one of the great major prophets, and sadly Ezekiel was carried away in one of the three captivities as Israel was under siege three times, Jerusalem in the second siege, and the second captivity he was carried away, and there was still a third one to come, and God was using him to show his people that there was still more judgment to come. So he's trying to relate these messages and we saw how difficult it's been because he's mostly speaking to God's people like the Apostle Peter would say in the New Testament, judgment must begin at the house of God. The first people God judges are his own and then he deals with the unbelievers. And so we were in chapters 20 through 24 and we saw the final bits of prophecy of the judgment that God was going to bring the third and final three strikes and you're out to the nation of Israel. At that time, when the third strike came, they would be out as the head of nations. Now the official times of the Gentiles would roll in back around 600 to BC. We are still in the times of the Gentiles. Now what he does to Ezekiel after the 24th chapter is in chapter 25, the word of the Lord's gonna come and it's going to be against the enemies of Israel. And God is letting them know, yes, I have dealt harshly with you in reproofs and chastisements, but I'm going to deal with all the enemies of Israel, chapters 25 through 32. And last week we looked at the judgment of Ammon and Moab and those things. Tonight we come to chapter 26. And they're gonna be three chapters lumped together here, 26, 27, and 28, and they're gonna deal with the Phoenicians, who is a nation just north of Israel, and their two major cities are Tyre, T-Y-R-E, and Zidon, S-I-D-O-N. And we're gonna talk about the judgment that God is going to bring to that neighboring nation to the north. I was looking at some archaeological data because I don't know a lot about Tyre and Zidon. Thankfully in the Bible I have Dr. Thompson when he did the work in the late 1800s. A lot of the digs were going on at that particular time, and here in 1855, work was being done up in the northern region of Tyron, Sidon, S-I-D-O-N, and Sidon is the first Phoenician city that was ever founded. It was known for a beautiful landscape, fertile plains, quality and variety of fruits. They traded with many people in the area, including the Jewish people and their neighbors. A number of tombs were excavated there beginning in 1855. They found the tomb of the King of the Sidonians. It had 990 words inscribed inside there on the lid, and it showed that they were a people that erected temples to gods like Astarte, who was also known as Ashtoreth, from where we get the word Easter. The Phoenicians were the people that came up with the letters of the first language, I think, at that particular time, and I think they came up with a numbering system that we even use. They had gods like Dagon that they had temples for, and they had a god called the Baal of Zidon. And they were known for, also, right off the shore there, there were these shells that came in on the sea that were Murex shells from which they could extract a purple dye. So when you read about Lydia was a dealer in purple linen. She was getting that from Zidon. Now just south of Zidon, 20 miles south of it, was Tyre, the one that God's gonna deal with today in chapter 26. Tyre is an interesting seaport. These people of Phoenicia were known as mariners. They built some of the greatest ships of their day. They were a naval power. The Phoenicians were a naval power, the Babylonians were an army military power. They usually did not fight with one another because what the heck, we have a navy, you have an army, you do your business, we'll do ours. They needed each other in the sense that Tyre and the Phoenicians through all the goods that they transported around the world, around the Mediterranean Sea, up to the British Isles. They sent the ships out to Tarshish when Jonah boarded a ship. It was a ship of Tyre heading out to Tarshish. They had two harbors, one in the north, one in the south. They had, the way the city was situated was right on the Mediterranean Sea. So the Mediterranean Sea is this way, just like with Israel down in the south. Here they are up in the north. They had a big wall protecting the landscape on the land side. They didn't need much protection on that side because they had their navy right there to protect them. but they had a big, large, exceeding high walls on the landward side. They had artisans that made all types of artistic wares of bronze and silver. They also manufactured the purple dye. Their merchants traveled everywhere, and we'll read about them here in the 26th chapter. They were a powerful nation at the time, maybe, I don't know, like China today, selling goods all over the world. So they might be like that. Chapter 26, Ezekiel. And it came to pass in the 11th year, in the first day of the month. This is the 11th year of captivity. The word of the Lord came to me. saying, Son of Man, because that Tyrus, which is another name for Tyre, hath said against Jerusalem, Aha! She is broken. That was the gates of the people. She has turned unto me. I shall be replenished now." And she laid waste. In other words, when Tyrus had seen that Nebuchadnezzar had come in and had two sieges, had taken many things out on the sieges, On the way north, many of the articles taken by Nebuchadnezzar's people were traded with the people of Tyre, and aha, aha, we've got you now. If she needs help, she can't turn to God anymore, she's got to turn to me. So she's saying in her heart, I am a god. This is what happens to people that don't know God. They think highly of themselves. They get pride. That's going to be one of the major problems she has. Because she said this in verse 2, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus. I will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up against the land, so to speak. Now, Tyrus, again, I was telling you, had been around a long time ago when Joshua was entering the land. This would be about eight centuries before this is written here. And Joshua is making his way through the land. The first reference to Tyrus is found in Joshua chapter 19. And all it says is when they were beginning to distribute the land, and they were sending the tribes to the various regions, Asher was sent up to the north. And Asher was given the border in the north of Israel, and that was the fifth lot. And when they went up there, their coast went all the way, and Joshua 19, 29, turns to the strong city Tyre. And it was a strong and a great city for eight centuries. It had that strength. They used their ability through mariner, shipbuilding, artisan work to trade with fellow nations and people came to them. So they've been around for a long time. Now what God says in Ezekiel, it's now time for your judgment too. And so he says, verse three, I'm gonna come against thee, Tyrus. I'm gonna bring nations against thee. Just like the waves come up, the nations will come up. Back in Ezekiel 26, four, they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus. They shall break down her towers. They had not only towers for religion, they had towers like lighthouses to watch for the mariners. And things, I'll break down the Tyrus. I will scrape her dust from her. I will make her like the top of a rock. I mean, when the wind and the wave comes and there's nothing left but just a hard surface, nothing there anymore. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea. For I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. It shall become a spoil to the nations. And her daughters, which are in the field, shall be slain by the sword. and they shall know that I am the Lord." They seem to think they're so hot they'll see the power of the God of the earth and the judge of the earth. Verse 7, "'Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.'" They didn't expect this. They were a naval power. They were in alliance with Nebuchadnezzar, who was a military army power. They both used each other. This wouldn't make sense. I'll bring upon them Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He's a king of kings. He'll come from the north. He'll come with horses. and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field. He shall make a fort against thee, cast a mount against thee, lift up the buckler against thee, all the military weapons. He shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. One of the engines of war they invented back then was the catapult. And they were able to cock that thing back and put large stones on it. Many soldiers would put the stone, just like now in the 1800s, they'd load a big cannonball on an old-fashioned cannon. And then they'd release that thing, boom, and it would smash up against the walls. And that was the way you start breaking a walled city. And that's what he's doing. Verse 10, by reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust shall cover them. They're going to come riding in like one of those old westerns. and the dust comes up. Thy walls shall make a noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots. There's so much going on that the ground is shaking around them, and the people inside the walls are hearing it. He'll enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach, and they They walled their cities up well, but God's gonna let them break. The walls will come a-tumbling down like in the days of Jericho when God broke the walls there. Verse 11, with the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets. He shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground, and they shall make a spoil of thy riches. You saw what happened to Jerusalem, it's gonna happen to you. What goes around, comes around. And they'll make a prey of thy merchandise, and they'll break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses, and they shall lay thy stones, and thy timber, and thy dust in the midst of the water, and I will cause the noise of thy songs. They had a lot of concerts there. It was a real big place. They had a lot of agents and all the rock groups played there. I'll make cause the noise of thy songs to cease. Now, just to remind you again, in the Bible, God doesn't particularly like the music of man. He's not too crazy about it. From the very start, it began in Genesis chapter 4. with a descendant of Cain, a man by the name of Jubal, which is where we get the word Jubilee from, you know, lots of music. Jubal, he was the father of all that handled the harp and the organ. But the thing about the music of the world, you gotta go to Job chapter 21, and Job living at the time of the Gentiles. I know Father Abraham had been born, but he hadn't quite been called yet, and the Hebrew people and the Jewish nation had not begun. But Job was a man of faith like Abraham, a Gentile man of faith. And as he was looking around, what he noticed was the wicked, Job 21, verse 7. Wherefore, why do the wicked live and become old and seem to become mighty in power? This is a question God's people always ask. I mean, here I am, I know God. Like it said earlier in the book of Job, he was a just man. He was a man that worshiped God. He prayed. He had a relationship with God. God's willing to have a relationship with anyone. And here are people that don't want to know God, and they seem to live long. They seem to become mighty in power. They become wealthy. Verse 8, their seed is established in their sight with them. Their offspring, they have, oh, and another baby was born before their eyes. Their houses seem to be safe from fear. Neither is the rod of God upon them. Why? God's not going to spank someone that's not his kid. Enjoy your life. You don't want to know me, you better have a good time on planet Earth, God says. Because once you stand before me, that's the end. So you want to put it all into 70 years? Have your 70 years and pass up on eternity. You, I'll spank because you're my kid. Him, I won't. He's not my child. I'm not going to put my rod on him. But Job doesn't understand. He doesn't even have a book of the Bible at the time he's writing this. He's merely just praying out loud, finally gets put in a book. There wasn't one book of the Bible written. Remember, we studied Job. So anyways, he doesn't understand the things you understand. Why are they safe? Verse 10, what I notice about these wicked people, they have bulls and their bulls have other bulls. They gendereth, faileth not. They don't seem to get mad cow disease. Their cows calveth, they casteth not the calf. They send forth their little ones like a flock. Their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp. They rejoice at the sound of the organ, particularly if it's a Leslie organ with rotating speakers in it, like I used to play years ago in the band. And verse 14, therefore they say unto God, depart from us. We desire not the knowledge of thy ways. We're having too much fun having a concert here. The music of the world makes God sick. Have you read a Bible? Carefully. Has anyone taught you a Bible? Exodus 32, remember? Do you want to stop or go on? Exodus 32? Exodus 32, and the people break off their golden earrings, and they made a golden calf. And they said, tomorrow we're gonna have a proclamation for the Lord. These be our gods. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play some music, and they were just having a ball, having a good old worship service. And the Lord said, you better get down. The people have corrupted themselves. And verse 15, and Moses turned and went down from the mount with the two tables of the testimony in his hand. and the tables were written on both their sides, the one side and on the other side they were written, and the tables were the work of God, the writing was the writing of God upon the graven tables, and as he's coming down, Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, and he said to Moses, there's a noise of war in the camp. And it sounded like they're screaming like men in a battle. And verse 18, he said, this is not the noise of them shouting for mastery, neither is it the voice of them crying for being overcome. The noise of them that sing do I hear. God says the noise of the world, the music of the world is like pick and fight with me. It's like war. That's what I hear it of, like a battle song. I hate the music of the world, God says. Back to where we are, and I remember one day I was at Bender's and they were playing the modern Christian music, which is like rock and roll music. I was shaking my head going, you gotta be kidding me. I finally said to the kid selling the Christian rock and roll records, do you think this music is actually being played around the throne of God? And he knew right then for a moment, oh gosh, like the spirit of God touched him, please. Anyways, that's Daniel 3, folks. That's where they worship, not with a Bible. But when you hear the music, fall down and worship, or stand up and worship, or get your big lighters and worship. Anyways, back to where we are in Ezekiel 26. It's nice to have a Bible to teach you, and not a bunch of idiots on modern Christian radio. Amen. You'll learn soon enough. Anyways, back to where we are. And God doesn't like that music. He doesn't mind. You want to play it in your car? You want to play it in your house? Don't bring it in front of Him in His house. Get it off His land. You want to do it? Go ahead. Go ahead. Do what you want. Don't bring it in my house. You ain't gonna hear anything like that in God's house. Sorry, I got to take this because I got to teach this because I am a musician. I know what's going on. And the average Christian is a dunder-headed dope who's been led by bad leaders lying to them. I'm sorry. It's not your fault, I guess, but... Anyways, God says, I'll cause the noise of thy songs, verse 13, that's rebellion against me, to cease, and the sound of thy harps and electric instruments will no more be heard. Okay. and I'll make thee like the top of a rock, and thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon, for thou shalt be built no more, for I, the Lord, have spoken it, saith the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus, shalt not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall? When the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee, then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments, and they shall clothe themselves with trembling, and they'll sit upon the ground, and tremble every moment, and be astonished at thee, and they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, how art thou destroyed that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, the great city that was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which caused their terror to be on all that haunted, now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall. Yea, the aisles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure. For thus saith the Lord, when I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee, when I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the with the people of old time, and set thee in the low parts of the earth, in the places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited, and I will set glory in the land of the living. I'll make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more, though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord." Now, God's giving a prophecy to Ezekiel. He's 500 miles away from Tyre. His cell phone is broke. He's getting no bars. He doesn't know what's going on over there. I mean, how would he know what's going on there? There's no teletype, there's no news service, there's nothing. And God's giving him a prophecy. Now, a long time ago I was reading a book in the 1990s that was written by a guy named Josh McDowell, and in the book he quoted a book from the 1960s. This is a book called Science Speaks. This particular book was written by Dr. Peter Stoner and Dr. Robert Newman. These are Let's see, the Chairman of the Department of Mathematics at University California Pasadena, Chairman of the Science Division Westmont College, and a PhD Astrophysics at Cornell University. These are top-flight mathematicians. that wanted to see some things in the Bible of prophecies that were fulfilled perfectly, and they picked this particular chapter, because there are seven particulars in this chapter that are fulfilled, that Ezekiel was told about ahead of time. Seven particular points. You want strong evidence on which to anchor your faith, fulfilled prophecy. Like God said in Isaiah 41, show me the things that are to come hereafter as I will call them. Like Jesus said, not one jot nor tittle shall pass from the law till all is fulfilled. In this particular prophecy, the destruction of Tyre is seven things were stated. Now he's gonna use what's called the laws He has a team of mathematicians. It took them years to write this book. They began in 1958. I think the first edition came out in the mid-60s, and the second one I have here is from 1976. And he said, we're going to use the law of compound probability, just briefly to tell you. He said, let's say, for example, I want to illustrate, let's say one in every 10 men is bald. So the chance of baldness is one out of 10. Let's say one in every hundred men has lost a finger. Compound probability is how many men will I find that are bald without a finger, that have lost a finger. And you have to do the one in ten, it's one in a hundred times one in a hundred, and it becomes one in a thousand. And using the laws of compound probability, they went through these seven particulars given. The first one that was given is in verse seven. The first particular that given to Ezekiel, which probably made no sense to him, is that I'm going to bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. That doesn't make sense. They're trading partners. That doesn't make sense. When Nebuchadnezzar needs a navy, he uses Tyrus's navy, and when they need some help from an army, they use Nebuchadnezzar's army. This doesn't exactly make sense, but there it is. The second thing that's going to happen is other nations will participate in the fulfillment of this prophecy. Verse 3, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and I will cause many nations to come up against thee. Well, they're dependent on Tyrus for a lot of their merchandise. I mean, it'd be like a lot of the nations today that need the Chinese goods that flow out of China. Why do we want to go against China? The cell phones we use, they make the electric cars we use, they make so many of the clothes that we're wearing, we get them at cheap prices at Walmart. Why would all the nations turn on them? But that's God said, I'm going to get other nations to turn against them. The next thing I'm going to do is in verse 4, is when they destroy the walls of Tyrus and break down the towers, they will scrape the dust of her and she'll be like the top of a rock. I'm going to level the damn thing. Now, ordinarily, that's not what you do. Okay. Now, Ed Luongo pays more attention to this stuff than I do. He pays a lot of attention to what goes on at the UN and these trilateral commissions and what the plans are for the world. I really don't care. But he's up on it because he had a friend of his that was in the CIA or something, a government worker. And so about 15 years ago, he was showing me a speech by one of the leaders of China. I can't remember the guy's name, don't know. I have trouble with American names. Anyways, I think of that old joke. Hey you, that's, and he said I was in China. I said, hey you, and half of the Chinese turned around. And then I said, who me? And then the other half turned around. Hey you and who me? I mean, I don't know what their names are. But anyways, he said this Chinese guy gave a speech, and the speech was, in all honesty, he said our land is a mess. It's very dirty. Now the reason is China went through the industrialization like the United States did in the 1800s. And if you've ever seen an old movie of let's say a coal-fired locomotive with all the black smoke and the way our cities were, even if you're young enough to remember, do you remember how dirty downtown Buffalo was in the late 50s? I mean, it was smoggy, it was dirty. There was no such thing as catalytic converters on a car. If you stood behind a car, black smoke puffed out of that thing. I mean, it was horrible. And what happens is part of the growth process of industrialization, you go through a young stage and you make a mess, and then you refine yourself and you clean up. And they said, our country's a mess. The water's a mess. The air is a mess. The cities are a mess. We want a clean nation. We want the United States. It's clean. It has clean factories. It has clean cities. It has clean farms. Not like ours. They've irrigated, they've done everything. We want that nation. That's what he said about 12, 15 years ago. And they don't want to level it. We just want to get rid of the people. We want to kill them and take everything that's left. It doesn't make sense to take a good place like Tyrus and wipe it like a rock, just wipe it out. I mean, they've built it. Get rid of the people. We'll take it over now. That's what communists, that's what liberals do. You build it, we'll come and steal it. We're not going to come and destroy it. That's stupid because we don't build anything on our own. We let other people build. So this doesn't make any sense, and yet, there it is. I'm going to wipe this thing out. It's going to be like a rock. The other nations are going to wipe it out. Doesn't make sense. Occupy it. Take it. The next part is, verse 5, he says, when it's all done, it will be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. Okay. Let's see, that would be the fourth part of the prophecy. The fifth part of the prophecy is in verse 12. When they make a spoil of thy riches, they'll take the stuff back to their town, and they make a prey of thy merchandise, they'll take it back to the town. Instead of moving into those beautiful buildings that you've built, they'll break down the walls, destroy thy pleasant houses, and they'll lay the stones and the timber and the dust in the midst of the water. What a dumb, stupid thing to do. Why would you want to take the time to take all that and throw it into the part of the Mediterranean Sea? Just walk away from it. But that's what God said they would do. Okay, let's keep going. The sixth part of the prophecy is in verse 15. Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus, not only shall the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, Okay? In other words, when they see all this, they're going to, verse 18, they're going to tremble in the day of thy fall. Other nations are going to be shook up and frightened when Tyrus falls. Why? It's Tyrus falling, not them. Why should they care that Tyrus fell? But God said this is what's going to happen. And then finally, he says in verse 14, and when I make thee like the top of a rock, thou shalt be a place to spread the nets upon, thou shalt be built no more, for I, the Lord, have spoken it. Thus saith the Lord God. Well, here's how this prophecy gets fulfilled. Very interesting, all seven parts. Now as I told you, Tyre was a city just north of Israel. In the region today would be Lebanon, but back then it was Phoenicia and Lebanon were side by side. Now Lebanon has kind of absorbed it, but they're the coastal part of what Lebanon would be today. Phoenicia, strong maritime people, a great navy, feared by their enemies. They were also traded with their people. Back in 1 Kings, when Solomon was getting ready to build the temple, look at chapter 5, it was one of the king's attire that provided the cedar trees for the building of the temple. They were able to move it. Despite the development of the plane and the train and the automobile, the shipping industry still moves most of the goods worldwide. That's why so many cities are built where they can have harbors, and they're built near some seaport. It's easier to float things than it is to put it on wheels. The wheels break down, but the things just float, and you can move tons and tons of material, and so we depend on the movement of goods, and they were excellent at this thing. Now, what happened was, after About four years after God gave this prophecy to Ezekiel, Nebuchadnezzar went and fulfilled the first part. And he sieged the city. He laid a siege to it. Now it was very difficult because they were able to, usually when you siege a city, they can't get any food. But the advantage they had as mariners were although he sieged it from the landward side, they could still send their boats out and bring food in. And so they were feeding themselves just fine while all the army of Nebuchadnezzar was out there on the land and couldn't do much about it. And they were able to take, it took them 13 years. He started in 586 BC and finally in 573 BC, he was able to take the city. And his weapons of war finally broke the walls down. And they fought back, obviously, in the meantime. But finally, now, what had happened also in those 13 years is the Phoenicians had the same spirit that the Germans and the Hitlers and any thieves have. When they recognized there's going to be trouble, they also used their ships to take a lot of the, some of the valuables, out of the city and move to other places. They went to Tarshish. They went to the British Isles. Some of the rulers saw the problem and they went. And so when Nebuchadnezzar got on, he found so much things of value had been moved out to and away. And another thing the Phoenicians did was right off the coast there, about a half mile off the coast, there was an island. still in the Mediterranean Sea, but it was a half mile offshore, and they set up a beautiful, like a little island like you'd have in Hawaii. And a lot of them moved to that island, they moved the valuables there, and so Nebuchadnezzar got the old city, and there was a lot that he never got that was worth anything. He profited nothing. The Phoenicians technically were not conquered at that time, and he couldn't pursue them because he didn't have a navy. and he couldn't send his horses out, weren't going to cross the river a half mile into the Mediterranean Sea. There's nothing they can do about it. And so Nebuchadnezzar finally returned to Babylon. And so the first part was fulfilled in verse 7, back there in 586 through 573. And for the next 241 years, The little island city of Tyre remained, just like Nebuchadnezzar left it because he couldn't get to it, and 240 years later, in 332 BC, Alexander the Great approached it. And when Alexander the Great came, as he was capturing the other coastal cities all along the Mediterranean there, he was taking over their navy fleets, and he was combining a fleet, and he was heading toward Tyre to fight it. But his fleet and his navy was not as good as the ones they built, and he couldn't do it. And so what he finally did was, he decided to scrape the old place of Tyre down. And so what you read about, where it said, I will scrape it like the top of a rock. And he used the fleets of the other nations to help him, so the other nations weren't gonna fight Alexander the Great. So now it's Alexander plus many nations coming against it, and they're fulfilling the fact that number two, point number two, other nations will participate in fulfilling this prophecy. Number three, the city will be made like the top of a rock. because Nebuchadnezzar didn't knock it down, he took what little he could, there wasn't much left, and he finally returned and he said, what do I care? They're way out there on an island, who cares about them? And Nebuchadnezzar went back and now he comes in and he says, I wanna get to that island. And he scrapes all the buildings and all the towers, all the way down to the ground and he built a causeway from the old parts of Tyre. And as he built a causeway, he kept putting it in the sea, putting it in the sea, picking it up, packing it up, packing it up. Finally his horses could drive across it and go to it. So what he did was, again, verse 12 is now fulfilled, they'll make, when they spoil thy riches, they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water to build a causeway to go right over there. And now that one is being fulfilled. It took him seven months to finish the causeway, and he scraped all the soil, just like it said in verse four, I will scrape the dust from her. When Nebuchadnezzar's done, not Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander's done, he didn't tell you the names at that time. He says other nations, meaning Alexander. I wish he would have mentioned him. Second reason. We were discussing this at Teresa's house the other night. When it comes to prophecy, God isn't so much interested in lost people. It's written about his son and those in a relationship to his son. Those are the names he puts in there. Very rarely does he put a lost person's name in there. He does it once in a while. He doesn't like the memory of the wicked to go on. And so he could have put Alexander, but he didn't put him by name in there. He just called him the notable horn in Daniel chapter 8. and they identified him when he came to Jerusalem. That's another story. Anyways, so now we're getting number one, Nebuchadnezzar does the first part. Number two, Alexander with the other nations does part number two. Number three, he makes it like the top of a rock. That's fulfilled. Next thing it says is the stones will be laid in the sea. That's now been fulfilled. He also said in verse five, when it's all done, it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Now, I don't know much about this, but it turns out that the old city of Tyre today is a popular place for fishermen. Because it's right on the border of the Mediterranean Sea there, they spread their nets and they get great catches right there, just like God said. So it's a fishing resort, as it is today, as God prophesied it. There are great freshwater springs at the site of the old city. It supplied the city in the old days with fresh water. The springs are still there. They still flow there. The water still runs into the sea. Recently an engineer found 10 million gallons a day flow through that city. Translation, that city could easily be rebuilt and God said it won't be rebuilt and it's never been rebuilt. And so God, one by one by one, is laying out these prophecies. I mean, what is the chance that Ezekiel would have been able to predict that Nebuchadnezzar would take the city? Let's see. Chances one in three. Number one, he won't come at all. That could be one possibility. Number two, he will come and fight the city, but he'll lose. Number three, he'll fight the city and he'll win. Chance one out of three. that Ezekiel would think Nebuchadnezzar would come? The compound probability, estimate one out of three. What is the chance that Ezekiel would know that Nebuchadnezzar, when he conquered the city, would not completely fulfill the prophecy of destruction, but other nations would come years later? What are the chances he would know that? Maybe one out of five, you want to be conservative. What's the chance that Ezekiel have of knowing that when Tyre was finally captured, it would be made flat like the top of a rock? How many cities have been made flat like the top of a rock after being conquered? What is the chance of this? I don't know of any city where the ruins have been so completely cleared away. The estimate of this is like one out of hundreds. Next, what's the chance that Ezekiel would know, after the city had been completely cleared away, it'd become a popular place for fishermen? There's no basis to make an estimate like that. What do you figure that is? Oh, we'll say 1 in 10. Okay, we'll be conservative. What's the chance that Ezekiel would know that when Tyre was made flat, its building material and the dust would be laid into the sea to make a causeway? What's the odds he'd know that? Very little, maybe 1 out of 10. What's the chance... Now, the other thing that happened is when the fall came, all the other cities at that time were so afraid, all the different military powers, all they did was just lay down when Nebuchadnezzar came. They didn't even fight. It's almost like I surrender. Exactly like God said, what is the chance that Ezekiel would have known that all the other cities would just open their gates to the conqueror of Tyre without resisting? We'll say one out of five, we'll be conservative. And what's the chance that after Tyre, being completely made flat, would never be rebuilt? Nearly all old cities, which have great natural resources, have been rebuilt over time. Tyre is an excellent place, has an abundant supply of fresh water, it has good land. What's the chance of that? One out of 20. So if we take those seven particulars, multiply it together, 3 times 5 times 100 times 10 times 10, it turns out to be 1 in 7.5 times 10 to the 7, that's 1 in 75 million. There's compound probability in one chapter. And what God is saying is, try me. I mean, if you want to know if this book is real, come and try the book. I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory I will not give to another. I'm not going to give my praise to some graven image or some carved image. The former things have come to pass. I'll declare new things before they spring forth. I will tell you of them. I am the Lord. Who is it as I who can call and declare it and set things in order? The things that are coming and the things that shall come, I'll show them. Let someone else show them to you. And so 1 in 75 million that this particular chapter would happen exactly the way God called it right there in those 21 verses. Now, in the next chapter, just briefly, you can read a little bit about its history and how they had merchants, in verse 12, that had all kinds of riches, how they traded with all the various nations, including Israel and Judah. They were a powerful, wealthy, naval economy, and still, God said, I'm gonna tell you what's gonna happen, and it happened exactly, perfect prophecy in God's word. It's a place where you can anchor your faith. When we get together next time, we'll skip 27, because it just talks about all the things they've done in the past. I want to look at 28, because in chapter 28, we're going to see the king and the prince of Tyrus were filled with the devil. And God's going to speak right through them and tell us the history of the fall of the devil, who was once Lucifer a long time ago. But that's tonight's study, The Power of Prophecy. Yes, sister? He said, why does he call Nebuchadnezzar king of kings? And what verse is that again? Five, six, seven? Seven. Seven. We'll look at how carefully it's worded. I will bring upon your city, Tyrus, Nebuchadnezzar, presently he's the king of Babylon, he is a king of kings. And what he's showing is usually in every generation there'll be one nation that has the preeminence. So he might have been at the time the most powerful man. He was a king of all the kings. I mean he was ahead of all the rest of them at that particular time. A mortal king over other mortal kings at that time, that's all. He's not the king of kings, that's Jesus. He's a king of kings in his generation, yeah. Yes, he did refer to him as a servant. Pardon me. Yeah, he served him, he used him as a servant to bring judgment. Like a rod in my hand, you know, and yes. I don't think Nebuchadnezzar, a lot of people, this is the way I think differently, however you see it's fine by me. Whatever you see is fine by me. In the fourth chapter of Daniel, when Nebuchadnezzar finally prays to God and acknowledges that God is the great God, a lot of people think that's his salvation. No, it's more a picture of what Paul said to the Philippians. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord. And Nebuchadnezzar's a picture of the Antichrist recognizing, that is the Lord, I am not the Lord. It's the final words out of a lost man's mouth. Nebuchadnezzar's a type of the Antichrist. And God's gonna use the Antichrist real soon. real soon to do some cleanup work. I mean, you can stop if you want here, and we can just talk amongst each other. If you want to go on with prophecy, we can end this. Yes, Brother?