Unlocking the Heavens: Release the Supernatural Power of Your Worship (9 page)

Here is the entire passage about the fallen angelic being known for the prophet’s purposes as the king of Tyre:

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; 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. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. 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. 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, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more forever’”
(Ezekiel 28:11-19).

In interpreting this passage, people often refer to Isaiah 14:12 for its portrayal of the heavenly rebellion and fall of a powerful angel:

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!

I believe that the king of Tyre, Satan, must have energized the earthly ruler known as the prince of Tyre, using him to accomplish Satan’s own evil purposes. This also occurred elsewhere in the scriptural accounts, such as in the book of Daniel and in the Revelation of John, where the Antichrist, who is an earthly ruler, is energized by Satan to accomplish his wicked agenda during the end-times tribulation. Other places in the Bible tell how Satan tries to control the leaders of nations. One, in First Chronicles 21, deals with Satan as he inspired David to take a census, after which David repented. Later, there is the account of Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. In the latter example, Satan clearly “tips his hand” regarding his agenda of maintaining earthly control:

Then the devil led Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all their splendor. The devil said, “If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.” Jesus said to the devil, “Go away from me, Satan! It is written in the Scriptures, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him’”
(Matthew 4:8-10 NCV).

SATAN’S ORIGINAL ROLE

Satan, also known as Lucifer, began as an obedient angel, but he rebelled against God and led an attempt to steal God’s throne. Before he rebelled, his coverings were jewel-studded and glorious to behold: “Every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold” (Ezekiel 28:13). These are the same jewels found on the breastplate of the high priest of the people of Israel (see Exodus 28:17-20), which speaks of Lucifer’s special priestly authority.

According to Ezekiel 28:13 and Isaiah 14:11, the angel Lucifer also had special musical abilities. Various translations mention a range of instruments—timbrels, pipes, viols, harps, lyres, and stringed instruments. In essence, Lucifer functioned as a heavenly worship leader. (With all of the world’s perverted music and lyrics, one must wonder if Satan is still playing music in his rebellious state. Could the world’s music be emulating the wicked sound from the fallen angel?)

The next verse is the one about the anointed cherub, and it goes on to provide an important clue as to the identity and function of this powerful personage: “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created…” (Ezekiel 28:14-15). The clause “who covers” indicates a heavenly being with a specific assignment of authority over something. The question becomes “What does he control?” The answer is found in several passages. To find the answer, we can refer back to the same two verses of Ezekiel, where we read that he was in the Garden of Eden and also upon the holy mountain of God, neither of which means Heaven. It seems that Isaiah 14:12 confirms the conclusion that he was positioned on earth and that he had authority over the earth.

The next few verses provide more of the story about Satan’s rebellion and fall from authority:

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 mount of assembly in the far 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 depths of the Pit
(Isaiah 14:13-15 RSV).

If Lucifer were already in Heaven, why would he need to
ascend
to get
above the heights of the clouds
? The clouds are part of earth’s atmosphere. The implication is that Satan was an angel who was assigned at one time authority over the earth. Evidently, he tried to lead a rebellion to overthrow God, and a large contingent of the angels joined him in the mutiny. Here is how his fall is pictured in the book of Revelation: “The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is 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” (Revelation 12:9 NRSV).

WHAT SATAN KNOWS ABOUT WORSHIP

So we see that Lucifer was no ordinary angel. He was an angelic creature of unusual beauty with a powerful gift for leading worship. He was persuasive; many lesser angels followed him. He
covered the earth
in his authority—before his rebellion.

Now we can see why Satan fights the worship of believers as he does! With his history of a firsthand experience of the effect of worship upon God and the angels, but also with his fury at losing his position of authority over the earth because of his great rebellion, he was further enraged at God’s reassignment of dominion over the earth to the human race He had created. For all intents and purposes, human beings—the ones who are believers—have become Satan’s replacement. When people were newly created, they were given dominion over the earth (see Genesis 1:28). That dominion was lost almost immediately through their rebellion, then regained by the sacrifice of the Son of God Jesus Christ. Now, through their vocal chords, hands, fingers, and feet, human believers represent the Father on earth, and they have the ability to produce music and express worship to Him.

Do you see why the enemy interferes with the affairs of nations, sets people against each other, and instigates conflicts even within the Church, and why he tries to interfere with true worship wherever possible? Satan’s former authority was associated with his worship abilities; so, no wonder he tries to corrupt true worship in any way possible.

No wonder, also, that one of our greatest warfare tools is the weapon of worship. Nothing moves the heavens like worship! Satan knows this without a doubt because he has seen the effect of worship upon the heavens and the Godhead. He does not want the Body of Christ to discover something so powerful about worship.

To pervert worship, Satan constantly attempts to draw men away from
true worship
to false worship, the worship of idols and other gods. Because human beings were created to worship, people will always worship
something!
It might be beauty or wealth or some definition of success, a husband or a wife or other special person, or the traditions of an institution. People can’t help worshipping something because worship was built into them from the very beginning.

Satan fights day and night to keep people from discovering the power of worship because he knows that true worship is the pathway to God-ordained dominion for the Christian Church and its individual members.

Now that we are aware of Satan’s strategies we can better resist his ploys with true worship, one of our strongest weapons in triumphing over him.

Chapter 9

BETRAYED BY A KISS

And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him
(M
ATTHEW
26:47-50 KJV)
.

I
n Chapter 6, I introduced the Hebrew word for worship,
shachah
, which means “to bow down or prostrate oneself.” In association with the story of the worship of the golden calf, I also presented the word
proskuneo
, which is used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), and which means “to kiss like a dog licking a man’s hand.” It has been surmised that Aaron had erected the golden calf and the Israelites were worshipping it in this manner, by bowing down and possibly kissing it on the mouth, because they had learned it in Egypt, as it is known that ancient Egyptians worshipped an agricultural deity in this way.

Needless to say, a kiss is a very intimate, personal action. It can be entirely positive or an expression of corrupted motives. This is why, when the disciple Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, his action seems much worse than it already was. In appearance, Judas was showing honor to his Lord (as a person might do in worship). In reality, he was handing Him over for death.

Judas, thinking that Jesus would be hard to find and that the disciples who were with Him would put up a fight, had brought a band of soldiers, armed and carrying lanterns, to arrest Him. Judas failed to understand so much about the Lord. The fact is a kiss was not even necessary, because Jesus clearly told the soldiers who He was:

So Judas, procuring a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that was to befall him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he”
(John 18:3-5 RSV).

Hail, master
was a usual compliment among the Jews. Judas pretended to wish the Lord Jesus continued health while he was aiming for His destruction! It makes me think of other stories in the Word about compliments of this kind—Joab, for instance. Joab pretended by a kiss to inquire tenderly after the health of Amasa, but then he thrust him through with his sword (see 2 Samuel 20:9-10). Such insidious kisses are tantamount to false worship, and the rewards are never good.

“JUDAS” = “PRAISE”

The meaning of the name
Judas
is “thanked, admired, praised”—in a word, praise. Another way of thinking of it is that Judas’ very name essentially means “worship.” Somehow, he chose to use a distinctly worshipful action as a signal for betrayal. His kiss was corrupt, a weapon of destruction. In that day it was customary for disciples to kiss their teacher upon meeting him; their kiss was a sign of respect and honor. However, Judas’ kiss of betrayal was a sign of
dis
respect and
dis
honor. To make matters worse, the Greek verb indicates that Judas kissed Jesus repeatedly, not only once, but multiple times. As it turned out, Judas fulfilled the words of Isaiah, which he must have heard Jesus quote: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Matthew 15:8-9 RSV).

Earlier, Judas had scorned the worshipful kisses of others. Do you remember how Mary of Bethany lavished her affection and honor upon Jesus?

Six days before the Passover Feast, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus lived
. (Lazarus is the man Jesus raised from the dead.)
There they had a dinner for Jesus. Martha served the food, and Lazarus was one of the people eating with Jesus. Mary brought in a pint of very expensive perfume made from pure nard. She poured the perfume on Jesus’ feet, and then she wiped his feet with her hair. And the sweet smell from the perfume filled the whole house. Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ followers who would later turn against him, was there. Judas said, “This perfume was worth an entire year’s wages. Why wasn’t it sold and the money given to the poor?” But Judas did not really care about the poor; he said this because he was a thief. He was the one who kept the money box, and he often stole from it
(John 12:1-6 NCV).

In an act of pure love and worship on her part, Mary used a large amount of very costly ointment to anoint Jesus’ feet. It would have required a year’s wages from a common laborer to purchase the ointment. Like King David, Mary had determined not to give the Lord that which cost her nothing (see 2 Samuel 24:24). This act of worship infiltrated the atmosphere of the house with its powerful fragrance and became a story that has been spread around the world (see Matthew 26:13). Yet who opened his mouth to publicly criticize this beautiful act of worship, which the Lord Himself was commending? Judas.

MERCHANDISING THE ANOINTING

While John recorded the earliest utterance by Judas in the New Testament (quoted in John 12), Matthew recorded his final words: “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4 NRSV). Both passages make it clear that Judas was a thief and was in the habit of stealing money from the common purse, which had been entrusted to him. I find it interesting that the Greek word for bag or box (found in John 12:6) is
glossokomon
, which originally meant a small case in which mouthpieces for wind instruments were kept. For me, this is a profound connection. Usually the only person who would have carried that kind of bag was a musician. Possibly at one time Judas had been a player of wind instruments, and possibly Jesus chose him for his worship ability. As stated before, Judas’ name means praise, and here now we see that he was reported to keep the group’s money in a musician’s “gig bag.”