https://literalword.com/esv?q=Ezekiel+32
Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Monday, 5 October 2026:
Ezekiel 32:2-3 – “You consider yourself a lion of the nations, but you are like a dragon in the seas; you burst forth in your rivers, trouble the waters with your feet, and foul their rivers. Thus says the Lord GOD: I will throw my net over you….”
Pharaoh saw himself as a lion among the nations — a powerful ruler commanding respect and fear. God saw him differently. He was a creature thrashing through waters that did not belong to him, disturbing and fouling what surrounded him. The contrast is important: “You consider yourself” one thing, “but you are” another. Pride distorts our view of ourselves. We begin measuring ourselves by accomplishments, position, influence, possessions, intelligence, reputation, or the opinions of others rather than seeing ourselves before God.
This continues the warning running through these chapters concerning Egypt. Pharaoh had already claimed, “My Nile is my own; I made it for myself” (Ezekiel 29:3). Now God reminds him that the ruler who believes he controls everything can himself be caught in God’s net. This does not mean achievement, leadership, ambition, or influence are wrong. Scripture calls us to work diligently and faithfully with what God has entrusted to us. The danger comes when stewardship quietly becomes ownership and responsibility becomes self-sufficiency. We exercise dominion only within God’s dominion. Paul captures the proper balance: “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). We should develop our abilities, work hard, lead well, and pursue excellence while continually remembering that our life, abilities, opportunities, and results remain gifts from God.
Jesus shows us what great power looks like when it remains perfectly submitted to the Father. Though all things were made through Him, He came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Union with Christ should increasingly produce that same combination in us: strength without pride, responsibility without self-sufficiency, achievement without self-glory, and dependence upon God without passivity. Where has success subtly changed the way you see yourself? Are you using what God has given you for His purposes, or have you begun thinking of His gifts as something that belongs primarily to you?
Ezekiel 32:7-10 – “When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light…. I will make many peoples appalled at you….”
Egypt’s fall is described in cosmic language. Something that had appeared fixed, bright, and permanent would suddenly go dark. The downfall of such a powerful nation would shock those who had assumed Egypt would always be there. The same imagery appears elsewhere in Scripture when God judges earthly powers and reminds humanity that He alone rules history (Isaiah 13:10; Joel 2:30-31). Jesus later uses similar language while describing the shaking of the present order and His own return in glory (Matthew 24:29-30).
One of the great illusions of life is permanence. Nations appear permanent. Careers feel secure. Health seems dependable. Financial resources accumulate. Institutions look immovable. Then circumstances change and we discover how much confidence we had placed in something temporary. God does not tell us to live anxiously because everything earthly can change; He calls us to place our confidence somewhere that cannot. Through Christ we receive “a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28). Our deepest security is not that God will preserve every circumstance we value, but that nothing can separate us from His love in Christ (Romans 8:38-39).
This allows Christians to hold earthly blessings with gratitude rather than fear. We can enjoy them without needing them to remain unchanged in order for us to be secure. What loss or change frightens you most? What might that fear reveal about where you are looking for permanence?
Ezekiel 32:11-15 – “The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you…. They shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt…. Then I will make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil…. then they will know that I am the LORD.”
The waters Pharaoh once disturbed become quiet when his power is removed. Egypt’s pride, activity, wealth, and military strength could not prevent God’s judgment. Even Babylon, though pursuing its own ambitions, operated within boundaries God ultimately controlled. Once again Ezekiel shows that history is not finally governed by the strongest nation, the most powerful leader, or the most favorable circumstances. God remains Lord over all of them.
That truth should change how we respond when life feels beyond our control. God’s sovereignty does not make us passive. We plan, prepare, work, pray, seek wisdom, and act responsibly. But we do so without carrying the impossible burden of believing everything finally depends upon us. Proverbs says, “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD” (Proverbs 21:31). Responsible faith prepares the horse and trusts God with the victory.
The Gospel gives us even greater reason for that confidence. The God directing history is the Father who gave His Son for us. If He “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,” we can trust His continuing care for us (Romans 8:32). He is working all things toward the ultimate good of conforming His children to the image of Christ (Romans 8:28-29), and He will complete the work He began in us (Philippians 1:6). We therefore do not have to understand everything God is doing in order to trust the One doing it. Where are you carrying responsibility faithfully, and where have you crossed the line into believing that the outcome ultimately depends upon you?
Ezekiel 32:18-21 – “Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt, and send them down… to the world below, to those who have gone down to the pit: ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised.’”
The question is devastating: “Whom do you surpass in beauty?” Egypt had wealth, architecture, armies, culture, influence, and centuries of history, but none of it could prevent death. The grave strips away the distinctions by which people measure themselves. Titles disappear. Bank accounts remain behind. Reputation cannot extend life. Power cannot command death to wait. Jesus asks essentially the same question another way: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36).
Ezekiel is not teaching that earthly accomplishments are meaningless. The issue is whether we have made temporary things the measure of a successful life. Jesus redirects our understanding of life itself: “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). If knowing God is eternal life, then our greatest success is not what we accumulate before death but who we are becoming in relationship with Christ.
The Gospel gives an answer to death that Egypt’s greatness never could. Jesus entered death Himself, bore the judgment our sin deserved, and rose from the grave. Because we are united with Him, death is no longer the final destination described so bleakly here. Jesus says, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). The question is therefore not simply, What am I accomplishing with my life? but, Is everything I am accomplishing drawing me deeper into Christ and being used for His purposes?
Ezekiel 32:22-30 – “Assyria is there, and all her company…. Elam is there, and all her multitude…. Meshech-Tubal is there…. Edom is there, her kings and all her princes…. The princes of the north are there… and all the Sidonians….”
The repetition is intentional. Assyria—there. Elam—there. Meshech-Tubal—there. Edom—there. The northern princes and Sidonians—there. Nations that once frightened others now lie together in death. Their armies had spread terror “in the land of the living,” but eventually every one of them encountered a power they could not defeat.
The picture exposes the foolishness of building identity around comparison. Human beings continually ask, Who is stronger? Who has more? Who is more successful, influential, admired, accomplished, attractive, or secure? Ezekiel takes us to the grave and shows where those comparisons ultimately lead. Death is a great leveler. The real question is not how we compare with other people but where we stand before God.
This is why the Gospel confronts both pride and insecurity at the same time. Pride says, I need to be above others. Insecurity says, I am afraid I am beneath them. Christ gives us an identity that does not depend upon either comparison. Those united with Christ are loved by the Father, adopted as His children, and being transformed into the likeness of His Son (Romans 8:15-17, 29). We are free to celebrate another person’s success without feeling diminished and to use our own abilities without feeling superior. Are you measuring your life primarily by faithfulness to Christ, or by where you believe you stand compared with others?
Ezekiel 32:31-32 — When Pharaoh sees them, he will be comforted for all his multitude…. For I spread terror in the land of the living; and he shall be laid to rest among the uncircumcised….
Pharaoh’s only “comfort” is discovering that other powerful nations ended where he did. It is intentionally bleak comfort. Sharing the fate of other fallen rulers does nothing to overcome death. Ezekiel closes the long series of judgments against Egypt by destroying one final illusion: power cannot save us, wealth cannot save us, reputation cannot save us, nations cannot save us, and other people sharing our condition cannot save us. We need a Savior.
And this is where the Gospel shines most brightly against the darkness of the chapter. Jesus did not merely join humanity in the grave; He defeated the grave. He entered death carrying our sin and emerged victorious, so that those united with Him share His life. “I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus declares. “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). Pharaoh’s story moves from glory to the grave. The Christian’s story moves through the grave into glory because Christ has gone before us.
That changes how we live now. If Christ has conquered the one enemy none of our earthly accomplishments can defeat, we no longer need to spend our lives proving our importance. We are free to pursue faithful excellence without making achievement our identity, enjoy God’s gifts without making them our security, accept responsibility without imagining ourselves sovereign, and face uncertainty without fear that God has lost control. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God, and when Christ appears, we “also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:3-4).
Ezekiel 32 therefore asks us to consider our lives from the perspective of eternity. What are you pursuing today that will look far less important when you stand before Christ? What ability, possession, position, relationship, or accomplishment has become too important to your identity? If everything by which the world presently measures your importance were removed, would knowing Christ still be enough? And if your life truly belongs to Him, what would faithful stewardship of the life He has given you look like today?
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 5 October 2026: Take ten minutes today and write down the three earthly things that presently contribute most to your sense of security, success, or importance. Surrender each specifically to Christ in prayer, then choose one concrete action today that uses one of those gifts for His glory or another person’s good rather than primarily for yourself.
Pray: “Father, You alone are God, and everything I have is a gift from You. Forgive me for finding security or importance in things that cannot last. Thank You that Jesus entered death for me and rose again, giving me a life death cannot take away. Teach me to work faithfully, hold Your gifts gratefully, trust Your providence completely, and find my deepest identity in Christ. By Your Spirit, make me more like Him and use my life for Your glory. Amen.”
