September 5: Ezekiel 28-31

September 5, Ezekiel 28-31

Ezekiel continued…

Ezekiel 28 God gives Ezekiel a prophecy against Tyre. Their beauty and wealth have given them an insane amount of pride, so much so that they felt as though they were aspiring to be deity. God reminds them that they are not. God was going to bring Tyre to absolute devastation, and He did just that…

Ezekiel inserts in here a prophecy against Sidon, God is against them as well. Sidon is often mentioned beside Tyre, even up into the New Testament (Matthew 11, Luke 10).
At the end of the chapter, we get to see a glimmer of hope for Israel. God will give them peace and future restoration by executing judgements on Israel’s neighbors who treated them badly. Then God will restore Israel and the reason: they will know that the Lord is their God. 

Ezekiel 29 Egypt. Historical powerhouse. Wealthy. Idolatrous. Sinful. God has Ezekiel prophesy against them. God likens them to a dragon (remember Tyre was likened to a ship…) that God will hook in the mouth and cast out. When God overthrows all of Egypt, they too will know that He is God. Never again will Egypt be the powerhouse that it was. They will become small & insignificant. Even more so, “And it shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.” No more will Israel rely on them. The hope is that they will learn to rely solely on God. 

God’s Word came to Ezekiel again. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made his army ready to go hard against Tyre. God used Babylon to fulfill many of His judgment prophecies & gave them land as payment for their hard work. 

Ezekiel 30 is a separate but continual prophecy against Egypt and now their neighbors as well. They will all fall by the sword, directed by God. God confirmed that Egypt would fall by the hand of Babylon and all of their idols would be destroyed. 

“Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt.

    Then they will know that I am the Lord.” 

When God says this - we know He is for real. History has proven it as well. God’s Word rings true. God metaphorically broke the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Then God metaphorically strengthened the arms of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon to destroy them. 

Ezekiel 31 is the prophecy that the Pharaoh will be slain. Egypt thought they were untouchable and the best of the best. God makes things beautiful and man often takes the credit for it. Egypt had a lot of pride and often pride comes before the fall, as is true in the case of Egypt. Egypt was about to become a desolate wasteland - not so beautiful. They will be bought down to nothing, by God.

To sum it all up: 

• Money has a way of changing some people, ever notice that? Wealth is a funny thing. We need money to survive, but as soon as money defines us, we are in danger of becoming like Tyre - thinking that we are self-sufficient and almost god-like. We are not our own saviors. There is only one Savior, & that is Jesus Christ. We are unable to save ourselves!