Turn with me to chapter 32 of the book of Ezekiel. This is the fourth chapter in a row that Ezekiel is dealing with the topic of Egypt. And why is he dealing with this? Why did God lay this on his heart so much? We’ve mentioned before the fact that Egypt often in the Old Testament symbolizes the world.
And Israel was always attracted to turn back to Egypt for help and direction. And whenever they found themselves in difficult situations, instead of going to the Lord, if they weren’t walking with the Lord as a nation, or if they didn’t have a strong leadership that would direct them to do this, they would always want to go back to Egypt. It would be one of their first choices to do.
And God is judging Egypt because of the foundation that they have in their culture, but it’s also to be a symbol of all the other nations that he spoke about before we came to the four chapters on Egypt. We looked at the other nations that were surrounding Israel, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, and we also looked at others that had walked in principles and worshipped false gods and came against the Lord and attempted to destroy Israel. This evening I want us to look again at, this is a modern day map of the Middle East, but it’s amazing because it’s the same countries today that are attempting to come against Israel that God was dealing with in the Old Testament.
And the amazing thing is, I want you to understand that as wicked as these nations were, the Lord is lamenting over the fact that he has to judge them. He does not desire to judge sinners. He’d rather that they turn to him and walk with him and reject the rebellious ways.
You remember when Jesus came into Jerusalem right before he went to the cross, when he entered Jerusalem for the last time, it talks about the fact that as he entered Jerusalem and he looked over Jerusalem, he wept. And it says that he felt like a hen who would like to gather her chicks under her for protection, but the problem was they did not recognize who he was, nor the hour of his visitation. And it was heartbreaking to the Lord because he desires that no man be condemned and go to hell.
But the problem is, as we’re going to look at the text this evening, the Lord tells people the ultimate place if you refuse to repent and continue in your wickedness is hell and judgment. And let’s pick it up at chapter 32, verse 1.
Ezekiel 32:1-2
And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him,
Thou art like a young lion of the nations,
and thou art as a whale in the seas:
and thou camest forth with thy rivers,
and troubledst the waters with thy feet,
and fouledst their rivers.
Now, what is he saying with all of that? He’s saying Pharaoh views himself, this is the way that Pharaoh views himself. Well, if you look at from nature, a lion. If you have a young lion, a young lion has got a lot of energy.
A young lion will attack and destroy its prey. And a whale is the biggest mammal and the biggest sea going creature. And it can do what it wants and goes where it wants in the sea.
There’s no other sea animals that are going to really harm a whale. That’s what Pharaoh felt. Look at me.
Well, the amazing thing is, young lions grow old and feeble. And this last week at work, one of the families where they work for us, they had a dog that they’ve had for 15 years. And the dog was just about 20 years old.
It was a little dog. And they had to put it down because it had become so feeble. They literally, the last few days of its life, they had to carry it and put it down to try and get it to eat and drink because it couldn’t hardly walk by itself anymore.
And what the Lord is trying to picture for Pharaoh and what he’s showing him, you think you’re one thing, but really you’re something else. And a lot of people in the world today are like Pharaoh. They think they’re one thing, but they’re really something else.
We gave some examples during the prayer time of people who think, look at me, I have got everything under control. I’m the one in power. I’m the one that can dictate how others should live.
I’m the one that can tell you what I’m going to do. And there’s nobody that can get in my way and stop me. Yet it was brought to our attention that some corruption was brought out in the state of Utah just this last week about how those that had that attitude are being brought to justice because their corruption was revealed and the fact that their pride and arrogance could not stop them from being seen for what they really are.
And that’s really the condition of all men and women that are in rebellion against God. How many times have you seen people that say, I don’t want to bow my knee to God because I’m not giving in to any religious system. This book is nothing but a book of rules and I don’t want to follow them.
And what they think is I’m in control, but ultimately God is in control. And so this is what he’s showing Pharaoh. You think that you’re this young lion.
You think that you’re this whale, but you’re not. You think you can go about destroying and conquering all the nations around you. You think that you can do what you want to do with those that are there.
Ezekiel 32:3
3 Thus saith the Lord God;
I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people;
a company of many people;
and they shall bring thee up in my net.
And here is an interesting concept because who’s in control of those that are around us and who can ultimately open up so that we see the wickedness and who can bring justice upon the wicked, even when it seems like they are in power? God. And God says he’s going to do that to Pharaoh.
It’s interesting, the Lord oftentimes in the Scripture would use people who weren’t really righteous themselves, but he’d use them as his hand of chastisement and judgment. But unless they would repent, they in turn would be judged. A prime example of that was Nebuchadnezzar and the nation of Babylon that God used them as the hand of judgment to come against Israel because of Israel’s rebellion against God, who they should have known and God who had given them all the truth and they refused to walk in that truth but abandoned it.
And God used him as his chastising hand. But ultimately Babylon was judged because even though Nebuchadnezzar was brought to his knees by the Lord and was humbled by God and at the end of his life proclaimed that the God of Israel, the God of the Jews, was the true and the living God and called all people to worship him, his grandson was in total rebellion and used the elements, that is the instruments of the temple that had been taken to Babylon in a drunken orgy and God judged him that night and destroyed Babylon that very evening that he was doing that. So who’s in control of the nations? Who’s the one that raises up kings and tears them down? It’s the Lord.
And God is showing this to Pharaoh and he’s saying, you think you’re so strong but I’ve got these people that you view as little people, little nations around you but I’m going to use them to take my net and catch this big whale that can’t be caught.
Ezekiel 32:4a
Then will I leave thee upon the land,
Now if you’re a fish out of water, what happens? If you’re a fish out of water, you don’t live long. You end up dying.
Ezekiel 32:4b
I will cast thee forth upon the open field,
and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee,
and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee.
Now it’s interesting because the Lord had talked earlier in some of the chapters that we just studied about Egypt that Egypt had been like in the last chapter we looked at all the trees and he compared Egypt to the Assyrian Empire and he said that the Assyrian Empire was this giant tree amongst the trees and all the birds which are really all of the various people of the world came under Assyria and they ruled over them and they came to dwell in their branches.
That was Egypt too because he was comparing Egypt to Assyria and he’s saying you have all of these things and it appears that the whole world is bowing down before you but ultimately now you’re flopping around as a dead fish on land. I’m going to take you into an open field and these very fowls that used to come and dwell in you are going to come and feed upon you and they’re going to use you, they’re going to destroy you. And he says, verse 5 and 6:
Ezekiel 32:5-6
5
And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains,
and fill the valleys with thy height.6
I will also water with thy blood
the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains;
and the rivers shall be full of thee.
In other words, the destruction is going to be absolutely total and some of the things you see there are pictures that were given in God’s other judgments. The judgment of the flood, the judgment that he brought against Pharaoh during the time of Moses where he brought blood in the rivers and the rivers became his blood, the water was undrinkable. These same things are brought and shown against Pharaoh again.
Some of these same judgments are made real before him and the Lord says, I’m the one that can do this.
Ezekiel 32:7
7
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven,
and make the stars thereof dark;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon shall not give her light.
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, I will make the stars thereof dark, I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not give her light. And again, this was another judgment that God brought against Egypt during the time of Moses.
And also, even when Jesus died on the cross, it says that it was during the day but yet it became dark as night because God’s hand of judgment against the sin of the world was laid upon Christ when he died and it showed that there was no light. This is showing there is no light in what Pharaoh offers. It’s nothing but darkness, it’s evil, it’s wicked.
Ezekiel 32:8-9
8
All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee,
and set darkness upon thy land,
saith the Lord God.9
I will also vex the hearts of many people,
when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations,into the countries which thou hast not known.
And so God is going to use this destruction of Pharaoh and this judgment of Pharaoh to be an example even into nations that hadn’t known Egypt but he’s going to use it to reveal to them who’s in control. It’s not the guy who thinks he’s a young lion. It’s the God who controls the whole universe.
Ezekiel 32:10
10
Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee,
and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee,
when I shall brandish my sword before them;
and they shall tremble at every moment,
every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall.
So what he’s going to do is he’s going to take Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt that is so mighty, so powerful, so arrogant and when they fall, and the Lord’s going to reveal that this fall is something that is not brought about by normal circumstance but it’s been brought about by God’s judgment. The rest of the world shall fear as well.
Ezekiel 32:11
11
For thus saith the Lord God;
The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee.
So here he tells again how this is going to happen in this time with this Pharaoh and this particular time in Egypt’s history. Babylon is going to come, Nebuchadnezzar is going to come. Remember when we looked at Nebuchadnezzar coming against Tyre. Nebuchadnezzar could not get out to where all the wealth of Tyre was. Which was the city island of Tyre there were two Tyres, one on the island and one on the land. Nebuchadnezzar didn’t have ships, couldn’t get out to the city island that’s where all the money was he didn’t have any money to pay his troops. His troops were ready to abandon ship and go home. Much like what’s happening in Iran today where the Iranian guard.
The Republican guard is not being paid because of Iran’s money source being cut off and many of them are defecting. They’re quitting they’re joining the regular army which is beginning to some of that rise up in rebellion against the current oppressive Iranian government why? Because they can’t get paid they say why should I fight and die when I can’t even get paid.
That was what happened to Nebuchadnezzar. So the Lord directed him and the Lord brought about the circumstances so he went down to Egypt and the sword of Babylon was going to be what was ultimately going to be destroyed Pharaoh.
Ezekiel 32:12
12 By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall,
the terrible of the nations, all of them:
and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt,
and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.
Now the pomp of Egypt, if you look at the historical record and go to Egypt they’ve got all kinds of archaeological digs down there showing the pomp of Egypt. They had a high hierarchy and a real high ruling class that was the Pharaoh and his families and those that were in the higher echelons of the government there. Much wealth and there was much prestige and power and much circumstance. It’s all going to come crumbling down at the hand of Babylon. It’s not going to be able to stand.
Ezekiel 32:13-14
13
I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters;
neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more,nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
14
Then will I make their waters deep,
and cause their rivers to run like oil,
saith the Lord God.
So he’s going to cause death to come to the animals he’s going to cause flooding to come to the rivers he’s going to cause these natural. What we would call natural disasters one of the things that happens often times. When the people become proud and arrogant they don’t view who’s really causing some of the things that are happening that we refer to as natural disasters.
One of the things that really irritates me about what happens in America today. When we have things that happen that are totally abnormal. Like you remember I believe it was two years ago or a year and a half ago we had flooding in the mountains caused by a hurricane and there were cities just totally wiped out in the mountains of eastern Tennessee and western Carolinas. Totally abnormal and people said mother nature. It wasn’t mother nature. God is in control of the weather right now there’s a hurricane they call them cyclones in the Pacific. That’s heading towards the Baja Peninsula in southern California. It’s going to be the first hurricane of the season. There’s a man by the name of Koenig who wrote a book that showed how you could correlate supernatural events as far as weather that was just totally abnormal and it would be directly in relation often times to the way that we treated Israel.
You need to pray for President Trump. You need to pray for some of the decisions he’s currently making. It’s interesting. He went to China and since he’s come back from China his tone towards Israel has become more negative. He also is talking about how Israel needs to stop bombing Hezbollah but Israel is only responding when Hezbollah keeps shooting rockets into northern Israel. If you look at Hezbollah, Hamas Iran, the Houthis, all of these people.
It’s interesting because Hamas is down here. It’s labeled as Palestine on this map. That is where the Hamas is located Hezbollah is located right here. The Houthis are located down here in Yemen. Then you have Iran over here. All of them have made it their desire that the only way that their Messiah can come is they need to wipe Israel off the map. Israel and all the Jews need to be destroyed; yet, President Trump is saying Israel you really need to make peace with Hezbollah. You really need to stop bombing and you need to have a cease fire. I want to tell you currently the US is trying to put together a cease fire for 60 days with Iran. All this does is it gives these people an opportunity to gain more weapons. And to have more opportunities to strike and try to destroy Israel.
If Iran had an atomic bomb today you know where the first one would be dropped? On Israel, because it would kill all the Jews that were there in one bomb because Israel is about the size of New Jersey. If you dropped an atomic bomb on New Jersey depending on the size of the bomb it would probably be over. That’s their goal.
We see here that the Lord is saying to Pharaoh I don’t care who you think you are I’m in control.
Ezekiel 32:15
15
When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate,
and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full,
when I shall smite all them that dwell therein,
then shall they know that I am the Lord.
One of the problems you have in Israel today is, if you go to much of Gaza not all of it because they just had a marathon there not long ago they’ve got restaurants that are open they’ve never been destitute of food that’s propaganda. There are portions of Gaza that look desolate because they’ve been bombed out there are portions of southern Lebanon that look desolate because they’ve been bombed out. Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran placed their rockets and their missile launchers in religious facilities in mosques in schools, in hospitals because you’re not supposed to bomb those; yet, they’ll shoot rockets from them and so Israel has told people leave because we’re going to bomb these places and that’s exactly what the Lord is talking about here. Egypt was going to become desolate because of their wickedness, their evil and their rebellion against God and God was going to cause it to be desolate.
Ezekiel 32:16
16
This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her:
the daughters of the nations shall lament her:
they shall lament for her,
even for Egypt, and for all her multitude,
saith the Lord God.
“For all her multitude saith the Lord God.” now it’s interesting. You find lamentation occurring in the day in which we live. When another event is going to occur. If you go to the book of Revelation you find when Babylon falls in the last days it says that Babylon shall be the center and seat of the government and religious activity of the Antichrist. The economic Babylon will fall first and when the economic Babylon falls it says the merchants of the world will weep and be filled with lament the same concept is what’s seen here Egypt had been an economic center for the world. It had been a power center for the world it had been a religious center for the world.
They had promoted the false gods. Their promotion had come right out of the Tower of Babel. Their gods’ names had changed but they were the same gods and they had been spread throughout the nations of the Middle East and the only one that was really different was Israel. Then Israel had been corrupted by those same belief systems and that’s when God’s judgment came.
Ezekiel 32:18-19
17 It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
18 Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.
He’s saying this is where judgment is. He’s saying wail for them lament for them understand this is an eternal judgment and you need to lament there is no second chance. They’re done and lament and understand the completeness of this judgment.
Ezekiel 32:19
19 Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised.
Here it’s the unbeliever the one that does not believe in God. The one that will not turn to the Lord because who are the circumcised. The circumcised here are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The circumcision amongst the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was to be a sign of the covenant that Abraham had made with the Lord. It was to show the fact that they believed in the true and living God and even though they violated that covenant because that particular covenant was a conditional covenant related to their obedience to God. Yet the sign was circumcision so when he says you’re going down with the uncircumcised you’re going down with the unbelievers you’re going down with those that are wicked and evil.
Ezekiel 32:20-21
20 They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes.
21 The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
There is no hope. Now, it’s interesting he gives names of countries. First he talks about Asher. Asher is there and her company. His graves are about him. All of them slain fallen by the sword whose graves are set in sides of a pit. Their company is round about her grave. All of them slain fallen by the sword which caused terror in the land of the living Asher.
Here you have Iraq. Asher would have been up in here. Asher is a Semite. Some of these other people are Semites. Semites would be descendants of Shem. The descendants of Shem actually went out and lived here. The descendants of Ham came over and lived in here. The descendants of Japheth most of them ended up migrating up into Europe after the flood Asher’s descendants were Semites the Semites really had the most clear understanding of who God was. Yet they had rejected him to be anti-Semitic is really not a proper statement because people who say they are anti-Semitic they would hate all the Arabs. They would hate many of the people in the Middle East but people who say they are anti-Semitic. Really mean they are anti-Jewish because they hate the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob they don’t hate the other Semites which are descendants of Shem as well Abraham was a descendant of Shem. We see that these Asher are descendants of Shem as well there is Elam in all her multitude round about her grave all of them slain, fallen by the sword.
Who is Elam? Elam is really part of Iran and that is referred to as Elam they are Persians and he is saying that Elam.
Her little minions that she sets up to fight her battles for her. And we talked about the Houthis, which are in Yemen. We talked about the Hamas, which is in Gaza.
And we talked about Hezbollah, which is in Syria here. And then also there’s the Muslim Brotherhood, which are really scattered throughout the world, but have a real stronghold in Egypt. All of these are tied, and their one main goal, oftentimes Arabs will fight among themselves, but the one main goal that they have is to destroy Israel.
And they want to destroy that which God loves. Well, Elam had her confederates then. Persia had her confederates then.
Ezekiel 32:22
22 Asshur is there and all her company: his graves areabout him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword: 23 whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living.
So they thought, just like Egypt, they thought that they were powerful and they brought terror to people’s hearts, yet they would be destroyed.
The Medo-Persian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire was Iran, and then the Medes Empire was up in here. It was in Iraq over into what is Turkey today in Northern Iran. This would have been the Medes.
This would have been the Persians. They were one empire together. At one point in time, they were viewed as the strongest empire in the world until the Greeks conquered them, until Alexander the Great conquered them.
But we see these people think that they’re unconquerable and that they will be the ones that rule, but God says you’re going down into the pit just as well. They have set her abed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are round about him, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword through their terror as caused in the land of the living.
Yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit? He is put in the midst of them that be slain. Now it’s interesting, you go to the modern Muslims today and they say that the only way you can be guaranteed as a man of achieving paradise is to be a martyr, to be slain. And that if you’re slain in jihad or the holy war, then you’ll immediately go to paradise and you’ll have 70 virgins waiting for you there.
That’s not what God says here. He says they come and they’re gonna be slain by the sword. They’re gonna be killed because of what they’re doing in their battling and main battle they’re coming against is the people of God, is God himself.
He says they’re gonna be slain, but their place is not gonna be paradise, their place is gonna be the very pits of hell and it’s gonna be down with the uncircumcised or the unbeliever. The next verse 26, he says,
26 There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.
It’s interesting what’s happening in the Middle East right now.
Who is Meshach and Tubal? That is Turkey in this area right in here that’s by Turkey. This would be Meshach and Tubal. And it’s interesting that they were doing what is happening today, they did it this time.
And God judged them, then he’s gonna judge them again. What you’re seeing happen in the Middle East right now in Turkey, when Menno was here, and I believe it was 2008, something like that, that he was here, 2008, 2010. When I was talking to Menno, who’s a pastor from Jerusalem, and he spoke at our church, at that particular time, Israel had wonderful relations with Turkey and he said all families from Israel would go on vacations and they’d go to Turkey for their vacations because they go to the Mediterranean coast in Turkey and they had a wonderful relationship with Turkey.
Today, Erdogan is head of Turkey and he’s one of the most evil, wicked men in the Middle East today. He wears a suit, he talks like he’s a Western person, except he talks hatred towards Israel and he talks really hatred towards the things of God. And he wants to reestablish the Ottoman Empire with Turkey being the head of it.
And if you go back and look at the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Empire tried to bring Islam to the whole world and if you look at the Quran compared to the Bible, they’re exactly opposite. And I think someone who stated it, that the Quran is really Satan’s religious book, I think that is exactly a good description of it because it is against everything that the Bible stands for. And he today is one of the chief promoters of bringing back the caliphate.
And he does it while Turkey is part of the NATO alliance. It says that it’s an ally of the US, but it’s really not. And then now it’s turning against Israel and he is trying to go down and take over Israel’s oil and gas on their coast there.
And he’s trying to, he’s doing saber rattling. And right now in Israel, what people are saying and politicians in Israel are saying, the next Iran is Turkey. And if you look at the Bible, that’s exactly right.
And we’re gonna be looking at Ezekiel because Turkey is going to rise up again. But God destroyed them once and they’re gonna rise up again. Verse 27, and we’ll just quickly go through the last few verses here of this chapter.
And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are cut down to hell with their weapons of war. And they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. So he’s saying all of these nations when they were alive, Pharaoh and all these other nations, they terrified the living.
But when they go down, excuse me, the Lord will judge them and they’re gonna go to hell and their swords can’t do them any good there. They will be destroyed and judged. Yea, thou shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised and shall lie with them that are slain with the sword.
There is Edom, her kings and her princes. Now why would God put Edom with all these pagan nations? Remember, Edom is of all the nations in the Middle East, the Edomites are the closest relatives to the Jews. They’re closer than the Moabites, they’re closer than the Ammonites, they’re closer than any of the other nations that can trace their roots back to Abraham and his family.
Why would the Edomites be put here? Because the Edomites were so wicked. And if you go back and look at, we’ve been studying Esau and Lot in the adult Sunday school class and been looking at the attitude of Esau versus the attitude of Esau and Jacob rather, looking at the attitude of Esau was one, he had no respect for spiritual things. He had no desire to serve God.
He just loved the world. And the Edomites were the same way. They did everything they could to be a thorn in the side of Israel and to destroy Israel.
When Israel was attacked by nations and the people would try to escape to the south, the Edomites would be there to drive them back to be killed by their enemies that were attacking Jerusalem. And God says, that is why he put the Edomites with these other very wicked people. And he says, there is Edom, her kings and all her princes, which with their might were laid by them that were slain by the sword.
They shall lie with the uncircumcised and with them that go down to the pit. And this is one of the, you know, God laments. Esau had the same privilege as Jacob.
Those of you who were here on Mother’s Day, remember Rebecca was a mother of both of them. And I do not believe that Rebecca said, okay, Esau, I’m gonna teach Jacob about the Bible. Now I’m gonna teach Jacob about God now.
So Esau, you leave. I don’t think she said that. I think she had them both on her knees explaining the Lord, explaining sin and Adam, explaining the coming Messiah.
And yet Esau had so much disregard for it, he wanted nothing to do with it. And his descendants are the same heart. You go to Herod, the Herods, they were descendants of Esau.
They were Edomites. And they desired to kill Jesus when he was a baby. That was what Herod desired to do.
And that’s why he killed all the children, all the male children under two within the region of Bethlehem, the city of Bethlehem. Because he thought he could kill the Messiah. He was inspired and possessed by Satan.
That’s who these people, and God says, I’m gonna drive you to hell. I’m gonna send you, you will be sent there with the uncircumcised. There shall be princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain.
And remember, we studied about the Zidonians when we also studied about Tyre. They were a wicked people. They were Phoenicians.
They were related to the Philistines, all of which were enemies of Israel for most of the time of their existence. With their terror, they shall be ashamed of their might. They shall lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword and bear their shame, and them that go down to the pit.
Every one of these people, because of their wickedness and because of their evil and because of their hatred of God are going to be judged and go down to the pit. Pharaoh shall see them and shall be comforted over all his multitude. Even Pharaoh and his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord God.
So Pharaoh’s gonna see all these other nations, gonna see that they’re judged, and he’s gonna say, well, why should I be judged? But God’s gonna say, don’t take any comfort of the fact I’m judging them. You’re judged too. There’s a lot of people like that today, and you ask them, why should God allow you into heaven? And they say, because I’m a good person.
And they view themselves, and what they’re doing is comparing themselves to other people. But God says we’re never supposed to compare ourselves to other people, just like Pharaoh wasn’t supposed to compare himself to other nations. And if you compare yourself to other people, in your mind, you can always find somebody that looks more wicked and evil than you.
I haven’t killed anybody. I haven’t stolen any money from a bank. I haven’t done any of things that some of these other people that are sitting in prison have done.
So I’m basically a good person. But God says, no, you need to look at yourself and look at in relation to God. Pharaoh should have been looking at himself in relation to God and said, I’ve got a problem.
There’s a holy and righteous God, and he’s coming to judge me. Instead, Pharaoh’s looking around saying, well, our nation’s better than the Edomites. Our nation’s better than what is currently today the Turkey.
Our nation’s better than all of these, so why should God judge us? Instead of Pharaoh saying, I stand condemned before a holy and righteous God. And so God says, Pharaoh, you’re gonna be judged just like all the rest. And he says, even Pharaoh and his army, slain by the sword, saith the Lord God.
For I have caused my terror in the land of the living, and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword. Even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God. And it’s interesting, God is saying all of these nations, they viewed themselves as strong and they carried their swords, slaying nations, causing fear in men’s hearts.
God’s saying, none of them can stand against me, and my sword is the ultimate one, which determines the eternal destiny of man. Let’s just close in prayer. Lord, I pray that you would just help us to be humbled and to be filled with awe and fear as you realize who’s in control.
It’s not the politicians, it’s not the nations of the world, it’s not the armies of the world, but it’s you. In your hand of judgment shall come against the most powerful men and armies that have ever lived, and we know that in the last days, by your word, they shall all be slain that would come against you. Lord, now I pray that you would just help us to walk with you and to help us to seek to proclaim the gospel message to others that they may be saved and may we lament the foolishness and the wickedness of men’s hearts that they would rebel against the holy and righteous God.
This we ask in Jesus’ name, amen.