The LORD's Purpose for Pompous Pride
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
The Judgement
The Judgement
v1-7
The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor! From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them.
Who was Tyre?
Tyre was a port city on the coast of the Mediterranean - Jut down from modern day Beirut.
Technically should have been part of Israel’s inheritance, but they never held this land.
Established by Phoenicians. Very hard military target because the heart of the city was on an island out in the sea.
Long history of mercantile success. They established trading ports around the Mediterranean, such as Carthage (Nth Africa), and Tarshish (Spain).
Modern equivalent? Singapore? China? Stock exchanges?
Often associated with another port city - Sidon. 35kms up the coast.
The oracle reveals that Tyre is being laid waste
Trading ships from Tarshish are going to mourn because Tyre has fallen, there's nowhere to dock!
News will get to harbors in cypress - no point continuing the journey
Be still, O inhabitants of the coast; the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you. And on many waters your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; you were the merchant of the nations.
Sidon is caught up in this.
They were incredibly wealthy places
Shipping giants - grain, goods, precious stones/metals
Their end is like the closure of the Suez canal. You remember how much global shipping was effected by that a couple years ago?
Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying: “I have neither labored nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women.”
Even the sea seems to be upset. These ocean going people were as if children of the sea, but now it’s as though she is childless because Tyre & Sidon are fallen.
When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre. Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coast! Is this your exultant city whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her to settle far away?
News will travel, across the Mediterranean - everyone will be very upset.
But, who has cause the fall of Tyre, and why?
The Author Of Judgment
The Author Of Judgment
v8-14
Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?
The Lord of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth. Cross over your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint anymore.
He has stretched out his hand over the sea; he has shaken the kingdoms; the Lord has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its strongholds. And he said: “You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon; arise, cross over to Cyprus, even there you will have no rest.”
The Lord is the one who brings about the rise and fall of nations.
We can sit back and talk about a nations right to sovereignty within its own borders etc. and that is worthwhile! But at the end of the day, the Lord defines the borders, he choses where you’re born, and the circumstances of your country, and he reserves the right to change those circumstances!
God’s ordaining oversight of hsitory does not validate evil, but it shows that God will use even the bad choices to bring about his plans (Like Judas!)
That goes for nations, it also goes for churches. God threatens churches in Revelation. They needed to listen and obey Jesus otherwise he would remove their church.
If we would heed the Lord’s word and repent, then we need not fear the end of God’s church here. And the same goes for the church across this region, and indeed around the nation - “repent and love God”!
Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not; Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste.
You need the threat sometimes to turn away from our sin,
What do are you risking in your pride?
The Redemption
The Redemption
v15-18
In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute: “Take a harp; go about the city, O forgotten prostitute! Make sweet melody; sing many songs, that you may be remembered.”
Tyre will have a period of subdument.
At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the Lord. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord.
God can take the wages of sin for his own glory
God can take the prostitute and make her a pure bride.
Redeeming pride
Used your body to pursue your own ends, now GOd’s ends
Used your wealth to serve yourself, now God
Used your business or career to generate money for personal enrichment, now kingdom service
So What?
So What?
God brings Judgement on the Proud, whether you be an individual, or a city state, or a nation.
God is the author of Judgement, but he relents when we repent.
Ever see a misbehaving child? They’re asked to stop, but they continue on.
When the parent approaches with the threat of greater discipline, they quickly fall into line.
It may seem harsh for God to approach with the sword lifted high, but sometimes that is what is needed to turn us from our pride and fall into line.
But sometimes the threat is not enough, and God must cripple us, at least for a time. We need to be brought low so that we can serve God properly.
God brings redemption
God can turn the prideful deeds of Tyre & Sidon to serve him.
God can redeem you from your past