Ezekiel 28-30
Ezekiel 28
2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
This chapter is a great warning to all those atheist who think they raise themselves up. As you read it, insert your name in, instead of Tyrus. If you are already a True Christian ™ insert the name of a prominent atheist. I'm reading this chapter as a letter to Richard Dawkins.
4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
God is the one who made Richard Dawkins smart. Because God made him smart, that allowed him to become rich.
6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
Dawkins says there is no god. By doing that, he sets himself up as high as the LORD. Because of that, God's going to bring him down.
9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
Some day, a devout christian will meet Dawkins and probably kill him, just like they do those abortion doctors. All the knowledge that he has isn't going to save him. He may say to his attacker/accuser "I am God", but that won't save him.
10 Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
He'll die, just like the rest of the uncircumcised.
He continues with more lamentations for Tyrus (Dawkins).
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Remember, iniquity is more than just sin. Iniquity is loving the sin. It's saying God will forgive me, even if I don't stop my sinful behavior.
19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
When his demise comes, everyone will know that he was wrong, and they will be warned not to be like him.
21 Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,
Zidon/Sidon was a fishing town about 25 miles north of Tyre.
23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
If Tyre is Dawkins, the Sidon is Sam Harris. Tyre is the big city, Sidon is the little follower, that writes his own inflammatory books like
Letter to a Christian Nation.
23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
There will be a great cleansing of those atheist scums.
24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
That sounds like Harris, a pricking brier in the house of the LORD. Him and his remarks that cause people to doubt their faith!
25 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.
After God takes out the enemy cities, he's going to rebuild his favorites. Just like when Dawkins and Harris are gone, God's church will be stronger.
26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.
And they all lived happily ever after.
Ezekiel 29
2 Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
Big town of Tyre, little town of Sidon; now the huge country of Egypt.
3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
Pharaoh and Egypt worship the Nile as their source of strength.
God doesn't promise to dry up the Nile, he threatens to take away the fish.
6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
Reeds don't make good staffs. They break.
7 When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.
A good staff is made of hard wood.
9 And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.
God made the river, God is the one to be worshiped, not the river.
12 And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
In 564 BC, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt. He beat the crap out of them.
15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.
They were pretty much destroyed in the first 20 years. They started to rebuild in the next 20, but never really attained the world power title that they had prior.
Next it speaks of Nebuchadnezzar attacking Tyre and not being satisfied, so God then gives him Egypt.
Ezekiel 30
4 And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.
God again promises bad things for Egypt.
7 And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted.
Egypt is going to be as sucky as all those other african countries that are sucky.
8 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.
I don't fully understand how the people of Egypt are going to know that the God of Israel is the one who's doing this, when Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon was doing the destructing. Nebuchadnezzar would have been a follower of Marduk.
19 Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
I still don't understand how people are going to figure out that the God of Israel is the one. That'd be like having Japan attack China and wiping them out, and then we are supposed to understand that God was the reason it happened.
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.
I don't think his arm was actually broken. I think it's figurative, meaning that he isn't going to be able to use his army.
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.
Not only is Pharaoh going to be screwed, but Nebuchadnezzar is going to be taking some steroids.
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.
Every time someone wins, you should know that God is the LORD.
When Kurt Warner loses the Superbowl, you should know that God is the LORD. Sadly, I don't think God will ever use the Cubs as his weapon against the Yankees in the World Series, so that those scum in New York will know that God is the LORD. Even though God has the strength of a Unicorn (Numbers 23:22) he probably isn't strong enough to make the Cubs win a world series. Although stranger things are possible.
So what have we learned today?
1. Tyre and Sidon will be destroyed. So will Dawkins and Harris.
2. Egypt will be destroyed.
3. God is going to make Egypt weak, and Babylon strong, so that we will know that He did it... somehow, we'll know that God was behind it.
YIC
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