Ezekiel 33

CHAPTER 33THEME: Recommission of EzekielChapter 33 brings us to the last major division of this book. From chapters 33-48 we will see the glory of the Lord and the coming millennial Kingdom. Chapter 32 concluded the predictions concerning the nations that were round about Israel. Some of these nations were contiguous to the land of Israel. They were very closely related to them, of courseactually related by blood. These prophecies were given before the destruction of Jerusalem. Now we come to the second part of this prophetic book, which contains Ezekiel’s prophecies after the fall of Jerusalem. Ezekiel again is speaking of Jerusalem, and the land of Israel will be his subject, but his message is different. Up to chapter 25 everything pointed to the destruction of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem was destroyed exactly as he had predicted. Now he will look forward to the future of the coming millennial Kingdom when the glory of the Lord will be seen again on this earth. That makes this a very interesting section. Not only is Ezekiel’s commission renewed, he will also be commended for the fact that he has done a good job up to this point. From now on he is going to be speaking to those in captivity, telling them that they are to live in the expectancy of the future. Before, these captives had no hope because of their sins. But in the future, Ezekiel sees hope for the children of Israel. Today believers also have a hope. It is not anchored in anything that men do here on earth, or in any of the gyrations of psychoanalysis. Our hope today is not a philosophy. It rests upon the Word of God and what He has said will take place in the future. This is the lodestar of the child of God in our day. It is not the same as Israel moving into the Millennium. We are moving actually into the New Jerusalem. This is what is immediately ahead of us as believers.

Ezekiel 33:1

RECOMMISSION OF THE PROPHETThis phrase is a stuck record as far as Ezekiel is concerned. He wants us to remember constantly that he is not giving us his theories or ideas, but he is giving out the Word of the Lord.

Ezekiel 33:2

God reverts to the commission that he gave to Ezekiel at the beginning of his ministry. He likens him to the watchman of a city. In that day most of the cities of importance were protected by walls. Those in authority appointed a watchman to watch for invaders from the top of the wall all during the hours of darkness. I imagine that during the night he would call off the watches with a shout of “All’s well” when there was no moving of an approaching enemy out there in the darkness. The interesting thing is that the false prophets were saying “All’s well” when the enemy was coming. They were too blind to see him. Ezekiel had been a faithful watchman and had given the people warning that the enemy, which was Babylon, was coming.

Ezekiel 33:6

Now the people are going to be judged for their sin, but the watchman will be held responsible if he doesn’t warn them. Ezekiel had warned them; the false prophets had not. Ezekiel had done a good job.

Ezekiel 33:7

Ezekiel has fulfilled that commission.

Ezekiel 33:8

The responsibility of the watchman is to warn the wicked that they are going to be judged. Ezekiel was faithful in giving the warning, although the people would not listen to him. To sound the warning was the only way the watchman could clear himself. Today the man who is teaching the Word of God is not required to get results. Many people say, “Let’s get an evangelist who can get results.” To get people to come forward in a meeting is not of primary importance. The preacher giving the people the Word of God is the important thing. I don’t look at the folks who have come forward; I look at the people who walk out after the benediction. Have they been warned? That should be our concern.

We have been looking at the wrong crowd. We say, “Oh, So-and-So gave such a sweet gospel invitation, and a lot of sweet people came forward. No decisions were actually made, but we had a movement going on.” Oh, my friend, let’s make sure that the fellow who hears has been properly warned. If he is not warned, the speaker is held responsible. He will have to answer to God for neglecting his duty.

Ezekiel 33:11

It is quite obvious from this verse that God does not want to judge. Isaiah said that judgment was His strange work. God wants to save them, and He is urging them to turn to Him and accept life.

Ezekiel 33:17

The children of Israel had another complaint. They said that God was not fair in His judgment. He judged everybody alike; yet there were some “good people” among the captives.

Ezekiel 33:18

This verse is not speaking about somebody losing salvation. God is saying that when one of His children gets into sin, He will judge him. That is exactly what Paul said in 1Co_11:31: “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” And God says through John that there is a sin unto death (1Jn_5:16). He is speaking about a child of God. What kind of death is he talking about? He is talking about physical death.

Some Christians are judged for their sins by physical death. I am amazed that more folks don’t catch on to God’s discipline after a time. There are others who are in the Lord’s work, but what they are doing is not prospering, and they are getting deeper and deeper into debt. You would think that the message would come through loud and clear that perhaps God is moving in judgment, that what they are doing is not pleasing to Him.

Ezekiel 33:19

God is righteous in what He does. If a wicked man will turn to God, God will save him.

Ezekiel 33:20

Godly men, too, were carried away into captivity. Those who had trusted God were carried off just like the most wicked people, and these godly people are complaining. It looks like God is being unfair. You and I experience this same principle in many ways. For example, we have to pay excessive insurance premiums today because there are a lot of alcoholics. I don’t drink, but I have to pay for the ones who do. I have to pay high taxes because we have a lot of folks in Washington today who spend money foolishly. We are identified with our nation. And the good people in Israel were suffering because they were identified with the nation. But there is more to it than that. Notice what God says “O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.” In other words, I am going to judge every one of you. And, my friend, whoever you are, you will have to stand before God for judgment some day. If you are a child of God, He will judge you for the sins you have committed, but you will not lose your salvation. However, if you are a lost person, you have no claim on God whatsoever. He has made that clear in the New Testament. In 1Pe_3:12 we read, “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” God doesn’t say that He won’t hear the prayer of the wicked; He just says that He hears the prayers of the righteous, which implies that He feels no obligation to hear the prayer of the unsaved person.

Of course, if he would cry out for salvation, God would hear and answer, but the point is that the unsaved person has no claim on God whatsoever. When you hear an unsaved person ask, “Why does God let this happen to me?” you know that he has no claim whatever on God’s mercy. God is righteous when He is judging a lost world, and sometimes we forget that this happens to be His world.

Ezekiel 33:21

THE CITY IS SMITTEN!Ezekiel had already said that Jerusalem was destroyed because God had told him, but as yet he had been given no information about it. When the news of the destruction of the city was brought to these people, it absolutely dumbfounded them. They were overwhelmed by the news. They never believed that anything like this could possibly take place. On the very day that this news was brought, Ezekiel’s wife died, and God said to him in effect, “Don’t grieve for your wife. I want these people to know that I have repudiated their city.

They think that I have to have Jerusalem. They think that I won’t destroy it. They don’t believe I will judge sin, but I will. Therefore, don’t weep for your wife. Let the people know that at this time the city is being destroyed because of its sin. The city is smitten.”

Ezekiel 33:22

You see, at the end of chapter 24 God announced to Ezekiel the destruction of Jerusalem, the bloody city. From that point on (chs. 25-33) He had given him no prophecy for Jerusalem; instead, He had given him messages for the surrounding nations. Now when we come here to chapter 33, we find that God no longer makes Ezekiel dumb about Jerusalem. He says to him, “I have some messages for you about Jerusalem now.”

Ezekiel 33:23

The people of Israel are remembering how God took care of Abraham; yet there was only one of him, and there are a whole lot of them. They expect Him to take care of them in the same way. They are ignoring the fact that there was a great deal of difference between Abraham and themselves. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. These people do not believe God.

Ezekiel 33:25

God says to them, “I won’t let you have the land. I put the heathen and the pagan out of this land because of their sin, and you are doing the same things they did.”

Ezekiel 33:28

I cannot get as elated about the land of Israel as some of my very good minister friends do. When they get into that land, they go into ecstasy. The way some of them act you would think they were on drugs! They exclaim, “Isn’t it wonderful to see this land!” I want to tell you that the land is just about as desolate as any place you could possibly find today. That land is desolate because the judgment of God is upon it. There is a water shortageput a little water on that land and it blossoms like a rosebut they can’t get enough water. That is the great problem. God’s judgment is not only upon a people; it is also upon a land.

Ezekiel 33:30

The people are shaken, and they want to listen to Ezekiel now, but they won’t follow through.

Ezekiel 33:31

On the surface they appeared to be turning to the Lord. They wanted to hear what the Lord had to say but had no intention of obeying Him. They were like folk who go to church in our day to hear an interesting and well-delivered sermon, but what they hear does not change their lives. The Epistle of James gets down where the rubber meets the road when he says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (Jas_1:22). This is what God says to Ezekiel about these folk in captivity, “They hear thy words, but they do them not.”

Ezekiel 33:32

Now that Jerusalem has fallen, as Ezekiel had prophesied, the people know he is a true prophet of God. Although they know he is giving them God’s Word, they still will not obey it. My friend, unbelief is willful; it is not because mankind has a great mentality that cannot accept what God says. The real problem is that people do not want to give up their sin. That was the problem with the people to whom Ezekiel ministered. They were willing to come and listen to what Ezekiel had to say, but it had no effect upon them whatsoever.

You would think that the people would now turn to God, but that was not the case. God said to Ezekiel, “Don’t let the crowds deceive you. It is true that they are coming and listening, but they are not heeding what you say. They are not doers of the Word at all. They like it when they hear you talk about love, and the future, and prophecy, but it has not affected their lives one whit. They are still living the same wayfar from Me.” Ezekiel was the only man who said that Jerusalem would be destroyed. All of the false prophets said that it would not be destroyed. The word of confirmation has come. Jerusalem is destroyed. Ezekiel is declared a true prophet.