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Commentary on "From Exalted to Cast Down"
Day 3: Monday, April 4, 2011 - A Beautiful and Perfect Being
Overview
Monday's lesson introduces Lucifer as a perfect and beautiful being created to be the chief among the angels. Using Ezekiel 28:12-19 as its source, the lesson embroiders a description of Lucifer's covering brilliant precious jewels. Moreover, the lesson points out that the angels "desired to do as they were bidden", reflecting the "beauty of their Creator" and praising "Him for their privilege of living in a paradise of celestial harmony." It states, "Their constant praise for their Maker inspired an unselfish love for each other, and, as long as this was their only desire, they lived in a constant, unequaled, and loving environment."
The lesson concludes by asking how the readers can imitate the heavenly environment of perfect and harmony in their own homes
Observations
First, the assumption that Ezekiel 28:12-19 is describing Lucifer is not clear in Scripture. To be sure, many people have seen this possibility as a secondary meaning that might be derived from the passage, but in context, this passage is not addressing Lucifer.
Because of Ellen' White's elaborate descriptions of heavenly life prior to God's creation of the world and because of her detailed descriptions of Lucifer's rebellion and his jealousy over the Father's supposed exaltation of His Son to equal His status, Adventism has formulated an entire worldview shaped by the imagined consequences of Lucifer's rebellion and supposed accusations against the Father and His law.
None of these details is in Scripture. They are entirely invented by Ellen White and share an amazing echo of similarity with the Mormon tradition that Lucifer and Jesus were originally brothers, but Lucifer became jealous of Jesus and became the evil brother while Jesus became the honored brother.
Before we address the actual lesson for today, we have to remark that the underlying assumption that "the great controversy theme" is the pattern of all reality is uniquely Adventist and derives entirely from extra-biblical "revelation": the visions of Ellen White. These assumptions of Lucifer's exalted status, his role, his beauty, his accusations about God—these are entirely apocryphal.
In context, Ezekiel 28 is describing the king of Tyre and is using figurative language to describe his position and power which God allowed him to have. Ezekiel 28:14 says:
You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
The study notes from the ESV Study Bible say this about Ezekiel 28:14: "Tyre is like the cherubim guarding Eden (Gen. 3:24) rather than the "living creatures" seen in Ezekiel 1–3 and 8–11, who are throne-bearers."
In other words, Adventism's use of this passage to support their claim that Lucifer was the highest angel in heaven is simply wrong. Within the book of Ezekiel, God revealed other cherubim to His prophet who had higher positions in heaven than had the cherub who guarded the gates of Eden.
Further, this passage cannot be interpreted to say that Lucifer was guarding God or placed next to His throne, as Adventism has assumed on the basis of EGW's visions. Rather, this passage can only be understood to say that the king of Tyre was as glorious and exalted (by God's own appointment: see Romans 13:1 and Acts 17:26) as the cherub guarding Eden.
To speculate on the "celestial harmony" of the original heavenly environment is, frankly, nonsense, because we are simply not told how the angels interfaced with one another nor with Lucifer. To be sure, we know that heaven is a place of perfection and praise, but EGW's rhapsodic descriptions are imagined, and God did not intend for us to meditate on the condition of heaven. He did not reveal those details to us, and we divert our attention away from the gospel and God's revelation to us when we fantasize about heavenly bliss before Lucifer's fall.
God tells us what He wants us to know. We move away from Him and His will when we take the extra-biblical revelations of a modern prophet and include those titillating details in our perception of reality.
Finally, we can never "imitate the heavenly environment with harmony, perfection, and love in our homes". Moreover, the Bible never asks us to imitate heaven. We are asked to believe in the Lord Jesus and to put to death the deeds of the flesh by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:12-14). Angels are never to be our example, either as beings to emulate or as beings to avoid emulating.
We are to embrace the Lord Jesus and place our trust in the sufficient sacrifice of His blood. We are to be born again—brought to spiritual life by the indwelling Holy Spirit and forever united with the Lord Jesus when we place our faith in Him.
Hebrews 1:14 says this about angels:
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
Angels are never our role models nor do they determine any part of the human story. They do not play a role in our salvation...Lucifer has no role whatever in causing or carrying human sin. He is not an example of how we are not to live, nor has he made any claims against God that God must answer.
God sent the Lord Jesus to humanity. Angels are His servants who minister to us at His bidding. When we keep our eyes on Jesus and our hearts focused on His Word, we have nothing to fear from evil angels.
Rather than trying to live like the angels, we are called to live in this world as physical humans with spirits brought to life by the very life of God in the person of the Holy Spirit. Angels are not a central part of our story; Lucifer is a defeated foe, a fallen creation. He is not in a continuing struggle with Jesus. He is shamed and defeated by the cross of Christ (Col. 2:15)!
Summary
- Ezekiel 28:12-19 is not about Lucifer except, perhaps, secondarily.
- This passage describes the king of Tyre and compares his God-given power with the cherub who guarded the gates of Eden.
- In other places God showed Ezekiel cherubs who had a much hight position than this Eden-guard...the cherubim in chapters 1–3 and 8–11 are throne-bearers. They, not the cherub used metaphorically in Ezekiel 28, have the higher position in heaven.
- We have no details of heaven before Lucifer's sin except in Ellen White's writings.
- The Bible gives no hint that Lucifer accused God of unfairness or of too difficult a law.
- The Bible opposes the teaching of EGW that the Father exalted Jesus to be equal to Himself. Lucifer did not become jealous because God exalted Jesus.
- We are never to look to angels as examples, either as positive or negative examples.
- Angels are God's servants sent to minister to the saved.
- There is no "great controversy theme". Lucifer is a shamed and defeated foe (Col. 2:15).
- Our calling is to believe in the Lord Jesus and to be born again by His Spirit, thus being transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God's Beloved Son (Col. 1:13).
- The Bible does not tell us angels' stories; it only tells us our own. Lucifer/Satan plays no role in causing human sin nor in carrying its guilt. We are completely responsible for our own sin.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised March 30, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
Official Adventist Resources
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Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Wk 2
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