No Substitutions
One Year Bible: November 15
Ezekiel 31:1-32:32
No Substitutions
“To whom would you compare your greatness? You are like mighty Assyria, which was once like a cedar of Lebanon, with beautiful branches that cast deep forest shade and with its top high among the clouds. Deep springs watered it and helped it grow tall and luxurious. The water flowed around it like a river, streaming to all the trees nearby. This great tree towered high, higher than all the other trees around it.” (31:1-5)
Today’s allegory was given to Pharaoh King of Egypt and it compares Assyria and Egypt. This was significant because they had been allies and enemies, and then rivals. Assyria could be compared with Egypt in military might and it is compared to a cedar in Lebanon, the stateliest tree in the region. It was an Apex of power that dominated the Middle East like the tall cedar tree. Everyone nation around it lived in its shadow.
But now, Ezekiel makes a little switch with a hyperbole that takes us in a different direction. He compares this magnificent tree to the cedars in God’s Garden of Eden and says, “All the trees of Eden… were jealous of it.” (31:8-9)
That brings up a question worth asking, “What tree in the Garden of Eden was all jealous of?”
I am certainly not a great theologian but my thought is the one tree that God told them not to touch or partake of…But, they did! They made a brief, thoughtless, serpent-recommended SUBSTITUTION. I have a difficult time thinking that Eve pondered long and hard to see through the Serpent's half-truths to realize what that one little substitution would cost all of God’s creation.
Then there is Egypt which we were discussing yesterday with the Ten Plagues. As a young child learning Bible stories, I learned about the plagues but I never heard or grasped the part that each plague was aimed as a SUBSTITUTION for what God had made.
The Water Turned to Blood was against the Egyptian god of the Nile, “Hapi”, the god of water-bearing. The frogs coming from the Nile River were against “Heket”-the Egyptian goddess of Fertility, Water, and Renewal.
The plague of lice from the dust of the earth was against “Geb”, the Egyptian god of the Earth.
The swarm of Flies was against “Khepri”, the Egyptian god that had the head of a fly.
The plague of death against the Egyptian cattle and livestock was against the Egyptian goddess, Hathor who was the goddess of love and protection represented by the head of a cow.
The plague of ashes that turned to boils and sores was against the goddess of medicine and peace, “Isis”. The hail that rained down in the form of fire was against, Nut, the goddess of the sky. The locusts sent from the sky were against Seth, the Egyptian god of storms and disorder. The plague of the Three Days of Complete Darkness was against “Ra”--The Sun god.
The Death of the Firstborn was against the ultimate power of Egypt, Pharaoh, who had raised himself up as a SUBSTITUTION of God.
The first Substitution, however, didn’t start with Pharoah or with Adam and Eve. It started within the HOLIEST place of all, Heaven. It was there that Satan wanted to make a (tongue in cheek)
“Slight SUBSTITUTION”. He wanted to be EQUAL with God.
I think that it is very possible that we could read through all of these warnings and judgments and still miss the message that it DOES apply to us today. Perhaps, you are thinking that is impossible because we have Jesus who was the SUBSTITUTION of our SIN.
AMEN! But, let me remind us that Satan had God and all of perfection, but he traded it away.
The problem is that we can’t choose Jesus and substitutions. It is Jesus, period!
Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through ME.” (John 14:6)
Every parable, allegory, punishment, and heartbreak told in this book has flowed from this one small significant word, SUBSTITUTION.
The fall from heaven, the departure from the garden, the first murder, The breaking of the Ten Commandments, the plagues, the wandering in the wilderness, the flood, the judgment, the exile of God’s people, and on and on it goes…
We live in a culture today where if you open your ears and hearts you can hear this little word, Substitution. No, it’s not audibly said, but it is IMPLIED, LIVED, and EMBRACED.
A person of national authority stands up and asks a denomination to support abortion to give rights to women. People who choose an alternative, sinful lifestyles say “Praise the Lord!” and appeal that “A Slight Variation” is indeed acceptable. All good people go to heaven, right? And many pastors will tell you that there are many roads to get there…
Humanism tells us that the gospel should be centered around our desires, passions, and fulfillment. It was this pseudo-religiosity that brought judgment on Jerusalem and its enemies.
It is just a slight variation on the original theme… Like a tall Cypress that is about to break!
Not then. Not now... No SUBSTITUTIONS!
