epcblog: May 2008

Prayer based on Acts 12

Lord of Glory, in this age there are many who would lay violent hands upon Your church. We mourn this sin, yet we know that You are working wonderful miracles of grace even through the suffering that we face. We offer up to You earnest prayers for our brothers and sisters in prison. Send Your angels to rescue many who are in great need because of one tribulation or another. Restore all of Your people to the assembly of those who gather in Your presence for worship. Give us a clear and balanced mind so that we can continue to serve You for as many days as You see fit. This age will one day come to an end, and much that is confusing to us today will be brought to light through the radiance of Your Son’s appearing. We long for His return and for the dawning of a very new day in the fullness of Your great glory.

Ezekiel 35

God has much to say about the forgotten nation of Edom. One of the surrounding nations of Judah, this south-eastern neighbor was made up of the descendants of Esau. We remember from Genesis that Jacob and Esau were twin brothers. Though they were not identical, they shared the same home in the safety of their mother Rebekah as they were preparing for birth. Even before they were born, these brothers were striving with each other. At that time it was revealed to Rebekah that, contrary to custom, the older would serve the younger. Esau was born first, and Jacob second, but Jacob was the child of God’s blessing. Jacob’s name was later changed to Israel, and he was the father of the twelve tribes. Esau was the father of the Edomites.

There were troubles between the two boys as they grew. This especially came to a head when their mother Rebekah conspired with Jacob to gain the blessing of their elderly father Isaac. Their plan was successful, bringing great grief to the older brother. Esau was soon consoling himself with the thought of murdering Jacob. Jacob was sent away by his parents and God blessed him through a time of significant suffering at the hands of his father-in-law Laban. After many years of being away from home, Jacob eventually met his brother Esau, and the two seemed to be well reconciled. However, the root animosity between these two descendants of Isaac was never really healed. This was particularly obvious when Israel and Judah suffered at the hands of their enemies from the eastern empires. The Edomites rejoiced in the discipline of the descendants of Jacob, and the Lord was not pleased about this.

What was the motive of the Edomites in their ill-will toward Judah? It was more than an ancient case of sibling rivalry. This southern neighbor saw great opportunity to take the lands to their north and west. This is a tremendous show of disrespect to the Lord. God made Jacob to be who he was. God was the one who determined the status of both boys before they were even born. To hate Jacob and to think that Judah’s discipline was a great time to satisfy greedy longings for power and possession was a very serious mistake. The anger and the envy of the Edomites would bring God’s judgments against them.

In our day the covenant people of God is the church of Jesus Christ. Our status of inclusion in His kingdom is seen in true faith in Christ. We are the elect people of the Lord, and He will defend us. His Son died for our sins. When we are attacked, it is Christ who is being attacked. The sign of those who have true peace with God is this: How have we treated the least of the brethren of the Lord? The church is the only “nation” of eternal blessing today. It is the worst kind of foolishness to stand against the people for whom the Son of Man has shed His blood. He will come again as the Lord of judgment. Why would anyone think that it would be safe to oppress the people for whom the Lord Jesus Christ shed His blood?

Ezekiel 34

The leaders of Israel and Judah were supposed to serve as shepherds over God’s people. If the leaders are the shepherds, then the people are the sheep. The shepherds were told to watch over the sheep. They were especially given the task of feeding the sheep, but they slaughtered them instead of caring for them. When Christ spoke to Peter after the resurrection, He instructed Peter to feed His sheep. Peter was to be a teaching officer within the covenant community. This feeding refers to the teaching of God’s Word. God has always considered it to be a very serious deficiency when His leaders do not present the truth of His Word to His people.

When leaders feed God’s sheep, they are thinking about what the people really need. They are willing to live sacrificially in order for the people to learn what they need to know so that the whole family of God can grow in their service of the Lord. The alternative to this is to force the weak sheep to sacrifice their lives for the shepherds. In that case, the leaders are not teaching the people the way of life. Instead of feeding the sheep, they spend their efforts in slaughtering the sheep. The true shepherd of the sheep would have a special regard for those who were in need – those who were sick, injured, or lost. The false shepherd wants to kill the sheep and eat them. They either destroy the sheep or ignore them, leaving them in danger from wild beasts. The end result of Old Testament leaders abusing their role as teachers and servants is that God’s flock had badly wandered far away from the Lord and were scattered everywhere.

God was against these false shepherds, and He was determined to punish them. God loves His sheep, and if His shepherds are going to slaughter the sheep, God will defend His sheep by coming against the shepherds. God will seek out His scattered flock, and He will rescue them. He will bring them back into the land so that they can dwell there in safety. God Himself will feed them the Word if His leaders refuse to feed His sheep. God will take care of the weak among them, and do the job of shepherd that the leaders have refused to perform.

The problem of the Old Testament covenant community was not merely poor leadership. When God spoke of taking over that role more directly and shepherding His own flock, He warned His people that He would judge between the sheep. He knew well that some of them were polluting the waters of God’s land with the sin of their lives. They showed a lack of concern for the weak in their midst. Some got fat while others starved. There was an inadequate appreciation for their oneness in the Lord’s house. God would change this through His shepherding of the flock. Even today, we should always remember that the Lord will not allow the strong to abuse the weak in His house. He will step in and save.

The way that God will save is through His promise to send One Great Shepherd of the sheep who He calls here “my servant David.” The actual David was long gone from under the sun. When God speaks of “David” here, He is referring to a descendant of David who will be the long-expected Messiah King. When Jesus, the greatest Son of David, is the Good Shepherd over the Lord’s people, then God will be their God. Christ is called the Prince among God’s people. In the provision of His Son for His church, the Lord has given us the greatest display of Himself, for Jesus is the visible representation of the invisible God.

Because this One Great Shepherd not only gave His life for the sheep, but now lives forever as our great Leader, we have a secure hope of an age of perfect covenant peace. We now experience this hope by faith. When our Shepherd returns we will know this peace without any of the stain of sin or any of the weight of misery. Now we face some of the challenges that come with living in an old world with the effect of the common curse upon mankind. The trees do not always yield fruit. We sometimes face the oppression of wicked and abusive governments. Foreign invaders and enemies can make life difficult for us. Hunger and disease take their toll upon the lives of Your people. Even beyond this, we have the shame of our own sin. We feel the Lord’s hand of disciplinary love and the sting of necessary correction, or simply the reminder that we need to stay alert to God’s goodness and His presence among us. Sometimes it feels like we are all alone, though we know that this is not the case. At certain times even the church and our own families give us surprising cause for sadness.

one more thought ...

Concerning what appears below on Ezekiel 33:

Suffering is very complicated. It is hard to say any one thing about it, since there is such mystery in the Lord's loving providence. The safest thing for us to do is to let the whole of the Scriptures give us what we need to know passage by passage. The point of Ezekiel 33 is not for us to be able to diagnose the mystery behind someone else's particular suffering, although I suppose that we might be able to help there sometimes. The point is for each of us to hear what God is saying to us as a covenant community, to repent and to live, to remember that God loves us, and that He is involved for our good in our lives, even through horrible suffering. To eliminate the message of Ezekiel 33 from the Bible would be a mistake. It is always right for the church to repent. Cry out to God for your friends who are suffering. It often is a gift from God to suffer, sometimes a very costly gift. It needs to be used well, and it is very hard or impossible to figure it all out in our own lives, let alone in the lives of others.

In Christ's Mercy and Love,
Steve

Ezekiel 33

The man who truly speaks for the Lord God has a special responsibility. This point has been made already in this book of prophecy, but now it is reiterated as the prophet begins a new section of the book. The prophet is a watchman. Part of His responsibility is to warn the people concerning the Lord’s judgment. Any watchman should be well situated at a high lookout point at the edge of the city. He lives on the border between the city he protects and the world outside. He cannot wait for dangerous armies to knock at the city gates before he sounds the alarm. He is looking and waiting. He is ready to sound the trumpet when he sees the signs of danger. If he does his job, and the city will not take notice, the watchman has nothing to be ashamed of. Each man should hear the warning, and each man is responsible to take appropriate action.

In the case of God’s covenant people, the danger is ultimately from a just and holy God, and the trumpet call is a warning of a prophet or a preacher who sees the wickedness of the people, and knows the truth of a holy God. Even when the prophet does not speak forthrightly and clearly to the people, the people are still guilty before God for their own actions, but the prophet must share in their guilt. No matter how holy or righteous he may be, he saw the trouble coming and he did not adequately sound the alarm. His position is one of responsibility, and he must understand that when he considers when to speak and when to keep silent. It is a matter of life and death, not only for the people, but also for the prophet.

With that in mind, the Lord does have something to say to His people, and He will bring this message to them in the land of their exile. He will bring them a message of life through repentance. They may think that there is no hope for them because of their former sins. God announces through Ezekiel that the Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He is very happy to see the wicked come to grips with the truth and to take appropriate action. There is a way of life that is opened up to them, but they must repent. They know what they have been taught concerning what is right and good, and they know what they need to do now to be honest before the Lord. They must do this if they truly want to live.

Ezekiel 32

A powerful man’s assessment of himself in the day of his greatest glory may be very different from his evaluation of his life as he lies dying on the field of battle. This is something that all kinds of people face, both great and small, both inside the covenant community of God and outside its bounds. Yet it may be an especially jarring tale among the greatest of men who have not been softened in their pride by the experience of the true worship of a Being greater than themselves.

Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was apparently such a man. He thought of himself as a lion among the nations. This title is more suited for the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes again in glory to judge the earth as the King of kings. The right assessment of Pharaoh is far less flattering. Rather than meriting a title that is fit for the Lord of Glory, God gives Pharaoh a title that reminds us of the Lord’s chief adversary. The ruler of Egypt is called a dragon in the seas, sending His pollution into rivers that become foul because of his presence.

This dragon will not be permitted to have sovereignty over the earth. Like the serpent of old, he can only play his strange part in the mysterious decree of God. The time for Pharaoh’s end will come. A net will be cast over him, and he will meet his demise. In part, this has already happened to Satan. He has been bound by God so that he cannot utterly deceive the nations any more. He once kept all the gentiles in deep darkness during the time prior to the preaching of the good news. That day is now gone. One day in the future Christ will finally and fully put His net over His enemy, and that dragon will be cast into the lake of fire.

This is not just the story of one man. The reality of death comes upon all men and empires. We are deeply affected when we hear of the death of one great man who was once exalted in pride. In the case of Pharaoh, the instrument of his destruction will be the king of Babylon and his armies, but it is the Lord who is using this instrument. The consequences will come not only upon Pharaoh, but on the nation of Egypt and its haughty pride. The problem of Egypt was not a problem of environment. Pharaoh and his people were the problem. The Lord says that when Babylon destroys them, the rivers will soon be clean.

This assessment of Pharaoh and the one that follows it about the nation were songs of mourning. It is a sad thing, at least in some sense, to see the fall of the proud. Everything about God’s glory is great, but this does not change the fact that certain things are still sad. It is sad to think of a nation going down to the world of the dead. There the people see other proud nations that have already finished there days. There they all are, along with many nations who do not bear the sign of the covenant. They once spread terror in the land of the living. They once lived with the mighty, but they are not in the place of mighty men now, for they have been slain by the sword.

There is Assyria and all her company. There is Elam and Meshech-Tubal. There is Edom with her kings and her princes. There are the Sidonians and all the princes of the north. They were all mighty in their day, but despite their greatness they are now laid down in the world of the dead with all those they killed. Pharaoh and the Egyptians will not be alone. They will be brought low in death, as were all these other proud and great powers. The Lord’s acts of judgment take our breath away!

The Lord has provided only one answer to free us from the terror of that Day. It is amazing that this one answer did not come in the form of a frightening king. Born in the most humble condition, he surely escaped the attention of almost everyone. He came with healing. He taught about the most unusual kingdom, calling it the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. Stranger still was His death, whereby His people were purchased according to His divine purpose. Pharaoh and the great men of Egypt would never have imagined that such a thing could happen. But then, they were long gone from the land of the living by the time of His arrival. Their fall was only a sad story from the distant past when Christ came to die for His people.

Prayer based on Acts 8

Sovereign Lord, You have promised that Your truth would not be stopped in Jerusalem, but that it would be heard in all Judea, Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth. As that Word moved forward through Your apostles, many believed even among those who had formally been committed to pagan practices. So many in every age are committed to the worship of money, or think that they can buy the gift of God. You will bring Your Word even to men such as this. You will open the minds of many tribes through Your great power. The faith that comes to one man can eventually touch millions of people once securely bound in the slavery of idolatry. Grant to many people the joy of new life as Your servants are baptized into a community of living hope.

Prayer based on Acts 7

Our Father, grant that we would rightly appreciate the privilege of suffering for the name of Jesus Christ. Without this true assessment of our trials, we will always shrink away from a forthright statement of Your Word in situations of danger. You have sent one Man who would truly keep Your perfect Law. Through His death and resurrection He became the cornerstone of a new spiritual temple, Your church throughout the world. All of the patriarchs and heroes of the faith in earlier days longed for this day of the Messiah. Now the longing of men like Abraham and Moses has actually come. This Jesus did all things well. He has poured out Your Holy Spirit upon Your church. We love Your Law. We rejoice in Your Temple. We long for the fulfillment of Your promise in the age to come, in the land of Resurrection. We love the Word of the Prophets which has now come in person in the great beauty of our Messiah. He is the perfect Son of David, and He has built a new house for His people in His own world-wide body. We will not resist the Holy Spirit. We will love and serve the Righteous One. Teach us the truth about our sin, that we might more fully and earnestly repent of it and be forgiven. Though men might work together to kill us, Your truth can never be stopped. Grant us such a beauty of holiness and love that we would be willing to forgive those who only want to see us dead.

Prayer based on Acts 6

Lord God, thank You for the way that You solve problems with such wisdom and love. Help us to remember that those who have been set apart for the Word should devote themselves to the duties of leading Your church in prayer, teaching, and preaching. These men should not be distracted by other concerns, however important and legitimate. Raise up men that are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to lead all of the believers in service, so that issues of justice, mercy, and order are attended to with diligence and holiness. Fill our hearts with wisdom and with Your Spirit. Grant us spiritual composure and Christ-like love for You and for others when people speak lies against us.

Ezekiel 31

During the final weeks before the fall of Jerusalem, God spoke through Ezekiel concerning the mighty power of the Egyptian empire. For many generations the Egyptians were the great power to the south and west of Israel. During this time there was normally some other great empire to the north and east. That empire to the east had more of a natural incentive and opportunity to attack and subdue Israel. In Israel’s efforts to protect herself from the eastern adversary, there was a great temptation to turn to Egypt as the answer for their security. God did not like this. He insisted on being the great Father for Israel and Judah. The Egyptians who had enslaved them for over 400 years were not the answer for them. God had once delivered His people out of Egypt through the hand of Moses. Would they now turn away from Him and consider the great Egyptian Empire as a great helper, particularly when their real Father was disciplining them through the powers that He had established to the east?

God had a word to speak concerning the Egyptians. That southern empire no doubt agreed with the assessment of disobedient Israelites. They thought that they were great. God now explored that proposition. To whom shall He compare them? Why not compare them to a great empire from recent centuries, the former power from the east, the Assyrians? She also was once great like the Egyptians. Like a great cedar in Lebanon, she was beautiful and useful. Like the tower of Babel, this cedar reached into the heavens. She had all kinds of resources, and was greater than her other neighbors. The world all around her did well to be at peace with her. If others were willing for the Assyrians to be the undisputed tree in that region, then they could find their place resting under her branches. Her neighbors were promised the good life. This was just what the Assyrian envoys tried to convince the people of Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah. This great empire seemed more extensive and wonderful than any tree, even in the great garden of God in Eden. It was God, Ezekiel tells us that made the Assyrians what they were.

There was a problem that developed in that empire. She became proud of her relative position. God’s answer to her pride was to give her into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. She had once ruled over the Babylonians, but now she would be ruled over by them, for they would be the new great power from the east. This great cedar of Assyria was felled by the Babylonians. Now she was brought down to the deep, and the creatures on the earth would make good use for the fallen limbs of this once-proud tree. She fell from the heights of the gods, and she took her place among the children of men, who are all subject to death. This is the humility of natural revelation. Look among the sons of men. No matter how strongly they may believe in their own superiority and even their own divinity, they all face death.

Assyria was a great empire. God made her what she was, and He even used her as part of His chastisement of Samaria and the northern tribes of Israel. She too would have to face up to her true nature. When that wonderfully tall and beautiful cedar of Assyria was brought low, there would rightly be mourning among some. Other great powers might look at Assyria and think about their own future. Not only do individuals go down to the world of the dead, even empires are spoken of as in Sheol. At a minimum, that consigns the nation and its leaders to a thing of the past. Somehow it is said to have its role to play in the world of the dead, as the fallen angels must eventually have their role to play in hell.

Who is Egypt like? She is like the great empire of the Assyrians. She too is great cedar, but like Assyria she can be cut down according to the Lord’s plans. Pharaoh and his leaders are great. They are impressive among men, but they are not gods. Their gods are not even gods. All the multitude of Egypt, all the men and demons that are led by such a great king as Pharaoh, will find their end in the world of the dead, together with all who shall have no portion in the eternal land of the living.

Why will this one kingdom last? Surely it is not because of the merit of her subjects. Even to be in this kingdom we are called to profess that our merit could never grant to us such an exalted citizenship. Our position in the life to come is all about our King. This King is the true Son of God. He has rescued us from the pit of death and has granted to us a standing in the eternal city. We have been drawn to Him by an irresistible grace. We have been gathered into the one nation that will remain, and we have come to see our citizenship in that nation as more significant than what even the best of earthly powers could have granted to us. When we see the fall of some empire or people, we need not rejoice in their demise. We remind ourselves again of what we and our own people deserve. Nonetheless we will rejoice in God our Father, we will rejoice in Jesus our King, and we shall cling to our Lord as citizens of a kingdom that shall never end.

Ezekiel 30

The Lord has spoken to His people through various prophets about something called the “Day of the Lord.” Here He speaks about that coming day with reference to the nation of Egypt. The Day of the Lord in its most ultimate sense is the day of Christ’s return. It will mark the end of the present age and the beginning of the new age of eternal life. When Ezekiel writes this prophetic book, He writes during the prior Old Testament age. With the first coming of the Messiah, and especially with His death, resurrection, and ascension and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, a new age has come. The Old Testament era of the Law is over. The New Testament time of the gospel is here.

During the Old Testament time of the Law, the only way of life was through God’s nation Israel. If an Egyptian was somehow brought to seek under the heavens for the true God of creation, the very best thing that he could do would be to become a Jew, because this was God’s covenant community in that day. This is not at all the case in the current age. The very best thing that a true seeker among the Egyptians could do today would be to associate Himself with Jesus by becoming a part of the church that Christ has established. There is no point at all in an Egyptian becoming a Jew today.

This age is still not the final age. We are looking for that return of our Messiah King, who is the Head of His church. He has faced the Day of the Lord for us on the cross, and we look now for the fulfillment of all of the Lord’s promises of judgment and salvation at the return of Christ. We have so very much to say to Egyptians today. We do not say these things to them as Egyptians who need to stop being Egyptians, or to Egyptians who are doomed because they are Egyptians. We speak to them as people who can hear the gospel of our Lord, and who can be every bit as much of a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ as any Jew could be or any other person could be regardless of national heritage or current citizenship.

Knowing what we know now about the Day of the Lord, we would not have expected that God would say so long ago through Ezekiel that the Day was near. Nonetheless that Day intrudes into prior ages whenever God comes to judge. When the Lord came in the cool of the Day to Adam in the garden, he was coming with an intrusion of the Day of the Lord. When He came with waters in the time of Noah, it was a Day of the Lord. When He spoke to Israel and Judah about impending destruction through the Assyrians or Babylonians, He spoke about a Day of the Lord, and especially when Christ faced the wrath of God on the cross for sinners, it was an intrusion of the Day of the Lord.

The Day for Egypt that Ezekiel announces would mean trouble for them and for all of their allies. It would mean desolation for cities and villages. It would mean destruction by fire and drought from God’s hand. Above all it would mean suffering, captivity, and death. It would mean that no allies could rescue them, and that none of their gods would be able to deliver them from His hand. It would mean that the strength of Pharaoh would be useless. He would be like a man with a shattered arm trying to fight against an adversary who had always been far too strong for him, like a man mortally wounded with no one to help him in a battle against the wrath of the Almighty.

Who could be ready for such a fight against God? In the context of the Old Testament age, there would seem to be no way out for the heathen nation of Egypt. There is still no way out for the world. Our association with the world as a place of hope must somehow be broken. The only way out for any Egyptian man, from Pharaoh down to the lowest slave, would be to forsake Egypt and to become an Israelite. That idea would have been laughable. It was the people in Judah that were always seeking the aid of the more powerful Egyptians. Though God was bringing something of a Day of the Lord upon His own people, this did not change the fact that the best place for any man was to be in God’s ark of His covenant community before the flood of God’s judgment came upon the world.

Even in our current age, any people or nation can feel the danger of the Lord’s judgment, for nations rise and fall at His command. He rules over all, and He calls all men everywhere to repent. The only sensible thing for anyone to do is to become a Christian, and to find a place under the protection of our Messiah, the King of the Jews. In Him an Egyptian who is brought into the Christian church becomes a part of the chosen people of God. Though that alternative may seem laughable in many nations today, when the Day of God’s judgment finally comes, no one will be laughing. Why should any man face the coming Day of the Lord without the safety that comes from God? Our safety can only come through Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Day.

Ezekiel 29

Immediately following the fall of Jerusalem, the Lord had something for Ezekiel to say against Pharaoh and Egypt. Even though Egypt was a strong regional power in the days of the Old Testament, she had less interest in Israel then the Assyrian and later Babylonian and Persian powers to the east. Egypt already had her own coastland on the Mediterranean. For Syria and the empires to the east, to control Israel on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Seas meant access to the European world. Israel had geographic advantages that enabled her to defend herself against most of her closest neighbors, including Egypt. The best hope for Egypt to control Israel was to keep the Israelites within the border of Pharaoh’s land. Once Israel had escaped out of that nation at the time of the Exodus, the Egyptians would lose most of their desire to control Israel and their ability to rule over God’s people without their consent.

Israel’s bigger threats came from those eastern empires. Nonetheless Egypt was a problem for God’s people, because she represented a continual temptation. The temptation of Egypt for the Israelites was primarily this: that Egypt might be a savior for Israel in the face of the expansive Assyrians and Babylonians. Because of this hope, rulers and populace together regularly entreated the Egyptians for some kind of alliance that would supposedly bring some security to Israel, even though the Lord had prohibited such an arrangement. As it turned out, the Egyptians never were much of a help to the Israelites, just as the Lord had regularly warned His people would be the case. Here, and in the next several chapters, God speaks a word against this once-great nation through the prophet Ezekiel.

God announces here that He is against Pharaoh. As with the prophesy against the King of Tyre, Pharaoh is spoken against using imagery of Satan. He is a proud dragon who will be cast out, and will be food for the birds of the heavens. The reason that God gives for this treatment is that Egypt has been a useless support to Israel. Even though God prohibited His people from seeking their support, the fact that the Egyptians ended up being such a dangerous and useless staff for Israel to lean upon is reason enough for them to face the Lord’s discipline. Because of this, the Lord will bring a sword upon them, and will destroy their power.

Just as the King of Tyre saw himself as some kind of God over the seas, Pharaoh considered himself Lord of the Nile. Where the river flowed there was life. Yet God would make Egypt a land of desolation for forty years. Even when she was gathered back to her land, she would never again be the world-class power that she once was. No longer would she be a tempting source of help for the Israelites. In this disposition of a once-commanding empire, the Lord displayed His sovereign power over all lands. When people would one day see what had happened to Egypt, they would know the Lord’s divine power and justice.

Many years later Ezekiel again would announce a message from God concerning Egypt. This is one of the latest prophecies given in this book, and it tells us of one other purpose that God had for Egypt. When the Lord sent his judgments against the King of Tyre, the conquering agents that He used were the Babylonians under the command of Nebuchadnezzar. In this role they were serving in the employ of the Lord, and He had never paid them for their work. Tyre was so utterly destroyed that there was no compensation for the Babylonians as the agents of the Lord’s wrath. In order to settle this unusual debt, the Lord gives the Egyptians into the hands of the Babylonians. They may plunder the land of Egypt as wages to this army in working for God as the destroyers of Tyre.

There would be no Messiah who would come from the line of the great Pharaoh. There would be no Deliverer who would come from the descendants of the Egyptians. They would never again be as great a power as they had been in earlier years. In the days when the Romans would assert their proud authority over both Israel and Egypt, and even all the way to Spain and Britain, a new King would be born in the city of David, Christ the Lord. He would establish a very different kingdom, and would rule forever. We are the subjects of His wonderful rule and reign, and we wait with joyful expectation to greet Him face to face. All of His true subjects are happy to be known by Him. He is not a proud despot who lives for a time and then fades away. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He has shown His love for us by redeeming us at the cost of His own life. He has displayed His power not only be laying down His life, but then especially by picking it up again.

Ezekiel 28

At the helm of a proud city that counts itself as “perfect in beauty,” is a proud captain, the King of Tyre. He is a man, but he says, “I am a god.” What is the evidence of his divinity? Marvel at his surroundings and be amazed. He is head of a fascinating and prosperous city state. He sits in the seat of the gods as the head over such a magnificent place. He surely must be a god himself, sitting in the heart of the seas. He reflects on his own wisdom, the commercial success of his people, and all of the wonderful things around him, and he forgets that he is just a man. He will soon learn that there are kings with even more pride than him, and God will use them against Tyre. The Lord will bring the most ruthless of nations as his enemies, and Tyre will be dragged down from her mountain of pride and cast into the pit of the Lord’s judgment in the midst of the seas.

What will such a man say when he faces another more powerful man coming against him and defeating his nation? Will he still claim to be a god? If so, then he is apparently a lesser god than his victorious adversary. He shall die by the hand of foreigners according to the decree of the Lord God. The God of Israel is the true God, and He speaks here against the pride of the King of Tyre. Words could easily be ignored by such a self-exalted man. The sword of an invading king by the hand of Almighty God is a force that would demand his consideration.

Closely related to Tyre was the Phoenician city of Sidon. On the mainland across the seas, Sidon benefited from her association with Tyre. Like Tyre, she treated the house of Israel with contempt. She was like a thorn bush that cut her neighbors. Though the northern kingdom was scattered by the Lord’s discipline through the Assyrians, and though Judah in the south will soon face more destruction from the Babylonians, God had not stopped caring about His people. His judgments against Tyre and Sidon were a way of expressing His continued commitment to His covenant people, despite His discipline against them.

There are several layers of fulfillment of this final prophesy. First, there will be a number from the tribes of Israel who will be restored back to the land after several decades of the Babylonian exile. This was a great miracle and a wonderful gift from God. The picture of Old Testament Israel would continue until the coming of the Messiah. There would be no king on David’s throne during that time, but the temple would be rebuilt, along with the walls of Jerusalem, and the worship of God would be restored among the Lord’s people as they awaited his deliverance for several centuries.

Nonetheless we are looking for a third level of fulfillment that will come with the return of the Lord and the fulfillment of all that the land of Israel ever meant. In that new life to come we will dwell in the fullness of peace, but only if we are in the Jewish Messiah King Jesus. There is no hope of this kind of ultimate glory in the King of Tyre. It is one thing to claim to be a god. It is quite another to come as the Son of God. Christ came not in pride, but in humility. In His death He showed the outlines of His plan for ultimate peace and security for His beloved people. We must not be fooled by the pomp of this world. It will swiftly perish when the Lord’s promises come in fullness. It is best to stay with Israel’s God, even when it may look like the world has more to offer.

Ezekiel 27

Tyre was a very special ancient city of the Phoenicians. An island fortress, it was a major participant in trade with many other nations. Many cities and nations are filled with civic or tribal pride. Tyre was no exception. She was proud of the way she had adorned herself with all of the goods of the world around her. She said of herself, “I am perfect in beauty.” These are not the words of someone who knows the One who is the Source of every blessing. These are the words of a nation who believes that she is herself like a god.

Men who would have been elders back in the places of their own heritage were resources to be used for this wonderful ship. They should feel honored to work on such a vessel, even if they only made sure that there were no leaks on this boat. Men of power from other nations were easily attracted to the service of Tyre. They were either sold as slaves in her extensive trade, or hired themselves out as mercenaries, and rich Tyre was the highest bidder. These men added to the beauty of this ship. Their very presence told the story of the grandeur of this city.

Tucked away in the midst of the names of their trading partners we find the names of the nations that are supposed to be the beautiful possession of the Lord God. Judah and Israel are apparently expected to join with all the other nations in being happy for the privilege of serving on this great vessel of Tyre. They can simply line up with some names that we recognize and many that we do not, and be happy to trade with Tyre. Here is a ship, a city, that is full. She is heavy laden with goods from all over, and she is filled with grandeur. She stands for all the cities of the world that have found a way to be the dog, requiring others to be the tail. She is heavy with more than commodities. She is loaded with pride.

Not everyone lives a life of comfort in this world. Some have all that they can do to scrape for their daily bread. Yet there are some that have economic advantages. They may have resources or military might. They may have intelligence and strategic insight. Often they have the inheritance of men from days gone by and the remaining legacy of earlier societies of some character. Better men have labored and their lesser descendants have received. Such individuals and societies have a special burden, for it is harder for rich men to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

All the wealth of men and nations has a purpose. God gives us resources to use for something more than ourselves. No amount of wealth can purchase for us a free pass out of the curse of sin and misery. Only through the precious blood of Jesus Christ can forgiveness come to us. The gift of His righteousness is credited to us through simple faith. A rich man must learn to loosen his grip on his possessions in order to embrace the Savior who alone can bring us through the storm of divine judgment. Consider the redemption that you have been given by God. It is a free gift from Him, and your greatest blessing. Be willing to use the riches of this world for the pleasure of Your Father. All the pride of men and all their wealth and power can be gone in a moment. The riches of eternity that we have in Christ are forever.

Prayers based on Judges 6-7

Judges 6

Sovereign Lord, what will You do when we pursue evil ways in Your sight? Surely You love us enough to challenge us in our errors. You may even send an enemy against us to teach us lessons that cannot be learned in times of peace and prosperity. Teach us to call out to You for a Savior. We are too fearful of men in times of difficulty. Make Your church a mighty congregation of valor. Grant us eyes to see the signs of Your presence all around us. Help us see the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus Christ with new eyes day by day. You are with us. Your Son is still alive. Grant us a new awareness of the peace that He has won for us. We have peace with You, and peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we do not have peace with idolatry. Make us strong for the tearing down of idolatrous altars within our hearts and lives. Clothe us with Your Spirit that we might find new courage that can only come from You. Purify our consciences from past sin, and grant us daily repentance and faith as a sign of Your abiding love.

Judges 7

Lord God Almighty, You are very capable of helping us through every challenge. You can win a great victory with even fewer men than Gideon’s small army of 300. Have You not won the greatest battle through the weakness of One Man? Did not the Son of David slay a legion of Goliaths through His death on the cross? You are the one who grants true spiritual courage to Your church. You have shown many things to us of Your greatness and faithfulness. Open our eyes and ears to the fact of Your greatness and love. We worship You with confidence in Your promises. Come quickly great Lord of Hosts. Win the battle against fear and disappointment that rages within our souls. If we will resist the devil, He will flee from us. Why are we slow to do this? Build up Your church even in our day. Help us to be faithful to Your call in every situation of trouble that we face. You are surely with us.

Prayers based on Judges 4-5

Judges 4

O God, our base impulses would destroy us. Sometimes the deadly yield of lust comes almost immediately. On other occasions the disease lurks deep in our flesh and destroys us many years later. Either way, our sin is so dangerous to our spiritual and physical health. Teach us how to have a proper enjoyment of the good gifts that You have granted to us. Show us the way of love and submission between godly men and women. We see the pattern among the men of this world. They would abuse women and treat them as objects and not companions. They do not understand that their ways lead only to death. They are so easily fooled. They leave the path of safety and are soon captured by someone who comes softly to them. They lie down in their weakness and are overcome by the hand of death. Thank you for courageous women that You have granted to Your church, and teach the men of the church to lead in righteous ways, forsaking all evil and laziness.

Judges 5

Father God, may godly men be willing to take the lead within Your church for the glory of Your Name. We thank You for our one great leader, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our confidence is in Him. We are in the midst of a great spiritual battle. We need Your help. May we not be those who sit out the fight, or hide in a place that seems peaceful. You have granted to us Your Word, sacraments, and prayer as good weapons in this struggle. Gather us together in the use of these good gifts. Thank You for strong and courageous women who are willing to work with us in Your congregations. We do not struggle against flesh and blood. We pray for those who are being deceived by the Evil One, that many will be rescued from the One who comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. May Satan and His demonic host perish at just the right time, O Lord. May Your friends be like the sun that rises in its might. Bring forward the great day of resurrection life for Your church. Grant that Your Son will reign as King over His church forever and ever.

Ezekiel 26

It may be a good general principle in this age of trouble that we should never rejoice over the misfortune of some group of people, no matter how beneficial or satisfying their demise might seem to our own interests. God is the God of blessings and of trouble. For us to pile on top of an enemy when he is already down is uncharitable. We should recognize instead that we certainly deserve the treatment that the other nation received. In fact, we deserve something much worse than they have received. We know that all of us deserve both death and hell. We should also remember that we all appreciate a friend when we have brought low, and we do not know how we ourselves will fare in the future. It is possible that we may face a similar day of difficulty. In any case, the trouble of one nation, is not a signal for other nations to act as vultures who will now feed off of the misfortunes of a defeated people.

As the Lord had something to say to Israel’s neighbors to the east and the south, He has a word through Ezekiel for their trading partner to the north. The people of Tyre saw the trouble that Israel was facing from Babylon through the lens of opportunity. The gate of Jerusalem was broken. The Phoenicians greeted this as good news and considered the potential economic benefit that they would yield from this news. Because of this disregard for the plight of the people of God, the Lord announces that He is against Tyre. This chapter and the next two make this point, giving us a substantial consideration of the trouble that is coming upon the land of the Phoenicians. As we have seen in other cases, Tyre will face an appropriate penalty for her offense. It shall happen to her as it has happened to Jerusalem. She rejoiced in their destruction. Now she will be destroyed.

When we say that Tyre will be destroyed, it does appear that what will come upon her will be more significant even than what Jerusalem has faced. While they too will face the king of Babylon, his armies, his siege mounds, and all his instruments of war, it appears that he will make a bare rock out of the pleasant island nation. They had a good life in this land of merchants. They had riches, wonderful homes, festivals with singing and the playing of musical instruments. Now they will be so completely ravaged that it would seem like there was nothing left at all. They wanted to clean up after the Babylonians who had destroyed so much in Jerusalem. Now they will find that everything will be taken from them, and there will be nothing left for a greedy nation of scavengers to take. Even more than this, there is some indication in Ezekiel’s message that Tyre would never be rebuilt.

The fall of Tyre will cause many to marvel. All her trading partners knew what a great city she was. There is something awful about seeing people who live like kings being stripped of their robes. There is also something in us that likes to see the proud fall, but I am not sure that this is a righteous impulse. If an unpopular ruler were removed by his people, and there were no restraints on their behavior, who can tell how ugly his former subjects might become in their denigration of him. Other rulers tremble at this kind of news. They know that they may not survive very long.

We imagine that our impulse to gain riches at the expense of others is very innocent. We think that what we do is just business. We are happy to see others fall, and we begin to imagine ways in which we can profit from their misfortune. We see from the Lord’s judgment on Tyre that he takes these things very seriously, particularly if we intend to make ourselves rich at the expense of His covenant community – even more if we would use the occasion of the Lord’s discipline of His people as an opportunity for our own economic gain.

What do we see when we see the misfortune of the Lord’s people? The Lord Jesus Christ looked upon us in our need, and He gave Himself in love. He came with His riches of righteousness, wisdom, and power, and saw us in our condition of extreme poverty. In the greatest display of love known to man, He gave Himself for us. He was willing to be poor that we might be rich. He also tells us that this gospel way of treating others is one of the primary ways that we display His love in the world.

Ezekiel 25

How is it that the God of one nation ever had anything to say against any other nation? Nations that were on the rise might assert that their gods were more powerful than the gods of other lands, and that this gave them a military advantage over their enemies. Sometimes the human rulers of powerful empires took titles of divinity upon themselves and then asserted their authority over the gods of those lands that they would conquer. All of this proud behavior requires that a nation be on the rise. During the time of Ezekiel the northern tribes of Israel had already been decimated. The southern kingdom of Judah was certainly far from her glory days. How then did the God of Israel have something to say to the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Edomites, the Philistines, and any other neighboring nations?

The answer has to do, not with greatness of Judah or her kings. They were about to see Jerusalem destroyed and the temple on Mount Zion left in a heap of rubble. What allowed the Lord God to speak to these other nations was the fact that He is the God of everything and everyone, and not just the God of Israel? In fact He is the only real God. He created the heavens and the earth. There are no boundaries for his authoritative Word. If He has something to say to the nations of the world, He requires no one’s permission to do so. This is part of His glory and majesty.

The Ammonites lived to the east of Israel. The Lord’s case against them is based on their celebration at the time of Judah’s trouble. They rejoiced at the profaning of the temple of God in Jerusalem and in the exile of the Lord’s people. For this reason they would have a punishment that would fit their offense. They would be turned over to the same empire to their east and would suffer the kind of trouble that they had seen Judah face. They rejoiced in her trouble, but now they would feel the very same problem coming upon them. This judgment would be a revelation of God. Through His just response to their offense, they would know something about Him as He came in wrath.

Moab would also receive a word from Israel’s God through His prophet Ezekiel. Their offense was their claim that Judah was just like the other nations. People could have looked at the events that had taken place and come to the conclusion that there was really nothing special about Israel or about the God of Jacob. Many nations had fallen to the hands of the Assyrians and yet Jerusalem had escaped this fate. But now she was falling to the Babylonians, who had themselves replaced the Assyrians. Perhaps they had thought that there might be something special about Judah, but now they concluded that she was just like all the other nations. In fact, Judah’s trouble had nothing to do with her relative strength or weakness when compared with other nations. Her trouble had to do with her God. Now this same God announces His judgments upon Moab.

The message to Edom and Philistia is similar. They have taken vengeance on Israel, as if they had the power of God in their hands. It is one thing for God to discipline Israel through the use of the Babylonians. It is quite another for their neighbors to presume to come against the Lord’s people in judgment. The Lord will judge His people in His own way. Their neighbors would want to wipe them off the face of the earth. God may chastise them severely, but He will never change the fact that the coming Messiah will be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David. God will defend His Name, and He will fight for His people.

Many people assume that You can judge the favor of God for a church or for an individual based on how things seem to go for them. Such a standard cannot be used to make sense of what happened to Christ or how the Apostles were persecuted by their enemies. Did God not love His Son when Jesus went to the cross? We read in John 10:17; “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.” Did God not love the apostles when they were put to death by their persecutors? According to Psalm 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” You cannot rightly conclude that the church is hated by God because she is facing trials in this life.

God will never forsake His church. They are the new Israel of God, and the recipient of the Lord’s covenant promises. His Son died for their sins, and is coming again for their salvation. There is no safety in Ammon, Moab, Edom, or Philistia. But there is safety in Jesus Christ. It is never wise to ridicule or attack the Lord’s elect. God has made them precious promises in Christ that will never be taken away. The best thing for anyone in the world to do is to find a place in the body of Christ. Those who are children of God through faith in Christ are told in Romans 8:17 that we are now “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

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Saturday, May 31, 2008

Prayer based on Acts 12

Friday, May 30, 2008

Ezekiel 35

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Ezekiel 34

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

one more thought ...

Ezekiel 33

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Ezekiel 32

Monday, May 26, 2008

Prayer based on Acts 8

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Prayer based on Acts 7

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Prayer based on Acts 6

Friday, May 23, 2008

Ezekiel 31

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Ezekiel 30

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Ezekiel 29

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Ezekiel 28

Monday, May 19, 2008

Ezekiel 27

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Prayers based on Judges 6-7

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Prayers based on Judges 4-5

Friday, May 16, 2008

Ezekiel 26

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Ezekiel 25

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