Ezekiel 7: 1 – 27
‘Pay back’ Part 2
19 ‘ They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD; They will not satisfy their souls, nor fill their stomachs, because it became their stumbling block of iniquity. 20 ‘ As for the beauty of his ornaments, He set it in majesty; But they made from it the images of their abominations— Their detestable things; Therefore I have made it like refuse to them. 21 I will give it as plunder into the hands of strangers, and to the wicked of the earth as spoil; and they shall defile it. 22 I will turn My face from them, and they will defile My secret place; For robbers shall enter it and defile it. 23 ‘ Make a chain, for the land is filled with crimes of blood, and the city is full of violence. 24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the Gentiles, and they will possess their houses; I will cause the pomp of the strong to cease, and their holy places shall be defiled. 25 Destruction comes; They will seek peace, but there shall be none. 26 Disaster will come upon disaster, and rumor will be upon rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; But the law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. 27 ‘The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the common people will tremble. I will do to them according to their way, and according to what they deserve I will judge them; then they shall know that I am the LORD!’”
Throughout mankind’s existence there has been the sinful desire to become rich. Look at the various types of disasters that we face today – hurricanes, tornados, fires, floods, earthquakes, and terrorists strikes – when these occur, money has no value whatsoever. You can have all the money you want, but if there isn’t any food or water available what good is it when you are stuck just like everyone else.
Like us, the Israelites had allowed their love of money to corrupt them. This is just another category of idolatry. I Timothy say this in verse 10,
“10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
And we learn a valuable lesson from our Lord Jesus when He described this sinful nature as listed in the Gospel of Luke 12: 15 – 21,15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” 16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ 21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
The more I dwell on this fact the more I see our depravity. Our God has allowed us the wisdom to use money for good purposes. It is one of His abundant amounts of gifts showered on us. So, knowing this, what do we do with our money? We use it to buy things that separate us from the very God Who loves us and was the Giver of these gifts. Wow! We wind up spending so much time and energy trying to find satisfaction for ourselves instead of seeking the One Who Is the Source of Satisfaction.
20 ‘ As for the beauty of his ornaments, He set it in majesty; but they made from it the images of their abominations— Their detestable things; therefore I have made it like refuse to them. 21 I will give it as plunder into the hands of strangers, And to the wicked of the earth as spoil; and they shall defile it. 22 I will turn My face from them, And they will defile My secret place; For robbers shall enter it and defile it.”
Our Lord loved His city and the Temple dedicated to Him. We read in the book of 1 Kings chapter 9 verses 1 through 9 our Lord’s answer to king Solomon after the Temple was dedicated.
1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do, 2 that the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 And the LORD said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 4 Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the LORD has brought all this calamity on them.’”
The Holy and Loving God gave His people silver and gold to use to worship Him. They took the gold that was dedicated to Him out of the Temple treasury and did two horrible deeds. One, they stole from God and two they used the precious metals to make idols.
A few verses that we do not like to look at is from the book of Malachi chapter 3 verses 8 through 15,
8 “ Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “ If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. 11 “ And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” says the LORD of hosts; 12 And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the LORD of hosts. 13 “ Your words have been harsh against Me,” says the LORD, “ Yet you say, ‘ What have we spoken against You?’ 14 You have said, ‘ It is useless to serve God; What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked as mourners before the LORD of hosts? 15 So now we call the proud blessed, for those who do wickedness are raised up; they even tempt God and go free.’”
The Lord God Almighty Is Abundant in Mercy and Grace. He gave to the people silver and gold. Instead of using the riches to honor Him in their lives, the people used the precious metals to dishonor Him by making useless idols. We can learn from this evil a little something about our own selves. If we use God’s resources or abuse His gifts, we also miss the real purpose of His original intention for intrusting us His goods in the first place. If we continually do not serve as His good stewards of His treasures, guess what? He will stop giving them to us - We lose our jobs, lose our income, etc. If you are now going through trying experiences, which I have just described, I suggest this as 1 John 1: 9 recommends,
“9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Repent! Confess your sins. Ask God to give you another chance. This is the way to turn back to our Holy and Wonderful Great God.
‘And I will give them into the hands of strangers.’ ‘Wait a minute Lord. I am your child. You promised to take care of me. What’s this about? Issuing blessings that should be given to me – to others?
There was a prophet of God by the name of Habakkuk who had the same issues as I just mentioned. In his book from chapter 1:1 through 2: 9 we see his concerns and questions and is well worth us reviewing.
Habakkuk 1
1 The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw.2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” And You will not save. 3 Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; There is strife, and contention arises. 4 Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore perverse judgment proceeds. 5 “ Look among the nations and watch— Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you.6 For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. 7 They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. 8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers charge ahead; their cavalry comes from afar; they fly as the eagle that hastens to eat. 9 “ They all come for violence; Their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand. 10 They scoff at kings, and princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold, for they heap up earthen mounds and seize it. 11 Then his mind changes, and he transgresses; he commits offense, ascribing this power to his god.” 12 Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction. 13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he? 14 Why do You make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them? 15 They take up all of them with a hook, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. 16 Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their dragnet; because by them their share is sumptuous and their food plentiful. 17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and continue to slay nations without pity?
Habakkuk 2
1 I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected. 2 Then the LORD answered me and said: “ Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 4 “ Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith. 5 “ Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, he is a proud man, and he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his desire as hell, and he is like death, and cannot be satisfied, he gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples. 6 “ Will not all these take up a proverb against him, and a taunting riddle against him, and say, ‘ Woe to him who increases what is not his—how long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges’? 7 Will not your creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress you? And you will become their booty. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you, because of men’s blood and the violence of the land and the city, and of all who dwell in it. 9 “ Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of disaster!
The Lord tells His prophet that because of the evil of His people, He will shock them by using people more evil then them to destroy them all. This at first seems wrong doesn’t it? It is the correct discipline issued from a Perfect, Just, and Holy God. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 1 through 13 this,
“1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. 12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”
I share this Scripture for this reason – God says that He constantly watches over us to keep us on the right track. When we sin, we veer off that correct path. So, in love, He wakes us up by chastening us to stop sinning. When His own do not respond to His discipline and continue to go deeper and deeper into a sinful lifestyle, He says to us to let that brother or sister go for the full gusto of their sinful pursuits- In hopes that they will see and experience the results of that pursuit. Our Father uses people who are more evil and have been more deeper into their sins to show us what our future would be like, if we stayed on the same destructive course that they had traveled.
“23 ‘ Make a chain, For the land is filled with crimes of blood, And the city is full of violence.”
The command to make the chain refers to the shackles and interlinking chain that would be put on the captives. The land had filled up completely and overflowed with innocent blood and now the Holy God had and would respond with Judgment.
“24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the Gentiles, And they will possess their houses; I will cause the pomp of the strong to cease, And their holy places shall be defiled. 25 Destruction comes; They will seek peace, but there shall be none.”.
Foreign enemies who would have no mercy on anyone would destroy all – men, women, and children. Horrible! Because the Jews had become so blood thirsty in their sinful life styles, the Holy Living and Real God, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would bring the worst of the Gentiles against His people. They would possess the homes, defile the Most Sacred Holy Temple and bring terrible violence to the land. No one would be safe. As a last resort the Jews would try to seek out a peace settlement. However, the ‘Peace at any price’ offer would be ignored. The enemy would not be hindered from satisfying their thirst for murder.
26 Disaster will come upon disaster, And rumor will be upon rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; But the law will perish from the priest, And counsel from the elders. 27 ‘ The king will mourn, The prince will be clothed with desolation, And the hands of the common people will tremble. I will do to them according to their way, And according to what they deserve I will judge them; Then they shall know that I am the LORD!’”
An endless chain of problems, suffering, misery, and heartache were the daily course of pain on those in Jerusalem. On top of all this, there would be the constant rumors of more things ‘worse’ to come. They would have no where or nor one to turn to. Their religious and civic leaders had no message of direction to give to them. The prophets would just shrug their shoulders having no vision or word from God. The priest and elders could not give any guidance or cousel to them. They had no solution, direction, or wisdom coming anymore from God Almighty. Amos 3: 5 – 7
“5 Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no trap for it? Will a snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all? 6 If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it? 7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”
Jeremiah 18: 18 also reveal this, “18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
The leaders of both the government and religious areas would be equally bewildered and have no explanation or message in which to encourage the people. They had been too involved in the abomination of idolatry, in denying and polluting the house of the Magnificent and Holy Yahweh.
“14 Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the LORD which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.”
Here we see the final reason for what was to come on them. They had deserved it because of the particular path they had chosen and had been judged, sentenced, and the penalty imposed. They had completely spurned the One Who had loved them by seeking other lovers. They would know Who they had done this to.
