The Gospel According to Ezekiel, Chapter 5-7:9 (Part 1 of 2)

Recap: Ezekiel's Commission and the Siege of Jerusalem

In chapters 2 through 4, we saw the commissioning of Ezekiel. He was called on the foundation of the glory of God from chapter 1. Ezekiel is not just giving prophecies; he is demonstrating them, acting them out so the Israelites can visually see what will take place in the siege of Jerusalem.

God commissioned Ezekiel to make a model of Jerusalem and siege it himself. The people would see principles relating to Jerusalem's destruction. This destruction is God's judgment against Israel and Judah for sinning for 430 years—from when David established Jerusalem as the capital until Babylon wiped it out. Israel whored after the gods of other nations, including Assyria and the Canaanites. They did not abandon Yahweh worship but embraced other religions alongside it, establishing sanctuaries throughout the kingdom for idolatry.

In exile, God has Ezekiel demonstrate that Jerusalem and the temple—the primary center of Yahweh worship mixed with idolatry—will be taken away, with severe judgment coming. Last week, we saw famine resulting from the siege, historically recorded even in Babylonian literature.

Tonight, Lord willing, we examine chapters 5 through 7. This is severe language teaching us about the emptiness of sin and the fullness of God. These chapters express gospel principles: sin leaves you empty; it does not satisfy or fulfill like God does.

The gospel is a message about sin, God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and repentance and faith. You don't understand the good news until you grasp the bad news of sin. Ezekiel uses graphic language to show how horrible sin is, so when we read about Christ and God, we see the good news. The destruction of Jerusalem shows sin as a dead-end road to ruin, misery, death. Sin is that bad—it incurs God's wrath. This displays his justice and power, instilling fear in the elect of how intolerant God is of sin. These aid our faith.

Ezekiel's Symbolic Act: Shaving the Hair (Ezekiel 5:1-4)

Ezekiel 5:1-4:

And as for you, son of man, take a sharp sword; take and use it as a barber’s razor on your head and beard. Then take scales for weighing and divide the hair. One third you shall burn in the fire in the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take one third and strike it with the sword all around the city; and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe the sword behind them. Also take a few in number from them and bind them in the edges of your robes. Take again some of them and throw them into the middle of the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

God tells Ezekiel to take a sharp sword—a scimitar or broadsword—and shave his head and beard. In the Old Testament, this expresses punishment and judgment from God. The 430 days of siege relate to the 430 years of Israel's sin.

Jerusalem's Greater Wickedness (Ezekiel 5:5-7)

Ezekiel 5:5-7:

Thus says the Lord God, “This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her. But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which surround her. For they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.” Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you.”

Jerusalem was set at the center of the nations but rebelled more wickedly than them. Two reasons: they sinned worse, or—more likely—they sinned knowing God, as recipients of special revelation. They knew God's way of life distinguished them and pointed to salvation, yet rebelled through idolatry.

The nations lacked Israel's revelation; Old Testament sacrifices were for worshippers drawing near to God, not foreigners. God said, “You shall not have other gods before Me; come out and be separate.”

Romans 3:1-2
What advantage has the Jew, or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

Israel received prophets and special revelation through Moses, yet rebelled knowingly against sin and idolatry.

2 Peter 2:21-22
For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

This describes going from bad to worse, like Proverbs 26:11: a fool repeats his folly. Knowing God's truth against sin, yet rebelling, is worse than never hearing.

Israel didn't even follow the nations' ordinances—some righteousness existed among them. Ezekiel addresses three groups: those with some righteousness (not saving), the legitimately wicked, and the remnant (elect). Israel acted lawlessly, knowing better through revelation.

Hebrews 10:26
For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

Willful sin—deliberate, high-handed—is apostasy expecting judgment.

Distinguish self-willed sinning (Hebrews 10:26; knowing truth, rejecting it deliberately) from sin-willed sinning (Romans 7:15-17):

Romans 7:15-17
For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

Self-willed: revelation received, deliberate rejection desiring sin—like crying “Crucify Him!” (Hebrews 6, 10). Sin-willed: hating sin, crying for deliverance (Romans 7), leading to Romans 8:1—no condemnation in Christ.

As Christians grow in sanctification, we hate sin more, mortify it, recognizing its vileness—like Paul at life's end calling himself chief of sinners.

Judgment and Cannibalism (Ezekiel 5:9-12)

Verse 9 introduces the remnant. Cannibalism: fathers eat sons, sons eat fathers (historically in Jeremiah, Lamentations 4:10—mothers boiling children).

This is not God being cruel; sin is horrible, rejection of God serious. Like Romans 1, God gives them over to sin when it dominates, lifting restraint. No food, no salvation—they clung to sin, now reaping consequences. See sin's results and gag in hatred.

Ezekiel 5:12
One third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, and one third will fall by the sword around you; and one third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.

Hair symbolism: one third burned (plague/famine), one third struck by sword, one third scattered (sword pursues). God's wrath must be satisfied—unlike Islam's arbitrary forgiveness. God, just and holy, satisfies wrath; justice stands. They know “I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Understanding God's wrath makes grace amazing. Christ bore this wrath—sinless, willingly—for us, satisfying it on the cross. We escape eternal wrath through his blood. Grace: unmerited favor, despite our sins like Jerusalem's.

Judgment on the Mountains and High Places (Ezekiel 6:1-7)

Ezekiel 6:1-7:

Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, and say, “Mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, the hills, the ravines and the valleys: ‘Behold, I Myself am going to bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places. So your altars will become desolate and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will make your slain fall in front of your idols. I will also lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars. In all your dwellings, cities will become waste and the high places will be desolate, that your altars may become waste and desolate, your idols may be broken and brought to an end, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be blotted out.’”

High places: small sanctuaries purged by Josiah 30 years prior, filled with Assyrian/Canaanite idols. They resumed after Josiah—people's hearts unchanged. God scatters priests' bones, nodding to Josiah's reform. The 430 years of idolatry end; Josiah's work remains.

Idols are powerless, lifeless—unable to save from God's wrath.

Modern Idolatry and the Greek Understanding

It's important to keep in mind the subject of idolatry. We aren't off the hook just because we're not bowing down to images in a traditional sense. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint—started in the 3rd century BC and the primary Bible for New Testament writers—the word for idol meant not just an image, but more significantly a phenomenon: something perceived or noticed with the senses or mind. Idolatry is the worship of things that please the senses or mind—recognition, admiration, service, or devotion to what stimulates or gratifies physically or mentally, something earthly and created.

Colossians 3:2, 5-6: Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth... Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

Greed—the pursuit of more, the "take" mentality—is idolatry. It's more blessed to give than to take. God gave Himself in love; we take from fleshly desires. Whenever you want more of something pleasing to mind or senses beyond what's due, it's idolatry. Fornication, drunkenness, alcohol, even God's gifts like marriage or work can become idols. Every good gift comes from above, but misusing them is worse idolatry.

The litmus test for idolatry: What one thing, outside of Christ, holiness, and the kingdom, would you rather die than live without? If you'd go to the ends of the earth to keep it, it's an idol.

Colossians 3:6: Because of these things the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience.

1 Corinthians 10:13-14: No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

Every temptation is common, human, and tied to idolatry. God's faithfulness enables endurance by fleeing idols. The idols in sanctuaries are external; ours are internalized. Pursuing essential desires outside Christ won't remain—only what God initiates endures.

God's Judgment and the Remnant

The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the Lord. However, I will leave a remnant... Those who escape will remember Me... I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts... and they will loathe themselves... for the evils which they have committed.

Those enduring God's wrath loathe their sin; observers loathe God. Judgment reveals sin's evil.

Thus says the Lord God, Clap your hands and stomp your feet and say, 'Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, which will fall by the sword, famine, and plague.'

Clapping hands or stomping feet expresses divine retribution. Throughout Ezekiel—and the law—God's commands end with "you will know that I am the Lord," repeated insistently in chapters 6 and 7. It's to know and experience God as He defines Himself, understanding reality and purpose through Him. Ezekiel shows God's sovereignty, control, righteousness, holiness—our purpose is Him at the center, an Old Testament call to a Christian worldview: define everything from God's perspective.

Science, marriage, relationships, church service—all flow from knowing God. Cleaning a church frees people to know and love God. Marriage and life prioritize God's glory over temporary pleasure. We were created to worship and know God, defining all else by His view. "You will know that I am the Lord" appears 63 times in Ezekiel—our reason for existence. Valuing anything more is idolatry.

Chapter 7: The End Has Come

The word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land. Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and bring all your abominations upon you... Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 7 is an apocalyptic poem in three stanzas. The first announces God's self-restraint and tolerance of sin are over—430 years of forbearance ended.

Hebrews 3:12-4:8 expresses that today is the day of salvation.

2 Peter 3:9-12: The Lord is not slow about His promise... but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief... the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat... What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God?

We hasten Christ's return through holy conduct, godliness, repentance—looking to new heavens and earth. For unbelievers, urgency: God's patience ends; embrace the gospel now. Why will you die? Experience grace like a bride awaiting her husband.

Second stanza:

Thus says the Lord God, Disaster, a unique disaster, behold it is coming! An end is coming, the end has come... The time has come, the day is near... I will shortly pour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you... Then you will know that I, the Lord, do the smiting.

God strikes—not natural disaster or Babylon alone, but divine judgment, evident despite historical events like Egypt's intervention.

There's no way to deal with sin's judgment but Jesus Christ. Faith in Him preserves the soul; sin doesn't. Idolaters chased bliss with gods like Ishtar, but judgment brings no satisfaction. Only Christ gives lasting joy, enduring temptation through belief in Him.