Useless Vine

Ezekiel 14:1-15:8
 

Our series is titled Harder than Flint: Ezekiel
 
In Ezekiel 3:4-9 we learned where this title came from:
 
He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel—not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate. But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house.” – Ezekiel 3:4-9
 
Now when flint is struck by steel the steel breaks of a tiny sliver causing a spark. (Note: The steel breaks off not the flint because it is harder than steel.)  That is the reason why flint stones were used to start fires and later to ignite gun powder in flint lock pistols and rifles. But God said He would make Ezekiel’s forehead like the hardest stone harder than flint.
 
Now before we pick up where we left off last week let’s pray and ask the Lord to speak to all of today through His message.

False Prophets

Ezekiel 13:1-23
 

God speaks.  He spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden, giving them purpose as well as a relationship with him.  He spoke to Abraham promising that he would be a blessing to the nations.  He spoke to Moses giving him a mission to lead the Israelites out of slavery.  God promised that He would be with Moses.  The Lord spoke to the prophet Samuel commissioning him to be a leader of Israel and a spokesman on God’s behalf.  By speaking to Samuel, God provided direction to his people.  God spoke to Solomon.  By speaking to Solomon we have received wisdom from God.  By speaking to Solomon it shows that God will speak to someone who made a lot of mistakes.  He spoke to the prophet Hosea.  Through that we learned that God is jealous about his relationship with His people.  He will love someone who, by human standards, is unloveable.  He spoke to Amos, who was just a farmer.  He spoke to the apostle Paul who had persecuted Christians.  He spoke to Peter and John even though they were just hard-laboring fishermen.  God spoke to the church giving the people an understanding of their new identity in Christ.  There are numerous messages of judgment through Ezekiel and Jeremiah.  But the reason for the judgment is not because God hated his people.  It was because He loved his people.  In Exodus 20:1 we see that God spoke about relationship before He spoke about rules.  This was before God gave any of the ten commandments or gave any commands for sacrifices, festivals, consecrations, or temple and tabernacle worship.  Before all that was talked about he said, “I am the Lord your God…”  People did not enter into relationship by obeying the rules.  They obeyed the rules because they were already in a relationship with the Almighty.
 
When we look in the book of Ezekiel we do see quite a bit about judgment.  But why?  It’s because the people were already in a relationship with Him.  He loved his people.  He wanted them to return.  He wanted them to be restored even though they had turned their backs on him.  I’ve warned my children about certain dangers because I love them not because I hate them.  “Max, get off the top of the truck.  Max, get down from the tree.  Max, don’t jump off that.”  I warn him because I love him.

Not Far Off

Ezekiel 12:1-28
 

Welcome! Today we continue our series on Ezekiel, looking at Chapter 12. Let me start with a quick reminder of the context of the book of Ezekiel. At the time of Ezekiel, most of the rest of Israel had long ago fallen to the nations around them, a consequence of their repeated sin and rebellion against God. The land of the tribe of Judah, and within it, the city of Jerusalem, had remained, but they too had more or less deserted God, and God had allowed the other nations to make excursions into their land to carry off people as exiles. Among the exiles was Ezekiel, a man who was supposed to be a priest, but now, living far away at the Kebar River within the land of the Babylonians, he had become a prophet, a spokesperson for God. In the first eleven chapters of the book of Ezekiel, we see a combination of prophetic visions given to Ezekiel and a number of commands God had given him to act out among the people intended to dramatize for them the coming judgement and urge their repentance. At the center of the visions and the dramatic acts was the message that Jerusalem, and with it, the Temple itself, would soon and would surely fall. The visions included a depiction of God’s presence through a cloud, four winged creatures each with four faces, intersecting wheels, a platform, a shining throne, and upon the throne a brilliantly glowing human figure. The visions culminate in seeing God’s Presence, after hundreds of years, leave the Temple made to God’s specifications by king Solomon, and depart Jerusalem on this throne to go to the Kebar River. This vision communicated that although God would allow a terrible tribulation to take place at Jerusalem, resulting in the complete fall of Israel, He was not done with His people, but would be with the exiles until a future time in which He would lead the exiles to return. God would remain faithful to His promises, including the most important promise of all, the promise that out of the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would come the Savior of the World, the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah. Although this message no doubt brought great hope and encouragement to Ezekiel, we are not yet told how Ezekiel’s people responded to being told these visions. For this, we continue on into today’s passage.

Promise of Return

 Ezekiel 11:1-25
 

Welcome! I am thankful to be able to share from God’s Word with you today. For more than three weeks I was ill, fighting an infection in my throat, with fever and other symptoms, including a partial loss of my voice. As a result, I had to keep swapping messages with others, and it has actually now been two months since I last taught. And so, I am very thankful to God for healing me and enabling me to speak to you today.
 
Today we will explore Chapter 11 of the book of Ezekiel. Chapter 11 marks the end of the first major section of Ezekiel and ties the first 11 chapters together, so I think it is appropriate to start with a brief review of the first 10 chapters.