Nations Will Be Judged - Ezekiel 25-30

 Ezekiel 28:20-24 (ESV)

Prophecy Against Sidon

The word of the LORD came to me: “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,

and I will manifest my glory in your midst.

And they shall know that I am the LORD

when I execute judgments in her

and manifest my holiness in her;

for I will send pestilence into her,

and blood into her streets;

and the slain shall fall in her midst,

by the sword that is against her on every side.

Then they will know that I am the LORD.

“And for the house of Israel there shall be no more a brier to prick or a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.

In this section of Ezekiel the prophet is pronouncing doom on gloom on those countries and nations that did harm to Israel.  Israel was and is God’s chosen people.  Those who do harm to them eventually are held accountable.   This is true throughout the ages of God’s plan.  In the above passage we read about it being carried out against a small country of Sidon.   By the above prophesy, at the end, we read that this small city was a “brier to prick” and a “thorn to hurt them” and treated Israel with “contempt.”  In Judges 10 we read the Sidon did not get conquered by the nation of Israel and Israel would eventually adopt their gods.  This is why the rest of the oracle agains them portrays that God will reveal Himself to them and declare His holiness to them.   They will “know that I am the LORD” becomes the cry before them, as throughout all these oracles.   

We do not disobey God and injure God’s people without consequence.    Sidon (and the rest of the nations and cities cursed in this book) are a warning to all that attempt to damage the walk of God’s people with Him.  Israel failed and will be taken into captivity as a result of their sin.  But, those around them do not get a pass.  Peter said it this way taken a quote from Proverbs:

1 Peter 4:17-18 (ESV)

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And

“If the righteous is scarcely saved,

what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

The nations can rage against God and His people.  But, eventually their end is coming. The Psalm song-writer Asaph was envious of the prosperity of the wicked, until:

Psalms 73:16-17 (ESV)

But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me a wearisome task,

until I went into the sanctuary of God;

then I discerned their end.

They have their END!