LIFE-STUDY OF EZEKIEL
Message 15
THE JUDGMENT OF GOD UPON THE NATIONS
WEEK 6 - FRIDAY
Scripture Reading: Deut. 32:8; Isa. 61:6; 2:3; Ezek. 14:21; Acts 20:19; Rev. 1:11
Read and pray: “But you shall be called the priests of the Lord; men shall call you the ministers of our God; you shall eat the riches of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast.” (Isa. 61:6)
In this message we come to the matter of God’s judgment upon the nations. This is covered in chapters twenty-five through thirty-two.
According to Genesis 11, rebellious humanity sought to do something to build the tower and the city of Babel in order to gather themselves together and make a name for themselves. However, the Lord came down to execute His judgment upon these rebellious people. Under the Lord’s judgment, Babel became a center not for gathering but for scattering, and the human race was scattered from Babel as the center.
Deuteronomy 32:8 says, “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.” Here we see that God established the boundaries of all the nations according to the number of the people of Israel. This indicates that in His economy on the earth among the human race, God made Israel the center. Israel is the center of the population of the earth. Surely God did this with a purpose.
If we look at a map, we will see that Palestine¹, the good land where God placed Israel, is the real center of the inhabited earth. Palestine is situated in the center of the three continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, the continents where the human race began. Later the human population spread to America and also to Australia.
The central location of the land of Israel provided a good opportunity for the spreading of the gospel. We know from history that the preaching of the gospel began in Jerusalem and then spread to Europe, Egypt, and Asia.
Eventually the preaching of the gospel spread to America and Australia. This was God’s purpose in placing His people in the center of the human population.
Furthermore, according to the prophecy concerning the coming age, the millennium, the people of Israel will be the priests who teach all the nations to worship God (Isa. 61:6; 2:3). These prophecies also show us that Palestine is the center of the earth.
However, in the time of Ezekiel the people of Israel became degraded and unsuitable for God’s purpose. Their degraded situation forced God to execute His judgment upon them and, temporarily, to give up Palestine as His center.
God turned again to Babel and raised up King Nebuchadnezzar, who built the great Babylonian empire. The Babylonian empire then became God’s center for executing His judgment.
Through the empire of Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar, God executed His judgment not only upon His people Israel but also upon the nations.
SEVEN REPRESENTATIVE NATIONS
Chapters twenty-five through thirty-two of Ezekiel speak of seven nations that were around the nation of Israel. Actually, there were more nations around Israel, but the record mentions only seven.
This is similar to the mention of the seven churches in Asia in Revelation 1—3. When the Lord spoke of the churches in Asia, He selected seven (1:11). This does not mean that there were only seven churches in Asia, but that the Lord chose seven representative churches.
The principle is the same in the book of Ezekiel. There were more than seven nations around Israel, but the Lord chose seven nations as representatives of all the nations. These seven nations were: Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt.
Divided into Three Groups
These seven nations are divided into three groups. The first four nations—Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia—form the first group; Tyre and Sidon compose the second group; and Egypt stands alone.
We know that these nations are divided into these three groups because Ezekiel saw three separate visions at three different times concerning these groups. His first vision covers the first four nations; his second vision, Tyre and Sidon; and his third vision, Egypt.
Furthermore, the first two, Ammon and Moab, fit as a pair; the third and the fourth, Edom and Philistia, as another pair; and the fifth and the sixth, Tyre and Sidon, are a pair. Only Egypt stands alone.
Applicable to the Present Situation
The Old Testament is not merely a record of history but a record that can be applied to the church today. We need to keep this in mind when we read the book of Ezekiel and be impressed with the fact that Ezekiel was not written merely for the sake of history. Rather, the record in this book is applicable to the present situation. Therefore, we need to know the spiritual application of all these seven representative nations.
Previously we pointed out that the spiritual application of the wild beasts is that some evil persons might be in the church as wolves (Ezek. 14:21; Acts 20:19). Here we have the spiritual application of Ezekiel’s word concerning the wild beasts. Now we need to see the spiritual application of the seven nations. Otherwise, we may read these chapters merely as prophecies that were fulfilled in history.
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¹ The term “Palestine” derives from the Philistines. The region was inhabited by many peoples over thousands of years. The people of Israel arose in the region—whose original name was Canaan—around 1200 B.C. The Romans began to use the name Syria Palaestina in the second century A.D., after the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135 A.D.), when they reorganized the province. Arabs began to inhabit the region from the seventh century A.D.
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