This evening, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Ezekiel. I want to continue our study through Ezekiel. And this evening we’re in Ezekiel chapter 12.
What do you do when you have a people that won’t listen? God has some unique ways of trying to reach people that don’t want to hear his word. And he did these throughout the ministry of Ezekiel. Ezekiel was told by God to use various object lessons.
Tonight we’re going to be looking at the first half of the book for sure. I don’t know if we’ll get to the second half of chapter 12 or not. Because it breaks into two different object lessons that the Lord has Ezekiel give to the nation of Israel.
And verse 1 of chapter 12 tells us why God gave them these object lessons. Let’s just begin to read this chapter and it says. Ezekiel 12:1-2.
The word of the Lord also came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.
This is the reason that God is working through Ezekiel in these peculiar ways to try and reach the nation of Israel besides just the spoken word.
Jeremiah had been preaching to the nation of Israel for years before God gave the burden to Ezekiel to bring messages as well. Jeremiah, as you look at the things that Ezekiel is speaking and the prophecies that he’s making, are prophecies that Jeremiah was given and that the people had heard. Many of the people that are with Ezekiel in the land of Babylon had heard the preaching of Jeremiah before they left and were taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar on the second invasion into Judah.
So they know that they’ve heard this message before. Ezekiel has been presenting the messages God gives him in the words and he goes and speaks to the people that are in Babylon and tells them that they’re not to listen to the false teachers and that the city of Jerusalem in the land of Judah is still filled with false prophets and false teachers who are not speaking the truth. Well, a rebellious people loves to hear lies.
And in the day in which we live, the Apostle Paul told us that in the latter days, people would have itching ears. They’d want to hear a message they wanted to hear, not the truth. And they would respond to lies, but they wouldn’t respond to the truth.
That’s exactly what we see was happening in the nation of Judah. The people would respond and believe lies even though the truth was evident around them and it was being seen and they were living in the midst of it, yet they refused to listen to it. Well, let’s see what Ezekiel is called to do Ezekiel 12:3-26.
3 Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house. 4 Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity. 5 Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby. 6 In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.
7 And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.
8 And in the morning came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, 9 Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou? 10 Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them. 11 Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity. 12 And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes. 13 My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there. 14 And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them. 15 And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries. 16 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
17 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness; 19 and say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein. 20 And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
21 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 22 Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth? 23 Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision. 24 For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. 25 For I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.
26 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 27 Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off. 28 Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.
Let’s just bow in prayer. Father, I pray that you just speak to us as we look at this first example that Ezekiel was called to give to the Jewish people that are around him as what you are doing with those that are back in Judah. Lord, help us to understand and to see as we look at what’s happening around us that is given to us and your prophets have foretold it that we may see an example and that we may turn to you and repent.
And Lord, that we may not be a rebellious people. Help us to learn the lesson that Ezekiel was giving to the land of Judah. This we ask in Jesus’ name.
Amen. The people just don’t believe that they are going to go into captivity. They don’t believe that Ezekiel and Jeremiah and later Daniel are really speaking the truth.
Somehow, even though Nebuchadnezzar has invaded Judah twice at this time, and guess what, they haven’t been able to stop him yet, in both times he took citizens from the city of Israel and specifically the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem and he took them into captivity. And they could not stop him. And now he’s there on his third invasion.
This invasion is the one that’s going to be the final invasion by Nebuchadnezzar where he’s going to destroy the city. But yet they believe that all is well. God said that that’s exactly what would happen in the last days before he would come to judge and establish his millennial kingdom on earth and before the rapture occurred.
He said that there would be much false teaching that would come into the church and people would believe it. As I mentioned just a few moments ago, Paul says, you would have itching ears in the last days. People would want to hear lies and believe them.
And you have people today in our nation that believe that somehow we’re going to be delivered from all the wickedness that’s around us and in the world by politics and by politicians and they don’t call on the name of the Lord. And at the same time as they’ll believe in politicians and look to them and look to men for their deliverance, they deny what God has told us that we are to do. As Christians, one of the things we were to do was to be supportive of Israel.
Yet you see today there’s a strong movement that’s coming into the church of anti-Semitism and it’s speaking out against Israel. It’s calling out the fact that the Jewish people are the whole problem of the world and they’re the ones creating all the problems and that Israel is behind it all. We’ve got those that claim to be Christians that say that Mossad is behind everything that’s happening in the world.
Everything that happens is an operation of Mossad. Mossad is Israel’s secret service if you will and they are the ones that run out clandestine operations against their enemies but yet they blame them for everything and it’s not true. And you see that this is exactly the same situation and just a little bit of a different circumstance of what was happening in Judah at this time.
As they looked out and they saw all the destruction around them, they believed the false prophets. So the Lord tells Ezekiel, what I want you to do is I want you to take your stuff. And it’s interesting, Ezekiel had stuff just like we have stuff.
So he told him to take his stuff and to put it in a bag and carry it on his shoulder and as if he was going from captivity, he was being taken from captivity in Judah and Jerusalem into Babylon to be an example. And so he did that. He went and he got his stuff and he put it in a bag and he carries it and he carries it about and the people, the Lord says, people are going to ask you, what are you doing? And you know, because a little strange, the guy is getting his stuff together, gathering his possessions and trying to take what he can with him on his shoulder.
But then he does even something more bizarre. The Lord tells him, now I want you to get and dig through a wall. And so Ezekiel goes and he digs through a wall, he digs a hole in a wall.
Then the Lord tells him, crawl through the hole, go out the hole and take your stuff with you and go at twilight, that is at the beginning of night and take your stuff out there. And the people are going to ask, what is this that’s going on? This is really bizarre, Ezekiel’s behavior. But it’s not bizarre because what he’s doing, he’s acting out exactly what’s happening in Israel.
Back in the land of Judah, this is what’s going on. The people are gathering their possessions and trying to take what they can with them as they’re being led away into captivity for the third time. And at this time, the king at this time, if you remember from our study of the kings, was Zedekiah.
And Zedekiah had created an escape route, if you would. There were various tunnels that he had dug and the tunnels went out from the Temple Mount. They went out and they went down and then they went over to the Jericho area.
And Zedekiah and some of the other leaders of Judah thought that they could escape through that tunnel system and come out over by Jericho and that they would be safe and that they would escape. So they took their stuff and went through the tunnels. But the only problem is the Babylonians had figured out what they were doing and they met them at the end of the tunnels and they captured them.
And those they didn’t capture fled. And remember as we studied in the study of the kings, remember that the princes that fled, the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar went after them and killed them with the sword, except for a few that escaped and ended up being dispersed and weren’t allowed to go back to Jerusalem. And we see that Zedekiah, the king, had something interesting happen to him.
Zedekiah had his children killed before him and then he had his eyes put out and he was blinded by Nebuchadnezzar. As he was blinded by Nebuchadnezzar, then he was taken into captivity. And Ezekiel says an interesting thing.
The Lord tells Ezekiel that this one who is going to be put the cloth over his eyes so he cannot see, he’s going to be taken to the land of Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will never see it. Well, how can you be taken to a land but never see it? Well, if you’re blind, you can’t see. And so Ezekiel is telling this to the people that are in Babylon.
They did not see it occur. God is prophesying that this is what’s going to happen to the king of Judah, Zedekiah. And we see that’s exactly what did happen.
And the reason that God is doing this is that perhaps the people will listen. Perhaps some people will see what Ezekiel is doing and when they ask, why are you doing this? What is this for? And he tells them they’ll hear and listen instead of believing the false prophets. Today in our nation, there are those men that are speaking out with the truth.
And they say the problem in America, it’s a real spiritual battle. What’s going on in Minneapolis right now is a spiritual battle. At the heart of it is those that really desire to bring evil and wickedness upon our nation that have no desire that God would be exalted at all.
That was evident by the mob that went into the church during the service. And the preacher told them, I’m here to present the gospel of Jesus. And if you’re here to listen for that, you’re welcome.
But otherwise, if you’re here to disturb us, please leave because we’re worshiping. That same pastor, I heard him give an interview and he said, our message is one of salvation that is found in Christ and Christ alone. And that is what we’re here to preach.
And these people did not want to hear. They came to interrupt and cause our worship service to be destroyed. And that’s exactly what was happening.
That was a real example of the spiritual battle that’s there. Well, the problem is most people don’t see it as a spiritual battle. They see it as a political thing.
And they don’t understand that the real problem is you’ve got all of these people that have believed lies of this world and lies of Satan and are really operatives for him, if you would. And then the people that should know the truth don’t understand that the real truth is that we need to stand for the Lord and spiritual truth. And God isn’t going to be with us or help us if we don’t.
Just like he wasn’t with Zedekiah because he wouldn’t listen. The Lord told Zedekiah, don’t do what you’re going to do. Yet he did it anyway.
That’s what Jeremiah told him. Don’t do that. He didn’t listen.
And it ended up costing him his children and costing him his eyes and costing him to be put to death in Babylon. The Lord tells us that the same thing is going to happen in the last days. People aren’t going to listen to the truth.
Instead, they’ll believe the lies. And one of the greatest lies is they’ll turn against God’s people, the nation of Israel. And the more the world turns against Israel, the closer we are to the end of history and that the Lord will come again.
So Ezekiel is sharing these things with the people in Israel. Well, then God gives him a second sign to give them. And that’s found in beginning in verse 17 through the end of the chapter.
And this is another one which is a sign that he’s got to tell the people what he’s doing. They shall eat their bread with carefulness and drink their water with astonishment that her land may be desolate from all that is therein because of the violence of all them that dwell therein. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste and the land shall be desolate and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
And the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have heard in the land of Israel saying, The days are prolonged and every vision faileth. Tell them therefore, thus saith the Lord God, I will make a proverb to cease and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel. But say unto them, The days are at hand and the effect of every vision.
For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel for I am the Lord. I will speak and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass. It shall be no more prolonged for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word and will perform it, saith the Lord God.
Again, the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come and he prophesieth of the times that are far off. Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but my word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God. Now Ezekiel is told to do a couple of strange things here.
He’s already carried his stuff away. He’s dug a hole through the wall. He’s carried it out at twilight.
Just as Zedekiah would try to escape at night through his tunnel system through the wall. And he showed how he would be captured and the whole situation with him and Babylon. But now he says, what about the rest of the people in the city of Judah that are left? He says, well, take your hand.
And he says, what you’re to do is you’re to take your hand and take the bread and your hand will quiver. In other words, your hand will shake as you’re eating your bread. And as you drink your water, it’ll be trembling.
Well, what is the significance of that? Well, it’s a mark of great fear. And it’s a mark that they’re experiencing some tremendous pressures that are coming upon them. Well, what are the pressures? The pressures are that they’re limited in food.
They’re limited in water as the siege has begun the last siege of Jerusalem. And they can see what’s happening. And as they’re seeing what’s happening, they’re quaking in fear.
And they’re also taking their bread and their water and they’re being very careful with it because there’s not much left. We know that Jeremiah prophesied that there was going to be cannibalism in the city of Jerusalem because of the lack of food. Under the siege of Nebuchadnezzar in the last siege.
And Ezekiel is called to tell them and live out before them the actions of the people. And it’s amazing because what they’re doing is in spite of all they’re seeing, in spite of the lack of water, the lack of food, the fear that’s instilling in their hearts, they’re still believing this proverb. And this proverb that has come in the land of Israel is one that’s very interesting.
It says that the days are prolonged and every vision faileth. They’re saying, don’t worry. The prophets are telling us judgments way out there.
And the Word of God and through the prophets, it’s not true. It’s not really happening. What do you see happening today in our world? God’s judgments way out there.
Don’t believe these Christians that want to tell you. Look at the signs of the times and look at what Jesus said and prepare yourself because the day of the Lord and judgment are at hand. Don’t believe it.
It’s way out there. And anybody who would tell you that, their visions will fail. That’s exactly the message they were hearing.
As they’re quaking in fear and as they’re running out of supplies and as the nation and the pressure from Nebuchadnezzar is coming on the nation that is left in the city of Jerusalem, they don’t believe it. What do we have happening today? You look around and see all the things that are happening. Just everything that happened at Dablos again this last time they met.
All getting things set up really for the Antichrist. Then you look at Jesus said there’d be wars and rumors of wars. Ethnic group rising against ethnic group.
That’s what it refers to where it says nation against nation. It means ethnic group against ethnic group. Isn’t that what we have happening? The Syrians are killing the Kurds.
The Turks are killing the Kurds. You see the people that are really not Arabs that are killing other Arabs and all trying to kill the Jews. And then in Africa you have African tribes trying to kill African tribes and those that have become Islamic killing those that have become Christian.
It’s happening all around us. And then you look at the things that are being talked about with economy and with the world structure for a one world government and a one world economy. It’s all falling into place.
It’s all coming happening faster and faster as technology grows quicker and quicker just as it says in the book of Daniel. And yet you see people denying it. Saying judgment’s way off.
Don’t worry about it. In the church nobody wants to preach about the end times. Nobody wants to preach about prophecy.
It’s way out there. Don’t worry about it. And those prophets that would see those things they’re really not true.
And that’s why they don’t want to preach. Because what it does it convicts people of their need to get right with the Lord. When they would hear these false prophets that it was way out there.
The judgment was way out there. And the prophets that were seeing it weren’t telling you the truth. What they were doing was telling lies and preventing people from turning to God.
He goes on and he tells them, Tell them therefore, thus saith the Lord, I will make this proverb to cease. So this proverb that they developed in Israel that the days are prolonged that is judgment’s way out there and every vision faileth and all the words of the prophets aren’t true that is the prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel. They’re not true.
Well tell them, I will make this proverb cease. Who has the power to change things? It’s interesting. They’ve done studies and I remember there’s a man who is a reporter and correspondent named Bill Koenig.
And he wrote a book and he followed all the natural disasters and great bad occurrences that happened in the United States and how some of the greatest natural disasters and catastrophes occurred after various presidents made decrees that came against Israel. I don’t know about you but I’d say this is one of the biggest storms we’ve ever seen in the United States. And what happened at Davos and what’s happening in the Middle East in Israel where they want to have the world rule Gaza.
They don’t want Israel to have its own land Gaza is part of Israel. It’s not Palestinian land. There is no such thing as Palestinians.
And so that’s all happening and you’ve got our president declaring I am going to be the dictator of peace in the world. And not really saying I want Israel as our number one only ally but then on the other hand he doesn’t really come to their aid the way that he says he’s going to come to their aid or do what he would really be the scriptures say he should do. And so you’ve got all this going on and then you’ve got the biggest storm that’s ever hit the southern United States in decades.
And it’s being followed. They’re saying there’s another storm coming and it’s going to take a similar path and it’s probably coming this week yet or the first part of next week. There are literally this morning I heard there are about 700 to 800,000 people without electricity in the southern United States.
So far there are 50 people dead because of the storm. You’re seeing people that can’t work they can’t because of the ice and they don’t have the equipment or the means to remove the ice and the snow and then you may have more coming. But we don’t have to worry because judgment is way out there.
And the words of the prophets you don’t have to listen to them where it says you come against Israel I will come against you. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. The nation of Judah was going to find out real fast it didn’t matter what proverbs they came up with that were false proverbs God could put an end to them real quick and that’s what He says He’s going to do.
God, I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel, but say unto them, the days are at hand, and the effect of every vision. In other words, every prophecy and vision I have given to the prophets is coming about as I said it would, and today’s the day. We don’t know.
We don’t know when the church will be raptured. We don’t know when the tribulation will start, but Jesus said, these are the signs. These are the signs.
One of the things that I was telling people is that our church is really unique. We’ve got a lot of young couples, and they’re having babies. And one of the things that’s interesting to talk, and hear the moms talk about the births, and when they started having labor, and how long it took them to get to labor, and then the baby was born.
And some of them, labor is a long time, and some of them, it came really fast. One of the last babies we had born, they didn’t have any time to waste, and the midwife barely got there. But the birth pangs came right before the baby was born, and other ones, the birth pangs are spread out a little bit.
We don’t know. Jesus said, these things that will happen are like the birth pangs of a woman in labor. And they start out, but as they get closer to the delivery, they become intensified, deeper, stronger, and more painful.
And He said, that’s exactly what you’re going to see. You’re going to see everything I’ve said, except as it gets closer to the day of the delivery, when the church will be raptured, and the final week of Daniel will be put into action, and the tribulation will begin. We see that they will intensify, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing happen, an intensification of these things.
And He’s telling this to the nation of Judah, I’m the one that’s in control here, not you. And don’t believe these false lies, for there shall be no more any vain vision, nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. He’s saying, it’s going to come to an end.
I’m going to stop this false teaching, this vain teaching, these vain prophecies. They’re going to come to an end. It’s pretty hard to prophesy how the people that are in Babylon are going to come back right away, and that Judah and the temple are going to be there for them, and don’t worry when the whole city is destroyed.
And God destroys it all, the temple, the city, the walls, everything is destroyed. And they’re all taken into Babylon, or killed, or died by the sword, died by pestilence, or died of starvation. It’s pretty hard to deny that that was a vain prophecy, and God says they’re going to come to an end.
Verse 25, For I am the Lord, I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass. It shall be no more prolonged, for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God. In whose days? The days of the rebellious house.
This should make the church very nervous, because we’ve got a rebellious church. You know, I talked before, when I preached on Mother’s Day, and preached on marriage and covenant. The Bible, the Apostle Paul in the book of Ephesians, says that the relationship between church and Christ is like the relationship of marriage.
And Jesus is an example of the husband who loves his wife, and will do anything for her, to preserve her, and to help her. And she reveres her husband, and looks to him, and longs for him. The church today is like an adulterous woman, who says, I’m married to Jesus, but I want to dabble with this false religion over here.
I want to follow these false teachers over here. I want to believe this false system over here. But I’m still Jesus’ bride, but I’m pursuing all these other people, like in Hosea, Gomer did.
She was married to Hosea, but pursued other men. That, sadly today, is much of the church, or those that profess to be Christians. And one day, Jesus will come, and they’ll hear the words, depart from me, for I never knew you.
But they’ll say, well, didn’t I do these things? Didn’t I go to church? Didn’t I pay money? No, but your heart wasn’t lifted. You didn’t pursue me. You didn’t long for me.
And that was the nation of Israel, the condition they were in. He says, I’m the Lord, and I’m the one that will judge you in your time of judgment’s coming. Verse 26, Again, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come.
And he prophesied for the times that are far off. To hear all of this, to hear all these words that God has spoken to them through Ezekiel, all the examples he gave them, the quivering hands, the trembling hands, the digging through the wall to escape, only to be captured and experience a worse penalty, the experience of having hardly any time to get your stuff together to be taken away into captivity. They’ve seen it all, and he’s told them all these things, and they’ve already seen two-thirds of the city of Jerusalem taken captive, and yet they don’t believe it.
Yet they’re still clinging to this proverb, even though God says, The proverb’s a lie, and I will stop it, because I am the Lord. When is the church going to wake up and realize the proverbs are a lie? The false teachings are a lie. The things that Satan’s trying to infiltrate the church with to undermine our faith is a lie.
And instead of saying, No, no, we can incorporate that into our belief system, and really, we don’t have to love Israel, and really, we don’t have to do this, and really, we don’t have to do… That’s what Israel was saying, even though God had said it all. And what is God’s final response? Therefore, why is therefore, therefore? Because he says, Therefore, say I unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, There shall none of my words be prolonged any more. In other words, the day of reckoning is now.
The end is now. But the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God. The church that doesn’t believe in the rapture, the church that doesn’t believe in the importance of Israel, the church that believes that God has set aside Israel and is anti-Semitic, the church that believes that we have replaced Israel, the church that doesn’t want to believe in the power and authority of God, the church that doesn’t think we have to follow God in purity and truth, the church that does all of that, the day of reckoning is coming.
And the reality of God doing exactly what he said is going to happen. The rapture will happen. The final judgment will begin to be put in place upon the earth.
And those that refuse to listen and turn to Christ and cry out to him will find themselves in a very bad spot. Just as those in Judah who thought they were going to be delivered by the power of their princes were not delivered. May we be a people who look to the Lord and not to men.
And may we as his people seek to honor and glorify him and not ourselves. Let’s just go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father as you come before you Lord, I pray that you just help us to see the similarity between what’s happening in our nation and around the world with what happened in the city of Judah at the time of the Babylonian invasion and the third wave of that invasion.
People were still believing the lies, even though the reality was knocking at their door and the food was being stopped and the water was being prevented from getting to them. And judgment was coming and there was no escape. Lord, may we not be foolish, but may we be wise and seek to follow you.
This we ask in Jesus name. Amen.