Ezekiel 12A. It s time to start the third division of prophecy in the book of Ezekiel

Transcription

1 It s time t start the third divisin f prphecy in the bk f Ezekiel This third sectin runs frm chapter This sectin is really quite interesting because it s the first time we hear frm the exiles themselves They ve been watching and listening t Ezekiel s prphecies fr the past year r s, but they haven t believed him S in these eight chapters they ffer eight excuses fr why Ezekiel s prphecies will nt cme t pass And the Lrd speaks thrugh Ezekiel t refute all eight excuses in their hearing In chapter 12, we find the first f their excuses, but it desn t shw up right away In fact, we dn t get t that excuse until next week Because befre we get t the excuse, the Lrd has Ezekiel prepare anther street perfrmance t send a message Ezek. 12:1 Then the wrd f the Lrd came t me, saying, Ezek. 12:2 Sn f man, yu live in the midst f the rebellius huse, wh have eyes t see but d nt see, ears t hear but d nt hear; fr they are a rebellius huse. Ezek. 12:3 Therefre, sn f man, prepare fr yurself baggage fr exile and g int exile by day in their sight; even g int exile frm yur place t anther place in their sight. Perhaps they will understand thugh they are a rebellius huse. Ezek. 12:4 Bring yur baggage ut by day in their sight, as baggage fr exile. Then yu will g ut at evening in their sight, as thse ging int exile. Ezek. 12:5 Dig a hle thrugh the wall in their sight and g ut thrugh it. Ezek. 12:6 Lad the baggage n yur shulder in their sight and carry it ut in the dark. Yu shall cver yur face s that yu cannt see the land, fr I have set yu as a sign t the huse f Israel. Ezek. 12:7 I did s, as I had been cmmanded. By day I brught ut my baggage like the baggage f an exile. Then in the evening I dug thrugh the wall with my hands; I went ut in the dark and carried the baggage n my shulder in their sight. The Lrd gives Ezekiel anther message t act ut befre His peple in exile 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

2 2! f! 13 Ntice this message is nt dated as were the past tw prphecies That tells us that this is a cntinuatin f the mment frm the earlier visin that started in chapter 8 Nevertheless, we cunt this as a separate sectin because the material differs dramatically frm the previus sectin S we must assume that Ezekiel has related what her saw in thse visins And the peple have had a chance t respnd And frm what we learn in this chapter, they haven t respnded well In fact, they are denying Ezekiel s wrd Their rebellin against the wrd f the Lrd began while in Jerusalem And it cntinues even nw while they are in exile In v.2 the Lrd tells Ezekiel that these peple are a rebellius huse He says they have eyes t see and ears t hear but dn t see r hear The Lrd is speaking in spiritual terms Thrugh their prphet, the peple have been given sight f spiritual truth And as Ezekiel has spken spiritual truth t them, they have been given ears t hear the Lrd The Lrd has shwn Ezekiel what will happen t Israel s that the peple might repent and respnd in the right way But instead they deny Ezekiel s prphecies, which means they aren t seeing and hearing as they shuld I like this descriptin f hw men and wmen respnd t the wrd f Gd All believers have the been given spiritual truth in the wrd f Gd And we all have the Spirit f Gd t teach us all things 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

3 3! f! 13 And smetimes we use these things t see and hear truth and respnd t it And then there are ther times we clse ur eyes and ears because we re rebellius Ignring the wrd f Gd is like clsing ur eyes and ears t Gd And grieving the Spirit is like ignring the Lrd It never ceases t amaze me hw many Christians treat study f Gd s wrd as an ptinal pursuit And hw many mre will knwing adpt views f life and ministry that are directly cntradicted by scripture These are mments f rebellin We all have these mments t deal with in ur lives It s never a gd thing, but the real prblem begins when we make this pattern ur lifestyle We determine t keep ur eyes shut and ears clsed because we prefer ur rebellin When we d this, we ll feel the Spirit s cnvictin as He wrks t bring us back t the Lrd in bedience Smetimes we respnd t that cnvictin in the right way, returning t the wrd, listening t the Spirit But smetimes we make excuses fr ur rebellin and intentinal blindness And I bet many f thse excuses fr why we can t (r wn t) d what the Lrd wants sund like the excuses Israel ffered Ezekiel The Lrd knws the excuses are cming, s he give Ezekiel a message t send the peple, and nce again He asks Ezekiel t act ut the message This skit will reinfrce the truth that they ve already heard frm Ezekiel That the city f Jerusalem will be sacked, destryed and the peple sent int exile The Jewish peple will be remved frm the land entirely They will be scattered and the temple destryed 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

4 4! f! 13 And they will nt return fr a lng time That s the key issue that the exiles failed t grasp While they understd that Judah was under judgment (because their wn exile made that truth self-evident) They didn t grasp the magnitude f that judgment They assumed they were ging t be held utside the land f Israel fr a shrt time and sn they wuld return And they assumed their brethren wuld remain in the city maintaining a Jewish presence in the land And they assumed the glry f the Lrd wuld remain living alngside the peple as it had fr the previus 340 years These wrng assumptins had given them false hpe, and that false hpe gave pprtunity fr their pride t stir up rebellin in their hearts Misplaced cnfidence gave birth t hard hearts And yet the Lrd is still wrking t sften them Ntice in v.3 the Lrd tells Ezekiel t perfrm these acts in the hpe that perhaps Israel will get the message Ezekiel is tld t pack baggage fr exile and leave his hme The baggage fr an exile wuld be very little f curse Smene ging int exile is in a rush and under threat, s they gather nly a few essentials Therefre, Ezekiel wuld have taken nly the bare necessities frm his hme The Lrd tells him t take it ut by daylight This prbably means Ezekiel brught ut his belngs int the curt that typically surrunded hmes in that day This wuld have turned t a spectacle, with clthes, sme fd r ther items thrwn ut the dr His neighbrs wuld be asking what Ezekiel was ding r where he was planning t g? 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

5 5! f! 13 Then later in the day, as evening apprached, Ezekiel was t mve ut f his hme But he isn t t leave thrugh the dr r gate He must dig a hle in the wall, prbably a hle in his curtyard wall And then he will crawl thrugh the hle with his baggage at nightfall Leaving at nightfall pictures the calamity that will fall upn the peple as they walk in darkness And crawling thrugh a wall reminds the peple f the circumstances in which the exiles leave They aren t leaving thrugh the gate as in times a peace They will be taken ut f a city that has fallen t a siege campaign and has seen its walls breached Finally, as he crawls thrugh the hle, Ezekiel is tld t cver his face s he can t see the land The general pint is that the exiles wn t see their land after they leave it behind This isn t a temprary afflictin nr will Israel escape their enemies r find refuge elsewhere in Israel But this detail has an even darker meaning that the Lrd will reveal shrtly In v.7 Ezekiel reprts that he did exactly as the Lrd intended And f curse, his antics wuld have been the talk f the twn He s already gained a reputatin as a man wh sees visins and des crazy things S as sn as he starts thrwing clthes utside his huse, he prbably attracted a crwd And then when he began digging in his curtyard wall, yu knw the peple started laughing and mcking him And that s the reasn the Lrd gave Ezekiel this task 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

6 6! f! 13 This peple have been given this same prphecy befre, and yet they cntinue t ignre it S the Lrd is amplifying the message thrugh this spectacle The peple certainly can t ignre what they see Ezekiel ding The questin is will they cme t understand that Ezekiel is cmmunicating the wrds f Gd? It s natural t feel sme pity fr Ezekiel at this pint He s being asked t sacrifice his pride and hnr t reach a peple wh have repeated rejected the wrd f the Lrd It s tempting t think they had their chance they made their bed, let them lie in it Why shuld a man f bedience and upright character like Ezekiel sacrifice his dignity t serve a peple wh culdn t care less abut pleasing Gd? Because it s called ministry fr a reasn it s what the Lrd asks frm all f us thugh in different ways The wrd minister means t serve, and service isn t easy and it wn t be pssible withut a persnal cst We re all called t sacrifice urselves fr the sake f the lst s And ur persnal sacrifice is a primary means fr us t glrify the Lrd Serving Gd isn t all dm and glm, f curse Smetimes, the Lrd allws us t stand in the sptlight, t receive the thanks and acclades f thse we serve T experience triumphs and t see miraculus fruit Mments like Peter experienced at Pentecst r Paul and Barnabas experienced in Antich These are the mments we all yearn fr, and the Lrd will grant them frm time t time t encurage us and t glrify Himself But ther times perhaps mst f the time serving the Lrd demands great persnal sacrifice 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

7 7! f! 13 There are n sptlights, n cheering crwds, n fame r frtune The Lrd assigns us a task that requires we set aside persnal interests like wealth, cmfrt, safety, ppularity, & dignity At the very least, yu sacrifice yur time when yu serve the Lrd Even wrse, we may lse ur career, friends, family, r freedm He calls us t take up a crss f shame fr the Lrd, just as ur Lrd did fr us N ne is exempt frm this pattern, fr even the apstles knew this call, as Paul reminds us 1Cr. 4:9 Fr, I think, Gd has exhibited us apstles last f all, as men cndemned t death; because we have becme a spectacle t the wrld, bth t angels and t men. Paul says the Lrd exhibited the apstles as a spectacle, meaning He put them n public display just as He did Ezekiel What spectacle did Gd call Paul t perfrm? I ll let Paul tell yu in his wn wrds 2Cr. 6:1 And wrking tgether with Him, we als urge yu nt t receive the grace f Gd in vain 2Cr. 6:2 fr He says, At the acceptable time I listened t yu, And n the day f salvatin I helped yu. Behld, nw is The acceptable time, behld, nw is The day f salvatin 2Cr. 6:3 giving n cause fr ffense in anything, s that the ministry will nt be discredited, 2Cr. 6:4 but in everything cmmending urselves as servants f Gd, in much endurance, in afflictins, in hardships, in distresses, 2Cr. 6:5 in beatings, in imprisnments, in tumults, in labrs, in sleeplessness, in hunger, 2Cr. 6:6 in purity, in knwledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Hly Spirit, in genuine lve, 2Cr. 6:7 in the wrd f truth, in the pwer f Gd; by the weapns f righteusness fr the right hand and the left, 2Cr. 6:8 by glry and dishnr, by evil reprt and gd reprt; regarded as deceivers and yet true; 2Cr. 6:9 as unknwn yet well-knwn, as dying yet behld, we live; as punished yet nt put t death, 2Cr. 6:10 as srrwful yet always rejicing, as pr yet making many rich, as having nthing yet pssessing all things Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

8 8! f! 13 Paul s suffering fr the gspel matter little t him, because he knew had everything he needed waiting fr him in the eternal realm And he had mre f it because f his willingness t serve Gd in sacrificial ways Simply put, Paul lived with eyes fr eternity Likewise, Ezekiel was called t be a servant t the peple f Israel: a disbedient, stiff-necked peple Serving Gd under thse circumstances required great persnal sacrifice But his bedience in this difficult assignment and his service t a disbedient, unappreciative audience made fr an even mre pwerful testimny And we presume an even mre glrius reward After Ezekiel cmpleted his task, the Lrd gives Ezekiel a full interpretatin f his skit Ezek. 12:8 In the mrning the wrd f the Lrd came t me, saying, Ezek. 12:9 Sn f man, has nt the huse f Israel, the rebellius huse, said t yu, What are yu ding? Ezek. 12:10 Say t them, Thus says the Lrd Gd, This burden cncerns the prince in Jerusalem as well as all the huse f Israel wh are in it. Ezek. 12:11 Say, I am a sign t yu. As I have dne, s it will be dne t them; they will g int exile, int captivity. Ezek. 12:12 The prince wh is amng them will lad his baggage n his shulder in the dark and g ut. They will dig a hle thrugh the wall t bring it ut. He will cver his face s that he can nt see the land with his eyes. Ezek. 12:13 I will als spread My net ver him, and he will be caught in My snare. And I will bring him t Babyln in the land f the Chaldeans; yet he will nt see it, thugh he will die there. Ezek. 12:14 I will scatter t every wind all wh are arund him, his helpers and all his trps; and I will draw ut a swrd after them. Ezek. 12:15 S they will knw that I am the Lrd when I scatter them amng the natins and spread them amng the cuntries. Ezek. 12:16 But I will spare a few f them frm the swrd, the famine and the pestilence that they may tell all their abminatins amng the natins where they g, and may knw that I am the Lrd Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

9 9! f! 13 The Lrd explains the meaning f all the symbls in his drama, presumably s the prphet culd cmmunicate it t the peple in case they missed the pint Ntice the Lrd says in v.9 that the peple have been asking Ezekiel what are yu ding? Obviusly, the skit gt their attentin as was attended They have watched it intently and nw they want t knw what it all means S the Lrd explains t Ezekiel what it all means First, in v.10 the Lrd says this burden that Ezekiel bre cncerned the prince in Jerusalem The term prince here prefers t the ruling king f Judah, King Zedekiah Zedekiah was appinted king by Nebuchadnezzar fllwing the secnd siege f the city The previus king, Jehiachin, had rebelled against Babylnian rule, and was taken int exile with the secnd wave f refugees Ezekiel and the rest f the exiles still saw Jehiachin as the legitimate king, s the prphet calls Zedekiah merely the prince But Zedekiah was ruling ver thse left behind in Jerusalem, and this prphecy describes what was cming fr him and the rest f the peple Just as was dne t the earlier exiles s it will be fr thse still in the city Even King Zedekiah will find himself trying t escape the city under cver f darkness with a few pssessins n his back He will dig a hle thrugh the rubble f the wall and he will cver his face t cnceal his identity Then, the Lrd says in v.13 that He wuld set a net and snare fr this king The Lrd prmises Zedekiah wuld be captured by the Babylnians and brught back t Babyln as an exile Eventually, the king wuld die as an exile in the land f Babyln, never having returned t Israel 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

10 10! f! 13 Nevertheless, the Lrd says, the king wuld never see the land he will ccupy Accrding t Jsephus, the king received wrd f this prphecy smehw, perhaps by a Jew slave traveling with a Babylnian fficial But unsurprisingly, Jsephus says the king didn t believe it Irnically, Jsephus says Zedekiah rejected the prphecy because he thught it disagreed with the wrds f the Jerusalem prphet, Jeremiah Here s what Jsephus wrte Ezekiel als fretld in Babyln what calamities were cming upn the peple, which when he heard, he sent accunts f them unt Jerusalem; but Zedekiah did nt believe their prphecies, fr the reasn fllwing: It happened that the tw prphets agreed with ne anther in what they said as in all ther things, that the city shuld be taken, and Zedekiah himself shuld be taken captive; but Ezekiel disagreed with Jeremiah, and said, that Zedekiah shuld nt see Babyln; while Jeremiah said t him, that the king f Babyln shuld carry him away t there in bnds; and because they did nt bth say the same thing as t this circumstance, Zedekiah disbelieved what they bth appeared t agree in, and cndemned them as nt speaking truth t him, althugh all the things fretld him did cme t pass accrding t their prphecies The king thught the tw prphets were in disagreement, but in fact they were in perfect agreement Bth said the king wuld end up in Babyln, and s he did But Ezekiel adds that Zedekiah wuldn t see the land, and that turned ut t be true als When Nebuchadnezzar met the exiles in Riblah, he had all the leaders f the city killed He als killed Zedekiah s sns in frnt f the king, s that he was frced t witness the death f his children And then Nebuchadnezzar had bth f Zedekiah s eye s guged ut s that he was made blind And thus the king never saw the land f Babyln Finally, the prphecy explains in v.15 that the peple f the city wuld be scattered amng the ther natins and spread int ther cuntries 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

11 11! f 13! Many wuld die in the siege and thers wuld die in captivity by disease and famine But t fulfill the Lrd s purpses, He says He will spare a few f Israel s they may be His witnesses They will testify t these events s they may becme cause fr future generatins f Israel t remain true t the cvenant S that is the full meaning f the prphecy Ezekiel acted ut It s interesting that as the peple were asking Ezekiel what his strange rutine meant, he didn t have answers fr them We can safely assume Ezekiel understd the brad stryline abut the cming exile After all, the Lrd has already tld that stry a cuple f times already And s mst peple prbably gathered this was anther message f judgment But the exact meaning f each little detail wasn t available t Ezekiel r t the peple until after he had cmpleted the task Only then the Lrd revealed the full meaning t them And as yu can see, these details culd never have been understd until the Lrd put the pieces tgether Can yu identify with Ezekiel s situatin? I knw I can Gd asks yu t serve Him in sme way, bit His call desn t make sense t yu It lacks details, it desn t answer yur questins r dubts And thers may even ask yu why yu are ding what yu re ding, but all yu can say is the Lrd tld yu t d it They wnder if yu ve gt a screw lse and yu re beginning t questin yurself t It s a test f faith Years ag my wife and I were attending a church where we were active in teaching the Bible and we liked the pastr and had gd friends 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

12 12! f! 13 After attending there several years, there came a pint when we felt the Lrd was calling us t leave the church He didn t give us a specific reasn thugh we searched t explain it t urselves We didn t have a new church waiting fr us and even if we fund ne, we knew we wuldn t be able t teach r serve right away All we knew was it was time t leave Leaving a church is tugh enugh even when yu have gd reasns Leaving a church means leaving friends, leaving service pprtunities, kids leaving their friends t Yu dn t want t hurt feelings and yu dn t lk frward t the grueling prcess f finding the next church hme But when yu dn t have a specific reasn fr why yu re leaving, everything gets even harder When the pastr r ur friends asked us why were leaving, we didn t have an acceptable answer I remember telling him I felt the Lrd was telling us t be available That answer cnfused them, and I assume he thught we weren t telling him the whle stry And ur kids were nt happy The truth was even we didn t like that answer and we weren t sure we were mving in the right directin, because we didn t knw what the Lrd was ding And nt knwing turned ut t be an even bigger test f ur faith than if the Lrd had tld us everything up frnt That test f faith was whether we were willing t step ut in bedience withut having all the answers And whether we were willing t wait n Him t direct us when we had n place t g A cuple f mnths went by we had largely stpped attending church 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

13 13! f! 13 And then a cuple f families apprached us asking us t start a church with them, and my career as a pastr was launched And suddenly we had ur answer fr why we needed t leave, why we needed t be available Ezekiel was prbably getting used t getting strange assignments that came with mre questins than answers But still, he had t step ut even befre he knw what the Lrd was ding And He had t endure the questins frm the crwd, frm neighbrs and perhaps even his friends And he didn t have answers ther than Thus saith the Lrd Each f these mments built up the prphet s faith, giving him greater reasn t bey the next time Gd asked smething difficult and didn t explain why Later in this bk, the Lrd is ging t ask even greater sacrifice f Ezekiel These earlier mments teach Ezekiel t serve Gd even when he didn t understand Lk fr that same pattern in yur walk with Christ Expect Him t call yu t small tasks first and greater tasks later Watch Him call yu withut explanatin and then prvide the answer after yu ve beyed And when yu ve gained sme practice in fllwing, trusting that answers cme in time, yu re find the burden grwing lighter Yu ll begin t understand Jesus wrds when My yke is easy and My burden is light When yu learn t fllw the Lrd sacrificially and withut requiring all the answers first, He ll d great things thrugh yu 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.