Ezekiel 25-32: God’s Message to the Nations — A ‘Christian Growth’ Message

Transcript

Well, once again, it’s a great pleasure and a privilege to take part in this service.

Now to introduce our subject this morning, I want to tell you that I’ve been reading the book by Lindsey Brown. Lindsay Brown was the general secretary of IFES, that’s the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. And Lindsay Brown has written a book called Shining Like Stars, which is the work of God in the universities of the world.

And I’m reminded as I read this book, how hostile the world is to Christians, to Christian students.

For example, I read in the book that before the Russian Revolution, students who joined the Christian Fellowship in Moscow, were asked by the Christian Fellowship in Moscow to sign yes to this question, are you ready to die for Christ?

That was part of their membership form, very different from the membership form here, isn’t it?

Are you ready to die for Christ?

And many of the students who studied as Christians in Moscow were watched for their course. They might be there for 6 years. And they paid all their fees and they did all their exams, and then they were sent home with no degree for being Christians.

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I understand from this book that some on the campuses in Latin America and Africa are expected to sleep with their lecturers if they want to secure a pass. Forcing many Christians at the end of their course to lose all prospects of qualifying.

But I’ve also read in this book that God is doing some very remarkable things.

In 1989 – The IFES was at work in 100 countries. Today, IFES is at work in 150 countries. In the last 17 years, IFES has moved into 50 more countries of university work.

And God has used individual students in very remarkable ways. I’ll give you two examples. A student from Zambia called Derek Mutangu, went to the UK to study. He heard the gospel in the UK. He believed, he returned to Zambia. He became the first IFES worker in Zambia. Within a little while, 10% of the students at the Zambian campus were Christian, and the president invited Derek Mutungu to come and explain to him his ministry.

And was so impressed by what he was told and heard that he then invited this man, this student, to come to his palace and preach to the entire Zambian cabinet.

Saying to the cabinet, this is what our country needs to be hearing.

Another student called Procell da Silva went to Portugal to study and became a Christian when he went back to West Africa, he became the deputy to the Chief Justice, and he was asked to draw up legislation to restrict Christianity. He refused to do so, and when he was asked to explain why he would refuse to do so, the president abandoned the whole idea of restricting Christianity, abandoned the law and offered Procell any position in his cabinet he would choose to take, whereupon he took the head of communications and became effectively the controller of the media and the newspapers.

Two examples of the sovereign hand of God among the students of the world, which leads me to ask three questions as we come in our series in Ezekiel. I want to ask 3 biblical questions; how does God run his world?

Especially as we turn to chapters 25 to 32, where Ezekiel turns his face out to the nations. If you can imagine this morning, instead of speaking to you in the seats, I was to look down the center of this building and out into Sydney and beyond, and I was to speak to this world outside. Not of course that anybody would listen or hear outside, but you know what is being said on God’s behalf to this outside world.

How does God run his world? That’s our first question. Second, what is his message in Ezekiel 25 to 32? What’s it about? And the third question this morning, Why is Jesus Christ so plainly the hope of the world?

First question, how does God run his world?

And I’m stepping back at this point before we look at Ezekiel, and of all the things that Scripture says about how God runs his world, I want to remind you of two. The first is that he runs his world with mercy, and the second is that he runs his world with justice. First of all, with mercy, he provides for his world.

He provides for example, plenty of food. I’m told that there is 1 & 1/3 times what is needed.

Provided for the world, unfortunately, tragically, there is a distribution problem, but the provision problem is generous.

And God also provides the presence of his people in the world as a witness to the nations. And so listen carefully to this. He gathers people from the nations, is that true? To make his own people, yes, he does. And then he makes his people who’ve been gathered from the nations, a witness to the nations. So he rules the world like controlling a chessboard to care for a people.

And then he rules his people to care for the world, he gathers and sends, gathers and sends. That’s the way God works.

And he calls on his people, Old Testament believers, believers today, he calls on his people to be separate, that is to have different values and different attitudes in order that they might be a light to the nations.

And he also calls on his people, Old Testament and today, to infiltrate with the love of God and the truth of God. That’s the mercy of God.

So Israel, we’ve been seeing over these last Sundays is the method, one of the methods where God blesses the nations. And their failure to be a people of light and faithfulness, as we’ve seen in the book of Ezekiel is what’s led to their exile. As one writer says, the exile is the ultimate go and stand in the corner. That’s what God says to his people, go and stand in the corner. You’ve been disobedient, you’ve failed. And he sends them to the corner called Babylon.

Now the other way God runs his world is with justice, he is unfailingly consistent. And so Israel is justly dealt with by God. She does not escape his judgment any more than if she had ignored the laws of gravity.

She’s his chosen people, she’s loved by him, but he disciplines her.

And not only is Israel treated justly, but the nations are treated justly too. If the nations refuse God, they pay for that.

And that’s why Ezekiel speaks to the nations or speaks of the nations in Ezekiel chapter 25 to 32. It’s as if he speaks calling out to the world with the Israelites listening. This is what God says to the world. I want you Israelites to know what God says to the world. And of course as Israel listens to Ezekiel speak to the world, it’s a great encouragement to Israel. Because as God speaks of his very sober judgment on those who refuse him.

It’s a backhanded encouragement to the believers who know that God will take seriously a hostile world. And deal with those who turn their back on him.

So Ezekiel says in chapters 25 to 32, as we’ll see that the nations are doomed to reject God. And they’re crazy to gloat when Israel suffers. Why are the nations crazy to gloat when Israel or God’s people suffer? Well because God’s people are the lighting system in the world, and if the lighting system is dimmed or covered or sent away.

Well, the lighting system of the world is dimmed or covered or sent away.

So to mock God’s people as they are disciplined, to mock God’s people as they are exiled. Is to laugh about the removal of your lighting system.

Well, we saw last week in Ezekiel chapter 24 that Jerusalem was going to be decimated before God would rebuild it. And now we see in chapters 25 to 32, that he’s also going to decimate nations that turn their back on him. Is God unfair? No, the Bible says he is unfailingly patient, incredibly patient.

And the apostle takes this up in Romans 1.

Because God has revealed his power and his divinity through what has been made, listen carefully to this, it’s inexcusable. To turn away from God to idols, it’s inexcusable for people in this world.

To turn away from God’s display of his power and divinity, and come up with an idol, and so if you turn away from God and you end up with an idol called self, or an idol called power, or one called religion or family or business or blocks of wood or blocks of stone or whatever it is, if you end up with an idol, it’s inexcusable.

And the individual who does this, or the family who does this, or the, the nation who does this, and who turn from God and end up with another devotion, another dedication, another worship. Are just going to meet the justice of God because he deals justly with his world. How does he run his world, he runs his world with mercy, plenty of provision.

And yet he runs his world with justice.

That’s the first question this morning.

The second, what’s his message in Ezekiel 25 to 32?

Well, will you look at two verses, just want to give you two verses which are the key to our text this morning. The first is in 28:2.

What is his message?

His message is to warn the nations, verse two of pride. P R I D E – pride.

And his other message in Ezekiel 25 to 32 is in 29:16, and this is to warn the nations of being falsely confident.

Egypt will no longer be a source of, we might say, false confidence.

So that’s Ezekiel’s message to the nations. It’s a very loving message to the nations. Whatever you do, don’t get puffed up with pride. That’s what God says to the nations. The individuals, the families, and the countries of the world, he says, do not get puffed up with pride. So he warns first of all, the nation’s against pride. Now we get very confused about pride today because it’s sort of come in like a Trojan horse through the back door, and we’re now not actually sure whether pride is a good thing or not.

So a parent says to a child, I’m proud of you. We’ve recognized that to be a good thing. Teacher says to a pupil, you took pride in your work, we’ve recognized that that’s a good thing.

Or national pride, we value the country that God has brought us up in. It’s a good thing. So pride you see, which sets itself against carelessness, let me say that again, pride. Which sets itself against carelessness. Can be a good thing.

But pride that sets itself against God and his purposes, that’s an evil thing. And there are 4 nations in Ezekiel 25 who have gloated over or attacked the people of God. They’ve gloated over the fact that God’s people are now being disciplined and perhaps they’ve attacked them in the past. And now says God in Ezekiel 25, they’re facing God’s own opposition.

So they represent the pride of those who look on while God’s people are sent off to exile, or maybe they’ve contributed in the past to the attacking of God. But there is one nation, and we’ll come to that nation in chapter 26, and this nation represents something even worse, and that is this nation represents one who tries to take over.

Imagine there is a takeover in a school classroom. OK, the class mutiny against the teacher.

And you have some students who laugh as the teacher is tied up. That’s what Ammon and Moab did as Israel was disciplined, they laughed.

Then you get some students who strike the teacher, they dare to hit the teacher. And that’s what Edom and Philistia did. They injured Israel in the past.

But then you get one particular student and he goes further than everybody. He anoints himself to be the new teacher, leader, headmaster. That country. The country that did that in Ezekiel’s day was Tyre, TYRE.

And in chapter 26, verse 2.

You see Tyre says – Uh-huh. The gate to the nations is broken, Israel is broken. And its doors have swung open to me, Tyre. Now that she lies in ruins, I will prosper. So Tyre you see, is not just laughing, not just striking, but is actually anointing herself to be the successor to Israel, the key to the nations of the world.

And of course, this is a futile plan, because God opposes the proud. God says in chapter 26 verse 20, I will bring you down. With those who go down to the pit, to the people of Longo, I’ll make you dwell in the earth below. As in ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, and you’ll not return or take your place in the land of the living. Look at the end of verse 21, extraordinary.

You’ll be sought, but you’ll never again be found, declares the sovereign Lord. So there is a lament for Tyre for this pomposity in chapter 27, and the Lord describes Tyre as having been a great ship, a great trading ship. Look at verse 4 of chapter 27. Your domain was on the high seas, your builders brought your beauty to perfection. They made your timbers of pine trees. They took a cedar to make a mast of oaks, they made your oars. Of cypress wood from the coasts, they made your deck.

And there is this trading ship called Tyre.

And her traders, the ones she trades with are everywhere. Look at 26:12. Tarshish, verse 13, Greece. Verse 14, Beth, Tagama, 15 Rhodes, 16 Aram, 17 Judah in Israel, 18, Damascus, 19, the Danites, 20 Dean, 21, Arabia, 22, Sheba, 23, and on it goes. Long list of traders for Tyre to dominate.

But look at verse 26, this great ship will sink.

Your oarsmen take you out to the high seas, but the east wind will break you to pieces in the heart of the sea. Your wealth, your merchandise, your wares, your mariners, seamen and shipwrights, your merchants and all your soldiers, everyone else on board will sink into the heart of the sea on the day of your shipwreck and the shorelands, verse 28 will quake when your seamen cry out.

Now the captain of the ship is the real danger.

That’s why in chapter 28, Ezekiel speaks to the ruler, verse 2. Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, this is what the sovereign Lord says, in the pride of your heart, you say I’m a god, I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas, but you’re a man and not a god, though you think you’re as wise as a god.

And as Ezekiel begins to speak to the ruler of Tyre who has taken this tremendous aim of being the king of the nations, the key to the world. Ezekiel begins to speak of this king of Tyre as making the same mistake as Adam in the garden. Do you remember Adam in the garden was offered the opportunity, you will be as God. Take the fruits, you’ll be as God. And Adam took the fruit, and then of course was expelled from the garden.

And you’ll see if you look at chapter 28.

That Adam, chapter 28 verse 13.

You were in Eden, says God, the garden of God. And then look at verse 16. I drove you in disgrace. I expelled you.

So this sin of Adam, which is, I will be God, I will be in place of God, I do not need God, I can run the world, I can run my own life. This is the sin which has come down from Adam, it now thoroughly infects the King of Tyre. It affects the whole nation of Tyre. Tyre has become a symbol for ‘I will take the place of God.’ I will take the place of Israel, I will take the place of God.

And God of course announces that he will bring down such arrogance. Tyre is a symbol of pride.

A symbol of rivalry to God, a symbol of resistance, and God is going to clear the ground and sink the ship, and he’s gonna do something very wonderful. If you look at the end of chapter 28, verse 25, this is what the sovereign Lord says. When I gather the people of Israel, from the nations where they’ve been scattered, I’ll show myself wholly among them in the sight of the nations, and then they’ll live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob.

They will live there in safety and we will build houses and plant vineyards, they’ll live in safety.

When I inflict punishment on all their neighbors who maligned them, then they’ll know that I am the Lord their God. So you see what God is doing, he calls out to the nations and he says, yes, it’s true, I’m disciplining my people, but do not gloat, and those of you who’ve set yourself against my people and those of you who’ve set yourself against me. I will bring you down.

And when I bring you down and clear the ground, you will see that I will build my own people, and they will really last. They will last and last and last.

Now the other message which is in Ezekiel 25 to 32, which is to the nations, the second one is the attack of the Lord on false confidence. 29:16.

Egypt has become a source of false confidence for Israel. Egypt has become a symbol of false confidence. Egypt has become like the, the alternate savior, the fake savior. And Egypt is pretending that she can do the saving. And Israel is believing that Egypt can do the saving.

Now friends again, we’re confused about confidence today aren’t we, because confidence again has had a tremendous surge.

Confidence is so important today, isn’t it? And we recognize that some confidence is good.

So when a group gets together and says we’re confident that we can do this together. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that.

She’s got her confidence back. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

It was a confident decision. Sounds good.

Confidence which replaces despair is good. That’s healthy confidence. Confidence that replaces God is evil, that’s a false and dangerous confidence. Egypt has set herself up with confidence to replace God.

And you’ll see if you look at chapter 29 verse 3B.

You say the Nile is mine, I made it for myself. Well, that’s the ultimate in false confidence, isn’t it? I’m the maker, I’m the creator.

So look at 6B.

But you have been a staff of reed for the house of Israel, in other words, if they lean on you, you will collapse and they will fall over.

And so God describes in chapter 29 how he will make Egypt desolate. Verse 12, I’ll make the land of Egypt desolate, but after 40 years, verse 14. I will restore. I will bring Egypt back into a lowly position.

Then there is the lament for Egypt, described in chapter 30, and then true to Ezekiel’s very creative ability to illustrate in chapter 31, he describes Egypt as being like a tree locked down. Let’s look at chapter 31, verse 5.

Egypt, like a tree, towered higher than all the trees of the field. Its boughs increased and its branches grew long, spreading because of abundant waters. So Egypt grew very tall, and what is wrong with being tall, I hear you ask. But the danger is in Ezekiel is to be proud.

It’s the pride which God opposes. And so in chapter 31 verse 12, he will cause this proud tree of Egypt to be cut down.

It will be cut down and it will be left, it’s bows will fall on the mountains, chapter 31 verse 12.

And again, the specific danger man is Pharaoh, chapter 32, verse 2.

Son of man, take up a lament concerning Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And say to him, you’re like a lion, you’re like a monster.

But look at verse 3 and 4, with a great throng of people, I’ll cast my net over you. They’ll haul you up in the net and I’ll throw you on the land and hurl you on the open field, and I’ll let the birds of the air settle on you and all the beasts of the earth gorge themselves on you.

And so Egypt is going to be, as it were captured and devout.

Now all these nations that Ezekiel calls out to, probably not hearing anything he’s saying, but Israel is listening, so they now know what God is going to do, and God is a God who keeps his word. All these nations, if they set themselves up against God with pride, and if they have a false confidence in themselves, and even encourage other people to trust them as the savior of the future, they will be brought low, they will be brought down to the pit, because pride,

And false confidence is fatal, it is fatal. It’s an absolute myth to think that you can set yourself up and be established forever. We know perfectly well that we’re just here occupying a very small amount of time and a very small amount of space, and it’s absolutely nonsensical to set yourself up with pride or false confidence. And so that’s what will happen to those who do.

You may think, of course, as you look at the nations of the world that they’re incredibly strong, and the preacher who’s preaching to you this morning is incredibly weak, and in a sense you’re absolutely right. But the God I’m speaking about is incredibly strong and is able to reduce nations again and again and again. So for example, if we could get in a time machine and go backwards, we’d find ourselves in the time where Assyria was absolutely invincible. Where’s Assyria today?

Babylon, invincible. Persia. Greece, Alexander the Great.

Rome, unbeatable Rome, well, these are none – nothing to us today.

And as Chris Wright says in his commentary, is the British Empire still ruling the waves of the world?

What’s happened to communism in your lifetime?

What’s happened to the Third Reich? In this last 100 years.

What’s happening as we as we live today, what’s happening in North Korea? Is North Korea imploding even as we sit here in church?

You see, God is able effortlessly to raise up for his purposes and to bring down for his purposes the nations. And we make a huge mistake of thinking that a country, even like America, has been set up forever. When God effortlessly sets up and brings down the nations, as we heard in the song of Mary.

Which was read as our second reading, He’s sovereign. His plans are what happens.

So how does God run his world with mercy and justice? What is Ezekiel 25 to 32 saying? It’s saying beware pride, beware false confidence, because God has much better things. And my last question this morning:

Why is Jesus Christ plainly the hope of the world?

I give you two crucial reasons among many why Jesus Christ is plainly the hope of the world. First, he’s the king who serves in a hostile world. Do you think that’s a very common thing to hear? A king who serves in a hostile world.

Where is the king who serves God? Where’s the president who serves God, where’s the prime minister? Where’s the premier who serves God?

The nations of the world provide very, very few who truly serve God. And even those who serve God and believe in Christ and belong to Christ and seek to serve Christ, they fail. And if they’re godly, they admit they fail.

They’re in the quicksand, aren’t they, with everyone else, these leaders. There is no political leader who is the answer to this world, no political leader can solve the problems of this world.

They just come for a certain amount of time, they do their best, and then we push them out and bring in someone else making huge promises with us hoping that they will solve the promises of the world, and after another 4-6, 12 years, out they go, bring in the next slot. There’s nobody, no political leader. Who was/is able to solve the problems of the world.

The Old Testament introduces us to many, many kings.

But even the best of the Old Testament kings are fatally flawed, aren’t they? Saul is flawed, David is flawed, Solomon is flawed, all the kings are flawed, and so the Bible longs for a king to come. Who is perfect, who serves God and sits on the throne, and the king, which we’re talking about is Jesus. He is powerful, he sits on the throne, but he is humble. He controls everything, but he is completely submissive to the will of God. Where will you find a leader in this world, friends, where will you find a leader in this world who is in total control and loves you and loves your interests?

And that leader is Jesus Christ.

And it is our privilege to hear about him, it’s our privilege to believe in him, it’s our privilege to belong to him because he welcomes repentant sinners.

The Book of Proverbs says the Lord is a high tower and those who run to him are safe. That’s why Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. He is the king in total control, who cares for the interests of his people to the point of shedding his own blood.

And the second reason why Jesus is the hope plainly of the world is that he saves. From a hostile world.

I mentioned earlier that God’s people are present in the world as light.

But the fact is, of course, that God’s people in the world before Jesus and God’s people in the world after Jesus, we’re a very ordinary light, aren’t we? We’re a very ordinary light. The hope of the world – the news that we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus, the light of the world. He’s the only one who can stand up to scrutiny.

He’s the only one who can provide an answer for those of us who’ve fallen into pride and have turned to false gods, and we’ve all fallen into pride and we’ve all turned to false gods.

And he is the one who provides a solution for that. An answer.

And so, he carried our sins at the cross, and he brings us to our senses, and he makes us humble, and he makes us trust him. And we become of course increasingly mature as we increasingly depend on him.

And the world you see is like that blind man tottering toward the cliff. George Whitfield once preached on this in a sermon. He talked about the world as a as a blind man, tottering towards the cliff, moving closer and closer with a stick out the front, feeling his way. And George Whitfield built up this magnificent picture of the world, tottering towards a cliff until finally some distinguished guest who was there in the sermon in the Sunday sermon stood up and called out, no, no, he’ll fall.

That’s true. The world moves towards a cliff.

And the Lord Jesus has come into this world, lived, died, and risen. In order to offer to us. The safety of escaping the fall. And eventually joyfully rising with him.

So Psalm 16 says he has made known to us the path of life. There is joy in his presence. At the father’s right hand.

Jesus Christ is the hope of the world.

Let’s bow heads and pray.

Our gracious God, we thank you today for your sovereign hand over all that you have made. And for the way in which you control your world with mercy and justice.

We thank you too for issuing a warning to the world – to turn from pride and false confidence.

We give you thanks today for bringing us so many of us here this morning to our senses. To kneel down before the Lord Jesus. And confess him to be King of kings. And to receive from him forgiveness and hope.

And we pray that as we live for you in this world, you would help us to be good witnesses in our speech and in our actions to the Lord Jesus, that many people would come to know him as the hope of the world.

And we ask it in his name, Amen.

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