Thursday, March 5, 2015

Judgment on the king of Tyre (Ezek. 28:11-19)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/5/2015 8:52 PM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Judgment on the king of Tyre

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ezekiel 28:11-19

            Message of the verses:  “11 Again the word of the LORD came to me saying, 12  "Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 “You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 “You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. 16 “By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. 17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you. 18 “By the multitude of your iniquities, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you. 19 “All who know you among the peoples Are appalled at you; You have become terrified And you will cease to be forever."’"”

            As you first read these verses you have to understand that Ezekiel is not speaking about a human king of Tyre.  Just look at the highlighted sections in these verses and you will understand this, that this section is speaking of Lucifer before and after he fell because of his sin.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “That Satan wants to control nations and their leaders is clear from 1 Chronicles 21 and Daniel 9, and Matthew 4:8-10 states that he has delegated authority to dispose of the nations.”

            Let’s look at 28:16 ““By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire.”  Notice the word “cherub” and this suggests that we are dealing with someone other than a human.  As we again look at the statement that Dr. Wiersbe writes about Satan wanting to control the nations we can see that the prince of Tyre also wanted to do that too, and perhaps that is what we see this portion in this particular part of Ezekiel. 

            Of course there are other evidences that Ezekiel is writing about Satan in this section and as I have said I have tried to highlight these verses so they can be seen in light of what we are talking about here.  When we studied Isaiah chapter 14 we also saw a section there that describes Satan, and also the sin of pride that he sinned against the Lord as it is stated in the five “I wills.”

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “The prince of Tyre, motivated and energized by the devil, engaged in business and also violence (Ezekiel 28:16), for he considered himself a god (v. 2).  His way of doing business was also dishonest, for verse 18 speaks of ‘dishonest trade’ (NIV).  Satan’s boast was, “I will be like the Most High’ (Isaiah 14:14), and promise to Eve was, ‘[Y]ou will be like God’ (Gen. 3:5 NKJV).  The prince of Tyre accepted Satan’s offer and it led to his downfall, just as it led to Satan’s downfall.  But during the career of the prince of Tyre, he was used of Satan to defile and destroy.  The nations would be appalled at the judgment of the prince of Tyre and his city, but they had no idea that Satan was behind the city’s success and Jehovah was behind the city’s destruction.  It reminds us of the ministry of the apostles in Luke 10:1-24.  God used the apostles to heal the sick, cast out demons, and proclaim the message of the kingdom; but Jesus saw in their victories the fall of Satan (vv. 18-19).”

I am learning two things in my walk with the Lord and they are to know the Lord by studying and knowing His attributes and also knowing the tactics of the evil one.

            3/5/2015 9:17 PM

 

No comments:

Post a Comment