THE SECOND ABODE: THE MINERAL GARDEN OF EDEN
It is known from Job 38:4-7 that all of the angelic beings were already created prior to the creation of the heavens and the earth. Satan was created and dwelling in his first abode at the Throne of God and, chronologically speaking, after an unknown duration of time comes God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1. When God created the heavens and the earth, He gave different portions of the universe to the authority of certain angelic beings. When God created this particular planet, He gave authority over this planet to Satan, and it served as his second abode.
This is described in Ezekiel 28:13a: You were in Eden, the garden of God. The Eden of Ezekiel 28 is not the same Eden of Genesis 2-3. The Eden of Genesis 2-3is a vegetable garden, but the Eden of verse 13a is a mineral garden. Verse 13b describes how this planet looked when it was originally created. There were no oceans or seas. It was a beautiful mineral garden covered by the precious stones listed in verse 13b. Satan walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire according to verse 14. For that reason, Satan's second abode can be called the “Mineral Garden of Eden” as over against the “Vegetable Garden of Eden” of Genesis.
It was during his second abode that Satan's fall occurred according to Ezekiel 28:16-17: By the abundance of your traffic they filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore have I cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings, that they may behold you. As the prince of Tyre would do centuries later, the king of Tyre did centuries earlier. He began to meditate in a wrong manner upon his beauty, his wisdom, his power, and his authority. Rather than remaining in humble submission to God who gave him all these things by pure grace, pride welled up within him, and this pride led to his fall. The problem was clearly stated as pride in verse 17a: Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness.
Paul warned strongly against placing a new believer in a position of authority in a local church in I Timothy 3:6. Among the qualifications Paul writes about is the statement: not a novice, lest being puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the devil. A novice or new believer must never be placed in the position of authority in the local church, because by virtue of being a new believer, he is automatically in a state of spiritual immaturity. It takes time to mature spiritually just as it takes time to mature physically. If a new believer is placed in a position of authority before he is mature enough, this might well him up with pride, and he will fall into the same sin as Satan. The first sinner ever was Satan, and the first sin ever was the sin of pride.
The content of Satan's pride was his declaration of five “I wills” found in Isaiah 14:12-14: How are you fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground, that did lay low the nations! And you said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. When Satan was welled up with pride, this pride led to the declaration of these five “I wills.” Each I will has a specific significance.
First, I will ascend into heaven. He was not satisfied with the very high position that had already been given him as the guardian of God's Throne and authority over the Mineral Garden of Eden. He desired the higher position, a higher estate than he already had. There was no higher position than God's own Throne. With the first I will, he declared a desire to usurp God's own authority. Instead of being the one overshadowing the Throne, he now wished to become the throne sitter.
Secondly, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. Whenever the word stars is used symbolically, it is always a symbol of angels with one possible exception. With the second I will, Satan declared his desire to become the sole authority over all the angels that God had created. By so doing, he intended to depose Michael from his position and become the Archangel all by himself.
Thirdly, I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north. These are expressions used elsewhere by the prophets in describing the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom. Satan knew quite well that God's program for the Jewish people is for the Messiah to rule over the nation of Israel during the Kingdom. The third I will declared his desire to make himself the Messianic ruler over Israel.
Fourthly, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. Whenever the word “cloud” is used symbolically, it is always a symbol of God's glory, that unique glory called the Shechinah Glory. It is a glory that belongs to God alone and something that Satan desired all for himself.
And fifth, I will make myself like the Most High. According to Genesis 14:18-20, whenever God is referred to as the Most High, it emphasizes God as the possessor of the heavens and the earth. With this fifth I will, Satan declared his desire to become the sole possessor of all that God created in Genesis 1:1.
These five I wills resulted from Satan's pride and caused him to lead a revolt against God's authority in which he was followed by one third of the entire angelic host (Rev 12:3-4). In this way, the day-star, son of the morning, became Satan, the adversary. At that point, judgment came upon him.
Both the corruption of his person and his deeds are described in Ezekiel 28:16-19. Verse 16 states: By the abundance of your traffic they filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore have I cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Verse 16a spells out the content of his wrongdoings: By the abundance of your traffic. For the king of Tyre, Satan, this figure meant going from angel to angel slandering God in order to win their allegiance. The corruption of his being led to his wrong deed, lying about God. In this way, Satan became the father of lies (Jn 8:44).
Verse 16b describes the twofold judgment of Satan. First, therefore have I cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; he lost the high position as the guardian of God's Throne. Secondly: I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. The word destroyed does not mean “destroyed in his being,” but “destroyed in his position.
Verse 17 states: Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings, that they may behold you. Verse 17b decrees the punishment of the king of Tyre: I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings that they may behold you.
Verse 18 states: By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your traffic, you have profaned your sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of you; it has devoured you, and I have turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold you. Verse 18a further reveals his sinful deeds. First: By the multitude of your iniquities. The word iniquities refers to his internal corruption. Secondly: in the unrighteousness of your traffic. The corruption of his character led to deeds of corruption, and he, in turn, corrupted other angels by slandering God. Thirdly: you have profaned your sanctuaries. Because Satan sinned while he was still in Heaven, he brought corruption to Heaven. This necessitated cleansing by the blood of the Messiah (Heb 9:23-26). Furthermore, three things come by way of punishment in verse 18b. First, therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of you. Secondly, it has devoured you. And thirdly, I have turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold you.
And verse 19 states: All they that know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you: you are become a terror, and you shall nevermore have any being. Verse 19 gives three results. First: All they that know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you. The angels and those among humanity that followed him will be astonished at his demise. Secondly: you are become a terror. Thirdly: you shall nevermore have any being. Although Satan is an eternal being, he will no longer exist on this earth and he will no longer be active. In that sense, he will no longer have any being.
When God judged Satan, He also judged everything that was under Satan's authority , which meant judgment on the original earth. The conditions of Genesis 1:2 came into being as a result of this judgment. Although it was not originally created that way, the earth became waste and void (Is 45:18). The beautiful mineral garden that the planet once was became totally covered by oceans. Some time after this judgment came the six days of creation recorded in Genesis 1. It is quite clear that Genesis 1:2 describes a state of chaos. The issue comes down to this question: Did God create it in a chaotic state and then bring order to it, or did it become chaotic? It is hard to believe that God created chaos because, when God creates something, He creates it perfect. The author believes it became chaotic because of Satan's fall. Therefore, he does not believe that Genesis 1:2 describes an original chaotic creation. Furthermore, a certain Hebrew expression, tohu vavohu, is used which, when used elsewhere throughout the Hebrew Old Testament, spells the concept of divine judgment. Even water on a global scale is a picture of a worldwide, divine judgment. Therefore, a gap of time needs to seen between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.
It is evident, then, that this author places the fall of Satan between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. This position is often referred to as the “gap theory.” But many people who hold to this theory do so merely for “dinosaur space.” They attempt to fit the fossil and geological ages into the gap and are forced to make the gap millions, if not billions, of years long. Many have put a gap there only to adapt their interpretation of Scripture to certain scientific theories, making it a convenient place to put the geological ages and the fossil record. Doing this to accommodate certain scientific theories is totally unnecessary. This is not the position of the author at all since, scripturally, it would be impossible for death to exist before the Fall of man (Rom 5:12). There is a gap of time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 only for the Fall of Satan, and this need not be a very long period of time at all.
On the sixth day of creation, God created man and gave him authority over the planet. But when man fell, Satan usurped authority over the earth, setting the stage for his activities in this third abode.
Dr Fruchtenbaum
http://www.ariel.org/mbsnit.htm
The Six Abodes of Satan