By Kevin Shrum
Pastor, Inglewood Baptist Church, Nashville
Focal Passage: Ezekiel 28:11-19; 25-26
My car warns me all the time; yes, my car. If I get into my car without buckling my seatbelt, it warns me with an annoying sound. If one of the car doors is left ajar, it warns me. These warnings are annoying, but necessary. They are meant for my safety and security. These warnings want me to change my mind about not buckling up or closing my vehicle doors.
God warns us as well. In fact, the Bible is filled with “oracles of woe,” (see Matthew 23) warnings, threats, and judgments that God announces to His people so that they might change their minds, repent of sin, and return to Him. So, as we think about God as a God of grace and mercy, we must also be reminded that our Holy God is a God who announces warnings and makes judgments against sinners. In brief, God offers grace to the humble and brings down the proud (James 4:6-10).
Kevin Shrum
Past glory, Ezekiel 28:11-15: When an “oracle of woe” is given in Scripture it is often preceded by rehearsing the place from which a person or nation has fallen. As Ezekiel announces these woes against seven nations — Ammon, Moab, Edom, the Philistines, Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt — God reminds each nation of their once glorious history.
In each case, the phrase, “You were” is followed by some attribute that characterized a once glorious nation yet, because of their sinful activities, is under God’s judgment. For example, Tyre had been “full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (v. 12). Further, the beauty and wealth of the nation had been turned into ugliness and poverty of spirit (v. 13). They had been “appointed” by God as a “holy mountain of God” (v. 14) but now they were unholy. God had made them “blameless in your ways until wickedness was found in you” (v. 15). Their beauty had been turned to ashes.
Rebellion announced, Ezekiel 28:16-19: Rather than glory these nations chose disgrace. These nations became “filled with violence, and you sinned” (v. 16). God “banished” them (v. 16). Pride, corruption, dishonest trade resulted in the nations being “appalled” at them (v. 19). God pronounced the greatest judgment on these nations — they would “never exist again” (v. 19).
The individual or nation that sins against God will be brought into judgment. It may seem like God is slow in His judgments, but He is not. God is the great accountant in history; He will hold people accountable, people who are filled with sinful pride.
Hope stirred, Ezekiel 28:25-26: Yet, amid God’s judgment hope is offered through God’s people. God promises to gather His “scattered” people (v. 25). God promised to refresh the revelation of His holiness through the people of God and to resettle them in the land of promise.
Further, God promised they would “live securely, build houses, and plant vineyards” (v. 26). The ultimate outcome of God restoring the fortunes of His people would be that “they will know that I am the Lord their God” (v. 26).
While God will judge sin, He offers hope, forgiveness and restoration to the humble and repentant. The ultimate purpose of God’s warnings and His restoration is so that we might know Him as the Savior God. . B&R — Shrum is pastor of Inglewood Baptist Church, Nashville and is a past president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention
