Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
The Lord God speaks judgment upon the prince of Tyre because though only a man he set his heart as the heart of God, claiming for himself divine status and the seat and place of God. That prince points primarily to Lucifer, the fallen angel, with Satan standing as the actual king of Tyre because he fully controlled that government. To set the heart as God's heart is to aspire to God's position and authority and to claim a place above Christ, seeking the service and homage of angels and created beings and coveting the honor and power that belong to Christ alone. God therefore will bring the proud one low by his enemies to kill him and bring him down, ending in final judgment when Satan as the root with his followers as the branches is cut off and destroyed from the midst of the stones of fire to be no more. The word stands as a warning against rebellion, self-exaltation, and deception in the last days, lest faithful seekers be deceived and lest Lucifer's self-exaltation repeat itself in those who oppose God's work.
Meaning and Wider Reference
The utterance is the declaration of the Lord God addressed to the prince of Tyrus in judgment. The ground of that judgment is that though only a man he set his heart as the heart of God. In doing so he claimed divine status for himself despite being human. He claimed for himself as a man the seat and place of God.
The prince of Tyre in this address refers primarily to Lucifer, the fallen angel. Satan is represented as the actual king of Tyre because he fully controlled that government.
Beyond one being the word has a broader significance as a general movement that will be witnessed. That movement is marked by pride and self-exaltation, setting the heart as though it were the heart of God. The chapter is to be read in connection with God's dealings with fallen angels and fallen people.
Pride, Rebellion, and Judgment
Lucifer was created perfect, yet iniquity arose within him, and his pride grew out of his beauty and wisdom and brightness until self-exaltation brought his fall. To set the heart as the heart of God is to aspire to God's own position and authority and to claim a place above Christ. It is to seek for self the service and homage of created beings and of angels, coveting the honor the Father had bestowed upon Christ and the power that belonged to Christ alone. That pride was setting himself up as equal with God and claiming divine supremacy, persisting in rebellion as the pride of the prince of evil.
Because of that claim God announces that He will bring the proud one low, bringing enemies against him to slay him and bring him down, as foreshadowed when the prince was to be brought low and slain by strangers. That rebellion ends in final judgment when God vindicates His law and delivers His people. Then Satan's power is ended and his own followers turn against him, and he as the root with his followers as the branches is cut off. Satan the covering cherub is destroyed from the midst of the stones of fire to be nevermore, and the wicked shall be no more.
This destruction is no exercise of arbitrary power but the reaping of what was sown, carried out before all so that all may see that God's judgment is just. For God is the fountain of life, and to choose sin is to separate from God and be cut off from life. Rebels thereby place themselves so out of harmony with God that His presence, which is love, is to them a consuming fire.
Warnings for Last Days
The verse stands as a warning against rebellion and self-exaltation, for the prince of Tyre set his heart as though it were the heart of God, claiming divine status though only a man. Beyond one ruler it points to Lucifer and to a broader general movement marked by pride and self-exaltation, warning God's people against deception in the last days. Faithful study of the chapter leads those seeking truth to walk in all the light God has given His people, lest they be deceived by the deceptions of these last days.
Its announced judgment, that the proud one who regarded himself as divine would be brought low and killed by foreign enemies brought against him, applies to the coming exposure and destruction of the man of sin. The world and professedly Protestant churches are taking his side in that conflict. That conflict is connected with the coming issue over the seventh-day Sabbath and the duty to honor God's Sabbaths.
Lucifer's self-exaltation can influence people who oppose God's work, and history repeats in this way. Even people with much experience need the knowledge of God's glory to lead them to exalt God and Jesus Christ rather than themselves. To set the heart as the heart of God is to exalt human wisdom and to pursue a course of picking flaws and bringing in differences of opinion over jots and tittles that God did not inspire and that are not testing questions. Lucifer watches over every movement, and minds opened in this way are worked by Satan and by the angels expelled from heaven. Their work is to divert minds from the special light and the work of saving perishing souls, to get supposed objectionable features and little differences enlarged and made prominent, to magnify disagreement, to confuse the minds of believers and unbelievers, to hinder the advancement of the work, to give occasion for confusion in the ranks, and to triumph in his cause. Silence on such subjects is eloquence and wisdom, while picking flaws in the writings of men led of God is not inspired of God and unfits a man for official position because he cannot reason from cause to effect, so every difference must be buried to press together and devote all physical and mental power to harmonious advance.
The Lord God speaks judgment upon the prince of Tyre because though only a man he set his heart as the heart of God, claiming for himself divine status and the seat and place of God. That prince points primarily to Lucifer, the fallen angel, with Satan standing as the actual king of Tyre because he fully controlled that government. To set the heart as God's heart is to aspire to God's position and authority and to claim a place above Christ, seeking the service and homage of angels and created beings and coveting the honor and power that belong to Christ alone. God therefore will bring the proud one low by his enemies to kill him and bring him down, ending in final judgment when Satan as the root with his followers as the branches is cut off and destroyed from the midst of the stones of fire to be no more. The word stands as a warning against rebellion, self-exaltation, and deception in the last days, lest faithful seekers be deceived and lest Lucifer's self-exaltation repeat itself in those who oppose God's work.
Meaning and Wider Reference
The utterance is the declaration of the Lord God addressed to the prince of Tyrus in judgment. The ground of that judgment is that though only a man he set his heart as the heart of God. In doing so he claimed divine status for himself despite being human. He claimed for himself as a man the seat and place of God.
The prince of Tyre in this address refers primarily to Lucifer, the fallen angel. Satan is represented as the actual king of Tyre because he fully controlled that government.
Beyond one being the word has a broader significance as a general movement that will be witnessed. That movement is marked by pride and self-exaltation, setting the heart as though it were the heart of God. The chapter is to be read in connection with God's dealings with fallen angels and fallen people.
Pride, Rebellion, and Judgment
Lucifer was created perfect, yet iniquity arose within him, and his pride grew out of his beauty and wisdom and brightness until self-exaltation brought his fall. To set the heart as the heart of God is to aspire to God's own position and authority and to claim a place above Christ. It is to seek for self the service and homage of created beings and of angels, coveting the honor the Father had bestowed upon Christ and the power that belonged to Christ alone. That pride was setting himself up as equal with God and claiming divine supremacy, persisting in rebellion as the pride of the prince of evil.
Because of that claim God announces that He will bring the proud one low, bringing enemies against him to slay him and bring him down, as foreshadowed when the prince was to be brought low and slain by strangers. That rebellion ends in final judgment when God vindicates His law and delivers His people. Then Satan's power is ended and his own followers turn against him, and he as the root with his followers as the branches is cut off. Satan the covering cherub is destroyed from the midst of the stones of fire to be nevermore, and the wicked shall be no more.
This destruction is no exercise of arbitrary power but the reaping of what was sown, carried out before all so that all may see that God's judgment is just. For God is the fountain of life, and to choose sin is to separate from God and be cut off from life. Rebels thereby place themselves so out of harmony with God that His presence, which is love, is to them a consuming fire.
Warnings for Last Days
The verse stands as a warning against rebellion and self-exaltation, for the prince of Tyre set his heart as though it were the heart of God, claiming divine status though only a man. Beyond one ruler it points to Lucifer and to a broader general movement marked by pride and self-exaltation, warning God's people against deception in the last days. Faithful study of the chapter leads those seeking truth to walk in all the light God has given His people, lest they be deceived by the deceptions of these last days.
Its announced judgment, that the proud one who regarded himself as divine would be brought low and killed by foreign enemies brought against him, applies to the coming exposure and destruction of the man of sin. The world and professedly Protestant churches are taking his side in that conflict. That conflict is connected with the coming issue over the seventh-day Sabbath and the duty to honor God's Sabbaths.
Lucifer's self-exaltation can influence people who oppose God's work, and history repeats in this way. Even people with much experience need the knowledge of God's glory to lead them to exalt God and Jesus Christ rather than themselves. To set the heart as the heart of God is to exalt human wisdom and to pursue a course of picking flaws and bringing in differences of opinion over jots and tittles that God did not inspire and that are not testing questions. Lucifer watches over every movement, and minds opened in this way are worked by Satan and by the angels expelled from heaven. Their work is to divert minds from the special light and the work of saving perishing souls, to get supposed objectionable features and little differences enlarged and made prominent, to magnify disagreement, to confuse the minds of believers and unbelievers, to hinder the advancement of the work, to give occasion for confusion in the ranks, and to triumph in his cause. Silence on such subjects is eloquence and wisdom, while picking flaws in the writings of men led of God is not inspired of God and unfits a man for official position because he cannot reason from cause to effect, so every difference must be buried to press together and devote all physical and mental power to harmonious advance.