We return t ur study f the third divisin f Ezekiel s prphecies As I mentined last week, in this sectin we find the rebellius exiles giving excuses fr why they shuld nt listen t the prphet s cunsel Acrss 8 chapters will find eight excuses And in respnse t each excuse, the Lrd will give Ezekiel a wrd fr the exiles And I als mentined that these eight excuses may sund familiar t us There are times in a Christian s life when we may use similar excuses t defend ur chice t disbey r ignre Gd After all, it s human nature t make excuses, even if they aren t very gd Like the man wh arrived late fr wrk fr the third time in a week. When he walked int his ffice he fund his bss, Mr. Epstein, waiting fr him. The bss asked sarcastically, What's yur reasn fr being late this time? I hpe yu have a gd excuse fr a change." The man sighed, "Everything went wrng this mrning. My wife was suppsed t drive me t the ferry this mrning, but she didn t set the alarm and we verslept. She gt ready in ten minutes and drve me straight t the harbr, but I still missed the ferry." S rather than let yu dwn, I swam acrss the river, ran ver the muntain, brrwed a bicycle and cycled the remaining 20 miles thrugh a field t the ffice." The bss listened t the man s stry, and then withut missing a beat, he respnded. D yu really expect me t believe that stry? N wman can be ready in ten minutes." Our excuses rarely sund as gd t thers as they d t urselves and they never sund gd t Gd Last week we studied the first half f chapter 12, where the Lrd asked Ezekiel t prepare anther charade fr the peple f Israel Ezekiel was tld t pack sme belngings, dig a hle in his curtyard wall and pretend t g int exile 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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! f! 14 He was depicting what Gd said was t happen t the remaining Jews living in the city f Jerusalem Ezekiel s message t the exiles wasn t news, f curse He has tld them all this befre But because they hadn t listened in the past, the Lrd directed Ezekiel t tell them again in this mre dramatic fashin But after the peple saw Ezekiel s display and they heard his explanatin cncerning its meaning, they simply went n their way They were neither impressed by nr believing in what the prphet fretld But still, smething must have stirred in their hearts, because they felt the need t invent a reasn t dismiss it S they ffered an excuse fr why Ezekiel s wrds weren t wrth cnsidering We dn t see them sharing their excuse directly with Ezekiel But the Lrd has heard their mumblings, and He brings the excuse t the prphet And then the Lrd directs Ezekiel hw t respnd Let s lk at the excuse first Ezek. 12:21 Then the wrd f the Lrd came t me, saying, Ezek. 12:22 Sn f man, what is this prverb yu peple have cncerning the land f Israel, saying, The days are lng and every visin fails? The Lrd shares with Ezekiel what the Lrd has heard the exiles saying abut Ezekiel s prphecy The Lrd asks, Sn f man, what is this prverb yur peple have The Lrd is referring t a cynical saying that circulated within apstate Israel culture even when they were living in the land And nw the exiles were repeating it in defense f their unbelief The prverb says The days are lng and every visin fails. 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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! f! 14 It means the things fretld by prphets always turn ut t be false because life ges n unchanged It s a similar sentiment t what Peter said will be repeated during the last days f ur age: 2Pet. 3:3 Knw this first f all, that in the last days mckers will cme with their mcking, fllwing after their wn lusts, 2Pet. 3:4 and saying, Where is the prmise f His cming? Fr ever since the fathers fell asleep, all cntinues just as it was frm the beginning f creatin. Peter says in the last days peple will mck the prmises f scripture which declare Jesus will return ne day and judgment will fllw Peter says these mckers als claim that the days are lng Or as Peter puts it, everything cntinues just as it was frm the beginning They say there will be n end f days, s we have nthing t fear That the same sense we find in the exile s prverb They deny a dramatic judgment awaits them And their cnfidence is based in the fact that n ne can remember such a dramatic thing ever happening Their cynicism is especially flish given their circumstances in Babyln These peple have already experienced a dramatic upheaval It s nt like they re still sitting in Jerusalem scffing at a prphet declaring their city wuld ne day fall t invaders That s already happened! Ezekiel is simply telling revealing that mre f the same is ging t happen Yet the exiles cmfrt themselves with this prverb The secnd half f the prverb is even mre absurd They say every visin fails meaning the prphets always get it wrng On the ne hand, their skepticism is understandable 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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! f! 14 False prphets had been victimizing Israel fr centuries And the peple had becme accustmed t taking such predictins with a grain f salt But here again, their present circumstances in Babyln shuld have caused them t recgnize that nt all prphets are wrng Jeremiah, the prphet t Jerusalem, tld the peple their city wuld fall t Babyln well befre it happened Centuries befre him, Isaiah fretld that Assyria wuld cnquer the nrth and it happened Isaiah als alluded t Babyln s capture f Jerusalem S, f all peple, the exiles in Babyln shuld have recgnized that nt all prphets are wrng Only the false nes are wrng Nevertheless, the peple blindly assert that prphets can t be trusted S with this prverb, they assure themselves they have nthing t wrry abut Have yu ever used this excuse with Gd? Tell Him that the days are lng and His wrd fails fr yu? Maybe nt in s many wrds, perhaps, but maybe yu ve thught smething like this: I knw Gd s wrd says I shuldn t being ding such-and-such, and that sin has cnsequences but s far, s gd I ve avided disaster t this pint, things seem fine s far, I can cntrl this, I can handle it S I can cntinue t ignre the wrd f Gd and it will all wrk ut In essence, that kind f thinking is n different than the prverb spken by the exiles The cmmands we find in the wrd f Gd directing us int hliness and bedience seem mre like suggestins 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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! f! 14 Even thugh Gd s instructins were intended fr ur gd, t preserve us frm the destructive cnsequences f sin, still we chse t ignre them And even when we read warnings in scripture abut willful disbedience, we tell urselves it wn t cme t pass Or we just dn t want t think abut it, burying ur head in the sand Irnically, when the Lrd is merciful t us by delaying thse cnsequences, we treat his mercy as excuse t cntinue, like thse in Babyln We tell urselves nthing has happened t us s far, s it will never happen Even thugh we knw thers wh have experienced cnsequences under similar circumstances But we will be the exceptin We all use this excuse frm time t time, but we re nt fling urselves and we re certainly nt fling Gd Our spirit knws better that the wrd f Gd can be trusted The Lrd is faithful t His wrd, s as we play with sin, ur spirit knws we re playing a game f rulette Sner r later, if we persist in disbedience, ur number cmes up But the Bible als warns f hardening f ur heart Yu culd define a hardened heart as reaching the pint where yu believe believing yur wn lies I think that s hw t understand the exiles in Babyln They were a rebellius huse because they had cme t believe their wn lies abut Gd And s they repeated the prverb amng themselves even thugh they had plenty f prf the Lrd was faithful S hw des the Lrd answer this excuse? Very simply he renders it vid 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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! f! 14 Ezek. 12:23 Therefre say t them, Thus says the Lrd Gd, I will make this prverb cease s that they will n lnger use it as a prverb in Israel. But tell them, The days draw near as well as the fulfillment f every visin. Ezek. 12:24 Fr there will n lnger be any false visin r flattering divinatin within the huse f Israel. Ezek. 12:25 Fr I the Lrd will speak, and whatever wrd I speak will be perfrmed. It will n lnger be delayed, fr in yur days, O rebellius huse, I will speak the wrd and perfrm it, declares the Lrd Gd. The Lrd asks Ezekiel t respnd t their excuse by saying, therefre tell them I will make this prverb cease The Lrd will bring their prverb t an end by prving it wrng He says the days are drawing near when everything He has fretld thrugh Ezekiel and Jeremiah will cme t pass Every visin will happen, and it will happen sn The Lrd is ging t call Israel s bluff Mrever, the Lrd says there n lnger will be false visins r flattering divinatin given within the huse f Israel Nt nly will the Lrd prve the accuracy f His wrds, but He will frustrate the wrds f the false prphets in Israel Ntice the false prphets were this wh gave flattering prphecies t the peple, prphecies that the peple liked t hear This is hardly surprising, since false teachers and prphets have always sught the apprval f men rather than Gd In the New Testament Paul calls such false teaching tickling ears" Tickling ears prduces a cunterfeit jy that isn t rted in anything real s cannt last These wlves in sheep s clthing were swing cnfusing amng the peple, encuraging skepticism f prphecy by their false wrds Because f s many false prphets, the peple f Israel assumed men like Isaiah and Jeremiah were just like the rest 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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! f! 14 They lumped the whle grup tgether bth true prphets and false and then they chse t ignre them all But they neglected t ntice that sme guys, like Ezekiel and Jeremiah, gt it right every time S the Lrd is ging t get rid f the nise grwing ut His vice amng the peple by thwarting the wrds f the false prphets Obviusly, the predictins f false prphets have n pwer t cme true in any case But smetimes they get lucky r smetimes the utcme isn t clear ne way r the ther But nw Gd was preparing t actively ppse the predictins f false prphets S when a false prphet flattered smene by prmising Gd was ging t bring a healing, Gd left their infirmary remain instead When a false prphet prmised a persn riches, the Lrd brught the persn t ruin Prmises f safety wuld lead t disaster, prmises f children wuld leave a mther barren, and s n Sn the peple wuld cme t see the difference between the true prphets and the false prphets In fact I imagine it didn t take lng befre the last thing the peple wanted was t be the subject f a false prphet s visins The Lrd has mre t say abut false prphets in the next chapter Meanwhile, everything Ezekiel said wuld happen wuld take place just as the Lrd prmised Ntice He says in yur days, O rebellius huse, these things will be carried ut The Lrd is hastening these things in respnse t the peple s stubbrn dubts in His wrd Thse wh had scffed at Ezekiel were ging live t see hw wrng they were 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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! f! 14 Once again this is hw the Lrd gains the attentin f His peple S Israel s first excuse survived in their culture because f tw factrs The peple f Gd had shrt memries f Gd s faithfulness and they gave their attentin t false vices drwning ut the truth These same prblems still exist amng Gd s peple tday S it makes sense we shuld still see this excuse in use tday And therefre the slutin remains the same We need t amplify the Lrd s vice in ur life, remembering His faithfulness, and we need t turn dwn the false vices everywhere It s like tw vlume knbs n a radi We need t turn up the truth and turn dwn the static Because the mre yu remember the faithfulness f the Lrd and the less yu trust prven liars, the mre reasn yu will hav t act in bedience t the truth As William Gurnall nce said: What mre pwerful cnsideratin can be thught n t make us true t Gd, than the faithfulness and truth f Gd t us? As yu pursue yur study f Gd s wrd, allw time t reflect n the times Gd has been faithful t yu Thse mments f grace when He stepping in t alter the curse f yur life r prvide r cmfrt yu The ways He brught encuragement r strengthened yu t face a trial Hw He tk a small step f faith and magnified it in amazing ways Thse memries f yesterday becme a testimny that encurages us t anticipate His faithfulness tmrrw And as Gurnall said, nthing will give us cause t be true t Gd mre than t remember His faithfulnesss t us 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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! f! 14 The exiles frgt Gd s faithfulness t His wrd and it encuraged them t scff at the prphets And secndly, we need t grw in ur discernment fr where we g fr cunsel and wh we give ur attentin Our wrld is filled with false prphets, but mst f them dn t wear sackclth r say Yea, verily Instead, they hst daytime talk shws r write bestselling bks They might be that well-meaning but ungdly neighbr r relative always ready t hand ut advice When yu rely n thse false vices and in the end they prve themselves wrthless, yu may start t think like these exiles Yu may assume every vice is false, every teacher is wrng Yur cynicism grws, and eventually yu turn away frm Gd s peple and frm Gd s wrd t That s the place f a hard heart Remember the case f Zecharias, the father f Jhn the Baptist? Luke 1:13 But the angel said t him, D nt be afraid, Zacharias, fr yur petitin has been heard, and yur wife Elizabeth will bear yu a sn, and yu will give him the name Jhn. Luke 1:14 Yu will have jy and gladness, and many will rejice at his birth. Luke 1:15 Fr he will be great in the sight f the Lrd; and he will drink n wine r liqur, and he will be filled with the Hly Spirit while yet in his mther s wmb. Luke 1:16 And he will turn many f the sns f Israel back t the Lrd their Gd. Luke 1:17 It is he wh will g as a frerunner befre Him in the spirit and pwer f Elijah, t turn the hearts f the fathers back t the children, and the disbedient t the attitude f the righteus, s as t make ready a peple prepared fr the Lrd. Luke 1:18 Zacharias said t the angel, Hw will I knw this fr certain? Fr I am an ld man and my wife is advanced in years. Luke 1:19 The angel answered and said t him, I am Gabriel, wh stands in the presence f Gd, and I have been sent t speak t yu and t bring yu this gd news. Luke 1:20 And behld, yu shall be silent and unable t speak until the day when these things take place, because yu did nt believe my wrds, which will be fulfilled in their prper time. The priest was standing next t an angel in the Hly Place f the temple 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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! f! 14 He knws the messenger is smene special and he s afraid f what he sees The angel respnds with great news, that Zacharias will have a sn And that this sn will be used mightily by the Lrd And hw des the priest respnd t this great revelatin f Gd? He asks fr prf he s making the same excuse in a way He s saying my wife has been barren fr ur whle marriage, s the days are lng and nthing changes And perhaps thers have prayed ver them r prphesied they wuld have children, but thse things didn t cme t pass S nw he dubts everyne, even an angel in the temple f Gd And we see what Gd did t discipline this man If we persist in listening t the wrng vices, The Lrd may act against us t, ut f lve t demnstrate the flly f trusting in the wrld If yu place yur trust in wealth r status instead f in the wrd f Gd, then maybe He ll shake yur financial wrld Prefer the pinins f yur gdless friends r the talking heads n TV rather than f the vice f yur pastr r elders? Then maybe He ll frustrate yur plans Prefer the leading f yur flesh ver the leading f the Spirit? Maybe He ll bring yur flesh t its end All these things are pssible, but the Lrd desn t want us t experience them A Gd willing t place Himself n a Rman crss fr the sake f sinful men and wmen is a Gd wh has prven He has ur best interests at heart S when He directs us in His wrd, yu can knw He is telling the truth and it s fr the best He s nt trying t steal away yur fun r deny yu what yu need He s telling yu that He knws best what s gd 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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! f 14! And while His grace knws n limits, His patience des have a limit Using the excuse f s far, s gd is like daring Gd t speed up His plan and t expse ur misplaced trust Dn t let yurself fllw in the ftsteps f these exiles, frgetting the faithfulness f Gd and dismissing His cunsel We still have a few verses left in chapter 12, and these verses give us time t examine the secnd excuse Israel ffered, which was clsely cnnected t the first Ezek. 12:27 Sn f man, behld, the huse f Israel is saying, The visin that he sees is fr many years frm nw, and he prphesies f times far ff. Ezek. 12:28 Therefre say t them, Thus says the Lrd Gd, Nne f My wrds will be delayed any lnger. Whatever wrd I speak will be perfrmed, declares the Lrd Gd. Once again the Lrd cmes t Ezekiel telling him what the peple are saying abut His prphecies Sme are saying the Ezekiel s visins are true, but they will nt cme true fr many years frm nw This is a variant n the earlier excuse In the first case, the peple were saying nthing ever changes and prphets are always prven false This excuse says the prphets d speak truthfully But they speak abut things s far away, we need nt cncern urselves with what they say I think f this excuse when I hear scientists telling us that in a few billin years frm nw, ur sun will exhaust all its fuel and g supernva The sun will vilently explde And the explsin will grw t cnsume every planet in the slar system All life n earth will be extinguished, and even the planet itself will cease t exist Why desn t that predictin wrry peple? It s because f that little detail at the beginning in a few billin years frm nw 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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! f! 14 We hear that part f the predictin, and we say, Oh that sunds terrible what are we having fr dinner? It s nt a cncern because we ll never live t see it and we have mre pressing cncerns That same thinking is als reflected in that passage I quted earlier frm 2Peter it wn t happen t us But the exiles weren t listening t Ezekiel s wrds very carefully, because he s been predicting things that culd be far away Fr example, in his prphecy cncerning the destructin f the city in chapter 11, Ezekiel predicted the death f tw current leaders in the city f Jerusalem S bviusly if his predictins are true, then they have t cme t pass during their lifetimes It s mre f the same bad lgic we ve discussed already These peple are willfully blind If yu ve never used the first excuse, perhaps yu ve used the secnd, because they are tw sides f the same cin Gd s wrd is true but just nt yet The Lrd says He s cming back fr His church, but I m guessing it s nt happening tday The Lrd says that I shuld be serving Him and shuld be grwing in my spiritual maturity but that can wait fr tmrrw If the first excuse culd be labeled denial, then this ne culd be labeled delay We dn t deny the truth f the wrd; we just tell us that it s t far away t matter Like a supernva, Gd s wrd is interesting in thery, but it s nt very practical I think this is ne f the mre cmmn excuses yu find in the church tday fr why peple ignre and flat ut disbey the wrd f Gd 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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! f! 14 It s why yu see s many pastrs pandering t cngregatins with sermns advertised t be relevant r practical I think thse are cde wrds fr Bible-free preaching Our church culture has been trained t acknwledge the Bible is true but t als assume it desn t speak t ur situatin r needs Part f the prblem is there is a lt f bad Bible teaching ging n There are a lt f men in the pulpit wh culdn t find their way ut f a paper bag, much less divide rightly the wrd f Gd And when ur peple sit under such nnsense week after week, it dulls their senses and distrts their view f what Bible teaching shuld be It s the same situatin that caused the exiles t use the same excuse They had false teachers everywhere, which cheapened their appreciatin fr Gd s wrd In the end, many acknwledged the true f Gd s wrd, but nne f it seemed meaningful r relevant S they said it cncerns distant things, therefre we can ignre it When I began t teach Ezekiel t ur cngregatin, I heard frm several pastrs wh said they wuld never cnsider teaching this bk t their cngregatins They said they didn t think their peple wuld listen t it the cntent was t far remved frm their experience At first, I gave sme thught t thse wrds and began t wrry this wasn t the right bk fr me t teach either And then I realized this was the very excuse that Gd cndemns in His wrd irnically in this very bk Gd gave us this bk fr a reasn, and if we think it s t remte, it s nly because we ve frgtten the pwer f Gd s wrd Sme f the events f this bk are distant and sme are right arund the crner Sme f the situatins in this bk are unique t ancient Israel but many are as relevant t us as ur wn diary 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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.
14! f! 14 Yu nly have t lk deeper int what Gd is saying t find what He has fr yu The slutin t ending this excuse amng Gd s peple is the same as the earlier excuse In v.28 the Lrd simply declares that nne f His wrds will be delayed any lnger He will speak t near term events and He will bring them t pass And then the peple will nt be able t claim that His wrd isn t relevant I believe we re living in days when the Lrd is preparing t remve this excuse frm the church as well Prphecies are being fulfilled And much mre is ging t happen sn Nw is nt the time t dubt the wrd f the Lrd r t think it s nt happening sn It s all true, and it s all relevant 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) 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.