Satan’s Pride in His Beauty - Lesson 2

In our first lesson on the subject of Satan we learned that Satan was pictured in the Bible as an angelic King, a king who reigns over many subjects, some of whom are called princes.

We learned that Satan was a created being, a being that was created before the earth and it’s inhabitants were brought into existence by God.

We learned that Satan was one who opposed God, one who was an enemy of God and all that He has created.

We also learned from Ezekiel 28 that the king pictured therein is a heavenly being.

He is a being that is the seal of perfection, a being full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

He is an anointed cherub who covered, a being who was with God on the holy mountain and was perfect from the day he was created.

Let us read this passage again to get this sense:

Ezekiel 28:11-13a, 14-15,  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ¹²Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. ¹³Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering…………… ¹⁴Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. ¹⁵Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

Now from this passage I want to carefully look at the phrase that tells us this king sealest up the sum, is full of wisdom and is perfect in beauty.

This phrase "sealest up the sum" in modern vernacular would mean that God threw away the mold when he created this being.

In Ezekiel 28:12 this limit is referred to as "the sum."

Each creature that was made by God has a percentage of that upper limit of wisdom and beauty.

We always categorize God’s creatures and in our mind assign a percentage.

We think of the beauty of a horse more highly than we do a pig.

We rate God’s creatures according to their beauty and intelligence.

As humans we may think that we are God’s upper limit as to wisdom and beauty but our verse in Ezekiel tells us that God bestowed upon Satan the full limit, the sum, the consummation of wisdom and beauty.

In other words this king, whom we believe to be Satan is the most intelligent and most beautiful creature that God chose to make!

According to Ezekiel 28:13, God chose to cloth Satan in the most precious stones, stones full of glitter and glory, sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold.

Of course, we are talking about EXTERNAL beauty here but we find that external beauty is no defense for keeping this created being from choosing to rebel against his creator.

We are also given to see in this passage that Satan was created to serve as an anointed guardian of God.

Ezekiel 28:14 says this:  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so:

That word covereth means to cover over or to guard.

Guardianship is the main job of cherubim, as is seen in Genesis 3:24, So He (God) drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Again this is shown in Exodus 26:18 and 25:22a.

So Satan is the cherub who was anointed by God to the incredibly high honor of serving as a personal guardian of God's presence and God’s holiness.

Now God needs no guards, nor does God need you or me but he has chosen to administer his creation in and through His creatures, angelic and human, and so he created an angel for this most high duty.

This duty seems to have been carried out in a place called Eden, the garden of God.

This is written of in Ezekiel 28:13,  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

This Eden, referred to as the garden of God does not seem to be that which God made on the Earth for Adam to keep.

Rather, this Eden seems to be a heavenly place, the place that perhaps was the pattern of Earth’s Garden of Eden in which Adam and Eve were placed.

But this heavenly garden of God is connected to this most beautiful of God’s creations, this guardian of God’s presence and God’s holiness, this angelic creature whom upon falling from this high place came to be known as Satan.

Beautiful minerals are mentioned along with this garden and this being is there in his state of perfection

In addition to this list of minerals the workmanship of  tabrets and pipes is mentioned.

Tabrets refer to the tambourine, pipes refer to an organ like instrument.

It appears from this description this perfect being was in himself a musical instrument.

Dr. Dwight Pentecost wrote in his book, "Your Adversary the Devil",

Musical instruments were originally designed to be means of praising and worshipping God. It was not necessary for this perfect being to learn to play a musical instrument in order to praise God. If you please, he had a built-in pipe organ, or, he was an organ. That’s what the prophet meant when he said, ‘the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes.…’ Because of his beauty, and perfection he did what a musical instrument would do in the hands of a skilled musician, bring forth a psalm of praise to the glory of God. He didn’t have to look for someone to play the organ so that he could sing the doxology—he was a doxology.

But this is only until iniquity was found in him.

Ezekiel 28:15,  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

We can learn of the fall of Satan from a passage in Isaiah which is related to a king of Babylon but I believe can also pertain to this one who was created perfect but fell when iniquity was found in him.

The language that is used in Isaiah 14:12-14 is language used of heavenly places, and heavenly creatures, not language used to describe a man.

Isaiah 14:12-14,  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! ¹³For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: ¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Now here we are given the name of one who wishes to exalt himself as God is exalted.

It is the name Lucifer, which is the Latin translation of the Hebrew word which means "morning star."

This name is found only once in the Bible but in it’s context I believe it can be accepted as another name for Satan.

It describes one whose will is exalted for this passage describes five "I wills" of Lucifer.

The first is: I will ascend into heaven.

Satan here has as his goal to move from a place of service to a place of worship.

The second "I will" is: I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

This is probably a reference to angels.

Satan wanted to rule over all the angels of God, and no doubt desired their worship as well.

The third "I will" is: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.

Congregation" is the full assembly of the heavenly host.

Mount" is the apex, the position of highest authority that is God's rightful place of rule.

Satan clearly desired to displace God as ruler of the universe.

Lucifer here seeks to enter God’s realm, the holy mountain, somewhere in the north and sit in his place.

The fourth "I will" is: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

Satan is not satisfied with the rule of this earth, the clouds above being his barrier but desires to ascend above this barrier and permanently take over God’s own kingdom in heaven.

God also shows himself in clouds, such as the Shekinah glory cloud of Old Testament times.

Lucifer’s goal is to exceed that glory.

And the last "I will" is: I will be like the most High.

This "I will" reveals much about Satan’s pride and desire for power.

The name of God he chose here is the name, El-Elyon, which is the name of God which means "the strongest strong one."

Satan could have picked other names for God.

He could have used El-Shaddai, which means, "the breasted one, the one who feeds his children," but he didn’t.

He might have selected Jehovah-Rohi, which means, "the shepherd God," but he rejected this description also.

The reason is obvious.

Satan covets God’s strength, but is not interested in God’s character which would move him to feed and lead.

Satan wants God's POWER and AUTHORITY, but he doesn't want anything to do with God's nurturing and leadership attributes.

Satan wants absolute power, but without having responsibility to care for anyone but himself.

In contrast to the character of our Lord Jesus Christ who was only interested in doing the will of His Father, Satin strenuously fights for his own will.

He fought for his own will in the garden of God, then in the Garden of Eden where he corrupted Gods’ creation.

He fought for his own will in Daniel’s day hindering the work of God and he will continue this pattern to the day that he is bound by God at the coming of the kingdom.

Now it is obvious from these "I wills" what moves Satan.

We are given scriptural teaching in I Timothy 3:6 of this when we are told that the leader of the church is not to be a novice lest he be lifted up with pride and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

So pride is what moves Satan.

Ezekiel 28:17a tells us this,  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness:

The Bible teaches that Satan was the sum of beauty and wisdom.

Satan was created as to be the epitome of beauty and wisdom, there being none other of God’s created beings that would exceed his wisdom and beauty.

But because of this external beauty there came a time when iniquity was found in him.

An old French proverb goes like this: Beauty, unaccompanied by virtue, is as a flower without perfume.

A flower without perfume gives no pleasing aroma.

I remember as a 11 year old boy in the 1940’s the singular memory of my grandmother’s funeral was the strong aroma of the roses that were placed around her gasket.

Roses always remind me of funerals for the aroma of the roses of that day were so strong.

The cultivated roses of today may be more beautiful but somehow that cultivation has taken away the strength of the aroma of the rose.

Beauty can be like that.

There can easily be a cultivation of the beauty of the rose rather than the cultivation of the aroma of the rose.

We live today in the cultivation of beauty but have no heart for the cultivation of what that beauty is to give.

But God’s beauty is always a giving beauty.

Satan’s beauty turned only to a taking beauty.

A person who uses his or her beauty to receive only, will eventually fall.

Physical beauty can be a very great burden as we have seen over and over again in the lives of famous people who led tragic lives of self destruction.

Satan’s heart was lifted up because of his beauty.

He saw his beauty as self made, rather than God made.

He gave himself glory rather than giving God glory.

If you are gifted with beauty that beauty came not by your own efforts but by the creative power of God to whom should go all the glory.

Satan’s fall was in seeing himself as a self created being and therefore worthy of supplanting God.

It is clear in scripture what a created being should do.

Jeremiah 9:23,24 tells us this,  Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: ²⁴But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.