Ezekiel 26-32
PROVERBS 24:17-18 NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (NASB)
DO NOT REJOICE WHEN YOUR ENEMY FALLS, AND DO NOT LET YOUR HEART BE GLAD WHEN HE STUMBLES; OR THE LORD WILL SEE IT AND BE DISPLEASED, AND TURN HIS ANGER AWAY FROM HIM.
Heavenly Father. We come before you today acknowledging that you are in complete control. Every “act of nature” and every “act of mankind” is orchestrated by you for your glory and your kingdom. Every breath we take is either an opportunity or a missed opportunity to bring you praise and glory. In your infinite ways, you have rescued us from the pit of hell.
You have given us every opportunity to love and to be loved, to feel the joy and warmth of kindness and to be kind, to be a blessing to others and to be blessed. Without the opportunity to have life, we would never know what it would be like to know what true love is. You have given us free will to explore who we are and where our allegiance lies. Each day we have a choice. Do we choose to serve you, or do we choose to serve the god of this world? As Joshua said, as for me and my house I will serve The Lord.
We thank you today and ask you to speak to us and reveal your will to us. In your mighty name we pray. Amen.
Let me first start by saying that there will come a day that those who seek to destroy the Christian church will be held accountable for it. Those who seek to destroy from the outside and from within, will be dealt with by the Hand of God (Psalm 101:5)
As we continue our study in Ezekiel, let us not forget that God has begun to enact his fury and vengeance upon Jerusalem for their wickedness and their idolatrous ways. In the follow chapters, we see the nations around Judah being to show their true colors and begin to mock Jerusalem and plot to take advantage of them. God has shut the mouth of Ezekiel to Judah until an escapee from the siege in Jerusalem shows up. These are prophecies that God is speaking against the Gentile nations that knew of God, but refused to turn to Him or encourage Judah to repent of their wicked ways.
THEY WILL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD. This is a statement that is said multiple times during these prophecies. WHEN SOMETHING IS REPEATED, IT IS DONE SO TO BRING AN EMPHASIS TO IT.
Ammon
1. current day Jordan area
2. Descendants of Lot incestuous relationship with his youngest daughter
3. They gloated over the Babylonians profaning the Temple in its destruction.
4. They gloated over the Babylonians ravaging the land of Israel.
5. They gloated over the House of Judah when it went into exile.
Moab
1. current day Jordan area
2. Descendants of Lot incestuous relationship with his oldest daughter
3. Mocked Judah and claimed that they were no different than other nations, which basically claimed that there was nothing special about their God and he was no more powerful than any other god.
Edom
1. Current day Jordan area
2. Descendants of Esau, twin brother of Jacob, who later became Israel
3. Supported Babylon in destroying Jerusalem
4. Took vengeance on Judah, so God would enact vengeance on them
Philistia
1. Parts of current day Israel
2. Nomadic people possibly from Crete
3. Continual hatred of Israel
a. “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt’” (Exodus 13:17).
Tyre
1. Current day Lebanon area
2. Originally, they were trade partners with Israel / Judah, but after Jerusalem was attacked by the Babylonians, they started to plot how they could benefit from this.
3. Tyre was originally trade partners with many nations, but God caused those many nations to come against Tyre and destroy them.
4. Leader claimed tgo be divine, have divine authority, and divine ingtelligence.
5. Ezekiel 28:12-- The king of Tyre suddenly becomes Satan, or Lucifer.
a. He is described as the seal of perfection.
b. Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
c. As having been the Eden the garden of God.
d. Covered with precious gems.
e. A ruling cherub.
f. Having been in the holy mountain of God.
g. He is to be cast out of the mountain of God and destroyed.
h. Isaiah 14 tells us of the sin that caused him to be brought down. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the Most High."
Sidon
1. Current day Lebanon area
2. First born of Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah
3. Teamed with Tyre
4. Destroyed by pestilence
Egypt
1. Israel leaned on Egypt (a broken reed), and Egypt was destroyed because it was unreliable and untrustworthy. Egypt is symbolic of the world and being without God. Leaning on the world is unreliable and untrustworthy.
a. Egypt was used as a crutch when Jerusalem was being attacked, but it was a faulty crutch.
i. People
ii. Alcohol
iii. Drugs
iv. Religion
In Ezekiel 32:17-31 we see the final destination place for those who mock the followers of the God of Israel, the leaders, those who turn their backs on Him, those who reject Him, those who build up their own kingdoms at the expense of the Kingdom of God or while neglecting the Kingdom of God. In all of this, remember that God promised to bless the nations that blessed Israel and to curse nations that cursed Israel (Genesis 12:3).
Ezekiel 32:32 (KJV)-- “For I have caused My terror in the land of the living;
The nations that surrounded Jerusalem chose to attack them in multiple ways, and even mocked them for being the chosen ones and then being destroyed by God. God reenacted his vengeance upon these gentile nations to let them know that “I AM THE LORD.”
PROVERBS 24:17-18 NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (NASB)
DO NOT REJOICE WHEN YOUR ENEMY FALLS, AND DO NOT LET YOUR HEART BE GLAD WHEN HE STUMBLES; OR THE LORD WILL SEE IT AND BE DISPLEASED, AND TURN HIS ANGER AWAY FROM HIM.
Mocking believers and rejoicing when someone else fails are traits of satan and will eventually be byproduct of where their heart truly is and the result could cause a person to spend eternity in hell. These are not traits that a true Christian would have.
Charles G. Finney, a preacher in the 1800s, wrote about the effects of mocking God: "To mock God is to pretend to love and serve him when we do not; to act in a false manner, to be insincere and hypocritical in our professions, pretending to obey him, love, serve, and worship him, when we do not. . . . Mocking God grieves the Holy Spirit, and sears the conscience; and thus the bands of sin become stronger and stronger. The heart becomes gradually hardened by such a process."
Ezekiel 32:32
