Pride
Gets the Axe, Ezekiel 31
In our Wednesday Bible Study walk through Mark, we
recently noticed a Powerful and pitiful pattern.
The Powerful pattern is that Jesus keeps
reaching, and teaching and preaching and doing wonderful works that clearly
reveal who He is.
The pitiful pattern is that no matter
how kindly and clearly, He shows them His Love, there are those who refuse to
hear, who willingly reject.
In our march through Ezekiel, we are witnessing the
same Powerful and pitiful pattern.
Since leaving the judgement of Jerusalem and stepping
into chapter 25, we’ve witnessed God’s Powerful pattern of Divine Judgement and
Justice against nations, for two primary reasons:
Their pride, and their Persecution of Israel.
The pitiful part of the pattern is that no matter how
kindly and clearly God shows them and warns them, none of them listen, none
repent, none turn from their wicked ways and live; not Ammon, or Moab, or Edom,
nor Philistia, or Titanic Tyre, or thorny Sidon.
Now here we are down on the Nile, and the axe is laid
at the root of Egypt.
This is the Powerful and pitiful pattern of HIStory.
God does not change His plan or pattern.
So, if we travel the same arrogant, godless path as
those who fell under God's Divine Justice and Judgement, we will inherit the
exact reward... the pit of hell.
The warning to avoid this pitfall is clearly written
throughout Scripture; one of the clearest is:
Do
justly, love mercy, walk humbly, with your God. Micah 6:8
As I was praying through our Ezekiel text, the words Benjamin
Franklin delivered on June 28, 1787, during the Constitutional Convention, came
to mind.
Addressing a deadlocked room, Franklin stood up and
spoke about how, in that very same room, years earlier they would pray, every
day, and God heard and so graciously answered.
Then, he asked:
"Have we now forgotten that Powerful Friend?
or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance?
Then, turning to General George Washington, he said:
I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the
longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God Governs
in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his
notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?"
Franklin warned that if we try to build an empire on
human wisdom alone, we will succeed no better than the builders of Babel. We
will be confounded, and we ourselves will become a reproach and a byword down
to future ages.
Dear Church, ancient Egypt, and the other great and powerful empires we mentioned, didn't listen to the Father of lights. They listened to the father of lies. They became that very reproach and byword.
This morning, we look at Ezekiel 31, as God looks at
Egypt (and US) and compares it to a towering, majestic cedar. A tree so big and
strong and tall that other nations lived under its canopy.
Pharaoh forgot that Powerful Friend who in the days of
Joseph made Egypt a great nation.
Pharaoh was infected by the same thing that got lucifer
kicked out of heaven, and Adam and Eve evicted from the Garden, and what causes
God, in our text today, to sharpen His axe against Egypt... the sin of Pride.
Ezekiel 31:1-2
“Now it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day
of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 ‘Son
of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: “Whom are you like
in your greatness?””
God points to the clock, June 21, 587 B.C. Jerusalem
is under a brutal siege by Nebuchadnezzar; only a month away from total,
destruction.
Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt had recently marched his army
out to play secular savior and rescue Israel.
But the moment Babylon flexed, Egypt pulled a no-show-Jones
and ran back home to mummy; leaving Israel with nothing but a broken
promise.
Nevertheless, blinded by pride, Pharaoh was still
strutting his stuff back in the palace, thinking Egypt was invincible.
So, God sent him a message by way of Ezekiel. “Whom are you like in your greatness?” In other words: “Who do you think you
are? You’re a legend in your own mind?”
God pulls back the curtain on the ghost of empires
past to show Pharaoh exactly who he is and where he’s headed.
3 Indeed
Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches, with a shadowing
shroud, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs. 4
The waters made it great; the underground springs nourished it, with
their rivers running round about its planting, and sent out their channels to
all the trees of the field.”
Pharaoh’s probably thinking, “Yep, I’m like that—only
better.”
Now, just to be clear, Assyria wasn't physically
located in Lebanon; their capital was hundreds of miles southeast, in Nineveh (modern
day Iraq).
God is using a simile. Lebanon was home to the mighty
Cedars of Lebanon, which grew 130 feet tall and were impervious to decay.
God is setting the stage by telling Pharaoh, that Assyria was like a massive, powerful, majestic, cedar of Lebanon.
Pharaoh had a god-complex size pride. Reportedly he claimed
not even a god could dethrone him. So, big headed Pharaoh was probably thinking
that God was comparing him to the mighty cedar, the mighty Assyria.
Ancient Assyria covered more than twice the land mass of
Egypt. It’s territory spread across modern-day northern Iraq, southeastern
Turkey, northeastern Syria, and northwestern Iran.
It cast a long, dark shadow. So dark that people would
commit suicide rather than be captured by Assyria.
“The waters made it great.” Assyria
had deep economic roots and vast resources.
5 “Therefore
its height was exalted above all the trees of the field; its boughs were
multiplied, and its branches became long because of the abundance of water, as
it sent them out. 6 All the birds of the air made their nests in its
boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their
young; and under its shadow dwelt all great nations. 7 Thus it was beautiful
in its greatness by the length of its branches, because its roots reached to
abundant waters.”
The Lord is really bragging up Assyria. Pharaoh’s
chest must be swelling, as he’s thinking, “I’m all that and more!”
Smaller empires huddled under Assyria’s branches and
shade for support and survival.
Today the names have changed but the dynamic is still
the same.
Smaller nations survive off the assistance of larger,
more prosperous nations.
Every year America gives about $70 billion in
assistance to other nations. (More than any other nation by far. Exceeding the
next two largest donor nations combined.)
Now listen, as God paints the majestic beauty of
Assyria. He doesn't merely compare her to a grand cedar of Lebanon; He elevates
her above the trees of Eden.
8 “The
cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir trees were
not like its boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like its branches;
no tree in the garden of God was like it in its beauty. 9 I
made it beautiful with a multitude of its branches, so that all the
trees of Eden envied it, which were in the garden of God.’"
No other trees (nations) could compare to it; not the
fir, not the chestnut, not even the trees in the Garden of Eden.
God mentions Eden four times in these verses. Eden was
the perfect paradise of God,
Ever since Genesis Chapter 3, people have been trying
to rebuild Eden, without God.
Assyria built a counterfeit paradise out of their
military might and economic wealth. They became so great that they believed
they had achieved godhood, provoking the envy of the world.
But look at the first words of verse 9: “I
made it beautiful...”
What did Mr. Franklin say? “if a sparrow cannot
fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise
without his aid?”
Assyria didn't make Assyria.
God did.
Israel didn’t make Israel.
God did.
America didn’t make America.
God did.
If we the people, do not forget the Foundation that
made US great, we will stand strong on Holy solid ground.
However, if we forget and stray, we will be no more
successful than the builders of babel.
President Ronal Reagan said it something like this: “If
we cease being one nation under God, we will be one nation gone under.”
10 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have increased
in height, and it set its top among the thick boughs, and its heart was
lifted up in its height,
There was no problem with increasing in height on the
outside, but increasing in height on the inside was an issue.
God sees the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12.
God desires Truth in the inward parts. Psalm 51:6.
When the heart is lifted up, it has a problem with
pride.
Pride is the same poison we saw in the king of Tyre,
and in lucifer, back in Chapter 28, when he lifted himself up, and God cast him
down.
It’s the same pitiful pattern of mankind we see
throughout Scripture... and in far too many of our mirrors.
God
resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5.
Therefore,
humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that in due time, He will lift
you up. 1 Peter 5:6.
Pride entered his heart, and lucifer was cast out.
Pride entered Eden, and paradise was lost.
Pride destroys nations, relationships, send angels and
peoples to hell.
So, what does the Sovereign Lord do when He sees
poisonous cancerous pride?
He continues His Powerful pattern.
He intervenes. God indeed
governs in the affairs of men.
He intercedes. Jesus ever lives
to make intercession. Heb. 7:25.
Now, look at the start of verse 11:
11 therefore (because
the heart was lifted up) I will deliver...
God delivers, into or out of, depending on the
condition of the heart; humble or haughty.
He could easily deliver, out of, the crushing
judgement of Israel, Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Titanic Tyre, Thorny Sidon, No
Show Egypt, Cedar Tree Assyria... you, me, U.S.
Depending on the heart condition; humble or haughty.
How’s your heart?
Unfortunately, for Assyria our text reads:
11 therefore
I will deliver it into the hand of the mighty one of the nations, and he shall
surely deal with it; I have driven it out for its wickedness
Now, Pharaoh’s probably back pedaling and flip-flopping,
“I’m nothing like those no-good, low-down loser Assyrians.”
Of course, Pharaoh and everyone knew, “the mighty
one of the nations” referred to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
12 “And aliens,
the most terrible of the nations, have cut
it down and left it; its branches have fallen on the mountains and in
all the valleys; its boughs lie broken by all the rivers of the land; and all
the peoples of the earth have gone from under its shadow and left it.
Interesting and eerie
are the words: “aliens, the most terrible of nations”.
In 2026 conquering a
nation may not be with troops and guns, but “aliens, the most
terrible of nations.”
Immigration
without assimilation is invasion.
Notice how twice it
says “and left it,” (“have cut it down and left it... gone from under
its shadow and left it”).
That’s the attitude
of an alien, a foreign invader, there is no patriotism. They do not care about
the land, or the survival of the nation.
They come to rape and
pillage and plunder.
They chop it down,
tear it down, burn it down, take what they can get, and then leave it, desolate
and desecrated, in ruins.
13 ‘On its
ruin will remain all the birds of the heavens, and all the beasts of the field
will come to its branches—
14 So that no
trees by the waters may ever again exalt themselves for their height, nor set
their tops among the thick boughs, that no tree which drinks water may ever be
high enough to reach up to them.
‘For they have all been delivered to death, to the depths of the
earth, among the children of men who go down to the Pit.’
Only birds and beasts
remain.
Only scavengers are
left to peck out a living in nations that follow this path of pride and
corruption.
This is a Watchman’s warning over the graveyard of nations
who have fallen to pride.
It echoes from that day to this, to every nation—especially
to the United States of America that towers like a ceder of Lebanon above all
other nations.
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
15 “Thus says
the Lord God: ‘In the day when it went down to hell, I caused mourning.
I covered the deep because of it. I restrained its rivers, and the great
waters were held back. I caused Lebanon to mourn for it, and all the
trees of the field wilted because of it. 16 I made the nations
shake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to hell together
with those who descend into the Pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice
and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the depths of the
earth. 17 They also went down to hell with it, with
those slain by the sword; and those who were its strong arm dwelt in its
shadows among the nations.
Make no mistake, Divine
Justice will be served.
There is hell to pay.
Three times He mentioned, down to hell.
But don’t miss the
picture of the Lord’s heart. This day of judgement won’t be a day of rejoicing,
but of mourning.
“In the
day when it went down to hell I caused mourning.”
The rivers were restrained,
the trees wilted, the nations shook.
Ezekiel 33:11
God take no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
God does not take
pleasure in the death of any, not even the wicked.
But His Divine
Justice demands Divine Judgement, whether He likes it or not.
Proverbs
29:2
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when
a wicked man rules, the people groan.
Now, after going through all that about how awesome Assyria
was, and how awful Assyria would be judged.
Now He turns the table and dumps it all in Pharaoh’s
lap.
18 ‘To which
of the trees in Eden will you then be likened in glory and greatness?
Yet you shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the depths of
the earth; you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those
slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord God.”
Pharaoh, don’t look at them and shake your head. You
are just like them, following the same path to the same hell.
Imagine the collapsing, smoldering Tower of Babel, and
the American flag in distress, upside down, tattered and in ruins.
That is the end result of every society that thinks it
can build an empire, secure a border, or dictate its future, while ignoring the
Almighty.
The builders of Babel thought they could touch Heaven
without bowing to the Creator. They
ended up scattered and confused under the rubble of their own arrogancy.
If America goes down the same arrogant, godless path as
these other nations, she will inherit the same smoldering graveyard.
That is the powerful and pitiful pattern of a world that refuses to learn from HIStory.
However, the good news is that to
this day, God continues His powerful patterns and promises:
Proverbs
14:34
"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any
people."
2
Chronicles 7:14
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and
pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from
heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
We the people, must pray for our nation and those in
authority. Then, we must put feet to our faith and let God’s voice be heard
through ours—everywhere (Deuteronomy 6:6–12).
We must speak it in our houses to our families, and
share it with our friends. We must live it when we work, when we worship, and
when we play—whether we are at the grocery store, talking to the person who
cuts our grass, or reacting to the driver who just cut us off in traffic.
If we want our nation to avoid going the way of
ancient Egypt, we must let God’s voice be heard through our voice at the ballot
box. We must stand boldly and lovingly in whatever position He calls us to
actively occupy as His Ekklesia, carrying out His will on earth as it is
in heaven.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, if only we could catch a
glimpse of Your Majesty, perhaps that would keep us from arrogancy. But then again,
maybe that would make us swell with pride. So, we just ask for grace, to do
justly, love mercy, and walk humbly, with You, our Lord, our Master, our
Savior, our King. In so doing, we pray You speak to us and through us so all
those You’ve given us, will hear You say, “Well done.”
Thank You.
We love You, forever.
Amen.
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Ezekiel 31
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