The Bible says in Ezekiel 14:1-5, Then came
certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.[2] And the
word of the LORD came unto me, saying,[3] Son of man, these men have set
up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock
of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?[4]
Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith
the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth
up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh
to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the
multitude of his idols;[5] That I may take the house of Israel in their
own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
We saw in the previous chapter that there were many false prophets and false
teachers in Israel. Now we see that the community leaders also had some severe
spiritual problems. these men have set up their idols in their heart. God wants our heart. He loves us and He wants us to love
Him in return. Jesus died for us on the cross and He wants us to love Him for
doing that. The idols of the Israelites were statues that they bowed down to, but
many people have idols today even though they do not bow down to statues. An
idol is a problem of the heart: what someone sets their heart on. Idols still
exist in the hearts of people. That is why John wrote to Christians in First
John 5:21, Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
God called the idols the stumblingblock of their iniquity. Sin begets
sin. Once a person starts down a road of sin, the very sins that they are doing
act like cords and ropes that bind them ever greater in their path, and thus
makes it ever unlikely that they will repent of their sins. Just like a person
can be addicted to drugs or alcohol, he or she can also become addicted to sin,
any sin. It says in Proverbs 5:22, His own iniquities shall take the
wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords
of his sins. That is one of the reasons that it can
such a great effort of the heart and mind to turn from ones sins and to turn
to Jesus.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 14:6-8, Therefore
say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord
GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from
all your abominations.[7] For every one of the house of Israel, or of
the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth
up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh
to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by
myself:[8] And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a
sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye
shall know that I am the LORD. As bad as the Israelites had
become, God still offered them the chance to repent and be saved. God said to
them in verse 8, Repent, and turn
yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. The Holy Spirit is giving the same message in the age in
which we live. Repent, turn from your sins, and turn to Jesus. Whoever does not
do that is using their freedom to make the wrong decision. Yes, they are given
the freedom from God to make their own choice, but eventually they will be held
accountable for the decisions that they make. If they reject Jesus, they chose
to be against God, but God will validate their decision and God will be against
them. In a contest of one human being against God, guess who will win?
Concerning the conclusion of the whole matter, God says in verse 8, And I will set my face against that man, and will make
him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people;
and ye shall know that I am the LORD. If you
do not know God through faith in Christ, you will not be allowed in the Kingdom
of God, and it will happen that way because you took the freedom of choice that
God gave you and you chose to reject Jesus Christ. By rejecting Jesus, you
rejected forgiveness of sins and eternal life. God will give you what you have
chosen.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 14:9-11, And if the
prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that
prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the
midst of my people Israel.[10] And they shall bear the punishment of
their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment
of him that seeketh unto him;[11] That the
house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more
with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be
their God, saith the Lord GOD.
We get a good understanding of what the Lord thinks about false prophets
because He says that He will destroy them. You had better stay away from false teachers. God
says in this passage that He will give the same punishment to the false
teachers that He will give to those who seek out the false teachers: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the
punishment of him that seeketh unto him. What is Gods purpose in all of the destroying and
punishing? God gives what He is trying to accomplish in verse 11. God says, That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me,
neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may
be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord
GOD. The Lord wants to save people. Jesus
said, I am come to seek and to save that
which was lost. Sometimes the invitation to
be saved is not enough. God has to do something in peoples lives: something
terrible and hurtful, so they will wake up and see their need of a Savior.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 14:12-20, The word of
the LORD came again to me, saying,[13] Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I
stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof,
and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:[14]
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver
but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the
Lord GOD.[15] If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and
they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of
the beasts:[16] Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor
daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.[17]
Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so
that I cut off man and beast from it:[18] Though these three men were in
it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver
neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.[19]
Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in
blood, to cut off from it man and beast:[20] Though Noah, Daniel, and
Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they
shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls
by their righteousness. God answers prayer. God especially answers prayer when we
pray for other people. We call that intercessory prayer. It says in James 5:16,
The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much. But as God lists the judgments that will come upon the
nation of Israel, God makes it clear that the prayers of three great believers
would not be enough to help the Israelites in the terrible spiritual condition
that they had now chosen. No matter who prayed what, there was only one
possible outcome for the nation of Israel: judgment.
It is interesting that God picked
these three men out of all the people mentioned in the Bible. Noah served God
faithfully at a time of great wickedness when no one except for Noah and his
immediate family served the Lord. Everyone else on the earth was evil. Noah
worked on the ark for a hundred years while everyone around him ignored his
message or mocked his message. Daniel served God as a civil servant in the
wicked Babylonian government. Daniel was faithful to God in that environment even
though there was extreme pressure to be politically correct and to compromise
his beliefs. Daniels life was at stake over these issues. Remember Daniel in
the lions den. Daniel was willing to die rather than deny God. Job is the
person in the Bible who suffered more than anyone else. He lost everything for
no apparent reason. His children were all murdered. He was ruined financially.
He lost his health. And one of the worse things that can happen to a man: his
wife stop supporting him. How did Job respond to all this even though it all
seemed so unjust? Job said in Job 13:15, Though he slay
me, yet will I trust in Him. Job is forever the great example of how much
someone can suffer in this life; and yet Job continued to follow the Lord.
God said several times that even if
Noah, Daniel, and Job prayed for the nation of Israel that their prayers would
help no one except themselves. God emphasizes that in verse 20, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor
daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. Even their
own children would not be saved by their prayers. That same principle is true
today. Your prayer to Jesus for your soul will result in Jesus saving your
soul, but it will not result in your children being saved or anyone else being
saved. They must make their own prayer to Jesus because they want Jesus in
their own heart and life.
There is another truth to consider
about the fact that God said that the prayers of Noah, Daniel, nor Job would help
the nation of Israel. They were human beings. We need someone better than a
human being to pray for us. That is another reason that we need Jesus. It says
in First Timothy 2:5, There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus. These denominations that tell people they can pray to what they
call saints is totally invalid. You can pray to the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: that is all. Only God can receive
prayers. Only Jesus is the Mediator. If you are a true believer and have Jesus
praying for you, you have Jesus praying for you. And Jesus is all you need. It
says in First John 2:1,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 14:21-23, For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore
judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and
the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?[22] Yet, behold,
therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and
daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way
and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have
brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.[23]
And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye
shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD. In spite of the great
destruction that would come upon Israel, God made it very clear that they would
not be totally destroyed. God always has a remnant. He always has at least a
few who love Jesus and who want to serve God. No matter how bad it gets, and no
matter how many turn away from the Lord, there will always be a few who will
remain faithful to Him. There will always be a few who will not forget what
Jesus has done for us on the cross of Calvary. These are the remnant. They do
not follow the crowd. They follow Jesus.
God uses the remnant to show others
that God is still at work. It says in verse 23, And they shall comfort you,
when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done
without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD. If you walk with the Lord, He will
use you in some way. God will use your life to show others that He is at work
in peoples lives, and then just maybe they will also want the Lord to be at
work in their lives. What you do to serve the Lord Jesus is never in vain.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2016 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved