Turn from Pride, Trust in the Lord
Text Ezekiel 28:1-19 Time 10 06 07 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
We looked last week at most of the material in Ezekiel 26-28. You remember that these verses are taken up with words of judgement chiefly against the leading Phoenician city of Tyre and also of Sidon. We made the following points
1. We considered Tyre under the figure of a rock and some words of condemnation from the Lord
Remember the speaker, God himself
We looked last week at most of the material in Ezekiel 26-28. You remember that these verses are taken up with words of judgement chiefly against the leading Phoenician city of Tyre and also of Sidon. We made the following points
1. We considered Tyre under the figure of a rock and some words of condemnation from the Lord
Remember the speaker, God himself
Ponder your sin and some ways in which you've offended God
Recall the coming judgement on all who sin
Consider God's great aim for you and me – that we may know that he is the Lord.
2. We considered Tyre under the figure of a majestic galleon and we thought of man's pride and where it leads
2. We considered Tyre under the figure of a majestic galleon and we thought of man's pride and where it leads
We said
Do you have something you're proud of?
Be ready for the judgement
See how people react to judgement and consider
3. We considered the promise of restoration to Israel and the comfort in it
3. We considered the promise of restoration to Israel and the comfort in it
Now the section we missed out is in 28:1-19. Here the focus seems to be on the King of Tyre. First Ezekiel is told to speak words of judgement to him and then to take up a lament concerning him. The king at this time was a man named Ethbaal or Ithobaal. He was, apparently, an accomplished man, very well regarded, famous, but a sinner nevertheless.
Some writers also want to see a reference here to the fall of Satan. See for example the words You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God. We have reason to believe that Satan was a mighty angel of God but when Ezekiel says You were in Eden, the garden of God this parallels with Adam rather than with the Devil. Other writers think the whole royal family is referred to, including foregoing kings as far back as Hiram, which is possible.
Certainly this passage is a blast against all forms of pride and a warning of God's judgements against such sins – one that we all need to take heed of.
I want to say five things to you then
1. Consider the sin of pride and repent
Some writers also want to see a reference here to the fall of Satan. See for example the words You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God. We have reason to believe that Satan was a mighty angel of God but when Ezekiel says You were in Eden, the garden of God this parallels with Adam rather than with the Devil. Other writers think the whole royal family is referred to, including foregoing kings as far back as Hiram, which is possible.
Certainly this passage is a blast against all forms of pride and a warning of God's judgements against such sins – one that we all need to take heed of.
I want to say five things to you then
1. Consider the sin of pride and repent
Ezekiel tells us yet again (1, 2) that The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, This is what the Sovereign LORD says and first he speaks about his sin, the sin of pride.
1. Consider how deluded you can be and repent
1. Consider how deluded you can be and repent
Now what we learn here is that the King of Tyre was under a delusion. His delusion may seem to you a rather strange one but you would be surprised at just how many people on this earth live in a fantasy world just as unreal as the one in which this ancient king lived.
1. Consider the delusion
1. Consider the delusion
In the pride of your heart you say, I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas. Now it wasn't that the kings of Tyre were officially considered to be gods, as with the Egyptians and later with some of the Roman Emperors. Rather this man simply began to forget just who he was in reality and began to live not just as a great king but as though he was a god. When one has power and authority and many privileges that sort of thing can happen.
Blackburn Rovers recently signed a player from Cape Town, South Africa, called Benni McCarthy. He's been signed for £2.5 million from the Portuguese club Porto and is apparently doing well on the pitch. Although from a very poor background things are very different to how he grew up. Someone does the cooking and there's a housekeeper and he'll soon have a different car for each day of the working week. Already he has a Mini "to run around in when the traffic is heavy", a Range Rover "for when it rains" and a Bentley Continental for "when he feels like a change". He plans to buy an Aston Martin next! His brother says he spends "hours on his Playstation 3", off-nights "chilling out" with friends at the best restaurants or quiet nights home "at the movies" - he has a cinema at home with a huge screen and projector ... and about 500 movies. If he gets bored there's also a gym and a pool room in his house in a posh suburb of Manchester. His brother Jerome says "The fans love him, they treat Benni like a god".
Now most of us are never going to face pressure like that but it is still easy to delude ourselves that we are something we are not – that we are more like gods than people. Some think they are immortal and will live forever. Some think they are omnipotent and can do anything they please. Some think they are perfect and that whatever they do must be right. Some think they are very clever indeed – as wise as God himself, wiser even. These are delusions, the delusions of pride.
2. Consider the reality
Blackburn Rovers recently signed a player from Cape Town, South Africa, called Benni McCarthy. He's been signed for £2.5 million from the Portuguese club Porto and is apparently doing well on the pitch. Although from a very poor background things are very different to how he grew up. Someone does the cooking and there's a housekeeper and he'll soon have a different car for each day of the working week. Already he has a Mini "to run around in when the traffic is heavy", a Range Rover "for when it rains" and a Bentley Continental for "when he feels like a change". He plans to buy an Aston Martin next! His brother says he spends "hours on his Playstation 3", off-nights "chilling out" with friends at the best restaurants or quiet nights home "at the movies" - he has a cinema at home with a huge screen and projector ... and about 500 movies. If he gets bored there's also a gym and a pool room in his house in a posh suburb of Manchester. His brother Jerome says "The fans love him, they treat Benni like a god".
Now most of us are never going to face pressure like that but it is still easy to delude ourselves that we are something we are not – that we are more like gods than people. Some think they are immortal and will live forever. Some think they are omnipotent and can do anything they please. Some think they are perfect and that whatever they do must be right. Some think they are very clever indeed – as wise as God himself, wiser even. These are delusions, the delusions of pride.
2. Consider the reality
Was the King of Tyre in fact a god? Was any King who claimed to be god, god in fact? Are the fans right to treat Benni McCarthy as a god? In the seventies you would see graffiti declaring that the guitarist Eric Clapton was God. In the 1990s they wrote the same thing about the footballer Eric Cantona. But those men aren't God and never were. And although you may feel immortal or omnipotent or perfect or very special indeed some days - you are not. But you are a man and not a god, though you think you are as wise as a god. Pride will eat in at all sorts of places. Some of you may say – "I've never thought I was a god!" Yes, but you have acted as though you were. You have demanded things. You have considered yourself above all laws. You have thought of yourself as immortal. You have considered yourself very clever indeed. It is all rooted in pride – anti-god pride. Yet the truth is that we are but men. We cannot deny it. We must humble ourselves and recognise our weakness, our mortality, our imperfection.
2. Consider what people are proud of and take care
2. Consider what people are proud of and take care
How did this king get to be so proud? Basically because he was a successful king in worldly terms he thought he was very wise and because he was very wealthy that just added to his pride. So we say
1. Do not be proud of your abilities
1. Do not be proud of your abilities
This king thought that he was as wise as God himself. And so he is asked (3) Are you wiser than Daniel? Is no secret hidden from you? Daniel was a contemporary of Ezekiel, of course, although he may have someone else in mind. We have already had a Daniel mentioned back in 14:14, a man of prayer. Daniel certainly became famous throughout the empire as a man of wisdom and great skill. Daniel didn't think he was God but he did acknowledge the gifts God had given him. Now the truth was that whichever Daniel is in mind here, the very mention of his name put the King of Tyre in the shade. Was the king really suggesting that no secret was hidden from him? When we get delusions of grandeur we only need to ask ourselves a few questions to see how far from being gods we are. You have abilities – but how long will they last? And are they even approaching the skills of those greater than you – let alone God himself? In 1 Corinthians 1:25 Paul says the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
2. Do not be proud of your possessions
2. Do not be proud of your possessions
This king was also proud of his possessions. 4, 5 By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself and amassed gold and silver in your treasuries. By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, and because of your wealth your heart has grown proud. On one hand, it is the easiest thing in the world to be proud of possessions; yet on the other, what is the point of it? As Paul again says in 1 Corinthians (4:7) Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? That is true both of our abilities and of our possessions.
2. Consider the coming judgement on the proud and repent
2. Consider the coming judgement on the proud and repent
We will look next at verses 6-10. We can divide it up in various ways but let's say
1. Consider who God judges
1. Consider who God judges
In 6, 7 we read Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you think you are wise, as wise as a god, I am going to bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations .... It is this king who thinks that he is wise, that he is as wise as a god, who will be judged - he and his people who have followed him into sin. More than once in Scripture we are told that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble - He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, says Peter that he may lift you up in due time. If we are proud there is no hope for us, but if we humble ourselves before God there is hope.
2. Consider how God judges
2. Consider how God judges
So God is going to bring foreigners against the king of Tyre. They will draw their swords against your beauty and wisdom and pierce your shining splendour he is told (8) They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die a violent death in the heart of the seas. You will die the death of the uncircumcised at the hands of foreigners. I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD. Tyre would be besieged by Nebuchadnezzar and his armies and eventually ruined. That is a temporal judgement – a judgement in time – but it points forward to the coming final judgement, when all the proud will be brought down completely forever. That will be the end of any supposed beauty or wisdom in the proud. God will pierce their shining splendour. Again, realise where pride leads.
3. Consider why God judges
3. Consider why God judges
In verse 9 God asks Will you then say, I am a god, in the presence of those who kill you? No you will be but a man, not a god, in the hands of those who slay you. God reduces the man to size, as it were. He shows him up for what he really is. The truth is revealed.
Again I say then, beware of living in a fantasy world. Wake up to reality now before it is too late!
3. Consider man's glory and rejoice
3. Consider man's glory and rejoice
In verses 11-19 The word of the LORD comes to Ezekiel again and this time he is told Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: This is what the Sovereign LORD says. First the king is pictured in all his beauty and splendour. Partly the description is only of how the king thought of things but what is said here also describes in elevated language how it was in fact. It is difficult to divide the passage and not every reference is obvious.
1. He was a model of perfection
1. He was a model of perfection
You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created. Clearly here we are not speaking of a real blamelessness but of a comparative perfection. This is how the king thought of himself and to an extent that is how it was. A certain wisdom and beauty was present and Tyre was a model of success to other city states.
2. He was like Adam in the garden
2. He was like Adam in the garden
13a You were in Eden, the garden of God. This seems to be a reference to Adam in the Garden of Eden. Just as Adam was king over that wonderful kingdom so the King of Tyre was in not a perfect kingdom but one that at least harked back in some way to the perfection of Eden.
3. He was adorned in precious stones
3. He was adorned in precious stones
The artist Damien Hurst has recently taken an 18th century skull and studded it with 8,601 diamonds and everyone is impressed with it but here we read Every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. This sort of thing was literally seen in Tyre. The emphasis is on the glory of the king – not some precious stones but every precious stone.
4. He was like a guardian cherub
4. He was like a guardian cherub
14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. It is not clear whether we have the cherubim spreading their wings over the ark of the covenant in mind here or the cherubim who barred the way to the Tree of Life after the Fall. The reference to the holy mount of God suggests the former. Whichever, the king saw himself as a guardian angel to his people – protecting them, guarding them. He was glorious among them.
Now as we have said before, the Bible does not seek to denigrate human achievement. Yes, the achievements of the king were great. That is not denied. He was like Adam in the garden, like a guardian cherub. And perhaps you could merit such praise too. But that is only part of the story.
4. Consider man's sin and realise
Now as we have said before, the Bible does not seek to denigrate human achievement. Yes, the achievements of the king were great. That is not denied. He was like Adam in the garden, like a guardian cherub. And perhaps you could merit such praise too. But that is only part of the story.
4. Consider man's sin and realise
In verse 15 God says You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created ... till wickedness was found in you. He goes on (16) Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. Despite his exalted status, despite all his advantages, it did not lead him to humble himself before God as it should have. He was in Eden – but that is God's garden. He was anointed as a guardian cherub but why? For so I ordained you. It was on the holy mount of God he served. How easily we forget the source of our gifts and advantages. We should remember that (in the words of James 1:17) Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. The moment we forget that we are in big trouble.
5. Consider man's ruin and repent
5. Consider man's ruin and repent
Because of his sin, this king is warned of coming punishment. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. ... So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. ... So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.
Despite his very exalted status he came crashing down. A horrible end came. He is no more. What a warning to all who are proud. 17, 18 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour ... By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries.
Despite his very exalted status he came crashing down. A horrible end came. He is no more. What a warning to all who are proud. 17, 18 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour ... By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries.
How careful we must be! You know the proverb (16:18) Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Take warning and turn to the Lord and humble yourself before him now. If you look to Jesus Christ there is hope.
In 1 Corinthians 1:20-24 Paul asks Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? He answers Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
In 1 Corinthians 1:20-24 Paul asks Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? He answers Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
