Also
in this series:
“For now we see in
a mirror dimly…”
– 1 Corinthians 13:12
As
I’ve discussed in previous chapters, debate over how the Fall of Man affected
the physical universe has had the unfortunate consequence of blinding many
believers to the greater purposes of God in creation. The young-earth
interpretation has produced a narrow, overly simplistic, man-centered theology
in which God ordains a particular plan for creation, man messes it up, and then
God has to go about cleaning up the resultant mess. By that model, the creation
goes from Perfection to Ruin to Restoration.
By
contrast, in the old-earth interpretation, creation is a place of testing and
refinement, where perfection is not the beginning state but rather the end
result. Creation begins with Sufficiency and then progresses through Refinement
to Perfection. This is not a result of some inadequacy on God’s part, whereby
he requires time to achieve perfection, but rather reflects how he has chosen
to deal with the creatures he created with intelligence, free will, and a moral
capacity.
As
it happens, however, apart from Gap Theory proponents, most old-earth
creationists have also limited the bulk of their thinking and apologetics to
man, all the while overlooking another class of created moral beings: that is,
the angels.
The purpose of this chapter will be to examine what the Bible reveals about
angels and how they fit into the created order.
God’s
Elder Children
On
the whole, the Bible tells us relatively little about angels. The following are
some of the more important things that it does tell us concerning them:
- They existed before the creation of the earth
(Job 38:7), and in all likelihood, before the creation of the universe
itself (see Ephesians 3:8-11, John 17:5). John 17:5 is particularly
important here given Jesus’ statement that he wished to return to the “glory”
that he shared with the Father “before the world [kosmos] was.” The word “glory” is translated from the Greek
word doxa, which in the New
Testament always refers to something held in a position of honor. For the
Son to be held in a position of honor with the Father “before the kosmos was” implies that others were
present from whom the Son was differentiated and before whom he was
exalted.
- They are intelligent beings with will and a moral
capacity. The Bible records several instances of angels talking with
humans, conveying messages, and engaging in activities such as warfare.
Some angels are holy and serve God, while others have fallen and are now
under the sentence of condemnation, meaning that they have free will and
are held responsible by God for their actions (for example: Psalm 82, Job
4:18, Luke 1:8-20, Jude 1:6-9, Revelation 12:7-12; 9:13-15).
- They were created to serve God in both heaven and
on earth, and they are divided into ranks with varying areas of
responsibility and degrees of power and authority (Daniel 10:10-13;
Ephesians 6:12, Revelation 12:7-12). They bring regular reports to God of
their doings (Job 1:6-7, 2:1-2; Matthew 18:10) and are at times employed
to carry out judgment on humankind (Genesis 3:24, 19:1-22; II Samuel
24:15-17; Psalm 78:48-49; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43).
- They are not all-powerful, nor are they of one
mind, nor do they possess perfect wisdom. In Daniel 9, the angel Gabriel
tells Daniel that he was held at bay for twenty-one days by a supernatural
being called the Prince of Persia, and required assistance from the
archangel Michael in order to break through, indicating that some angels
are more powerful than others. In I Kings 22, the Lord puts the question
of how to kill Ahab to his heavenly host, “and one said this, while
another said that” (v 20), indicating that angels think as individuals
rather than as members of some kind of supernatural hive mind. The
imperfect wisdom of angels is seen in Matthew 13, where Jesus gives his
Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. In this parable, a farmer (who
represents the Lord) rejects a suggestion by the reapers (who symbolize
angels) to root up tares from his field, on the basis that they might
accidentally damage the wheat as well.
- They watch over human nations to some extent and
engage in warfare over the affairs of mankind (Daniel 10:12-13, 20-21).
Gabriel specifically mentions that Michael (one of the “chief princes”)
“stands” or contends for the people of Israel (Daniel 10:21, 12:1). Following
the Tower of Babel incident, God apparently gave the rebellious nations
over to the rule of various angelic powers (see Psalm 82, along with the
Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 32:8-9),
while setting aside the Hebrews for himself. We seem to find a glimpse of
this in Daniel 4, where Nebuchadnezzar describes a dream in which “an
angelic watcher, a holy one,” descends from heaven and decrees judgment
against Nebuchadnezzar, stating, “This sentence is by decree of the
angelic watchers, and the decision is a command of the holy ones” (Daniel
4:13-17).
Finally, although it isn’t mentioned in Exodus, Paul and the writer of
Hebrews tell us that angels actually facilitated the giving of the Law to
Israel at Sinai (Galatians 3:19, Hebrews 2:2).
- They engage in the worship of God, and appear to
act in a priestly role to at least some degree (Isaiah 6:1-7, Revelation
8:3-4).
- At least some angels are part of what has been
referred to as “the divine council,” an angelic body that sits as a type
of court, sometimes assisting God with decision making (I Kings 22:19-23,
Psalm 82:1 (LXX), Daniel 7:9-10, 21-22). It’s my opinion that the
twenty-four elders of Revelation are in fact the divine council, the same
heavenly court for which thrones are set up around the Ancient of Days in
Daniel 7.
As
these scriptures demonstrate, angels do not simply stand around in heaven
looking spiritual. They are actively involved in the plan and purposes of God
in the creation. They are also keenly interested in the affairs of mankind. In
fact, the New Testament tells us that God is demonstrating certain things to
the angels via his dealings with the church, and that the ministry of Christ
had effects that resonated in the spiritual world as well as in the physical:
For, I think, God
has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we
have become a spectacle to the whole world, both to angles and to men. – 1
Corinthians 4:9
To me, the very
least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the
unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration
of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so
that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to
the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance
with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord. –
Ephesians 3:8-11
For by Him [Jesus
Christ], all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things
have been created through Him and for Him…When He [God] had disarmed the rulers
and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them
through Him [Christ]. – Colossians 1:16, 2:15
It was revealed to
them [the Old Testament prophets] that they were not serving themselves, but
you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who
preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into
which angels long to look. – I Peter 1:2
The Son of God
appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. – 1 John 3:8
Indeed,
the apostle Paul tells us that, in spite of how things may seem to us on the
physical level, the warfare in which we are engaged is primarily “against the
rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against
the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Thus, it is plain from scripture that the human side of the story is only part
of the whole picture of creation. The angelic realm is playing a major role in
the eternal drama as well. Angels were on the scene before man, and given what
little we know of the role they play now, we can only wonder what role they
might have played in ages past. God’s purposes include them as well. In fact,
given that God is testing and refining man through his experiences in this
world, it seems at least plausible that the angels may be experiencing a
similar work of God in their own affairs.
This
seems all the more likely when you consider that the Bible implies that there
has been more than one fall amongst the angels. Both Peter and Jude tell us of
angels who sinned and were cast down and are now imprisoned, whereas we know
that other fallen angels (such as Daniel’s princes of Greece and Persia) are
freely roaming about. So while all fallen angels have sinned, it seems evident
that they did not all sin in the same manner or at the same time.
Consequently,
it is not just the foreknowledge of God with regard to man and his fall that we
must contend with in the creation controversy. There is also the question of the
angels and the divine foreknowledge of their fall(s) as well. For this reason
alone, we do well to take a humble approach to what God meant when he ordered
his creation and called it “very good.” Man is not the only force in play here,
nor was he first on the scene. We do not share God’s mind, nor do we understand
the entirety of his purposes, nor do we have access to the spirit world to see
what is happening there now or what may have transpired in ages past. On the
whole, I believe we know far less than we would like to think we do. The
angelic realm represents a critical gap in our understanding of creation and of
the causes and effects that preceded man.
In
fact, it’s entirely possible that physical reality somehow mirrors certain
conditions in the spiritual realm. The Bible reveals that this was true with
the respect to the Old Testament Tabernacle. At Sinai, God gave Moses a pattern
to follow for the Tabernacle and its furnishings:
Let them [the sons
of Israel] construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them. According
to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the
pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it…See that you make
them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain… –
Exodus 25:9, 40
Now this was the
workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold; from its base to its
flowers it was hammered work; according to the pattern which the Lord had shown
Moses, so he made the lampstand. – Numbers 8:4
The
author of Hebrews tells us that this pattern was based on objects in heaven:
Now if He [Christ]
were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer
gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things,
just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for,
“See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was
shown you on the mountain.” – Hebrews 8:4-5
Lastly,
the apostle John speaks of a temple that exists in heaven:
And the temple of
God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His
temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and
an earthquake and a great hailstorm. – Revelation 11:19
After these things
I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened… –
Revelation 15:5
The
Bible does not tell us how the heavenly temple functions; we know only that it
exists and that the Tabernacle of the Jews was based upon it. However, we might
well suppose that other aspects of the earth and creation as a whole may
reflect realities in the spiritual realm. Only on the other side of “this present
age” are we likely to understand the whole truth of the matter.
Servants
in the Creation?
Given
that we know that angels serve God in many different ways in the present time,
and given the clear biblical indications that he takes council with them in
aspects of decision making, it seems at least plausible that angels may have
played a role in planning creation. They may also have played an active role in
bringing it about and managing it before man came on the scene. If this is so,
it would help to explain why the work of creation went on for so long. As we’ve
already seen, angels are not all-powerful nor are they perfect in their wisdom
and understanding. It is reasonable to think that they have gone through a
learning process of their own over time. It is evident that they know more
about the purposes of God than we do, since they are able to view events in
both their realm and ours, but some things are hidden even from them (I
Corinthians 2:7-8, I Peter 1:12).
Consider
for a moment here that God has been using flawed human beings to build up the
body of Christ for the last two thousand years—and we do not have the advantage
of immortality, such as the angels enjoy. If he has allowed so much time to
pass in order for men to carry out limited aspects of his will here on this one
planet, how much time might have been required for the angelic host to manage
the entire universe through its various stages of development? In thinking on
this, I’m reminded that, when Satan appears before God in Job 1 and 2, God asks
him, “From where have you come?” Satan responds that he has come from the
earth. This would seem to necessitate that there are other places from which he
might have come. In considering this, we should bear in mind that we know very
little of the universe beyond our own earth, and almost nothing of the
spiritual realm. Creation may be far more complex than we realize.
Now,
I imagine it will be immediately objected here by some that the text of Genesis
clearly tells us “God created,” “And God said…and it was so,” etc. No other
agencies are said to be involved in the creation process beyond, of course, the
pre-incarnate Word (see John 1:1). In response, I point out the following:
First,
I am not being dogmatic on this issue. I am merely suggesting what seems to be
a plausible scenario, given what we know of angels and their activities. God
does act directly in his creation at times, but scripture demonstrates clearly
and repeatedly that he also uses the angels to carry out his will. In the
Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, Jesus himself likened the angelic host to
the slaves of a landowner who employs them in his field to help with his crops
(Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). While explaining the parable to his disciples, Jesus
said that the angels will be sent forth at the end of the age to remove “all
stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness” and cast them into Gehenna.
God is capable of doing all of this by himself, but Jesus said that he will use
the angels to do it.
On
another front, when Jesus was taken by soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane,
what did he tell his disciples would happen if he prayed to the Father for
help? He said that the Father would put twelve legions of angels at his
disposal (Matthew 26:53). Thus, he did not portray the Father as intervening
directly, but as dispatching the heavenly host to do what was necessary.
Second,
as was demonstrated previously, Exodus makes no mention whatsoever of angels
with regard to the giving of the Law at Sinai. Going strictly by the text
there, it would seem that God himself literally handed over the tablets to
Moses. Yet, as we have already seen, two passages in the New Testament tell us
that angels acted as facilitators in the process. In light of this, we might
wonder whether angels were involved in other notable events in the Bible, even
where they are not actually mentioned. They are capable of performing what we call
miracles to at least a limited degree, as evidenced by the angels who struck
the men of Sodom with blindness (Genesis 19:11) and the satanic powers that
worked through the magicians of Egypt in their opposition to Moses (Exodus
7:8-8:7). Bearing this in mind, it’s possible that, acting at God’s direction,
they were responsible for at least some of the miracles and other divine acts
mentioned in scripture.
Going
back to Sodom for a moment, observe what one of the two angels who escorted Lot
and his family from the city says in Genesis 19:22: “Hurry, escape there [to
Zoar], for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Verse 24 says that
“the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of
heaven,” but in verse 22 it seems that the angel is talking about taking some
type of action himself. Indeed, the angel granted Lot’s request to spare the
city of Zoar so that Lot and his family could flee to it (verse 21). The full
extent of the angel’s involvement here is unclear. Did he merely ‘give the
signal’ for the judgment to be poured out once Lot and his family were clear,
or did he do more than that, acting in the Lord’s stead? Which brings me to the
next point…
Third,
throughout scripture, various kinds of acts are attributed to the people who
instigated or supervised them, although others actually did what we would call
“the grunt work.” For some prominent examples of this, see I Kings chapters 3,
6, and 7, where we’re told that Solomon spent seven years building the house of
the Lord, thirteen years building his own house, and that he built a wall
around Jerusalem. No one seriously believes that Solomon got up every morning,
strapped on his tool belt, and went off to build these things by himself. It
would actually be misleading to read the text so literally in these instances.
No, we understand that the text attributes these projects to Solomon because he
initiated and oversaw them. This is still a common practice today. For
instance, Americans often say, “The founding fathers built this country,”
because a group of prominent individuals led the effort that resulted in the
United States of America; but those individuals did not do all of the work by
themselves, or even most of it. They had a great deal of help from many people
whose names have long been forgotten.
In
light of these things, I suggest it is possible—and I stress possible—that angels may have played a
role in planning the creation with God and executing some of the commandments
found in Genesis chapter one. In fact, the text of Genesis itself may hint at
this.
The
statement recorded in Genesis 1:24, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures
after their kind,” seems a bit odd in the way it’s phrased. It doesn’t read
like a direct command to the earth—for instance, “And God said to the earth,
‘Bring forth living creatures after their kind…’.” It seems uncertain exactly
how this act of creation was carried out. To whom or what was the command
given? And then there is also the fact that Moses comments afterward, “And God
saw that it was good,” suggesting that God had to review the outcome of his
creative act. But if God acted alone in creation, why was it necessary for him
to see whether the outcome of his action was good or not? How could it be
anything but good?
And
why would God specify that animals must reproduce “after their kind”? This
could simply be a matter of God ‘thinking out loud,’ as it were, for the
benefit of the reader, or it could be a specification for those whose job it
would be to look after his creations, indicating that kinds were to be
preserved and not mixed with one another. The latter would make sense, if, as I
have suggested, Genesis 1 is depicting God in the role of a landowner
organizing his property, and particularly if the landowner in question is using
servants to help him do so. Naturally, he would specify how the work was to be
done and would follow up on it to see if it were satisfactory.
Let
me be clear: I do not suggest here
that angels actually created life. The Bible seems to indicate that this is
something only God can do, given the inability of the Egyptian magicians to
bring up gnats (or lice) from the dust of the earth (Exodus 8:18-19). Indeed,
the Bible repeatedly refers to life as the “breath” or “spirit” of God, going
forth and returning to him at his will, with the result that organisms either
live or die. But angels may very well be able to alter existing forms of life. Even we humans can do this. We’ve
been cross-breeding animals in order to promote and eliminate certain traits
for thousands of years now, and the strides we’ve made in genetic engineering
of late demonstrate that far more radical alterations of life are within our
grasp. Angels, who are “greater in might and power” (II Peter 2:11), could
surely do even better. In Daniel 4, when the “angelic watcher” descends from
heaven and proclaims the judgment decided upon Nebuchadnezzar “by the decree of
the angelic watchers,” the angel states: “Let his mind be changed from that of
a man, and let a beast’s mind be given to him” (Daniel 4:16). Clearly, angels
had the power in this instance to cause a man to think and act like an animal.
This may be only a sampling of what they can do with living things.
The
Creative Progression
It’s
evident from Genesis that God used a process in creation. What is not so
evident is why he did this. The Almighty didn’t need six days, six hours, six
minutes, or even six seconds to create the universe, the earth, and life. Had
he wished to, he might have established everything in finished form
instantaneously, just as some of the ancient Jewish and Christian writers
believed that he actually did. Genesis 1 and Job 38 make it clear that he used
a progressive approach, however. He created everything in stages; and as I
discussed at length in chapter five, that progressive approach makes little
sense with a literal, calendar-day interpretation. Why would God create certain
conditions, and then reverse those conditions almost immediately? Why create
the earth, wrap it in darkness, and then dispel the darkness in only about
twelve hours? Why flood the earth and then disperse the flood waters almost
immediately?
The
creative process makes more sense to me if God, after establishing certain
initial conditions, instructed his servants to modify those conditions over
time. Each stage of the creative process reached completion when God stepped
in, reviewed the progress that had been made, and pronounced it
satisfactory—just as any ancient landowner or modern corporate boss would check
up on the work done by his employees. Again, I’m not being dogmatic in
asserting these things. I am simply laying out a case that seems biblically
consistent and removes the textual oddities I’ve pointed to previously.
The
First Fall
Scripture
reveals that the Fall of Man was not the first time that God’s intelligent,
moral creations turned against him. The angels were God’s first children, as it
were, and they were also the first rebels. Exactly when and how this angelic
rebellion happened, we don’t know, but scripture gives us some clues about it
that may be helpful in our understanding of creation issues as well.
Isaiah
14:1-23 and Ezekiel 28:11-19 have long been thought of as describing the fall
of Satan.
This is a disputed matter in evangelical scholarship, however, with some
maintaining that these passages merely speak of human rulers in symbolic terms.
I cannot get into the details of that controversy here, as it goes too far
afield of my focus on creation. For the purposes of this discussion, I will
simply say that I believe that Isaiah 14:1-23 is primarily about the human king
of Babylon but also speaks somewhat to the satanic power behind him, whereas
Ezekiel 28:11-19 is purely about the devil himself. For this reason, I will
focus more on Ezekiel 28:
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…
You were the
anointed cherub who covers,
And I placed you
there.
You were on the
holy mountain of God;
You walked in the
midst of the stones of fire. – Ezekiel 28:12-13, 14
Satan
is described here as being present in the garden as a royal figure, full of
beauty and authority. He was the “anointed” (chosen) cherub who “covered” in
the mountain of God.
The translation given here from the NASB is based on the Hebrew Masoretic Text,
from which most modern English Bibles derive their Old Testaments. The
Septuagint translation of Ezekiel 28:14 reads a bit differently: “From the day
that thou wast created thou was with the cherub,” suggesting that Satan may not
have been the anointed (or guardian) cherub himself, but rather, was a
companion of that being. In the Masoretic Text, Ezekiel 28 goes on to say:
“Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God, and I have
destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire” (v 16).
By contrast, the Septuagint reads: “Therefore, thou hast been cast down wounded
from the mount of God, and the cherub has brought thee out of the midst of the
stones of fire.” Thus, in the Hebrew Masoretic Text, Ezekiel seems to present
Satan as the guardian spirit of Eden, whereas the Septuagint makes him a
companion of that spirit instead.
As
to the “mountain of God,” this is a phrase that appears a number of times in
scripture, and is identified with several known mountains, including Sinai,
Horeb, and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (Exodus 3:1, 24:13; I Kings 19:8;
Isaiah 2:3). The plural form “mountains of God” is also used in scripture
(Psalm 36:6). Taken together, these are references to places that are set aside
for the worship of God, or where his presence is located or else represented.
Thus,
Eden is portrayed as both a garden and a mountain in scripture. The garden
description seems quite literal, whereas the mountain aspect may be more
figurative. As mentioned previously, the Garden of Eden’s location is disputed.
Some feel it may have been located in what is now southern Turkey, at the
headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
If so, then the “mountain” reference may in fact have a literal application, as
that particular region is mountainous. This is not to say that the garden was
located on the top of some high mountain, however, like a type of Olympus. It
may simply be that it was located at a higher elevation than the surrounding
land. If this is true, lingering cultural memories of the Garden of Eden may
explain why so many pagan religions depict the gods living in high places. Whether
this is literally so or not, however, the garden was still the “mountain of
God” in that it was the place of his presence on the earth.
Thus,
Satan was placed in Eden by God, either as the guardian/overseer of the place
of divine worship on the earth, or as a companion to that being; but he
ultimately sought to turn the worship of God into the exaltation of himself.
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 in
the mount of assembly
In the recesses of
the north.
I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the
Most High.” – Isaiah 14:13-14
Note
the “mount of assembly” here, as well as the reference to ascending “above the
heights of the clouds.” This high place imagery is reminiscent of the “mountain
of God” mentioned in Ezekiel 28, and is also consistent with what the New
Testament says concerning how Satan will work through the end-time Beast:
Let no one in any
way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the
man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts
himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his
seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. – II Thessalonians
2:3-4
And the dragon
gave him his power and his throne and great authority…and the whole earth was
amazed and followed after the beast; they worshipped the dragon because he gave
his authority to the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying “Who is like
the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” – Revelation 13:2-4
Okay…So,
When?
So,
if Satan ruled in Eden, when did he do so, and when was he finally “cast as
profane from the mountain of God”?
As
I mentioned in chapter five, the statement in Genesis 2:8 that God “planted” a
garden in Eden is in the Qal Imperfect tense, meaning that it could be
translated “had planted.” Since plant life was created on Day Three, I think it
likely that this is when the garden was actually planted, even though it is not
mentioned until the events of Day Six. For this reason, Satan’s rule in the
garden could have been anywhere from Day Three up until Day Six.
At
this point, things get a bit murkier. There are those who feel that Satan fell
through his temptation of Eve in the garden, but there are problems with that
idea. First, when God created man he specifically said that man would be given
dominion over the earth and its creatures, and he directly commissioned Adam to
be caretaker of the garden. For this reason, it does not seem that angels were
present in the garden at that time, at least in any kind of authoritative or
protective capacity. Indeed, after Adam and Eve fell, Genesis 3:24 tells us
that God stationed cherubim in the garden “to guard the way of the tree of
life,” which seems to imply that they were not present beforehand.
A
second issue that arises with the idea that the devil fell in the garden is the
fact that Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 do not appear to parallel the Genesis 3
narrative. They do not describe Satan as trying to lead man astray. Rather,
they describe him as trying to elevate his throne “above the stars of
God”—stars being a biblical metaphor for angels (see Job 38:7).
For this reason, it seems that Satan’s fall came when he attempted to elevate
himself to rulership over the angelic host in the place of God. This does not
fit well with Genesis 3, leading me to believe that the fall Isaiah and Ezekiel
describe took place before the Fall of Man.
But
if this is so, then what about Ezekiel 28:17, which reads:
“Your heart was
lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your
wisdom by reason of your splendor.
I cast you to the
ground.
I put you before
kings,
That they may see
you.”
This
seems like a natural counterpart to the curse on the nachash (“serpent”) of Genesis 3:14:
“Because you have
done this,
Cursed are you
more than all cattle,
And more than
every beast of the field;
On your belly you
will go,
And dust you will
eat
All the days of
your life.”
But
note the following in verse 18:
By the multitude
of your iniquities,
In the
unrighteousness of your trade
You profaned your
sanctuaries.
The
Septuagint translation of Ezekiel 28:17-18 reads:
Thy heart has been
lifted up because of thy beauty; thy knowledge has been corrupted with thy
beauty: because of the multitude of thy sins, I have cast thee to the ground, I
have caused thee to be put to open shame before kings. Because of the multitude
of thy sins and the iniquities of thy merchandise, I have profaned thy sacred
things…
The
key phrases I focus on here are “multitude of your iniquities” and “multitude
of thy sins.” The Hebrew word translated “multitude” here (rob) can reference a number, as in a great number of people, or a
thing of great significance, as in “a great battle.” In light of this, the text
seems to be telling us here that Satan is either guilty of numerous
transgressions or of a particularly significant transgression. Most Bibles
translate rob in this passage as
either “multitude” or “abundance.” Again, the issue seems a bit vague. It could
be that God viewed Satan’s temptation of Eve in the garden as particularly
egregious, or else that it was the last straw in a series of events, whereupon
God pronounced final judgment and made an example of him.
Either
way, the one who longed to rise to the heights of glory was cursed to sink to
the lowest depths, even beneath the beasts of the earth. It may be that Satan
had previously lost his position of rulership in the garden due to his
ambitions, and later tried to reassert himself after God handed the earth over
to new management. Really, either interpretation seems plausible.
While
I would like to offer something more concrete here, the biblical text seems
prohibitively vague. As already stated, I believe that Satan’s fall occurred sometime
between Days Three and Six of the creation timeline, but it may have been a
slow decline rather than one momentous event. Indeed, a slow decline seems more
likely, as Satan would not have acted without first gathering support. In the
process, a degree of deviance and contention would have arisen within the
angelic ranks. How this might have affected the creation is difficult to say,
but if angels were managing the earth and its creatures, the influence of their
decline may have been reflected in the earth as well. Either way, I imagine
Satan’s fall occurred between Days 5 and 6 of the creation week, but that is
speculation on my part and not worth delving into here in any detail.
Conclusion
This
foray into the spiritual realm may have generated more questions than answers,
but I hope that, at the very least, it has served to deepen the reader’s
appreciation for the complexity of the creation issue. We actually know very
little about what goes on behind the scenes of our world, and even less about
what may have gone on there in the past.
Throughout
the ages, angels have been the intimate servants of the Most High, carrying out
his will and acting in his stead amongst the things and creatures that he has
made. We may not know the extent of their involvement, but we cannot afford to
ignore the veil simply because we cannot see everything behind it. There is no
exegetical reason why angels could not have played a role in creation. In fact,
there is much to suggest that they could have. They may have been the
superintendents of the earth for ages before man came on the scene, helping to
create the just-right conditions the human race required in order to flourish.
Let us therefore be humble in our assessment of ourselves; for although we are favored,
we are not the sole recipients of our Lord’s attentions. We are not the first
children he has raised.
Next in this Series:
Tracing the Advent of Man, I
God’s habit of
using his servants to do his will and manage his affairs rather than
intervening himself is probably why the devil and his fellow fallen angels
initially rebelled. Certainly, they would have understood that they could not
defeat God himself; these entities are evil but they are far from stupid. No,
it seems more likely that they imagined they could defeat opposing angelic
forces—either outright or else by persuading more to join them in the uprising—and
thereby gain control of creation.
The word “anointed”
used here is translated from the Hebrew word mimshach, which appears only once in the Old Testament and has the
sense of “expansion.” Gesenius’
Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon relates the function of the word with the cherubim
covering the Ark of the Covenant with their wings in Exodus 25:20. The word “cover”
is translated from the Hebrew word cakak.
It refers to something that is placed either with or over another thing in
order to shade it, contain it, shelter it, defend it, or mesh it together.
Examples of its use in scripture include the reference to cherubim that were
carved to cover the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:20 again),
the barrier the Lord set upon the sea in order to hold it back from the land
(Job 38:8), and how God protects those who trust in him by covering them “with
his feathers” (Psalm 91:4). The picture Ezekiel paints here is of a cherub
protecting the garden with its outstretched wings.
