THE LORD SPOKE (November 18)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Ezekiel 29-30

It wasn’t very p.c. In fact, you could have been executed for it if anyone found out. Speaking against the Pharaoh carried a death penalty. To even imply that God wasn’t on his side was akin to blasphemy. According to Pharaoh, he was God!

It didn’t stop Ezekiel. When “the word fo the Lord came to him” (Ezek. 29:1) he didn’t look back once. He proclaimed loud and clear just what the Lord said:

I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster.... (29:3)

At the risk of his own neck, he declared the word of the Lord. And God didn’t pull any punches. The kid gloves were definitely off when He challenged Pharaoh:

• “what you say is yours - is really mine” (29:3b)
• “your people think you’re God - they’ll soon know I am” (29:6)
• “you thought you could eat up my people - I’ll eat up yours” (29:7-8)
• “you think your country is so great - I’ll make it a wasteland” (29:10)
• “you think your people are so united - I’ll scatter them to the four winds” (29:12)
• “you think you’re such a strong nation - I’ll wipe you out” (29:15)

Guess what? It happened! Egypt, for the last 2500 years has been a nothing country. For a brief moment, the Suez Canal made it a strategic hinge point but even then it was totally dominated by foreign nations (29:15). Nasser tried and failed. Sadat’s moment in the sun was only significant because Israel had dominated - again.

The following chapter (Ezekiel 30) is a lament for Egypt. Her downfall is the ruination of others around her. Cush, Put, Lydia, Arabia, and Libya are mentioned specifically (30:5). The reference to “the people of the covenant land” has intrigued the commentators. That “the covenant land” (i.e. “the Promised Land”) is Israel leaves little doubt. But who are “the people” of this land? Jews living in Egypt? Maybe. Arabs/Egyptians living in Israel? Probably!

Today “Palestinians comprise about a quarter of the population of Israel and they are largely Arabs from the surrounding countries, a large percentage of which are from Egypt. Yasser Arafat himself was born in Cairo and started attending the University of Cairo before there was a State of Israel.

What message is there in this for us today? God is involved in the affairs of nations. Paul told the men of Athens gathered at the Areopagus:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth.... From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.... Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone - an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. Acts 17:24-31

Psalms 125-126

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore. (Psalm 125:1-2)

The writer to the Hebrews also had something to say about Mount Zion. In his case, it clearly represented heaven (see Heb. 11:10, 13-16; 13:14 for proof of that). He says:

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Heb. 12:22-24).

The reason that Mount Zion is so fantastic is that...

• It is God’s house - the heavenly Jerusalem.

Being a “city” speaks of orderliness, community, provisions, and security. It is, in fact, where we “come to God” - the highest delight.

• It is the abode of angels - a joyful assembly.

Some translations have “festal assembly”. The apostle John saw it up close and described it this way: Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" (Rev. 5:11-13)

• It is the home of the church - a congregation of the redeemed.

The term “firstborn” here is plural. Seven of the nine times it occurs in the New Testament it is singular and clearly refers to Jesus. But the plural here refers to the church saints who are made joint heirs with Christ and have the position of “firstborns”.

• It is the location of Old Testament saints - righteous men made perfect.

These saints are awaiting the resurrection of their bodies and participation in the earthly millennial kingdom. All those promises of the Old Testament will yet be fulfilled to them!

• It is the residence of Jesus - the Lamb who purchased our salvation by His own blood.

The “blood of Abel” cried out for vengeance (see Gen. 4:10). Jesus’ blood cries out for forgiveness and His blood is speaking to us.

Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God;
God, whose word cannot be broken, formed thee for his own abode.
On the Rock of Ages founded, what can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation's walls surrounded, thou mayst smile at all thy foes.

Blest inhabitants of Zion, washed in our Redeemer's blood;
Jesus, whom our souls rely on, makes us monarchs, priests to God.
Us, by his great love, he raises, rulers over self to reign,
and as priests his solemn praises we for thankful offering bring. (Isaac Watts)