In September of 2000, Reed Hastings, the co-founder of a struggling startup called Netflix, flew to Dallas, Texas, to meet with John Antioco, the CEO of Blockbuster. At the time, Blockbuster was a multibillion-dollar giant with 9,000 stores dominating home entertainment.
Netflix was on the verge of bankruptcy. So, they offered to sell 49% of Netflix to Blockbuster for $50
million, and in return, Netflix would build and run Blockbuster’s online DVD
rental service.
According to those in the boardroom, the Blockbuster
executives didn't just decline the offer—they mocked it. The executive team
quietly snickered until the Netflix founders left, then they burst into
laughter. One executive joked about how ridiculous it was for a tiny, failing
dot-com company to think they could stand in the same room as the kings of home
video.
As Netflix struggled to keep their head above water,
Blockbuster could’ve learned from them, could’ve shown compassion, could’ve thrown
a lifeline. Instead they took pleasure in Netflix’s pain. They stood on shore of Netflix's trouble and shouted: "AHA! LOSERS!"
But their joy was cut short. Blockbuster missed the
digital shift and the empire crumbled into bankruptcy due to the very
technology they mocked.
By 2010, Blockbuster had to liquidate, leaving
thousands out of work.
Today, Netflix is worth over $200
billion, and only one single Blockbuster store remains on earth as a
tourist novelty in Oregon.
Blockbuster’s boastful boardroom became a boneyard of corporate
arrogance, because the Bible says, pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).
And the Bible is always right.
That is exactly the heart attitude God addresses in
Ezekiel 25.
Israel was broken, bleeding, and being disciplined by
God. Instead of learning from the trouble, showing compassion, or throwing a
lifeline, the neighbors arrogantly laughed and mocked and stood on the shore of
Judah’s trouble and screamed: AHA! LOSERS!
But Ezekiel 25 warns that as God disciplines one, He
watches the hearts of the others.
And to those who gloat, (take pleasure in another
person’s pain) He turns and says: “You’re Next!”
OUTLINE:
1. Don’t Gloat, 1–7
2. Beware of Blasphemy,
8–11
3. Hatfields and McCoys,
12–14
4. Vengeance is Mine,
15–17
The year is roughly 586 B.C.
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army have just
burned Jerusalem to the ground, destroyed the Temple, and dragged the survivors
away in chains.
To the ancient world, Israel’s defeat meant their God,
Yahweh, was weak. Israel's neighbors assumed they could plunder the land with impunity.
For twenty-four chapters, the prophet Ezekiel
delivered message after message about the coming judgment against his own
people.
But in Ezekiel 25 everything changes
Revealing, God disciplines those He loves. He doesn’t
abandon them. Hebrews 12:6, Proverbs 3:11-12.
1. Don’t Gloat, Ezekiel 25:1–7
Proclamation
Against Ammon
Ammonites: Descendants of Abraham’s nephew, Lot and
his younger daughter. Gen. 19:36-38.
The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son
of man, set your face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against
them. 3 Say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the
Lord God! Thus says the Lord God: “Because you said, ‘Aha!’
against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of
Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when
they went into captivity, 4 indeed, therefore, I will
deliver you as a possession to the men of the East, and they shall set
their encampments among you and make their dwellings among you;
they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. 5 And
I will make Rabbah a stable for camels and Ammon a resting
place for flocks. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”
6 ‘For thus
says the Lord God: “Because you clapped your hands,
stamped your feet, and rejoiced in heart with all your disdain for the
land of Israel, 7 indeed, therefore, I
will stretch out My hand against you, and give you as plunder
to the nations; I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause
you to perish from the countries; I will destroy you, and you
shall know that I am the Lord.”
The word translated “Aha” means, satisfaction
over the misfortune of an enemy or rival. Pleasure over someone else’s pain.
Gloating over another’s misery.
Like Blockbusters, the Ammonites shouted “AHA!
LOSERS!” to: “My sanctuary, the land of Israel, the house of Judah.”
God’s house. God’s land. God’s people.
The same spiritual battle rages today against, God’s
house (the Church), God’s land (Israel), God’s people (the Jews).
Proverbs 24:17–18
warns, "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your
heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the Lord see it and it displease Him."
Obadiah 12: "You should not gloat over
the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune."
Don’t gloat over another’s fall; friend or
foe.
Proverbs
25:21-22
If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
22 For so you will heap coals of
fire on his head,
And the Lord will reward you.
Heaping coals of fire on his head
is an ancient saying. It means, if your enemy is in need, help him, generously.
Give him plenty to fill his hunger, quench his thirst, and if his fire has gone
out, give him heaping coals, so he can make it back home and easily get a fire
going.
In so doing the Lord will reward you... and
you’ll probably lose an enemy and gain a friend.
HIStory fulfilled, Ammonites:
God promised to turn the gloaters over to the
men of the East, who would eat their food, drink their milk, turn their
beautiful capital city of Rabbah into a barnyard. He said He would stretch out
His hand against them and give them as plunder to the nations, cut them off,
cause them to perish, and destroy them.
In 582 BC, about five years after Jerusalem fell, it
happened.
King Nebuchadnezzar turned to them and said, “You’re
Next!”
Babylon demolished the Ammonite kingdom. Later, Arab
nomadic tribes invaded and overran the region.
Today the capital city is called, Amman, Jordan, however,
it’s in name only because the Ammonite people have vanished from the planet, exactly
as the Lord had said.
The same spiritual battle rages today in the USA.
The process is invasion by immigration.
The consequences are destruction by corruption.
The symptoms are easily manipulated masses, homeless
encampments, “learing centers”, housing projects, welfare programs, and
the like, all of which are fodder for fraudsters (another word for corrupt
politicians) to steal, kill and destroy, the very nation God blessed them with
the honor of living in.
2. Beware of Blasphemy, Ezekiel 25:8–11
Proclamation
Against Moab
Moabites: Abraham’s nephew Lot and his older daughter.
Gen. 19:36-38.
8 ‘Thus says
the Lord God: “Because Moab and Seir say, ‘Look! The house of Judah is like all the
nations,’ 9 therefore, behold, I will clear the
territory of Moab of cities, of the cities on its frontier, the glory of the
country, Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kirjathaim. 10 To
the men of the East I will give it as a possession, together with the
Ammonites, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the
nations. 11 And I will execute judgments upon Moab, and
they shall know that I am the Lord.”
Blasphemy,
is showing deep disrespect, contempt, or speaking maliciously against God, His
character, His name, or His sacred work.
Sacred, means set
apart from the common or secular for a Divine calling or work.
Israel, and specifically Judah was set apart
for the Divine work and calling of delivering the Messiah to the world.
Moab saying “Judah is like all the nations” was
blaspheming God’s Divine setting apart of Judah.
They willingly rejected the undeniable proofs of
HIStory.
The devil loves to rewrite HIStory, because it tells
HIS Story.
And His story shows that:
God sovereignly delivered Israel from Egypt, across
the Red Sea, through the wilderness for forty years. Then, He conquered the
giants of the Promise Land and raised Israel up as a mighty, powerful,
prosperous nation.
Only to discipline them and allow them to crumble because
they repeatedly rejected Him and turned to the false gods of the nations around
them.
The nations around them, instead of looking at the
God of Israel and learning, and fearing, they looked at the people of
Israel and blasphemed.
They despised, the apple of God’s eye. Zechariah 2:8.
Huge mistake. They were calling God a liar.
Because God made an everlasting
covenant with Israel, and God never breaks a covenant, He restored them to
the land He’d given them.
Then, in the fullness of time, (500 years later) from Israel’s
tribe of Judah, came the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
He came to them, but they rejected Him and hung Him on
an old rugged cross.
They didn’t know it, but that was His plan all along.
He rose from the dead and told those who believed that
He’s coming back again.
Because most of them refused to recognize Him they were
once again scattered in 70 A.D. by the Romans.
For centuries they wandered the wilderness of the
world being chased from place to place, and almost entirely exterminated by a
devil named Hitler.
But God has an everlasting covenant with Israel.
So, what the devil meant for harm God used for good and in 1948 miraculously the Good Shepherd called them home and a nation was reborn in a day. Isaiah 11:11-12, 66:7-8, Ez. 37:11-22. Jer. 31:10.
From that day to this Israel has been surrounded by enemies and has had to fight for survival every day of their lives.
But God has an everlasting covenant with Israel.
The nations around them, instead of looking at the
God of Israel and learning, and fearing, they look at the people of
Israel and blaspheme.
They despise, the apple of God’s eye. Zech. 2:8.
Huge mistake. They are calling God a liar.
Because God has an everlasting covenant
with Israel, and God never breaks a covenant.
One day soon, after much Great Tribulation,
they will see Him.
This time Israel will recognize Him as the One whom
they pierced, and they will mourn for Him as for an only Son. Zech. 12:10.
Then, all Israel will be saved. Romans 11:26-27. Because God has an everlasting covenant with Israel, and God never breaks a covenant.
HIStory Fulfilled, Moab:
God promised to lay open the cities of Moab and
hand them over to eastern nomads so they would "no longer be remembered
among the nations."
It happened just as God said when the Babylonians wiped
out Ammon, they mopped up Moab as well.
By the time the New Testament rolled around, all
traces of Moab had vanished, being absorbed into the Arab invasion by
migration.
3. Hatfields and McCoys, Ezekiel 25:12–14
Proclamation
Against Edom
Edomites: Jacob’s twin brother, Esau. Gen. 36:9.
‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because of what Edom did
against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly
offended by avenging itself on them,” 13 therefore
thus says the Lord God: “I will also stretch out My hand against Edom, cut
off man and beast from it, and make it desolate
from Teman; Dedan shall fall by the sword. 14 I
will lay My vengeance on Edom by the
hand of My people Israel, that
they may do in Edom according to My anger
and according to My fury; and they shall know My vengeance,” says the
Lord God.
Edom shared a bloodline with Judah; they were
descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. They were cousins, kind of. Yet, the
rivalry that began in the womb (Genesis 25:22–23) never really ended.
When Babylon attacked Judah, Edom kicked them while
they were down.
Instead of burying the hatchet, forgiving and forgetting
the old family feud and helping their brother who was in trouble, they shed his
blood and tried to take his land—the land God had given. Ez. 35:5-10.
They cheered the Babylonians shouting “Tear it
down! Tear it down! To the ground.” Psalm 137:7.
In America, we’ve heard the same demons: “Give us what
we want, or we’ll burn down the system!”.
Or, regarding Israel they spew vile venom: “From the
river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Which is a call to slaughter all
Jews.
Instead of helping those fleeing from Nebuchadnezzar’s siege, they caught them and killed them or handed them over to Babylon. Obadiah 13-14.
All this generational bitterness stemmed from a family
feud before they were born, when Jacob tricked Esau out of the birthright.
This same demonic bitterness is what fuels prejudice
and organizations like BLM.
Prejudice rots the brain and corrupts the soul.
Edom, fueled by irrational generational bitterness,
took vengeance against Judah.
So, God took vengeance against Edom.
Deuteronomy 32:35-36
Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their
day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.
Ephesians 4:31. "Let
all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you,
along with all malice."
HIStory Fulfilled, Edom:
God declared He would lay Edom waste and execute
vengeance "by the hand of My people Israel."
This was fulfilled centuries later, between the
Testaments. Around 129 B.C., the Jewish high priest, John Hyrcanus, and the
Maccabees conquered the Edomites (then called Idumeans). The most infamous
Idumean in history was King Herod the Great—the man who tried to murder baby
Jesus.
Following the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70
A.D., the Idumeans disappeared entirely from the historical record.
4. Vengeance is Mine, Ezekiel 25:15–17
Proclamation Against Philistia
Philistia: Noah’s son Ham, Genesis 10:6,13-14.
15 ‘Thus says
the Lord God: “Because the Philistines dealt vengefully
and took vengeance with a spiteful heart, to destroy
because of the old hatred,” 16 therefore
thus says the Lord God: “I will stretch out My hand against
the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and destroy
the remnant of the seacoast. 17 I will execute
great vengeance on them with furious rebukes; and they shall
know that I am the Lord, when I lay My vengeance upon them.” ’ ”
For Philistia it must’ve been like David defeating
Goliath over and over for centuries as the Philistines were dominated by their
smaller neighbor Judah.
That developed into a deep-seated, seething hatred.
When Judah was knocked down by Babylon, Philistia did not
raid for plunder, they took vengeance with a spiteful heart to destroy.
They wanted blood. They wanted Judah dead. Totally, permanently
wiped off the face of the map.
That is Hamas. Gaza (the land of the Philistines). Iran. Turkey... most of the
Middle East. Far too many in the US Congress and political offices in America.
That same demonic antisemitic sin burns hot today. The
flames are growing, and God is watching, and those who fall for its flickering
will soon fall into the same inferno as the Philistines.
Romans 12:19-21
Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath;
for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the
Lord. 20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is
thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on
his head.” 21 Do not be
overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
HIStory Fulfilled, Philistia:
God said He would stretch out His hand against the
Philistines with great vengeance and furious rebukes.
Nebuchadnezzar wiped out the Philistine pentapolis, their
five major coastal cities.
Today, no one on earth can trace their lineage back to
the ancient Philistines; their name was completely blotted out from history.
As Israel struggled to keep their head above water,
all these nations could’ve learned from them, could’ve shown compassion, could’ve
thrown a lifeline.
Instead, they took pleasure in Israel's pain. They
stood on shore and shouted: Aha! Losers!
They clung to bitterness, demanded blood... and died
miserable, deaths, consumed by rage.
All those nations have vanished from the earth. But
they’d probably still be around today if only they would’ve chosen to overcome
evil with good.
Like Abraham Lincoln.
On the night of April 14, 1865, President Abraham
Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth. As Lincoln lay dying,
the nation plunged into grief and fury.
When Booth was hunted down and killed a few weeks later,
a wave of vindictive joy swept much of the nation. People demanded vengeance,
not just against the conspirators, but against the entire devastated South.
Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War, had stood by Lincoln’s
deathbed—called a meeting of the leaders.
He reminded them of the words Lincoln spoke a few weeks
prior in his Second Inaugural Address.
“One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war.”
We had a civil war to fight for the freedom of one
eighth of our population. Yet, today, we sit silent as one
fifth of our population has been slaughtered, and the
slaughter continues.
Lincoln said the civil war was Divine judgment for
the sin of slavery.
(They estimate 620,000 deaths in the civil war. We slaughter twice that many of our most innocent every year!!! 109 times that many (67.6 million) since 1973!!!! Are we under Divine judgement for the sin of abortion?)
Instead of celebrating victory over the South, Lincoln
urged reconciliation, humility, and healing.
He called Americans to:
“Strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the
nation's wounds...
WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE; WITH CHARITY FOR ALL”
Instead of launching a campaign of vengeance, they
chose reconciliation and reconstruction and justice.
They chose not to gloat.
Years later, a historian reviewing the private journals
of the men in that room noted that the leaders who clung to bitterness and
demanded blood, died miserable, isolated deaths, consumed by rage.
But those who chose to bury the hatchet, instead of
vengeance, those who sought restoration and peace, found it. They lived good, fulfilled lives, restoring and
reconciling and healing the wounds of a broken nation.
Let's pray.
Oh, Holy Righteous Judge, we have sinned
before You, have mercy on US.
We call evil good and good evil. We reject
Your Ways and welcome the wicked, the perverse, the vile. We commit suicide
daily by saturating our soil with the blood of our most innocent.
You judged Israel. You judged JerUSAlem.
You judged the nations around her, for how they treated her.
The blood of our land cries for vengeance.
Our sin declares we deserve death.
Only a fool would say we’ll escape judgement.
So, we beg for Your mercy.
We, appeal to Your character, which longs
for Life.
We know, You’ve already provided the
Answer. In the split second of a decision we all could turn, turn, from our
wicked ways and Live.
Alas... most of US, won’t.
So, Lord, we plead for Your mercy to
triumph over judgement on the few of us who see and agree with this prayer. Then,
by Your grace dear God, cause it to flow, to all those You’ve given us. So, united
as one nation under God, we overcome evil, with Good.
Thank You for the honor of loving and
serving You, forever.
Amen.
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