Ezekiel Lesson 4-5

Introduction

Well, if you’ve read our lesson for tonight, which is Ezekiel chapter 4 and chapter 5, perhaps you understand why it could be said that Ezekiel was God’s visual aid. That makes sense? Because he illustrated what uh was the Lord’s will. In fact, I will tell you that as you go through these first 24 chapters, we’re gonna see in some measure a repeat of the subject over and over. What is the subject that Ezekiel is trying to teach the people that he’s with? What’s going to happen to Babylon?

What’s going to happen to Jerusalem? And they’re gonna be scattered. And why? Because they’re worse than the nations around them. They are worse than the nations around them. Because they have sinned against God. In fact, in our lesson uh last Sunday, what did he say? How did he describe their character?

Stubborn obstinate, hard-hearted, hard-hearted, rebellious, had a face like an adamant stone, like the hard metal uh rock. Uh so was God happy with these people? No, apart from it, right? No, he’s not happy with that. Let’s start with our questions. I said I would tell you uh Sunday morning, I said we’d start tonight with, let me ask first of all, how old was Ezekiel when he was taken captive? 25 when he was taken captive. Oh, 25. 30, 30, 30. What year was it he was taken captive?

All right, and he’s how old? Thank you.

How old was he when he began to prophesy? 25.

How can we get this back into something? You’re right. I got this thing backward myself. I did this, I think, another class.

There we go. There we go. He was 25, and five years later, he began to prophesy. Right. And uh who is Ezekiel anyway? What uh he was a priest. All right. He was a his father, know that was a priest, and he was of the age to be a priest and a prophet. So Ezekiel uh is taken captive in 597 with how many others from Jerusalem are Judeas? Yes, 10,000 of the finest, leaving only the poorest behind. And uh where is it that they go? Where is he at the time he begins his prophesying? I’ll ask you. All right, in Babylon by the river Kibar, Tel Abib was the place uh so listed. So you have your workbooks open to page 14. Um we start uh what row shall I start with?

And just let everybody answer. All right, we’ll try it that way. In what way, number one, did the spirit aid Ezekiel? Give him strength. All right, Jerry. He did give him strength. He entered him, and he set him on his feet. Alright, from chapter 2 and verse 2, he set him on his feet and spoke to him. So over and over, how many times do we have Ezekiel or in Ezekiel saying, The Lord spake to me, the word of the Lord came to me, saying that’s a frequent phrase, isn’t it? Number two, to what kind of people was Ezekiel sent to prophesy? Rebel. Impudent, stubborn children. Verses three and four. Number three, describe the writing on the book he was told to eat. Both sides. Alright, both sides.

Writing was on both sides. What was it filled with? What kind of message? Lamentation. Lamentation. Woe. And when he ate it, what kind of response did he feel? Sweet. Sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his stomach. And what did that signify? Why would it be sweet?

But why would it be bitter? Because of the friends.

It wasn’t that at all. But the lamentation and woes. What will happen even just about another five years from the time he’s prophesying? What will happen back in Jerusalem? What happens around, we usually date it around 586. The temple is burned. What happens? The temple is burned. Yeah, a temple. Another remnant is taken uh took captive, and the temple is destroyed by uh the Babylonians. So there’s lamentation and woe, and here’s Ezekiel, no doubt, speaking of that. That is what yet to come. So there’s mourning and woe and lamentations. Number four, where whether they hear or forbear, what would they know? God said, I want you to go speak.

That prosper among them. Meaning simply, God’s word does not return void, does it? Even if they don’t accept it, at least God spoke it. And they would know that the message was from God, and the the uh the problems that there were coming upon them was a result of their own sin. And while of course God would want them to repent and turn back, but even if they did not, at least God is fair, God is just, God gave warning, God gave opportunity. Number five, what two things did the Lord tell Ezekiel, be not? Be not what? Afraid of them. Afraid of their looks nor their words. Verse six, don’t be afraid of them. And in verse eight, do not think of words. Don’t be rebellious.

Now, first of all, don’t be afraid of them. Why would why would there even be fear? He wasn’t bringing the news. All right. And they certainly weren’t happy with Ezekiel. But while they may uh accuse him and and beral him, yet don’t be afraid of them. But if that’s their reaction to him, why was there even this um be not rebellious? In other words, don’t become like them. Why could that happen? Because they wouldn’t listen to what he was saying, and he could get frustrated. Did he get discouraged? Could he just turn and be embittered himself? I have seen some people who’ve gotten that way even spiritually, religiously. Brother Hubbert. Pardon? Uh, does that fall in the category of uh first Corinthians where it says uh evil communication corrupts them words?

It doesn’t know that that’s uh that’s first Corinthians 10, but I’m not sure that’s really uh what he’s saying here so much as that would be his response to a rebellious people. That like in Jeremiah chapter 20, Jeremiah just said, I’ll quit preaching. You’ve made me a derision and mockery. I’ll just quit preaching, because Jeremiah then said I couldn’t do that because his word burned like fire in my heart, and therefore Jeremiah did not contain. But there is that temptation to just quit and be rebellious also because of the attitude of the people he would be facing and dealing with. So don’t be rebellious, don’t be afraid. Number six, how did God compare Israel’s attitude with those of a strange speech?

The word of strange speech.

Somebody want to read that. Israel compared to them. Chapter 3, verses 6 and 7. Not too many peoples of extreme speech and of a hard language whose words thou canst not understand. Surely if I sent thee into them, they would hearken to thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee. They will not harden into me for all the house of the would my people listen? No. But if you go to a people of another nation with a strange speech, they’re not my people, they’ll listen to you. In other words, they’ll come nearer hearing you, then my own people would. Is that an encouraging uh commission for Ezekiel to hear? You go out, and the people that ought to listen to you and appreciate you are the ones that will not, and the people that really don’t really know much about you or about God, they would.

They would listen. So that’s the comparison. Number seven, how did God prepare Ezekiel to meet this hostile audience? Made his faith strong. Alright. Verses eight and nine. And his foreign uh strong against their forehead. All right, against their foreigners. Number eight, what did Ezekiel do when he came to the captivity at Tel Aviv? What did he do?

Set down where they were. I have a question about the harding of the forehead. Is that just um a figurative language of making the hymn as stubborn to get that message out to the people as they are stubborn in receiving it? Yeah. Even to Jeremiah, he said, I’ve made you as a fortress. And so even now with Ezekiel, I think what he’s much saying, like Adam and stone, harder than plant, I’ve made your forehead.

I’m making you strong. I think that’s what he’s trying to say to him. Uh do not be afraid of it, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are of a vegas. Alright, number uh didn’t we could complete number eight? He came to the captivity and sat where they sat and remained what for seven days. Astonished. I think that’s important. What he sat with number nine, what two groups could Ezekiel deliver his soul by warning? He’s the watchman now. And what two groups does uh does the Lord uh describe for for Ezekiel? The wicked right and the righteous who stumble. If if he warns the wicked and the wicked do not turn, what’ll happen to them? They’ll still deserve their punishment, won’t they? But if he fails to warn them, will they still be punished?

He would be also his blood, their blood would be required at his hand. With the righteous, again, is their warning to the righteous. And what what real lesson must we glean from the one about the righteous that I think is significant in our own time? They can also they can also turn from their righteousness. It’s not a matter of once saved, always saved. But rather, even as they would turn in verse uh 21 particularly, uh then they would they would uh be punished for it, wouldn’t they? But his work was to warn them. And then finally, number 10. What would Ezekiel say after being dumb or unable to speak and bound? What what would he say when the Lord loosened his tongue? Thus says the Lord, verse 27.

1. The Clay Tablet: Jerusalem Besieged

Children of Israel are called impudent and hard-hearted, true or false. Ezekiel was told to stop speaking if they refused to hear. A wicked man unwarned would be judged guiltless. A righteous man cannot turn from his righteousness, and then finally God sent Ezekiel into the plain to talk with him. True. Alright, very good. When we come then now to chapter 4, God begins to use Ezekiel as a sign. There are four different signs that are really in these chapters, four and five, that uh Ezekiel is to illustrate or portray Judah’s fall. The first one, the first three verses, he’s he’s to take a clay tablet. Verse 1 through 3 says, You also, Son of Man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you and portray on it a city Jerusalem.

Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, heap up a mound against it, set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around. Moreover, take for yourself an iron plate. Set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. And then he answers, This will be a sign to the house of Israel. I don’t know what kind of an artist he may have been, but as he makes this clay tablet and he draws a picture of Jerusalem, and then what is he doing? Is he making siege against it? What does that mean? The enemy is attacking, right? So what that does is to illustrate this is what is going to come to pass.

There will be uh enemies besieging the city of Jerusalem. Did it come to pass? Absolutely. In fact, how long did the Babylonians lay siege against Jerusalem? You know the story in Jeremiah. How many? 18 months to two years. Yes, all right. So they did lay siege against it. Uh you might find up here, Pat, right here, right there. If you would bend. Sorry. That’s all right. But that that wasn’t the end of it. Then he was to take an iron plate and he set it between uh himself and the city. And what was that to probably illustrate? Not only is their battering rounds going to be against the city, then what would the iron plate illustrate? That’s the wall around the city that would be besieged.

2. Lying on His Side to Bear Their Iniquity

Alright. But if they were those who tried to escape from the city, any chance? No. They’re not going to get through that iron wall or iron plate. So here’s the sign, illustrates that the city is going to be taken, and indeed you shall not be able to escape. But that’s not all. While he has the city besieged, in verses uh four through eight, the roles were reversed for him. Now he becomes as if he’s one of them. He is to assume a position, first of all, on his left side, verse 4, and laid the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. What do you think that means to bear their iniquity?

You will feel as they feel in their sins. Alright. Because of their sins, here’s what is going to occur. You it’s kind of laying on you right now to illustrate what will happen to them. They’re to lie on their left side for how long? 390 days. Verse 5, I’ve laid on you the years of their iniquity according to the number of the days, 390 days. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. That’s a long time to lay on one side, isn’t it? Yes. Well, let’s finish it, and then we’ll come back and talk about what that involved. Verse 9, verse 6, when you’ve completed them, lie again on your right side. Then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days.

I’ve laid on you a day for each year. Therefore, you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, your arms shall be uncovered, you shall prophesy against it. And surely I will restrain you so that you cannot turn from one side to another till you have ended the days of your siege. So against Israel, 390 days, northern kingdom. As to bear the iniquity of Judah, 40 days. So total together 430, right? Is that the time to uh David? Well, let’s let’s ask, we’ll ask that. What is it tied to? First of all, let’s talk about being lying on his sides. You suppose that meant that he never got up? No. Couldn’t mean that. There would be times where, first of all, he would he would just have to get up to take care of personal.

But also, as we proceed here, we’re going to have him baking something that they would that he would eat during that period of time. So here is the prophesying. But for no doubt, for a certain period of time, he would continue to be. Every time he would lie down, he would be on his right side and then on his left side. And it was to illustrate, here is God’s charge against Israel. God’s charge against Judah. Now let’s talk about the 430 days together. If in fact he’s simply saying, you know, if these become literal. In fact, he says these represent in verse 6 what? Each day represents a year. This is at least there are two times in the Bible we have where a day is used to represent a year.

I might say something about that, that there are those today who have taken some statements of that women just, for example, in uh the book of Daniel, when he has uh his uh vision of the the 70 weeks, and he comes to the last week and it’s got seven days in it. There are those there today that use that verse as to illustrate seven years of tribulation. Well, there’s nothing in Daniel that says a day equals a year, but that’s the way some jump to the conclusion. But you can’t take a verse out of context. It’s only here that the day represents a year. And so in this uh in this uh story, we have each representing a year, so we say 390 years or total of 430 years.

And you suggested what was it, or somebody, which one was it? That about David, were you the one? Yeah. That would be around 1000 BC. So how would you come to that? Let’s just say we start with uh Israel. The Northern Kingdom was taken captivity used about what year? 71. Somewhere, 721, 22. And if you how many how many days are years? 390. And so what’s left here?

431. 431? You’re supposed to it on my own.

What would it come to?

Um my arithmetic is bad. I don’t know.

331. What what do you use for David? Uh Bob 1010. Well, well, I’m going to say this 331 BC. Anything significant happened in 331 BC? Alexander the Great. 332, 33. So, how does that fit in the history here? Well, I mean, it’s got a consequence. Nothing. It really doesn’t, there’s not a significant event in 330 BC. In that general period, is evident great, is all you can say. So you start using numbers like this and add years and subtract them, and you really still come up with what does it prove? Nothing. But there is something significant about 430 years. Anybody know what that’d be? Captivity and wandering in the wilderness. Well, how many years they wander in the wilderness? 40. But how many years were they in Egyptian bondage?

Exodus chapter 12, verses 40 and 41. Anybody got it? Exodus 12, 40 and 41.

Alright, thank you, Alex. Egyptian captivity. They were, they were, you might say, in captivity 430 years. Whether that had any significance, at least in this case, it illustrates what’s going to happen to God’s people. They combine in captivity. You might say, even Israel, the northern kingdom, like Judah, both went into Babylonian captivity. God’s people were and swallowed up into that captivity in Babylon. And if if anything, I think it probably signifies, it’s a symbol at least. Are they literally 430 years in captivity in Babylon? No. And Jeremiah said they’d be how many years? Seventy years. Literal. But as though to say, here they are in captivity. Hosea, in fact, had said something even how that Israel, Hosea prophesied that Israel the northern kingdom. And in Hosea chapter 8 and verse 13, Hosea said, For the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it.

But the Lord does not accept them. He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. They shall return to Egypt. Now when Hosea said that about the northern ten tribes, they shall return to Egypt. Did the northern ten tribes go into Egyptian captivity? No. But it stood symbolically of the captivity. In chapter Hosea 9 and in verse 3, he kind of explains it. He says, They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land. But Ephraim shall return to Egypt. Then he says, and eat unclean things in Assyria. Actually, the northern ten tribes went into Assyrian captivity, didn’t they? That’s who took the Samaria, the northern ten tribes. But Ezekiel uses the term of Egypt as though it stands for captivity of God’s people. So even as he said Samaria is going to go into Egypt, well, actually he said that it’s going to be in Assyria where they’re eating these unclean things, but he describes it as though like they were in Egypt.

They will be in bondage, they’ll be in captivity. I think when you look at those passages in Hosea, at least that’s that to me made the best sense out of how do you come to what’s the point of adding together 390 plus the 40, which comes up to a total of 430 years. It’s as though to say God’s saying through Ezekiel, My people are going back into captivity. They were in captivity when Moses led them out. But now because of their sin, they’re going back as though they were going to Egypt. They’re going back into captivity. At least that’s the clearest that I’ve been able to. I read several different commentaries, and I have yet to find one that has a better explanation than that. Because you go with literal years, you come to dates that nothing really significant.

3. Defiled Bread by Weight

331 BC or 330 doesn’t mean things. But only if we come to a point that says, look, uh indeed, uh you know, you can measure it that way, or you can measure another one measured it. Well, they returned from captivity in 536 BC, and uh even then it comes to a date that doesn’t make sense. But to say they’re going in captivity. But that’s not all. When you come to verses 9 through 17, hair really adds to. Here’s Ezekiel adding to this horrible event of captivity. When he says, verse 9, take for yourself wheat, barley beans, lentils, millet, spelt, put them into one vessel, make bread of them for yourself. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days you shall eat it.

And your food which you eat shall be by weight 20 shekels a day. From time to time you shall eat it. You shall also drink water by measure, one sixth of a hen from time to time you shall drink. You shall eat it as barley cakes and bake it using fuel of human waste in their sight. And the Lord says, So shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles where I will drive them. That’s pretty horrible. Anybody know how much bread that would be? Somebody said that’s uh bottle of wheat just for a moment. Five grain wheat bread. He said, Here are the here are the grains I want you to bake. I I would have tried to measure how much would be about eight ounces.

And uh here’s the amount of water that they would have. This is really just half a day’s amount. This is four ounces. So you get twice this to eat a day. And this is all the water you get. This whole bottle is 16.9, so that’s more than a pint. So I’ve already had a little bit of drink. It comes about where my finger is. Now, if that’s all the water you get per day, and this is just half of the meal that you half of the bread, but that’s all the bread you get one day. And you do that for 430 days. I kind of feel like Ezekiel must have been very thin. I think that’s a better diet than any one I’ve seen out here.

Well, what does that illustrate? That’s pretty light limited in it. You know, you’re not gonna have that much. It’s gonna be a time where really there’s famine. But what added to it? It would be baked over what? Don’t human dung. And now even Ezekiel begins to protest. And Ezekiel says, Lord, I’ve never eaten that which is that unclean. So beginning in verse uh 14. So I said, Ah, Lord, indeed I’ve never defiled myself from my youth till now. I’ve never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has abominable flesh ever come into my mouth. Then he said to me, See, I am giving you cow dung instead of human waste. And you shall prepare your bitter bread. And I said that was not uncommon for them to bake with the cow dung.

But uh therefore far different from the human. And therefore he says in verse 16, moreover he said to me, Son of Man, surely I will cut off a supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety and shall drink water by measure and with dread, that they may lack bread and water and be dismayed with one another and waste away because of their iniquity. During that two years or two and a half years that Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians, had besieged the city of Jerusalem. It was a terrible period of time. Now what are they going to eat?

4. The Hair Divided Into Three

That here’s the captivity that’s going to come, and it’s not going to be a pleasant time. You’re going to go through several days, in fact, where you won’t have sufficient bread and no water. And in fact, uh, it’s you’ll bear Ezekiel the iniquity of my people. Now, that’s not all. As we move into chapter 5, he gives another sign. You, son of man, take a sharp sword. Take it as a barber’s razor. Pass it over your head and your beard. Then take scales to weigh and divide the hair. You shall burn with fire one third in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are finished. Then you shall take one third and strike around it with sword, and one third you shall scatter in the wind.

I will draw out a sword after them. He’s to cut his hair. Actually, as a priest, was that what priests did? Did they cut their hair? Actually, uh the passage in Leviticus teaches or taught them not to not to make bear. You know, they were not to really shave or to make ball, I think is the way it’s translated. So what he’s doing is just the opposite of what Ezekiel here, who is himself a priest. Don’t you know it must have the people who observed him doing this? What’s happening? What is Ezekiel doing? And then he takes the hair, both probably I would I would anticipate a long beard and perhaps hair long, and divides it into three piles. And with one third, he does what with it?

Burns. Burns. With another third of it, he does what? Chops it up. Can you imagine? Chocking it down now, illustrating this. And then that third pile. Cast to the wind. Well, he takes a small part of it and binds it into his garments. And another part of it, he does, you said cast to the wind, and what’s he doing with that even? Chasing it with the sword, isn’t he? Altogether, what’s the point of that? Why do it that way? Showing how they would be able to do that. Look at verse 13.

5. This Is Jerusalem: Worse Than the Nations

Explains it. And uh verse 12 it is, chapter 5, verse 12. One third of you shall die of the pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst. One third shall fall by the sword all around you, and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. In effect, it’s as way God is saying, Look, you know, you brought it on yourself, and here’s what’s going to happen. There will be different methods by which some will perish and they will die. Of pestilence, famine, uh the sword, indeed, there will be upon you. Because why? Look at verse 5. Let’s go back to it. And here, I think you know, stop and emphasize. Thus says the Lord God, this is Jerusalem.

I don’t know how to do that. Jerusalem was where? It was the place where the temple was. It was the place where every Jew would come, every male Jew, no matter where he might be, at least three times a year. This is Jerusalem. You mean my people? Jerusalem is going to fall like this? This is Jerusalem. I’ve set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her. She might you might say she’s at a focal point where what should radiate from Jerusalem? What should have happened? They should have glorified God. This is Jerusalem. But instead of what went out from Jerusalem, verse 6. She’s rebelled against my judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations. And against my statutes more than the countries that are all around her.

Done worse than the Gentiles. I’m going to stop there and say, is there any lesson from that? You know, as we go through Ezekiel or any Old Testament study, we also always stop and say, hey, is there a lesson even for us today? We we learn from the Old Testament their examples. What would you say? How could that happen? What would happen today for that to be? What are we as Christians to be to the world? Alright, the light. And let your light so shine that was on a hill.

And look at Romans chapter 2. What happened even in the time of the first century when the apostle Paul is speaking to these Jews who rested in the law? I think the scripture in Romans 2, beginning in verse 17. He says, indeed, I’m reading Romans 2 17, you are called a Jew and rest on the law. Make your boast in God. Know his will. Approve the things that are excellent. Being instructed out of the law. And you are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. You know, sometimes I wonder those of us who may be Christians.

We’ve studied the word, we know the word. Maybe we kind of feel a little confident about our position, the Lord. Could we do that? I think some do.

You who say do not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boasts in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? And then verse 24. What really is the problem? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. You reckon people who profess to be Christians can cause the name of God to be blasphemed among the world. We call it hypocrites, don’t we? Hypocrisy. Do you ever hear people of the world talk about hypocrites in the church? All the time. All the time. What are they hearing? They’re sins. Yeah, what are they seeing? They’re seeing hypocrisy. It isn’t enough to come to worship on Sunday and say, okay, I’m a Christian and sing songs.

But what are we living? Are you a light? Or are you a cause of blasphemy against God? Do you make people turn away from God rather than drawing them to God? I think that’s exactly if that makes a point at all today, is what God is saying through Ezekiel to his people back then. I set you right in the middle of the nations around. You should have been an example to all. You should have been the very source by which people came to know the Lord. But instead of them knowing the Lord through you, you caused my name to be blasphemed. You’ve illustrated rebellion. As though it didn’t matter. You say, Oh, the temple is here. We’re God’s people. But you have false sense of security.

6. I, Even I, Am Against You

You don’t really have security. And here’s why. In verse 7, therefore, thus says the Lord God, because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in my statutes, nor kept my judgments, nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you. Therefore, thus says the Lord God. Indeed, I, even I am against you. Will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. Something. What’s he saying? God has become their enemy. Now, of all things, God is your enemy. You’re really in trouble, right? But that’s what he’s saying. And I’m against you. Why? Because you’ve not done like you should do. You should have been the example of goodness and righteousness.

Instead, you’ve done worse than those who are the heathen. You turn your nose up at the heathen, and yet you’re worse than they. Therefore, here’s some of the things going to happen. Unthought of. In verse 9, I’ll do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again because of all your abominations. Who would have thought the temple would have been destroyed? They surely didn’t think so. Those of you who were in the Jeremiah class, don’t you remember one of the things they were saying? The temple is here. Temple is here. Jeremiah, you you you’re wrong. These prophets over here say we won’t be destroyed. But yes, did the temple get destroyed? Absolutely it did. And God’s people taken in shame, taken in in into bondage.

Verse 10, even, he said, Therefore, fathers shall eat their sons in your midst. Sons shall eat their fathers, and I will execute judgments among you. And all of you who remain, I will scatter to all the winds. How horrible thought. Cannibalism. Did it ever happen? Those of you who studied Jeremiah and Lamentations and Lamentations, chapter 2 and verse 20, and also chapter 4 and verse 10 spoke about how even some ate of their own. I tell you, you get pretty hungry, don’t you, to do that? You get in pretty bad shape. That’s a judicial, isn’t it, Bob? That’s that is prohibited, right? It’s in Deuteronomy. Well, it’s prohibited, absolutely. I just want that. But it was also listed as a specific verse. Yeah. But here’s what’s going to happen.

Because of your sins, that’s how slow you stoop. And that’s how serious the judgment is going to be against you. That you you would come to even eating your own flesh and blood. But in verse, let’s see, 11. Therefore, as I live, says the says the Lord God, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you. My I will not spare, nor will I have pity. Wow. You mean God doesn’t have pity? I think there are people today who think, you know, God is loving, it just doesn’t matter what we do. You know, He loves us anyway. That’s the kind of a lie that many have kind of put upon our society today.

But you read verses like this, and you mean God can be that angry? God can say, I’ll not hear your prayers. You may pray, but I won’t hear. You may offer sacrifices, I won’t receive them. In fact, here’s the trouble’s gonna come on you, and I won’t even have pity on you, because you’ve had opportunity that you’ve rejected and rebelled against. I want to get to something else with the second barreling. Why don’t you leave the verse 13? Thus shall my anger be spent. I will cause my fury to rest upon them. I will be avenged, and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in my zeal when I have spent my fury upon them. Verse 14, particularly. Moreover, I’ll make you a waste and a reproach among the nations that are all around you in the sight of all who pass by.

So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you. When I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury, and in furious rebukes, I the Lord have spoken. Anything God gets angry? I want you to turn, if you would, to Deuteronomy chapter 28. And this goes really with your research question, but uh in Deuteronomy chapter 28, God promises blessings, the first 15 verses, 14, and then he speaks about curses that would come upon them. But among the curse, among the many different curses that would come upon them. Someone who has the passage of Deuteronomy 28, verse 37. Did somebody read that? In your Bible? This one verse particularly. And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples, where the Lord will lead you away.

Alright, you got a little different translation. Mine says you’ve come in astonishment. That’s one of the words used in our Ezekiel, too. It says a horror, is that right? What does it mean to be astonishment? Do you know, even to this day, are there jokes made about Jews? Are they a by word in many places? You know, you stop and think.

Ezekiel is also, in fact, you might say, reiterating what God promised in the Deuteronomy when Moses was re establishing or restating the law to those children who came out of Egyptian bondage. Now, if you what what would what would happen? In fact, let’s look at your research question right quickly. No, no, the thought question. Talk question God promised destruction upon Israel. But each time he told them why. So study each context and give the conditions upon which he would bring punishment. And there’s Deuteronomy 28 37. Anybody go back and get the why?

Conclusion

What verse did you come to? Well, in the one above it said you would serve other gods. Alright. Go back to verse 15. Back in verse 15, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, is what’s going to happen. But 1 Kings 9, 7 through 9. I’ll pick up with this Sunday, but you might want to write it down if you don’t have it. From 1 Kings 9 7 through 9. Verse 6 says, if you turn, if you are your sons, turn from following me. And then from Ezekiel 5, our lesson A. Why? Because you have defiled my sanctuary. God did bring about punishment. Does God get angry? You know, Hebrews 12 29, our God is a consuming fire. He is God of love.

And he wants all to be saved. But he will punish. And when we study passages like this from Ezekiel, we ought to be reminded over and over again. God is a God who is just. And he wants people simply to love him and respond to him in goodness and kindness and not take advantage or become hypocrites about it. In fact, one final point in verses 16 and 17. I the Lord have spoken it. Three times in these last few verses, verse 13, 15, and 17. I the Lord have spoken. And here’s what will happen. And we know by history it did occur. Lord willing. Sunday morning we will go through lesson number five, which is chapter six and seven. And again, we’ll have emphasized how God is so upset with his people who had every opportunity to do different