Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Ezekiel 28; Genesis 3 | Date: March 27, 2022 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

The Identity of the Serpent

All right, Genesis chapter 3. The subject of the lesson this morning is the serpent. We meet him in Genesis chapter 3 in verse 1. We have the horrible event of Genesis chapter 3 where he tempts Adam and Eve, and we have the fall, and then the consequent judgment that comes as a result of that through the rest of the chapter. Today, all I want to do is look at the serpent himself. Who is he? Where did he come from? Let’s get an understanding of him before we work through the chapter.

So Genesis 3, verse 1: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.” All right, so our first question then is this snake. What is it? Who is it? Is it symbolic? Is it a literal snake? What’s going on here? The first question that comes up with that is, how do we understand this expression in verse one? “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.” Is he saying here that he is one of the animals and he’s the more crafty of the rest of the animals? Or is it setting him apart from the animals and saying he is more crafty than any animal? Put it that way.

The Hebrew here is capable of either. The preposition “from” is used here. And the question is, how do we understand this? Is this part of that created order that he’s identifying here, or is he comparing it to the created order? I take a comparative view that this snake, the serpent, whoever it is—we’ll see in a second—is not part of the good creation that God has identified in Genesis 1 and 2. He’s part of another order. He’s more crafty than any animal. He speaks. He speaks of morality. He speaks of ethics. He speaks of God and religion kind of things. He’s an evil creature. He somehow knows divine matters. Verse 5: “God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you’ll be like God.” So he’s acquainted with heaven.

It seems obvious, and as it works out through the rest of the chapter, and then of course through the rest of the Bible, this is an angelic spirit masquerading in some way as a spiritual superior to Adam and Eve. In verses 14 and 15, we get to when God comes and pronounces judgment; it’s clearly Satan who is in view. There’s this conversation that’s going on between God and Satan—that he’ll be judged and he’ll crawl on his belly and eat dirt. By the time it is done, this champion will come and defeat him. It’s clearly Satan that is in view, not a reptile.

Paul makes reference to this in 2 Corinthians 11, verses 3 and 14. He says, “I’m afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” Now many have taken that to be a reference and interpretation of Genesis chapter three, that in Genesis three, the serpent is in fact some kind of incarnation of Satan masquerading as a superior and talking to Adam and Eve as a moral superior. And here, Paul—if this is a reference to him there, and it’s very possible—Paul says that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it would be an angelic appearance of some kind then under this view, referred to him as a serpent, and of course that becomes what he’s referred to later, particularly at the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation.

We have in Genesis 3 here the narrative: Satan, God talking to Satan, verses 14 and 15. “The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go, dust you shall eat the rest of your life. I’ll put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, you shall bruise his heel.'” That is a description of the conflict of the ages. Satan opposing the work of God. This is not a statement of how women will become afraid of snakes. I don’t think that’s what’s in view here. It’s talking about Satan’s downfall and God will defeat him. He deceived, God comes in judgment and pronounces his coming downfall. He says, “On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat the rest of your life.” That’s the language of utter subjugation. You will be defeated. Put it in a crude way: you’ll crawl on your belly and eat dirt when you’re done.

And actually this language of subjugation is picked up elsewhere in the scriptures. In Psalm 44, verse 25: “Our soul is bowed down to the dust, our belly clings to the ground.” I’ve been defeated, says the lament Psalm. I’ve been utterly subjugated and beaten down. And then this language is picked up in the Old Testament in messianic context to speak of Christ, the Messiah’s triumph over evil, over his enemies. In Psalm 72 in verse nine, for example: “May desert tribes bow down before him.” This is Psalm 72, the psalm of the great king praying for his success and all. “May desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust.” Isaiah chapter 49 verse 23, here he’s writing of foreign kings and the triumph of the servant who is to come, the servant of the Lord: “With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you and lick the dust of your feet.” And then again in Micah 7, verse 17: “They shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth, they shall come trembling out of their strongholds. They shall turn in dread to the Lord our God, and they shall be in fear of you.”

So this language is picked up elsewhere in the Old Testament even with regard to Satan. The reference again is to Satan himself, this fallen angelic being. And then we come to the New Testament, and I think the identification of this serpent here as Satan himself continues. In Romans chapter 16 and verse 20: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” That seems to be a direct reference to Genesis 3:15. Satan is in view. And then in Revelation chapter 12 verse 9, the great dragon—that great figure in the book of Revelation who opposes the saints—”the great dragon was thrown down,” and then he identifies him, “that ancient serpent who’s called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.” And then in Revelation 20 verses two and three: “He,” that is the angel, the mighty angel of God, “seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years are finished.”

So again, we have the identification of this serpent as Satan himself. Clearly he’s in view in Genesis 3. And so we have here in Genesis 3, and particularly in verse 15 that we will get to in a couple of weeks, we have a theme that’s launched that carries the Bible story—the theme of Satan, the great adversary of the people of God, the adversary of God himself, going against the seed of the woman, going against Christ, Christ eventually triumphing over him. We have reflections of this in Matthew chapter four, in this temptation of Jesus against Satan, where he comes in round one, he wins. John chapter 12, “now is the prince of this world cast out,” Jesus speaking of his death, that he will defeat Satan in it. And then of course in Revelation 19 and following, we have the triumph of Christ over Satan and Babylon and all of that. All of this then concerns Satan and not snakes.

The question then is, is the serpent, capital S, Satan, using a serpent, small s, a snake, in Genesis chapter three? I don’t know. Would Eve be talking to a snake? I don’t know that. Would she be talking to an animal about spiritual things? Seems to me to be pretty clear. She understands this is a superior figure of some kind. Perhaps, perhaps it was. At least we have to recognize that when we come to Genesis chapter three, the serpent—however it appears, however it would have been captured on a video camera—this is Satan at work coming against God’s newly created couple. He’s opposing the work of God in his image bearers.

Where Did This Satan Come From?

All right, now then that begs the question, where does this Satan come from? We have the creation account in Genesis 1 and 2, and here we have this evil, as it turns out, angelic figure—whatever form he’s appearing here. We have this angelic figure appearing who’s clearly evil. Where’d he come from? And so he’s brought into the narrative from nowhere. So let’s ask the question, where did this Satan come from?

In Job chapter—well, in several places in Job actually, we have some identification for us. In Job chapter one in verse six, rather than take time to turn, you can just listen. “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.” You remember the scene where Satan is accusing Job before the Lord in heaven. And notice he calls them the sons of God. This is a reference now to angelic beings who are referred to as sons of God. And Satan was one of them. He was one of these sons of God, one of these angelic beings appearing before the Lord in heaven with regard to Job.

In Job 2 verse 1, we have Satan called into account again. “Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.” So we have this angelic figure, the son of God, angel kind of a being who was there, evil, accusing Job just like he had attacked Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter three.

But there’s another reference in Job that’s interesting. You remember at the end of the story, after Job had complained, and God comes on the scene and speaks to Job, and begins to tell him about his own greatness, and the bottom line is: Do I really need you to advise me how to run this world? You should just trust me. That’s the bottom line of it all. But notice what he says in Job 38 verses 4 to 7: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Who stretched the line upon it? Or on what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” And we have that expression of the sons of God referring to the angelic creatures. And it’s saying here that they were present at the creation of the world, worshiping God for his great work of creation. So Satan evidently was one of those sons of God who previously was a holy creature praising God at the time of creation. So somewhere prior to Genesis chapter three, somewhere prior to Genesis chapter one, Satan in his original state is holy and, according to verse seven here of Job 38, participated in the worship of God.

A Prophecy of the King of Tyre

All right, now if you would turn to Ezekiel chapter 28. We have a fascinating passage here that I think informs the question. Here we have a prophecy of the prophet Ezekiel where he’s prophesying the doom and destruction of the king of Tyre. I’m going to take the time to read through the 19 verses. Ezekiel 28, beginning with verse 1. Keep in mind now, he’s addressing the king of Tyre and prophesying his doom.

“The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, the Lord says, Thus says the Lord God: because your heart is proud and you have said, “I am God, I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas,” yet you are but a man and no God. Though you make your heart like the heart of a god, you are indeed wiser than Daniel. No secret is hidden from you. By your wisdom and your understanding, you have made wealth for yourself and have gathered gold and silver into your treasuries. By your great wisdom in your trade, you have increased your wealth, and your heart has become proud in your wealth. Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because you make your heart like the heart of a god, therefore, behold, I will bring foreigners upon you, the most ruthless of the nations, and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor. They shall thrust you down into the pit, and you shall die the death of the slain in the heart of the seas. Will you still say, “I am a God,” in the presence of those who kill you, though you are but a man and no God, in the hands of those who slay you? You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of foreigners, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God.'”

“Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, thus says the Lord God: you are the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering: Sardis, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, carbuncle, and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings on the day that you were created, they were prepared. 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. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned. And I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I exposed you before kings to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities and the unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned your sanctuaries. So I brought fire out from your midst and consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.'”

All right, again, we have this prophecy of the destruction of Tyre. If you don’t get all the details of it, you get the gist pretty easily that he’s a goner, that God is going to judge him, and that will be that. We have this, by the way, this prophecy fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar triumphing victoriously over Tyre and ruining it. And then finally, the details of it—Ezekiel 26—the details of it are fulfilled later than Nebuchadnezzar in the armies of Alexander the Great and made like a tabletop nation and such. That’s for another time.

A prophecy of the doom of the king of Tyre. He struts with pride. He claims deity. He has a proud heart. God says, you’ve said “I’m a god” and we’ll bring you down. And what, in the midst of the people who kill you, you’re still going to be claiming you’re a god? So he’s mocking him. Now, in verses 7 and following, we have a prophecy of his destruction. I’ll bring foreigners upon you. God’s going to reduce them to size. That’s the idea there.

From the Natural Realm to the Supernatural Realm

When we get to verse 11 here, it seems to mark some kind of a shift. And before we look at that again in verses 11 and following, let’s just back up and remind ourselves how much of biblical prophecy works. Very often—this is a standard issue in biblical prophecy—God will describe a particular person or a particular event or a particular institution or whatever, and then suddenly the language exceeds that and you get the feeling he’s talking about something bigger. You see that a lot in the Old Testament when God is picking Psalms, also in the prophets when we read about David or the Davidic king, speaking of the Davidic king or of David himself in grandiose terms. Some of that’s poetry and you expect some of that, but suddenly sometimes the language will go just way beyond any earthly king. And you realize this is not talking about the Davidic king; this is talking about the Davidic King, the Messiah who’s coming, and the language transcends that of the historical king.

We have the same in the Old Testament regarding Antiochus IV, Antiochus the Great, who wreaked such havoc on the people of Israel. You find him in the book of Daniel; suddenly the language, particularly in Daniel chapter 11, around verse 35, the language begins to transcend the historical Antiochus, and it’s talking about another Antiochus who will come, and it’s pretty clear he’s speaking there about Antichrist who will come. We find that kind of thing happening a lot in biblical prophecy, so where he moves from the natural realm to the supernatural realm. I think that’s what’s going on here, where suddenly this king of Tyre becomes—God’s prophecy against Tyre becomes something about Satan himself.

So look again at verses 11 and following. “Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, thus says the Lord, you are a signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. 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. You were blameless in your ways from the days you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.'”

Now the question is, in what way could that refer to the King of Tyre? Beauty, perfection, the most wise, the most beautiful, perfect in his ways, until finally he became unrighteous. It’s difficult to see how that applies specifically to the King of Tyre. It seems that the language now is transcending the King of Tyre. Original perfection, you had this glory, you were in the mountain of God, the presence of God, and all of the—it just doesn’t seem to fit the historic King of Tyre at all. It seems to be transcending it.

So we have in verse 12 the description of his original condition: he’s the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and beauty. The King James Version here translates that “you seal up the sum.” The idea is that you’re the ultimate perfection of creaturehood. Does that fit the King of Tyre? Seems to be going beyond it. Again, verse 12, he has two aspects of it that he specifies: full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Full of wisdom—that is, you’re the wisest of the wise. Verse three, he hints at it already: you’re wiser than Daniel. In other words, he’s not an enemy that can be outsmarted. Again, verse 12, he’s perfect in beauty. He’s the very ultimate in aesthetic beauty in terms of form, symmetry, beauty. So he’s not with a pitchfork, doesn’t have horns. He’s the very consummation of beauty. And that seems to fit with what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11 that we saw earlier, that he’s an angel of light or transforms himself into an angel of light.

Verses 13 and 14 describe his original position. “You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. Sardis and topaz and all of these crafted gold were your settings, engravings. On that day you were created, they were prepared. 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.” So he’s the highest of the created order. He’s the closest to God of all created beings. He’s in the presence of God on the holy mountain, walking on the stones of fire—that is something in the glorious presence of God. Verse 13, he’s in Eden; that’s where God walks. This is the region of ideal perfection and beauty; he was there.

Again, verse 13, you have all these precious stones. So you are like the priest wearing these stones of the high priest on your breastplate. Ezekiel himself was a priest. He’s likely saying that this one in heaven is what Aaron was on earth, wearing the breastplate with the various stones and so on. So he’s describing him here in verse 13 as heaven’s worship leader, leading in the worship of God. Again, you can see this seems to transcend anything of the king of Tyre. Verse 13 again, toward the end of the verse: “crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings.” He’s got the trappings of a king as well, not just a priest. He’s a priest-king sort of a figure.

He’s hovering over the mercy seat. Verse 14, he’s a cherub, the high-ranking angelic being who serves God in the heavenly temple. An anointed guardian cherub. You might remember in the Old Testament tabernacle engraved on the tapestry on the curtains, you have these cherubs that are hovering over the mercy seat and carved on the sides of the mercy seat, these cherubim hovering over to protect the Ark of the Covenant, as it were. So what that was on earth, he’s saying here, this figure was in heaven. The earthly tabernacle was patterned after the heavenly. We’re told that several times in the scriptures. And so the idea here is that what those cherubs were in the old tabernacle, this figure was in the temple of heaven. He’s the very highest of God’s creation, the very closest to God. This is not some ordinary angel. That would be great enough. But this is something like an angel par excellence—highest of them, superior to the others. He dwells on the mountain of God, leads in the worship until unrighteousness is found in him and he’s cast out.

Again, verse 14: “You were on the holy mountain of God in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.” That is, he was where God dwells. He walked where God walked. In that position he was the very highest created being and the very closest to God. Verse 15 then describes his character: “blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.” He’s without sin and perfect in all his ways until he wasn’t.

I think that tells us then something of the origin of Satan. He was holy, the highest of God’s creation, the closest to God. And then verse 17 here, his sin was one of pride. Just like the sin of the king of Tyre, only on a higher level now. “Satan, your heart was proud because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I exposed you before kings to feast their eyes on you.” So he had these delusions of grandeur. He was the greatest of the created beings, and so he thought he’s God. He wanted something better, and that wasn’t gonna work. Paul, I think, makes reference to this in 1 Timothy 3, verse six, where he speaks of the qualifications of an elder. He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. I think that could be a reference back to Ezekiel 28.

We have a similar passage to this and I think it does fit with it in Isaiah chapter 14. If you’d like to read along, Isaiah 14 verses seven and following, I’ll be back here to Ezekiel. But just quickly, Isaiah 14 beginning with verse seven: “The whole earth is at rest and quiet. They break forth into singing. The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon saying, ‘Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.’ Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come. It rouses the shades to greet you. All who were leaders of the earth, it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. All of them will answer and say to you, ‘You too have become as weak as we. You have become like us. Your pomp is brought down to Sheol. The sound of your harps, maggots are laid as a bed beneath you and worms are your covers.’ How you are fallen from heaven, O day star, sun of dawn. How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low. You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the mountain of assembly as in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.” I think that’s an echo of the same.

Back to Ezekiel 28, we have then a description of—well, we had a description of the king of Tyre’s trading. It’s the word that’s used for his own advantage. And now verse 16, I think it’s in reference to Satan, his trading in heaven, as it were: “in the abundance of your trade, you are filled with violence in your midst.” It seems to refer to his soliciting of other angels in his rebellion that might be alluded to in Revelation chapter 12, where it speaks of taking a third of the angels in his destruction. I think this is echoed then in places like Ephesians chapter 6, that the warfare that we are facing is not with flesh and blood—principalities and powers, these high orders of angelic beings that are in opposition to the work of God on earth. Satan’s army.

And then verses 16 to 19, we have his judgment. “By the multitude of your iniquities and the unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned your sanctuaries. So I brought fire out from your midst and consumed you. And I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.” So his judgment was passed and yet is still to come. All of that fits with what we find in the book of Revelation where Satan has been judged and then he will be judged at the return of Christ and burned in the lake of fire.

The Framework of the Bible Story

All right, then, all of that, I think, provides the backdrop to Genesis chapter three. We come to Genesis chapter three. Somewhere in the ancient past, prior to Genesis chapter three, prior to Genesis chapter one, Satan was created a holy being in the worship of God. Somewhere prior to chapter three, he rebels, he is judged, he’s rejected from his high position in his place in heaven. Now, he’s settled in opposition to God. Now, in that opposition, in Genesis chapter 3, he comes against God’s newly created image bearers, targets them in his attack in order to frustrate the purpose of God in creation. And that then, in a way, carries the whole Bible story. We will probably look at that in more detail at another time.

In Genesis 3:15—let’s go ahead and look at it now. Familiar verse; it should be familiar to you. Where God speaks in judgment to Satan: “I will put enmity between you and the woman.” Let’s back up verse 14: “Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go. You will eat dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.'”

God prophesies the ultimate defeat of Satan. Here we have then set up something of the framework of the Bible story where we have this opponent of God setting himself in opposition to God and his creatures to frustrate God’s purpose. As we will find out, of course, all he does is accomplish God’s purpose with God’s sovereign rule over him until finally we get to the Book of Revelation where he is finally destroyed forever and cast into the lake of fire. But here’s the beginning of it, of a big theme that carries us through the rest of the Bible.

All right, any questions on that? That was a lot. Yes, Paul.