Ezekiel 12:17

The Bible says in Ezekiel 12:17-20, “Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,[18] Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;[19] And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.[20] And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.” Notice that once again God is using what Ezekiel does as a message to the children of Israel. There were times when God has Ezekiel speak, but there were also times just like in this situation where God’s plan was for Ezekiel to do something, knowing that the Israelites were watching him. They would learn from Ezekiel’s actions. Jesus told Christians something similar. Jesus said in Matthew 5:14-16, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.[15] Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.[16] Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” People are watching. They see what we do and how we live. If you are walking with the Lord by walking according to the Spirit, the Lord will use what you do to speak to the people who see you, who see you living for the Lord.

Everyone hopes to be safe in their neighborhoods, in their homes, and in their nations, but God said to the Israelites that the danger would be so real and so near that they would eat with shaking because they would be so afraid, and they would drink with trembling and worry. Why did God allow such a terrible time to come upon the nation of Israel? We are given the answer in verse 20 where God says, “ye shall know that I am the LORD.” God is God. He does not like it when people think that they control their destinies. God does not like it when people make plans without seeking His will and without realizing that the Master is in charge. God has His ways of waking people up so that they will know that He is the Lord.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 12:21-23, “And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,[22] Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?[23] Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.” Warnings had been given to the nation of Israel for hundreds of years, saying that if they took the wrong path away from God, that God’s judgment would surely come upon them. This message was given over and over again by many different prophets. Eventually, the people of Israel mocked this message and the long time that had elapsed since it was first given, and they came up with a mocking proverb according to verse 22, “The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth.” Instead of appreciating God’s patience, they mockingly stated that the judgement would never come and the prophecy would never be fulfilled. That same kind of unbelieving response also happens today in regards to the promise of the return of Christ and the end of the age. It says in Second Peter 3:3-10, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,[4] And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.[5] For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:[6] Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:[7] But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.[8] But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.[9] The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.[10] But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

God waited to bring His judgment upon Israel because He wanted to give them time to repent. He loved them and did not want to bring His judgment upon them. God gave them time to repent, and then He gave them more time, and then more time. But even God has His limits, and Israel reached that limit in the life of Ezekiel. God said to them in Ezekiel 12:23, “The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.” The day had finally arrived, and now was the time of judgment. Every person who is not right with God should fear such a day. It will come. Judgment is coming, and it will be a terrible day should it overtake you without Jesus as Savior. It says in Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Turn to Jesus while you still have time.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 12:24-28, “For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.[25] For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.[26] Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,[27] Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.[28] Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.” In verse 24 God calls the false teachings a “vain vision” and a “flattering divination.” It is vain because it is of no value. How much different is the Word of God that is of great value. From the Word of God we hear the truth. By the Word of God our faith is strengthened. By the Word of God we learn the wonderful promises that God has made to us. The Word of God is our spiritual food. Why do the false teachers say what they say? One reason is because they offer a “flattering divination.” They find out what people want to hear, and they flatter them. The false teachers give a message that is popular. They teach what is politically correct in order to gain favor. But one the worse things that can happen to people is that they hear what they want to hear, but they actually need to hear a much different message than that. That is why it says about the Bible in Revelation 10:9-10, “And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.[10] And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.”

God loves His Word. God gave His written Word so that we could all know His truth, so that we could know salvation through faith in Christ, and so that we could know how to live by faith in the Lord. One of the names given to Jesus is “the Word.” It says in Psalms 38:2, “…thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy name.” God said about His Word in Ezekiel 12:25, “the word that I shall speak shall come to pass.” One of the many values to the Word of God is that what it says about the future will be fulfilled. Of course, that is a great contrast to what human beings say will happen. If you want to know what is going to happen to the world, learn the Word of God. We do not know everything because God has not revealed everything, but He has revealed many things so that we can be comforted that it is all in His hands. The church, made up of all true believers, will be raptured when Jesus appears in the clouds and receives all believers to Himself, delivering us from the great time of trial and tribulation that will come upon the earth. We do not know when this will happen. It could happen today, or it could happen many years from now. We know from the book of Daniel that this Great Tribulation will be a period of seven years when the antichrist shall reign. That is a fairy short reign. It has to be short or no flesh would survive the wars and famine and death of those seven years. At the end of the seven years is what we call the Second Coming of Christ when Jesus literally comes to the earth riding on a great white horse followed by a vast army of believers as described in Revelation chapter 19. Jesus will win the battle of Armageddon very easily against all the armies of the world. And then the eternal state with our blessed Savior will begin. The first thousand years of this new and wonderful life we will reign with Him when Jesus rules the earth as King from the throne of David in Jerusalem. God told the Israelites one more time at the end of Ezekiel 12:28, “the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.”

The Bible says in Ezekiel 13:1-6, “And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,[2] Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;[3] Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing![4] O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.[5] Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.[6] They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.” These verses say several things about the “foolish prophets.” There are foolish prophets today also. What is their great sin? Of course, we know that what they teach is wrong and not God’s Word. But also it says in verse 2, “prophesy out of their own hearts.” Since the Bible is the written Word of God, someone who speaks forth God’s Word must open up and speak forth the Bible and its true meaning. People do not need your ideas or your words: people need the Bible and its words. The challenge for every preacher is to present the truth of every word of the Bible, and not even to use the Bible to support their own ideas. That is another mistake that foolish prophets make.

The last phrase of verse 2 tells us one phrase that the foolish prophets always use: “Hear ye the word of the LORD.” Of course, they claim that they are speaking the word of God, but in reality they are not. How are you going to know? You must know the Word of God really well in order to be able to identify the foolish prophets. What a sad state those are in who have fallen under the sway of a foolish prophet before learning the Word of God. How will they escape? That is one of the reasons that God hates false teachers. They do so much damage.

In verse 3 God says that the foolish prophets “follow their own spirit.” Because we live under the New Testament, we know what this means. The sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. In order to do God’s work, we must be led by the Spirit of God. It is His work and we are simply His instruments. Therefore, if we are not led by the Spirit of God, we are not doing God’s work. The foolish prophets follow their own spirit instead of the Spirit of God. The foolish prophets say what they want to say instead of what God wants them to say. That is why they “have seen nothing.” God also says that the foolish prophets are “like the foxes in the deserts.” In other words they are wild and are of no use and no value to the human race. The Word of God is a valuable resource for all who read it and learn from it, but those who are foolish prophets provide no value. God speaks to the foolish prophets, and He says to them in verse 5, “Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.” That is another way of saying that they are no doing the work of God, and they are not helping anyone. We are involved in a spiritual battle, a spiritual war; and the Word of God as the sword of the Lord is an important part of that battle. The foolish prophets are not helping in the battle. As it says in verse 6, “the LORD hath not sent them.” But unfortunately, the foolish teachers do accomplish something, but it is very negative what they accomplish. It says in verse 6, “they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.” They give false hope. They teach lies, and then people believe their lies. That is why the foolish prophets are so evil. If you want real hope, turn to the Lord Jesus. Jesus will save and put the Spirit within you, and then you will have the opportunity to be led by the Spirit.

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