Ezekiel was a priest among the exiles taken to Babylon in 597 BC. He received visions around 592 BC, contemporary with Jeremiah and Daniel. Ezekiel and other prophets warned of Judah's destruction if they did not repent. God sent many prophets with the same message in hopes it would get through. Ezekiel performed dramatic acts to symbolize Judah's fate in an attempt to gain their attention. God did everything possible through warnings and signs to get Judah to repent so they could live, but they refused to listen.

1. Ezekiel – Friday Night Genesis, Friday, June 6, 2014
Tonight we are looking at the picture of God in the book of Ezekiel, the last of the
really long books in the Old Testament. Ezekiel was a priest who was among the
exiles that were carried away to Babylon during the second invasion of
Jerusalem in 597 BC. According to the first chapter of his book, he received the
first vision some 5 years into his exile, which puts it around 592 BC. That makes
him a contemporary of Jeremiah, whose 2 books we have just studied and
Daniel, whose book we’ll be studying next time we meet in August. In fact you
may have caught mention of these 2 individuals in the book of Ezekiel.
In fact, many of the prophets whose books we’ll be studying in the coming
months as we carry on towards the end of the Old Testament are close
contemporaries. Nahum and Jonah were specifically sent to Nineveh. We have
already briefly mentioned Haggai and Zechariah who were ministering to those
who returned from exile to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem 70 years later. But all
the rest of these prophets from Isaiah on down to the end of the Old Testament
were all active immediately before the sieges, or during the 3 sieges of
Jerusalem. While Isaiah ministered over a period that covered 60 years and 4
kings before the 3 sieges, he was already warning of the coming events and
pointing to the destruction of the 10 northern tribes, which happened during his
life, as a harbinger of what was to come for Judah if nothing changed. Jeremiah
was ministering in Jerusalem throughout the 3 Babylonian sieges, and now we
get Ezekiel who was raised up among the exiles in Babylon to minister between
the second and the third and final siege of Jerusalem.
What finally happened to Judah and Jerusalem should not have come as a
surprise to their inhabitants. It seems that as things got more critical for Judah,
God was pulling out all the stops, throwing everything he had into the fray,
sending a whole slew of messengers with the same message in the hopes that
something will get through to the leaders and people of Judah.
There were certainly a number of false prophets that Jeremiah and Ezekiel
constantly had to contend with who did their best to downplay the serious
situation that Judah was in. Nebuchadnezzar’s first conquest of Jerusalem took
away only the leadership – rulers, princes and nobility, leaving the rest of the
country largely untouched. But that didn’t seem to get many people’s attention,
and so his second conquest carried off a large portion of the population into exile,
Ezekiel among them. You think that the few people remaining in Jerusalem
would start to catch on by this point that this was not trivial and that things that

2. Isaiah and others had forewarned were coming true. Jeremiah, in their midst was
still warning them, yet they paid no attention. So five years into his exile Ezekiel
comes along to add his voice of warning. The third and final conquest of
Jerusalem would decimate the population and raze the city to the ground. It
would be the scene of the kind of horrors that you wouldn’t wish even on your
enemy. We saw in Jeremiah’s lament last month how he talks about people
turning to cannibalism – eating one another in order to survive during the siege.
Attempting to rescue the people from the horrors of the third siege and the final
destruction, God’s messages of warning reach a crescendo in those final years
before the 586 BC razing of Jerusalem.
It is true that it was also God who set in motion the events that were now
unfolding, as we discussed last month, but this was not the plan that he had for
His people. They had chosen to reject Him, to ignore His councils and after
numerous warnings and pleas God had no choice but to let them go, to give
them over to the choices that they made. He had to let them come face to face
with the gruesome consequences of their choices. Meanwhile in Babylon, in a
twist of irony, we find their conqueror Nebuchadnezzar turning to God. In the
wake of the powerful witness by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, along with
Daniel’s presence and witness in his court, Nebuchadnezzar was becoming a
believer! That a heathen king was more open to God than the kings of God’s own
people was a damning indictment of how far from God the Jews had gone, and
how strongly they were resisting Him.
So here we have a heathen king willing to listen to God and “the believers”
ignoring Him. As He was giving them over to the consequences of their choices,
God was still sending warnings through His prophets. It seems that He hoped
that as the domino’s started falling, people might start to sit up and pay attention
to this God they had so long ignored in favor of other gods. In a world where the
strongest and baddest god was considered the true god by the people, God
started sending messages like this: “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 scabbard 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 the people will know that I the Lord have drawn my sword from its scabbard; it
will not return again.’” (Ezekiel 21:1-5). In a world where people respected and
worshipped only those gods they deemed powerful, God was sending a
message: you have abandoned me, and now I have turned against you. The

3. power and devastation that you are about to witness will be my doing. Now do
you understand? Is this proof enough for you that I am the true God? So many
times God ends these statements of warning with: “Then you will know that I am
God.” Or “Then you will know that I the Lord have done this.”
We are perplexed today by how harshly a God of love speaks to His people
during this period of history. But in the mindset of the Jews of that day, having a
god flex his muscles in anger is exactly what they expected a god to be like.
Demonstrating that he had strong muscles to flex is what earned a god respect in
the minds of the people. Hence the language that God is using. His people were
heading for an abyss and God was willing in that moment to be to them whoever
He needed to be in order to have His warnings taken seriously. Much as we may
be angry with our children when they disobey us and do something really stupid
and dangerous, and might even punish them in some way, so God was dealing
with His people. Just as we discipline our children out of love, so God was
admonishing His people out of love. We may be harsh in our dealings with our
children, not because we hate them, but because we realize what could have
happened and how badly things could have ended when they did whatever it was
that got them into trouble. In dealing with them harshly we hope that 1. we
convey to them the seriousness of the situation and 2. that we put enough fear in
them that they would never do that again, and hopefully survive long enough to
understand for themselves the dangers inherent to their actions. Sometimes,
being harsh is the loving thing to do.
All this harsh talk and muscle flexing was indeed for a reason. God wanted to get
people’s attention so that they would listen to Him once again. The message God
really wanted to impart to His people once He had their attention was this: “Son
of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offences
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, O house of
Israel?’” (Ezekiel 33:10,11). For all the harsh language and muscle flexing God is
saying – I take no pleasure in having to do any of this. Can you not see what
your sins are doing to you? Would you just please heed the warning and turn
from your evil ways and live?! This is consistent with Jeremiah’s statement in
Lamentations 3: that in God’s mercy they were not all destroyed, but were
disciplined for a time even though God does not willingly bring affliction and grief
to his people. The harshness of His tone, the gradual increase in the severity of
the conquests they experienced were meant to be a wake up call, a coconut to

4. the head kinda thing to alert people to where they were heading and give them
the opportunity to do something about it.
As the final destruction of Jerusalem approached, God used everything He could
to get people’s attention. What do you think of this: “The word of the Lord came
to me: “Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to
see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious
people. Therefore, son of man, pack your belongings for exile and in the daytime,
as they watch, set out and go from where you are to another place. Perhaps they
will understand, though they are a rebellious house. During the daytime, while
they watch, bring out your belongings packed for exile. Then in the evening,
while they are watching, go out like those who go into exile. While they watch, dig
through the wall and take your belongings out through it. Put them on your
shoulder as they are watching and carry them out at dusk. Cover your face so
that you cannot see the land, for I have made you a sign to the house of Israel.”
So I did as I was commanded. During the day I brought out my things packed for
exile. Then in the evening I dug through the wall with my hands. I took my
belongings out at dusk, carrying them on my shoulders while they watched. In
the morning the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, did not that
rebellious house of Israel ask you, ‘What are you doing?’ Say to them, ‘This is
what the Sovereign Lord says: This oracle concerns the prince in Jerusalem and
the whole house of Israel who are there.’ Say to them, ‘I am a sign to you. As I
have done, so it will be done to them. They will go into exile as captives.’”(Ezekiel
12:1-11). And you thought using drama in church was a new fad? God used it
way back when in the Old Testament to get people’s attention! There are a
number of these dramatic illustrations that God and Ezekiel do for the people.
The most striking one comes in chapter 24, just before the final fall of Jerusalem
when Ezekiel’s wife dies and he cannot even mourn for her. “So I spoke to the
people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did
as I had been commanded. Then the people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what
these things have to do with us?” So I said to them, “The word of the Lord came
to me: Say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am
about to desecrate my sanctuary – the stronghold in which you take pride, the
delight of your eyes, the object of your affection. The sons and daughters you left
behind will fall by the sword. And you will do as I have done. You will not cover
the lower part of your face or eat the customary food of mourners. You will keep
your turbans on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or
weep but will waste away because of your sins and groan among yourselves.
Ezekiel will be a sign to you; you will do just as he has done. When this happens,

5. you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’”(Ezekiel 24:18-24). That is harsh,
but if that didn’t get your attention, I don’t know what would! That Ezekiel was
willing to sacrifice so much to help God reach His people is a testament to
Ezekiel’s commitment. Either that, or he really didn’t get on his wife… You know,
we’re never told what she thought of the weird things her husband was doing for
the Lord 
Bottom line is this. You will not be in doubt as to which path you are on.
Especially in today’s world where so much seems to be relative, and it often
seems like right is wrong and wrong is right, and just wondering aloud which end
is up can land you in trouble – God will not leave you in doubt. As we see in
Ezekiel and other of his contemporaries, God will use whatever He can to get the
message through. He will send written and spoken warnings. He will send
dramatized warnings, He will thunder, He will use circumstances that will bring
you a close up of where it is you are heading. He will be the angry parent or a
patient teacher – whatever He needs to do to get your attention and get the
message across He will do. God does not take pleasure in anyone’s demise, and
He will do everything He can to get us to turn around so that we may live. And so
if anyone is lost in the end, it will not be because they were ignorant of the path
they were on. As Jesus explained it to Nicodemus: “This is the verdict: Light has
come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds
were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light
for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into
the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done
through God.” (John 3:19-21). If we are on a wrong path and in danger, God will
make that abundantly clear to us. If, in spite of all that, we are lost at last, it will
be only because we chose to ignore His warnings, not because God didn’t do
everything possible to reach us.

6. you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’”(Ezekiel 24:18-24). That is harsh,
but if that didn’t get your attention, I don’t know what would! That Ezekiel was
willing to sacrifice so much to help God reach His people is a testament to
Ezekiel’s commitment. Either that, or he really didn’t get on his wife… You know,
we’re never told what she thought of the weird things her husband was doing for
the Lord 
Bottom line is this. You will not be in doubt as to which path you are on.
Especially in today’s world where so much seems to be relative, and it often
seems like right is wrong and wrong is right, and just wondering aloud which end
is up can land you in trouble – God will not leave you in doubt. As we see in
Ezekiel and other of his contemporaries, God will use whatever He can to get the
message through. He will send written and spoken warnings. He will send
dramatized warnings, He will thunder, He will use circumstances that will bring
you a close up of where it is you are heading. He will be the angry parent or a
patient teacher – whatever He needs to do to get your attention and get the
message across He will do. God does not take pleasure in anyone’s demise, and
He will do everything He can to get us to turn around so that we may live. And so
if anyone is lost in the end, it will not be because they were ignorant of the path
they were on. As Jesus explained it to Nicodemus: “This is the verdict: Light has
come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds
were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light
for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into
the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done
through God.” (John 3:19-21). If we are on a wrong path and in danger, God will
make that abundantly clear to us. If, in spite of all that, we are lost at last, it will
be only because we chose to ignore His warnings, not because God didn’t do
everything possible to reach us.