Ezekiel (Session 7) Chapters 14-16

well we're in the Book of Ezekiel and we normally take a couple of chapters and evening one of these chapters 15 this only eight verses so it's it's a little more than normal but not burdensome and we're gonna see I think we can get through it just fine chapter 14 is divided in two major sections the prophesy against the idolatry of the elders and the certainty of the destruction Jerusalem let's remember now Nebuchadnezzar has three sieges the first siege he took Daniel and his three friends as hostages in effect and put his own vassal King in charge or put one of their kings but as a vassal King in charge and after a few years they didn't listen they violated their treaty agreement and rebelled he had a second siege and he took in that siege a group which included Ezekiel so the situation is we still have people in Jerusalem but they're subservient to Nebuchadnezzar he changed the king he made it Zedekiah and jeremiah in his ministry is still preaching in Jerusalem probably Ezekiel and others and Daniel even probably sat at Jeremiah's feet before all of this happened but in any case Jeremiah stone Jerusalem Daniel has been deported he's in the palace of Nephi of Babylon Ezekiel was part of the second siege he is in Babylon but not the city of Babel he's a couple hundred miles he's in an agricultural captive area so Jeremiah in Jerusalem in Ezekiel in the Babylonian area are both trying to explain God's program which is that Nebuchadnezzar is God's judgment against them they are to accept that not fight it the false prophets in Jerusalem are trying to talk the King into rebelling again we're God's people and our chosen people and God's going to deliver us and so forth false message Jeremiah is trying to get the right message across and gets thrown in the dungeon as a traitor for doing so Ezekiel can is also in his peculiar way also him doing the same thing he's acting awfully strange pan of mines he's doing all kinds of strange but we're get the picture both Jeremiah and Ezekiel I have the same message against the false prophets that are in Jerusalem and that's so we have a prophecy here against the elders and we also have a underscoring the fact that the destruction of Jerusalem is a certainty it's it's it's it's been decided it's not something to appeal from at this point and so the Lord is going to continue to you through jure is zekiel explain why he's judging the City of Jerusalem as he is so the principles that are put down here in this book are operative today also God still judges nations and one of the enigmas we don't know the answer to is whether it's too late for America or not to I preached many many times from 2nd chronicles 7:14 we're God announces the principle if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven forgive their sin and heal the land the future America is in the hands of not the pagan left but the Christians if the Christians get their act together that could turn this around Billy Graham said the same thing decades ago if God doesn't judge America he's gonna have to apologize Sodom to Gomorrah Thomas Jefferson said it the equivalent thing back in 1781 I tremble for my country when I recall that God is just and that his justice will not sleep forever and one of the disturbing things I've had to deal with going through Ezekiel for this commentary is to realize the primary message that I have been selling for the last few years around the world even in New Zealand that hit the front pages the chuck Missler says that the the the the future of the nations the hands the Christians that's the way they interpreted what I said that that's what I was saying well I suddenly realized studying Ezekiel that the message of the false prophets is exactly what I've been selling now they for their situation whose fault it was a false prophets I don't know if my selling that here has been a false prophet as a prophet because it may be too late one of the things we're all gonna watch and see and try to understand is it over is God Judgment irreconcilably against this country he's justified in it he's justified in it gotta consider that as we go it's my prayer that he's not that there's still hope and our real hope is in Christ not in turning America around per se but still we need to understand that God does judging nations so let's just jump in chapter 14 verse 1 then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me and sat before me there there to find out you know he's gotten their attention he's done all these weird pana minds that we read about in the earlier chapters he's got their attention and they're probably perplexed because he's been denouncing these false prophets so they they came to enquire the word of the Lord came unto me saying son of man these men have set up their idols in their heart and put their stumbling block of their iniquity before their face should I be inquired at all by them that's God speaking son of man yes his idiom for for our friend that son of the dust if you will Ezekiel here these men have set up their idols in their heart do you have idols in your heart that was their problem we had idols in their heart and they put a stumbling block of their iniquity so these are not good guys they're cynical and they're committed to their own imaginations they're not there to inquire what God really has to say here but the word of the Lord came unto me and that's that that phrase that opens us all up and it's interesting by the way so you understand did you realize that the word hypocrite is used more by Jesus Christ than anyone else in the Bible the word hypocrite more frequently anyway both sections of this chapter open up with these words and the word of the Lord came on this is in verse two it's going to happen again in verse twelve when we get to the next section and they set up idols we're in their heart you know that's the most dangerous place to have an idol not on your dashboard or your mantel it's in your heart scary stuff did you I don't worship carved things hey there's all kinds of Idol anything that distracts you from the worship of God is an idol something Satan can use to derail you anyway these elders are hypocrites they're phonies Samson was one of those let me surprise you we all love the story of Samson so colorful he pretended to be God's man and the Spirit of God did come upon him at certain times in the typical Old Testament sense the Holy Spirit not his hair Holy Spirit was a source of his power but the came a day when he went out and he whisked it not that as he didn't realize that the Spirit was not with him that's a key phrase in the in the chronicle of of Samson in judges 15 16 17 right meda whole area interesting he thought he had the only spirit and he did occasion he didn't at the critical times right that's a scary thing to realize there are people running around the country doing revivals put that in quotes that think they're being led by the Spirit of God boy you want to be sure he wanted see Sampson kept toying and playing with sin at the same time wanting to be God's man he had his foot in two corners that was as part of his problem moving on therefore speak out of them God says to Ezekiel and say unto them thus saith the Lord God there's that heavy phrase again every man of the house of Israel itself up his idols in his heart and put it the stumbling block to his iniquity before his face and cometh to the Prophet I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols that's a legal formula that we find in the Torah too by the way but I'll keep moving for tonight that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart because they are all estranged from me through their idols that's God's indictment but ridiculous therefore say unto the house of Israel thus saith the Lord you know don't let that phrase pass without realizing the gravity of it in the scripture when it says thus saith the Lord God what follows is underscored that's God speaking now it's all God's speaking in that one sense but this is this is in camera or whatever thus saith the Lord God repent and turn yourselves from your idols turn away your faces from all your abominations the word repent you know that throughout the Old and New Testament repentance is God's message to his own people those who profess to belong to him that's the one that's dressed - and that's what they claim to be for every one of the house of israel or of the stranger that sojourneth in israel you know it's interesting that the proselytes are included here which separate themselves from me and set up his idols in his heart put it the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me I the Lord will answer him by myself and I will set my face against that man and will make him a sign and a proverb and I will cut him off from the midst of my people and ye shall know that i am the lord - the man who was divided in his allegiance to your diva fear jehovah harvey once said would receive no knowledge through the prophet but would be answered by God himself in deeds in deeds that's a scary way to be answered actually and if the Prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing I the LORD hath deceived that prophet and I will stretch out my hand upon him and I will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel false prophets frequently quote scripture Satan quoted scripture during the temptations of Christ Matthew 4 Luke 4 wherever and prop people think quoting scripture and still be wrong and the best illustration of Ezekiel's meaning is the story of God's letting false prophets to see they have remember the lying prophet micaiah you can it's all first kings 20:2 brought him to his death you know it's interesting that in ancient thought secondary causes were often overlooked they've just gone over if you will events are attributed directly to the work of the Lord it may be something it's just that he permitted to happen but he still he's behind it Amos 3:6 Isaiah 45 when a man sins against spiritual light he brings on himself spiritual blindness this does not relieve him of a responsibility it's always the principle no other gods before me that up that that overrules everything they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity the punishment of the prophets shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him see both the prophet and he that seeketh alike will be punished double purpose and deterring Israel from unfaithfulness and trying to establish the true relationships that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions but that they may be my people and I may be their God saith the Lord see God is using false prophets through here and that's what he's really saying and there are some strange examples of this the scripture we just mentioned the lying spirit with Micaiah and all that in first Kings 22 the Witch of Endor is a commonly quoted one where here's a medium and yet even there God uses it for yet Samuels message to Saul strangely enough God used false prophets in effect to punish them for already for having already continued in disobedience when the man did what the false prophet told him to do why did God punish that man who got it well the most dramatic one of these situations isn't those in the Old Testament one of most dramatic ones is forthcoming in the New Testament there is an ultimate lie they while extreme lie that the deceiver will unleash on the world at that time the end time God is going to permit this strong delusion in order to deceive those who in whom is not the love of the truth that they might be saying what on earth meet our Matt let's take a look second Thessalonians two to refresh your memory speaking of the Antichrist then shall that wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming that's a catch-all it's gonna happen later even him whose coming is after the working of whom Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders let's pause there to realize this coming leader that the Scriptures talking about here is empowered by Satan with all power signs and lying wonders we have no capacity to imagine what that be like these aren't parlor tricks they're serious serious power signs and lying wonders he goes on and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved what's going to happen two more verses for this cause God shall send them strong delusion God's gonna send them delusion he's going to permit the delusion through this false leader that they should believe it says a lie and your King James it's the lie it's a specific line why is God can allow this to happen that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness famous verse most of you know about the strong delusion passage out of second Thessalonians but I want to highlight something everybody overlooks so many people overlooked for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie when does that happen after their hop is by the Antichrist right it's after the harpazo this is a very disturbing rebuttal to those who are counting on a second chance after the rapture roll all the way to the rapture that I'll accept Christ really you know that whole Tim LaHaye was a dear friend of this ministry a good a very close friend his whole series left behind ignores this verse doesn't mean he's wrong but it means that the are many that this is going to if you have not made a choice before the rapture that may apply but this implies is that if you have had a chance and didn't accept it before the rapture you're going to be subject to a strong delusion you had your chance that's what it implies don't wait if you have any doubt in your mind about your posture with respect to Jesus Christ deal with it tonight right now don't wait now you can do so in the privacy of your own will just kneel before him and they admit that you need him acknowledge your sin repent of it and ask him to take over and he will then it's his ball not yours okay moving on the word of the Lord came again to me verse this is chapter 12 I mean chapter 14 in the second session verse 12 the word the Lord came again unto me saying son of man when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously then will I stretch out my head upon it and I will break the staff of the bread thereof and I will send famine upon it and I will cut off man and beast from it see this whole section now starts as I say with this Annunciation and God is very definite he means what he says and says what he means judgment he's saying it's unavoidable and there's four judgments that are going to be mentioned here the property claims that win the man the land sinneth and God sends one of his four judgments against it famine hurtful beasts or noise some beasts in your King James sword and war if you will and pestilence these are the four sword judgments and they are detailed not just here the same four are mentioned by Jeremiah and the same for our lists in the book of Revelation interestingly enough but many said something interesting here we want to understand this says though these three men Noah Daniel and Joel were in it they should deliver but their own souls by the righteousness saith the Lord God we're going to talk a little bit about these interesting three guys Noah we all know who he how many even know who know is that's about 70 percent okay that's pretty good not kidding Daniel how interesting that he's referenced here and job white then Ezekiel pick these three what do they have in common and how are they different let's take a look at that see even if Noah was here God is saying through Ezekiel they wouldn't listen to him you know there's always movement trying to find Noah's Ark they didn't find his Noah's Ark do you think that would get anyone to get saved I don't think so I don't think so how about Daniel the Babylonians knew Daniel and they knew he was God's man and then but the Lord says that the Israelites would not have listened to Noah nor Daniel nor job well how are they diverse they're very different Noah the patriarch he looms on the horizon of history the epic grandeur there's no you you you want to pick it a topic there's nothing more more of an epic the whole story of Noah and the flood of the whole earth Daniel's a brave hero in a tyrants court man of skill and science and the civilized society is a very different kind of situation that he's in job's a whole nother guy he that passed in a pastoral such an agricultural situation tragic story carries out among better one in effect what did these three have in common all three were holy men true to God and upright in life good all three were faithful in circumstances of isolation they all had to break from the prevalent habits they had to dare to stand alone all three of them didn't they him each in their own way Noah against the world Daniel against heathenism then job against false orthodoxy he and his three friends and all that all three were sorely tried and all three were victorious how by means of being faithful okay that's what they have in common they were faithful by obedience patience faith stead physicist so that's why they're selected here I want to contrast this with a similar passage by our friend Jeremiah over in Jerusalem in Jeremiah 50 15 he says then said the Lord to me though Moses and Samuel stood before me let yet my mind could not be toward this people cast them out of my sight let them go forth there's a similar passage Jeremiah picks a different couple of guys to be his straw man if you will and but we're also going to discover in Jeremiah we have the same four judgments listed by the way I want you to be sensitive to the architecture what you're talking about Jeremiah or Ezekiel or a book of Revelation that God has the same architecture seeping through the text here here we have the DECA that the these four judgments that would not even the presence of Moses Samuel would have changed it now the they're very selected by Jeremiah because they both had power of intercession they were both exact you know examples of successful intercession in Jeremiah the next verse said it shall come to pass if they say unto thee whither shall we go forth then thou shalt say unto them thus saith the Lord God such as are from death to death such as our four sword to the sword such as are for the famine the famine such as are for the captivity to the captivity and I'll point over them four kind save the Lord the sword to slay the dogs to tear the fowls of the heaven and the beasts the earth to devour and destroy so now Ezekiel's selection of four are in a different footing and so he took exemplary Saints highly venerated people even they would have been powerless to save the generation in which they lived they were powerless these powerful Noah Daniel and job could not save as powerful as they were spent they couldn't save the generation they lived in noticed eight people not the whole world Daniel couldn't avoid what we get into the minutes but how they got sliced does equal continuing Ezekiel if I caused noise and beasts to pass through the land then they spoil it so that it be desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts and that's just evil beasts if you will going on though these three men were in it again referring to Noah Daniel and Jo as I live saith the Lord God they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters they shall only be delivered but the land itself be desolate or if I bring the sword upon that land and say sword go through the limb so that cut off man and beast from it though these three men were in it as I live saith the Lord God they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters but they only shall be delivered themselves Wow he's these highly venerated ancient leaders Noah Daniel Joel if they were in the land they could only deliver themselves not others God continues if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my fury upon it and blood to cut off from it men and beasts no Noah Daniel and Joel were in it as I live saith the Lord God they shall delivered neither son nor daughter and they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness that may have been one of the reasons that God got Daniel out of Jerusalem because Jerusalem is going to have it Daniel was the first amputation he's at court he's the Prime Minister he ends up being Prime Minister not only babbling of the succeeding Empire the interesting career sea Ezekiel's focus here is that Jerusalem was not going to be spared that's what he's really trying to underscore by all this even if no one Daniel could have been there to be same but not those they'd be saved but not those around them the whole point here is not them the parties that the Jerusalem is not going to be spared these were selected because they they were saved from overwhelming calamities in their personal righteousness the intercession even of the holiest of men cannot avert God's judgments Noah though he was a righteous man could not by his intercession have preserved the old world from being drowned just his own jobs oh he's a righteous man could not preserve his children being killed by the fall of the house Daniel though he's a righteous man could not prevent the captivity of his country the wholeness of any man can only avail for whom himself ooh think about that though Noah Daniel and job the United to plead for Jerusalem their intercession would have all been in vain why because it was contrary to expectation there is pie in corporate player obviously and there's grievant greater power in United prayer that there's plenty of verses on that yet here the union of these three very best men selected from all ages which is part of what's going on here could not secure the safety of Jerusalem Noah Daniel job different eras entirely the cause of the predicted failure of course of intercession was that harden in the in penitence the lack of repentance of Jerusalem is the only thing would save it God is more anxious to save than we are to plead for salvation God is anxious for us to be saved more anxious than we are ourselves but we ourselves have to be repentant in order to to gain his forgiveness but it would be unjust and injurious despair the in penitence on any plea that's the point that God is making here it's there in penitence that's in the way the intercession of Christ succeeds where even the best men fails right no one more powerful than Christ to pray for you right careful with this one Christ shed tears over Jerusalem and yet Jerusalem perished remember that rode the donkey and came over from Bethany he wept over Jerusalem 38 years later exactly on the schedule he laid out earlier truce was destroyed I thought Christ prayed for Jerusalem he can't overcome their impending benifits lack of a lack of repentance that's heavy moving on for thus saith the Lord God how much more when I send my force for judgments upon Jerusalem the sword the famine and the noise of beasts the fest never those four things he keeps showing up to cut off it from man and beast see it finds no right to there no righteous people in it there will be some wicked survivors but there there really carry the message to the rest of the world so they'll understand what really happened there we talked about that last time I want you to notice these four judgments so I'm always sensitive to the architecture of the word sword famine wild beasts and plague in Revelation chapter 6 you got sword famine wild beasts and plague right by the way I got to tell you somethin bout Revelation it's kind of interesting there four horsemen right what color are they red but red white black red not tail green that's mistranslations Cloris in the Greek green it says to Palin your King James white black red green right go to the CIA Factbook and check the colors of the flags of Islam and they're red black white and green I think that's kind of interesting that's going to be very interesting when we get to chapter 25 because we're going to deal with a list of the Muslim nations and what Christ is going to do about them but that's we're getting ahead of the story here okay when whether Israel reap these judgments or not was up to them the entire tip plate was their choice they had been given warnings upfront those warnings are in the Torah remember we talked about Leviticus 26 and the four times God says if they don't know if they don't obey I'll multiply their punishments by seven-member chapter 4 we view notes in chapter 4 there are four judgments in leviticus 20:6 remember we went to Liberty experience it's from Ezekiel 4 because of the the promise is there if you slain with the sword verse 20 was that has do with famine verse 22 wild beasts verse 25 the plague same four judgments are in the in the warnings for warnings of Leviticus 26 moving on yet behold therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth both sons and daughters behold they shall come forth unto you and the end you shall see their way and unto their doings and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem even concerning all that I have brought upon it and they shall comfort you when you shall see their ways and their doings you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it saith the Lord God and so this is basically the same comfort that Abraham talks about when he says shall not the judge of all the earth do right we need to understand through all these goings-on that God knows what he's doing and he's doing it just Lee and so that was a ground of guts the ground of comfort for all of us now after these two signs that we had back in Chapter 12 then he had five messages from chapter 12 through 14 that we've just finished now we're going to have three parables in 15 16 and 17 and all this is to show the same thing we've been hammering here that there's no possibility of deliverance of Israel so we're gonna look at three parables chapter 15 is just a short little chapter here the parable of the vine that would not bear fruit what's the purpose of a vine how many of you have some a bedroom set or a dining room set made of vine wood no doesn't work does it and he Wharton works with wood knows that vines are useless as a as a wood what are they good for only one thing bearing fruit oh that's why God uses it so frequently in the scripture there are at least four idioms for Israel the olive tree the fig tree the vine and the bramble bush you find them scattered all through the scripture but you find them together in what's called the parable of Jotham in judges chapter 9 all four of these are there in this peculiar parable that Jotham proposes there and the olive tree is an idiom of Israel in the sense of the covenant relationship apparently that's echoed in Romans 11 and Jeremiah 11 the fig tree is the common a diem it speaks of Israel in the national sense Matthew 24 is an example that the fig tree parable they're the vine speaks of the spiritual relationship between is O Israel and Jehovah or your TiVo a or however you want to say it most people have a garbling of the German Yahweh was the original thing but the J and German is like a why but he gets transliterated so many people been taught to say Java rather than Yahweh but none of those are probably right the rabbi's refused to pronounce it so they just use the letters yo-dee-hey Vevey as that but anyway the bramble bush is also idiomatic Israel in terms of their failure now different authorities and stuff put slightly different twists on each of these four idioms these four idioms clearly speak of Israel in some sense or another the exact coloring of it depends on the authority the rabbi's have their own twist but there none of violently disagree they clearly all refer to Israel in a sense moving on from chapter 15 verse 1 and the word of the Lord came unto me saying son of man what is the vine tree more than any tree than a branch which is among the trees of the forest and clearly this is one of the figures of the nation Israel Isaiah 5 is a whole chapter really the deals with the vine the fact that it says the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel that's very definitely true and Isaiah Isaiah 5 it's also true in a handful of other passages I'll let you search those out but what's the purpose of the vine the purpose of the vine is to bear fruit continues here she would be taking thereof to do any work go real men make a pin or a peg you getting to make a pig out of it your peg to hang with stuff on won't work to hang any vessel on behold it is cast into the fire for fuel the fire devoureth both ends of it and the midst of it is burned is it meat for anywhere is it good for any kind of real working and not even useful to make a peg if a believer did not bear fruit he set aside and so initially says the fire devoureth both ends of it some Scot most the commentators think what's being alluded to here is Israel both ends of the northern kingdom has already been judged the southern king was about to be judged so that's both ends of it in a sense okay and under us they were the northern King was overturned under a pig left paw laser and the Southam is being pressed upon by Egypt right now behold when it was whole it was meat for no work how much less shall it be meat yet for any work when the fire earth devoured it and it is burned therefore let's say if the Lord God as the vine tree among the trees of the forest which I have given to the fire for fuel so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem they not talk about the fires of hell I thought about the fires of you know the city being leveled by the Babylonians but Jerusalem the is the vine that is destined for burning here obviously and I will set my face against them they shall go out from one fire and another fire shall devour them and he shall know that I am the Lord when I set my face against them they may see some will escape the burning city but they'll have just another faith and even from that other fate of the sword and other problems there'll be some that escape in order that the nations around will hear of what all happened here I'll make the land desolate because they have committed a trespass saith the Lord God now the vine itself can also be used by the way of unregenerate man in general twisted unworkable really fit only for a judgment his man in general Israel in particular Jesus transforms this idiom to him applies it to himself because he calls himself the true vine John 15 is all about that with Christians being his branches to bear fruit for him again though what's your purpose is a being of that vine to bear fruit ok ok chapter 16 this is the wrap up and in here we're going to have a parable of the abandoned baby and this is going to be very very repugnant to most of us it's going to be a very graphic analogy or allegory or parable call it what you will it's going to talk about a foundling child of dubious origin and the child here is Jerusalem not Israel Jerusalem it's exposed to the roadside to die but she's rescued by her Lord who becomes her benefactor this isn't a parable here having grown up to be a into beautiful maiden hood she's taken in marriage by her benefactor and becomes his royal consort bear in mind this is a parable the proud Queen proves very grateful for all this right no the proud queen bee proves utterly unfaithful and plays the harlot with Canaanites and other pagans you should gasp how ungrateful now the whole idiom here is not unique to Ezekiel the portrayal of Israel in general Jerusalem in particular as the adulterous wife of your navaja Isaiah speaks of that in the first chapter that faithful City that had become a harlot Jeremiah represented yo neva V as remembering the kindness of her youth the love of her espousals chapter 2 Hosea is the classic the whole book of Hosea deals with this he's the forerunner who in order that his own life might be a parable was ordered to take to himself a wife of whoredom and whose character was tainted before her marriage even and the whole chronicle of Hosea is a parable that's parallel to this thing now the punishment for this conduct is justified since her depravity is worse than that of her two sisters it's going to portray two sisters one to the north one of the South one to the south one of the North Sodom in Samaria as sister cities throughout the city his sister said yet the Lord is even going to promises to restore the three sisters and that tells us that Sodom and Samaria will be rebuilt in the Millennium by the way that's just a slip through on this one for telling that pennant and Jerusalem will experience a glorious reconciliation through an everlasting covenant that's going to come up before this chapter is over let's keep moving here and again the word of the Lord came unto me saying son of man cause Jerusalem to know her abominations boy and say thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem Vibe earth and thy Nativity is of the land of Canaan thy father was an amirite my mother was a hittite whoa don't think of do you see he's not speaking of Israel he's not talking about he's not speaking here of Abraham and Sarah and the Jewish line he's talk about the city and he's speaking of it as as having been born in Canaan father and amirite mother a Hittite strange language here who is this orphan now it's important to understand who the orphan is it's not Israel it's Jerusalem who is this dirty filthy little child that's been cast out save Jerusalem the history is that it was an amirite city maybe people don't think of that remember Genesis 1560 and the fourth generation they show that the people everyone's a sentence we'll come back come his again for the iniquity of the amorite is not yet full they were there before Israel was her marabi was the first dynasty about Babel and he was an amirite Jerusalem was also a Hittite city that surprises many unless you've read on some homework here who are the Hittites a non somatic people resident in Asia Minor in 2000 BC and before dis rayul of course itself descended from Shem by contrast Jerusalem before it was conquered by David was a Canaanite city Canaan descended from ham not Shem different roots the cities early inhabitants were called Jeb you sites that's where David captured it from now this may surprise you Canaanites represented the dwellers in the lowland country west of the valley of the Jordan included the plains of Philistia Sharon Esther Lana and Phoenicia they're leading representatives in zekiel time with the cities of tyre and sidon we have much to say about them in a few chapters later the knowledge is when this one blew me away to realize the knowledge of the true God had originally been in Canaan handed down from Noah really remember Melchizedek he was the priest he's a king of Salem and the priest of the Most High God we're in Salem in Canaan and Abraham brought him tithes we sort of skim over that without realizing the implications of that but Canaan had a pasta sized from him and that's what makes Canaan so especially guilty it wasn't that they were uninformed they were early informed and rejected it does a history here we have only a vague glimpse of interestingly enough ok the amorite s' they're the people of the mountains at first they were just west of the Jordan and the heights over the Dead Sea and as far as said bran later on under sign on the high table lands east of the Jordan but the Hittites are the interesting ones they first appear in the history of the purchase of the gate the Cave of Machpelah in Genesis 23 that curia far better have run and that history applies commerce and culture in those days they're always numbered with the six other nations whom the Israelites were to conquer and expel there were ten originally 307 or Joshua at the end times every ten nations three don't go along with the Antichrist seven - it's interesting pattern in the patterning way back there see - a Jew - - a Greek mine prophecy is prediction fulfillment prediction fulfillment - the Hebrew mind prophecy is pattern insisting how these patterns Telegraph what God is going to be doing and of course this is probably the reason that the this influence if it's inclusion here in in Ezekiel Esau remember after he got he didn't get his blessing from his father he deliberately married daughters of two hit AI Chiefs specifically to offend his mother but this recognized the power they represent passes the Hittite was his mother eluding the Esau's wives daughters of Heth who's always vexed Rebekah his mother but it please the degenerate descendants of the Jacob so these are called in respect of morals the children of the Hittite so Esau and Ishmaelites are Kol married commingled that's what we call today erroneously would call Arabs not Arabs but anyway in later hick history books they appear very little the Hittites do one Hittite captain you know alike great deal about he was married to a gal by the name of Bathsheba and murdered by David the King's Levites trade with Solomon gave their daughters to him in marriage but they needed for the last time as possible allies in the kings of Judah and second King seven and they're in the list of older nations in Ezra Nehemiah and then they disappear from the pages of history after that okay that's for thy nativity speak again to Jerusalem as as this this ungrateful daughter as for thy Nativity in the day that that was born thy navel was not cut neither was that washed in water to supple II that was not salted at all nor swaddled at all what it really means it was neglected those are all person or --ml procedures in in their birth process in those days none I pitied needed to do any of these unto thee to have compassion upon me but that was cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that that was born it's speaking as a parable as an analogy with the term we might use and it's using she was an orphan just thrown out abandoned not cared for then God says and I passed by the saw the polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee when thou Weston thy blood live yeah I said unto thee when that was in my blood live he repeats himself I've caused the multiply as the butt of the field and now has to increase now waxen great and thou art come to excellent ornaments thy breasts are fashioned and thy hair has grown whereas thou was naked west naked and bare now when I passed by the and looked upon me behold thy time was in the time of love I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness yeah I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with me saith the Lord God and thou became as mine I spread my skirt over thee interesting term you and I are not familiar with normally if you remember the Book of Ruth she makes the petition of Boaz spread your shirt over meets invitation to marry her take her is right in isaiah opens up in the when Isaiah sees the throne of God God speaks of putting his skirt over him it's it's a it's a thority and so forth okay and so that's a reminiscent of the Ruth term there if you will god contains this analogy I wash thee with water yea I thoroughly washed away thy blood from the i anointed thee with oil I closed the also with broidered work and I shod the Badger skin or porpoise skins that was that's that's pretty strange well the wash thee is is normal preparation for getting married and badger skin and then the word is harsh it's probably porpoise skins but it's familiar to you because that was the covering of the tabernacle the last one the final and it also was what they made their sandals out of and for forty years they didn't wear out you may recall them that's all that turns out to be very significant for a lot of reasons but I'll let you chase that down on your own you can make sure I deftly also with ornaments and I put bracelets upon their hands and a chain upon my neck I put a jewel on my forehead and earrings in the 90s and a beautiful crown upon thy head and we could spend a lot of time the commentators talked about how these allude to the practices of the past we don't have to waste time on that we get you get the flavor of it as we go here these were the marriage gets to Rebecca in that that Eleazar gives her on the way to her marriage to Isaac if you will with his ten camels and all of that here though God saying this is what I did for Jerusalem he's using as an analogy here well Jerusalem had a lot to brag about right what do we have at brag about are we in a similar case where he picked us up out of the dirt in pin/pendant and Senate sinners and reveals himself to us and reveals to us his son are we anymore are we as ungrateful as Jerusalem was I hope not but you might consider that moving on that's what's our debt let's go silver thy arraignment was a fine linen and silk embroidered work and Mountain steed flying flower and honey and oil and that was exceeding beautiful and that it's prosper into a kingdom who there it is this is where history itself punctures through the parable a little bit points to the stage where it has now reached that the magnificence of the kingdom under Solomon this if you if you matching this with a chronology here and I renounce and for thy beauty for it was perfect through thy coming this which I had put upon thee saith the Lord God but heavy word but bout its trust in that own beauty and placed the harlot because of thy renown and ports out by fornications on every one that passed by his it was wow played the harlot his words as she became beautiful being desirable she turned her back on her benefactor and I by garments out its take index I high places with divers colors and plays the harlot there on the like thing shall not come neither shall it be so quiet places with colours this is an allusion to the pagan celebrations that went on in the in the high hills gaily teller colored tents and high places thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my golden of my silver which had given the inmates to thyself images of men and its commit whoredom with them images of men is there is a clumsy translation to what you and I would call phallic symbols this commit whoredom with them she forgot the one who had supplied her with her wealth to turn away from him from beginning from Solomon's reign especially until her falling they became misery Jerusalem turned from God to idolatry that's the issue here in Turkey eyebright have broidered garments and covers them and thou just said mine in mine incense before them my meat also which I gave the fine flour and oil and honey wherewith I fed thee thou has even said it before them for a sweet savour and thus it was saith the Lord God you know what's disturbing about this she's paying she's not like a like a heart being paid paying for service she's paying them it's backwards you follow me even worse so to speak more when I was taking my sons and my daughters whom that was born unto me and has these hath thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured is this of thy whoredoms a small matter that thou has slain my children and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them what is she talking about what does he talk about here anyone though child sacrifice to the god Molech pass through the fire Molech worship a lot of debates about this scholars there's no question about it what the Bible points to some child sacrifice it is all through the Old Testament it never wholly ceased as long as the monarchy of Judah lasted again in second Kings it's in the Psalms Isaiah Jeremiah Mike Leviticus you name it it's all through their horrible brass Idol heated to a molten state virtually and babies placed in his arms moment worship it's interesting to me that even in the pagan empires abortion was a capital crime do you know that these early empires regarded the size their population their main source of power if you interfered with the progress of children by Jonah being born and so forth that was considered an injury to the state typically obviously exceptions but typically abortion was a capital crime they recognized that that was injuring themselves as a nation to allow that they need to grow to be strong here Israel is indulging in this pagan form of child sacrifice we found a way to do it even in a more insulting way all together and that's to kill the child in the womb the Holy of Holies moving on and all thine abominations are whoredoms thou has not remembered the days of thy youth when that was naked and bare and as polluted in thy blood and it came to pass after all thy wickedness whoa what won't do they say at the Lord God that's sort of insert Wow the worship of a bail and Moloch this comes from their alliances - thou has also built into the eminent place and has made the in high place in every street now it's built the high place at every head of the way and has made thy Beauty to be abhorred and has opened thy feet to everyone that passed by and multiplied thy whoredoms Wow when the church lowers our testimony to the carnal tastes of the world she loses everything and gains nothing this word eminent place by the way actually refers to a vault and from that word vault is from where we derived the word fornication it has to do with an original form of that having to do as a form of worship as a religious combination thing thou has committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbors great of flesh and has increased thy whoredoms to provoke me to anger it sounds like they've succeeded the alliance with Egypt is all through the scripture we'll spend time about here behold therefore have I stretched out my hand over the nf diminished nine ordinary food and delivered thee into the will of them than ate thee the daughters of the Philistines which are ashamed of thy lewd weight the Philistines attacked Judah and Jerusalem in the reigns of Jehovah and he has and the text even talks about how the Philistines are shocked at their conduct that was played the also with the Assyrians because that was insatiable the a thou has played the harlot with him and yet could not be satisfied that was moreover multiplied by fornication in the land of Canaan under Chaldea and yet thou was not satisfied here with the a has a Manasa both had a pro Assyrian policy that so being alluded to here how weak is thine heart say at the Lord God seeing thou doest all these things the work of the imperious woman in the doubt build a Stein eminent place in the head of every way and make a Stein high place in every street and that's not and has not been as in harlot in that thou scorn is higher in other words she didn't even get paid but as a wife that committeth adultery which taketh strangers instead of her husband they gifts they give gifts to all but thou give us thy gifts to all thy lovers then hire us them that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom this repellent God intends it to be see the conduct of a has he stripped the temple of its gold and silver to pay tribute to Assyria and that gives an example of what the prophets alluding to here then the contrary is envy from other women in thy whoredoms whereas none follow thee to commit whoredoms and in that thou give us a reward and no reward is given unto thee therefore thou art contrary doing backwards so to speak wherefore harlot hear the word of the Lord thus saith the Lord God that's the underline because they filthiness was poured out and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers and with all the idols of thy abominations and by the blood of thy children which thou tits give unto them behold therefore I will gather all thy lovers with whom thou has taken pleasure and all them that thou has loved with all them that thou has hated I will even gather them round about against thee and will discover thy nakedness unto them that they may see all thy nakedness and I will judge thee as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged and I will give the blood in fury and jealousy and I will also give the in to their hand and they shall throw down mine imminent place and shall break down thy high places and they shall strip the of also of thy closes shall take thy fair jewels and leave the naked and bear boy the exposure of the adulteress they should also bring up a company against the end they shall stone me with stones and thrust thee through with their swords and they shall Burton nine houses with fire and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot and thou also shalt give higher you have no higher anymore you can almost see in the language here the catapults throwing the stones against Jerusalem and they attack and the leveling in the and the the third siege which is coming when this we're not quite there yet chronologically he's predicting what's the third seat we've been through two sieges it's the third siege that's going to end the city of Jerusalem so will I make my fury toward thee to rest and my jealousy shall depart from the end I will be quiet and will be no more angry because that was not remembered the days of thy youth but as friended me and all these things behold therefore I will also recompense thy way up on vine head saith the Lord God thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all vine abominations behold everyone that use of Proverbs shall use this proverb against thee saying as is the mother so is her daughter Oh thou art thy mother's daughter that love her husband and her children thou art the sister of thy sisters which loathe their husbands and their children your mother was a hit light and your father and amirite he can tell how this you can imagine how this went over the second part of this parable now is an analogy between Jerusalem and her sisters which is sister cities Samaria and Sodom Samaria to the north Sodom to the south then elder sisters Samaria she and her daughters that dwell if I left hand and get the picture you're always facing east so left handers to the north right right head is to the south that dwelt the left hand the younger sister that dwelleth a right hand is Sodom and her daughter's yet hast thou not walked after their ways and are done after there about but if that were a very little thing thou was corrupted more than they in all thy ways as I live saith the Lord God Sodom thy sister hath not done machine or her daughters as thou has done thou and thy daughters vo this is the iniquity of thy sister Sodom pride fullness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy very interesting issue there is a assertion that's the sin of Sodom was not homosexuality it was the condoning of homosexuality by the leadership as an aside but that's all Genesis 19 anyone nor nor they were known for their gross sins and divine judgment but Jerusalem is in worse shape is what he's trying to paint here they were haughty and committed abomination before me therefore I took them away as I saw good neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins but thou has multiplied than abominations more than they and has justified thy sisters and all the abominations which that was done Samaria is gone it was wiped out by the Assyrians a century earlier right now also which has judged thy sisters bare thine own shame for thy sins that thou has committed more in abominable than they they are more righteous than thou yay be thou confounded also and bear thy shame in that thou has justified thy sisters when I shall bring again their captivity the captivity of Sodom and her daughters and a captivity of Samaria and her daughters then will I bring again the captivity of thy captains in the midst of them that thou mayest bear thine own shame and may us be confounded in all that thou has done in that thou art a comfort unto them when thy sisters Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former estate and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate strange prophecy tucked away in verse 55 they're apparently going to be ultimately we assume in the Millennium for thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth on the day of thy pride there before thy wickedness was discovered as at the time of the approach of the daughters of Syria and all that were round about her the daughters of the Philistines which despised the roundabout now here the the the destruction of Jerusalem is prophetically assumed it's yet to happen all this is yet future now in its course coming now it's born thy lewdness and my abomination saith the Lord first saith the Lord God I will even deal with thee as thou has done which has despised the oath in breaking the Covenant nevertheless I would remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth and I will establish under the and everlasting covenant he doesn't finish this deep negative tirade without leaving at the end a promise for the future restoration even for Jerusalem even after all this nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of value and I will establish under the and everlasting covenant that's coming nevertheless I'll remember thy covenant it should be a continual source of encouragement to God's people to have the assurance from his word that he remains faithful even when they themselves are unfaithful after all that Jerusalem has nothing she deserves but God is still gonna honor his faithfulness boy we need to cling to that I know in whom I believed that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day it's his faithfulness not mine that my salvation hangs Oh God is going to make good as covenants with the nation Israel and that's in there's three chapters in book of Romans 9 10 11 - nailed down the sin of these people the rebellion their constant departure from him their backsliding his term we might use will not annul abrogate or destroy God's covenant with them that's staggering in its implications but that's the key here then thou shalt remember thy ways and be ashamed and when thou shalt receive thy sister's thine Elder and the younger and I will give them unto thee for daughters but not by thy covenant see Jerusalem had broken her covenant back that was made back in the Exodus so she's gonna have to suffer for that but the day will come repentance and that's what exactly what we're waiting for that's what the Great Tribulation is going to drive them right against the wall Hosea 5:15 is your exit on that one so Sumerian Sodom here idiomatically are speaking of their heathen world they're going to be included in the New Covenant as an act of grace since the original covenant that was broken by Israel did not include them interesting enough wrapping it up here and I will establish my covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the lord that thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open never opened my mouth anymore because of thy shame when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou has done saith the Lord God now unfortunately these passages not studied very much they cast a whole different perspective it makes it clear that God has a future purpose for Israel despite all the darkness here in Romans 9 10 and 11 are your another New Testament springboard for that a little bit about homiletics how do you apply all this personally the destruction of Jerusalem was God's answer to the disputing Jews God speaks to you and me through his history history is God is a record of God's answers to man's questions history is a record of God's answers to man's questions and such an answer as many merits it is perceptible to everybody the fall through some sent a shock through the entire Jewish world believers unbelievers it's clear and unmistakable God had threatened judgment would his threat be proof through who could doubt the meaning of this terrible response for thirdly it's reversible an event which has once occurred can never be undone the lessons of history are eternal is the point okay next session I'd like you to read chapter 17 and 18 might skip ahead get 19 - if in case we're on a roll there but we're primary targeting two chapters 1718 next time but I want you to come we're going to completely the allegory of 15 through 17 with a riddle of two eagles that'll be your key thing in chapter 17 and that will end the allegorical series that we've been into heavy stuff repugnant in many ways but it's intend to be let's stand for a closing word of Prayer

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Length: 65min 0sec (3900 seconds)

Published: Sat May 02 2020