Ezekiel Chapter 26
Sermon given on Sunday 2026-04-26
by Pastor Barry Forder
at Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Please note: words within the chevrons i.e. <<...>> are “editor’s notes”
Some screening has been done: any remaining question-marks are trivial so have not been “hunted down”.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV


So, we are back into the book of Ezekiel after a break for a number of weeks for different reasons.
 Other wonderful messages that other pastors and so on have brought to us.
 And obviously having the break for Resurrection Sunday as well.
 Mark was taking us through another chapter in Daniel a few weeks ago as well.
 But we're finally back.
 Let me just remind you of what we've looked at so far.
 So the first three chapters is that call of Ezekiel.
 This man that was thinking he was going to become a priest.
 All his life he'd been grown up for that particular calling, that mission, that ministry.
 And then suddenly the Babylonians invade.
 Everything changes.
 I mean, we've talked a little while ago about the way sometimes our plans change.
 Well, this certainly happened for Ezekiel.
 And he's taken off this incredible journey to Babylon where he's then held in captivity.
 And God there calls him to be a prophet to the nations.
 And we can see that very much played out in these verses we're going to be looking at this morning.
 But also to be a prophet to his own people, to warn his own people, to encourage those that were godly.
 But more to proclaim God's judgment on those that were not.
 And then from chapter four, sorry, from chapter four through to 24, we see detailed God's judgment.
 And we went through it in detail.
 And it's quite challenging.
 It's quite heavy.
 It's quite shocking in places.
 But God underlines why he's bringing this judgment.
 God makes it really clear that this wasn't just a whim.
 That Israel had had the opportunity to repent, to seek God, but they had not taken it.
 In fact, they'd grown worse and worse in their corruption and the things that they were doing.
 And it was sickening.
 And I know that you've all heard this, but I've heard it a lot.
 And I know that you've all heard it.
 I know that you've all heard it.
 And we've talked all the way through those chapters from four through 24 of the parallels, the incredible parallels that exist in the church today.
 The things that are going on in the church and broader in the world mirror in an incredible way the things that we read about in the book of Ezekiel, in those chapters.
 And then we're now in this section, from chapter 25 through to chapter 32, where we see God's judgment on the surrounding nations.
 And this is really quite interesting because we're seeing now those nations that were antagonistic toward Israel.
 God is directly speaking of the judgment that will come upon them.
 And then the final sections of the book from chapter 33 to the end.
 It's this wonderful portion, the hope of Ezekiel.
 A lot of people speak about Ezekiel as being a prophet of hope because he speaks so much of what God was promising is going to be.
 And he says, And we'll get to that Lord willing, as and when.
 So the judgment of the nations.
 There's a consistent pattern that we see in scripture.
 God's judgment of the Gentile nations is in regard to the way they have treated Israel.
 That's always how God judges the Gentile nations.
 And it's a direct response to what God had promised Abraham in Genesis 12.
 Remember the scripture that God has said to Abraham, that will bless Abraham will be blessed, and those that cursed Abraham and his descendants will be cursed.
 And we've seen it throughout history.
 And while God judges nations for various reasons in Scripture, such as pride, idolatry, general wickedness, and seen in the judgment of Sodom or Nineveh and so on, the specific judgments in Ezekiel 25 and also in the New Testament in Matthew 25 are explicitly linked to how those nations interacted with God's covenant people.
 And just to remind you, we looked at this in detail a few weeks back, so I'm not going to go over it in depth now, but in Matthew 25, this judgment of the sheep and the goats that are spoken of, it's speaking of the nations that have been for Israel, supporting Israel, and those nations that have been against.
 And we're told that God is going to, or Jesus at the time of the second coming when he returns to Earth, he's going to gather the nations, all nations before him, and he's going to separate them one from another as a shepherd device, he separates his sheep from the goats.
 And again, he's going to pronounce blessing to those that have blessed Israel.
 And the criteria is depending on how you have treated these my brethren.
 That's speaking of the Jews.
 Jesus was a Jew.
 His brethren were the Jews.
 And he says that they're going to be judged depending on how those that are blessed will be depending on how they've blessed Israel.
 And again, those that are not so will be cast into withholding to everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

4m53s
 Notice that's a really, this is almost a little aside there, but it's a really important point that hell is prepared for the devil and his angels.
 That's why God created hell.
 God didn't create hell for human beings.
 It was never intended as a destination for God's wonderful masterpiece of creation, the human race.
 God doesn't send people to hell.
 People end up in hell because they reject the only option for salvation, which is through Jesus.
 If you don't accept the only option for salvation, which is through Jesus, if you don't accept that way out, then you will end up in the place that God prepared for the devil and his angels.
 By the way, just as a little aside, it comes up so frequently, do not ever fall for that medieval lie that the devil is in hell and ruling and reigning.
 You've all seen pictures of the devil sat there on some kind of red throne with his pitchfork and his fire around him, and he's sitting there ruling and reigning in hell.
 That's nonsense.
 It's not what the Bible says.
 Where does the devil dwell? On Earth.
 This is his abode for now.
 Satan is the god of this world.
 When Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, the devil offers Jesus the kingdoms of the world, and he says, because they have been given unto me.
 Jesus doesn't challenge him on that.
 Jesus doesn't say, oh, you're wrong there.
 No.
 He says precisely that what Satan was saying was true, that the kingdoms of this world belong for now and to Satan.
 He stole them from Adam.
 And the whole book of Revelation is all about God wrestling back, or Jesus wrestling back the kingdoms of this world from Satan, and we're told they will become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ.
 So don't fall for that idea that Satan rules in hell.
 It's like almost this cosmic boxing ring where you have God in one corner and you have Satan in the other, and they're battling it out, and the God's in heaven and Satan in hell.
 That's not the case at all.
 God rules in heaven.
 God rules over all things.
 Satan does not want to go to hell any more than anyone does.
 Just a little aside, just to clear that, because so often people get confused.
 Again, speaking of the ones that will be judged depending on how they're treated, it's rather nations.
 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, speaking of Jesus' brethren, you did it not to me.
 And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
 So this is the sheep and goats judgment, as we've said.
 God's going to judge the nations according to how they're treated.
 Jesus' brethren, that's the Jews, those found to have shown compassion, will enter the millennial kingdom, and those who don't will immediately perish.
 Back into Genesis 12, so I quoted this a moment ago, again, verse 3, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.
 And in thee shall all the families of the Earth be blessed.
 A promise of the coming Messiah, that through Jesus, through this descendant of Abraham, everybody has that opportunity for blessing.
 So the reason for the Abrahamic covenant, this agreement that God establishes with Abraham, back in Genesis 12 and subsequent chapters in Genesis, there's these three things that scholars refer to.
 There's the functional purpose.
 This is why God chose Israel.
 And that was to have a people to whom God could entrust his written revelation to mankind.
 Up until the time of Abraham, the world as it was, kind of understood God's plan because of the stars.
 We speak today of the zodiac, but in the ancient cultures, in Hebrew, it was known as a mazaroth, and it's spoken of as such in Job.
 And each group of stars told a story.
 We've kind of forgotten it, and we don't need to remember it, because now we have the word of God.
 But those stars told a story, and that story was a story of redemption.
 Starting with Virgo, the virgin, all the way around to Leo, the lion, the lion of the tribe of Judah.
 It's the whole story of the gospel.
 It's an incredible study.
 Of course, it's been twisted.
 The Babylonians twisted it and so on.
 We've ended up with things like horoscopes and astrology and so on, which of course, avoid.
 It's not going to help you at all.
 But the original gospel message was hidden in the stars.
 There's a great book by a man by the name of E.W.Bullinger.
 It just goes through.
 It's called God's Revelation in the Stars.
 But then from the time of Abraham onwards, and then obviously with Moses coming down later in the line, we start to get this written revelation.
 It's a book called Adam recorded and wrote things, we're told in Scripture.
 And others recorded things.
 And eventually Moses compiles what we have into the book of Genesis.
 And then we have the book of Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and so on.
 And then the Bible starts to be written by the Jews.
 The whole Bible is written by the Jews, including, by the way, Luke.
 A lot of people say Luke was a Gentile doctor.
 There's no basis for that whatsoever.
 And just think for a second that Luke is the one that records the details in the book of Acts for us.
 And in Romans we're told that God's revelation, Romans 3, 1 and 2 tells us that God's revelation came through the Jews.
 There's a number of reasons why we are certain that Luke was not a Gentile doctor.
 He was a physician, he was a doctor, but he was Jewish.
 The whole of Scripture has come to us from the Jews as God gave his revelation to people.
 So that's the first part of why God chose Abraham and his descendants.
 Why do we need a nation anyway? The second part was the testimonial purpose of Israel.
 This is spoken of in Isaiah 42, verse 6, and also Exodus 19, verse 6.
 It's to have a witness in the Earth to the one true God in the midst of the nations.
 Now, Israel failed to do this.
 They were supposed to be this vine that were to produce this wonderful fruit that was to be a testimony to God.
 They failed.
 And they became, as Jeremiah says, they became a degenerate plant instead.
 And that's why when Jesus comes, he uses that expression.
 He says, I am the true vine, or the genuine vine.
 And Jesus comes to do what Israel failed to do, which was to point people to God.
 And then there's the redemptive purpose of Israel.
 To provide a safe way for the Messiah to come into the world at the appointed time.
 And that's exactly what Revelation 12 tells us that God did.
 So, put this clothing around this, this lineage, this genetic line that came down from Eve, the seed of the woman all the way down through, to protect this line all the way down to the Messiah coming at the right time in history.
 And so these are the reasons that God chose a nation, and it being the descendants of Abraham.
 And it's because of all of that that Israel were the recipients of God's divine favor.
 And it's because of this that Satan hates Israel so much.
 Maybe you've never stopped to consider why the world is so antagonistic toward the Jews.
 And why every ancient culture pretty much from that time of history has gone.
 We've lost it at the hands of time, and yet Israel have remained.
 Through all of the dislocation, or being removed from the places where they've been, all the persecution they've experienced through centuries, Israel has remained a unique nation.
 A distinct, identifiable, ethnic group.
 

Okay, when we look at Ezekiel 25, and again think of Revelation 12 in mind, the judgment of the nation becomes even more significant.
 Because what's the nation's crime? Well, they weren't just being mean to their neighbors, to Israel.
 They were participating, wittingly or unwittingly, in the dragon's attempt to destroy the woman.
 That's Satan speaking of the dragon.
 That's what Revelation 12 refers to him as.
 And they were to prevent the man-child, Jesus, from appearing.
 And that's why all these battles in the Old Testament take place.
 Some people are ignorant, and they look at those battles, and they just think that Israel will be really cruel.
 And without understanding who it was they were fighting, and what the purpose of those other nations was, God's response was His judgment.
 It was like a restraining order.
 Again, judging Moab, Edom, and the others, He's clearing the path, so that the seed can be sown.
 So that the seed can reach the appointed time.
 In chapter 25, Ezekiel targets four specific neighbors.
 And this is what we looked at last time.
 Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines, or Philistia.
 The indictments that God levels against them aren't just for their own internal paganism, that was bad enough, but for their reaction to Israel's downfalls.
 All that we've been looking at in Ezekiel, all that God has said would happen, and it did happen to Israel.
 With the three sieges that were the result of Nebuchadnezzar coming against them.
 Ammon was judged for saying, Aha, laughing, mocking, when the temple was profaned.
 Moab, they were judged for claiming Jude was like all the other nations.
 And they denied that Israel had been set apart, that God had a special place for them.
 It's interesting, isn't it, because as we said last time, these are the things the world does today.
 Edom and Philistia were both judged for taking revenge, and acting with never-ending enmity against Israel.
 Just a note that while the treatment of Israel is the primary trigger for judgment, again, God does also judge, and we mentioned this earlier, nations for universal moral failings.
 Again, the book of Amos gives an example.
 Nations are judged for threshing their neighbors, or for slave trading.
 Again, it reflects a violation of general human conscience.
 And God's role as sovereign over all of the Earth is, in a sense, irrespective of Israel as well.
 So God does judge for other reasons, but primarily it's because of the way Israel are treated.
 

So we saw the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Edomites, and the Philistines, all in chapter 25.
 And then last time we stopped just as we were getting to chapter 26, and now we're going to look at the book of Genesis.
 So we're going to look at this judgment on Tyre, and that's going to go on, and we'll see the judgment on Sidon also mentioned.
 And this is kind of grouped together, as you'll see.
 Then we go on to look at Egypt, and the way that God will bring his judgment upon Egypt.
 And then finally, Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, this whole region in Africa, as they would be known today.
 All right, so let's look at this section now.
 We're going to jump into chapter 26.
 So open your Bibles, we'll be there in just a second, but let me just give you a quick introduction to this.
 So the chapter begins, this three-chapter oracle, if you like, that God gives through Ezekiel against the city of Tyre.
 Tyre was a huge commercial trading place, right on the edge of the Mediterranean, just up the coast from Israel.
 It was really wealthy, and it became, we'll talk about this in a moment, this near-impregnable island city fortress that became famous.
 And Tyre was a very important place for trade.
 And so we're going to see the sin that God is judging them for.
 This commercial greed is boasting against Israel.
 And we're going to see this is just shortly after, very, very close to Jerusalem's fall.
 The fall of Jerusalem was 587.
 That's the final siege when Nebuchadnezzar comes against Israel and Zedekiah, the final king, is taken away.
 And Tyre rejoices, because Jerusalem, this major trade rival, is broken.
 And we're going to look at the details in a second.
 And then it's going to speak about Nebuchadnezzar, who will then come against Tyre.
 And there's specific prophecy detailing the Babylonian siege, that Nebuchadnezzar was going to build siege towers and cast up mounds and break down the walls with battering rams.
 Again, then the result of all of that is total obliteration.
 And we're going to see that.
 The city and everything else will be cast into the sea.
 And it is an incredible prophecy.
 Matt was here a few weeks ago.
 He said this is one of his favorite prophecies in the Bible.
 And it truly is.
 It's an incredible prophecy that critics and scholars really struggle to criticize, because it's just a record, a historical record.
 We know that Daniel was written when it was written.
 And these things happen many years afterwards.
 And we're going to talk in a moment as well about Alexander the Great, an incredible prophecy that was foretold.
 And it's fulfilled through him as well.
 And then there's the geopolitical impact.
 The coastlands, the prince of the sea, are all going to tremble at Tyre's fall.
 You've got to appreciate just how important Tyre were in the ancient world, in the economy of the ancient world.
 And they're going to mourn that the renowned city was destroyed and so on.
 So we'll talk about all those things.
 Let's jump into the text and we'll go through and then we'll break it down.
 So Ezekiel 26, picking up verse 1.
 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, because that Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, mocking, laughing, joking, she is broken, that was the gates of the people.
 She is turned unto me, and I shall be replenished.
 Now she is laid waste.
 Now there's a number of things to try and unpack and understand.
 Firstly, the timing that we're given.
 The eleventh year refers to the eleventh year of Ezekiel's captivity.
 So we're talking around about 586.
 That would have been about the eleventh year.
 Ezekiel was taken captive to Babylon in about 597.
 That's the second siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
 So we're eleven years on from that now.
 And that means that the final siege has just taken place.
 And so, Tyre has been able to look on and watch what was going on, and mock, laugh, joke.
 The other thing to pull out here is the expression that Jerusalem is broken.
 She says, Aha, she, Jerusalem, is broken, that was the gates of the people.
 In the Old Testament, this expression gates doesn't just mean gates as we think of them.
 The gate of the city represented the council, the commerce, the business, everything.
 So the gates of the city were where the wealthy individuals, the people that ruled the city, the town council, would sit and meet and debate and discuss.
 It would be like the council offices were situated at the gates of the city.
 And everything to do with the city was decided there.
 But it also speaks about the commerce and the business interests and so on.
 So this idea is that the gates of the city is more than just an entrance, but it's the hub of commerce and law and trade, international in this case as well.
 As in Jerusalem, geographically, it's sat at a really strategic crossroads.
 So to reach the Mediterranean coast, where Tyre was situated, just up the coast from Israel, from Jerusalem, from the eastern deserts, from where we would think of as like Saudi Arabia today, the southern kingdom and so on, traders all, and even from Africa, from Jerusalem, from North Africa, they would come up through Israel, past Jerusalem, through this Judean territory.
 And so because of this, Jerusalem acted like a land gate in a sense, and collected tolls and taxes and managed the flow of goods like spices and gold and textiles.
 So Jerusalem was a key financial, commercial location.
 And had been the controller of much of this inland trade.
 And Tyre's boast then in the context is that the caravans which are once stopped at Jerusalem, now that Jerusalem is destroyed, are going to head straight for the Phoenician coast, going to go straight to Tyre.
 So Tyre's boast is that we're going to do really well as a result of this.
 Okay, Tyre was already the queen of the seas in a sense.
 That was kind of one of the ideas or titles.
 And by Jerusalem falling, they hope to become the undisputed masters of the land routes as well.
 And then we see, and then we saw this word in that verse a moment ago, the word replenished.
 Okay, so that word we find back in Genesis.
 It's just an old King James word.
 We think of replenishing as in refilling.
 That's how we, our brains, because our English vernacular today.
 But it's simply at the time that the King James was translated, meant to fill something.
 Okay, so Adam is told to replenish the Earth.
 That doesn't mean to refill.
 It means to fill the Earth.
 And so, the idea here is that Tyre is saying, we're going to be replenished.
 Or literally, we're going to be filled.
 They're boasting that now that Jerusalem is gone, they're then going to become prosperous, just as Jerusalem had been.
 If Jerusalem was full, Tyre was empty, was kind of the idea.
 Now that Jerusalem was laid waste, Tyre believed that all that diverted wealth would flow into their own coffers.
 Now this is a divine irony, because Ezekiel is going to highlight here that Tyre's celebration was very, very important.
 That the celebration was very, very premature.
 By cheering for the broken gates of Jerusalem, they're essentially cheering on the arrival of Nebuchadnezzar.
 Because Jerusalem has also acted in a sense, it's like a buffer.
 That Nebuchadnezzar had gone after Jerusalem, but guess who was next? Tyre.
 And they didn't realize that the same crusher of nations, if you like, who had just dismantled Jerusalem, was already turning his siege engines toward their own walls.
 Verse three, we carry on.

 Therefore thus says the Lord God, Therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee.
 Notice that expression, many nations.
 This is really key, because it's not just Nebuchadnezzar.
 This is going to be a string of things that we see in the fulfillment of the prophecy that Ezekiel is now giving us.
 So there's many nations.
 So just understand that to start with, because Nebuchadnezzar didn't finish the job.
 He started it.
 Many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causes his waves to come up.
 You all stood on the seaside, I'm sure.
 And you see the waves, and they come in one after another after another.
 And that's exactly what God is saying.
 It's going to be like waves coming upon Tyre.
 Ultimately, they will fall.
 And they, this combination, they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers.
 I will also, and this is incredible, just try and picture this.
 I will also scrape her dust from her.
 And make her like the top of a rock.
 It's literally saying that the dust is going to be scraped from the streets and from the places, the towns, the cities.
 Everything's going to be destroyed.
 And it's going to be scraped clean.
 And it's just going to leave bare rock.
 And that's kind of like a bizarre kind of prophecy.
 You know, for Ezekiel recording this, he must have looked back and think, okay, Lord, that's what you said to write.
 But it's a bit extreme.
 I can't see how that's going to work.
 Well, you'll see.
 But it gets worse in a sense of trying to figure out what God is saying.
 Verse 5, It shall be a place for the spreading of nets.
 Okay, this is this city that was on the coast.
 And God is saying to Ezekiel to record this, that Tyre is going to become, it's going to be scraped clean.
 And it's going to become a place where the fishermen would come.
 And they'd lay out their nets to dry after they'd been fishing.
 They'd bring the nets in.
 They'd lay them all out to dry out.
 In the midst of the sea.
 How does that work? For I have spoken it, says the Lord.
 Well, that's all you need to know.
 Because if God says it, then it is certain.
 And it shall become a spoil to the nations.
 And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword.
 He's speaking of those that had associations with Tyre.
 And they shall know that I am the Lord.
 This judgment was going to be so profound.
 For thus says the Lord God.
 Behold, I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.
 A king of kings from the north.
 Because that's the journey that they would have taken.
 They would have gone up around, if you know the geography, the fertile crescent is often referred to.
 From Babylon they'd go up just under where Turkey is down.
 And they'd drop down onto this area where Tyre is.
 With horses, with chariots, with horsemen, with companies, and much people.
 And he shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field.
 And he shall make a foothold.
 And he shall make a fort against thee.
 And cast a mound against thee.
 And lift a buckler against thee.
 So it's saying that Nebuchadnezzar is going to come.
 And he's going to set up a siege against the city of Tyre.
 And he shall set engines of war against thy walls.
 And with his axes he shall break down thy towers.
 This all happened.
 By reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust shall cover thee.
 Thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates.
 As men enter into a city, wherein is made a breach.
 With the hooves of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets, and shall slay thy people by the sword.
 And thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.
 And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise.
 And they shall break down thy walls, and destroy the pleasant houses.
 And they shall lay thy stones and thy timber against thy dust in the midst of the water.
 Okay, so there's a little bit more coming out of how this is going to play out.
 Still doesn't make a lot of sense to us yet, until we look back and we see in a moment.
 We'll see.
 And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease, and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.
 I mean, this is final.
 And I will make thee like the top of a rock.
 I'll reference again.
 Thou shall be a place to spread nets upon.
 Thou shall be built no more.
 I mean, this is God making this declaration that, though they mocked Jerusalem, the destruction of Tyre was going to be complete.
 For I, the Lord, have spoken it, says the Lord God.
 Thus says the Lord God to Tyre, Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments, and shall clothe themselves with trembling, and shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee.
 I mean, what Ezekiel is relaying to us, God's telling Ezekiel is that this is going to be such an incredible thing that the other nations are going to look on and be just perplexed and amazed.
 And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed that was inhabited of seafaring men? They were a military naval power.
 And they're going to be crushed, destroyed.
 The renowned city which was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants which caused their terror to be on all that haunt it.
 Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall, yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.
 For thus says the Lord God, When I shall make thee a desolate city like the cities that are not inhabited, when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee, when I shall bring thee down with them that descend, into the pit with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the Earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited, and I shall set glory in the land of the living.
 Okay, so just a quick comment.
 This reference keeps coming up here about going down to the pit.
 In whatever way this plays out, in the Old Testament, hell is continually described as this place being down in the lower parts of the Earth.
 Alright, there's numerous references.
 We think of the judgment upon the sons of Korah, not the sons of Korah, they were good later on, but the Korah who led this rebellion against Moses.
 You remember the ground opened up and they went down alive into the Earth.
 Obviously they didn't die, but this idea of hell.
 Now we're not talking about the lake of fire that is to come.
 Understand that when the lake of fire is to come, when the Bible speaks of hell, we have two places, and the word we use, hell, unfortunately is used to describe both.
 There is the lake of fire, that is the eternal place of judgment.
 Nobody has yet gone to hell in that sense.
 The first individual or individuals that will end up in hell will be Antichrist and the false prophet.
 They will be the first two people that will be cast into this eternal place of judgment, and there will be no escape.
 But there is another place, there's a holding place, if you like, a waiting room, that the Bible describes as being down within the , somehow in some way in the center of the Earth.
 And all these references in the Old Testament speak about hell, Sheol, Hades, or the pits, some Greek, some Hebrew expressions there.Earth
 But the idea is that it's a waiting room, a holding place in the center of the Earth.
 Now in the New Testament, in Luke, we're given this incredible glimpse with this story, this account, not a parable, of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16, I believe it is.
 And in Luke 16, we're told of this rich man who lived sumptuously and fared very well, and eventually he dies, and he goes down to this place.
 And he's in torment there, in this waiting room, waiting for the final judgment, knowing that there's no possibility for parole, or he's just there literally waiting for judgment.
 It's a fearful thing.
 But he looks off and sees in the distance Abraham.
 And Abraham is in a place of comfort.
 It's the place that Jesus refers to as paradise.
 Remember the thief on the cross, when he dies, or he's speaking to Jesus, and Jesus says to him, today you will be with me in paradise.
 At the time that Jesus dies on the cross, we know that Jesus went down to this place.
 Not the place of torment, not the holding room, the waiting room, where the unjust are, but to this place called paradise.
 It's the place where David and many of the people of the Old Testament knew they would go to be with their ancestors once they died.
 And so the question is, there's a heresy that's sometimes put out that Jesus went down into hell to complete his suffering.
 Nonsense.
 That's not true.
 Because on the cross, Jesus cried out to Telestai, and he paid him full.
 When Jesus died, everything was paid for.
 There's no such thing as purgatory, there's no such thing that Jesus went down to continue that punishment.
 That's all errors, that's all heresy.
 But Jesus did go down to this center of the Earth.
 Why? Because no one can go to heaven unless they put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
 And that includes Adam, Abraham, Noah, Daniel, David, Solomon, all those Old Testament characters.
 Ezekiel himself.
 None of them were able to go to heaven until their sin was paid for.
 Now in the Old Testament there was a sacrificial system which was to make atonement, but it would never make a complete covering for sin.
 The only thing that makes a complete covering for sin is the blood of Christ.
 And so Jesus goes down to this place at the time of the crucifixion, and he presents himself to these people that are there, all these righteous, godly people of old.
 Why? Well, because they have to put their faith and trust in Jesus, otherwise they are not able to go to heaven.
 And then we're told, Paul tells us, that Jesus led captivity captive.
 And now, for those that die in Christ, when we die, we immediately go to heaven.
 Because that holding place is no longer in the center of the Earth for the righteous, because it's been shifted up to heaven.
 And so when we die, we go to before the throne in heaven.
 And Paul makes that very clear in the New Testament.
 He says, it would be better for me to depart and to be with the Lord.
 Paul makes it very clear.
 If we die now, we go straight to heaven.
 But there had to be a place where those Old Testament characters would go and they would wait until they were able to say, they acknowledge, they look at Jesus, and yes, you are the Messiah, the one we were waiting for.
 And so God, or Jesus, leads captivity captive.
 That's the core of the New Testament.
 This idea is quoted numerous times throughout the New Testament.

34m39s
Okay, just as an aside, because there's references here to going down to the pit, and so on, the low parts in the Earth.
 How that works geographically and spiritually and everything else, are they physical?
Well, they can't be physical in one sense, because we're talking about departed souls, not bodies.
 Bodies go into the grave, that's in the physical Earth.
 But they seem to be in the spiritual sense.
 How it works, don't know.
 Don't really need to know.
 But there's enough detail given to know this is the general idea.
 And we're told that those in Tyre are going to end up going down to this place because of their arrogance, because of their attitude towards Israel, ultimately towards God.
 Verse 21, let's carry on with the text.
 I will make thee a terror, and thou shall be no more, though thou be sought for.
 Okay, people are going to try and look and find Tyre, but they're not going to be able to find it.
 For yet shall thou never be found again, says the Lord God.
 Now, the first thing I want to comment on this that we've looked at already, this judgment, is from Romans 11.
 Because Tyre's boast was against Israel.
 In the New Testament, in Romans 11, Paul gives us a stern warning.
 And speaking of Israel as this vine, he says, if some of the branches be broken off, speaking of Israel, they've fallen away, they've been blinded, and thou, speaking to believers, speaking to Christians, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them.
 We've been joined to this root, which is Christ is the root.
 We've been joined to this.
 We're grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree.
 Paul warns us, he says, boast not against the branches, don't boast against Israel.
 Don't look at Israel and say, well, they've messed up, they've made these mistakes, they've been cast out, they've been blinded because of their sin.
 That's all true, but don't boast because of that.
 Because Paul says, but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
 In other words, we have been grafted into this family that began with Abraham.
 And by faith, we are joined into that, so that we have this incredible family all united through Christ.
 So the first thing to comment is, Tyre's destruction came largely because of their boasting against Israel.
 And it's just to warn you, do not boast against Israel.
 That doesn't mean we have to accept everything Israel do or say, or every political decision.
 But be careful, don't boast against them.
 Don't look at them.
 Be careful how you criticize them.
 Bear in mind, much of the information that we get, certainly through the mainstream media, is very biased and twisted.
 Okay, this is the first point.
 Ezekiel prophesied, as we've seen, that Nebuchadnezzar would come against Tyre.
 And that many nations, as a wave, would also come up against Tyre.
 It's going on from this point.
 Successively, as we might say.
 The dust is going to be scraped from the land to leave a bare rock.
 And the fishermen would spread their nets on the remains of Tyre.
 And the stones and timber and so on would be thrown into the sea.
 Tyre would never be rebuilt.
 And Tyre would never be found again.
 These are the things we're told.
 Well, three years after this prophecy was given, Nebuchadnezzar did indeed come up against Tyre.
 They were probably sitting pretty, thinking they were okay, that maybe they had escaped and so on.
 Carrying on, enjoying this trade surplus that was coming through them now that Jerusalem had been destroyed.
 

But Nebuchadnezzar laid siege, just as we read in the text, to the city of Tyre.
 And it was a 13-year long, drawn-out siege.
 And Nebuchadnezzar finally broke through the gates, only to find that the city was almost deserted.
 Those that were left were killed, and the towers were destroyed, and so on.
 The people had fled to an island about half a mile off the coast.
 Poor rendering in the background of the picture you can see there.
 But the idea that they'd literally, whilst this siege is going on, they'd been fleeing out the back door.
 And they'd been getting everybody and supplies and everything across to this island city that they'd fortified and made strong.
 And this new Tyre was almost impenetrable.
 Difficult to get to because it was by sea to start with, and then there was towers and there was walls built all the way around the outside of it.
 Nebuchadnezzar didn't have much of a navy.
 He hadn't needed much of a navy, so he never bothered building one.
 Eventually he had to settle.
 And he had to settle for Tyre becoming a vassal state, paying tribute, just as Jerusalem had done, if you remember.
 Tyre essentially realized they couldn't outlast the Babylonian Empire forever, however.
 And Nebuchadnezzar realized he couldn't take the island without a fleet, so he almost got to a stalemate situation.
 And so they came to a compromise where Tyre became this vassal state of the Babylonian Empire.
 The Tyrian king, by the name of Ithabal, Ithabal III, who had seen the start of the siege, was either removed from power or died, we don't know.
 It's not clear historically.
 But he was eventually replaced by Baal II, who ruled specifically as this Babylonian client king.
 So very much like Zedekiah and others had done in Jerusalem, they were king only because Nebuchadnezzar allowed them to be so.
 Just as an aside, did you notice the name of the king? That name Baal.
 That god in the Old Testament, the pagan god, who continually seems to reappear.
 In a sense, this kind of Earthly embodiment of Satan.
 This pagan, corrupt king.
 And these kings took that name.
 And it's interesting I just mention that, because when we get to chapter 28 in a week or two's time, we're going to see that Ezekiel, he's the king of Tyre.
 And it's interesting to me that Ezekiel looks beyond, through the natural, to the power behind the king of Tyre.
 Who is none other than Baal, or who you and I would refer to as Satan or Lucifer.
 So Tyre is forced to pay these significant tributes to Babylon.
 But they get to keep their lives and their city, and their merchandise and their wealth.
 And again, but they were heavily taxed to fund Nebuchadnezzar's empire from that point on.
 And of course, as we know historically, and as Mark's been taking us through Daniel, we've seen some of the history of this.
 When Cyrus the Great then conquers Babylon in 539 BC, Tyre transitioned from Babylonian rule to being under the authority and the rule of the Persians.
 But the Persians were a land people.
 They didn't specifically have much of a navy.
 And they realized that to conquer Egypt and fight the Greeks, they needed the Tyrians.
 Again, these people that inhabited Tyre.
 Because Tyre provided the backbone of the Persian fleet, the Persian kings, Cyrus and Darius and Xerxes later on, all gave Tyre a lot of autonomy.
 So there's almost this kind of like respite now.
 They're kind of feeling in a comfortable position.
 And they were allowed even to mint their own coins and rebuild their maritime wealth and so on.
 But incredibly, around 350 BC, so coming down close to the time of Jesus now, the Phoenician cities, led by Sidon, who we're going to get to, we're going to speak about those in a week or two's time, tried to revolt against the Persian king, Artaxerxes III.
 But that revolt was brutally crushed.
 While Tyre wasn't completely destroyed, it became very unstable.
 It was weakened considerably.
 I just thought how interesting it is that Tyre, who boasted against Jerusalem, made the same mistakes.
 If you remember, one of the reasons that God spoke to Zedekiah, and said that judgment was coming, was because Zedekiah had made an oath with Nebuchadnezzar, and then broken that oath.
 He'd rebelled against him.
 And Tyre did the same thing.
 They had made this agreement with these Persian kings, and then they turned against them.
 Never goes well.
 God holds us accountable for the things that we say, the words that we speak.
 Be careful what we say.
 Unlike Jerusalem, though, Tyre would not rise again.
 Around 332, there was a new empire rising, coming to power.
 As prophesied by Daniel, it would be ferocious, and it would sweep across the land.
 This was the Greek Empire, under Alexander the Great.
 One of the most incredible periods of history.
 The Tyrians had become extremely overconfident, because they'd survived Nebuchadnezzar for 13 years, and they'd thrived under the Persians.
 They believed their island city was literally impregnable.
 Nobody could touch it.
 When Alexander arrived, they offered him this golden crown, but they refused to let him enter the city, to sacrifice to their god, Melcarp, who the Greeks identified with Hercules.
 And they told him, if you want to sacrifice, do it at the old temple on the mainland.
 And bear in mind, most of that had been completely destroyed anyway.
 Well, that didn't go particularly well.
 Alexander's response was basically on the lines of, you know, think because you live in an island, you're safe, you went and see.
 He then literally took the rubble that had been left by the destruction from Nebuchadnezzar, the ruins of the old mainland city, and he literally swept it, scraped it into the sea, to build this famous mole, as it was known, or causeway, which looks something like that.
 So literally he built this bridge out of the old rubble from the destroyed city, just as Ezekiel prophesied would happen.
 And eventually over the years, more and more land or rubble and stuff was put in there, and it's become a peninsula now.
 So the old area where Tyre used to be is now just this peninsula as part of the mainland.
 Originally it was, as you can see in the picture on the left there, it was a separate island, and Alexander built this bridge out of it.
 You imagine for the people in the city watching as Alexander's getting closer and closer, how they must have been feeling.
 Again, he literally used the dust and the stones, mentioned in verse 4, as we saw a moment ago, to turn this island into a peninsula in order to take this new Tyre and build this causeway out from the mainland.
 And he scraped the remains of the old city into the sea and left just bare rock.
 And it's upon those rocks that were left that fishermen to this day lay their nets out to dry.
 After a seven-month siege, Alexander's forces breached the southern walls, resulting in this final total destruction of the city of Tyre.
 Floyd Hamilton, believer, Christian, in his book, The Battle of the Christian Faith, says the following.
 It is also written, Thou shall be built no more.
 Other cities destroyed by enemies had been rebuilt.
 Jerusalem was destroyed many times.
 But the city of Tyre was still built.
 It was a city of peace.
 Jerusalem was destroyed many times, but always has risen again from the ruins.
 What reason was there for saying that old Tyre might not be rebuilt? But 25 centuries ago, a Jew in exile over in Babylonia looked into the future at the command of God and wrote the words, Thou shall be built no more.
 The voice of God has spoken.
 And old Tyre today stands as it has for 25 centuries, a bare rock, uninhabited by man.
 Today, anyone who wants to see the site of the old city can have it pointed out to him along the shore.
 But there is not a ruin to mark the spot.
 It has been scraped clean and has never been rebuilt.
 The great freshwater springs of Rezalene are at the site of the mainland city of Tyre and no doubt supplied the city with an abundance of fresh water.
 These springs are still there and still flow, but their water runs into the sea.
 The flow of these springs was measured by an engineer and found to be about 10 million gallons daily.
 It is still an excellent site for a city and would have fresh water enough for a large modern city, yet it has never been rebuilt.
 Thus, this prophecy has stood true for more than 2,500 years.
 Now I just share this because it is astonishing how accurate, and how accurate, prophetic scriptures are.
 And this goes back to what we were saying earlier about trusting the Lord with the plans he has for us.
 Ezekiel probably had no concept of what was going to happen.
 He's recording these details, speaking of the city being scraped and being bare rock and fishermen using it for their nets, and thinking, I can't see how this could possibly work.
 And yet as history unfolded, everything that Ezekiel said, by the hand of God, came to pass.
 And we realize that God does truly know the end from the beginning.
 This is one of those incredible prophecies.
 Many Christian commentators over the years have cited this, saying, you know, you want to try and disprove the Bible? Then try and deal with something like this.
 It was prophesied some 600 BC, in that kind of timeframe, fulfilled some 300 years later, and still stands to this day.
 So we can trust God, because God's word never fails.
 God's written word never fails, and God's word to us, the things that God speaks to us, we can trust, we can hold on to.
 So be encouraged by this for two reasons.
 One, because it's a wonderful proof that Scripture really is the word of God.
 But it's also evidence for us that our God does know the end from the beginning.
 And we can trust him with every situation, every circumstance, every challenge, everything we don't fully understand, we don't need to worry.
 As I've said numerous times, I'm going to quote one more time, Oswald Chambers, I'll say quote one more time, I'll keep quoting this because it's just so good.
 He said, God reckons on you for extreme service, with no explanation on his part, and no complaining on yours.
 Say that once again.
 God reckons on you for extreme service, with no explanation on his part, and no complaining on yours.

 Let's bow our hearts.
 Father, we just thank you for this time this morning.
 And Father, we thank you that we can read portions of Scripture like this, and we can see how you have orchestrated the events of history.
 That Lord, you are in complete control.
 That Lord, you have indeed declared the end from the beginning.
 And from ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.
 Oh Lord, we thank you for your word.
 We thank you that we can trust it because it is true.
 But Lord, we thank you too that we can trust it.
 We thank you too that we can trust your words to us individually.
 As you speak to us, as you lead us, as you guide us, as we find ourselves in situations we didn't anticipate or weren't quite prepared for, or maybe don't see the next step.
 Oh Lord, we don't need to know.
 We just need to know that your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
 And Lord, that you will go before us every step.
 And so Lord, help us to trust you with no complaining.
 We ask it in Jesus' name.
 Amen.

 Okay, may God richly bless you.
 Let's spend some time fellowshipping over some teas and coffees.
 
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
WEBVTT
Times at which the following texts occur in the audio
=====================================================

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.540
All right. So we are back into the book of Ezekiel after a break for a number of weeks for different reasons.

00:00:07.660 --> 00:00:11.740
Other wonderful messages that other pastors and so on have brought to us.

00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:15.280
And obviously having the break for Resurrection Sunday as well.

00:00:15.620 --> 00:00:19.080
Mark was taking us through another chapter in Daniel a few weeks ago as well.

00:00:19.080 --> 00:00:23.260
But we're finally back. Let me just remind you of what we've looked at so far.

00:00:23.380 --> 00:00:26.400
So the first three chapters is that call of Ezekiel.

00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:30.520
This man that was thinking he was going to become a priest.

00:00:30.939 --> 00:00:36.339
All his life he'd been grown up for that particular calling, that mission, that ministry.

00:00:36.519 --> 00:00:42.080
And then suddenly the Babylonians invade. Everything changes.

00:00:42.680 --> 00:00:46.560
I mean, we've talked a little while ago about the way sometimes our plans change.

00:00:46.959 --> 00:00:48.420
Well, this certainly happened for Ezekiel.

00:00:48.420 --> 00:00:55.980
And he's taken off this incredible journey to Babylon where he's then held in captivity.

00:00:56.400 --> 00:01:00.920
And God there calls him to be a prophet to the nations.

00:01:01.480 --> 00:01:05.920
And we can see that very much played out in these verses we're going to be looking at this morning.

00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:12.320
But also to be a prophet to his own people, to warn his own people, to encourage those that were godly.

00:01:13.420 --> 00:01:17.320
But more to proclaim God's judgment on those that were not.

00:01:18.720 --> 00:01:22.960
And then from chapter four, sorry, from chapter four through to 24,

00:01:22.960 --> 00:01:25.960
we see detailed God's judgment.

00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:28.040
And we went through it in detail.

00:01:28.040 --> 00:01:29.860
And it's quite challenging.

00:01:29.860 --> 00:01:31.060
It's quite heavy.

00:01:32.220 --> 00:01:33.720
It's quite shocking in places.

00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:37.780
But God underlines why he's bringing this judgment.

00:01:38.780 --> 00:01:42.280
God makes it really clear that this wasn't just a whim.

00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:46.780
That Israel had had the opportunity to repent, to seek God, but they had not taken it.

00:01:46.780 --> 00:01:50.700
In fact, they'd grown worse and worse in their corruption and the things that they were doing.

00:01:50.700 --> 00:01:52.320
And it was sickening.

00:01:52.320 --> 00:01:54.480
And I know that you've all heard this, but I've heard it a lot.

00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:55.480
And I know that you've all heard it.

00:01:55.480 --> 00:01:56.360
I know that you've all heard it.

00:01:56.360 --> 00:02:01.039
And we've talked all the way through those chapters from four through 24 of the parallels,

00:02:01.039 --> 00:02:04.240
the incredible parallels that exist in the church today.

00:02:05.360 --> 00:02:11.680
The things that are going on in the church and broader in the world mirror in an incredible way

00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:15.640
the things that we read about in the book of Ezekiel, in those chapters.

00:02:17.100 --> 00:02:21.300
And then we're now in this section, from chapter 25 through to chapter 32,

00:02:21.740 --> 00:02:24.860
where we see God's judgment on the surrounding nations.

00:02:24.860 --> 00:02:34.620
And this is really quite interesting because we're seeing now those nations that were antagonistic toward Israel.

00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:39.260
God is directly speaking of the judgment that will come upon them.

00:02:40.940 --> 00:02:44.540
And then the final sections of the book from chapter 33 to the end.

00:02:45.420 --> 00:02:48.380
It's this wonderful portion, the hope of Ezekiel.

00:02:48.380 --> 00:02:54.740
A lot of people speak about Ezekiel as being a prophet of hope because he speaks so much of what God was promising is going to be.

00:02:54.860 --> 00:02:55.860
And he says,

00:02:55.860 --> 00:03:00.400
And we'll get to that Lord willing, as and when.

00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:02.960
So the judgment of the nations.

00:03:03.140 --> 00:03:06.460
There's a consistent pattern that we see in scripture.

00:03:08.040 --> 00:03:13.500
God's judgment of the Gentile nations is in regard to the way they have treated Israel.

00:03:14.260 --> 00:03:17.560
That's always how God judges the Gentile nations.

00:03:17.660 --> 00:03:21.780
And it's a direct response to what God had promised Abraham in Genesis 12.

00:03:22.180 --> 00:03:24.320
Remember the scripture that God has said to Abraham,

00:03:24.860 --> 00:03:27.200
that will bless Abraham will be blessed,

00:03:27.320 --> 00:03:29.780
and those that cursed Abraham and his descendants will be cursed.

00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:31.160
And we've seen it throughout history.

00:03:32.540 --> 00:03:35.700
And while God judges nations for various reasons in Scripture,

00:03:35.880 --> 00:03:38.800
such as pride, idolatry, general wickedness,

00:03:39.480 --> 00:03:42.200
and seen in the judgment of Sodom or Nineveh and so on,

00:03:42.940 --> 00:03:48.000
the specific judgments in Ezekiel 25 and also in the New Testament in Matthew 25

00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:53.560
are explicitly linked to how those nations interacted with God's covenant people.

00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:56.920
And just to remind you, we looked at this in detail a few weeks back,

00:03:56.980 --> 00:03:58.920
so I'm not going to go over it in depth now,

00:03:59.220 --> 00:04:03.740
but in Matthew 25, this judgment of the sheep and the goats that are spoken of,

00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:07.720
it's speaking of the nations that have been for Israel,

00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:10.620
supporting Israel, and those nations that have been against.

00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:14.360
And we're told that God is going to, or Jesus at the time of the second coming

00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:17.300
when he returns to Earth, he's going to gather the nations,

00:04:17.440 --> 00:04:20.899
all nations before him, and he's going to separate them

00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:23.500
one from another as a shepherd device,

00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:25.600
he separates his sheep from the goats.

00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:30.160
And again, he's going to pronounce blessing to those that have blessed Israel.

00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:34.400
And the criteria is depending on how you have treated these my brethren.

00:04:34.400 --> 00:04:35.680
That's speaking of the Jews.

00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:37.560
Jesus was a Jew.

00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:39.960
His brethren were the Jews.

00:04:39.960 --> 00:04:43.360
And he says that they're going to be judged depending on how those that are blessed

00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.200
will be depending on how they've blessed Israel.

00:04:46.200 --> 00:04:50.000
And again, those that are not so will be cast into withholding

00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.920
to everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:56.440
Notice that's a really, this is almost a little aside there,

00:04:56.440 --> 00:05:00.880
but it's a really important point that hell is prepared for the devil and his angels.

00:05:00.880 --> 00:05:02.320
That's why God created hell.

00:05:02.320 --> 00:05:05.160
God didn't create hell for human beings.

00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:11.280
It was never intended as a destination for God's wonderful masterpiece of creation,

00:05:11.280 --> 00:05:12.240
the human race.

00:05:13.280 --> 00:05:15.480
God doesn't send people to hell.

00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:21.280
People end up in hell because they reject the only option for salvation,

00:05:21.280 --> 00:05:22.480
which is through Jesus.

00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:23.540
If you don't accept the only option for salvation, which is through Jesus,

00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:25.240
if you don't accept that way out,

00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:30.000
then you will end up in the place that God prepared for the devil and his angels.

00:05:30.860 --> 00:05:34.000
By the way, just as a little aside, it comes up so frequently,

00:05:34.440 --> 00:05:40.560
do not ever fall for that medieval lie that the devil is in hell and ruling and reigning.

00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:45.320
You've all seen pictures of the devil sat there on some kind of red throne

00:05:45.320 --> 00:05:48.300
with his pitchfork and his fire around him,

00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:50.360
and he's sitting there ruling and reigning in hell.

00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:51.440
That's nonsense.

00:05:51.440 --> 00:05:54.440
It's not what the Bible says.

00:05:54.440 --> 00:05:56.120
Where does the devil dwell?

00:05:56.120 --> 00:05:57.120
On Earth.

00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:02.440
This is his abode for now.

00:06:02.440 --> 00:06:06.620
Satan is the god of this world.

00:06:06.620 --> 00:06:12.080
When Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, the devil offers Jesus the kingdoms of the world,

00:06:12.080 --> 00:06:16.240
and he says, because they have been given unto me.

00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:17.680
Jesus doesn't challenge him on that.

00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:19.440
Jesus doesn't say, oh, you're wrong there.

00:06:19.440 --> 00:06:20.440
No.

00:06:20.440 --> 00:06:23.440
He says precisely that what Satan was saying was true,

00:06:23.440 --> 00:06:26.840
that the kingdoms of this world belong for now and to Satan.

00:06:26.840 --> 00:06:28.440
He stole them from Adam.

00:06:28.440 --> 00:06:31.440
And the whole book of Revelation is all about God wrestling back,

00:06:31.440 --> 00:06:36.440
or Jesus wrestling back the kingdoms of this world from Satan,

00:06:36.440 --> 00:06:40.440
and we're told they will become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ.

00:06:40.440 --> 00:06:43.440
So don't fall for that idea that Satan rules in hell.

00:06:43.440 --> 00:06:46.440
It's like almost this cosmic boxing ring where you have God in one corner

00:06:46.440 --> 00:06:48.440
and you have Satan in the other, and they're battling it out,

00:06:48.440 --> 00:06:49.440
and the gods in heaven and Satan in hell.

00:06:49.440 --> 00:06:50.440
It's like almost this cosmic boxing ring where you have God in one corner and you have Satan in the other,

00:06:50.440 --> 00:06:51.440
and Satan in hell.

00:06:51.440 --> 00:06:52.440
That's not the case at all.

00:06:52.440 --> 00:06:53.440
God rules in heaven.

00:06:53.440 --> 00:06:55.440
God rules over all things.

00:06:55.440 --> 00:06:59.440
Satan does not want to go to hell any more than anyone does.

00:06:59.440 --> 00:07:06.440
Just a little aside, just to clear that, because so often people get confused.

00:07:06.440 --> 00:07:12.440
Again, speaking of the ones that will be judged depending on how they're treated,

00:07:12.440 --> 00:07:13.440
it's rather nations.

00:07:13.440 --> 00:07:16.440
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you,

00:07:16.440 --> 00:07:19.440
inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these,

00:07:19.440 --> 00:07:23.440
speaking of Jesus' brethren, you did it not to me.

00:07:23.440 --> 00:07:26.440
And these shall go into everlasting punishment,

00:07:26.440 --> 00:07:28.440
but the righteous into eternal life.

00:07:28.440 --> 00:07:31.440
So this is the sheep and goats judgment, as we've said.

00:07:31.440 --> 00:07:34.440
God's going to judge the nations according to how they're treated.

00:07:34.440 --> 00:07:37.440
Jesus' brethren, that's the Jews, those found to have shown compassion,

00:07:37.440 --> 00:07:42.440
will enter the millennial kingdom, and those who don't will immediately perish.

00:07:42.440 --> 00:07:47.440
Back into Genesis 12, so I quoted this a moment ago, again, verse 3,

00:07:47.440 --> 00:07:50.440
and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.

00:07:50.440 --> 00:07:53.440
And in thee shall all the families of the Earth be blessed.

00:07:53.440 --> 00:07:58.440
A promise of the coming Messiah, that through Jesus, through this descendant of Abraham,

00:07:58.440 --> 00:08:02.440
everybody has that opportunity for blessing.

00:08:02.440 --> 00:08:07.440
So the reason for the Abrahamic covenant,

00:08:07.440 --> 00:08:11.440
this agreement that God establishes with Abraham,

00:08:11.440 --> 00:08:14.440
back in Genesis 12 and subsequent chapters in Genesis,

00:08:14.440 --> 00:08:16.440
there's these three things that scholars refer to.

00:08:16.440 --> 00:08:18.440
There's the functional purpose.

00:08:18.440 --> 00:08:20.440
This is why God chose Israel.

00:08:20.440 --> 00:08:23.440
And that was to have a people to whom God could entrust

00:08:23.440 --> 00:08:27.440
his written revelation to mankind.

00:08:27.440 --> 00:08:33.440
Up until the time of Abraham, the world as it was,

00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:37.440
kind of understood God's plan because of the stars.

00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:41.440
We speak today of the zodiac, but in the ancient cultures, in Hebrew,

00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:45.440
it was known as a mazaroth, and it's spoken of as such in Job.

00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:50.440
And each group of stars told a story.

00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:53.440
We've kind of forgotten it, and we don't need to remember it,

00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:55.440
because now we have the word of God.

00:08:55.440 --> 00:09:01.440
But those stars told a story, and that story was a story of redemption.

00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:07.440
Starting with Virgo, the virgin, all the way around to Leo, the lion,

00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:09.440
the lion of the tribe of Judah.

00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:12.440
It's the whole story of the gospel. It's an incredible study.

00:09:12.440 --> 00:09:14.440
Of course, it's been twisted.

00:09:14.440 --> 00:09:16.440
The Babylonians twisted it and so on.

00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:19.440
We've ended up with things like horoscopes and astrology and so on,

00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:24.440
which of course, avoid. It's not going to help you at all.

00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:28.440
But the original gospel message was hidden in the stars.

00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:31.440
There's a great book by a man by the name of E. W. Bullinger.

00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:36.440
It just goes through. It's called God's Revelation in the Stars.

00:09:36.440 --> 00:09:39.440
But then from the time of Abraham onwards,

00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:42.440
and then obviously with Moses coming down later in the line,

00:09:42.440 --> 00:09:44.440
we start to get this written revelation.

00:09:44.440 --> 00:09:49.440
It's a book called Adam recorded and wrote things, we're told in Scripture.

00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:51.440
And others recorded things.

00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:54.440
And eventually Moses compiles what we have into the book of Genesis.

00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:57.440
And then we have the book of Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and so on.

00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:00.440
And then the Bible starts to be written by the Jews.

00:10:00.440 --> 00:10:05.440
The whole Bible is written by the Jews, including, by the way, Luke.

00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:07.440
A lot of people say Luke was a Gentile doctor.

00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:09.440
There's no basis for that whatsoever.

00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:13.440
And just think for a second that Luke is the one that records the details

00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:15.440
in the book of Acts for us.

00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:18.440
And in Romans we're told that God's revelation,

00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:23.440
Romans 3, 1 and 2 tells us that God's revelation came through the Jews.

00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:27.440
There's a number of reasons why we are certain that Luke was not a Gentile doctor.

00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:30.440
He was a physician, he was a doctor, but he was Jewish.

00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:33.440
The whole of Scripture has come to us from the Jews

00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:36.440
as God gave his revelation to people.

00:10:36.440 --> 00:10:40.440
So that's the first part of why God chose Abraham and his descendants.

00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:42.440
Why do we need a nation anyway?

00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:45.440
The second part was the testimonial purpose of Israel.

00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:51.440
This is spoken of in Isaiah 42, verse 6, and also Exodus 19, verse 6.

00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:56.440
It's to have a witness in the Earth to the one true God in the midst of the nations.

00:10:56.440 --> 00:11:00.440
Now, Israel failed to do this.

00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:06.440
They were supposed to be this vine that were to produce this wonderful fruit

00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:08.440
that was to be a testimony to God.

00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:09.440
They failed.

00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:11.440
And they became, as Jeremiah says,

00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:14.440
they became a degenerate plant instead.

00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:17.440
And that's why when Jesus comes, he uses that expression.

00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:20.440
He says, I am the true vine, or the genuine vine.

00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:23.440
And Jesus comes to do what Israel failed to do,

00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:25.440
which was to point people to God.

00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:29.440
And then there's the redemptive purpose of Israel.

00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:34.440
To provide a safe way for the Messiah to come into the world at the appointed time.

00:11:34.440 --> 00:11:38.440
And that's exactly what Revelation 12 tells us that God did.

00:11:38.440 --> 00:11:40.440
So, put this clothing around this,

00:11:40.440 --> 00:11:44.440
this lineage, this genetic line that came down from Eve,

00:11:44.440 --> 00:11:47.440
the seed of the woman all the way down through,

00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:54.440
to protect this line all the way down to the Messiah coming at the right time in history.

00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:58.440
And so these are the reasons that God chose a nation,

00:11:58.440 --> 00:12:01.440
and it being the descendants of Abraham.

00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:06.440
And it's because of all of that that Israel were the recipients of God's divine favor.

00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:09.440
And it's because of this that Satan hates Israel so much.

00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:16.440
Maybe you've never stopped to consider why the world is so antagonistic toward the Jews.

00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:22.440
And why every ancient culture pretty much from that time of history has gone.

00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:25.440
We've lost it at the hands of time, and yet Israel have remained.

00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:31.440
Through all of the dislocation, or being removed from the places where they've been,

00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:36.440
all the persecution they've experienced through centuries,

00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:39.440
Israel has remained a unique nation.

00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:42.440
A distinct, identifiable, ethnic group.

00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:49.440
Okay, when we look at Ezekiel 25, and again think of Revelation 12 in mind,

00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:51.440
the judgment of the nation becomes even more significant.

00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:53.440
Because what's the nation's crime?

00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:57.440
Well, they weren't just being mean to their neighbors, to Israel.

00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:01.440
They were participating, wittingly or unwittingly,

00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:04.440
in the dragon's attempt to destroy the woman.

00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:06.440
That's Satan speaking of the dragon.

00:13:06.440 --> 00:13:08.440
That's what Revelation 12 refers to him as.

00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:13.440
And they were to prevent the man-child, Jesus, from appearing.

00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:16.440
And that's why all these battles in the Old Testament take place.

00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:18.440
Some people are ignorant, and they look at those battles,

00:13:18.440 --> 00:13:21.440
and they just think that Israel will be really cruel.

00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:23.440
And without understanding who it was they were fighting,

00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:27.440
and what the purpose of those other nations was,

00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:30.440
God's response was His judgment.

00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:32.440
It was like a restraining order.

00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:36.440
Again, judging Moab, Edom, and the others,

00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:38.440
He's clearing the path, so that the seed can be sown.

00:13:38.440 --> 00:13:41.440
So that the seed can reach the appointed time.

00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:46.440
In chapter 25, Ezekiel targets four specific neighbors.

00:13:46.440 --> 00:13:48.440
And this is what we looked at last time.

00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:53.440
Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines, or Philistia.

00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:57.440
The indictments that God levels against them

00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:00.440
aren't just for their own internal paganism,

00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:02.440
that was bad enough,

00:14:02.440 --> 00:14:04.440
but for their reaction to Israel's downfalls.

00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:06.440
All that we've been looking at in Ezekiel,

00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:08.440
all that God has said would happen,

00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:10.440
and it did happen to Israel.

00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:14.440
With the three sieges that were the result of Nebuchadnezzar

00:14:14.440 --> 00:14:16.440
coming against them.

00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:18.440
Ammon was judged for saying,

00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:20.440
Aha, laughing, mocking,

00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:22.440
when the temple was profaned.

00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:26.440
Moab, they were judged for claiming Jude was like all the other nations.

00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:28.440
And they denied that Israel had been set apart,

00:14:28.440 --> 00:14:30.440
that God had a special place for them.

00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:32.440
It's interesting, isn't it, because as we said last time,

00:14:32.440 --> 00:14:36.440
these are the things the world does today.

00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:40.440
Edom and Philistia were both judged for taking revenge,

00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:46.440
and acting with never-ending enmity against Israel.

00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:51.440
Just a note that while the treatment of Israel

00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:54.440
is the primary trigger for judgment,

00:14:54.440 --> 00:14:56.440
again, God does also judge,

00:14:56.440 --> 00:14:58.440
and we mentioned this earlier,

00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:00.440
nations for universal moral failings.

00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:02.440
Again, the book of Amos gives an example.

00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:04.440
Nations are judged for threshing their neighbors,

00:15:04.440 --> 00:15:06.440
or for slave trading.

00:15:06.440 --> 00:15:08.440
Again, it reflects a violation of general human conscience.

00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:11.440
And God's role as sovereign over all of the Earth

00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:15.440
is, in a sense, irrespective of Israel as well.

00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:18.440
So God does judge for other reasons,

00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:22.440
but primarily it's because of the way Israel are treated.

00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:29.440
So we saw the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Edomites,

00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:31.440
and the Philistines, all in chapter 25.

00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:34.440
And then last time we stopped just as we were getting to chapter 26,

00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:36.440
and now we're going to look at the book of Genesis.

00:15:36.440 --> 00:15:38.440
So we're going to look at this judgment on Tyre,

00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:39.440
and that's going to go on,

00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:42.440
and we'll see the judgment on Sidon also mentioned.

00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:45.440
And this is kind of grouped together, as you'll see.

00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:47.440
Then we go on to look at Egypt,

00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:49.440
and the way that God will bring his judgment upon Egypt.

00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:53.440
And then finally, Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia,

00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:57.440
this whole region in Africa, as they would be known today.

00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:59.440
All right, so let's look at this section now.

00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:01.440
We're going to jump into chapter 26.

00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:03.440
So open your Bibles, we'll be there in just a second,

00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:05.440
but let me just give you a quick introduction to this.

00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:10.440
So the chapter begins, this three-chapter oracle, if you like,

00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:17.440
that God gives through Ezekiel against the city of Tyre.

00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:21.440
Tyre was a huge commercial trading place,

00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:23.440
right on the edge of the Mediterranean,

00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:25.440
just up the coast from Israel.

00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:29.440
It was really wealthy, and it became,

00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:30.440
we'll talk about this in a moment,

00:16:30.440 --> 00:16:33.440
this near-impregnable island city fortress

00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:35.440
that became famous.

00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:38.440
And Tyre was a very important place for trade.

00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:41.440
And so we're going to see the sin that God is judging them for.

00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:45.440
This commercial greed is boasting against Israel.

00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:48.440
And we're going to see this is just shortly after,

00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:50.440
very, very close to Jerusalem's fall.

00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:52.440
The fall of Jerusalem was 587.

00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:56.440
That's the final siege when Nebuchadnezzar comes against Israel

00:16:56.440 --> 00:16:59.440
and Zedekiah, the final king, is taken away.

00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:03.440
And Tyre rejoices, because Jerusalem,

00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:08.440
this major trade rival, is broken.

00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:11.440
And we're going to look at the details in a second.

00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:14.440
And then it's going to speak about Nebuchadnezzar,

00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:16.440
who will then come against Tyre.

00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:20.440
And there's specific prophecy detailing the Babylonian siege,

00:17:20.440 --> 00:17:22.440
that Nebuchadnezzar was going to build siege towers

00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:27.440
and cast up mounds and break down the walls with battering rams.

00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:31.440
Again, then the result of all of that is total obliteration.

00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:32.440
And we're going to see that.

00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:35.440
The city and everything else will be cast into the sea.

00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:37.440
And it is an incredible prophecy.

00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:39.440
Matt was here a few weeks ago.

00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:41.440
He said this is one of his favorite prophecies in the Bible.

00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:42.440
And it truly is.

00:17:42.440 --> 00:17:48.440
It's an incredible prophecy that critics and scholars really struggle to criticize,

00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:52.440
because it's just a record, a historical record.

00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:54.440
We know that Daniel was written when it was written.

00:17:54.440 --> 00:17:56.440
And these things happen many years afterwards.

00:17:56.440 --> 00:17:59.440
And we're going to talk in a moment as well about Alexander the Great,

00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:02.440
an incredible prophecy that was foretold.

00:18:02.440 --> 00:18:05.440
And it's fulfilled through him as well.

00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:09.440
And then there's the geopolitical impact.

00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:11.440
The coastlands, the prince of the sea,

00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:13.440
are all going to tremble at Tyre's fall.

00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:17.440
You've got to appreciate just how important Tyre were in the ancient world,

00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:19.440
in the economy of the ancient world.

00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:24.440
And they're going to mourn that the renowned city was destroyed and so on.

00:18:24.440 --> 00:18:26.440
So we'll talk about all those things.

00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:29.440
Let's jump into the text and we'll go through and then we'll break it down.

00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:31.440
So Ezekiel 26, picking up verse 1.

00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:34.440
And it came to pass in the eleventh year,

00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:36.440
in the first day of the month,

00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:39.440
that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:44.440
Son of man, because that Tyre has said against Jerusalem,

00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:48.440
Aha, mocking, laughing, joking,

00:18:48.440 --> 00:18:52.440
she is broken, that was the gates of the people.

00:18:52.440 --> 00:18:56.440
She is turned unto me, and I shall be replenished.

00:18:56.440 --> 00:18:58.440
Now she is laid waste.

00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:00.440
Now there's a number of things to try and unpack and understand.

00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:04.440
Firstly, the timing that we're given.

00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:09.440
The eleventh year refers to the eleventh year of Ezekiel's captivity.

00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:12.440
So we're talking around about 586.

00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:14.440
That would have been about the eleventh year.

00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:19.440
Ezekiel was taken captive to Babylon in about 597.

00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:22.440
That's the second siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:24.440
So we're eleven years on from that now.

00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:28.440
And that means that the final siege has just taken place.

00:19:28.440 --> 00:19:30.440
And so,

00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:34.440
Tyre has been able to look on and watch what was going on,

00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:38.440
and mock, laugh, joke.

00:19:38.440 --> 00:19:42.440
The other thing to pull out here is the expression

00:19:42.440 --> 00:19:44.440
that Jerusalem is broken.

00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:46.440
She says, Aha, she, Jerusalem, is broken,

00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:49.440
that was the gates of the people.

00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:52.440
In the Old Testament, this expression gates

00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:55.440
doesn't just mean gates as we think of them.

00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:58.440
The gate of the city represented the council,

00:19:58.440 --> 00:20:01.440
the commerce, the business, everything.

00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:04.440
So the gates of the city were where the wealthy individuals,

00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:07.440
the people that ruled the city, the town council,

00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:10.440
would sit and meet and debate and discuss.

00:20:10.440 --> 00:20:13.440
It would be like the council offices

00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:16.440
were situated at the gates of the city.

00:20:16.440 --> 00:20:19.440
And everything to do with the city was decided there.

00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:22.440
But it also speaks about the commerce and the business interests and so on.

00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:26.440
So this idea is that the gates of the city

00:20:26.440 --> 00:20:29.440
is more than just an entrance,

00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:33.440
but it's the hub of commerce and law and trade,

00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:35.440
international in this case as well.

00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:38.440
As in Jerusalem, geographically,

00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:41.440
it's sat at a really strategic crossroads.

00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:43.440
So to reach the Mediterranean coast,

00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:45.440
where Tyre was situated,

00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:47.440
just up the coast from Israel, from Jerusalem,

00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:49.440
from the eastern deserts,

00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:52.440
from where we would think of as like Saudi Arabia today,

00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:54.440
the southern kingdom and so on,

00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:55.440
traders all, and even from Africa,

00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:56.440
from Jerusalem,

00:20:56.440 --> 00:20:57.440
from North Africa,

00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:59.440
they would come up through Israel,

00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:00.440
past Jerusalem,

00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:03.440
through this Judean territory.

00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:04.440
And so because of this,

00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:07.440
Jerusalem acted like a land gate in a sense,

00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:09.440
and collected tolls and taxes

00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:11.440
and managed the flow of goods

00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:13.440
like spices and gold and textiles.

00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:16.440
So Jerusalem was a key

00:21:16.440 --> 00:21:22.440
financial, commercial location.

00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:25.440
And had been the controller of much of this inland trade.

00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:28.440
And Tyre's boast then in the context

00:21:28.440 --> 00:21:31.440
is that the caravans which are once stopped at Jerusalem,

00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:34.440
now that Jerusalem is destroyed,

00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:36.440
are going to head straight for the Phoenician coast,

00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:38.440
going to go straight to Tyre.

00:21:38.440 --> 00:21:40.440
So Tyre's boast is that we're going to do really well

00:21:40.440 --> 00:21:42.440
as a result of this.

00:21:42.440 --> 00:21:45.440
Okay, Tyre was already the queen of the seas in a sense.

00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:47.440
That was kind of one of the ideas or titles.

00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:48.440
And by Jerusalem falling,

00:21:48.440 --> 00:21:51.440
they hope to become the undisputed masters

00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:53.440
of the land routes as well.

00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:54.440
And then we see,

00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:57.440
and then we saw this word in that verse a moment ago,

00:21:57.440 --> 00:21:59.440
the word replenished.

00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:02.440
Okay, so that word we find back in Genesis.

00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:04.440
It's just an old King James word.

00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:07.440
We think of replenishing as in refilling.

00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:08.440
That's how we, our brains,

00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:10.440
because our English vernacular today.

00:22:10.440 --> 00:22:13.440
But it's simply at the time that the King James was translated,

00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:16.440
meant to fill something.

00:22:16.440 --> 00:22:19.440
Okay, so Adam is told to replenish the Earth.

00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:20.440
That doesn't mean to refill.

00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:22.440
It means to fill the Earth.

00:22:22.440 --> 00:22:23.440
And so,

00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:25.440
the idea here is that Tyre is saying,

00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:27.440
we're going to be replenished.

00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:29.440
Or literally, we're going to be filled.

00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:33.440
They're boasting that now that Jerusalem is gone,

00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:35.440
they're then going to become prosperous,

00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:37.440
just as Jerusalem had been.

00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:39.440
If Jerusalem was full, Tyre was empty,

00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:40.440
was kind of the idea.

00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:41.440
Now that Jerusalem was laid waste,

00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:43.440
Tyre believed that all that diverted wealth

00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:46.440
would flow into their own coffers.

00:22:46.440 --> 00:22:47.440
Now this is a divine irony,

00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:50.440
because Ezekiel is going to highlight here

00:22:50.440 --> 00:22:52.440
that Tyre's celebration was very, very important.

00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:55.440
That the celebration was very, very premature.

00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:58.440
By cheering for the broken gates of Jerusalem,

00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:02.440
they're essentially cheering on the arrival of Nebuchadnezzar.

00:23:02.440 --> 00:23:04.440
Because Jerusalem has also acted in a sense,

00:23:04.440 --> 00:23:05.440
it's like a buffer.

00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:08.440
That Nebuchadnezzar had gone after Jerusalem,

00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:10.440
but guess who was next?

00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:11.440
Tyre.

00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:14.440
And they didn't realize that the same crusher of nations,

00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:15.440
if you like,

00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:17.440
who had just dismantled Jerusalem,

00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:21.440
was already turning his siege engines toward their own walls.

00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:22.440
Verse three, we carry on.

00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:23.440
Verse three, we carry on.

00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:24.440
Therefore thus says the Lord God,

00:23:24.440 --> 00:23:25.440
Therefore thus says the Lord God,

00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:27.440
Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre,

00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:31.440
and will cause many nations to come up against thee.

00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:33.440
Notice that expression, many nations.

00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:34.440
This is really key,

00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:37.440
because it's not just Nebuchadnezzar.

00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:40.440
This is going to be a string of things that we see

00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:43.440
in the fulfillment of the prophecy that Ezekiel is now giving us.

00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:44.440
So there's many nations.

00:23:44.440 --> 00:23:46.440
So just understand that to start with,

00:23:46.440 --> 00:23:49.440
because Nebuchadnezzar didn't finish the job.

00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:50.440
He started it.

00:23:50.440 --> 00:23:52.440
Many nations to come up against thee,

00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:55.440
as the sea causes his waves to come up.

00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:58.440
You all stood on the seaside, I'm sure.

00:23:58.440 --> 00:23:59.440
And you see the waves,

00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:02.440
and they come in one after another after another.

00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:03.440
And that's exactly what God is saying.

00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:06.440
It's going to be like waves coming upon Tyre.

00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:08.440
Ultimately, they will fall.

00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:10.440
And they, this combination,

00:24:10.440 --> 00:24:12.440
they shall destroy the walls of Tyre

00:24:12.440 --> 00:24:14.440
and break down her towers.

00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:16.440
I will also, and this is incredible,

00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:17.440
just try and picture this.

00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:20.440
I will also scrape her dust from her.

00:24:20.440 --> 00:24:24.440
And make her like the top of a rock.

00:24:24.440 --> 00:24:28.440
It's literally saying that the dust is going to be scraped

00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:30.440
from the streets and from the places,

00:24:30.440 --> 00:24:31.440
the towns, the cities.

00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:32.440
Everything's going to be destroyed.

00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:33.440
And it's going to be scraped clean.

00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:35.440
And it's just going to leave bare rock.

00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:39.440
And that's kind of like a bizarre kind of prophecy.

00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:44.440
You know, for Ezekiel recording this,

00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:46.440
he must have looked back and think,

00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:48.440
okay, Lord, that's what you said to write.

00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:49.440
But it's a bit extreme.

00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:51.440
I can't see how that's going to work.

00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:53.440
Well, you'll see.

00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:56.440
But it gets worse in a sense of trying to figure out

00:24:56.440 --> 00:24:57.440
what God is saying.

00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:58.440
Verse 5,

00:24:58.440 --> 00:25:02.440
It shall be a place for the spreading of nets.

00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:06.440
Okay, this is this city that was on the coast.

00:25:06.440 --> 00:25:09.440
And God is saying to Ezekiel to record this,

00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:11.440
that Tyre is going to become,

00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:13.440
it's going to be scraped clean.

00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:16.440
And it's going to become a place where the fishermen would come.

00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:18.440
And they'd lay out their nets to dry after they'd been fishing.

00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:19.440
They'd bring the nets in.

00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:21.440
They'd lay them all out to dry out.

00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:23.440
In the midst of the sea.

00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:25.440
How does that work?

00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:27.440
For I have spoken it, says the Lord.

00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:29.440
Well, that's all you need to know.

00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:31.440
Because if God says it, then it is certain.

00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:34.440
And it shall become a spoil to the nations.

00:25:34.440 --> 00:25:38.440
And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword.

00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:42.440
He's speaking of those that had associations with Tyre.

00:25:42.440 --> 00:25:44.440
And they shall know that I am the Lord.

00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:46.440
This judgment was going to be so profound.

00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:47.440
For thus says the Lord God.

00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:52.440
Behold, I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.

00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:55.440
A king of kings from the north.

00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:57.440
Because that's the journey that they would have taken.

00:25:57.440 --> 00:25:59.440
They would have gone up around, if you know the geography,

00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:01.440
the fertile crescent is often referred to.

00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:04.440
From Babylon they'd go up just under where Turkey is down.

00:26:04.440 --> 00:26:08.440
And they'd drop down onto this area where Tyre is.

00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:11.440
With horses, with chariots, with horsemen, with companies,

00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:12.440
and much people.

00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:15.440
And he shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field.

00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:16.440
And he shall make a foothold.

00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:18.440
And he shall make a fort against thee.

00:26:18.440 --> 00:26:20.440
And cast a mound against thee.

00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:22.440
And lift a buckler against thee.

00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:24.440
So it's saying that Nebuchadnezzar is going to come.

00:26:24.440 --> 00:26:27.440
And he's going to set up a siege against the city of Tyre.

00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:30.440
And he shall set engines of war against thy walls.

00:26:30.440 --> 00:26:33.440
And with his axes he shall break down thy towers.

00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:35.440
This all happened.

00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:37.440
By reason of the abundance of his horses,

00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:38.440
their dust shall cover thee.

00:26:38.440 --> 00:26:41.440
Thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen,

00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:43.440
and of the wheels, and of the chariots,

00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:44.440
when he shall enter into thy gates.

00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:46.440
As men enter into a city,

00:26:46.440 --> 00:26:48.440
wherein is made a breach.

00:26:48.440 --> 00:26:53.440
With the hooves of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets,

00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:55.440
and shall slay thy people by the sword.

00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:58.440
And thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.

00:26:58.440 --> 00:27:00.440
And they shall make a spoil of thy riches,

00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:02.440
and make a prey of thy merchandise.

00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:04.440
And they shall break down thy walls,

00:27:04.440 --> 00:27:06.440
and destroy the pleasant houses.

00:27:06.440 --> 00:27:09.440
And they shall lay thy stones and thy timber

00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:12.440
against thy dust in the midst of the water.

00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:15.440
Okay, so there's a little bit more coming out of how this is going to play out.

00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:17.440
Still doesn't make a lot of sense to us yet,

00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:19.440
until we look back and we see in a moment.

00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:20.440
We'll see.

00:27:20.440 --> 00:27:24.440
And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease,

00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:28.440
and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.

00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:30.440
I mean, this is final.

00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:32.440
And I will make thee like the top of a rock.

00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:33.440
I'll reference again.

00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:36.440
Thou shall be a place to spread nets upon.

00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:39.440
Thou shall be built no more.

00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:43.440
I mean, this is God making this declaration that,

00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:45.440
though they mocked Jerusalem,

00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:48.440
the destruction of Tyre was going to be complete.

00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:53.440
For I, the Lord, have spoken it, says the Lord God.

00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:56.440
Thus says the Lord God to Tyre,

00:27:56.440 --> 00:27:59.440
Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall,

00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:01.440
when the wounded cry,

00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:04.440
when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?

00:28:04.440 --> 00:28:07.440
Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones,

00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:09.440
and lay away their robes,

00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:11.440
and put off their broidered garments,

00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:13.440
and shall clothe themselves with trembling,

00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:14.440
and shall sit upon the ground,

00:28:14.440 --> 00:28:17.440
and shall tremble at every moment,

00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:19.440
and be astonished at thee.

00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.440
I mean, what Ezekiel is relaying to us,

00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:25.440
God's telling Ezekiel is that this is going to be such an incredible thing

00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:30.440
that the other nations are going to look on and be just perplexed and amazed.

00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:33.440
And they shall take up a lamentation for thee,

00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:34.440
and say to thee,

00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:38.440
How art thou destroyed that was inhabited of seafaring men?

00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:41.440
They were a military naval power.

00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:43.440
And they're going to be crushed, destroyed.

00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:47.440
The renowned city which was strong in the sea,

00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:53.440
she and her inhabitants which caused their terror to be on all that haunt it.

00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:56.440
Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall,

00:28:56.440 --> 00:28:59.440
yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.

00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:01.440
For thus says the Lord God,

00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:05.440
When I shall make thee a desolate city like the cities that are not inhabited,

00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:08.440
when I shall bring up the deep upon thee,

00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:10.440
and great waters shall cover thee,

00:29:10.440 --> 00:29:12.440
when I shall bring thee down with them that descend,

00:29:12.440 --> 00:29:16.440
into the pit with the people of old time,

00:29:16.440 --> 00:29:19.440
and shall set thee in the low parts of the Earth,

00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:21.440
in places desolate of old,

00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:23.440
with them that go down to the pit,

00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:25.440
that thou be not inhabited,

00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:30.440
and I shall set glory in the land of the living.

00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:32.440
Okay, so just a quick comment.

00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:36.440
This reference keeps coming up here about going down to the pit.

00:29:36.440 --> 00:29:39.440
In whatever way this plays out,

00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:41.440
in the Old Testament,

00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:48.440
hell is continually described as this place being down in the lower parts of the Earth.

00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:50.440
Alright, there's numerous references.

00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:54.440
We think of the judgment upon the sons of Korah,

00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:56.440
not the sons of Korah, they were good later on,

00:29:56.440 --> 00:29:58.440
but the Korah who led this rebellion against Moses.

00:29:58.440 --> 00:30:02.440
You remember the ground opened up and they went down alive into the Earth.

00:30:02.440 --> 00:30:06.440
Obviously they didn't die, but this idea of hell.

00:30:06.440 --> 00:30:09.440
Now we're not talking about the lake of fire that is to come.

00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:11.440
Understand that when the lake of fire is to come,

00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:13.440
when the Bible speaks of hell,

00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:15.440
we have two places,

00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:19.440
and the word we use, hell, unfortunately is used to describe both.

00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:24.440
There is the lake of fire, that is the eternal place of judgment.

00:30:24.440 --> 00:30:29.440
Nobody has yet gone to hell in that sense.

00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:33.440
The first individual or individuals that will end up in hell will be

00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:35.440
Antichrist and the false prophet.

00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:40.440
They will be the first two people that will be cast into this eternal place of judgment,

00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:42.440
and there will be no escape.

00:30:42.440 --> 00:30:44.440
But there is another place,

00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:47.440
there's a holding place, if you like, a waiting room,

00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:50.440
that the Bible describes as being down within the Earth,

00:30:50.440 --> 00:30:53.440
somehow in some way in the center of the Earth.

00:30:53.440 --> 00:30:59.440
And all these references in the Old Testament speak about hell, Sheol, Hades,

00:30:59.440 --> 00:31:03.440
or the pits, some Greek, some Hebrew expressions there.

00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:07.440
But the idea is that it's a waiting room, a holding place in the center of the Earth.

00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:09.440
Now in the New Testament, in Luke,

00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:14.440
we're given this incredible glimpse with this story,

00:31:14.440 --> 00:31:20.440
this account, not a parable, of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16, I believe it is.

00:31:20.440 --> 00:31:26.440
And in Luke 16, we're told of this rich man who lived sumptuously and fared very well,

00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:30.440
and eventually he dies, and he goes down to this place.

00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:33.440
And he's in torment there, in this waiting room,

00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:36.440
waiting for the final judgment,

00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:38.440
knowing that there's no possibility for parole,

00:31:38.440 --> 00:31:40.440
or he's just there literally waiting for judgment.

00:31:40.440 --> 00:31:42.440
It's a fearful thing.

00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:44.440
But he looks off and sees in the distance Abraham.

00:31:44.440 --> 00:31:48.440
And Abraham is in a place of comfort.

00:31:48.440 --> 00:31:51.440
It's the place that Jesus refers to as paradise.

00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:54.440
Remember the thief on the cross, when he dies,

00:31:54.440 --> 00:31:56.440
or he's speaking to Jesus, and Jesus says to him,

00:31:56.440 --> 00:31:59.440
today you will be with me in paradise.

00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:02.440
At the time that Jesus dies on the cross,

00:32:02.440 --> 00:32:06.440
we know that Jesus went down to this place.

00:32:06.440 --> 00:32:07.440
Not the place of torment,

00:32:08.440 --> 00:32:10.440
not the holding room, the waiting room,

00:32:10.440 --> 00:32:13.440
where the unjust are,

00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:16.440
but to this place called paradise.

00:32:16.440 --> 00:32:20.440
It's the place where David and many of the people of the Old Testament

00:32:20.440 --> 00:32:24.440
knew they would go to be with their ancestors once they died.

00:32:24.440 --> 00:32:26.440
And so the question is,

00:32:26.440 --> 00:32:29.440
there's a heresy that's sometimes put out

00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:34.440
that Jesus went down into hell to complete his suffering.

00:32:34.440 --> 00:32:35.440
Nonsense. That's not true.

00:32:35.440 --> 00:32:38.440
Because on the cross, Jesus cried out to Telestai,

00:32:38.440 --> 00:32:40.440
and he paid him full.

00:32:40.440 --> 00:32:43.440
When Jesus died, everything was paid for.

00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:45.440
There's no such thing as purgatory,

00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:48.440
there's no such thing that Jesus went down to continue that punishment.

00:32:48.440 --> 00:32:51.440
That's all errors, that's all heresy.

00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:55.440
But Jesus did go down to this center of the Earth.

00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:56.440
Why?

00:32:56.440 --> 00:33:00.440
Because no one can go to heaven

00:33:00.440 --> 00:33:04.440
unless they put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

00:33:04.440 --> 00:33:07.440
And that includes Adam,

00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:08.440
Abraham,

00:33:08.440 --> 00:33:09.440
Noah,

00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:10.440
Daniel,

00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:11.440
David,

00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:12.440
Solomon,

00:33:12.440 --> 00:33:14.440
all those Old Testament characters.

00:33:14.440 --> 00:33:15.440
Ezekiel himself.

00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:18.440
None of them were able to go to heaven

00:33:18.440 --> 00:33:21.440
until their sin was paid for.

00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:23.440
Now in the Old Testament there was a sacrificial system

00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:24.440
which was to make atonement,

00:33:24.440 --> 00:33:26.440
but it would never make a complete covering for sin.

00:33:26.440 --> 00:33:28.440
The only thing that makes a complete covering for sin

00:33:28.440 --> 00:33:30.440
is the blood of Christ.

00:33:30.440 --> 00:33:34.440
And so Jesus goes down to this place

00:33:34.440 --> 00:33:36.440
at the time of the crucifixion,

00:33:36.440 --> 00:33:39.440
and he presents himself to these people that are there,

00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:42.440
all these righteous, godly people of old.

00:33:42.440 --> 00:33:43.440
Why?

00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:46.440
Well, because they have to put their faith and trust in Jesus,

00:33:46.440 --> 00:33:48.440
otherwise they are not able to go to heaven.

00:33:48.440 --> 00:33:50.440
And then we're told, Paul tells us,

00:33:50.440 --> 00:33:53.440
that Jesus led captivity captive.

00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:56.440
And now, for those that die in Christ,

00:33:56.440 --> 00:34:00.440
when we die, we immediately go to heaven.

00:34:00.440 --> 00:34:04.440
Because that holding place is no longer in the center of the Earth for the righteous,

00:34:04.440 --> 00:34:07.440
because it's been shifted up to heaven.

00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:10.440
And so when we die, we go to before the throne in heaven.

00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:12.440
And Paul makes that very clear in the New Testament.

00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:17.440
He says, it would be better for me to depart and to be with the Lord.

00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:18.440
Paul makes it very clear.

00:34:18.440 --> 00:34:20.440
If we die now, we go straight to heaven.

00:34:20.440 --> 00:34:23.440
But there had to be a place where those Old Testament characters would go

00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:26.440
and they would wait until they were able to say,

00:34:26.440 --> 00:34:28.440
they acknowledge, they look at Jesus,

00:34:28.440 --> 00:34:31.440
and yes, you are the Messiah, the one we were waiting for.

00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:34.440
And so God, or Jesus, leads captivity captive.

00:34:34.440 --> 00:34:36.440
That's the core of the New Testament.

00:34:36.440 --> 00:34:39.440
This idea is quoted numerous times throughout the New Testament.

00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:45.440
Okay, just as an aside, because there's references here to going down to the pit,

00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:48.440
and so on, the low parts in the Earth.

00:34:48.440 --> 00:34:52.440
How that works geographically and spiritually and everything else,

00:34:52.440 --> 00:34:53.440
are they physical?

00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:55.440
Well, they can't be physical in one sense,

00:34:55.440 --> 00:34:58.440
because we're talking about departed souls, not bodies.

00:34:58.440 --> 00:35:03.440
Bodies go into the grave, that's in the physical Earth.

00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:05.440
But they seem to be in the spiritual sense.

00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:06.440
How it works, don't know.

00:35:06.440 --> 00:35:07.440
Don't really need to know.

00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:11.440
But there's enough detail given to know this is the general idea.

00:35:11.440 --> 00:35:16.440
And we're told that those in Tyre are going to end up going down to this place

00:35:16.440 --> 00:35:20.440
because of their arrogance, because of their attitude towards Israel,

00:35:20.440 --> 00:35:21.440
ultimately towards God.

00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:23.440
Verse 21, let's carry on with the text.

00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:29.440
I will make thee a terror, and thou shall be no more, though thou be sought for.

00:35:29.440 --> 00:35:31.440
Okay, people are going to try and look and find Tyre,

00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:32.440
but they're not going to be able to find it.

00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:39.440
For yet shall thou never be found again, says the Lord God.

00:35:39.440 --> 00:35:43.440
Now, the first thing I want to comment on this that we've looked at already,

00:35:43.440 --> 00:35:46.440
this judgment, is from Romans 11.

00:35:46.440 --> 00:35:50.440
Because Tyre's boast was against Israel.

00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:56.440
In the New Testament, in Romans 11, Paul gives us a stern warning.

00:35:56.440 --> 00:36:01.440
And speaking of Israel as this vine, he says,

00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:06.440
if some of the branches be broken off, speaking of Israel,

00:36:06.440 --> 00:36:08.440
they've fallen away, they've been blinded,

00:36:08.440 --> 00:36:11.440
and thou, speaking to believers, speaking to Christians,

00:36:11.440 --> 00:36:15.440
being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them.

00:36:15.440 --> 00:36:20.440
We've been joined to this root, which is Christ is the root.

00:36:20.440 --> 00:36:22.440
We've been joined to this.

00:36:22.440 --> 00:36:26.440
We're grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root

00:36:26.440 --> 00:36:28.440
and fatness of the olive tree.

00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:30.440
Paul warns us, he says, boast not against the branches,

00:36:30.440 --> 00:36:32.440
don't boast against Israel.

00:36:32.440 --> 00:36:34.440
Don't look at Israel and say, well, they've messed up,

00:36:34.440 --> 00:36:36.440
they've made these mistakes, they've been cast out,

00:36:36.440 --> 00:36:38.440
they've been blinded because of their sin.

00:36:38.440 --> 00:36:41.440
That's all true, but don't boast because of that.

00:36:41.440 --> 00:36:44.440
Because Paul says, but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root,

00:36:44.440 --> 00:36:46.440
but the root thee.

00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:49.440
In other words, we have been grafted into this family

00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:52.440
that began with Abraham.

00:36:52.440 --> 00:36:54.440
And by faith, we are joined into that,

00:36:54.440 --> 00:36:58.440
so that we have this incredible family all united through Christ.

00:36:58.440 --> 00:37:00.440
So the first thing to comment is,

00:37:00.440 --> 00:37:04.440
Tyre's destruction came largely because of their boasting against Israel.

00:37:04.440 --> 00:37:07.440
And it's just to warn you, do not boast against Israel.

00:37:07.440 --> 00:37:10.440
That doesn't mean we have to accept everything Israel do or say,

00:37:10.440 --> 00:37:13.440
or every political decision.

00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:15.440
But be careful, don't boast against them.

00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:18.440
Don't look at them. Be careful how you criticize them.

00:37:18.440 --> 00:37:21.440
Bear in mind, much of the information that we get,

00:37:21.440 --> 00:37:26.440
certainly through the mainstream media, is very biased and twisted.

00:37:26.440 --> 00:37:29.440
Okay, this is the first point.

00:37:30.440 --> 00:37:33.440
Ezekiel prophesied, as we've seen,

00:37:33.440 --> 00:37:36.440
that Nebuchadnezzar would come against Tyre.

00:37:36.440 --> 00:37:39.440
And that many nations, as a wave, would also come up against Tyre.

00:37:39.440 --> 00:37:42.440
It's going on from this point.

00:37:42.440 --> 00:37:44.440
Successively, as we might say.

00:37:44.440 --> 00:37:49.440
The dust is going to be scraped from the land to leave a bare rock.

00:37:49.440 --> 00:37:54.440
And the fishermen would spread their nets on the remains of Tyre.

00:37:54.440 --> 00:37:58.440
And the stones and timber and so on would be thrown into the sea.

00:37:58.440 --> 00:38:00.440
Tyre would never be rebuilt.

00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:03.440
And Tyre would never be found again.

00:38:03.440 --> 00:38:05.440
These are the things we're told.

00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:08.440
Well, three years after this prophecy was given,

00:38:08.440 --> 00:38:12.440
Nebuchadnezzar did indeed come up against Tyre.

00:38:12.440 --> 00:38:14.440
They were probably sitting pretty, thinking they were okay,

00:38:14.440 --> 00:38:16.440
that maybe they had escaped and so on.

00:38:16.440 --> 00:38:21.440
Carrying on, enjoying this trade surplus that was coming through them now

00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:23.440
that Jerusalem had been destroyed.

00:38:25.440 --> 00:38:28.440
But Nebuchadnezzar laid siege, just as we read in the text,

00:38:28.440 --> 00:38:30.440
to the city of Tyre.

00:38:30.440 --> 00:38:33.440
And it was a 13-year long, drawn-out siege.

00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:37.440
And Nebuchadnezzar finally broke through the gates,

00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:41.440
only to find that the city was almost deserted.

00:38:41.440 --> 00:38:45.440
Those that were left were killed, and the towers were destroyed, and so on.

00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:50.440
The people had fled to an island about half a mile off the coast.

00:38:50.440 --> 00:38:53.440
Poor rendering in the background of the picture you can see there.

00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:58.440
But the idea that they'd literally, whilst this siege is going on,

00:38:58.440 --> 00:39:01.440
they'd been fleeing out the back door.

00:39:01.440 --> 00:39:04.440
And they'd been getting everybody and supplies and everything

00:39:04.440 --> 00:39:08.440
across to this island city that they'd fortified and made strong.

00:39:08.440 --> 00:39:12.440
And this new Tyre was almost impenetrable.

00:39:12.440 --> 00:39:15.440
Difficult to get to because it was by sea to start with,

00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:19.440
and then there was towers and there was walls built all the way around the outside of it.

00:39:19.440 --> 00:39:22.440
Nebuchadnezzar didn't have much of a navy.

00:39:22.440 --> 00:39:26.440
He hadn't needed much of a navy, so he never bothered building one.

00:39:26.440 --> 00:39:28.440
Eventually he had to settle.

00:39:28.440 --> 00:39:32.440
And he had to settle for Tyre becoming a vassal state,

00:39:32.440 --> 00:39:35.440
paying tribute, just as Jerusalem had done, if you remember.

00:39:35.440 --> 00:39:43.440
Tyre essentially realized they couldn't outlast the Babylonian Empire forever, however.

00:39:43.440 --> 00:39:47.440
And Nebuchadnezzar realized he couldn't take the island without a fleet,

00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:49.440
so he almost got to a stalemate situation.

00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:55.440
And so they came to a compromise where Tyre became this vassal state of the Babylonian Empire.

00:39:55.440 --> 00:39:58.440
The Tyrian king, by the name of Ithabal,

00:39:58.440 --> 00:40:02.440
Ithabal III, who had seen the start of the siege,

00:40:02.440 --> 00:40:05.440
was either removed from power or died, we don't know.

00:40:05.440 --> 00:40:07.440
It's not clear historically.

00:40:07.440 --> 00:40:11.440
But he was eventually replaced by Baal II,

00:40:11.440 --> 00:40:16.440
who ruled specifically as this Babylonian client king.

00:40:16.440 --> 00:40:19.440
So very much like Zedekiah and others had done in Jerusalem,

00:40:19.440 --> 00:40:23.440
they were king only because Nebuchadnezzar allowed them to be so.

00:40:23.440 --> 00:40:27.440
Just as an aside, did you notice the name of the king?

00:40:27.440 --> 00:40:29.440
That name Baal.

00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:32.440
That god in the Old Testament, the pagan god,

00:40:32.440 --> 00:40:37.440
who continually seems to reappear.

00:40:37.440 --> 00:40:43.440
In a sense, this kind of Earthly embodiment of Satan.

00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:47.440
This pagan, corrupt king.

00:40:47.440 --> 00:40:50.440
And these kings took that name.

00:40:50.440 --> 00:40:52.440
And it's interesting I just mention that,

00:40:52.440 --> 00:40:55.440
because when we get to chapter 28 in a week or two's time,

00:40:55.440 --> 00:40:56.440
we're going to see that Ezekiel,

00:40:56.440 --> 00:40:57.440
he's the king of Tyre.

00:40:57.440 --> 00:40:59.440
And it's interesting to me that Ezekiel looks beyond,

00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:04.440
through the natural, to the power behind the king of Tyre.

00:41:04.440 --> 00:41:06.440
Who is none other than Baal,

00:41:06.440 --> 00:41:10.440
or who you and I would refer to as Satan or Lucifer.

00:41:10.440 --> 00:41:14.440
So Tyre is forced to pay these significant tributes to Babylon.

00:41:14.440 --> 00:41:17.440
But they get to keep their lives and their city,

00:41:17.440 --> 00:41:19.440
and their merchandise and their wealth.

00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:24.440
And again, but they were heavily taxed to fund Nebuchadnezzar's empire

00:41:24.440 --> 00:41:25.440
from that point on.

00:41:25.440 --> 00:41:27.440
And of course, as we know historically,

00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:29.440
and as Mark's been taking us through Daniel,

00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:31.440
we've seen some of the history of this.

00:41:31.440 --> 00:41:35.440
When Cyrus the Great then conquers Babylon in 539 BC,

00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:38.440
Tyre transitioned from Babylonian rule

00:41:38.440 --> 00:41:41.440
to being under the authority and the rule of the Persians.

00:41:41.440 --> 00:41:43.440
But the Persians were a land people.

00:41:43.440 --> 00:41:46.440
They didn't specifically have much of a navy.

00:41:46.440 --> 00:41:49.440
And they realized that to conquer Egypt and fight the Greeks,

00:41:49.440 --> 00:41:50.440
they needed the Tyrians.

00:41:50.440 --> 00:41:53.440
Again, these people that inhabited Tyre.

00:41:53.440 --> 00:41:56.440
Because Tyre provided the backbone of the Persian fleet,

00:41:56.440 --> 00:42:00.440
the Persian kings, Cyrus and Darius and Xerxes later on,

00:42:00.440 --> 00:42:02.440
all gave Tyre a lot of autonomy.

00:42:02.440 --> 00:42:05.440
So there's almost this kind of like respite now.

00:42:05.440 --> 00:42:07.440
They're kind of feeling in a comfortable position.

00:42:07.440 --> 00:42:09.440
And they were allowed even to mint their own coins

00:42:09.440 --> 00:42:13.440
and rebuild their maritime wealth and so on.

00:42:13.440 --> 00:42:17.440
But incredibly, around 350 BC,

00:42:17.440 --> 00:42:20.440
so coming down close to the time of Jesus now,

00:42:20.440 --> 00:42:22.440
the Phoenician cities,

00:42:22.440 --> 00:42:24.440
led by Sidon, who we're going to get to,

00:42:24.440 --> 00:42:27.440
we're going to speak about those in a week or two's time,

00:42:27.440 --> 00:42:30.440
tried to revolt against the Persian king,

00:42:30.440 --> 00:42:32.440
Artaxerxes III.

00:42:32.440 --> 00:42:35.440
But that revolt was brutally crushed.

00:42:35.440 --> 00:42:37.440
While Tyre wasn't completely destroyed,

00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:39.440
it became very unstable.

00:42:39.440 --> 00:42:42.440
It was weakened considerably.

00:42:42.440 --> 00:42:44.440
I just thought how interesting it is

00:42:44.440 --> 00:42:47.440
that Tyre, who boasted against Jerusalem,

00:42:47.440 --> 00:42:49.440
made the same mistakes.

00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:51.440
If you remember, one of the reasons that God spoke to Zedekiah,

00:42:51.440 --> 00:42:53.440
and said that judgment was coming,

00:42:53.440 --> 00:42:58.440
was because Zedekiah had made an oath with Nebuchadnezzar,

00:42:58.440 --> 00:43:00.440
and then broken that oath.

00:43:00.440 --> 00:43:02.440
He'd rebelled against him.

00:43:02.440 --> 00:43:04.440
And Tyre did the same thing.

00:43:04.440 --> 00:43:07.440
They had made this agreement with these Persian kings,

00:43:07.440 --> 00:43:09.440
and then they turned against them.

00:43:09.440 --> 00:43:11.440
Never goes well.

00:43:11.440 --> 00:43:13.440
God holds us accountable for the things that we say,

00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:15.440
the words that we speak.

00:43:15.440 --> 00:43:17.440
Be careful what we say.

00:43:17.440 --> 00:43:19.440
Unlike Jerusalem, though,

00:43:19.440 --> 00:43:22.440
Tyre would not rise again.

00:43:22.440 --> 00:43:25.440
Around 332,

00:43:25.440 --> 00:43:28.440
there was a new empire rising,

00:43:28.440 --> 00:43:30.440
coming to power.

00:43:30.440 --> 00:43:32.440
As prophesied by Daniel,

00:43:32.440 --> 00:43:33.440
it would be ferocious,

00:43:33.440 --> 00:43:35.440
and it would sweep across the land.

00:43:35.440 --> 00:43:37.440
This was the Greek Empire,

00:43:37.440 --> 00:43:39.440
under Alexander the Great.

00:43:39.440 --> 00:43:42.440
One of the most incredible periods of history.

00:43:42.440 --> 00:43:46.440
The Tyrians had become extremely overconfident,

00:43:46.440 --> 00:43:48.440
because they'd survived Nebuchadnezzar for 13 years,

00:43:48.440 --> 00:43:50.440
and they'd thrived under the Persians.

00:43:50.440 --> 00:43:53.440
They believed their island city was literally impregnable.

00:43:53.440 --> 00:43:55.440
Nobody could touch it.

00:43:55.440 --> 00:43:57.440
When Alexander arrived,

00:43:57.440 --> 00:43:59.440
they offered him this golden crown,

00:43:59.440 --> 00:44:02.440
but they refused to let him enter the city,

00:44:02.440 --> 00:44:05.440
to sacrifice to their god, Melcarp,

00:44:05.440 --> 00:44:09.440
who the Greeks identified with Hercules.

00:44:09.440 --> 00:44:10.440
And they told him,

00:44:10.440 --> 00:44:11.440
if you want to sacrifice,

00:44:11.440 --> 00:44:13.440
do it at the old temple on the mainland.

00:44:13.440 --> 00:44:16.440
And bear in mind, most of that had been completely destroyed anyway.

00:44:16.440 --> 00:44:17.440
Well, that didn't go particularly well.

00:44:17.440 --> 00:44:19.440
Alexander's response was basically on the lines of,

00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:21.440
you know, think because you live in an island, you're safe,

00:44:21.440 --> 00:44:23.440
you went and see.

00:44:23.440 --> 00:44:26.440
He then literally took the rubble

00:44:26.440 --> 00:44:29.440
that had been left by the destruction from Nebuchadnezzar,

00:44:29.440 --> 00:44:31.440
the ruins of the old mainland city,

00:44:31.440 --> 00:44:34.440
and he literally swept it,

00:44:34.440 --> 00:44:36.440
scraped it into the sea,

00:44:36.440 --> 00:44:39.440
to build this famous mole, as it was known,

00:44:39.440 --> 00:44:40.440
or causeway,

00:44:40.440 --> 00:44:42.440
which looks something like that.

00:44:42.440 --> 00:44:44.440
So literally he built this bridge

00:44:44.440 --> 00:44:46.440
out of the old rubble

00:44:46.440 --> 00:44:47.440
from the destroyed city,

00:44:47.440 --> 00:44:50.440
just as Ezekiel prophesied would happen.

00:44:50.440 --> 00:44:52.440
And eventually over the years,

00:44:52.440 --> 00:44:55.440
more and more land or rubble and stuff was put in there,

00:44:55.440 --> 00:44:58.440
and it's become a peninsula now.

00:44:58.440 --> 00:45:02.440
So the old area where Tyre used to be

00:45:02.440 --> 00:45:05.440
is now just this peninsula as part of the mainland.

00:45:05.440 --> 00:45:09.440
Originally it was, as you can see in the picture on the left there,

00:45:09.440 --> 00:45:10.440
it was a separate island,

00:45:10.440 --> 00:45:12.440
and Alexander built this bridge out of it.

00:45:12.440 --> 00:45:15.440
You imagine for the people in the city watching

00:45:15.440 --> 00:45:17.440
as Alexander's getting closer and closer,

00:45:17.440 --> 00:45:19.440
how they must have been feeling.

00:45:19.440 --> 00:45:23.440
Again, he literally used the dust and the stones,

00:45:23.440 --> 00:45:25.440
mentioned in verse 4, as we saw a moment ago,

00:45:25.440 --> 00:45:28.440
to turn this island into a peninsula

00:45:28.440 --> 00:45:30.440
in order to take this new Tyre

00:45:30.440 --> 00:45:32.440
and build this causeway out from the mainland.

00:45:32.440 --> 00:45:35.440
And he scraped the remains of the old city into the sea

00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:37.440
and left just bare rock.

00:45:37.440 --> 00:45:41.440
And it's upon those rocks that were left

00:45:41.440 --> 00:45:43.440
that fishermen to this day

00:45:43.440 --> 00:45:45.440
lay their nets out to dry.

00:45:45.440 --> 00:45:47.440
After a seven-month siege,

00:45:47.440 --> 00:45:49.440
Alexander's forces breached the southern walls,

00:45:49.440 --> 00:45:52.440
resulting in this final total destruction

00:45:52.440 --> 00:45:54.440
of the city of Tyre.

00:45:54.440 --> 00:45:57.440
Floyd Hamilton, believer, Christian,

00:45:57.440 --> 00:46:00.440
in his book, The Battle of the Christian Faith,

00:46:00.440 --> 00:46:02.440
says the following.

00:46:02.440 --> 00:46:04.440
It is also written,

00:46:04.440 --> 00:46:06.440
Thou shall be built no more.

00:46:06.440 --> 00:46:09.440
Other cities destroyed by enemies had been rebuilt.

00:46:09.440 --> 00:46:11.440
Jerusalem was destroyed many times.

00:46:11.440 --> 00:46:13.440
But the city of Tyre was still built.

00:46:13.440 --> 00:46:14.440
It was a city of peace.

00:46:14.440 --> 00:46:16.440
Jerusalem was destroyed many times,

00:46:16.440 --> 00:46:18.440
but always has risen again from the ruins.

00:46:18.440 --> 00:46:20.440
What reason was there for saying

00:46:20.440 --> 00:46:23.440
that old Tyre might not be rebuilt?

00:46:23.440 --> 00:46:25.440
But 25 centuries ago,

00:46:25.440 --> 00:46:28.440
a Jew in exile over in Babylonia

00:46:28.440 --> 00:46:30.440
looked into the future at the command of God

00:46:30.440 --> 00:46:32.440
and wrote the words,

00:46:32.440 --> 00:46:35.440
Thou shall be built no more.

00:46:35.440 --> 00:46:38.440
The voice of God has spoken.

00:46:38.440 --> 00:46:42.440
And old Tyre today stands as it has for 25 centuries,

00:46:42.440 --> 00:46:43.440
a bare rock,

00:46:43.440 --> 00:46:45.440
uninhabited by man.

00:46:45.440 --> 00:46:48.440
Today, anyone who wants to see the site of the old city

00:46:48.440 --> 00:46:51.440
can have it pointed out to him along the shore.

00:46:51.440 --> 00:46:54.440
But there is not a ruin to mark the spot.

00:46:54.440 --> 00:46:58.440
It has been scraped clean and has never been rebuilt.

00:46:58.440 --> 00:47:04.440
The great freshwater springs of Rezalene

00:47:04.440 --> 00:47:07.440
are at the site of the mainland city of Tyre

00:47:07.440 --> 00:47:10.440
and no doubt supplied the city with an abundance of fresh water.

00:47:10.440 --> 00:47:12.440
These springs are still there and still flow,

00:47:12.440 --> 00:47:15.440
but their water runs into the sea.

00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:18.440
The flow of these springs was measured by an engineer

00:47:18.440 --> 00:47:23.440
and found to be about 10 million gallons daily.

00:47:23.440 --> 00:47:25.440
It is still an excellent site for a city

00:47:25.440 --> 00:47:28.440
and would have fresh water enough for a large modern city,

00:47:28.440 --> 00:47:31.440
yet it has never been rebuilt.

00:47:31.440 --> 00:47:37.440
Thus, this prophecy has stood true for more than 2,500 years.

00:47:37.440 --> 00:47:40.440
Now I just share this because it is astonishing

00:47:40.440 --> 00:47:42.440
how accurate,

00:47:42.440 --> 00:47:43.440
and how accurate,

00:47:43.440 --> 00:47:46.440
prophetic scriptures are.

00:47:46.440 --> 00:47:49.440
And this goes back to what we were saying earlier

00:47:49.440 --> 00:47:53.440
about trusting the Lord with the plans he has for us.

00:47:53.440 --> 00:47:57.440
Ezekiel probably had no concept of what was going to happen.

00:47:57.440 --> 00:47:59.440
He's recording these details,

00:47:59.440 --> 00:48:02.440
speaking of the city being scraped and being bare rock

00:48:02.440 --> 00:48:04.440
and fishermen using it for their nets,

00:48:04.440 --> 00:48:05.440
and thinking,

00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:07.440
I can't see how this could possibly work.

00:48:07.440 --> 00:48:10.440
And yet as history unfolded,

00:48:10.440 --> 00:48:11.440
everything that Ezekiel said,

00:48:11.440 --> 00:48:13.440
by the hand of God,

00:48:13.440 --> 00:48:14.440
came to pass.

00:48:14.440 --> 00:48:18.440
And we realize that God does truly know the end from the beginning.

00:48:18.440 --> 00:48:20.440
This is one of those incredible prophecies.

00:48:20.440 --> 00:48:23.440
Many Christian commentators over the years have cited this,

00:48:23.440 --> 00:48:24.440
saying, you know,

00:48:24.440 --> 00:48:26.440
you want to try and disprove the Bible?

00:48:26.440 --> 00:48:28.440
Then try and deal with something like this.

00:48:28.440 --> 00:48:31.440
It was prophesied some 600 BC,

00:48:31.440 --> 00:48:33.440
in that kind of timeframe,

00:48:33.440 --> 00:48:36.440
fulfilled some 300 years later,

00:48:36.440 --> 00:48:38.440
and still stands to this day.

00:48:38.440 --> 00:48:40.440
So we can trust God,

00:48:40.440 --> 00:48:43.440
because God's word never fails.

00:48:43.440 --> 00:48:45.440
God's written word never fails,

00:48:45.440 --> 00:48:46.440
and God's word to us,

00:48:46.440 --> 00:48:48.440
the things that God speaks to us,

00:48:48.440 --> 00:48:49.440
we can trust,

00:48:49.440 --> 00:48:50.440
we can hold on to.

00:48:50.440 --> 00:48:52.440
So be encouraged by this for two reasons.

00:48:52.440 --> 00:48:56.440
One, because it's a wonderful proof that Scripture really is the word of God.

00:48:56.440 --> 00:49:01.440
But it's also evidence for us that our God does know the end from the beginning.

00:49:01.440 --> 00:49:03.440
And we can trust him with every situation,

00:49:03.440 --> 00:49:04.440
every circumstance,

00:49:04.440 --> 00:49:05.440
every challenge,

00:49:05.440 --> 00:49:07.440
everything we don't fully understand,

00:49:07.440 --> 00:49:08.440
we don't need to worry.

00:49:08.440 --> 00:49:09.440
As I've said numerous times,

00:49:09.440 --> 00:49:11.440
I'm going to quote one more time,

00:49:11.440 --> 00:49:12.440
Oswald Chambers,

00:49:12.440 --> 00:49:13.440
I'll say quote one more time,

00:49:13.440 --> 00:49:15.440
I'll keep quoting this because it's just so good.

00:49:15.440 --> 00:49:16.440
He said,

00:49:16.440 --> 00:49:21.440
God reckons on you for extreme service,

00:49:21.440 --> 00:49:23.440
with no explanation on his part,

00:49:23.440 --> 00:49:26.440
and no complaining on yours.

00:49:26.440 --> 00:49:28.440
Say that once again.

00:49:28.440 --> 00:49:31.440
God reckons on you for extreme service,

00:49:31.440 --> 00:49:33.440
with no explanation on his part,

00:49:33.440 --> 00:49:35.440
and no complaining on yours.

00:49:35.440 --> 00:49:37.440
It's for our hearts.

00:49:37.440 --> 00:49:39.440
Father, we just thank you for this time this morning.

00:49:39.440 --> 00:49:43.440
And Father, we thank you that we can read portions of Scripture like this,

00:49:43.440 --> 00:49:48.440
and we can see how you have orchestrated the events of history.

00:49:48.440 --> 00:49:51.440
That Lord, you are in complete control.

00:49:51.440 --> 00:49:55.440
That Lord, you have indeed declared the end from the beginning.

00:49:55.440 --> 00:49:58.440
And from ancient times, things that are not yet done,

00:49:58.440 --> 00:50:01.440
saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.

00:50:01.440 --> 00:50:03.440
Oh Lord, we thank you for your word.

00:50:03.440 --> 00:50:06.440
We thank you that we can trust it because it is true.

00:50:06.440 --> 00:50:08.440
But Lord, we thank you too that we can trust it.

00:50:08.440 --> 00:50:11.440
We thank you too that we can trust your words to us individually.

00:50:11.440 --> 00:50:14.440
As you speak to us, as you lead us, as you guide us,

00:50:14.440 --> 00:50:17.440
as we find ourselves in situations we didn't anticipate

00:50:17.440 --> 00:50:19.440
or weren't quite prepared for,

00:50:19.440 --> 00:50:21.440
or maybe don't see the next step.

00:50:21.440 --> 00:50:23.440
Oh Lord, we don't need to know.

00:50:23.440 --> 00:50:27.440
We just need to know that your word is a lamp to our feet

00:50:27.440 --> 00:50:29.440
and a light to our path.

00:50:29.440 --> 00:50:33.440
And Lord, that you will go before us every step.

00:50:33.440 --> 00:50:36.440
And so Lord, help us to trust you with no complaining.

00:50:36.440 --> 00:50:37.440
We ask it in Jesus' name.

00:50:38.440 --> 00:50:40.440
Amen.

00:50:40.440 --> 00:50:41.440
Okay, may God richly bless you.

00:50:41.440 --> 00:50:43.440
Let's spend some time fellowshipping over some teas and coffees.