Stemming The Tide-2 Series

STEMMING THE TIDE-II—Ezekiel 22:23-31

Intervention/Confrontation/Stand against

Standing in the Gap

Attention:

The concise story behind the book & movie ‘300’(From Wikipedia)

The Battle of Thermopylae; was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta. These fought the imperialistic Persian Empire of Xerxes-I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece.

The battle took place in ~Aug.-Sep. 480 BC, at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae(~25 mi. N. of Dephi & ~60 mi. NNW of Corinth).

Xerxes had amassed a huge army & navy, & set out to conquer all of Greece. The Athenian(Greek) general had proposed that the allied Greeks block the advance of the Persian army at the coastal-mountain pass of Thermopylae, & simultaneously block the Persian navy at the Straits of Artemisium.

Around 7,000 Greek troops marched north to block the pass. The Persian army, could have numbered over one million, but may have been between about 100,000 & 150,000.

First Day:

Xerxes moved to attack the Greeks. He ordered five thousand archers to fire a barrage of arrows, but they were ineffective; they fired from at least 100 yards away, but the Greeks' bronze shields & helmets deflected the missiles.

The Persians then launched a frontal assault, in waves of around 10,000 men each. The Greeks fought in front of the narrowest part of the pass, which enabled them to use as few soldiers as possible. The Greek units were rotated in & out of the battle to prevent fatigue. The Greeks killed so many Medes that Xerxes is said to have stood up three times from the seat from which he was watching the battle. Xerxes’ first wave was "cut to ribbons", with only two or three Spartans killed in return.

Second Day:

Xerxes sent in the infantry to attack the pass, supposing that the Greeks had been disabled & could not resist long. Again, the Persians were thwarted with no more success than the first day. Xerxes having been met with steadfast resistance, stopped his assault & withdrew to his camp, "totally perplexed.”

That day, however, a Greek--Ephialtes--informed Xerxes of a mountain path around & paralleling the coastal road where the Greeks were located. Ephialtes offered to guide the Persian army there being motivated by a reward. For this act of treason, the name of Ephialtes has received a lasting stigma, his name coming to mean "nightmare" & his becoming the archetypal traitor in Greek culture much like Judas Iscariot is among Christians.

Third Day:

“At daybreak on the third day,” the Persians acted on a plan to encircle “the main Greek force.” King “Leonidas called a council of war at dawn.” “Some of the Greeks argued for withdrawal, but Leonidas resolved to stay at the pass with the Spartans.”

The Greeks were defeated & Thermopylae was thus opened to the Persian army, at the cost of ~20,000 Persian fatalities. Leonidas’ rearguard, was totally annihilated, with a total loss of some 2,000 men during all three days of battle.

Why did they fight the innumerable Persians?...Because they were defending their territory.

Together they sought to stem the tide of the Persian advance.

Today, the right thing to do is for the Church to stem the tide of sin! And all that is needed is one faithful & courageous person!

To ‘Stem’--“To hold back,”, from a Scandinavian source, such as Old Norse stemma “To stop, dam up; be stopped, abate,” from a Proto-Germanic root meaning “To strike against something.”...A source also of, German stemmen “Stop, resist, oppose.”

The Phrase—“To stem the tide” is literally, “To hold back the tide,” but often is confused with another use of “stem”—“To make headway against.”...

To ‘Stem’--“To make headway by sailing, head in a certain course,”—literally--“To push the stem through," from stem, here the ‘post’ at the prow of a ship.

Need:

To be individual & thereby corporate world changers.

YaHWeH(the LORD) sought for a man who would be willing to stand for Him in the midst of apostasy.

YaHWeH is looking for a person to stem/thwart/impede/obstruct the rampant onslaught of sin.

He is looking for a person to stem the tide of sin.

But Who will do that?...Who will stand for the Lord against sin?

We are looking at & calling out People who stem the tide of sin.

We had previously found that A person who stems the tide of sin, Addresses spiritual...

1. CLEANSING-CLEANLINESS(:23-24)

2—A person who stems the tide of sin, Addresses spiritual...

TREASON(:25)

Explanation:(:25)

:25—“The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured people; they have taken treasure & precious things; they have made many widows in her midst.”

Treason—A)“the crime of betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government”; B)“The action of betraying someone or something.”