"When Judah was pillaged and led into captivity by the Babylonians, Edom celebrated and rejoiced to which God responded: Obadiah 4
“Though you ascend as high as the eagle,
and though you set your nest among the stars,
from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.”
Nebuchadnezzar’s Exaltation and Humiliation Nebuchadnezzar’s experience teaches the same truth. When he exalted himself, God humbled him. The king learned the lesson and at the end of His ordeal, He exalted God, and God exalted him back to his throne.
Proverbs 16:18
“Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Jesus repeatedly warned against the danger of upward mobility and
The Lord taught the same lesson in the parable of the Pharisee and Publican: Luke 18:9-14 “Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
The religious leaders of Christ’s day loved to be adulated by the populace:
*They sat on Moses's seat, which supposedly authorized them to be the only ones who had the authority to teach.
*They bound heavy burdens on the populace.
*They showed off their piety by wearing their phylacteries.
*They loved to utter long prayers in public places to show off their piety.
*They took the best places at feasts and in the synagogues.
*They loved to be greeted in the marketplaces.
*They loved to be called ‘rabbi, rabbi’.
Jesus had special counsel for the arrogant religious leaders: Matthew 23:11, 12 “But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Ellen White wrote: “No distinction on account of nationality, race, or caste, is recognized by God. He is the Maker of all mankind. All men are of one family by creation, and all are one through redemption. Christ came to demolish every wall of partition, to throw open every compartment of the temple, that every soul may have free access to God.” COL, p. 386."
Stephen Bohr
