A Eulogy for the Proud
Download MP3If you have a bible, I invite you to turn to Ezekiel 28. The text is also there in your worship guide. If you are new to Redeemer, we have been working our way through the book of Ezekiel. If you've been part of Redeemer for a while, you might be wondering why we are working our way through the book of Ezekiel. I've been asking myself that question all week.
Joel Brooks:It's not the easiest book. Somebody actually texted me this morning as I was finishing up preparation. They said, hey, I've been praying for you this week, I'm praying for you now. It was a friend of mine, I texted him back and said, thank you. Actually thought about you a whole lot as I was preparing this.
Joel Brooks:And he said, really? I said, yes. It's about the fall of Satan, which is what we'll be looking at this morning. We will be looking at the fall of King Tyre and possibly the fall of Satan. I'm gonna read the first nineteen verses of Ezekiel chapter 28.
Joel Brooks:You are the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect and beauty. Oops, sorry, wrong one. We'll get there. The word of the Lord came to me. The son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, thus says the Lord God.
Joel Brooks:Because your heart is proud, and you have said I am a God, I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas, yet you are but a man and no God, though you make your heart like the heart of a God. You are indeed wiser than Daniel, no secret is hidden from you. By your wisdom and your understanding, you have made wealth for yourself and have gathered gold and silver into your treasuries. By your great wisdom and your trade, you have increased your wealth and your heart has become proud in your wealth. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, because you make your heart like the heart of a God, therefore, behold, I will bring foreigners upon you, the most ruthless of the nations, and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor.
Joel Brooks:They shall thrust you down into the pit and you shall die the death of the slain in the heart of the seas. Will you still say I am a God in the presence of those who kill you, though you are but a man and no God at the hands of those who slay you? You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of foreigners. For I have spoken, declares the Lord God. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me.
Joel Brooks:Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, thus says the Lord God. You are the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect and beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. Sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, ox, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbon coal.
Joel Brooks:And crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created, they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you. You were on the holy mountain of God.
Joel Brooks:In the midst of the stones of fire, you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence in your midst and you sinned. So I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, oh guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty.
Joel Brooks:You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I exposed you before kings to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities and the unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned your sanctuaries. So I brought fire out from your midst, and it consumed you.
Joel Brooks:And I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever. This is the word of the Lord. If you would pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Father, we thank you for your word. And in this moment, I pray that through your spirit, you would not just give us clarity, although I do pray for that. Lord, I pray that the words we read would cause us both to become more like Jesus and to trust him more, to delight in him more, to adore him. May through this text, see Jesus as everything. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
Joel Brooks:But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. So so confess it. There there's something there's something in all of us that takes delight in seeing the downfall of others.
Joel Brooks:Especially if it's the downfall of arrogant people. You know, remember when you were in class, there was that smart know it all, always aced every exam? That one time they bombed the exam. Felt so good, didn't it? I mean, what did that guy do to you?
Joel Brooks:Nothing, but but it just felt good that that smart know it all bombed. Or or you know, you could be driving down the highway and some guy in their brand new Porsche convertible speeds by you with a stereo blaring and then you go around the corner and they've been pulled over. Yes. And you're not rejoicing in justice, come on. And you're not like, just praise God, you're just.
Joel Brooks:And no, it is like you just really delight in the downfall of somebody so arrogant. Perhaps you have a coworker and this coworker, she is a cute, beautiful, gorgeous, bubbly girl and all she could do is talk about her wonderful, amazing boyfriend. And then one morning she comes in, she's been crying all night, she's just crying there in front of you, she's like, he broke up with me. You're like, that's terrible. Just, just, just so sad.
Joel Brooks:And you hate this, but there's a part of you, isn't there? It's why some of you who don't own Tesla stock, you're like, yes. You, you're something by seeing the, those who are way up there. The rich, the proud, the arrogant, to see them come crashing down. Why is it that we delight in watching the downfall of others?
Joel Brooks:The downfall of those who perhaps have thought too highly of themselves, too highly of their fame or their power or wealth. The reason we delight in it is because well, we're nothing like those people. Right? You've got nothing in common with them. You don't share in your delight or your trust in material things.
Joel Brooks:You don't boast in your wealth. You're nothing like those people. And of course, the irony is listen to yourself. Thank goodness, I'm nothing like them. I'm the righteous one.
Joel Brooks:We're about to read a prophecy, or we just read a prophecy and then we're gonna read a lament as well about the king of Tyre. And as we walk through this passage, you're gonna be tempted to think of others. Perhaps certain people will readily come to mind, certain politicians, certain nations, and trust me, I hope all of them are listening, but I hope you are. Because in this moment, you need to be asking yourself these questions. What does this text have to do with me?
Joel Brooks:I know those people need to hear it, but I too struggle with pride. And what we're gonna see from this text here is there is nothing more dangerous to our souls than pride. Tyre was both a nation and a city. It sat North of Israel, right there on the Mediterranean Coast, and they were currently as at the time Ezekiel was writing this, they were currently enjoying their heyday. They were an enormously wealthy country due to all their natural resources, and they had this seafaring trade with all these nations all around the Mediterranean.
Joel Brooks:Chapter 27, the chapter before this goes into great length describing all of their wealth. They were described as having every kind of silver, iron, tin for some reason, that was valuable then, tin, lead. And they used all of those things to buy whatever they wanted, and this is what they wanted. They bought instruments of war, slaves, all the latest fashions, the finest of foods. Chapter 27, I mean, just goes on and on, listing how all of the nations are just lining up to be trade partners with them.
Joel Brooks:Because they had everything. And here in chapter 28, we see that the prince or or the word there is is ruler, also the the ruler of Tyre, He looks at everything his country has achieved, all that they are, and he takes credit for all of it. These things were happening because of him. His wisdom, his wealth, his power, his leadership. He thinks so highly of himself, he calls himself God.
Joel Brooks:Now, if you notice, Ezekiel does not disagree with his claims to be wise or wealthy. He's actually both of those things, but he says, you are no God. The king didn't create his own wealth or wisdom. Those are gifts to him from the Almighty God. But has he thanked God for these gifts?
Joel Brooks:Has he tried to honor God with these gifts? No. Instead, he has used these gifts, said he is the one responsible for them, and he has used them to buy weapons, to ignore justice, to oppress the poor, and to pursue every luxury and comfort. Therefore, God says, He will judge him. He's gonna bring an invading army in.
Joel Brooks:They're gonna draw their swords up against the the quote beauty of His wisdom. And he's gonna be thrust down into the pit. He's gonna be drowned in the seas. In other words, the king of Tyre can load up all the money he wants on his fancy ships, but the ships are going down. The captain's gonna go down with them.
Joel Brooks:In verse nine, the Lord says that when that moment comes, when his enemy has surrounded him, has his sword out and is about to pierce him through, he says, in that moment, will you still claim to be God then? No, you'll die just like every other man before you. And all your wealth, all your wisdom, all your beauty is gonna perish with you. Let me ask you just how many coins do you, of Tyre, do you think lie buried on the ocean floor today? That wealth is all gone.
Joel Brooks:So so this is a sad tale of a wealthy, powerful, arrogant man who ends up losing it all. He's not the first to go this way, and he will not be the last. Now, would not go so far as to say anyone in this room claims to be God. If you do, my office is right up there. Love to see you afterwards.
Joel Brooks:We have some counseling. But I don't think anyone here claims to be God, but I bet there's more than a few of you who who act that way. I bet there's more than a few of you who either feel really good or really bad based on how much money you have in your savings. Perhaps it's how much you have in your four zero one k. When that number is up, you feel like a god.
Joel Brooks:You feel safe, you feel secure, all those things that money can buy. You start planning your next vacation. Maybe you start, you know, surfing on Zillow, thinking your house needs an upgrade. You go out to eat with friends. I'll pick up the tab.
Joel Brooks:Life is good in those moments. I mean, admit it, there's a certain number that you have in mind that if your bank account is over that number, you feel like you can breathe. You feel happy, safe. But then if it's below that number, your bank account might as well say your monthly happiness and security statement. So you just look at it and it just pretty much, it just gauges how happy am I?
Joel Brooks:How secure do I feel? And the reason you feel that way is because you think the security, your security, your safety, your happiness is on you, and it's something that you can earn. That's a God like feature. But God is saying you cannot build your happiness or security on those things, because do you have any idea how quickly those things can go away? Your health, your wealth, your reputation, those are very precarious things to build your life upon.
Joel Brooks:You know, you're one stock market crash or bank fraud away from losing it all like that. You're one costly illness or one lawsuit away from having all your savings wiped out. One rumor away or one ill sent text or email from losing your hard earned reputation. You're just one popped blood vessel or one car crash away of losing your very life. All that self achieved security, it's an illusion.
Joel Brooks:Or the word that we learned a couple years ago in Ecclesiastes, it's all hevel. Remember that? It's it's heaven. It's meaningless. It's vanity.
Joel Brooks:It's it's a puff of smoke. It's a little mist. You think it's got substance, but you can't grab it. It's nothing. It's there for one second.
Joel Brooks:It's gone the next. So if you build your life on those things, what will you do when they go away? Because they will go away. Some of you are so anxious, maybe even terrified to lose things. The reason that you are so anxious is because you look at the things that you have and you don't see them as gifts from God.
Joel Brooks:You don't see them as gifts, instead you see them as rewards, or you see them as payments from God. You earned these things that you were enjoying. You worked hard to get them, but the thing is if you work hard to get them, you have to work equally as hard not to lose them. And it puts such pressure on you. Pride, that pride of thinking it's all up to you has filled you with a great anxiety, and it's exhausting trying to be God, isn't it?
Joel Brooks:So humility is the exact opposite of this. Humility sees everything as this unexpected and undeserved gift from God. And because of this, the humble person is the most joyful person you will ever come across. If you wanna be miserable, think of yourself as a self made man. Just claim, I'm a self made man.
Joel Brooks:Everything I have is is good. I earned it. I did this. If you go that path, just know you will be miserable. But if you wanna be filled with joy, look at everything you have and wonder at God's generosity to you.
Joel Brooks:So good to you. I know that we typically associate a humble person with somebody who's down on themselves. You know, somebody who's always sad, can't do anything right, call it humility, but that is not humility. Humility is realizing this, these two things. First, you are not God.
Joel Brooks:Second, there is a God who is gracious to you. A God who loves you, who has showered good gifts upon you. This past week, was feeling pretty anxious, about a number of things. Lauren and I have, aging sick parents, unexpected bills. Of course, there's always things happening here at the church.
Joel Brooks:And I'm just I'm out. I I get up early in the morning, go on the front porch, have a cup of coffee. Quiet time. It's probably around 5AM. And all I feel is this anxiety as I'm trying to read the Bible and pray.
Joel Brooks:And I was like, I just need to keep reading more and more, but just I just felt weight on my shoulders. And then I felt the spirit prompting me, just give thanks. Just take some time to give thanks. I was like, what? I mean, what am I supposed to give thanks for?
Joel Brooks:It's like, first thing that came to my mind, the chair I was sitting in. And so I was like, alright, I'll start there. Lord, thank you for this chair, this wicker chair that Lauren and I bought at Sam's Club over twenty years ago. And then I started thinking, and it's still here. You preserved it.
Joel Brooks:Like, how amazing is that? Thank you. Thank you for the blanket that I have here that's keeping me warm. I mean, we probably have, you know, thirty, forty easily blankets at their house. Thank you for that.
Joel Brooks:Thanked them for my home, for my family, for my wife. I began thanking Him for my sore body, because it's like, at least I have a body, it's breathing, it can be sore. Thank you for our too small of a sanctuary. I mean, I would rather have a place that's too small than a place that feels too large. And as I began just thanking the Lord for these things, I mean, it was just like weight lifted.
Joel Brooks:I began to feel light as a feather. And instead of me feeling like I was God, everything rested on my shoulders to do it, instead I was trusting God, I was seeing His incredible radical generosity to me, and I was filled with nothing but joy and peace. I couldn't wait for the day to get started and to see what the Lord was gonna do in it. For those of you who are going through our Bible reading plan, those of you who have made it through Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, anybody? Who raised your hand, that was my pride test.
Joel Brooks:Yeah, some of you wanted to stand, I know. So I'm just trying to keep it real here, guys. Now for those of you who are working through it, one of the things you might have noticed is that God has to keep reminding the Israelites who are about to enter into the promised land. He has to keep reminding them over and over. Guys, you're not getting this because you deserved it.
Joel Brooks:You're this because I'm gracious to you. I'm gracious, I'm merciful, but this has nothing to do with you. It says everything to do with me, and I'm giving you this. And he has to keep reminding them of this because he knows the moment they get into the land, and they actually start tasting the milk and honey, and the years go by, and begin thinking, man, I worked hard for this. Man, I earned all this.
Joel Brooks:And that is exactly what happened to them. They began to think that the reason they had such luxuries, they enjoyed such security and wealth, is because they deserved it. And God has to remind them, hey, you know there's another time that you worked really hard as well, but you were slaves. Working hard doesn't make you wealthy. Working hard doesn't give you security.
Joel Brooks:Being wise doesn't give you those things. You might have been all of those things, but you were slaves in Egypt. I freed you. Don't ever forget that. I freed you.
Joel Brooks:This is all a gift from my generous hand. If you've been going through the Bible reading plan, you've been reading like all these different commandments, you know, there's over 700 of them. There's two commandments that just really stick out to me. Two commandments the Israelites never obeyed. And it was the Sabbath year, and it was the year of Jubilee.
Joel Brooks:Sabbath year is basically every seven years. In addition to letting the land go fallow, they were also supposed to forgive all debts. So somebody owes you money? Nope. Wipe that debt free every seven years.
Joel Brooks:The year of Jubilee is even more radical. Every fifty years, all property reverted back to its original owners. So, you know, when they went into the land of Canaan, everything was divvied out equally, and after fifty years, it all went back to the original owners, the original tribes, the original people, the original families. Now, when God gave these laws to them, you're to do this, all of Israel said, yes, we will do it. Absolutely.
Joel Brooks:Do you know why they said that? Because they had nothing. They had absolutely nothing. All they were were slaves in Egypt. And and they're like, man, if I had two pennies rubbed together, sure I'd give one away.
Joel Brooks:If I had two coats, sure, I'd give one away. If I was wealthy enough to give somebody a loan, sure, I would forgive them of that loan. Because I can't even imagine a life like that. They were slaves. And I'm sure I'll yeah, absolutely.
Joel Brooks:Where do I sign, God? But then time goes on. People begin to accumulate wealth, accumulate different things, and then finally, woah, woah, no. I'm not giving that away. I worked hard for that.
Joel Brooks:The humble person is the generous person. The generous person is the joyful person. Never forget, you were slaves and slave to your sin and Jesus has freed you. Alright. After this prophecy concerning the king of Tyre, we we now move on to the lament.
Joel Brooks:So really, it's kind of a eulogy, if you will, for the king of Tyre, which is an unusual thing to do because the king of Tyre's not dead. But Ezekiel is saying, you know what? You're as good as dead. Your death is so certain, I might as well go ahead and give the eulogy now. And so he gives the eulogy.
Joel Brooks:So in addition to that being an unusual thing about this giving a eulogy to somebody who's already alive, there's several other characteristics about this lamentation here that make you think this is about more than the king of Tyre. For instance, the king here, he's described in such lofty terms, you begin to realize actually no person can fill this. He's described as perfect. He just he's described as being in the Garden of Eden. And he's even called the anointed guardian cherub or angel.
Joel Brooks:Because of this, many scholars throughout history, they have thought that this is either talking about Adam or is talking about Satan himself. I don't think you have to choose between any of these. I think the lament, the lament here is about the king of Tyre, and about Adam, and about the fall of Satan. I think it's all of those things blend in together. Now, there's only a couple places in all of scripture that speak to or at least allude to the fall of Satan.
Joel Brooks:Or the origin of evil, if you will. This is one of them. We'll look at the other one in just a second. But so because of the the significance of that, I want us just kind of walk through some of these verses line by line. Let's look at verse 12.
Joel Brooks:You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect and beauty. The signet is the it's the ring of a king. So what we see here is that this person is royal. They're perfect and they're royal and wise and beautiful. Verse 13, you were in Eden.
Joel Brooks:So now we're no longer talking about the king of Tyre. Could can't be. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. And then list all of these stones.
Joel Brooks:So now we find out that this quote king here, he's actually in Eden. He wore all these precious stones. All the stones listed here are the stones that you would find on the breastplate of the high priest. So what's being described here is you're not just a royal king, you're also a priest. A perfect priest, king, living in Eden.
Joel Brooks:That could possibly be Adam here. He was given dominion over the world. He was supposed to reflect who God was throughout the world. That's a priestly. He's perfect, he's wise.
Joel Brooks:Verse 14. You were an anointed guardian cherub. Well, can't be Adam. Adam's a human and a cherub is an angel. Cherubs aren't just any angel either.
Joel Brooks:They are the angels that guard the very presence of God in his throne room. They're very given a very particular task. So this is a special angel. The angels, cherubs are depicted in the scripture as having both human and animal like qualities. Those creatures we saw in Ezekiel chapter one, very likely were cherub.
Joel Brooks:And they're praising God day and night forever. So special angel here. Verse fifteen and sixteen. I placed you. You were on the holy mountain of God.
Joel Brooks:In the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day that you were created till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence in your midst and you sinned, so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God. And I destroyed you, oh guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. So here we read that although this angel was perfect, gorgeous, beautiful, perfect, blameless, Somehow unrighteousness was found in him.
Joel Brooks:So God did not create evil. Evil comes into existence through this being here. And in verse 17, we read how. Your heart was proud because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
Joel Brooks:I cast you to the ground. I expose you before kings to feast their eyes on you. So this is the sin. This beautiful angel, well, he stopped focusing on God's beauty, and he began focusing on his own. That's the sin.
Joel Brooks:He stopped focusing on God's beauty, and he began focusing on his own. And he became proud of just how amazing, just how glorious he was. And therefore, God cast him down, down from the mountain. So we see here pride is the original sin. Now, mentioned there were two places that allude to the fall of Satan.
Joel Brooks:The other one is found in Isaiah 14. It's just three verses. I'll read those to you. How you were fallen from heaven, O day star, son of dawn. How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low.
Joel Brooks:You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the Mount Of Assembly in the far reaches of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high.
Joel Brooks:But you were brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. This passage here in Isaiah is actually where we get the name Lucifer to describe Satan. It's it's really not a name. Lucifer is just a title, and it means light bringer. The light bringer.
Joel Brooks:Literally, it's the Latin word for morning star. I can't help but think of this every nine lessons and carols. Y'all know we have the Mary Lullaby song. It's just, I mean, we have our women up there, they're singing. You are the morning star, the morning star.
Joel Brooks:I mean, I'm just like, you are Lucifer. Lucifer. Mean, I was like, it's what it's what's in my mind, the first thing. Don't worry. Jesus redeems that title later in the New Testament when he's called the morning star, but but Isaiah calls, you know, Lucifer, this this angelic being, the morning star here for a completely different reason.
Joel Brooks:Actually, we're never given the name of this fallen angelic being. We're only given titles throughout scripture. Lucifer, which means, you know, light bringer. And then, we have the words Satan or the words devil, meaning accuser or adversary, but never his name. But Isaiah gives the title to him of the morning star for this reason.
Joel Brooks:It's because the morning star doesn't know its place. As the sun is rising and is beginning to shine its glory, all the other stars know their place and they bow down. One star won't. One star remains, the morning star, and it tries to compete with the glory of the sun. He refuses to bow down.
Joel Brooks:The morning star wants to be the sun, thinks it can be the sun. And that's exactly what we see here in Ezekiel. We see this perfect, beautiful guardian cherub, and he wants to be God. He thinks he can actually shine brighter than God. God cast him down to earth for his sin.
Joel Brooks:And when he's on earth, he tempts Adam with the exact same thing he was tempted with. You wanna be like God? You could be like God. Out of that desire, both Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree. And so we see pride caused the fall of Satan.
Joel Brooks:Pride caused the fall of Adam and Eve. Pride caused the fall of the king of Tyre. All of them had beauty, wealth, splendor, but somewhere along the way, they thought they could outshine the sun. They didn't need the sun. They could shine all on their own.
Joel Brooks:So why is pride so bad? Well, pride is so bad is because it takes the focus off the God who freely offers you life. The focus off of Him and puts it on you and all you could bring is death. That's why it's so damning. You deny yourself living water in order to stubbornly drink from your own dry cistern.
Joel Brooks:If you read through your Bible, it might surprise you as to who gets to heaven and who goes to hell. You know, normally most people they assume it's the good people go to heaven, it's the bad people that go to hell, but that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches this, it is the humble who go to heaven. It is the proud who go to hell. The proud go to hell because they think they could save themselves.
Joel Brooks:The proud person hears Jesus say, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And the humble runs to him, and the proud say, you know, I think I got it. You know, I I think I can carry this load using my own strength, my own wisdom, my own wealth. I think I can make it. Thanks, but no thanks.
Joel Brooks:I'll do it myself. And therefore, they are denied the rest that Jesus offers. The king of Tyre had more wisdom, more beauty, more wealth, more power than any of you ever will. And in the end, it didn't save him. In the end, the king of Tyre, he built his house on sinking sand.
Joel Brooks:If you wanna have a life that is unshakable, you have to build your life on the rock of Jesus Christ. There is no other foundation. You know, unlike the king of Tyre, Jesus actually was the true model of perfection. He was perfect in every way. Jesus was also there in the garden.
Joel Brooks:He is one with the Father, but without sin. The King of Tyre claimed to have both wisdom and have also power, but it's Jesus who's described in Colossians one fifteen as this, He is both the wisdom and the power of God. Jesus is everything the king of Tyre pretended to be. They have one thing in common though. Both fell under judgment.
Joel Brooks:It's the one thing they have in common. They both were judged, and they both died in humiliation. However, the king of Tyre was judged for his own sin, Jesus was judged for your sin. On the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, and now he freely offers us forgiveness if we will come to him. The king of Tyre died in his own sins, and he went to the pit.
Joel Brooks:Jesus died for our sins, and he rose from the grave, and now he offers us eternal life. So the question is, will you come to him? That's that's all that's all that's required. The only thing that's required of you is do you actually feel your need for him, or are you gonna try to do it yourself? Will you quit trusting in what you do and begin trusting in what Jesus has done for you?
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. Jesus, thank you for what you have done for us. You've taken our sins, you nailed them to the cross, you paid the penalty. And Lord, you now freely offers us life and salvation. May we run to you.
Joel Brooks:May we rest in what you have done. May not a soul leave this place trying to find their safety, their security, their peace, their happiness, and what they think they've earned. And I know the more we lean on you, the more joy will flood our lives. Would you be so kind and to, through your spirit, make that happen? And we pray this in the sweet name of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen.
