“Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee” (Ezekiel 28:17).
TEXT — Ezekiel 28:1-19
Message
C.S. Lewis said pride is the essential vice, the utmost evil. Unchastity, anger, greed, and drunkenness are mere flea-biters in comparison. It was through pride that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every other vice. It is a complete anti-God state of mind. As long as you are proud, you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people. And, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something above you.’
Like some other Scriptures, today’s passage is generally accepted by Bible scholars as having a dual application. For instance, Psalm 2:7 refers to Christ’s divinity and the coronation of King David. So, our passage directly applies to the proud earthly king of Tyre and Satan. The prince of Tyrus (Tyre) prided himself because of Tyre’s wealth, beauty, and security, which he attributed to his ingenuity and wisdom. Satan was an archangel until pride brought him low. “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezekiel 28:14,15). Isaiah 14:12-16 also records the fall of the devil through pride.
From the preceding discourse, attainments, endowments, achievements, opportunities, skills, wisdom, beauty, knowledge, honour, riches, wealth, and privileges come from God. We must all acknowledge that and give Him honour because He never shares His glory with anyone. We must serve Him for who He is and walk humbly before our fellow men. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humility comes through genuine repentance and accepting Christ as Lord and Saviour. All who come to Him will never be rejected.
Thought for the day
Pride is the badge of human depravity and the bane of our earthly existence.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
