Q&A: “Are Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 About Satan?” - DJ Dickerson

Well, this evening we visit our series

of lessons that I I bring out every so

often. Again, usually it's the third or

the next to the last Sunday of the

month. And uh this of course is the

series entitled asking for a friend, our

Q&A. And so there's several times and

this is kind of an opportunity I kind of

plug this in here as well. Make sure to

drop off your uh questions that you

might that you might have. And again,

the whole point of asking for a friend

is well, you don't have to write down

your name or anything like that. It

might be a question that someone else

may have. You just put them in the box

or if you don't mind having your name,

just give it to me. Um, and uh, but I I

certainly do appreciate you adding

questions to the box and and uh, being

able to look at these together. And it

it's uh, uh, I think it's important

again as we even consider this evening's

question. one I I guess I haven't really

considered myself in quite some time. Um

and I I did some studying on this

obviously as we're going to look at

Isaiah chapter 14, Ezekiel chapter 28

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention Ezekiel 28 · chapter mention

that have been used to uh us to say

prove who Satan is or was.

However, they are also used to refer to

Old Testament kings. So the question

that was submitted, are the passages of

Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 understood to

be more tradition or truth as to the

origin of Satan?

Well, friends, I I'll say this on the

onset that one of the most important

questions we can ever ask is not what

sounds right or what we have always

heard, but what does the Bible actually

say?

As the people of God, we have uh long

claimed again the principle again New

Testament Christianity that commitment

requires honesty and humility and

sometimes even the courage to reexamine

ideas that we may have held for for a

very long time.

So this evening we're asking one of

those questions as noted in the the

question submitted for generations.

Isaiah chapter 14 and Ezekiel 28 have

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

been used to describe the origin, fall,

and former glory of Satan. And and I'm

going to bring up some things,

especially some things that are it does

make you sit back and think that there

there have been many sermons, there's

been books, there's been lessons that

confidently say that those passages tell

us who Satan was before the fall,

that he was once a glorious angel, a

cherub in Eden, cast down from heaven

because of pride.

But when we slow down and we we read the

text carefully, we must ask, is that

what the Bible says or is that what

tradition uh has taught us to see? So, I

want us to to walk through these these

uh passages together and and let's uh

dissect them, if you will. Go to Isaiah

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14 with me. Isaiah chapter 14.

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

And I have entitled this particular part

here, as you'll see there before you, a

taunt against the king of Babylon.

Now,

often quoted

from this passage in Isaiah, you find

verse 12. Now, this may sound familiar

to you. Verse 12, Isaiah 14, it says,

"How you are fallen from heaven, oh

Lucifer, son of the morning. how you are

cut down to the ground, you who weakened

the nations.

But if you back up, the Holy Spirit did

not begin the message at verse 12.

Back in verse four, Isaiah makes this

statement and that is that you will take

up this proverb against the king of

Babylon and say,

"So before any poetic imagery appears,

the prophet identifies the subject of

the passage." And the subject of the

passage according to verse four in

Isaiah 14 is not Satan. It's the king of

Babylon.

Now

when you think about this king of

Babylon

and what follows verse four is what has

been considered a taunt song. U it's

it's a form of prophetic poetry meant to

mock a fallen tyrant. Now Babylon had

ruled with arrogance uh cruelty. We

certainly know that about Babylon. And

they also were very prideful. Now the

kings trembled before him. Nations

served him. And really the king of

Babylon thought himself to be

untouchable.

Well, God says basically sing about him,

mock him. Show how far he has fallen.

Now, when Isaiah says the king has

fallen from heaven, how you are fallen

from heaven,

he's not describing a literal expulsion

from God's dwelling throughout the

prophets. Think about this. Throughout

the prophets, what have what is heaven

represented as? When they when they talk

about heaven? Well, the prophets when

they use they use that terminology, when

they use the word heaven, that

represents authority. It represents

power. It represents exalted position

and you'll see that throughout the

prophets. And so to fall from heaven

itself means to lose power, to be

brought low or to be humiliated.

Look at verses 13 and 14 of Isaiah 14.

Read on. I want you to notice. For you

have said in your heart, I will ascend

into heaven. I will exalt my throne

above the stars of God. I will also sit

on the mount of the congregation, on the

farthest sides of the north. I will

ascend above the heights of the clouds.

I will be like the most high.

This is what has been called the the uh

five I wills and I put them there and uh

highlight there in bold and underline

where it says I will ascend. I will

exalt. I will also sit. I will ascend. I

will be like the most high. Uh this is

not always say the secret diary of of of

Satan. They they are the heart language

of even human arrogance for that matter.

And this is how tyrants think. This is

how well Pharaoh how did Pharaoh think?

Same same thought here. Now we do see

the similarities of Satan here for

certain because that is his of his

character of his attitude for sure as we

think about arrogance and such. It's how

Nebuchadnezzar thought. It's actually

how Herod thought as well. And Isaiah

makes sure we understand exactly who

this figure is because again, we have to

always look at it from the context,

right? Just taking one verse is

dangerous. You have to look at the

context of what's being talked about,

just as we saw in verse four of Isaiah

14 and reading on down. And even as you

continue in this passage, when you look

in verses 15 down through verse 17, read

on with me. Yet you shall be brought

down to shol to the lowest depths of the

pit. Those who see you will gaze at you

and consider you, saying, "Is this the

man who made the earth tremble, who

shook kingdoms, who made the world as a

wilderness and destroyed its cities, who

did not open the house of his

prisoners?"

What's being described here is the

onlookers stare at the fallen one and

say, "Is this the man who made the earth

tremble, who shook kingdoms?" What's

interesting in the terminology being

used again, focus on that. That it's not

talking about an angel. It's not talking

about a demon. It's talking about man.

I think that's significant in this as

well. one who lies in the grave, one who

is mocked by other kings, one whose

glory has rotted away.

And really what you find in Isaiah 14 is

that the passage ends exactly where it

began

with the downfall of a human ruler.

So to take and to read Satan in Isaiah

14 requires us to set aside the

prophet's own explanation and end up

replacing it with some assumptions that

come from outside the text. And I want

to talk a little bit more about this in

just a moment. But I want us to go to

Ezekiel chapter 28 as well. Look at

Ezekiel 28 · chapter mention

Ezekiel chapter 28 in your Bibles. And

Ezekiel 28 · chapter mention

again I've titled this one a lament over

the king of Ty.

Now, Ezekiel chapter 28 is often treated

Ezekiel 28 · chapter mention

the same way as we noted in Isaiah

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14.

Its language is is beautiful. It's

elevated. It's symbolic

and it speaks of Eden. It talks about

precious stones, perfection, and a

cherub on the holy mountain of God. It's

pretty it's pretty interesting language

that we see. uh a lot of that of what

we've even talked about with that of

revelation. We in our revelation class,

we we discussed this, didn't we, about

the kind of uh figurative language and

all kinds of imagery that's given,

symbolic language as well. But what I

want us to notice Ezekiel doesn't leave

us guessing, right? Uh I want you to

look at verses 1-5. First of all, in

Ezekiel 28:es 1-5, it says, "The word of

the Lord came to me again, saying, son

of man, say to the prince of Tyrie, thus

says the Lord God, because your heart is

lifted up, and you say, I am a god. I

sit in the seat of gods, in the midst of

the seas, yet you are a man and not a

god. Though you set your heart as the

heart of a god, behold, you are wiser

than Daniel. There is no secret that can

be hidden from you. With your wisdom and

your understanding, you have gained

riches for yourself and have gathered

gold and silver into your treasuries. By

your great wisdom and trade, you have

increased your riches and your heart is

lifted up because of your riches.

Now, what we always do when we think

about context is we have to look at what

we call key context clues.

In just these few verses, you note again

in verse two, God says, "Say to the

prince of Tyrie," right? And even in

verse 12, if you go on down, look at

verses 11 and 12. Ezekiel 28. Moreover,

the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

son of man, take up a lamentation for

the king of Ty and say to him, thus says

the Lord God, you were the seal of

perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect

in beauty.

So really what you see in right here

twice clearly unmistakably

God identifies the subject as yet here

again a human king.

So then we ask the question you know why

the lofty language then you know why why

do we have this kind of language because

Ezekiel is exposing the king's delusion.

Now, the ruler of Ty was wealthy, was

powerful and and self-exalting and and

he claimed god-like status. He believed

his wi wisdom. He believed his beauty

made him invincible. How do I know these

things? Read on verses 13- 16. You were

in Eden, the garden of God. Every every

precious stone was your covering, the

sardis, the topaz, diamond, barrel,

onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and

emerald with gold. The workmanship of

your timberalss and pipes was prepared

for you on the day you were created. You

are the anointed cherub who covers. I

established you. You were on the holy

mountain of God. You walked back and

forth in the midst of fiery stones. You

were perfect in your ways from the day

you were created till iniquity was found

in you. But by the abundance of your

trading, you became filled with violence

within and you sinned. Therefore I cast

you as a profane thing out of the

mountain of God. and I destroyed you, oh

co, o covering cherub, from the midst of

the fiery stones.

You see, God responds by saying in

effect, you think you are in Eden. You

think you are guardian of divine space.

You think you are perfect. Really, let

me show what you really are.

Eden imagery in scripture is not always

literal geography. If you know what I

mean by that, it's often symbolic

and that which Eden symbolizes is that

of privilege,

abundance, and blessing.

Other nations are described the same way

in Ezekiel's prophecies. Y'all ever know

that? Notice that that's that Eden

language that you'll find. You see, the

king of Ty was had been blessed. But the

point that's being made through the

prophet Ezekiel is he corrupted that

blessing through pride, violence, and

greed.

And again, the passage resolves in

unmistakably

human terms that God says this king will

die. He he will be cast down before

other kings and perish by the hands of

foreigners.

That's what the prophecy is talking

about. You see, Satan does not die the

death of the uncircumcised.

Satan is not slain by invaders.

This is a judgment upon a man who has

believed himself to be more than a man.

Now, we have to ask the question then

out of both these passages, why has

tradition read Satan into these

passages? I think that's a pretty

interesting question.

So

the question if the texts are so clear

when we look at them in their in their

context and what was going on, why

has this interpretation become so

widespread?

Well, part of the answer I'm going to

share with you lies in translation

history.

The Latin word you you might remember

going back to verse 12. When you think

about the word Lucifer, all right, uh if

you haven't looked ahead already, you

know, think about what we consider

Lucifer to be. If I say Lucifer,

we automatically say what? That's just

another word for Satan. That's another

word for devil, right? That's that's

automatically what we think. Now, I I

want us to share I want us to look at

this.

What does your translation say? Now, if

you have I'm trying to think ESV might

be different. I'm trying to think. I'm

going through my mind which ones are

different right at the moment. But you

might have the translation already where

Lucifer simply means day or morning

star.

It was actually never a proper name in

the Hebrew text.

Over time, a poetic description became a

personal identity. So when you when you

break it down and you think about what

the Hebrew actually says, I'm going to

give you these words here. The Hebrew

phrase in Isaiah 14 and verse 12 breaks

it down like this. That word from the

Hebrew means shining one or bright one

or sun and dawn. All of those in that

one word. Okay. So basically as

mentioned a moment ago, day or morning

star is fitting of that uh word. So the

phrase literally means shining one son

of the dawn.

There is no personal name here. There is

no reference to Satan. There's no word

meaning devil or angel. And it's a

poetic title. It's not an identity.

Now, we ask the question, well, why do

some Bibles, why do they say Lucifer

then? Well, the word Lucifer did not

come from Hebrew theology. It came from

Latin translation history.

Let me kind of break that down for just

a moment. In my studies, I was finding

that by following the translation path

from the Hebrew word, it means shining

one. The Greek word means bringer of

dawn and then the Latin Lucifer means

lightbearer.

And we were all we were all waiting to

see Satan up there at one point, weren't

we? But it's not there.

So, I really started digging into this.

I'm thinking, what have I missed? Have I

missed something?

In classical Latin, Lucifer was actually

a common noun.

It wasn't a name. It referred to the

morning star. Now, Venus, it was a

bright planet visible just before

sunrise. And only later did the word

Lucifer become treated as a proper name.

And later still, it was equated with

Satan. So, friends, simply put, a

translation choice gradually hardened

into something else.

I mean, think about what is this morning

star in in ancient imagery. Even if we

take that and if we kind of break that

down in the ancient world, the the

morning star symbolize brightness and

power and glory, a a ruling

rising

in splendor.

But there's an important irony here.

The morning star rises brilliantly and

then disappears when the sun comes up.

And that's the entire point of the

metaphor.

And so Isaiah, he's using this image as

as again this taunt song that is mocking

the king of Babylon. The imagery means

you rose in splendor. You dazzled the

world. You thought your reign was

eternal, but you fell suddenly and

completely.

And friends, when you go and you look at

Babylon and you study about them, their

historical arrogance, this fits

perfectly.

Isaiah is saying in effect, you were

like the morning star. Bright, you were

admired, you were exalted, but you

vanished when true light appeared.

So, is the morning star ever used

positively elsewhere? Is that kind of

language still is that used other

places?

Well,

yes, it has been used and it's crucial.

The same imagery when you think about

Jesus himself.

Revelation 22 and:e 16, I am the root

and the son of David, the bright morning

star.

So the symbol itself is is not evil.

It's not satanic. It's it's con it's

it's context dependent is what I'm

trying to portray to you and what I've

studied that that the meaning depends

entirely on who it is applied to and why

and we always say that about context is

who is this applied to and why is it

applied to them

and we might ask the question too well

why the term cannot be a proper name for

Satan well if Lucifer were Satan's

proper name there's some things that we

would expect. We would expect repeated

biblical usage for one. I believe that's

that's a give me on that one. We'd also

think about clear identification,

apostolic teaching, but how many times

do you find the word Lucifer in the

entire Bible? Do y'all know

once?

You only find it one time. You know

where it's at? We just read in Isaiah 14

and verse 12.

It's only in poetry. It's only in

reference to a human king. And never

again do you find it in scripture.

But yet when you think about Satan, how

is he identified throughout the

scriptures? Satan, devil, accuser,

tempter, evil one, but never Lucifer.

So

I mean, are there theological

um consequences in in misreading it? uh

when Isaiah 14:12 is is read as Satan,

Isaiah 14:12

the the context as to who is being

referred to can certainly be overridden.

Poetry becomes literal history. U

speculation replaces revelation for that

matter and doctrine is built on

inference rather than teaching. And

that's a violation of of core uh

hermeneutical principles

because clear passages interpret unclear

ones, not the reverse.

Now even when we start thinking about

how this may have been misinterpreted

and how it persisted, well we can give

some reasons for it. I believe that uh

Latin influence hardened Lucifer into a

name uh desire for an origin story for

evil

uh preaching tradition that's passed you

know forward and so on.

But if we summarize this in in in plain

terms, the morning star is again that's

a poetic metaphor.

Uh again, Lucifer is a Latin

translation, not Hebrew theology.

Isaiah 14 is about mockery of of the

Babylon king and there's no biblical

text explicitly naming Satan as Lucifer.

So yes, the interpretation became so

widespread due to translation, but I I

would submit to you that part of it lies

in in human curiosity.

Here's a fact again mentioned earlier.

We all want an origin story, don't we?

That's just like God.

How many of us want the origin story to

God?

Every one of us won't want to know where

did God come from? You know, we we want

to know all of those all of those

things, all the details.

And do you know, we don't have those, do

we? Now, there's a lot of information

that we sometimes overlook about God.

Again, God is spirit.

Now, like I said, that's another lesson

for another time that's going to go into

uh another question that has been asked

in our Q&A uh series. So, I'll I will

not go into that. But again,

there's a lot that goes into Satan as

well is we want the origin story. Where

did he come from? You know, how how did

he how how did he all of these things?

What was he like?

How he fell?

But I'll submit to you that scripture

often refuses to satisfy curiosity.

Instead, it tells us what we need to

know, not everything we want to know.

And the greatest error comes when we

read poetry as prosaic. When I use that

word prosaic, you've probably heard

that. That's just ordinary language that

we use on speaking or writing. Prophets

are using imagery, exaggeration, they

use symbolism. Remember revelation study

to communicate truth.

And when we literalize metaphors, we we

can create doctrines the Bible never

intended to teach.

So it does kind of I mean I've really

been doing some thinking on this

question. This question was submitted a

while back and I' I've had to do some

really some thinking and studying on

this.

But let's go to Luke chapter 10 because

Luke 10 · chapter mention

you thought that was the end, didn't

you? No, I still I still got something

else here. Luke chapter 10 because

Luke 10 · chapter mention

that's what somebody's gonna say. What

about Luke chapter 10?

Luke 10 · chapter mention

Where did this one fit into? Because

Jesus is talking here in Luke chapter

Luke 10 · chapter mention

10. And I want us to read verses 17- 20.

Let's read verses 17- 20.

Then the 70 returned with joy, saying,

Lord, even the demons are subject to us

in your name. And he said to them, I saw

Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Behold, I give you the authority to

trample on serpents and scorpions and

over all the power of the enemy. Nothing

shall by any means hurt you.

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this

that the spirits are subject to you, but

rather rejoice because your names are

written in heaven. See, the what we zoom

in on is this. I saw Satan fall like

lightning from heaven. Now,

when you think about this passage

directly connecting Satan with falling

from heaven, that's

again, we zoom in on a passage just like

we do with Isaiah 14:12. But we better

Isaiah 14:12

zoom out. You know why? Because there's

other verses that surround it. That's

called context, right? That's called

context. Context matters. And note that

in the context here, what's Jesus doing?

Well, Jesus is responding to the

disciples returning from their mission.

And they are rejoicing because there was

demons that were submitting to them.

They are rejoicing because demons submit

to them. And Jesus assures them that

what they are seeing is real. What is he

talking about? He's saying Satan's power

is collapsing.

That very statement of seeing Satan fall

like lightning from heaven is is not

meant to provide us with some type of

historical background information.

That's not what that's for. Jesus is not

referring to some distant moment at the

dawn of time. He is not describing an

event that occurred before the earth was

created. In scripture, the language of

falling from heaven, don't miss this.

This is this is another key factor when

you see this throughout the Bible. The

language of falling from heaven is

commonly used as a figure of speech.

Y'all know that

it describes the collapse of authority.

The moment when a ruler or power is

stripped of dominance and control, you

go and you search through that, you're

going to find that

this is not a description of Satan's

origin.

It's a declaration of defeat

that the kingdom of darkness is losing

ground because look what they're saying.

They're they're subject to us in your

name.

Authority is shifting. The reign of God

is advancing. This statement anticipates

the cross where Jesus would disarm the

powers and authorities and triumph over

them. You find this throughout.

Now,

Revelation's a whole another one we just

studied about,

but

what the Bible actually teaches about

Satan.

The Bible clearly teaches that Satan

exists. There's not a doubt in our minds

about that one, right?

That he tempts,

he lies, he opposes God, and that he has

ultimately defeated.

But what the Bible does not teach is the

origin, story, details of any former

names or celestial resumes or account of

his creation.

All of that silence I believe is

intentional.

God did not reveal everything about

Satan because Satan is not the focus of

scripture.

Jesus Christ is.

And I think that's important that we

always keep that in focus. We certainly

need to know who our enemy is,

but we really need to know and hold to

the one who is the victor over the

enemy.

So we must ask ourselves,

what does the Bible say

on these matters?

And even things that have been in our

minds that again have probably passed on

through generations.

Again,

the way we've always heard it or, you

know, breaking down some word studies is

pretty interesting

and I appreciate the question as we've

reviewed and looked at several things

and broke down a few a few a few things

from Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 and even

Luke chapter 10. There's obviously more

Luke 10 · chapter mention

that you can actually do and go and

look. And again, these are just for

stimulation of our of our minds here.

But I would submit to you that Satan

does not need a dramatic backstory

to be dangerous.

He doesn't need that.

And Christ doesn't need one to defeat

him.

What matters is this. Satan's power is

broken. Christ reigns. And the gospel

still saves today.

And I hope that we we see that and the

importance of what we have even studied

this evening.

And if you have not obeyed that gospel

that I said just a moment ago still

saves,

then you can do that by God's plan of

salvation. Hearing his word, you believe

that Jesus Christ is the son of God.

Repent of your sins and confess him and

be baptized for the remission of your

sins as you see in Acts 2:38.

Acts 2:38

As you see in Romans 6:3 and 4, that

Romans 6:3

being buried with Christ and baptism,

rise and walk in newness of life.

You can do that this evening. And we

would love to help you get in that

relationship with God through Jesus

Christ.

Friends, if we haven't done that, then

Satan still holds the ground he has no

right to hold.

But this evening, victory is being

offered.

It's being offered to us.

Or as a disciple of Christ, something

that's a miss in your life and need

prayers on your behalf. Whatever your

spiritual need, won't you come as we

stand and sing the song that's been

selected for us?