The Shattered Reed: Exposing Counterfeit Security (Ezekiel 29)

 

The Shattered Reed: Exposing Counterfeit Security (Ezekiel 29)

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The Monster 1-5

The Broken Reed 6-9

HIStory 10-16

Pay Day 17-21

On Sundays, we've been walking a path of Divine judgements on nations.

From Ezekiel 25 through 28, we watched the Sovereign Lord systematically pull out and burn down “pricking briers" and "painful thorns” that surrounded Israel. He shattered the pride of Tyre and smashed the sorcery of Sidon.

As we turn the page to Ezekiel 29, we land south of Israel, in Egypt, the seventh nation in God's crosshairs of judgement.

For centuries, Egypt was the ultimate safety net. If your economy collapsed, you went down to Egypt. If an empire threatened you, you ran to Egypt for chariots and horses. Egypt was supposedly a safety net of security.

But as we drop into our text today, God reveals what they thought about Egypt was an illusion. Egypt was NOT a fortress, not a safety net; it was a trap.

Abraham ran to Egypt for fear of famine and returned with Hagar—which turned into a bloody multimillennial family feud that still rages today. Jacob and family did the same and became slaves for 400 years.

Whatever system you are leaning on, outside of God, can be summed up in Egypt.

We’re about to see God reveal that anything you lean on, other than Him, isn't supporting you, it's piercing you.

The Monster

Ezekiel 29:1-5
In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt. ³ Speak, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, ‘My River is my own; I have made it for myself.’

⁴ But I will put hooks in your jaws and cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales; I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, and all the fish in your rivers will stick to your scales. ⁵ I will leave you in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers; you shall fall on the open field; you shall not be picked up or gathered. I have given you as food to the beasts of the field and to the birds of the heavens.

Notice, God looks at the clock in verse 1: “In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day...”

When God looks at the clock in the Bible it's important. It's for us. It's a time stamp that provides undeniable proof of the authenticity and accuracy of the Word of God. Because the earth opens its mouth to archeologists who then say: “Wow, we just discovered what the Bible's been saying all along is absolutely True!”

Scholars date this at January 5, 587 BC. (some say Jan. 7th)

Why does this date matter?

Because right at that time in HIStory, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had his siege ramps against the walls of Jerusalem. The city was starving. The walls and the people were shaking.

Inside Jerusalem, King Zedekiah was checking his phone, desperately waiting for a text back from Egypt. He had made a secret, military alliance with Pharaoh Hophra, hoping Egypt would sweep up from the south and break the Babylonian siege.

Right when Israel was leaning on Egypt, putting their faith in a secular superpower, the Word of God pulls back Pharaoh’s curtain to expose the great Oz isn’t so great after all.

Look at how God describes Pharaoh in verse 3: "O great monster who lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, ‘My River is my own; I have made it for myself.’

That sounds a lot like lucifer's prideful, self-absorbed, words.

Which makes sense, because if you look at the original Hebrew text, the word translated as "monster" is תַּנִּין (Tannin). That isn't just a poetic word for a large crocodile. In the ancient Near East, Tannin was a mythological sea dragon—a cosmic serpent representing chaos, pride, and rebellion against the Creator.

Pharaoh did not just think he was a king; Egyptian theology taught that the Pharaoh was a god. The manifestation of Horus (a mythological god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and the sky).

Pharaoh Hophra was so arrogant that the Greek historian Herodotus recorded that Hophra bragged that not even a god could dethrone him.

Sounds like the infamous last words of the Titanic crewman, “Not even God can sink this ship.”

Pharaoh took the blessings of God’s creation and claimed to be their owner and author.

But see how fast God strips his so-called divinity in verse 4: “I will put hooks in your jaws.”

This paints a picture of when a crocodile became a threat or a nuisance in the Nile, hunters would thrust large hooks into its jaws and drag it onto the dry sand, where it would lose its leverage and die under the scorching sun.

God basically tells Pharaoh: You think you are a god? You think you own the river? Ha! To Me, you're just a gecko, to drag out of your palace, and cast your carcass in the wilderness, to be food for beasts and buzzards.

That smells like a foreshadow to the battle of Armageddon, where beasts and buzzards feast on the flesh of kings and captains and all people, slave and free, small and great Rev. 19:17-21.

Don't miss the tragedy in verse 4: the fish sticking to his scales represent the subjects, dependents, officials, army, and allied nations of Egypt; including compromised Judah. All who clung to Egypt were cast out as well. When the monster got hauled out, everyone clinging to him got hooked and hauled as well. When lucifer was cast out, a third of the angels were too.

Who do you cling to?

Where do you put your trust?

What are you leaning on?

Egypt or Jesus?

The Broken Reed

Ezekiel 29:6-9
“Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. ⁷ When they took hold of you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their backs quiver.”

⁸ ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will bring a sword upon you and cut off from you man and beast. ⁹ And the land of Egypt shall become desolate and waste; then they will know that I am the Lord, because he said, ‘The River is mine, and I have made it.’

Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

God uses a natural illustration to expose Egypt's traitorous treachery. He calls them “a staff of reed to the house of Israel.”

Along the banks of the Nile grew tall, thick stalks of reeds. Papyrus reeds looked like sturdy, walking sticks; like something you could put your weight on to stabilize your steps.

But the Papyrus reed is hollow. It has no inner strength, no moral integrity. The moment you put your weight on the reed, it doesn't just bend—it snaps, it splinters and stabs its razor-sharp, jagged shards, into your hand and arm and shoulder.

This was what Egypt did to Israel throughout HIStory. They’d promise to help, and then, break their promise.

·      King Hoshea of Israel trusted Egypt to help against Assyria, but Egypt was a no show and, Assyria ended up taking Israel captive. 2 Kings 17:4-6.

·      King Jehoiakim leaned heavily on Egypt against Babylon, but as soon as Nebuchadnezzar's army faced them, Pharaoh's boys tucked tail and returned home. 2 Kings 24:1-7 and Jeremiah 37:5-8.

Whatever you lean on outside of God will eventually snap and splinter and stab you. If you lean on your bank account for your identity, when the market shakes, that reed will shatter your security. If you lean on relationships or the applause of people to validate your soul, the moment they move on, that hollow reed will pierce your heart.

Israel leaned on the reed of silver and gold to hire military might, and it left them exposed, vulnerable and trembling. Egypt was selfish and arrogant, promising strength but leaving Israel shattered and in ruins.

But aren’t you glad Jesus treats our brokenness differently?

Matthew 12:20 tells us of Christ: 'a bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench.'

The systems of this world will discard you the second you fracture; the moment you get a little bit of burn out. But not Jesus. He takes, into His nail scarred hands, the bruised, the weak, the splintered reeds of humanity and restores them with His strength, and uses His Holiness, to make them whole. Leaning on Him, we are stronger and better in the broken place than we were before.

Also, remember, when Jesus stood on this earth, He refused to lean on the political reeds of Rome, the religious systems of the Sanhedrin, or the shifting applause of people.

All His strength, all His power, all His words, and all His deeds, came from His Father. He said in John 5:19, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do,” and again in John 14:10, “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.”

Jesus is our example.

Where does, what you say, and what you do, come from?

Jesus leaned only on the Father and became the only Foundation in HIStory that NEVER shatters, never splinters, and never breaks.

Stop leaning on reeds that break, and start leaning on the Everlasting Arms of Jesus.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

 

HIStory

Ezekiel 29:10-12
Indeed, therefore, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Ethiopia. ¹¹ Neither foot of man shall pass through it nor foot of beast pass through it, and it shall be uninhabited forty years. ¹² I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and among the cities that are laid waste, her cities shall be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries.

Migdol sat in the northeast corner of the Nile Delta (modern-day northern Egypt). Syene (modern-day Aswan) sat at the southern border, right where Egypt met ancient Cush (Ethiopia/Sudan).

By naming these boundaries, God declared His judgment would sweep the entirety of Egypt. No hidden valley or elite resort city would escape the reach of His sword.

Divine Justice. Egypt was scattered (like Israel). Egypt spent 40 years in wilderness (like Israel).

Like always, secular history, whether it wants to or not, confirms God's Word. Following Nebuchadnezzar's war against Egypt around 568–567 BC, Egypt lay in desolation, a wasteland, a wilderness, for four decades, just as God had said.

Ezekiel 13-16
‘Yet, thus says the Lord God: “At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered. ¹⁴ I will bring back the captives of Egypt (like Israel) and cause them to return to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. ¹⁵ It shall be the lowliest of kingdoms; it shall never again exalt itself above the nations, for I will diminish them so that they will not rule over the nations anymore. ¹⁶ No longer shall it be the confidence of the house of Israel, but will remind them of their iniquity when they turned to follow them. Then they shall know that I AM the LORD GOD.” ’

Just as God said, Egypt indeed returned to the land of Pathros (which means "the land of the south), the birthplace of Egyptian origins.

Additionally, God said they would never again be a royal superpower but remain a lowly nation. It's been about 2,600 years since He said that. Do you think that’s long enough to see if His Word has stood the test of time?

After falling to the Babylonians, Egypt fell under the Persians. Then the Greeks by Alexander the Great. Then the Romans. Then the Byzantines, the Mamluks, and the Ottomans...

Egypt—once the undisputed center of world architecture, wealth, and military technology—never again rose to become a global empire ruling over nations.

JUST AS GOD HAD SAID.

Notice verse 16: "No longer shall it be the confidence of the house of Israel, but will remind them of their iniquity when they turned to follow them...

God didn't make Egypt a lowly nation just to punish Pharaoh; but to protect His people from temptation. If Egypt was a glittering, wealthy superpower, Israel would be tempted to turn away from God and run to Egypt.

God removed the counterfeit safety net, forcing His family to look to the hills where their True help comes from. (Psalm 121:1-2).

Then, in God’s abundance of mercy and heart for reconciliation, He gave humbled Egypt the marvelous honor of harboring the infant Jesus during Herod’s slaughter, literally fulfilling the words of Hosea: “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Hosea 11:1, Matthew 2:13-15).

God resists the proud but give grace to the humble. Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5.

 

Pay Day

Ezekiel 29:17-20
And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁸ “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder rubbed raw; yet neither he nor his army received wages from Tyre, for the labor which they expended on it. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he shall take away her wealth, carry off her spoil, and remove her pillage; and that will be the wages for his army. ²⁰ I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor, because they worked for Me,’ says the Lord God.

 The date is April 26, 571 BC. This is the latest date recorded in Ezekiel, sixteen years after the opening of this vision in verse one, (10/10/12) and twenty-two years from the start of his prophetic ministry.

Nebuchadnezzar’s army marched against Tyre for thirteen grueling years. The siege was so brutal that every head was made bald from heavy bronze helmets and every shoulder chafed from hauling stone blocks to build siege walls.

HIStory tells us that Nebuchadnezzar overthrew mainland Tyre. However, they could not take the island fortress half a mile out in the sea.

Tyre used their navy to move everybody and everything of value (vast stores of silver and gold) to the safety of the island fortress. So, when Babylon finally breached the walls of the mainland city, he found nothing of value. All that work, for nothing.

But even though he didn’t know it—he was working for God.

YOU CAN NEVER OUT GIVE GOD.

GOD IS INDEBTED TO NO ONE.

Verses 19-20 say that God gave Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar for wages for his army because “they worked for Me.”

God pays His bills, and He can use anybody or anything to do it, because it all belongs to Him.

Psalm 24:1
The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.

God indeed governs in the affairs of men. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10). Seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt. 6:33).

Now for the Grand Finale:

Ezekiel 29:21
In that day I will cause the horn of the house of Israel to spring forth, and I will open your mouth to speak in their midst. Then they shall know that I AM the Lord.

That’s the fourth time we've read: Then they shall know that I AM the Lord. Repeated in verses: 6,9,16,21... About 70 times in Ezekiel.

That's God's goal. Then and now. That all shall know Him as Lord... And Savior.

Not... Lord and Judge

All will know Him one way or the other. Every knee shall bow, tongue confess, Jesus Christ is Lord. Phil. 2:10-11.

To that end, right in the middle of Divine Judgement, global warfare, military spoils, and shattered superpowers, God points to a Messianic promise.

In scripture, a "horn" represents kingly authority, power, and victory. When connected with the House of Israel or House of David, it points to the promised Messiah.

In the tapestry of all HIStory God weaves His Scarlet Thread, from the fall in the Garden of Eden to the Garden Tomb of His Resurrection. To this day He weaves His wonderful ways, into the wicked ways of man.

Here, in the closing words of our text, He points to the Ultimate Authority on the Ultimate Pay Day springing fourth from death to Life.

Centuries from when God told Ezekiel He would cause a Horn to spring forth from the house of Israel, came a day, when an old man named Zachariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, said:

“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
⁶⁹ And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David. Luke 1:68–69.

Dear Church, the world wants you to turn to Egypt, to trust in Tannin—the shiny things the world thinks are powerful. The world tells you to lean on reeds of financial stability, political leverage, secular strength, comfort, pleasure, popularity...

But HIStory has proven, and Ezekiel has documented that every worldly river flows to the lake of fire. Every human reed will eventually shatter and slice the hand that holds it.

But 2,000 years ago, another Man took a stand before an empire. He loved them. They led Him, to be crucified. They put a reed in His hand as a scepter, to mock Him, spit in His face, beat Him with fists and reeds. Then, they had Him carry an old rugged cross, up a steep, rocky hill. (Matthew 27:29-31).

On that hill, Jesus Christ took the curse of our broken world—the shattered shards of my sin and yours—and allowed them to pierce His hands and His feet, His side. He allowed Himself to be broken so we could be whole.

Dear friends...

Stop leaning on hollow reeds.

Stop trusting systems of pride.

Put your full, weight, hope, trust, on the Horn of Salvation—the unshakeable, resurrected King Jesus, who never shatters, never pierces, and never breaks!

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we confess, we’ve all to often leaned on Egypt. We have the scars to prove it. You have scars too—the ones You took for us. Thank You. Forgive us. Help us, and all those You’ve given us, to forever lean on You.

Thank You.

We love You, forever.

Amen.  

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This was feed for you to read. Now it’s Seed for you to sow.

 

 

Jesus, Lepers and Tax Collectors, Mark 2:13-17

 

Jesus, Lepers and Tax Collectors, Mark 2:13-17

In our walk through Ezekiel on Sundays, the Lord has revealed His Majestic Sovereignty over nations. By His Word, He has turned the trajectory of nations and declared their destiny. He treats wicked nations like briers and thorns, to tear out and burn up.

Then, in Divinely timed, perfect balance, as we walk through Mark, we see the Sovereign Servant Savior, we see Jesus, who finds us and loves us right where we’re at, who steps directly into the weeds with us, amidst the thorns, on a rescue mission.

OUTLINE:

The Call (13–14)

The Communion (15)

The Conflict (16)

The Cure (17)

Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. ¹⁴ As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

¹⁵ Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. ¹⁶ And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷ When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Jesus doesn’t wait for us to clean up our lives; He steps directly into our mess to call us, change us, to dine with us as Romans 5:8 reminds us, "while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."

Jesus left the ninety-nine to find the one. He left the multitude to find the man sitting behind a wooden desk. A man society despised, his own people considered to be nothing more than a thorn. Jesus found him and extended to him, a two-word invitation, that changed everything.

Just a few verses earlier in Mark chapter 1, Jesus met a leper—an outcast, banned from the community, despised, deemed totally untouchable. Yet, Jesus touched his rotting flesh and made him clean. Now, in chapter 2, Jesus walks straight up to a social outcast, a spiritual leper, and touches his rotting soul and makes him whole. As Luke 19:10 declares, "Jesus came to seek and to save, that which is lost."

The Call (Verses 13–14)

“Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. ¹⁴As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ So he arose and followed Him.”

The Lord, through Mark notes that Jesus went "out again by the sea." Capernaum was a booming commercial hub by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus must’ve loved preaching in the open air, where regular, working-class folks were going about their business. But notice how He teaches the multitudes, while He searches for the one, the man, the woman, the thirsty, the hungry one, ready to be found.

Jesus passed by the tax office, a toll booth, set up to collect duties on goods traveling the major international highway, known as the Via Maris, or the “Way of the Sea”.

As He passed by, Jesus looked inside that despised IRS agent’s office, and across that old wooden desk He saw what He’s always looking for, even here, even now, a thirsty, hungry, soul. There, with a full bank, but an empty, hungry, soul, sat Levi, the son of Alphaeus.

Now, when you read the other Gospels, you’ll notice an interesting detail. Mark and Luke call this man Levi. But when Levi writes about Levi, in his own Gospel, he calls himself, Matthew. Remember that, because there’s a beautiful message in his name, we’ll come back to it when we wrap things up.

It was common back then to carry two names—a Hebrew name for family and a Greek name for business. But in this case, there is a heartbreaking twist; like a wife named Faith, who is unfaithful. He was named Levi, which means he belonged to the priestly tribe of Israel. The Levites were set apart by God to handle holy things, minister in the temple, and bless the people. But instead of serving God in the temple, this Levi chose to serve Caesar in a tollbooth. Instead of blessing his people, he was extorting them.

Every time a Jew walked past that wooden desk and spit the name "Levi," it was a stinging reminder of how far he had fallen from his family’s holy heritage. He was a living contradiction—a priest turned pirate. Jewish tax collectors were viewed as political traitors, religious apostates. They were banned from the synagogue; their testimony was inadmissible in a Jewish court of law. To the religious elite, Levi wasn’t just a sinner; he was a spiritual leper.

But when Jesus looked into that toll booth at Levi, He didn’t see a leper, He saw a hungry disciple, a man ready to trade in that old wooden desk for the old rugged cross. So, He simply uttered a two-word command, that same command echoes from that day to this, to you and me, here and now, the command, that if obeyed, changes everything, “Follow Me.”

And Levi arose, higher than he’s ever risen, and followed Him.

Think about the immediate, staggering cost for Levi. When Peter, Andrew, James, and John left their nets, they could always go back to fishing if things didn't work out. But when a tax collector walked away, Rome wasn’t pleased, he was replaced immediately and there was no going back. Levi left a life of wealth and security for the unknown path of simply following Jesus.

The best decision any thirsty, hungry, soul could ever make.

The Communion (Verse 15)

“Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.”

What is the very first thing Levi did after deciding to follow Jesus?

He told all his many friends and threw a party.

Which is exactly what’s supposed to happen when a person makes Jesus Lord of their life.

You change. And you want everybody to know about it. About Him.

If you don’t change, and you don’t want everybody to know, then, you’re probably still lord of your own life and just pretending.

Now, this party was not full of Sunday school teachers and choir directors; the place was packed with tax collectors and sinners.    

Imagine the scandal. That Prophet, that Teacher, that Miracle Worker, that some are saying is the Messiah. That Man, Jesus, sat together with them—tax collectors and sinners. Oh my!

In the ancient Near East, sharing a meal wasn't just about consuming food; it was communion, an expression of deep covenant fellowship, intimacy, and acceptance.

Jesus did not stand at the door passing out tracts and sprinkling Holy Water from a distance on the sinners. No, He was right there, in the midst of them, reclined at the table. His holiness helped them in, rather than their mess keeping Him out.

The Conflict (Verse 16)

“And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, ‘How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?’”

Notice the Pharisees are watching Jesus.

Don’t they have a life? Don’t they have better things to do other than spying on Jesus to see if they can dig up any dirt?

It’s the same today. Godly folks that just want to live right and do good are busy living life.

Those who don’t want to live right and do good just want to destroy those who do. Since they don’t have a life, they have all the time in the world to picket, and protest and riot and murmur, and slander, and backbite and pervert the truth into poison.

Which is exactly what the Pharisees were trying to do to the disciples—poison them against Jesus.

The word Pharisee literally means “separated one.” Which should’ve meant separated unto God. But their arrogant attitude separated them from God and into their own echo chamber. Their entire elite theological framework was built on avoiding contamination.

Their question is packed with self-righteous disgust: “How is it that He eats with filthy tax collectors and sinners?”

They believed a Holy God would only draw near clean people—ehem—like us Pharisees. They completely misunderstood the heart of the Father.

Do you see what Jesus is doing here?

Simultaneously showing His Divinity and His humanity.

Divinity for the Pharisees: He healed the leper and forgave the sins of the paralytic. Which everybody knows only God can do that.

Humanity for the tax collectors and sinners: He touched the leper and ate with the tax collectors.

The Pharisees are furious because Jesus is proving to be what they refuse to believe.

The very Son of the Living God.

The long awaited Messiah.

God in the flesh.

The Savior of the world.

Blowing their Pharisaical religious minds.

Jesus, the Great Physician, didn’t mind getting His hands dirty—after all, He was born in a barn.

He wasn’t afraid to touch the leper in chapter one.

He doesn’t fear the elite when He eats with tax collectors and sinners in chapter two.

For this is why He came... for the sick. To be the Cure.

The Cure (Verse 17)

“When Jesus heard it, He said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.’”

Jesus shuts their legalistic murmuring mouths with common sense, a simple, undeniable medical analogy: Healthy people don't go to the doctor; sick people do.

Jesus didn't look at Levi's house as a contaminated den of thieves; He looked at it as an emergency room. He didn't see disgusting rebels; He saw dying patients who desperately needed, the Cure.

When Jesus says, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners,” He is not conceding that the Pharisees are righteous.

He knew Romans 3:23 before Paul ever wrote it. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Jesus is exposing the hard tragic truth: The tax collectors and sinners knew they were spiritually terminally ill, so they welcomed the Great Physician, the Cure.

However, the Pharisees, who should’ve known better, should’ve recognized Him, but blinded by pride, they thought they were in perfect spiritual health, so they rejected Him and died in the waiting room, clinging to their own sin leprosy.

Conclusion

Okay, now, let’s wrap things up. Remember we said we’d come back to the beautiful message of Levi’s name?

Mark and Luke write their accounts using Levi (Mark 2:14, Luke 5:27).

Why?

Because the Lord uses them to give us the raw, HIStorical, outsider perspective.

So, we can see the man sitting in the mud of his sin—the tax collector that the whole town despised.

So, we can know how deep in the weeds Jesus is willing to go.

But when Matthew sits down with his pen, in Matthew 9:9, he doesn’t call himself Levi. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he writes: “As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.”

When he tells his own story, he uses the name given by grace—a name that means “Gift of the Lord.”

It’s as if he picked up his pen, looked back at his old life, and said, “The world knew me as Levi the loser, the traitor, tax collector and sinner. They knew me by my failure, my greed, and my past.

But when Jesus looked into my tollbooth, He didn't see a thief; He saw me, Matthew, a gift of God.

Church, the enemy, seeks to kill, steal and destroy your True identity. The father of lies tries to trap us under old names, the names of our past, our addiction, our failures, and our baggage.

Mark and Luke show us “Levi”, so we never forget where Jesus found him... and us.

But Jesus doesn’t only change our destination; He rewrites our identity.

When we surrender to the Savior, we leave, Levi the leper, in the tollbooth forever, and step out as a customized gift to the Kingdom of God.

As we close, let’s remember these three things:

• Jesus is near: Jesus didn’t call Levi while he was praying in the temple; He called him while he was playing with dirty money. Don’t wait until you have it all in order before turning to the Savior. He meets you exactly where you are, and from there, He says, “Follow Me.”
• Build a bridge: Levi’s immediate response was to turn his home into a bridge for his broken friends to meet Jesus. As a Church, are we more like the Pharisees—protecting our cleanliness from a distance—or are we like Levi, intentionally creating spaces where broken people can rub shoulders with the Savior?
• Be a gift: Mark calls him Levi, but when this same man writes the Gospel that opens our New Testament, he calls himself Matthew, which means "Gift of the Lord."

That is what Jesus does.

He takes the thief, the cheat, and the outcast, strips away their old labels, and transforms them into a living gift to the Kingdom of God.

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, thank You for finding us and saying, “Follow Me.” Thank You for giving us the strength to rise and follow You. Now, please help us to stay the course, by knowing You are ever near, building a bridge for others to draw near You and being a gift to all those You’ve given us. So, none are lost.

Thank You.

We love You, forever.

Amen.  

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This was feed for you to read. Now it’s Seed for you to sow.

 

 

Beyond the Thorns: From Divine Justice to Redemption, Ezekiel 28:20-26

 

Beyond the Thorns: From Divine Justice to Redemption, Ezekiel 28:20-26

OUTLINE:

The Thorns 20-24

Divine Justice

Divine Redemption 25-26

What's your biggest pain...(don't say your spouse :-)

What's your biggest stressor? Source of friction? Burr under your saddle? What makes you cry out, “Dear God, please, bring this to an end.”?

Whatever it is, can be summed up in a word.

The word is: Thorn.

Thorns are a result of the curse.

You're feeling the friction of living in a broken world with a broken system.

That is how the folks in our text were feeling 2,600 years ago. The people of God, were largely exiled from the land of God. Their nation, Israel, was surrounded by nations that were laughing at their pain.

Their life was a bed of roses, only the roses were gone and only the thorns remained. 

But God shows up and turns the Thorns of Justice on the prickling briers, then, He wraps His people in a thorn-proof promise of Redemption.

Let’s turn to Ezekiel 28:20-26 and we’ll look at that promise.

Beyond the Thorns: From Divine Justice to Redemption.

As we drop into our text, to establish context, here is the current lay of the land.

From Ezekiel 25 to 32, God pronounces judgment against seven nations, (thorns): Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt. We’ve already studied the first five.

The number seven represents perfection, completeness, and totality.

God does nothing by accident.

By structuring this section around exactly seven nations, God is sending an unshakeable, unmistakable message: No matter how chaotic, dark, or hostile the world looks, Divine Justice and Redemption are coming.

Philippians 2:9-11
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Okay, let’s dive in by reading the first four verses of our text.

The Thorns, Ezekiel 28:20-24:

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²¹ “Son of man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against her, ²² and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, I am against you, O Sidon;
I will be glorified in your midst;
And they shall know that I am the Lord,
When I execute judgments in her and am hallowed in her.
²³ For I will send pestilence upon her,
And blood in her streets;
The wounded shall be judged in her midst
By the sword against her on every side;
Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

²⁴ “And there shall no longer be a pricking brier or a painful thorn for the house of Israel from among all who are around them, who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord God.”

 Ruh Roh.

You know you’re in big trouble when the Creator of the universe tells His prophet to give you a prophesy and it begins with, “Behold I am against you...”

At that point, your wealth, your walls, and armies are completely meaningless.

Make no mistake, this is not the heart of the Lord. He doesn’t enjoy judgement, but He’s Holy and Just so sometimes, He must.

He’d rather say what He told Moses to tell Aaron to say:

Numbers 6:24-26.

The Lord bless you and keep you;
²⁵ The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
²⁶ The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” ’

But in 586 BC after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple and killed or took captive the survivors, instead of showing pity, Sidon and Tyre, and the other surrounding thorny nations were glad and gloated.

They weren’t exactly hubs of holiness and their influence on Israel was immense.

The maritime stronghold of Tyre sat a mere 12 miles north of Israel's ancient northern border, while its sister city Sidon anchored just 25 miles up the coast.

That means, the primary centers of Baal worship and pagan perversity weren't across an ocean—but were toxic, indoctrinating, superpowers in Israel's front yard.

Archaeological excavations reveal the footprint of Sidon was only about 40 acres (only about 1/3 the size of Tyre). Yet, despite its tiny physical footprint, its economic footprint was massive. It was an intense, heavily fortified maritime trader, following in the footsteps of its big sister city Tyre.

It accumulated massive stores of silver, gold, and the world-famous cedars of Lebanon.

Generations prior, King Solomon used cedars of Lebanon for much of the temple. The structure, the interior, the main altar, came from the cedars of Lebanon. Then, the interior was overlaid with gold. (1 Kings 6:9-20).

Imagine that. The wood that lined the dwelling place of God’s Presence, came from sinful Sidon.

Sidon was a primary port for pagan idolatry. King Ahab of Israel married wicked Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, King of Sidon (1 Kings 16:31). This evil alliance imported the vile worship of Baal and Asherah into the heart of Israel, perverting the nation's relationship with God for generations.

Perhaps that’s why God called them a “pricking brier” and “a painful thorn”.

Israel failed to heed the warning from way back in Numbers 33:55:

"But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides."

Think about this:
Those you let stay in your life, your nation, that shouldn’t be there, will be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides.

For hundreds of years, Sidon was indeed a physical and spiritual thorn in Israel’s side, pulling them into sin.

Thus, God is just, so He must, deal with the thorns.

He did so by pestilence, blood, and the sword (see verse 23).

HIStory, like always, confirms every Word of God is True. Sidon was crushed by the Babylonians, the Persians, and eventually by Alexander the Great. Just as the Lord had said.

However, notice the repetitive phrase that echoes through verses 22, 23, 24, and 26: “They shall know that I am the Lord.”

That’s the goal of the Lord. That all shall know Him from the least to the greatest (Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 8:11). All will. Some will know Him as He wants to be known, as Savior and Lord. Then, sadly, others will only know Him as Judge and Lord.

God's judgment is not petty or vindictive; His Holiness demands, Divine Justice.

About six centuries after Ezekiel penned these words, Jesus stood before the crowds of Galilee and brought the memory of the ancient, pagan cities of Tyre and Sidon back to life:

"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you." Matthew 11:21-22 (and Luke 10:13-14).

Think about that statement. Sidon was a capital of witchcraft, Baal worship, and fleshly pride. God judged them heavily for it.

Yet Jesus says that the judgment facing people who hear the Gospel and reject it will be far more severe than the judgment faced by Sidon.

Why?

Because Sidon sinned in spiritual darkness, but cities like Chorazin and Bethsaida rejected the very Son of God standing right there in the midst of them.

Jesus promises us, whenever two or more are gathered in His name, “There I AM, in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20.

God holds every soul accountable to the light they have been given.

“To whom much is given, much is required” Luke 12:48.

God sees the thoughts and intents of each and every heart and holds in the balance, Divine Justice.

Speaking of Divine Justice, let’s zoom out to see and hear how the Words of our text echo all the way to today.  

If you look at a modern day map you’ll notice the thorns that despise Israel are experiencing what prophetically speaking might be, ever increasing birth pains of Divine Justice.

Tyre and Sidon, modern day Lebanon, are battling economic collapse, hyperinflation, political and military upheaval from Hezbollah (an Iranian proxy terrorist organization).

Speaking of Iran:  Historically, the thorns around Israel have relied on regional support from others. Today it’s the same. Iran (ancient Persia) supports, trains, deploys, the thorns around Israel.

Iran (ancient Persia) is part of the coalition that will attack Israel in our future (perhaps, not so distant future) as described in Ezekiel 38-39.

Iran has been the primary proxy puppet master for terrorists.

Now for the very interesting part.

Just as ancient Israel was ringed by hostile briers and thorns, (Tyre, Sidon, Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia,, Egypt), today she is ringed in the same locations, by the same demons, with the same goals, only with different names.

North: Hezbollah.

East: Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

West: Hamas.

South: Houthi.

 They all are extensions of Iran, hired guns. Terrorists for hire.

Names change, people die, the demons remain.

They call it the Axis of Resistance.

Really, they are, the Axis of Evil.

THEY ARE NO MATCH FOR THE ALMIGHTY.

Lately, God is using America, like Nebuchadnezzar, to hammer out judgement on the pricking briers and painful thorns.

Today, Iran is in worse shape than Lebanon (that flows down to its proxies). Crush the head and the serpent dies. An object lesson. A foreshadow of things to come.

Israel on the other hand. All around Israel the thorns are shaking, but against all odds, Israel is standing, growing, thriving.

If you look at the statistics, Israel is less than one-sixth of one percent the size of the Arab nations surrounding her.

By every law of mathematics, geography, and population, she should be completely swallowed up; swept from the river to the sea, as the ignorant demonized thorny pricks love to chant.

Yet, Israel stands as the undisputed superpower of the Middle East.

Why?

Because HIStory has proven that NOTHING can override God’s Promise. No military might can wipe God’s people or plan off the map.

When you calculate the size of Israel (roughly 8,019 square miles) against the land mass of the 22 Arab nations (approximately 5.3 million square miles), the exact math reveals that Israel is just a tiny sliver: 0.15 % of Arab land mass.

Arab nations are about 650 times larger than the state of Israel.

The most striking disparity since David faced Goliath with nothing but a sling and a stone.

Despite this tiny footprint, secular military analysts, historians, and political scientists consistently classify Israel as the preeminent technological and military superpower of the region.

They say this for three distinct reasons:

Qualitative Military Edge (QME): Through advanced air defense systems (like the Iron Dome, David's Sling, and Arrow networks), state-of-the-art cyber warfare capabilities, and highly integrated intelligence frameworks, Israel projects disproportionate tactical power.

Economic and High-Tech Might: Israel functions as a global "Silicon Valley" with such an advanced high-tech economy that it transforms its lack in physical size and population into an elite innovative asset.

Strategic Alliances: Its deeply rooted strategic, diplomatic, and intelligence partnerships with western powers (USA) reinforce its unshakeable regional power.

But we know, all that stuff is just the manifestation of the Real Reason:

Because about 4,000 years ago God made a promise to a man name Abraham. And God never breaks a promise. Genesis 12:1-3.

Speaking of promises, that brings us to our closing promise: Divine Redemption.

Divine Redemption, Ezekiel 28:25-26

‘Thus says the Lord God: “When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob. ²⁶ And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God.” ’ ”

A Global Gathering. A Family Reunion.  A Divine Redemption.

When we track HIStory, we see God fulfilling this gathering in stages:

539 BC (The Decree of Cyrus): Following the fall of Babylon, the Persian king Cyrus issues a royal decree allowing the initial return of a Jewish remnant to rebuild their walls and temple (Ezra 1:1–4, 2 Chron. 36:22–23, Isaiah 44:28–45:4,13).

458 BC (Ezra’s Aliyah): Generations later, the scribe Ezra leads a massive second wave of return focused entirely on temple rebuilding, spiritual reform, and restoring the law of God to the land (Ezra 7).

1882–1903: After nearly two millennia of global wandering from Rome's destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, God begins stirring the hearts of the Jewish people to return to their homeland. Following severe persecution and pogroms, tens of thousands of Jews began buying back (NOT STEALING) their own land and returning home.  

1917 (The Balfour Declaration): In a historic political shift, international recognition is granted to the Jewish people, legally acknowledging their right to establish a national home in their ancestral land.

May 14, 1948 (The Rebirth of a Nation): In a single day, fulfilling the amazing prophecy of Isaiah 66:8, Israel declares its independence, reborn as a sovereign nation to facilitate an unprecedented sovereign gathering.

Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
She gave birth to her children.

Post-1989 (Soviet Union Aliyah): Following the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the gates swing open freeing millions of Jews to go home.

Today (Global Homecoming): From the four corners of the earth, Aliyah continues to break records as communities face rising pressures, serving as an active, visible display of covenant fulfillment right before our eyes.

But, for the Grand Finale...

Beyond the thorns.

Where God gathers the roses and burns the thorns.

Revelation 21:1-5

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. ² Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” 

⁵ Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”

***Divine Redemption***

A Global Gathering. A Family Reunion.  A Divine Redemption.

This is how we closed last week and this week and all week between the world celebrated this very thing in the Feast of Tabernacles, which ended sundown on Friday.

Where God gathers his people and dwells with them.

Where there truly is a happily ever after!!!    

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus thank You for the Divine timing of this message, revealing Your Divine Justice that removes the thorns and offers Divine Redemption. Cause us, and all those You’ve given us, to hear and heed this Word, so we will be included in Your Divine Gathering, that glorious family reunion, where we will be with You and love You, forever and ever.

Amen.

Prayer Requests: 

Call or text: 612-554-2522

Email: pray4measap@aol.com

Facebook: Church at WPV

Books: amazon.com/author/dougspurling

Watch online:

Facebook: Beyond the Thorns: From Divine Justice to Redemption, Ezekiel 28:20-26

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This was feed for you to read. Now it’s Seed for you to sow.