Ezekiel 30:20

The Bible says in Ezekiel 30:20-26, “And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,[21] 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.[25] But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.[26] And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD.” These verses are a continuation of the previous verses in this chapter in which God is emphasizing the fact that He will deliver Pharaoh and Egypt into the hands of the Babylonians. The Lord is telling us this truth over and over evidently because we so often forget it. God is in control. God decides who is exalted and who is cast down. Therefore, it is important to put your faith and hope in the Lord. And give the Lord honor for what He has chosen to do. Notice once again one of the reasons that God is doing this to Egypt. God says in verse 26, “and they shall know that I am the LORD.” God wants every human being to know Him and to know that He is LORD of all. God is the eternally existent One to whom we owe our lives and everything about our lives.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 31:1-18, “And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,[2] Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?[3] Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.[4] The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.[5] Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.[6] All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.[7] Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.[8] The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.[9] I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.[10] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;[11] I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.[12] And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.[13] Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:[14] To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.[15] Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.[16] I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.[17] They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.[18] To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.” In verse 2 God asked Pharaoh, “Whom art thou like in thy greatness?” And then God proceeds to compare Egypt to another great country of the ancient Middle East: Assyria. Assyria was the great and strong country that God used to conquer Samaria. But God brought Assyria down, and God is saying that the exact same thing is going to happen to Egypt. This is God’s form of learning from history. If you want to know what is going to eventually happen to your country, just look at its level of sinfulness and its relationship to God. And then look in the Bible and see what God has done to such a nation as yours. “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

As God described how the nation of Assyria was destroyed, He used the example of a tree, a tall and strong tree. It says in verse 3, “Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.” Often the Bible uses a healthy, tall, and strong tree as an example of what God can do for an individual that is rightly related to Him. We see that in Psalm chapter 1:1-4, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.[2] But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.[3] And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.[4] The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.”

In the first part of verse 16 God declares that the tree of Assyria shall fall: “I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall.” God also makes clear that He is talking about what happens to them spiritually speaking. In the rest of verse 16 God says, “when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit.” What a terrible fall it will be for any human being when it is shown that they have fallen all the way to hell. How much every person needs the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior! Without Jesus as your Savior, you will fall all the way to hell and to the pit.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 32:1-8, “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.[3] Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.[4] Then will I leave thee upon the land, 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.[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.[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.[8] All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.” This time when God describes the judgment that will come upon Egypt and that will come upon Pharaoh, God uses examples from the animal kingdom and nature to demonstrate what will happen to them. God mentions lions, whales, rivers, the mountains, the birds, the beasts of the whole earth, and the stars and the moon. God is in control of this entire world. It is His world. If you do not give God the glory for all the blessings that He had showered upon you, then God has the option of taking away the blessings. And God has the option of bringing even more spiritual darkness upon you than you chose to begin with. God gives us freedom of choice, and then He accepts our choices and makes those choices stand. That is true in both a positive and a negative sense. For example, Jesus said, “Whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

The Bible says in Ezekiel 32:9-16, “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.[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.[11] For thus saith the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee.[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.[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.[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.[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.” In verse 9 God said, “I will also vex the hearts.” One of the benefits of trusting in Jesus and then walking with Him by the forgiveness of sins, and by feeding upon His Word is that God will strengthen your heart. God will make you brave and confident. Jesus said in John 14:27, “Let not your heart be troubled, nether be let it be afraid.” Paul had a lot of confidence because his confidence was in Christ. Paul said confidently, “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.” If God does not bless you by strengthening your heart, then the result will be as it says in verse 10, “they shall tremble at every moment.” You and God are a majority. If the Spirit of God decides to put fear in your adversaries’ hearts, they will run from you.

The result of God’s judgment is said very clearly in verse 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.” Lamentation, weeping, and sorrow will be the result of turning away from the Lord. Joy, and laughing, and happiness forever will be the result of serving the Lord Jesus. The fruit of the Spirit are “love, joy, peace…” Wouldn’t you rather have the joy of the Lord than the sorrow of sin? Turn to Jesus and you will have the greatest joy of all.

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