Ezekiel 7
McGeeCHAPTER 7THEME: Prophecy of the final destruction of JerusalemChapter 7 contains the second of two messages of judgment against the entire land of Israel. Through chapter 5 Ezekiel’s messages had concerned Jerusalem, but now the whole land is in view. Jerusalem had not yet been destroyed and, although most of the inhabitants had been removed from the land, many people still remained there. However, the events which had already taken place did not cause them to turn to God.
Ezekiel 7:1
Ezekiel is passing on to the people of Israel what God has to say. The first message, given in chapter 6, opened with the same words.
Ezekiel 7:2
Judgment was to come upon that land, and of course it would include the people of the land. The land of Israel and the nation Israel are always considered together in the Word of God. A new element is added to Ezekiel’s prophecy in this messagethis is now the prophecy of the final destruction of the land and of Jerusalem. The final deportation will take place, and the city will be destroyed.
Ezekiel 7:3
This message is in the form of marvelous Hebrew poetry, and throughout this chapter I would like to quote to you a translation by the late Dr. A. C. Gaebelein (The Prophet Ezekiel, p. 48). He has translated this quite literally in poetic form. This then is his translation of verses Eze_7:1-3. And the Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, And thou Son of Man, thus saith Jehovah unto the land of Israel: An end cometh! The end Upon the four corners of the land. Now cometh the end upon thee And I will send mine anger upon thee, And I will judge thee according to thy ways, And I will bring upon thee all thine abominations. God says to Israel, “I am going to judge you according to your ways.” The judgment or the punishment will fit the crime. We need to ask ourselves: How serious is it to be a professed witness for God and yet really be a phony? How serious is it to be a church member and not be saved? That brings the issue right down to where the rubber meets the road for us in this day. I have said many times that I would rather be a Hottentot in the darkest corner of Africa, bowing down to an idol, than to be a church member sitting in the pew, professing to be a Christian, yet not knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior! I will not argue with you about what God will do with the Hottentotthe Lord has His plan for him. I will talk about church members who are not truly saved.
That is the issue in our day which corresponds to what Ezekiel is talking about. Ezekiel says that such a man’s responsibility is great, because he has heard the Word of God, and he has turned his back upon it. The more he hears, the greater his responsibility grows, I can assure you of that.
Ezekiel 7:4
Again, let me give you Dr. Gaebelein’s translation of these verses (The Prophet Ezekiel, p. 48): And mine eyes shall not spare thee, Neither will I have pity: Because I will bring thy ways upon thee And thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah! An evilan only evil!behold it cometh. An end is comethe end is come! It awaketh against thee. Behold it cometh! O inhabitant of the land, thy doom is come unto thee The set time is come, the day is near, The day of tumult. And not the joyous shouting upon the mountains: Now will I soon pour out my fury upon thee And accomplish mine anger against thee. I will judge thee according to thy ways, And I will bring upon thee all thine abominations. Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity. According to thy ways will I render unto thee, And thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee, And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, who smiteth. This is a tremendous passage of Scripture which, I dare say, few deal with todayit is totally unknown to multitudes of church members. Someone will argue, “Well, it belongs way back in the Old Testament and that makes it different.” My friend, Ezekiel’s language is tame compared to the Book of Revelation and to the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 25. Ezekiel’s words here are those of a sissy compared to many passages in the New Testament. The God of the New Testament is the same Person as the God of the Old Testament, and He will punish sin in any age. I mentioned in the previous chapter a young Jewish rabbi who wants to dismiss God altogether because he cannot reconcile what happened to the six million Jews in Hitler’s Germany. All I want to say is that ought to be a warning to the church of God today. Will God judge? Yes, He will! It is no wonder that Paul said, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men …” (2Co_5:11). Many are playing church today, making it a cheap sort of thing. They speak of their “allegiance,” their “dedication, but do not have a full commitment to Jesus Christ. That is the tragedy of this moment. Our problem is not that we do not have enough church membersthe problem is we have too many who are not genuine Christians. There was a great preacher in New York City many years ago who made this statement: “One cold church member hurts the cause of Christ more than twenty blatant, blaspheming atheists.” Ezekiel’s message was not popular in his day, nor is it today.
Ezekiel 7:10
Here is Dr. Gaebelein’s rendering of this passage (The Prophet Ezekiel, pp. 49-50): Behold the Day! Behold it cometh! Thy doom advanceth: The rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded. Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness; None of them shall remain; yea none of their multitude Nor their wealth; neither shall there be eminency among them. 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. For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, Even though he were yet amongst the living. In the vision touching the whole multitude thereof It shall not be revoked; And none shall through his iniquity assure his life. They have blown the trumpet and made all ready, But none goeth to the battle; For my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. The thing that characterized these people was that they were a bunch of protestersthey were pacifists and wouldn’t go to war. They refused to stand for that which was right, my friend. The judgment came, and when the enemy came in, he didn’t have any silly notions about pacifism. I mentioned before G. K. Chesterton’s comment, “This is the age of pacifism, but it is not the age of peace.” It is true that men today are weary of war, but as long as there is iniquity in the human heart God has said, “There is no peace …to the wicked” (Isa_57:21). Isaiah repeated that truth three times in his prophecy.
Ezekiel 7:19
Dr. Gaebelein’s translation is (The Prophet Ezekiel, p. 51): They shall cast their silver in the streets, And their gold shall be as an unclean thing; Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them In the day of Jehovah’s wrath; They cannot satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels, Because it was the stumbling block of their iniquity. Too often in America we have felt that the almighty dollar could solve every problem of life. We have spent billions of dollars throughout the world in pursuit of peace. We haven’t done a very good job, but we sure have spent a lot of money. It is very comfortable to have a few dollars on hand, but they will not solve life’s problems. This is what God is saying here to the people of Israel who felt that their accumulated wealth would protect themit did not.
Ezekiel 7:20
Dr. Gaebelein continues on page 51: And the beauty of their ornaments, they turned it to pride, And the images of their abominations, their detestable things made they of it. And I shall give it to the hands of strangers for a prey, And to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it. For I will turn my face from them. And they shall defile my secret place, And robbers shall enter into it and profane it. This is an awesome description of the judgment of God, but if you want to read something even more awesome and which still lies ahead for the world, read Revelation 18 and 19, which describe the destruction of commerical Babylon. It speaks of a day in which men trust in big business and the stock market and depend on the success of Fifth Avenue. It is a day in which the boys in grey flannel suits make business successful, and the government assures that everything in life will go all right. But it wasn’t all right, and it didn’t save them. When they needed deliverance, it could not deliver them.
Ezekiel 7:23
These verses are translated on page 51 by Dr. Gaebelein for us: Form a chain, For the land is full of bloody crimes, And the city full of violence. Therefore will I bring the worst of the nations, And they shall possess their houses; And I will make the pride of the mighty to cease, And there sanctuaries shall be defiled. “The land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence"what an accurate picture of our own day! “Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses.” There are many today who want to believe that God will never permit Russia to destroy America. Where do we get that idea? God permitted Babylon, a pagan nation, to destroy His own people. Can America come down? People will say, “Oh, no. We are sending missionaries. We are such nice, lovely people.” My friend, it is not safe to walk the streets of America. There’s violence; there’s crime. Until a nation will become a law-abiding people, God cannot bless them. You see, people do not like to read Ezekiel’s message; they would rather read John 14. Don’t misunderstand meI love John 14, too. But we must remember that Ezekiel 7 is in the Bible also. I do not know where we got the idea that one chapter was a little bit more important than another to read. We need to at least give Ezekiel 7 equal time and let him present his case.