The American Wisdom Series

Presents
Pamphlet #6311

"I tell you, Eve ate an apple. I never had sex with that woman!"

Ezekiel 31:1
And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
This is only two months before the fall of Jerusalem.
[2]Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?
The question is being asked to big-headed, powerful Pharaoh, "Who in the world do you think you are Pharaoh?" Let me show you what happens to egomaniacs like you.
[3] Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
Again, the word "Assyrian" should be translated "box-tree", "te-ashshur" in Hebrew. A "box-tree" is just a plain ordinary tree, only this particular "box-cedar" has grown (elevated himself as per vs. 10) to great stature among the children of God (thick boughs).

Let's stop and play "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"

OK, here is your question for $1,000,000 dollars. Remember, you have used up all three of your lifelines, so you know you can't call your preacher on this one. But don't forget, you can stop right here and walk away Biblically illiterate with your own two cents. For $1,000,000 here's the question:

The "te-ashshur", the plain ordinary "tree" who thinks he is God, is symbolic of whom?:

1. Satan
2. The son of perdition
3. Lucifer
4. The Dragon
Is that your final answer?  It is? Ok ... checking now...

YOUR RIGHT!  You win!  Congratulations! He is the subject being discussed here.

Ezekiel 31:4
The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.
Waters are also symbolic of people (Rev. 17:15). We will soon see that the setting here is actually the garden of Eden, and there was a river that ran out of Eden which was divided into four heads (Gen. 2:10). This individual, Satan, is the same king of Tyre we read about in chapter 28, who was exalted and lifted-up in the first earth age, and he has carried his "big head" over into this second earth age.
[5]Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.
He was "lifted up" because the people thought he was really something special.
[6] All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.
The dirty birds, the fallen angel buddies of Satan, nestled right up to him. And as Gen. 3 states, he was more subtle than all the beasts of the field, both man an animal.
[7] Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.
He had great power and authority.

Note: Actually, what we as Christians really need to understand from this, is that Satan himself, individually, has no "powers" at all. Oh sure, he's subtle and cunning and talks a good story, but he is not a god with supernatural powers (though he will appear that way when he comes because we are in the flesh while he is not).He is a created son (chapter 28:13 "in the day thou wast created") just like the rest of us. He gets his power and authority from the people and his corrupt system of the four hidden dynasties. But he has NO GODLY powers. You could liken him to Castro, or even to our President. They are mere mortal men, who have no more supernatural power than other mortal men, which is none at all. Got it? They simply derive their "power" from the system. So it is easy to understand in Isa. 14, that during the Millennium when Satan is stripped from his "power" and bound in the pit, that people walk by and say "is this the man who deceived the nations?" That is also why it is easy to understand how it is Michael has no problem man-handling Satan all by himself. One on one, without his gang and his authoritative "powers" Satan is not much at all. You see, although Satan is very beautiful and charismatic, in Luke 10:18 Jesus Christ gave us power and authority over this low-life "box-tree" and all the dirty birds who nest in his boughs.

Ezekiel 31:8
The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.
No one can "top" Satan in good looks, etc. As we read in Ezek. 28 and as we will read in the next verse, our Father made him from the "full pattern", i.e. perfect in beauty.

He does not run around with a red suit on toting a three-pronged pitchfork.


This is not how Satan looks!

Ezekiel 31:9
I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.
Literal trees can't and don't envy each other, anymore than they have any knowledge of good and bad! Of course, "tree huggers" probably envy other "tree huggers" who might be hugging a more beautiful tree than they are hugging. But what can you expect from someone who has the mentality of a sap-ling?

So, in verse 9, where did we find the little box-cedar who thinks he's God? In the garden of Eden, the garden of God. Imagine that! The "tree" who thinks he knows better than God what's right and wrong for people, was in the garden of Eden. And you know what? He's so subtle and deceptive that he has the majority of Christianity believing it was just an apple tree, and not him.

"Who me?", says Satan, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, "I tell you, Eve ate an apple. I never had sex with that woman!"

[10] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
Pharaoh thought he was really something, but not nearly so much as this dude.
[11] I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.
"Heathen" should be translated nations. It is God Himself who has driven Satan out in, or according to, his wickedness. (See note on page 1150 in the Companion Bible.)
[12]And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
He's coming down! Timberrrrrr!
[13] Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:

[14]To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.

The "nether parts of the earth" and "the pit" are Hebrew idioms meaning "a state of degradation". "The children of men" should read "the sons of adam". I.e. as it is written in Isa. 14, Satan will be in the pit, in that state of degradation, during the entire 1000 Millennium.
Isaiah 14:14
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Speaking of big talking trees, Satan really makes an ash out himself, doesn't he?.
[15] Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

[16] They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

After the Millennium he will experience the second death, which is to perish.

Note: To better understand these next few verses, read them as prophetic history.

Ezekiel 31:15
Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.
Hey Pharaoh, and everyone else reading this account, great, great was the felling of this tree! You know, the bigger they are the harder they fall! And just like we read about the fall of Tyrus, when this tree went down, there was great lamentation. "Fainted" means "mourning".
[16] I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
The nations were surprised, all shook up, when this tree fell.
[17] They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
The people Satan deceives, i.e. those spiritually slain with sword, along with the unrepentant "children of disobedience", i.e. "his arm" which properly translated means "his seed", the kenites, all went down with him.

Our Father, through Ezekiel, now resumes His address to Pharaoh, the ego-man, from verse two.

Ezekiel 31:18
To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
So Pharaoh, and every one else reading this account, do you want to be a "big tree", just like the little box-cedar who exalted himself in the garden of Eden? Go for it! And you will be chopped down just like him!

Ezekiel, a servant of God strengthened through the ingestion and digestion of His Word, was expressly sent unto his own people, those of the House of Israel, to speak unto them directly from the Word of God, in the manner of "Thus saith the Lord GOD". However, at the conclusion of chapter 29 we saw that there would also come a time when God was going to "open the mouth" of Ezekiel in the midst of Egypt and the gentile nations, and bring forth the word of His power so that all the nations "Shall know that He is the LORD".

It is written in Mark 13:11 that in the last days when this "opening of the mouth" occurs, when God's elect are delivered up, that they are not to premeditate what they are going to say. Nevertheless, it is not really a mystery concerning what the Holy Spirit will be speaking through them. For it is written in Acts chapter 2 that on Pentecost Day when the "mouths" of God's servants were "opened", which was a type, a sampling of that which would happen in the last days, that it was the "magnificent things", i.e. the "wonderful works of God", that they were speaking about. And so shall it be when God's elect are delivered up in these last days.

To that end, in the last few chapters we have been reading about some of those wondrous works, even the "last day" judgments upon Egypt and the rest of the gentile nations. It is because Pharaoh, and the leaders of those gentile nations, have played the part of the "box-cedar" (i.e. Satan) who was that exalted tree in the garden of Eden (Ezek. 31), and elevated themselves to self-greatness, and it is because of the idolatry of their multitudes, that God is going to send the king of Babylon and take captive and completely make desolate (spiritually), those leaders and their multitudes.

So in this 32nd chapter, God instructs Ezekiel to tell the sad story for the benefit of Pharaoh (symbolic of the gentile leaders) of Egypt (symbolic of all the gentile nations) and make known the why's, when's, and wherefore's of what will happen to them. Again, all this happens to the nations so that they will come to know that the Lord is GOD and that He does care about them, and He does love them, and perhaps they will "See" and turn to Him and get their acts together before the final judgment at the end of the Millennium.

The historical date of the first half of chapter 32, which is a national lamentation for Pharaoh and his multitudes, is the 1st day of the 12th month, Adar (March), which is one month from the end of the 12th year of the Captivity of Jehoiachin and about 1 1/2 years after the fall of Jerusalem. Then, two weeks later, beginning in verse 17, Ezekiel will be be told to lament for the peoples of the gentile nations, for their descent into their spiritual graves.

Ezekiel 32:1
And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
[2] Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
Ezekiel, tell this sad, sad story for Pharaoh king of Egypt:
"Pharaoh, you think you are like a strong lion, a superpower among the nations, but you are nothing more than a scampering crocodile making little bubbles and muddying up the rivers.

Therefore, the Lord GOD has declared that He is going "croc" fishing and He will spread out His net (using the king of Babylon and his army to do it) and bring you up out of the waters as a captive, a fish out of water."

[3] Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.
We have learned and emphasized many times that the types and examples recorded in the Old Testament happened and are written so that we would "See", i.e. graphically visualize and understand, what will befall us (1 Cor. 10:11) in the spiritual battle of the end times, that battle in which we must wear the whole Gospel Armour (Eph. 6) to be able to withstand the fiery darts of the king of Babylon.

You see, the flesh mind can SEE a literal sword slash through the body of a man and slay him in a pool of blood and see his flesh die the first death.But the flesh mind cannot see a sword of lies and deception slash through the soul of a man and slay him whereby he dies spiritually. There are two deaths, the death of the flesh (called the 1st death) and death of the soul (called the 2nd death). The Bible is not a book primarily about the death of the flesh, the 1st death, for it is written that it is given unto everyone to die that 1st death, but after that comes the judgment when the death of one's soul (the 2nd death) can occur if he or she is cast into the lake of fire .

Hebrews 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
That is why Jesus said don't worry about those who can kill your flesh. It is your soul about which you need to be concerned. Here are His words:
Matthew 10:28
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Knowing this, and then understanding that the Holy Spirit often uses allegory and symbolism and figures of speech to make clear and simplify the things He would have His own to know and understand, then reading this 32nd chapter of Ezekiel is much like reading the Book of Revelation. The desolation brought about by the desolator, who is Satan, the king of Babylon, the antichrist, the serpent, the dragon, etc., is spiritual desolation. The final battle of the end times is not for flesh and blood, but for the souls of men and women and concerns the second death, not the first.
Ezekiel 32:4
Then will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee.
God is going to cast Pharaoh the Croc out into the open field where the "birds of prey" will pick him over and the "beasts of the whole earth" will devour him. Even though in the prophetic sense this speaks of the last days, Egypt and the gentile nations have literally been "picked over" pretty good by the "birds of prey", haven't they?
[5] And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height.
The desolation will be total, complete, as we read in previous chapters all the way from the Suez to Aswan, even to the borders of Ethiopia.
[6] I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
The bloody desolation (spiritual death) will be everywhere.
[7] And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
God, through the king of Babylon, is going to completely put the croc's "lights" out and it will be a time of spiritual darkness and gloominess for him and his nation.
Ezekiel 32:8
All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
Jesus Christ is the light of this world and His servants are light bearers, but even they will be removed. And without the true light, darkness is set upon the land. Remember during the Middle Ages when the prevailing church withheld the Word of God from the people to the point that in order to read the scriptures they had to obtain a license by showing themselves approved to their confessor and to the bishops? That period of history in known as the Dark Ages because there was no light (truth).

So, it is soon judgment time for the gentile nations. Lights out everyone!

[9] I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known.
The word "vex" means to "trouble" or "enrage", and we can certainly see the peoples of the nations in and around the Middle East being "vexed" even today. Some of those nations of today are relatively new compared to the base nation of ancient Egypt, and so they were obviously not known to Pharaoh.
[10] Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall.
The day of his fall is when the king of Babylon, the desolator (the abomination of desolation) spoken of by Daniel the prophet, comes wielding God's own sword, bringing deception and spiritual devastation upon the nations. Is there any doubt whatsoever that God is going to send the king of Babylon upon Egypt and the nations?
Ezekiel 32:11
For thus saith the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee.
No if's, and's, or but's. It is going to happen! The false Messiah WILL COME to slay the souls of men! And as it is written in the next verse, "all the multitude shall be destroyed".
[12] By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.
They will all be destroyed with the lies and deception of the king of Babylon, the antichrist.
[13] I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
The waters [people] shall no longer be stirred up or troubled by either man or beast.
Ezekiel 32:14
Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord GOD.
The word "deep" means to "subside" or "cease", and so their once powerful, overflowing Nile shall abate and be sluggish and the country shall be destitute (next verse).
[15] When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the LORD.
The land of Egypt and the gentile countries too, are ALL going to fall into deception and be taken by the king of Babylon and become spiritually destitute and desolate. "Then", when Jesus Christ returns at the sound of the 7th Trump, "They shall know that He is the LORD."
Ezekiel 32:16
This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
Yes, this is the sad story of the desolation of Egypt, symbolic of the gentile nations, and her multitudes by the king of Babylon. Let the "daughters" [grandchildren, even to this generation] of the nations weep and lament for her.

Thus saith the Lord GOD!

In our next study, we will see who has gone down to hell. Be ready to "wail", Ezekiel, for it is not a pretty sight.


1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them {the ancient Israelites} for ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

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