Amen. Let's turn now to our scripture reading Ezekiel chapter 32. I will make just a couple notes as we're turning there. This is The biggest jump we have had so far, as we've studied through Ezekiel, but it continues the pattern of what we've done once or twice before, and that is to take the first and the last chapter of a section. So chapter 8 to 11 are a pretty clear section. We took chapter 8, chapter 11, chapter 25 to 32 with those few verses at the end of 28 that we read a couple weeks ago standing right in the middle. It's a very clear section in the book of Ezekiel. And we probably needed to pick up speed a little bit for our purpose of working through Ezekiel, but not every chapter. And so here we come to Chapter 32. And it is, again, very much a theological section. These are the words against the nations even as they are delivered to be heard by and for purposes of the exiles to hear them. They are words against the nations and so they're not in chronological order with themselves or even with the rest of the book. And so we have some dates in verse 1 and verse 17. And it's actually a couple of months after the events of chapter 33. And there's other dates in 25 to 32. They're not all lined up chronologically. It's a theological section. It's God's word to the exiles. concerning His dealing with the nations. And with those words, let us come, Ezekiel 32, we'll read the whole chapter, beginning in verse 1. In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say to him, you consider yourself a lion of the nations, but you are like a dragon in the seas. You burst forth in your rivers, trouble the waters with your feet, and foul their rivers. Thus says the Lord God, I will throw my net over you with a host of many peoples, and they will haul you up in my dragnet, and I will cast you on the ground. On the open field I will fling you, and I will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you, and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you. I will strew your flesh upon the mountains and fill the valleys with your carcass. I will drench the land, even to the mountains, with your flowing blood, and the ravines will be full of you. When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you and put darkness on your land, declares the Lord God. I will trouble the hearts of many peoples when I bring your destruction among the nations into the countries that you have not known. I will make many peoples appalled at you, and the hair of their kings shall bristle with horror because of you when I brandish my sword before them. They shall tremble every moment, every one for his own life on the day of your downfall. For thus says the Lord God, The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. I will cause your multitude to fall by the swords of mighty ones, all of them most ruthless of nations. They shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt, and all its multitude shall perish. I will destroy all its beasts from beside many waters, and no foot of man shall trouble them anymore, nor shall the hooves of beasts trouble them. then I will make their waters clear and cause their rivers to run like oil, declares the Lord God. When I make the land of Egypt desolate and when the land is desolate of all that fills it, when I strike down all who dwell in it, then they will know that I am the Lord. This is a lamentation that shall be chanted. The daughters of the nations shall chant it over Egypt, and over all her multitude shall they chant it, declares the Lord God. In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt and send them down, her and the daughters of majestic nations, to the world below, to those who have gone down to the pit. Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised. They shall fall amid those who are slain by the sword. Egypt is delivered to the sword. Drag her away and all her multitudes. The mighty chiefs shall speak to them with their helpers out of the midst of Sheol. They have come down. They lie still, the uncircumcised slain by the sword. Assyria is there, and all her company, its graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her company is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living. Elam is there, and all her multitude around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised into the world below, who spread their terror in the land of the living, and they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit. They have made her a bed among the slain with all her multitude, her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for terror of them was spread in the land of the living, and they bear their shame With those who go down to the pit, they are placed among the slain. Meshech-Tubal is there, and all her multitude, her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living. And they do not lie with the mighty, the fallen from among the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads and whose iniquities are upon their bones. For the terror of the mighty men was in the land of the living. But as for you, you shall be broken and lie among the uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword. Edom is there, her kings and all her princes, who for all their might are laid with those who are killed by the sword. They lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down to the pit. The princes of the north are there, all of them and all the Sidonians who have gone down in shame with the slain. For all the terror that they cause by their might, they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit. When Pharaoh sees them, he will be comforted for all his multitude. Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, declares the Lord God, for I spread terror in the land of the living. and he shall be laid to rest among the uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God. So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Should a minister of the gospel do a funeral service for a professed unbeliever? I have a clear memory of discussing this with Reverend Richard Kukin in my second summer internship, and he had been asked a few times in the course of his ministry to do a funeral for someone in the community who was not a member of any church, who was not a professing Christian as far as anyone knew in any way. And he would accept this invitation. It was an opportunity to preach the gospel. But it was, of course, not like the funeral of a believer. It was a task with a heaviness to it. There was no known hope. And there's no favorite psalm or favorite text picked out beforehand by the deceased. There's no speaking of eternal comfort to the family members. It is a different task. It is a challenging task when a Christian minister would be given this request. Now, prophetic imagery combined with cultural differences between the ancient Near East 585 B.C. and funerals in Wisconsin in 2023 A.D. make this not so obvious at first glance. But if we think about the funeral of an unbeliever, That topic is directly relevant to Ezekiel 32 because that's exactly what's going on as a prophetic word in Ezekiel chapter 32. This is the funeral for Pharaoh. Pharaoh as the representative of all of Egypt. It is Egypt's funeral leading to a description of Egypt's grave. And those are our two points. And as we consider this, for all the differences between ancient Near East funerals in 585 B.C. and Wisconsin funerals in 2023 A.D., this truth is plain in both places that the death of unbelievers is not like the death of believers. And so our first point With that theme is this, Egypt's funeral, verses 1 to 16. And then we'll come to the second prophecy, which came two weeks later, starting in verse 17. And our point for 17 to 32 will be Egypt's grave. Well, we begin with Egypt's funeral. And this was not literally a funeral sermon. Ezekiel, when Pharaoh died, did not march down to Egypt and deliver this as the funeral sermon. But prophetically and poetically, that's exactly what it is. And even the word lamentation in verse two, which comes again in verse 16, it could be translated funeral dirge, which is something like a funeral sermon. And again, we have our own cultural patterns. We have things like visitations and gravesides and 21-gun salutes for those who served in the military. Well, we don't see any of those things here, but what we do see is that which the ancient Near East had for their own funeral customs. We see the professional mourners who would be hired for funerals. They are called the Daughters of the Nations, and they are mentioned in verse 16, and again in verse 18. And we don't have the mention of a 21-gun salute, but there's reference to warriors being buried with their weapons, and that was the ancient custom. And so again, it's not obvious on first glance. The clues are culturally removed from us. But this is a funeral followed by a burial. That is prophetically what the context is for our chapter. And it's Pharaoh's funeral, but he stands for all of Egypt. It is Egypt's funeral. And God says to Ezekiel, son of man, raise a lamentation, a funeral dirge over Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say to him, that's the words of verse two. And that's the big picture. So with this big picture, let's look at the first symbolic image of the funeral sermon. And it is not a flattering image. It is this, that Pharaoh, verse 2, considers himself to be a majestic lion. I am a great lion. The majestic, beautiful lion with its wide-ranging territory. Sometimes a powerful lion will rule on both sides of the river. That's who Pharaoh thinks he is. I am the great lion. I am wonderful. It is in some ways related to Pharaoh's claim to divinity. But instead of being a majestic and ruling lion, as he thinks he is, and this is the picture of verses 2 to 6, but it relates to the fact that he is pride, the pride of Egypt, to look ahead to the language of verse 12, instead of this majestic and proud lion that's ruling and prowling, he is actually a dragon. But not just any dragon, he is a defeated dragon, a beached dragon. Now the word for dragon, it's really just a broad word in the Old Testament. It's used in a number of different ways. Here, let's just think of a mighty sea monster, a sea monster, a sea predator. Well, in the sea, a sea monster is pretty scary, but this is not a sea monster in the sea. It's a sea monster grabbed by the nets and pulled onto the beach, onto the sand, onto the land. That's the language of especially 3 and into verse 4. Pharaoh thinks he's the mighty prowling lion and God says, you're just a fish out of water. because I have defeated you. As fearsome as the sea monster might be in the sea, no one is afraid of a beached sea predator. Pharaoh is not who he thinks he is. And then being brought onto the beach, The captured sea monster, it becomes even a gruesome image. The carcass is then strewn even upon the mountains, verses 5 and 6, which, again, we're talking about a sea creature, so this is God's absolute sovereignty, absolute conquering power. The sea monster's carcass is brought even to the top of the mountain. In other words, your defeat is evident everywhere. and you are out of anywhere that you think you have power. I am the one who really rules over you. It's God's warning against Pharaoh. It's God's comfort to his people. Remember verses 24 to 26 at the end of chapter 28. This is what God will ultimately do to the enemies of God's people, to those who are in rebellion against God, to those who have been persecuting in various ways God's people. This is the end result of those who stand in rebellion against God. No matter how mighty they think they are, God will have complete dominion over them. And then we come to the second image of judgment. It's verses 7 and 8. It's the image of darkness. And that reminds us of the plagues upon Egypt from long ago. It makes us to look backward. And it also brings us forward because the image of darkness on a day of judgment is also a common image in scripture for the last day of judgment, for the final judgment of all things. And that's the image in verses 7 to 8. All of this leads into what we might call a more historical section in verses 9 to the beginning of verse 12. The reaction of the people is described. Many peoples will be appalled. Instead of the poetic language, we simply have the name of the nation that will conquer the Egyptians. This is another prophecy. The Babylonians have not yet defeated the Egyptians, but they will. that ancient empire of Egypt will fall. They will be defeated by the swords of the ruthless Babylonians. And then this funeral sermon, with all these words of judgment, the pride of Egypt brought to ruin, see there in verse 12, it is finally leading to a description of peace. And brothers and sisters, from after the call of Ezekiel in the first two chapters, from chapter 3 to 32, we've had all these words of judgment. First, words of judgment against Jerusalem. Now in chapters 25 to 32, words of judgment against the nations. But what has been sprinkled in all throughout There's all these glimmers of hope and peace. Well, here we have one more of those glimmers. In the last chapter of Judgment, focused upon judgment in the book of Ezekiel, we have one more glimmer of peace. And it's the description of as the beasts are taken away, as the proud destroyers are removed and defeated, well now there is nothing to trouble the waters. Verse 13. So, verse 14, I will make their waters clear and cause the rivers to run like oil. Horace Hummel once stated it this way, and think of the beast The pride of Egypt being removed. Why was Pharaoh removed? Because Pharaoh, quote, has been challenging and obscuring the clear streams of God's grace, end of quote. So again, who was, you know, Ezekiel didn't march down to Egypt to give this message. He spoke it to the exiles. What's this glimmer of hope? It's saying, I remove your enemies because I'm preparing for peace. I remove the beasts of the water to make the river of peace. And again, we have poetic, prophetic image, imagery, and so it finally looks forward to also the final great day which is the final great day of judgment. It's also the final great day of reconciliation and restoration, the making of the new heavens and the new earth. And as we think about rivers and peace and the language of scripture for that day, we might think about how in Psalm 46, the waters that roar and foam will be removed. And instead, one day there will be the river whose streams make glad the city of God. It's the language of Psalm 46. Or if we think of the language of Revelation, chapter 15, verses 1 and 2, there will finally be a sea of glass, which is what? That's a calm picture, an image of peace. And the sea of glass appears after the wrath of God is finished. That's the language of Revelation 15, 1 and 2. And so, brothers and sisters, scripture speaks in many ways to us about the calm after the storm, about the peaceful purposes that God has, even through his purposeful judgments of those in rebellion against him. God is working all things towards the great day of reconciliation. And the first truth for us to hear about the cross of Jesus Christ is that our sins are washed away at the cross. We are reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus Christ at the cross. But the cross is also the central place which is preparing for the reconciliation and the restoration of creation itself. And this is especially clear in Colossians chapter one. God is preparing the earth of peace, the waters of peace, the river of peace for his people. All the beasts, all of the disruption, all of the foaming waters and roaring waves, it will all be gone. God is reconciling all things to himself. And the final great day of judgment is also the final great day of reconciliation. And this is all part of what Jesus Christ accomplishes in the curse-stopping, curse-conquering death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Well, brothers and sisters, let's come now to our second point, Egypt's grave, because we have one last of these many glimmers of hope that are included in these chapters of judgment, but we still have the last half of the last chapter of judgment. And in all of chapters 3 to 32, this is perhaps the most chilling of the words of judgment. This is in contrast to Hebrews chapter 11, which has been called the Hall of Faith. In the grave of Ezekiel 32, verse 17 to 32, we have what has been called the dishonor roll. We have the mass grave of rebellious unbelievers. We have the pit. We have the grave. Now, this is not a literal picture. As it has been said, if you want to learn about the geography of hell, don't go to Ezekiel chapter 32. But this is a prophetic and poetic description of the pit of the grave of the shame and punishment of hell. And this is where rebellious and proud Egypt is going. They will not be the only ones there. There are a number of nations listed on this dishonor roll, in this mass grave of rebellion and those who are judged and brought to death. And that list begins with the Assyrians in verse 22. The Assyrians who had political control of the Egyptians as recently as 650 BC, but the Assyrians who were conquered 20 years ago in 605, they were defeated at the Battle of Carchemish The empire of Assyria never rose again. And so it's the nation already defeated and that's where the picture of the grave begins. It begins with the Assyrians who are there. If you were a 70-year-old Egyptian, you would have remembered this nation though. They're defeated, never to rise again, but it's all in living memory. A 70-year-old Egyptian would remember a time from his childhood when Egypt was politically controlled by Assyria and would remember a time, you know, 20 years ago when he was 50, that the Assyrians were defeated and conquered, never to rise again. Well, from the Assyrians, we move on to the Elamites, starting in verse 24. Now, this nation is quite some distance from Israel. It's even east of Babylon. But there are references to the Elamites sprinkled all throughout the Old Testament. They are an old nation and a nation that would continue to last for a long time, not necessarily in a powerful way, but we might say that they had an existence through their capital city, Susa, all the way to the 1400s AD. They continued to have some kind of existence for a long time. So they're much different than the Assyrians that way. Then we have Meshach Tubal in verse 26. They're another distant nation. They are now to the far north instead of being east of Babylon. They're mentioned even less than Elam in the Old Testament. Then we move to the Edomites in verse 29, those descendants of Esau. And so they are mentioned again and again. in the scriptures, even in chapter 25, where we were a couple weeks ago. As we come to the Edomites, let's look at that reference to the uncircumcised, which comes up again and again in these verses. This is a word of spiritual significance. The Edomites, like the Egyptians, had at least some form of circumcision that they practiced. The circumcision of the Egyptians and the Edomites is grouped together. in Jeremiah chapter 9. Even though we don't know, it's debated, was it exactly the same kind of circumcision still as the Israelites practiced? We don't know. But they had some kind of circumcision. But whatever it was, as they were in rebellion against God, Jeremiah 9 verse 26 says this, they were uncircumcised of heart. It's the language of Jeremiah 9, 26. And so the Egyptians are going down to this grave together with the Edomites and they will all lie with the uncircumcised and they will all lie as those who are uncircumcised of heart. This is the mass grave of those in rebellion against God. It is the grave of shame. It is the grave of pain. And then finally, In verse 30, we have the princes of the north and the Sidonians. And for here, we'll just note some of that language that's repeated throughout these verses. Language of shame, language of terror, language of judgment, reference to the fact that this is deserved because of what they did when they were in the land of the living. That's especially That's spelled out the clearest in the language if we look back at verse 23. Why are the Assyrians in the grave? Because of the terror they spread when they were in the land of the living. That's a paraphrase of the end of verse 23. And so, brothers and sisters, we put all this together and we clearly see that the judgment of God is upon all kinds of people groups, all those in rebellion against Him. Whether they are farther away, like Meshach-Tubal, or closer, like Sidon, whether they are those who have already been conquered, like the Assyrians, or those who will continue to exist in some way for many centuries more, like the Elamites. Whether they are closely related to the Israelites, like the people of Edom, or not. And then the whole scene is a reminder that the grave itself is no escape from the sovereign hand of God. Indeed, God is the one bringing them down into the grave in a way that they would not want to go into the grave. He's bringing them into a grave of shame. He's bringing them into the grave of punishment and distress. Again, it's prophetic, it's poetic imagery, but this point is plain. God has dominion over those who rebel against them. And that dominion includes his ushering them into the grave of shame and pain. God is everywhere. sees everything. There is no rebellious person who can escape from God. Even as, brothers and sisters, the reverse image is spelled out so clearly for us in Scripture as well. For God's own people there is not a single sheep who will be lost. God's hand will never fail to save his own people, even as God's hand will always bring the rebellious to the grave. And so as we contrast the, the end of God's enemies with the salvation of God's people, let us, let us hold this, striking image of Ezekiel 32 in our minds as we think forward to the more well-known image of grace in Ezekiel chapter 37. And remember that these are not far removed from each other in the whole book of Ezekiel. For those in rebellion against God, it is only the grave, and it is only eternal death. But for God's people, for those who receive the Word, for those who have God's good news pronounced upon them, and for those upon whom the Spirit works, it is not a grave that remains a grave. It is the dry bones rattling and made alive. And so, brothers and sisters, may the dark image of the grave at the end of chapter 32 allow the brightness of the bones brought to life in chapter 37 shine brighter. And it again all comes back to the One who reconciles and renews. The One who has purposes of mercy and grace. It all comes back to Jesus Christ and His death and His resurrection. And trusting in Him, we have not to fear the mass grave of God's rebels. Trusting in Him, we have the dry bones brought to life and resurrection life with Christ himself as our first fruits. Brothers and sisters, Ezekiel gives us images of the plain pronouncement of judgment. Ezekiel gives us images of plain pictures of God's grace, the death of unbelievers, is not like the death of believers. Because the hope and the false deceit, and for Egypt it's that ruin of pride, and the wrong view of self, and all of that false hope and self-deceit in all of its various forms for unbelievers, it is all replaced by the true hope of believers in the Messiah, in Jesus Christ, who has conquered the grave. And so we do not have the horror of death awaiting us. We have resurrection life as the old hymn writer from the hymn we are about to sing says it, Lord, by the stripes which wounded Thee from death's dread sting, Thy servants are set free that we may live and sing to Thee Alleluia! Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, why do the nations rage? You can so easily bring them to horror May they kiss the Son. May they kiss the resurrected One.