Exact Ezekiel; Chapters 21-22
ZADOK PUBLICATIONS - Dr. C. R. OLIVER
September 1, 2017
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Introduction:
Actually, this chapter began in the preceding chapter when God introduced His
intense anger in judgment by fire. His announcement, that fire would burn and consume even the righteous, caused double trembling among the "unrighteous" elders listening to the prophet's words. Verses 45-49 left no room for escape and that all-encompassing theme was continued in Chapter 21 and following.
September 1, 2017 Exact Ezekiel Chapters 21-22 Chapter 21 In this chapter, the Lord again used Ezekiel in dramatic form. Methods of pronouncement were embellished with graphic design. He is told to groan with agony and slap his thighs to emphasize the awesome specter rising before him; he then is admonished to brandish a sword -swooping to the right, then left, then randomly slicing the air space between he and the elders in attendance. Exact Ezekiel carried off his assignment with perfect execution.
If Ezekiel's audience missed the implication of the "green and dry trees" of the fire in Chapter 21, they could not miss the meaning of these verses. This is to be an all inclusive judgment-no one is to be exempt. No one! Let the drama begin: Ezekiel is told to groan in bitter anguish and with a broken heart. It was said of Jesus that He groaned when He faced the task before Him. The Holy Spirit groans in making intercession. This groaning must be a gut wrenching cry from a breaking heart. Most of us have experienced hearing such cries from people receiving a sudden death notice or viewing some tragic scene involving their loved ones. Ezekiel knew some people he loved would be victims of the sword. His was not the play form of a non-involved actor. His was the voice of a participant.
How long has it been since your minister groaned in the agony of a broken heart while delivering a message from God? How long since the cathedral has heard the cry of a true saint, weeping as he sows? How long since someone oblivious to protocol has wrung his broken heart because of the sins of his people? Well, it has been too long, because the realm of the Spirit stands ready to display the heart of God over the circumstances of this day! (Sadly, the congregations of the world bar such behavior and deem it as unacceptably "old school" delivery, while throngs leave the sanctuary dry eyed and lost!)
Mollycoddled Millennials, along with their parents and grandparents, have lost touch with the reality that God does send warriors to carry out His judgment. This rhetoric flies in the face of modern preachments. Next, Ezekiel is told to further his demonstration by slapping his thighs, while crying out and wailing. This "beside himself" behavior deepens the gravity of the situation. This goes very deep spiritually, for in subsequent chapters, the prophecies about Gog and Magog will be of similar spiritual import.
No one skips God's exam: "It will put them ALL to the test." What chance do they have of passing this examination? None! (O' foolish nations of the earth, can you not see you are now being tested for the end of the ages? Mind numbing darkness overshadows the ignorance of a people who shun the very thought of judgment! Revelation, Daniel and Ezekiel align in agreement for such a day.) Next, Ezekiel is told to clap his hands vigorously (like a master of ceremonies would do to establish order and demand attention.). THEN, he is to brandish a sharp sword. The sword is given specific directions on how to slice the air: first right, then left, and then its choice---all the while, God is clapping His hands in support and agreement.
Ezekiel is then given the task of mapping the course of the sword's path. God tells him, basically, to draw a map starting at the crossroads outside Babylon. One direction goes to Ammon, the other road to Jerusalem. Soon, it will be apparent that both destinations are doomed, but for now, Jerusalem will be struck first. The choice is made by the "spirit world." Pagan divination, using scattered arrows and animal livers, will decide. (Sadly, Macumba fires still burn in Brazil as do other forms in nations worldwide. Witchcraft is very much alive in the Twenty-first Century.) How pagan is the decision making processes of the modern church? To the Lord, it looks similar to the pagan processes of the ancient world, but in a modernized form.
Battering rams, siege towers and elevated ramps were the methods of battle in ancient times. Modern archeological findings have proven this medium was used in several different places (Masada, Tyre and Sidon, Jerusalem). Notice the reaction of the people of Jerusalem when the siege began. "The people of Jerusalem will think it is a mistake, because of their treaty." Treaties amount to worthless paper in the face of aggression (ask the UK and Poland). Israel was warned not to make treaties with any nation. George Washington warned against US involvement with other nations. Both admonitions fell on deaf ears. Across the nations of the world, in their Congresses, Parliaments, Councils and Courts, the following Scripture hangs like Damocles' Sword.
Universally, we stand in the midst of a great transition in history. Everything prior to 2017 is old history, with little to do with what is transpiring. Every day reveals deeper and deeper transgression of God's word. We occupy a season as significant as when BC was turned to AD. Examine this next verse:
Glory to God, this promise of restoration is about King Jesus who walked the streets of Jerusalem, carried on His ministry within Israel's territory, and declared a spiritual kingdom that included the world, not a territory of earth. When God declared, "Destruction! Destruction! I will surely destroy the kingdom," at that moment the kingdom was removed from Israel and it will not be restored until the coming of the Great King. Attempts have been made since the return of the captives, but the weeping elders of that day gave the proper perspective. What we see in modern Israel is not kingdom restoration, only another mile stone on the road to it. Chapter 21 ends with a message to the Ammonites. Evidently, as Nebuchadnezzar's army chose to destroy Jerusalem at the crossroads, the pagan Ammonites mocked, by saying, "the God of Israel could not preserve them." The Lord despises such behavior, including the laughter afforded Him by the Israelite fathers when their sons followed their lead. Mocking nations are rising today.
This should be a warning to those nations and religious entities which are currently persecuting and mocking Christianity. From a God who declared, "I change not" and who has no "shadow of turning," the destruction of the Ammonites should stand out like Sodom, as a picture of His wrath on those who mock Him. (Being obliterated from history is a severe judgment.) CHAPTER 22 The council of the heavens was convened, sentence was passed down and now it is time to announce God's judgment on Jerusalem. (One is driven in these verses to see the Holy City as the Lord sees it.) Irrespective of how the painters of platitudes would picture The City, claiming it to be the central city of religious piety, Jehovah painted a different scene. His indictments portrayed a picture of depravity and gross disregard for even the slightest moral decency. God ripped aside the religious banter of Jerusalem's Chamber of Commerce and silenced the pundits of its political machinery in just one paragraph of six verses. Realistically, God's list of examples has the uncanny issue of describing most of the world's cities today. Heinous crimes against innocent victims, coupled with every kind of sexual deviancy, parade themselves in flagrant and open mockery in defiance of the Living Lord.
How does God characterize your city? All the great cities of the Western world are covered with the same blanket of gross sin, murder and injustice. Religious systems stand mute before atrocities in clear view. (Think, as the indictment of Jerusalem is read by the prophet, "Would God not owe Jerusalem an apology should He not punish the West?") Note: Observe how God approaches this enigma of unrighteousness. It is important how He starts and with whom He cares.
The final straw is the last sentence: "They never even think of Me and My commands." There is little need to review the list today. Turn on whatever media one owns and immediately there is a daily list of identical nature. If earth called to God for justice and the Lord sent Noah's flood, what is the earth's call today? What was Jerusalem's punishment to be? Scattering, burning, dishonor.
With the snap of a finger, "business as usual" was over. The KJV says "Clap," using the ancient King's method of "getting things hopping." Nonetheless, the declaration which is made many times in Ezekiel's book, "(Then) you shall know I am the Lord," punctured the rebel's balloon. God was not through with His comments. He used three analogies to describe the national condition: silver slag and an uncleared wilderness or desert without rain. Jerusalem gets to choose between being a worthless by-product or a devalued piece of real estate; the Lord offers no other choices.
(This verse contributed to the scene on the front cover of The Road to Captivity, which depicts the inhabitants of Jerusalem being goaded as captives, while departing a city completely engulfed in flames. The pictorial is viewed through the haze and heat radiation surrounding the scene.) "You are worthless" is heard ringing in the elders ears as they observe and listen to God's evaluation of their kin. Such a scene caused a retching of their souls commiserate to the agonizing groans of Ezekiel in the previous chapter. Jerusalem was the gem of their eye, and the false prophets speaking against Jeremiah were deceivers and liars.
Each segment of these five verses attacks the sins of the citizenry. It is easy to spot modern counterparts in each of the indictments. Beginning with Israel's religious leaders and moving from top to bottom, ending with "the common" folks, God touches every rung on the social ladder. The Lord's words, regarding the priests, are especially poignant. Here, is a theme heard in the 44th Chapter, where Ezekiel introduced the Sons of Zadok. God blamed the clergy for the national condition, and their modern counterparts, having done similarly, stand condemned by what they condone! Catalogue each group and enumerate their deficiencies under each one; thereby, anyone can see why the wrath of God was summoned. Is it any surprise there could be found no one to fill the duties of the next verses? No one was untainted by the corruption of the day. No inhabitant of Jerusalem was qualified to build God's wall of righteousness or fill the gap of intercession. Like Abraham in the city of Sodom, the search for righteousness yielded no one but his kin.
Jesus asked, "When He returned would He find faith upon the earth?" Today, what would God's search reveal? Who rises to fill the gap or build the wall? Has the wall of righteousness guarding your nation vanished? When one views the list of sins in these chapters and applies them to the modern West, the answer is obvious. No one can mock the living God and live! Until Next month, Dr. Cosby R. Oliver, PhD. |
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Last modified: 02/04/2019