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NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!

PEOPLE OF THE BIBLE

Introduction

All through the prophecies leading up to the Babylonian captivity, we have seen that God was looking for His people to repent of their sin and be obedient to Him. However, people have wills and must choose to submit.

As I was growing up, many times my parents had to use discipline in my life to change the direction of my stubborn will. (By the way, I believe that if more parents today understood the need for disciplining their children, we would see a lot less problems among young people.

It is a Biblical principle!)

Where there is a lack of discipline in a life, it only brings more disobedience. Because, where there is no discipline there is an attitude of “Well I got by with that, I can get by with this.”

Someone may argue, “Well I think we should use positive reinforcement rather than discipline to get children to obey.” That may work in some cases, but not always.

God had promised all kinds of positive reinforcement if Israel would just obey Him, but it didn’t work. He had to resort to chastisement. And He used His prophets to deliver the message that they had better repent and obey Him or chastisement was coming!

Tonight we skip over the prophet Daniel (who we studied when we looked at the characters in the Book of Daniel) and we look at the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a man who chose to obey God. Ezekiel was a priest (1:3) Just as he would have been beginning his ministry as a priest, God called him to be a prophet. Ezekiel obeyed the voice of God and became God’s spokesman calling the people of God who were being held captive in Babylon to repentance and obedience. Ezekiel lived what he preached!

To give you a time line of where we are with this prophet, understand that Jeremiah became a prophet to Judah in 627 B.C. Daniel was taken captive to Babylon in the first invasion which occurred about 22 years after that in 605 B.C. Ezekiel was taken captive in the second invasion about 8 years later in 597 B.C. and became a prophet about 4 years later in 593 B.C. About 7 years after that in 586 B.C. the third invasion takes place as Judah falls and Jerusalem was totally destroyed.

I.         EZEKIEL’S BACKGROUND.

            His name means “God is strong” or “The Man God Strengthens.”

            His name actually sums up what God did in his life. God strengthened him to be able to

            show the people of God that God is strong.

            He was the son of a man called Buzi of whom we know nothing about. (1:3)

Ezekiel was born and raised in the land of Judah and was preparing to become a priest in God’s Temple when the Chaldeans invaded Judah for the second time in 597 B.C. and carried him away along with about 10,000 other captives (2 Kings 24:8-14)

II.       EZEKIEL’S CALL AND COMMISSION. (1:1 – 3:27)

            Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel was a priest when God called him.

            After five years in captivity, God’s call came to Ezekiel at the age of 30. (1:1) 

Ezekiel ministered in Babylon while Jeremiah was preaching to the Jews still in Jerusalem and Daniel was serving in King Nebuchadnezzar’s court.

            A.        The Vision Of The Living Beings. (1:1-28)

                        Vs 1-3

God communicated to Ezekiel in visions. The people of God who had been exiled in Babylon had lost their perspective of God’s purpose and presence, and Ezekiel approached them with a vision from God to warn them of sin’s consequences before it was too late.

                        Vs 4-5 (and 6-25)

In this first vision, God calls Ezekiel into the prophetic ministry. In it, God revealed both His presence and power to Ezekiel.

The whirlwind from the north was a symbol of the mighty armies of Babylon coming down on Jerusalem as God’s instrument of judgment on the nation of Judah.

This vision showed Ezekiel that Jerusalem’s coming destruction was God’s punishment for the sins of the nation and people of Judah.

The Babylonian attack was more than a physical attack, the four living creatures described in verses 6–25 show that it was also a spiritual judgment because of sin against a Holy God. (Cf. Similar creatures in Revelation 4:6-9)

Ezekiel was far away from the Jerusalem Temple when he received this vision. Nevertheless, through this vision he was reminded that God is present everywhere, and He is Sovereign over what happens on the earth.

                        Vs 25-28

Here we see what I believe describes Ezekiel being confronted with the Lord Jesus Christ prior to His becoming flesh.

Note how Ezekiel’s response was to fall upon his face. Does this remind you of any New Testament instances? (Paul in Acts 9:3-4; John in Revelation 1:17)

                        We can only imagine what it was like for Ezekiel to experience this vision.

Certainly there was much that Ezekiel did not understand as there is much that I certainly don’t understand. But Ezekiel knew that each part had a significance because it came from God.

            B.        God’s Call Of Ezekiel. (2:1–10)

                        Vs 1

                        The immortal God addresses Ezekiel by calling him Son of man.

                        No doubt this emphasized the distance between them.

God chooses to work His divine will on earth through us though we are imperfect and finite creatures.

                        Vs 2

We see here that Ezekiel had an open and obedient attitude and God filled him with His Spirit.

God doesn’t expect us to understand everything about Him or about what He calls us to do. He only wants us to be willing and obedient servants who will faithfully do as He tells us to.

                        Vs 3-5

Ezekiel was to deliver God’s message to His people whether they would listen or not. (This reminds us somewhat of Isaiah’s call in Isaiah 6 and Jeremiah’s call in Jeremiah 1 that we’ve already looked at in previous studies.)

The measure of Ezekiel’s success was not in how well people responded, but in how well he obeyed God and fulfilled God’s purposes in his life.

                        The same is true with our proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

                        God will not judge us for how well others respond to the Truth we proclaim.

                        God will judge us for how faithful we have been to proclaim the Truth!

God called these people “impudent” and “stiffhearted” because they were rebellious and refused to admit their sinfulness.

                        Even when God’s true prophets pointed out their sin, they ignored the truth.

Today many people in Churches are just like the people of Judah. They are impudent and stiffhearted. When the Word of God is preached and sin is pointed out, most people just carry on with their lives with no thought of getting things right with God. They just continue on in their wickedness as if nothing is wrong.

                        Vs 6-10

The Lord told Ezekiel not to be afraid of them or of their words and not to become like them.

                        There are many today who, out of fear, water down God’s message.

                        There are others who just get tired of folks not listening and they quit sharing it.

                        There are others who see all the wickedness and decide to join “the dark side.”

God calls us to “preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (2 Timothy 4:2)

Even though the time will come when “they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

                        Four times in verse God told Ezekiel not to be afraid or dismayed.

With God’s Holy Spirit is indwelling us, we can lay aside our fears of rejection or ridicule. God’s strength is powerful enough to help us to live for Him no matter what the criticism or other adverse circumstances that we face may be.

            C.        God’s Appointment Of Ezekiel To Be A Watchman. (3:1-27)

                        Vs 1-3

Ezekiel ate God’s message and found this spiritual food not only good for him, but also honey sweet. (Cf. Revelation 10:8-10)

If we digest the Word of God, we will find that not only does it make us stronger in our faith, but its wisdom sweetens our lives.

We need to feed ourselves spiritually just as much as we need to feed ourselves physically.

                        Vs 4-9

God tells Ezekiel that if he had been sent as a foreign missionary, those folks would have listened to him, but not his fellow countrymen.

                        God reiterates their impudence and the hardness of their hearts.

Nevertheless, God has made him strong enough to stand against the opposition he will face.

                        Vs 10-11

Ezekiel was to receive God’s Words and let them sink down in his own heart before preaching them to others.

God’s message must sink down into our hearts and show in our actions before we can effectively help others to understand it and apply it.

                        Vs 12-15

Ezekiel became angry. But he wasn’t angry with God. He was angry with the sins and attitudes of the people.

His vision had ended and now he got down to the business God called him to–i.e. prophesying to this people who cared little to nothing about God’s messages.

Before the captivity, these same people were some of the ones Jeremiah had prophesied to, but they would not listen.

Now Ezekiel was coming with a similar message, and he expected to be rejected as well. But he had this vision from God fresh on his mind. He had nothing to fear because God was with Him. So despite the outcome, Ezekiel set out to just obey God.

Ezekiel sat quietly among the people for seven days waiting on the message from God. Seven days was the customary period for mourning the dead. The dead in this case were those who were spiritually dead!

                        Vs 16-21

                        A watchman stood on the city wall and warned the people of approaching danger.

Ezekiel’s role was to be a spiritual watchman warning people of God’s judgment that was coming.

A watchman was held responsible and would normally pay with his life if he failed to warn the city of approaching danger. No doubt, God would hold Ezekiel responsible for those he failed to warn.

We are also watchmen who are to warn the lost of the coming danger of hell and warn the saved of the coming judgment at the bema seat.

In these verses we need to realize that God is not talking about loss of salvation, but rather about physical death.

Vs 22-27

Again, we see as before, how that when confronted with the glory of the LORD, Ezekiel fell on his face.

O that we would see God in all of His glory and holiness that we might fall on our faces before Him!

                        When the Spirit of God entered Him, He set him on his feet again.

Acts 1:8–“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Ezekiel was allowed to speak only when God had a message for His people so that the people would know that whatever Ezekiel said was God’s message. They didn’t have to wonder if Ezekiel was speaking by his own authority or God’s.

III.      EZEKIEL’S MINISTRY.

            What did God send the prophet Ezekiel to do?

            A.        There Were The Messages Of Doom. (4:1-24:27)

                        1.         God sent him to help the captives understand why they had been taken away to Babylon in the first place.

Israel had sinned and then they refused to repent and so that was the reason why God’s punishment came.

Both the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile were chastening at the hand of God in order to correct His people and to draw them back from their sinful way of life.

Ezekiel warned them that not only was God holding the nation of Judah responsible for sin, but also each individual was being held accountable to Him for their personal sin.

                        2.         God sent him to dispel their false hope that their captivity was going to be a short one.

Like those who were in Jerusalem (who Jeremiah was prophesying to), these Jews, who were already captive, believed that Jerusalem would not fall and that they would soon return to their land.

Ezekiel warned them that this punishment was certain because of their sins and that God was in the process of purifying His people.

He told them that God is holy and he told them that Jerusalem and the Temple had become defiled. The nation would be cleansed through 70 years of captivity.

            B.        There Were Messages Against Foreign Cities And Nations.

                        Ezekiel was sent to condemn the sinful actions of both cities and nations.

                        1.         Ammon. (25:1-7)

                                    Because of their joy over the desecration of the Temple.

                        2.         Moab. (25:8-11)

                                    Because they found pleasure in Judah’s wickedness.

                        3.         Edom. (25:12-14)

Because of their racial hatred of the Jews. They hated Israel so much that they rejoiced when Jerusalem was destroyed.

                                    (Note: The destruction of Edom is also mentioned in chapter 35)

                        4.         Philistia. (25:15-17)

                                    Because they sought revenge against Judah for defeating them in battle.

                        5.         Tyre. (The capital of Phoenicia) (26:1 – 28:19)

Tyre rejoiced when Jerusalem fell, because Tyre and Judah always competed for the lucrative trade which came through their lands from Egypt in the south and Mesopotamia in the north.

Tyre dominated the sea trading routes while Judah dominated the caravan routes. When Judah was defeated, Tyre thought that it had all the trade routes to itself. But their gloating didn’t last long. In 585 B.C. Babylon attacked Tyre and finally captured it after 13 years of battle.

                        6.         Zidon. (Sidon) (28:20-26)

This was another famous seaport which was located a few miles north of Tyre and whose economy was closely tied with Tyre. They were charged with contempt for the people of God.

                        7.         Egypt. (29:1 – 32:32)

There are seven prophecies in this section all which deal with the judgment on Egypt.

                                    There are three reasons that why God would judge Egypt:

                                    a.         Egypt was an ancient enemy of the Jews. (Enslaved them for 400 years.)

                                    b.         Egypt worshiped many gods.

                                    c.         Egypt betrayed Israel when they had agreed to be allied with them.

                        8.         Why is Babylon not mentioned?

                                    Several possibilities exist. Perhaps it was because:

                                    a.         God wanted to foster a spirit of cooperation between the exiles and Babylon in order to preserve his people.

                                    b.         God was still using Babylon to refine His own people.

                                    c.         God wanted to use Daniel, who had become a powerful official in Babylon, to draw the Babylonians to Him.

            C.        There Were Messages Of Hope. (33:1–48:35)

                        1.         God sent Ezekiel to bring the captives a new message of hope.

After the fall of Jerusalem, Ezekiel delivered messages of future restoration and hope for these Jews.

He consoles the people by telling them that the day would come when God would restore those who repented and remained faithful to Him (i.e. the remnant).

God would be their King and Shepherd and He would give His people a new heart to worship Him. He would establish a new government and a new Temple.

                        2.         God sent Ezekiel to remind the captives of their need for dependence on God Himself.

Conclusion

So, we read in Ezekiel’s prophecy that with divine authority he dispelled illusions, denounced false prophets, and declared repentance, restoration and renewal.

Tradition says that Ezekiel was put to death by his fellow exiles because of his faithfulness and boldness in denouncing them for their idolatry.

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NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!