Ezekiel 31
COMMENTARY:
: 2 Son of man, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom are you like in your greatness? (1433 “greatness” [godel] means stoutness, magnitude, magnificence, pride, insolence, arrogance, bravado, pride, or conceit.)
DEVOTION: Here we have a warning to the nation of Egypt. They seem to think that they are so magnificent that no nation can come and defeat them. They think that they are like a tree that cannot be cut down.
However, the LORD gives them the example of Assyria that thought the same thoughts. They thought they were like the cedar of Lebanon. They thought that everyone and every animal came to them for the shade they could provide. Assyria thought that it couldn’t fall but it did.
The LORD uses nations for a time period to advance HIS plan for the world. Here we find that HE is going to judge Egypt again for their thoughts of conceit. They thought that they were safe.
NO nation is safe if it will not recognize the LORD. Nations might even be founded on the principles of God but yet because of sin will be judged just like the nation of Israel. We have here the judgment of the children of Judah because they would not understand that they would be next if they didn’t learn the lesson the LORD had taught the children of Israel or the ten tribes that had already fallen because of sin.
Ezekiel was sent to warn them of the fall because they were not willing to listen to the true prophets of the LORD but chose to listen to the false prophet. They thought because the Temple was in their midst they were safe but their false gods had clouded their minds.
Today we find that there are nations that think that they could not fall yet history teaches us that any nation can fall if the LORD is not protecting it. All nations of world are moving toward a fall because they are allowing the angel of light or the devil to be their god.
They are worshiping the wrong source of power. The devil has some power but nothing compared to the power of God. HE wants all nations to realize that they need to KNOW HIM. Those who chose to not understand this fact will face destruction.
Our world is heading in the wrong direction. We need to repent and turn from our wicked ways and ask the LORD for forgiveness. HE can still grant it to any nation that is willing to humble themselves.
CHALLENGE: Do we tend to think that we are OK with God when in reality we are moving away from HIM? There needs to be a reevaluation of what is going on in our nation.
: 9 I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him. (1588 “garden” [gan] means enclosure, planted with trees or cultivated place.)
DEVOTION: We all know the history of the enclosure of God that Adam and Eve were given to take care of by the LORD. HE created Adam and put him in the most beautiful place in the world. HE was there to name the animals and care for the garden.
However, the LORD knew that Adam needed a helpmeet to help him with his responsibility. God created Eve out of a rib from Adam. They were to work side by side in the garden where they would meet with God on a daily basis.
We know the rest of the account given by Moses in the book of Genesis. God revealed to Moses that the old serpent the devil came into the garden in the form of a serpent and tempted Eve. He told her lies. That is all he could do as the Bible tells us that he is the father of liars. She believed the lie and took of the fruit and gave it to her husband.
God made them leave the Garden of Eden because of the Tree of Life that was in it. HE put two Cherubim at the entrance to keep them out. They were to live in a world with thorns and births of babies with pain because of their sin.
Now God is using the enclosure as an example of beauty that Egypt had before they fell. The rest of the world envied what they had. The rest of the world wanted to be like them but they took their beauty and wasted it on false gods. They took God’s beautiful creation and claimed that they had made it.
The object lesson was complete with the fact that Egypt was judged for their treatment of the beauty God created with the false pride in themselves instead of giving God credit. God could not allow that to happen. HE was longsuffering with Egypt but then sent them judgment.
Today we have individuals who think that they did something great without the help or permission of God. Even some Christian leaders think that their organization is their own without any credit going to the LORD. God is displeased with this as well. God still puts people in power and takes them down.
CHALLENGE: Envy is hard to fight in our day and age. We need to put all our strength into fighting this feeling. God has a plan for us and HE is working HIS plan. Accept HIS plan for your life.
: 11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness. (7562 “wickedness” [resha] means iniquity, the quality of being wicked, unrighteousness, fraud, falsehood, offence, or crime against civil law.)
DEVOTION: The heathen nations were all full of pride. They didn’t think that anyone or anything could bring them down. They thought that they would stay strong forever.
The problem was that they didn’t understand who was really in control of the world. Humans think that they could do anything without worrying about the future. They thought they had everything under control. They didn’t understand who was really in control of the world and the future of any nation.
The LORD allowed nations to come and go and HE used them to discipline the Children of Israel because of their lack of obedience to HIM. HE told them what HE was going to do to all the nations of the world. HE told them why they were being judged by heathen nations.
The children of Israel thought that because they had God on their side they could do anything they wanted but the LORD continually showed them that judgment follows disobedience.
This also happens today to the church when it doesn’t follow the LORD properly. HE is going to judge those in the church who are disobedient to HIS commands. HE is still longsuffering as HE was with the children of Israel in the Old Testament but judgement day is coming.
The history of Israel showed that the LORD held them accountable for their sins and HE will hold those churches that are disobedient to HIM accountable too.
Each individual believer needs to keep short accounts with the LORD because HE is still judging wickedness today. HE is still longsuffering but judgment is coming.
CHALLENGE: We have to remember that we are not stronger than God. We have to know that we are accountable to HIM each day. We need to keep short accounts with HIM with confession and obedience. Are we being obedient to HIM today?
: 16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth. (7585 “hell” [sh@owl] means sheol, underworld, grave, or pit.)
DEVOTION: The LORD uses the illustration of the trees in the Garden of Eden. The cedar tree is a tree that was used to build houses. It was a strong wood. The kingdom of Assyria was a strong kingdom like the cedars of Lebanon. It was exalted. The fowls of the air made their nests in the trees.
However, a lifted heart in the heart of a king was not good. It seems to always lead to them thinking that they are in control instead of the LORD. The LORD has to continually remind them that HE is in control. HE causes nations to fall to give warning to other nations.
This word can mean pit but the word “pit” at the end of the phrase is a different Hebrew word that means a cistern or pit. The LORD is sending a nation to the grave. The nation is not going to rise up again.
The LORD wanted the king of Egypt to know that he was going in the same direction as the nation of Assyria. Each nation in the world will have to bow to the final nation established by the Messiah when HE returns to this world to set up HIS kingdom.
Our world is still in what is called the “time of the Gentiles.” During this time period we will see conditions that will seem like the same conditions that Noah had in his days. Every man was doing what was right in his own eyes.
Our nation is heading in that direction. We are allowing movies that promote sin as normal. We are allowing same sex marriages to happen across our nation. We are trying to pass laws that make it a “hate crime” to speak out against sin. The Bible is plain regarding sin. It doesn’t sugar coat sin, it calls it what it is in the eyes of the LORD.
Our nation has turned from its heritage to laws that allow Christians to be put down while those who do evil to be given praise. Evil is good and good is evil.
It is said that we are going to have to apology to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah soon. Christians are called a “light of the world.” Jesus is the LIGHT of the World. We are the only ones who can cast out the darkness by presenting the LIGHT to our nation and world.
How do we do it? We are to teach others about our Savior. We are to train those who become followers of the LORD to understand what it means to be a genuine believer.
CHALLENGE: Are we being the witnesses we are supposed to be? Ezekiel was!!!! He stood up against the powers that be and told them the truth from the Word of God.
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