It’s not hard to find institutions that seem all powerful. Nobody can stop them. They’re all over the world. The Mafia. Islamic State in Northern Iraq. The regime of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. In some parts of the world, the United States, even our own nation, can feel that way. Even in our own country, maybe the government, maybe your employer, seem unstoppable. They can do what they want.
This is nothing new. In Bible times, there were regimes that felt just like that. Institutions, nations, leaders, so powerful, nobody tells them what to do.
And yet against that, the prophets spoke loudly. They insisted that God is in charge. He is all powerful. And the domineering powers of the day can only do what God permits them.
Today, we get to hear the prophet Ezekiel tells us that God is sovereign over the nation of Egypt.
God Sovereign over Egypt
We’re looking at Ezekiel chapter 30, verse 1-19. It’s a unit within the book of Ezekiel. Chapter 30 verse 1: The word of the Lord came to me. Chapter 30 verse 20: In the eleventh year, in the first month on the seventh day, the word of the Lord came to me.
And our unit divides up into 4 sections, each of which is introduced with the same formula. Verse 2: This is what the sovereign Lord says. Verse 6: This is what the Lord says. Verse 10: This is what the sovereign Lord says. Verse 13: This is what the sovereign Lord says.
In case you missed it, this is the sovereign Lord speaking. The God who’s in control.
Let me sum up what he has to say, then we’ll think about the implications for today.
First section, verses 2 to 5. Everyone is to wail, because God is coming to judge Egypt. There will be a battle. Many will die. Their riches will be carted off. Their cities will be flattened.
Second section, verses 6 to 9: Egypt’s allies. Other nations who have taken sides with Egypt. They’ll go as well.
Third section, verses 10 to 12: Who’s going to do this. The answer is frightening. It’s Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. His army has the reputation of being the most ruthless, vicious, violent army in the known world. It’s God’s doing. He’ll dry up the Nile. But the fearsome Babylonians will be his agent.
Fourth section, verses 13 to 19: The intensity of the pain, and the totality of the coverage. Sword. Fire. Darkness. Pain. Agony. Right across Egypt. 7 towns and districts are mentioned by name. 7 for the whole of Egypt. 7 of the most well-known. Names like these make our eyes glaze over, but that’s because we don’t live in Ancient Egypt. If it said London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol, Liverpool and Leeds, we’d get the point. We’d pay attention.
That’s what’s going to happen. And it’s totally just. Verse 19: So I will inflict punishment on Egypt, and they will know that I am the Lord.
“What’s Egypt being punished for?” you ask. Two things. The first is idolatry. Verse 13: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis. Memphis was the centre for worship of the Egyptian god Ptah. They had others – Re, and Amon. They even thought that their kings, the pharaohs, were gods. Rather than worship the one true God, the God of Israel, the Father of Jesus Christ, they invented their own.
And second they were punished for their pride. Verse 4 speaks of their wealth being carried away. It’s a word that captures so much more than riches. Egypt was a prosperous nation, with a powerful army, great cities, much gold, and many achievements. This was her wealth. All of that would be dismantled.
For her pride, and her idolatry, Egypt would be judged. Painfully. Taking out her allies. At the hands of the Babylonians. Across the whole of the land.
And so it would be seen that God is God in Egypt. Not their king, the Pharaoh. Not their idols, their long list of gods. And not their wealth. No, the one who is in charge of Egypt is God himself.
God is sovereign over Egypt.
That’s what this chapter is saying. And there are two big implications – for the Israelites of Ezekiel’s day, and for us in our own day.
No-one Stands in the Way of his Judgement
First, no-one stands in the way of God’s judgement. No-one stands in the way of God’s judgement.
If you are an Egyptian, God is coming to judge Egypt. He’s so powerful that he starts fires, dries up the river, and brings darkness in the middle of the day. He’s done this once before, and he’s going to do it again.
God is so powerful, you can’t hope to stand in his way. If you remember the dreadful pictures of the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, you get a scaled down picture of this. A huge wall of water that swept over parts of Indonesia, and other nations to the west, causing devastation, and costing 280,000 lives. Sheer power. Putting up an umbrella would do nothing.
No Egyptian can stand in the way of God’s judgement. But there’s another angle on this as well.
If you’re an Israelite, you can’t hide behind Egypt.
Israel was half-way through being punished by God herself. Again, the Babylonians were the agents. They’d invaded the land once; they were shortly to return and finish the job.
Some Israelites were looking at Egypt and thinking that Egypt looked appealingly sturdy. If any nation on earth can stop these Babylonians, Egypt can. Maybe, if the Israelites made friends with the Egyptians, they could stand against God’s judgement.
But no-one stands in the way of God’s judgement. The Babylonians were God’s agents to judge Israel, and if Israel was tempted to hide behind the Egyptians they need to know that God can sweep them away just as easily.
Perhaps you’re in the garden. Some tiny bug notices you and is worried you’re about to hurt it. So the bug crawls under a leaf. I’ll be safe here. He can’t get me with this leaf on top of me. But all you’d have to do is lift the leaf.
No-one stands in the way of God’s judgement. The Egyptians can’t prevent God can judging them. The Israelites can’t rely on the Egyptians to stop God judging them either. God is sovereign over Egypt.
If God moves in judgement, you can’t stop him.
Now this is a perfectly safe thing to say if you’re talking about two ancient nations. But this is not just about ancient nations.
The apostle Paul taught in Athens that God has set a date for the day of the Lord. This will not just be judgement day for a nation or two, but for every human being, past and present. Jesus himself will be the judge. Indeed, Jesus said as much in John chapter 5. A time is coming when all who are in their graves will heave my voice and come out – those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
The trouble is, none of us can truly say we’ve done good. Not only good. Not all the good that God requires of us. Which means that the idea of a day for God to judge is not good news.
Yet no-one can stand in the way of his judgement. The Egyptians couldn’t save themselves with their wealth, their king or their gods. And we cannot save ourselves with our wealth, by having friends in high places, by having a vicar in the family, by coming to church regularly. No-one stands in the way of God’s judgement.
No-one Stands in the Way of his Blessing
But there’s a second implication as well. No-one stands in the way of God’s blessing. No-one stands in the way of God’s blessing.
This is the flipside of it. If God will judge Israel’s enemies. If God is stronger than the mightiest opponents of his people. Then God is able to rescue and deliver his people from their strongest enemies.
That’s partly why this section is in the book of Ezekiel. If you will, come back with me a couple of pages to chapter 28, verses 25 and 26. We’re right in the heart of the section of Ezekiel addressing other nations. Here’s what God says, chapter 28, verse 25:
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: when I gather the people of Israel from the nations where they have been scattered, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of the nations. Then they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. They will live there in safety and will build houses and plant vineyards; they will live in safety when I inflict punishment on all their neighbours who maligned them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.
God has made some big promises to bless his people. Those promises go right back to the time of Abraham. But right now, the people have some pretty scary enemies. Does that mean that God’s promises will come to nothing?
No. It does not. Because God is stronger than the biggest enemies they have. God will judge those enemies for the things they do. God’s purpose to bless his people will win out.
God will judge his people, but after that he will bless them. He’ll bless them just as he promised to. As we read on in Ezekiel, God’s promises to bless his people become much more specific. So specific that it’s clear to us that Jesus is the one who will do this. Exile will not be the end for the people of Israel, because Jesus will come.
Which means that Jesus is not only the judge. He’s also our rescuer. He went through God’s judgement himself on the cross. He did that, so that everyone who follows him can live.
And one day he’ll come back from heaven. He’ll visit this earth again. And when he does so, the whole world will be made new. There’ll no more pain or suffering of any kind. Those who have followed Jesus will enjoy a perfect life, an unspoilt life, a life with him.
They’re wonderful promises that God has made to bless us. But there are so many obstacles in the way. Big obstacles. Real obstacles. Some of us are plagued with sickness. We continue to sin and let God down. In some parts of the world especially, Christians are persecuted intensely for their faith. They’re made refugees, separated from their families, sometimes even killed. And then there’s death. Each of us will die one day.
Those are big obstacles. Jesus made some pretty big promises to come back and fix everything. His own resurrection is a good start. But will the rest of it ever happen?
The answer from Ezekiel chapter 30 is a resounding “yes”. No-one stands in the way of God’s blessing. No-one. He’s the powerful one. He’s the one in control.
The New Testament says exactly the same thing in Romans chapter 8. The one in control of this world is the same Lord Jesus who loved us and died for us.
Romans chapter 8, verse 35. Page 1135.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord
Conclusion
There are some big and powerful people in the world. It’s easy to feel small and vulnerable.
Ezekiel wants us to see that God towers over all of them. He’s the powerful one. He’s the one in control.
Which means there’s no escaping from his judgement. We can’t hope to wriggle out of it. We can’t hope to find someone big enough and strong enough to look after us. When God moves in judgement, he’s inescapable.
But it also means there’s no escaping from his blessing. Nobody stands in God’s path. He has promised the most amazing blessings, the most wonderful future, for everyone who trusts and follows the Lord Jesus. And neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.