The Gospel According to Ezekiel, Chapters 19-20 (Part 1 of 2)

Recap: The Righteous Life from Ezekiel 18

A true child of God lives a life marked by a current non-participation in sin and an impossibility of future participation in sin. This is the righteous life Ezekiel describes.

The righteous person gives an indicative "no" to present sin: "Am I currently participating in this sin? Absolutely not." There is continuous abstinence from persistent sins.

Future sins are utter impossibilities: the righteous person would never consider adulterous thoughts toward a neighbor's wife. When examining possible sins, the response is an absolute "no"—a double no of impossibility.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

We are not claiming sinlessness, which would make God a liar. Instead, we confess sins as they occur, even to one another as the context suggests. The righteous live with an indicative "no" to active pursuit of sin.

In contrast, the wicked have no such "no" in their vocabulary. Every sin is possible for them.

God declares he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Ezekiel 19 applies this as God laments fallen princes of Israel, wicked leaders who faced judgment.

Ezekiel 19: A Lament for Israel's Princes

Take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel.

What was your mother? A lioness among lions!
She lay down among young lions
and reared her cubs.
She brought up one of her cubs;
he became a young lion,
and he learned to catch prey;
he devoured men.
The nations heard about him;
he was caught in their pit,
and they brought him with hooks
to the land of Egypt.

When she saw that she waited in vain,
that her hope was lost,
she took another of her cubs
and made him a young lion.

He prowled among the lions;
he became a young lion,
and he learned to catch prey;
he devoured men,
and seized their widows.
He laid waste their cities,
and the land was appalled and all who were in it
because of the sound of his roaring.
Then the nations set against him
all around from the provinces,
and spread their net over him;
he was taken in their pit.
With hooks they put him in a cage
and brought him to the king of Babylon,
so that his voice would no more be heard
on the mountains of Israel.

Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard
planted by the water,
fruitful and full of branches
because of abundant water.
Its strong stems became
royal scepters,
and its height was exalted among the clouds
so that it was seen in its height
with the mass of its branches.
But it was plucked up in fury,
cast down to the ground;
the east wind dried up its fruit;
they were stripped off and withered.
As fire consumed its wood,
it was planted in the wilderness,
in a dry and thirsty land.
Fire spread from its branch;
it consumed its shoots and fruit,
so that no strong branch was left in it,
no scepter for ruling.

This is a lamentation and has become a lamentation.

A lamentation is a dirge, a funeral song sung to mourn the loss of a loved one. This dirge creates a sense of need for the coming King. Ezekiel builds climactic intensity for a ruler far better than any previous king—especially as God grieves the death of the wicked, not delighting in it.

The kingdom lies in dire circumstances due to these kings' actions. Leadership has caused significant problems. We despair in leaders who are not Christ, not Messianic. Only Christ removes sin and purges Israel's problems, establishing a kingdom of peace and right relationship with God.

Later visions of the third temple depict a utopian society where believers, freed from sin, dwell with God. But here, sin and failed leadership alienate the people from God.

This chapter creates despair and hope: we need an awesome, permanent, perfect King. Do not trust in anything but Christ. Human leaders disappoint. God sovereignly works to create dependency on him, as the law does—raising the bar impossibly high to drive us to brokenness, crying, "Lord, I need you."

The lioness represents Judah. The first cub is Jehoahaz, son of Josiah. Josiah reformed the nation, purging idolatry after reading Deuteronomy—a sola scriptura advocate who revolutionized the kingdom with one section of Scripture. Yet he foolishly fought Pharaoh Neco, losing his life. Neco captured Jehoahaz and took him to Egypt, as Jeremiah prophesied.

Verses 5-9 describe Jehoiakim, installed as Egypt's vassal. In 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar defeated Neco at Carchemish, making Judah Babylon's vassal. Jehoiakim rebelled when Nebuchadnezzar retreated, leading to Jerusalem's conquest. Nebuchadnezzar exiled Jehoiakim, installing Zedekiah.

These kings failed by not listening to God, turning to idols and even Egypt for help, bringing calamity. Today's equivalent: not listening to God continuously, seeking quick fixes instead of Bible study and sanctification. Problems stem from sin—turning from God to idols, preferring three-step plans over Genesis-to-Revelation obedience.

Ezekiel 20: God Rejects the Elders' Inquiry

In the seventh year, fifth month, tenth day—August 14, 591 BC—elders of Israel inquire of the Lord. These are the last days of Jerusalem; Nebuchadnezzar will soon judge Zedekiah's covenant-breaking.

Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Do you come to inquire of me? As I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

God refuses: "Did you come to ask me a question? I will not answer." These exiled elders, unfaithful with idols in their hearts, love sin yet seek God.

Our lifestyles directly link to fellowship with God. Walking in darkness breaks fellowship.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Biblical fellowship requires not walking in continual sin but ongoing confession and repentance. God is not a cosmic genie but the sovereign Lord, as in Leviticus' holiness code. Salvation secures us—perseverance of the saints—but daily conduct matters. Prayer is not a shopping list but confession and repentance.

Will you judge them, son of man, make them know the abominations of their fathers, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I chose Israel, I swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob, making myself known to them in the land of Egypt; I swore to them, saying, I am the Lord your God.

God chose Israel in Egypt, swearing, "I am the Lord your God," promising deliverance—not to back off after blessing them, but to rule as sovereign.

On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands. And I said to them, Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. But they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.

Even in Egypt, before exodus, they idolized. God resolved wrath but acted for his name's sake, not profaning it before nations.

I brought them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live. Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

Israel rebelled in the wilderness, rejecting statutes, ordinances, and Sabbaths—days to enjoy God, collecting manna beforehand. Jesus is our Sabbath, freeing us permanently to worship.

God again resolved wrath but spared them for his name. He swore they would not enter the land due to rebellion, yet his eyes spared them. To their children:

Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols. I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules.

Israel's Rebellion in the Wilderness

Sanctify my Sabbaths and they shall be a sign between me and you that you may know that I am the Lord your God. But the children rebelled against me. They did not walk in my statutes nor were they careful to observe my ordinances, by which if a man observes them he will live. They profaned my Sabbaths, so I resolved to pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. But I withdrew my hand and acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. Also I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them among the lands because they had not observed my ordinances but had rejected my statutes and had profaned my Sabbaths and their eyes were on the idols of their fathers.

I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live and I pronounced them unclean because of their gifts and that they caused all their firstborn to pass through the fires so that I might make them desolate in order that they may know that I am the Lord.

This was a phenomenal way of bad exegesis. They took the idea of consecrate unto me your firstborn and interpreted that by importing into the text Canaanite society. And so they began to apply scripture and say, look I am doing what the Bible says and they would slaughter their firstborn unto Yahweh.

So we have an example we saw what it was like back in Egypt and now we have the example of the first generation in the wilderness and we can see here from 1 Corinthians 10:1 through 14 that this is entirely an example that is being painted for us and there are fantastic ways that we can begin to respond to the Exodus wandering.

1 Corinthians 10:1-14
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

One of the greatest responses to something that you can see within the Exodus wanderings, one of the greatest ways to begin to understand truly what Ezekiel is talking about, is that when you see the Exodus wanderings, you will see the way God deals with people who could be doing the exact same things that we could be doing today. And in fact the issue as Hebrews tells us was that they did not enter the promised land because they didn't believe the gospel. And so because of that, because of their unbelief, they were judged.

The purpose of that is so that you can look upon that, you can see the examples of people who are living church life. In fact, even almost even literally the Old Testament calls it the congregation of Israel, the Ekklesia of Israel. And so they were living amongst the people of God. They were experiencing the same things that the people of God were experiencing and yet they focused on idolatry and that displeased God, to put it lightly.

For that you can begin to look on that and think to yourself, here is one of the greatest ways to endure temptation and not to give into it. When that temptation comes, it is a wonderful tool to look back upon Exodus and think about what happened to people in that time. That people would be bitten by venomous snakes. Even the idea of the destroyer that some have interpreted that to mean Satan himself was able to go through and clean house. Or the idea that 23,000 would fall in one day and in a story where somebody brought in a Midianite woman to have fornication with and the priest went through with a spear and killed them both.

Because the issue is, as our text is telling us, that God was bringing them into the wilderness to sanctify them, to free them up from the calamities of the nations around them and their participations in sin and to create within them a great dependence upon God. They were forced into a situation whereby they would have dependence upon God and that's exactly what would be synonymous with sanctification and yet instead the people rebelled.

So the example that is said is don't be an idolator. Don't be somebody who looks for in creation that which they should be finding in God. They were looking for in creation those things that they should be finding within God and that would ultimately be idolatry. That's the exact opposite of what should be happening. Do not act immorally. Do not try the Lord.

In fact, specifically in Numbers 21, they got to a point where they said that there wasn't any food, there wasn't any water, and yet they had food being provided to them from God and the response to the provision that God was giving them because of their sin, because of their idolatry was, there is no food, there is no water and we loathe this terrible food. We loathe this miserable food. They'd even gotten to the point where they questioned God's involvement within their life. And in fact when they acknowledged God's involvement within their life, they acknowledged that he was doing such a terrible job. You brought us out of Egypt for us to die here in the wilderness. What I had in sin, what I had in Egypt was so much better than what I have now in the Lord.

You think about the circumstances of being out in the wilderness. You think about what it's like to experience wilderness life where you are forced into a position where you're completely dependent upon God and the responses idolatry, the responses immorality, the responses trying the Lord and the whole time you're not seeing the big picture that God is saying I'm doing this because I'm sanctifying you. Purifying you of sin, drawing you into closer and deeper into the relationship with God and the bliss that can be experienced therein.

The grumblers complained and the reality was God was giving them so much. He was giving them the gospel. He was giving them good news, He was giving them hope, He was giving them the ability to be freed up to enjoy God and to depend upon Him. He's saying I'm sanctifying you.

You can understand that you're probably struggling that you're probably enduring issues within your life right now and in fact there's even a temptation that you're going through. You feel as though you could even relate to being out in the wilderness. The last thing to do is to begin to focus on the quick and easy ways of enduring the wilderness. It's easier to grumble, it's easier to complain, it is very much so easier to act immorally. You can find some kind of release and some kind of joy that can exist in an immoral relationship. You can get to those points where you're saying I'm not enjoying the things that God is giving to me. I'm not enjoying where I'm at.

And the response that God's giving is I'm sanctifying you. Don't hinder that process. Sanctification is best when you're not trying to go against the river. Sanctification is best when your feet are firmly kicked up and your focus is upon what God will ultimately do for you but it may be further downstream than you currently are right now.

It's a kind of hijack that phrase that God has a wonderful plan for your life. He has the greatest plan for your life. It's just simply a holier you. That is the greatest plan that can have for your life. The goal in the emphasis should always be future sanctification. It should always be the future life entirely whereby you could be a better person than you are now because you could be a holier person than you are now.

God's Patience for the Sake of His Name

Now it's important to begin to emphasize some of the reasons why God stayed his hand for utter destruction, for annihilation. It was because of the sake of his own name. God dealt with them. He spared judgment for his own reputation. And that's an important area to emphasize because if you're living in unrepentant sin, if you're living with some kind of a gross immorality or something that you're continually participating in in the form of idolatry, don't mistake God's sparing that because of his own reputation as approval. Don't mistake the absence of God's judgment as God approving of your life.

God is patient towards you. God is patient towards the elect. God is withholding and abstaining judgment for the basis of the elect. His people not desiring that any of his people would perish, but that every single one of his people, every single one of his elect would come to repentance. Repentance. So God's patience should always be received as repentance, the opportunity to repent.

Now there's two things also that are so important and essential to begin to look at. Number one, God's reputation is most important to him and it should be to us as well. The way we safeguard God's reputation is by repentance and dependence upon him, but God's reputation should be most important.

Secondly is that my life is best understood as making God famous in a positive light. God did what was necessary to sustain his judgment in order that his fame would be rightly displayed and rightly declared or in other words his glory would be rightly shown to the nations around as a just and merciful and holy and loving God and that he is involved within his people's life and that he is gearing them and making them to how he wants them to be and that if he acted in accordance with something that was not his glory, then the nations could say that he is not with his people, that he is not for them.

Isaiah 48:9-11
For my name's sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, in order not to cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.

Living for the sake of God is exactly how he is going to do it. So we should be diligent in desiring to align ourselves within that. When I act, when I seek out on my own, when I seek that idolatry on my own to try to deal with the circumstances of life, I am the one who is profaning God's name. I am the one who is dragging it through the mud.

In which case, I think so many New Testament passages become abundantly applicable when it is the idea that it was better for somebody not to have known the way of righteousness, then to have known it and to profane it. Knowing that every single one of us professes the name of Christ and that our lives are going to be a reflection of his name, that we could either be positively contributing to the name of God, we could be positively contributing to the glory in which God receives, or we can be dragging God through the mud by the manner in which we live.

That is what he says there in verse 11 of Isaiah 48. For my own sake, I will act. God will get involved. God will invade circumstances and invade life so that that way his name won't be profane and his glory will not be given to another. But that reality still exists that his people can become idolatrous. His people can become sinful. And in doing so, can profane the name of God.