WHY DID GOD FAIL US? Israel was shocked that God had let them down.
- Ezekiel 33:21-24.
- This passage as a whole is God giving an explanation to Israel of what’s going on because they are nowhere near an accurate understanding of the situation.
- Verse 21 opens the passage with the reality of the situation: Jerusalem has fallen.
This is a shocking reality to the inhabitants, who presumed that God would keep them safe.
- Verse 22 simply speaks to God’s eagerness to speak to Israel on this issue. They aren’t going to have to wait years in uncertainty before God explains everything to them.
- Verses 23-24 shows their view, which is entrenched in their heritage. The gist of their argument is “God promised the whole land to Abraham and he was only one person - now we, his descendants are many, so how much more is God going to fulfill His promises about the land to us?”
- “We are children of the promise!” “We are the sons and daughters of Abraham!” “We are in the Promised Land!” They were living in and relishing their honored status as God’s chosen.
- When we read v. 24, I think it’s important to understand that it’s likely that this was something they were telling themselves on a regular basis, not something that God makes up to characterize them. It was likely something they would have used to hype themselves up about their special status to God.
- All of this creates a crisis for the people of Israel and it is precisely what God is addressing in this passage.
Reading between the lines, the people of Israel were feeling that God had abandoned them. They had great confidence that the God of Abraham wouldn’t allow them to be conquered. He would keep them safe and secure in the land. So when a foreign army threatened them, they could face that moment with the confidence that God wouldn’t allow anything bad to happen to them.
- And then, unbelievably, the foreign army won. The four words of v. 21 were shocking to all of Jerusalem: “The city has fallen!” How could that have happened? How could God have let them down?
GOD'S RESPONSE: “I didn’t disappoint - you disobeyed.”
- Ezekiel 33:25-26.
- Verse 25 begins with God focusing His message.
- “Therefore say to them . . . .” This is what they’re thinking, says God, so I want you to deliver this rebuke to them.
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says . . . .” This is My message, says God, and I want them to know why I am doing what I’m doing.
- This is an unequivocal response from God. He is making His thoughts clear.
- Verses 25-26 give God’s rebuke. He doesn’t go into the length of accusation that He does in some other similar Old Testament prophet passages. He is brief and to the point.
- He brings up examples of how Israel is not obeying the Mosaic Law. They aren’t doing the things that God says He expects from His people.
- It’s telling that the conclusion of each sentence has to do with possessing the land. That seems to be their focus, as we discussed in the last point. They are focused on the blessing of the Promised Land that God had given to them. Their identity is “we are the people God gave the land to.” But it’s not “we are the people who are faithful to God’s Law.” In sum, they want the blessing of God without acting like the people of God. They don’t want their behavior changed. They don’t want to obey God’s commandments.
- This, of course, is not a problem limited to their time. It’s happened through history. Many today are in a similar spot - they expect God’s blessing, safety, and provision even though they are not trying to follow God. They want God for what He can do for them.
HOW GOD WILL CONVINCE THEM: Broader punishment is coming.
- Ezekiel 33:27-29.
- Obviously that message we just discussed is not a message that Israel wants to receive. They might even push back against it to Ezekiel.
- But God goes on to share with them how He will convince them that this is in fact from Him.
- He is not going to limit the punishment to the fall of Jerusalem. We might think of that happening and then God, like an indulgent parent who has given the initial punishment, immediately backs off it as being more than enough.
- Verses 27-28 indicate that God intends the punishment to radiate out. From the fall of Jerusalem, it will expand to the countryside. The punishment will be broader than the starting point.
- Verse 29 is interesting. God says this is how He will convince Israel that this is from Him.
- How does that work exactly?
- We aren’t specifically told but we can offer conjecture. My best guess is that if the punishment was limited to one place they might presume there was some specific problem with those people. Or if the punishment was limited to one incident, they might presume that it was a one-off event they shouldn’t read too much into.
- But God intends to continue this punishment more broadly than they would expect. It’s going to expand out to all of Israel. This also means it’s going to last a while.
- We can be hard headed. Sometimes it takes getting hit multiple times to get the message through our thick skulls. As their punishment continues and expands, there will be a point where they will not be able to dismiss it any more. There will come a moment where they have to humbly ask, “Why?” and then not settle for the shallow answers.
- Think of a church that has problem after problem and cycles through short pastorate after short pastorate. They wonder why God isn’t blessing them like other area churches. But at a certain point it gets bad enough they have to stop and ask, “Is this our fault?”
- Think of a woman with problems in her relationships and her health and her work. She wonders for a while why she’s so unlucky and why God isn’t protecting her. But at a certain point it gets bad enough she has to stop and ask, “Is this my fault?”
- Unfortunately, some of us take a long time to get the message. In this passage, God is saying He’s going to prosecute His case until they get the message.
HOW DID THEY MISUNDERSTAND SO BADLY? They listened to Ezekiel’s words for entertainment, not conviction.
- Ezekiel 33:30-32.
- Save “they do not put them into practice” (v. 31) for the next point.
- At this point, the passage veers in an unexpected direction.
- Often when Israel is disobeying, the critique that God levees is that they aren’t listening to His prophets. The men of God are faithfully shared God’s message but Israel is not listening.
- That's not the case here, though.
- Verse 30 tells us that the people said they were going to go hear Ezekiel’s words. Verse 31a tells us that they actually followed up on that and did it. Verse 32 gives us a striking image: they consider the religious words of Ezekiel like a pretty song to listen to and enjoy.
- They are just something lovely to listen to but have little practical impact.
- This is not an outright rejection of God. Instead we treat religion as pleasant background music to the harsh realities of life.
- It makes us feel good about ourselves. We aren’t among those atheists and agnostics who reject God outright. No, not at all. We enjoy the pleasantries of religion and welcome it into our lives when it’s presented.
- I think this treatment of religion as pleasant background music happens a lot. It’s something we certainly see today.
- We see religious words as something to make us feel better and give us a measure of comfort.
- It might be at a funeral. The pretty words in the pastor’s eulogy soothe our grief and help us to feel a little better.
- It might be in a time of crisis. The pretty words in an offered prayer soothe our anxiety and help us to feel a little better.
- It might be at an altar. The pretty words of a salvation prayer soothe our fear of hell and help us to feel a little better.
- The question then becomes obvious. If that's not the way we should be living, what is the way we should be handling this?
APPLYING THIS TO TODAY: What we do displays what we really believe.
- Ezekiel 33:31 (“they do not put them into practice”), 32b (“do not put them into practice”).
- Matthew 7:16-27.
- God makes the point twice in vv. 31-32: they aren’t putting the words Ezekiel tells them into practice. It isn’t enough that they think the words are pretty or that they enjoy hearing what he has to say. God wants Israel to actually walk with Him.
- I am reminded of a story that I believe was told by Soren Kierkegaard. There was once a church of ducks. The whole congregation waddled down the roads to come to church. They gathered in the sanctuary and the duck preacher shared a stirring message. “We were made to fly! We were made to fly!” he boldly proclaimed. All the duck congregation said “Amen!” And then they all waddled back home.
- The point, of course, is that it doesn’t do you any good to hear a stirring message if you don’t live it out. If God made you to fly, you should actually fly!
- This is such a crucial part of the new covenant in Christ. In Christ, God did not just provide a way for our sins to be forgiven. No, He provided a way for us to become new creatures in Christ. As those new creations, we are now actually able to live for God. We have been empowered by our spiritual transformation and the presence of the Holy Spirit within us to live out God’s commands.
- God wants us to be living billboards of the power of God in our lives.
- There are a ton of New Testament passages about this but let me just note a couple out of the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 7:16-27. This has several references to this simple idea: what we do displays what we really believe.
