Extreme Measures to Bring Restoration~Bob Caldwell

Extreme Measures to Bring Restoration 5:8-9 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations For God to declare that He is against His own people to the degree that He would destroy Israel as a nation is shocking and sobering to simply read. The reason God opposed Israel is the same reason He has opposed those who are "Christian" in name only. They take for granted that God will bless them although they live lives that are an abomination to Him (5:5-9). During Ezekiel's time, God described Israel as worse spiritually than the pagan nations around them. The chastening of God's people is such that it not only makes clear how much God hates the destructive force of sin upon His people but is also used as a graphic lesson for all to see. For this reason, God declared that His discipline and judgment upon Israel will be a lesson that will astonish the nations (5:13-15). Sin can have such a blinding impact that, before long, it becomes as if it's nothing at all. It becomes an addiction that blinds a person to its destructive force. It is ultimately God's grace that steps in to remove the cancer. But His goal for His people is always restoration. After the horrible consequences of sin have done their work, God promises to bring a remnant of faithful Jews back to their homeland. A promise to begin a process of restoration. A remnant that has learned from the judgments of God. A remnant that God can bless and restore His gracious and glorious intentions upon (6:8-10). Like Israel, many times those who claim to be Christians find themselves opposed by the very God to which they say they belong. To yield to the ever-growing corruption of sin will bring God's chastening hand upon us, just as it was upon Israel. Instead, let us be people through whom the world sees the goodness of God's will, which in turn points them to Him.
Ezekiel 5:1-6:14 A Sword Against Jerusalem 1 "And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber's razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair. 2 You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them. 3 You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment. 4 Then take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel. 5 "Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her. 6 She has rebelled against My judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are all around her; for they have refused My judgments, and they have not walked in My statutes.' 7 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in My statutes nor kept My judgments, nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you'— 8 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. 9 And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations. 10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments among you, and all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds. 11 ‘Therefore, as I live,' says the Lord GOD, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you; My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity. 12 One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. 13 ‘Thus shall My anger be spent, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, and I will be avenged; and they shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it in My zeal, when I have spent My fury upon them. 14 Moreover I will make you a waste and a reproach among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by. 15 ‘So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken. 16 When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread. 17 So I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.'" Ezekiel 6 Judgment on Idolatrous Israel 1 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 2 "Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, 3 and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, to the hills, to the ravines, and to the valleys: "Indeed I, even I, will bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Then your altars shall be desolate, your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. 5 And I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars. 6 In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. 7 The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the LORD. 8 "Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. 9 Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the LORD; I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them." 11 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: "Pound your fists and stamp your feet, and say, ‘Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! For they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. 12 He who is far off shall die by the pestilence, he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus will I spend My fury upon them. 13 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when their slain are among their idols all around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, wherever they offered sweet incense to all their idols. 14 So I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land desolate, yes, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblah, in all their dwelling places. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.'"'"
Ezekiel 5:1-6:14 v. 1 a barber's razor – Priests were not to shave their heads or beards (Lev. 21:5). This is an act of both desecration and shame and symbolizing the judgment against Jerusalem. weigh and divide the hair – One third of Jerusalem would die of fire and pestilence in the siege, one third would be killed with the sword, and one third would be scattered as captives and refugees. v. 3-4 a small number – A small number would remain, yet even these would suffer further suffering and judgment v. 5 I have set her in the midst of the nations – Israel was intended to display how God would bless his people. Yet in spite of these privileges, the nations rebelled and did greater wickedness than the nations around them. v. 8-9 I, am against you and will execute judgments – These sins and rebellion will not go unpunished. God wants them to know that the horrors they are about to experience are not random acts of fate, but a purposeful judgment because of all of their abominations. v. 10 fathers eat their sons – The siege will be so severe that people will resort to cannibalism. This gruesome reality was actually forewarned by God in Deuteronomy 28:49-59 as a consequence if Israel would not observe the law and fear the Lord. v. 11 My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity – This phrase is unique to Ezekiel and is used six more times in the book. It reveals God's uncompromising and absolute judgment against the defiling abominations of worship that his people had given themselves to. God cannot spare or have any pity whatsoever on these lest they defile his people again. v. 13 my anger – Their idolatry and abominations are bringing God's fury upon them. v. 15 a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment – The nations around them who were originally supposed to see God's goodness on His people will now see His holiness and judgment of Judah's sin. v. 17 I will bring the sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken – God has been faithful to send His prophets and warn the people and call them to repentance, but now He is bringing the sword of His judgment. Ezekiel 6 v. 1 Now the word of the LORD came to me – Chapters 6 and 7 use the image of mountains and land/soil, and form two related sermons/prophecies regarding the land of Israel. This first sermon shows the cause and severity of the coming judgment. v. 2 set your face toward the mountains of Israel – This phrase is unique to Ezekiel, and refers to the idolatry and abominations of worship that were historically linked to the high places throughout the OT (Jer. 3:6, 1 Kings 14:23, 2 Chron. 21:11). v. 4 Then your altars shall be desolate – The sites will be destroyed along with the articles of worship and the worshipers. v. 6 In all your dwelling places – Throughout the OT, the idol altars were torn down only to be rebuilt. Here God is not only destroying the sites, but destroying the all the cities and inhabitants of the regions where such worship occurred so that no one remains to rebuild and reinitiate idol worship. v. 8 Yet I will leave a remnant – These survivors will be witnesses of the judgment of God because of the idolatry. v. 9 their adulterous heart – God equates His people's idolatry with adultery and harlotry. v. 10 I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them – These judgments are not new. They were all contained in the covenant treaty made before Israel entered the Promised Land, (Lev. 26) and were repeated throughout their history to remind and warn them. v. 11 Pound your fists and stamp your feet – This dramatic delivery intended to rouse the listeners' attention and indicates the force of the judgment coming. v. 13 on every high hill…mountaintops…under every green tree, and…thick oak – This type of list is seen throughout the OT (Deut. 12:2) as these are the typical locations of their cultic idolatry and the various abominations that go with them. v. 14 more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblah – (or Riblah) This is the desolate region across the Jordan stretching from the Negev desert in the south to the north of Syria.
therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations.' –Ezekiel 5:8-9 It is in these accounts of Israel's destruction that we find great lessons today, Lord. We thank You for being patient and longsuffering and that You love us as You do. But we also see, Lord, that there is a price to be paid when we turn from You to worship other gods, idols, and the material things of this world. Cleanse us today, Jesus, and guard our hearts against turning away from You, today and forevermore.