God, we love you, Jesus, and we pray.
Amen.
All right, well, we're there in Ezekiel, chapter 31.
And we've been going through the book of Ezekiel
on Wednesday nights, just taking one chapter a week.
And this is an interesting chapter.
It's a little bit like a chapter we've already
dealt with in Ezekiel, and I'll show you that here in a minute.
But we're just going to kind of walk through this chapter,
and we'll make application as we go.
I want you to notice how the chapter begins there
in Ezekiel 31.
If you look at verse 1, it says this,
it came to pass in the 11th year,
in the third month, in the first day of the month,
that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, son of man,
speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude,
whom art thou like in thy greatness?
Now, I want you to keep your finger there in Ezekiel.
That's our text for tonight.
But go to the book of Revelation just real quickly,
Revelation chapter 13.
And when you get to Revelation, put a ribbon or a bookmark
or something there, because we're going to leave it,
and we're going to come back to it.
I want you to notice that the chapter begins by God speaking
through Ezekiel, of course, to Pharaoh king of Egypt.
And he begins by asking him this question.
He says, whom art thou like in thy greatness?
And what he's telling Pharaoh is that at this time,
there is no one who is like him in greatness.
There is no comparison.
There is no one to compare.
He's telling him that the last world power that was around,
which was Assyria, which we're going
to look at here in a minute, has been destroyed.
And the next world power is kind of coming up in ranks.
He's a rising star, a king by the name of Nebuchadnezzar.
But for this transitional time, you've
got the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, who is basically the big dog.
And God is telling him, who art thou?
Who art thou like in thy greatness?
And he's saying, look, you're it right now.
There's no comparison to you.
You are the main man.
And it's interesting because in Revelation 13,
we have, of course, another world leader
that is coming one day.
And something similar is said to him.
Revelation 13, look at verse 4.
The Bible says this, and they worship
the dragon which gave power unto the beast.
And they worship the beast.
Now, the beast is a reference to a man called the Antichrist.
But it's also a reference to his government and the fact
that he is a political leader and a political ruler.
And notice what it said to him.
And they worship the beast, saying,
notice what the people said to the beast.
Who is like unto the beast?
And it's very similar to what Ezekiel said to Pharaoh.
He tells Pharaoh, whom art thou like in thy greatness?
And in Revelation 13, the people
are telling the beast, who is like unto the beast?
And again, the idea is that there's no one to compare.
There's no comparison.
You are it.
You're the big dog.
You're the main man.
It says, who is able to make war with him?
Now, I want you to keep your place there
because we're going to come back to that.
And we're going to look at some comparisons between the world
powers that Ezekiel is referring to and the coming world
power in Revelation 13.
But go back to Ezekiel 31.
And I want you to notice that in verses 1 and 2,
we begin by talking to Pharaoh.
And God is speaking to Pharaoh.
And he's telling him, whom art thou like in thy greatness?
And then in verse 3, he is continuing to speak to Pharaoh.
But what he does is he begins this parable
of the king of Assyria.
And he uses this parable where he
is likening the king of Assyria and the kingdom of Assyria
to a great tree.
And you may have noticed this as you read the Bible
or you maybe haven't noticed this, but often
throughout the Bible, God uses trees to picture kings
and to picture kingdoms.
And we'll look at a little bit of that tonight.
But I want you to notice he's still talking to Pharaoh.
And it kind of seems like he shifts gears
and he starts talking about something else
because we start talking about Assyria.
But he's talking to Pharaoh about Assyria.
And he's giving Pharaoh a parable
about the Assyrian kingdom.
Notice verse 3.
He says this, behold, the Assyrians.
Now, this is another political leader
who rose in power, who is now gone at this time in history.
Notice what it says.
Was a cedar in Lebanon.
So he's referring to the Assyrian king and the Assyrian
kingdom as a tree.
Notice what he says.
With fair branches and with a shadowing shroud
and up in high stature.
And his top was among the thick boughs.
A bough is the main branch of a tree.
Notice verse 4.
I want you to just make note of that.
The waters made him.
Who's the him there?
That's the Assyrian king.
The waters made him great.
The deep set him up on high with his rivers
running round about his plants and sent out her little rivers
unto all the trees of the field.
Verse 5, therefore, his height.
The his there is referring to the Assyrian kingdom,
the Assyrian king.
His height was exalted above all the trees.
And notice, in this parable, all of the kingdoms are a tree.
And the Assyrian kingdom is the cedar in Lebanon.
He says that 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.
And I just want you to notice there are some comparisons here
between the world powers of the Old Testament
and the world power, or the coming world power,
of the end times.
The first was that Pharaoh was told, hey, who art thou like,
or whom art thou like in thy greatness?
And the Antichrist and the beast was told the same thing.
Who is like unto the beast?
Here we see the Assyrian world power.
And he's like unto a tree.
And I want you to notice again in verse 4
that the waters made him great.
He was great because of the waters.
And of course, the idea here is that there's
a tree that is near waters, has its roots going down
into the water.
And it is the water that strengthens him.
It is the water that makes him great.
Notice the last part of verse 5, it says,
and his branches became long because
of the multitude of waters when he shot forth.
Look at verse 7.
In verse 7, it says this.
Thus was he fair in his greatness
in the length of his branches.
Notice, for his rue was by the great water.
So the emphasis is that this kingdom grew because it
was near the water.
It was close to the water.
What's interesting is that the end times
government of the end times Babylon, the mystery Babylon,
or the anti-Christ government were
told that he's powerful because of the waters as well.
Go to Revelation 17.
If you kept your place there in Revelation 13,
I want you to notice in Revelation 17.
And you can write these references down
as cross references in the margin of your Bible
if you'd like, if you'd like to be able to study this out later
or the next time you read through Ezekiel or whatever.
Revelation 17 and verse 1, notice what the Bible says.
Now, Revelation 17 is about end times Babylon.
And it's about that one world government, one world religion
that's coming in the future.
And I just want you to notice what it says in verse 1.
It says, and there came one of the seven angels,
which had seven vials, and talked with me,
saying unto me, come hither.
I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore.
Now, the great whore is that Babylonian mystery Babylon
kingdom.
He says, I'm going to show you the judgment
of the great whore, notice, that sitteth upon many waters.
So in the same way that the Assyrian tree of Lebanon
was strengthened because he was near waters,
here we're told that the great whore, mystery Babylon,
sitteth upon many waters.
Now, what does that mean?
Notice what it says in verse 15, same chapter,
Revelation 17 and verse 15.
Often the Bible is its own commentary.
The Bible itself tells us what these things mean.
Verse 15 says this, and he saith unto me,
the waters which thou sawest, notice,
where the whore sitteth, talking about the end times Babylonian
kingdom, notice what it tells us what the waters are.
They are people, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
So he says, look, the strength of this kingdom
comes because it sitteth upon the waters,
and the waters are the peoples, and multitudes, and nations,
and tongues.
And really, when you consider the fact
that what we're talking about is we're talking about a world
power at that time.
Assyria was the world power at its time until its downfall.
Then Babylon, the physical, literal, historical Babylon
of Nebuchadnezzar, was the world power of its time
until Babylon fell.
Then the Medo-Persian empire was the world power of its time
until they fell.
Then the Greek empire of Alexander the Great
was the world power of its time.
Then the Roman empire was the world power of its time.
And every time there has been a nation that
has risen above the other nations
and has became a world power, its strength
comes because of the fact that it sitteth upon many waters.
Its strength comes because of the fact
that it rules peoples, and multitudes, and nations,
and tongues.
I mean, when we jump into the New Testament,
into the narrative of the life of Christ,
why are we dealing with the Roman empire in Jerusalem,
or in Judah, or in Galilee, or in Samaria?
Why is the Roman empire even around?
Because the Roman empire is the world power at that time,
and it's got its roots and its fingers
into the nations, and the peoples, and the tongues,
and the multitudes of the world.
This is a characteristic of world powers.
By the way, right now, in the time
that you and I live in, the world power, the Babylon,
is the United States of America.
Now, whether people want to debate
whether the United States of America is the mystery
Babylon of end times, and I think it is,
and some people don't, and that's fine,
you can't deny the fact that it is the Babylon of its time.
Whether it's the mystery Babylon or not,
there is always a Babylon.
There's always been a Babylon.
We're talking to Pharaoh right now,
because Egypt was the world power, the Babylon.
We're talking about the Assyrians.
Why?
Because they were the Babylon, the world power.
We're talking about King Nebuchadnezzar.
Because his Babylonian empire was the world power.
And when we're talking about the Babylonian empire,
we're not just talking about Nebuchadnezzar's empire.
We're talking about the spirit that
started all the way in the book of Genesis
with the Tower of Babel.
If you remember, the Tower of Babel
was the world uniting itself under a one world
government, which was the tower they were building,
and a one world religion, because they
were trying to get to heaven.
That spirit of Shinar, of Babylon, of Babel,
has always been around.
It's been in different nations.
It's been in Egypt.
It's been in Assyria.
It's been in Babylon.
It's been in Medo-Persia.
It's been in Greece.
It's been in Rome.
But today, it is the United States of America.
And I believe that it will be the United States of America
into the end times.
And you say, well, how is the United States of America
sitting upon the waters that are people and multitude
to nations and tongues?
Well, when you consider the fact that the United Nations
headquarters is in the United States of America,
when you consider the fact that we've got military bases
in foreign countries all over this world,
I mean, we've got bases in Germany and England, Japan.
We've got bases in all sorts of places, Qatar.
All over the world, we've got military bases.
Why?
Because it is the characteristic of world empires
to sit upon and to bring their power
and derive their power from the people and the multitudes
and the nations and the tongues that they sit upon.
Go back to Ezekiel chapter 3.
Look at verse 16.
Ezekiel chapter 3.
So we're talking about these world powers.
We're talking about these one world governments
and these kingdoms that rise and these kingdoms that fall.
It's not one government that is always in charge,
but it's always the same spirit.
It's the spirit of Babylon that is attempting
to unite the world, that's attempting
to bring the world under a one world government first,
and then eventually a one world religion.
Ezekiel 31.
Look at verse 6.
We're continuing on with this idea of the tree, right?
The trees are the world powers.
Notice what he says about the trees.
Ezekiel 31.6.
All the fowls of heaven made their nest in his bows.
And under his branches did all the beasts of the field
bring forth their young.
And under his shadow dwelt all great nations.
So notice he's saying that this tree has gone so big,
all the fowls are living in it.
All of the animals are under its shadow.
And under its shadow dwelt all great nations.
Now here's what's interesting.
You're there in Ezekiel.
Flip one book over to Daniel, Daniel chapter 4.
And this might all kind of sound familiar to you
because there's a real famous chapter in the Bible,
Daniel chapter 4, that deals with relatively the same thing.
The same thing we're reading about in Ezekiel 31
is found in a very famous chapter in Daniel 4.
So this might sound familiar to you,
like, oh, I've heard this before.
But you probably aren't thinking about Ezekiel 31.
You're probably thinking about Daniel chapter number 4.
Now in Daniel chapter 4, we have King Nebuchadnezzar,
who has a vision.
He has a dream.
And he cannot interpret the dream.
He doesn't understand the dream, but it bothers him.
And of course, he brings in Belteshazzar,
who's Daniel, that's his Babylonian name.
And Daniel interprets the dream for him.
Let's look at it real quickly, Daniel chapter 4, verse 10.
Notice what the Bible says.
Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed.
I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth.
And the height thereof was great.
And the tree grew and was strong.
And the height thereof reached unto heaven,
and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth.
Doesn't that sound like Ezekiel 31?
Look at verse 12.
The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much.
And in it was meat for all.
And the beast of the field had shadow under it.
That's what we just read in Ezekiel 31.
And the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the bows thereof.
That's what we just read in Ezekiel 31.
And all flesh was fed of it.
So Nebuchadnezzar has this dream of this kingdom, that's
a tree, and it grows.
And all the fowls dwell in it.
And all the beasts of the field dwell in it.
And it provides shade and protection and resources
for the entire kingdom.
And you say, well, was it Assyria?
Was it Babylon?
It was both.
It's every.
It's every kingdom.
You can apply this to the United States.
The United States of America, if you
think of all of the kingdoms of the earth as trees,
the United States of America today
is that cedar that is higher, that is stronger,
that reaches further, that protects,
that all of the nations and all of the fowls
and all of the different nations of the earth
are abiding under its shadow.
Go back to Ezekiel 31, look at verse 8.
Here's what's interesting about this chapter.
Because so far, hopefully, it's all kind of made some sense.
We've got God speaking to Ezekiel, excuse me,
God speaking to Pharaoh through Ezekiel,
who is a big tree of his time, about the previous big tree
of his time, Assyria.
Then we fast forward to Daniel, and we
see Nebuchadnezzar having a very similar tree of a big tree
in his time.
And it's all these mystery Babylon.
It's all these Babylonian, one-world government,
Tower of Babel kingdoms of history.
Now, in Ezekiel 31, 8, we have a shift in this chapter.
And we continue on with the parable of the trees,
but it seems like the parable kind of shifts a little bit.
Because remember, when we were talking about the Assyrian
tree, we were told that he was a cedar in Lebanon, right?
Now, in verse 8, we continue the trees,
but now they're in a different location.
Look at verse 8.
The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him.
The fir trees were not like his bows,
and the chestnuts trees were not like his branches.
Nor any tree in the garden of God
was like unto him in his beauty.
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.
Now we're still talking about trees,
but now these trees are in the garden of God
or the garden of Eden.
In verse 8, it calls it the garden of God.
In the middle of verse 8, it calls it again
the garden of God.
In verse 9, it calls it all the trees of Eden.
Towards the end of verse 9, it calls it the garden of God.
So he talks about these trees.
And you've got to think.
I thought we were talking about world kingdoms.
I thought we were talking about the Assyrian kingdom,
and the Babylonian kingdom, and the Egyptian kingdom.
I thought we were talking about world empires, and world
emperors, and world conquerors.
Now you're talking about the fact that these trees were
in the garden of Eden.
None of these men were in the garden of Eden.
But see, what we see in Ezekiel 31
is very similar, if you remember.
In fact, go back there with me to Ezekiel 28.
It's very similar to what we saw in Ezekiel chapter 28.
Just flip one page back to Ezekiel 28.
Now Ezekiel 31 is not a very famous chapter in the Bible.
But Ezekiel 28, like Daniel chapter 4, is.
And Ezekiel 28 is a famous chapter
because it deals with the doctrine
and the teaching of Satan, the devil.
If you remember, we saw that in Ezekiel 28.
But if you remember, remember how Ezekiel 28 started?
Look at verse 1.
The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus,
thus saith the Lord God, because thine heart is lifted up.
I want you to remember that.
Now I said, I am 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.
Now he's talking to the literal, physical prince of Tyrus,
the political leader of Tyrus, who
also pictures the Antichrist.
We saw that in Ezekiel 28, by the way.
And I'm not going to re-preach that sermon,
but we went through and showed you
the similarities between the prince of Tyre
and the Antichrist.
But what's interesting is, in the midst of Ezekiel 28,
we have a shift again.
You have a shift, just like we had in Ezekiel 31.
Look at verse 11.
Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, take up a lamentation
upon the king of Tyrus.
Now we're not talking about the prince of Tyrus,
Ezekiel 28, verse 2.
Now we're talking about the king of Tyrus,
Ezekiel 28, verse 11.
And say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God,
thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
Notice verse 13, thou has been in Eden the garden of God.
Do you see that?
So in Ezekiel 28, we're talking about the king of Tyrus.
And then there's this kind of abrupt shift
to talking about another guy.
It sounds like we're still talking about the same guy.
But now this guy has been in the garden of Eden.
And in Ezekiel 31, we're talking about the tree of Lebanon,
which is Assyria.
And then in the midst of the chapter,
there's this abrupt shift where we're still
talking about the trees of Lebanon,
but now they're in the garden of Eden.
You say, well, what's the connection?
What's the point?
Here's the point.
We're not just talking about world leaders and world
empires, but we're also talking about the devil,
Satan, who empowers them.
That's the point.
Notice what he says there in verse 13.
Thou has been in Eden the garden of God.
Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardis, topaz,
and the diamond, and the barrel, and the onyx,
and the jasper, and the sapphire,
and the emerald, and the carbuncle, and the gold.
And the workmanship of thy tabards and of thy pipes
was repaired in thee in the day that thou was created.
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth,
and I have set thee so.
That was set upon the holy mountain of God.
Thou was walked up and down in the midst
of the stones of fire.
Verse 15, thou was perfect in thy ways
from the day that thou was created till iniquity
was found in thee.
Notice verse 17, thine heart was lifted up
because of thy beauty.
I want you to remember that.
Thy heart was lifted up.
Go back to Ezekiel chapter number 31.
If you notice there in verse 17, it says,
thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty.
Look at Ezekiel 31 and verse 10.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God,
because thou has lifted up thyself.
Isn't that exactly what it said in Ezekiel 28?
That thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty?
Because thou has lifted up thyself in height,
and he hath shot up his top among the thick bows,
and notice his heart is lifted up in his height.
So in Ezekiel 28, we have the prince of Tyrus
whose heart was lifted up.
We've got the king of Tyrus who was in the Garden of Eden
whose heart was lifted up.
In Ezekiel 31, we have the tree of Lebanon
which represents Assyria, and then we see the same tree
in the Garden of Eden, and his heart is lifted up,
and his heart is lifted up.
It tells us twice.
Why?
Because we are talking about the devil.
We are talking about Satan.
Now, go back to Revelation 13,
Revelation chapter number 13,
and we started off by looking at Revelation 13
and looking at that passage in regards to the Antichrist,
because remember, it makes that point
where it says who is like unto the beast, right?
And that's exactly what he said to Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
He said, whom art thou like in thy greatness?
Now, go back to Revelation 13
and look at verse number four again,
and I missed a verse here in my notes,
so let me go back there myself.
Revelation 13, look at verse four.
I want you to notice what it says in verse four.
It says, and they worshiped the dragon
which gave power unto the beast,
and they worshiped the beast saying,
who is like unto the beast?
Who is able to make war with him?
And here's the point, and you see the word dragon there,
and of course, we know that the dragon
is none other than Satan himself.
In fact, if you look at Revelation chapter 12,
notice verse nine, the Bible says this,
and the great dragon was cast out,
that old serpent called the devil,
and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world,
he was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him.
So the Bible's real clear about who the dragon is.
The dragon is that old serpent.
Why is he called the old serpent?
Here's why, don't miss this,
because he was in the Garden of Eden, okay?
I want you to understand, we have the king of Tyrus
who is a conquering world power,
and then God says, yeah, you're big stuff,
yeah, you're a world leader,
but don't forget that the guy
who's actually empowering you,
the guy who's actually promoting you,
the guy who's actually uplifting you,
was in the Garden of Eden.
Then we're talking about the Assyrian king,
who's also a world power,
who's also a big dog on the block,
and then God says, yes,
but don't forget that the guy who's empowering you,
the guy who's protecting you,
the guy who's lifting you up was in the Garden of Eden.
Then we fast forward to Revelation 13,
and we've got the beast,
the greatest world government the world will ever know,
the most powerful political leader
the world will ever know,
and God tells us that it was the dragon,
it was the dragon that gave him his power,
it was the dragon that put him in his position,
it was the dragon that empowered him,
and then God tells us, and the dragon is the old serpent,
because he was in the Garden of Eden.
Just in case you don't get it,
the old serpent called the devil and Satan.
Now look, I want you to run a couple of verses with me, okay?
Go to, let's see, where should we go first?
Go to 2 Corinthians,
you know what, let's go to Matthew real quickly,
Matthew chapter four.
Here's the point, and here's what I want you to get,
here's the whole point I'm trying to make,
and I want you to see it in scripture.
Any world power, any leader who has ever risen
to the status of world power,
where they are the mystery Babylon of their time,
where they are sitting upon the waters of the nations,
where they are in charge of,
where you've got fowls of the air,
where you've got other beasts of the field
that are being provided protection
and resources from that tree.
Any world power, the Bible is clear,
any world power that has ever been and will ever be
got there because of Satan,
got there because of the devil,
got there because of the old serpent,
the dragon, the devil.
Let me prove it to you from other passages,
2 Corinthians chapter four.
Look at verse, I'm sorry, not 2 Corinthians,
we're gonna go there in a minute.
Go to Matthew chapter four, look at verse eight.
Matthew chapter four, verse eight.
Remember when Jesus was walking on this earth?
And Satan appears to him, Matthew chapter four, verse eight?
Again, the devil takes them up
into an exceeding high mountain.
Remember, he's tempting him.
And showeth him all the kingdoms of the world
and the glory of them, and saith unto him.
Notice what Satan says to Jesus,
and look, if Satan makes this appeal,
makes this bargain, attempts to make this deal with Jesus,
he's saying this because he has the power to do it.
Notice what he says.
All these things will I give thee.
What things?
He showed him all the kingdoms of the world.
He showed him all the governments,
all the rulers, all the leaders.
And he said, all these things will I give thee
if that will fall down and worship me.
What's he saying?
He's saying, I can make you the big tree.
I can make you the tall cedar.
I can make it so that all the other kingdoms
have to come and be shadowed under you.
I can make it so that all the other kingdoms
and all the fowls of the air will come into your branches.
I can make it so that you will be above the waters.
That's what he's offering him.
He says, he showed him all the kingdoms of the world,
and he saith unto him, all these things will I give
if that will fall down and worship me.
Then saith Jesus unto him, get thee hence Satan,
for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve.
So what does it take for you, for someone
to become the leader of all the kingdoms?
What does it take?
Fall down and worship Satan.
Fall down and worship the guy that
was in the Garden of Eden.
That's what it takes.
That's why the Assyrian tree was also in the Garden of Eden.
That's why Tyrus was also in the Garden of Eden.
That's why the dragon gave power unto the beast.
That dragon, the old serpent, which
was in the Garden of Eden.
Look, you need to understand this.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4.
You're there in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1
Corinthians, 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians chapter 4.
You need to understand this.
Right now, it is Satan who is running
the show in this world.
Right now, it is not God, Jehovah God,
who is running things.
Now, we're not excluding him.
In fact, we're going to look at him in a minute.
But there is a lowercase g god of this world
that is running the show.
And his name is the dragon, the old serpent, the devil,
and Satan.
God gives you all those names just
to make sure we know who we're talking about.
2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
In whom the god of this world, notice, lowercase g god,
not capital G god, not the real god,
is a false god, in whom the god of this world
has blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
So this lowercase g god is against the gospel.
He's fighting against the gospel.
He's blinding people from the glorious gospel of Christ.
Go to Ephesians chapter 6.
You're there in 2 Corinthians?
You got 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter 6.
Remember in Ezekiel, it was called the prince of Tyre,
the princes of Tyre?
Remember in Daniel?
You've got the princes of the earth
that are fighting with the princes in heaven.
And you've got Michael the archangel and all that.
Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12.
Notice what the Bible says.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood.
Look, as New Testament believers,
we are not in a physical battle.
You don't have to pick up a rifle, or pick up a gun,
or pick up a weapon to fight in the army of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood.
Notice what it says, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places.
See, we are in a spiritual warfare.
And here's what I want you to understand.
It is the principalities and the powers.
It is the rulers of the darkness of this world.
It is spiritual wickedness in high places
that is running the show today.
Go back to Ezekiel 31.
You say, what's the point?
What can we take from this?
Here's what we can take from it.
Here's what you need to understand.
Every powerful world leader is empowered by Satan.
Every powerful world leader of any nation that
has ever risen above other nations
got there through Satan, through the old serpent,
through the serpent that was in the Garden of Eden.
Pharaoh got there because of the power of Satan.
The Assyrian king got there because of the power of Satan.
The Egyptian king got there because of the power of Satan.
The Babylonian king got there because of the power of Satan.
The kings of the Medo-Persians got there
because of the power of Satan.
Alexander the Great got there because of the power of Satan.
All of the Caesars in Rome got there
because of the power of Satan.
Please follow the logic.
All of them got there because of the power of Satan.
The coming ruler, the Antichrist,
will get there because of the power of Satan.
But for some reason, Donald Trump's different.
He didn't get there because of Satan.
He got the same position, the same tree,
the same Babylonian empire, the same power,
the same fowls of the earth, all those things.
But he's got an R next to his name.
Are you serious?
Look, excuse me if as a New Testament Christian
I don't get excited about the political climate
in our country, because here's what I know.
This is Babylon.
And anyone that climbs up to the point of leader
or principality in this country got there because of Satan.
You say, oh, well, what should we do?
Engage in spiritual warfare, that's what we do.
Let's get arms and go fight.
Look, we don't need arms to fight Trump or Obama
or whoever.
We need to just engage in spiritual warfare.
That's what we've been called to do.
But today, Christians have been distracted.
George Bush is good.
Donald Trump is good.
Look, they're all bad.
And I'm not defending Obama and Hillary Clinton.
They're all bad.
They're all satanic.
Look, if they got there, if they got there, they got there.
Because the tree of Trump had a tree in the Garden of Eden.
His name was Satan.
The tree of George Bush had a tree in the Garden of Eden.
His name was the old serpent.
The tree of the Antichrist, the tree of the Assyrians,
they're all the same.
So look, stop being blinded and realize
that there are spiritual wickedness.
And today, Christians, they want to talk about, oh,
this conspiracy of the one world government, and it's
the Masons, and it's the Illuminati,
and it's the Council of Foreign Affairs or whatever.
And look, I'm not saying it's not those things.
I don't know.
Here's what I do know.
It's Satan.
It is spiritual wickedness in high places.
And look, I'm as against abortion as the next guy.
I think I've proven I'm against sodomite marriages.
Look, I get it.
And when it comes to Trump, I'm thankful for his stance
on abortion, his stance on homosexuality.
I'm thankful for all that.
But just as a Christian, let's remember
that if they got there, they got there because of Satan.
And that's not our hope.
Our hope is not in the White House.
The hope for this nation is in the word of God.
And it's in the church house.
And here's what God is telling Pharaoh.
Ezekiel 31, look at verse 13.
Notice what he says.
He just got done telling him.
Here's how you got here.
Here's how your predecessors got here.
Here's how they all got here.
Ezekiel 31, verse 13.
Upon his ruins shall all the fowls of heaven remain,
and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches,
to the end that none of all the trees by the waters
exalt themselves.
For the height neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs,
neither their trees stand up in their height,
all that drink water.
Notice, now don't miss this.
For they are all delivered unto death.
Please don't miss that.
Here's what he's saying.
Any world leader, no matter where he got his power from,
Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Nero, Barack Obama,
Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, no matter who it is,
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 pits.
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.
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 when you read the book of Revelation,
isn't that how the antichrist ends up?
He was cast alive, both the beast and the false prophet,
into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.
That's what the Bible says.
Here's what he's saying.
Your world leader, your favorite world leader, your world power,
whatever, they're human beings that will die.
And they will go where every human being that
dies without Christ goes.
They will descend into the pits.
Notice verse 16.
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.
They also went down into hell with him,
unto them that are to be slain with the sword,
and they that were his arms, that dwelt under his shadow
in the midst of the heathen.
Go back to Daniel, Daniel chapter 4.
Let's look at our parallel story.
Nebuchadnezzar.
And look, I'm not saying that these individuals
can't get saved.
I believe Nebuchadnezzar got saved.
I think that.
Now, people disagree with that, and that's fine.
I think we'll see Nebuchadnezzar in heaven.
The point that I'm making is this.
When he says that they're given to death, here's what he's saying.
They're not Jesus.
They're going to die.
They are men like any other man, and they'll
go to hell if they don't place their faith in Christ
and in the Messiah and the God of the Bible.
Daniel 4, verse 13.
Notice what he says.
I saw in the vision of my head upon my bed,
and behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven.
He cried aloud and said thus.
Remember, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about a tree.
It was a big tree.
All the fowls of the air, and it was shadows in its branches.
Notice what he says.
Hew down the tree and cut off his branches.
Shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit.
Let the beast get away from under it and the fowls
from his branches.
You say, what is the point?
What is the purpose?
Daniel 4, verse 17.
Verse 17, verse 25, and verse 26 in this chapter,
in this story, these are one of my favorite verses
in the entire Bible.
I love the phrasing in our King James Bible in Daniel 17, 25,
and 26.
Let me show it to you.
Daniel 4, 17.
This matter is by decree of the watchers
and the demand by the word of the holy ones
to the intent that the living may know.
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about a tree.
Just like Assyria had a tree, just like Egypt had a tree,
just like they all had a tree that went back
to the Garden of Eden.
He says, Nebuchadnezzar had a tree,
and that tree got cut down.
That tree got destroyed.
That tree got brought down.
You say, what is the point?
What is the purpose of this idea, of this parable?
Why did God give us this idea in Daniel 4
and had Daniel interpret it?
Why did he give it to us in Ezekiel 31
and had Ezekiel interpret it?
Here's why.
Notice what it says.
This matter is by the decree of the watchers
and the demand by the word of the holy ones
to the intent that the living may know that, here's the point,
the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men
and giveth it to whosoever he will
and seteth up over it the basis of men.
Look at verse 24.
This is the interpretation.
This is Daniel speaking.
O king, this is the decree of the most high, which
has come upon my lord the king, that they shall drive thee
from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field,
and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen,
and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven.
Seven times shall pass over thee.
Notice, till thou know that the most high ruleth
in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whosoever he will.
Verse 26, and whereas they commanded
to leave the stump of the tree roots,
thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee,
after thou shalt have known that.
I love these four words.
I just love how they're phrased.
He says that thou shalt know that the heavens do rule.
You say, I thought it was Satan who
was putting up these kings.
It is Satan because God allows it.
I thought it was Satan who was the god of the earth.
It is Satan because God allows it.
We're not Calvinists, and here's what
you need to understand about the sovereignty of God, which
is not even a word found in the Bible.
The Calvinists today say, the sovereignty of God
means that he controls everything.
No, here's how it works.
God can do whatever he wants, but he allows free will.
He allows Satan to do what he's going to do.
He allows man to do what he's going to do.
But God can put a stop to it the second he wants.
Why?
Because the heavens do rule.
Because the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men.
The Bible says, for promotion cometh neither from the east
nor from the west nor from the south, but God is the judge.
He seteth up one and put it down another.
It is God.
He didn't put Hitler on the throne.
He allowed Satan to do that, but Hitler came down
when God chose to put him down.
You understand?
And he's not going to put the antichrist as the head
of the Babylonian empire, but the antichrist
is going to come down when God says
it's time for him to come down.
Nebuchadnezzar came down when God said
it was time for him to come down.
The Assyrian kingdom came down when God
said it was time to come down.
So notice Ezekiel 31.
Go back to it.
We're almost done.
Look at verse 1 and 2.
I just want to remind you how this started.
This whole thing started.
And it came to pass in the 11th year, in the third month,
and the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, son of man,
speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitudes.
Remember what he says?
He says, whom art thou like in thy greatness?
He's talking to Pharaoh, and he's saying,
there is no comparison to you.
You are the big dog in the yard.
There is no one like you.
Then he shifts gear, and it seems
like he kind of goes on this rabbit trail.
He starts telling us these stories about these trees,
and the Assyrian tree, and the empires,
and the tree was in Lebanon.
And now the tree, it's still the tree of Lebanon,
but it's in the Garden of Eden, and there's a shift.
And we learn about the fowls, and we compare it to Daniel,
and the tree comes down that we might
know that the heavens do rule.
Notice what he says in verse 18.
Here's how he finishes the chapter.
He says, remember, he's talking to Pharaoh.
He gets done with his parable, and he says this.
To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness
among the trees of Eden?
He says, look, it's true that you're big stuff.
It's true that the dragon, the old serpent that puts you
where you are, has power and might.
He says, it's true that there is no one to compare you to.
But then he says this.
Yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden
unto the nether parts of the earth.
Thou shall 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.
Here's what he's saying.
What is the point?
What is the point of putting your trust, your hope,
your energy into some world leader,
no matter how good he is, if he's just
going to die and go to hell?
He says, there's no hope in man.
There's no hope in power and in strength.
There's no hope.
And Jesus taught the same thing, and Jesus taught it
in a more concise way.
Here's how Jesus said it.
He said this.
What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world
and lose his own soul?
And you know what?
As New Testament Christians, we need to understand this.
It does not profit us if we organize ourselves,
if we motivate ourselves, and we mobilize ourselves
as some political power.
If we go out and get some Republican that's
anti-abortion and put him in the White House,
what does it profit if people die and go to hell?
Doesn't profit anything.
That's why we are in a spiritual warfare.
That's why the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
but they are mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds, casting down imaginations
in every high thing that exalted itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ.
You say, why the thought?
Because it is a spiritual warfare.
It's not physical.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood.
So look, let's get in the spiritual battle,
because there is a conspiracy.
You say, this is the Illuminati.
I don't know.
I know this.
It's Satan.
And the only way that Satan will be fought in this world,
it is through New Testament Christians
putting on the whole armor of God
and going into spiritual warfare.
Because all those politicians, all those political leaders,
no matter how good they are, they all got their one way,
through the lowercase g God of this world.
That's why I had to not go to prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word.
Thank you for the Bible.
Lord, I just pray that you would help us as Christians
to just look at the Bible and realize that you are trying
to give us a worldview.
You are attempting through these stories,
through these chapters, through these parables,
as we see how you deal with historical world leaders
and as we see how you deal with future world leaders.
Help us to get our worldview from the Bible
and not to get it from the radio, from the news.
Lord, help us to be blessed and to be
able to receive the blessings that
come with certain political leaders rising and falling that
might be better than others.
But Lord, help us always to remember that our hope is
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not in politicians.
It's not in political reform.
It's not a physical body.
It's not a physical battle.
It's a spiritual battle.
We love you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.