Ezekiel (Session 8) Chapters 17-18

okay well The Book of Ezekiel we're crunching through this book the call of the Prophet was the first three chapters his unique call to his mission then from chapters four through 24 they focus on God's judgment on Jerusalem and very particularly this the the the the first 24 chapters of this 48 chapter book were penned prior to the third siege the first siege was Daniel taken the second siege Ezekiel was taken among others there's a huge third and final siege forthcoming about five years hence from the time we're gonna be looking at here and that's the part that we're in right now after we get through that part from 25 through 32 there's going to be the judgment not of Jerusalem now but of the Muslim nations could be a very interesting surprisingly timely episode going through those chapters and those were written during the siege while Jerusalem is falling Ezekiel is called to focus on the nation surrounding Jerusalem and then from chapter 33 to the end is the restoration we're going right now through all this dark stuff God always puts the light at the end of the tunnel if you will the restoration of the nation Israel and we know from a number of reasons that it's right on our horizon several thousand years have gone by is right on our horizon and that those passages will be given after the siege Jerusalem is phone Ezekiel's then rewarded by allowing him to present to the people what was coming they're going to return to the land we've watched that begin since May 14th of 48 and they experienced their new life in unity and then they're going to be protected from this strange invasion Gog and Magog and we'll obviously be dealing with the timely aspects of that and then perhaps the capstone of the entire book his chapters 40 through 48 the Millennial Kingdom and it's going to be a surprise to many many Christians are shocked to discover the millennium is the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant it's tragic that many churches have turned a blind eye to the whole concept of what's going on there but we'll deal with that as we go we're in the first 24 chapters obviously dealing with 17 and 18 and now need to understand Ezekiel is trained as a priest but he was called to the office of a prophet and he was a captive in Babylon the the Babylon the Empire he's not in the city of Babel and where Daniel is at court he is 200 miles out there in the in the agricultural regions as a slave with with it so don't confuse his presence in Babylon as meaning the city of Babylon it's the Empire in fact he's quite a distance from now the first siege took Daniel as it as an heir as one of the royal kid as a hostage to assure the the loyalty of the king but there was a second he didn't do what he's supposed to he rebelled so Ezekiel so Nebuchadnezzar put a second siege during which more were taken including Ezekiel and there's about 25 years old when he was taken five years have gone by the he was called to this office of Prophet when he was thirty and that's the area we're in now the third siege is yet ahead of us and as we're reading here in fact it's about several years maybe as many as five some of the scholars vary a little bit from two to five but anyway would be which would be the final and destruction of Jerusalem so now Ezekiel is not offering them hope the false prophets were offering them hope he'd point out to them that Jerusalem would fall and that God was going to judge them for their idolatry and their sins so it's a judgment call that that Ezekiel is portraying here and it's interesting that when that first King gets shackled and taken to Babylon Nebuchadnezzar puts its uncle in charge known as to us as Zedekiah and he said Akaya swears an oath of allegiance we're going to talk a lot about that in the this evening after swearing allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar Zedekiah treacherously conspired against him dumb idea dumb idea can't fight city hall Kenya he conspired against him and sought an alliance with Egypt to avoid his commitments to Nebuchadnezzar and that Alliance which Jeremiah over in Jerusalem had also been preaching against proved weak unsatisfactory and foolhardy so that was the that situation to refresh your perspective here Jeremiah is probably an aged prophet that both Daniel and Ezekiel probably studied it at his feet but the first siege took Daniel and maybe about 10,000 - as hostages to Babylon and that's that's where Daniel gets taken and that starts a period of time called the servitude of a nation that goes seventy years as Jeremiah predicted to the very day actually and it ends with the decree of Cyrus when Cyrus the Persian Congress Babylon starts the Persian Empire Zedekiah how actually giant tchen rebelled there's a second siege where he is taken prisoner and Zedekiah is put in charge and that's when Ezekiel was also taken in that group so we're at this time between the 2nd and 3rd siege as far as the timeline is concerned the 3rd siege is the one that destroys Jerusalem it's yet ahead of us by probably at least 5 years to give you a perspective here that start that triggers a time of the desolations of Jerusalem which are also 70 years to the very day but they're not coterminous it starts later ends later it ends with a decree of artaxerxes Longy - which triggers the 70 weeks of Daniel and all of that for those of you that have studied that now 2nd chronicles takes us up to the decree of Cyrus Ezra and Nehemiah are the post exile writers and Haggai and Zechariah are the post exile prophets post exile being a term used typically by scholars from the decree of Cyrus following okay malachi of course later esther actually is about thirty years ahead of nehemiah in in rough terms but chapters four through thirty to that segment of ezekiel but Ezekiel's book that were in to occur prior to the third siege so to keep us focused at chronologically and now Judah Babel in Egypt are the three in this riddle and parable it's going to make up the content of chapter seventeen a riddle and a parable that riddle and parable is going to be stated in the first ten verses and then Ezekiel will go ahead and explain I should say God through Ezekiel will explain the parable in the next ten verses or so got the picture very cryptic parable and then it'll be explained for us the date of this though is interesting that while scholars will quarrel a little bit about the details it's almost five years before this siege takes place they're going to talk about the seeds in the past tense in a way you sort of had the feeling boats already happened because for us it has happened but for them it is yet future okay okay first one and the word Lord came unto me saying son of man put forth a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel now the word for a riddle there or a difficult question or it's an enigmatic it's something that requires explanation in fact after ten verses it'll take ten verses to explain it okay remember the riddle let's say what Samson posed to the Philistines same word is used the hard questions that the queen of sheba would ask Solomon same term in the Hebrew you know are as used here and say thus saith the Lord God now that's by the way that's quite a state thus saith Ezekiel is not expressing his opinion here he is quoting what God told him to say is a big difference there big difference and say thus saith the Lord God a great eagle with great wings long wing full of feathers which had divers colors came into Lebanon and took the highest branch of the seed are a great Eagle interesting use of phrase in fact in the Hebrew literally it's the great eagle now that was a also uses as it is Syrian guy the God the Assyrians worship mizerock and so this is also applied because of the Assyrian forebears to Babylon if you go to the London Museum you'll see the big winged lions that symbolize Babylon and and as well as as vice regent of God's vice-regent third God the pagan gods vice-regent on the earth and he had great wings these are symbolically representing great forces and you see in all the museum's you'll see these big wings on as a symbolic of spread of power and long winged and blind the extent of the regime Babylon was more than the city of Babylon was a whole empire in that region and full of feathers and suggesting the freshness of renovated youth and also suggestive of a variety of languages habits costumes many people's not just Chaldeans were subject to Babylon and full of feathers which had divers colors again answering to the variety of languages habits costumes of the people subjects interesting when we think of the Roman Empire - thanks to movies and so forth we recognize the diversity of Rome it isn't Italian it's worldwide the capital happy there we don't think of that with Babylon we should Babylon was also an empire not as extensive as Rome or later becomes but very larger than just the city of between the rivers of Mesopotamia so on okay and unto Lebanon now that's an idiom that's not familiar to us normally unless you've done a lot of biblical reading that's a pseudonym for the temple because it it's called Lebanon by the Jews because of the woodwork inside was largely oh in fact entirely of the Cedars of Lebanon so the term Lebanon becomes idiomatic if you will for the temple and that's not contrived Eusebius and some of the early 1st century writers recognized that connotation and so this eagle came to Lebanon to the temple took the highest branch of the cedar now what is the highest of it's referring to here's the fleece like tough at the top of a tree and what it's referring to of course is the nation Israel and specifically the royal house of David to be very specific and the King Jeconiah was plucked if you will by Nebuchadnezzar the great Eagle the head of Babylon and he was only 18 years old and many of the Chiefs and people with him of course were taken and now this great Eagle term Jeremiah used it when he wrote of Nebuchadnezzar in Jeremiah 48 40 says thus saith the Lord God behold he shall fly as an eagle and shall spread his wings over Moab he's the lusion there is - Nebuchadnezzar again in chapter 14 of chapter later Jeremiah again says behold he shall come up and fly as the Eagle spreads wings over Basra and that that day shall the heart of mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs and so this is a picture of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and so he's he's gonna he's gonna come and he's gonna crop off the top of the tree take the king Daniel you may recall in the Book of Daniel chapter 7 he saw the Babylonian Empire rising up out of the sea and it was in the form of a lion with eagle's wings see that the commonality of idioms there it's interesting how the Holy Spirit is consistent in using its idioms from that's what one of the things you need to discover you in Bible reading that you really have 66 books but you discover it's been designed by a single author and the use of the consistent use of idioms is one of those fingerprints if you will now centering the tribe of Dan gently shift a little bit but get another perspective here when you look at Genesis 49 you'll recall that the tribe of Dan was associated with a serpent that was the idiom there at chapter 49 verses 1617 well something provocative about the tribe of Dan we'll talk more about when we get to Ezekiel 28 but Daniel's position in that in in the in the camp of Israel was on the north side and there's something mysteriously suggested there because the sides of the north are one of the places that Satan covets and in Isaiah 14 it's also going to be in Ezekiel 28 but what I'm getting at is a he's errs the head of the tribe of Dan and at the time of the Exodus earlier in their history and as they come out of the Exodus as a nation a he's errs in charge of that tribe of the 12 tribes and he's uncomfortable with the serpent thing because they it's from a Levitical point of view it signifies sin or whatever so he replaces the serpent with an eagle as an ensign many people don't realize that he so it was still a serpent but it was a serpent in the jaws of an eagle and so you may wonder because later on in the Bible you always see the insin of the incense it's always an eagle representing van okay and so how did that come out well because it it's interesting that the eagle is always used of an enemy of Israel the tribe of Dan is sort of marginal that's a whole nother story but the it's a symbol of Israel the Greeks the Spartans the Trojans use Eagles Antiochus Epiphanes use the Eagles the Romans the Roman legions Titus Vespasian Herod used these all used Eagles the Russian Romanovs Byzantium they used the double-headed eagle the Franks the Germans the British you say you find the Eagle is always used as the primary symbol of the enemies of Israel there's one and one on the way here and there there's one we all know a country that has an eagle as a symbol do you suppose that before it's all over we too will betray them won't be the first time anyway let's move on verse 4 and he cropped off the top of his young twigs encouraged to the land of the traffic he said it in a city of merchants the top of his junk who on earth could stop young twig that he lopped off be obviously young King Jack Anaya that's Nebuchadnezzar he's 18 years old by the way to alert you to this to have it in case you're picking up on all this I want to confuse you thoroughly right now because Jack Anaya and Konya and Joe Hiatt chin are the same guy those are three labels for the same person his father was Joe Hayek in okay that'll confuse it further Jaya Kim is the father Joe Hiatt chin is the Sun the Sun is what we're focusing on sometimes called Jeconiah sometimes Kanaya and the judge said he is 18 years old the only rules for about three months I think it is and he's carried off to Babylon in the city of merchants and trade the land of traffic in other words he was carried in the captivity leaving the Judy and throne vacant so back to this eagle would Nebuchadnezzar he took also of the seed of the land and planted it in a fruitful field and placed it by great waters and sent it as a willow tree who's he talking about here Nebuchadnezzar captured the king took them okay then he replaced him with a seat of the land Nebuchadnezzar is trying to be lenient he's conquered his people but he appoints a vassal King in charge first guy didn't work out okay second seat he puts in stalls not a foreigner could have done that like the Romans put Herod and he was an Edomite what the Jewish well Nebuchadnezzar put in not a foreigner a Jewish in fact the uncle of Gehenna okay God by me of meadow nyeh that is he renames him Zedekiah who was seed of the land that he's Jewish he's Israel okay in a fruitful field that is the land of Israel in the vicinity of abundant waters you see the word WillowTree is derived from the same root as to overflow it it really speaks of the will trees fondness for water in fact Judea was idiomatically a land of Brooks and water and fountains that's the allusions here and it's used that way elsewhere I won't put chase all these down so it's all looking pretty good Nebuchadnezzar is trying to get along points to one of their own to be in charge and it all would have been beaches and cream as we might say well that grew and became a spreading vine of low stature whose branches turned toward him and the roots thereof were under him so it became a vine and brought forth branches and shot forth Springs look now expressing the fealty of jedikiah as a vassal looking up to Nebuchadnezzar that was the intent to whom Jodha Judah owed its peace and very existence as a separate state the people should have been grateful JB Kaiser for his leniency is that what happened no and by the way the branches means sons and other princes and Nobles should have been you know being loyal here and so it grew it became a spreading vine of those statues branches turned toward him and his roots thereof were under him so it became a vine and brought forth branches shot forth Springs see the impression you get from Ezekiel is that if Zedekiah had kept his promise he he made an oath of loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar if he had kept his promise to this kid his boss there would have been prosperity the fruitful field phrase you know speaks of favorable conditions but that's not just one Eagle there's another eagle in the picture here there was also another great Eagle different one this is going to be Egypt turned out with great wings and many feathers and behold this vine did not bender it roots toward him and shot forth or branches toward him and that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation this is a rival in other words drawing their attention a rival to the first one the first Eagle was Babylon the second one is Egypt specifically Pharaoh Khafra or called a priests by the Greece but nevertheless he's the second he was the successor to Pharaoh at Necco now if you know your Bible you know Pharaoh NECA was contemporaneous with King Manasseh and when the Levites took the ark to protect it from the ravages of Manasseh out of the land they took separate took protection under Pharaoh Necho but this is a successor now that's dealing with here but so they so zetta I was turning to Egypt to break the bonds of Nebuchadnezzar didn't work Nebuchadnezzar took Egypt destroyed it made it subject to himself so that's strategy didn't work but continuing here the the allegory here it was planted in good so by great waters that it might bring forth branches that it might bear fruit that it might be a godly a goodly vine and so he took see what Nebuchadnezzar had done he took the youngest son of Josiah and Mitt Anaya put him on the throne as a vassal renamed him Zedekiah and Zedekiah sworn oath before the Lord to be loyal to maybe commiserate watch out for that one he swore an oath before God to be loyal to they become Izzard so when he tries to be treacherous he's got docked me he's only had Nebuchadnezzar to you and he's got God to deal with get the get the picture okay so the second Eagle Eagle was only Egypt but specifically Farah huh front and with Zedekiah turned to him for support Isaiah spoke out against that Alliance back in Isaiah 30 Jeremiah in Jerusalem and Ezekiel in Babylon also opposed the idea of Judah aligning with Egypt that's contrary to God's plan for them so Jeremiah Isaiah and Isaiah and Ezekiel then lot of others all pointed out that Nebuchadnezzar was the instrument of God bringing judgment to the land in the first place so fighting him is fighting God as the point what you get from this whole passage really is that there apparently really was no reason for Zedekiah's revote other than his own selfishness they were not under oppression they were actually under a beneficial rule under Nebuchadnezzar and by the way what book did nebuchadnezzar write that you all know chapter 4 of daniel was written by nebuchadnezzar it's his testimony let's not forget that he's a nesting guy and they had security under him there was only through the ambition and ingratitude of Zedekiah that he became insubordinate and there's allegiance to nebuchadnezzar and that too brings us all down now realize when this is being pinned that hasn't happened yet it's being anticipated by Ezekiel this prophetic parable is written sometime between 592 BC and 591 the final revolt against Babylon occurred in 587 so call it somewhere between three to five years later so Ezekiel predicted that almost by almost five years before the happening of it let's move on say thou thus saith the Lord God shall it prosper shall he not pull up the roots thereof and cut off the fruit thereof that it withered it shall wither and all the leaves that were spring even without great power and many people to pluck up the roots there of Ezekiel just like his contemporary Jeremiah and like his predecessor Isaiah they were all against the policy of the Egyptian alliance yeah being yeah behold being planted shall prosper shall not wither ly wither when the east wind touches it east wind is an idiom for Nebuchadnezzar it shall be it shall wither the furrows where it grew and the undercurrent here anyway is the is the the disloyalty the treachery against Nebuchadnezzar and Zedekiah was taken at Jericho on Jewish soil see where the furrows that you shall wither in the furrows where it grew where was that a kaya taken still on Israel's territory even though he's fleeing by them so now we get to the interpretation of the second part the first ten verses were that allegory now that's the reason we're comfortable with that it's explained for us here in the next 10 verses and so more of the word of the Lord came unto me saying see God is going to explain this through Ezekiel say now to the rebellious house who's the rebellious house Jerusalem yeah right no you're not what these things mean tell them behold the king of Babylon has come to Jerusalem and have taken the king of and the princes thereof and led them with him to Babylon the rebellious house the history of dried chins or Jack and I if you will a deputation is that we went through all of that in previous passages and I've taken of the King seed and made a covenant with him and half an oath of him he have also taken the mighty of the land that is the issue here it was going to be a big deal as we go it's an old before God it's also taking the mighty of the land hostages were taken of course in film of the Covenant therefore Zedekiah exposed to death expose them to death by his treason that the kingdom might be based that it might not lift itself up but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand if Nebuchadnezzar dealt sincerely openly in proposing conditions and these were moderate ones and Zedekiah had sworn oath on those conditions so he his treachery his baser and as a counterpart to the tread to their treachery against God and he rebelled against him and sending his ambassadors in Egypt that they might give him horses and much people shall he prosper shall he escaped that do with such things or shall we break the Covenant be delivered in other words he broke his count by seeking help from Egypt and we talked about these horses Egypt abounded in horses they were prohibited to Israel by the way in Deuteronomy 17 Isaiah 31 lots of other places the whole region from Thebes to Memphis was filled with royal stalls the scholars estimate 20,000 chariots with two horses each could be furnished in case of war so it's understandable why Zedekiah thought maybe boy of Egypt helps us we can you know throw off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar bad choice because Nebuchadnezzar subdues Egypt - they weren't counting on that charlie break the covenant see the interesting thing is that Nebuchadnezzar kept his side of the Covenant it's God's people that broke the covenant the pagan nation kept their side of it interesting and version going on here and one of the issues you'll discover when you study the scriptures and oath before milord even if it's made under fraud needs to be honored that may surprise you remember the give me a night thing in Joshua 9 it was made on they cheated and lured israel into a covenant on fraudulent pretenses didn't matter once made they had honour it very strange equity there still had to be honored Joshua 9-second Sammy 21 you want to dig into it Jeremiah had been warning Zedekiah that he made an oath and that he would have to hold to it but obviously is that akai ignored all that and the swearing of an old oath in the Old Testament is always always generally authenticated by the companying sacrifice you made an oath and you gave a sacrifice the many given a sacrifice that involves God now your oath isn't just to the party you're promising God is a party to it be careful God takes that seriously verse 16 as I live saith the Lord God surely in the place where the king dwelleth it made him King who's all see despised and whose covenant he break even with him in the midst of Babylon shall he die remember we went through that in Chapter 12 not only that the Zedekiah laughed at them Josephus records only laughed at the prophets can't get your story straight you say I'm never gonna see Babel and you say I'm gonna die there get your story straight then he finds out we put out his eyes came off to Babylon so he never saw about one yet he died there we went through all that last time okay and he would law he would die on the land he despised known as a king whose covenant he broke it all repeats the prediction of 1213 that we looked at back Coomer in Chapter 12 neither shall pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war by casting up mounts building of forts to cut off many persons seeing he despised the oath by breaking the Covenant when law he had given his hand and have done all these things he shall not escape so Nebuchadnezzar succeeds and also nails Zedekiah now this pharaoh of course is the successor to pharaoh Necho pharaoh necker's the one that guarded the the the Ark of the Covenant and it's probably when this all fell that Ark moves from elephantine island up to Tala Kirkus island up in Ethiopia and that you can check out that story separately so Farah hot upfront is is the successor don't connect o therefore thus saith the Lord God as I live surely my knows that he that he hath despised and my covenant that he have broken even it well i recompense upon his own head God speaking here my nose if there was a sacrifice then there's no longer this a little commitment apart of Zedekiah yet had become the lord's covenant that he broke you don't mess around don't make promises in the first place but if you make them you better keep them and I will spread my net upon him and he should be taken in my snare and I will bring him to Babylon they me and will plead with him therefore his dress best that he hath trespassed against me I'll spread my net upon him God that traps him the same way he tried tried to entrap others and Psalm 7 talks about that and all this is about five years before it happened by the way we overlooked that as we read this because we know what happened historically to forget that this has been in advance but anyway and all his fugitives was all his band shall fall by the sword and they that remain shall be scattered tour all the winds and he shall know that I the LORD have spoken it so the first ten verses were the parable and these next 10 were God speaking through explaining the treachery of Zedekiah it's what that allegory is all about and being loads in the lord's own affirmation but i want to talk about this King of the Davidic line see chapter 17 and 18 our two chapters dealing with the ending of the dynasty of David and the succession of the Kings in Judah but in the middle of these two chapters that were looking at the last few chapters of a few verses of chapter of the first of these - chapter 17 the last few verses of chapter 17 deal with the most important King of the Davidic line what King was that certainly wasn't too high a chin right wasn't Zedekiah who is the most important King Jesus good for you the Messiah let's notice 22 23 24 3 interesting vs. interesting probably more than the whole lesson put together let's not mess this up thus saith the Lord God I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar notice what he's doing here he's putting himself God is putting self in parallel with Nebuchadnezzar he just had this allegory in chapter 17 how Nebuchadnezzar Eagle took the top brigham today God now God is saying he's doing it deliberately in peril and since I gods behind will take of the highest branch of the high cedar and we'll set it I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one and we'll planted upon a high mountain and imminent you notice the parallelism here with the previous allegory except it's God acting not judge nebuchadnezzar here I will also so he's opposing in the sense putting himself in God is saying in effect of Nebuchadnezzar he took of the sea of the land and planted so lie but the better I want with better success than he had is what the flavor was gonna be the branch that he plucked that was at a kiyah right and planted flourished for a time to perish at last but I will plant a sign of the same tree those of the Davidic line of the house of David to whom the kingdom belongs by an everlasting covenant and it shall be the shelter of the whole world and shall be forever that's what he's saying here in fact I will take up the highest branch of the high cedar David from up David himself and the Davidic house and I'll plant on a high mountain that they may see it in fine protection when the State of Israel shall seem passed of recovery Messiah you own a vow he himself will unexpectedly appear on the scene as Redeemer of his people that's what Isaiah 63 details for you the word branch of course is a peculiar title of the Messiah so most of you recognize that as a pun going on here a tender way has Jung who clicks a tender one the Messiah alone can be meant originally a tender plant and a root out of a dry ground those are Isaiah's words that up that incredible chapter of Isaiah 53 a tender plant root out of dry ground the beginning of his kingdom will be humble his reputed parents of lowly rank though King David's lineal representatives yet God here calls him in respect to his purpose the highest of the high high mountain an eminent that's what that word means high mountain an eminent Zion is destined to be a moral Center and eminence of grace and glory shining to the entire world the kingdom shall have its highest manifestation and is reappearing on the right terrain in Zion and then over the whole earth Psalm 2 and so on in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it and it shall bring forth boughs and bear fruit and be a goodly cedar and under it shall dwell all follow of every wing in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell and Antichrist of course will make this in advance but anyway and all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought it brought down the high tree have exalted the low tree have dried up the green tree and have made the dry tree to flourish I the LORD have spoken and have done it exalted low tree see the lofty top here is in contrast and they become Ezard this whole passage is an echo of Psalm 89 by the way you can put that you notes check it out on your own the s of which is that the coven of David would never be made void or annulled now the establish of this new and universal kingdom by-your-leave a very jehovah or however you want to say it will lead to the world to recognize him as lord of human life in the controller of israel's destiny other kingdoms this term trees is used all through the scripture you may recall that even a pecan desert uses it in this testimony in daniel 4 there are lots of other passages that we're going to deal with I won't go through these now because we'll hear enough of that as we go of all the trees in the field shall know that I the LORD have brought the brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree and so forth I the LORD have spoken and have done it see God speaks of these things even though the future as if they're already done because these are deigned it okay now what's important understand this is going to start showing up increasingly in the Book of Ezekiel he's going to deal with prophecies that were not yet fulfilled when his will return to the land after the captivity they're going to be freed for ultimately from Babylon we're going to go back under Ezra and Nehemiah and build their temple and so on there are prophecies in Ezekiel that go beyond that you want to be alert to that the fulfillment of verses 22 to 24 in chapter 17 awaits God's establishment of Israel in the Millennium under the Messiah Jesus Christ this does not get fulfilled when they return after the Babylonian captivity except in modest ways it's looking at beyond that it's at the millennia time that God's kingdom will rule the world and that's what it's mentioned in Daniel 2 Zechariah 14 and elsewhere but this is also an interesting time to keep focused on the blood curse that's on Jeconiah after David there were all kinds of bad kings in Judah declining and getting worse spiritually idolatry and when you get fine into Jeconiah or Jahi a chin and whatever II want to call him we see the end of the dynasty and by the way his successor Zedekiah was never called a king by Ezekiel all through Ezekiel you'll never hear him use that term of Zedekiah interesting enough jeconiah was not only cursed God pronounced upon him a blood curse and said none of his seed would rule any more in Judah now you may recall back when we studied Genesis 5 we took the first 10 names Adam Seth Enosh Kenan Mahalalel Jared Enoch and so forth there's a hidden message there one of our favorite passages we get in if you translate each of those names man is appointed mortal sorrow but blessed God shall come down teaching that his death whose death God's death shall bring the despairing comfort arrest so you've encapsulated in the first 10 names here a summary of the Christian gospel you may remember that from some of our introductory stuff ok Luke of course takes those in that order and then adds to them another handful to get to where Matthew picks up DS Luke starts from Adam being a Gentile Matthew starts with the first Jew Abraham and from Abraham down to David they're both identical so far so good Luke has the whole thing Matthew takes the Jewish part of it okay we're together so far okay now these last ten are listed for us in the book of time of the judges in Ruth four interestingly enough the last four are encrypted in Genesis 38 in the Torah itself fascinating to realize that you have this encrypted in the books of Moses long before he is okay remember Matthew always has the 14s fourteen generations chapter one fourteen fourteen well when you get to the matthew takes his his genealogy from solomon down to josiah and then another bunch it's interesting that you say gee i count those there's not fourteen there well that's because and therefore they're fourteen over here that's okay there are these three actually have seventeen there's three that don't belong there they're not Matthews but even if you know your genealogy in those those three are there why are they missing they were slain for their idolatry huzza as I had Joe Ashton Amaziah in second Kings nine twelve and fourteen that is dealt with and so they also had violent deaths because God was dealing with idolatry to the third and fourth generations of them that hate him they're blotted out according to the law if you there these three are slain and because in Deuteronomy 29 the Lord will not spare him but when that within the anger Lord is Jesse shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this book she'll lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven so those three are blotted out in matthew's genealogy if you ever wondered why there's you know how you get those 14 but Joe Hiatt chin is the one that we're really dealing with here because he's the end of the Davidic line not only is the end of the Davidic line there's a blood curse touched on him we find it recorded in Jeremiah at 22:30 the Lord said right this man childless a man that shall not prosper in his days for no man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David and ruling anymore in Judah Wow what a spot God is in because the Messiah had to be of the of the line of David and now there's a blood curse on the royal line and how is he going to get around this one always visualized God turning the angel say watch this one okay so Kanaya as this is Jaichand whatever well as we go look at the genealogy after cahaya chen you follow it through in matthew's genealogy you come to Joseph but Joseph was not the font of the biological father Jesus Christ so the blood curse ended there okay well how do we get around this whole thing well Luke when he gets to David doesn't go through the first surviving son of Bathsheba Solomon he goes through the second surviving son of Bathsheba Nathan and you follow that one through and you get to Mary right the version of birth is that is the end run on this whole thing how can that be well because of the daughters of gsella thought every detail in the Torah speaks of Christ there's an exception of the rules of inheritance requested of Moses by the seven dollars the five daughters of Zelophehad in number 27 when you get to Josh of seventeen these five daughters come to Joshua and say you getting ready to divide the land we have a special deal if we marry within the tribe our fathers will adopt our husbands as son in-laws ha okay so the husband is adopted by the father of the bride and that's how Mary's offspring is entitled to the legal claim of David okay - from the from the legal from the Royal line even though she's also of the bloodline this all anticipates the Linda's Christ because Joseph was the son-in-law if he lieth so says if you look at elite Luke 3:23 in the Greek the word is a derivative of no meat so reckoned as by law he's the son-in-law of he like okay so much for chapter 17 in those three fabulous closing verses let's let's see what we can do to chapter 18 the time we have left which basically is the whole different subject now the justification of the verdict that God is just in chapters 5 through 7 15 and 17 it is equally delivered three parables to convict the nation over sin he now is going to turn after 17 with bluntness in the direct message to drive home the fact of Israel's guilt and the message in chapter 18 is very similar to what we talked about in chapter 12 because they both answered the people's proverbs and the issue that comes up is one of the questions we had a little Q&A here about sin by heredity in this chapter God is going to emphasize that these people are going to be judged for their personal sin not the sins of their fathers the concept the people had invoked from both the proverb that they're gonna talk about in a minute and the Torah was that the iniquity of the father is visited upon the children and they were going to use that as an excuse you can say in effect okay you're judging us but you're judging us for the sins of our fathers no comfort there there's plenty of sins of your own what God's going to do here is through his equals to emphasize their personal responsibility they're being judged for their personal sin and he's going to use several examples to do rebut their hereditary arguments and this whole idea is not new he talked about it back in chapter 3 in chapter 14 we've touched upon this it's also dealt in the Torah in chapter 24 of Deuteronomy and in second Kings 14 let's move on here the word of the Lord came unto me again saying what mean ye that ye used this proverb concerning the land of Israel saying here's the proverb the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge that's a proverb they formulated they felt from the Torah okay now the zeeco is not going to give his own opinion this is God's Word he's going to quote here and they had a proverb they use and that proverb was mentioned twice by Jeremiah Jeremiah 31 in those days they shall say no more the father's weakness our grips that children's teeth are he makes allusion to it in in lamentations Jeremiah again says our fathers have sinned they are not and we have borne their iniquities not so they also may have built this passage on a proverb out of the art a passage out of the Exodus remember there thou shall not bow down thyself to them nor serve them speak by dolla tree visiting the iniquity of the father's upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and that's widely misunderstood the problem is that the proverb they drew from that verse is incorrect this is the danger of lifting out a single verse of scripture without considering its context it's a false proverb the father's ate the grapes the children paid the penalty that's true to a certain extent but God judges the individual father and son according to his conduct a father may indulge in a sin the effects of may pass down but the guilt everyone / guilt is adequate individually this is and by the way this is not a judgment for eternal life but a judgment on this life according to the man that Bay's or disobeys him they're trying to dodge the blame you know it's a universal trait of all of us to try to lay off the blame on somebody else and and in so doing try to attack or indict or arraign the justice of God just as modern Jews attribute the dispersion not to their own sins but to those of their forefathers be careful with that one be careful with that one what Jesus is waiting for in Hosea 5:15 I will return to my place God says in order to that's Hosea 5:15 if I'm returned to my place up mister that was mean he left it I return until they acknowledge their offense in their affliction they will seek me earnestly no it's the present sins that they're being judged for now if they're being punished for crimes of manasseh that's what they felt see they feel that they're in captivity under Nebuchadnezzar because of the sins of that bad king a couple of Kings ago called Manasseh and that was the sins of the fathers and why should they struggle if we're being punished for their sins why should we struggle that's a way of trying to duck their own personal guilt here what chance does an individual in the face of a fate inherited from the past that makes sense why should anyone want to be godly in such an ungodly world is there any alternative to bleak to spare here well let's see what he says as I live saith the Lord God ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel the word live here or live as it occurs 13 times in this chapter the word die 14 times to live or die is going to be a dot over a dozen times in this chapter alone now we have life and death presented here but we're not talking eternal life or eternal death we're talking about something far more immediate and practical here behold all souls are mine and as the soul of the father so also the soul of the son is mine the soul that sinneth it shall die father or son you speak of the way he judges individuals in this life we need to look at this whole chapter and from this point of view every man shall be put to death for his own sin the father shall not be put to death with the children neither shall the children be put to death for the father's every man should be put there for his own sin that's a quote out of Deuteronomy 24:16 the soul that sinneth it shall die and both why live and die are used both literal and in eschatological census here to live is an enter it is to enter in that perfect kingdom of the Lord which is about to come chapters 37 to the end are gonna deal with all of that to die as they have no share in it Ezekiel like every other Testament writers sees the kingdom as an earthly one and it is an earthly Kingdom by the way you will see that its kingdom from heaven on the earth but we're getting it ourselves we're gonna see three generations as an example here before this chapter is over we're going to be about three generations the father a son and a grandson no he's he's giving this example idiomatically to make a rhetorical point but it's possible that he actually had three kings in mind the just grandfather we're talking about may be alluding to Hezekiah good guy his son got his son was Manasseh the worst of the bunch but from border to border tried to white by Judaism and his son once removed is Josiah Calma grandson so here's a good guy a bad guy and a good guy and we're going to deal with them as an example here if a man be just and do that which is lawful and right ie this is the good guy Hezekiah in in this mind ethic and if not eaten upon the mountains neither lifted up his eyes to the eye of the house of Israel neither hath defiled his neighbor's wife neither have come near a monstrous woman eat upon the mountains of course eating refers to feasts connected with sacrifices and upon the mountains is it refers to the idol-worshipping on the high places we've talked about that before and defiling his neighbor's wife and coming there those are all violations of the Torah respecting marriage rights as an ex is is all through the Torah as is that laws respect is respecting unclean women and hath not oppressed any but has restored to the debtor has pledged having spoiled none by violence hath given his bread to the hungry and have covered the nakedness are all a you know this is a good guy and he's doing all the right things here restoring the debtors pledge distributing food these are all good things this is a good guy we're dealing with he that hath not given forth unto usury or and which is refer Britain to take interest among themselves they can only charge interest to foreigners and so uh but it need not be given for thievery neither have you taken any increase that have to withdraw on his hand from iniquity have executed the true judgment between man and woman that what he's he's an exemplary character have walked in my statutes have kept my judgments to deal truly he is just he shall surely live saith the Lord God so so he's talk about this life of course not eternal life here he's talking about blessing him in this life this is the blessing of the Old Testament so the first character is the what I'm gonna call the just grandfather okay now he's as you can tell from the tone here he's a good guy he's a just but he's justified his son is going to turn out to be ungodly a robber a murderer a lot of other horrible things and then his grandson was going to be just the point that's put silence to idea that you're being punished for your father's sins the ideas get trying to track here now if this bad guy beget a son that is a robber I mean it was a good the just grandfather begets a bad guy sometimes robber shed her blood do with the like to any one of these things and all those things he lists here are in verses six to nine we just went through this is the ungodly son and I suspect he had an amassing in mind here and doeth not any of these duties but I feet upon the mountains and defile his neighbor's wife under the press the poor and the needy and spoiled by violence that's not restored the pledge that's lifted up his eyes to idols have committed abomination given forth usury not taken increase shall he live in other words it the same list but he's done he's done all these things he shall not live he hath done all these abominations he shall surely die his blood shall be upon him this is the bad son of the good guy right and he shall not live a good father cannot pile up merit for his son no matter how good Hezekiah was doesn't count from an answer he blew it got it okay so this is confirming the fallacy of the people's proverb and the truth of God's principle from verses to Thor for here and lo if he this bad guy begets a son that see if all his father's sins which he hath done and consider them doeth not such like that if not eaten upon the mountains neither lifted up his heads of the idols of the house of Israel death not defiled his neighbor's wife this is the grandson I'm gonna sue much Josiah in his mind neither hath oppressed any and hath not withholding the pledge neither has spoiled my any violence have given his bread to the hungry and have covered the naked with a garment he has taken off his hand from the poor he hath not received usury or intra nor increase I've executed my judgments hath walked in my statutes he shall not die for the iniquity of his fathers he shall surely live and as for his father because he cruelly oppressed spoiled his brother by violence and did that which is not good among his people though even he shall die in his iniquity he's back to the father here yet you say why does not the son bear the iniquity of father when the son hath done that which is lawful and right and have kept all my statutes and I've done them he shall surely live at the point good guy bad guy good guy they're each going to get what they deserve independent of the lineage here so you know it good summary of it here it would seem a consolation of them to think that a son might suffer for his father's misdeeds why is that a consolation because it could soothe their self-love in regards to themselves as innocent sufferers for the guilt of others and it would justify them in their present course of life which they did not choose to abandon for a better see it's a fatalistic approach as an excuse reminder to Flip Wilson the devil made me do it right verse 20 the soul that sinneth it shall die the son shall not bear the iniquity of father neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him and we we have this twice in this chapter both verse 20 and also back in verse 4 and open/close this thing and neither the father and the son will be responsible the other's iniquity each person is individually responsible to God but if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he have committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live and shall not die he is speaking now here about God's judgment being equitable person to person a man does not inherit what his fathers have done so the individual through through repentance can be emancipated from his own past and this is a call to repentance all his transgressions that he's committed to they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord God and not that he should return from his ways and live to call to repentance the whole Bible from cover to cover is a call to repentance have I any pleasure in the wicked should I of course not this is perhaps by some commentators the most precious word in the whole book of Israel Ezekiel it's called mercy God's mercy he's not willing that any perish but he can't overcome your lack of repentance and when the righteous turned away from his righteousness and commit iniquity and do it according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth shall he live all his righteousness that he have done shall not be mentioned in his press best that he hath trespassed and his sin that he has sinned in them shall he died if men perish it would because they will not come to the Lord for salvation it's not that the Lord is not willing to save them his condition is that you can be saved but as you cut the prices you got to repent so they travel not just merely injustice but but mercy what further hope can there be for them even when even mercy is against them Hebrews 10 and we from hearing into the whole eternal security thing that many people have tried to use verse 24 as a teaching a Christian can lose his righteous standing nor would not talk about eternal life here we're talking about life on this earth and in the we need to understand that in support of the security believe it should be observed that these passages equal do not teach eternal loss of the same person because the word righteous here refers to ceremonial righteousness not the righteousness which is of God by faith that's what Philippians 3 is all about and so on and so the punishment that's threatened here is physical death not eternal death in any case these texts in Ezekiel should be considered in the light of such New Testament affirmations as John 10 we usually use that 2829 Romans 5 8 and 9 Philippians 1 and so on which so clearly teach the eternal security of the believer let's move on yet you say the way of the Lord is not equal here now house of Israel is not my way equal are not your ways unequal when a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and dieth in them for his iniquity that he has done shall he die speaking of earthly life not eternal death there and so in other words adjusted to a standard here this is the term action in the Hebrews from my Mercantile Exchange anyway again when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed and do with that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive but because he considereth turned away from all his transgressions that he have committed he shall surely live and shall not die yet say if the house of Israel the way of the Lord is not equal philosophers are not my ways equal are not your ways unequal therefore I will judge you out of Israel everyone according to his ways saith the Lord God repent turn your selves from transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruin so repent turn yourselves there's a play on words here in the Hebrew it's really like journey and return it's a it's a play on words same thoughts very clear from all your transgressions he's not saying about being perfect but you should aim and not be willful you shouldn't be habitually or willfully on terms with any sin same thing that John says in first John 369 cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die o house of Israel for I have no pleasure in the death of him that diet saith the Lord God wherefore turn yourselves and live ye a new heart a new spirit you know it's interesting consistently through the Bible you don't cure a heart it's incurable a wicked he gives you a new one created me a clean heart O God David prays only God alone can make us a new heart this whole thing by the way is a total rebuttal on psychology you know that everyone stands alone you can't blame it on his environment or upbringing well I came from a bad broken family hi the teaching of chapter answers the so called new psychology today which argues that are the reason the person is irresponsible is because his mother didn't treat him right but neglected him and didn't love them really you're a sinner because you're a sinner yourself so you're not a sinner because you steal a whole you know you're not a horse thief because you're still horse you stole horse because you're a horse thief every individual stand before God and he won't be able to blame his parents at that time your parents are no defense when you stand before the judgment seat now his enemies are clear that the Israelite will be judged in this life on the basis of the life he lived whether he was a believer or not really yeah freedom versus responsibility how to harmonize personal responsibility of the individual and there's moral freedom with God with God's justice and treatment of every individual is a difficult problem this is nothing like deal here that's what the book of Job tries to deal with and even there you don't get a solution you only get a satisfaction of a fresh vision of odd-job 42 and the course is incredible Declaration of the resurrection in job 19 and some 43 struggles with this even Socrates understood the dilemma he's recorded in 400 BC says it may be the deity can forgive sin forgive sins but I don't see how how's the only way idea deity can forgive sins only through the sacrifice of the Savior interestingly enough well we've whipped through this rather quickly the next chapter we're going to return to the parables of history somewhat in the fashion of chapter 17 so watch it for next time study chapters 19 20 and 21 really in 1920 but we might make it a 21 and 4 perspective you might also like to read this week the chapter in the Bible that Nebuchadnezzar wrote he wrote it and posted it throughout the entire world I visualized guys on horseback throughout the realm nailing it to trees Nebuchadnezzar to all you guys let me tell you my story chapter 4 Daniel we're hearing so much about Nebuchadnezzar let's get out of it I personally suspect that when I get to heaven Nebuchadnezzar will be there thanks to his relationship with Daniel and all that let's stand for closing word of Prayer

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Length: 61min 13sec (3673 seconds)

Published: Sat May 02 2020