THE RISE AND DESTRUCTION OF SATAN
Eze 28:12 Son 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.
Eze 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.
Eze 28:14 Thou 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.
Eze 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Eze 28:16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Eze 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
God created Lucifer to both visually and audibly adorn Him in connection with the glory and honour of His majesty. With this being so, as part of his original role he was created to envelope God’s presence, (especially His throne of majesty), with an abundance of glorious sound and light which was befitting to God’s natural grandeur. The glory of the sound and light emanating from Lucifer enveloped God’s throne and produced an environment around God’s presence which was profoundly splendid and magnificent to the eyes of all other creatures of the realm of God’s heaven.
But more than this, (and hence more significant), the glorious light and sound of the environment was also delightful and pleasing to God’s own hearing and sight as well. For He had given Lucifer the capacity to produce this environment, and accordingly he was “perfect in beauty” in God’s eyes first and foremost.
So particularly in connection with enveloping God’s presence with an environment of “covering” by which he could do this), the most fundamental significance of these “precious stones” to God is that He created them in His creation for their beauty’s sake, especially in connection with their ability to respond to the light of His own being, and their ability to bedazzle with it.
Accordingly therefore Lucifer in his role as “the anointed cherub that covereth” Lucifer was the first to whom God applied this most basic function of “precious stones.” And for the short time that he functioned properly in his role as the “covering cherub,” they also functioned in their prime capacity.
Likewise in accordance with the most fundamental function of “precious stones,” this is one of the reasons why the foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem are “garnished” with them. In essence they will do the same thing on the outside of God’s city that they were originally designed to do on the inside part of Lucifer’s covering.
“Why is the LORD allowing Satan to exist, couldn’t He just destroy him?”
Simply put, it is my understanding that God’s main reason for dealing with Satan as He does has to do with the fact that His Perfect Justice is administered by Him in a way that is fully consistent with every other aspect of His character and essence. In other words, though God’s Perfect Justice could immediately respond to sin with its ultimate response of completely destroying both it and the one committing it on-the-spot, so to speak, (and this would be perfectly righteous and consistent with the single attribute of Perfect Justice), since God is more than Perfect Justice He responds to sin in a way that is fully consistent with every other aspect of His character and essence. And especially in view of the fact that God is also Perfect Love, Mercy, Goodness, and the like, His Perfect Justice responds consistent with these other aspects of His character and essence, and as such it executes ultimate Justice only after the other attributes have been satisfied. Hence in His Perfect Justice God is long-suffering and forbearing.
Now though we naturally have the tendency to think of God’s long-suffering and forbearance when it comes to man. God also exercises it in connection with the angelic realm; including even with Lucifer when he sinned, and then also when he formulated his plan of evil and became Satan. In fact God describes the reality of this, for example, in Ezekiel 28:11-19 where He sets forth the description of what Satan originally was, and how he sinned, etc.
Briefly stated, after relating in verses 11-15 the issues pertaining to who Satan originally was in his creation and how he sinned, God goes on in verses 16-19 to relate the issue of His response to Lucifer’s sin and to the issue of him becoming a ‘satan.’ And as verses 16-19 describe, God’s response has three distinct aspects, or phases, to it which provide for Him to be perfectly consistent with every aspect of His character and essence. Verse 16 describes the issue of God’s response to Satan’s original sin. Then verse 17 describes the issue of God’s response to Satan’s formulation of his plan of evil, whereby he becomes a ‘satan.’ And then finally verses18-19 describes the issue of God’s response to the implementation of Satan’s plan of evil and its results.
Eze 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
Eze 28:19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
Each of these three phases of the response of God’s Perfect Justice, (along with the time that it takes for them to fully come to pass), are in accordance with the issues of God’s Perfect Justice acting in a way that is consistent with all of the other aspects of God’s character and essence. Once again, if all God was in Perfect Justice, then He not only could have, but would have, immediately responded to Lucifer’s sin with the issue of ultimate Justice. However since God is more than Perfect Justice, His Justice responds in a way that provides for each and every other aspect of His character and essence to ‘come into play,’ so to speak, and for ultimate Justice to be executed only after the other aspects of His character and essence have been satisfied.
In accordance with this, as the end of verse 19 states, at the conclusion of these three phases to the response of God’s Perfect Justice Satan will then experience the ultimate response of God’s Perfect Justice to his sin and to him as the sinner that he is.
“Why must Satan be ‘loosed for a little season’?”
The reason for Satan being ‘loosed for a little season’ upon the conclusion of the Lord’s 1,000 year reigning has to do with what I just set forth regarding God’s Perfect Justice to Satan. Specifically it has to do with what God relates in Ezekiel 28:18 about His response to the implementation of Satan’s plan of evil. As God says in verse 18, “…… therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall destroy thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.”
Simply put, since God’s Perfect Justice responds to the implementation of Satan’s plan of evil in a way that is fully consistent with all of His other attributes and characteristics, it therefore allows Satan the genuine and honest opportunity to succeed with his plan of evil. But in view of what he has become, (i.e. a satan’), Satan not only will not succeed, but he himself will actually bring about the destruction of his plan of evil, as well as his own destruction, in trying to succeed.
Satan will bring about the destruction of his plan of evil during the time of the Lord’s Day of wrath preceding the Lord establishing His kingdom on this earth in fulfillment of His program with Israel. And then Satan will bring about his own personal destruction after he is ‘loosed for a little season’ from his imprisonment, as described in Revelation 20. Satan personally will be ‘brought to ashes upon the earth,’ as God says in Ezekiel 28, by the judgment that is described in Revelation 20:7-9.
So then at that time Satan will be ‘loosed for a little season’ from his imprisonment in order for him to bring about the final aspect of his ‘self-destruction.’
Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Regarding God destruction of Satan comes from what God sets forth in Ezekiel 28:11-19. The specific descriptive terminology that God uses in verse 18 about ‘bringing forth a fire from the midst of him, and devouring him,’ and God bringing him to ashes upon the earth,’ is terminology that describes complete self-destruction, plus the complete destruction and ruin of all that one has worked so hard to produce and/or accomplish. We can and do still use similar terminology today when we want to describe someone’s self-destruction, (not one’s suicide or loss of life, but one’s destruction and ruining of all that one stands for, works for, and lives for), especially when it is produced by something like jealousy, or envy, or rage, or some other strong and powerful emotion or impetus. We can speak of someone being ‘consumed with jealousy, or anger, or rage,’ or of it ‘eating them up on the inside,’ and of it ‘driving them to destruction,’ or causing them to ‘ruin themselves.’ Likewise we can speak of some overwhelming passion or desire or pursuit being ‘a fire that burns within’ someone, which consumes him and causes him to do things that put him on a path of self-destruction or complete waste, as he madly pursues his passion at all cost. And just as when a destroying fire physically reduces something to ashes, or leaves it ‘laying in ashes,’ so also when someone(a person) and his endeavors are ‘brought to ashes’ this means that he and all that he has worked to produce and achieve are completely or utterly destroyed. He is ruined, having been ‘brought to ashes.
This is what will happen to Satan during the time of the final installment in God’s program with Israel, which will come to pass after the conclusion of this present dispensation of God’s grace.
To describe it very simply, by what God provides for, and also allows to occur, during the first part of that time a ‘fire’ will be brought forth from the midst of Satan that will have him be filled both with an overwhelming passionate zeal and drive for achieving his objectives, and also with raging anger, wrath, and jealousy. This burning fire within him will consume him and devour him within as he goes about pursuing his objectives, and as he goes about endeavoring to deal with the Lord’s own avenging and purging wrath during that time. In connection with the ‘fire of madness’ within him Satan will pursue a course that actually brings about his own destruction and the destruction of all that he has worked for, implemented, and accomplished on the earth. As a result he and all that his plan of evil has worked to accomplish on the earth will be ‘brought to ashes’ upon the conclusion of the Lord’s day of wrath. And then God will execute upon him the culminating judgments that are pronounced against him, which involve his incarceration in ‘the sides of the pit’ for the duration of the time when the Lord fulfills the remaining mandates of the Davidic covenant in His kingdom on this earth both for and with Israel, and for and with the earth; and then after that he will be released for the receiving of his final judgment, which will see him consigned to “the everlasting fire” of “the lake of fire,” wherein he will ‘never be any more.’
So then what God describes in Ezekiel 28:18 is not Satan’s ultimate destruction, so to speak. In other words it is not his final/ultimate destruction in the lake of fire. But rather it is his destruction in connection with the implementation of his plan of evil on this earth, and in connection with all that he has worked to accomplish, (and even ends up accomplishing), by his plan of evil on this earth. He and his plan of evil on this earth are destroyed as described, and this by means of what the Lord does in His day of wrath in the final installment of His program with Israel.
Isa 14:9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
Isa 14:10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
Isa 14:11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
Isa 14:12 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!
Isa 14:13 For 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:
Isa 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Isa 14:16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
Isa 14:17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
Isa 14:18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
Isa 14:19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
Satan’s ultimate destruction involves what is spoken about earlier on, for example, in Isaiah 14 where God describes him being ‘brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit,’ where he will remain for the duration of the time that the Lord fulfills the remaining mandates of the Davidic covenant concerning the establishment of God’s kingdom on this earth. And then once the fullness of all of the mandates of the Davidic covenant have been fulfilled, and the last enemy is set to be destroyed, then Satan and his cohorts will be released from their temporary place of incarceration in the earth to receive the final and everlasting aspect of their ultimate judgment, which is the issue of being cast into the “lake of fire.” And this is what it was created for in the first place, just as the Lord says to His disciples in Matthew 25.
Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Wherefore Satan will be released from his incarceration in the pit upon the conclusion of the Lord reigning for 1,000 years, just as Revelation 20 describes. But as Revelation 20 also describes he is not only released to face the final aspect of his ultimate judgment, but also to be ‘taken in his own craftiness,’ so to speak, one last time. For during the time of the Lord’s reign of fulfilling the final mandates of the Davidic covenant there will be ones who do not respond positively to God, even with Him residing and reigning on the earth. These ones will be allowed to remain until the time of the end of the Lord’s reign, when the Lord will then deal with them by gathering them out of all of the regions of the earth in order for them to receive their appropriate judgment. But instead of gathering them out by some other means, in a manner of speaking God will ‘let Satan do it for Him.’ For upon his release God will allow Satan to amass these ones together in a ‘doomed to fail’ attempt to overthrow His kingdom on the earth. Whereupon God will judge them as Revelation 20 describes, and then in connection with the destruction of the last enemy to complete the fulfilling of all of the mandates of the Davidic covenant God will execute upon Satan the final and permanent aspect of his ultimate judgment by having him cast into the “lake of fire.”
So ‘in a nutshell’ this is a synopsis of what Satan faces, beginning with what Ezekiel 28 speaks of and ending with the final and permanent aspect of his ultimate judgment in the “lake of fire.” And the armies he amasses following his 1,000 year imprisonment primarily come from those who do not respond positively to God during Christ’s reign.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries