Ezekiel 31:18

Whom are you like in your greatness? That’s the question God asks Pharaoh and Egypt, and that is the question He asks of us. Is there any way we can justify our actions and claim power that will help us stand against God judgments? How will we stand against the holy judgment of a God who created all things?

He reminds Egypt of the great nation Assyria, who were like a cedar in Lebanon, for all their strength. They were prominent and powerful, a tall tree, tall even in a land of tall trees. Even the trees in the garden of God (the area where the garden of Eden was) could not compare to this tree. And yet God felled that tree, it came crashing down and all the leaves and branches filled the mountains and the animals and birds came to rest even on the fallen tree.

‘“To which of the trees in Eden will you then be likened in glory and greatness? Yet you shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the depths of the earth; you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord GOD.”’ (Ezekiel 31:18)

He says: well if Assyria has been toppled, can you claim to be of equal power? And can you claim superior morality? Can you claim equal beauty? Then is it not very possible, that the Lord will topple you as well?

And God gently tells us: who can you compare yourself to? Who is the greatest among men? Are you as powerful as they? And yet did I not topple them at my appointed time? Is it not possible that I can topple you, too? How will you stand against My Holy judgment?

And we answer: no Lord GOD, I am of little power, not even comparable to fallen kings and powerful men of the world, let alone to Your awesome power. But I claim something that not a one of them could that fell, and that is the blood of Jesus Christ, pure and more glorious than all the trees in the garden of Eden, rising high above all else. Lord, myself I cannot stand in Your holy presence, indeed I am likely to trip myself over, but I cling to the mighty tree that is the cross of Christ and it can never fall.

What a claim we have!