DAY 241 Read Ezekiel 27, 28, 30:20-26.
Today's reading: Among some remarkable prophecies concerning Tyre and Sidon, we find in chapter 28 one of the descriptions of Satan's fall, in a message to the "king of Tyrus."
Memory gem: "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee" (Ezekiel 28:15).
Thought for today:
There was another city near Tyre--in fact, a sister city, thirty miles to the north--which had been in competition with Tyre for centuries: the city of Sidon. When the prophet made his prediction about successful Tyre being obliterated and not being rebuilt (see Ezekiel 26), Sidon was declining. Anyone judging the situation on Ezekiel's time would have said that Sidon was the one to be destroyed, and not Tyre.
Sidon's decline continued for centuries. In 351 B.C. the city was captured and utterly destroyed by Artaxerxes Ochus, king of Persia. But it was immediately rebuilt.
Notice that God's judgment upon Sidon, recorded in Ezekiel 28:21-23, was not to destroy her--no utter extinction here--but blood in her streets, wounded in her midst, the sword on every side, warfare about her. And this has been her history, to the very present minute in which we are speaking. I have visited Sidon a number of times and actually preached there on the waterfront, overlooking the harbor where the fishing boats still come in.
Tyre was to be destroyed; Sidon was to remain. History proves God spoke the truth.
Suppose Ezekeil had said that both Tyre and Sidon would be destroyed, which would certainly seem likely, as they had the same kind of business and were close together. And suppose that he said that neither would be rebuilt. Then the 10,000 inhabitants of Sidon would be a living proof of the falsity of the prophecy. How did it happen the prophet was right in both cases? The answer is that he was inspired by God to write history before it occurred.
NOTE: Verses 11 through 19 of Ezekiel 28 contains language that could not apply to any human king. It seems logical to consider this passage as a description of the real power behind the wicked Tyrian king--Satan himself. Compare these verses with Isaiah 14:12-14.
Today's reading: Among some remarkable prophecies concerning Tyre and Sidon, we find in chapter 28 one of the descriptions of Satan's fall, in a message to the "king of Tyrus."
Memory gem: "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee" (Ezekiel 28:15).
Thought for today:
There was another city near Tyre--in fact, a sister city, thirty miles to the north--which had been in competition with Tyre for centuries: the city of Sidon. When the prophet made his prediction about successful Tyre being obliterated and not being rebuilt (see Ezekiel 26), Sidon was declining. Anyone judging the situation on Ezekiel's time would have said that Sidon was the one to be destroyed, and not Tyre.
Sidon's decline continued for centuries. In 351 B.C. the city was captured and utterly destroyed by Artaxerxes Ochus, king of Persia. But it was immediately rebuilt.
Notice that God's judgment upon Sidon, recorded in Ezekiel 28:21-23, was not to destroy her--no utter extinction here--but blood in her streets, wounded in her midst, the sword on every side, warfare about her. And this has been her history, to the very present minute in which we are speaking. I have visited Sidon a number of times and actually preached there on the waterfront, overlooking the harbor where the fishing boats still come in.
Tyre was to be destroyed; Sidon was to remain. History proves God spoke the truth.
Suppose Ezekeil had said that both Tyre and Sidon would be destroyed, which would certainly seem likely, as they had the same kind of business and were close together. And suppose that he said that neither would be rebuilt. Then the 10,000 inhabitants of Sidon would be a living proof of the falsity of the prophecy. How did it happen the prophet was right in both cases? The answer is that he was inspired by God to write history before it occurred.
NOTE: Verses 11 through 19 of Ezekiel 28 contains language that could not apply to any human king. It seems logical to consider this passage as a description of the real power behind the wicked Tyrian king--Satan himself. Compare these verses with Isaiah 14:12-14.
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