It amazes me how the sins that God detested back in the Old Testament run rampant in today’s world. In these next 2 chapters, God has Ezekiel turning to the mountains of Israel and preaching to them. Why? Because the Israelites that are already in exile in Babylon aren’t listening to him. God condemns sinners unless they repent. That’s rather simple. Unfortunately, people are so attached to their sin, they can’t see the light. They’re so deep in the darkness of the world, and they love it more than they love the light. Let’s dig in and see what God has to say to us through Ezekiel…
Ezekiel 6 – Judgment against Israel’s Mountains
Again a message came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of man, turn and face the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them. 3 Proclaim this message from the Sovereign Lord against the mountains of Israel. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills and to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring war upon you, and I will smash your pagan shrines. 4 All your altars will be demolished, and your places of worship will be destroyed. I will kill your people in front of your idols. 5 I will lay your corpses in front of your idols and scatter your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you live there will be desolation, and I will destroy your pagan shrines. Your altars will be demolished, your idols will be smashed, your places of worship will be torn down, and all the religious objects you have made will be destroyed. 7 The place will be littered with corpses, and you will know that I alone am the Lord.
8 “But I will let a few of my people escape destruction, and they will be scattered among the nations of the world. 9 Then when they are exiled among the nations, they will remember me. They will recognize how hurt I am by their unfaithful hearts and lustful eyes that long for their idols. Then at last they will hate themselves for all their detestable sins. 10 They will know that I alone am the Lord and that I was serious when I said I would bring this calamity on them.
11 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Clap your hands in horror, and stamp your feet. Cry out because of all the detestable sins the people of Israel have committed. Now they are going to die from war and famine and disease. 12 Disease will strike down those who are far away in exile. War will destroy those who are nearby. And anyone who survives will be killed by famine. So at last I will spend my fury on them. 13 They will know that I am the Lord when their dead lie scattered among their idols and altars on every hill and mountain and under every green tree and every great shade tree—the places where they offered sacrifices to their idols. 14 I will crush them and make their cities desolate from the wilderness in the south to Riblah in the north. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Ezekiel 6 NLT
Ezekiel 7 – The Coming of the End
Then this message came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel:
“The end is here!
Wherever you look—
east, west, north, or south—
your land is finished.
3 No hope remains,
for I will unleash my anger against you.
I will call you to account
for all your detestable sins.
4 I will turn my eyes away and show no pity.
I will repay you for all your detestable sins.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.5 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
Disaster after disaster
is coming your way!
6 The end has come.
It has finally arrived.
Your final doom is waiting!
7 O people of Israel, the day of your destruction is dawning.
The time has come; the day of trouble is near.
Shouts of anguish will be heard on the mountains,
not shouts of joy.
8 Soon I will pour out my fury on you
and unleash my anger against you.
I will call you to account
for all your detestable sins.
9 I will turn my eyes away and show no pity.
I will repay you for all your detestable sins.
Then you will know that it is I, the Lord,
who is striking the blow.10 “The day of judgment is here;
your destruction awaits!
The people’s wickedness and pride
have blossomed to full flower.
11 Their violence has grown into a rod
that will beat them for their wickedness.
None of these proud and wicked people will survive.
All their wealth and prestige will be swept away.
12 Yes, the time has come;
the day is here!
Buyers should not rejoice over bargains,
nor sellers grieve over losses,
for all of them will fall
under my terrible anger.
13 Even if the merchants survive,
they will never return to their business.
For what God has said applies to everyone—
it will not be changed!
Not one person whose life is twisted by sin
will ever recover.
The Desolation of Israel
14 “The trumpet calls Israel’s army to mobilize,
but no one listens,
for my fury is against them all.
15 There is war outside the city
and disease and famine within.
Those outside the city walls
will be killed by enemy swords.
Those inside the city
will die of famine and disease.
16 The survivors who escape to the mountains
will moan like doves, weeping for their sins.
17 Their hands will hang limp,
their knees will be weak as water.
18 They will dress themselves in burlap;
horror and shame will cover them.
They will shave their heads
in sorrow and remorse.19 “They will throw their money in the streets,
tossing it out like worthless trash.
Their silver and gold won’t save them
on that day of the Lord’s anger.
It will neither satisfy nor feed them,
for their greed can only trip them up.
20 They were proud of their beautiful jewelry
and used it to make detestable idols and vile images.
Therefore, I will make all their wealth
disgusting to them.
21 I will give it as plunder to foreigners,
to the most wicked of nations,
and they will defile it.
22 I will turn my eyes from them
as these robbers invade and defile my treasured land.23 “Prepare chains for my people,
Ezekiel 7 NLT
for the land is bloodied by terrible crimes.
Jerusalem is filled with violence.
24 I will bring the most ruthless of nations
to occupy their homes.
I will break down their proud fortresses
and defile their sanctuaries.
25 Terror and trembling will overcome my people.
They will look for peace but not find it.
26 Calamity will follow calamity;
rumor will follow rumor.
They will look in vain
for a vision from the prophets.
They will receive no teaching from the priests
and no counsel from the leaders.
27 The king and the prince will stand helpless,
weeping in despair,
and the people’s hands
will tremble with fear.
I will bring on them
the evil they have done to others,
and they will receive the punishment
they so richly deserve.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Key Points to Ponder
- God bears His heart in these 2 chapters. They are a divine editorial of the dramatizations Ezekiel acted out in chapters 4 and 5.
- Verse 6:9 is heartbreaking for a believer to read. In the NKJV it reads, “I was crushed by their adulterous heart”. God’s heart is broken because the people He loved so much turned away from Him and worshiped fake, pagan gods.
- When people today worship themselves, their jobs or careers, other people, celebrities, things like fancy cars or homes, travel, luxuries, philosophies, saints, Mary, the Pope, etc… they are committing adultery against God who gave us the rules to live by.
- In chapter 6, God mentions “detestable sins” over and over again. Let’s see, what can those be?
- Adultery – having sex with someone other than your legally married spouse
- Fornication – having sex with someone outside of marriage
- Abortion – the killing of an innocent child in the womb because of greed, pride, vanity and inconvenience.
- Human trafficking, prostitution, sexual abuse
- Child or spousal abuse
- Homosexuality… and on, and on, and on… Get the idea?
An early church leader once said…
“Idolatry is worshiping anything that ought to be used, and using anything that ought to be worshiped.”
St. Augustine
Paul wrote..
14 So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols.
1 Corinthians 10:14 NLT
Chapter 7 is a judgment poetry. 33% of the Bible is poetry! Even the passages describing God’s judgment.
The God Who Strikes
Verse 7:9 in the NKJV reads…
Then you shall know that I am the Lord who strikes.
Ezekiel 7:9 NJKV
Jehovah-Naka – The God who strikes. Pastor Sandy Adams comments…
He’s the God who hits – who spanks – who lashes out when needed… You can’t just blaspheme God over and over, disregard His holiness, and take His grace for granted – and expect God to just grin and beat it. There’s a point when God strikes back. To be just, when a sinner strikes God – God has to strike back. And this is what makes His grace so amazing!
When God decided to address and resolve the penalties for sin, and atone for the sinner. Instead of Him striking the sinner, God struck His only Son. Isaiah 53:4-5 (NKJV) says of Jesus, “He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” The God who strikes became the stricken.
The Jews struck Him. The Romans struck Him. Isaiah says we struck Him too…And here’s the irony of all ironies, it’s the stripes we inflicted on Him, that He has used to bring us healing. That truly does make God’s grace… amazing grace!
Sandy Adams
- In verse 7:23 God tells Ezekiel to put on chains to demonstrate how the Jews will be taken in bondage to Babylon where they’ll spend 70 years in exile. You’d think they would have learned from the stories of their ancestors! God brought them out of bondage in Egypt, yet, they didn’t follow instructions and ended up spending 40 years wandering in the desert when they could have been in the Promised Land in less than 2 weeks.
- Notice that just like back in Exodus, it was a new generation who got to enter the Promised Land. The same will happen to the Babylonian exiles. Only the young will still be around to return to Jerusalem. We’ll get to those stories in Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah.
- Solomon’s beautiful temple was defiled by pagan idols and later destroyed. That will be shown in a vision next. Interestingly enough, the 2nd temple, Herod’s temple, was defiled by the Romans and destroyed in 70 AD. There will be a 3rd temple — which Jews in Israel are ready to build. Likewise, that one will be defiled by the Antichrist.
- Right now, born-again Christians are temples of the Holy Spirit and we’ll soon will be Raptured and saved from the coming Great Tribulation.
- In the New Heaven, the New Earth the New Jerusalem, Jesus will be our temple.
- Verse 7:27 states that sinners will get judgment according to what we deserve! Which is… eternity in HELL. Yes, that’s what each of us sinners deserve!
Graciously, amazingly, God sent His Son to bear all our sins and all our judgment on Himself on the Cross. He didn’t have to do it. Yet, He went willingly.
Jesus didn’t suffer torture and die so we could have religion!
He died so He could have a personal Relationship with YOU!
What are you waiting for!
