August 15, 2025 • 33 mins
Ever felt disheartened looking at a world that seems increasingly distant from God? You're not alone—and you're not the first. In this deeply insightful exploration of Ezekiel chapters 14, 15 and into 16, we discover that God's ancient prophet faced remarkably similar circumstances to our own.
The episode begins with God's sobering revelation that even if the most righteous biblical figures—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were present in Jerusalem, they could only save themselves through their righteousness. This powerful message speaks directly to believers today who wonder how to remain faithful when surrounded by spiritual indifference.
We dive into one of scripture's most profound metaphors: Jerusalem as an abandoned newborn, unwashed and left to die, whom God rescues, nurtures, and transforms into a beautifully adorned bride. Through vivid imagery and historical context, we see how God took Israel from humble beginnings through to Solomon's glorious kingdom—and the tragic consequences when they abandoned their divine purpose.
The allegory of the useless grapevine delivers a particularly potent message about spiritual fruitfulness. Unlike other trees whose wood remains useful, a fruitless vine serves no purpose—mirroring the reality of what happens when believers disconnect from their divine source. This imagery, later echoed by Jesus in John 15, reminds us that our primary calling is to remain connected to God regardless of cultural currents.
Despite the heavy themes of judgment—foretold through sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—this episode ultimately delivers hope by emphasizing God's faithfulness to preserve a remnant of believers in every generation. For anyone feeling increasingly isolated in their faith, this timeless message offers both challenge and profound reassurance.
Join us as we unpack these ancient words that speak with surprising relevance to our modern spiritual journey. Discover how to stand firm when society separates from God and find courage in knowing you're part of a faithful remnant with deep historical roots.
Thank you for listening!! Please give us a five-star rating to help your podcast provider's algorithm spread RTTB among their listeners.
You can find free study and leader resources at the following link - Resource Page - Reasoning Through the Bible
Please prayerfully consider supporting RTTB to help us to continue providing content and free resources. You can do that at this link - Support RTTB - Reasoning Through the Bible
May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
In our day, many Christians who have a heart for
the Lord look around and we seea generation that is very far
away from the Lord.
We see people all around usthat have no interest in
learning about God or followingGod's ways, and we see the world
through that perspective.
But what we're going to findout today on Reasoning Through
(00:42):
the Bible is that back inEzekiel's day, he was thinking
the same thing.
God says there's going to bevery, very few that are actually
following after God's heart, sowe can take this lesson and
apply it to us today.
Hi, my name's Glenn.
I'm here with Steve.
We do verse-by-verse Biblestudies through the Word of God.
(01:04):
Glenn, I'm here with Steve.
We do verse-by-verse Biblestudies through the Word of God.
We have a ministry we callReasoning Through the Bible,
where we go through and look atevery passage of the Scriptures
and explain it to you.
So check out our website atreasoningthroughthebiblecom.
But today, if you have yourcopy of the Word of God, turn to
Ezekiel, chapter 14, and we'regoing to pick up in verse 20.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Even though Noah, daniel and Job were in its midst
as I live, declares the LordGod, they could not deliver
either their son or theirdaughter.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
They would deliver only themselves by their
righteousness With that God istelling Ezekiel about the
generation of the Jewish peoplethat were living in his day.
God says this people, thisgeneration, even if I sent out
the greatest of the prophets,noah, daniel and Job, if I sent
(02:00):
them out to try to reach thesepeople, then the only ones in
the entire city of Jerusalem,the entire nation, the only ones
that would be saved were theones that he sent out, noah,
daniel and Job.
They would have been fruitlessin their efforts.
God is saying that that entiregeneration of Israel at that
(02:21):
time were so obstinate in theirevil that even Noah, Daniel and
Job wouldn't be able to reachthem and turn their hearts
towards God.
Our generation is not the firstto be very rebellious towards
the Lord, steve.
Can we take any lessons fromthat?
In our day we have a veryrebellious, very lost generation
(02:43):
that is very far from the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I think the lesson that we can take from it is that
we're all responsible forourselves first thing, and we
need to be strong and faithfulto the Lord, jesus Christ.
What he's done, what he can dofor them, lead them to believe
and trust on him and change thesociety or change the culture
(03:15):
around us, one person at a time.
That's one thing we can takeaway from it.
But to your point is that everygeneration has the same
situation where you have peoplethat don't follow God.
In our previous session, whenwe were describing this chapter,
it said one of the first thingsin the verse was that the
people had separated themselvesfrom God.
(03:35):
Now we were talking aboutbelievers and giving some advice
associated with that, butthat's true for the unbelievers.
That's the first thing thatthey do is they're separating
themselves from God.
They don't want to follow Godand they want to separate.
They don't want to haveanything to do with God.
They don't want to be heldaccountable by God for the
(03:57):
things that they do.
So the result of that, as wetalked about last session, was
that God was going to separatehimself from them.
Well, my friend, if you happento be listening to this or
watching this and you're not abeliever.
Let it be known that you haveseparated yourself from God
because you've wanted to do that, and at some point, god will
(04:18):
separate himself from you.
We have people, just as we'reencouraging you here.
Follow Jesus Christ, become abeliever in him, understand what
he did through his death,burial and resurrection, and
that you need to have a way tobe reconciled back to God, and
that can be done through JesusChrist.
Bring yourself closer to God sothat he will bring himself
(04:42):
close to you.
To God, so that he will bringhimself close to you.
So I think that's a lesson thatwe can take, glenn that we have
a responsibility in everygeneration as believers, in
order to spread the gospel,spread the good news, go out and
make disciples, and that's ourmission.
That's the main thing that weshould be able to do in our
(05:03):
generation as we go and live ourlives.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It's very easy in our generation for anyone who has a
heart for God and godly things,it's very easy to get
discouraged because there's somuch sin, so much evil in the
world.
It rubs off on us.
We tend to stray as well.
So we want to live righteouslives and we want our friends
(05:26):
and our family to fall alongwith us towards God.
But what we find is thegeneration doesn't want to
listen.
But I think we can takeencouragement from these words,
because Ezekiel's day was nodifferent.
Jesus's day was no different.
There's always been a remnant.
The next few verses that we'regoing to read God has been
(05:47):
giving this very harsh message,but he gives some word of
encouragement here.
What he's about to say at theend of the chapter, god is
telling Ezekiel that a remnantof Jerusalem will come to where
Ezekiel is, in Babylon, and oncethat happens, the people are
going to see how sinful thesepeople of Jerusalem were and why
(06:10):
God's wrath is justified.
Let's read the last part ofchapter 14, starting in verse 21
, says this For thus says theLord God, how much more when I
send my four severe judgmentsagainst Jerusalem, sword, famine
, wild beasts and plague to cutoff man and beast from it.
(06:31):
Yet, behold, survivors will beleft in it who will be brought
out, both sons and daughters.
Behold, they are going to comeforth to you and you will see
their conduct and actions.
Then you will be comforted fortheir calamity.
(07:02):
To send four judgments againstJerusalem the sword of an enemy,
famine, wild beast and disease.
God is going to ensure thatsome survivors make it to
Babylon, but most of them aregoing to die.
And, of course, steve.
That brings up the question howcould God be just in this
(07:24):
severe punishment that he gives?
He's answered it in thoseverses, did he not.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
He has answered it.
The question, though, is howcould he be this way?
Well, go back to the very firstpart of Ezekiel and what he's
conveying to the people.
They're stubborn and obstinatepeople.
They have been out putting upidols and not only idols within
their land.
The kings had led them to thatand allowed them to do it, but
(07:52):
they were doing it on the templecomplex.
They had a secret room in thetemple so they weren't just out
within their own homes orsomewhere else.
They were right in the midst ofthe center of worship of God of
Israel, doing these things.
God had protected them severaltimes.
He had allowed the nation ofIsrael, the northern kingdom, to
(08:16):
be taken off Again.
This was a time when thekingdom was split into Israel in
the north and Judah in thesouth.
They had been taken off acouple of hundred years before
by Assyria because they were ina worse situation than Judah was
, but then Judah followed alongwith it, and now it's gotten
down to the point that the onlything that is left is the city
(08:40):
of Jerusalem itself.
There's been two waves ofpeople that have been taken off
into captivity by Babylon.
You had false prophets that Godis talking about saying to the
people, both that are left inJerusalem and to the exiles
don't worry, god is going tocome through one more time and
(09:01):
he's not going to allow the cityto fall.
We have that dramatic story ofone time when Assyria had come
down and the death angel hadgone out and killed 185,000 of
the troops that were encampedabout the city of Jerusalem, and
then the king left the next dayafter that.
(09:22):
So the people had this falseimpression at the time that God
was one more time going to comethrough for them.
But in reality God is tellingthem no more, I'm done coming
through for them.
But in a reality, god istelling them no more, I'm done
coming through for you.
You're going to pay theconsequences for your
stubbornness and the sin thatyou have been doing.
(09:43):
And here he's saying there'sgoing to be four plagues that
are going to come through andthe city is going to be
destroyed, but, as you pointedout, glenn, there's still going
to be a remnant of people thatare believers in Yahweh that are
going to come out of thatcalamity that's about to come on
Jerusalem.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
What God is telling Ezekiel in these last few verses
we just read, and the messageto give to the people there in
Babylon was that, yes, I'm goingto bring all these horrible
things sword famine, wild beasts, disease going to bring all of
horrible things sword famine,wild beasts, disease.
I'm going to bring all of thisand some of the remnant's going
to come, and when they get toyou in Babylon, you're going to
(10:23):
see why I'm justified, god says.
To understand this, we have toreally grasp the severity of
what it means to have this idolworship.
It wasn't just a different typeof worship.
What they were actually doingand we're going to see this in
the chapters in Ezekiel some ofthem were frying their children,
(10:44):
their infants, on the heatedmetal arms of the god Molech
that was passing their childrenthrough the fire.
They were sacrificing their ownchildren.
They had gross and widespreadsex worship.
This was total given over toidol worship, to the point that
it was causing mass death, massdisease.
(11:06):
I find it interesting that whenGod deals with passages like
this, people throw up theirhands and say how could God be
so severe?
How could he punish people likethis?
But when he doesn't and he ispatient and allows people time
to decide on their own to repentand allows evil to go across
(11:29):
the land.
People throw up their hands andsay why isn't God dealing with
this evil?
Well, he can't have it bothways.
God deals with it in his wisetiming here.
It's time to deal with it.
What he's telling Ezekiel iswhen this remnant gets to you,
you're going to realize how evilthey are and how much I was
(11:50):
justified in destroying thispeople.
Moving on to chapter 15,ezekiel gives a message from God
about a grapevine.
Now we have to remember thepurpose of a grapevine is to
bear fruit.
When a grapevine doesn'tproduce fruit, it's useless.
God had expected Israel to bearfruit.
Steve, can you read the eightverses of chapter 15, and we'll
(12:14):
find out his message about thevine.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Then the word of the Lord came to me saying Son of
man, how is the wood of the vinebetter than any wood of a
branch which is among the treesof the forest?
Can wood be taken from it tomake anything, or can man take a
peg from it on which to hangany vessel?
If it has been put into thefire for fuel and the fire has
(12:40):
consumed both of its ends andits middle part has been charred
, is it then useful for anything?
Behold, while it is intact, itis not made into anything.
How much less, when the firehas consumed it and it is
charred, can it still be madeinto anything.
(13:00):
Therefore, thus says the LordGod, as the wood of the vine
among the trees of the forestwhich I have given to the fire
for fuel, so have I given up theinhabitants of Jerusalem and I
set my face against them, thoughthey have come out of the fire,
yet the fire will consume them.
Then you will know that I amthe Lord when I set my face
(13:24):
against them.
Thus, I will make the landdesolate, because they have
acted unfaithfully, declaresLord God.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
A little bit of background about grapevines will
help us get a little moremeaning out of this passage.
Grapevines are very weak bythemselves they fall over on the
ground.
In order to grow grapes, theorchard keepers have to tie them
up on stakes and hold themupright off of the ground.
Then they're quite vigorous.
So they grow a lot of vine.
(13:53):
And if you want grapes insteadof just grapevine, then every
year you have to cut off partsof the branches of the vine so
that the grapevine will be moreproductive and grow more grapes.
If you just let it go, thenyou're going to have a whole lot
of vine and not a lot of grapes.
That's the background of this.
(14:14):
Every year a vineyard keeperwould cut off a lot of the vine
and the wood would then be lyingthere in big piles.
Steve, look at verse 3 here.
Is the wood of a vine good formaking anything?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
No, the wood of a grapevine is very thin and it's
kind of limber.
So, no, you can't really takeit and make anything out of it
like you could from a tree oreven a tree branch.
The grapevine is just as I saidit's very small, very limber.
In fact, you even said theyhave to tie it up in order to
(14:52):
get it to produce grapes.
In fact, you even said theyhave to tie it up in order to
get it to produce grapes.
So, no, the vine of a grapevine is not useful for anything
such as that.
What is the purpose of a grapevine?
It's to bear fruit.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
It's to bear grapes.
What does the orchard keeper,vineyard keeper, do to a vine
that's not producing fruit?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
keeper.
Due to a vine that's notproducing fruit, he cuts it off
so that the tree itself isgiving all of its energy into
other vines or branches that areactually producing grapes the
ones that are just out there notproducing grapes.
They're just wasting the energythat the tree is putting into
itself to live.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Oh, all that's exactly right.
And if we remember over in theNew Testament, john chapter 15,
jesus picked up on this sametheme and he used the same idea
of the grapevine and he told hisdisciples that he, jesus, was
the vine and they were thebranches.
And if the branches abided inthe vine then they will bear
(15:56):
fruit, and if they got apartfrom him and didn't bear fruit,
they're going to be pruned andthrown into the fire.
So when he mentioned that, hishearers would have immediately
thought about not only what theyknew about grapevines, but they
would have thought about thispassage right back here in
Ezekiel, chapter 15.
(16:16):
After God's judgment, then theleftover grapevines are going to
be doubly useless.
If they stay in the vine andproduce fruit, then they'll be
left and they'll be part of theproductive goal of the vineyard
keeper.
But as soon as they stopproducing fruit or stop being
(16:38):
connected to Christ, thenthey're going to be judged.
It tells us here.
If we look at the end of verse7, it says Then you will know I
am the Lord.
Well when?
Well, he says after it's burned.
What he's saying is that theytake these vines that aren't
producing fruit and cut them off.
The wood's too small, it's toolimber, can't even make a good
(17:02):
peg out of it and throw theminto the fire.
Now they're doubly uselessAfter the fire hits it.
It's really useless.
One of God's major themes thathe keeps repeating throughout
the Word of God is that peoplewill know he is the true God
after he pours out his anger andjudgment.
(17:24):
And I can imagine, steve, thatthe people in Ezekiel's day were
sort of like the people in ourday.
We haven't seen God do anythingsevere in our lives.
He doesn't come down and causemass judgment on people around
us.
People were thinking well, ifGod hasn't done it up to now,
then he never will, which isexactly what people are thinking
(17:46):
today, correct People?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
do think that and I think that there are times
whenever there are particularjudgments that come on nations
in various ways, but the peopleare so separated from God that
they don't acknowledge that itmight be something from God
whenever these so-called naturaldisasters take place.
(18:08):
Maybe sometimes they aresomething that's related to God,
but in general what you said istrue People don't think that
God is active in the world todayand that that therefore the
judgment isn't going to becoming at any time, because he
hasn't brought any type ofjudgment in several hundred
(18:28):
years, since the time of Jesusand the time of the Old
Testament.
But we're told through theseprophets, glenn, that there is
going to be a time of judgment.
That's going to come and it'sin our future.
Time of judgment that's goingto come and it's in our future
and just as assured as God istelling Ezekiel to tell the
people that Jerusalem is goingto be dealt with here and the
(18:52):
example that he's given here ofthe charred branch, the ends of
it, the kingdom of Israel andthe kingdom of Judah have come
into under judgment andtherefore it's no longer any use
to him.
They've failed their part ofwhat they were to do.
Same thing is going to happen insome time in the future, that
(19:13):
the world is so separated fromGod that there's going to come a
time of judgment in the futureand it's not going to be pretty.
There's going to be famine,plagues, natural disasters that
are going to happen and thepeople are going to know at the
time it's coming from Godwhenever it happens.
It says, in fact, that thepeople on the earth are going to
(19:34):
try and hide from these naturaldisasters and wish that they
would die, but they're not goingto be able to die, wish that
they would die, but they're notgoing to be able to die Through
those plagues and disasters.
Then they are going to know theLord God, just like he's saying
to them here, when theseplagues and disasters come on
the city of Jerusalem.
(19:54):
They're going to know that heis the Lord God.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
And at the end of this chapter, verse 8, he says
thus, I will make the landdesolate.
We have to understand thecontrast here in order to grasp
the significance of this.
Remember the land of Israel wasdescribed as the land flowing
with milk and honey.
It was very productive.
We remember back when Joshuasent the spies into the land.
(20:20):
It was so productive.
One of the things they broughtback to Joshua was there was one
cluster of grapes that was sobig that two men had to carry it
on a pole in between them.
The land was very productive.
But here in Ezekiel 15.8, godsays I'm going to make the land
(20:41):
desolate, and he gives a reasonbecause why, Steve?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
It says because they were unfaithful to him.
Think about it, Glenn.
At the time that they weregoing in, it was under
occupation by pagans.
They were not worshiping God.
They certainly weren't faithfulto the God Yahweh.
So it gives a picture that Godhad blessed the land in
preparation for the people to goin and take it.
(21:08):
In fact, he had even told themI'm giving you a land that has
vineyards that you didn't growor cultivate, and things that
are there, cities that werebuilt that you didn't build, or
anything else like that.
I'm going to go before you andI'm giving you this land.
Now look at what they've donewith it.
After hundreds of years ofoccupation, they have come to
(21:30):
the point that they have notfulfilled what God had put them
there for.
They have become unfaithful, sothat now God is going to leave
the land desolate.
I mean, just really think aboutthat.
They went into a land, as youhave just described, full of
milk and honey and prosperity,rich in produce, and their
(21:53):
unfaithfulness is now turningthe land to where God is going
to make it desolate.
I don't know about you, Glenn,but I think there's something
there Really we can take awayfrom that.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
We can take away what God can do in our lives.
He can make our lives veryproductive and very flowing with
His grace and His benefits.
He could also make our livesvery desolate.
It all comes down to what itsays here in this verse, which
is are we faithful to Him, do webelieve Him, do we follow his
(22:23):
ways, or do we reject him andignore his ways?
Do we come to him and askforgiveness and keep short
accounts with the Lord, or do wehide sin in our hearts?
Now, moving on to chapter 16,we have a passage here where he
gives a description of Jerusalemas if it were a newborn baby.
(22:43):
He has very descriptivelanguage here of finding this
baby, of Jerusalem as a city andhow he finds her, what
condition she's in as a newbornand what he does to raise her up
.
Let's go ahead and read thefirst 14 verses of Ezekiel 16.
Say this Then the word of theLord came to me, saying Son of
(23:06):
man, make known to Jerusalem herabominations and say Thus says
the Lord, god to Jerusalem, yourorigin and your birth are from
the land of the Canaanite.
Your father was an Amorite andyour mother a Hittite.
As for your birth, on the dayyou were born, your navel cord
was not cut, nor were you washedwith water for cleansing.
(23:27):
You were not rubbed with saltor even wrapped in cloths.
No eye looked with pity on youto do any of these things, for
you to have compassion on you.
Rather, you were thrown outinto the open field for you were
abhorred.
On the day you were born.
When I passed by you and sawyou squirming in your blood, I
(23:49):
said to you while you were inyour blood live.
Yes.
I said to you while you were inyour blood, live.
I made you numerous, likeplants of the field.
Then you grew up and became talland reached the age for fine
ornaments.
Your breasts were formed andyour hair had grown, yet you
were naked and bare.
(24:10):
Then I passed by you and sawyou and behold, you were at the
time for love.
So I spread my skirt over youand covered your nakedness.
I also swore to you and enteredinto a covenant with you so
that you became mine, declaresthe Lord God.
Then I bathed you with water,washed off your blood from you
(24:31):
and anointed you with oil.
I also clothed you withembroidered cloth and put
sandals of porpoise skin on yourfeet, and I wrapped you with
fine linen and covered you withsilk.
I adorned you with ornaments,put bracelets on your hands and
a necklace around your neck.
I also put a ring in yournostril, earrings in your ears
(24:52):
and a beautiful crown on yourhead.
Thus you were adorned with goldand silver, and your dress was
of fine linen, silk andembroidered cloth.
Steve, what had God done forJerusalem to make it shine like
this?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
He had taken them and raised them up.
He had taken them to the pointof, like it says here, they were
abhorred, and he rescued them,he clothed them, he took care of
them.
He clothed them, he took careof them.
He cut the umbilical cord,because if you don't cut the
(25:46):
umbilical cord after the uterusis no longer feeding the baby,
it will kill the baby.
He took it, gave it clothing,he adorned it with different
types of silver and gold andrings and things like that.
It shows him that he took thisyoung city of Jerusalem, israel,
(26:08):
who's being a representative ofthe nation of Israel itself.
He has taken it and brought itto himself and rescued it from a
very small entity to raise itup into what it was.
So he's taking them back totheir roots and where they came
from and he's basically sayingis is that you're mine?
(26:30):
I'm the one that took you froma very young age and brought you
up.
So he's going to get here to apoint as to what they've done.
But, compared to all theprevious verses, them being
unfaithful, obstinate, stubbornhe's now taking them back
through this allegory that he'susing to Ezekiel, that he's the
(26:55):
one who took them from the verybirth.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
First thing I notice, steve, when I read passages
like this, are that not only isit the inspired, inerrant Word
of God, but it's also justbeautiful literature.
The description here, in thedescriptive language, is just
very emotional.
It's very telling.
It's very good literature.
He talks about a very graphicdescription of the baby.
(27:20):
Then he gives also a verygraphic, beautiful description
of the grown woman.
He talks about finding thisnewborn baby that was still in
its blood.
No one had taken care of it.
Imagine a newborn baby that noone had even wiped it off or put
a blanket on it to warm it.
He says all of that.
He even says, in verse 3, yourbirth was from the land of the
(27:42):
Canaanite, your father was anAmorite and your mother a
Hittite.
What he's saying there is thatyour father was no good and
neither was your mother.
You came from a very badheritage and no one was going to
take care of you.
I found you you were kind ofugly, left alone, and he said I
washed you off, I put cloths onyou, I raised you up, I took you
(28:06):
to a time when you werebeautiful.
I found you very dirty andabandoned and I took care of you
.
When you grew up, you became avery beautiful bride and I
clothed you in fine ornaments.
He had this wonderfuldescription of the clothing and
the jewelry that he had.
He adorned her with finejewelry.
(28:27):
Verse 9, he says I washed herand anointed her with oil, which
means he took away her sin andblessed her with anointing.
He did all of that forJerusalem.
Did God actually do this forthe Jewish people?
Did he take them from reallynothing, no real nation, up to a
(28:48):
time when they were powerful asa nation, very beautiful, very
wealthy?
Did God do all of that?
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yes, he did.
In studying for this chapter,glenn, I read where the rabbis
through the centuries at leastsome of them don't want to teach
, or read Ezekiel, chapter 16,because as we get into it
further, it gives a verydisturbing picture of the nation
(29:17):
itself and how it's describedhere, as far as the allegory
that's here.
Part of it was that they lookat it some of them as being a
slap to Abraham and Sarah.
But God here isn't reallydescribing their birth from
Abraham and Sarah.
When he says that you're fromthe Amorite and Hittite, it's
(29:40):
like what you said is he'ssaying the land that you were
given and that you came out ofwere from pagans.
It was something that I gave toyou and brought you into and
gave to you and brought you upout of.
They need to understand thatthis is God's land, it's his
land and he gave it to them andpushed the other people out
(30:04):
because, as I mentioned before,it was something that they
hadn't even cultivatedthemselves the people themselves
.
He's trying to get across tothem how much he loves them as a
nation and what he has done forthem to try and make them
understand once again throughEzekiel in this story, this
(30:26):
allegory, that he cares for them, so much so that he brought
them up from a very, very youngage, allegorically speaking, and
did bring them to a point wherethey were much prosperous and
they had expanded their bordersand things like that.
But they had gotten to a pointwhere they just let their kings
(30:47):
and their leadership lead themastray over and over again.
So now it's led them to thispoint where they're going to be
total destruction of now,finally, the southern kingdom of
Judah, if we read the historyof Israel, it starts with
Abraham and it was reallynothing.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Abraham was really of no real repute when he started
and even up to the time whereJacob went into Egypt, then
there was really sort of aragtag group of extended family.
That wasn't really much.
The people there Jacob was adeceiver, was really nothing to
look at, not very powerful, notvery wealthy.
(31:27):
And if we then take it upthrough the Egyptian slavery,
there was really again thesewere just slaves in Egypt.
God took them up to the time ofSolomon.
All the gold, all the silver,all the fine linens, all the
fine cloths Read the amount offood that he produced for his
household and his peoples.
(31:48):
It was very beautiful to lookat.
The foreigners would come justto look at how beautiful it was,
with all the wealth and all thefood and all the glory Because
of worshiping idols.
Now the land is desolate.
Next time, as we get into thepassages in the next part of
(32:08):
Ezekiel 16, we're going to seeequally graphic description of
how ugly and evil that Jerusalemhad taken the beautiful things
that God had given them.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
It's really a sad story as we leave it at this
point, glenn, but at the end ofchapter 16, there's going to be
hope and the redemption that Godis going to say that he has for
them.
Thank you very much forwatching and listening.
We hope that you're enjoyingthis series on Ezekiel.
Look for our resources on ourresource page where you can find
other types of books that we'vegone through.
(32:43):
We hope that you'll come backwith us next time as we continue
through the book of Ezekiel.
Thank you so much.
May the Lord bless you.
In our day, many Christians who have a heart for
the Lord look around and we seea generation that is very far
away from the Lord.
We see people all around usthat have no interest in
learning about God or followingGod's ways, and we see the world
through that perspective.
But what we're going to findout today on Reasoning Through
(00:42):
the Bible is that back inEzekiel's day, he was thinking
the same thing.
God says there's going to bevery, very few that are actually
following after God's heart, sowe can take this lesson and
apply it to us today.
Hi, my name's Glenn.
I'm here with Steve.
We do verse-by-verse Biblestudies through the Word of God.
(01:04):
Glenn, I'm here with Steve.
We do verse-by-verse Biblestudies through the Word of God.
We have a ministry we callReasoning Through the Bible,
where we go through and look atevery passage of the Scriptures
and explain it to you.
So check out our website atreasoningthroughthebiblecom.
But today, if you have yourcopy of the Word of God, turn to
Ezekiel, chapter 14, and we'regoing to pick up in verse 20.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Even though Noah, daniel and Job were in its midst
as I live, declares the LordGod, they could not deliver
either their son or theirdaughter.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
They would deliver only themselves by their
righteousness With that God istelling Ezekiel about the
generation of the Jewish peoplethat were living in his day.
God says this people, thisgeneration, even if I sent out
the greatest of the prophets,noah, daniel and Job, if I sent
(02:00):
them out to try to reach thesepeople, then the only ones in
the entire city of Jerusalem,the entire nation, the only ones
that would be saved were theones that he sent out, noah,
daniel and Job.
They would have been fruitlessin their efforts.
God is saying that that entiregeneration of Israel at that
(02:21):
time were so obstinate in theirevil that even Noah, Daniel and
Job wouldn't be able to reachthem and turn their hearts
towards God.
Our generation is not the firstto be very rebellious towards
the Lord, steve.
Can we take any lessons fromthat?
In our day we have a veryrebellious, very lost generation
(02:43):
that is very far from the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I think the lesson that we can take from it is that
we're all responsible forourselves first thing, and we
need to be strong and faithfulto the Lord, jesus Christ.
What he's done, what he can dofor them, lead them to believe
and trust on him and change thesociety or change the culture
(03:15):
around us, one person at a time.
That's one thing we can takeaway from it.
But to your point is that everygeneration has the same
situation where you have peoplethat don't follow God.
In our previous session, whenwe were describing this chapter,
it said one of the first thingsin the verse was that the
people had separated themselvesfrom God.
(03:35):
Now we were talking aboutbelievers and giving some advice
associated with that, butthat's true for the unbelievers.
That's the first thing thatthey do is they're separating
themselves from God.
They don't want to follow Godand they want to separate.
They don't want to haveanything to do with God.
They don't want to be heldaccountable by God for the
(03:57):
things that they do.
So the result of that, as wetalked about last session, was
that God was going to separatehimself from them.
Well, my friend, if you happento be listening to this or
watching this and you're not abeliever.
Let it be known that you haveseparated yourself from God
because you've wanted to do that, and at some point, god will
(04:18):
separate himself from you.
We have people, just as we'reencouraging you here.
Follow Jesus Christ, become abeliever in him, understand what
he did through his death,burial and resurrection, and
that you need to have a way tobe reconciled back to God, and
that can be done through JesusChrist.
Bring yourself closer to God sothat he will bring himself
(04:42):
close to you.
To God, so that he will bringhimself close to you.
So I think that's a lesson thatwe can take, glenn that we have
a responsibility in everygeneration as believers, in
order to spread the gospel,spread the good news, go out and
make disciples, and that's ourmission.
That's the main thing that weshould be able to do in our
(05:03):
generation as we go and live ourlives.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It's very easy in our generation for anyone who has a
heart for God and godly things,it's very easy to get
discouraged because there's somuch sin, so much evil in the
world.
It rubs off on us.
We tend to stray as well.
So we want to live righteouslives and we want our friends
(05:26):
and our family to fall alongwith us towards God.
But what we find is thegeneration doesn't want to
listen.
But I think we can takeencouragement from these words,
because Ezekiel's day was nodifferent.
Jesus's day was no different.
There's always been a remnant.
The next few verses that we'regoing to read God has been
(05:47):
giving this very harsh message,but he gives some word of
encouragement here.
What he's about to say at theend of the chapter, god is
telling Ezekiel that a remnantof Jerusalem will come to where
Ezekiel is, in Babylon, and oncethat happens, the people are
going to see how sinful thesepeople of Jerusalem were and why
(06:10):
God's wrath is justified.
Let's read the last part ofchapter 14, starting in verse 21
, says this For thus says theLord God, how much more when I
send my four severe judgmentsagainst Jerusalem, sword, famine
, wild beasts and plague to cutoff man and beast from it.
(06:31):
Yet, behold, survivors will beleft in it who will be brought
out, both sons and daughters.
Behold, they are going to comeforth to you and you will see
their conduct and actions.
Then you will be comforted fortheir calamity.
(07:02):
To send four judgments againstJerusalem the sword of an enemy,
famine, wild beast and disease.
God is going to ensure thatsome survivors make it to
Babylon, but most of them aregoing to die.
And, of course, steve.
That brings up the question howcould God be just in this
(07:24):
severe punishment that he gives?
He's answered it in thoseverses, did he not.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
He has answered it.
The question, though, is howcould he be this way?
Well, go back to the very firstpart of Ezekiel and what he's
conveying to the people.
They're stubborn and obstinatepeople.
They have been out putting upidols and not only idols within
their land.
The kings had led them to thatand allowed them to do it, but
(07:52):
they were doing it on the templecomplex.
They had a secret room in thetemple so they weren't just out
within their own homes orsomewhere else.
They were right in the midst ofthe center of worship of God of
Israel, doing these things.
God had protected them severaltimes.
He had allowed the nation ofIsrael, the northern kingdom, to
(08:16):
be taken off Again.
This was a time when thekingdom was split into Israel in
the north and Judah in thesouth.
They had been taken off acouple of hundred years before
by Assyria because they were ina worse situation than Judah was
, but then Judah followed alongwith it, and now it's gotten
down to the point that the onlything that is left is the city
(08:40):
of Jerusalem itself.
There's been two waves ofpeople that have been taken off
into captivity by Babylon.
You had false prophets that Godis talking about saying to the
people, both that are left inJerusalem and to the exiles
don't worry, god is going tocome through one more time and
(09:01):
he's not going to allow the cityto fall.
We have that dramatic story ofone time when Assyria had come
down and the death angel hadgone out and killed 185,000 of
the troops that were encampedabout the city of Jerusalem, and
then the king left the next dayafter that.
(09:22):
So the people had this falseimpression at the time that God
was one more time going to comethrough for them.
But in reality God is tellingthem no more, I'm done coming
through for them.
But in a reality, god istelling them no more, I'm done
coming through for you.
You're going to pay theconsequences for your
stubbornness and the sin thatyou have been doing.
(09:43):
And here he's saying there'sgoing to be four plagues that
are going to come through andthe city is going to be
destroyed, but, as you pointedout, glenn, there's still going
to be a remnant of people thatare believers in Yahweh that are
going to come out of thatcalamity that's about to come on
Jerusalem.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
What God is telling Ezekiel in these last few verses
we just read, and the messageto give to the people there in
Babylon was that, yes, I'm goingto bring all these horrible
things sword famine, wild beasts, disease going to bring all of
horrible things sword famine,wild beasts, disease.
I'm going to bring all of thisand some of the remnant's going
to come, and when they get toyou in Babylon, you're going to
(10:23):
see why I'm justified, god says.
To understand this, we have toreally grasp the severity of
what it means to have this idolworship.
It wasn't just a different typeof worship.
What they were actually doingand we're going to see this in
the chapters in Ezekiel some ofthem were frying their children,
(10:44):
their infants, on the heatedmetal arms of the god Molech
that was passing their childrenthrough the fire.
They were sacrificing their ownchildren.
They had gross and widespreadsex worship.
This was total given over toidol worship, to the point that
it was causing mass death, massdisease.
(11:06):
I find it interesting that whenGod deals with passages like
this, people throw up theirhands and say how could God be
so severe?
How could he punish people likethis?
But when he doesn't and he ispatient and allows people time
to decide on their own to repentand allows evil to go across
(11:29):
the land.
People throw up their hands andsay why isn't God dealing with
this evil?
Well, he can't have it bothways.
God deals with it in his wisetiming here.
It's time to deal with it.
What he's telling Ezekiel iswhen this remnant gets to you,
you're going to realize how evilthey are and how much I was
(11:50):
justified in destroying thispeople.
Moving on to chapter 15,ezekiel gives a message from God
about a grapevine.
Now we have to remember thepurpose of a grapevine is to
bear fruit.
When a grapevine doesn'tproduce fruit, it's useless.
God had expected Israel to bearfruit.
Steve, can you read the eightverses of chapter 15, and we'll
(12:14):
find out his message about thevine.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Then the word of the Lord came to me saying Son of
man, how is the wood of the vinebetter than any wood of a
branch which is among the treesof the forest?
Can wood be taken from it tomake anything, or can man take a
peg from it on which to hangany vessel?
If it has been put into thefire for fuel and the fire has
(12:40):
consumed both of its ends andits middle part has been charred
, is it then useful for anything?
Behold, while it is intact, itis not made into anything.
How much less, when the firehas consumed it and it is
charred, can it still be madeinto anything.
(13:00):
Therefore, thus says the LordGod, as the wood of the vine
among the trees of the forestwhich I have given to the fire
for fuel, so have I given up theinhabitants of Jerusalem and I
set my face against them, thoughthey have come out of the fire,
yet the fire will consume them.
Then you will know that I amthe Lord when I set my face
(13:24):
against them.
Thus, I will make the landdesolate, because they have
acted unfaithfully, declaresLord God.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
A little bit of background about grapevines will
help us get a little moremeaning out of this passage.
Grapevines are very weak bythemselves they fall over on the
ground.
In order to grow grapes, theorchard keepers have to tie them
up on stakes and hold themupright off of the ground.
Then they're quite vigorous.
So they grow a lot of vine.
(13:53):
And if you want grapes insteadof just grapevine, then every
year you have to cut off partsof the branches of the vine so
that the grapevine will be moreproductive and grow more grapes.
If you just let it go, thenyou're going to have a whole lot
of vine and not a lot of grapes.
That's the background of this.
(14:14):
Every year a vineyard keeperwould cut off a lot of the vine
and the wood would then be lyingthere in big piles.
Steve, look at verse 3 here.
Is the wood of a vine good formaking anything?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
No, the wood of a grapevine is very thin and it's
kind of limber.
So, no, you can't really takeit and make anything out of it
like you could from a tree oreven a tree branch.
The grapevine is just as I saidit's very small, very limber.
In fact, you even said theyhave to tie it up in order to
(14:52):
get it to produce grapes.
In fact, you even said theyhave to tie it up in order to
get it to produce grapes.
So, no, the vine of a grapevine is not useful for anything
such as that.
What is the purpose of a grapevine?
It's to bear fruit.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
It's to bear grapes.
What does the orchard keeper,vineyard keeper, do to a vine
that's not producing fruit?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
keeper.
Due to a vine that's notproducing fruit, he cuts it off
so that the tree itself isgiving all of its energy into
other vines or branches that areactually producing grapes the
ones that are just out there notproducing grapes.
They're just wasting the energythat the tree is putting into
itself to live.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Oh, all that's exactly right.
And if we remember over in theNew Testament, john chapter 15,
jesus picked up on this sametheme and he used the same idea
of the grapevine and he told hisdisciples that he, jesus, was
the vine and they were thebranches.
And if the branches abided inthe vine then they will bear
(15:56):
fruit, and if they got apartfrom him and didn't bear fruit,
they're going to be pruned andthrown into the fire.
So when he mentioned that, hishearers would have immediately
thought about not only what theyknew about grapevines, but they
would have thought about thispassage right back here in
Ezekiel, chapter 15.
(16:16):
After God's judgment, then theleftover grapevines are going to
be doubly useless.
If they stay in the vine andproduce fruit, then they'll be
left and they'll be part of theproductive goal of the vineyard
keeper.
But as soon as they stopproducing fruit or stop being
(16:38):
connected to Christ, thenthey're going to be judged.
It tells us here.
If we look at the end of verse7, it says Then you will know I
am the Lord.
Well when?
Well, he says after it's burned.
What he's saying is that theytake these vines that aren't
producing fruit and cut them off.
The wood's too small, it's toolimber, can't even make a good
(17:02):
peg out of it and throw theminto the fire.
Now they're doubly uselessAfter the fire hits it.
It's really useless.
One of God's major themes thathe keeps repeating throughout
the Word of God is that peoplewill know he is the true God
after he pours out his anger andjudgment.
(17:24):
And I can imagine, steve, thatthe people in Ezekiel's day were
sort of like the people in ourday.
We haven't seen God do anythingsevere in our lives.
He doesn't come down and causemass judgment on people around
us.
People were thinking well, ifGod hasn't done it up to now,
then he never will, which isexactly what people are thinking
(17:46):
today, correct People?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
do think that and I think that there are times
whenever there are particularjudgments that come on nations
in various ways, but the peopleare so separated from God that
they don't acknowledge that itmight be something from God
whenever these so-called naturaldisasters take place.
(18:08):
Maybe sometimes they aresomething that's related to God,
but in general what you said istrue People don't think that
God is active in the world todayand that that therefore the
judgment isn't going to becoming at any time, because he
hasn't brought any type ofjudgment in several hundred
(18:28):
years, since the time of Jesusand the time of the Old
Testament.
But we're told through theseprophets, glenn, that there is
going to be a time of judgment.
That's going to come and it'sin our future.
Time of judgment that's goingto come and it's in our future
and just as assured as God istelling Ezekiel to tell the
people that Jerusalem is goingto be dealt with here and the
(18:52):
example that he's given here ofthe charred branch, the ends of
it, the kingdom of Israel andthe kingdom of Judah have come
into under judgment andtherefore it's no longer any use
to him.
They've failed their part ofwhat they were to do.
Same thing is going to happen insome time in the future, that
(19:13):
the world is so separated fromGod that there's going to come a
time of judgment in the futureand it's not going to be pretty.
There's going to be famine,plagues, natural disasters that
are going to happen and thepeople are going to know at the
time it's coming from Godwhenever it happens.
It says, in fact, that thepeople on the earth are going to
(19:34):
try and hide from these naturaldisasters and wish that they
would die, but they're not goingto be able to die, wish that
they would die, but they're notgoing to be able to die Through
those plagues and disasters.
Then they are going to know theLord God, just like he's saying
to them here, when theseplagues and disasters come on
the city of Jerusalem.
(19:54):
They're going to know that heis the Lord God.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
And at the end of this chapter, verse 8, he says
thus, I will make the landdesolate.
We have to understand thecontrast here in order to grasp
the significance of this.
Remember the land of Israel wasdescribed as the land flowing
with milk and honey.
It was very productive.
We remember back when Joshuasent the spies into the land.
(20:20):
It was so productive.
One of the things they broughtback to Joshua was there was one
cluster of grapes that was sobig that two men had to carry it
on a pole in between them.
The land was very productive.
But here in Ezekiel 15.8, godsays I'm going to make the land
(20:41):
desolate, and he gives a reasonbecause why, Steve?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
It says because they were unfaithful to him.
Think about it, Glenn.
At the time that they weregoing in, it was under
occupation by pagans.
They were not worshiping God.
They certainly weren't faithfulto the God Yahweh.
So it gives a picture that Godhad blessed the land in
preparation for the people to goin and take it.
(21:08):
In fact, he had even told themI'm giving you a land that has
vineyards that you didn't growor cultivate, and things that
are there, cities that werebuilt that you didn't build, or
anything else like that.
I'm going to go before you andI'm giving you this land.
Now look at what they've donewith it.
After hundreds of years ofoccupation, they have come to
(21:30):
the point that they have notfulfilled what God had put them
there for.
They have become unfaithful, sothat now God is going to leave
the land desolate.
I mean, just really think aboutthat.
They went into a land, as youhave just described, full of
milk and honey and prosperity,rich in produce, and their
(21:53):
unfaithfulness is now turningthe land to where God is going
to make it desolate.
I don't know about you, Glenn,but I think there's something
there Really we can take awayfrom that.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
We can take away what God can do in our lives.
He can make our lives veryproductive and very flowing with
His grace and His benefits.
He could also make our livesvery desolate.
It all comes down to what itsays here in this verse, which
is are we faithful to Him, do webelieve Him, do we follow his
(22:23):
ways, or do we reject him andignore his ways?
Do we come to him and askforgiveness and keep short
accounts with the Lord, or do wehide sin in our hearts?
Now, moving on to chapter 16,we have a passage here where he
gives a description of Jerusalemas if it were a newborn baby.
(22:43):
He has very descriptivelanguage here of finding this
baby, of Jerusalem as a city andhow he finds her, what
condition she's in as a newbornand what he does to raise her up
.
Let's go ahead and read thefirst 14 verses of Ezekiel 16.
Say this Then the word of theLord came to me, saying Son of
(23:06):
man, make known to Jerusalem herabominations and say Thus says
the Lord, god to Jerusalem, yourorigin and your birth are from
the land of the Canaanite.
Your father was an Amorite andyour mother a Hittite.
As for your birth, on the dayyou were born, your navel cord
was not cut, nor were you washedwith water for cleansing.
(23:27):
You were not rubbed with saltor even wrapped in cloths.
No eye looked with pity on youto do any of these things, for
you to have compassion on you.
Rather, you were thrown outinto the open field for you were
abhorred.
On the day you were born.
When I passed by you and sawyou squirming in your blood, I
(23:49):
said to you while you were inyour blood live.
Yes.
I said to you while you were inyour blood, live.
I made you numerous, likeplants of the field.
Then you grew up and became talland reached the age for fine
ornaments.
Your breasts were formed andyour hair had grown, yet you
were naked and bare.
(24:10):
Then I passed by you and sawyou and behold, you were at the
time for love.
So I spread my skirt over youand covered your nakedness.
I also swore to you and enteredinto a covenant with you so
that you became mine, declaresthe Lord God.
Then I bathed you with water,washed off your blood from you
(24:31):
and anointed you with oil.
I also clothed you withembroidered cloth and put
sandals of porpoise skin on yourfeet, and I wrapped you with
fine linen and covered you withsilk.
I adorned you with ornaments,put bracelets on your hands and
a necklace around your neck.
I also put a ring in yournostril, earrings in your ears
(24:52):
and a beautiful crown on yourhead.
Thus you were adorned with goldand silver, and your dress was
of fine linen, silk andembroidered cloth.
Steve, what had God done forJerusalem to make it shine like
this?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
He had taken them and raised them up.
He had taken them to the pointof, like it says here, they were
abhorred, and he rescued them,he clothed them, he took care of
them.
He clothed them, he took careof them.
He cut the umbilical cord,because if you don't cut the
(25:46):
umbilical cord after the uterusis no longer feeding the baby,
it will kill the baby.
He took it, gave it clothing,he adorned it with different
types of silver and gold andrings and things like that.
It shows him that he took thisyoung city of Jerusalem, israel,
(26:08):
who's being a representative ofthe nation of Israel itself.
He has taken it and brought itto himself and rescued it from a
very small entity to raise itup into what it was.
So he's taking them back totheir roots and where they came
from and he's basically sayingis is that you're mine?
(26:30):
I'm the one that took you froma very young age and brought you
up.
So he's going to get here to apoint as to what they've done.
But, compared to all theprevious verses, them being
unfaithful, obstinate, stubbornhe's now taking them back
through this allegory that he'susing to Ezekiel, that he's the
(26:55):
one who took them from the verybirth.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
First thing I notice, steve, when I read passages
like this, are that not only isit the inspired, inerrant Word
of God, but it's also justbeautiful literature.
The description here, in thedescriptive language, is just
very emotional.
It's very telling.
It's very good literature.
He talks about a very graphicdescription of the baby.
(27:20):
Then he gives also a verygraphic, beautiful description
of the grown woman.
He talks about finding thisnewborn baby that was still in
its blood.
No one had taken care of it.
Imagine a newborn baby that noone had even wiped it off or put
a blanket on it to warm it.
He says all of that.
He even says, in verse 3, yourbirth was from the land of the
(27:42):
Canaanite, your father was anAmorite and your mother a
Hittite.
What he's saying there is thatyour father was no good and
neither was your mother.
You came from a very badheritage and no one was going to
take care of you.
I found you you were kind ofugly, left alone, and he said I
washed you off, I put cloths onyou, I raised you up, I took you
(28:06):
to a time when you werebeautiful.
I found you very dirty andabandoned and I took care of you
.
When you grew up, you became avery beautiful bride and I
clothed you in fine ornaments.
He had this wonderfuldescription of the clothing and
the jewelry that he had.
He adorned her with finejewelry.
(28:27):
Verse 9, he says I washed herand anointed her with oil, which
means he took away her sin andblessed her with anointing.
He did all of that forJerusalem.
Did God actually do this forthe Jewish people?
Did he take them from reallynothing, no real nation, up to a
(28:48):
time when they were powerful asa nation, very beautiful, very
wealthy?
Did God do all of that?
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yes, he did.
In studying for this chapter,glenn, I read where the rabbis
through the centuries at leastsome of them don't want to teach
, or read Ezekiel, chapter 16,because as we get into it
further, it gives a verydisturbing picture of the nation
(29:17):
itself and how it's describedhere, as far as the allegory
that's here.
Part of it was that they lookat it some of them as being a
slap to Abraham and Sarah.
But God here isn't reallydescribing their birth from
Abraham and Sarah.
When he says that you're fromthe Amorite and Hittite, it's
(29:40):
like what you said is he'ssaying the land that you were
given and that you came out ofwere from pagans.
It was something that I gave toyou and brought you into and
gave to you and brought you upout of.
They need to understand thatthis is God's land, it's his
land and he gave it to them andpushed the other people out
(30:04):
because, as I mentioned before,it was something that they
hadn't even cultivatedthemselves the people themselves
.
He's trying to get across tothem how much he loves them as a
nation and what he has done forthem to try and make them
understand once again throughEzekiel in this story, this
(30:26):
allegory, that he cares for them, so much so that he brought
them up from a very, very youngage, allegorically speaking, and
did bring them to a point wherethey were much prosperous and
they had expanded their bordersand things like that.
But they had gotten to a pointwhere they just let their kings
(30:47):
and their leadership lead themastray over and over again.
So now it's led them to thispoint where they're going to be
total destruction of now,finally, the southern kingdom of
Judah, if we read the historyof Israel, it starts with
Abraham and it was reallynothing.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Abraham was really of no real repute when he started
and even up to the time whereJacob went into Egypt, then
there was really sort of aragtag group of extended family.
That wasn't really much.
The people there Jacob was adeceiver, was really nothing to
look at, not very powerful, notvery wealthy.
(31:27):
And if we then take it upthrough the Egyptian slavery,
there was really again thesewere just slaves in Egypt.
God took them up to the time ofSolomon.
All the gold, all the silver,all the fine linens, all the
fine cloths Read the amount offood that he produced for his
household and his peoples.
(31:48):
It was very beautiful to lookat.
The foreigners would come justto look at how beautiful it was,
with all the wealth and all thefood and all the glory Because
of worshiping idols.
Now the land is desolate.
Next time, as we get into thepassages in the next part of
(32:08):
Ezekiel 16, we're going to seeequally graphic description of
how ugly and evil that Jerusalemhad taken the beautiful things
that God had given them.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
It's really a sad story as we leave it at this
point, glenn, but at the end ofchapter 16, there's going to be
hope and the redemption that Godis going to say that he has for
them.
Thank you very much forwatching and listening.
We hope that you're enjoyingthis series on Ezekiel.
Look for our resources on ourresource page where you can find
other types of books that we'vegone through.
(32:43):
We hope that you'll come backwith us next time as we continue
through the book of Ezekiel.
Thank you so much.
May the Lord bless you.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.