11/11 Reading - Thoughts & Comments DX3

11-Nov Ezekiel 27-28, John 21, Psalms 71-75, Proverbs 11

The King of Tyre: A Repeat Offender Just Like Lucifer And Adam:

This study may shed some new light on your understanding of Lucifer, Satan and Adam, as well as this evil king of Tyre who'm Ezekiel prophesied about.

11 The word of the Lord came to me: 12 "Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says:


Ezek 28:11-19 (NIV)  "'You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.'"

I believe that there is a marked similarity to Lucifer, Satan, Adam, the king of Tyre, and you and I before we are born again (all of unregenerate mankind).  As we read this scripture, we see that God is speaking to the king, but He is really speaking to a "HISTORY" of rebellion, pride, arrogance and the desire to be a god.

We know that Lucifer was the symbol of beauty and he attempted to ascend the mountain of God and to be like the most high (Isaiah 14:14).  His fall was immediate and eternal.  We also know that Adam and Eve listened to the old serpent (former Lucifer - which means "LIGHT BEARER") and they too desired to be "as God, knowing good and evil".  They ate the forbidden fruit in an act of rebellion against His voice, and they also fell from Heaven, into sin and death.  This was sudden and it was eternal!  Why eternal?

The power of the cross of Christ is that Jesus Christ did not just die "FOR" our sins.  He died AS A SINNER.  He took our sins upon him, and he literally took all of mankind to the cross with Him.  He couldn't allow us to come down off of that cross.  That's why He stayed there until He died, so that we would remain pinned there by the Son of God who would obey God to the end.  

Paul said, Gal. 2:20 (KJV) "20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Paul realized that Christ had taken him to the cross and killed him there.  And the life that he was living was a new, resurrected life that was literally Christ's life inside of him. The old was gone, the new has appeared.  Behold, all old things passed away, and all things are made new.

Many of us don't understand the power of the cross, and I personally didn't understand it for the better part of my Christian life, until I started putting these scriptures together and understanding God's deeper meaning of the cross and my salvation.  I heard a man tell this story once, and it totally changed my understanding of Christ's power through death on the cross:

There was a man who was on death row in prison for a crime that he honestly committed.  It would cause him to receive his death sentence and to die for his transgression.  On the day of his execution, the guards walked him down the isle and they took him to the electrocution chair in front of citizen witnesses.  This was the end and his sentence was about to be carried out.  But suddenly, a bright light shone and the son of God appeared in the room.  Jesus walked over and talked with the warden.  He offered His own life in exchange for the life of the criminal.  The warden studied the law and saw that a life was required for the transgression of the law that was broken.  Therefore, the warden accepted Christ's offer to be sacrificed in this criminal's place.  They strapped Jesus into the chair and carried out the execution.  Once Jesus had died, the warden looked at the criminal and said, "A death has been exacted for the crime that you committed.  You are now free to go."  The prison guards took the prisoner through the gates to the city and set him free.

This story seems awesome on the surface, but it is greatly lacking in truth and reality.  The story you just read is called REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY.  In other words, you did the deed, and you should pay the price, but Jesus is going to take your place and take the punishment for you so that you don't have to go through the pain, torment, and punishment.  This theology is far from the truth, in my understanding.  Why?  

In the story, the guards let the man go. He was now free. This is great! But there is still one HUGE problem that exists.  The man is no longer under punishment, but he is still a criminal. He's still the same man that he was before!  This is NOT the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The truth of the matter is that Jesus went to the cross and He dragged every man, woman and child onto that cross with Him.  He would  not let us go until we died with him (CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST). He didn't die for us.  He died AS US.  And if he died, we died with Him.  And if we died, we all live with Him because He rose from the dead on the third day.

Romans 6:8-11 (NIV) Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.  The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.  In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

2 Tim 2:11 (NIV)  Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him;

The power of the cross is that you and I were dragged onto that cross with Jesus along with every son of adam, and we were dealt with there.  

John 12:30-33 (NIV) Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine.  Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.  But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."  He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Jesus literally DREW ALL MEN INTO HIMSELF when he was lifted up from the earth and hung on that cross! This is a profound and powerful message to all of us.  And it completes the cycle of death and life for all men.  You see, Adam and Eve fell from grace in the garden.  They would NEVER be allowed into Heaven again - never.  I like to say it this way, "Falling from Heaven is a one way trip!".  There is no return.  This is why Jesus, the second and last adam, needed to come to the earth and die AS a man, drawing all men into Himself, and hanging us all on that cross until He died.  "IT IS FINISHED" was a whole lot bigger than just saying, I'm done.  It was the culmination of dealing with the sin and ultimate death of all of mankind.  Sin was being judged by death, and that death was on the cross.  That death was accomplished by Jesus along with ALL of it's suffering, so that while you and I died with Christ 2,000 years ago, we didn't suffer the extreme pain and punishment that Jesus bore on our behalf.  We have been raised together with Him and the life we live now is the life of Christ, redeemed, forgiven, and eternal.  We are seated together with him in Heaven, and that's just the beginning of the kingdom benefits!

So with this powerful cycle of reality, we know that Lucifer fell from Heaven on a one way journey to earth.  We also know that Adam fell from Heaven on a one way journey to earth.  The king of Tyre was acting just like Lucifer and Adam, and he fell from his lofty position as king, and would be destroyed because of his pride, arrogance, self worship, and his desire to be like God.

There is more to say about these scriptures, but today's emphasis is on THE FALL, THE DEATH, and THE NEW LIFE that Christ has provided us all, if we will accept it and walk in it.

Heb 9:27-28 (NIV) Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

The scripture is true which says man must die once, then the judgment.  However, if Christ took you into death already, then you have died once.  You are appointed only to die once, not twice, three times, etc.  Just once.  If Christ's death was your "die once" and "judgment", then the resurrected life that you and I now live is eternal and there is no more death in our future. No death! No judgment!  No fear of hell.  There is only living in and for Christ in the new life that He provides because of His resurrection power!

1 Cor 15:55-57 (NIV)  "Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?"  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Col 3:1-6 (NIV) Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.