Ezekiel Bible Study - Ezekiel 25-26

Okay, so tonight we're going to look at Ezekiel 25 and probably be able to get into a little bit of Ezekiel 26 as well. You'll remember that last week or the last time we had a Bible study, we talked about how this was the last prophecy of Ezekiel for a while until Jerusalem would actually fall. And in that chapter 24, we saw where one of the things that God put on Ezekiel was the loss of his wife. And we talked about how Ezekiel had that faith in God, did exactly what God asked him to do, and through it all, it was another one of those things that God was using to show the nation of Judah, this is what they were going to do. They were going to lose everything they loved as well. And Ezekiel just demonstrated exactly what God had asked him to do because of the faith that he had in him. Quite a lesson for us. But at that time we said that would be the last prophecy of Ezekiel before Jerusalem fell. And then tonight we started to a series of like eight chapters and our prophecies about the nations surrounding Judah. In chapter 25, it'll talk about four of those nations, and I'll put a map up here in a little bit for you to see how those nations surround Judah and the already fallen nation of Israel there back in ancient times. But as we go through this, you're going to notice why God punishes those nations. The reason he punishes them is because when Jerusalem was falling, when Israel was falling, they took glee and they applauded the Jerusalem fall. They've applauded the fall and God does not take lightly when people take glee over someone else's adversity. You'll remember in Ezekiel a few times, you know, in the past chapters we have seen where God told Ezekiel and tells us by what's in the Bible, sigh and cry over the abominations of the earth. Don't take glee when someone suffers, sigh and cry, mourn over them, mourn that people have to go through those things.

Even though it's for their own good, because when God punishes, he doesn't do it just because he's mad at someone. He doesn't do it because he hates them. He does it because we all need to come to a state of humility and understand his way. When we come to a state of humility, then God can work with us. And his purpose in all of this is that all of mankind would be come to a state of humility where they will recognize God and they will appreciate God and they will learn to follow him. That's why over and over in the book of Ezekiel, and we'll see it again tonight, that God says these things that happen, they're going to be terrible things that happen. But he goes, then they will know that I am the Lord. And that's an important thing because when people know and acknowledge God, then he can work with them. And then there's the opportunity for repentance and a turn to God and the possibility of eternal life. So with that in mind, let's look at chapter 25. We get into the first group of people here that God is setting his face against, and that's a group of people called the Ammonites. So in chapter 25, in verse 1, it says, the Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel saying, Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them. So when God says prophesy against someone, that's not going to be something pleasant, right, in the human way of thinking. Say to the Ammonites, verse 3, hear the Word of the Lord God.

Thus says the Lord God, because you said, aha, against my sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity, indeed, knows what he says, because you said, aha, look what's happening Jerusalem. That's what they deserve. Aha, when Nebuchadnezzar came in and he raided Jerusalem and raided the temple because they were saying, aha, look what happened. They were happy to see God's sanctuary profaned, and because they were also happy to see Israel's demise as well. Indeed, God says, therefore I will deliver you as a possession to the men of the east, and they will sit there encampments among you and make their dwellings among you. They'll eat your fruit and they will drink your milk. So, Ammonites, we have just recently, we have, Bill, did you have a question or something? I see your hand up there, Bill, if you needed something.

Okay, I'll assume that's just on there. So. It's just not working right.

Okay. Are you talking to me, Bill? Yeah, you can hear me, right? I can hear you, yes.

Fannie, please. My deal's just not working right. I'm going to go off and start over again.

Okay, okay. Sorry. That's okay. So, we have just talked a couple chapters ago about the Ammonites, and we're going to put up this picture that you will remember, I think.

Remember this? There was a fork in the road back in Ezekiel 21. Man, at the time, I'm going to just read it to you. You don't have to turn back there, but in verses 28 to 32 of Ezekiel 21, you see Nebuchadnezzar comes to kind of a point where is he going to go toward Jerusalem and conquer Jerusalem, or is he going to go to Ammon and conquer that? And he chooses to go to Jerusalem.

So, let me read, as he chooses to go to Jerusalem, the people of Ammon are happy, cheering, we've been spared, and they rejoice at the fall of Jerusalem and Nebuchadnezzar's attack on them.

But when he's done with Jerusalem, he comes back, and then he goes over to Ammon as well, and that's what God is talking about here. So, going back to chapter 21 and verse 28, it says, And you, Son of Man, you, Son of Man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord God, concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach, and say, A sword, a sword is drawn, polished for slaughter, for consuming, for flashing, while they say false visions for you, meaning they're there and they're having visions of your destruction, while they divine a lie to you, to bring you on the necks of the wicked, the slain, whose day has come, whose iniquity shall end. And then God goes on to say, Return the sword to achieve, and then I will pour out my indignation on you, Ammon, I will blow against you with the fire of my wrath and deliver you into the hands of brutal men who are skillful to destroy. And so, whatever we are here is that time is now happening.

That time is coming on, Ammon, relating back to that prophecy in Ezekiel 21, because Ammon rejoiced at the fact that Nebuchadnezzar went to Jerusalem first and destroyed them. But then he turned and he came against Ammon. So let me take that one down and then let me show you a map of where we are in. I don't think you can see that. Can you see that? I don't think you can. I think I forgot to hit the share button. Let me do that. Okay, so here we are. This is a map of where we are. You see Jerusalem, the kingdom of Judah, down there in the beige right next to, just to the east of Philistine, which is a coastal state there in red. We're talking about the kingdom of Ammon, or Ammon, whatever you want to call it, in the orange. So that's a neighboring state to Israel and Judah. We're going to go next into the kingdom Moab, which is there in the mortaring state as well, and then the kingdom of Eden and then the Philistine. So in this chapter, we're going to be hitting all of those four countries that God has a prophecy against, because all of them rejoiced at the fall of Jerusalem and Israel. And they were pretty much ongoing enemies of Israel down through history. If you notice off to the east of those colored countries, Ammon, Moab, and Edom, you'll see where it says Nabata tribes and Aramean tribes.

The Bible is going to refer to the men of the east, that they're going to come in and the men of the east, he'll turn them over to them. That's where those Aramean tribes and Nabata tribes are.

The commentaries say when we read men of the east, it refers pretty much to nomadic peoples that live there. They use the word wild, wild wandering nomadic people who lived east of those kingdoms, and God says he was going to turn those kingdoms over to the men of the east. So I'm going to keep that map up for just a little bit. And let me read beginning in verse four again of chapter 25, and you will see the men of the east mentioned here, as well as the capital city of Ammon that Raboth, Ammon, that you see down there in the southern part of Ammon. So verse four says, indeed therefore I will deliver you, Ammon, as a possession to the men of the east, and they shall set their encampments among you, and make their dwellings among you. They shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. And I will make, verse five, I will make Rabah a stable for camels camels, and Ammon a resting place for flocks. Basically he was going to destroy Ammon because of what they did. And the prophecies are pretty clear about the Middle East there, those countries that God is going to have, they're going to be completely destroyed. So we see that Rabah is going to be just a stable for camels, a resting place for flocks. And then in verse five it says, then you will know, then you will know that I am the Lord. Again, whenever we see that phrase, then you will know that I am the Lord. God is using that punishment to bring the people to humility, that they know that they have no power against God. Just as we all are, we are completely submissive to him, completely subservient, and we are wise to yield to him, and to submit ourselves to him because in him we find joy, peace, and all the good things in life that that mankind wants.

It's just a matter of yielding to God and doing what he says. In verse six, again speaking of this kingdom of Ammon, says, for thus says the Lord God, because you clapped your hands, you stamped your feet, and you rejoiced in heart with all your disdain for the land of Israel. Indeed therefore I will stretch out my hand against you and give you as plunder to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples and I will cause you to perish from the countries. I will destroy you and you shall know that I am the Lord. You shall know that I am the Lord. You know the commentaries make, a commentary, I don't remember which one makes a comment that, when God says he will destroy them from the nations, they won't even be named among the nations anymore. Indeed where we still may hear of the kingdom of Moab and Edom, the Ammonites are nowhere on the earth today. They said there is no people named Ammonites. The only place you find them is in the pages of history. I didn't check that out. I just thought that was an interesting comment that one of the commentaries had.

So that's the judgment on Ammon. And of course he relates back to taking joy at the demise of Jerusalem and then God destroyed them because of that glee.

God's people mourn and sigh and cry for the suffering that people have to go through. We don't rejoice at their suffering. It's the message to us and what God wants us to do to have empathy and sympathy on people as they go through what they need to go through in order to come to know God.

So beginning in verse 8 of chapter 25, we come to the next country and this is Moab in the purple down there. Verse 8 says, us says the Lord God because Moab and Seir say, look the house of Judah is like all the nations. Therefore, I will clear the territory of Moab of cities. I went into first night a little bit there. So Moab is an interesting country. We have talked about it before several times in the book of Isaiah as we went through that series of prophecies in Isaiah that talked about the demise of the countries around Israel and Judah.

We talked about Moab and Moab, you know, if we go one book forward to the book of Daniel, we often cite the plight of the Middle Eastern nations there where God has the King of the North marching through the Middle East and he pretty much destroys much of that the King of the South, if you will. In Daniel 11, and if we look at the beginning in verse 40 there, it specifically tells us this at the time of the end, at the time of the end, the King of the South, that would be those nations south of the Mediterranean Sea, what we would call the Middle East today where Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, and those countries are at the time of the end, the King of the South will attack him. That would be the King of the North and the King of the North will come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships and he will enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He will enter the glorious land, that's what is known as the land of Israel today, and Jerusalem and many countries shall be overthrown, but these will escape from his hand. Edom, we're going to talk about Edom in a little bit, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. When the King of the North comes through, he will destroy the Middle Eastern nations, but these three, the three that we're talking about tonight, three of the four, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon will escape at that time. Now Ezekiel will tell us they will all eventually be completely destroyed, but at least at the time of the King of the North they will survive. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries of Egypt, he shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

So the land of Moab, today it occupies the territory of Jordan, and that is a notable country. If we want to turn back to Isaiah 16, when we were going through that book, there was a prophecy against Moab there as well, and Isaiah 16, it's quite a prophecy because God talks about, he talks about the mountains, he talks about his people escaping, and he talks about a place of shelter for his outcasts in that area. In chapter 16, in verse 2, you'll see, Show shall be the daughters of Moab at the fours of the Yarnam. Verse 3, it says, Take counsel, execute judgment, make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day, hide the outcasts, don't betray him who escapes. Let my outcasts dwell with you, O Moab, be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler, from the extortioner, where the extortioner is at an end, devastation ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land, and in mercy the throne will be established, and one will sit on it in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.

So we talked about this sheltering or the hiding of the outcasts of God in the kingdom of Moab.

When you pair that with Daniel 11, where it's one of the countries that is going to be spared, you see that there may be something there. Of course, we know in Revelation 12, God talks about a time when his faithful, he takes and he shelters them in a place where he nurtures them for a time, times and a half a time from the face of the serpent. And that's the end time. And for, you know, there's many prophecies that indicate we have absolutely no, we don't know for sure what God has. There is something about this area of the world when you put together Isaiah 16, some verses in Psalms, certainly the fact that God says the other countries there are going to fall at the hand of the king of the north, but these three are going to survive because they have a place, they have a place in prophecy until the return of Jesus Christ when they are completely destroyed.

And indeed they are completely destroyed at the time of the end. In Jeremiah 27, if we go there, there's another fairly definitive prophecy about Moab. You'll remember the ancient history of Moab, they were an enemy of Israel as well. And the people of Israel looked down on them and there was this animosity between the two countries all the time. But in Jeremiah 27, in the first nine verses, we see this prophecy that's here and it's certainly set at the time that Ezekiel is writing. Remember that Ezekiel and Jeremiah are contemporaries and we have some, the names of some familiar kings that we've talked about even in our study of Ezekiel, the final kings of Judah before they finally fell. Jehoiakim was one of those, the son of Josiah, and then there was Jehoiakim and then Zedekiah who was the final king of Judah before Nebuchadnezzar completely ravaged Jerusalem. So in verse one of chapter 27 it says, in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, thus says the Lord to Jeremiah, make for yourselves buns and yokes and put them on your neck.

Send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, and the king of the Mamanites. Here's three of these, these are these peoples that we're talking about here in Ezekiel 25. The king of Tyre, he's going to be the subject, or Tyre is going to be the subject of chapter 26 of Ezekiel, and the king of Sidon who we will be talking about as well. By the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah, king of Judah. You remember Zedekiah, he was the king that God over and over took to task because he broke his oath to the king, to king Nebuchadnezzar, and he betrayed the king, and he started trying to make alliances with Egypt and these other countries, and God over and over said, you don't break your oath. You bring dishonor on my name when you break your oath.

We talked about how God says when you make an oath to someone, you stick by your word.

Zedekiah didn't, and he paid dearly for that violation of God's principle. Command them to say to their masters, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, thus you shall say to your masters, I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, but by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I have given it to whom it seemed proper to me. God has the right to do that, and now I've given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and the beasts of the field, I have also given him to serve him.

What he's saying is, it's my will, it's my will that Nebuchadnezzar comes in and he conquers Ammon, Boab, Eden, Jerusalem. It's my will that he does that, so don't fight against me.

Don't fight against my will because this is what I intend to have happen because of the sins of Jerusalem, Judah, and Israel, but they fell by the hands of Assyria. I've given these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Verse seven, so all nations shall serve him and his son and his son's son until the time of his land comes, because he also will be full of pride. He also will handle the power that God gives him in an incorrect way, and God will punish him and bring him down to a humble state as well so that he knows who God is and the power that he has.

Nations shall serve him and his son and his son until the time of his land comes, and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them. And it shall be that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish. Those nations we're talking about today, including Judah, did not put their yoke, did not put their neck under the yoke of Babylon. That nation I will punish, says the Lord, with the sword, famine, and pestilence until I have consumed them by his hand. So he makes this prophecy and says, you know, when it's my will, don't fight against it. Just do what I say to do. I have a purpose. God always has a purpose in mind, and our job is just to yield even though it may not be, and maybe sometimes or often isn't what we would choose, but we always follow and trust he is in control and just follow him. So we go back to, I'm going to take, whoops, a few people waiting here, I'm going to go back to chapter 25. So here we are with Moab, Moab, and they are going to be destroyed as well. Here we are in Ezekiel.

Daniel, you know, they're spared for a period of time, but they end up, they do end up being completely destroyed. We're going to see, we'll see that in a bit even more. Let me read verse 8 Thus as I'm in Ezekiel 25, Thus as the Lord God, because Moab and Seir, and that's Edom, say, look, the house of Judah is like all the nations, meaning they're going to fall, there's nothing special about them, because they're like all the other nations to the end of the, to the men of the east. These are these tribes that we see out here to the east, to the men of the east, I will give it as a possession together with the Ammonites, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations. God repeats it again. Ammonites, Ammon is not going to be remembered at all, he says, and I will execute judgments upon Moab, and they will know that I am the Lord. What he does, they will know, they will be humbled so they can begin to, can begin to yield to him.

So we've talked about Ammon, God's judgment on them. We've talked about Moab, and then beginning in verse 12, we move on to the kingdom of Moab, of Edom. Verse 12 of Ezekiel 25, Thus says the Lord God, because of what Edom did against the house of Judah by taking vengeance and has greatly offended by avenging itself on them, then we'll get into what God says, he'll stretch out his hand against them. Now the kingdom of Edom, probably you remember who Edom, who the Edomites are descendants of. Anyone remember that?

Esau. Esau. I mean, specifically in Genesis 36 and verse 8, it says Edom is Esau. So we have Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, and you remember the conflict between those two brothers and how Jacob, how Esau gave up his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup, and then Jacob kind of manipulated things with his mother to really steal the birthright from Esau. So there's this lingering animosity and jealousy between the two brothers. Edom has historically been an enemy of Israel, which is Jacob in the Bible, and so we have the kingdom of Edom. So God says, because of what Edom did against the house of Judah by taking vengeance and has greatly offended by avenging itself on them, therefore, thus says the Lord God, I will stretch out my hand against Edom. I will cut off man and beast from it, and I will make it desolate from Timon to one of the cities there in Edom, and and Dean and shall fall by the sword. I will lay my vengeance on Edom.

Now let me let me let me get some back to verse 14 here in a minute. So we see Edom being cut off at the time of the end. They will be destroyed. Now if we go a few books forward in the Bible, up to the little book of Obadiah, which comes right after right after Amos. It's just one chapter in Obadiah. So you have Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah. You'll see that Obadiah is a prophecy against Edom. Verse 1 of Obadiah says that, and it's an interesting read as you go through it. God is is recounting about Edom much of what we've read there in Ezekiel, but we come down to verse 10, and we see what the end of Edom is. And this is end in time, end time that we're talking about here. In verse 10, God references again this violence that Ezekiel talks about. He says, for violence against your brother Jacob, that would be Israel, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever in the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried captive his, that's Israel's forces, when foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you, whereas one of them, you were right there looking for Israel's demise. You were there against people, and they're your brothers. There's your brothers, God says. But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity, nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor should you have spoken proudly in the day of distress. You shouldn't have entered the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. You were there as an enemy, and God says you shouldn't have done that. You should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them who escaped, nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the day of distress. And remember, God wants his outcasts protected. Don't deliver them up, he said, back in Isaiah 16, to these lands that survived the conquest of the king of the north.

But God says, this is what you did, Edom. This is what you did. You rejoiced in the demise of your brother. And in verse 18, as we go down there, it says the house of Jacob, that's Israel, shall be a fire. They may be destroyed right now, they may be scattered right now, but God will bring that remnant back and they will, they will be a force on the earth because they will have learned their lesson as well. And they will find their strength in God. The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph, a flame, but the house of Esau shall be stubble. They shall kindle them and devour them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken.

It's quite a dire prophecy against Edom. But it shows, you know, we don't know the extent of what Edom did or whatever, but it must have been quite, it is quite offensive to God, something he detests to see brother going against brother, fighting against them, taking glee in the day of their demise, rooting, if you will, for their, for their defeat, as opposed to sighing and crying.

What Jesus Christ said is one of the beatitudes, blessed are those who mourn. You know, blessed are they who mourn. If mankind could just obey God, they wouldn't have to go through all of the suffering that they bring upon themselves by their actions. So prophecy against Edom is quite, quite staggering and quite, you know, quite, it should be quite eye-opening to us, how God, how God looks at a nation's reactions and what our actions, how we need to bring in subjection to God the way he wants us to act and feel when we might see someone that, you know, any of us who might be putting us through any kind of persecution or whatever, though when they, if they suffer that we don't rejoice and clap our hands and stomp our faith as it's not about Ammon, but we mourn that they have to go through that, but rejoiced in the fact that the humility may come and they can turn to God. So if we go back to Ezekiel 25, we have this prophecy against Edom. And in verse 14, it says in Ezekiel 25, a prophecy that has not occurred yet. So we know that there are parts of this prophecy that pertain to the time of the return of Jesus Christ. In verse 14, God has, as Ezekiel say, I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel. Well, that hasn't happened. Israel was, Israel fell 100 plus years before Judah fell. They have been scattered and they have not, they have not come back and they have not exercised any kind of vengeance on Edom. But when God brings them back, as we read in the book of Isaiah, when he brings his people back after Jesus Christ returns to the land that he promised and he gives them that, and we know that it's at the time of the end that Christ that Edom is going to be cut off, this is what that verse is talking about. I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel, that they may do in Edom according to my anger and according to my fury and they shall know my vengeance says the Lord God. So just like God used Assyria to bring judgment on Israel, ancient Israel they fell. Just like God used Nebuchadnezzar to bring judgment on Jerusalem and they fell and then the nations around Jerusalem that took glee in their demise, he will use Israel to exact his vengeance on Edom in that day. So the nations that are there, we see this animosity and the judgment will come at that time. So we talked about Ammon, we've talked about Moab, we've learned the history of those nations and the kingdom of Eden and we have the Philistines here, the Philistines who we have yet to talk about and we read about them in verse 15 of this chapter. Thus says the Lord God, because the Philistines dealt eventually and took vengeance with a spiteful heart to destroy because of the old hatred. Therefore thus says the Lord God, I will stretch out my hand against the Philistines and I will cut off the charathites to group within them and destroy the remnant of the seacoast. Well you can see that they're over there located on the sea. I was going to read, I see again a prophecy against Edom in Ezekiel 35, but you know make a note in your mind again in Ezekiel 35 and 10 chapters we'll be again talking about Edom and God's vengeance on them that just supports what we're reading here in chapter 25.

But God says now I'm going to stretch out my hands against the Philistines, you know that they were ancient enemies of Israel. They were always a thorn in Israel's side. Verse 17, I will execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes. They will know that I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance on them. They will know that I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance on them. And so the nations that think they have triumphed over Israel, God says you know one day they will understand exactly exactly who he is.

Okay let me. Hey Rick. Yes. Okay what country is the kingdom of Edom right now in modern day times?

You know I believe it is, did I write that down? I look that up. I want to say that it's that it's the Turks. I don't know why I think that but I think that the Turks come in there somewhere that those would be the Edomites of today not necessarily in that exact region but because of where they migrated. But I might be wrong on that one. I would have to check on that one to be sure.

Okay thank you.

Go ahead Kevin. Our Bible commentary says Turkish. It does say that. Yes. Very good okay. That must be where I read it then. So okay anything else on chapter 25? We'll move into chapter 26 and I'm going to pull that map up just there for a second then I'll get rid of it again because the next one we're going to talk about is Tyre and you can see Tyre up there in the very northern part of that map.

You see the kingdom is Israel and beige and right above it you see Tyre right on the coast there in the blue Mediterranean Sea there's this Venetian states. So we talked about four of these states.

We're going to talk about Tyre and prophecies against Tyre go on for three chapters here in three chapters here in Ezekiel. But Tyre was a fascinating city and there's fascinating prophecies associated with Tyre. It was rich, it was a merchant, as a merchant city, it was increased with goods. When we get into Ezekiel 28 we'll see God comparing the king of Tyre to Satan. That that same spirit of Satan just was eminent in the king of Tyre there, the pride and the thought of invincibility and we are rich and we are increased and we have need of nothing who can conquer us type attitude. And so God takes extreme time here to talk about Tyre and what is going to happen to them. And really when you look at the history of Tyre they were under siege for a number of years we'll see here and some of the verses that God says many kings will come upon you. And I have a thing from the Adam Platt commentary in a map coming up here we'll get into some of the prophecy of Tyre that'll talk about the state that it is in today. Let's get into that again. The first chapter 26 and verse 1 says it came to pass in the 11th year on the first day of the month that the vertical Lord came to Ezekiel's day. The 11th year is talking about here the commentary saying this is a year that Jerusalem finally fell. This is the final fall of Jerusalem occurred in this year.

Hey Betsy, I'm sorry Marta, how are you doing?

You're muted.

Thank you. Question is Tyre. Is that where Lebanon is located now?

You know what I think you are right on that. Yeah I'm recalling these things. Yeah thank you guys for bringing that up. I think that is the one of the area that it's in today. I think there's a little city over there called Tyre today but the old city is an inhabited. So okay thank you.

Yeah so we have Tyre here. Verse 2, son of man because Tyre has set against Jerusalem.

Here we have another city right where Jerusalem is about to get ravaged. It was a it was a it was a wealthy city then too. Son of man because Tyre has set against Jerusalem. Aha she's broken who was the gateway of the peoples. Now she's turned over to me. Aye that's Tyre speaking. I'll be filled. She is laid waste. Well good one of our competitors is gone is what Tyre is saying. I'm going to rejoice because Jerusalem's gone and now all that wealth and all that all that goodwill will come toward me. So God takes that God takes offense when that attitude is present in any nation or present in any in any person. Therefore verse 3 thus says the Lord God behold I'm against you Tyre and I will cause many nations to come up against you as the sea causes its waves to come up.

So Tyre would eventually be destroyed and God says they it would not be inhabited again. And again there's this history beginning with Nebuchadnezzar where Tyre was in under constant attack and it goes on and on for a few hundred years when you look at history before Tyre is just completely completely destroyed at least the ancient city that God is talking about here that would have made all these pronouncements against Jerusalem. Many nations will come up against you as the sea causes its waves to come up and they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers.

I will scrape her dust from her and make her like the top of a rock. So here you have this in that day very modern city. Towers all these things walls a fortress a city to behold and God says you will be leveled it'll be like the top of a rock everything that city is going to be leveled it'll be a place for some if we're spreading nets in the midst of the sea you can kind of picture fishermen sitting there right on the coast and when they have to come in they have those giant nets it's going to be so flat they'll just be able to lay their nets out there and dry out or spread their nets in the net in the midst of the sea for I have spoken says the Lord God it will become plunder for the nations so again this is before any of those things happened Tyre that God is predicting this and we're going to see that history occurred exactly like God predicted.

Hey Fred or Kelly hi. Hi Mr. Shaby. Hi. Could you mute your mic? We're getting a really bad back feed off of someone. Okay let me let me do that so yeah somebody has their mic on. Okay I'm gonna do that right now. Thank you. Okay everyone should be muted and actually I can I can hear the silence now so that's a good thing so yeah please remind me if you hear that to to do that and if everyone will keep their their mic off that that will be good that will be good so okay we were in verse five it'll be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea for I have spoken it shall become plunder for the nations also her daughter villages which are in the fields shall be slain by the sword and there's that phrase then they will know that I am the Lord they will be brought into subjection to God then they will know they will understand who God is remember these nations the Ammon Moab, Edom, the Philistines, Tyre they didn't know God back then they knew the God of Israel but that isn't who they were worshiping Nebuchadnezzar even though he was fully aware of the power of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the power of the God of Judah he didn't ever worship him but he became aware of it he became aware of it he just never submitted to it wasn't his time for that verse seven for thus says the Lord God behold I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon king of kings with horses with chariots and with horsemen and an army with many people so the commentaries you remember in Jeremiah 27 it tells us here's the nations that Nebuchadnezzar is going to conquer Judah, Ammon, Moab, Edom, the Philistines, Tyre and Sidon all these nations will be will be conquered by him and God says listen to him live under him subject yourself to him until the time that Nebuchadnezzar a nation comes up to destroy him and you know and it was then the next the next world ruling empire Cyrus and the Persians the Medes and Persians who came up against Babylon and destroyed them and I think it was like 589 BC that they finally were destroyed so they went the way of other world ruling kingdoms but during this time they were the ones who God was using to to admit to pronounce his judgment on these nations but Nebuchadnezzar was the first king of kings if you will and Daniel too you remember when Daniel saw there or Nebuchadnezzar saw the vision and Daniel said the statue right Nebuchadnezzar you are you are this head of gold he was the first world ruling kingdom and then you had the Medes the Persians bound them through the the Romans who have who have existed through the day the Roman empires so he was the first one that God that God used verse verse eight he will slay with the sword your daughter villages in the fields he will heap a siege bound against you there is one of the war tactics of Nebuchadnezzar remember he laid siege against Jerusalem and back in Ezekiel 4 God had Ezekiel act out and build that clay model and build the siege wall which was going to picture what was going to come up against Jerusalem as Nebuchadnezzar would conquer them he will he will lay heap up a siege bound against you the commentaries and history books say that that siege on Tyre lasted 13 years 13 years the siege against Tyre and he will read he will raise a defense against you he will direct his battering rams against your walls and with his axes he will break down your towers because of the abundance of his horses their dust it's the the this this army that would come against Tyre such a by large army that the dust from the horses will cover you your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen the wagons and the chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city that has been breached with the hooves of his horses he will trample all your streets he will slay your people by the sword and your strong pillars will fall to the ground they will plunder your riches and pillage your merchandise they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses they will lay your stones your stones your timber and your soil in the midst of the water and that's quite a prophecy there we might read right over that verse but what they're saying is you know these armies that are going to come in they are going to like they are going to just completely demolish you it will be like the top of a rock is what is going to come down and say again as it said before and he's saying they're going to plunder your riches they're going to pillage your merchandise they're going to destroy your houses and they will lay your stones your timber and your soil in the midst of the water now that's quite a prophecy because that actually did happen and alter the landscape of that area of the world in a way that no man could have ever predicted it is one of the prophecies that i say is one of the sure signs of god that only he could have predicted this before before tyre was ever before tyre was ever attacked and it wasn't nevika nezur who laid your stones timber and your soil in the midst of the water was actually alexander the great at 332 BC so let me pull up a map again and a little bit of history on tire because it's a fascinating thing now those of you who are with us during the isaiah bible studies you'll remember that in isaiah 23 we talked about this history and prophecy of tire as well so i'm not going to go into as much detail as i did back then but if you go if you go back into the sermons page on that ucg.org slash congregation slash home hyphen office if you pull up isaiah 23 there's maps and everything on that on that bible study that goes into more detail on what happened to tire and and why so here here we have a little bit about the history of the destruction of tire and you can see it's it's this this prophecy this this graphic that was created by um this group here is specifically pertaining to to azequiel 26 there you'll see there you'll see the beige is the main land of tire that we looked at in in the map earlier and then you have this little causeway that's called alexander's mole and it leads out to this island that is now called tire and what happened during that time was that when it's when the bible talks about the stones and the timbers and all these things being laid into the thrown into the water when alexander came in and demolished old tire that was the tire that was on the main land it says with 10 000 men carrying stones to construct a mole 60 uh i guess that's 60 mile 60 meters wide that's literally what they did they demolished every house they took out every building that was there and everything they demolished they threw into the water to build this causeway to go out to this island of tire and so you have this thing that's incredible when you when you think about it and understand the time that those people lived in that that actually happened that that someone even thought of it and yet it was god in azequiel who said this would happen and to isaiah that that would happen and that's exactly what happened there it's a unique thing in history and as to all that all that all that demolition or demolished material from the mainland when it was thrown into the sea created this causeway that's there out to the land of tire and it altered the landscape in a minute i'll i'll bring up a map that shows what the landscape of uh what tire is today but you can see you can see that that that happened with alexander in 332 BC and there you know nevica desert down at the bottom it's it's uh it talks about the time of the 13 year siege they also were were um very part of beginning the complete demolition of old tire that 13 year siege alexander alexander came in and completed it and and scraped off and scraped off that you know all the land so that it became like the top of a rock the next slide i have here then shows a picture of of tire today and this is a an aerial picture uh today when you when you look at it you can kind of see how the land has now just jutted out into this island it used to be just a natural lane there and there's the old or the new city of tire was out there on an island but because of what alexander did you know that we've got this unusual thing that's in the coast there that's uh reminiscent and and a in a feature of fulfilled prophecy you got the island that was there and then you have this once connected bridge there and it's sort of filled in over the years you can see the red circle down there where the ancient city uh well the ancient city was on the mainland and you know the commentaries including our commentary are not sure exactly what god meant you know many of them suggest that indeed when god says the top of the rock that the land would be smoothed out like a top of a rock and not inhabited anymore but that was a fulfillment to that prophecy and it certainly was that but is that the complete destruction of tire or is that something that maybe is yet in the future because that island out there does have does have some of tire you know still there today not nearly the the the uh the influential city that it once was but there are it's still inhabited and the bible says it won't be inhabited but let me just read from alexander clarr or adam clark's commentary there because i think it it kind of gives you a history of what happened in that part of the world so he says but um he writes but i doubt whether the hope of this prophecy does not refer to the taking of tire by alexander but i doubt whether the whole of this prophecy do not refer to the taking of tire by alexander 300 years after it's captured by nevika nezur indeed it may include more recent conquests of this important city it went through a variety of assicitudes until 1289 now remember that god said there will be many nations that come against you you will there will be many nations that come against you it began with with nevika nezur and somewhere around 585 bc after he conquered jerusalem but it continued all those years that it was always under siege or attack it went through a variety of the sissitudes until 1289 when it and the neighboring towns were sacked and ravaged by the mamalukes mr mondrell who visited this place says it's a babble of broken walls a babble of pillars and vaults etc there being not so much as one entire house left everything is completely demolished just like god said its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches harboring themselves in the vaults and subsisting chiefly on fishing who seemed to be preserved in this place by divine providence as a visible argument how god has fulfilled his word concerning tire remember he said it would be as smooth as a rock nothing there it would be a place where fishing nets would be spread out and as mr mondrell whoever he is that wrote this you know as he visited there that's what he saw a visible argument how god has fulfilled his word concerning tire that it should be the top of a rock a place for fishers to dry their nets on and so you know twice in the bible in isaiah 23 it's also mentions tire in isaiah 13 and here in isekiel 26 we have the same prophecies tire a rich nation full of itself merchant of the world um you know in 27 we're not gonna get to chapter 27 tonight but in 28 then we again see tire compared to satan and the spirit of satan in the king in the king of tire so with that in mind with that in mind let's let's go through a few more verses here in in isekiel 26 we read verse 12 well let me read it again because it's such an important verse and such an important prophecy that proves there is no one on earth who cannot who could counter the fact that this prophecy has to be of god no one else could have predicted it and then had it come out exactly the way it did hey reggie you got a comment yes he is a tire actually in lebanon um i you know i have to look that up for sure i think i think it might be but again i i need to do that i need to i need to look and get back to you on that for sure so okay thank you um so verse 12 they will plunder your riches they will pillage your merchandise they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses they will lay your stones your timber and your soil in the midst of the water verse 13 i will put an end to the sound of your songs and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more i will make you like the top of a rock you shall be a place for spreading nets and you shall never be rebuilt for the lord has for i the lord has spoken says the lord god so again quite a prophecy against uh tire um yeah savior go ahead even in brashimi it reminds me our lord's prophecy in regards to temple in jerusalem that not one stone will remain upon none of yet sadly because the jews and even protestants seem to not agree and they're over there with at the wall at fort andonio yes indeed that's exactly what they do they just don't they disregard that prophecy you know you read through some of this stuff and as i as i read through it god is quite you know he says i'll put it into the sound of your songs i'll put her sound into the sound of the harps shall be heard no more and you think about revelation 18 at the end time right and the the society called babylon at that time god brings it into that society too and he says pretty much the same thing you will be completely destroyed the sound of music isn't going to be heard in you anymore the sound of laughter is not going to be heard in you anymore it too is a rich a rich city that that the the merchants of the world bemoan the fact that it is it is falling it is very much like this city of tire a city that divide that derives its spirit and its strength from satan that you have common characteristics so in verse 14 uh verse 14 we read verse 15 let's read that too because this one also just kind of like strikes me again very much as the prophecy at the end of uh with what the babylon revelation 18 thus says the lord god the tire will the coastlands not shake at the sound of your fall when the wounded cry when slaughter is made in the midst of you won't they shake this great nation this great city that we didn't think could possibly fall who can shake it who can make it who can make it fall and that'll be the the attitude there at the end of the at the end of time with that society when god brings it to judgment and it falls who can conquer it you know we have america today that you know who can conquer it who who is greater than it and god will show and when he brings judgment on it again they will know that that he is god so we have this who can conquer tire and yet they do and the coastlands will shake at the sound of your fall verse 16 then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered garments they will clothe themselves with trembling like whoa the pride is gone what is going on what is happening might remind us of revelation um isn't it revelation six where the heavenly signs begin and all of a sudden um things happen that are unexplainable on earth and the great men of the earth all fall they begin to tremble they won't acknowledge god they won't yield to him but they know something's up and they tremble just like these people here when the hand of god is there and he moves against people it brings people to their knees they throw off all their robes all their pride everything they're clothed with and now they're clothed with trembling they will sit on the ground they will tremble every moment and be astonished at you the same thing it says about that that society at the end of time they will be astonished we'll see this again in ezekiel 28 um while we are at that chapter and they will take up a lamentation for you they'll be sorry to see it go they were made rich by what was going on here but it was an evil city and they will take up this lamentation how oh how you have perished one inhabited by seafaring men a renowned city who was strong at sea she and her inhabitants who caused their terror to be on all her inhabitants now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall yes the coastlands by the sea are troubled at your departure you know we're not um we're um we're going to be in europe next week so we're not going to have a bible study next week and likely we won't be around the following wednesdays either so let me bear with me for another five minutes or less and we'll just finish this chapter so we can begin with chapter 27 when we're together um in a bible study again verse 19 for thus says the lord god when i make you a desolate city like cities that are not inhabited when i bring the deep upon you that is it will be covered with water now in ezekiel in isaiah 23 we talked about um babylon being covered with water we talked in isaiah and then isaiah 23 we talked about higher being covered with water you saw that little graphic of um today where the old city there is covered with water when i bring the deep upon you and great waters cover you then i will bring you down with those who descend into the pit to the people of old and i will make you dwell in the lowest part of the earth in places desolate from antiquity with those who go down to the pit so that you may never be inhabited and i shall establish glory in the land of the living i will make you a terror and you shall be no more though you are sought for you will never be found again says the lord god so again you can see these things that god does in the pronouncements that he has and he is sure is what he is saying because those societies and the attitudes and the spirit of those societies will never again be when jesus christ returns the inhabitants of the the inhabitants of the earth and the society then will have the spirit of god directing them under the king of kings and not the spirit that we see in the of the pride and the self-sufficiency and the self-interest that's all around us today when we come back well we'll talk a little bit more about those last few verses of chapter 26 but let me let me end it there for right now