(REFLECTIONS ON EZEKIEL 26:1-21)

When I read the Lord’s words through the prophet Ezekiel to Tyre saying, “I am against you,” it reminds me of Paul’s letter to the Romans where he writes about our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Paul writes in Romans 8,

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As we continue through the Book of Ezekiel and see the Lord’s hand against the nations, where the Lord says, “I am against you” to Tyre, may we know the power and love behind Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for us. Without Jesus Christ, the Lord would also be against us, as He was against Tyre, “but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

Christ didn’t die for the righteous, but for the unrighteous, for those that the Lord previously said, “I am against you.” However, because of Christ, we have confidence, as Paul writes, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” What a turn of events, from death to life, from hopelessness to hope. Although the Lord should say, “I am against you,” we have a Christ that is interceding for us at the right hand of God. Paul is convinced, and may we know and be convinced this morning, “that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Ezekiel 26