The Exultation of the World Over the Church
W. Jones Ezekiel 26:2-4 Son of man, because that Tyrus has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned to me… Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha! she is broken that was the gate of the peoples, etc. Type is viewed by the prophet, not merely in its literal aspect, but also in a typical one. "Tyre, in the prophets," says Schroder, "comes into consideration, not in a political respect, but as the representative, the might, of the world's commerce. Jehovah and mammon are the counterpart to Jerusalem and Tyre." And says Hengstenberg, "Along with Babylon and Egypt, Tyre was then the most glorious concentration of the worldly power. In the queen of the sea, the thought of the vanity of all worldly power was strikingly exemplified. Hand-in-hand with this thought goes, in Ezekiel, that of the indestructibleness of the kingdom of God." If, then, we take Tyre as representing the world with its riches and pomp and power, and Jerusalem the Church, the text gives us as a subject the exultation of the world over the Church. But it behooves us to be clear as to what we are to understand by the world - the world that is antagonistic to the Church. It is neither the material world, nor the human world - the world of men, nor our worldly or secular occupation. Very admirably has F. W. Robertson, on 1 John 2:15-17, brought out the meaning of the world which is forbidden to Christians. "Now to define what worldliness is. Remark, first, that it is determined by the spirit of a life, not the objects with which the life is conversant. It is not the ' flesh,' nor the 'eye,' nor 'life,' which are forbidden, but it is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.... Look into this a little closer. The lust of the flesh. Here is affection for the outward: pleasure, that which affects the senses only: the flesh, that enjoyment which comes from the emotions of an hour, be it coarse or be it refined. The pleasure of wine or the pleasure of music, so far as it is only a movement of the flesh. Again, the lust of the eye. Here is affection for the transient, for the eye can only gaze on form and color; and these are things that do not last. Once more, the pride of life. Here is affection for the unreal - men's opinion, the estimate which depends upon wealth, rank, circumstances. Worldliness, then, consists in these three things - attachment to the outward, attachment to the transitory, attachment to the unreal, in opposition to love for the inward, the eternal, the true; and the one of these affections is necessarily expelled by the other." In this view of worldliness, Type was representative of the world. She gloried in her secure situation, her commercial prosperity, her great riches, etc. We remark that the exultation of the world over the Church - I. IS BITTER AND BOASTFUL. "Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, Aha! she is broken that was the gate of the peoples" etc. (Ver. 2). As we have already shown (in our homily on the chapter as a whole), this unseemly triumphing arose from the selfishness which anticipated that the fall of Jerusalem would promote the commercial prosperity of Type. But probably this was not the only reason for the rejoicing of the Tyriana in the ruin of the sacred city. The antagonism between their religion and the religion of the Jews would increase their joy at the downfall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. "Only thirty-four years before the destruction of Jerusalem," says Mr. Twisleton, "commenced the celebrated reformation of Josiah ( B.C. 622). This momentous religious revolution (2 Kings 22., 23.) fully explains the exultation and malevolence of the Tyrians. In that reformation Josiah had heaped insults on the gods who were the objects of Tyrian veneration and love; he had consumed with fire the sacred vessels used in their worship; he had burnt their images and defiled their high places - not excepting even the high place near Jerusalem, which Solomon the friend of Hiram had built to Ashtoreth the queen of heaven, and which for more than three hundred and fifty years had been a striking memorial of the reciprocal good will which once united the two monarchs and the two nations. Indeed, he seemed to have endeavored to exterminate their religion, for in Samaria (2 Kings 23:20) he had slain upon the altars of the high places all their priests. These acts, although in their ultimate results they may have contributed powerfully to the diffusion of the Jewish religion, must have been regarded by the Tyriaus as a series of sacrilegious and abominable outrages; and we can scarcely doubt that the death in battle of Josiah at Megiddo, and the subsequent destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, were hailed by them with triumphant joy as instances of Divine retribution in human affairs." Moreover, it is very probable that some of the predictions of the Hebrew prophets concerning Tyro in its relation to Jerusalem were known to the people of the island-city, and increased the bitterness of their joy over the calamities of the Jews. "In the Messianic announcements, the homage of Tyre to Jerusalem, and its incorporation into the kingdom of God, were expressly celebrated" (see, as examples, Psalm 45:12; Psalm 87:4; Isaiah 23:18). "Without doubt," says Hengstenberg, "these bold hopes of Zion were known in Tyre, and caused much bad blood in the proud queen of the sea." And still there are those who, worldly in spirit, are bitter against the Church of God. They deride its noblest enterprises; they ridicule its vital beliefs; they mock its most cherished hopes. If Christians are rigid and scrupulous in their religious duties and observances, the world reproaches them for their narrowness and Pharisaism. If Christians stumble and fall, the world rejoices in their overthrow and scoffs at their religion. But the exultation of the world over the Church - II. IS VAIN. The things from which the world draws its satisfaction, and upon which it rests its hopes, are uncertain and delusive. Tyre rejoiced in her security, her riches, her commercial prosperity; but these things failed her in her time of need. That these things are unstable, impermanent, transient, is a truth which no one attempts to deny. How vain, then, to exult in the ascendancy which such things give! The world's triumph, even at the best, is more in appearance than reality. "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof." But the essential elements of the Church's life are real and abiding verities. The Church may be brought down very low, but it shall rise again. Its course leads on to splendid triumph. But the ungodly world shall sink. Its rank and fiches, its pomp and power and pleasures shall pass away as the dreams of night fade before the light and the activities of day. III. IS OBSERVED BY THE LORD GOD. He knew and took notice of the cruel triumph of proud Tyro over prostrate Jerusalem. He made known the fact of that triumph to his servant Ezekiel on the banks of the Chebar. He still observes the attitude of the world towards his Church. No persons or powers can exalt themselves against his people without attracting the notice of his ever-watchful eye (cf. 2 Chronicles 16:9; Psalm 34:15, 16; 1 Peter 3:12, 13). IV. WILL BE PUNISHED BY THE LORD GOD. "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre," etc. (Vers. 3, 4). The Lord here proclaims himself against Tyre, and threatens to strip the proud city of her boasted pomp, prosperity, and power. He would break down her defenses, level her to the ground, make an utter end of her, leaving nothing but the bare rock on which she had stood. The defenses of the irreligious world are subtle policies, material riches, social power, etc. These are all impermanent things. And should they endure, the time comes when they will fail to meet the needs of those who put their trust in them. If no other punishment awaited the votaries of this world, surely this would be a heart-crushing, a heart-breaking one, to awake to the sad realization of the stern truth that the objects for which they had striven in life, which they had looked upon as their chief good, and in which they had trusted, were vain, having no power or fitness to answer the deep cravings of their souls, or to help them in the awful needs of their being. "Whose confidence shall break in sunder, and whose trust is a spider's web;" "And their hope shall be the giving up of the ghost." - W.J. Parallel Verses KJV: Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste: WEB: Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken: the gate of the peoples; she is turned to me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste: