You Were

I love reading the Old Testament prophets: Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel, and Jeremiah.  But even I admit, it can get tedious reading chapter after chapter of countries and cities that are going to get wiped off the face of the planet.  Ezekiel 28 is a little like that.  Tyre is going to be destroyed – never rebuilt, never inhabited, never found – and its haughty princes will perish.  Ezekiel 28 is a mourning song for the Prince of Tyre…before he is dead.
It has a recurring word: were.  In verses 12-15 it is used five times as God says, “You were magnificent – but that is all past now.”  The King of the earth has purposed; judgment will surely come to pass.  And from His perspective Tyre is already a memory and her prince is already a dream – hence, “You were…”
This is also how the Lord sees our world, its evil, and its wicked men.  In our limited capacity it seems like “they” are winning and that evil will last forever.  They will not – God has already numbered their days.  He has already witnessed their downfall.  Evil has an end and God has already seen it.  He has grasped victory and refers rightly to our greatest enemies as “you were”.  Their time is over.
Sin, suffering, death, hell, and Satan – you were…