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Watch 2022-2023 online sermons » Derek Prince » Derek Prince - The Bible Warns More Against This, Than Any Other Problem

Derek Prince - The Bible Warns More Against This, Than Any Other Problem

Derek Prince - The Bible Warns More Against This, Than Any Other Problem
TOPICS: Spiritual warfare

This is an excerpt from: War In Heaven And Earth - Part 1

Now, I want to take a picture of the interaction between the heavenlies and the earthly realm, an example of what we could call: Spiritual conflict. I'm going to turn to Ezekiel, chapter 28. Now, this chapter portrays two persons, the king of Tyre... I'm sorry, the prince of Tyre and the king of Tyre, and they are quite different persons but both of them are involved in the destiny of a very important city in the ancient world called Tyre. And this revelation brings out the fact that there is an interplay between earthly rulers and heavenly rulers, evil heavenly rulers, and that brings out the fact that one of the most important things we can do to change the situation is to deal with the evil heavenly rulers.

So, now we're looking a little of what it says in Ezekiel 28 beginning at verse 1: The word of the Lord came to me again saying, Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God’. So, this is addressed to the prince, the second half of the chapter is addressed to the king, who's a totally different person. Because your heart is lifted up. What one word would you use to describe that? Pride, that's right. You see, consistently the Bible wants us more against pride than any problem. Because your heart is lifted up and you say, ‘I'm a god I sit in the seats of gods in the midst of the seas,’ yet, you are a man, and not a god though you set your heart as the heart of a god.

So, this prince of Tyre is a human being who claims to be God, as many other human beings have done. We'll go on. Well, we're going to... Behold, you are wiser than Daniel! There is no secret that can be hidden from you! With your wisdom and your understanding you have gained riches for yourself, and gathered gold and silver into your treasuries; by your great wisdom in trade you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up. What's that? Pride. Because of what? Your riches. How many people would recognize that wealth is often a source of pride? All these things have very important practical lessons for us. And here is a man, a human ruler who claims to be God, that's not by any means the only case. In fact, we know there is coming and Antichrist who will claim to be god, and sit in the temple as god so, these are things that have happened continually throughout history.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God; because you have set your heart as the heart of God; you know therefore I will bring strangers against you, the most terrible of the nations: and they should draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and defile your splendor, they shall throw you down into the pit and you shall die the death of the slain in the midst of the seas. Will you still say before him who slays you, I am a god? But you shall be a man and not a god in the hand of him who slays you. So, here is a picture of this human being who's very clever, very wise, very successful, very wealthy, a ruler, but he claims to be a god and God disposes of that claim by sending enemies against him who kill him and God asked: will you say in the hand of the one who slays you I am a God not a man? Now that's the first one.

Now we come to a totally different person in the second half of Ezekiel 28. This person is the king of Tyre and it's very clear from much that said he's not a human being so, we see something that's very important. In the whole spiritual realm there is a relationship between evil forces in the heavenlies and human rulers, and they seek to gain control of human rulers and use them to carry out their purposes, and the same thing is happening right now in the United States of America. So, this is not a remote story from some other age, this is very relevant to where we are in the United States today.

Now I'm going on about the king of Tyre beginning in verse 11: Moreover the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him: thus says the Lord God you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. you were in Eden, the garden of God. That was never true of any human being. Every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz and diamond, beryl, onyx and Jasper, sapphire, turquoise and emerald with gold. the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. So, here's a created being who was in Eden, the garden of God, who walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. He's not a man but he's not god.

Then it says in verse 14: you were the anointed cherub who covers. Covers what? Well this is my belief, covers the throne of God with his wings. So, this cherub was outstandingly beautiful, outstandingly wise, and he had a unique position in heaven, he was the cherub who with his wings covered the throne of God. An interesting little footnote from that time onwards, as far as I can understand, God never put one cherub anywhere He always put two face to face so that each of them will know there's someone just as beautiful as I am. Verse 16: by the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within.

Now, trading can mean going around selling wares, this is my little picture. I believe Lucifer went around coveting and obtaining the allegiance of the angels who were under his authority. And I pictured him, this is totally imagine, he's saying to some of the Angels: now, you know God doesn't really appreciate you, you're so beautiful and so wise, if I were God I'd give you a much higher position. Do we ever see people talking like that today? And there's very little that's new. Going on in verse... you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. See, he's a created being, he's not God, he's a seraph or a cherub, he's angelic, he's outstanding for his wisdom, his beauty, his power. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Obviously, this is not a human being, isn't that true?

Now, let's go back to the motivation. You, see? it's emphasized again and again and again Your heart was lifted up. what's that? Pride. I mean, I cannot say this too often, undoubtedly, pride is the most common temptation, the thing that most liable to cause us to fall is pride. And it didn't start on earth, it started in heaven. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, and so on.

Now, that's a picture of the situation in time. Tyre has passed away, it's just history, the prince of Tyre died like a man, the king of Tyre never died. He's an angelic being, very proud, very powerful, very wise, full of beauty and in total opposition to God. Now, I'll share with you my own little idea. He said, I will be equal to God, that was what he claimed. Now, I believe there's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And this is simply my impression. I believe God the Father is so awesome so inimitable, so completely unique that Lucifer did not aspire to equality with the father. But there was this beautiful being, who represented the father, the son.

And what I believed myself, Lucifer said, I can be like Him, and there started at that point a conflict which has continued ever since, between Lucifer and the one who was manifested in human history as Jesus of Nazareth. And really, when Jesus came to Earth in the form of a man, Lucifer said: now I can get Him. And he pursued Him, turned the people against Him, and obtained His death, and said: now I've got Him. But he was wrong because at the third day, Jesus came forth, a total victory, Amen. But the conflict is not yet ended because Satan still fights in every way he can against God, the purposes of God, and the people of God.
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