A clay model of Jerusalem under siege. A prophet lying on his side for 390 days. Bread cooked over animal dung. These aren't theatrical props—they're God's dramatic teaching methods deployed through the prophet Ezekiel to convey urgent messages to an obstinate people.
When words alone fail to penetrate hardened hearts, God escalates to visual demonstrations. As we explore Ezekiel chapter 4, we discover how the prophet became a living object lesson, enacting bizarre but powerful scenarios that would have drawn crowds and sparked conversations throughout the exiled community in Babylon.
The symbolism runs deep—an iron plate representing the separation sin creates between God and His people, precise day counts (390 for Israel, 40 for Judah) showing God's meticulous accounting of rebellion, and severely restricted food rations depicting the coming horrors of Jerusalem's siege. Each element conveyed what the exiles refused to believe: Jerusalem would fall, the temple would be destroyed, and their hopes of quick return were false.
What makes these ancient demonstrations relevant today? The fundamental human condition remains unchanged—we all face the iron barrier of sin. But where Ezekiel could only symbolize the problem, we encounter its solution through Christ, who tore the temple curtain and removed the separation.
The prophetic reliability displayed in Ezekiel challenges us too. Those same principles of accountability and divine discipline extend to modern believers, as the letters to the seven churches in Revelation make clear. God's love doesn't make Him lenient toward persistent rebellion—whether in ancient Israel or today's church.
Journey with us through these peculiar prophetic acts and discover timeless lessons about sin's ugliness, God's precision in judgment, and the extraordinary lengths He goes to communicate with those He loves. Subscribe to be notified as soon as new episodes are published and join us as we continue through Ezekiel's remarkably relevant ancient message.
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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):
Educators tell us that lectures only have a
limited amount of ability tocommunicate to people as far as
learning.
But if the learners get to see,then it increases their ability
to learn things.
If they get to handle things,it still increases their ability
(00:41):
to learn things even more.
God is a good educator.
He's going to have Ezekiel actout some lessons People like
Jeremiah had alreadycommunicated to the people of
Israel and they did not listen.
We were learning last time thatGod told Ezekiel I'm going to
(01:02):
give you a message, but theydidn't listen to me and they're
not going to listen to you.
God is going to go out of hisway and he's going to give
Ezekiel, in chapter four ofEzekiel's book, several things
to act out and they're veryunusual.
But because they're unusual,they're going to get the
attention of the people ofIsrael.
(01:23):
God will always communicate tohis people his message.
God, in this case, will go outof his way to make it very
illustrative.
He's going to illustrate what'sgoing to happen to the people.
In this chapter we're going tosee Ezekiel build a clay model
of Jerusalem and then lay siegeto it.
(01:43):
He's going to lay on his leftside for over a year.
He's going to lay on his rightside for 40 days and then he's
going to live on a tiny littlebit of food and God's going to
command him to cook it over afire of manure.
Very unusual things.
Let's go ahead and get intothis.
(02:04):
Steve, can you read the firstthree verses of Ezekiel chapter?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
4?
.
Now you, son of man, getyourself a brick, place it
before you and inscribe a cityon it Jerusalem.
Then lay siege against it,build a siege wall, raise up a
ramp, pitch camps and placebattering rams against it all
around.
Then get yourself an iron plateand set it up as an iron wall
(02:28):
between you and the city and setyour face toward it so that it
is under siege, and besiege it.
This is a sign to the house ofIsrael.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Here in verse 1, god tells Ezekiel go get a brick or
a clay tablet and lay a city ofJerusalem out on it.
So he doesn't give us much moreinstructions than that on
exactly how this brick was towork, but it's very possible it
would be similar to in thosedays they didn't have all the
(03:00):
modern kinds of writing we had.
So in those days a lot of timesthey would get clay, wet clay,
modern kinds of writing we had.
So in those days a lot of timesthey would get clay, wet clay
and a stylus and they wouldwrite on it when the clay dried.
You'd have a permanent way ofpassing messages back and forth
that were permanent.
You could make a permanentrecord of something that you
wanted to put in writing.
Some of these still exist today, from the ancient world In any
(03:22):
case.
Today, from the ancient world Inany case, ezekiel was to take a
brick or a pad of clay tile andcreate the city of Jerusalem on
it and lay siege.
It would be like having toysoldiers.
So you can imagine a grown manthis would be rather a lowering
of his opinion, you might say inthe eyes of the people of the
(03:44):
city, generally a grown man,including one of God's prophets
to make a model toy soldiers andplay with it in the street.
This would attract attention.
God is having Ezekiel act outthe messages that he wants to
give Israel.
When people can see what willhappen to Israel, it'll get
their attention.
(04:04):
Then he was to take an ironplate and put it between himself
and the model of Jerusalem.
Of course, the imagery here isthat Ezekiel was speaking God's
word.
He had already been saying thussays the Lord.
So Ezekiel was speaking for God.
When Ezekiel would make thistoy city and then put an iron
(04:27):
plate in between himself and thecity, it's a symbol of God
being blocked off or separatedfrom the Jewish people of Israel
.
We have here the clear messagethat God is going to be
separated from the people andthat there's going to be a siege
of the city of Jerusalem.
(04:48):
Steve, what do you see in this?
We have Ezekiel, god's prophet,out there playing with toy
soldiers.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Well, what I see is God communicating with his
people in various ways.
A little background thenorthern nation of Israel was
taken into captivity by theAssyrians in 722 BC, but the
southern kingdom of Judah wasnot.
Babylon came in and defeatedthe Assyrians and had taken over
(05:16):
their land, and in 605 BC theywent against the nation of Judah
, but they didn't overtake thecity.
There were three ways ofcaptivity 605, 597, and then 586
is when Jerusalem finally fell.
Daniel was in that first wavein 605, and we've talked about
(05:39):
him being a contemporary ofEzekiel, but he's in the king's
court learning the ways of theking and dealing with
Nebuchadnezzar through hisdreams and all of that.
There's also a contemporary ofEzekiel, of Jeremiah.
Ezekiel is taken in that secondwave of 597, and he's there with
(06:00):
the exiles in Babylon, butJeremiah is still back in the
land and he never is taken intocaptivity.
But he is prophesying to thepeople that are still back in
Judah and Jerusalem and he'sbasically saying the same thing
of telling the people to repent.
(06:20):
They're the ones that are stillback at the city.
Here it is, ezekiel beingcalled in 593.
The siege in the city isactually going to take place in
586 BC.
We know all of this becausewe're on this side of history.
God is telling Ezekiel in 593,build this model of Jerusalem
(06:41):
and set it up as if the city isunder siege in order to
communicate to the people thatare in captivity that Jerusalem
is going to be taken down, it'sgoing to become under siege and
it's going to be torn down.
Even though they're incaptivity, god is still
communicating to the people whatis going on, albeit he has done
(07:05):
it in a different way withEzekiel than he does it with
Jeremiah back in the land itself.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
One of the reasons that God has Ezekiel do this is
because, again, as Steve, youjust said, the people that
Ezekiel's speaking to are inBabylon.
They're in captivity.
They had recently been takenthere and many of them didn't
believe this would last.
They didn't believe that Godwould allow an enemy to come in
(07:33):
and destroy Jerusalem.
So, at the time this prophecywas given, the city of Jerusalem
had not yet fallen.
The people were listening tofalse prophets that were telling
them what they wanted to hear,which was oh, god's not going to
let his city fall, he's notgoing to let his entire people
be destroyed.
(07:53):
Ezekiel is giving the messagehere's a model of Jerusalem.
It's going to have Babylon laysiege to it.
Thus says the Lord, there'sgoing to be an iron wall in
between God and Jerusalem andGod is not going to come and
help them.
Again, ezekiel is the Godfigure in the illustration and
(08:15):
the iron plate is in between Godand the people of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel is very clearly tellingthese people the false prophets
are incorrect, that Ezekiel isgoing to be laid siege upon and
God's not going to come and helpthem, because there's a
separation between God and thepeople.
Now, steve, what causes aseparation between us and God?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Being stubborn and obstinate.
That's what gives a separation.
It's like these people.
They didn't want to follow thecommandments that Moses had laid
out for them.
They didn't want to followGod's commands.
That's why they're in captivity.
One of the reasons is theydidn't let the land lay fallow
(08:59):
every seventh year.
So God says you're going to gointo captivity for every time
period of seven years that youdidn't let the lay life fallow.
You're going to be in captivityfor 70 years.
He said that through Jeremiah.
That's how you get a separationbetween you and God is you just
refuse to do what God wants usto do?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Sin can cause a separation between us and God.
That was true in Ezekiel's day.
It's true in our day.
Sin separates us from God, justlike Ezekiel was separated by
the iron plate.
What can break the separation?
Do we have something that canbreak through this separation
caused by sin In our day we have.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Jesus Christ, through his death, burial and
resurrection, has broken thebarrier of sin.
For those who believe and truston him, then we can have that
imputed righteousness that weget from Jesus Christ because
he's paid our sin debt.
We can now once again have arelationship with God.
(10:08):
But although we have belief andtrust in Jesus Christ, it
should be more than that from astandpoint of building an actual
relationship with God throughreading his word, getting to
know him, who he is.
It's not just the New Testament, it's the Old Testament, like
what we're doing, going throughthese Old Testament books to
(10:29):
learn of God's character and geta closer relationship with him.
Even though this book isdirected directly to the nation
of Israel, as you can see, we'reable to take things out of it
and apply it to our lives today.
While you believe and trust inJesus Christ, follow through
with it in a process calledsanctification and get to know
(10:53):
God's Word, and get to know Godand build a relationship with
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Exactly that's.
The only way we can breakthrough the iron wall of
separation between us and God isthrough Jesus Christ.
Remember, when Jesus died, thecurtain in between the holy
place and the holy of holies andthe temple was torn from top to
bottom.
The separation between God andman was broken at Jesus' death
(11:19):
on the cross.
So we have here, in the firstpart of Ezekiel 4, god had
Ezekiel build this little claycity with these toy soldiers,
and now he's separated by aniron plate.
Now God, in the next few verses,tells Ezekiel to do something
even more unusual.
I'm reading, starting in verse4.
As for you, lie down on yourleft side and lay the iniquity
(11:43):
of the house of Israel on it.
You shall bear their iniquityfor the number of days that you
lie on it, for I have assignedyou a number of days
corresponding to the years oftheir iniquity 390 days.
Thus you shall bear theiniquity of the house of Israel.
When you have completed these,you shall lie down a second time
(12:06):
, but on your right side, andbear the iniquity of the house
of Judah.
I have assigned it to you for40 days a day for each year.
Then you shall set your facetowards the siege of Jerusalem
with your arm bared and prophesyagainst it.
Now behold, I will put ropes onyou so that you cannot turn
(12:27):
from one side to the other untilyou have completed the days of
your siege.
Steve, this is quite unusual.
He has them lay on his leftside for 390 days and then on
his right side for 40 days.
What can we make of this?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
very unusual act.
He says right here in the textthat each day represents a year.
When we're talking aboutorientation, everything in
Scripture is noted as facing theeast.
That's the main direction.
The temple faced east, thetabernacle faced east.
Whenever the gate to the Gardenof Eden was facing east and
(13:06):
whenever Adam and Eve werethrown out of the garden, there
were guards that were put thereand they were outside east of
Eden.
When he lays on his left side,that means he's facing north and
that is to represent thenorthern kingdom of Israel.
Then when he lays on his rightside, he's facing south.
(13:28):
That would represent thesouthern kingdom of Judah.
Now there's been a lot ofdiscussion in regards to well,
what is this?
430 years, glenn?
I don't know what you havethere, but in some of my
research the thought is that alot of people and scholars look
(13:49):
back on the history of Judah andIsrael and Israel, the combined
kingdom altogether, and try andplace this 430 years into that
timeline.
But there's a thought that ifyou look to the future from
Ezekiel's time, that 430 years390 plus 40, that it puts you
(14:14):
around the time of the Maccabees, the Maccabean revolt in 160 BC
or so, and that possibly that'sthe 430 years that God is
trying to represent there, butit is a mystery as far as the
sages and scholars through theyears trying to figure out what
(14:35):
this 430 years is.
What did you come up with?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Well, I can tell you one thing we can be absolutely
sure of of what the 390 and the40 mean.
One thing it means is that Godkeeps track.
Wherever he's counting from,he's keeping track.
It's not a random number.
It's exactly 390 and exactly 40, and that means that God is
keeping track.
And it says it is the years oftheir iniquity.
(15:01):
That means that God knowsexactly how much sin that Israel
has and exactly how much sinthat Judah has.
And it means God has a recordand he remembers.
And they didn't get away withtheir sin.
So, regardless of where he'sstarting from and ending from,
it means God kept track and Godknows precisely how much sin
(15:22):
there is and he is meeting outprecisely the exact justice
required from that.
God is a fair judge and he willgive out punishment exactly
according to the people's guilt.
They will not get away with it.
He will deal out punishment forsin.
God keeps track of this.
It says a day is a year,somewhere there's a 430-year
(15:45):
period or a 390-year periodwhere they thought they were
getting away with it Very longtime, where they thought, oh,
god's silent, not going to haveany issues here, we can just
keep doing like we're doing.
God says no, no punishment willhappen.
The good news for us is that hehas.
Well, I guess the bad news forus first is that he's kept track
(16:05):
of our sin too.
He's kept track of every sinand he knows it, and we thought
we got away with it, but wedidn't.
The good news for us is thatJesus paid for all of our sin
and if we but have faith in him,then all our sin can be washed
away and we won't have to lay onour side for a year and a half
or any other odd punishment,because Jesus took all of that.
(16:28):
Now we also know here verse 8,that the number of days are
called the days of your siege,it says in verse 8.
So, therefore, god is clearlyconnecting, in this act of
laying on his side, two concepts.
One is God is punishing Israeland Judah for their sin, and
(16:49):
it's an exact punishment for anexact amount of sin.
Judah for their sin, and it'san exact punishment for an exact
amount of sin.
Secondly, babylon's siege ofJerusalem is in God's hand of
punishment, that God was usingBabylon, the evil, wicked
Babylon, as punishment for thepeople of Jerusalem by having
Babylon come in and attack them.
(17:12):
So we have those concepts, godknows exactly how much sin they
have and they thought they weregetting away with it for a very
long time.
But God is going to go in andhave an evil nation do his will,
and those are both veryprofound concepts that still
today, our old flesh rebelsagainst.
But if we just sit back in aweat a wondrous God that he's the
(17:37):
one in control and he is the onethat moves all the chess pieces
around on the chessboard and wemay not understand what he's
doing he didn't take us into hiscounsel to explain it, but we
submit to him and follow hisrules and we can have confidence
that everything's going to turnout well If anything.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Ezekiel is an organized book and there's three
sections.
The first section here goes upto chapter 24, and it's all God
dealing with Israel.
Then you have a middle sectionof God dealing with the Gentile
nations, and then you have thelast section where God is giving
a future encouragement of arestored Israel.
(18:18):
We do see that, as you mentioned, god is using Babylon as the
judgment for the nation ofIsrael, for Judah, and to take
the siege on to Jerusalem and totear down the temple and
ransack the city.
But over in Zechariah we alsonoted God saying the same thing.
(18:39):
I have used Babylon to punishthe people, but yet they went
too far and I'm going to holdthem accountable.
Even while God is holdingIsrael accountable, as you just
so aptly put, and keeping trackof their iniquity, he's also
keeping track of the iniquity ofall the other nations, and
(19:01):
they're going to pay a penaltytoo if they don't turn back to
God and become a believer inJesus Christ.
They have a penalty that'sgoing to be put on them too.
They're not going to get awaywith being overbearing and going
too far if they happen to be anation that is used to
discipline Israel.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
In the passage again, ezekiel builds this model.
This clay model puts an ironwall in between himself and the
city, lays on his side for overa year.
Then it says Ezekiel is to turntowards the model of Jerusalem
that he had built and give amessage about God's judgment
(19:44):
against Jerusalem.
That's what he's saying here.
At the time this message wasgiven, Jerusalem was still
standing.
It had not yet been destroyed.
So the message was really clearto the audience around.
Ezekiel is that Jerusalem'sgoing to be destroyed.
It's going to be destroyed byGod's hand.
God's not going to come to itsrescue.
(20:04):
He's going to allow the evil,wicked Babylon to destroy it.
It would also seem that, if wehaven't read yet but we'll get
to the commands coming up aboutcooking the food, and there's a
passage about his hair that itwould seem that these were done
during this 390-day period and420-day period that Ezekiel
(20:28):
would not have been laying down24 hours a day.
It would seem like because theother things he had to do was
about the same time.
There's the commands about hisfood and things like that.
So it would seem like he wouldlay down for portions of the day
.
Why act this out?
Why was God trying to show?
Well, he was trying to show ina dramatic way that Babylon was
(20:51):
going to capture Jerusalem andGod was sending Ezekiel out to
act these things out in a verydramatic fashion instead of just
standing on a street corner andsaying it.
God will go to great lengths toget his message to his children.
There's an old kind of chestnutquestion of what happens to the
guy on the deserted island thatnever heard about God.
(21:14):
Well, god will get his messageto his people.
His lesson of the Old Testamentand the New is that God will
send a prophet.
Where was Jonah going?
Jonah was going to Nineveh, anon-Christian quote-unquote
nation, non-jewish nation.
He was sending a prophet to anation that he was about to
judge.
So the lesson is always God'sjust not going to randomly go
(21:37):
land on people.
He sends a message and whenthey won't listen, he sends
another one.
And has Ezekiel dramaticallyacted out to make it clear,
steve?
Has God made his message clearto us today?
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Absolutely clear.
He came himself in Jesus Christso that he could be a
satisfactory sacrifice.
He lived among his creation.
I mean, what greater love canyou have than that is to
actually come and dwell amongyour creation for 30 plus years
(22:14):
and then become a satisfactorysacrifice for that creation so
that they might have eternallife.
The way to 100% have eternallife with Jesus Christ is to
believe and trust in him.
Here's another question.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Can we take these Old Testament messages and things
that God's doing throughJeremiah and Ezekiel?
Are we in the church immune?
In other words, the Jewishnation was God's chosen people
from way back in Genesis, thempouring out his wrath, and he
(22:50):
says quite clearly they wereobstinate, they were rebellious,
they weren't following my rules.
So therefore, I'm going to sendthis evil, wicked Babylon in as
punishment, destroy theirnation, take them off into
captivity, destroy Jerusalem andpunish them because of that.
He did that to ancient Israel.
(23:11):
Is the church immune?
Can we sit and claim the bloodof Christ and be immune to all
this?
And the reason I ask that isbecause, if we look across the
Christian landscape today, boy,there's some churches that are.
Just the only thing I can sayagainst them is they're
rebellious, they're obstinate,they're doing some of the same
things.
They're refusing to followGod's commands and taking the
(23:34):
ways of the world and bringingthem in.
Is the church immune today?
Or Is it possible for God topour out punishment on the
church today?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And that's really what you're talking about.
Is the church immune from beingdisciplined by God?
And no, I don't think they areimmune.
We're given a greatresponsibility to go and make
disciples and teach the worldthe teachings of Jesus Christ,
to spread the good news.
What was it that he said to thechurch at Ephesus in Revelation?
(24:09):
He was upset with that churchbecause they had lost their
first love, their love of JesusChrist, and what they had, and
they had gone off into a waywardway.
I think it was the church ofLaodicea.
He said you're lukewarm, I'mgoing to spit you out of my
mouth.
(24:29):
If we want to think that thechurch is immune to God's
discipline, go read the firstthree chapters of Revelation and
you have Jesus's lettershimself to those churches that I
think describe different stagesof churches that they go
through, and ask yourself whichchurch the church that I go to
(24:51):
which of these churches aredescribed of these seven
churches in Revelation, and thenlook and see what the
discipline and the punishmentwas, or the rebukes that Jesus
gave to those churches that hedid actually give rebukes to in
Revelation.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Those rebukes in Revelation, chapter 2 and 3 were
just that rebukes.
He was warning churches thathey, if you don't change, then
something bad's going to happen.
Here we are today.
We can't go visit thosechurches because they don't
exist anymore.
And I also think of Romans.
Chapter 11, verses 20 and 21,says exactly the same thing.
(25:30):
God tells the church quote Donot be haughty, but fear, for if
God did not spare the naturalbranches and he's talking about
Israel there if God did notspare the natural branches, he
may not spare you either.
The New Testament message isclear yes, we are saved by grace
, through faith, but at the sametime we're held to a
(25:53):
responsibility.
We can't just go live like theworld and we can't go lay our
own desires on what the churchought to be.
We have to submit to his willor else we'll be in the same
position as ancient Israel.
And we'll be in the sameposition as ancient Israel.
And we'll be in the sameposition as the churches in
Revelation, chapter 2 and 3.
The next section.
We have some instructions toEzekiel about his food.
(26:14):
Steve, could you read verses 9to 17?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
But as for you, take wheat, barley beans, lentils,
millet and spelt, put them inone vessel and make them into
bread for yourself.
You shall eat it according tothe number of the days that you
lie on your side three hundredand ninety days.
Your food which you eat shallbe twenty shekels a day by
(26:39):
weight, and you shall eat itfrom time to time.
The water you drink shall bethe sixth part of a hen by
measure.
You shall drink it from time totime.
You shall eat it as barley cake, having baked it in their sight
over human dung.
Then the Lord said Thus will thesons of Israel eat their bread
(27:01):
unclean among the nations whereI will banish them?
But I said, ah Lord, god behold, I have never been defiled, for
from my youth until now, I havenever eaten what died of itself
or was torn by beasts, nor hasany unclean meat even entered my
(27:38):
mouth.
Then he said to me water bymeasure, and in horror, because
bread and water will be scarceand they will be appalled with
one another and waste away intheir iniquity.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
In this section he's giving a clear lesson about food
and remember the overall lessonis about the siege of Jerusalem
.
In verse 9, god tells Ezekielto take wheat, barley beans,
lentils, millet and spelt, whichwere grains and legumes, mixed
them all together to make bread.
(28:11):
And the reason why was becausethere was not enough of them to
make a loaf of bread bythemselves.
There wasn't enough wheat orenough barley to make barley
cakes or wheat bread all byitself.
What he's saying is thatthere's going to be a real
shortage of food.
The measurements he gave therewere very small.
(28:31):
For an adult to live on this,or even a child, this is a very
small amount of food.
One of the lessons is God gaveEzekiel a hard task here, which
is to lay on your side and livefor more than a year on a very
small amount of food, steve.
What's the overall lesson therethat he's trying to communicate
(28:53):
about this siege?
That?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
it's going to be just that.
What happens whenever a city islaid siege, their food supply
is cut off.
That's what the opposing armydoes.
It surrounds the city anddoesn't let any food get into
the city, and if they can cutthe water off, then they'll cut
the water off to the city.
They're doing it so that thecity will surrender.
(29:15):
The hope is really for theopposing forces that they can
take the city without having tolose any of their forces, but
that's what's being communicated.
The people in Jerusalem aregoing to be starving to death
and they're going to have to doexactly what you're saying is
mix all of these grains togetherin order to just come out and
(29:37):
make enough food for them to beable to eat.
We know from history thatthat's actually what happened,
that inside the city it gotreally bad and even to the point
and God will point it out withthe object lessons to Ezekiel
that the people succumbed tocannibalism at some point in
order to just make food forthemselves in this siege that
(30:01):
happened with Jerusalem.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
What God is showing through this action of Ezekiel
is there's going to be a siege.
It's going to be very horriblein the sense that there's not
going to be hardly any food andnot hardly enough to live on,
and there won't be any wood tocook the food with.
Because he says here to takeexcrement and use it for fuel,
(30:25):
and it originally was humanexcrement.
But Ezekiel protested.
He says God's allowed him touse cow manure and that is
burnable if you mix it withstraw, let it dry, but it's
still rather gross, it's stillrather ugly.
What God is showing is quiteclear One this siege is going to
(30:46):
be bad.
He's also showing the uglinessof sin that was being judged.
It's going to be a very badsiege and it's a truly ugly
punishment, an ugly pouring outof God's wrath because of the
sin.
Sin is very ugly and we glossit over and put paint on it and
(31:08):
think that sin's not so bad.
But God sees it for what it is,which is very, very ugly and
very, very sickening.
God is giving a very clearmessage to the people.
He's given a very clear messageto us today.
But so far in the story,through Ezekiel's actions, we've
(31:28):
seen God give the fact of theBabylonian siege of Jerusalem,
the reason for the siege ofJerusalem, the length of the
siege of Jerusalem and theseverity of the siege, and so
that's so far, and the severityof the siege, and so that's so
far.
All those things were literallyfulfilled.
We're going to see otherfulfilled prophecy next time
(31:55):
when we get to chapter 5.
We're going to see even moremessages about Babylon being a
punishment for the people ofIsrael.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
That's exactly right.
Through these short-termprophecies that God is giving to
Ezekiel, he's going to provehimself as being a trustworthy
prophet.
So then we can trust the farfuture prophecies that we're
going to see later in the book.
Yes, and we will reason throughthat next time.
(32:24):
Thank you so much for watchingand listening.
May God bless you.
Educators tell us that lectures only have a
limited amount of ability tocommunicate to people as far as
learning.
But if the learners get to see,then it increases their ability
to learn things.
If they get to handle things,it still increases their ability
(00:41):
to learn things even more.
God is a good educator.
He's going to have Ezekiel actout some lessons People like
Jeremiah had alreadycommunicated to the people of
Israel and they did not listen.
We were learning last time thatGod told Ezekiel I'm going to
(01:02):
give you a message, but theydidn't listen to me and they're
not going to listen to you.
God is going to go out of hisway and he's going to give
Ezekiel, in chapter four ofEzekiel's book, several things
to act out and they're veryunusual.
But because they're unusual,they're going to get the
attention of the people ofIsrael.
(01:23):
God will always communicate tohis people his message.
God, in this case, will go outof his way to make it very
illustrative.
He's going to illustrate what'sgoing to happen to the people.
In this chapter we're going tosee Ezekiel build a clay model
of Jerusalem and then lay siegeto it.
(01:43):
He's going to lay on his leftside for over a year.
He's going to lay on his rightside for 40 days and then he's
going to live on a tiny littlebit of food and God's going to
command him to cook it over afire of manure.
Very unusual things.
Let's go ahead and get intothis.
(02:04):
Steve, can you read the firstthree verses of Ezekiel chapter?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
4?
.
Now you, son of man, getyourself a brick, place it
before you and inscribe a cityon it Jerusalem.
Then lay siege against it,build a siege wall, raise up a
ramp, pitch camps and placebattering rams against it all
around.
Then get yourself an iron plateand set it up as an iron wall
(02:28):
between you and the city and setyour face toward it so that it
is under siege, and besiege it.
This is a sign to the house ofIsrael.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Here in verse 1, god tells Ezekiel go get a brick or
a clay tablet and lay a city ofJerusalem out on it.
So he doesn't give us much moreinstructions than that on
exactly how this brick was towork, but it's very possible it
would be similar to in thosedays they didn't have all the
(03:00):
modern kinds of writing we had.
So in those days a lot of timesthey would get clay, wet clay,
modern kinds of writing we had.
So in those days a lot of timesthey would get clay, wet clay
and a stylus and they wouldwrite on it when the clay dried.
You'd have a permanent way ofpassing messages back and forth
that were permanent.
You could make a permanentrecord of something that you
wanted to put in writing.
Some of these still exist today, from the ancient world In any
(03:22):
case.
Today, from the ancient world Inany case, ezekiel was to take a
brick or a pad of clay tile andcreate the city of Jerusalem on
it and lay siege.
It would be like having toysoldiers.
So you can imagine a grown manthis would be rather a lowering
of his opinion, you might say inthe eyes of the people of the
(03:44):
city, generally a grown man,including one of God's prophets
to make a model toy soldiers andplay with it in the street.
This would attract attention.
God is having Ezekiel act outthe messages that he wants to
give Israel.
When people can see what willhappen to Israel, it'll get
their attention.
(04:04):
Then he was to take an ironplate and put it between himself
and the model of Jerusalem.
Of course, the imagery here isthat Ezekiel was speaking God's
word.
He had already been saying thussays the Lord.
So Ezekiel was speaking for God.
When Ezekiel would make thistoy city and then put an iron
(04:27):
plate in between himself and thecity, it's a symbol of God
being blocked off or separatedfrom the Jewish people of Israel
.
We have here the clear messagethat God is going to be
separated from the people andthat there's going to be a siege
of the city of Jerusalem.
(04:48):
Steve, what do you see in this?
We have Ezekiel, god's prophet,out there playing with toy
soldiers.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Well, what I see is God communicating with his
people in various ways.
A little background thenorthern nation of Israel was
taken into captivity by theAssyrians in 722 BC, but the
southern kingdom of Judah wasnot.
Babylon came in and defeatedthe Assyrians and had taken over
(05:16):
their land, and in 605 BC theywent against the nation of Judah
, but they didn't overtake thecity.
There were three ways ofcaptivity 605, 597, and then 586
is when Jerusalem finally fell.
Daniel was in that first wavein 605, and we've talked about
(05:39):
him being a contemporary ofEzekiel, but he's in the king's
court learning the ways of theking and dealing with
Nebuchadnezzar through hisdreams and all of that.
There's also a contemporary ofEzekiel, of Jeremiah.
Ezekiel is taken in that secondwave of 597, and he's there with
(06:00):
the exiles in Babylon, butJeremiah is still back in the
land and he never is taken intocaptivity.
But he is prophesying to thepeople that are still back in
Judah and Jerusalem and he'sbasically saying the same thing
of telling the people to repent.
(06:20):
They're the ones that are stillback at the city.
Here it is, ezekiel beingcalled in 593.
The siege in the city isactually going to take place in
586 BC.
We know all of this becausewe're on this side of history.
God is telling Ezekiel in 593,build this model of Jerusalem
(06:41):
and set it up as if the city isunder siege in order to
communicate to the people thatare in captivity that Jerusalem
is going to be taken down, it'sgoing to become under siege and
it's going to be torn down.
Even though they're incaptivity, god is still
communicating to the people whatis going on, albeit he has done
(07:05):
it in a different way withEzekiel than he does it with
Jeremiah back in the land itself.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
One of the reasons that God has Ezekiel do this is
because, again, as Steve, youjust said, the people that
Ezekiel's speaking to are inBabylon.
They're in captivity.
They had recently been takenthere and many of them didn't
believe this would last.
They didn't believe that Godwould allow an enemy to come in
(07:33):
and destroy Jerusalem.
So, at the time this prophecywas given, the city of Jerusalem
had not yet fallen.
The people were listening tofalse prophets that were telling
them what they wanted to hear,which was oh, god's not going to
let his city fall, he's notgoing to let his entire people
be destroyed.
(07:53):
Ezekiel is giving the messagehere's a model of Jerusalem.
It's going to have Babylon laysiege to it.
Thus says the Lord, there'sgoing to be an iron wall in
between God and Jerusalem andGod is not going to come and
help them.
Again, ezekiel is the Godfigure in the illustration and
(08:15):
the iron plate is in between Godand the people of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel is very clearly tellingthese people the false prophets
are incorrect, that Ezekiel isgoing to be laid siege upon and
God's not going to come and helpthem, because there's a
separation between God and thepeople.
Now, steve, what causes aseparation between us and God?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Being stubborn and obstinate.
That's what gives a separation.
It's like these people.
They didn't want to follow thecommandments that Moses had laid
out for them.
They didn't want to followGod's commands.
That's why they're in captivity.
One of the reasons is theydidn't let the land lay fallow
(08:59):
every seventh year.
So God says you're going to gointo captivity for every time
period of seven years that youdidn't let the lay life fallow.
You're going to be in captivityfor 70 years.
He said that through Jeremiah.
That's how you get a separationbetween you and God is you just
refuse to do what God wants usto do?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Sin can cause a separation between us and God.
That was true in Ezekiel's day.
It's true in our day.
Sin separates us from God, justlike Ezekiel was separated by
the iron plate.
What can break the separation?
Do we have something that canbreak through this separation
caused by sin In our day we have.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Jesus Christ, through his death, burial and
resurrection, has broken thebarrier of sin.
For those who believe and truston him, then we can have that
imputed righteousness that weget from Jesus Christ because
he's paid our sin debt.
We can now once again have arelationship with God.
(10:08):
But although we have belief andtrust in Jesus Christ, it
should be more than that from astandpoint of building an actual
relationship with God throughreading his word, getting to
know him, who he is.
It's not just the New Testament, it's the Old Testament, like
what we're doing, going throughthese Old Testament books to
(10:29):
learn of God's character and geta closer relationship with him.
Even though this book isdirected directly to the nation
of Israel, as you can see, we'reable to take things out of it
and apply it to our lives today.
While you believe and trust inJesus Christ, follow through
with it in a process calledsanctification and get to know
(10:53):
God's Word, and get to know Godand build a relationship with
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Exactly that's.
The only way we can breakthrough the iron wall of
separation between us and God isthrough Jesus Christ.
Remember, when Jesus died, thecurtain in between the holy
place and the holy of holies andthe temple was torn from top to
bottom.
The separation between God andman was broken at Jesus' death
(11:19):
on the cross.
So we have here, in the firstpart of Ezekiel 4, god had
Ezekiel build this little claycity with these toy soldiers,
and now he's separated by aniron plate.
Now God, in the next few verses,tells Ezekiel to do something
even more unusual.
I'm reading, starting in verse4.
As for you, lie down on yourleft side and lay the iniquity
(11:43):
of the house of Israel on it.
You shall bear their iniquityfor the number of days that you
lie on it, for I have assignedyou a number of days
corresponding to the years oftheir iniquity 390 days.
Thus you shall bear theiniquity of the house of Israel.
When you have completed these,you shall lie down a second time
(12:06):
, but on your right side, andbear the iniquity of the house
of Judah.
I have assigned it to you for40 days a day for each year.
Then you shall set your facetowards the siege of Jerusalem
with your arm bared and prophesyagainst it.
Now behold, I will put ropes onyou so that you cannot turn
(12:27):
from one side to the other untilyou have completed the days of
your siege.
Steve, this is quite unusual.
He has them lay on his leftside for 390 days and then on
his right side for 40 days.
What can we make of this?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
very unusual act.
He says right here in the textthat each day represents a year.
When we're talking aboutorientation, everything in
Scripture is noted as facing theeast.
That's the main direction.
The temple faced east, thetabernacle faced east.
Whenever the gate to the Gardenof Eden was facing east and
(13:06):
whenever Adam and Eve werethrown out of the garden, there
were guards that were put thereand they were outside east of
Eden.
When he lays on his left side,that means he's facing north and
that is to represent thenorthern kingdom of Israel.
Then when he lays on his rightside, he's facing south.
(13:28):
That would represent thesouthern kingdom of Judah.
Now there's been a lot ofdiscussion in regards to well,
what is this?
430 years, glenn?
I don't know what you havethere, but in some of my
research the thought is that alot of people and scholars look
(13:49):
back on the history of Judah andIsrael and Israel, the combined
kingdom altogether, and try andplace this 430 years into that
timeline.
But there's a thought that ifyou look to the future from
Ezekiel's time, that 430 years390 plus 40, that it puts you
(14:14):
around the time of the Maccabees, the Maccabean revolt in 160 BC
or so, and that possibly that'sthe 430 years that God is
trying to represent there, butit is a mystery as far as the
sages and scholars through theyears trying to figure out what
(14:35):
this 430 years is.
What did you come up with?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Well, I can tell you one thing we can be absolutely
sure of of what the 390 and the40 mean.
One thing it means is that Godkeeps track.
Wherever he's counting from,he's keeping track.
It's not a random number.
It's exactly 390 and exactly 40, and that means that God is
keeping track.
And it says it is the years oftheir iniquity.
(15:01):
That means that God knowsexactly how much sin that Israel
has and exactly how much sinthat Judah has.
And it means God has a recordand he remembers.
And they didn't get away withtheir sin.
So, regardless of where he'sstarting from and ending from,
it means God kept track and Godknows precisely how much sin
(15:22):
there is and he is meeting outprecisely the exact justice
required from that.
God is a fair judge and he willgive out punishment exactly
according to the people's guilt.
They will not get away with it.
He will deal out punishment forsin.
God keeps track of this.
It says a day is a year,somewhere there's a 430-year
(15:45):
period or a 390-year periodwhere they thought they were
getting away with it Very longtime, where they thought, oh,
god's silent, not going to haveany issues here, we can just
keep doing like we're doing.
God says no, no punishment willhappen.
The good news for us is that hehas.
Well, I guess the bad news forus first is that he's kept track
(16:05):
of our sin too.
He's kept track of every sinand he knows it, and we thought
we got away with it, but wedidn't.
The good news for us is thatJesus paid for all of our sin
and if we but have faith in him,then all our sin can be washed
away and we won't have to lay onour side for a year and a half
or any other odd punishment,because Jesus took all of that.
(16:28):
Now we also know here verse 8,that the number of days are
called the days of your siege,it says in verse 8.
So, therefore, god is clearlyconnecting, in this act of
laying on his side, two concepts.
One is God is punishing Israeland Judah for their sin, and
(16:49):
it's an exact punishment for anexact amount of sin.
Judah for their sin, and it'san exact punishment for an exact
amount of sin.
Secondly, babylon's siege ofJerusalem is in God's hand of
punishment, that God was usingBabylon, the evil, wicked
Babylon, as punishment for thepeople of Jerusalem by having
Babylon come in and attack them.
(17:12):
So we have those concepts, godknows exactly how much sin they
have and they thought they weregetting away with it for a very
long time.
But God is going to go in andhave an evil nation do his will,
and those are both veryprofound concepts that still
today, our old flesh rebelsagainst.
But if we just sit back in aweat a wondrous God that he's the
(17:37):
one in control and he is the onethat moves all the chess pieces
around on the chessboard and wemay not understand what he's
doing he didn't take us into hiscounsel to explain it, but we
submit to him and follow hisrules and we can have confidence
that everything's going to turnout well If anything.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Ezekiel is an organized book and there's three
sections.
The first section here goes upto chapter 24, and it's all God
dealing with Israel.
Then you have a middle sectionof God dealing with the Gentile
nations, and then you have thelast section where God is giving
a future encouragement of arestored Israel.
(18:18):
We do see that, as you mentioned, god is using Babylon as the
judgment for the nation ofIsrael, for Judah, and to take
the siege on to Jerusalem and totear down the temple and
ransack the city.
But over in Zechariah we alsonoted God saying the same thing.
(18:39):
I have used Babylon to punishthe people, but yet they went
too far and I'm going to holdthem accountable.
Even while God is holdingIsrael accountable, as you just
so aptly put, and keeping trackof their iniquity, he's also
keeping track of the iniquity ofall the other nations, and
(19:01):
they're going to pay a penaltytoo if they don't turn back to
God and become a believer inJesus Christ.
They have a penalty that'sgoing to be put on them too.
They're not going to get awaywith being overbearing and going
too far if they happen to be anation that is used to
discipline Israel.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
In the passage again, ezekiel builds this model.
This clay model puts an ironwall in between himself and the
city, lays on his side for overa year.
Then it says Ezekiel is to turntowards the model of Jerusalem
that he had built and give amessage about God's judgment
(19:44):
against Jerusalem.
That's what he's saying here.
At the time this message wasgiven, Jerusalem was still
standing.
It had not yet been destroyed.
So the message was really clearto the audience around.
Ezekiel is that Jerusalem'sgoing to be destroyed.
It's going to be destroyed byGod's hand.
God's not going to come to itsrescue.
(20:04):
He's going to allow the evil,wicked Babylon to destroy it.
It would also seem that, if wehaven't read yet but we'll get
to the commands coming up aboutcooking the food, and there's a
passage about his hair that itwould seem that these were done
during this 390-day period and420-day period that Ezekiel
(20:28):
would not have been laying down24 hours a day.
It would seem like because theother things he had to do was
about the same time.
There's the commands about hisfood and things like that.
So it would seem like he wouldlay down for portions of the day
.
Why act this out?
Why was God trying to show?
Well, he was trying to show ina dramatic way that Babylon was
(20:51):
going to capture Jerusalem andGod was sending Ezekiel out to
act these things out in a verydramatic fashion instead of just
standing on a street corner andsaying it.
God will go to great lengths toget his message to his children.
There's an old kind of chestnutquestion of what happens to the
guy on the deserted island thatnever heard about God.
(21:14):
Well, god will get his messageto his people.
His lesson of the Old Testamentand the New is that God will
send a prophet.
Where was Jonah going?
Jonah was going to Nineveh, anon-Christian quote-unquote
nation, non-jewish nation.
He was sending a prophet to anation that he was about to
judge.
So the lesson is always God'sjust not going to randomly go
(21:37):
land on people.
He sends a message and whenthey won't listen, he sends
another one.
And has Ezekiel dramaticallyacted out to make it clear,
steve?
Has God made his message clearto us today?
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Absolutely clear.
He came himself in Jesus Christso that he could be a
satisfactory sacrifice.
He lived among his creation.
I mean, what greater love canyou have than that is to
actually come and dwell amongyour creation for 30 plus years
(22:14):
and then become a satisfactorysacrifice for that creation so
that they might have eternallife.
The way to 100% have eternallife with Jesus Christ is to
believe and trust in him.
Here's another question.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Can we take these Old Testament messages and things
that God's doing throughJeremiah and Ezekiel?
Are we in the church immune?
In other words, the Jewishnation was God's chosen people
from way back in Genesis, thempouring out his wrath, and he
(22:50):
says quite clearly they wereobstinate, they were rebellious,
they weren't following my rules.
So therefore, I'm going to sendthis evil, wicked Babylon in as
punishment, destroy theirnation, take them off into
captivity, destroy Jerusalem andpunish them because of that.
He did that to ancient Israel.
(23:11):
Is the church immune?
Can we sit and claim the bloodof Christ and be immune to all
this?
And the reason I ask that isbecause, if we look across the
Christian landscape today, boy,there's some churches that are.
Just the only thing I can sayagainst them is they're
rebellious, they're obstinate,they're doing some of the same
things.
They're refusing to followGod's commands and taking the
(23:34):
ways of the world and bringingthem in.
Is the church immune today?
Or Is it possible for God topour out punishment on the
church today?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And that's really what you're talking about.
Is the church immune from beingdisciplined by God?
And no, I don't think they areimmune.
We're given a greatresponsibility to go and make
disciples and teach the worldthe teachings of Jesus Christ,
to spread the good news.
What was it that he said to thechurch at Ephesus in Revelation?
(24:09):
He was upset with that churchbecause they had lost their
first love, their love of JesusChrist, and what they had, and
they had gone off into a waywardway.
I think it was the church ofLaodicea.
He said you're lukewarm, I'mgoing to spit you out of my
mouth.
(24:29):
If we want to think that thechurch is immune to God's
discipline, go read the firstthree chapters of Revelation and
you have Jesus's lettershimself to those churches that I
think describe different stagesof churches that they go
through, and ask yourself whichchurch the church that I go to
(24:51):
which of these churches aredescribed of these seven
churches in Revelation, and thenlook and see what the
discipline and the punishmentwas, or the rebukes that Jesus
gave to those churches that hedid actually give rebukes to in
Revelation.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Those rebukes in Revelation, chapter 2 and 3 were
just that rebukes.
He was warning churches thathey, if you don't change, then
something bad's going to happen.
Here we are today.
We can't go visit thosechurches because they don't
exist anymore.
And I also think of Romans.
Chapter 11, verses 20 and 21,says exactly the same thing.
(25:30):
God tells the church quote Donot be haughty, but fear, for if
God did not spare the naturalbranches and he's talking about
Israel there if God did notspare the natural branches, he
may not spare you either.
The New Testament message isclear yes, we are saved by grace
, through faith, but at the sametime we're held to a
(25:53):
responsibility.
We can't just go live like theworld and we can't go lay our
own desires on what the churchought to be.
We have to submit to his willor else we'll be in the same
position as ancient Israel.
And we'll be in the sameposition as ancient Israel.
And we'll be in the sameposition as the churches in
Revelation, chapter 2 and 3.
The next section.
We have some instructions toEzekiel about his food.
(26:14):
Steve, could you read verses 9to 17?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
But as for you, take wheat, barley beans, lentils,
millet and spelt, put them inone vessel and make them into
bread for yourself.
You shall eat it according tothe number of the days that you
lie on your side three hundredand ninety days.
Your food which you eat shallbe twenty shekels a day by
(26:39):
weight, and you shall eat itfrom time to time.
The water you drink shall bethe sixth part of a hen by
measure.
You shall drink it from time totime.
You shall eat it as barley cake, having baked it in their sight
over human dung.
Then the Lord said Thus will thesons of Israel eat their bread
(27:01):
unclean among the nations whereI will banish them?
But I said, ah Lord, god behold, I have never been defiled, for
from my youth until now, I havenever eaten what died of itself
or was torn by beasts, nor hasany unclean meat even entered my
(27:38):
mouth.
Then he said to me water bymeasure, and in horror, because
bread and water will be scarceand they will be appalled with
one another and waste away intheir iniquity.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
In this section he's giving a clear lesson about food
and remember the overall lessonis about the siege of Jerusalem
.
In verse 9, god tells Ezekielto take wheat, barley beans,
lentils, millet and spelt, whichwere grains and legumes, mixed
them all together to make bread.
(28:11):
And the reason why was becausethere was not enough of them to
make a loaf of bread bythemselves.
There wasn't enough wheat orenough barley to make barley
cakes or wheat bread all byitself.
What he's saying is thatthere's going to be a real
shortage of food.
The measurements he gave therewere very small.
(28:31):
For an adult to live on this,or even a child, this is a very
small amount of food.
One of the lessons is God gaveEzekiel a hard task here, which
is to lay on your side and livefor more than a year on a very
small amount of food, steve.
What's the overall lesson therethat he's trying to communicate
(28:53):
about this siege?
That?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
it's going to be just that.
What happens whenever a city islaid siege, their food supply
is cut off.
That's what the opposing armydoes.
It surrounds the city anddoesn't let any food get into
the city, and if they can cutthe water off, then they'll cut
the water off to the city.
They're doing it so that thecity will surrender.
(29:15):
The hope is really for theopposing forces that they can
take the city without having tolose any of their forces, but
that's what's being communicated.
The people in Jerusalem aregoing to be starving to death
and they're going to have to doexactly what you're saying is
mix all of these grains togetherin order to just come out and
(29:37):
make enough food for them to beable to eat.
We know from history thatthat's actually what happened,
that inside the city it gotreally bad and even to the point
and God will point it out withthe object lessons to Ezekiel
that the people succumbed tocannibalism at some point in
order to just make food forthemselves in this siege that
(30:01):
happened with Jerusalem.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
What God is showing through this action of Ezekiel
is there's going to be a siege.
It's going to be very horriblein the sense that there's not
going to be hardly any food andnot hardly enough to live on,
and there won't be any wood tocook the food with.
Because he says here to takeexcrement and use it for fuel,
(30:25):
and it originally was humanexcrement.
But Ezekiel protested.
He says God's allowed him touse cow manure and that is
burnable if you mix it withstraw, let it dry, but it's
still rather gross, it's stillrather ugly.
What God is showing is quiteclear One this siege is going to
(30:46):
be bad.
He's also showing the uglinessof sin that was being judged.
It's going to be a very badsiege and it's a truly ugly
punishment, an ugly pouring outof God's wrath because of the
sin.
Sin is very ugly and we glossit over and put paint on it and
(31:08):
think that sin's not so bad.
But God sees it for what it is,which is very, very ugly and
very, very sickening.
God is giving a very clearmessage to the people.
He's given a very clear messageto us today.
But so far in the story,through Ezekiel's actions, we've
(31:28):
seen God give the fact of theBabylonian siege of Jerusalem,
the reason for the siege ofJerusalem, the length of the
siege of Jerusalem and theseverity of the siege, and so
that's so far, and the severityof the siege, and so that's so
far.
All those things were literallyfulfilled.
We're going to see otherfulfilled prophecy next time
(31:55):
when we get to chapter 5.
We're going to see even moremessages about Babylon being a
punishment for the people ofIsrael.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
That's exactly right.
Through these short-termprophecies that God is giving to
Ezekiel, he's going to provehimself as being a trustworthy
prophet.
So then we can trust the farfuture prophecies that we're
going to see later in the book.
Yes, and we will reason throughthat next time.
(32:24):
Thank you so much for watchingand listening.
May God bless you.
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