Ezekiel 28

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The only thing I can comprehend about the love of God is to believe.  There are no words to form a sentence to state the love of God.  God protects Israel, even when they knew they have done wrong.  Those who held on to God, God took extreme care of them.  When the 70 disciples told Jesus they could not follow Him any longer,  Jesus asked the 12, will you leave Me also?  Peter responded no, Lord, where can we go?  You have eternal life.  When we make our minds up to follow Jesus, we have no need to walk away.  He is absolutely everything we need.  By the way, where else can we go?  Stay with Him.  He is worth it!

This lesson talks of a king who had it all being a king, but all was not enough.  He wanted what God said you will never have.

The word of the LORD came to me again, saying, 

When we can be trusted by God, God will continue to use and speak through us.  All God wants from anyone is to say only what He says the way He said it.  That is all.  It is just that simple.

"Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because your heart is lifted up, And you say, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, In the midst of the seas,' Yet you are a man, and not a god, Though you set your heart as the heart of a god 

The king of Tyre got lifted up in pride.  He called himself god.  He thought that what he ruled and had accumulated was enough to crown himself because of stuff.

(Behold, you are wiser than Daniel! There is no secret that can be hidden from you! 

God compares him to Daniel, who nothing was hidden from his understanding.

With your wisdom and your understanding You have gained riches for yourself, And gathered gold and silver into your treasuries; 

By your great wisdom in trade you have increased your riches, And your heart is lifted up because of your riches)," 

'Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god, 

God explains why He is going to bring the king of Tyre down.

Behold, therefore, I will bring strangers against you, The most terrible of the nations; And they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, And defile your splendor. 

All the things you have been labeled the beauty of your wisdom.  Things you thought of, but strangers will fight against you who known to be ruthless.  And they will destroy your beautiful stuff.

They shall throw you down into the Pit, And you shall die the death of the slain In the midst of the seas. 

"Will you still say before him who slays you, 'I am a god'? But you shall be a man, and not a god, In the hand of him who slays you. 

You will say that you are god while they are fighting against you, but you are not a god; you are a man.

You shall die the death of the uncircumcised By the hand of aliens; For I have spoken," says the Lord GOD.' " 

The men who kill you don't know Me as God.  I spoke, and I am God.

Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 

God spoke more.

"Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 

You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. 

"You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 

You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. 

"By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. 

God describes the king of Tyre the same way the described satan.  When we respond like satan, God's description of us will be the truth that describes our behavior.  Satan's attributes are the same as the king of Tyre.

"Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. 

The king of Tyre corrupted the wisdom God gave him because of luxury.  I brought you down in front of kings, so they could see. 

"You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you. 

All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever." ' " 

The king that many knew has been destroyed by God, and the people who knew you are shocked.

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 

God moves to the neighbor of Tyre and said,

"Son of man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against her, 

"and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against you, O Sidon; I will be glorified in your midst; And they shall know that I am the LORD, When I execute judgments in her and am hallowed in her. 

God said His glory will be known by executing judgment against Sidon.  People will know that He is God.

For I will send pestilence upon her, And blood in her streets; The wounded shall be judged in her midst By the sword against her on every side; Then they shall know that I am the LORD. 

God describes what will take place in Sidon under His judgment.

"And there shall no longer be a pricking brier or a painful thorn for the house of Israel from among all who are around them, who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord GOD." 

Israel will be at peace because those who bullied her continuously are dead.

'Thus says the Lord GOD: "When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob. 

"And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God."

God judged Israel, His people.  God did not forsake them totally.  He punishes, and He forgives.  Just as a father who loves his children when they do wrong will punish, so will God who loves us.  Even when Israel deserved to die, God said you will live again.