Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S33 || From Babylon to Restoration || Ezekiel 28:25 - 29:21 || Session 33
What happens when national pride collides with divine purpose? Diving deep into Ezekiel chapters 28 and 29, we uncover one of the Bible's most overlooked themes: God's sovereignty over nations.
The age-old question of Israel's future finds surprising clarity in these ancient texts. While many believers focus exclusively on personal salvation (and rightly so), we discover that God's redemptive plan is far more comprehensive. Through careful examination of Ezekiel's prophecies, we uncover three distinct redemptions woven throughout Scripture: the redemption of mankind, creation, and nations.
When God declares "I will gather the house of Israel" to live securely in "their land which I gave to Jacob," He makes a promise that history confirms remains unfulfilled. Despite returns from Babylonian captivity and the Maccabean period, Israel has never experienced the enduring security promised in these passages—suggesting a future fulfillment still awaits.
Egypt's story proves equally fascinating. For 2,500 years, this mighty civilization dominated the ancient world, with Pharaohs claiming divine status as they ruled from their Nile-centered kingdom. God's response? "I am against you, Pharaoh... the great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers." With vivid imagery of hooks in jaws and fish clinging to scales, God pronounces judgment on Egyptian pride, ultimately using Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon as His instrument of discipline.
The historical accuracy is striking—from descriptions of battle-worn soldiers with baldness from helmets and raw shoulders from equipment to precise dating of prophecies. These details remind us that we're dealing with genuine history, not merely spiritual allegories.
As world events continue to unfold today, these ancient prophecies remind us who truly controls the rise and fall of nations. Every leader, every empire serves at God's pleasure. What might this reveal about our own nations and times?
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
One question amongst many Christian groups is is there a future for the nation Israel or is it already past? Has God judged them and has no future for Israel yet, or is there still a time and a place that God has a purpose for the nation of Israel? Well, we're going to see one of those passages today that gives an answer to this, and we're going to see also some wonderful passages in here about how God is going to deal with nations. Welcome. We have a ministry we call Reasoning Through the Bible. My name's Glenn. I'm here with Steve.
Speaker 1:So if you have your copy of the Word of God, turn to Ezekiel, chapter 28,. So, if you have your copy of the Word of God, turn to Ezekiel, chapter 28, starting in verse 25. If you've been with us, you'll know that God has spent quite a bit of time talking about condemnation of the Jewish people for their great sins. He's been speaking about the nations around Israel, tyre, and we're going to see others as well, but we have a little glimpse here at the end of chapter 28 of what God is going to do at some point in the future. So, steve, can you please read verses 25 and 26 of Ezekiel, chapter 28?
Speaker 2:Thus says the Lord God. When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered Thus says the Lord God and they will build houses, plant vineyards and live securely. When I execute judgments upon all who scorn them round about them, then they will know that I am the Lord their God.
Speaker 1:So, if we try to get to the answer to this question, he says he's going to bring his people, Israel, back to the land there's an option of. Is this some future date that's still future to us now? Was it fulfilled in the intertestamental period in between the Babylonian captivity and the coming of Christ? Or is this a figurative symbolic about the church and the church age? Steve, what do we look at to try to answer this question?
Speaker 2:I think we look at verse 26 when it says they will live in it securely and that they'll build houses, plant vineyards and live securely.
Speaker 2:Well, when they came back from the Babylonian captivity, first of all, a little over 40,000 of them came back, but they didn't live there securely.
Speaker 2:In Nehemiah, as they were trying to rebuild the walls around the city, they were under constant threat and even at one time, the surrounding nations were coming together in order to come up and kill them in order to stop them from rebuilding the city walls. And that was just right after they came back. And as you go through their history, they're there serving as a province to the other empires. They never get back to a point where their own sovereign nation until the mid-20th century AD. So I think that we look at this and say when they will live in it securely. There's never been a time that they have lived securely in the land, even up until today. They're still in the time that you and I are recording this and they're there and they have strength and power, but you wouldn't say that they're living completely and totally securely. I think that we can look at verse 26 and say this is a time period that is still going to happen sometime in the future.
Speaker 1:If we note the timing of when this prophecy was given. Ezekiel is giving God's prophecy here towards the beginning of the Babylonian captivity. We know that period lasted 70 years and then some of the people came back to Jerusalem and, as Steve, as you alluded to, there was the times of Nehemiah and there was times there where they were struggling. Many, or at least some Bible teachers bring up the time of the Maccabees, which was this intertestamental period in between Babylon and the first century when Christ came. There was a battle where the sons of Judas Maccabeus ran the Greeks out of Jerusalem and had a military victory. Some people point to that and say well, see, that was a time when Israel had some peace in the land. But it really doesn't fit. If we just really study the history. The reason why the Maccabees had to attack Jerusalem was because the Greeks had run them out in the first place and the Maccabees took it back again, but that was only for a very brief period because the Greeks ended up retaking it, defeating the Maccabees in the end. So there never was an extended period where the Jewish people lived in security. When you're constantly losing battles and winning a few battles, that's not really secure. We also can really determine definitively that it's not talking about the church age in some sort of symbolic application of the church, simply because if we look at the end of verse 25, it says they will live in their land, which I gave to my servant, jacob. So he's specifically referring back to the exact land that was given to Jacob back in Genesis. It was from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River and down to the River of Egypt. It's specifically talking about a physical piece of real estate, the land I gave to Jacob. There's no way to really make that symbolic of the church age without either ignoring the language or violating the grammar or really torturing the application. It's very specifically talking about a specific piece of real estate, the land that I gave to Jacob, and again it says they will live in it securely. Therefore, we have a major theme that's running through this book. One is the destruction of the Jewish people, and we've seen that. We've also I think this is the third time now where God has promised to bring them back to the land and have it blessed. Do you remember there was a passage where the eagle had taken the top of the cedar tree away and it worshipped the pagan idols in Babylon. But God said I, I will take it at the top of the cedar and plant it on the mountain in the land, and it will grow and bear fruit and it will be there. God claimed to bring back the Jewish people. This is the third time now where he claims, and it's not going to be the last. We're going to see more of it as we go through the book of Ezekiel.
Speaker 1:One of the forgotten passages are these prophets in the Old Testament. It's not just here, but it's in Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel and the minor prophets. There's going to come a time when God brings Israel back to the land, the land he promised Jacob, and they're going to live there securely. Steve, I find it interesting because many Bible teachers today rightfully point to the Bible's primary message of personal salvation, but they somehow have lost this idea that God can do more than one thing at a time and he also deals with nations. And it's so bad that there's Bible teachers today that when we point out these passages where God deals with nations, they think it's some sort of doctrinal problem or some sort of major issue. When God can do, yes, personal salvation, but other things as well, why do you think it just gets ignored so much to where people find this to be a new or novel teaching.
Speaker 2:I think one way it's that way is because the major theme in the Bible is the redemption of mankind, and people stop there. But we also see that there are two other redemptions. There's the redemption of creation. Whenever the kingdom comes in, there's going to be creation itself is going to be redeemed. It's going to go back to a point like it was in the Garden of Eden, that the animals are going to become herbivores again and they're not going to be conflict with each other and things like that. In fact, at one point Paul puts that creation groans for the redemption to come about. And then there's a third redemption. There's a redemption of the nations.
Speaker 2:All of that started in the Tower of Babel, in Genesis, chapter 10, whenever God scattered the nations. And then he brings about this nation of Israel. He creates it himself out of this man, abraham, and he does that in order to show and display all the other nations who he is. He says to Abraham I'm going to make you a great nation and through you, all the other nations are going to be blessed. So there's these three redemptions redemption of mankind, redemption of creation and the redemption of nations. And I think the latter two just aren't really taught that much, glenn. That's why we come to the point where, when we bring up this topic of the nations, that people kind of look at us kind of like a new calf looking at a gate, so to speak. As to what are you talking about? Yes, a major theme is the redemption of man, but we also have these other two redemptions that are mentioned in Scripture.
Speaker 1:These great passages of Scripture teach very important lessons for us today. Lessons for us today. That brings us to chapter 29. From chapters 29 through 32, talk about God's judgment on Egypt. In these chapters the beginning of this one in chapter 29, ezekiel documents the year, month and day. He says it's the 10th year, 10th month and 12th day of the month and it has been Ezekiel's practice. He's been documenting when God gives him these messages and he says the word of the Lord came to me. This was a first-person eyewitness account where he documents the day and, if we've been tracking along, this is January 5th, 587 BC. Ezekiel is documenting the location and the place and the date. It's a historical corroboration of the inspiration of Scripture so we can trust our Bibles. Let's go ahead and dive in. We're going to again start a message that God gives to Egypt. Steve, can you read verses 1 through 5?
Speaker 2:In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, the word of the Lord came to me saying Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. Speak and say Thus says the Lord. God Behold, I am against you. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers, that has said my Nile is mine and I myself have made it. I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your rivers cling to your scales and I will bring you up and make the fish of your rivers cling to your scales and I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers and all the fish of your rivers will cling to your scales. I will abandon you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You will fall on the open field. You will not be brought together or gathered. I have given you for food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the sky.
Speaker 1:With this, again, god begins a message to Egypt. Now, Egypt was a great nation, partially because of its size, but also partly because of its location. Of its size, but also partly because of its location. It was in and around the Nile River, which supplied all of the life and the water for crops and food and everything else. It was very difficult to invade Egypt because of the surrounding deserts were so large that there was no real way to move an army across these brutal, vast deserts. They served as a natural barrier. The only way to attack Egypt was through the Nile Delta, and that's where they were. Of course, most of their military was based. Egypt was largely self-sufficient because of the Nile River. If we remember, egypt was this country that had enslaved Israel, going all the way back to Genesis.
Speaker 1:The other thing that becomes important here is that in the Egyptian myths, pharaoh was a god and had come out of the Nile River. The Egyptian myth, many of them, centered around the Nile River, and Pharaoh was viewed as a god that had come out of the Nile. Yet here in these passages, we just read God says I'm against you, and God even says I'm going to treat you. You think you came out of the Nile, then you're a sea monster, a monster out of the Nile verse 3. And in verse 4, he says I'm going to put hooks in you, pull you out of the Nile. You're still going to be smelling like fish. I'm going to throw you on land and you're going to die there. The Egyptians held Pharaoh as a god that came out of the Nile. They also worshiped fish-headed deities and Pharaoh thought he was a god. But the real god, yahweh, says I'm going to cut you down to size. Steve, what impression do you get when you read these passages?
Speaker 2:I see a pattern between the Pharaoh of Egypt and the leader of Tyre, the prince of Tyre, in our previous session. What was it that the prince was saying through his pride of saying I'm the one that has built up all of this wealth here of this city-state of Tyre, and that I think that I'm a god? It was pride that was leading himself. And God says I'm going to take care of your pride. In that we saw that actually the power behind the leader of Tyre was Satan himself. Here we come to this section now, in chapter 29. What is it that the Pharaoh of Egypt is saying? He says in verse 3, he has said my Nile is mine and I myself have made it so. It's another depiction of pride of this king or Pharaoh of Egypt. He says I have created all of this wealth, I have created this great nation of Egypt. I'm the one that has done it myself. And God says because you have said that, I am against you.
Speaker 2:Now we're not told here that the power behind Pharaoh is Satan, but we do see this theme of these leaders start to look upon themselves and have great pride Over in Daniel Nebuchadnezzar, at one point, goes out onto his balcony and looks out and he says look at all this great city of Babylon that I have created.
Speaker 2:And from that he is turned out and becomes a wild beast of the field for a period of seven times. That is after Daniel had given Nebuchadnezzar an interpretation of a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had had. Daniel had told him your pride is going to put you out into the field and you're going to be there as a beast, and it's going to be God that does that to you, and you will stay there until you acknowledge who Yahweh is. And we see that Nebuchadnezzar does that. So, through all of these different nations, glenn, this is the theme that I think we're going to see. Pride comes up with these leaders to where they think they have done it on their own, but we're going to see that they actually serve at the pleasure of God.
Speaker 1:Egypt was this huge, well-developed country for 2,500 years? Just a true dynasty. But who is really in control of Egypt?
Speaker 2:God is in control of Egypt. He, like I said, they all serve at his pleasure, meaning that he will take them out whenever he deems that it's the time to take them out, and that they don't have any control over. Whenever God decides I'm going to take this nation down or this leader down, then he's going to do it and he's going to bring it about. We're going to see that as we go through these verses in these chapters.
Speaker 1:Let's move on to the next section. God says exactly what he's going to do with the land of Egypt. I'm starting in the midst of verse 9. Because you said the Nile is mine and I have made it. Therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdal to Syene and even to the border of Ethiopia. A man's foot will not pass through it and the foot of a beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years.
Speaker 1:So I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated lands, and her cities, in the midst of cities that are laid waste, will be desolate forty years. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands. For thus says the Lord God, at the end of forty years, I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered. I will turn the fortunes of Egypt and make them return to the land of Hathoros, to the land of their origin, and there they will be lowly kingdom, it will be the lowest of the kingdoms and it will never again lift up above the nations, and I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations and it will never again be the confidence of the house of Israel bringing to mind the iniquity of their having turned to Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord. God, steve, what does God say he's going to do to Egypt.
Speaker 2:He says that he's going to make it a desolate waste.
Speaker 1:A desolate waste and he's going to really be in control of the Egyptian people. Verse 16, he tells us one major reason that God will make Egypt so desolate is that so Egypt will never again be the country that Israel looks to for help. Again, god is nation building here and he is concerned for his nation, israel. Mind of all of the passages that we've gone through so far in this book were passage after passage, chapter after chapter. God was passing judgment on his people from Jerusalem and the people of Judah and Israel. The Jewish nation, were in disobedience for many centuries, to the point that God was passing severe judgment on them. Yet here he's moving nations around to protect them as a nation. So he will keep his promises that he made all the way back in Genesis of his people will be a great nation and as many as the stars of the sky, and it will come through Abraham and he will keep them in the land. He took his people out of the land into Babylon, but here he's still condemning Egypt and the nations around it, so they will never again be an influence to his people from Israel. He will again have a future for Israel. Why else would he be dealing with these nations. Why else would he say here that he's doing it? Because they will not be an influence in the future over his nation of Israel.
Speaker 1:God has a purpose for what he does of Israel. God has a purpose for what he does In addition to personal salvation. Another of God's purposes has to do with nations, and it's in large sections of the scripture. Next, god tells us specifically how he will make Egypt desolate. Steve, can you read from verse 17 to 21?.
Speaker 2:Now, in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare, but he and his army had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had performed against it. Therefore, thus says the Lord God Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will carry off her wealth and capture her spoil and seize her plunder, and it will be wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor, which he performed. He speaks here of sending Nebuchadnezzar in to attack Egypt.
Speaker 1:And we know from secular history that Nebuchadnezzar spent 13 years laying siege to Tyre and didn't walk away with as much booty and loot to pay his army as he would have liked. He then turned his army towards Egypt to try to get enough gold and spoils to pay the army. That's what happened. So it says in verse 18, here's one of these little clues that tells us this accurate history. He says every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare. Well, this was during this 13 years. If you could imagine, wearing a helmet, having battles every day, it's going to rub the hair off of your head, and carrying all the equipment and the siege machines all the time is going to rub your shoulders raw. So we have a very accurate description of true history here. God says he's going to allow Nebuchadnezzar to conquer Egypt and take away her wealth. Steve, he says here in verse 20, I have given him the land of Egypt. We've asked this before. We'll ask it again who is in charge?
Speaker 2:of the nations, god is in charge. And in that same verse he says because they, being Babylon, acted for me. So we see that God uses other nations to discipline or bring about judgment on nations themselves. We had saw earlier in another text from other books that God says that he used Babylon to bring about judgment on the nation of Israel. But we also see that God as we went through Zechariah, in those early chapters, he says I used Babylon as judgment against you, but now I'm going to bring on judgment of Babylon because they went too far. Through reading the various books we see that God is in control and, as I mentioned earlier in this session, all of these leaders and the nations serve at God's pleasure. He uses nations to discipline other nations and bring judgment on them, yet at the same time he will bring judgment on those nations if they go too far in their discipline of Israel, as he talked about earlier in Zechariah.
Speaker 1:That brings us to the end of chapter 29. Next time we're going to get into more of what God is saying about Egypt. Remember, God is in a lament for Egypt. Egypt had been a world power for 2,500 years. At this point it was quite well-developed, quite sophisticated, and God says he's going to bring it down to destruction. And we're going to see that as we continue to reason through the book of Ezekiel, thank you so much for watching and listening.
Speaker 2:May God bless you.
