Ezekiel (Session 5) Chapters 8-11

but we're going through the Book of Ezekiel and we are going to take chapter 8 and several chapters following in this session we come to the second major section of the prophecy of Ezekiel in this division the book will complete the captivity of Jerusalem in Israel and that all become a reality and the glory of the Lord will depart from the Temple in Jerusalem this will mark the end of the theocratic Kingdom in the Old Testament it's an event that many people fail to really appreciate the significance of it but we're gonna jump right into this and you may recall the first three chapters of the book Ezekiel had received a vision of God he was he was taken captive at 25 but within five years later when it was the age of priesthood he was a priest but he received a vision called him to be a prophet and then in the next two chapters he acts out four strange signs sort of Panther mines if you will and then the next couple of chapters he has two messages about the implications of those signs that brings us up to chapter eight but now God is going to give him a new vision okay it's a year later actually fourteen months later he gave God gave Ezekiel another vision this time the division will have to do with the sins of the people back in Jerusalem he is in Babylon as a captive he's part of the second group the first group took Daniel the second group second siege took Ezekiel and there's a third siege fourth coming in which Jerusalem is going to be destroyed because that's as a form of God's judgment but it's this period of time prior to that third seed that Ezekiel is focusing on so in Chapter 8 the glory is going to appear again and God took takes the Prophet in a vision to the holy city back to Jerusalem and scholars are debate as to whether did he actually physically get transported there or is this just a vision there's all kinds of debate we'll talk a little bit about that but Zika is gonna see a four-fold view of the sins of the people he's going to see an image set up at the north gate of the temple it's apparently of a start here it's equivalent this Babylonian goddess the second thing he sees he will get a chance to glimpse the secret heathen worship inside the temple inside the temple there are hidden chambers the wooden chambers chambers of wood fuel and where the priests hid their secret own idols and we're getting a glimpse as Eagles got to get a glimpse of what really goes on in there we're going to see the Jewish women weeping for the God Adonis who is supposed to die and be raised up by several different names and then we're going to see the high priest himself and the 24 leaders remember the priest who was divided into 24 courses by David well we're gonna see 24 leaders and the high priests worshiping the Sun not worshiping God worshiping the Sun it's hard for us to fully appreciate how far they had fallen but that's part of what God is going to get across to zekiel and through Ezekiel to the people so let's jump in chapter 8 verse 1 came to pass in the sixth year in the sixth month on the fifth day of the month as I sat in my house Ezekiel says and the elders of Judah sat before me that the hand of the Lord fell there upon me Wow this is about a year a little over four it's 14 months after his call the hand of the Lord fell upon him he put him in a trance right in front of these elders then I beheld in lo a likeness of the in the appearance of fire from the appearance of his loins even downward fire and from his loins even upward as the appearance of brightness as the color of amber that may sound familiar to you very similar to what happened in chapter one but the word fire there is debated a little bit by the way in the Septuagint the Greek translation they have the word man the word fire the different we in fire and ish is just a yacht and the Massa retic crest text is is the one that's being followed here but the scholars believe that's a copyist problem that it actually is appearance of a man if you will that and so forth his loins downward and so on but in any case this is very similar in any case to Ezekiel's vision that was in Chapter one that vision of the glory of God is the basis of every vision in the Book of Ezekiel it's also apparently very influential in the sense of the things we encounter in the book of Revelation there's a very they're very consistent ok and he put forth the form of a hand and took me by the lock of mine head remember what happened last time he got it his head shaved right but that was 14 months ago okay by lock of my head so he apparently is here going out in any case by lack of my head and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north where was the seat of the image of jealousy which provoked a--the to jealousy now the door to the inner gate see the inner court was the temple of the court proper the middle court the lower level contained the palace and there's a still lower level yet that's the great court the outer court then closed the entire complex and there's a gateway that covered building that entered by means of a door and we'll find reference to that in verses three five and seven throughout this there are three possibilities that different scholars embrace one is that he actually was physically picked up and actually taken back to Jerusalem several hundred miles to the to the west that's one possibility others see this as in a vision that was given to him by the river keyboard and there's a there's a textual hint that implies that was a situation or that he was translated transported translated if you will to heaven itself I don't think there's any way that we're going to be able to unravel that come to a final conclusion it's certainly hyperdimensional in any case and so um we're clearly told all the way through this passage that these this is a vision so maybe it's a kind of second sight it isn't necessarily it could be but isn't necessarily physical levitation if you will Ezekiel's withdrawal to Jerusalem would not be something new in Scripture Elijah was caught up in second Kings two in the New Testament read Philip that he was he was caught up in the middle of a revival in Samaria and - told to join the eunuch the the treasure of Ethiopia honestly home from Jerusalem confused in acts 8 big deal there and he was Philip was actually moved bodily and that's exactly what him to Elisha and it also maybe what happened to Elisha I mean Ezekiel we're not sure Paul also said he was caught up to the third heaven in 2nd Corinthians 12 you may recall some people believe that his reference there is - something that occurred when he was left for dead at Lystra in fact some people think he was actually killed there and came back to life there's a there's reasons to suspect that that God raised him for dead and that at that time he was caught up to the third heaven John also was caught up to heaven in chapter 4 of Revelation very key key part of that entire book well moving back to Ezekiel 8 verse 3 he put forth the form of a hand and took me by the flock of my head and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north where was the seat of the image of jealousy what on earth is that that which provoked of the jealousy this probably refers to an idol it might be the one that Manasseh put in the temple in second Kings 21 which was an abomination Manasseh the destructor attempted to wipe out Judaism and insert my daughter in its place and so it's the seat of jealousy isn't it's if it's not jealousy itself is that which provokes to jealousy that's a term that occurs all through Ezekiel also in Deuteronomy it is believed by most scholars that this probably was an image of Ashura the mother goddess of the Canaanites that was set up in Manasseh and second Kings 21 and was later destroyed by Josiah in his revival and a start TR Ashley our same thing really it's the Hebrew word for growth by the way when you read the Old Testament the Groves that doesn't mean just a bunch of trees with the actually are phallic symbols that were associated with pagan idolatry and Manasseh was perhaps the conspicuous one trying to create a rival to yo Dave Ave and his temple and so forth and this equivalent start he was equivalent to the what in Syria or in Greece was called Venus the worshiped is the Queen of Heaven the wife of the Phoenician god bail and the Ollis was destroyed by Josiah in his revival in second Kings 23 but continuing here and behold the glory of God of Israel was there according to the vision that I saw in the plain now the fact that he sees that the plain tells me I believe he's seeing this as a vision while still being at the river Key bar but maybe he is translated that's not clear so we'll just let that go and what we're really going to deal with here and this and the several chapters is the departure of the Shekinah of the temple in chapters 8 through 10 we're going to see the gradual withdrawal of the glory of God from the temple and from Israel this isn't just a symbolic thing this is a big deal and you'll see why as we get into this here now there are some scholars I tend to lean this way to feel that the glory actually departed back during the reigns of Messiah and that this is in a sense of speaking a flashback if you will but in case we see the glory and then because the people did not turn back to God the glory lifted up from the temple went out over the city to the east and hovered there for a while before going on we're gonna see it wrap up in chapter 11 it's for that reason I'm going to try to take the whole package together not to spread this out over several evenings I think we can make it all the way through 11:00 and see the whole thing completed here we're the final departure verse 5 then he said unto me son of man lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north so I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry see the northern gate was the most frequently used for the palace buildings were to the south in the east he said furthermore to me son of man see us now what they do even the great abominations that the house of Israel committed here that I should go far off from my sanctuary but turn they yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations God saying to Zeke oh you haven't seen anything yet so to speak it was the abominations that's a term meaning idol worship that were causing your David Ferrie Jehovah however you want to say to withdraw from his sanctuary so God is picking up and leaving it's that bad thou shalt see greater abominations and that's going to be very evident and especially in verses 13 and 15 of this chapter he brought me to the door of a court and when I looked behold a hole in the wall then said he unto me son of man dig now in the wall and when I had digged in the wall behold a door no there's an this this aperture that's going to be there in the wall of the priests hidden chambers through which he could see in the various apartments and their private idolatries the fact that he had to dig in the wall gives the feeling that he was physically there may have been or again that may be just part of the vision pick your pick he said to me go in and behold the wicked abominations that they do here and I went in and saw and behold every form of creeping things and abominable beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed upon the wall roundabout in other words in their private chambers in the temple may we call the the temple it's surrounded by the wooden chambers the priests had their own compartment apartments and when he gets a chance to peek in those the walls are covered with idols icons whatever all the idols of the house of Israel upon the wall roundabout carved if you will or incised if he will in the walls these people worshipping the creature rather than the Creator and the tone of this and other passing scriptures as low as you can get man will turn to the type of thing when he absolutely appreciates the living and true God it's astonishing to me I see these people that because of their intellectual posture whatever they fail to embrace the Living God okay what's bizarre is what they then turned to after all the highfalutin intellectual rebuttals they embrace the stupidest most bizarre nonsense in lieu of the Living God it's a strange strange thing to observe this is what they were doing in Egypt at the time of the exodus they were worshipping every kind of beast even dung beetles dunk that was that was the top of the heap pun intended okay and this is the reason that the they had God the playhead the ten plagues the nine plagues were designed against the nine levels of beastly worship that they were involved in the different gods of Egypt the Flies the lice the frogs whatever okay in Romans 1 we read quote because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed forever that's a quick summary of from verse 20 and following several verses and in fact if you want to take that study make a note and put in your notes to read Romans chapter 1 verse 20 to the end of the chapter and you'll discover something very strange that there is a specific judgment of God pronounced upon a culture that fails to acknowledge him as creator as New Testament Christians we tend to focus on his role as Redeemer indeed but there's something even more fundamental than that and that is his role as creator and there is a judgment but it falls on a chronic culture that fails to acknowledge him as creator and that judgment is homosexuality God says I will give them over to that which and he goes on to describe it so graphically it's embarrassing anyway this means that Israel sunk down to the level of the nations around them they were supposed to be a a witness to the nations know they've sunk to the level of the nations the round about him so she's no longer effectual as a witness of the living and true God and as I watch God impugn Israel in these studies I get increasingly disturbed and trying to appraise the role of America as God's witness to the world because whatever is true of Israel here that resulted in her judgment is certainly true of our own role as a so-called Christian nation and if Israel's going to get judged you can bet we are I think the only thing that sheltered us from an overdue judgment is our standing for the right of Israel to exist moving on verse 11 and there stood before them seventy men of ancients of the house of Israel and in the midst of them stood jazz and aya the son of chiffon with every man his censer in his hand and a thick cloud of incense went up who is this guy he's apparently a man very well-known if indeed he was the son of shaphan who had assisted in josiah's reform that was a major high point for Israel's recent history if that's the guy he had greatly corrupted the faith of his family because his father was a partner or a helper if you will of Josiah which did a fantastic job but he obviously the son is in bad shape then said he am to me son of man hast thou seen what the aegis of house of Israel do in the dark every man in the chambers of his imagery for they say the Lord seeth us not the LORD hath forsaken the earth is anything more ridiculous than that anytime you think God isn't watching come to your senses little boy I asked his dad he was his grandfather does God watch me all the time God loves you so much he can't things eyes of you hella better every man in the chambers of his imagery see there apparently worshipping idols and they're doing it in their secret chambers well the believers temple is our body isn't it isn't our body that God's temple here on the earth this guy is is God pleased with what he sees going on in our own minds and hearts don't have to answer that out loud Bray body these are also enemy turned the yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do and then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north and behold there sat women weeping for Tammuz who on earth is temuz Tammuz was a Babylonian deity or Idol if you will presumably the miraculous son of ceramists the queen wife of Nimrod the first world dictator he corresponds a Sumerian DiMucci the god of spring vegetation he died at the winter solstice and went down to the nether world to be resurrected again and there are all kinds of variations of that legend of you will there similarities to that of the Egyptian Osiris the Canaanite Bale and the Syrian Adonis these are all variations of the same pagan mysteries these weeping women were celebrating the death of this God his worship was actually the worship of nature connecting with some vile and immoral ceremonies human sacrifice sexual Union form part of the various cult rights and so on then said he unto me hast thou seen this O son of man turn the yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations than these it keeps getting worse doesn't it he brought me into the inner Court of the Lord's house and behold at the door of the temple the Lord between the porch and the altar we're about five and twenty men with their backs toward the Temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east and they worshiped the Sun toward the east who are these 24 were the leaders of the the twenty-four priests and the high priest lad of 25 24 leaders of the classes or courses of the pre set up by David and first Chronicles 24 and the high priest Wow these are the leaders of Israel they're doing what they have their backs to the temple worshiping the Sun from God's point of view that's an abomination they worshiped the Sun toward the east greatest of all of these abominations he said unto me hast thou seen this O son of man is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here for they have filled the land with violence and have returned to provoke me to anger and lo they put the branch to their nose and the scholars wonder what that phrase comes from Jewish commentators of the past have said it speaks of a shocking and degrading religious rites maybe it's where we get the feeling of thumbing the nose may come originally from that in any case therefore well I heal in my fury mine I shall not spare neither will I have pity and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice yet I will not hear them that's God speaking I'm not gonna hear him he's shutting his ears to them Israel has stepped over the line and they can't go any lower than this and as I think about that I try to calibrate ourselves in our country founded by geniuses in a commitment as a Christian nation and now we have no Constitution we have a election going on that's by any standard a joke the whole line up is impossible to imagine impossible to write god will now judge them Israel in his fury says that again and again God in his fury it's hard to use that I I won't use the term he losses his temper but that's probably the equivalent term we use in our in our person on his in his fury he's angry he cried also my ears with a loud voice saying cause them that have charged over the city to draw near even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand and behold six men that came from the way of the higher gate which live toward the north and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand and one man among them was clothed with linen he's leader with a writer's inkhorn by his side and they went in and stood beside the brazen altar and the glory of God of Israel was gone up from the cherub whereupon he was to the threshold of the house and he called the man clothed the linen which had the writers in court by his side he left where he was where pon he was in other words he'd gone up from the holy place the chariot men were above the mercy seat this is where the glory had been but this is the glory the second Oz we would that term doesn't appear in the Bible but it appears the rabbinical entry that's their label for the globe it was the fire by night in the wilderness the cloud by day the Shekinah the visible presence of God now it lifts up see the text implies that you're a Vevey God Himself went to the threshold of the cherubim the vacant throne waited until he remounted and departed he's left he's going to remount and that's apparently like his chariot if you will the Lord said unto him go through the midst of the city through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof he's going to single out a small group called the remnant that he's going to seal and protect it's interesting God always does that no I had eight in his Ark ready he always has a small group sodom and gomorrah had one in their lot he had to get a lot out of there first before they could destroy it interesting principles have you studied that through the scripture well here too you're going to set a mark on the foreheads of the men the Cylons okay these are the remnant that God will save in that City God's servant this men in linen is putting a mark of protection on the faithful remnant lest they be slain in the judgement that's coming I think that's very interesting to realize how God operates here a mark upon the foreheads the actual work in the Hebrew is tough it's the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet and when you write it in the old form the paleo Hebrew the Hebrew before the Babel in captivity it was it looked like a cross it's a cross I think that's fun I think that's fun the old form the tough the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet see the letters that we see today are the post Babylonian Hebrew the great Isaiah scrolls and those things are done in paleo Hebrew in the old Hebrew and the old Hebrew that was like that Tov was like a teat like we would do a lowercase T thing tough in itself and so compare the sign that was given to protect Canaan Genesis for the blood on the lentil during Passover the doorposts and the lintel the doorpost it revolves across the ceiling of the saints of God in Revelation 7 on it goes he goes on into the others he said in mind hearing go ye after him through the city and smite let not your eyes spare neither have ye pity the other 6 she said the leaders cut the seal in corn he's sealing him the other six with her weapons are going through and neither have you pity slay utterly old and young both maids and little children and women but come not near any man upon whom is the mark and begin at my sanctuary then they began at the ancient men which were before the house okay at my sanctuary that's where the grossest idolatry had taken place Peter in his letter always says we always judgment always starts at the house of God and neither Ezekiel nor Jeremiah held to the inviability of the temple hardly he said unto them defiled the house and fill the courts with the slain go ye forth then they went forth and slew in the city so the temple was desecrated with the slain that's actually we have desecrated the temples leave Sluman with bodies and so then the same thing happened in Revelation 14 where those receiving the mark of the beast who subjected divine torments the mark of the beast don't confuse the two marks I came to pass while they were slaying them I was left and I fell upon my face and cried and said O Lord God wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem is entering Ezekiel is so identified himself with the Lord's wrath against sin that we rarely find him expressing pity in his in his words compare this with the intercessions of Abraham in Genesis 18 Amos in Amos 7 and Jeremiah 14 and 15 all through the scripture then he said unto me the iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great in the land is full of blood and the city full of perverseness for they say the LORD hath forsaken the earth and the Lord see if not it gets serious all the prophets reminded Israel that a righteous God wants a righteous people and that national calamity is punishment for national sin I wonder if that's true today is national calamity a punishment for national sin there are some books have been written that Katrina parallels the a the withdrawal from are forcing Israel out of Gaza numerically and everything else it's astonishing to do that comparison bill Koenig has written a book comparing the major descry seas according to insurance records and the rest in America correlating with our pressing Israel to partition the land we're supposed to be in the war and in a war on terror and yet we're on the side of the terrorists in Israel it's astonishing continuing here and that's for me also my and I shall not spare neither will I have pity but I will recompense their way upon their head mine I will not spare that phrase is very familiar to ears you see it all through Ezekiel chapter 5 7 9 and on and on and Isaiah 5 Amos 1 and so forth and behold the man clothed with linen which had the in corn by his side reported the matter saying I have done as thou hast commanded me and I assume that includes the other six guys the six executioner's implied that they had also done theirs right he done his task and the six executioner's had done theirs so in our chapter 10 the narrative portion of the chapter comprises verses 2 4 2 2 3 4 6 7 18 19 then there's going to be an insert when taking a quick look at and this chapter really finishes at the end of chapter 11 if you will because the glory of the Lord has lingering it's hovering over the temple it's going to hover over the Mount of Olives reluctantly and finally move and that all tie up before we're through here and the rest is but the rest of this chapter 10 contains descriptions of the throne chariot that's so similar to the vision we saw in chapter 1 received so much attention and the recording angel who sees the fire from the cherubim with which to burn the city and the glory of the Lord departs to the outside eastern gate of the outer court the nation of Israel had what no other nation had no other nation of the world had the glory of God present with them and that by the way the church does not have today either that is the visible presence of God in the ninth chapter of Romans Paul lists about eight different uniquenesses unique identifications that identify the nation Israel and one of those uniquenesses was the presence of the glory of God the people had to check on our glory the visible presence of God and that's what Ezekiel saw in his vision in the first chapter and he's watching that very distinctive be removed and it's being removed finally in never to be seen again in the Old Testament it will be glimpsed in Matthew 17 at the Transfiguration and of course it will reoccur when Christ sets up his kingdom see God does judge by the way and it's the it's one of the evidences we have of a Living God and the wheels within the wheels that we saw through these things speaks of the energy of God as he moves in the affairs of men he's not passive he's active the glory of God was above the cherubim between the cherubim and the holy of holies as you recall the glory began its departure in the previous chapter and now he's going to continue to depart it moved out from the temple and then hovered over it verse 10 verse 4 chapter 10 verse 1 then I looked and behold in the firmament that was above the head of the cherub chairman's the church Arbenz bothers me sea cherubim is a plural cherub is singular Chairman's plural when you see cherubims that's a translator fumbling okay anyway there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone as the appearance of the likeness of a throne and the throne was empty and the chariot awaited the Lord's return then he spake unto the man clothed the linen said go between the wheels even under the cherub and filled I in hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims and scatter them over the city and he went in in my sight men clothed this is that this this this guy with the linen is apparently the agent of destruction that Steve detailed here going between the wheels under the cherubim the word there in the Hebrew is goggle it means wheel or whirling thing and it's a whirl it's used of wagons into in Ezekiel 23 and 26 of wheels in Isaiah 5 and Jeremiah 47 of world winds and Psalm several Psalms here the word is singular and collective describing the whole wheel work that we reviewed in chapter 1 and it's under the cherubim that again is a a a plural which is makes more sense than the master retic singular but that's not important to us here let's go on now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house when the man went in and the cloud filled the inner court the cloud that's the Shekinah the provisional presence of God the president was holiness in Egypt it was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night he had dwelt in the tabernacle and it led the people for 40 years through the wilderness we take that Soph regretted but that was miraculous and then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub and stood over the threshold of a house and the house was filled with a cloud and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory the first half of this verse of course is a repetition of what was described in chapter nine verse three and the sound of cherubims wings was heard even to the outer court as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh and it came to pass that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen saying take fire from between the wheels and from between the cherubims and he went in and stood beside the wheels and one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims onto the fire that was between the cherubims and took thereof and put it in the hands of him that was clothed with linen and who took it and went out and there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand under the wings when I looked behold the four wheels by the cherubims one wheel by one cherub and another wheel by another cherub and the appearance of the wheels was as of the color of a barrel stone and so all these are basically resemblances if you will from chapter 1 that we went through back then and as for their appearances they've before they four had one likeness as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel and they went forth and they went upon their four sides and they turned not as they went but to the place whether the head looked they followed it and they turned not as they win God never has to come back to pick up something he has forgotten he doesn't need to deviate from one side to the other he never detours he goes straight forward today toward the accomplishment of his purpose in the world I think that the wheels speak of energy and the peculiar navigation means it's very direct unwavering and we went through all of that in Chapter 1 let's go on here and their body and their backs and their hands and their wings and the wheels were full of eyes round about even the wheels of a forehead the Masoretic text it says all their flesh and their backs and their hands and the wings were full of eyes and this seems to confuse both the cherubim in the wheels themselves the backs can be rendered as rims and the hands of spokes confining the reference to the wheels if you so desire but will move on as for the wheels it was it was cried unto them in my hearing all wheel this first seems a little out of place it belongs after verse six but let's move on everyone had four faces the first face was the face of a cherub the second face the face of a man the third face of a lion the fourth the face of an eagle and the cherubims were lifted up this is the living creature that I saw by the river Eric you are and when the chairman's went the wheels went by them in that when the terms chairman's lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth the same wheels also turned not from beside them when they stood they stood and when they lifted up these lifted up themselves also for the spirit of the living creature was in them and then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubims and finally in the end of chapter 11 the one following the glory will move out of the temple to the top of the Mount of Olives and it's Ichabod that glory has departed from Israel the cherubims lifted up their wings mounted up from the earth in my sight and when they went out the wheels also were beside them and everyone stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above so what you notice here as God leaves you get the feel you get a sense of reluctance the throne chariot thing that we're talking about moved to the east gate apparently of the outer Court paused briefly over the on the Mount of Olives on the east side of the city and then finally in chapter 11 chapter 11 he's going to leave completely we're going to later see in Ezekiel in chapter 43 when we have the Millennial temple in view that this glory will return then and not until then okay this is the little creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river key bar and I by the river keeper so yeah I tend to see this more and more as a vision that he had while physically at the river keeper and I knew that they were cherubims every one in four phases apiece every one that for wings likeness of the hands of man was under their wings the likeness of their faces was the same as the faces which I saw by the river key bar their appearances themselves they went everyone straight forward so cherubim we've talked a lot about them they're composite figures exalted proximate to the dwelling place of God and they function several ways they guard the way of the Tree of Life that first introduced there in Genesis 3 and they also are on the ark in in Solomon's Temple they engage in the adoration of God and connects with the mercy seat of the tabernacle and Lex is 25 and elsewhere they support the Lord's throne here especially they form the chariot of deity in effect and so all of these actions are visible in the Book of Ezekiel as they bear the throne of your Eve of a in the book of Revelation they apparently are guardians of that throne and they also engage in perpetual worship in chapters four five six and seven so Ezekiel was first confronted with the wickedness of the people at Temple chapter 8 we looked at that he's then shown the slaughter of the people in Jerusalem chapter 9 Jerusalem Jerusalem it becomes so wicked that God's glory departed from the temple starting in chapter 10 and as it leaves the city judgment was pronounced on the rulers of the city as we'll see here in chapter 11 just before he departs God gives Ezekiel another glimpse of the sin of Jerusalem's inhabitants and he receives two messages from the Lord the first message emphasizes the judgment on the people who remained in Jerusalem first 15 verses the second emphasize the promised restoration of the people who were in captivity bear in mind there are people that are in captivity in in back in Babylon and they're going eventually be able to return that that promise has reiterated to them before this chapter is over and then Ezekiel finally wraps up the final departure of God's glory so chapter 11 verse 1 more of the spirit lifted me up and brought me to unto the east gate of the Lord's house which look of eastward and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men that same 25 I believe among whom I saw jazz and I of the son of Azur and Bela taya the son of Ben Anaya princes of the people 5 and 20 men again I think of the leader of the 24 courses plus the high priest maybe I suspect there's some scholars of a different view but I think they're the same 25 and perhaps with irony he's calling them princes of the people here but this is not to be confused with three other jezzin ayahs that were living at the same time that are mentioned in second Kings Jeremiah 35 and earlier in Ezekiel they may not be the same jezzin ayah the three of them the leading princes were usually called princes of the sanctuary and like in Isaiah 43 our Chiefs of the priests in second chronicles 36 but here they're called princes of the people and I think zekiel is indulging an irony here because they're using the priestly influence to be the ringleaders of the people in sin what's in a name jes Ania means God here's a sure he's a different son than the other guy was that means help pitaya means God delivers been ania means God builds all of these were singled out and I suspect what we have here is a remiz or a hint of something deeper I think that the the text is playing games with the meaning of those words because their names ought to have reminded that God would have heard they should have sought his help to deliver and build them up in contrast they're doing just the opposite and that's the irony if you will the anti Babylon party council that the nation should revolt against Nebuchadnezzar and form an alliance with Egypt that's the whole theme that was being preached by the false prophets and Jeremiah in Jerusalem is preaching against them and Ezekiel in Babylon was preaching against the this wicked council this is all contrary to God's command in Jeremiah 28 16 God said Nebuchadnezzar is his instrument of judgment they were not to rebell but the false guys were saying it the other way around so when in violation is also in violation of the oath that their ruler had sworn to the Chaldean mark Nebuchadnezzar got them to swear an oath of allegiance for them to rebelled was violating that oath as well as God's command so this the Anti Babylon Party was the party of violence Nebuchadnezzar had the first siege took Daniel had the second siege took Ezekiel and now he's ready for the third siege he is getting that because you get so fed up if they don't knuckle under and they're not he is gonna love over the place and that's exactly what's going to happen in the third siege the first seed starts the servitude of the nation the third seed starts the SIRT the desolations of they're both seventy years long they're not coterminous different beginnings and different endings but each one is fulfilled to the exact day he said unto me son of man these are the men that divides mischief and give the wicked counsel in the city which say it is not near let us build houses this city is the cauldron and we be the flesh strange very ironic they feel are secure because they're in a protected cauldron oh that's the kettle there are the further from there the elders are urging they build houses a sign of peace and safety after all the people are safe in the city like meat in the kettle they're gonna be like meat in the kettle there's an ironic thought here therefore prophesy against him prophesy o son of man the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me and said unto me speak thus sayeth the Lord thus have ye said o house of Israel for I know the things that come into your mind every one of them God speaking through Ezekiel spirit of the Lord fell upon me that's the only place that is surely this the only place that expression shows up exactly that way in this thing in this book and he was enabled even while he's in this trance to prophesy he had multiplied your slain in the city and you filled the streets thereof with the slain therefore thus saith the Lord God your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it they are the flesh and this city is the caldron but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it you have feared the sword and I will bring a sword upon you saith the Lord God and I will bring you out of the midst thereof I will deliver you into the hands of strangers and will execute judgments among you this is God speaking whoa he shall fall by the sword I will judge you in the border of Israel he shall know that I am the Lord and this was filled literally when the captives of Jerusalem were deported to RIBA up in the north and Syrian and they were killed then Zedekiah is taken up there his eyes are he before his eyes they kill his sons they put out his eyes and they came to Babylon blinded exactly what Ezekiel is going to predict we get to chapter 13 when the most interesting prophecies because they made fun of Jeremiah on the one and Jeremiah said he would die in Babylon Ezekiel says you'll never see the Babylonian captivity who they blinded him before taking him there he'd ever saw Babylon he dies there you see that you wanna you want a demonstration that God means what he says and says what it means take if you're gonna be in prophecy be precise this city shall not be your call tour neither shall you be the flesh in this narrow but I will judge you in the border of Israel you shall know that i am the lord for ye have not walked in my statutes neither executed my judgments but i've done after the manners of the even that are round about you they came to pass when i prophesied ezekiel talking that pilot ayah the son of men and iodide one of them died while he's prophesying in wow then shall i down upon my face and cried with a loud voice and said o lord god well thou make a full end of the remnant of israel boy oh boy oh boy anyway volatize probably the leader of the scorners and this was like a downpayment if you will of the destruction of the rest of them as equally foretold again the word of the lord came unto me saying set a man thy brethren even thy brethren the men of thy kindred and all the house of israel holy are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem said get you far from the Lord unto us is this land given in possession that's an incorrect but it's correct but incomplete statement God had given Israel land under conditions of obedience he would remove them from it due to their disobedience so God had emphasized the coming judgement of the people who remain in Jerusalem he assured the Prophet that he would preserve a remnant but it would be comprised of those in captivity not those in Jerusalem the remnant is back there already captive in Babylon the Jerusalemites who were rebellion they're going to get clobbered and the design his faithfulness God promised to restore the remnant to the land he's he reinstates in verse 2 verse 16 and 21 that those that are back in Babylon will get a chance to return less than 50,000 therefore say thus saith the Lord God although I've cast them far off among the heathen and although I scattered them among the countries yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come I want you to notice the plurals there what's fascinating to me about the Book of Ezekiel it's not limited to the situation they're facing in the Babylon captivity I will cast them far off among the heathen far off among the heathen worldwide and although I have scattered them among the countries plural not just Babylon yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come they have they've lost access to the temple itself but God will be there access the word little there by the way is misunderstood it's a little in duration a short little while a little time 70 years versus the several thousand in the Diaspora that are coming to therefore say thus saith the Lord God I will give and gather you from the people and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered and I will give you the Land of Israel and they shall come hither thither and they shall take away that test detestable things thereof and all the abominations there are ferments the remnant of Israel could look forward to a national restoration to the promised land but that's yet future a partial restoration took place after the Babylonian captivity that's what the spoke of Ezra and Nehemiah is all about but less than 60 thousand of the remnant returned at the end of the seven year captivity but Ezekiel verse 17 to the 21 goes beyond the return from the Babylon captivity and it points to a return of the nation before the Millennium that's going to be clear as we get the whole book in perspective continuing here and I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the Stoney heart out of their flesh and will give them a heart of flesh Wow what is that echo does that remind you of some passage in the New Testament guide by them and Nicodemus talking about being born again remember how he asked Jesus about being born again and Jesus rebukes him for not knowing all that he didn't introduce the born-again concept in Chapter three of John he just corrected Nicodemus who was supposed to have known it from what from Jeremiah 31 and from Ezekiel the concept of being born again is not a New Testament idea it is in the Old Testament it Deuteronomy 30 Jeremiah 31 32 it's going to be echoed again in Ezekiel 36 Zechariah 7 Isaiah 53 and so on that they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God there's a subtlety here many people means miss see this was spoken of to Israel obviously but it applies to us personally Jesus expected Nicodemus to apply it personally in John 3 we are in a unique position if we will but commit our way to him he will give us a new heart that's the commitment we do not get saved by being obedient we're obedient because we're saved obedience is the evidence not a cause our works are evidence of the work that God has already done in us if you're saved that should be showing up in your behavior God gives us a new heart so that we may walk in his statutes and keep his ordinances you don't get the new heart by keeping his ordinances you keep his ordinance by having a new heart that's what happens here first forth but as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of the detestable things that are abominations I will recompense their way upon their own heads said the Lord God I will recompense their way we need to get that this guy has to get through to us that God does take himself seriously it's a great tragedy today that most ministries ignore the fact that judgment is coming upon this earth the judgment is coming upon this country we need to understand that it's overdue God's judgment is one of the sure proofs of his existence for him not to execute judgment will cause his enemies to blaspheme then did the turbines lift up their wings the wheels beside them the glory of the God of Israel was over them above and the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city across the Kidron Valley what is that mountain Mount of Olives indeed the narrative of chapter 10 is now being finished here in this the end of this chapter 20 chapter leaven it was from this mountain that Jesus wept over the doomed city in Luke 19 the Mount of Olives is God's glory left Jerusalem had passed over the Keaton Valley to the Mount of Olives this departure signaled Jerusalem's doom the city would be devoid of God's blessing till the glory will return via the Mount of Olives it's going to come back the same way left it's no coincidence that Christ ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives and also promised to return to the same place next one so we're dealing with a kingdom here the departure of the divine glory from the temple marked the end of the theocratic Kingdom in Old Testament history it's over the glory was manifest in the New Testament of Matthew 17 the Transfiguration the disciples got a glimpse of it the visible glory will return when the kingdom is restored to Israel that's going to show up in Ezekiel 43 when we get there it shows up in Revelation 21 and afterwards the Spirit took me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea and to them of the captivity so the vision that I had seen went up from me then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the Lord had showed me see it was the vision after all he returns to tell the people what the false prophets have been lying to them he has seen the vision Jerusalem is going to be destroyed he saw that on the vision it's yet to start but it's going to happen and the full captivity zuv hand and there was not just those that have been departed everyone Jerusalem is gonna be leveled they're all gonna be taking the slaves now he's going to be Ezekiel is going to be able to tell them why God is judging them they won't listen the people are not going to listen to him but it's going to continue to be a sign unto them Wow next session I'd like you to read chapters 12 and 13 and you might pick up 14 to 15 while you're at it I'm not sure how will flow through those yet but I don't want I don't want there's no hurry we got plenty of time and the thing but I if we get a little ahead of schedule to give us more time for the the later chapters that are gonna I think be more relevant to many of us so we'll take at least chapter 12 or 13 you might read a couple more on top of that to be prepared for the coming sessions and so heavy stuff

Channel: Bible Study

Views: 4,250

Rating: 4.9452057 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: qwlXMPHaUYM

Length: 54min 16sec (3256 seconds)

Published: Fri May 01 2020