Ezekiel 13B. Let s return to chapter 13 of Ezekiel, where the Lord is preparing to deal judgment against the false teachers deceiving Israel

Transcription

1 Let s return t chapter 13 f Ezekiel, where the Lrd is preparing t deal judgment against the false teachers deceiving Israel And we re als mving thrugh a series f eight excuses that Israel has ffered fr nt repenting and heeding the wrd f the prphet Last time we had just reached the third excuse The excuse was a little hidden in the text in v10 Let s reread that verse and mve frward a few mre Ezek. 13:10 It is definitely because they have misled My peple by saying, Peace! when there is n peace. And when anyne builds a wall, behld, they plaster it ver with whitewash; Ezek. 13:11 s tell thse wh plaster it ver with whitewash, that it will fall. A flding rain will cme, and yu, O hailstnes, will fall; and a vilent wind will break ut. Ezek. 13:12 Behld, when the wall has fallen, will yu nt be asked, Where is the plaster with which yu plastered it? The third excuse as yu may remember, the prphets were declaring that the future f Jerusalem wuld be ne f peace When in reality, what was cming fr that city was nt peace at all Instead, the city wuld see the fulfillment f all disasters the Lrd has been prmising thrugh the true prphets And the peple believed this reprt S the third excuse was claiming that Ezekiel had been superseded by ther prphets Ezekiel has been predicting we, but nw ther prphets are predicting peace S they preferred t think Gd revised His predictin, issued an update, and s things will be k after all Ezekiel s warnings were just a false alarm 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 Faced with the chice f believing a negative reprt vs. a psitive prphecy, the peple chse the psitive They chse this path even thugh it wuld have been clear that the false prphets had a track recrd f errr While the prphecies f Ezekiel and Jeremiah in Jerusalem were cming true rutinely It was willful ignrance, selective attentin, an excuse fr rebellin S in the secnd half f v.10 the Lrd described the wrk f the false teachers t be like plastering ver a wall with whitewash In this metaphr the wall represents Ezekiel s prphecies cncerning what will happen t the defenses f Jerusalem The said the wall wuld fall because it prtected a crrupt rebellius peple But false prphets lied t make the peple feel better telling them the walls wuld nt fall The Lrd cmpared that t wrkman trying t plaster ver a crumbling wall Whitewashing the truth, making the future lk better than was actually true But underneath that thse whitewashed lies, the truth remains the unchanged The wall is still crumbling and destined t fall This is the classic mdus perandi f every false prphet They always start with smething Gd has already said r dne but then they cver it ver with a cat f lies They whitewash it, s t speak, s that it s unrecgnizable t a true student f scripture They entice the ignrant r immature with their ear tickling wrds We ll nly be prepared t spt thse lies if we re students f the truth in Gd s wrd 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 S because these false teachers were giving pprtunity fr Israel t make their excuse, the Lrd respnds t their whitewashing In v.11 the Lrd tells Ezekiel t tell the false prphets that claim gd things are cming that their prphecies will fail Using the metaphr f a whitewashed wall, the Lrd says that wall will fail I like t imagine this metaphr literally As if smene cnstructed a sheetrck wall t prtect the city f Israel And then the invading army just punches a hle right thrugh it and it crumbles befre them The Lrd uses images f flding rain, hailstnes and a vilent wind t represent thse invaders Thse natural frces wuld wreck havc n a whitewashed wall Peple f that day wh had experienced such strms in the past knew exactly what wuld happen The strm wuld erde the sil arund base f the wall, disslving the whitewash cating and blwing ver the expsed stnes All f these things picture the cming destructin f the city by Nebuchadnezzar s army when they returned fr the third time Yu can see the extent f the destructin when yu see what was required t rebuild the wall in Nehemiah s accunt He reprts that the walls were cmpletely gne with nly the fundatin stnes remaining and the city gates were burned with fire That s hw thrughly the Lrd blws them dwn s t speak In v.12 the Lrd says the peple will be asking the false prphets at that time where did the plaster g? Again, the Lrd is using the metaphr t represent the lies f the false prphets 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 They said the walls wuld stand, the city wuld be preserved, the enemy wuld nt cnquer the city S when that prves false, the peple will be asking them, What happened t yu prphecies? Why aren t they cming true? Where is that plaster yu prmised? Haven t we seen this respnse urselves? Haven t we seen the astnished reactins f thse deceived by false teachers when their lies fail them? Fr example, the false prphet William Miller that started the Seventh Day Adventist religin predicted Christ s Secnd Cming in 1843 When it failed t cme t pass, his fllwers were left asking where is the whitewash? Charles Russell funded the Jehvah s Witnesses religin claiming the Kingdm f Gd wuld cme t earth in 1914 When that failed t cme t pass, his fllwers asked where was the whitewash and brke away t frm a new mvement Then their leader Jseph Rutherfrd claimed in 1920 annuncement that the Hebrew patriarchs (such as Abraham and Isaac) wuld be resurrected in 1925, marking the beginning f Christ's thusand-year earthly Kingdm Disappinted by his unfulfilled predictins, tens f thusands f defectins ccurred during the first half f Rutherfrd's tenure, leading t the frmatin f several new rganizatins Mre recently we ve had Harld Camping predict the rapture, Rnald Weinland predict Jesus return Just tw mnths ag David Meade claimed ur planet wuld cllide with Nibiru, a nnexistent planet, leading t Armageddn The lady wh claimed Niburi exists says she receives messages frm extraterrestrials frm the Zeta Reticuli star system thrugh an implant in her brain Thrughut histry, false prphets cme and g, speaking against scripture, spreading lies, whitewashing ver the truth And when thse lies fail, the peple always say what happened? 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 They are astnished that these predictins failed t cme t pass Yet they g lking fr the next false prphet t fill the vid created by the frmer The Lrd delights t tear dwn these false vices, t expse their tricks and ridiculus predictins Cnsider what He says next t Israel Ezek. 13:13 Therefre, thus says the Lrd Gd, I will make a vilent wind break ut in My wrath. There will als be in My anger a flding rain and hailstnes t cnsume it in wrath. Ezek. 13:14 S I will tear dwn the wall which yu plastered ver with whitewash and bring it dwn t the grund, s that its fundatin is laid bare; and when it falls, yu will be cnsumed in its midst. And yu will knw that I am the Lrd. The Lrd is at wrk tearing dwn false things t ensure that His truth stands unchallenged In the case f Jerusalem, the mre the false prphets said the walls wuld stand, the mre determined the Lrd was t knw them dwn He did as He prmised He brught the walls dwn t their fundatins And mre than that, He prmises He will cnsume the false prphets within the city The nly slutin t this nnsense is fr Gd s children t stand n the sure and slid rck f Gd s wrd We need t knw what Gd says in HIs wrd, and if we d, we wn t care what the pretenders tell us If yu trust in the revealed wrd and yu wn t be disappinted by the lies That s what Israel failed t d They had Ezekiel and Jeremiah speaking the truth, but they gave thse men little attentin They preferred what they heard frm the false prphets 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 We t have all we need t knw abut the things these false prphets claim We knw the Bible says the resurrectin f the Church (i.e., the Rapture) is cming ne day But we als knw that the Bible says believers wn t knw that day in advance S anytime smene predicts that date, we knw right away they are bund t be wrng and they dn t knw they re Bible The Bible says the Lrd will return ne day, and His return will bring an age t this end leading t a Kingdm n earth But the Bible als says His return happens as part f larger sequence f things that haven t even begun yet And Armageddn des nt invlve a fake planet r alien implants S again, when ridiculus prphecies cme alng, we reject them withut a mment s thught Nt because we are cynical r deny every prphecy, but because we already have true prphecy This is the main reasn why the Bible calls upn Christians t study prphecy eagerly It s ur insurance plicy against being captivated by nnsense If yu believe in Christ and lk frward t new things t cme ne day, then yu als give attentin t what the Bible teaches cncerning thse things If yu ignre prphecy in the Bible, yu re likely t be tripped up sner r later False prphets take that truth and whitewash it t make it mre exciting fr ignrant ears The Lrd call us t listen t His vice, as Jesus declared, because the sheep knw the Master s vice and fllw the Gd Shepherd And t prtect us, He delights t tear dwn and silence the false vices arund us 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 As a new ne cmes t the fregrund, the Lrd expses their lies sn enugh Fr example, lk what the Lrd did t thse false vices in Israel Ezek. 13:15 Thus I will spend My wrath n the wall and n thse wh have plastered it ver with whitewash; and I will say t yu, The wall is gne and its plasterers are gne, Ezek. 13:16 alng with the prphets f Israel wh prphesy t Jerusalem, and wh see visins f peace fr her when there is n peace, declares the Lrd Gd. Ezek. 13:17 Nw yu, sn f man, set yur face against the daughters f yur peple wh are prphesying frm their wn inspiratin. Prphesy against them Ezek. 13:18 and say, Thus says the Lrd Gd, We t the wmen wh sew magic bands n all wrists and make veils fr the heads f persns f every stature t hunt dwn lives! Will yu hunt dwn the lives f My peple, but preserve the lives f thers fr yurselves? Ezek. 13:19 Fr handfuls f barley and fragments f bread, yu have prfaned Me t My peple t put t death sme wh shuld nt die and t keep thers alive wh shuld nt live, by yur lying t My peple wh listen t lies. Fllwing the attack n the city, the wall and many f the inhabitants f the city were destryed, as we knw And amng thse killed were the false prphets that had misled the city The Lrd says in v.15 He will bring His wrath n the wall and n thse wh lied t the peple The nes in v.16 wh gave visins f peace when there wuld be n peace Gd s wrath is that righteus anger directed against the sinful rebellin f the peple and the sinful deceit f the false prphets The Lrd says He spent His wrath n these ungdly, and that gives us a gd wrd picture fr hw sin wrks As the ungdly d what they d, they are string up wrath with a hly and just Gd N sin ges uncunted, n ffense will escape repayment Smetimes the Lrd spends sme f that stred wrath against His enemies while still in this life In ther cases, He frges judgment here, but in all cases He brings justice in eternity 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.

8 8! f! 13 Understanding hw Gd s wrath wrks nly serves t increase ur appreciatin fr the grace we ve received in Christ Each f us has sme stry we culd tell abut the curse f ur lives befre we came t knw Christ In many ways we were string up wrath with Gd, engaged in varius sins withut regard fr a cming judgment Imagine all that wrath piling up and then imagine the Lrd placing it all n His wn sinless Sn fr yu and me He spent His wrath n Christ instead f yu and men fr n reasn except His lve and mercy The mre yu appreciate yur sin, the mre amazing grace becmes Then in vs.17 the Lrd mves t a specific cndemnatin f the female false prphets wh were perating in the city as well Gd did n ccasin raise f wmen prphetesses in Israel, thugh they were far mre rare Nevertheless, they did exist and s did false prphetesses And the Lrd cndemns these false prphets in an unique way In fact, there is n greater cndemnatin f false female prphets in all the Bible Like the men, these wmen were making things up and passing them ff as if frm Gd In what the Lrd says these wmen did, it s apparently they were wrking in cultic ways, using black magic t influence peple We knw this because f the practices the Lrd mentins here In v.18 we re tld the wmen were sewing clth bands n their wrists and making full-length veils fr themselves r thse they prphesied ver These articles f clthing were intended t inspire awe and wnder in peple And they were part f the srcery and witchcraft trade 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.

9 9! f! 13 Veils f this kind were usually assciated with casting spells, which is an appeal t demnic frces S the Lrd s disgust with the female false prphets cmes frm their assciatin with satanic pwers Apparently, the female false prphets perating in the city were particularly cnnected t the demnic realm Perhaps mre s than their male cunterparts And s they were ding particular damage amng the peple These witches practices their divinatin fr as little payment as a handful f grain, which makes their crimes all the mre detestable Because f their lies, evil peple were allwed t live while inncent peple died We dn t knw exactly what they were ding But we can the same imagine satanic practices we see in places tday Inncent dying like human sacrifice while evil was prmted in celebrating depravity f whatever kind All this fr a meal f barley it s like smene cmmitting mass murder fr a bag f ptat chips Ntice at the end f v.19 the Lrd refers again t their prphecies as lies Remember, these witches were likely wrking with demnic pwer Which means they prbably had the ability t display supernatural signs and wnders And yet what they said turned ut t be lies in the end That reminds us that even thugh smene has supernatural pwer r can prduce wnders desn t guarantee they speak truth They culd be (and usually are) using pwer f an evil surce Ultimately, we need t test the fruit f what they teach And if the fruit f what they teach is bad, then the tree is bad t 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 If what they say cntradicts scripture, if it prmtes sinfulness and excites the flesh, if it des nt glrify Gd r prmte hliness Then it s nt f Gd and we have nthing t d with it And s then the Lrd prnunces His judgment n these srcerers Ezek. 13:20 Therefre, thus says the Lrd Gd, Behld, I am against yur magic bands by which yu hunt lives there as birds and I will tear them frm yur arms; and I will let them g, even thse lives whm yu hunt as birds. Ezek. 13:21 I will als tear ff yur veils and deliver My peple frm yur hands, and they will n lnger be in yur hands t be hunted; and yu will knw that I am the Lrd. Ezek. 13:22 Because yu disheartened the righteus with falsehd when I did nt cause him grief, but have encuraged the wicked nt t turn frm his wicked way and preserve his life, Ezek. 13:23 therefre, yu wmen will n lnger see false visins r practice divinatin, and I will deliver My peple ut f yur hand. Thus yu will knw that I am the Lrd. The Lrd says He will break these magic bands ff their arms, and in s ding free thse held captive by their lies and divinatin And He will tear ff their veils by which they cntrlled the peple and hunted dwn thse that ppsed them Apparently, these wmen were very dangerus and held great demnic pwers ver the peple But they weren t mre pwerful than the Lrd And when the time came, the Lrd stripped them f their pwer ver the peple These wmen did far mre than lie t the peple The Lrd says in v.22 they disheartened the righteus As thse wh lved the Lrd and His wrd saw the pwer these wmen had and hw they cntrlled the peple, it must have been s discuraging The righteus must have felt like David when he cried in the Psalms 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! Psa. 35:11 Malicius witnesses rise up; They ask me f things that I d nt knw. Psa. 35:12 They repay me evil fr gd, T the bereavement f my sul. Psa. 35:13 But as fr me, when they were sick, my clthing was sackclth; I humbled my sul with fasting, And my prayer kept returning t my bsm. Psa. 35:14 I went abut as thugh it were my friend r brther; I bwed dwn murning, as ne wh srrws fr a mther. Psa. 35:15 But at my stumbling they rejiced and gathered themselves tgether; The smiters whm I did nt knw gathered tgether against me, They slandered me withut ceasing. Psa. 35:16 Like gdless jesters at a feast, They gnashed at me with their teeth. Psa. 35:17 Lrd, hw lng will Yu lk n? Rescue my sul frm their ravages, My nly life frm the lins. Fr reasns Gd knws, the enemy and his peple may get the upper time fr a while And during these times we are bund t be discuraged And we wnder why the Lrd desn t simply win the battle fr us The issue is simply timing The Lrd has wn the day in Christ, Satan s defeat is already assured But like Jerusalem in this day, the Lrd waits t reveal that victry n earth It s already been wn in the heavenly and it s secure in ur hearts, fr He Wh is in us is greater than he wh is in the wrld But we wait fr the Lrd t bring that victry t every crner f the Earth accrding t His timing The evil f this wrld can t dishearten yu if yu maintain eyes fr eternity 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 As lng as yu understand the prmises f scripture and appreciate the sense f Gd s timing in these things, then yu can lk past a mmentary defeat The enemy gains arund n a day here r there But he isn t hlding the territry And when the day cmes, the Lrd will break his strnghlds He can d that in yur life in breaking habits, vices, weaknesses And He will d that in all Creatin in a day t cme Secndly, these wmen gave encuragement t the ungdly t sin with impunity They encuraged evil and gave it prtectin frm justice They celebrated depravity and the ccult And in that way, they turned the wicked away frm repentance, frm any sense f guilt r the need t turn And in that way, these wmen ensured the death f these ungdly The same things are happening tday as evil peple, under the influence f demnic frces, are pushing ur culture t becme increasingly evil Sin is celebrated and as depravity is encuraged The wicked feel less and less reasn t repent r turn away When the culture embraces and even celebrates yur sin, yu have n reasn t turn But they re just leading many t death, bth here and in eternity This situatins are nt the end, they are just a stp alng the way t the end Just as it was in Jerusalem, the Lrd will step in ne day t strip the enemy and his peple f pwer and rescue His peple Here again, knwing yur Bible is key 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 If yu understand hw Gd wrks thrugh evil in the wrld,, then yu can remain patient, even as we await His victry in a day t cme Yu wn t fall under the spell f the demnic vices that are arund us bringing discuragement Yu can ech David s wrds as he finishes Psalm 35 Psa. 35:26 Let thse be ashamed and humiliated altgether wh rejice at my distress; Let thse be clthed with shame and dishnr wh magnify themselves ver me. Psa. 35:27 Let them shut fr jy and rejice, wh favr my vindicatin; And let them say cntinually, The Lrd be magnified, Wh delights in the prsperity f His servant. Psa. 35:28 And my tngue shall declare Yur righteusness And Yur praise all day lng. As we like t say, I ve read the end f the bk, and Jesus wins. And as true as that is, dn t frget the middle f the bk t Gd is always winning, but smetimes it desn t lk that way Nevertheless, because we ve read the whle bk, we can see everything in prper perspective We can see that evil has a purpse in Gd s ecnmy at least fr a time And we can appreciate we stand apart frm this evil s we may be useful t the Lrd in rescuing thers ut f it The Lrd eventually brke the walls f the city and destryed the false vices amng His peple But the vices that were saved were thse wh heeded the cunsel f the righteus in the city That s where we need t see urselves in this stry we re in a city with crumbling walls and a date with Gd s wrath But we have already escaped that wrath and we re still here t tell thers they can escape it t Let s share the truth we knw t save mre frm the lies 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.