The cooking metaphor in Ezekiel 11 packs a powerful punch. God reveals Jerusalem as a pot where rebellious Israel will be "cooked" through the fires of Babylonian judgment. Yet remarkably, this severe message comes with an unexpected promise of restoration.
Standing at the temple's east gate, Ezekiel confronts false prophets spreading dangerous security messages. The archaeological confirmation of specific leaders mentioned—Jehozaniah and Pelatiah—adds striking historical credibility to this ancient text. When Ezekiel accurately predicts Pelatiah's death from his exilic position in Babylon, he establishes his prophetic authority in real-time.
The heart of this passage reveals God's complex relationship with His covenant people. Despite centuries of rebellion culminating in child sacrifice and temple desecration, God makes a stunning promise. Not only will He regather scattered Israel to their land, but He will perform spiritual heart surgery—removing their "heart of stone" and replacing it with a "heart of flesh" capable of genuine obedience.
This transformation transcends the physical return from Babylonian exile. It points to a future spiritual renewal where obedience becomes natural rather than forced. God emphasizes that this restoration comes not because of Israel's merit but for the sake of His own name and covenant faithfulness.
The tension between judgment and promise creates a profound spiritual principle: God must judge rebellion, yet remains unwaveringly committed to His covenant promises. This paradox reveals divine character in its fullness—righteous in judgment, faithful in promise.
Have you experienced this tension in your spiritual journey? Consider how God's discipline might actually demonstrate His deeper commitment to relationship and transformation in your life.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Today in Reasoning Through the Bible, we'll be in
Ezekiel, chapter 11, and we'regoing to have a cooking lesson.
You might not have known thatGod gave a lesson on meal
preparation, but we're going tosee one.
Only, this particular mealisn't going to feel very good
and is certainly not going totaste very good to the people of
(00:40):
Israel, the people of Israel.
We are again in Ezekiel 11, and, as we've been seeing, god is
speaking through the prophetEzekiel, giving a very direct,
very blunt, very clear messageto the Jewish people of Israel.
The timing, of course, isBabylon has come in in different
ways, and Assyria as well, andcaused God's judgment on the
(01:04):
people.
Some of them were killed, someof them were taken captive.
The city of Jerusalem has notyet been destroyed, but that is
God's message through theprophet Ezekiel is that there is
no hope for Jerusalem or thetemple.
So that's what we're going tomeet today.
So if you have your copy of theWord of God, open it to Ezekiel
(01:26):
, chapter 11.
Steve, can you read the firstsix verses?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to
the east gate of the Lord'shouse, which faced eastward.
And behold, there weretwenty-five men at the entrance
of the gate, and among them Isaw Jehozaniah, son of Azur, and
Pelatiah, son of Benaiah,leaders of the people.
(01:52):
He said to me, son of man,these are the men who devise
iniquity and give evil advice inthis city, who say the time is
not near to build houses.
This city is the pot and we arethe flesh.
Then the Spirit of the Lordfell upon me and he said to me
Say Thus says the Lord.
So you think, house of Israel,for I know your thoughts.
(02:16):
You have multiplied your slainin this city, filling its
streets with them.
Therefore, thus says the LordGod, your slain, whom you have
laid in the midst of the city,are the flesh and this city is
the pot.
But I will bring you out of itWith this.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
in verse 1, god takes Ezekiel to the east gate of the
temple in Jerusalem and ofcourse, the east gate is the
main gate.
That's the one that all the wayback to the Mosaic Law said had
to be there, had to face east.
There at that gate, it mentionstwo specific men and it calls
them leaders Jehozaniah andPelletiah.
(02:58):
Now, interestingly enough,these two relatively minor
figures were leaders inJerusalem at the time.
The archaeologists uncoveringdigs in that area found the
family seals of these twospecific men.
So it's interesting that wehave these again relatively
minor figures that arecorroborated by historical fact.
(03:20):
Therefore, we can trust theseeyewitness accounts.
Here in Ezekiel he gives usspecific names of specific
people that were leaders inJerusalem at the time and modern
historical corroboration showsthem to be real people that were
there at the time.
Therefore, we can trust ourBibles on the things that
(03:44):
history has no way of proving,such as what God said to whom,
on which day we can trust ourBibles.
It also tells us here thatEzekiel was this eyewitness to
these things.
Then, in verse 3, the falseteachers in Jerusalem were
saying that it was time to buildhouses and establish families.
(04:06):
The NIV phrasing says will notsoon be time to build houses.
Therefore, instead of Babyloncoming in and destroying the
city, which was the true God'smessage, these false prophets
were going around saying oh,babylon's not going to be a
problem, it's going to be timeto build houses, we're going to
(04:27):
have prosperous times ahead.
And God says no, steve.
Which one of these prophets canwe really trust?
Ezekiel or the false ones?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Well, Ezekiel, of course, because everything that
he is saying is told to himdirectly by the Lord.
We see that everything that heis talking about is going to
come to pass At the time thathe's given these prophecies.
The city of Jerusalem itselfhas not been taken over and the
temple hasn't been destroyed,but the city has been surrounded
(05:00):
, the siege.
They've already had two wavesof people that have been put in
exile.
The only thing left is thesacking of the city and the
destruction of the temple.
This is all the things that Godhas been instructing Ezekiel to
do and to portray as objectlessons to the people.
So we can know and trust thatEzekiel is the one that we
(05:25):
should trust.
And we're going to see herethat God has some pretty harsh
things to say about these falseprophets that are giving false
hope hope that their exile isn'tgoing to be that long, that
(05:47):
they're going to be able to goback relatively soon to
Jerusalem.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Then, in the last part of verse 3, it says there
the city is the pot and we arethe flesh.
The symbolism is that Babylon'sgoing to be surrounding the
city of Jerusalem, the walledcities.
In those days when they laidsiege, the enemy armies would
(06:13):
physically surround it.
So he gives the symbolism herethe city is the pot and we are
the flesh.
Therefore, this is a harshmessage.
He's saying that the people inJerusalem are really going to
get cooked.
Babylon's going to start a fire, they're going to destroy the
city and we're going to be themeat inside this pot.
It's a very graphic picture ofthe burning and the destruction
of the city of Jerusalem.
(06:34):
God tells Ezekiel to announcethat he's about to slaughter
many people in Jerusalem and hetells them, in verse 7, that
they're going to be cooked.
God is saying the city's goingto burn.
Steve, that's a very harshmessage.
I can imagine that the peoplein those days were equally
(06:56):
hesitant to hear this messagethan today.
I mean, we tend to shy awayfrom these harsh messages, and I
think it's probably the case inthose days too, but is there
not time for some harsh messagessometimes?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, we refer to it in our day as being tough love.
It's whenever your child needsto be told the truth of
something as to the realities ofhow the world works or whatever
the situation might be thatthey're dealing with.
If they are in denial as tosomething that is going to
(07:32):
happen say, maybe it's a sportthat they think they are really
good at and you could tell thatthey're not good at that sport
or some type of an artisticthing, such as playing a musical
instrument then at some pointyou might support them, but at
some point you're going to tellthem the truth that, no, you're
(07:53):
not really good at this.
Maybe it's something else thatyou should do Now.
That's a simplified example.
In this case, the people hadturned their back on God, and
they'd done it for hundreds ofyears.
At this time, god is finallysaying enough is enough.
I'm going to have the toughlove.
(08:14):
You're going to be in exile.
You're going to be in exile for70 years, as he has prophesied
through Jeremiah, and that's theway it's going to be.
These people don't want to hearit, as the natural effect is no
, we don't want to hear stufflike this.
We want to feel that we can goback and that God will protect
(08:36):
us.
But when you've ignored God andturned your back on God for so
many years, there's going to bea time whenever there's going to
be a reckoning for theconsequences to your decisions.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
It's a very harsh message and there will be
consequences to your decisions.
Let's look at this again.
Verse 7, he says he's going toburn the city is what he's
saying.
Then, in verse 9, god's goingto cause the Jews to be
delivered into the hands ofstrangers that are going to
punish them.
The next verse, verse 10,enemies are going to cause them
(09:10):
to fall by the sword.
God is telling them that thecity of Jerusalem will not be
protected, that there are goingto be many of them that are
killed.
Over and over again.
God reminds them that he'spunishing them.
Why?
Because of their disobedience.
That's the message here.
Because of your disobedience,I'm going to allow a pagan
(09:33):
nation.
Strangers are going to come in,they're going to surround the
city, they're going to set fires, they're going to cook you.
They're going to be slain inthe street.
It says, and he also says twiceI will deliver you.
But he says Jerusalem's goingto fall, there's going to be
mass death.
The delivering is going to beone that they don't really want
(09:55):
to hear.
The delivering he mentions inhere is Babylon's going to take
a remnant captive and take you,haul you off into Babylon.
That's really the message here.
It's very blunt.
It's repeated.
Steve, this is again a messagethey didn't really want to hear.
But if we look at the very nextverse verse 12, it says thus you
(10:17):
will know that I am the Lord.
I find this interesting andthat's a theme that gets
repeated throughout the book ofEzekiel.
God gives Ezekiel this veryharsh message there's going to
be many people killed because oftheir disobedience.
They would not listen to myprophets.
So therefore, the enemy isgoing to come in and solve this
(10:38):
problem with idolatry.
Then you will know that I amthe Lord and he says that over
again.
When the severe trials andsevere punishment happens, then
you'll know that I'm the Lord.
Steve, why is it?
Do you think that the severesuffering is going to cause the
people to realize, oh mygoodness, we've really been
(11:01):
violating the Lord all theseyears?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
The reason that he gives there in verse 12 is
because you haven't beenfollowing my statutes and
ordinances.
So he is, in this discipline,driving home the point that they
are disobedient as the bookstarted out.
They're stubborn and obstinatepeople and they've come to the
point where they have to pay theconsequences for their
(11:25):
stubbornness and theirobstination.
The people of Israel have atendency, through all their
centuries, to follow theirleadership, and when their
leadership goes astray, so goesthe nation of Israel.
This is an example.
These 25 leaders were at theEast Gate.
(11:46):
They were saying these thingsthat the exile wasn't going to
be long.
They were saying that the citywasn't going to be totally
sacked, giving them false hopethat God was going to once again
going to come through for them.
But God is being very plainwith Ezekiel it's not going to
come through and I'm going tocarry out the justice and the
(12:09):
consequences where you'returning your back with me and
not following my ordinances andstatutes.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Remember where Ezekiel is when he's giving this
message.
He is in Babylon, in front of agroup of Jewish people that had
been taken captive there.
He's seeing a vision that Godis showing him and he's
communicating what he's seeingand the message that God is
telling him to the leaders thatare in front of him.
In Ezekiel 11, verse 13 saysthis Now, it came about as I
(12:39):
prophesied that Pelletiah, sonof Benaiah, died.
Then I fell on my face andcried out with a loud voice and
said Alas, lord, god, will youbring the remnant of Israel to a
complete end?
Now, this person he mentionedthat died was one of the two
that he had seen at thebeginning of the chapter that we
(13:00):
mentioned.
Again, the idea here is thatEzekiel was very far away from
Jerusalem, was one of the twothat he had seen at the
beginning of the chapter that wementioned.
Again, the idea here is thatEzekiel was very far away from
Jerusalem and he's seeing in avision what's going on.
He sees this man die.
Ezekiel is then able to tellthe Jewish leaders that are
around him all the way over herein Babylon oh, this man just
(13:21):
died.
Now why is that important?
Well, that's important becausethe prophets.
In those days again we alreadymentioned there were false
prophets running around.
How do we know Ezekiel'stelling the truth?
Well, ezekiel is telling thetruth because he gave a message
of this man's death weeks beforethe people would have heard
(13:44):
about it.
It would have been days orweeks before the message got
across that this man had died.
Therefore, within the timeframe of the immediate people
that were hearing Ezekiel, hisprophecies were proven true.
All of the Old Testamentprophets predicted things that
came about in the hearing of thepeople that were right there.
(14:07):
Therefore, the people knew thatthese were true prophets.
Why was Ezekiel in our Bibles?
It's because he madepredictions like this one that
came true within the hearing ofthe people that were around him.
Therefore, they knew that hewas a true prophet.
Let's go ahead and read thenext part.
God has made it very clear thathe's going to punish the Jewish
(14:31):
people because of disobedience.
He's going to pour out hiswrath on his people, and many
people are going to die Withthat message.
People, and many people aregoing to die With that message.
That's the message up to now.
Next, god's going to give apromise of the future.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Steve, can you start at verse 14 and read down
through 21?
Then the word of the Lord cameto me saying Son of man, your
brothers, your relatives, yourfellow exiles and the whole
house of Israel, all of them arethose to whom the inhabitants
of Jerusalem have said Go farfrom the Lord.
This land has been given us asa possession.
Therefore, say Thus, says theLord God, though I had removed
(15:13):
them far away among the nationsand though I had scattered them
among the countries, yet I was asanctuary for them a little
while in the countries wherethey had gone.
Therefore, say thus, says theLord the God, I will gather you
from the peoples and assembleyou out of the countries among
which you have been scattered,and I will give you the land of
(15:37):
Israel.
When they come there, they willremove all its detestable
things and all its abominationsfrom it, and I will give them
one heart and put a new spiritwithin them, and I will take the
heart of stone out of theirflesh and give them a heart of
flesh that they may walk in mystatutes and keep my ordinances
(15:59):
and do them.
Then they will be my people andI shall be their God.
But as for those whose heartsgo after their detestable things
and abominations, I will bringtheir conduct down on their
heads, declares the Lord.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
God At the end of verse 15,.
He's saying here that God knewthat the people of Israel were
saying in their hearts look, wehave this land that God promised
us, so therefore we can go farfrom the Lord.
That's the language they use.
What they're meaning is oh, wecan act any way we want to.
Our behavior can go far fromthe Lord Because we've got this
(16:38):
land that God promised us.
Then we are in like Flynn, wedon't have to worry about
whether God's going to punish usand he's condemning them
because of that thinking.
Look at the next verse, verse16.
What does it say there aboutwhere God had sent his people?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
It says that he had sent them among the nations and
the countries, so he hadscattered them to other areas.
Assyria was the first ones thattook them off.
Now Babylon has come in.
After they've defeated Assyriaand they've taken them off into
Babylon, god has displaced themfrom the land Next question is
why?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Why would God send in Babylon and Assyria, mass
murder, take the remnant off toa foreign country?
Why is he doing?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
this.
It's a disciplined thing.
We've talked about that andwe're going to continue to talk
about it as we go through thesefirst 24 chapters of Ezekiel.
But I think it's also to showit's God's land, and he says
that whenever he made thesepromises that they're referring
to in their heart to Abram andIsaac and Jacob, at the time he
(17:45):
said this is my land and I'mgoing to give it to you.
So I think he's demonstratingto them don't take it for
granted that yes, I havepromised this land to you, but
it's my land and you're notgoing to disregard me and you're
not going to disregard me andyou're not going to desecrate
the land.
I think it's an object lesson,a really harsh one, to be taken
(18:09):
out of the land and put toanother country and another
nation, but it's one that willmake a lasting impact on them.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
If you've been following along with us through
Ezekiel up to this point.
You've heard a series of verysevere messages.
God is quite angry, he's quitefull of his wrath at this point
and, because of Israel'sdisobedience, he is going to
pour out his wrath on his people.
And he just said okay, I'mgoing to take you away into
(18:38):
another country.
God has made that very clear.
He said it over and over again.
Therefore, when we get to verse17 here, it's a little bit of a
surprise.
What does God command, or atleast what does God promise
rather, to do to the people hehad scattered in verse 17?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yeah, in 17, it says that he's going to bring them
back to the land.
Even though they were scattered, he's going to bring them back.
And in verse 16, he says eventhough they're in these foreign
lands, he's still going to be asanctuary for them.
So he's still giving themprotection, even while he's
disciplining them.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
If we look at the history of the Jewish people up
to this point, they've beenquite disobedient for a very
long time, going all the wayback to the golden calf.
That was a complete, totalrejection of the true God.
Then in the time of the kings,over and over again they had
brought in idols and hadrejected God to the point that
(19:41):
now God is judging them bytaking them out of the land
because of repeated, long-termrejection of the true God,
disbelief and complete disregardfor the true God and his ways.
Therefore, god is punishingthem by taking them to Babylon.
(20:01):
Yet right here, right in themidst of that, he says I'm going
to gather you back from thepeople and bring you back to the
land.
That is one of the themes in theentire book of Ezekiel, one of
the major themes.
Yes, there's going to bejudgment.
Yes, it's going to be immediate, swift and sure and severe.
(20:23):
It's going to be quite painful.
It is indeed God's wrath pouredout on a disobedient people.
But at least four times in thebook of Ezekiel he promises to
bring them back.
Where To the land?
Says here, I will gather youfrom these peoples, I will give
you the land of Israel.
(20:44):
He says he is judging Israel byscattering them, but he's going
to bring them back and changethem so they can keep his
statutes In the midst of God'smessage of severe judgment.
He also has again.
Four times in this book hetalks about bringing them back
to the land.
Here in 11, 16 through 20,we'll also see it again in
(21:08):
chapter 16, verses 60 to 63,chapter 20, verses 33 to 38, and
most of the entirety of chapter36 is all talking about
bringing the people back fromBabylon and blessing them where
In the land, steve.
Where I find it interesting isthat this is Ezekiel, jeremiah,
(21:32):
daniel.
This time frame is God's wrathon a disobedient people, yet he
is saying here I'm going tobring them back to the land.
Is it true that Israel candisobey so much that God will
forever cut them off from theland?
Speaker 2 (21:50):
No, I don't believe so.
I think that the scriptureproves that out, just as we're
going through this.
So let's talk about this alittle bit, glenn.
They are going to be allowed tocome back into the land.
A few decades later, cyrus isgoing to give his decree and
it's going to allow Zerubbabelto go back along with Ezra.
So the question is at this timeand at some of the other places
(22:13):
that you mentioned, is that thetime that this is talking about
?
And I would say that what's thecriteria?
The criteria is he's going togive them a new heart and
they're going to walk in hisstatutes and ordinances.
He's going to be his people,and this reminds me of Jeremiah,
chapter 31, when he talks aboutthe new covenant.
(22:35):
I would say, glenn, that thisparticular depiction of God
bringing them back into the landthe criteria here is not a
description of how it was comingback from Babylon.
Not all the exiles came back.
As I just mentioned, there werestill a lot of them that were
outside of the area of Jerusalem, because they're going to be
(22:58):
actually kind of scattered alittle bit further by some of
the Greeks and the Romans asthey fight them later on in the
decades later, when Jesus came,he had a major contention with
the Pharisees and the Sadduceesbecause they had misinterpreted
much of the statutes andordinances.
There's a great deal with someviews of theology that say, yeah
(23:23):
, god brought him back from theexile, then that's what Ezekiel
is talking about.
But I think that the criteriahere shows that no, there's
still some time in the futurethat he's going to bring them
back.
Under these conditions, what doyou think?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Well, one of my questions first is why do you
think he focuses here on theland?
Because they're again verydisobedient people.
Why is God promising to bringthem back from the land?
Why not scatter them and leavethem scattered and judge them
entirely?
Why would he promise here totake a very disobedient people
(24:01):
Again?
These people were sacrificingtheir children to a pagan idol
and had them in the temple.
So why would God say, even inthe face of that, I'm going to
bring you back to that landBecause it's been a promise that
he has given to them.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
And he cut the covenant with Abraham and his
descendants and he validated itthat it was going to be Isaac
and Jacob.
He reiterated it with both ofthem.
Those were the descendants thathe had given this promise to.
It's a major part of thepromise, unconditional promise,
that was given to Abraham.
So he's going to fulfill thatpromise because it's one that he
(24:41):
has made to them.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah, I would agree.
It's a promise that goes allthe way back to Abraham Isaac
and Jacob.
God made a unilateral promiseto them that I will give you
this land.
And if we ask the question, whywould he bring them back to the
land?
He gives us a specific answerin chapter 36.
We'll get to it.
But he says it's not because ofyou that I'm bringing you back
(25:05):
to the land and blessing you.
It's because of my name, hesays so.
He tells them specifically it'sbecause of me, I made a promise
to do this.
I will bring you back to theland.
God made a unilateral promise onhis own that was not
conditional on any obedience ofIsrael.
(25:25):
It was because of God's promise.
Several times in the prophetsthe Lord says he's going to
bless Israel, not because oftheir behavior, but because of
himself, because of what he did.
The Jews will be foreverassociated with that land.
God will judge them fordisobedience.
(25:47):
He's not going to accept themin the face of disbelief and
disobedience.
Again, that's the clear messagein Ezekiel.
But he says because of me, Iwill bring you back to the land.
Let's look at verse 19 again,because he makes it really clear
and I will give them one heartand put a new spirit within them
(26:10):
, and I will take the heart ofstone out of their flesh and
give them a heart of flesh thatthey may walk in my statutes and
keep my ordinances and do them.
So, steve, your question was wasthis fulfilled when they came
back from Babylon at the end ofthe 70 years of captivity?
And the answer is no.
They disobeyed God, sent in theGreeks and additional judgments
(26:33):
.
They were continually under warOne of Jesus's main complaints,
as you well pointed out.
The leaders were tithing mintand all the spices out of their
garden, but they were ignoringthe weightier parts of the law.
They were manipulating the lawagainst their own family members
(26:56):
.
So they were not obedient.
When they came back, they stillhad a heart of stone.
If you don't believe it, readMatthew 23, when Jesus was very
directly condemning the Jewishleaders.
This didn't get fulfilled.
Then it's true that he's goingto bring them back and it's true
there will always be a remnant,and it's true that the judgment
(27:16):
happened very quickly after hegave this message, but the time
of bringing them back andsoftening their hearts is still
yet to be fulfilled.
The next we're going to see isthat God sends a very clear
message that he is abandoningJerusalem to the Babylonians
that will come in and judge hispeople, and we're going to see
(27:38):
that in the last part of chapter11, when God's glory leaves the
temple and leaves the city.
We'll see that next time as wecontinue to reason through the
book of.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Ezekiel, thank you so much for watching and listening
.
May God bless you.
Today in Reasoning Through the Bible, we'll be in
Ezekiel, chapter 11, and we'regoing to have a cooking lesson.
You might not have known thatGod gave a lesson on meal
preparation, but we're going tosee one.
Only, this particular mealisn't going to feel very good
and is certainly not going totaste very good to the people of
(00:40):
Israel, the people of Israel.
We are again in Ezekiel 11, and, as we've been seeing, god is
speaking through the prophetEzekiel, giving a very direct,
very blunt, very clear messageto the Jewish people of Israel.
The timing, of course, isBabylon has come in in different
ways, and Assyria as well, andcaused God's judgment on the
(01:04):
people.
Some of them were killed, someof them were taken captive.
The city of Jerusalem has notyet been destroyed, but that is
God's message through theprophet Ezekiel is that there is
no hope for Jerusalem or thetemple.
So that's what we're going tomeet today.
So if you have your copy of theWord of God, open it to Ezekiel
(01:26):
, chapter 11.
Steve, can you read the firstsix verses?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to
the east gate of the Lord'shouse, which faced eastward.
And behold, there weretwenty-five men at the entrance
of the gate, and among them Isaw Jehozaniah, son of Azur, and
Pelatiah, son of Benaiah,leaders of the people.
(01:52):
He said to me, son of man,these are the men who devise
iniquity and give evil advice inthis city, who say the time is
not near to build houses.
This city is the pot and we arethe flesh.
Then the Spirit of the Lordfell upon me and he said to me
Say Thus says the Lord.
So you think, house of Israel,for I know your thoughts.
(02:16):
You have multiplied your slainin this city, filling its
streets with them.
Therefore, thus says the LordGod, your slain, whom you have
laid in the midst of the city,are the flesh and this city is
the pot.
But I will bring you out of itWith this.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
in verse 1, god takes Ezekiel to the east gate of the
temple in Jerusalem and ofcourse, the east gate is the
main gate.
That's the one that all the wayback to the Mosaic Law said had
to be there, had to face east.
There at that gate, it mentionstwo specific men and it calls
them leaders Jehozaniah andPelletiah.
(02:58):
Now, interestingly enough,these two relatively minor
figures were leaders inJerusalem at the time.
The archaeologists uncoveringdigs in that area found the
family seals of these twospecific men.
So it's interesting that wehave these again relatively
minor figures that arecorroborated by historical fact.
(03:20):
Therefore, we can trust theseeyewitness accounts.
Here in Ezekiel he gives usspecific names of specific
people that were leaders inJerusalem at the time and modern
historical corroboration showsthem to be real people that were
there at the time.
Therefore, we can trust ourBibles on the things that
(03:44):
history has no way of proving,such as what God said to whom,
on which day we can trust ourBibles.
It also tells us here thatEzekiel was this eyewitness to
these things.
Then, in verse 3, the falseteachers in Jerusalem were
saying that it was time to buildhouses and establish families.
(04:06):
The NIV phrasing says will notsoon be time to build houses.
Therefore, instead of Babyloncoming in and destroying the
city, which was the true God'smessage, these false prophets
were going around saying oh,babylon's not going to be a
problem, it's going to be timeto build houses, we're going to
(04:27):
have prosperous times ahead.
And God says no, steve.
Which one of these prophets canwe really trust?
Ezekiel or the false ones?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Well, Ezekiel, of course, because everything that
he is saying is told to himdirectly by the Lord.
We see that everything that heis talking about is going to
come to pass At the time thathe's given these prophecies.
The city of Jerusalem itselfhas not been taken over and the
temple hasn't been destroyed,but the city has been surrounded
(05:00):
, the siege.
They've already had two wavesof people that have been put in
exile.
The only thing left is thesacking of the city and the
destruction of the temple.
This is all the things that Godhas been instructing Ezekiel to
do and to portray as objectlessons to the people.
So we can know and trust thatEzekiel is the one that we
(05:25):
should trust.
And we're going to see herethat God has some pretty harsh
things to say about these falseprophets that are giving false
hope hope that their exile isn'tgoing to be that long, that
(05:47):
they're going to be able to goback relatively soon to
Jerusalem.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Then, in the last part of verse 3, it says there
the city is the pot and we arethe flesh.
The symbolism is that Babylon'sgoing to be surrounding the
city of Jerusalem, the walledcities.
In those days when they laidsiege, the enemy armies would
(06:13):
physically surround it.
So he gives the symbolism herethe city is the pot and we are
the flesh.
Therefore, this is a harshmessage.
He's saying that the people inJerusalem are really going to
get cooked.
Babylon's going to start a fire, they're going to destroy the
city and we're going to be themeat inside this pot.
It's a very graphic picture ofthe burning and the destruction
of the city of Jerusalem.
(06:34):
God tells Ezekiel to announcethat he's about to slaughter
many people in Jerusalem and hetells them, in verse 7, that
they're going to be cooked.
God is saying the city's goingto burn.
Steve, that's a very harshmessage.
I can imagine that the peoplein those days were equally
(06:56):
hesitant to hear this messagethan today.
I mean, we tend to shy awayfrom these harsh messages, and I
think it's probably the case inthose days too, but is there
not time for some harsh messagessometimes?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, we refer to it in our day as being tough love.
It's whenever your child needsto be told the truth of
something as to the realities ofhow the world works or whatever
the situation might be thatthey're dealing with.
If they are in denial as tosomething that is going to
(07:32):
happen say, maybe it's a sportthat they think they are really
good at and you could tell thatthey're not good at that sport
or some type of an artisticthing, such as playing a musical
instrument then at some pointyou might support them, but at
some point you're going to tellthem the truth that, no, you're
(07:53):
not really good at this.
Maybe it's something else thatyou should do Now.
That's a simplified example.
In this case, the people hadturned their back on God, and
they'd done it for hundreds ofyears.
At this time, god is finallysaying enough is enough.
I'm going to have the toughlove.
(08:14):
You're going to be in exile.
You're going to be in exile for70 years, as he has prophesied
through Jeremiah, and that's theway it's going to be.
These people don't want to hearit, as the natural effect is no
, we don't want to hear stufflike this.
We want to feel that we can goback and that God will protect
(08:36):
us.
But when you've ignored God andturned your back on God for so
many years, there's going to bea time whenever there's going to
be a reckoning for theconsequences to your decisions.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
It's a very harsh message and there will be
consequences to your decisions.
Let's look at this again.
Verse 7, he says he's going toburn the city is what he's
saying.
Then, in verse 9, god's goingto cause the Jews to be
delivered into the hands ofstrangers that are going to
punish them.
The next verse, verse 10,enemies are going to cause them
(09:10):
to fall by the sword.
God is telling them that thecity of Jerusalem will not be
protected, that there are goingto be many of them that are
killed.
Over and over again.
God reminds them that he'spunishing them.
Why?
Because of their disobedience.
That's the message here.
Because of your disobedience,I'm going to allow a pagan
(09:33):
nation.
Strangers are going to come in,they're going to surround the
city, they're going to set fires, they're going to cook you.
They're going to be slain inthe street.
It says, and he also says twiceI will deliver you.
But he says Jerusalem's goingto fall, there's going to be
mass death.
The delivering is going to beone that they don't really want
(09:55):
to hear.
The delivering he mentions inhere is Babylon's going to take
a remnant captive and take you,haul you off into Babylon.
That's really the message here.
It's very blunt.
It's repeated.
Steve, this is again a messagethey didn't really want to hear.
But if we look at the very nextverse verse 12, it says thus you
(10:17):
will know that I am the Lord.
I find this interesting andthat's a theme that gets
repeated throughout the book ofEzekiel.
God gives Ezekiel this veryharsh message there's going to
be many people killed because oftheir disobedience.
They would not listen to myprophets.
So therefore, the enemy isgoing to come in and solve this
(10:38):
problem with idolatry.
Then you will know that I amthe Lord and he says that over
again.
When the severe trials andsevere punishment happens, then
you'll know that I'm the Lord.
Steve, why is it?
Do you think that the severesuffering is going to cause the
people to realize, oh mygoodness, we've really been
(11:01):
violating the Lord all theseyears?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
The reason that he gives there in verse 12 is
because you haven't beenfollowing my statutes and
ordinances.
So he is, in this discipline,driving home the point that they
are disobedient as the bookstarted out.
They're stubborn and obstinatepeople and they've come to the
point where they have to pay theconsequences for their
(11:25):
stubbornness and theirobstination.
The people of Israel have atendency, through all their
centuries, to follow theirleadership, and when their
leadership goes astray, so goesthe nation of Israel.
This is an example.
These 25 leaders were at theEast Gate.
(11:46):
They were saying these thingsthat the exile wasn't going to
be long.
They were saying that the citywasn't going to be totally
sacked, giving them false hopethat God was going to once again
going to come through for them.
But God is being very plainwith Ezekiel it's not going to
come through and I'm going tocarry out the justice and the
(12:09):
consequences where you'returning your back with me and
not following my ordinances andstatutes.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Remember where Ezekiel is when he's giving this
message.
He is in Babylon, in front of agroup of Jewish people that had
been taken captive there.
He's seeing a vision that Godis showing him and he's
communicating what he's seeingand the message that God is
telling him to the leaders thatare in front of him.
In Ezekiel 11, verse 13 saysthis Now, it came about as I
(12:39):
prophesied that Pelletiah, sonof Benaiah, died.
Then I fell on my face andcried out with a loud voice and
said Alas, lord, god, will youbring the remnant of Israel to a
complete end?
Now, this person he mentionedthat died was one of the two
that he had seen at thebeginning of the chapter that we
(13:00):
mentioned.
Again, the idea here is thatEzekiel was very far away from
Jerusalem, was one of the twothat he had seen at the
beginning of the chapter that wementioned.
Again, the idea here is thatEzekiel was very far away from
Jerusalem and he's seeing in avision what's going on.
He sees this man die.
Ezekiel is then able to tellthe Jewish leaders that are
around him all the way over herein Babylon oh, this man just
(13:21):
died.
Now why is that important?
Well, that's important becausethe prophets.
In those days again we alreadymentioned there were false
prophets running around.
How do we know Ezekiel'stelling the truth?
Well, ezekiel is telling thetruth because he gave a message
of this man's death weeks beforethe people would have heard
(13:44):
about it.
It would have been days orweeks before the message got
across that this man had died.
Therefore, within the timeframe of the immediate people
that were hearing Ezekiel, hisprophecies were proven true.
All of the Old Testamentprophets predicted things that
came about in the hearing of thepeople that were right there.
(14:07):
Therefore, the people knew thatthese were true prophets.
Why was Ezekiel in our Bibles?
It's because he madepredictions like this one that
came true within the hearing ofthe people that were around him.
Therefore, they knew that hewas a true prophet.
Let's go ahead and read thenext part.
God has made it very clear thathe's going to punish the Jewish
(14:31):
people because of disobedience.
He's going to pour out hiswrath on his people, and many
people are going to die Withthat message.
People, and many people aregoing to die With that message.
That's the message up to now.
Next, god's going to give apromise of the future.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Steve, can you start at verse 14 and read down
through 21?
Then the word of the Lord cameto me saying Son of man, your
brothers, your relatives, yourfellow exiles and the whole
house of Israel, all of them arethose to whom the inhabitants
of Jerusalem have said Go farfrom the Lord.
This land has been given us asa possession.
Therefore, say Thus, says theLord God, though I had removed
(15:13):
them far away among the nationsand though I had scattered them
among the countries, yet I was asanctuary for them a little
while in the countries wherethey had gone.
Therefore, say thus, says theLord the God, I will gather you
from the peoples and assembleyou out of the countries among
which you have been scattered,and I will give you the land of
(15:37):
Israel.
When they come there, they willremove all its detestable
things and all its abominationsfrom it, and I will give them
one heart and put a new spiritwithin them, and I will take the
heart of stone out of theirflesh and give them a heart of
flesh that they may walk in mystatutes and keep my ordinances
(15:59):
and do them.
Then they will be my people andI shall be their God.
But as for those whose heartsgo after their detestable things
and abominations, I will bringtheir conduct down on their
heads, declares the Lord.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
God At the end of verse 15,.
He's saying here that God knewthat the people of Israel were
saying in their hearts look, wehave this land that God promised
us, so therefore we can go farfrom the Lord.
That's the language they use.
What they're meaning is oh, wecan act any way we want to.
Our behavior can go far fromthe Lord Because we've got this
(16:38):
land that God promised us.
Then we are in like Flynn, wedon't have to worry about
whether God's going to punish usand he's condemning them
because of that thinking.
Look at the next verse, verse16.
What does it say there aboutwhere God had sent his people?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
It says that he had sent them among the nations and
the countries, so he hadscattered them to other areas.
Assyria was the first ones thattook them off.
Now Babylon has come in.
After they've defeated Assyriaand they've taken them off into
Babylon, god has displaced themfrom the land Next question is
why?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Why would God send in Babylon and Assyria, mass
murder, take the remnant off toa foreign country?
Why is he doing?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
this.
It's a disciplined thing.
We've talked about that andwe're going to continue to talk
about it as we go through thesefirst 24 chapters of Ezekiel.
But I think it's also to showit's God's land, and he says
that whenever he made thesepromises that they're referring
to in their heart to Abram andIsaac and Jacob, at the time he
(17:45):
said this is my land and I'mgoing to give it to you.
So I think he's demonstratingto them don't take it for
granted that yes, I havepromised this land to you, but
it's my land and you're notgoing to disregard me and you're
not going to disregard me andyou're not going to desecrate
the land.
I think it's an object lesson,a really harsh one, to be taken
(18:09):
out of the land and put toanother country and another
nation, but it's one that willmake a lasting impact on them.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
If you've been following along with us through
Ezekiel up to this point.
You've heard a series of verysevere messages.
God is quite angry, he's quitefull of his wrath at this point
and, because of Israel'sdisobedience, he is going to
pour out his wrath on his people.
And he just said okay, I'mgoing to take you away into
(18:38):
another country.
God has made that very clear.
He said it over and over again.
Therefore, when we get to verse17 here, it's a little bit of a
surprise.
What does God command, or atleast what does God promise
rather, to do to the people hehad scattered in verse 17?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yeah, in 17, it says that he's going to bring them
back to the land.
Even though they were scattered, he's going to bring them back.
And in verse 16, he says eventhough they're in these foreign
lands, he's still going to be asanctuary for them.
So he's still giving themprotection, even while he's
disciplining them.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
If we look at the history of the Jewish people up
to this point, they've beenquite disobedient for a very
long time, going all the wayback to the golden calf.
That was a complete, totalrejection of the true God.
Then in the time of the kings,over and over again they had
brought in idols and hadrejected God to the point that
(19:41):
now God is judging them bytaking them out of the land
because of repeated, long-termrejection of the true God,
disbelief and complete disregardfor the true God and his ways.
Therefore, god is punishingthem by taking them to Babylon.
(20:01):
Yet right here, right in themidst of that, he says I'm going
to gather you back from thepeople and bring you back to the
land.
That is one of the themes in theentire book of Ezekiel, one of
the major themes.
Yes, there's going to bejudgment.
Yes, it's going to be immediate, swift and sure and severe.
(20:23):
It's going to be quite painful.
It is indeed God's wrath pouredout on a disobedient people.
But at least four times in thebook of Ezekiel he promises to
bring them back.
Where To the land?
Says here, I will gather youfrom these peoples, I will give
you the land of Israel.
(20:44):
He says he is judging Israel byscattering them, but he's going
to bring them back and changethem so they can keep his
statutes In the midst of God'smessage of severe judgment.
He also has again.
Four times in this book hetalks about bringing them back
to the land.
Here in 11, 16 through 20,we'll also see it again in
(21:08):
chapter 16, verses 60 to 63,chapter 20, verses 33 to 38, and
most of the entirety of chapter36 is all talking about
bringing the people back fromBabylon and blessing them where
In the land, steve.
Where I find it interesting isthat this is Ezekiel, jeremiah,
(21:32):
daniel.
This time frame is God's wrathon a disobedient people, yet he
is saying here I'm going tobring them back to the land.
Is it true that Israel candisobey so much that God will
forever cut them off from theland?
Speaker 2 (21:50):
No, I don't believe so.
I think that the scriptureproves that out, just as we're
going through this.
So let's talk about this alittle bit, glenn.
They are going to be allowed tocome back into the land.
A few decades later, cyrus isgoing to give his decree and
it's going to allow Zerubbabelto go back along with Ezra.
So the question is at this timeand at some of the other places
(22:13):
that you mentioned, is that thetime that this is talking about
?
And I would say that what's thecriteria?
The criteria is he's going togive them a new heart and
they're going to walk in hisstatutes and ordinances.
He's going to be his people,and this reminds me of Jeremiah,
chapter 31, when he talks aboutthe new covenant.
(22:35):
I would say, glenn, that thisparticular depiction of God
bringing them back into the landthe criteria here is not a
description of how it was comingback from Babylon.
Not all the exiles came back.
As I just mentioned, there werestill a lot of them that were
outside of the area of Jerusalem, because they're going to be
(22:58):
actually kind of scattered alittle bit further by some of
the Greeks and the Romans asthey fight them later on in the
decades later, when Jesus came,he had a major contention with
the Pharisees and the Sadduceesbecause they had misinterpreted
much of the statutes andordinances.
There's a great deal with someviews of theology that say, yeah
(23:23):
, god brought him back from theexile, then that's what Ezekiel
is talking about.
But I think that the criteriahere shows that no, there's
still some time in the futurethat he's going to bring them
back.
Under these conditions, what doyou think?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Well, one of my questions first is why do you
think he focuses here on theland?
Because they're again verydisobedient people.
Why is God promising to bringthem back from the land?
Why not scatter them and leavethem scattered and judge them
entirely?
Why would he promise here totake a very disobedient people
(24:01):
Again?
These people were sacrificingtheir children to a pagan idol
and had them in the temple.
So why would God say, even inthe face of that, I'm going to
bring you back to that landBecause it's been a promise that
he has given to them.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
And he cut the covenant with Abraham and his
descendants and he validated itthat it was going to be Isaac
and Jacob.
He reiterated it with both ofthem.
Those were the descendants thathe had given this promise to.
It's a major part of thepromise, unconditional promise,
that was given to Abraham.
So he's going to fulfill thatpromise because it's one that he
(24:41):
has made to them.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah, I would agree.
It's a promise that goes allthe way back to Abraham Isaac
and Jacob.
God made a unilateral promiseto them that I will give you
this land.
And if we ask the question, whywould he bring them back to the
land?
He gives us a specific answerin chapter 36.
We'll get to it.
But he says it's not because ofyou that I'm bringing you back
(25:05):
to the land and blessing you.
It's because of my name, hesays so.
He tells them specifically it'sbecause of me, I made a promise
to do this.
I will bring you back to theland.
God made a unilateral promise onhis own that was not
conditional on any obedience ofIsrael.
(25:25):
It was because of God's promise.
Several times in the prophetsthe Lord says he's going to
bless Israel, not because oftheir behavior, but because of
himself, because of what he did.
The Jews will be foreverassociated with that land.
God will judge them fordisobedience.
(25:47):
He's not going to accept themin the face of disbelief and
disobedience.
Again, that's the clear messagein Ezekiel.
But he says because of me, Iwill bring you back to the land.
Let's look at verse 19 again,because he makes it really clear
and I will give them one heartand put a new spirit within them
(26:10):
, and I will take the heart ofstone out of their flesh and
give them a heart of flesh thatthey may walk in my statutes and
keep my ordinances and do them.
So, steve, your question was wasthis fulfilled when they came
back from Babylon at the end ofthe 70 years of captivity?
And the answer is no.
They disobeyed God, sent in theGreeks and additional judgments
(26:33):
.
They were continually under warOne of Jesus's main complaints,
as you well pointed out.
The leaders were tithing mintand all the spices out of their
garden, but they were ignoringthe weightier parts of the law.
They were manipulating the lawagainst their own family members
(26:56):
.
So they were not obedient.
When they came back, they stillhad a heart of stone.
If you don't believe it, readMatthew 23, when Jesus was very
directly condemning the Jewishleaders.
This didn't get fulfilled.
Then it's true that he's goingto bring them back and it's true
there will always be a remnant,and it's true that the judgment
(27:16):
happened very quickly after hegave this message, but the time
of bringing them back andsoftening their hearts is still
yet to be fulfilled.
The next we're going to see isthat God sends a very clear
message that he is abandoningJerusalem to the Babylonians
that will come in and judge hispeople, and we're going to see
(27:38):
that in the last part of chapter11, when God's glory leaves the
temple and leaves the city.
We'll see that next time as wecontinue to reason through the
book of.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Ezekiel, thank you so much for watching and listening
.
May God bless you.
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