Ezekiel 31-32

Introduction

You’re right. I have confidence that the vote is.

No, it’s not the nine. Okay. Since I got so miserably behind in the beginning, I’ve been remiss in going over these questions with you, so let’s go over some questions this morning. Uh and you will note for chapters 29 and 30, I have le uh pages 72 and 73. So I’m going to skip a few questions and begin on page 72, question number five at the top of the page. Now, if I count it right, there are 26 people in here. When I read the question, I want to hear 26 voices.

Nebuchadnezzar was given Egypt as wages for what service? For laboring. And they didn’t get booty from the Where’d they get the booty from? Egypt.

Who would follow with Egypt by the sword?

Ethiopia, Lud, and all Arabia and Libya, is that what y’all said?

What would be known when all Egypt’s help was heifers were destroyed?

Number eight. Who is the terrible of the nations?

Yeah, Brother Bob in this workbook has listed uh a number of places here or a number of names that uh you will note that these names that these listed is from the uh King James Version. If you have another version of the Bible, they may look a little bit different. We went over that uh I believe in the last two lessons lessons. What would happen to these cities of Egypt? No, which is Memphis.

Okay, destroy idols be laid means and there would no longer be a prince in the land. Pathos, which is down south in Egypt, but down south in Egypt is called Upper Egypt. What would happen at Pathos?

So Anfire. So and uh according to my research, so and is or was at that time the place of the government. That’s where uh Egypt was governed from, and that’s why it’s gonna be burned, according to my studies in history. Sin.

No, or thieves.

Avan and Pivaseth.

The young man would fall by the sword of the women. Very good. Very good. Uh here we don’t break the strength of the earth. Remember the cloud shall be a dark cloud over. Now, who was the prophet? Who was the prophet who was taken captive? To Egypt, taken to Taphanese? Jeremiah. Jeremiah. That would be correct. Now, let’s uh uh move forward to lesson eighteen, seven pages seventy-six and seventy-seven. No, no, no, no, let’s not do that. We have some true false questions. Back to page seventy-two. Pharaoh was called, first true false question. Pharaoh was called the great monster or the great dragon that lieth in the midst of the rivers.

Tire was given to Nebuchadnezzar for his work against Egypt.

The inhabitants of Egypt would never come back to their homeland.

The day of the Lord is described as a cloudy day.

The sword would fall out of Pharaoh’s hand.

Page seventy-six.

What or I’m sorry, whose height was exalted above all the trees of the field?

How did he compare to all other trees in the garden of God? They could not rival it. They envied it was exalted. At least in his mind, right?

To whom was this cedar delivered because of its pride?

To who? Babylon. Okay. To the mighty one of the heathen is what I wrote down. Of the heathen nations who is Nebuchadnezzar Babylon. Which, and that’s exactly what y’all said, right? I said Nebuchadnezzar.

Number four, a Syria is used as a warning lesson to whom? All the nations. Whether they leave it to all pharaohs and all the two. It would be to all the nations. Would you accept all the nations? To exalted them. That’s what I put all the nations together. How much how much time passed between the oracle of Ezekiel 31 and 32? A year and one year and nine months. One year and nine months.

Number six. With what would God spread out his net over Egypt?

A company of many peoples.

Or many peoples andor nations. Number seven, what would the sword of the king of Babylon spoil? The Bombay.

The uncircumcised. And Pharaoh will be comforted, right?

Who are the six nations listed as being in hell with Barah? Assyria.

If we read through it all, I’m criticized Brother Bob here on his on his on his question here. Here are the ones that I think are going to be there, and they’re more than seven. But they’re all not all nations. Egypt, Assyria, Elam, Meshach, Tubal, Edom, and Sidonians. The chief of the Sidonians. And that uh that comes out to be being more than six. Now the chief of the Sidonians, in all fairness, is not a nation. But let’s see, one, two, three, four, five, six. And uh for whatever reason, I wrote Asher in there too, but I don’t know why. A A S S H U R. Sure. Or Assyria.

Okay, yeah. Asher is the birthplace, ASS ASS, H U R is the birth birthplace of the Assyrian nation. And that birthplace of the Assyrian nation goes back beyond 2000 BC. Number 10. What did each of these do among the living that makes them as Egypt?

Let’s do the truth files and then we will go into our lesson. Well, we won’t actually go into our lesson first, but we’ll uh we’ll do something here in just a moment. Uh number one, all trees up the garden envy the Assyrians. True. The nation shook at the sound of the fall of Assyria.

Pharaoh is likened to a lion and an elephant.

Why? Why is that falling?

Quail or monster of the sea?

Number four, the waters of Egypt would run like oil. Egypt shall be laid in the midst of the circumcised. Why?

Now let’s do a little general review and uh uh if I can remember what I supposed to remember, this should go smoothly. If not, you folks are gonna have to come. Chapters one through twenty-four. Generally speaking, they’re the warnings of the destruction and the fall of Jerusalem because why? Idolatry.

Would you accept that as a general explanation? I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children. You shall speak my words to them, whether they listen or not. Didn’t we hear Brother Bob say that a number of times in previous lessons?

Chapters 25 through 32. The coming judgment on wicked nations, and there were seven of them named. Actually, two of them are cities or city-states. Do you remember what who they were?

And the nations.

That work?

Remember those?

And perhaps, perhaps we might say, in addition to these, might we say, all the kingdoms of the world. And we find these in Ezekiel chapters 25 through 32. You remember that we have uh he spoke of Tarshus way to the west to Persia, and then from Pathos in the south, or Ethiopia to Meshach in the north, Tubal in Greece, to Elam, which is east of the Tigris. But there is hope as explained in chapters 33 through 48. And we’ll see a glimmer of the hope in today’s lesson. It’s just a glimmer, but as we go forward to the end of Ezekiel, that hope should become clear. And I think will become clear.

Who had the Lord appointed as his watchman?

Why did the Lord need a watchman?

But why? No, because they have a lot of hold him accountable. What about this? Her priests? What had the priest done?

Her princes.

Like wolves tearing the prey for shedding blood, destroying the lives in order to get the slightest change. Her prophets have smeared whitewash. Telling tales, not telling the truth, not speaking the Lord’s word.

1. Are You a Watchman for the Lord?

And the people. What about the people? What about the common people? Today’s study is about a watchman. Are you a watchman for the Lord? Yes. Who do you watch out for? Everybody. You’ve got to watch out for yourself first in respect to the Lord, because if you’re not pure and righteous, how can you watch for other people to teach other people?

You accept that? Yes. I searched for a man among them who would build a wall and stand in the gap for me in the land so that I would not destroy it. But I found no one. Ezekiel 22, 30. The watchman. Would someone read for me? Ezekiel 33, verses 1 through 6. Reader, Kathy. Okay. And the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, if I bring a sword upon a land and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming upon the land, and he blows on the trumpet and warns the people, then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.

He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning. His blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have had we he would have delivered his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes the person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand. Now we just talked about who watchmen are. We talked about who watch who watchmen were in Ezekiel’s day, and who a watch who watchmen are in our day. If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people tremble? That comes from Amos chapter 3 and verse 6.

But the British are coming, the British are coming. Isn’t that what he’s talking about? Chapter 4.

The British are coming, the British are coming, is a national thing. It is an army, an army coming against an army or a nation. Can you think a little bit more individualistic about this?

2. The Lord Had Placed Watchmen from the Beginning

Brother, mend your ways. Okay. That is the message, the message must start from the individual and spread forth. And uh yes, it is a national thing. It can be a national thing, should be a national thing. But how are we as a nation today? We’re about where they were. About where they were, that’s about right. The Lord had placed watchmen from the beginning. See now, y’all keep me straight here. Make sure that I’m not saying anything I shouldn’t be saying. Adam for Eve and Eve for Adam. Were they not watchmen for one another? And we know what happened there, don’t we? Yes.

He blamed it all on her, didn’t he?

Abel for Cain and Cain for Abel. Am I my brother’s keeper? Absolutely. You are or you should have been. But because you weren’t, you were banished from the garden. And what did God do? Why did he stand there as guardians? Jeremiah. Now, who can get into that garden?

Are you sure? What about the righteous? That gate is always open to the righteous, is it not? We weren’t banished from the garden for King Killing Abel, though. No. No, that uh that happened before that. But we know that that happened before that, but the cherubim are there. The cherubim have not yet been removed. Hell. Except the righteous. And here are some other watchmen that we find. Moses to speak the word. Aaron and his sons to teach it. Elders as judges for the people. Kings to judge us. Israel, like all the other nations. Now that’s what the people wanted. God didn’t want that, but he acquiesced to it. Samuel didn’t want it. But he had to acquiesce to it because God said, This is what we’re going to do.

And then in Ezekiel’s day, the watchman should have been the priests, princes, prophets, and the people. But, yes, sir. It’s important to say that under your king’s thing, it’s this is incredibly good. The Bible says that the Lord said, They didn’t reject you, Samuel. That’s right. They didn’t reject you, Samuel. They rejected me as being king over them.

3. The Watchman’s Duty

But the Lord now had found no one to be a watchman. The watchman’s duty. Uh someone reads 7 through 16. What oops? Ezekiel 37. That should be 33. I made a mistake, so forgive me. 7 through 16. Son, so you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore, you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me. When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way. That wicked man shall die in his iniquity. But his blood I will I will require at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity.

But you have delivered your soul. Therefore, you, O Son of Man, say to the house of Israel, thus you say, If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live? Say to them, as I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn turn from your evil ways. For why should you die, O house of Israel? Therefore, you, O Son of Man, say to the children of your people, The righteous, the righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression. As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it, and that in the day that he turns from his wickedness, nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.

When I say to the righteous that he shall surely die, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous works shall be remembered. But because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die. Again, when I say to the wicked, you shall surely die. If he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live.

None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is lawful and right, he shall surely live. Thank you. Now we have uh in our studies and previous lessons, we have brought across language like this, uh similar language to this, two times before. You remember where it was? 18 is one of them, and then in chapter 3, verses 17 through the end of the chapter. Similar language. What we have in Ezekiel is seeming like Ezekiel starts with a message, and he continues with the same message pretty much. But he’s changing the characters in it, he’s changing the language in it a little bit. For what purpose? Maybe to reach the hearts of all people of the day, all readers in our hearts today as well.

The watchman’s duty. Sound the trumpet in mourning. What is our application? Think about the scripture today, and let’s think about our application. And y’all take a look at my thoughts here. And if I’m incorrect, tell me. Each one helps his neighbor and says to his brother, be strong. Preach the word. Be ready. In season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. Is that not our duty? Yes. Was the duty any different in Ezekiel’s day? No. No. If a brother sins, go and show him his fault in private. If he listens to him, you have one a brother. Words of Jesus. But do this with a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving each other beyond all these things.

Put on love. What is this love he’s talking about here?

Love of God and of neighbor. Love of God and of neighbor. And then, which is the perfect bond of unity. What is the perfect bond of unity? It is oneness of heart. It’s oneness of soul. It’s oneness of the Christian heart, mind, soul, and body in Christ. In Christ’s church. Except that? Yes.

The Apostle Paul did all these things, and his testimony was, I am innocent of the blood of all men. Now, when uh based on your reading of today’s lesson, is that not the point? Is that not the point God wanted Ezekiel to make to the people of the day? Yes. However, if one practices all these righteous deeds and stumble, will his righteous deeds be remembered? No. No. Only if he turns from sin and practices justice and righteousness.

4. The Way of the Lord Is Right

Someone reads 17 through 20. Yet your countrymen say the way of the Lord is not just. But it is their way that is not just.

And if the wicked man turns away from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by doing so. Yet, O house of Israel, you say the way of the Lord is not just, but I will judge each of you according to his ways.

But when our friends and acquaintances and co-workers say to us, the way of the Lord is not right, what is our response? What is our response, Lord? And I know every one of you have had that in some shape, form, or fashion.

Take advantage of the season, as Paul would say. From a compassionate heart, preach the word, repeat, reprove, review, resort, uh, resort, exhort with great patience and instruction. And say to them, the way of the Lord is right. And use these words of Jesus to back you up. I’m sorry, these words of Paul, which would be the words of Jesus. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or whether bad.

5. You’re Not Like Abraham

I don’t believe there’s any need to. No, there’s uh let uh we will not read that. That is pretty straightforward. We’re dating, we’re dating now. What is the date? Is it 12 year 10? It kind of depends on uh basically how you choose to date the Bible. I date this as 585, others will date it as 586, but it is 18 months. It’s 18 months after Jerusalem had actually fallen. So Jerusalem has fell 18 months ago at this writing of Ezekiel. 23 through 29. Someone read that, please. John. 23 through 29. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, say you inhabit those ruins in the land of Israel are saying, Abraham was one, was was only one, and he inherited the land.

But we are many. The land has been given to us as a possession. Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God, you eat meat with blood, you lift up your eyes toward idols and shed blood. Should you then possess the land? You rely on your sword, you commit abominations, and you defile one another’s wives. Should you then possess the land? Say thus to them. Thus says the Lord God, as I live, surely those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and the one who is in the open field, I will give to the beast to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and caves shall die of pestilence. For I will make the land most desolate, her arrogant strength shall cease, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through.

Then they shall know that I am the Lord when I have made when I have made the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.

So to us who are many, the land has been given us as a Christian. As a possession.

I agree with that. They believed in quantity instead of wild. I accept that. And here’s what I had here. So you get the gold star. See, Abraham believed in the Lord, and he the Lord reckoned it to Abraham as righteousness. Now, what is the difference? What is the difference in Abraham and the Jews or the exiles in Ezekiel’s day?

They believed in it’s seemingly they believed in everything but God. Now, let us not paint the picture that they did not believe in God. They probably believed, yes, there is a God, and it’s kind of obvious from this that they believed God was there. That their belief there was a God, but they believed in other gods and everything. Yes, Cat. Well, it also seems to me that they’re trusting in their lineage. Because I am a child of Abraham, and there are many of us left, and God gave Abraham this promise, they’re trusting in the fleshly lineage rather than that their father Abraham couldn’t die. Yes, they are, but at the same time, they’re blaming that fleshly lineage for the predicament they find themselves in, are they not?

The forefathers and weren’t these the same people that Jeremiah talked about the bad figs. I mean, everybody weren’t keeping was taken to captivity, and they left the residue of the people behind the bad figs. Well, that that language is in Jeremiah. That we we find that language in Jeremiah. But at heart and realistically, can we say that the only thing that left in Jerusalem was trash, basically? No, I don’t think that’s the case. What we have here is some very beautiful from Jeremiah, some very beautiful metaphoric language that’s describing to the people those who will listen, those who will listen, who will hear with their ears and see with their eyes what is going to happen from a logical standpoint, not a literal standpoint. Yes. And the 10,000 that are at Shibar, they’re a rebellious group of people.

Their hearts are not right.

I mean, he did select, I believe, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, the young people that would represent him in Babylon and Susan places like that, but the 10,000 are she bark. Those guys are just as rebellious as the day of Islam.

And that’s part of what he was doing. I think you could simply say that Abraham kept the covenant. They didn’t die. That’s what it boils down to. They broke it in every way. So the comparison couldn’t be more extreme. And that is, I believe, uh, I believe that is the analogy that Ezekiel is making here. You’re not like Abraham, folks. You’re just not like him. Other comments on this? Questions. Therefore, say to them, say to them, you eat meat with blood in it. Over to the right is the law that prohibits that, or where you find the law that prohibits that. Lift up your head to idols. As you shed innocent blood, you rely on your sword. What is their sword? What is their sword? Is it not their own wisdom as opposed to the Lord’s sword, which is his word.

Did the Lord not promise to curse them? Has he failed to keep either promise? No. You commit abominations. What did they do?

Yeah, made them pass through the fire, sacrifice to Molech. Now this was in the day of Manasseh. And we find that 2 Kings 21, 1 through 16. They set up high places. Yes, they did all of that. And each one defiles his neighbor’s wife. Now, we can uh each time I read that language, and maybe it is me, maybe I’m fouled up, but each time I read that language, I think of David and Bathsheba. We have David who died, who died, who repented and died a righteous man. But at one time he was not righteous. At that particular time he was not righteous. And he and Bathsheba both should have been watchmen for the other, should they not? Is that not what we’re supposed to do one to the other?

Absolutely. Not what he did, but what he should have done. He turned out to be a watcher, not a watchman. That’s right. I suppose you could see.

6. They Hear Your Words but Do Not Do Them

God didn’t remove himself. You’ve gone away from God. And because you rejected him, you will fall by the sword. Now this sword has at least two meanings. One is a sword of Nebuchadnezzar, and before that, Assyria. And the other is the sword of God, the word of God, the promises of God. 30 through 33. I believe, yes, these are. We will not read that because I have it pretty uh most of it on slides here, so we will read it as we go through it. Your fellow citizens who talk of talk about you by the wall saying, come now and hear what the message is that comes from the Lord. Are they gossiping? Are they speaking truth? What are they doing?

They’re pandering to me. They’re saying, I want to hear what you have to say, but they’re really. But then what did they do? They’re not looking at you. They did the opposite. They come to you as my people. And sit before you as my people. Now, see if you can find somebody that you know that gets into this category. And pray that it’s not yourself. Me too. I have to do that. They come to you as people come and sit before you as my people and hear your words, but they do not do them. They do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their game. Their game to us today could be many things. It could be world, just worldly things, it could be riches.

It could be a bigger home, a bigger car. Let your mind wander and think of those things. And just see how the scripture applies. Even though this is Old Testament, the Old Testament from the beginning to end is a basis for the New Testament. And it tells the story of the New Testament, doesn’t it not?

And their heart goes after their game. You are to them as a central son. Love to hear it, love to hear you sing, Ezekiel. But it’s nice to the ears, but what does it mean? You don’t know what you’re talking about. Is that not at least part of what this message is? Any comments on that?

Bob? I was thinking about the parallel with Jeremiah, because this is after the fall of Jerusalem. This is where they read Ezekiel. Oh, Ezekiel’s word has been confirmed as a true prophet, because what he had written down 18 months earlier showed that he was inspired of God. And so he’s proven to be a prophet. Jeremiah, likewise, in about chapters 41 and 2 of Jeremiah, after the city had been overcome, and uh and then they get alive and assassinated. Those who were left came to Jeremiah and said, Well, just speak to the Lord and find out what we ought to do. And Jeremiah came back and said, Stay right here. Don’t go down to Egypt. But then they said, Oh, you’re just lying, Jeremiah. They went on down to Egypt.

With the same attitude, Jeremiah had been proven to be a prophet of God because he had forecast the fall of Jerusalem. And so both Jeremiah and Ezekiel were proven to be God’s inspired prophets. Absolutely. In both cases, the people listened, came to them, but didn’t follow the word. They continued to have way they had been prior. Thank you. To whom shall I speak and give warning? That they might hear, might hear? Behold, their ears are closed, and they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it. Jeremiah 6 and verse 10. And you hypocrites, the words of Christ. You hypocrites rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you. This people honors me with their lips, but with their heart is far away from me.

But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines, the precepts of men. Teaching their own heart, their own mind, but far away from God and his word.

Conclusion

So when it comes to pass, as it surely will, they will know that a prophet has been in their midst.

We are not prophets.

In the sense of the definition. But are we? Not prophets. In the sense of hearing forth the Lord’s word. Hearing forth the Lord’s word. That has been given to us by inspired writings. That was the first bell, wasn’t it? Do you accept that? And we’re not prophets in in the sense of the definition of the word. But we are watchmen.

We are priests, are we not?

We’re not kings.

But we have a responsibility of carrying forth the word. Now, unless I’m terribly mistaken, that completes the lesson right there. For they will be judged. We will be judged. Every one of them according to their deeds. And that that is the message that Jeremiah, well, Jeremiah did too, but Ezekiel, Ezekiel is bringing forth. All of us are going to be judged, folks. Repent. And as we go forth through the remaining chapters of Ezekiel, we’re going to see the picture’s going to be painted as to how this judgment comes about. How this judgment comes about and through Christ. And uh study that study very carefully and look at that as we go forward. Now, on Wednesday, we’re going to be talking about shepherds. I’d like for each one of you.