FM500

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Ezekiel 28:1. The Word of the Lord came again unto me, saying. – Chapter 28:1-10 depicts the destruction of priestcraft by the sword of revolution and anarchy and by the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.

Ezekiel 28:2. Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God. – To the exalted class, the clergy (prince) of Christendom, as a system of paganized philosophy: Because of thy pride of heart, thou hast said through thy chief representative, the Pope of Rome, I am as a god, I am the vice-gerent of Jehovah, my seat is "upon many waters" (Rev. 17:1), upon "peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues" (Rev. 17:15), yet thou art man-made, man-ordained, and not of God, not Divinely ordained, even though thou set thine heart to pose before the people as Divinely ordained.

Ezekiel 28:3. Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee. – Behold, thou thinkest that thou art wiser than Daniel (Z.'05-280); that through supposed Divine inspiration, the confessional and the universal clergy-spy system, there is nothing in Heaven or earth which thou dost not know.

Ezekiel 28:4. With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures. – With thy false philosophy and thy misunderstanding thou hast acquired riches, much gold and silver into thy treasury – many, too, of both Little Flock (gold) and Great Company (silver) into bondage.

Ezekiel 28:5. By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick has thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches. – By scientific suppositions of infidel Evolution and Higher Criticism, and by good salesmanship of these worthless goods, thou hast heaped up wealth; and thou hast become proud, because of thy riches of materials, doctrines and membership. FM501

Ezekiel 28:6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God. – Therefore Jehovah says, Because thou hast set thyself up in pride to be as God, claiming to represent Him on earth as God's vicegerent.

Ezekiel 28:7. Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. – I will bring upon thee paganized anarchists, strangers to thy theories, the terror of the nations – and also My pilgrims and strangers, the sons of God, those whom thy philosophy dreadest; and the anarchists shall turn their weapons of destruction against thee, and the sons of God shall smite with the Sword of the Spirit thy falsely beautiful philosophy, and shall expose the real pollution of thy wisdom.

Ezekiel 28:8. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the sea. – They shall bring thee down to a dishonored oblivion; and materially and religiously thou shalt die the deaths of those slain in the roaring waves of anarchy.

Ezekiel 28:9. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. – Though thou sayest to the anarchy that shall slay thee materially and to Him that shall destroy thee religiously, "I represent God!" – yet thou shalt be seen to be man-made and not ordained by God, in the power of the destroyer appointed by Jehovah.

Ezekiel 28:10. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. – Thou shalt die the deaths of the wicked by the hand of the anarchists, and be destroyed religiously as one of unclean conscience (uncircumcised) at the hand of the sons of God, My strangers and pilgrims in the earth (1 Pet. 1:1); for Jehovah hath spoken it.

Ezekiel 28:11. Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying. – Verses 28:11 to 26 deal with the destruction of the Devil, pictured as the King of Tyrus.

Ezekiel 28:12. Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the King of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the turn, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. – Satan, the Devil, the father of lies and king over Christendom's system of pagan philosophy, is by nature the summation of perfection, the personification of Wisdom (Wisdom was one of the cherubs) and by nature perfect in the beauty of holiness. – Z.'03-135.

Ezekiel 28:13. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering the sardius, topaz, and FM502 the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. – Thou wast in the garden of Eden at the fall of man. Every good fruit of character wast thine adornment (Rev. 21:18-21); with this perfection of character endowment thou wast created.

Ezekiel 28:14. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the Holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the atones of fire. – Before thy fall thou wast appointed the caretaker (coverer) of the innocent pair in Eden. Thou wast the embodiment of Wisdom (cherub), and endowed with the Holy Spirit (anointed); and I so made thee. Thou wast in high position in the holy heavenly Kingdom of God (Eph. 6:12); thou hast had thy course of life among God's holy angels Isa. 14:13) – stars, fiery stones.

Ezekiel 28:15, 16. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cent thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. – By their multitudinous trading in mixed doctrines (merchandise) "for revenue only" thy adherents, demons and clergy, have filled thy following with violence and warfare; and thou hast sinned unto death. Therefore I will cast thee as polluted out of the Kingdom of God (A318); and I will destroy thee from amongst My holy angels.

Ezekiel 28:17. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness; I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. – Thou becamest proud because of thine endowment of beauteous character. Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy conceited teaching of counterfeit wisdom (brightness); I will humble thee to the dust, and expose thy real character.

Ezekiel 28:18. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. – Thou hast defiled the churches of Christendom by thine iniquitous doctrines and the teaching of them. Therefore I will utterly destroy thee with annihilation, and thy following with anarchy, in the sight of all that behold thee, in Heaven and on earth. FM503

Ezekiel 28:19. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more. – All shall marvel at thy destruction; thou shall become wasted, devastated (a terror), and never shalt thou exist any more.

Ezekiel 28:20. Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, – Verses 20 to 26 relate to the destruction of organized Churchianity.

Ezekiel 28:21. Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it. – Zidon meant "fortress"; and the fortress or churchianity since the third century A. D. has been the doctrine that, to be saved, men must belong to a church organization. The King of Zidon typed the Devil.

Ezekiel 28:22. And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. – God says, I am against thee, organized churchianity, and I will be glorified and made holy in thee, only, when I have executed retribution and justice upon thee.

Ezekiel 28:23. For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord. – For I will afflict thee with literal and spiritual sickness and death (shed blood).

Ezekiel 28:24. And there shall be no more a pricking brior unto the house of Israel, nor any grievous thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God. – The adherents to the churchorganization idea have persecuted and dispersed both Jews and Christians, but they shall do so no more.

Ezekiel 28:25, 26. Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to My servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God. – The Jews shall enjoy God's earthly blessings, and the true Christians His Heavenly blessings, when He has executed justly earned judgments upon the people that have adhered to or taught the belong-to-a-church-or-go-to-hell idea. – Z.'94-76.