea the east wind of course being Nebuchadnezzar. And this great commercial center broken by Nebuchadnezzar thy riches and thy fares and thy merchandise and thy mariners and thy pilots and thy conquerors and the occupiers of thy merchandise and all of the men of war that are in thee and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin the suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots and all that handle the oar.

The mariners and the pilots of the sea shall come down from their ships and they shall stand upon the land and shall cause their voice to be heard against thee and shall cry bitterly and shall cast up dust upon their heads and they shall wallow themselves in the ashes and they shall make themselves now.

These are the people that have been doing business. The merchants that have lost now this glorious trade center. They shall make themselves utterly bald for thee that is shaving themselves in in sorrow and gird themselves with sackcloth.

And they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing. And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee and lament over thee saying what city is like Tyrus likened to like the destroyed in the midst of the sea.

When thy wares went forth out of the seas you filled many people you didn't enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of your riches and with thy merchandise. And in the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters by merchandise and all the company in the midst of thee shall fall and all the inhabitants of the coast shall be astonished at thee and their king shall be sore afraid they shall be troubled in their countenance.

The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee and that will be a terror and never to be any more. Now again notice the wailing. They'll take up the lamentation. What city is like Tyrus like that it has been destroyed in Revelation as their and the destruction of the commercial Babylon system takes place it declares again how that the kings of the earth verse nine have committed fornication live deliciously with her shall bewail her and lament for her.

When they see the smoke of her burning standing afar off for fear the torment saying alas alas that great city Babylon the mighty city for one hour her judgment has come and the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her.

For no man buys her merchandise anymore. The merchandise of gold and silver precious stones pearls fine linen purple silk scarlet and all fine and would in all manner of vessels of ivory all manners of vessels of most precious wood and brass and iron and marble cinnamon and odors anointments and frankincense and the fruits of thy soul lusts and departs and so forth in them.

How that they they cry when they see the smoke of the burning and they say you know what city is like this city. So it is a interesting parallel between the destruction of Tyrus which becomes a type of the destruction of the Babylonian commercial system in the last days.

And the lamentation is much the same as people mourn for the loss of all of these luxurious goods that were once offered there in the fair the trade fairs in Tyrus. Now as we get into chapter 28 the attention now is directed against the king of Tyre.

The Prince of Tyre and the Antichrist

Chapter 26 against the city of Tyre. Chapter 27 against the merchandising of Tyre. Chapter 28 now is directed against the king or the prince of Tyre. And as we get into this suddenly there is a transition and he begins to address himself unto Satan the power behind the earthly kingdom.

Now the Bible says that Satan is the prince of this world. And unless a nation is really dedicated to God and its leaders dedicated to God then Satan is controlling and seeks to control the leadership of the world.

Hitler was a man who was controlled by the white masters these men who after the fall of the Third Reich moved down into Peru and still many of them are living in Peru today men who are into all kinds of spiritism.

They controlled Hitler during the period of the Third Reich and he was a man who was controlled by these demonic forces guided by these men who were high in the area of white magic. The rebuke of the king of Tyre.

In chapter 28 the word of the Lord came again unto me saying son of man say to the prince of Tyre thus saith the Lord God because thy heart is lifted up and thou has said I am a God I sit in the throne of God and in the midst of the siege.

Yet thou art a man and not God though thou set thy heart is the heart of God. Now immediately this causes us to think of second Thessalonians chapter 2 where it declares that the Antichrist is going to come and stand in the temple of God and declare that he is God and demand to be worshipped as God in the last days.

So the prince of Tyre becomes a interesting type of the Antichrist declaring himself to be God and setting himself up as a God. Now this indeed did happen. The king of Tyre assumed the God role and proclaimed himself to be God and began to demand the worship of the people.

Behold thou art wiser than Daniel. That is what he was saying of himself that he was wiser than Daniel. Of course it is interesting that again Daniel is mentioned who was a contemporary to Ezekiel. And already Daniel's fame was no doubt being spread abroad and probably because of his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

That probably brought Daniel to instant fame and recognition because after he had interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar made him one of the chief counselors for the Babylonian kingdom.

And so Daniel's fame especially of course among the children of Israel had spread abroad. So Ezekiel who was a contemporary to Daniel lived at the same time in Babylonian captivity makes mention of Daniel not only here but in other passages.

And here the wisdom of Daniel is referred to with thy wisdom and with thy understanding you have gotten riches. You've gotten gold and silver into your treasury and by thy great wisdom and by your trafficking that is the merchandising you have increased your riches and your heart is lifted up because of your riches.

The Bible tells us that it's hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Then it qualifies it. And it says how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus said it's easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. The Bible says that they that will be rich will fall into divers temptations or lust which drown men's souls in perdition.

But again the Bible says if riches increase just don't set your heart upon them. Now that was the problem with the king of Tyrus his heart was set upon his riches. He was increased with riches and his heart was lifted up because of his riches.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God because you have set your heart as the heart of God. Behold therefore I will bring strangers upon thee and the awesome of the nations and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom and they shall defile thy brightness and 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. What thou yet say before him that slayeth thee. I am a God. But thou shalt be a man and no God in the hand of him that slays thee.

And thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers. For I have spoken it saith the Lord. And so his destruction is predicted. And though he declares himself to be God when the enemy comes over the wall you're not going to move him.

You know to thinking that you are God you'll die like a man. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me saying son of man take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus and saying to him thus saith the Lord God.

Satan’s Beauty, Fall, and Rebellion

Now at this point there is a switch and we go behind the scenes and God is now addressing himself unto Satan. And this is probably one of the most graphic descriptions of Satan that exist in the Bible.

And he isn't contrary to popular notion wearing a red suit holding a pitchfork and having a forked tail and some evil sinister looking creature with pointed ears and a goatee. Thou sealest up the sum.

It means you are the sum total. You got it all together. You are the sum total. You're full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You have been in Eden the garden of God. Yes he was there and was talking to Eve and tempting her to eat of that fruit that God had forbidden.

Every precious stone was your covering the Sardis topaz diamond burl onyx jasper sapphire emerald carbuncle gold. And the workmanship of thy tablets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that you were created.

So here is a description of Satan prior to his. Of course in prior to his fall after his fall you've been in Eden but every precious stone is covering it all and there are some who say that Satan is the author of music because of the workmanship of your tablets and of your pipes was prepared in the in the day that was created and so that Satan is the author of music.

I think that that is just stretching the point beyond breaking it. It's I can't stand that type of biblical exposition that takes a verse like this and then builds an entire case from it and how that music is evil because Satan you know was the originator of music because he was the one with the tablets and pipes and so forth and so that music is satanic in its origin and all and that he is the master over music that stretching scripture it is taking it out of context it is taking one verse and just blowing it beyond its intent and beyond what it declares and yet there are those foolish and ignorant men who will take some kind of a passage like this and try to make a big discourse out of it and a big theory and and come down on all kinds of musical instruments and everything else and of course some book has been written lately against rock music and saying it's of Satan and this is the scripture that proves it.

If they can find proof of that in this scripture then they have done phenomenal bit of scriptural jugglery. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth. Now he was an anointed cherub. A cherub of course is an angel.

Cherub is singular, cherubim is plural. Now we are we find in the scriptures that there are the four cherubim that are about the throne of God, plural of cherubs. Satan once no doubt dwelt there near God in the heavenly scene.

In fact he would seem to have had a very high standing at one time. So high that when Michael was contending against him having respect for the position that Satan once held in high authority in the heavenly scene, Michael did not bring any railing accusation against him when they were disputing over the body of Moses but Michael just said the Lord rebuke you.

Satan did have an extremely high position prior to his fall in the heavenly kingdom. The anointed cherub that covereth. I have set thee so. You were upon the holy mountain of God. You have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire and you were perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee.

Now here is what makes Satan not the opposite of God. You were perfect in all of your ways from the day that you were created but Satan was a created being. God is self-existent. He has always been. Satan was created.

So that it is wrong for us in our minds to think of Satan as the opposite of God. He opposes God but he in no wise is the opposite of God. And we ascribe to Satan much more power and much more than what he actually is if you think of him as the opposite of God.

And thus we should never consider or think of Satan in the terms of the opposite of God. God stands alone in the universe. The infinite eternal God. There's nothing to compare with in likenesses or opposites.

He is alone. The eternal God. Satan was a created being. An anointed cherub. If he is the opposite or to be thought of as the opposite it might be of Michael or of Gabriel. These two angels that seem to have much authority and power in heaven.

Who remain true unto God. But never think of Satan as the opposite of God. You're ascribing much more to him than what actually is. And that is dangerous. He was perfect until the day that iniquity was found in him.

What is the iniquity that was found in him? If you turn back to Isaiah chapter 14. Isaiah gives us a little insight into this iniquity that was found in Satan. Verse 12 chapter 14 Isaiah. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer son of the morning?