“The Word of the Lord came to me, ‘Son of Man, say to the Prince of Tyre, thus says the Lord God: ‘Because your heart is proud and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas,’ yet you are but a man, and no god, though you make your heart like the heart of a god.'”
– Ezekiel 28:1–2
And such begins, in Ezekiel 28:1-2, the prophecy specifically against the Prince of Tyre, the leader of Tyre, who has basically set himself up like he is a god. He has looked at himself that way. And he has exalted himself that way. He has projected that toward others, they should look to him that way. His heart has been proud like he is a god.
At the root of all of our sin and rebellion is pride.
And as we hear this judgment against the Prince of Tyre for his pride, I can’t help but to think, number one, about the pride in my own heart, and the pride in each of our hearts. This is the essence of sin. That we set ourselves up as if we are God, as if we know what is best for our lives. Every sin is born in a heart of pride that says, “I’m going to do things my way instead of God’s way. I’m not going to submit to God. I’m going to be like God, like I know good and evil,” it’s Genesis 3 and it’s every single time we sin.
Ezekiel 28:1-2 Drives Us to Prayer
C.S. Lewis’ chapter on pride in Mere Christianity is so helpful because he talks about just the root of sin being pride before God. And it’s on display here in the Prince of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 and, sadly, it’s so often on display in each of our hearts. And so, Ezekiel 28:1-2 just drives us to pray in confession and repentance with humility before God. God, we even in saying that in prayer, saying, God we are confessing, You are God, we are not.
We are not God, we are not a god. In fact, we don’t know what is best for our lives. We don’t know what is best in the world, yet we are all prone to think we know better than You. We’re prone to make choices that go against Your word and Your ways. And so we pray, oh God, for your forgiveness. For your forgiveness for any and every way our heart has and even now, today, is prone to say, “I am a god. I am the one who’s going to call the shots here.” God, we pray that You’d help us to live under Your Lordship.
Ezekiel 28:1-2 Is Humbling
And Jesus, we praise You for Your humility. Being in the very nature of God, not considering equality with God something to be grasped that you made Yourself nothing. Taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And You humbled Yourself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross for our sins, for our pride You died. You paid the price for our prideful arrogance and sin against God. We praise You, Jesus, for Your humility, for Your sacrifice for us, for Your forgiveness of us. We praise you Jesus for clothing us in Your righteousness when we don’t deserve it.
A Fresh Start
And so, we pray right now in a fresh way for Your humility in our lives, for Your humility in our hearts. Help us all day today, all day tomorrow. God, help us to humble ourselves before You and to follow You, trust You, to yield to You, to submit to You, to do all that You call us to do. God, remove pride from me. Remove pride from us. Cleanse us of all pride. As we’ve read Ezekiel 28:1-2, we pray for humility.
We pray for in our hearts and minds just ever-increasing glad submission to You as our God. For we know this is where life is found. This is where joy is found. This is where peace is found in You, God. Not in us as God, but in You as God, and submitting to You as God, worshiping You as God, glorifying You as God, testifying to You alone as God. We praise You. There is no one like You. There are no gods besides you.
Even as we’re praying just daily for unreached people, groups in India where so many millions of gods are being worshiped, God. We pray today for the Kunbi Kadwa in people of India. 1.1 million of them worshiping millions and millions of gods, may they know may the Kunbi Kadwa people know that you alone are God. May You send more and more believers to make Your glory as God known among them. We pray for Your salvation. Salvation that can only come from You, God. Among the Kunbi Kadwa, God. Even as we pray for the spread of Your Lordship, Your supremacy as God there, may you reign in our hearts today. Right now in all that we do. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
