|
Ezekiel Chapter 32
-
Ezekiel 32:1 And it came to pass in
the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the
month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
This was a year after the fall of
Jerusalem.
-
Ezekiel 32:2 Son of man, take up a
lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou
art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in
the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst
the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
Take up lamentation seems to let me
know that God does not enjoy sending judgment upon nations. It tells
me that God is a God that would rather save than destroy.
Lamentation is a mourning or a crying out for the sorrow and despair
caused by the invasion of Babylon and the destruction they will
cause.
- Ezekiel 32:3 Thus saith the
Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a
company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.
- 4 Then will I leave
thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field,
and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee,
and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee.
- 5 And I will lay
thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy
height.
- 6 I will also water
with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the
mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
- 7 And when I shall
put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars
thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon
shall not give her light.
- 8 All the bright
lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness
upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
It would seem here that the immediate
fulfillment will be when Babylon overthrows them but there is a
latter day fulfillment during the 7 year tribulation period in which
their judgment comes at a time when the stars, moon and sun turns
dark. This will happen more than once during the 7 year tribulation
under the seals, trumpet and vial judgments.
This type of thing is to bring nations
to repentance but usually they do not repent.
- Revelation 9:20 And
the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet
repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not
worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and
stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
- 21 Neither
repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of
their fornication, nor of their thefts.
When I read the book of Revelation at a
younger age, this use to boggle my mind. Why, if they knew who was
causing the judgment, did they fail to repent. It must have been
that they loved their sin and false religion too much to give it up.
- Revelation 16:9 And men were
scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which
hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him
glory.
Again after more plagues they fail to repent.
Really mind boggling.
- Revelation 16:11 And
blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their
sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Why wouldn't they repent and get right with God?
Perhaps another reason is that they had refused so many times and rejected God so many times that
their hearts were hardened and deceived. I see this attitude in
today's world even before this 7 year tribulation begins. Men's
hearts are so hard and they are so obstinate.
It is up to the churches not to preach any
watered down gospels that it loses the power to see lives changed.
Divorce should not be just as bad in the church as outside of it. We
need to see many being genuinely saved and born again. A change
should be taking place when we come to the Lord.
Our preaching, teaching and even our
music should be geared to bring us to God, bring glory to God, teach
us the will of God, draw us into wanting to learn of God and of
Jesus Christ, encouraging us to seek God for understand, seek to be
baptized in His Holy Spirit and to worship in spirit and in truth
rather than to attract the crowds and just have entertainment. Lives
need to be changing toward true biblical holiness and purity. I'm
not speaking of manmade legalistic doctrines but genuine godliness
without which we will not see the Lord. We should be taking up
our cross and following Christ. It shouldn't be young people coming
to church and having great activities yet not being taught how
to study the word and live in Christ.
- Ezekiel 32:10 Yea, I will make
many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly
afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and
they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life,
in the day of thy fall.
- 11 For thus saith
the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon
thee.
- 12 By the swords of
the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of
the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of
Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.
- 13 I will destroy
also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters;
neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the
hooves of beasts trouble them.
- 14 Then will I make
their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith
the Lord GOD.
- 15 When I shall
make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be
destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all
them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the
LORD.
- 16 This is the
lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of
the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for her, even
for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
Will this happen to our country?
Judgment begins at the house of God. Christians that know the truth
must avoid becoming so
watered down in their lives that they will elect the most ungodly
leaders and not see it as wrong.
There should be discernment which is
not achieved by sitting around and watching the same ungodly movies that the world watches and drink
the same drinks, have sex outside of marriage, divorce at the first
time of trouble looking for greener grass. Let us not live, look and act just like the world.
God didn't let Sodom and Gomorrah get
away with idleness, pride and sexual immorality. What makes us think
we will get away with it?
God didn't let Israel get away with
idolatry and sin, what makes us think He will let the church get by
with it when we have had access to salvation. the baptism in the
Holy Spirit, the message of holiness and the written word. These
things Israel did not have but we have had them.
- Ezekiel 32:17 It came to pass
also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month,
that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
- 18 Son of man, wail
for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and
the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of
the earth, with them that go down into the pit.
This means more than the grave but
hell.
- Ezekiel 32:19 Whom dost thou
pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the
uncircumcised.
- 20 They shall fall
in the midst of them that are slain by the sword: she is
delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes.
- 21 The strong among
the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them
that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain
by the sword.
- 22 Asshur is there
and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them
slain, fallen by the sword:
The prophet shows the example of other
great nations which once had power and ruled but was taken down. The
same fate is to come to Egypt. To be uncircumcised means more than
physical circumcision but circumcision of the heart. A covenant with
God. Living His way instead of the way of all flesh.
-
Jeremiah 9:26 Egypt, and
Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all
that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness:
for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of
Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
The best way to explain it is just to
say, apart from God. This is the way the majority desire to live
even today but sometimes it could be because we are failing to teach
the word of God or they are failing to study the word of God. We don't have as much verse by verse teaching that
the church use to have. They've cast any teaching out of the
public schools back in the 1960s and look at the mess that has come
about as a result of it. Its going to get worse if we don't
turn around.
- Ezekiel 32:23 Whose graves are
set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her
grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused
terror in the land of the living.
- 24 There is Elam
and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain,
fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the
nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land
of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go
down to the pit.
- 25 They have set
her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her
graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by
the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the
living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down
to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain.
Assur and Elam also suffer destruction
by Babylon.
- Ezekiel 32:26 There is Meshech,
Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him:
all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they
caused their terror in the land of the living.
- 27 And they shall
not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised,
which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they
have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities
shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the
mighty in the land of the living.
- 28 Yea, thou shalt
be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with
them that are slain with the sword.
- 29 There is Edom,
her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid
by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the
uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.
- 30 There be the
princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which
are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed
of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be
slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down
to the pit.
- 31 Pharaoh shall
see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even
Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord
GOD.
- 32 For I have caused my terror
in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of
the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even
Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
We see that this judgment affected
Edom, Zidon, Meshech and Tubal are also judged. Mechech and Tubal
may be around the area of Armenia.
All these nations literally went to
hell for their sins. There is a literal hell spoken of in both the
Old and New Testaments.
God has done all that He can do to keep
us out of hell but so many refuse to see it. He sent His own
Son to die in our place and pay the price for our sins but we refuse
to receive Him choosing rather to keep our sins and not repent. We
will die in our sins if we refuse God's one final attempt to save us
from hell.
We will enter that same place that
these nations entered. God will not allow wickedness to continue
forever.
The message is the same today as when
Jesus walked the earth. Repent and believe the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
There is no other way to be saved from
sin. Sin cannot enter heaven, it takes the soul to hell. We must
come to Jesus Christ to be free from sin and the condemnation that
comes because of sin.
In Jesus we become born again by the
spirit and can receive the Holy Spirit into our lives. This is a
free gift that we receive just by believing in Jesus and turning
away from our sins. Remember too that believing is not just
believing someone exists but believing in someone or something means
to live by what they teach and live by what they stand for.
Ezekiel Chapter 33
Ezekiel Index
|
|