Ezekiel

 

Ezekiel Chapter 22

 

  • Ezekiel 22:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
  • 2 Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt show her all her abominations. 

Israel at that time was hardheaded and stubborn. They refused to see that they had sinned. They listened to the prophets that tickled the ears and told of God's love. Perhaps they gloried in the fact that they were children of Abraham and children of the promise. This sounds just like people do today. They close their ears to the truth. To all who reject God's word now, they open themselves up to being in the great delusion that is coming where they can't hear the truth. They will be those that follow the coming man of sin or who we call the antichrist.

It is okay to be critical thinkers and examine what we hear to make sure it is truth but to know the truth and purposely perfer to live the opposite of what God's word says does open us up to be deceived big time. We must accept the truth whether it is something good or a warning against something bad.

The nation as a whole were children of Abraham and children of the promise. That didn't mean that they could get by with sin and still inherit the promised land. The promise is still in effect. It was not made null and void because of their sin but it delayed the fulfillment until the sin of Israel was put away and they returned wholeheartedly to God their maker. 

When they were cast away because of their rejection of Christ in later times, this opened the door for the gospel to go to the Gentiles. The people who rejected Christ in that day are broken off permanently and are lost but all Israel has not been permanently broken off. They will be grafted into the vine of Christ when they receive Him. Whether it is now or in the days of the tribulation. 

Israel as individuals can accept or reject Christ and be lost while the nation as a whole as God's elect will be grafted back in when they come to Christ as a nation. Individuals who accept Christ are saved, those that reject Christ even though the nation comes back to God, will not be saved. 

Christians are not automatically saved for eternity as individuals unless they keep what they have until they die or the Lord returns. We are not puppets. We have an obligation to stay faithful until the end. Like Israel boasted of being children of the promise, they were cut off when they sinned. Even though that didn't mean all Israel was out of God's plans, the individual involved was lost. 

Jesus said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. When He comes, He will have a believing church ready for His return but as individuals, when we have been born again by God's spirit and made righteous by His blood, our sins are cleansed. If we go willingly back into unbelief in Jesus and the words He speaks to us, it will eventually lead us back into sin. A strong believer is less likely to sin without any repentance. So faith and faithfulness go together. True faith produces a faithful follower of Christ.

Are we any different than Israel whom God cut off temporarily until they finally come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and turn from sin? It is true what Jesus said that all who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life but if we sin willfully and stop obeying His word, we are really not believing in Him. To believe in something one acts like a believer. This does not mean a one time sin that we immediately repent of but a continual rejection of God and purposely continuing in sin.

If we sin, we are cut off, if we repent, we are restored. It is the same for Israel or believers today. Repent means to stop what we are doing and change, turning back to God in the process trusting in Him for cleansing and restoration. Repentance is taught throughout the bible and is the answer to any restoration back into the fellowship with God.

  • Ezekiel 22:3 Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.
  • 4 Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries. 

Like I said in previous chapters, idolatry brings with it other sins. Blood shed, sexual immorality and some kind of evil will accompany idol worship. It must be avoided like the plague. There are demonic spirits that accompany idolatry that lead people into error. It can still happen today. 

Some churches use images to worship God. We must turn from that. It is an abomination. We may not be getting into murder or sexual sins but then again it may lead to that. There is a religious spirit of deception that surrounds image worship. Avoid it like the plague.  

How do I know? Because of the written word which says, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image to bow down to and worship or any likeness of anything in heaven or in earth to bow and worship. God forbids it, that is why I know that image worship should not be in any church. 

  • 1Corinthians 10:19  What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? 
  • 20  But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. 
  • 21  Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. 

God never did like a mixture. Either be all one or all the other. I choose God..

  • Ezekiel 22:5 Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed. 

The nations that hate Israel will mock and rejoice when bad happens to them and the above verse 5 is speaking of that.  I will add though that true prophet of God in the days of Ezekiel and in today's world will be mocked if they speak words of warning to people who refuse to see sin as sin. Take abortion for instance. People refuse to see it as murder. We cry, write, preach, teach, warn, cry, march, cry and they do not hear. We are mocked in that case and accused of denying a woman's right to choose. So there are different kinds of mockery but verse 5 is speaking of the nation as a whole.

  • Ezekiel 22:6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood. 
  • 7 In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow. 

Children when they are grown have a duty and responsibility if at all possible to care for their elderly parents. They were not only ignoring this responsibility but vexing orphans and widow as well. 

  • Ezekiel 22:8 Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths. 

The Sabbaths were a sign of the covenant between Israel and God until the day when Jesus Christ would come to fulfill all things. They despised them by not observing them or if they observed them, it would be surface worship with their hearts far from God. They made light of the holy things of God just like people do today. We today need to be careful not to take lightly the presence of God in our times of worship. At the same time we must be careful not to get into ritual acts of worship that is just on the surface and not from our innermost being.

  • Ezekiel 22:9 In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness. 

Idolatry was practiced on the high places built for that purpose. Fornication and sexual immorality was common. 

  • Ezekiel 22:10 In thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution. 
  • 11 And one hath committed abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter. 

These were forbidden by the law of God and still is forbidden for the Christian today. Whoever does these things whether Jew or Christian shall not inherit the kingdom of God unless they repent and turn to Christ for salvation. 

  • Ezekiel 22:12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD. 

People were paid to commit murder. Murder is murder whether it was someone who hated someone else and wanted them killed, or in the case of a child being sacrificed to idols. Today we have the sacrifice of unborn children being killed to the god of convenience. It is murder.

  • Ezekiel 22:13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee. 

They may have murdered for greed because they desired the property of the one being killed. This was common in also. We will probably see this increase as we get closer to the rise of the antichrist. That man of sin will have no power or authority unless all godly people are not around to hinder his coming by their prayers and faithfulness to God. Sodom was not destroyed until Lot and his family were safely out of that city because of the prayers of Abraham.

  • Ezekiel 22:14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it. 

Even those that appear to be strong will fail to have strength against the judgment of God.

  • Ezekiel 22:15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee. 
  • 16 And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 

Because of these things they were scattered among the heathen. 

  • Ezekiel 22:17 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
  • 18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. 
  • 19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 

They had become impure as silver that is dross and no longer pure and shiny. 

  • Ezekiel 22:20 As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. 
  • 21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. 
  • 22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you. 

This shows the depth of God's displeasure with Israel at that time. 

I marvel that we like to see people happy and tell them good things to raise their self-esteem but fail to study the scriptures that warn of God's judgment upon the disobedient and those that mock, take lightly or ignore His words. It has not changed much since the days of Ezekiel in this respect. 

  • Ezekiel 22:23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
  • 24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. 
  • 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. 

This is also happening today. Instead of faithfully administering the word of God, it becomes a job and many are concerned with getting paid. Some rob widows houses and store up treasures thinking it is from being blessed by God while the poor around them have nothing. 

  • Ezekiel 22:26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 

There was a mixture of good and evil, true and false worship. No one was pointing out the danger of sin and how it separated them from God. They tried to honor God and worship idols, have evil and good side by side. Let's pray this doesn't happen in today's church.

In many places there is no difference between the Christian and the sinner, only one claims to believe in Christ. This should not be. They both use the same language, they both go to the same places, they both curse when they are mad, they both tell dirty jokes, they both drink and party, they both commit sexual immorality, they both read the same books and both are divorcing, only one claims to be saved by grace while the other claims no religion or faith. They do not know the scripture that says, "without holiness no man shall see the Lord."

  • Ezekiel 22:27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. 

The sin of compromise will lead to actual murder and theft after a few generations if it is not repented of. 

  • Ezekiel 22:28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. 

The prophets have not warned but rather patched up the holes with vain words and lies claiming to represent God and say only what the people wanted to hear. It was like trying to patch a hole in the wall with stuff that wouldn't last. 

  • Ezekiel 22:29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. 

This results when a nation forgets God and departs from the fear of the word. The poor, needy and weak are the ones who are hurt. This incurs the wrath of God. We must take care of our poor, the orphans, widows and the stranger especially as a nation. 

  • Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. 

Can the Lord find this in us. Will we stand in the gap, stand for His word and not be ashamed to proclaim His name among the heathen. 

  • Ezekiel 22:31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD. 

There is no time in history where people who should know better will get away with the sins listed in this chapter. We can claim Christ all we want or claim to be the children of Abraham but if we are doing these things, we are not saved and will bear the judgment for these things. 

Remember Jesus Christ didn't come to save us in our sins but to save us from our sins. There is hope through faith in Him to reconcile us back to a holy God.  Dorna

Ezekiel Chapter 23

Ezekiel Index


 
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