June 22nd

EZEKIAL 20 – 32

Overview of 20 – 24 Ezekial goes back into the nation’s past and catalogs the periods of rebellion that the people have displayed.  God has been patient with them down through the centuries but now their cup is full and judgment must come.  God wields the word of judgment and prepares the smelting furnace of His anger, it is clear that Judah is about o meet the same fate that befell her sister Israel: strong discipline for stubborn rebellion.

Thinking of discipline: “Parents who are afraid to put their foot down usually have children who step on toes.”  Discipline has been defined as “that painful reproof that everyone needs but no one wants.”  It is the price you pay for failing to learn your lesson the first time, either as a child of your parents, or as a child of your heavenly Father.  No parent enjoys administering discipline to a wayward child.  But there is something more painful to a parent than giving a spanking and that is giving repeated spankings for the same offense.  Why?...Because discipline has only achieved its goal when it produces a change of conduct.  Tears of remorse may show a contrite heart, but unless followed by acts of repentance the discipline has failed to achieve its desired end.  “Children are a real comfort in your old age—and they make you reach it sooner too.”

Where is God brining divine discipline to bear on your life today?  And what response is God looking for out of your momentarily painful experience?  Do you take the time to ponder and think on this thought?: Because I know that discipline, though painful will be unprofitable until I respond correctly today with God’s help, I will show that I have learned my lesson by?????

In chapters 20 – 24, you can find TWO parables that Ezekial gives us. 

In chapters 25-28 we can see the JUDGMENT OF JUDAH’S ENEMIES!  Ezekial has spent much time describing the rebelliousness of God’s people and the resulting discipline they are about to experience.  In these chapters, he has turned his attention to the east, west, north and south of Judah to aim his verbal missiles of judgment at the various neighboring nations.  Because their sins are as abhorred to God as those of Judah their people will be punished in similar fashion. 

“PRIDE is the oldest sin in the universe, and shows no signs of weakening with age!”  Pride has been called “the only disease known to man that makes everyone sick except the one who has it.”  In Chapter 28 is the description of a proud king and what happened to him as a result of his pride.  Don’t dismiss this as interesting but not important for us!  Consider this:  Pride is perhaps the most slippery of temptations to cope with.  You may not have a problem with pride and be proud of it!...In the process, you have just developed a pride problem!  The man said “I am zero!”  and is proud of it!!!

Intelligence, beauty, money, possessions, family, position can represent a potential danger area in your life.  The king of Tyre took three steps that led to his downfall 1.  It began in the heart when the kind let his beauty (or intelligence, or money, or position become the focus of his life, 2.  It moved to his head where his wisdom became corrupted 3.  It ended in disaster as the king was cast down from his privileged position.  Three steps:  conceit, corruption, condemnation.

How can we deal with a possible pitfall of pride in our own life?  If you cannot see it in your own life, ask someone you are close to…Once you identify the danger area: confess proud thoughts to God, commit your talents to God’s service and don’t let Satan’s subtle scheme that tripped up the king become your undoing as well. 

Highlighting some points in chp. 20 – 32:

The elders came to Ezekial to inquire of the LORD and He gave Ezekial the responsibility of REVEALING to them the sins of their fathers.  “thus saith the LORD:  I gave them My statues so that they might know and understand and realize that I am the LORD your God.” (v.20,26) In essence the LORD says, ‘whether you do or don’t, I WILL! v. 33 “As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm, and with wrath poured out, will I be King over you!!!!”  V. 38 then you shall know….

V. 43 As we remember our ways and doings…YOU SHALL LOATHE YOURSELVES…forgiven by HIM but remember by the sinner.  Maybe we are to remember the past to hinder us from the same sins in the future!!!!

22:2…’cause her to know all her abominations.  A prophet brings to light!?  Expression ‘in the midst of you’.  Shall we look within our midst as a local body of believers??? 

v.26…The priests have done violence in My law and have profaned My holy things….  READ.  Responsibility of our preachers??? 

v. 30 READ …that I should not destroy it; but I found none!

23:20 Sexuality in America today??  “For she doted upon her paramours there, who lust was a sensuous and vulgar as that of asses or stallions.  V. 35 “because you have forgotten Me…v.37 That their idols have they committed adultery against Me.  The LORD has repeatedly told us in HIS Word that we are not to have any other gods before HIM…terrible consequences when we do!

PURPOSE OF CHASTENENING: V. 49 Thus your lewdness shall be recompense upon you and you shall suffer the penalty for your sinful idolatry; and you shall know…understand and realize that I am the LORD God!

The importance of saying LORD:  On the basis of the fact that God uses it oftener than any other important word in the Bible, the word LORD becomes the most essential term in any language to the welfare of any person.  It is not enough that one knows God is God, for only a fool would deny that, but God demands of every person who is to be recognized by Him, that he accept Him as Lord of his life, his Sovereign Ruler, to Whom he yields implicit obedience.  When Thomas was able to say of Jesus “My LORD and my God!” his doubts ceased to exist.  Nothing short of that meets God’s demands.  Watch for the word LORD in the Bible – it occurs around 5,000 times!

25:17 I cannot help but ask the question in my own life regarding discipline and certainly when I look at the Word “Why must it take terribly applied vengeance of the LORD that we may know?  v.17… let’s look for sin in our lives…stubbornness, pride…idolatry???

26…According to Herodotus, Tyre’s history began in B.C. 2750.  It was a fortified city in Joshua’s time and later became a great maritime commercial center.  Yet Jeremiah and Ezekiel foretold utter destruction for Tyre, naming not less than 25 separate details…each of which in the following centuries came true literally,  Mathematicians have estimated according to the Law of Compound Probabilities, that if a prophecy concerning a person, place, or event has 25 details beyond the possibility of human calculation, collusion, collaboration, comprehension, and coincidence, there is only one chance in more than 35 and ½ millions of its accidental fulfillment.  Yet Tyre’s history at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, then centuries later at the hands of Alexander the Great, and centuries after that at the hands of the Crusaders, was the striking fulfillment of each detail of the prophets forecasts.  Nor could any other city in the world’s history have fulfilled them.  The authenticity of God’s Word leaves no chance for sane denial.

27:3…PRIDE: “Oh, Tyre, you have thoughts and said, I am perfect in beauty.”  Another word about this proud place:  Down to the 13^th century A.D. the grandeur of the ancient city was still visible.  But God’s Word does not fail.  Soon Tyre had become an almost uninhabited pile of ruins.  A large part of the western section of the island became covered by the sea, and early travelers told of seeing “houses, towers and streets far down in the deep.”  In modern times, the population of Tyre, made up largely of fishermen who spread their nets on its beaches, has increased to around 6,000, but the city as such has never been revived, and the original site has long since become obliterated. 

The description of Tyre in v. 2 of 28 sounds almost like the description of Satan, doesn’t it?  PRIDE!  V. 4. Taking credit “I did it!”  OWN wisdom, OWN understanding…v. 5 great wisdom and great traffic…heart is proud and lifted up because of your wealth.  V. 17 “Your heart was proud and lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor!”  What is our behavior when we allow PRIDE and certainly the enemy to ‘have sway’ in our lives????

Chapter 29…the pride of Egypt and its downfall…it struggled against it oppressors, but its power was already broken and from the time of its conquest, it has never been for any length of time independent.  There are few stronger contrasts in any inhabited country than between the ancient glory, dignity, power and wealth of Egypt and its later lack of significance.

31:10, 14 PRIDE…”stand upon their own estimate of themselves for their height…”

Finishing through chapter 32:  The picture is grim as other nations welcome Pharaoh and his hosts and taunt them as they arrive in the underworld.  Paraphrase: So you thought you were so beautiful and strong?  Look at you now.  You prided yourselves in being a circumcised people, but now you are lying down in death with the uncircumcised.  Like us, you thought you were invincible, but now you have joined us in death and decay.  You are no longer on a throne…you are in a grave!  Your bed is a sepulcher.”

Death is the great leveler.  There are no kings and commoners in the land of the dead and we can’t enter that land in peace and safety without faith in Jesus Christ.