Ezekiel 7:1

The Bible says in Ezekiel 7:1-4, “Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,[2] Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.[3] Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.[4] And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.” In verse 2 God said about the land of Israel, “the end is come upon the four corners of the land.” From one point of view, that is a very sad statement: the end of Israel. The end of what could have been the greatest country in the world forever. But God knows what is best. He must be true to His holy nature, and He must be true to His responsibility as Judge of the whole earth. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away that which He hath given. The Lord creates life, and the Lord takes away life. The Lord gives opportunity, and the Lord takes away opportunity. Why did the Lord decide to put an end to Israel? He did so because of their sins. God said in verse 3, “I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways.” God said in verse 4, “I will recompense thy ways upon thee.” The Israelites were under the law, and that is how law works. Pure law is totally unforgiving. It gives the punishment that is deserved, and that is it. How wonderful it is that God replaced the law with grace through Christ. Law gives you what you deserve, but grace gives you what you do not deserve. One of the great benefits of having Jesus as Savior is the following: “Ye are not under law, but under grace.” It says in John 1:17, “The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” As it explains in Romans 8:1-4, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

The Bible says in Ezekiel 7:5-8, “Thus saith the Lord God; An evil, an only evil, behold is come. An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come. The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and I will recompence thee for all thine abominations.” God determines what happens: both good and evil. There is so much evil everywhere, and the only way that the evil is not unleashed even more than it is has to do with God’s restraining power on the evil. But when God does not restrain the evil, even that God uses. God is so powerful that God even uses he evil forces of the world to accomplish His good will. Second Thessalonians 2:3-12, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;[4] Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.[5] Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?[6] And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
[7] For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.[8] And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:[9] Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,[10] And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.[11] And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:[12] That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” “He that letteth will let” in verse 7 refers to the Holy Spirit retraining the evil one of the last days. “To let” means to restrain. Evil could break out at any time, and the antichrist would come into power and the last 7 years of this age will begin: the seven year period that is called the Tribulation. But that will not happen unless God lets it happen. And that will not happen until Jesus raptures all believers off the earth.

But there is an interesting parallel to what God had to do to Israel back in 586 BC and what God will eventually do to the whole world. Tremendous judgment came upon Israel because of their sins, and tremendous judgment will come upon the earth because of the sins of the whole world. But until that judgment comes, there is still an opportunity to repent and be saved. That is one of the reasons that God sent Ezekiel to Israel to tell them of the soon-to-come judgment: to give them one more chance to turn to Him. Today God gives you one more chance to turn to Jesus before it is too late.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 7:9-11, “And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.[10] Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.[11] Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.” In these few verses the Lord is continuing to talk about the judgment that He will soon bring upon the nation of Israel. In verse 11 God says, “Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness.” A “rod” was used for punishment. This punishment was “violence.” God would bring violence upon their land. They would not have peace and security and safety, which all people hope for. Because of their sins, they would have the worst of violence come across their land.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 7:12-13, “The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.[13] For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.” God knows the times and the seasons. We do not know. God knows when the rapture will occur and the Tribulation will start. God knows when the antichrist will take power. We do not know. We do not know when the times of our own lives will change. Our life might go from loneliness to one full of love, or the opposite might happen. We might go from a time of peace to a time of war. One thing is certain: whatever you are experiencing now will change. That is another of the many reasons to trust in the Lord. We need Him to get through whatever time comes our way. We need to turn to Him before an evil time coms our way as happened to the Israelites. In these verses God is telling them that the destruction of their society will be so complete that even commerce will end. There will be no buying and selling. All the stores will be closed and will not reopen. That can happen in any country if it gets bad enough. Be prepared from a practical standpoint, and be prepared from a spiritual standpoint by drawing close to Jesus now.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 7:14-17, “They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.[15] The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.[16] But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.[17] All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.” A battle is ready to be fought, and the battle is so close that the trumpet has already sounded. But as it says in verse 14, “none goeth to the battle.” What a terrible circumstance. How can that be? We see the same thing in our nation. The progressives and the liberals have been tearing away at the fabric of our nation since the early 20^th century, and some will say even before that; but others who claim to not be progressives do not seem to have the will or the determination to go to battle. In this life a spiritual battle is always raging. But it seems as though some Christians are not ready for the battle. The Israelites were paralyzed with fear. They had the “sword” without and pestilence and famine within. That sounds similar to the spiritual battle that Paul said he faced every day. Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 7:5, “For, when we were come into Macedonia, and our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.” Just like the Israelites, there is no way that we can face what is coming. With the Lord we are strong, but without Him we are weak. Ezekiel 7:17, “All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.”

The Bible says in Ezekiel 7:18-22, “They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.[19] They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.[20] As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.[21] And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.[22] My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.” These verses mention silver and gold and the beauty of their ornaments: in other words their material possessions. If people do not trust in the Lord Jesus, hen often they trust in their money and in their financial resources. What a terrible mistake. Money cannot protect you from God’s judgment. As it says in verse 19, “their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD.”

These verses make one other statement about money: it does not satisfy. It also says in verse 19, “they shall not satisfy their souls.” There are people who lust and lust and lust after money, and then they find that money does not satisfy. Money has two primary purposes: both are practical in nation. The first primary use of money is to meet the basic needs of life. The second primary purpose of money is to use it to accomplish something. Money is a tool. You can use money to help others who are suffering. You can use money to establish a Christian ministry as part of the groundwork so that the Word of God can be preached and taught. In other words if you are led by the Spirit, you can use money to glorify the name of Christ, just as you should do with everything that you possess.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 7:23-24, “Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.” God said to the Jewish people, “Make a chain.” They made a chain alright. They chained themselves to terrible consequences because of their deeds. There would be no escape because they were chained by a natural process that went from their own actions to the consequences that must surely follow. What were their actions: they had become violent. “the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.” God wants human beings to learn to love one another. That is the golden rule. Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Jesus also told us to turn the other cheek. What will be the result of angry citizens shooting innocent police officers? What will be the result of despicable men attacking innocent women and then raping and killing them? What will be the result of all the domestic violence? What will be the result of parents killing their own children? What will be the result of citizens attacking other citizens in the name of social justice? What will be the result of young men joining gangs and then attacking and killing others? When these kinds of sins took place in Israel, God said to them, “Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses.” I wonder if the radical Islamic terrorists qualify as “the worst of the heathen?” I would say that what our country needs is a lot of people to turn from their sins and to turn to Jesus. The judgment is coming.

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