EZEKIEL, Part 1Kay Arthur
Ezekiel 29-32LESSON 10
“Because”Egypt Did NOT Support Israel
Ezekiel 29:2-7I am against you (Egypt)…“Because they have been only a staff made of reed to the house of Israel”.7“When they (Israel) took hold of you (Egypt) with the hand, you broke and tore all their hands; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins quake
2 Kings 18:13-21, 33-34Rabshakeh, Assyria official, calledEgypt a crushed reed. 33-34– challenged Hezekiah, the king of Judah ––“has any one of the gods of the nationsdelivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena,and Ivvah? Have they deliveredSamaria from my hand? Who among all thegods of the lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
God’s Future Plan for Assyria & Egypt
2 Kings19: 20-25Isaiah says to Hezekiah..21, “This is the word the Lord has spoken against him (Assyria) She has despised you and mocked you, the virgin daughter of Zion; She has shaken her head behind you, the daughter of Jerusalem! Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and haughtily lifted up your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel! Through your messengers you have reproached the Lord, and you have said, “With many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, to the remotest parts of Lebanon; and I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses.And I entered its farthest lodging place, its thickest forest. I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and with the sole of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt.Have you not heard? Long ago I did it; from ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass”. 25“I have brought it to pass that you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps”.
“Because” of Egypt’s Pride of Power
Ezekiel 29:9 the land of Egypt will become a desolation and waste. They will know that I am the Lord. Because you said,“the Nile is mine and I have made it.15 lowest of the kingdoms, will never again lift itself above the nations.I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations
God’s Plan for Egypt (Near Future)
Ezekiel 29:17. DATE: “in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month”.
Ezekiel 40:1 “In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was taken, on the same day the hand of the Lord was upon me and he brought me there”. (573 B.C.)
______
597 586 570 BC
So it happens after the last message of Ezekiel, the last one that is recorded in his book. Ezekiel takes something that happens after he closes the book, he brings that prophecy and he puts it right back here in the destruction of Egypt.
God Uses BABYLON: Nebuchadnezzar To BRING DOWN EGYPT’S PRIDE
Ezekiel 30:6those who support Egypt will fall, and the pride of her power will come down”. …18, “in Tehaphnehes, the day will be dark when I break there the yolk bars of Egypt. Then the pride of her power will cease in her”.
Ezekiel 32:12 “By the swords of the mighty ones(Babylon) I will cause your (Egypt’s) hordes to fall; all of them are tyrants of the nations, and they will devastate the pride of Egypt”. 17-21God is going to give Egypt to Babylon as their wage for all the years of warfare against rebellious Tyre.
God Uses MEDO-PERSIA: Cyrus To RESTORE ISRAEL
Ezekiel 29:21“On that day I will make a horn (Cyrus?) sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth (Egypt) in their midst. Then they (Egypt) will know that I am the Lord”.
Isaiah 44:28 – “It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will perform all my desire’. And He declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built’. And of the temple,‘Your foundation will be laid’. Ezekiel 45:1-3 “I am calling Cyrus to subdue the nations”.
America’s Election 2012will show us either God’s judgment or God’s favor. Who’s in control? Who’s got it planned? I believe we need to be involved in all the processes, in every arena of life. I believe God has us there as salt and light to hold forth the Word of God whether it’s in the arts, it’s in politics, it’s in science, it’s the medical profession – wherever it is – I believe God wants us there,I believe He wants us as His voice, I believe He wants us active, and I believe He wants us holding forth the Word of Life. But Precious Ones, those leaning/ depending on all of those to turn a nation around, to save a nation, to rescue a nation – it’s like leaning on a reed.
Egypt’s MESSAGE for a Far Future Time: Last 3.5 years of Tribulation, Before Millennial Kingdom?
Hiatus?Ezekiel 30:3-5 “the word of the Lord came again to me saying”.“For the dayis near, even the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations. A sword will come upon Egypt, and anguish will be upon Ethiopia.”5, “Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all Arabia, Libya, and the people of the land that is in league or covenant will fall with them by the sword!”
Daniel 11:36-40. (never been fulfilled)40“At the end time the king of the South (Egypt) will collide with him (Antichrist,the little hornof Daniel 7) and the king of the North (Syria, Lebanon) will storm against him (AC) with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through. He (AC) will also enter the Beautiful Land (Israel) and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand – Edom, Moab, and the foremost sons of Ammon. Then he (AC) will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels”. …45“he will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain”(Israel).
Daniel 12:1 “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people (Israel), everyone written in the book, will be rescued”.
Message of EGYPT’s Dispersion Ezekiel 30:20-26. God isgoing to disperse the people by the hand of Babylon
Second Message of EGYPT’S Pride
Ezekiel 31:1-2Egypt is compared to ______who was haughty of heart, and because of its loftiness, it will be brought down!”
Ezekiel 31:18“to which among the trees of Eden (nations) are you thus equal in glory and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth beneath; you will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who were slain by the sword. So is Pharaoh and all of his hordes!’ ComparePsalm 2:(Millennial Kingdom) the nations give obedience to the Lord and to His anointed!
One Nation’s Downfall Affects Others
Ezekiel 32:1-16 You compared yourself to a young lion of the nations!’‘Yet you are like the monster in the seas; and you muddied the waters with your feet and fouled their rivers.”:9-10 “I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples (nations) when I bring your destruction among the nations.“Into lands which you have not known. I will make many peoplesappalled at you, and their kings will be horribly afraid of you when I brandish My sword before them; and they will tremble every moment, every man for his own life, on the day of your fall.”
Message of a Nation’s Example. Ezekiel 32:17 Egypt is going down to the pit, but not alone!
Are you willing to trust in God when it seems illogical?
ISAAC Genesis 26:1-7“Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. The Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt’. Stay in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham”. 6“So Isaac lived in Gerar.”
JOSEPH Genesis 41:41See, I (Pharaoh) have set you (Joseph) over all the land of Egypt.
I John 5:4 This is the victory that overcomes the world- our faith.
God Chooses Unlikely Deliverers!
MOSES Exodus 2:3Moses was floating down the Nile protected by his mother, supposed to be put to death, she does not lean on the reed of Egypt: She trusts God. Pharaoh’s daughter pulls Moses out of the reeds of the Nile – which God created, not them!!Moses – “I can’t be your spokesman, I can’t talk! Here’s Aaron – send him!”
ME?1 Corinthians 1:26-31 God “has not chosen many wise, not many noble; but God has chosen the base things of the world, the foolish things, the things that are despised, so that no man may boast before the Lord”
I Am the LORD Your God…
Leviticus 25:55 “For the sons of Israel are My servantswhom I brought from the land of Egypt”. John “you didn’t choose Me, I chose you”.
Jeremiah, “cursed is the man who leans on the arm of flesh. Blessed is the man whose trust is the Lord and who trusts in the Lord”.
No Other Gods, Besides Me
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me”..
An idol (statue) is anything that replaces God. The one thing you want to know though is Corinthians says behind the idols are demons.
Idolatry in Any Form is Unacceptable!
An idol (of the heart) is anything that gets in the way or keeps you from full and total dependence on God.
Genesis 31:19, 34, and 35 Rachel’s getting ready to leave her home to go with Jacob and she’s got her father’s household idols. God is to be God alone, the one and only source of everything!Now He’s going to supply through people, He’s going to move through people, but if you start looking to people - if you looked to your husband to your children, to your promotion – if it changes or hinders your walk with the Lord -it is an idol!
Isaiah 31:1 Psalm 81:10 Jeremiah 2:13-18 Isaiah 30:1 Jeremiah 30:1-3,7
Let’s pray. Father, thank you for your Word!! May we build our lives on the Rock. We know that great storms are coming. We know that we will be challenged to the core, but, if we’re leaning on the Rock we will not be moved. May we do so for Your glory and Your kingdom for a testimony to our community and our places where we live, and Father, even in the long run, to the nations. May we be a testimony, Father, may they see Your light in us, the light of life. In Your name we pray. Amen.