Good day Saints in Christ Jesus. You are all welcome to another new day. We thank God for the gift of life. Happy Sunday to you all.
In our today’s episode 562 of studying and understanding the Bible, we shall be looking into the book of Ezekiel Chapter 25 till Chapter 32 titled:
Prophecies Against Some Nations; It’s A Big Surprise No5 Received Double
Chapter 25 alone gives us the list of the first four nations that received judgement warnings from Prophet Ezekiel. Chapters 26, 27 and part of 28 were dedicated to the judgement against Tyre. Chapter 28:20-23 was for Sidon and finally Chapters 29 to 32 were dedicated for Egypt’s judgement.
Before we start examining these nations one after the other, we must first remember that all the killings attributed to God in those prophecies were never from God. God was simply showing his prophets what would happen to the nations concerned as consequences of their evil actions.
The truth is, sin has its own reward, which is death and God did not bring death. Death came because of sin. What God gives is eternal life, which Jesus Christ came to demonstrate on earth through His death and resurrection. In other words, we were supposed to die in our sins, but Christ took our death and gave us Life eternal, which we received through Faith in His finished work. Please read Romans 6:23 to understand this better.
So, those killings in the old testament were not from God but were brought about by sin – idolatry, immorality, pride, etc
Nation 1, The Ammonites – Ezekiel Chapter 25:1-7
What did they do? Well, according to Ezekiel 25:3, the Ammonites were happy seeing the temple in Jerusalem desecrated. They were happy that the land of Israel had become ravaged. They were happy that the people of Israel were captured and taken into exile.
Let me give you a short background on how Ammon got involved…
In Ezekiel Chapter 21:18-22, King Nebuchadnezzar was weighing two options and did not know which one he should go for in terms of invading either Ammon or Judah. To be sure of what to do, he performed some series of divination process:
He shook his arrows.
He consulted with his gods.
He examined the liver of an animal he killed for the divination procedure.
And boom! The oracle pointed him to Jerusalem, the fortified city.
Upon hearing this news, the Ammonites were excited and were making jest of the Jews for the attack on them and their devastation.
These were the things God saw and decided to warn the people of Judah through His Prophet Ezekiel so that they would stop sinning and return to God. Because during that time, the spiritual rule of engagement was the enemies could not attack Israel unless they found any legal ground to do so.
Warning them ahead was the best thing God could do for them but then, the final decision was theirs to make whether to heed the warnings or ignore them. Remember, God will never force Himself on anyone – there has been freedom of choice for humanity right from the time of Eden till now.
So, the people refused to listen, and this gave Nebuchadnezzar the legal ground to attack them and he succeeded. Read Numbers 22; Chapter 25 and Joshua 7 to understand how spiritual attacks works.
So, Nebuchadnezzar successfully attacked Jerusalem and conquered it and when the Ammonites saw this great achievement, they decided to form an alliance with Babylon and mock the Jews (Ezekiel 21:28).
As if that was not enough, these people became so cruel that they were killing innocent souls. They were known for cutting through pregnant women’s wombs and bringing out their babies. Prophet Amos says something about that in Amos 1:13. This was why God also sent His Prophets to warn them to see if possibly they would repent before they were attacked by the same Babylonian forces they tried to form alliance with. Read about the warning judgement here: Ezekiel 25:1-7
Nation 2, The Moabites – Ezekiel 25:8-11
Moab was the second nation that received judgement not only from Ezekiel alone but from other Prophets like Jeremiah and Amos.
What was their sin that they refused to repent from?
Amos 2:1 provides a clue. They sinned again and again, and they even used a King’s bone for their idolatry rituals by burning it into ashes. In short, these people were idolaters with no regard for God. Please read Zephaniah 2:8; Ezekiel 25:8 and Isaiah 15 for some more details.
Nation 3, The Edomites, Ezekiel 25:12-14
The third nation to receive prophecy of judgement warnings was Edom.
What did Edom do?
Remember, the Edomites were the descendants of Esau and you still remember the beef between him and his brother Jacob. Jacob produced the nation of Israel while Esau produced the Edomites.
During the invasion of Judah, the Edomites too were making jest of Jerusalem. They believed they were safe in their own fortified mountains and fortresses and the worst part of it all happened when some people escaped from Jerusalem during the invasion and ran to the Edomites, instead of allowing them in, they were cut off. They did that as a revenge. What a cruel revenge, which brought lasting guilt on them. They were so proud and unruly. Please read Obadiah verses 1-14
This was the very reason God sent Prophet Obadiah to them to warn them. The same prophecy also came up in Ezekiel 25:12
Nation 4, The Philistines, Ezekiel 25:15-17
You will also find this in Jeremiah Chapter 47 and what was their own sin?
You will see their sins mentioned by Prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 25:15 that they took revenge on their age long enemies and engage in hatred.
Joel 3:4 also corroborated Ezekiel’s statement.
Amos 1:6 says they sold a whole nation into slavery. That’s terrible.
Nation 5, Tyre Ezekiel Chapters 26, 27, and 28:1-19
Tyre was a nation with most prophecies. He was spoken about by Isaiah in Chapter 23:1–18; by Jeremiah in Chapters 25:22 and 27:1–11; Ezekiel 26:1– 28:19; Joel 3:4–8 and Amos 1:9, 10).
The major sin of Tyre was pride and this nation was the only nation among these seven nations that received a two-fold prophecy. You will find out later as read on…
Their problem started when the nation became so wealthy from their dishonest trading with so many dishonest businessmen in those days.
As a matter of facts, Chapter 27 gives a long list of many of their business partners dealing with different kinds of goods. Tyre was known for exploiting these nations that had foreign direct investment with them.
Not only that, Tyre was also known to be a major promoter of idolatry and all forms of immorality.
The worst part of it all, Tyre was the only nation used as a figure to represent Satan, because of the pride and greed of their King. Please read Ezekiel 28:11–19 which appears to be a two-fold prophecy – one for King Tyre himself and the other side of the coin to describe satan during his time in Eden.
And according to Ezekiel 29:17, it was King Nebuchadnezzar who fulfilled majority of these prophecies.
Nation 6, Sidon – Ezekiel 28:20-23
Tyre and Sidon were major cities in Lebanon known for their affluence and wickedness. Sidon was the fourth largest city in Lebanon after Beirut, Tripoli and Aley, while Tyre was the fifth largest.
Sidon was prominent for their idolatry and pagan practices to the point that they succeeded in luring Israel into same sins. Please Judges 10:6-16 and 1Kings Chapter 11.
Nation 7, Egypt – Ezekiel Chapters 29, 30, 31 & 32
Why was Egypt included. They were included because the land was filled with idolatry and various atrocities. In fact, Bible records has it that it was this King of Egypt called Pharaoh-Necho that killed King Josiah during the battle at Megiddo. Read the story here. 2Chronicles 35:20-25
Remember Josiah was the only King in that generation that did what was pleasing in God’s sight by pulling down strongholds of idolatry and restored the scrolls of the Word of God back to the temple.
Josiah was wounded from the arrow shot by Necho’s Ashers and he was whisked away with a chariot and later died.
It was after that battle that Necho fought with the Babylonians in the land of Carchemish. He secured the land and went back to Egypt.
When the cup of sin of Egypt was full and their payback time came, Nebuchadnezzar, who was the son of the King that was defeated by Necho decided to retaliate with his massive army.
That was the reason for the prophecy recorded in Jeremiah Chapter 46 that he saw Egypt defeated in that battle as a consequence of all their wicked acts.
So, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated Necho of Egypt and retook the land taken from his father. The land was mentioned by Prophet Jeremiah in chapter 46:2 as Carchemish.
All these nations did terrible things to God and humanity and they were given the chance to repent but they were hardened in their hearts. When the payback time fully came, they couldn’t escape it. That’s what will happen on the judgement day too.
God is giving everyone the chance to repent now. Apostle Peter emphasized this in 2Peter 3:9-18 Please read and meditate on the verses.
Lessons To Learn
Sin is a killer, but the power of God through Christ Jesus saves. Believing the Message of Salvation is the antidote for overcoming sin.
Despite the massive army of Egypt, they were subdued by the Babylonians, why? Because it was their payback time. Assuming they were remorseful, received the warnings that Prophet Ezekiel gave them all and if they had sought the Lord and asked for mercy, they would have escaped those judgements, because God would have saved them.
Another lesson to learn is that when God is warning us about a particular bad habit, we must always listen and amend our ways.
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Let us Pray:
King Nebuchadnezzar consulted his oracle before attacking Jerusalem. Every evil consultation targeted against you and your family is hereby scattered, in Jesus name.
Every loophole the devil may be looking for in your life or family in order to attack, they are sealed up by the blood of Jesus. Every accusation against you is trashed, in Jesus name.
Is there anyone in your family you have been preaching the Gospel to and they have been proving too hard to convince, I declare the Lord God will coordinate circumstances to arrest their hearts and bring them to Salvation, in Jesus name.
The Lord God will rescue you from every form of satanic invasion. I declare you are firmly secured and protected especially as this year is running to an end, in Jesus name.
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Bible Readings For Today: Jeremiah Chapters 40, 41 & 42 with Isaiah 24
I call you blessed now and always.
Sunday October 11, 2020 (DDMI)
