“It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the nations. I will make it so weak that it will never again rule over the nations.”
~ Ezekiel 29:15
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you written something that other kids have read? If you like to write, what do you like to write about? Your grandpaa was never encouraged to write until he was a student at Moody Bible Institute. 101 English was a class that your grandpaa was required to take as a Moody Bible Institute freshman. Richard Van Dyke – who was the teacher of the 101 English class that your grandpaa was required to take as a Moody Bible Institute freshman, was younger than your grandpaa. One of the assignments in the 101 English class that your grandpaa was expected to do was to write a short story. Out of all the short stories that were written by the students in the 101 English class that your grandpaa was required to take at Moody Bible Institute, Richard Van Dyke selected a half a dozen or so of the short stories to send to the editor of Moody Monthly to peruse. The Moody Monthly editor was Jerry Jenkins. Jerry Jenkins today is best known as being the co-author of the ‘Left Behind’ series. Your grandpaa’s short story was one of the short stories that Richard Van Dyke had Jerry Jenkins read and . . . after Richard Van Dyke got the short stories back from Jerry Jenkins, he asked three of the students to read their short stories in front of everyone in the 101 English class. Your grandpaa was one of the students who Richard Van Dyke asked to read their short story in front of everyone in the 101 English class. When your grandpaa read out loud the short story that he wrote in front of his classmates, your grandpaa could tell that Richard Van Dyke really liked his short story. When your grandpaa read the short story that he had written – after Jerry Jenkins had read his short story, your grandpaa was irked by one of the comments that Jerry Jenkins wrote in the margin regarding something that your grandpaa had written in his short story. Jerry Jenkins said that what your grandpaa had written is not how something actually takes place – that if your grandpaa was going to write more or less real life short stories, that the facts in the short stories must be true. Your grandpaa knew that what he had written was true as . . . your grandpaa today has to admit that he is still not a Jerry Jenkins fan. Have you read any of the books from the ‘Left Behind’ series?
Ezekiel recorded in the book that goes by his name – which is the Ezekiel Book, the oracles or predictions that God – as God the Spirit, breathed on him to pass on to nations and people groups of guys and gals. Two of these oracles or predictions that God – as God the Spirit, breathed on Ezekiel to pass on to nations and people groups of guys and gals are recorded in Ezekiel 29. God – as God the Spirit, on January 7, 587 B.C. passed on to Ezekiel the first of seven oracles or predictions that slam the country of Egypt. God – as God the Sprit, on April 26, 571 B.C. passed on to Ezekiel the last of the seven oracles that foretold doom to the country of Egypt. Your grandpaa thinks that Ezekiel was probably living in the city of Jerusalem when he recorded the first oracle or prediction that he had God – as God the Spirit, breathe on him to scribe. Your grandpaa wonders how Hophra – who was at this time the Egyptian Pharaoh – reacted when he heard what Ezekiel had recorded in his first oracle or prediction against his country of Egypt. Ezekiel scribed exactly what God – as God the Father – through God – as God the Spirit, breathed on him to write. God – as God the Father – through God – as God the Spirit, referred to Hophra as a great monster whose home was the Nile River. This great monster probably was a reference to the crocodiles that inhabited the Nile River. The message that God – as God the Father, sent through God – as God the Spirit, through Ezekiel to tell Hophra was that He was going to put hooks in his jaws, that He was going to have all the fish in the Nile River stick to his scales and that He was going to pull him out of the Nile River for the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air to eat. God – as God the Father, in His divine way, would use Nebuchadnezzar – after He had Nebuchadnezzar spend 15 years wiping the city of Tyre completely off the map because of the defiant arrogance of the guys and gals who were living in the city of Tyre, to disperse the guys and gals who were living in the county of Egypt. The guys and gals who were living in the country of Egypt would be able to return 40 years later to the homes.
When you think of the country of Egypt today, do you think of the country of Egypt today as being a strong country that can broker reconciliations in the Middle East or do you think of the country of Egypt today as being a wimpy country. God’s future for the country of Egypt is found in verse 15, “It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the nations. I will make it so weak that it will never again rule over the nations.” After God finished using Nebuchadnezzar and his army to raze the city of Tyre without rewarding them for doing it, God let Nebuchadnezzar and his army take plunder from the country of Egypt as a reward for doing what they did there for Him. Nebuchadnezzar’s army had captured 15 years earlier – in 586 B.C., the city of Jerusalem and the land area of Judah at which time he took as exiles guys, gals and kids who were living in the city Jerusalem and in the land area of Judah to the land area of the county of Babylonia. Are you bold kids in what you say? Ezekiel was bold when he scribed what God – as God the Spirit, breathed on him to scribe. Your grandpaa hopes that you will have lifetimes of opportunities to boldly speak out against the selfish denials of guys and gals who refuse to accept what God – as God the Son, did for the guys and gals who accept as absolute truth what He did for them. To not accept what God – as God the Son, did will result in a figurative life that will be lived without hope for forty years.
Ezekiel 29 (864)