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[0:00] All right, if you've got your Bible handy, then let's find Ezekiel chapter 28.

[0:30] Ezekiel chapter 28. Hey, John, your mom and dad made it?

[0:45] Yes, sir. All safe and sound? Okay. We traveled to the Philippines on, is that Wednesday? Third? Wednesday? No, Monday, Monday.

[0:55] I went to the airport two different times, and I knew that one of those times they were going too, so Monday. All right, so last week we began a study, and this study's going to go for a little while, so get ready and get into it and get prepared for it.

[1:12] It's going to start, as I told you last week, a little heavy, and then lighten up a little bit, and we're doing a study on Satan. He's called in the Bible our adversary, and he's called the enemy, and we kind of introduced a few verses and thoughts last week that he's, as a roaring lion, he's walking about seeking whom he may devour.

[1:32] He's looking for a way in. He's looking for a way in in your life, looking for a way in in this church. He's looking for a way in in your marriage. He's trying to mess you up. He's trying to oppose what the Lord God would be doing, whatever God would take glory in and be active in, and he's going to try to get in the way of that, and we'll see some of that a little bit later on.

[1:52] And the Bible said in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul said that we are not ignorant of his devices. And the comments I made last week says, well, Paul could probably say that, but I wonder how many Christians can really say and believe that today, that we're not ignorant of his devices.

[2:10] And in the context, it was the local church and forgiveness between brethren and Satan getting advantage of them. And I wonder how much we are ignorant of his working and of his activity today.

[2:23] And if you're not in your Bible, which is all you have, if you're not in your Bible and you're not, I'll just tell you, hold your place or don't.

[2:33] I'm going to go read a verse from Hebrews 5 because this is backing up what I'm saying. In Hebrews chapter 5, it says in verse 14, but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

[2:55] And in the context, he's talking about the oracles of God, the word of righteousness. And it's the book, it's the Holy Scriptures, and somebody who is using it by reason of use in that book, they'll have their senses exercised to perceive and understand and to recognize and not be ignorant of the working of the devil.

[3:17] And if he's our enemy and our adversary, than I said last week, I'll say it again and again and again, it'd be wise of us to understand as much as we can, to know what he's capable of, to understand his MO, and to be aware of it.

[3:32] And in no way do I want this to be a glorification of him and to spend all our time talking and thinking about the devil. However, God did give us some truth and he's given us these warnings and some light for a purpose and we'd be wise to study it.

[3:48] If we just spend all our time on the mercy of God and all the grace of God and his love and comfort for us, we might be a little leaning too far one way and not be prepared when somebody's looking to devour us.

[4:02] So we're going to do this study from the King James Bible because like I mentioned before, the new versions conceal him and remove his name, remove activity and mentions of him.

[4:13] And we wouldn't be able to do this study from other versions, not nearly as effective. So we began with the first part of the outline last week, which was his making. I'll just remind you for those that weren't here, it's a six point outline that I have and possibly it'll go into a seventh, time will tell.

[4:30] But we're going to study his making, we're going to study his might, we're going to study his manifestations. We're going to study his mission, his method, and finally his ministers. So last week we began with his making and you're in Ezekiel chapter 28, so let's pick it up right there and kind of begin where we left off, I suppose.

[4:52] In verse 11, 28, 11, the apostle, or Ezekiel is pronouncing lamentations against a king. And in these prophets, they'll prophesy judgment and woe unto cities and unto lands and here it's to a man.

[5:10] But as we dig into this, what he says cannot be applied to any man on the face of the earth. And so verse 11 says, So we're getting into some stuff that doesn't sound like a man anymore.

[5:51] Being in Eden, the garden of God, precious stones, pipes, tabrets. In verse 14, he says, Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth. I have set thee so.

[6:03] Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. This is not the king of Tyrus anymore. And as we covered last week, God is addressing Satan in the man.

[6:16] And I showed you a few places where he did that with Peter. Get thee behind me, Satan. Where in John 13, where Satan entered into him, Judas Iscariot, that night.

[6:26] And this is not an only time. And there's another reference where he's talking to Pharaoh. It's similar stuff. So God is addressing an anointed cherub, not a man anymore.

[6:39] In verse 14, Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth. I have set thee so. In verse 15, That was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

[6:51] And so the first thing we covered about this king of Tyrus was that he was a created being. I'm sorry, that this cherub, this being, was a created being. And studying the Bible, he's created by Jesus Christ.

[7:04] And Christ created all things. He came forth from the Father. He's in the bosom of the Father. Come forth from the Father and created. He's the beginning of the creation of God. And so the Lord Jesus Christ, God created, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

[7:19] And in Colossians and Pauline epistles and in John, we see Jesus Christ is that creator, the word. And so the creator creates this being, and he creates him beautiful, and he creates him perfect in thy ways, in verse 15.

[7:35] And so this is the study there, kind of just by way of review. It helps to solidify some truth and some biblical teachings on this being, this Satan.

[7:47] He is not what other religions claim to be the spirit brother of Jesus, like the Mormons teach. He is not like some of the Eastern religions teach this balance of good and evil in the universe.

[8:00] And the energy just wraps itself into itself. And it's all one, working together for good. And that, I mentioned the yin and the yang symbol is, it's a false religion.

[8:12] It's a false doctrine that's brought into some of that religion. And so no, that's not the case at all. Jesus Christ is the creator. And he created all things, including this being that we're studying, and this is Satan.

[8:27] Now, the second thing we're going to study here today, which we ran out of time last week pretty quickly, was what we see in verse 14, thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so.

[8:40] In verse 16, at the end of the verse, he says, I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. So the second thing we want to understand about his making is that he was created as a cherub.

[8:55] Specifically, this verse reads that he's the anointed cherub that covereth. And there's several things to note about that, and we'll try to do what we can with it. The first thing is, it's got the definite article, thee, the.

[9:09] It doesn't say thou art an anointed cherub that covereth. It says thee, that's a definite article, and I'm not sure where that definite article applies to, whether it's to the anointed, or to the anointed cherub that covereth, or to the, if you understand what I mean, it could kind of either land on anointed, or it could land on cherub, as if it's the cherub, or it's the cherub that covereth, or the anointed, and I don't know where that the is really being applied to in the statement.

[9:40] But we can still discern a few things here. He's definitely something special, being the anointed cherub that covereth. It sounds like it's singular, like one of a kind.

[9:52] And it's hard to pinpoint that definite article, but we could say, is he the only one anointed cherub, or is he the only one that covereth? And I'm not sure that that would be the case based on some other passages.

[10:06] However, being that he's the anointed cherub, the anointed cherub definitely is something special. The word anointed is a powerful word.

[10:20] It's very significant in the scripture. It's not just throwing something out like you're a good guy. For somebody to be anointed, for instance, when a man was made king, he was anointed by the high priest or the prophets.

[10:36] He was anointed. Why? Because it was setting him apart and elevating him above all the common people of the land. I mean, King Saul, he was just, he was head and shoulders above them all, but he was nobody.

[10:49] He was a coward. But then he got that oil poured on him, and that just made him stand apart. Whether he in his heart received it or knew it or not, he was the king, the anointed.

[11:01] David said, how could I stretch forth my hand against the Lord's anointed? And so somebody being anointed sets them apart and elevates them for whatever purpose it is.

[11:11] In the Bible, the priests, they were all anointed. They were separating themselves from the rest of the nation, the rest of the people, those Levitical priests. But on top of that was a high priest, and he received an anointing, and he was separate from what we might call the common priests.

[11:27] And now this being is called the anointed cherub. So let that sink in and let it mean something that it's supposed to mean. He was elevated. Whether he's elevated above other cherubs, I don't know.

[11:39] But he's the anointed cherub that covereth. So it's something special. No doubt about it. In the Hebrew, language, the word that comes to us in English as Messiah, means anointed.

[11:57] And to say that Christ is the Messiah means that he's the anointed one. And that's all that word means. And it's the exact same word in Greek that comes into English as Christ.

[12:08] And so to say that Jesus is Christ or Jesus Christ, it's saying he is the anointed one of God. It's the same word. They both mean anointed. And so that's a special word.

[12:20] It's a very special word that carries some weight. Now let's move past that because that's all I can say about it. In verse 14, thou art the anointed cherub that covereth. Covereth what?

[12:32] What in the world is that talking about? The anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so. God set him in a place or position of covering.

[12:43] What in the world? Well, the Bible might give us some light and then again it might just confuse us. And some of this stuff maybe we're not meant to know or understand but we'll try to use the scriptures to teach itself and to give us if we're going to get any light it's going to come from this book and that's all we're going to do.

[13:03] So, he's the anointed cherub that covereth. What's he covering? Well, Hebrews chapter 9 explains that the Old Testament tabernacle and temples they had holy places referring to the old tabernacle the tent and then the temple itself and it says that these holy places were patterns of things in the heavens.

[13:27] So, what exists in God's presence was symbolized was patterned something I should say it the other way what is down here on earth with that mosaic temple or tabernacle in the wilderness and then temple in the future with Solomon what existed there was just a pattern of what exists up above.

[13:49] You read that in your Bible in Revelation that there's a temple in heaven and the doors open and there's noises and thunderings and things lightnings and what's down here was just a replica a pattern is the word the Bible uses.

[14:04] It also uses the word figures of the true. So, you read through Exodus and you read God go through that two separate times. The preparation he's like Moses this is what I want you to do you tell him to do this you tell him to do that you tell him to make this exactly this size and you put it here and after he goes through 8-10 chapters of it then it turns around and says so Moses told them to do and he repeats the whole thing.

[14:32] Why so much time on that? I don't know but I do know that it's a pattern of something above something heavenly and so what do we find in that tabernacle and in that temple?

[14:45] Come back to Exodus 25. What do we find in that holy place? What we find is cherubim cherubs and what do you find them doing?

[15:02] Exodus 25 here's the command from the Lord to Moses and what he's supposed to do and how he's supposed to do it and with what materials the building of all of this and he's speaking of the ark and how big that's to be and overlay it with gold and let's start in verse 17 and thou shalt make a mercy seed of pure gold two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof and thou shalt make two cherubims of gold of beaten work shalt thou make them in the two ends of the mercy seat and make one cherub on the one end and the other cherub on the other end even the mercy seat shall you make the cherubims of the two ends thereof and the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high notice the next word covering the mercy seat with their wings and their faces shall look one to another toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be so there are those two cherubims one on each side of the altar with their wings covering over this mercy seat and look at verse 22 speaking of that altar and that mercy seat it says and there

[16:22] I will meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubims so the presence of God where God came to meet was very specific in a very specific location between cherubims above the mercy seat and the wings are covering all of that so that's that's some light you get from the scripture that describes this cherubim and the covering now it's going to get a little wild here so hold on buckle up let's go back to Ezekiel and look at chapter number one in Ezekiel when he begins this book he starts it off with him being by the river Kibar and the heavens being opened and he sees visions of God verse number one and it starts crazy I mean it starts in stuff that I try I just I don't think I have an artistic mind enough to picture this

[17:26] I've tried to see what some painters or some people might portray when they have a different mindset on seeing things I haven't seen anything that I like as far as what's going on here in Ezekiel chapter one and then later in chapters ten and eleven he sees visions where there's cherubims coming and going and they're very mysterious creatures they're very confusing to me the details and the movements and the likenesses of these things just I can't get it but one thing that we will note in regards to their wings let's note something about those wings we'll see this let's start in verse eleven they're not identified in chapter one as cherubims yet they're just called living creatures and there's four of them later in chapter ten and eleven he recognizes these are the cherubims and they're the ones I saw by the river Kavar alright so verse number eleven says thus were their faces and their wings were stretched upward two wings of everyone were joined one to another and notice this two covered their bodies now I didn't point out they had four wings that's verse number six everyone had four faces and everyone had four wings in Solomon's temple you see that they had four wings that two of them were stretched forward touching each other and two of them were stretched backward touching the wall behind them is what it seems in Solomon's temple in first kings but we're not going to go there right now so in regard to their wings

[19:08] I want you to just tuck this away for the moment two of them are covering their bodies that's specifically what it says why would it say that what is the point of that well we understand that they have four wings that they have two that extend over that mercy seat and here in this case there's the other two are being used to cover themselves and so what I believe in putting these teachings together that in the presence of God in the presence of Almighty God the wings are for covering but the other wings are for covering something else and that would be themselves and so to cover the throne while they keep themselves covered and we'll talk more on that in a little bit let's come to Isaiah chapter you can get Ezekiel 28 again if you can keep there and then find Isaiah chapter 14 so just kind of pointing out some things and then I'll try to make a little application of this if we can here shortly he's a created being created by God and remember in

[20:17] Colossians Bible says that all things were created by him and for him so this being is created for God and by him all things consists so he is completely subject to his creator in Ezekiel we see that he's created as a cherub and a cherub is specifically the anointed cherub that covereth a special cherub perhaps an anointed cherub seeming to set him above and beyond the rest of them I remember mentioning last week that in Genesis chapter 3 after the man and woman sinned they were kicked out of the garden God set cherubins to keep the way of the garden and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life we're introduced to them being back there in the garden with sin so there's more than one cherub and in Ezekiel we see there's four at that moment in that vision but he's called the anointed cherub and no one else is called that okay third thing

[21:17] I want to point out is that he's created that he's named Lucifer Isaiah 14 and look at verses or verse number 12 this is the only place in the Bible that gives his name as he was made or his making verse 12 how art thou fallen from heaven oh Lucifer son of the morning how art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nation 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 upon or also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north in verse 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will be like the most high yet thou shalt be brought down to hell now Paul gives us some revelation about this guy later on and as he's incarnate in a man the antichrist he's called that wicked in 2

[22:21] Thessalonians 2 he's sitting in the temple of God showing himself that he is God and all the way back here in Isaiah we see some light as to his arrogance and to his pride and his desire to be like the most high and so this is Satan but his original name his making as that anointed cherub that covereth he's called Lucifer and it's worth and it's worth and it's worth pointing out that you're going to be hard pressed if you go to a bookstore and pick up every bible you can find you're going to be hard pressed to find that name in any of them it's only in this King James Bible there might be a handful of them that haven't retained but you probably couldn't even get your hands on those versions if you wanted to they're pretty obsolete but of the top 10 most pushed new versions of our day they change something they do something blasphemous as a matter of fact they don't just change his name they call him the morning star and Jesus in Revelation 22 is the morning star so be careful of what bible you got alright so his name's Lucifer

[23:29] Lucifer means light bearer or shining one does that give you an image light bearer shining one this is the name God gave to this being that he created that was perfect in all his ways until iniquity was found in him this anointed cherub that covereth is called the shining one come back to Ezekiel 28 and notice a reference to this brightness in verse 17 Ezekiel 28 in verse 17 thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness this is something God made him to be on purpose you maybe remember in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 that Paul tells us that Satan himself is transformed into an angel of what light he was made to be that being a light bearer

[24:35] Lucifer and now he's been cast down from that position however he still can transform himself into a glorious being look at John chapter 1 and let's read something here that I never considered until I realized the work of Satan and his deception and his desire to usurp authority from God and Jesus Christ and John writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit says something real special about Jesus Christ and it's worth noting in connection to Satan and his making being Lucifer a light bearer or a shining one a bright being in verse John chapter 1 and verse number 6 says there was a man sent from God whose name was John the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light capital L that all men through him might believe he was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light notice verse 9 that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world he's called the light of the world

[25:46] Jesus Christ is the light that no he's that true light because there's a false light there's some there's another one that's posing himself to be God in Luke chapter 10 Christ said this is just kind of a random it feels statement in the context of these disciples rejoicing that they were casting out devils and he said I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven I beheld Satan as lightning bright flash shining getting cast down out of heaven so Satan was created as anointed cherub that covereth he was bright shining a glorious being and by the way we will too one day we'll be made like that image not saying like his cherub image saying that brightness and that glory it's going to work in us and there's a ton of New Testament scripture to say that that we're going to be fashioned like unto his glorious body speaking of Jesus

[26:49] Christ now as a covering cherub consider this I believe I believe that he was to cover the glory of God in the presence of God and at the same time remember those two other wings cover himself and so now consider for a minute he was to cover his own brightness his own glory while he was in the presence of God not saying that he had to cover it everywhere else but understanding that his heart was lifted up within him and understanding that he was filled with pride it seems to me that he became just tired of concealing his glory and his beauty and his brightness and determined and decided at the time came that he's going to unveil himself and in that moment God cast him out of heaven and said no you're not he probably got tired of covering the glory of God all the while having to keep himself concealed because he knows in himself I want this I want this glory and he pulled back his wings to unveil himself before all the host of heaven and that was the end of that and that's just some thoughts of putting some scripture together here about this but you want to make some application and we ought to you know what human beings like to do you know what every one of us like to do in one way or another maybe you get a little older in life you might kind of fall away from it but we like to show off what we have too we like to show everybody if we have something that's special we want to show it off we want people to see it and acknowledge it and give us credit for it you do too you might be humble but inside of you is a filthy proud arrogant

[28:31] I need to be seen the world says if you've got it flaunt it of course they would say that the prince of the power of the air the god of this world would tell them to say that you know I know many I know many people many Americans are overweight and insecure about their bodies and about their weight but you know what happens and you know what you're tempted to do as soon as you start dropping a few pounds you know what you want to do I know what you want to do you want to start taking your clothes off you want to start letting it be seen you're a little bit proud you're less insecure you're not afraid to dress a little skimpier and to reveal more flesh well when you're overweight and you're not secure about it you're covering it up just because you're insecure about it but as soon as you feel a little bit better you'll start to let it show and what do you think that comes from we'll talk about that later too you see people at the gym they go in there heavy six months a year later they're dressing slimmer and tighter and it's not tight because they're overweight anymore it's tight because they want you to see the figure they've got it's a temptation inside of you and it's a temptation inside of this one and he showed it and we can learn something from it it's not just for women it's men too

[29:58] I go to a gym and when I'm there I see these young guys and I see how ripped they are and you know how I see it because they're showing it to me wearing these skimpy ripped up tank tops that barely hang on by a thread they want everybody to see their muscles that they're working so hard to gain and they're showing it to us everybody wants to see that well maybe not but understand that this is a temptation that you have too and it shows up first in him a temptation to reveal yourself people dress in revealing manners when they feel confident and when they feel like they have something to show and let's look at a verse here quick before we have to move on look at I think it's 1st Corinthians 1st Corinthians 4 1st Corinthians 4 and I just need verse number 7 to make this point

[31:05] Paul says this because they're getting puffed up one against another and he says for who maketh thee to differ from another or what hast thou that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as thou hast not received it so if you're good looking why would you glory in that because that was a gift from God Satan was beautiful he was bright but he received it from the Lord his creator why would you glory in that he's the glory in the Lord let him that glorieth we read it twice I think it was last Sunday glory in the Lord so watch your temptations to be seen and to be recognized understand that there's a being that had that same pride lifted up inside of him his heart was lifted up in pride because of his beauty and by reason of his wisdom and his brightness and recognize that when your heart gets lifted up you're following somebody's footsteps your daddy all right now we are going to run out of time I'll just introduce what's going to go next week I guess come back to

[32:14] Ezekiel chapter 28 there's plenty more about what we're starting with here in his making and it's going to keep getting wilder Ezekiel chapter 28 and we'll just touch this and then have to drop it verse 13 says that has been in Eden the garden of God okay well we could comment on something there I'm not sure about so we'll we'll let that go but we can comment on the next part every precious stone was thy covering and he gives a list of nine stones and then includes gold at the end notice the sardius topaz and the diamond and these are given in sets of three by the way the sardius topaz and the diamond the barrel the onyx and the jasper the sapphire the emerald and the carbuncle do you see that how it's kind of given in those triplets boom boom boom and then finally and gold now gold is not a precious stone but gold is something separate of his covering and so what we're going to get into next week and not too much of it believe me

[33:37] I can't exposit this kind of stuff but he's covered in precious stones and there's ten things mentioned nine of them are stones and then gold on top of that and there is something that I was seeing this week that I'm going to look into a little bit more so I'm kind of glad we're stopping here that may or may not be true but we'll look into that next week about this being and his making and how glorious and how beautiful he truly was and then you want a couple like I mentioned this with the foundations of the city New Jerusalem as it's coming down it's got these precious stones many of them similar and it's got the glory of God inside of it shining out through it so why not why would that not be the same case here with this precious or this bright being the shining one covered in colorful glorious stones that were prepared in him so there's something going on this being is not made of the dust of the ground so we'll study that a little further out next week and try to finish this first section of his making and then transition that into the second part his might and that is his ability and power that he has the way

[34:55]  God made him and so let's take a break there and then we'll come back and study more on Satan next week