Ezekiel 33
But, God…
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Rom. 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Pray
Intro
√ New chapter
Chapters 33-48 are the last major division of the book of Ezekiel.
Chapters 1-3 ~ Ezekiel’s call to ministry
Chapters 4-24 ~ God’s judgment on Israel
Chapters 25-32 ~ Judgment on the Gentile nations
Now in this last major section of Ezekiel’s prophecy God turns His attention to Israel’s future restoration and renewal.
It is if you will a prophecy of Israel’s rebirth!
As a nation she had “died” when God brought His judgment upon her and the Jews were carried away captive to Babylon.
Her homeland was desolate.
Her kings dethroned.
Her Temple destroyed.
Her people dead, captive or hiding.
Her enemies had triumphed.
All this had come upon Israel because she had turned from her love for God and given herself over to sin and idolatry.
As a nation Israel was dead and without hope.
But God…
God wasn’t finished with Israel.
He had made a promise to Abraham that He would build a great nation from his descendants, that the Messiah Himself would come from his lineage.
That one day the Messiah would rule the world from His throne in Jerusalem.
So, even though God had to punish Israel for all her great sin He was still going to fulfill the promises He made…
…these closing chapters record God’s wonderful future plans for Israel and her people.
Ap. This is where the book gets exciting!
The prophecies contained in this section speak of the end of human history and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on Earth.
We’re seeing some of these prophecies come to pass right now!
That means we’re living in the LAST DAYS and that Jesus is coming back soon!
The Watchman of the Lord (vs. 1-9)
Ez. 33:1 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Ez. 33:2 “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman,
Ez. 33:3 when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people,
Ez. 33:4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head.
Ez. 33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life.
Ez. 33:6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’
Ez. 33:7 “So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me.
Ez. 33:8 When I say to the wicked, “O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.
Ez. 33:9 Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
√ The watchman of the Lord
This is the 2nd time that God called Ezekiel to be a “watchman” for the house of Israel, back at the beginning of his ministry God said…
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me.” ~ Ezek. 3:17
The warning that God gave Ezekiel to speak was that of His coming judgment on Jerusalem and the Jews who rejected God’s word.
With the fall of Jerusalem that ministry was now completed.
But God wasn’t done with his servant Ezekiel nor His people Israel!
Now He calls him to a new ministry, once again as a watchman…
…but with a different emphasis and message.
His new message was not one of judgment, but of restoration and renewal!
Yet, for all of God’s great plans for the Jewish people and their nation He knew that many would miss out and not participate in God’s blessings because of their hardened hearts.
So, the first chapter of this new section begins with a warning to the Jews not to hardened their hearts against God and thereby miss the blessing He planned for them.
Ex. Discipline
None of us like to be on the receiving end of discipline!
Yet, the reality is that we all need it from time to time and if God’s the One bringing it we can be sure that we need it!
If we receive His discipline knowing that He brings it because He loves us and wants to keep us from harm then we’ll move on to enjoy greater blessings!
If on the other hand we reject His discipline and harden our heart against Him then we’ll find ourselves moving further and further from Him and ultimately find ourselves victims of Satan’s plans.
So, the key to life is listening to the Lord’s correction and heeding His instruction so that we can enjoy all the blessings He has planned for us!
Ap. God has appointed watchman in your life ~ are you listening?
The Watcher of Men (vs. 10-11)
Ez. 33:10 “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: “Thus you say, ‘If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?” ’
Ez. 33:11 Say to them: “As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
√ The Watcher of Men
God is going to give Ezekiel a message to speak to His people, but He also knows that the people aren’t in a mood to listen!
The reason is that they have a wrong perspective about God.
Notice in vs. 10 the people are questioning God…
‘If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?”
Or, as the NLT translates it…
“Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?”
That is, the captives in Babylon whom God had preserved from His judgment wrongly believed that God was going to destroy all of the Jews because of their sin.
What they missed was that God didn’t, and never has, wanted to destroy anyone!
God’s purpose in His discipline is to bring people to repentance. It’s only when they will not repent that He must judge their sin.
So, the people in captivity couldn’t see how they could ever survive because they believed that God was out to get them!
√ A God of mercy
Anticipating the response of the people to His message of hope and restoration He tells Ezekiel what to say to the captive when they question the goodness of God, note vs. 11…
“As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?”
God’s point to His people is that life and death is a choice they must make for themselves!
Life comes from obedience to God.
Death comes from disobedience.
All that they must do to live and enjoy the blessings of God, the blessings promised in the following chapters…
…is to turn from their sin and love God!
Ap. Chose life!
God is the same yesterday, today and forever! He doesn’t want anyone to experience eternal death and separation from Him.
In fact He so much desires to give us life that He did everything necessary to redeem us from our sin!
The choice to live or to die is still ours. Life comes to those who repent of their sinful ways and embrace the love of God found in Christ Jesus.
The Way of the Lord (vs. 12-20)
Ez. 33:12 “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’
Ez. 33:13 When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die.
Ez. 33:14 Again, when I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right,
Ez. 33:15 if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
Ez. 33:16 None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live.
Ez. 33:17 “Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the LORD is not fair.’ But it is their way which is not fair!
Ez. 33:18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it.
Ez. 33:19 But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it.
Ez. 33:20 Yet you say, “The way of the LORD is not fair.’ O house of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his own ways.”
√ The way of the Lord
The next objection of the Jewish people that Ezekiel had to deal with was their wrong attitude about the way the Lord dealt with people.
Remember the context, we’re told that God is merciful and doesn’t take any joy in the death of the wicked person!
Rather, it is God’s desire that everyone would repent thereby escape judgment.
So, it’s in that context that God communicates through Ezekiel how He does deal with people.
√ Context!
It’s very important that we understand the context of the Lord’s commentary here.
This is not a commentary on salvation and our eternal destination.
Rather, the context deals with the question of who will survive His judgment, and who will not.
For example, the Lord is explaining why certain of His people survived while others died in the destruction of Jerusalem.
The captive to whom Ezekiel was speaking had family and friends in Jerusalem.
They wanted to know why some lived, and others died, and they wrongly concluded that God had been unfair in His treatment of the people there.
So, He tells Ezekiel to explain to them that if a righteous man abandons his righteous life and had embrace evil…
…he would be judged as an evil man and die.
Contrasted that to the wicked man who heeded the words of Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, and turned from evil…
…he would be preserved from the judgment and live!
Yet, the people of Israel thought God wasn’t being fair! Note vs. 17…
“Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the LORD is not fair.”
Their error was that they were trusting in their own works of righteousness to deliver them on the day of judgment, note vs. 13…
“When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die.”
God’s point here is that the Jewish people wrongly believed that their previous good works should have been enough to save them from the God’s judgment on Jerusalem.
√ Future blessing
Here’s the point of the whole discussion…
God’s plan for the remnant that had survived the destruction of Jerusalem was one of great blessing as we’ll read in future chapters.
But, before they could experience that blessing and enter into the promises of God they first had to repent of their wrong attitudes toward God!
Ap. Experiencing the peace and power of God
In counseling one of the main obstacles we’ve found to people entering into and enjoying the abundant life that we’re promised in Christ is that they are still blaming God for some bad experience in life.
Ex. Excuses for wrong attitudes
I’ll hear people saying something like…
“God isn’t fair because I was hurt and abused and the perpetrator got off without even a slap on the wrist.”
The problem with that excuse is that it isn’t God’s fault!
God gave us a perfect sinless joy-filled, completely satisfying, awesome, place to live and experience life.
Our great, great, grand parents blew it when they sinned in the Garden.
They brought death and all the sin that we see and experience into this world.
So if we’re going to blame anyone it ought to be Adam and Eve, but not God!
The sad result of holding on to that wrong attitude toward God is that the person never really opens their heart to God, never really enters into forgiveness because they won’t forgive others…
…so while they are saved they never enter into the beautiful life that God has promised us!
Ap. God is fair
When this age is over and we have an opportunity to see human history from God’s perspective then we’ll discover that God is fair…
…just as He declares Himself to be in the Bible.
The Watchman Speaks (vs. 21-22)
Ez. 33:21 And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, that one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been captured!”
Ez. 33:22 Now the hand of the LORD had been upon me the evening before the man came who had escaped. And He had opened my mouth; so when he came to me in the morning, my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.
√ The watchman speaks
We’re told that a survivor of Jerusalem’s fall finally reached Ezekiel and the Jewish captives in the…
“tenth month, on the fifth day of the month” ~ vs. 21
…that is, on January 9, 585 B.C, or about 6 months after Jerusalem had fallen to Nebuchadnezzar.
The news this man brought confirmed all the prophecies that Ezekiel had delivered to the captives!
Because his message was now validated God gave him permission to speak again! Remember that way back at the beginning of his ministry God had told him he could only speak what God told him to say.
Ezek. 3:26 I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and not be one to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious house.
Ezek. 3:27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord GOD.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.
So, it wasn’t that Ezekiel was totally mute, rather, he was only to speak what God gave him to say because the Jewish captives were a “rebellious” people and wouldn’t receive what he said.
However, now that his message had been confirmed by the news brought from Jerusalem…
…God gave him the green light to start talking freely again because the people now knew that Ezekiel was a real prophet of God!
In fact, we see that God promises that will come to pass in the very near future, look at vs. 33
“And when this comes to pass—surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
For Ezekiel there must have been a strange mixture of emotions, sadness over the loss of life and the destruction of Jerusalem…
…but joy (or relief) that God vindicated him in the eyes of the people by confirming the prophecies he spoke.
Ap. We’re all going to share Ezekiel’s experience
That is, like Ezekiel we’ve been called to minister to a stubborn, rebellious, and proud people.
Like Ezekiel we are like watchmen warning people of the coming judgment.
One day when the Church is removed from the earth and God’s judgment begins to be poured out…
…we’ll probably share that same mixture of emotions, sadness over the loss of life, yet joy that everything we’d been saying was coming to pass actually did!
The Disobedient Survivors (vs. 23-29)
Ez. 33:23 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
Ez. 33:24 “Son of man, they who inhabit those ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one, and he inherited the land. But we are many; the land has been given to us as a possession.’
Ez. 33:25 “Therefore say to them, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘You eat meat with blood, you lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood. Should you then possess the land?
Ez. 33:26 You rely on your sword, you commit abominations, and you defile one another’s wives. Should you then possess the land?” ’
Ez. 33:27 “Say thus to them, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘As I live, surely those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and the one who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and caves shall die of the pestilence.
Ez. 33:28 For I will make the land most desolate, her arrogant strength shall cease, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through.
Ez. 33:29 Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.” ’
√ The disobedient survivors
If God hadn’t said it was true I would not believe that anyone was so arrogant as to still resist God’s will and remain in the land of Israel!
After all, everything that Jeremiah and Ezekiel had predicted had come to pass!
Jerusalem and the Temple had been destroyed just as they predicted.
King Zedekiah was captured, his eyes put out, and his family killed just as predicted.
Etc., etc.
Yet, there was a group of survivors who thought that they would somehow be blessed by staying in Israel though God has told them to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar!
They were saying…
“Abraham was only one, and he inherited the land. But we are many; the land has been given to us as a possession.” ~ vs. 24
These people wrongly believed that God would bless them simply because they were descendants of Abraham and therefore were entitled to the land!
What they failed to recognize was that God’s promise was contingent upon their obedience!
The sad truth was that even after all the terrible judgment that God had poured out on the land and the people…
…these people were still sinning and thought that God would bless them anyway!
But God makes it very clear through Ezekiel that He has no intention of blessing them in their disobedience.
Rather, He tells them that though they may have escaped death in Jerusalem…
…He would catch up with them wherever they hid and bring judgment upon them there.
Ap. God can’t bless disobedience
It’s a common trap that Christians fall into believing that since God is using them in some marvelous way that they can get away with sin.
God may not bust you the first time, but if you don’t repent He will bring discipline into your life.
So, don’t fall for Satan’s lie that God will wink at your sin because you’re “His anointed.”
The Disobedient Captives (vs. 30-33)
Ez. 33:30 “As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’
Ez. 33:31 So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain.
Ez. 33:32 Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.
Ez. 33:33 And when this comes to pass—surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
√ The disobedient captives
God turns Ezekiel’s attention from the survivors living in the land of Israel to the Jewish captives with him in the area of Babylon.
God reveals to him that the captives are no better than the survivors because while they listen to the word of God spoken by Ezekiel…
…they don’t obey the Lord either!
Note vs. 31…
“So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them…”
Amazing! Carried away captive by a pagan nation, forced to live in a pagan country, all because of their sinful ways…
…and they still won’t obey the Lord!
Close
√ But, God…
So, we see from the condition of the people’s hearts that they are not ready to receive the blessing that God has in store for them.
Rather, before the nation can be “reborn” the people must be reborn!
Clearly they can’t do that for themselves so God is going to something new…
…He’s going to give them a new covenant, a new heart and it will all be brought about through the ministry of a new leader, the Good Shepherd whom we’ll read about in our next Study.