Ezekiel 31 vs 1-18

Ezekiel Chapter 31 Verses 1 – 3
•Ezekiel gives this fifth prophecy against Egypt, as he has done many times, with a specific date. This date has been calculated to be June 21st, 587 BC and in this, God tells him to place this not only upon Pharaoh King of Egypt, but also to his multitude. And that’s where we come in.
•I sometimes wonder at the relevancy of the Word of God. There are great lessons and truths, guidelines for life that just work and you find them in other places and sources as well. For example, (and this is just one example of very many), Jesus said in Luke 8:17, “Nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.” Which aligns quite well with what Buddha once said, “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
•The Bible is full of relevant life lessons and seeds of truth that transcend into even secular understanding, why…? Because its just how life works. But what causes me to wonder at the Bible is that even as we embark upon a fifth pronouncement of judgement upon a long-expired nation, (and this is only found in the pages of scripture), we find relevancy for each person that would hear tonight. That just blows me away. Egypt’s downfall, Assyria’s defeat 1,500 years ago has absolutely nothing to do with me at all and yet, because this is the living Word of God, it has so much to do with me…that is astonishing.
•What we read tonight was given for Ezekiel to proclaim upon Egypt but did it ever get to the ear of Pharaoh? Probably not. Ezekiel was in Babylon and before he gets out, Egypt will be gone…so what is given to him was for him, for those who would hear, there with him in Babylon…and as it says here…for the multitude of the world, even you tonight.
Ezekiel Chapter 31 Verse 4
•There’s a bit of a dual application here. Because the basic principle is whatever waters you…causes you to grow. What you are today is what’s been feeding you for years. And what you’ve grown into, you grow others into…because everyone has an impact upon everyone! It’s just the way of the world, man!
•In one application, Assyria was grown by the world. That is one way to take this in to further our own understanding. Assyria was built up and supported and watered and cared for by the world…and so it grew to great heights…and it taught others to do the same. It showed them the way. Look at these next verses…
Ezekiel Chapter 31 Verses 5 – 12
•God had enabled, God was there and at any time they could have acknowledged Him, but something was off. God is not going to do something just to destroy it! That’s not His character! He does something to flourish it! And so, something went wrong here…they had turned to each other, worldliness and godlessness, heart lifted up into its own height, and so what they built…crumbled! Psalm 127:1 - Unless the Lord builds it man, he who builds, builds in vain. So, what is the water underneath your roots…what is building your life!!?
•The other application here is that water in the Bible is a type of the Word of God. It’s also a type of the refreshing and filling and over-filling of the Holy Spirit! Jesus said in John 7:37-38, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink! Come and do that and out of your heart will FLOW rivers of living waters!” Isaiah 44:3, “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring!”
•So, read through these things…and stop short of the destruction. That’s the second application. The height, the length, the abundance, the usefulness, the resourcefulness, hospitality, the beauty…the garden of God all of that is God’s doing and all of that He desires for you but lift your heart within yourself, refuse lowliness of preference towards others and lordship of Jesus Christ…never grow past pride…you will not be the first exception to Proverbs 16:18, “Pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
•Why not rather follow the Lord? Acknowledge Him and be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. It’s like a rock that lives in a river. Take that rock out of the river and split it open. In its center, its dry! How? It lives in the water? Well, it’s so hard that the water was never able to get inside….
•….God wants all of this for me…the height, the length, the abundance, the usefulness, the resourcefulness, the beauty…and look, it’s not your life necessarily, this is the heart…the life can be (in a way), in shambles…but the one that is faithful to the Lord, humble, kind, lowly in heart, one who sticks near to the Lord…that doesn’t worship anyone or anything else but the Lord…the heart is the very garden of God!
•And I LOVE this…look, all the way back in verse 4…I love that it is “underground waters.” Not seen. Not found by any other way than digging in, reaching deeper, tunneling and burrowing and striving to get to that source…and then when you hit it…no one knows but you. Why? Because that is what God wants. He wants it between you and Him! He is a relational God! Not a religious God. Academic God. Legalistic God! He is a relational God…and until you hit that source yourself…the only water you get is by intertwining with other roots…co-dependance and that is SLAVERY!
Ezekiel Chapter 31 Verse 13
•Assyria went, while Israel watched, from the highest height to the depth of the lowest low. Those who exalt themselves will eventually find the same. But you know what, that’s not all-together a total loss. Once you fall from your high horse, go ahead and find that place of burial for your flesh…remember, the hidden water source is in the ground.
•Jesus said in John 12:24, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” Man, this means so much more to me now in my walk than it ever has before…isn’t it wild how the Word of God is like that!? I always took this “alone” as in, man don’t nobody (forgive my street slang) want to be around someone who is full of pride! And especially someone FULL of themselves and self-deceived thinking they are not! That is a prison to be around them! You give and love and hurt and wait giving everything you have…and they return crumbs…And so they would be alone….
•But now I see that God was not talking about someone being without earthly friends but rather without HIM! No source! NO strength. No height. No usefulness. No abundance. No beauty! But if it all crumbles and they humble themselves, like Assyria could have, like Israel could have, then they can then be set free to draw near to the Lord!
•And man, there it is! Folks don’t draw near to the Lord and they remain in this half-alive state not because they don’t want to or they have decided not to….it’s because they are TRAPPED! It’s a trap, man! Pride is a trap and FIRM are its braces and bars. Jesus said, take up your cross, Paul said, we reckon ourselves dead to sin, and he also said in Colossians 3:3 that your life is not hidden in a good ministry or a good marriage or a good career or a good legacy but your life is hidden in CHRIST! Big statement here…stop worshipping everything else and calling it love! Seek the Lord, worship Him…that’s where loneliness is overcome! That’s that underground, not for anyone else, resource that God has for me and for you!
Ezekiel Chapter 31 Verse 14
•You know, many movements and many Jews and even many Christians deny the reality of hell. Yet the Old Testament, the New Testament, the prophets and the gospel writers…even Jesus Himself, none of them deny the reality of hell.
•Hell is the place where people that have died in their sin await the final judgment. To deny hell is to deny the holiness of God wholesale…
Ezekiel Chapter 31 Verses 15 – 18
•That last statement is so final! In the end, after its all said and done. All you’ve built. All you’ve led. All you’ve lived…THIS IS Pharaoh. Wow. Nothing else matters in the end but where you end up. Where has it all brought you to…sobering!
•Israel watched this. They knew this happened to Assyria and they knew why it happened. Egypt saw their downfall too…but yet chose the same path thinking that they would be the exception to the rule. It’s crazy. Why do we do this? We see what someone else’s ministry has become, what their career has become, what their marriage has become and yet so many just scoff at their demise and then choose the same path. Wow. It’s nonsense. It’s insane! That is a bad water source…
•In the end, one last point, and this one is a doozey…the ruler of Egypt thought himself as strong as the renown of Assyria but truly, he was just as weak. Let me give you this…this is 100 how I conduct my life and man, I’m not setting myself up as any superior but I am concerned that there are so few that have found this….
•Admire the gain. Wonder at the greatness. Investigate the wealth and the glean the clever tactics. But…inspect the foundation to discover its end…and to learn also what not to take…what not to apply…what to avoid. And if you are building, which I most certainly am, ALWAYS, make sure that the underlying water is the Word of God and the worship of only and alone, Jesus Christ! The end of it all is either pit or pinnacle. And every trap is a pit trap…while the pinnacle is reached ONLY through humility and purity of worship towards God alone.