I particularly enjoy the Lessons that give me the leisure of discussing a few verses, rather than many! Although I delight in the “chapter surveys” as well. And since Ezekiel preaches a total of seven sermons against Egypt, we’re going to slow down a bit and notice the second of that series.

Ezekiel 29:17-21 … ¹⁷ And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ¹⁸ Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled (made raw): yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it: ¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. ²⁰ I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD. ²¹ In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Lots of Truth in just a few words!

Notice this first. The date of the message … “the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month …”

Now here’s the date of his last message, the previous 16 verses of our chapter: “In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me …”

Over 16 years later!

Our Text today versus the Material we studied yesterday!

Why does the Holy Spirit “link” so closely two sermons that were preached that far apart? The only answer I can give is this: their subject material! The downfall of Egypt! Which certainly means at least this, God gave that Nation plenty of warning before judgment came!

Wow!

Next we see that Nebuchadnezzar, whose army attacked and decimated Egypt, is merely a “servant” of the Lord! He (if you remember) had already sacked and pretty much destroyed Phoenicia (Tyre and Sidon) … yet he did not “receive” enough pay (loot) for His service to the Lord!

So … God throws Egypt in for “boot!”

God speaking: “Son of man (Ezekiel), Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he (Nebuchadnezzar) no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus (Tyre in Phoenicia), for the service that he had served against it. ¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon (God giving nations); and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. ²⁰ I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour (reward) wherewith he served against it, because they (the Babylonian army) wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.” Verses 18-20

God DOES have his Hand in world politics!

“Paying” nations for services rendered!

In Isaiah 45:1 God calls another gentile King, Cyrus of Persia, His “anointed!”

Wow again!

But Ezekiel can’t close this sermon (or God can’t, really) without enclosing a word of GRACE for Israel, though she is sinning prolifically at the moment! (Repentance is in her future.)

Verse 21, chapter’s end: “In that day (yet future, maybe all the way to Armageddon) will I (the Lord) cause the horn (power) of the house of Israel to bud forth (sprout, grow), and I will give thee (Ezekiel) the opening of the mouth in the midst of them (finally listening to the Prophet); and they shall know that I am the LORD (be saved).

What a wonderful God we serve!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Now you see why I couldn’t omit this little sermon!

Please permit me one more … Wow!

 

Ezekiel now shifts his emphasis from Tyre and Zion, Phoenician Cities (who were destroyed by king Nebuchadnezzar because of their sins) to the vast land of Egypt. One of the two world powers of the Prophet’s day, the other being Babylon.

Ezekiel actually gives seven sermons against Egypt, seven!

The first includes Ezekiel chapter 29, verses 1-16. And it is FULL of interesting material. (The Bible is such an amazing Book, folks!)

But what has Pharaoh, supreme leader in Egypt, done? To so provoke God’s Wrath against him and his people? At least two specific sins are listed, best I can tell.

“Speak (Ezekiel), and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.” Verse 3 of Ezekiel 29. God here compares Pharaoh to a great “dragon!” The word (“tanniyn”) means “sea monster, whale, serpent,” at least these are the ways it is translated in our King James Bibles. Plus the 21 times it is rendered “dragon.” (No doubt a “type” of the devil, satan!)

But watch what the King has said, speaking of the Nile River, the very lifeline of Egypt: “My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.” Virtually he’s claiming to be God, to be the Creator! To be owner of the Land!

It’s the despicable (in God’s Eyes especially) sin of PRIDE again!

But look what God is going to do to this smart-aleck “Crocodile” … “But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.” Wow, God has gone “fishing!” The “fish” dying everywhere represent the many inhabitants of Egypt.

The immediately another “charge” is brought from God, lodged against Egypt. They had “lied” to Israel, to Judah! The word picture is thus: Israel had “relied” on Egypt, as an ally and for protection. (Something God did not want her to do! God wanted His people to rely on Him, Him alone!)

But Egypt had proved an unreliable ally! A walking stick which broke as soon as Israel put her weight against it! Here’s the text: “And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed (that “cane,” that “walking stick”) to the house of Israel. When they (Israel) took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break (became unfaithful, did not keep her commitment), and rend all their shoulder (broke Israel’s shoulder): and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins (body parts) to be at a stand (to shake). Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.” Verses 6-8.

Israel should NOT have been leaning on Egypt. But Egypt will nonetheless be judged for her lies and unfaithfulness and the breaking of a treaty, a pact!

So… soon God brought Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon against Egypt and made … “the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene (north) even unto the border of Ethiopia (south). No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.” Verses 10-12, judgment for sure!

Then just this, concluding Ezekiel’s message, sermon: “Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; at the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered: and I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.” Verses 13-15 of our chapter. In other words, Egypt will never again be a major world power! That verb “diminish” literally means “to make small.” (Nebuchadnezzar ruled over Egypt with an iron hand for forty years! So say the history books, too!)

Then emaciated Egypt … “It shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel!” God alone will some day be her Confidence!

Oh, folks, how god longs for our loyalty, trust, love!

And He is worthy to receive them all!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

We have seen God ruling the nations today. “I (the Lord) said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn (your own power). Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” Psalm 75:5-7, it’s the truth!

 

How many chapters have now been devoted to the “destruction” of the land of the Phoenicians? I mean in the Book of Ezekiel alone! Three,  chapters 26 through 28, a total of 83 verses! For such a small “nation,” those are amazing numbers!

Granted, Ezekiel also gives Egypt a pretty good whacking! Russia as well, but they are both giants!

The only explanation I have for such an apparent “imbalance” is that Phoenicia (her main city anyway, “Tyre”) was such a proud, boastful land (also a “type” of the devil himself in a number of ways) that God “targeted” her for such destruction! And a lot of Bible “ink” describing her downfall, too!

All that to say this: Ezekiel chapter 28 ends with one more “swipe” at that ungodly (wicked) land. Not “godless” mind you, they being very polytheistic.

Read with me Ezekiel 28:20-26. With this in mind, “Zidon” is simply another stronghold in Phoenicia! A sister city to Tyre. Here is some true Prophetic denouncement (preaching), railing against sin and its consequences.

“Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD. And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.”

Wow!

Here’s judgment on the wicked, yet surprisingly … Grace on the people of Israel!

Note this sermon is both negative and positive. “Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it, and say ….” Can’t get any more “negative” than that!

But by passage’s end: “Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they (Israel) dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.” Favor for Israel, a repentant Israel I might add. That’s a “positive” truth!

And every time I real a line like this, from the mouth of God, verse 22: “Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon” … I am immediately reminded of our position in Christ Jesus our Lord: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) Wow!

What does God have planned for (sinful) Zidon? By the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. “For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side.” Sounds severe. And this is exactly what happened not many years later. When written, it was “prophecy.” As we read it, it’s “history!”

And then this whole “long sermon” (again Ezekiel chapters 26-28) ends with God’s Grace mercifully falling on the people of Jacob! God calling them back from many lands of dispersion … “Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence … and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.”  Verses 25 and 26,with one clause missing, on purpose.

Grace!

That’s our God!

Oh, that missing clause?

The very “reason” these 3 chapters against Phoenicia were written in the first place. “They (the Jews) shall dwell with confidence (security), when I (the Lord) have executed (made) judgments upon all those that DESPISE (treat with contempt) them round about them.”

Tyre, Zidon, their whole nation, brought down … because they “hated” Israel!

That’s called the “sin” of Anti-Semitism, folks!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

In the middle of Ezekiel chapter 28, something happens!

The Prophet (I believe) ceases describing a normal human being (the whole context deals with judgment on Gentile world leaders) … and begins giving information on an amazing creature!

One who sounds, assuredly, like the Devil!

Let’s examine verses 11-19 for a few minutes.

¹¹ Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ¹² Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. ¹³ Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. ¹⁴ Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. ¹⁵ Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. ¹⁶ By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. ¹⁷ Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. ¹⁸ Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. ¹⁹ All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

Wow!

First, note that the 11th verse indicates a new paragraph. A “new” message from the Lord, or at least a distinct break from the last few paragraphs! “Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying …”

Then in verse 12 note a new “addressee” for the message. No longer the “prince” of Tyre (Tyrus) as back in verse 2 … but now the “King” of Tyre (Tyrus). This could be very significant!

But there’s more. Verse 12 continues with an evaluation, from God: “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.” What a list of traits, nearly saying this entity is God’s “perfect” work!

Verse 13 is (nearly) conclusive: “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.” This is Satan, well … “Lucifer!” Dressed royally, expensively! And he has been in “Eden!” (Remember the temptation of Eve and Adam?) And yet, he is a “creature!” Not a creator! Unless he is the creator of evil!

Yet more … “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I (God) have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God (God’s Very Abode); thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created.” He’s an angel, a member of the exclusive “Cherub” order! That verb “covereth” (in Hebrew “sakak”) means “to defend, screen, hedge in,” sort of like a “bodyguard!”

What a majestic creature, what an angel, maybe the ARCH-angel indeed! Top-most!

Until … verse 15 … “Till iniquity was found in thee.”

Wow!

Folks, this well may be a description of the first sin ever committed!

Sin, “evel,” from a root verb meaning “to deviate.” (Straying from Almighty God’s Commands, His Perfect Ways, His Clear Will!)

Verse 16 again, an indictment: “Thou hast sinned.” With “chata” here meaning “to deliberately miss God’s Way!” To miss the mark, “to loose out!”

And the motive? Personal gain! In our beautiful, quaint King James Version: “By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence.” Sounds to me like the real princes of Tyre followed their leader well, followed Satan! Greedy, vain, controlling, lustful, covetous! (This line probably corresponds to the Devil’s five “I will” statements given in Isaiah 14.)

More, from Ezekiel, from God really: “Thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.” Verses 16-17, God “kicking” the Devil out of Heaven! He no longer permanently dwells there, to this day!

The heart of his sin … “PRIDE!” Again … “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.”

Eventually to be “destroyed!”

Humiliated in public!

Now we look into the future and see the Devil’s “end,” depicted more fully in revelation chapter 20. “Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.” Verses 18-19, “fire,” sounds like Hell, doesn’t it? Rather, more accurately, “the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.”

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

(“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and FIRE came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Revelation 20:7-10)

Astoundingly, Ezekiel has given us, in succinct terms, the career trajectory of Satan!

Christ our Lord is Victor!

 

Ezekiel is a greater Book of Scripture than I ever realized!

And “blocks” of it are absolutely sublime!

No greater Literature exists describing the Glory of God, when compared to Ezekiel’s first chapter!

Or perhaps none more graphic, than that great 16th chapter, the “story” of God’s dealings with Israel. What divinely inspired history!

I am even enjoying our current focus, Ezekiel chapters 26-28, where precise detail is given regarding the “fall” of the wicked, vast Phoenician empire. (Which is placed within an even wider “unit” of the Book, sermons against the Gentile Nations of the world. Egypt being next, in chapter 29.)

But today (and again in the next lesson) Ezekiel is amazing, proving itself God-written, God-breathed!

Yet, in a way, it is more of the same!

Concerning Phoenicia I mean.

Concerning Tyre.

Judgment!

Except now we seem to be centering on a “specific” ruler of that land.

Watch chapter 28’s first ten verses …

Beginning with verse one … “The word of the LORD came again unto me (Ezekiel), saying, Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD.” To the leader (“prince”) of Tyre, whom history tells us may have been a man named “Ethbaal III.” (The “baal” already suggests he is a worshipper of the devil!)

Note that Ezekiel speaks when God comes “unto” him. The Hebrew preposition is “le,” grammatically denoting “direction.” God and Ezekiel, communing as it were “Face-to-face!”

What’s the Message?

Read more with me. “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee. With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures. By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches. Verses 2-5, like an “indictment!”

God, knowing the man’s heart, is aware than he blasphemously thinks “he is God!” Or at least “a God!”

That he sits on the Throne of the Almighty! “I sit in the seat of God.” Apparently his people, being maritime sailors (and good ones at that) … believed God ruled the “seas” particularly! “I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas!”

Sheer paganism!

Then God “hits” him directly, rebukes him … “Yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God!”

But there’s more! Look at this Prince’s utter conceit … believing himself wiser than (even) Daniel! Yes, holy Daniel, who personally knows the God Who is “the Revealer of secrets!” (Daniel 2:47) Yes, our Text is repeating (from God’s Perspective) the Prince’s thoughts … “Thou art wiser than Daniel; and there is no secret that they can hide from thee.”

Wow!

This man has “all” the answers!

Next God gives a financial report on Ethbaal III’s “holdings.” Or whomever this powerful Prince was at that time. “With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures. By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick (“rekullah” = merchandise) hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches.”

Sounds like too much love of money!

Sounds also like God’s evaluation of the lukewarm Church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:17. “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.”

Worshippers of material things!

What’s God going to do?

We don’t have to wait long to learn …

Immediately in verses 6-10 God announces the doom of this tyrant! “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit (grave), and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.”

Wow!

Judgment on PRIDE!

The sin which (I believe) God HATES most of all!

Because it is an affront to the Essence of God Himself!

And should that be the end of the chapter (which it isn’t) … the lesson is clear. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:7

Or … “Ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23

Or … “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18

But chapter 28 segues (in verses 11-19) from a human prince to a … superhuman King! I think we have upcoming here a paragraph about the devil himself!

But that’s our next Lesson, isn’t it?

Today … God, the Judge!

Psalm 75:7 comes to mind. “But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.”

Then John 5:26-27 … “For as the FATHER hath life in himself; so hath he given to the SON to have life in himself; and HATH GIVEN HIM AUTHORITY TO EXECUTE JUDGMENT ALSO, because he is the Son of man.”

Will I ever quit writing this morning?

One more little (but sobering) verse … “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 1st Corinthians 10:12

— Dr. Mike Bagwell