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Eze 5:1 And thou, son of
man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to
pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh,
and divide the hair.
Eze 5:2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in
the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou
shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part
thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
Eze 5:3 Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy
skirts.
Eze 5:4 Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of
the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth
into all the house of Israel.
We see here a sign that most
of all Israel is completely destroyed. Only a small remnant survives to
carry on the lineage. Notice that this is not persecution from other nations
but God's judgment because of their sins. He uses other nations at times but
it is usually his last resort. God prefers to see us repent from the time
the very first prophet or messenger comes to us.
When we write of
God's judgment upon Israel we must remember that they are restored in the
end. That nation will never be wiped out permanently. Other nations that
come against them may be wiped out permanently but Israel will not be
because of the promise made to Abraham years ago. The natural branches of
the vine of Israel will be grafted into the vine again. They are already
back in their land after being scattered abroad for nearly 2000 years.
If just one of these that Ezekiel prophesied to would have repented,
they could have been saved from judgment. The nation as a whole still had to
go through the fire but the one could have been saved.
Remember the
story of Nineveh. Nineveh was a city very wicked and were enemies of Israel.
Jonah did not want to go and preach to that city because he didn't want them
to repent. God spared them at that time but they later were destroy because
they returned to the sin the former occupants repented of.
All God
asks of us is to do right to keep from being destroyed as a nation. The
trouble is that the world does not see right and wrong the same as God sees
it. They ignore the word that shows them how to live righteously and that is
why they end up calling evil good and good evil.
Righteousness will
save a nation but as individuals we need God's salvation on a personal
level. To have eternal life and be saved, we must recognize that after the
fall of Adam, all men and women over the age of accountability are lost and
on their way to hell that was originally prepared for the devil and his
followers.
Adam was given dominion over the earth. When he sinned he
gave that dominion to Satan. Only a perfect man who never sinned even one
time had to come and reverse that curse. This is where Jesus comes in. Jesus
was God and dwelled with God from the beginning. He is everlasting. Although
His name was not known as Jesus in the Old Testament, He was there with the
children of Israel when they were leaving Egypt. This wonderful Son of God
came into human flesh and was born of a virgin. He became a man that could
suffer sickness, pain and heartbreak. He lived for 33 years among men and
women without committing one sin.
When Adam sinned the penalty of
death came upon all human beings. All have sinned since then. Jesus did not
sin one time. When He died, His death can count on behalf of those that
sinned. The just suffered for the unjust.
Just by turning from sin,
renouncing sin and believing in this one God sent to us, we can inherit
eternal life.
Repentance is necessary. We can't say we believe in
Jesus and not repent or turn from sin for it is the sin that separates us
from God. To really believe is to know that the inbred sin in us is
destroying our relationship with God. Our bodies still have to die a natural
death but our souls which do not die can have eternal life and live forever
with a new body that cannot die.
To receive this new body, we must
be without sin when we die. To be without sin is simple. Just believe in
Jesus and the blood He shed cleanses us from all sin. If we sin after this
occurs, simply stop sinning and repent. Sin is not to dwell in a child of
God.
The whole pattern of the tabernacle in the wilderness, the
brazen altar, the golden altar is a type of what is done when we come to
believe in Christ.
When we repent of sin and believe in Christ, God
shows us mercy. He cleanses us from sin. We receive this into our lives. We
become born again by the spirit of God. By continually receiving all God has
for us, we become sanctified and set apart for His service and then if we
continue on we are baptized in the Holy Ghost and fire.
So many do
not go on to be baptized in the Holy Spirit because they do not continue in
all God wants them to have. This should all happen when they are first saved
but we have trouble yielding completely to God and hold back many times.
This is why so many go so far and then stop and do not become completely
filled with God's spirit.
Some of us take longer than others but the
main desire of God is for all of us to be saved, sanctified and filled with
the Holy Spirit at the same time. That happened to the group that gathered
in the house of Cornelius in the book of Acts. We need this power in order
to reach the whole world for Jesus Christ. Whoever is not reached will be
lost and lose their souls. The soul does not die so the soul will spend
eternity in heaven or in hell. We have to reach them somehow.
Eze 5:5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the
midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
Eze 5:6 And
she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my
statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have
refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.
God was severe with Israel because they had the law of God. They
knew His law but they did not do them. They were supposed to teach the law
to other nations. They knew better than this. Judgment begins at the house
of God before judgment goes to the heathen.
When Jesus came and
brought us the way of salvation it was Jews were received this first. The
church actually started out being Jewish. They were supposed to spread the
gospel to the entire world. The gospel of Jesus is a Jewish religion. Its
origins were Jewish.
The nation of Israel rejected the gospel so
through the apostle Paul who was a Jew also, the gospel went to the
Gentiles. It was the Gentiles that began to spread it all over the world
until they went into apostasy and began to kill and persecute not only Jews
but their own brethren that tried to get them back to the original gospel.
Martin Luther and John Calvin opened the door a little but they
didn't go far enough. It took years to get out of the mess that the early
church fathers got us into. The Anabaptists got a little closer to the
truth. It wasn't until the time of John Wesley that some of the church began
to get back to the original faith once delivered to the saints.
It
took until the late 1800s before a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit began
to fall upon the church again. They had a rocky start but this spread all
over the world. We are in danger now of apostasy again with so many getting
into the prosperity teaching, entertainment instead of worship in spirit and
truth, and the word of God being put on the back burner for the sake of a
false unity.
Some want to get the churches untied back with the
Catholics. If we do, we will have the same mess that they had in the Middle
Ages and that is political and state led Christianity and not souls being
born again by the spirit of God. True faith in Jesus Christ cannot be
legislated or forced on anyone. It has to be done by the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Have you ever met a political Christian? There are many. Yes
they are against abortion, homosexuality and are for prayer in schools. I
stand for the same issues myself, but a political Christian has a danger of
losing his compassion for the lost. They see liberal Democrats as evil
instead of seeing them as souls that need to be saved from sin. We can't
change a heart by legislation. They have to be born again, cleansed by the
blood of Jesus and filled with the spirit of God.
Israel was not
different. They had the law of Moses. The law of good. It protected them.
God only makes laws for our good. Just like us today though we can go the
wrong way and that is rebel against God and allow sin. After a few
generations evil will be considered good and good will be considered evil.
Some get converted and see the light so to speak but can be in
danger of becoming a Pharisee that appear to be righteous in outward
religious duties but their inward heart is far from God. They still sin like
the sinners but it is not in the open and is hidden.
True religion
is allowing the spirit of God to change us. We still hate sin but we are
active in preaching, warning, teaching, instructing, praying, showing
compassion, loving, giving, and not allowing bitterness to ruin or
testimony. If Satan can't lure us back into sin, he will try to get us into
a hateful religious spirit still believing all the right things but not
having the love of God shed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Israel
had the law but had gotten so it was mechanical. They still kept the feasts,
observed the sacrifices, ordinances and such but their hearts were far from
God. Their children see this and it causes them to rebel and not have
anything to do with God. Thus Israel went into sin and apostasy. The church
does this also.
Eze 5:7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD;
Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and
have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have
done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;
Eze 5:8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against
thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the
nations.
Other nations saw all that was done to Israel. Some
gloated and rejoiced. That was probably the worst humiliation was to see
ruin in the sight of all other nations.
Eze 5:9 And I will do
in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the
like, because of all thine abominations.
Eze 5:10 Therefore the fathers
shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their
fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee
will I scatter into all the winds.
The famine and lack of
food supply got so bad that they would resort to eating their own relatives.
Eze 5:11 Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely,
because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and
with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither
shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
A
sanctuary is a place set aside to worship God and do the service of God. If
God cared about the place set aside for prayer and worship then, is He no
different now?
Look at the stuff that goes on in modern churches
today. We have bingo games, parties, dances, some have drinking, video games
and all kinds of junk when it is supposed to be a place of prayer and godly
fellowship with other believers.
Eze 5:12 A third part of thee
shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the
midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee;
and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a
sword after them.
Eze 5:13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I
will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they
shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have
accomplished my fury in them.
Eze 5:14 Moreover I will make thee waste,
and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of
all that pass by.
This is exactly why Israel has been
persecuted and hated by so many nations. In saying that though, there is no
excuse for any nation or group of people to do evil to any Jew. This evil
that befalls them is a result of a fulfillment of prophecy but we who know
the word and know better also know that God blesses those that bless Israel
and curses those that curse Israel.
Someone who names the name of
Christ has no business doing evil to any Jew. In fact we have no business
doing evil to any human being. We have to enforce the law against those that
kill, steal and such but that should be done by impartiality and not
according to someone's race or religion but we are not to be cruel to any
human being on the basis of what he believes. If one breaks the law of the
land as long as that law does not oppose God's higher law, then we have to
enforce the law.
We should never enter into any covenant whereby we
agree not to share the gospel either. We are commanded by Jesus Himself to
preach the gospel or the Jew or Gentile. It is not evil to share the gospel
that saves the lost. To withhold the gospel is actually to hate and
discriminate worse than if we are friendly, pat them on the back and say,
hey your okay. But we are never to force the gospel on anyone or threaten
them in any way if they refuse it.
Eze 5:15 So it shall be a
reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations
that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger
and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
Eze 5:16
When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for
their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase
the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
Eze 5:17 So
will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee;
and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword
upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.
This prophecy
literally came to pass many times throughout history. Even though it
happened and still happens to Israel, believers in Jesus Christ should be no
part of it. The tide is turning. Many Jews are coming to Christ. Most still
have not, but we are never to lift a hand against the nation of Israel.
It is true God judges Israel but He will be even more severe against
nations that overstep their bounds and are cruel and hate the Jewish people.
Deuteronomy 30:5 And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the
land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do
thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
Deu 30:6 And the LORD
thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the
LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest
live.
Deu 30:7 And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine
enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. |