Ezekiel
31 reminds me of the “unsinkable” Titanic sailing across the
North Atlantic on its maiden voyage at record speed. The ship was
the definition of opulence and ego and had no rival in the open ocean
(beside her twin sister Olympic). The technological marvel sank in
less than 120 minutes. 1500 souls were lost in clear and calm water.
I imagine the captain confidently strolled through the ship admiring
the fine woodwork and stained-glass only minutes before the Iceberg
crossed its path. Today’s chapter is written in poem form and
pointed to a nation that also believed it was unsinkable. It begins,
“Say to Pharaoh king of Egypt…
Consider Assyria“. God
compares them to “a cedar in
Lebanon… with beautiful branches“,
the finest of the forest. The chapter describes the splendor of this
cedar, “The waters nourished
it, deep springs made it grow tall… So it towered higher than all
the trees of the field… All the birds of the sky nested in its
boughs, all the animals of the wild gave birth under its branches;
all the great nations lived in its shade“.
To be clear, it was not a delusion of grandeur, “I
made it beautiful with abundant branches, the envy of all the trees
of Eden in the garden of God“.
Trees, nations and people have this in common, if we are not
growing, we are dying. Arrogant pride keeps us from noticing until
disaster strikes.
The chapter continues with God’s
commentary, “Because the great
cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its
height, I
gave it into the hands of the ruler of the nations“.
Who is this ruler of nations? One day Christ will return and reign
and rule, but for the moment, “Now
is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world
will be driven out” (John
12:31). Later John said to believers, “The
One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world”
(1 John 4:4). Ezekiel continues, “according
to its wickedness. I
cast it aside, and
the most ruthless of foreign nations cut it down and left it… its
branches lay broken in all the ravines“.
It was left to rot in the field with no noble purpose.
The
chapter concludes with a challenge to those of us living in this
world. “No other trees so
well-watered are ever to reach such a height; they are all destined
for death“. All of us are
destined to death, in the meantime do we glorify ourselves, or do we
glorify the God of Salvation? And what of our nation? I believe any
nation that turns from God will also have His blessings restricted,
“I covered the deep springs…
I held back its streams, and its abundant waters…
I clothed Lebanon with gloom…
the trees of the field withered away“.
Ezekiel spoke this warning to Egypt, but it could be a warning to us
today. “Yet you, too, will be
brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below; you will lie
among the uncircumcised“. You
may be sleek and slick and full speed ahead, but icebergs are ahead.
Two of the three great White Star Line ships lay at the bottom of the
ocean today in decay. Proverbs 16:18 reminds us “Pride
goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall“.
Friend, will you humble yourself enough to allow God to use you for
His purposes? Jesus said, “Whoever
believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will
flow from within them” (John
7:38). Do you want abundant water below, above, or within you?