SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2015
8:56 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Corpse
is Buried
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
32:17-32
Message of the
verses: “17 In the twelfth year, on
the fifteenth of the month, the word of the LORD came to me saying, 18 “Son of
man, wail for the hordes of Egypt and bring it down, her and the daughters of
the powerful nations, to the nether world, with those who go down to the pit; 19
’Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and make your bed with the
uncircumcised.’ 20 “They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the
sword. She is given over to the sword; they have drawn her and all her hordes
away. 21 “The strong among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers
from the midst of Sheol, ’They have gone down, they lie still, the
uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’ 22 “Assyria is there and all her company;
her graves are round about her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, 23
whose graves are set in the remotest parts of the pit and her company is round
about her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror
in the land of the living. 24 "Elam
is there and all her hordes around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the
sword, who went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, who
instilled their terror in the land of the living and bore their disgrace with
those who went down to the pit. 25 “They have made a bed for her among the
slain with all her hordes. Her graves are around it, they are all
uncircumcised, slain by the sword (although their terror was instilled in the
land of the living), and they bore their disgrace with those who go down to the
pit; they were put in the midst of the slain. 26 “Meshech, Tubal and all their
hordes are there; their graves surround them. All of them were slain by the
sword uncircumcised, though they instilled their terror in the land of the
living. 27 "Nor do they lie beside the
fallen heroes of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons
of war and whose swords were laid under their heads; but the punishment for
their iniquity rested on their bones, though the terror of these heroes was
once in the land of the living. 28 “But in the midst of the uncircumcised you
will be broken and lie with those slain by the sword. 29 "There also is Edom, its kings and all
its princes, who for all their might are laid with those slain by the sword;
they will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit. 30
“There also are the chiefs of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians,
who in spite of the terror resulting from their might, in shame went down with
the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and
bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit. 31 “These Pharaoh will see, and he
will be comforted for all his hordes slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all
his army," declares the Lord GOD. 32 “Though I instilled a terror
of him in the land of the living, yet he will be made to lie down among the
uncircumcised along with those slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his
hordes," declares the Lord GOD.”
What we have in this section is all of the nations that
were judged before Egypt are down in the pit or Sheol and they will welcome
Pharaoh there. Not a pretty situation at
all. I believe that when Sheol is used
in the Old Testament it is used as the place of the dead and when we see the
parable that Jesus gave in the NT book of Luke you will see that there are two
compartments in Sheol, one for those who were believers and the other for those
who were not believers where there is much torment as described in Luke
16:20-31, and this is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
Now as far as the date of this seventh oracle Dr. Wiersbe
writes “since no other date is recorded, we assume it was given two weeks after
the previous message—March 17, 585 BC.
It follows the style of 31:15-18 and describes the people of Egypt
descending into Sheol, the world of the dead.
Ezekiel was instructed to wail because of the multitudes of people who
would be slain by the swords of the Babylonians.” Since this happened before the destruction of
Jerusalem and the temple which happened in August of 585 the events that
Ezekiel is describing are still in the future, when Babylon will go and attack
Egypt.
Many of the nations that Ezekiel is mentioning in this
section have already been spoken of him in the earlier chapters of his book,
although some of them have not been mentioned.
Pharaoh will see many people in Sheol that he had heard of or knew who
went there before him. Dr. Wiersbe
writes a paraphrase of the picture that awaits Ezekiel: “So you thought you were so beautiful and
strong? Look at you now! You prided
yourselves in being a circumcised people, but no you are lying down in death
with the uncircumcised. Like us, you
thought you were invincible, but now you have joined us in death and
decay. You are no longer on a throne—you
are in a g rave! Your bed is a sepulcher.”
For believers that picture that we just saw painted will
not happen and it is not because we, in and of ourselves are righteous, but we
have the righteousness of Jesus Christ who while hanging on the cross exchanged
His righteousness and took on our unrighteousness. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:55 ‘"O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O
DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power
of sin is the law; 57 but
thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This for sure is a wonderful promise for all
who have put their faith in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation.
In his commentary on Ezekiel Dr. Wiersbe writes an
Interlude between chapters 32 and the rest of the book which I will quote in
our next SD on Ezekiel.
3/29/2015 9:22 PM
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