Ezekiel 6:1-7:27
Good morning! We are continuing our study of the book of
Ezekiel. Today, we will cover chapters 6
and 7. In the first 3 chapters, we read
of Ezekiel’s vision and calling as a prophet of God. Jonathan shared on chapters 4 and 5 last week
where we saw Ezekiel’s testimony portrayed not through spoken or written word
but rather as a series of sign acts, symbolic scenes, showing rather than
telling, of God’s judgment against Israel.
Try to imagine for a
moment being an observer of what Ezekiel does.
Since these scenes Ezekiel portrays are a visual prophecy, they must be
done out in the open, likely outside his sun-dried mud-brick house in this
refugee camp or swiftly built town of Israelite captives there near Babylon. I did find one print that is at least a
starting point.
First, Ezekiel demonstrates
the coming siege against Jerusalem using a clay tablet and miniature machines
and equipment of war. Following this,
Exekiel demonstrated the effects of the siege on the people in the city as well
as the coming years of bondage for Israel and Judah. This was the most notable of these sign acts as
Ezekiel lies on his side tied up for over a year! During that time, he would eat only a meager
(8 oz) ration of a sort of vegetable bread each day. He would only drink a quart of water each
day. It was only enough food and water
to stay alive. This was to represent the
hardship the people of Jerusalem would face during the siege of the city. In the end, God tells Ezekiel that the people
of Jerusalem will be appalled at the sight of each other as they waste away. No doubt Ezekiel’s appearance was alarming
after these months. He was gaunt and
hollow with a head of long unruly hair and beard sprouting out untrimmed and
unkempt, at least 6 inches growth of hair and beard.
After finishing this
season of lying bound, at God’s instruction, Ezekiel was told to take a sword
and shave off all that hair and beard. Taking
and dividing it by weight, he would indicate the kinds of deaths would overtake
the people of Jerusalem. A third of the
hair was burned inside the city to indicate those who would die there by
famine, disease, and other causes. A
third of the hair was to be struck around the city indicating those who would
die when the siege overcame the city.
The last third was to be scattered to the wind indicating those who
would escape but be pursued.
These symbolic acts by
Ezekiel were done on one stage or set as it were. Building up the model of the siege of the
city, then preparing bread and water, then lying bound on one side and then the
other next to this model, then cutting his hair and beard, then carrying out
the symbolic judgments by burning, striking and scattering his hair in and
around the model city. It is one
contiguous portrayal lasting a year and a half.
Can you imagine? Even though
there was not something new to see each day, people must have been aware of
Ezekiel. One of the reasons I think the
picture of Ezekiel there is not right is the expressions of the observers. For the most part, they probably did not look
pious and reflective around Ezekiel.
Most people probably avoided being around him. Mothers likely tried to avoid letting their
children go past Ezekiel’s house. When
people were around Ezekiel, they probably clucked their tongues and talked
about him sometimes insisting he must be crazy.
Finally, we reach the time
when Ezekiel is going to speak. We
already know that the people are not going to listen, but God will not carry
out His judgments without explaining them.
Perhaps just as there were a few hairs that God had Ezekiel tuck away in
his garments to be saved, perhaps there were a few among the refugees who would
listen to God.
In today’s passage, God
will explain what carried Israel beyond the point of no return to the
outpouring of His judgment and wrath. Let
us pray and dig into our passage.
Lord God, I pray that You
would help us to take these warnings seriously.
May we value what You value. May
we desire what You desire for us because Your ways are best. Open the eyes of our hearts we pray in Jesus’
Name. Amen.
You probably expect more
from me, but I have to be honest that as I got into studying today’s passage, I
was surprised to realize that up until now, we haven’t had specific explanations
for God’s judgment within the book of Ezekiel.
God told Ezekiel that the people of Israel and Judah are a rebellious
people. God told Ezekiel that the reason
he had to lie on his side for so long was because of the people’s sin. In chapter 6, we will get to specifics:
The
word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, set your face against the
mountains of Israel; prophesy against them and say: 'You mountains of Israel,
hear the word of the Sovereign LORD. This is what the Sovereign LORD says to
the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a
sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. Your altars will be
demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people
in front of your idols. I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front
of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. Wherever you
live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your
altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your
incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out. Your people will
fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the LORD. – Ezekiel 6:1-7
Ezekiel is relaying the
message of the Lord. It is not what
Ezekiel figured out or what he thinks.
This is the Word of the Lord to Israel.
God’s language is powerfully direct.
The words “you” and “your” feature nearly 50 times in these two
chapters. There is no allegory and
nearly no metaphor here. Chapter 7
starts with the same opening words and continues with the same direct language.
The sign acts of chapters
4 and 5 were focused on Jerusalem, but right from the beginning of chapter 6,
it is clear that the judgment is against all of the land of Israel. This will be reinforced as we go along.
High places, altars,
incense altars, idols. Everything that
has to do with worshiping false gods.
Totally in opposition to the first two commandments: (1) No other god
before me, and (2) No idols.
Then, in Leviticus (26:1)
and Deuteronomy (12:3), God had told Israel not to set up altars, false images,
or idols, and He told them to tear down any high place they found in the land
left by the Canaanites. What did they
do? “They also set up for themselves
high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every
spreading tree.” (I Kings 14:23) The Israelites became worse than their pagan
predecessors even though they knew so much more about God and His ways.
The end of verse 7 says, “You
will know that I am the Lord.” That
phrase appears multiple times throughout these two chapters. There is purpose in this punishment. It will bring about a transformation in the
Israelites thinking. God is a holy
God. He does not abandon us or ignore
us.
"
'But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are
scattered among the lands and nations. Then in the nations where they have been
carried captive, those who escape will remember me--how I have been grieved by
their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes,
which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil
they have done and for all their detestable practices. And they will know that
I am the LORD; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them. – Ezekiel
6:8-10
“Those who escape will
remember Me,” God says. Again, there is
a corrective outcome God is bringing about from this severe punishment. The people will go into other nations and, they
will remember God there. This will in
turn bring about an increase in the number of people who follow God. I am thinking of Esther (8:17) for one where
it says, “many people of other nationalities became Jews.”
The people of Israel
committed spiritual adultery against the Most Holy God. This is grievous to God as adultery against
one’s spouse breaks their heart.
This remnant is not a
group of perfect people. They have done
wrong, too. They have been
double-minded. They have fallen short of
the glory of God. And yet, they have not
abandoned Him completely. They are able
to respond to God in the midst of their calamity.
This may seem weird, but this
passage highlights a kind of assurance that God is living in you. I know some folks struggle with whether or
not they are saved or really a Christian, and they want to know, “How can I
know if I am saved?” Well, if you are
cut to the quick, if you are ashamed, if you feel horrible or sick when you
sin, that is an indirect way of seeing that our hearts in fact belong to
God. Now, I am not saying that you need
to go out and sin to find out whether or not you are a Christian. That is not what I said. Romans 6:1-2 says it clearly, “Shall we go on
sinning so that grace may increase? May
it never be!” No way! Do not do that. But if you do things that you know are wrong
according to God’s Word, and you are not moved toward a feeling of loathing
what you’ve done, that should be alarming to say the least. Repent, turn away from, doing that wrong and
ask God to clean up your heart, and renew His Holy Spirit in you. (Psalm 51, especially v.10-12)
If you are grieved by your
own sin, please confess your sin to the Lord and ask Him for forgiveness
because He is faithful and just and will cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.
(I John 1:9)
"
'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Strike your hands together and stamp
your feet and cry out "Alas!" because of all the wicked and
detestable practices of the people of Israel, for they will fall by the sword,
famine and plague. One who is far away will die of the plague, and one who is
near will fall by the sword, and anyone who survives and is spared will die of
famine. So will I pour out my wrath on them. And they will know that I am the
LORD, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on
every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and
every leafy oak--places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols.
And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste
from the desert to Diblah--wherever they live. Then they will know that I am the
LORD.' " – Ezekiel 6:11-14
Diblah was far north,
north of Damascus in the land of Hamath.
It generally is not considered part of Israel. It is located just beyond the present day northern
border of Lebanon in Syria. This area
was under the control of Israel during Solomon’s reign as king over the united
kingdom of Israel, nearly 400 years prior to Ezekiel’s time. The desert is the Negev leading down toward
the Gulf of Aqaba, the farthest southern part of Israel. The entire land that had been under Israel’s
influence at any time in its history would become a desolate waste.
If only … if only the
people would have known that God is God without waiting for the destruction of
their land. May that be a reminder to
us. Let us come to Him freely. I think of the last line of the song “Come
Now Is the Time” by Brian Doerkson. It
says, “the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose You now.” Choose him now!
The
word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD
says to the land of Israel: " 'The end! The end has come upon the four
corners of the land! The end is now upon you, and I will unleash my anger
against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all
your detestable practices. I will not look on you with pity; I will not spare
you. I will surely repay you for your conduct and for the detestable practices
among you. " 'Then you will know that I am the LORD.' – Ezekiel 7:1-4
The four corners of the
land is another expression meaning the entirety of Israel is at an end. There will be no nation or settlement that
can be identified as an independent Israel after this.
God is just. He does not lose control or fly off the
handle or go off the deep end. His
judgment is according to the conduct of the people. Their recompense, their repayment, is
balanced against their detestable practices.
What does this say about the severity of sin? It’s not a game. Sin is a big deal. Because we have the mighty power of the cross
in view, I think sometimes we forget how bad sin is, at least until we see more
evidently the outcome, the damage, the near perpetual re-cycling of our sin.
"This
is what the Sovereign LORD says: " 'Disaster! Unheard-of disaster! See, it
comes! The end has come! The end has come! It has roused itself against you.
See, it comes! Doom has come upon you, upon you who dwell in the land. The time
has come! The day is near! There is panic, not joy, on the mountains. I am
about to pour out my wrath on you and spend my anger against you. I will judge
you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. I
will not look on you with pity; I will not spare you. I will repay you for your
conduct and for the detestable practices among you. " 'Then you will know
that it is I the LORD who strikes you. – Ezekiel 7:5-9
Amos 5 says it will be a
day of darkness not light and paints this picture of that day, “It will be as
though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his
house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.” (v.19)
There is no escape for those who will not listen to God.
As we read through
Ezekiel, we are looking at a particular time in Israel history. There are parallels that we can draw and
things we can learn. It is also
important to realize that the judgment that came upon Jerusalem and Israel in
Ezekiel’s time is the judgment against one nation. A time is coming and has been foretold in
Matthew 24-25 and the book of Revelation where God’s judgment will come upon
the whole earth about which Jesus said, “For then there will be great distress,
unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled
again. 22 "If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but
for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. (v. 21-22)
"
'See, the day! See, it comes! Doom has burst forth, the rod has budded,
arrogance has blossomed! Violence has arisen, a rod to punish the wicked. None
of the people will be left, none of that crowd--none of their wealth, nothing
of value. The time has come! The day has arrived! Let not the buyer rejoice nor
the seller grieve, for my wrath is on the whole crowd. The seller will not
recover the property that was sold--as long as both buyer and seller live. For
the vision concerning the whole crowd will not be reversed. Because of their
sins, not one of them will preserve their life. – Ezekiel 7:10-13
Of all the sections of
today’s passage, this one perhaps seems most relatable. In the US, we live among such a wealth of
possessions, it is mind-boggling. It is
nearly a battle just to keep too much stuff from accumulating in our homes.
Economic and market news
is big business and runs continuously.
We see financial trends where people are bidding up companies that do
not have real value just for nostalgia or greed or because they have money to
spare.
One of the judgments of
God here is the end to the wealth of those who rejected Him. Revelation 18 describes the destruction of a
future Babylon and its economic system with merchants and sailors grieving its
loss and their trade.
In itself, money is not
evil, but the pursuit of wealth and accumulation of it can be an idol. If those activities are the hope of the
people, God must judge that, too.
"
'They have blown the trumpet, they have made all things ready, but no one will
go into battle, for my wrath is on the whole crowd. Outside is the sword;
inside are plague and famine. Those in the country will die by the sword; those
in the city will be devoured by famine and plague. The fugitives who escape
will flee to the mountains. Like doves of the valleys, they will all moan, each
for their own sins. Every hand will go limp; every leg will be wet. They will
put on sackcloth and be clothed with terror. Every face will be covered with shame,
and every head will be shaved. – Ezekiel 7:14-18
There will be no one to go
into battle against the Babylonian invaders of Israel. Those who might be able to take action will
be disabled before they can do a thing to protect themselves. I think of Acts 5 where Gamaliel addresses
the leaders of Israel about the apostles.
“If it is from God, you will not be able to stop [them]; you will only
find yourselves fighting against God.” (v.39)
It is again another
portrayal of the completeness of God’s judgment. Previously, we have talked about the land
that not one area would be spared. No
wealth will be retained. None of the
people will retain their dignity or courage.
"
'They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be treated as
a thing unclean. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them in the
day of the LORD's wrath. It will not satisfy their hunger or fill their
stomachs, for it has caused them to stumble into sin. They took pride in their
beautiful jewelry and used it to make their detestable idols. They made it into
vile images; therefore I will make it a thing unclean for them. I will give
their wealth as plunder to foreigners and as loot to the wicked of the earth,
who will defile it. I will turn my face away from the people, and robbers will
desecrate the place I treasure. They will enter it and will defile it. – Ezekiel
7:19-22
Israel’s history with
jewelry and idol making goes all the way back to Exodus (32:2-4) when Moses had
gone up Mount Sinai to receive the Law written directly by the hand of
God. When he was many days in returning,
the people collected jewelry and gave it to Aaron to fashion an idol, the
golden calf.
It is simply impossible to
mention all the parallel passages. There
simply isn’t time. I did mention the day
of the Lord and His wrath from the book of Amos. Isaiah 2:20 also tells of the day of the Lord
where the people will throw away their idols of silver and gold. Both Amos and Isaiah prophesied before the
end of the northern kingdom of Israel more than 100 years before Ezekiel. God gave warnings to the people again and
again and again, but they would not listen.
When God says “the place I
treasure,” He is speaking of the temple, His temple. The place that the Israelites believed was
His dwelling place on earth. Another
aspect to the totality of God’s judgment is God turning away His face and
allowing the desecration of the temple.
"
'Prepare chains! For the land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of
violence. I will bring the most wicked of nations to take possession of their
houses. I will put an end to the pride of the mighty, and their sanctuaries
will be desecrated. When terror comes, they will seek peace in vain. Calamity
upon calamity will come, and rumor upon rumor. They will go searching for a
vision from the prophet, priestly instruction in the law will cease, the
counsel of the elders will come to an end. The king will mourn, the prince will
be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble.
I will deal with them according to their conduct, and by their own standards I will judge them. " 'Then they will
know that I am the LORD.' " – Ezekiel 7:23-27
God will not only allow desecration,
but also destruction of the temple. The
“pride of the mighty” is associated with the temple. Later in Ezekiel (24:21), God says, “I am
about to desecrate my sanctuary--the stronghold in which you take pride, the
delight of your eyes, the object of your affection.”
If it was not clear
before, it is now. The wealth of the
people is of no use. They cannot buy
food. They cannot buy peace. The land is full of bloodshed and violence
appears to be linked to as another cause of God’s judgment. There were violent crimes in Israel that
should not have been going on. Several
commentators interpret the Hebrew behind the expression “full of violence” more
as governmental judgment or judicial murders exemplified by King Manasseh’s
shedding of innocent blood during the time of Isaiah. You have to wonder at the judgment of God
against our land for the government sanctioned shedding of innocent blood in
abortion for the last 50 years.
As the people of Israel
have done so many things in opposition and rejection of the Lord, there is no
longer any guidance from God. There is
no direction from the elders of the people.
This is what happened to King Saul (I Samuel 28:6) after he had turned
away from God. He inquired of the Lord but got no answer whether by dreams or
priests (Urim and Thummin) or prophet.
Amos prophesied a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord (Amos 8:11-12) saying,
“night will come over you, without visions, and darkness, without divination.
The sun will set for the prophets, and the day will go dark for them.” Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah and Amos, wrote,
“The seers will be ashamed and the diviners disgraced. They will all cover
their faces because there is no answer from God.” (3:6-7)
The phrase “by their own
standards I will judge them” is one that rings in my ears. It is echoed in the New Testament. In Matthew 7:2, Jesus said, “For in the same
way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will
be measured to you.” Then later in James
2:13, it is written, “Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has
not been merciful.”
Over the years, I have kept a file of quotes. This one was attributed to Paul Chappell when I first picked it up though I was not able to verify that yesterday. “Wanted: Christians who overlook the faults of others as easily as they do their own.” Isn’t it so easy to overlook and understand our own shortcomings compared to someone else?
I was shocked to find out
Friday that a person I work with had been dealing with an uncertain malignancy
diagnosis for several weeks. They had
not been working with as much confidence and energy as I had been accustomed
to, but there were some other organizational things in play that I had
attributed their attitude to.
Thankfully, they had gotten additional evaluation that showed the
situation was benign. I only share that
because it is a recent situation where I could not see or understand a “fault”
in someone else.
I know it is an imperfect
quote. We should not ignore serious
things in the lives of people we are connected to. But it is important to have an attitude of forgiveness
and forbearance while we also express care and concern.
Let us wrap up for today. How does the prophecy in Ezekiel apply to us
today?
II Corinthians 5:10 says,
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive
the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or
bad.”
If we rest on the gift of
eternal life in Jesus, trusting in Him for forgiveness and salvation, then our
sins will not be counted against us. (Romans 8:1) If you find that you are
living opposed to God, if you are putting your hope and trust in other things
for your life, what should you do?
Do you remember what
Jeremiah told the people of Jerusalem as the siege was getting underway? He told them to go over to the Babylonians. He told them to surrender, and then they
would live. Israel was never willing to
admit their wrong but persisted in it until God’s judgment came upon their land
utterly destroying their way of life. If
you find yourself opposed to God or His ways, what should you do? You should surrender and go over to Him. Then, you will have life, real life, abundant
life.
In the next verse of II
Corinthians 5, Paul goes on to say, “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the
Lord, we persuade others.” That wording
is from the New King James Version. The
NIV says “fear of the Lord” rather than terror.
In light of what we have read in Ezekiel, terror seemed like a more
appropriate word. Knowing the
seriousness of God’s judgment, we who are believers, who are in Christ, should
be motivated to warn others, to even persuade others, to point them toward
salvation in Jesus Christ.
I do have one more point I
would like to share. I think it is
helpful for putting the severity of God’s judgment into perspective. One author I read said that he had heard
people say Ezekiel’s prophecy was a bitter pill to swallow. That author’s reflection was that medicines
for our physical bodies are often bitter tasting, but if we need a certain medicine
to get well, we don’t reject it because of how it tastes. I think it is correct to accept Scripture in
its entirety by faith because it is the inspired Word of God. It is not right to reject parts of God’s Word
because we do not like or do not understand them.
At the same time, we
should seek to understand God’s Word more and more. On Friday, I heard what I thought was a quite
helpful explanation. The speaker was
addressing a morality issue.
Pretty much everything we
have been talking about today regarding the Israelites is a moral issue of one
kind or another. It has to do with their
persistent, centuries’ long, wrongdoing, toward God in particular.
Morality in the world
today, what is considered right or wrong is in many areas pretty much in a
blender. Things that used to be
considered wrong are now considered right and vice versa.
The speaker was careful to
point out that “the moral shifting that has taken place over the last couple of
generations in culture is actually the fruit, not the root.”
“The root,” he went on to
explain, “is a much more fundamental shift. A shift in cosmology—what kind of
world do we live in? And anthropology—what kind of creatures are human beings?” I put these two items on a slide together.
The answers to these
questions are incredibly important for determining morality, what is right and
what is wrong. Our view of the world as
Christians, our Christian worldview, our views on the nature of reality, the
nature of humanity, these are not pieces of “information that we self-determine.” They are not even information that we
discover. The answers to these questions
of right or wrong are “information that’s revealed.” Revealed to us through the Word of God.
The speaker went on to
share how God gave the first two chapters of Genesis to the children of Israel
right after they had spent hundreds of years in slavery, “hearing wrong things
about God, wrong things about reality, and wrong things about themselves.”
And so, the first two chapters
that they get from God clarify “who God is, what kind of world they live in,
and who they are. … Genesis one and two [are] a theology of cosmology and [a
theology of] anthropology in that order.”
So, if we reject God’s
definitions of morality, what is right and wrong, we’re actually “changing
cosmology and anthropology. And at this point, we are missing a biblical
worldview from the first two chapters of Genesis. We are missing anything that
can be identified as Christian, right off the bat from the very beginning. And that
is what I think many people miss is that they think, ‘Well, you know, does God
really care that much about who I sleep with?’ That's not really the
question.” The real question is, “Does
God really care about who He created us to be? And the biblical answer to that
is a pretty dramatic, yes.”
[Remarks taken from an
interview of John Stonestreet on the World and Everything news podcast: Culture
Friday - Is a Catholic schism coming? | WORLD (wng.org). He is the president
of the Colson Center for Christian Worldvew and host of the Breakpoint podcast.]
God cares about who He
created you to be. God does not abandon
His creation. He is the Good
Shepherd. He is calling His own to
Himself. If you hear His voice, respond
to His call. If you have heard His
voice, trust Him even in hard things.
I tried to weave it
already into the message. Through
Jeremiah, God made a way for the people in Jerusalem to escape. They had to give up their possessions, but
they would preserve their lives. God
told Ezekiel that He would spare some people.
God said again and again that as a result of His judgment, His people
would know that He is the LORD, Yahweh, the Great I AM. Through the hardship, they would learn basic
theology and cosmology. We see similar
explanations of hardships result in the New Testament. Romans 5 is a good place to look.
I do not think anyone
listening has the impression that the world is getting better on its own. This world is corrupted and passing
away. God is the only One who can make
all things new. Part of that process is
dealing with evil and its consequences.
God cannot let evil exist for eternity.
The clock is winding down for us individually and for this
universe. God will not reject anyone who
comes to Him. Jesus is the way, the
truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6)
Turn to Him. Abide in Him.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus, show us how to
live. How to love. How to persuade others. We are able to think and talk about these
things only because of Your great love for us.
Help us to persuade others during these critical days as the end is
drawing near. We look to You in Jesus’
Name. Amen.
Over the years, I have kept a file of quotes. This one was attributed to Paul Chappell when I first picked it up though I was not able to verify that yesterday. “Wanted: Christians who overlook the faults of others as easily as they do their own.” Isn’t it so easy to overlook and understand our own shortcomings compared to someone else?
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