“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will carry off her wealth and capture her spoil and seize her plunder; and it will be wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor which he performed, because they acted for Me,’ declares the Lord GOD. ‘On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth in their midst. Then they will know that I am the LORD’” (Ezek 29:19–21).
As we draw near to Ezekiel’s Oracles Against the Nations (Ezek 25–32), we can easily miss or take for granted an awesome and deeply comforting truth, especially in a world where three major religions claim allegiance to the God revealed in the Hebrew Bible. And what is this truth? The God of Israel is the King of kings, the sovereign ruler over all the earth.
In this modern world of superpowers, nuclear arsenals, global economies, and charismatic rulers, the God of Israel still calls the shots.
Consider how God speaks in this passage with absolute confidence and authority about the fates of the two great powers of Ezekiel’s day: Egypt and Babylon. It seems fanciful, perhaps even delusional, that a God from the tiny land of Judah, whose temple and people were destroyed, would declare without hesitation that the kings of Egypt and Babylon will know that He is the LORD, and that He will raise up a Messianic sprout (compare Ezek 29:21 with Ps 132:17) who will rule not only Israel but the entire world.
But the God of Israel does speak this way. And because we live on this side of the cross, we know His word is true. In this modern world of superpowers, nuclear arsenals, global economies, and charismatic rulers, the God of Israel still calls the shots. He still turns the hearts of kings, presidents, and tyrants wherever He wills (Prov 21:1). And so we can say without hesitation or embarrassment that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that the King of the Jews has always been and will forever be the King of the world.
