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The Bible Breakdown
Ezekiel 26: When God Claps Back
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, ezekiel, chapter 26, and today's title is when God Claps Back. When God Claps Back, we're going to see how over the next several chapters. We've already started seeing it, but over the next several chapters we're going to see the tide start to turn and whereas God has been just mourning over the nation of Israel, now he's looking at all the enemies of Israel and he's saying don't worry, I got something for you too. So we're going to get all that in just a moment. So, if you have your Bible and open up with me to Ezekiel 26, while you're doing that, if you're new here, make sure you take just a moment to like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast, make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. You're doing an amazing job over there and, of course, the more we dig, the more we find. Well, once again, if you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to Ezekiel, chapter 26,.
Speaker 1:Don't forget that the overall goal, overall theme of Ezekiel 26 is God's promise of renewal and, as we're beginning to see. Over the past several chapters we've really grown together in our personal relationship as we've had to walk together through some very difficult chapters. As Ezekiel is just mourning over the nation of Israel and what got them to this place and all the difficult things, and now that they have done that, he is now like the Lord is kind of turning his eyes toward the enemies of Israel and he's saying hey, listen, I'm gonna renew my people, and one of the aspects of renewing my people is I'm gonna judge all you fools. And so God is starting to now clap back against the enemies of Israel and say don't worry, I haven't forgot about none of y'all. And that's what we're going to see. We've already begun seeing it in the overall chapters and the ideas here, but also we're going to see it just ramp up even more and there is a perspective here to look at. So to back off of it just for one quick second before we jump into this, it is easy to kind of get lost in the weeds because it just seems like over and over and over again, god's word is coming to the nation of Israel and he's pretty much saying the same thing you guys done messed up Y'all in trouble and then I'm mad at everybody else because y'all are the instruments I had to use, but that doesn't mean you got off scot-free. And it's just over and over and over. Well, don't forget, this is happening over the course of many years in the life of Ezekiel, and so it's a system and a pattern that's happening over and over again, and it's not just showing that God is judging Israel, but it's also that the people who did wrong don't get away with it. But God has a plan, and I think it's already encouraging for us to realize that the plan of God takes time. Many of us think the plan of God takes like a weekend, but for many of us it's going to be over the course of our lives. And so let's jump into this and let's think about how this is happening over the long term in the life of Ezekiel and in the life of the nation of Israel. And we see this turning toward now. There is this city called the city of Tyre that God is going to start to judge. Here we go, you ready.
Speaker 1:Ezekiel 26, verse 1, says this on February 3rd, during the 12th year of King Jehoiakim's captivity, this message came to me from the Lord, son of man, which, remember that's basically saying hey, bro, tyre has rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem, saying, ha, she who was the gateway to the rich trade routes in the east has been broken. I am the heir. Because she has been made desolate, I will become wealthy. So, in other words, what has been going on is they are saying now that Jerusalem is gone, I get to experience all of the things they left behind. Verse 3,. Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says I am your enemy, o Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the waves of the sea crashing against your shoreline. They will destroy the walls of Tyre and tear down its towers. I will scrape away its soil and make it a bare rock. It will be just a rock in the sea and a place for fishermen to spread their nets. For I have spoken, says the Sovereign Lord. Tyre will become the prey of many nations. Its mainland villages will be destroyed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says From the north.
Speaker 1:I will bring King Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon against Tyre. He is king of kings and brings his horses, chariots, charioteers and great army First. He will destroy your mainland villages. Then he will attack you by building a siege wall, constructing a ramp and raising a roof of shields against you. He will pound your walls with battering rams and demolish your towers with sledgehammers. The hooves of his horses will choke the city with dust and the noise of his charioteers and chariots' wheels will shake your walls as they storm through your broken gates. His horsemen will trample through every street in the city. They will butcher your people and the strong pillars will topple. They will plunder all your riches and merchandise and break down your walls. They will plunder all your riches and merchandise and break down your walls. They will destroy your lovely homes and dump your stones and timbers, and even your dust, into the sea. I will stop the music of your songs and no more will the sound of harps be heard among your people. I will make your islands a bare rock, a place for fishermen to spread their nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the Lord. Lord has spoken.
Speaker 1:This is what the sovereign Lord says to Tyre. The whole coastland will tremble at the sound of your fall. As the screams of the wounded echo in the continuing slaughter, all the seaport rulers will step down from their thrones and take off their royal robes and beautiful clothing. They will sit on the ground trembling with horror at your destruction. They will wail for you singing this funeral song O famous island city, once ruler of the sea, how you have been destroyed. Your people, with their naval power, once spread fear around the world. Now the coastlands tremble at your fall. This is what the Sovereign Lord says waves of enemy attack. Great seas will swallow you. I will send you to the pit to join those who descended there long ago. Your city will lie in ruins, buried beneath the earth, like those in the pit who have entered the world of the dead. You will have no place of respect here in the land of the living, and I will bring you to a terriblere and really a lesson for us.
Speaker 1:And so we read something like that and we can't help but kind of go okay, all right, there's that, what has that got to do with me? Okay, all right, there's that, what has that got to do with me? And here's the thing. First of all is to realize that, while God is dealing with us many times with sin or with pain, or with brokenness, sometimes we think that that's all that God's doing. We think that all of the universe is wrapped up in what's going on in our world, and it's common, there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1:But it's important to step back every once in a while and realize that, while God is moving in our lives and tending to our pain, tending to our hurt, tending to our sin, he's also working in the lives of others. In this situation, he is working in the lives of those who have brought the pain to the nation of Israel. Now, did they bring it upon themselves, the nation of Israel, by engaging with these cities? Absolutely, but that doesn't mean that Tyre is off the hook, especially because they were celebrating the fall of Israel. And so what that can mean to us is God can do more than one thing at a time. God can be working on us, convicting us, healing us, doing all the things at the same time, dealing with those that we would consider our enemies, and so we don't have to wonder if God is at work in our life because we've been so preoccupied with something else. God is at work in ways we will never know.
Speaker 1:So the overall goal of this chapter is to realize that God will do what he wants to do and what he's going to do in his time. Our job is to not plan it for him, not to plot it out and not to kind of not do a a kind of a um a check to make sure he's on the task and he's he's doing it. Instead is to trust him. God, these people are saying these things about me, these people are enjoying my fall, they're enjoying my difficulty and they're enjoying this. Well, he knows, and he's dealing with it in his own time, and so our job is to trust him and to realize, at the right time, god is going to do what only he can do.
Speaker 1:So maybe today your prayer needs to be God, I release your timing back to you, I release those who have hurt me to you and I trust that you are dealing and doing with and to them what you're going to do in your time. And if I see that you have not done to them what I wish, then I look at that as a good thing, because I realize the same grace and mercy you're extending to them is the same grace and mercy you're extending to me. But when the time comes, justice will fall and we can trust him with that and move on toward the healing of our own soul. Let's pray together right now, god, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that it's possible for two things to be true at the same time.
Speaker 1:One is we can experience pain, we can experience difficulty, but we can also trust in you. We can trust, god, that you are doing more than we can see. And so, lord, we give to you all of that pain. We give to you, god, hurt and pain we've experienced because you didn't move when we thought you should. We wondered if you were listening when they said the things that they said. Lord, we realize that you did and that you're doing more than we can sometimes see. We trust you, god, to do what only you can do, and we celebrate in advance your goodness and your faithfulness. In Jesus' name. We pray amen and then what God's word says in Ezekiel 34, verse 14, I will put my spirit in you and you will live again. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For Ezekiel, chapter 27.
