Evidently Tyre was an outstanding city. But Tyre had displeased God, just as America is displeasing God today, and God warned that He would send Nebuchadnezzar against Tyre and destroy it. The Lord announced that Tyre never would be rebuilt. Usually the prophecies against the cities and nations of old ended with a promise that God would restore them. But not Tyre!

Say to Tyre, situated at the gateway to the sea, merchant of peoples on many coasts, This is what the Sovereign LORD says: You say, O Tyre, "I am perfect in beauty." Your domain was on the high seas; your builders brought your beauty to perfection. (Ezekiel 27:3,4—NIV)

What a great coastal city Tyre was! I suppose every great nation imagines it will last forever. But, as God warned, Tyre was destroyed, never to attain its former glory.

The prophecy against Tyre continues in Chapter Twenty-eight, but now we see clearly that there is a second message addressed to Satan.

You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. (Ezekiel 28:14-17—NIV)

I believe it would be reasonable to say that the Spirit of God had gone far beyond the earthly king of Tyre and now was addressing Satan, telling him that he was to be driven in disgrace from the mount of God, expelled from among the fiery stones, and thrown to the earth.

I seriously doubt that the earthly king of Tyre would be termed a guardian cherub who was to be driven in disgrace from the mount of God and thrown to the earth. How do you feel about this?

If we can accept that there is a double meaning in Ezekiel, Chapter Twenty-eight, part of the text being addressed to the earthly king of Tyre and part addressed to Satan, we can proceed to the Old Testament prophecies concerning Armageddon and the coming of the army of the Lord.

The first and perhaps the most important of these prophecies has to do with Joel's army. Remember, when Peter stood up on the Day of Pentecost he said, "This is that which was prophesied by the Prophet Joel." We see therefore that while the Book of Joel has an immediate application to the people and land of Israel it also contains a secondary message concerning the development of the Kingdom of God.

Joel's Army

The first chapter of Joel describes a plague of locusts. The second chapter appears to be continuing with the description of the plague of locusts but then, as in the case of the twenty-eighth chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, the language seems to be referring to something beyond locusts, in this instance the Day of the Lord, the return of Jesus Christ to the earth, the Battle of Armageddon.

To be continued.