SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2015
8:07 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Monster Captured
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
32:1-10
Message of the
verses: In today’s SD we will be
looking at the sixth main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s outline, and in this case it
will be on the first part of chapter 32 of the book of Ezekiel. Chapter nine in his commentary is entitled “Egypt
Will Fall,” and it covers chapters 29-32 so we are in the last chapter of
Ezekiel that is covered in his ninth chapter of his commentary. He entitles this sixth main point “The
Monster Trapped” and it covers verses 1-16 of Ezekiel chapter 32.
The Monster Captured (Ezekiel 32:1-10): “1 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month,
on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me saying, 2 "Son of man, take up a lamentation over
Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him, ’You compared yourself to a young lion of
the nations, Yet you are
like the monster in the seas; And you burst forth in your rivers And
muddied the waters with your feet And fouled their rivers.’" 3 Thus says
the Lord GOD, "Now I will spread My net over you With a company of many
peoples, And they shall
lift you up in My net. 4 “I will leave you on the land; I will cast you
on the open field. And I will cause all the birds of the heavens to dwell on
you, And I will satisfy the beasts of the whole earth with you. 5 “I will lay
your flesh on the mountains And fill the valleys with your refuse. 6 “I will
also make the land drink the discharge of your blood As far as the mountains,
And the ravines will be full of you. 7 “And when I extinguish you, I will cover
the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud And the
moon will not give its light. 8 “All the shining lights in the heavens I will
darken over you And will set darkness on your land," Declares the Lord
GOD. 9 “I will also
trouble the hearts of many peoples when I bring your destruction among the
nations, into lands
which you have not known. 10 "I will make many peoples appalled 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."”
The year and date of this prophecy was given to Ezekiel
was March 5, 585 BC, so this was after the siege would have been complete by
the Babylonians on the city of Jerusalem, destroying it and also destroying
their temple, and this would have been two months after the exiles in Babylon
received the news that Jerusalem had fallen (33:21-22). We have seen the use of the monster theme in
chapter 29:1-16, but Ezekiel will use it again to bring about more spiritual
truths.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “This is an ‘official lamentation’ for
the king of Egypt who though he was a great lion but in God’s sight was only a
crocodile.” The NASB uses the word “Monster”
to describe him. We also see in verse
three that Pharoah would splash around in the water which would muddy up the
waters and create problems by not obeying the Lord.
We previously saw that in chapter 29 the Lord had to use
a hook to capture this beast, but now he is so week that a net can be used to
capture him. After being caught by the
net God would take him to land and allow or probably cause him to die on the
land and then the vultures would devour his carcass. We then see two more images in this section,
first we see that the land would drink up his blood and the heavens shrouded in
darkness (vv. 6-8). When we go back to
the book of Exodus and look at the first and ninth plagues they will remind us
of these two things that are done to Pharaoh.
The turning of the water into blood and then having darkness over the
land of Egypt for three days, and also we will see this happen in the Great
Tribulation as one of the bowl judgments brings darkness on the kingdom of
Antichrist.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “The description of the signs in the
heavens makes us think of the future day of the Lord described in Joel 3, Amos
5:18-20, and Matthew 24. It has been
said that past events cast their shadows before, and so it will be with the
fall of Egypt. It was a dress rehearsal
for the judgments of the last days. Once
again, Ezekiel explained that just as the fall of Assyria caused a shock wave
to go through the nations (30:16; see 27:35 and 28:19), so the fall of Egypt
will frighten the nations (32:9-10). But
will they learn from this experience and turn to the Lord? No, they will go right on sinning and
rebelling against His truth.”
What a shame that people do not learn from history.
3/26/2015 8:36 PM
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