Fallen!

Ezekiel 33:1-33
 

Welcome! Good morning! I am excited to be speaking to you today on Ezekiel chapter 33. Ezekiel 33 is the transition between two major sections of the book, and it is therefore good today to start with a brief overview of what we have seen in the first 32 chapters. I will also highlight a few details that have direct relevance to today’s passage. Recall that Ezekiel was in training to be a priest in Jerusalem when a Babylonian attack on the city resulted in the city itself being spared but in many Israelites being taken captive and sent to the Babylonian nation, among whom was a young man, 25 years old, named Ezekiel.
 
As the book begins, Ezekiel is sitting by an irrigation canal in what amounted to be an Israelite refugee camp. Ezekiel is now 30 years old, the age in which he would have become no longer a priest-in-training but a full-fledged priest if he had not been captured but instead remained in Jerusalem. But on this date, God gave Ezekiel an amazing vision in which he sees a heavily symbolic image of God coming on his throne. In this vision, Ezekiel is commissioned by God to be, not a priest, but a prophet. God called him to speak to the hardened people of Israel. God promised to make Ezekiel even more persistent, more hardened than they were, “harder than flint” (from which comes the title of our series). God instructed Ezekiel to speak what he had been shown in the vision. (This is in Chapter 3.)
 
We are told that Ezekiel then went to his fellow exiles on this irrigation canal and… told them? Well, no. Instead, it says he “sat among them for seven days, deeply distressed.” At the end of the seven days, God came again to Ezekiel and instructed him further:
 
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from Me. When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself. Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.” – Ezekiel 3:17-21
 
Because God has called Ezekiel to be a watchman, someone who was to warn people of what was coming, God said that Ezekiel would be held accountable to deliver the messages God revealed to him. Ezekiel was not in any way accountable for how the people responded or failed to respond, but he was being held responsible to give the message. I am reminded of the account of Jonah. Jonah rejected God’s call outright and actually fled in the opposite direction. We all know how that turned out – since the boat was going in the wrong direction, God provided His own transportation – the belly of a giant fish – and brought Jonah to exactly where he was told to go. Wisely, Ezekiel did not go the route, so to speak, of Jonah, but obeyed God faithfully after this encounter.
 
I want to mention an additional detail found in chapter 3 that also has relevance for us in today’s passage:
 
I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people. But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ – Ezekiel 3:26-27a
 
This passage indicates that God made Ezekiel mute, except for when he was to speak God’s words. I can imagine what a powerful witness this made Ezekiel, that is, for those who had hearts warm to the things of God. Imagine being around at the time of Ezekiel, knowing that every time he spoke, his words were straight from God! I am reminded of Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, who was made completely mute until his son was born. But this is different. Ezekiel did frequently speak, as our past weeks in Ezekiel can testify. And perhaps Ezekiel could also speak privately, for example to his wife – we don’t really know, but I suspect this was the case. There is one instance recorded in which Ezekiel speaks his own words, his own heart, to God. But if he tried to speak anything to the Israelites apart from God’s words, at God’s time, no words would come out. Among Ezekiel’s many challenges, I want you to see how hard this had to be. Maybe you have felt isolated in this pandemic. But what Ezekiel experienced, over many years, was a totally different level of isolation.
 
Now God repeatedly gave Ezekiel words and sign acts to present to the people to warn them that their continued sin was leading to another attack on Jerusalem, one in which the city would fall. These warnings were given to the people in exile with him, but did they also reach Jerusalem? I think Ezekiel’s written warnings did make it to Jerusalem. In Jeremiah 29, for example, we see a letter sent from Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon, so there was a mail system accessible to at least some Israelites. I believe that Ezekiel’s warnings to Jerusalem were given in a similar way. Why would the Babylonians allow such letters to be sent? Because, in their eyes, Israel was a tiny nation, a nation already nearly completely fallen, an insignificant people, and their long-term goal was always to make life good for the people they conquered so that they eventually abandoned their own cultures and started to see themselves as part of the great Babylonian “melting pot.” A mere piece of mail was no threat to them.
 
After about a year of giving these warnings that God gave him, Ezekiel had another vision (Chapters 8-11) in which he saw rampant sin associated with the Temple; men, women, priests, and non-priests were all sinning greatly against the Lord through idolatry, oppression, and more.  In the vision, Ezekiel then saw God’s glorious chariot leaving the Temple and leaving Jerusalem entirely. At the end of the vision, God promised to go into exile with them, and He promised that one day they or their descendants would return with new, transformed hearts, hearts of flesh replacing their former hearts of stone.
 
Chapters 12-24 consist of a series of God-given judgments on Israel often in the form of poems, parables, and allegories. They also gave details of how Israel, Jerusalem, and her leaders would fall. God explained that Israel’s sin had been so great for so long that the coming judgment was irreversible, certain to come and to come soon.
 
This section of the book of Ezekiel ends with what I think was Ezekiel’s hardest days: he was told his wife was about to die, and when she did, he was not to mourn for her, as a sign of how the fall of Jerusalem would be a similar experience, one with ongoing threats on their lives, one so traumatic that the people who survived could not even mourn.
 
The topic of Ezekiel’s “muteness” returns at the very end of this chapter:
 
“And you, son of man, on the day I take away their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes, their heart’s desire, and their sons and daughters as well—on that day a fugitive will come to tell you the news. At that time your mouth will be opened; you will speak with him and will no longer be silent. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord.” – Ezekiel 24:25-27
 
And so we see a promise of the apparent end of Ezekiel’s commission, one in which he will once again be free to speak whenever and whatever he wishes. The passage does not imply that it will be the day of the fall that this will happen, but that the fugitive will start his long journey on that day, and when he arrived to tell Ezekiel of the fall of Jerusalem, that day would be when Ezekiel would be “released.”
 
Now, in Chapters 25 through 32, where we have been camped out for the last four weeks, God uses Ezekiel to not give prophecies against Israel, but against her neighboring nations, all of whom also would experience God’s judgment. Special attention is given to what might be described as the shining modern financial center of business at that time, the city-state of Tyre, and to what could be described as the oldest surviving empire in that part of the world, great old Egypt, land of countless wonders including the great pyramids, in which rulers (Pharoahs) who were treated as gods were laid to rest with their treasures for the life to come. Tyre, likewise, had taken traditions and stories of gods and rewoven them into a new god for themselves, Melqart, god of the sea, and worship of this god spread far and wide. God’s prophecies against these nations were tailor-made to strike at the heart of their false belief systems. Egypt was told that their leaders would go down to Sheol like every other “common” idolater, and Tyre was told that the very sea that Melqart supposedly controlled would be their undoing, both figuratively and literally.  
 
This brings us to today’s passage:
 
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head. Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’ – Ezekiel 33:1-6
 
Here, God is not yet delivering the punchline, so to speak, but He is setting it up. This is like a parable that is about to be explained. What is described here is perfectly logical, and the people would certainly agree. It would be foolish to blame a watchman if he gave his warning but the people did not respond, but it would be entirely appropriate to blame the watchman if he had seen the approaching calamity but did not give it to the people. God goes on to give the “punchline,” and surprisingly, it is not directed to the people, but to Ezekiel himself:
 
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved. – Ezekiel 33:7-9
 
You can see the strong parallels between this passage and the one at the beginning of Ezekiel’s ministry, back in Chapter 3. Why does God essentially repeat this message to Ezekiel? It is because, in effect, Ezekiel’s ministry to Israel ended back in Chapter 24. During the time period of Chapters 25-32, which appears to be about two years, Ezekiel had nothing else to say to the Israelites. God had finished warning them! Chapter 33 represents a new beginning, a recommissioning, so to speak, of Ezekiel. God was, once again, going to use Ezekiel to give His words to the people of Israel. Would it be a continuation of the same kinds of dire “it is too late” warnings, or would it be something different? Let’s keep reading and see.
 
“Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’ – Ezekiel 33:10-11
 
This is not the same message that Ezekiel had been giving previously. Pretty much the only hope to be found in the latter part of Ezekiel’s earlier messages to Israel had been a future hope, the hope that I mentioned could be found in Chapter 11. But this is a present hope! Repent, now, and live, now! And here we see God’s heart. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He wants people to turn from their evil ways. He wants people to live. Note that these Israelites are saying a very different thing than those described previously in the book of Ezekiel. The earlier Israelites refused to acknowledge their sin or its consequences. They enjoyed the fruits of their wickedness, even though such fruits were minimal. Their hearts were completely hardened. But these Israelites were deeply aware of how their sins had led to their awful situations. They admitted they were sinners. They thought, wrongly, that their softened hearts would make no difference to God. But they were wrong. God was completely willing to help those who truly repented and started to walk in accordance with the ways of God.
 
“Therefore, son of man, say to your people, ‘If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person’s former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked repents, that person’s former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were formerly righteous.’ If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done. And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right—if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live. – Ezekiel 33:12-16
 
This is good news! Following God’s ways would lead to life, irrespective of what evil things they had done previously. But it was not perfect news. Returning to sinful ways would also lead to death, irrespective of what good things they had done perfectly. This was the essence of life under the Mosaic law. Obey it and live or disobey it and experience God’s judgment. But for people who had been thinking that judgment and death was the only possible outcome irrespective of what they did next, this was indeed good news. God continues:
 
“Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just. If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, they will die for it. And if a wicked person turns away from their wickedness and does what is just and right, they will live by doing so. Yet you Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But I will judge each of you according to your own ways.” – Ezekiel 33:17-20
 
God’s rules about the consequences of sin were entirely just, entirely fair. I might argue that they were more than fair, as, in contrast to what most of the world thinks about judgment, this was not a matter of counting or weighing out your good deeds versus your bad. Much of the world still thinks in these terms today. I suppose that could also be a valid system, but it is not the system that God describes. And most people, faced with the choice of that system or this one, should have preferred this one. Most people vastly underestimate the amount of sin in their lives, both past sins and present ones. And most people completely neglect the sins that are directly about not worshiping Yahweh, the God revealed to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the only true God, the only creator of the universe and all that is in it. Most people think their “scales” slightly lean heavier in the good works side, but the reality is that their sin side is so weighed down that it sits on the ground, and you could add an elephant to the scale on the other side, and it wouldn’t make any difference.
 
God’s approach is based on the present, not the past. Are you following Him faithfully now? If not, repent and start doing so immediately. If yes, keep on doing it without fail. And that is where the problem arises, but it is not God’s fault; it is ours. Returning to our sinful ways is not God’s fault. It is our choice, every time. And God is completely justified in holding us accountable for our sins. People like to say that it is impossible not to sin, but that is not true. Jesus proved that it was and is possible. We sin because we want to. We choose to value transient, tiny, forbidden things over our relationship with the perfectly holy, perfectly loving, simply perfect, God of the universe. That is an insanely stupid choice to make, yet we keep doing it. And it is nobody’s fault but ours. God is indeed just, and more than just.
 
Let’s continue with the passage:
 
In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month on the fifth day, a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen!” Now the evening before the man arrived, the hand of the Lord was on me, and he opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer silent. – Ezekiel 33:21-22
 
Here, at last, we see the many, many prophecies about Jerusalem’s fall, and we also see the fulfillment of God’s prediction in Ezekiel 24 in which the fugitive would come and Ezekiel’s muteness would come to an end; Ezekiel would now be free to speak his own words in addition to God’s words.  But I am certain that from Ezekiel’s perspective his ability to speak freely would have meant nothing to him at this time. This news, although 100% expected, was horrible. It had actually happened. The Promised Land, held from the days of Joshua over many centuries until this day, was once again only a future promise. Israel, Jerusalem, even the Temple, was no more. This was a time for weeping, for mourning.
 
Listen to the first 20 verses of Lamentations:
 
How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave. Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies. After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations; she finds no resting place. All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed festivals. All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, her young women grieve, and she is in bitter anguish. Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. The Lord has brought her grief because of her many sins. Her children have gone into exile, captive before the foe. All the splendor has departed from Daughter Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; in weakness they have fled before the pursuer. In the days of her affliction and wandering Jerusalem remembers all the treasures that were hers in days of old. When her people fell into enemy hands, there was no one to help her. Her enemies looked at her and laughed at her destruction. Jerusalem has sinned greatly and so has become unclean. All who honored her despise her, for they have all seen her naked; she herself groans and turns away. Her filthiness clung to her skirts; she did not consider her future. Her fall was astounding; there was none to comfort her. “Look, Lord, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed.” The enemy laid hands on all her treasures; she saw pagan nations enter her sanctuary—those you had forbidden to enter your assembly. All her people groan as they search for bread; they barter their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. “Look, Lord, and consider, for I am despised. Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me, that the Lord brought on me in the day of his fierce anger? “From on high He sent fire, sent it down into my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long. My sins have been bound into a yoke; by his hands they were woven together. They have been hung on my neck, and the Lord has sapped my strength. He has given me into the hands of those I cannot withstand. The Lord has rejected all the warriors in my midst; he has summoned an army against me to crush my young men. In his winepress the Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah. “This is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears. No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.” Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has decreed for Jacob that his neighbors become his foes; Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.  “The Lord is righteous, yet I rebelled against his command. Listen, all you peoples; look on my suffering. My young men and young women have gone into exile. “I called to my allies but they betrayed me. My priests and my elders perished in the city while they searched for food to keep themselves alive. See, Lord, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is only death.” – Lamentations 1:1-20
 
Is this repentance? No. But it does reveal humility, an admission of guilt. It is much closer to repentance than the proud, haughty behavior we see described in Ezekiel prior to the fall of Jerusalem. Ezekiel’s mission is changing, because everything has changed, including, most importantly, the attitudes of at least some of the people.
 
Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, the people living in those ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as our possession.’ Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you eat meat with the blood still in it and look to your idols and shed blood, should you then possess the land? You rely on your sword, you do detestable things, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?’ – Ezekiel 33:23-26
 
Everything has indeed changed, but not everyone’s attitude has changed. The people described here are still proud, even though they have nothing. There argument about being able to possess the land because they are more people than Abraham, who was only one, is not only factually incorrect, but also completely ignoring that it was the power and promise of God that gave Abraham the land. These people continue to live in sin, and talk as if they are mighty when in fact an outside observer would be embarrassed for them, for how far they have fallen.
 
“Say this to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those who are left in the ruins will fall by the sword, those out in the country I will give to the wild animals to be devoured, and those in strongholds and caves will die of a plague. I will make the land a desolate waste, and her proud strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel will become desolate so that no one will cross them. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of all the detestable things they have done.’ – Ezekiel 33:27-29
 
God indeed opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Living in humble means does not mean you are humble!
 
“As for you, son of man, your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.’ My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” – Ezekiel 33:30-33
 
These verses resonate so strongly with me. You see this again and again in Jesus’ teachings, where people are respectful, the crowds even come, but so few truly believe, so few truly “are cut to the quick”. And this continues today. I am always on the lookout for Christian podcasts to listen to when I exercise, and some have been shockingly offensive. There have always been non-Bible believing, liberal churches out there, but they seem to have recently coalesced into a new movement called progressive Christianity. Now I’m sure there are exceptions, genuine believers among the movement, but with the stuff I have heard the people are using their entire platform to make fun of genuine believers. They talk about their “deconstructing” and it becomes abundantly clear, at least in what I have heard, that the people were never believers, people who put their hope and their trust in Christ, people who gave their lives to Christ because of what Christ had done for them. Instead, these were people who attended Christian events but never fit in because they never actually believed. The truth is that if you are with true believers, even if many of their practices seem strange or different to you, you will see beyond that, because what is important is that you are fellow bondservants of Christ. When I listen to these “progressives” talk about their experiences, it is exactly like what God says to Ezekiel about those who love to be entertained but miss the point, that the goal is to live for Christ, to serve Him, to love Him, and love those He loves, which includes both believers and the lost.
 
And with that in mind, I want to say a few things about applications of this passage for our lives; I am being selective, because I see many.
 
The first application I see has to do with our responsibility to be sharers of the gospel. We live in the age of the gospel, not the Law, but I feel like the principle God tells Ezekiel in verses 7-9 is even more applicable to us than it was back then. God told Ezekiel that if he did not warn people with God’s words, God would hold him accountable. What about us? God has given us not just the words of life, but of eternal life; the consequences of not turning to God are also eternal. It is not our responsibility to see people saved, but I believe we do have a responsibility to faithfully tell people both the good news and the bad to those who express interest as well as to those for whom God’s Spirit prompts us. Again, we are not responsible for results, but we do have a responsibility to be faithful.  It’s been a while, but I have shared before how, many years ago, I volunteered at a men’s homeless shelter, and one day, there were important visitors present and I was asked to do intake, something I had never done before. That was scary enough, as I was literally reading the rules while there was an impatient line of homeless people eager to come in. The meetings with the important people continued longer than expected, so I was then asked do orientation for any first-timers at the shelter. There was one such person, an older man. Again, I tried to explain things to him as per my orientation instruction sheet, but I was awkward and nervous. Then I came to a point where the instructions simply said to ask him how he thought he ended up here, and share the gospel if he was open. I felt like Jonah in that I said next to nothing, but the next thing I know, he is weeping over his sin and begging me to tell him if there is any hope for him! I shared with him, awkwardly, the basics of the gospel, and the next thing I knew, he was praying to God for forgiveness and dedicating the rest of his life to Christ. When I later shared with the director what happened, I’m not sure he really believed me. But this man was the first person I “led” to the Lord. I put “led” in quotes because I had very little to do with it. I was not eloquent, but I was faithful. We all have a responsibility before God to be faithful. I Peter 3:15 says we are to always be ready to give an answer when someone asks about the hope that you have. If you do not feel ready, let John or Fred or Brian or me know, and we’ll be overjoyed to help you.
 
And my second and final application is related to the first. Not only do we have a responsibility to be sharers of the gospel, we also should take cues from this passage that what we share should be heavily dependent on where the people we are talking to are at. I am thinking primarily about people we know here, as opposed to cold turkey evangelism, where we are talking with strangers. The message of God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness is a prerequisite to having a person be receptive to the gospel message of grace. I am reminded of Luke 7:47 which says that he who is forgiven little loves little. People who think they aren’t sinners don’t need a savior. There are lots of different ways to suggest to people that they are in fact extremely sinful; you don’t necessarily have to pronounce judgment like Ezekiel, although there certainly is a Spirit-led time and place to be direct about it. But I am struck by how, even in this one chapter, God has such a radically different response to the brokenhearted than He does to those who remain proud. We of course see the same thing in Jesus’ ministry as well as in the ministry in the early days of the church as told in Acts as well as in the writings of Paul. We should of course also pray for the lost we are trying to reach out to; this is undoubtedly our most important preparation of all. We should seek wisdom from God, who knows each person better than we know ourselves. None of us are Old Testament prophets, but I do believe that, if we ask God, the Holy Spirit will guide us in what to say and how to say it.
 
And finally, unlike Ezekiel, we are under no “gag order” when we are together. Let us, more and more, love one another in word and in deed, because this brings glory to God; even this can draw unbelievers to Christ.
 

The Realm of the Dead

 Ezekiel 31:1–32:32 
 

As we continue our series in the Book of Ezekiel we come to a place where God pulls back the curtain a little and allows us to see what takes place after death and before final judgment.  Before we start let’s pray and ask God to help us see the mistakes that these rulers and nations made, in order to help us to avoid making the same mistakes. 
 
In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me. “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes, ‘Who can be compared with you in majesty?" – Ezekiel 31:1-2 

Egypt and Pharaoh

Ezekiel 28:20-30:26
 

In a Bible study that I was a part of this past week we were looking at Psalm 46, an excellent passage to take courage from in times of turmoil. It begins with that comforting and familiar verse, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Verse 6, we noted, seems particularly appropriate to these days: “Nations are in an uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.” You have probably been following the news concerning the fall of the Afghan government and the subsequent worldwide uproar regarding America’s response. I had a personal interest in the evacuation effort as I tracked friends trying to leave. One young couple with their toddler had to spend a night outside at the Kabul airport, and after finally getting on a military flight to Qatar had further delays and hardship getting back to the US. They made it safely to Minnesota, but they grieve for all that they have had to leave behind, especially local brothers and sisters who now expect to face incredible persecution and perhaps martyrdom.
 
Amidst all the pain and confusion and outrage, we can take comfort in verse 10 of the same psalm: “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” This is the ultimate message of Ezekiel, too, isn’t it? God will bring judgment on all the nations, including his own people, but his intent is more than just to exert his power or satisfy his justice. God will be glorified; he will be known. Key phrases, repeated more than 70 times in this book, are “They will know that I am the Lord,” and “You will know that I am the Lord.” God’s goal is to be known and acknowledged and worshiped. We need to keep that in mind when we read about his judgment and when we hear of all the terrible things happening in our world. Let’s pray as we begin.

The King Behind the King

Ezekiel 27:1-28:19
 

Last week, we saw the prophecy about the city of Tyre and how it was fulfilled.  Tyre was a mainland trading city on the west side of the Mediterranean Sea.  Following the prophecy given to Ezekiel, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon laid siege to the city for more than ten years.  The city was impoverished during such a lengthy siege, and finally surrendered and agreed to pay tribute.
 
As a part of the prophecy, God foretold the utter destruction of Tyre including throwing the very stones and timber of their fine homes into the sea.  Carl explained that this came about after Ezekiel’s time when Alexander the Great used the buildings of the old city to assault the new city which had been built on a nearby island.
 
Here are a couple of slides that show the way things would have looked before the siege compared to how they look today.  In the upper left, you see an image of columns in the sea.  The majority of the causeway or bridge that Alexander built is now covered with sediment, but there are places where you can still see ruins in the sea.  As you see on the right, old Tyre and “new” Tyre are connected by an isthmus of land.  This happened as the sediment (sand) built up over time.
 
I added one more picture on the lower left.  You can see in the map that there were (or nearly were) two islands.  The southern portion is named after the guy in the picture on the lower left.  He’s actually the god of Tyrians.  Keep him (Melcart) in mind, we’ll come back to him in chapter 28.
 
Let’s look at one more slide.  Here are a couple of views of Tyre in modern times.  The black and white image was taken from an airplane in 1934.  It definitely has the feel of a place where fishermen would spread their nets which was prophesied in Ezekiel 26:5.  The more recent image from 2006 begins to look more settled, but I would say that it is not a bustling metropolis by a long shot even today.  I found a travel guide for Tyre.  The author said there’s really nowhere much to stay in Tyre, and it is best to make a day trip from either Beirut or Sidon.  Yes, you can apparently find McDonalds and even Dunkin’ Donuts in Tyre today.  But keep in mind that for 2500 years, Tyre was little more than a fishing village.  Today, it is a small city, 60,000 in the city, not quite 200,000 in the metro area.  It’s not as big as Greenville.  Beirut on the other hand has more than 2 million people in the metropolitan area.
 
Let’s pray and look into the lament and additional prophecy against Tyre and her king.
 
Father God, show us what you would like for us to see in these chapters of Ezekiel.  Open our eyes to Your truth.  We want to hear from You.  In Jesus’ Name, we pray.  Amen.

Tyre

 Ezekiel 25:1-26:21
 

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of Ezekiel, looking at Chapters 25 and 26. These chapters represent an important turning point in the book of Ezekiel, not just literarily speaking but in terms of the events that happened in Ezekiel’s life and in the events of his people. To better understand this change, I want to talk a bit about the end of Chapter 24.
 
First, as an overall reminder, recall that Ezekiel was living far away from Israel, taken into captivity along with a group of his own people by the Babylonians. The Babylonians now allowed them some degree of autonomy, but they mixed them in among people taken from other nations in the hope and plan of getting the people to forget about their distinct heritage, culture, and objects of worship and instead come to accept the Babylonian ways and religion. In this foreign location, God called Ezekiel to become a prophet, and over the years, Ezekiel had faithfully carried out God’s instructions. The prophecies God gave Ezekiel warned of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, a final end to centuries of patience while God watched His people practice ever-increasing idolatry and commit worse and worse sins. Through Ezekiel, God also warned the people living there with Ezekiel to repent of their own sins. These prophecies were often illustrated first not with words, but with strange actions that Ezekiel would perform among his people. He would then explain what these actions were meant to illustrate.

Cooking Pot

Ezekiel 23:1-24:14
 

Good morning!  In our last message, we covered Ezekiel 21 and 22.  As we have seen before, God again told Judah of the imminent destruction of their nation.  In today’s passage from Ezekiel 23 and 24, God is going to again illustrate why this judgment of the nation and the people must inevitably come.
 
I am going to paraphrase parts of the story from Ezekiel chapter 23.  It is a graphic analogy of what is going on in the hearts and minds of the people of Israel.  It is stark.  It is unmistakable in its meaning.  It is raw.
 
It’s been many years that I’ve had this comparison of the major prophets in mind.  I tend to think of them this way:  Isaiah as rated PG.  Parental guidance is suggested.  Jeremiah as rated PG-13.  Likely too much for those under the age of 13, parental guidance is suggested.  Then, I think of Ezekiel as rated R.  The content is so graphic in places that it can be difficult to read and certainly uncomfortable to talk about.
 
Unfortunately, when I bring up the ratings system, I’ve tapped into something that many of you have your own thoughts about.  And, I don’t want to create a misconception.  My use of the rating system analogy is no doubt imperfect.  Others have written on this as well, including culture writer Gene Edward Veith.  He said,
 
“The problem with the rating system is that it mechanically counts incidents of violence, nudity, and bad language. But it says nothing about what the movie means and its effect upon its viewers. … The rating board pays no attention to what a movie means.”
 
“Some movies create fantasies in the imagination of their viewers … that are sinful. Others present vice in such a way that it becomes abhorrent, that it makes a person less likely to want to commit that sin. Both the pro-sin and the anti-sin picture may end up with the same rating.” Rating the ratings | WORLD (wng.org)
 
I thought that description was helpful.  Ezekiel uses strong imagery but for good reason.  God is giving us a picture of sin that reveals how abhorrent it really is.  God is showing us the depth of betrayal of the Israelites in spite of God’s provision for them and lovingkindness toward them for centuries.  He also wants us to turn away from sin and choose His ways.  He wants all readers of Ezekiel, including us, to be less likely to want to commit the sins of Israel.
 
Let’s pray and the get into today’s passage.
 
Father God, thank You for telling us the truth even when it is not easy for us to hear it.  Help each of us to turn away from the sins of Israel and to live lives focused on You and Your ways.  Glorify Your Name we pray.  Amen.

Swords

 Ezek. 20:49-22:30
 

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of Ezekiel, looking at Chapters 21 and 22. I want to open today, however, with the last verse of Chapter 20.
 
Then I said, “Sovereign Lord, they are saying of me, ‘Isn’t he just telling parables?’” – Ezekiel 20:49
 
I start with this verse as a reminder that the chapter divisions in Scripture are much later editions made by editors and copyists of the scrolls of the Bible. This verse is addressed in the following prophecy in chapter 21.
 
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuary. Prophesy against the land of Israel and say to her: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am against you. I will draw My sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. Because I am going to cut off the righteous and the wicked, My sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north. Then all people will know that I the Lord have drawn My sword from its sheath; it will not return again.’ – Ezekiel 21:1-5
 
As we have been seeing in this series, God has given Ezekiel visions and prophecies warning his people of the coming final fall of Israel – more specifically, of the small part that was still standing, portions of the land of Judah, and within it, Jerusalem, the capital city. Some of the prophecies and visions focused on how God would remove His Spirit from the Temple, and with it, His protection over it. Some focused on the king, and some on the corrupt upper classes and the corrupt priests. Here we see a prophecy against the entire land of Israel, from south to north, and to all that live within it. The image used is that of a sword.

We Want to Be Like Them

Ezekiel 19:1-20:48
 

Good Morning!  Today’s passage from Ezekiel will cover chapters 19 and 20.  The passage can be viewed in 3 parts, so that is how we will consider them today.  Chapter 19 is a lament that also uses imagery like the parables we have seen in the last few weeks.  Most of chapter 20 is an answer from God to the elders of the exiled people of Judah in Babylon.  The last few verses of chapter 20 are another prophecy against the kingdom of Judah.
 
As we prepare to examine the lament in chapter 19, it is good to consider the conclusion of chapter 18.  It is perhaps the most important message of the book of Ezekiel.  This is God speaking.
 
For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live! –  Ezekiel 18:32
 
This year, I have been reading the New Testament from the Amplified Translation of the bible.  Recently, I was in the book of Ephesians.  One word stuck with me from chapter 4, verse 18.  The word is self-banished.
 
You must no longer live... alienated and self-banished from the life of God. – Ephesians 4:17-18 AMP
 
This is a complementary thought to Ezekiel 18:32. Our own ability to choose has an impact on whether or not we experience the life of God, or the life God wants to give to each one of us through His Son, Jesus Christ.  But sometimes, people separate themselves from Him.  They maybe do not realize it at first, but by their choices they banish themselves from a relationship with Him.
 
Much of the first half of Ezekiel is about the people of the nations of Israel and Judah and how they rejected God and banished themselves from Him to pursue idols and ideas which do not come from God or lead to Him.
 
Chapter 19 is a poem of grief over the loss of kings, but these losses did not have to happen.  The leaders of Israel rejected God’s way, the way of life.  Let us pray and then consider what happened to those who rejected the Lord.
 
Father God, show us from today’s passage what You desire for us to see and understand.  Help us to avoid the pride and other resulting sins which can separate us from relationship with You even for a moment.  Help us to draw near to You in repentance and trust.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

The One Who Sins

Ezekiel 17:1-18:32
 

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of Ezekiel, looking at Chapters 17 and 18. As we have been studying Ezekiel, I have seen many things I never noticed from past readings. One thing I have noticed is parallels between Ezekiel and the gospels. Just like the gospels, Ezekiel has sections that focus on parables. We are currently finishing up one such section. This section began in Chapter 15, which we looked at two weeks ago, in which the Lord gave Ezekiel a parable about the uselessness of the wood of a vine in comparison to the wood of a tree. Vines are not strong enough to make good furniture out of. Even more useless is vine wood after it has been through a fire. God compares such a burnt vine to the people of Jerusalem after they experience God’s judgment for their unfaithfulness. And last week, in Chapter 16, we saw an extended parable or allegory of an unfaithful woman. It describes how a cast out woman is rescued, her wounds treated, and then she is given fine clothing and jewelry and is transformed into someone like a queen. She is married, and she achieves fame as a result of who she is married to and how she now appears. But she chooses to live a life of unfaithfulness and wickedness turning all the good things she has been given into instruments for evil. Again this is an illustration meant to describe the unfaithful people of Israel who have also left their God for idolatry and wickedness. The parable concludes with God pronouncing judgment. This brings us to a third parable, starting at Ezekiel 17:1.

Sister Sodom

Ezekiel 16:1-63
 

Today we will tackle one of the chapters in Ezekiel that is rarely preached on or even read publicly. It isn’t necessarily ignored, like the chapters of genealogies at the beginning of 1 Chronicles for example, but people avoid it if they consider it too scandalous for ordinary consumption, with its explicit sexual language and imagery. So it is appropriate for me to issue a disclaimer here at the beginning of this message that this chapter may make you feel uncomfortable and may be difficult to explain to younger children - along with chapter 23, coming up in a few weeks.
 
This particular prophecy from Ezekiel is meant to be shocking. He probably felt personally disturbed by it when God gave it to him to pass on to the Israelites around him. But he no doubt understood that God was trying to get the people’s attention by any means possible and reveal to them the depth of their corporate sin and depravity. At the same time he was repeatedly making the case, like a lawyer, for the justice of God’s judgment on his people. Their exile, the destruction of Jerusalem, indeed all their suffering and punishment was completely deserved. It didn’t happen by chance and it would not just disappear on its own.
 
Fred set the stage for this section last Sunday with chapters 14 and 15. Chapter 14, you may recall, begins with a meeting between Ezekiel and some of the elders of Israel who had come to him for advice:
 
Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me. Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all?” – Ezekiel 14:1-3
 
You can almost see God shaking his head with frustration here. He had been giving his message through faithful Ezekiel, speaking repeatedly of sin and judgment, and yet these leaders were sitting there as though none of it applied to them. They were there to inquire of the Lord as though they deserved something good from him. They were not acknowledging the idols in their hearts. All this talk of judgment must be meant for someone else, some other bad people - not them.
 
We do this so easily as well. We read the warnings in scripture and think that they must be for someone else. We’ll be just fine. No one can see the idols in our hearts. But God is calling everyone to repentance! He wants to remind us just how bad our sin really is. Chapter 14 explains that he wants to “recapture the hearts of the people of Israel.” They have fallen in love with something other than him, but they think that it doesn’t really matter. God realizes that he needs to shock them to bring them up short and to get them to think, to make them consider their most basic affections and motivations, and to understand the dire consequences of abandoning their commitment to him.
 
He begins with the allegory of Jerusalem as a useless vine in chapter 15. The vine is disconnected from its root, dried up and partially burned. It is a mere shadow of the lush, fruitful vine that had come to represent Israel in the Old Testament. It is now good for nothing except fuel for the fire. In the same way, Jerusalem had not fulfilled her divine purpose and was now destined for complete destruction.
 
Chapter 16 today begins a new allegory. Jerusalem is now compared to an adulterous wife. God wanted the intimacy and exclusivity of a marriage relationship with his people, but they had been unfaithful by following after other gods and abandoning their love and commitment to the one true God. God wants to confront them with their sin in a way that will make a real difference.