Ezekiel 33:21-33--Jerusalem Struck Down

Ezekiel 33:21-33
English Standard Version

Jerusalem Struck Down
21 In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been struck down.” 22 Now the hand of the LORD had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came; and he had opened my mouth by the time the man came to me in the morning, so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.

23 The word of the LORD came to me: 24 “Son of man, the inhabitants of these waste places in the land of Israel keep saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land; but we are many; the land is surely given us to possess.’ 25 Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: You eat flesh with the blood and lift up your eyes to your idols and shed blood; shall you then possess the land? 26 You rely on the sword, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife; shall you then possess the land? 27 Say this to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence. 28 And I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and her proud might shall come to an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that none will pass through. 29 Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed.

30 “As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’ 31 And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. 32 And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. 33 When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

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The prophecies that Ezekiel spoke against Jerusalem in the beginning of this book (as well as the prophecies that Isaiah and Jeremiah spoke against Jerusalem) are all coming true in real time.  Sometimes prophets never see the fulfillment of the messages they speak.  Other time, they happen right away, but sometimes they have to wait a little while and the LORD allows them to see at least partial fulfillment in their lifetimes.  To the LORD, there is no difference--immediate, near and far-off fulfillments are all the same to Him because He sees it all as if it is already done.

The LORD prepared Ezekiel to give these fugitives fleeing from Jerusalem a message.  There are many saying to the LORD that Abraham as one man was given the entire land of Canaan (for him and his family), but they are now many people, so the LORD should continue to let them live in the Land for their sake as a large number of people if not for the sake of Abraham their father.  The LORD responds that they are nothing like their father Abraham.  He was obedient to a Law that wasn't even written on stone tablets yet.  He did not eat or drink blood, worship idols (though he came from an idolatrous people and some of his sons did worship idols), or shed innocent blood.  The people that call themselves children of Abraham now do all these things and worse--all kinds of abominations plague them and the Land that is supposed to be the Holy Land.  There is nothing holy about it--it is as vile and corrupt as any Gentile land and His holy people are no longer holy and are as vile and corrupt (or moreso) than any other people around them.  If the nations around them are to be judged, they must be judged too.  The difference will be that the people of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will not be totally destroyed (though their actions show that they deserve it).  The LORD has greater plans for the nation and people that we know as Israel, both for the first coming of Jesus and the second coming of Jesus.  They are an integral part of His gospel plans and purposes because they are His chosen people to accomplish His chosen plan and purpose in the world.  He used them to be the authors of the Old and New Testaments.  They were His apostles who helped carry the gospel to all nations and start what we know today as the Church (look at how many times the apostle's teaching is mentioned as the core of the doctrine of the early Church).  One day, they will again be the evangelists that take the gospel to the whole world one last time, and there is still a place in Jerusalem for a Third Temple to be built that will probably initially be a place for all the peoples of the world to come and see the connection between Law and Gospel.  It is not necessarily something bad because it is something we connect with the Old Testament or because we know that the Antichrist is going to corrupt it--he wouldn't even be interested in corrupting it if it weren't something good to start off with.  There is only one city that Jesus has chosen to be His city that He will rule from both in  the 1,000-year reign and in His eternal kingdom and it is the city of Jerusalem.  In the end, Jerusalem will be transformed to take over almost the entire Middle East.   Everywhere promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will become the New Jerusalem--a city with an area of approximately 1,400 miles in length width and height.  However, I need to get back to today's text.

The city of Jerusalem at this time was going to be destroyed by the Babylonians and Chaldeans.  He promises that the ones who think they should possess the Land will die by the sword of the Chaldean army or by pestilence.  The Land will be a wasteland as a sign of the spiritual barrenness and the depravity of the people that once lived there.  Only when the Spirit of the LORD returns to His people in revival will life return to the Land once again.  The LORD uses the condition of the Land as mirror for His people to see the condition of their hearts.  This is the promise that we love to quote for ourselves, but was meant as a promise to these very people at this time heading off into Exile.  "14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14).  The LORD promises to make Jerusalem and the entire Land of Israel a desolate wasteland now, but His desire is for it to be restored, but first He wants the hearts of His people restored.  For that they need to repent and humbly turn back to Him.  They need to cry out to Him for help and salvation once more and He will again answer them.

The prophet Ezekiel is little more than a form of entertainment for the people that are with him in exile.  The LORD says they love to come and listen to him, but it is not because they love his message and desire to heed his words.  Listen to Ezekiel is probably like going to the theater for them since Ezekiel is passionate and probably dramatic.  They don't have to agree with the message to appreciate the performance, and that's all it is to them.  Why?  Because it would require a change in lifestyle.  I would liken it to the number of people that went and listened to Charlie Kirk on college campuses because of the way he captivated people with the truth, but when they went to debate him their issue was not a lack of knowledge, but was often an issue of sin within themselves or a close family member or friend and they didn't want repentance or holiness to be a part of God's plan for them personally or those around them.  They loved their sin more than they loved their Savior or they were conditioned to believe that loving someone meant they had to allow them to continue in sin, even sin that everyone saw as destructive.  Telling someone else that they must change is an abomination to the world today, but it is where the gospel starts.  Until men realize they are sinners and they are convicted of that sin and by the grace of God turn away from it, they cannot turn towards the One who is the only Way to heaven.  They do not see Ezekiel as a prophet, only as an entertainer.  However, they will realize he is a prophet once all that he prophesied comes to pass.