- In context, we have been discussing Babylon, the nation--its' pride and consequent fall. In the middle of the discussion, we see a switch from a nation to a person. Who is it and how do you know?
- It could be the king of Babylon
- It could be Satan
- And it could be both
- What are the arguments for Satan?
- The title, "Day Star, son of Dawn"
- He "fiddles" with the nations
- The five "I will"'s. Jesus has seven "I am"'s and Satan uses five "I will"'s
- Satan does not let people get away from him without a fight
- The antichrist who I believe will be indwelt by Satan is "slained" by a sword. Ultimately, he does not go to the grave but rather to the lake of fire
- APPLICATION: A characteristic of Satan is pride (also lying from other passages) -- two qualities which we need to expunge from our lives
- So, some people think this section is all about the final judgment on nations. In this case, who are we discussing and what is their judgment?
- The nation is Babylon
- Their final state is non-existence; the will not be a nation in the millennial kingdom
- This has a date and so I'm not sure why this part was not included earlier. It is possible that all of these prophecies on nations occur at different times and are placed in this section because of their similarity. The date for this particular prophecy is 715BC, 7 years after the destruction of the northern kingdom, Israel
- The passage is not easy to understand. If this is future-based, then this is the area of the Gaza strip. What is the result?
- The Philistines will be judged
- So, this prophecy allows us to date the event at 718-716BC since Assyria invades Moab between 715-713BC. So this occurs before the previous prophecy and illustrates thematic organization
- Review background on Tyre
- Attacked multiple times
- Assyria attacked first, but ended up with a treaty
- Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) had a 13-year siege of Tyre after the destruction of Jerusalem which failed (although Tyre surrender via treaty to Babylon)
- Ultimately, Alexander the Great is the first person to conquer the island city
- Babylon was the great land power of the time
- Tyre was the great sea power of the time (the description of Tyre is similar to the description of Babylon, the city in Rev 17)
- Some key characteristics of Tyre include:
- Major distributor of Egypt's grain
- Send out groups and colonized various areas (Tarshish)
- Gained its glory through commerce
- What is Tyre's spiritual problem?
- Their wealth made them prideful
- They did not act with constraint
- What is their judgment?
- Take away their glory
- Take away their rest. They really were constantly under the thumb of Assyria, Babylon, and then Greece. For a while they disappeared
- APPLICATION: Materialism for the sake of things is not respected by God. What are we doing with all that God has given us
- Tyre is functionally put out of business about the time of Jerusalem's destruction. As the people return to Jerusalem, so Tyre begins operating again
- Ezra 3:1-3, 7 (ESV) When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. … 7 So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia.
- APPLICATION: God is in charge. He even allows Tyre to operate again in order to provide for the needs of his people in Jerusalem
- This and the next passage occur during the time after the destruction of Jerusalem. The focus is also on Tyre
- The key to understanding this passage and the next passage is to distinguish the target audience. Who is this passage intended?
- The prince of Tyre
- What is this person's problem?
- Pride
- Thinking he is smarter than anyone else
- Thinking everything is the result of your effort
- REAL ISSUE: Wealth makes you think you are very powerful, almost like a god
- APPLICATION: Wealth is deceitful. The love of money can draw you away from what is right
- Who is the target audience?
- Well, we are
- The subject is Satan
- The timeframe covers Satan's birth, fall, and his death at the end of the 1000 year reign
- How do we know?
- We get a description of Eden
- Interesting, there is a prince in Tyre, but Satan is called the King
- What do we learn from this passage?
- The danger of beauty, wisdom, and wealth when we think we are the reason
- APPLICATION: Give God thanks for everything you have or can do
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Isa
14:12-19 (ESV) "How you are fallen from heaven,
O
Day Star, son of Dawn!
How
you are cut down to the ground,
you
who laid the nations low!
13
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;
14 I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I
will make myself like the Most High.'
15 But you are brought down to Sheol,
to
the far reaches of the pit.
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16
Those who see you will stare at you
and
ponder over you:
'Is
this the man who made the earth tremble,
who
shook kingdoms,
17
who made the world like a desert
and
overthrew its cities,
who did not let his prisoners go home?'
18
All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each
in his own tomb;
19
but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like
a loathed branch,
clothed with the slain, those pierced by
the sword,
who
go down to the stones of the pit,
like
a dead body trampled underfoot.
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Isa
14:22-23 (ESV) "I will rise up against them," declares the Lord of
hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and
posterity," says the Lord. 23 "And I will make it a possession of
the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of
destruction," declares the Lord of hosts.
Isa
14:28-31 (ESV) In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle:
29
Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you,
that
the rod that struck you is broken,
for
from the serpent's root will come forth an adder,
and
its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.
30 And
the firstborn of the poor will graze,
and
the needy lie down in safety;
but I
will kill your root with famine,
and
your remnant it will slay.
31 Wail, O gate; cry out, O city;
melt
in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
and
there is no straggler in his ranks.
Isa
16:13-14 (ESV) This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the
past. 14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, "In three years, like the
years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in
spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be very few and
feeble."
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Isa
23:1-7 (ESV) 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.
2 Be
still, O inhabitants of the coast;
the
merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
3
And on many waters
your
revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the
harvest of the Nile;
you
were the merchant of the nations.
4 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."
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5
When the report comes to Egypt,
they
will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail,
O inhabitants of the coast!
7 Is
this your exultant city
whose origin is from days of old,
whose
feet carried her
to
settle far away?
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Isa
23:8-14 (ESV) Who has purposed this
against
Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose
merchants were princes,
whose
traders were the honored of the earth?
9
The Lord of hosts has purposed it,
to defile the pompous pride of all glory,
to
dishonor all the honored of the earth.
10
Cross over your land like the Nile,
O
daughter of Tarshish;
there
is no restraint anymore.
11 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.
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12
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."
13
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.
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for
your stronghold is laid waste.
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Isa
23:15-18 (ESV) 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:
16
"Take a harp;
go
about the city,
O
forgotten prostitute!
Make
sweet melody;
sing
many songs,
that
you may be remembered."
17 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. 18 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.
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Ezek
28:1-10 (ESV) The word of the Lord came to me: 2 "Son of man, say to the prince of
Tyre, Thus says the Lord God:
"Because your heart is proud,
and
you have said, 'I am a god,
I
sit in the seat of the 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—
3 you are indeed wiser than Daniel;
no
secret is hidden from you;
4 by
your wisdom and your understanding
you have made wealth for yourself,
and
have gathered gold and silver
into
your treasuries;
5 by
your great wisdom in your trade
you
have increased your wealth,
and
your heart has become proud in your wealth—
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7
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.
8 They shall thrust you down into the pit,
and you shall die the death of the slain
in
the heart of the seas.
9 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,
in
the hands of those who slay you?
10 You shall die the death of the
uncircumcised
by
the hand of foreigners;
for I have spoken, declares the Lord
God."
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Ezek
28:11-19 (ESV) Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: 12 "Son of man, raise a lamentation over
the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God:
"You
were the signet of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
every precious stone was your covering,
sardius, topaz, and diamond,
beryl,
onyx, and jasper,
sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle;
and
crafted in gold were your settings
and
your engravings.
On the day that you were created
they
were prepared.
14
You were an anointed guardian cherub.
I
placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God;
in
the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
15
You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created,
till
unrighteousness was found in you.
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16
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, O guardian cherub,
from
the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was proud because of your
beauty;
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.
18
By the multitude of your iniquities,
in
the unrighteousness of your trade
you
profaned your sanctuaries;
so I
brought fire out from your midst;
it
consumed you,
and
I turned you to ashes on the earth
in the sight of all who saw you.
19
All who know you among the peoples
are
appalled at you;
you have come to a dreadful end
and
shall be no more forever."
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