King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Monday, September 05, 2022
Chapters: EZEKIEL 28-30
Study: Having Done All To Stand
Hello My Friend,
As I was reading the chapters for today, this song came to mind, Jesus Is Coming Soon, [Troublesome times are here, filling men’s hearts with fear, Freedom we all hold dear now is at stake. Humbling your hearts to God, saves from the chastening rod. Seek the way pilgrims trod, Christians awake! Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon. Many will meet their doom, trumpets will sound. All of the dead shall rise, righteous meet in the skies. Going where no one dies, heavenward bound. Troubles will soon be o’er, happy forevermore, When we meet on that shore, free from all care. Rising up in the sky, telling this world goodbye, Homeward we then shall fly, glory to share.]
As Christians, even the unfaithful, live in the midst of a very ungodly world, and I tell you what, it does absolutely nothing for us to fret about it, or wallow in sorrow over it as God has warned us over and over that perilous times are a coming to us as Christians. Jesus, actually did not pray to our Father, to take us out of the world, if He had done that, then there would be no one here to warn of the judgment to come, [John 17:14-17 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.]
Satan, cannot do anything to take a soul from Christ that is saved, but that does not mean that he does not try to get them away from God, and keep them from preaching the Gospel. The world, the false church, and even fellow Christians are constantly watching us, just looking for something they can find to ruin our testimony. Well, since all eyes are on you, just give them Jesus to see. Remember, I talked about pride being the fall of Tyre from yesterday’s reading? Well, God, actually confirms this as we continue in the reading of Ezekiel.
[Ezekiel 28:2-3,6-8 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: 3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: 6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; 7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. 8 They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.]
[and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God,] Does this not sound like Satan? He is the one who thought himself above God and still wants to be God. And as God continues, perhaps, it is Satan that He is directing this message to as He instructs Ezekiel to take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre.
[Ezekiel 28:12-15 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.]
[Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth;] Satan, was an archangel, who had the highest position of all the angels, but that was not enough for him, [Isaiah 14:12-14 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.]
[Ezekiel 28:17-19 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. 18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.]
[in the sight of all them that behold thee.] Keep in mind that God nor Satan is to blame for man’s freewill, neither one can force us to do anything. All the evil may be influenced by Satan, but we are the ones accountable for the life we choose to live as well as where we will spend eternity. Those who account that they are sinners, need Jesus Christ to save them, and accept Him as their Saviour, do not have to worry where they will spend eternity, Satan has no power over them. Now, as we continue read this chapter, even though He is still addressing Tyre, this is where we actually discover that God is talking specifically to Satan.
[Ezekiel 28:22-23,25-26 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. 23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD. 25 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. 26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.]
[and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen,] The Zidonians lived on the boarder of Israel, and they might have learned to glorify the Lord as well, instead, they enticed Israel to worship their idols, and therefore, they were now being judged. I believe that when Jesus does give His final judgment to Satan that He is going to let every saint watch the execution, after all, it was he who sent countless souls to hell. Which reminds me of another song, The Judgment.
[All is still, Heaven is silent, As the Mighty Judge ascends the throne. The Book of Life is opened, As countless souls begin to moan. From the throne, comes a voice like thunder, “Depart! I knew you not! For the names written in this book are the souls my blood has bought.” Faces turned, as into this court room, Comes the very seed of sin, He who was, the saints accuser, Must face the charges against him. With the fury of all the ages, That demon voice begins to cry, “It’s not fair, I almost had you! On Golgotha, I watched you die!”. But then Satan, he begins to tremble, As his fate to him was known, From the throne came a verdict, “The Lake of Fire, will be your home!”]
It just occurred to me that God watches over every nation, and we are not where we are today by some chance, this is all God. Now, God, had been known to use Egypt over the centuries, even to protect His only begotten Son. At one time, it was a great and powerful nation, in fact, many of the things we enjoy today were invented by the Egyptians. During Jerusalem’s fall, the Pharaoh proudly boasted of having established a kingdom so strong that even God was not powerful enough to take it. On top of that, the rebels from Judah also sought refuge there, and now, they too will be judged.
[Ezekiel 29:2-3,8-11 Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt: 3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. 8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee. 9 And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it. 10 Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. 11 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.]
[the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers,] It is probable that Hophra was the Pharaoh during this time, who is represented as the great dragon, or crocodile, that lies in the midst of his rivers to deceive and devour it’s prey. However, Satan, that true great dragon, has one agenda, to keep a soul from Christ, and he will deceive and devour his prey through their pride to do it. Pride is the fall of man, and the devil will use pride to destroy many souls, but the day will come, when He will be destroyed.
[Revelation 12:9-10 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.]
[neither shall it be inhabited forty years.] Egypt’s, pride and joy was and still is the Nile River, God, pointing out that the only one that that river belongs to is Him. Well, those forty years began about the thirtieth year that Jeconiah’s was taken into captivity, and ended the seventieth year of Judah being taken out of captivity. The world somehow has it in their heads that one; they are in control, two; they own the land they are on; and three, that they are invincible over God. Well, they underestimate God. Even Satan knows his limits and can only go so far, [James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.]
All of Israel’s dependence on Egypt, all the way back to when they became slaves to them, proved hurtful instead of beneficial. Egypt, was supposed to be a temporary dwelling for Israel until the famine had resided, then they were to head home. And God never forgot what they had done to them. However, God’s judgment of Egypt was unlike other nations that would become desolate forever.
[Ezekiel 29:13-16 Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered: 14 And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. 15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. 16 And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.]
[It shall be the basest of the kingdoms;] The very downfall of Egypt will be the signal for the rise of Israel when the Messiah Himself will come, through the son of David, [Luke 1:67-69,75-77 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, 68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. 76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,]
Satan, nations, and people can turn away from God all they want, but that does not change the fact that He is still in control of everything and sooner or later all will know that He is LORD. In order for our nations to be blessed we as individuals need to take a stand and realize that we cannot do this alone. Through Ezekiel, God continues foretelling His judgment placed on Egypt, but that he should also lament for them.
[Ezekiel 30:21-24 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. 22 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 23 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh’s arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.]
[it shall not be bound up to be healed,] Still today, Egypt has never regained the status of a world empire. It remains as a witness to the supreme authority of God. Once day, all Christians, who are scattered all over the world, will come together and find habitation in the land that God promised them. Right now, Satan is in his glory as the prince of this world for as long as God will allow him to be, but the day will come when that title will be stricken, and He will be no more. Until then, we who are saved and awaiting Christ need to be getting ready for His return by putting on the whole armor of God.
[Ephesians 6:11-13 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.]
Today’s Prayer: God, You love us so much, You want to see us prosper and give us everything we want and need, all You ask in return is that we worship only You. Lord, with all the temptations of the world, and the devil right there trying yo manipulate us, it can be difficult to stand. However, we can do all things by Your power. Lord, Lead us and guide us, give us Your power to keep Your first, and to first and far most, acknowledge You in all that You bless us with so we no do forget that it is You who gives us everything we have. Put Your hedge of protection around us to shield us from all evil. Should we fall, keep getting us back up and moving forward as we await the day You come for us. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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