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"The most terrible of the nations"

Text: Ezekiel 31:12

THE PUNISHMENT OF ASSYRIA

It was God who had caused Assyria to become a mighty empire. But it was Assyria that caused its own downfall.

“Therefore thus says the Lord God:
‘Because you have increased in height,
and it set its top among the thick boughs,
and its heart was lifted up in its height,
therefore I will deliver it
into the hand of the mighty one of the nations,
and he shall surely deal with it;
I have driven it out for its wickedness.
And aliens, the most terrible of the nations,
have cut it down and left it;
its branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys;
its boughs lie broken by all the rivers of the land;
and all the peoples of the earth
have gone from under its shadow and left it.'”
Ezekiel 31:10-12

1. The folly of Assyria.

a) It took great pride in its height.

b) Its heart was lifted up because of its success.

c) It became a wicked nation.

d) The Assyrians were notorious for its wicked treatment of its captives.

2. God’s warning of judgment.

a) God will deliver it to “the mighty one of the nations”.

b) This was a veiled reference to Babylon.

c) Babylon would defeat Assyria and humble it greatly.

3. Babylon was described.

a) The “most terrible of the nations”.

b) What Babylon would do:

i) It would cut off all the branches of the cedar tree.

ii) The devastation would be felt greatly.

iii) The branches would be scattered on the mountains, the valleys and the rivers.

c) All the people who were under the Assyrians would be adversely affected by the new empire that would arise (Babylonians).