|
Chapter 24
Eze 24:1 Again in the ninth year, in the tenth
month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me,
saying,
This is the very day Nebuchadnezzar came against
Jerusalem and destroyed it completely. This was a result of Zedekiah's
rebellion instead of submitting to the authority of Nebuchadnezzar.
Eze 24:2 Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of
this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this
same day.
Eze 24:3 And utter a parable unto the rebellious house,
and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and
also pour water into it:
Here we see another prophetic
type of demonstration or pantomime.
Eze 24:4 Gather the
pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the
shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.
Eze 24:5 Take the choice of
the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and
let them seethe the bones of it therein.
Eze 24:6 Wherefore thus
saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is
therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by
piece; let no lot fall upon it.
Eze 24:7 For her blood is in the
midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon
the ground, to cover it with dust;
Eze 24:8 That it might cause fury
to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a
rock, that it should not be covered.
Eze 24:9 Therefore thus saith
the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire
great.
Eze 24:10 Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh,
and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.
Eze 24:11 Then set
it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and
may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the
scum of it may be consumed.
This demonstrates the total
judgment with no one left. Under the reigns of Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin
the siege of Babylon was only partial. Some were left in the country and
allowed to remain. Under Zedekiah though things changed because he
rebelled and tried to turn to Egypt for help. This made Nebuchadnezzar
furious and it caused this total waste of Judah. As the pot was boiled
and all consumed by the fire, the whole city was destroyed by Babylon.
The following verses give the reason for God allowing this
judgment. God always sent Israel prophets to tell them why judgment came
upon them. They were not left in the dark. They remained in the dark
about things when they refused to listen.
Eze 24:12 She
hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of
her: her scum shall be in the fire.
They preferred to
believe in lies and refused to acknowledge that they had any sin and
didn't need any repentance.
The Jews in the time of Jesus did
the same thing. Except for a remnant that believed in Jesus Christ and
accepted His offer of "living water" or salvation by repenting of sin
and believing in Jesus as the one God sent to save them, the main body
of Jews rejected Him and believed the same kind of lie. That lie is the
fact that they were okay and had no need to repent.
This is the
problem with those in today's world. We preach the gospel but so many do
not see any need of repentance. They are blind to the fact that they are
"in sin" and in need of repentance. This will get worse as evil grows
and people will sin and not think it is wrong.
This is why what
was wrong in our grandmother's day is not wrong today in our minds and
hearts. Our conscience is slowly beginning to sear.
When we read
the book of Revelation we see that the world is progressing backward to
idolatry and slavery in which the gospel has freed us from. It took
years since the coming of Jesus but slavery in the free world was wiped
out. Idolatry except for churches which use images was literally gone.
Now we see it coming back. Slavery will follow. When people begin to
reject Jesus Christ either by refusing to believe that He is the Son of
God that came to take away sins or they will claim to believe in Him but
deny Him by their lifestyle caused by rejecting His words.
The evil of idolatry, slavery, sexually immorality,
gradually allowing murder and theft will return as being acceptable. We
see this occurring today already. Murder is legal in the form of
abortion. This is only the beginning of legalized murder. Euthanasia
will follow. Then we will have murder of those who disagree with whoever
is in charge of the government. We will have murder of those who still
believe in Jesus Christ and the doctrine of the bible being the word of
God. They already call us fundamentalists. This has become a word that
aligns a true Christian believer with those religions that are
intolerant and evil. Believers in the literal interpretation of
the bible are already considered dangerous and extreme as those
religions that murder in other parts of the world.
There may be
false so-called Christian cults that are evil and misuse the bible for
their purposes but the true Christian believes in the bible also but
interprets the scriptures the right way but the world will not see it
that way.
Instead of being motivated by love and preaching the
gospel to save the lost so that they will not go into a burning hell, we
will be seen as hate-mongers and bigots who hate those that disagree
with what they consider normal lifestyles. The devil will make sure to
raise up a enough fakes and charlatans among us so the world will be
deceived into believing we all are like that, hating instead of
representing the true Christ in love and compassion.
Eze
24:13 In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and
thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any
more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.
It
would seem as if God gave up on them at this point and refused to purge
them from filthiness but allowed them to remain in that state. This is
similar to Romans chapter 1 where God gives up on those that practiced
idolatry which led them into immoral lifestyles refusing to repent and
turn back to the true and living God who can deliver all from any type
of sin.
Idolatry and false religion will lead to sexual
immorality. Following that will come slavery, theft and murder.
Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him
not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 And
changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to
corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping
things.
Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness
through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies
between themselves:
Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a
lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is
blessed forever. Amen.
Rom 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto
vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into
that which is against nature:
Rom 1:27 And likewise also the men,
leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward
another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in
themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
Rom 1:28
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
convenient;
Rom 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Rom 1:30 Backbiters,
haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,
disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31 Without understanding, covenant
breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Rom
1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them
that do them.
Eze 24:14 I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come
to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare,
neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy
doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.
As
God judged Israel for these things, He will also judge us in this day.
America will not escape this judgment also if we do not repent. I say
this in anguish and with compassion. We are not going to get by with
government sanctioned abortion, sexual immorality, perversion, filth,
pornography, euthanasia, and if we continue in this way eventually we
will have slavery, murder, theft and other things which we will be
judged for. Unless God stops us before we get that bad, we will have the
murder of people who stay true to God's word and believe in Jesus Christ
and keep His commandments. I don't believe true believers in Jesus will
neglect to keep His word. To not keep His word is to deny Him just like
those that deny Him as the Christ.
Eze 24:15 Also the word
of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 24:16 Son of man, behold, I
take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither
shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.
Eze
24:17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of
thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not
thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.
Ezekiel's wife
died as a sign from the Lord. He was not to mourn and weep for his wife
showing what was to come upon Judah.
This judgment was to be so
severe that people have no time to mourn or weep for their dead. They
will only be concerned with their own misery and despair.
Eze 24:18 So I spoke unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife
died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
Eze 24:19 And the
people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us,
that thou doest so?
Eze 24:20 Then I answered them, The word of the
LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 24:21 Speak unto the house of Israel,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the
excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which
your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left
shall fall by the sword.
The desire of their eyes was to
be destroyed and that was the temple. They regarded the temple highly
but in works they denied what the temple of the Lord stood for and that
was true worship of God. They had allowed idolatry and the sin that
accompanies idolatry to profane and pollute the temple so it was
destroyed.
Eze 24:22 And ye shall do as I have done: ye
shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
Eze 24:23 And
your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye
shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities,
and mourn one toward another.
Eze 24:24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a
sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this
cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Eze 24:25 Also, thou
son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their
strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that
whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,
Eze
24:26 That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to cause
thee to hear it with thine ears?
Eze 24:27 In that day shall thy
mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no
more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that
I am the LORD.
Here is why all this came about:
The first step to this happening to Judah and to any nation that once
knew God but has turned from Him. After that are steps to becoming
so evil that God has to bring judgment.
1. First they refuse to
change or repent when a prophet, preacher or teacher brings a word of
warning from the Lord.
The first step is to refuse to repent and
acknowledge that we have sinned. I see this now in the United States. We
do not see ourselves as sinners even among us Christians.
2. Turning
to false religion, counterfeit Christianity in today's world, idolatry
or religions that teach no repentance from sin.
3. Doing evil and
not seeing it as evil.
4. Calling evil good and good evil.
5.
Sexual immorality. Adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bestiality,
perversions, pornography, incest, rape, living together without being
married.
6. Making fun of the word of God and those that believe in
it.
7. Persecuting and even killing those that try to bring us to
repentance.
Israel in the Old Testament is a pattern to what I
see now in Europe and the United States. What happens to them will
happen to us. They once knew God like we once knew not only God but had
the gospel of Jesus Christ the presence of the Holy Spirit and the
written word we call the bible.
We are without excuse just like
they were without excuse. God send them prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, and many others but they refused to see their sin.
God
sent Noah before the first flood to preach the way of righteousness but
only 8 people were saved.
God is sending many now to call us
back to repentance but it is falling on deaf ears. We are more concerned
with the economy and our possessions than we are righteousness.
God has a better way if we would only walk with Him.
|