Satan and the King of Tyre

Commentary for March 28, 2003 - Question and Answer

Question: In the article "Why Did God Create Angels?," Dr. Martin wrote,

"The Bible describes Satan and his servants (angels or men) as appearing righteous. People would think of them as 'true men of God.' Note that the spirit entity called the 'King of Tyre' was, '... full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the Garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. ... Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth' [his symbolic wings covered the Ark of the Covenant]."

• Ezekiel 28:12-14

Since the anointed cherub is a fallen angel, why does God even include it on the Ark of the Covenant? Since this will be part of the Abomination of Desolation, it does not make sense to have this evil cherub located in the Holy of Holies in the early Temple. Am I misunderstanding this point?

Answer: It is essential to be precise regarding the offices into which God has placed his servants. The term angel means "messenger" and actually denotes an office or a function rather than a type of being. It can indicate a spiritual being or a human as Dr. Martin notes. A cherub is technically not an angel unless it is performing the role of messenger at any particular moment. Satan and the King of Tyre may not necessarily be allied with each other, except that both oppose God and appear to act in concert at the end time. Both have their own area of rule (command and control, in current terms) in the spirit realm.

Satan was a liar and a murderer "from the beginning," meaning his beginning (John 8:44, 1 John 3:8). The King of Tyre was at one time "righteous" (although not perfect) in his beginning, and later turned against God, apparently in the days of Ezekiel the prophet. Recall that all angels and servants of God are imperfect (Job 4:18), and that many will (inexplicably to us) turn away and oppose God. In my opinion this is due to God's seeming "inaction" for a period of time. For most of the world's history God worked through very few people, even individuals, and no one else. This will change shortly as God s-l-o-w-l-y reasserts His presence into world affairs culminating in the return of Jesus Christ to this earth.

Until that time we will see the condition that Peter talks about, accompanied by seeming unending evil in the world,"

". there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, 'Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. '"
• 2 Peter 3:3-4 (see also Acts 15:18)

I do not know precisely why God chose to put cherubs and their images within the Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple. From our present view of the condition of the world and the cosmos, it appears that evil prospers and good suffers. This is truly the condition of the world and the present role that evil plays in the plan of God.

Since Adam and Eve, God seems to be in the process of exposing every possible adversary, every possible objection, every possible scenario of opposition by every possible being in the universe; exposing them all to the light of God's revelation and assertion of control by God through His Son Jesus Christ, to the present, on through to the consummation of all things,

"For he [Christ shall] put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all."
• 1 Corinthians 15:27-28

"All things" means everything and everyone, human and nonhuman beings. The mystery of why God does things, why evil is allowed, and specifically why God uses the former "anointed cherub" and allows him to become the image in the forthcoming Temple to be the Abomination of Desolation, these mysteries will be fully answered in the future.

Note that it is also a mystery what the scope and shape of the future will be after God is "all in all." Note that elsewhere in the article, "Why Did God Create Angels," Dr. Martin cites Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, the end of the quote pointing out,

"I have seen the travail, which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He has made every thing beautiful in his time: also he has set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end."
• Ecclesiastes 3:10-11, emphasis Dr. Martin' s

We do know that we (and all human beings) shall become fully empowered and righteous Elohim. This was the original object for the creation of human beings - Genesis 1:26-27 - and it will be accomplished when God is "all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:27-28) with immortality and peace within ourselves, peace with our fellow Elohim and peace with all beings in the universe. God speed that day when sin, death and evil shall end.

David Sielaff
david@askelm.com

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