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Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

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.

The description of what will happen to Pharaoh is spoken of with the language that of the ultimate Day of the Lord. His demise will be well associated with the signs of God’s judgment that will fill the heavens when the Lord comes in judgment. Physical death even now is a frightening end to our time in the light of life. Our only hope is to be found in the eternal Savior who is the light of the world now, and the shining radiance of the age to come.

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!

Many powerful men presume to be like God. They may wish to be known as great people who must be feared, people who spread terror in the land of the living. God is far above them. When the Lord comes again to judge the living and the dead, who shall stand? The Day of Judgment is a frightening day, because One who is greater than any ruler will spread the terror of His justice as He comes with all his angelic host together with all who are resting in Christ.

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.

We still celebrate His death so many centuries after that horrifying and great event, and we insist that He is alive. The most humble of kings has now been exalted to the highest station of resurrection life. He is the only answer for us who would otherwise deserve the fullness of God’s wrath.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM

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