The Gospel According to Ezekiel, Chapter 22 (Part 1 of 2)
As we continue through the book of Ezekiel, we enter chapter 22, a portion gaining steam in its proclamations of the gospel. Previous chapters have shown evidences of God's grace, sparing his true people—the remnant—amid judgment on Jerusalem and Judah. Now we see more explicit declarations of the gospel through Ezekiel.
Chapter 22 emphasizes God's judgment and complete intolerance of sin. God has had enough of his people's sin, and as he pictures this judgment, he creates a wonderful emphasis on the gospel. As we stand witnessing God's judgment on sin and its horrors—issues not far removed from our own time—we see the gospel as irresistibly beautiful, soul-satisfying, and desirable.
If you lack the gospel, God presses you toward it in loving, shepherd-like care. If you have it, love and affection for God surge anew, as he provides escape from judgment and sin's ruin.
The Gap Between God and Humanity
The specific presentation of the gospel in Ezekiel 22 shows why having the right man standing in the gap is vital. A gap exists between God and his people, requiring the right person to stand in it to avoid sin's ruin and God's judgment.
Studying God's judgment and sin reveals its immediate ruin in this life and ultimate ruin in the life to come. Sin's deceptiveness is horrific—like having Ebola without knowing it, facing not a cure but judgment. Praise God for revealing sin's heinousness now, its future judgment, and escape through Christ. This is the most loving, benevolent God.
The Bloody City and Its Abominations
Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. You shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “A city shedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come and that makes idols contrary to her interests for defilement.”’” (Ezekiel 22:1-3)
God commands judgment on this city to reveal its abominations. Idolatry here involves imagining defiling thoughts, reducing all sins to one principle: thinking about sin and defiling oneself.
Behold, the rulers of Israel, each according to his power, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood. They have treated father and mother lightly within you; the alien they have oppressed in your midst; the fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you. You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths. Slanderous men have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have committed acts of lewdness. In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was unclean in her menstrual impurity. One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. In you they have taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by oppression, and you have forgotten Me,” declares the Lord God. (Ezekiel 22:6-12)
The city is treated as a singular unit guilty of abominations. Rulers and slanderous men extort others, stemming from mental idolatry where people set up themselves as gods. Others become objects for sinful pleasure, leading to rampant immorality, incest, rape, bribes, usury, and oppression.
It's not love but worshiping idols of incest, sex, or money. Bloodshed ties to apostasy—sacrificing children or murdering for sinful desires. Slanderers ruin reputations to exalt themselves. Idolatry always manifests outwardly, taking from others.
Protecting God's People from Extortion
God's love gives; sinful "love" takes. Imagine marriages, friendships, or families built on taking—eternal battles of extortion. No one wants thieves as friends or spouses.
Among God's people, extortioners and revilers (slanderers) must be removed, as in New Testament church discipline. These sins harm deeply—bitterness defiles many. Thoughts of sin lead to actions, overtaking individuals and communities. God judges entire cities and nations for such private sins originating in harmless-seeming thoughts.
God's Judgment: Melting the Dross
Behold, then I smite My hand at your dishonest gain which you have acquired and at the bloodshed which is among you. Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken and will act... Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace, they are the dross of silver. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I am going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath and I will lay you there and melt you. I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it. As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out My wrath on you.” (Ezekiel 22:13-22)
God smites dishonest gain and bloodshed. Israel has become dross—worthless like bronze, tin, iron, lead. Not just refining by removing impurities, but melting everything in intense fire, consuming the worthless people themselves. Except for the remnant, Israel is worthless due to persistent sin.
Pursuing sin creates worthless lives, vain pursuits lacking eternal value—subpar versions of life, relationships, and marriage. Jesus offers abundant, transcendent life beyond imagination. Christianity provides the true civil rights: holiness, salvation, and soul-satisfying experiences in Christ, far surpassing sin's worthless offerings, which end in judgment like useless branches fit only to burn.
