Ezekiel 30:20-31:18

“I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt.” (Ezekiel 30:25, ESV)

Throughout the Bible we see that the LORD is not merely the God of Israel but also of the entire earth. He is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to whomever He chooses. This is a hard pill for us to swallow (especially when we don’t like the people who are in power). God chooses whom He will in order to accomplish His purposes, and His ways are not our ways.

The LORD chose Nebuchadnezzar as His instrument. Nebuchadnezzar’s father had conquered the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 612 BC, and now Nebuchadnezzar would conquer Egypt. Egypt would fall from her high position and never recover her position of world dominance (Ezekiel 29:15).

As we head into another election, much is at stake. Our two major political parties have two very different views on what constitutes “freedom”. One seeks to be free from the morality of the past and from the restraint of the Supreme Court as guaranteed by our Constitution. The other seeks to be free from government control and the imposition of a new morality, which is really amoral according to Biblical standards. Of course there are other differences in principles and policies between the two parties and between individual candidates. But the point I hope to make is that behind all this wrangling and espousing of opinions, is our sovereign LORD. This fact does not deny or even discount our human responsibility. It simply gives us a sense of peace and comfort that God judges nations. He has in the past, and He will in the future.

Therefore, we must all pray: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Then the peoples will know that Yahweh is God.