Ezekiel
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Ezekiel Chapter 26
It took Nebuchadnezzar 13 years according to Josephus to overthrow Tyrus but he did overthrow it. The fall of Jerusalem came first though and Tyrus rejoiced over the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. Just like Moab, Ammon and Edom who also rejoiced over Israel's destruction by Babylon, Tyrus was rejoicing also. This tells us that even though God judges Israel for her sins because judgment begins in the house of God, He will also judge all wicked nations. In other words the first place God judges is His own people and those that are supposed to know Him and know His word. In today's world that would be the church or assembly of believers in Jesus Christ. If we sin, judgment begins with us before God judges the world around us. Here we see God judges Israel because of her sin first. Those that laughed and rejoiced at Israel's destruction should not have done so. For it was those nations that caused Israel to sin against God. God will judge those that come against Israel and those that mock at Israel's troubles. Babylon also does not escape judgment for there came a day when Babylon was destroyed. Yet in spite of God's judgment upon nations surrounding Israel, Israel has a place in the last days. Israel survives and exists today. If they sin, they will be judged but Israel has a place in the future kingdom of God. Jesus Christ is to return and rule all the earth from tiny Israel.
Babylon was not the only nation that came and destroyed this city and killed its inhabitants. Alexander the Great also destroyed this same city. They suffered under the Romans also. Its final end was by Egypt in 1291 AD.
At that time Nebuchadnezzar was considered a king of all kings because of his power and authority over all nations in his empire. According to the book of Daniel he set up an image and exalted himself thinking that all his power was because of his own greatness. He lost his throne for 7 years and lived as wild beasts until a day he was restored to power and found out who God really was and it was not by his own greatness but by the power of God that made him a great king. When he died his descendants took over the throne but was later overthrown by the kings of Media and Persia. So these kingdoms that God used to judge Israel did not last but were overthrown. The real king of kings of the latter days is Jesus Christ who will come a 2nd time and rule the whole earth from Israel. All those who have believed and followed Him will rule with Him under the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles.
Rich cities and those that live in luxury become a prey to other nations. Greed has caused so many wars. We've always had pirate nations that desire to rob and take from other nations instead of working hard to build up their own wealth. The city of Tyre was an island city that had much wealth.
All these things were literally fulfilled first by the king of Babylon and then by other nations after that one. God uses wicked nations to judge Israel and then he will use other wicked nations to judge those that came against Israel. The city of Tyre should have feared instead of rejoicing when God allowed Babylon to destroy Jerusalem. If they would have used the occasion to repent and call on God instead of gloating over Israel's destruction, their final end might have been different. When we see God's judgment upon wicked nations, never should our attitude be to gloat and say Aha like these nations did when Israel was destroyed. Instead we should fear God and examine ourselves to see if we deserve the same type of judgment. It should be a time of humility and repentance, not gloating and rejoicing. There is a day coming according to the book of Revelation where God finally sends His own wrath upon those that kill His prophets and His people. Self-exaltation and rejoicing of the destruction of ones' enemies is not a good attitude to have. God never rejoices over the death and destruction of any person or any nation. He allows destruction as a last resort when people get so evil that they are past the stage where they could have repented and change. When they begin to persecute and put to death the prophets and teachers who warn of God's judgment, then God sends His wrath. The book of Revelation shows us the end
times and why this occurs. True faith in Jesus Christ causes us to repent or turn from sin and turn back to God. There is a day coming though when the day of mercy will close and we will see God's wrath again poured out like we see in the Old Testament. When God sees people reject first His Son and then reject the prophets and teachers who bring the message of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ; we then see the door begin to close and the same Jesus who came to die for sins, will return to judge those that persecuted His prophets and teachers. Again the book of Revelation tells us of these things. Now is the time to get right with God and not delay before this door of mercy closes. We do not need to be killing unborn babies, laughing and mocking the preachers of righteousness, and removing the ten commandments from our court houses in the name of freedom and tolerance. We need to repent and fear the God who is coming to judge the earth. Preachers also need to fear God and not just preach what people want to hear to make them feel good about themselves but preach repentance from the sin that separates us from a holy God. We pray that the church does not become rich and increased with goods, being blind to their own sins. The true teaching of the grace of God does not mean that we can believe in Jesus and then live like those that do not believe in Jesus, doing the same sins and then expect to be saved just because they claim to believe in Jesus and trust in His grace. To believe in Jesus is to believe His words and follow His ways. If we say we believe in Him and do not do what He says, we do not really believe. We are deceiving ourselves. The same apostle Paul whose words they use to justify themselves is the same Paul who wrote this:
Abusers of themselves with mankind means sexual perversions, with beasts, men with men, women with women, incest, rape, anything unnatural and harmful to the body which God created.
Once we are cleansed from those things, we still have the will power to return to those things but we need to resist steadfastly in the faith and not be brought under that power again. If we sin willfully after being saved from sin and do not repent, we are bringing ourselves back to the place we were before we knew Jesus Christ. Paul said that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God so if we go back into the sins that made us unrighteous, we would lose what we gained through Christ. When we believe in Jesus we are covered by His righteousness. His righteousness does replace our own righteousness which is not true righteousness. Yet, if we willfully go back to the sin He saved us from, we are polluted and I do not believe we are covered by His righteousness if we allow that stuff back that He saved us from. I believe we lose that covering. In fact I believe we have more responsibility after knowing Jesus than before. We are given the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome all future sins. In saying all that though, if we do sin we have an advocate witht he Father. We can repent and be restored. Remember sin is not making a mistake like accidently going over the speed limit. Sin is transgression of God's law. We have a better way to live than they had in the Old Testament. God made it easier by giving us His spirit when we have believed in Christ. However, if we sin and go back to continual sin without any repentance when the Holy Spirit brings conviction, how can we say that we are covered by the blood of Jesus? Israel suffered for going into idolatry and copying the nations that surrounded them. Shall Christians be saved if they go back under the same sin that Jesus died to save them from thereby crucifying Jesus all over again with their actions? I think not. As God required Israel to repent when they sinned or they would be cut off from God, I believe the same would apply in the case of a Christian who is saved from sin but returns to it willfully resisting the Holy Spirit who will convict us of sin and urge us to repent and stay in the safe presence of God. It is the grace and mercy of God that draws us to Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace and not by doing good things in order to earn salvation. Once we receive His salvation though, we are not to return to the old ways and expect to be saved. The doctrine that teaches this is false. I know of people who were saved as a child and are no longer living for Christ. They are openly living with people they are not married to, having babies, and committing sin with more than one partner even, and they think they are saved because of the doctrine of eternal security. That is a dangerous doctrine. God has not changed. If He required Israel to live right who were the natural born children of Abraham, will He not require the same of us who have known a better way and have been given the power to resist sin and live in righteousness? What will those in the world say when they see how we live? They see us cheating, lying, committing adultery, using bad language and doing all the same things that sinners do and then say, we are saved by grace and not works. This is nonsense. We are saved from sin to live in holiness, not to live in sin and claim to be covered by grace because we claim to believe in Christ. To really believe in something is to live what we believe. DC
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