Ezekiel 12: [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.
"The Lord's talking about their complete, total destruction," explains Richard Jordan. "One third is going to be destroyed in the taking and sacking of Israel. One third is going to be destroyed with famine and starvation and pestilence. One third is going to be destroyed in the war of Nebuchadnezzar and the other third is going to be scattered among the Gentiles; taken off into captivity. The majority of them are going to be destroyed by the sword and by famine and then taken 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."What's He's saying to Ezekiel is, 'Look, go dress for a trip. Dress like you're going to leave and not come back. Pack your bags, get your stuff ready like you're going off into captivity. Then go over there to the wall and knock a hole in the wall, throw your stuff through it, jump over to the other side and take off through the desert. Leave! Get your stuff and go! Maybe they'll say, Where you going, Zeke? What's going on?! Maybe it will stir them up.'
Verse 11: [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.
"Israel says, 'No, no, no, we won't! You're nuts! That's not what God's going to do. You don't understand who we are. We're God's people and God isn't going to let that happen to us.'
"In verses 12-14, it happens exactly like Ezekiel said it would; exactly what happens over there in Jerusalem.
"Watch what people do in verse 21: [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?"The Lord says, 'Hey, Zeke, what is that song they sing down at church there? They got that proverb, 'The days are prolonged, it's okay, don't worry. All the messages that say we're going to go into captivity have failed.'
"Unbelief mistakes the patience of God and turns it into mockery and they make a mock of God's Word. They made a mocking proverb that said, 'Oh, we heard all those messages about captivity and all that. Nah, it ain't happening.'
Verses 23-24: [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."God says, 'You go tell them my patience is up. In fact, over and over in Ezekiel, He says, 'You tell them there's no mercy.' God told Jeremiah, 'Pray not for this people.' He says, 'Don't you pray and ask me not to send that judgment; it's coming and you might as well not even pray about it.'
"They made a proverb of God's Word, they made a proverb of God's goodness to them, His mercy. They turned His patience into mockery. You see they mistook God's patience. II Peter 3 says: [9] The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
"The promise in II Peter 3 is a promise of judgment; the promise that He's going to judge the world in righteousness. That's why he says in the verse before: [8] But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
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"In Ezekiel 24 is sort of the culmination and of all the signs Ezekiel had to do, I think this would have been the one that would have been the most personally difficult because it was the most personal one.
"It's one thing to go lay on your side, or bake bread, go out and do all these goofy things and go home, but look at this one.
Verses 15-18: [15] Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
[16] Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.[17] Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.
[18] So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
"God said, 'I'm going to take your wife. She's going to die with a stroke and when she does, you don't mourn her death.' He's saying, 'Go about your daily business. Get dressed and get out there. Don't mourn.'
"The passage goes on: [21] Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.
[22] And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
[23] And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
"You see, Israel thought because they were God's people and they had that temple . . . They had corrupted that temple. They had made it into the Jew's religion; Jesus called it a vain religious system.
"They had so corrupted and defiled that temple that God had abandoned it and yet it was the desire of their eyes. It was the glory; the excellence of their strength. God said, 'You know what I'm going to do with that thing? I'm going to wipe it out.'
"That's what was happening, by the way, at the very time Ezekiel is doing this. You look back at verse 1: [1] Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, [2] Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day.
"The ninth year, the tenth month, the tenth day. That's the very day back in II Kings 25 that Nehemiah began the siege of Jerusalem in Palestine. That day God revealed it to Ezekiel in Babylon and that's the day his wife died and he wasn't to mourn. Personal sorrow was completely eclipsed by the national calamity coming upon Israel because of her unbelief.
Verse 25: [25] Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,
[26] That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears?[27] In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
"God says, 'When I take the temple and the sanctuary and city away from them and that wherein they set their mind . . .'
"God says, 'When Jerusalem falls somebody's going to escape and come all the way over here to where Ezekiel is and bring you the report and tell you about it.' By the way, it took three years for that escapee to get it over there."
(to be continued tomorrow)
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