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“Now the serpent was more
crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had
made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, ‘You
shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1)
The serpent (Hebrew: natash),
bright one, shinning one, was extremely beautiful. This was
obviously not the serpent that we know of today. In fact, there
was much more to this snake in the garden than at first met the
woman’s eye. In order to identify the real snake behind this
snake, we must take a short glimpse into the realm of angels.
The Old Testament word for angel
is “malach,” which means messenger. In the New Testament the
word angel is “angelos,” messenger.
“In order to change the
appearance of things your servant Joab has done this thing.
But my lord is wise, like the wisdom of the angel of God, to
know all that is in the earth.” (2 Sam. 14:20)
“Bless the LORD, you His
angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying
the voice of His word.” (Psa. 103:20)
“In the year of King Uzziah’s
death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted,
with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim
stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered
his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he
flew. And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy,
Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His
glory.’” (Isa. 6:1-3; see also, Eze. 1:5; Rev. 4: 8)
“Are they not all ministering
spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those
who will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14)
Daniel was in captivity in
Babylon. He asked God for information concerning Israel’s
future. The angel Gabriel appeared to him.
“Then behold, a hand touched
me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said to
me, ‘O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that
I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now
been sent to you.’ And when he had spoken this word to me,
I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, ‘Do not be afraid,
Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on
understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God,
your words were heard, and I have come in response to your
words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was
withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael,
one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been
left there with the kings of Persia’.” (Dan. 10:10-13)
The prince of the kingdom of
Persia was not a human being (verse 13)! This prince was an
angel. This angel had prevented Gabriel from coming to Daniel
for 21 days. Michael, the archangel (Jude 1:9), came to
Gabriel's rescue freeing him to get to Daniel. Such angelic
activity is evidently taking place today.
“For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against
the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
(Eph. 6:12)
Gabriel continued to speak to
Daniel.
“Then he said, ‘Do you
understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to
fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and
behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.’” (Dan.
10:20)
Notice again the prince behind
the king of Persia.
Now back to Ezekiel as he is
speaking to the human king of Tyre. Ezekiel called him “the
prince of Tyre” (Eze. 28:1-10). This king was consumed with
pride. He was in control of much of the sea trade of the ancient
world and was very wealthy. In fact, he was so arrogant that he
considered himself to be a god (Eze. 28:2). Ezekiel did not
refer to him as “king” but he called him a “prince.”
In the course of the
conversation, it seems most likely that Ezekiel began to address
this prince.
“Again the word of the LORD
came to me saying, ‘Son of man, take up a lamentation over
the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,
You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect
in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every
precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and
the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis
lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the
workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the
day that you were created they were prepared. You were the
anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were
on the holy mountain of God.” (Ezek. 28:11-14)
This prince had been the “seal of
perfection.” Literally, he said, “You seal up the sum, full of
wisdom and perfect in beauty.”
Quoting Arnold Fruchtenbaum
(Footsteps of the Messiah; page 383):
“When God set out to do His
creative work, He limited His creation to a specific pattern
and did not choose to go beyond it. When the animals were
created, they filled up only a portion of the pattern. When
man was created, he filled up some more of the pattern.
Angels filled even a bit more. But when God created Satan,
he filled up the entire pattern in two areas: wisdom and
beauty.”
Ezekiel may have been speaking
with Satan himself. If this is speaking of the devil, this
angelic being once had a lofty position before God. Ezekiel
referred to him as “the anointed cherub.”
There were three separate ranks
of beings in the angelic realm. The lowest rank were the angels
under the command of Michael the archangel. Next were the
seraphim. The Hebrew word “seraphim” means, “burning ones.” Fire
in the Bible implies judgment. Evidently these angels were to
carry out judgment for God (Isa. 6:1-3). The highest order of
angels was the cherubim. The name “cherubim” means, “to cover.”
The cherubim were anointed to protect God’s throne in order to
preserve His holiness. The devil may have once been one of
these anointed angels.
The garden of God was not located
in Eden. That garden, as we shall see, was a garden of trees and
plants. The garden described here was a mineral garden. It
evidently served as this angel’s original dwelling place.
The “Original” Original Sin
“You were blameless in your
ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was
found in you.” (Eze.28:15)
“Until” is a time word. At a
moment in time unrighteousness was found to be in this anointed
cherub. The details of this moment of unrighteousness are found
in Isaiah 14:12-14. Like Ezekiel, Isaiah was at first speaking
with the human king of Babylon. But all of a sudden it becomes
obvious that he was speaking to someone behind this human king.
“How you have fallen from
heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have
been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the
nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to
heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I
will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the
north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I
will make myself like the Most High.’” (Isa. 14:10-14)
It is obvious that king of
Babylon had not been in heaven. And notice that Isaiah refers to
him as “Lucifer.” Lucifer is translated glistening one or
shining one. This may be a description of the original original
sin.
I will start my climb to the
lofty position of God Himself.
I will take over as commander
and chief of the angelic realm.
I will rule over Israel which
is a position reserved for the Messiah.
I will take upon myself glory
that is reserved for God alone.
Lucifer’s ultimate goal was
to take for himself the position of God. God judged Lucifer
because of His pride, and he became Satan, the adversary of
God. God cast him out of heaven and reserved for him
judgment (Matt. 25:41).
Satan is brilliant, but God is
the ultimate genius. Satan has a plan, but God has the master
plan.
“God will do according to His
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth,” records the prophecy of Daniel (Dan. 4:35).
Satan is a creature. He is
limited. He is not omniscient, omnipotent, nor omnipresent. (For
more, see “The
Fall.”)
Sources
New American Standard Bible
Arnold Fruchtenbaum
Donald G. Barnhouse
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