Two Eagles

 

Ezekiel 17:16-24

 

December 2, 2023

Two Eagles

“As I live, declares the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant with him he broke, in Babylon he shall die.  Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in war when mounds are cast up and siege walls built to cut off many lives.  He despised the oath in breaking the covenant, and behold, he gave his hand and did all these things; he shall not escape.  Therefore, thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely it is my oath that he despised, and my covenant that he broke. I will return it upon his head.  I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon and enter into judgment with him there for the treachery he has committed against me.  And all the pick of his troops shall fall by the sword, and the survivors shall be scattered to every wind, and you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

 

Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.  On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest.  And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

Two Eagles, one is the king of Babylon who is over most of the World.  The other is a king who rules over the King of Babylon, yes, our God.  One has power in that it was given to him by God, The other has all power and requires all people to obey and seek Him.  Pharaoh and Egypt, represent our flesh and the world system.  Have you observed that little has changed since the time this was written?  

 

When we enter into Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit, who will guide us and lead us into a life of right living with our God and Father. That is if we do the following, understand our flesh.  Allow me to share about my flesh, and yours may be very different, we all have unique versions of the flesh.  My flesh enjoys being noticed, it likes to be first, it talks too much, and it tries to use humor to be accepted by others.  That is my unique version of the flesh.  I have found in the Scriptures that my flesh has a problem with my spirit and that when I enter into Christ it does not want to allow Him to rule over it.  I ran across this quote; “The flesh and the Spirit are complete opposites. Our most fundamental choice as believers is choosing each day, each moment, which to obey.”  The battle with the flesh is something the apostle Paul talks about in Romans 7:14-24, "For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?"  

 

Galatians 5:19-21, depicts the flesh, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.  I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”  The flesh has many designs, none of them what to submit to the spirit, that is the bad news, now the good news. It is important to understand your version of flesh, in doing so, you can make it submit to God's authority.

 

I took this quote from “Got Questions,” Works of the flesh are not always as obvious as the ones listed above. They can even be found within Christian ministry, as people try to gain popularity or self-worth under the guise of serving Christ. Diotrephes was rebuked for this in 3 John 1:9. Trying to please God from selfish motivation leads to unhealthy competition, slander, bitterness, and eventual burnout (Galatians 1:10).

 

You will find the victory in Galatians 5:16-18, it has always been a choice, so choose to live in victory. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”  

 

Often it has sounded as if you had a civil war going on inside of you, but that is not true, you have a Spirit that lives in you and you came with flesh that God has given you the authority to control, it is not a one-time choice, it is an as you go choice, in the same way, it is to share or not to share the hope you have in what Christ has done for you.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice