Ezekiel is a greater Book of Scripture than I ever realized!

And “blocks” of it are absolutely sublime!

No greater Literature exists describing the Glory of God, when compared to Ezekiel’s first chapter!

Or perhaps none more graphic, than that great 16th chapter, the “story” of God’s dealings with Israel. What divinely inspired history!

I am even enjoying our current focus, Ezekiel chapters 26-28, where precise detail is given regarding the “fall” of the wicked, vast Phoenician empire. (Which is placed within an even wider “unit” of the Book, sermons against the Gentile Nations of the world. Egypt being next, in chapter 29.)

But today (and again in the next lesson) Ezekiel is amazing, proving itself God-written, God-breathed!

Yet, in a way, it is more of the same!

Concerning Phoenicia I mean.

Concerning Tyre.

Judgment!

Except now we seem to be centering on a “specific” ruler of that land.

Watch chapter 28’s first ten verses …

Beginning with verse one … “The word of the LORD came again unto me (Ezekiel), saying, Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD.” To the leader (“prince”) of Tyre, whom history tells us may have been a man named “Ethbaal III.” (The “baal” already suggests he is a worshipper of the devil!)

Note that Ezekiel speaks when God comes “unto” him. The Hebrew preposition is “le,” grammatically denoting “direction.” God and Ezekiel, communing as it were “Face-to-face!”

What’s the Message?

Read more with me. “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee. With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures. By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches. Verses 2-5, like an “indictment!”

God, knowing the man’s heart, is aware than he blasphemously thinks “he is God!” Or at least “a God!”

That he sits on the Throne of the Almighty! “I sit in the seat of God.” Apparently his people, being maritime sailors (and good ones at that) … believed God ruled the “seas” particularly! “I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas!”

Sheer paganism!

Then God “hits” him directly, rebukes him … “Yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God!”

But there’s more! Look at this Prince’s utter conceit … believing himself wiser than (even) Daniel! Yes, holy Daniel, who personally knows the God Who is “the Revealer of secrets!” (Daniel 2:47) Yes, our Text is repeating (from God’s Perspective) the Prince’s thoughts … “Thou art wiser than Daniel; and there is no secret that they can hide from thee.”

Wow!

This man has “all” the answers!

Next God gives a financial report on Ethbaal III’s “holdings.” Or whomever this powerful Prince was at that time. “With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures. By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick (“rekullah” = merchandise) hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches.”

Sounds like too much love of money!

Sounds also like God’s evaluation of the lukewarm Church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:17. “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.”

Worshippers of material things!

What’s God going to do?

We don’t have to wait long to learn …

Immediately in verses 6-10 God announces the doom of this tyrant! “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit (grave), and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.”

Wow!

Judgment on PRIDE!

The sin which (I believe) God HATES most of all!

Because it is an affront to the Essence of God Himself!

And should that be the end of the chapter (which it isn’t) … the lesson is clear. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:7

Or … “Ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23

Or … “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18

But chapter 28 segues (in verses 11-19) from a human prince to a … superhuman King! I think we have upcoming here a paragraph about the devil himself!

But that’s our next Lesson, isn’t it?

Today … God, the Judge!

Psalm 75:7 comes to mind. “But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.”

Then John 5:26-27 … “For as the FATHER hath life in himself; so hath he given to the SON to have life in himself; and HATH GIVEN HIM AUTHORITY TO EXECUTE JUDGMENT ALSO, because he is the Son of man.”

Will I ever quit writing this morning?

One more little (but sobering) verse … “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 1st Corinthians 10:12

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

That’s what the scholars call Ezekiel chapter 27 anyway, a “funeral dirge.”

It describes the end of the glory and prestige and prosperity so long enjoyed the little nation of Philistia, by its wealthy cities, Tyre specifically. (Another illustration of “the wages of sin!”)

But this “song” is almost written like “satire.” Judah herself is NOT sad about the demise of Tyre, in fact she “mocks” the downfall of such an enemy! But the Holy Spirit nonetheless (using this type literature, lamentation) inserts great Truth into these 36 verses!

The chapter’s first 25 verses “sing” the praises of Tyre (Tyus) in  no uncertain terms! If fact her influence, her commercial impact, as an ocean-going people was phenomenal!

One needs a geography handbook to decipher these verses! One reference Bible says there are over 35 geographical locations (cities, nations or regions) recorded here!

“The word of the LORD came again unto me (Ezekiel), saying, ² Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus; ³ And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea (the Mediterranean), which art a merchant ($$$) of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, THOU HAST SAID, I AM OF PERFECT BEAUTY (pride). ⁴ Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. ⁵ They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir (snow mountain, maybe Herman): they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. ⁶ Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim (Cyprus). ⁷ Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah (a city in Cyprus) was that which covered thee. ⁸ The inhabitants of Zidon (a harbor city 25 miles north of Tyre)and Arvad (an island city in the sea) were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots (literally, rope handlers). ⁹ The ancients of Gebal (Byblos, 25 miles north of Beirut) and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. ¹⁰ They of Persia and of Lud (central Turkey) and of Phut (Lybia) were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness. ¹¹ The men of Arvad (an island city in the sea) with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims (another coastal town) were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect. ¹² Tarshish (Spain) was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. ¹³ Javan (Greece), Tubal (Asia Minor), and Meshech (Asia Minor, but an eventual Russian ally), they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. ¹⁴ They of the house of Togarmah (Armenia) traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules. ¹⁵ The men of Dedan (Rhodes) were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. ¹⁶ Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. ¹⁷ Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith (in Ammon), and Pannag (not a place, a edible food), and honey, and oil, and balm. ¹⁸ Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon (a town north of Damascus), and white wool. ¹⁹ Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market. ²⁰ Dedan (in Asia Minor) was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. ²¹ Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar (nomadic tribes), they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants. ²² The merchants of Sheba (in Arabia) and Raamah (southern Arabia), they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. ²³ Haran (a city in eastern Turkey), and Canneh (location unknown), and Eden (in Mesopotamia), the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad (likely Mesopotamia also), were thy merchants. ²⁴ These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise. ²⁵ The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.”

Wow!

Talk about trading partners, pacts, business prospering!

But what of all this?

Because of sin … God is bringing her down!

All that affluence!

Read with me: “Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: THE EAST WIND HATH BROKEN THEE (God using weather) in the midst of the seas. ²⁷ Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, SHALL FALL into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.”

Now the mourning, sighing over her great fall … ” ²⁸The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots. ²⁹ And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land; ³⁰ And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes: ³¹ And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing. ³² And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, WHAT CITY IS LIKE TYUS, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea? ³³ When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise. ³⁴ In the time when thou shalt BE BROKEN by the seas in the depths of the waters thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall. ³⁵ All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance. ³⁶ The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.” The chapter’s last paragraph, verses 28-36.

Amazing!

This whole thirty-six verse compass reinforces a central fact … “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Psalm 9:17

I am startled!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I wish I could have been more exact in identifying some of these locations. But, truth be told, there is not much agreement among the “experts” regarding lots of these. But I do believe this is one of the Bible’s most “geographical” chapters!

Question is, “WHY?”

As we shall see tomorrow, Lord willing, Tyre (or her Prince anyway) is a “symbol” or “emblem” or “type” of the Devil himself, of Satan! Remember back in verse 3 where she (the city) claimed for herself … “I AM OF PERFECT BEAUTY” … the very essence of PRIDE?

I suspect Tyre’s fall is described in such fullness … because the fall of her “Model,” her “Idol,” her “Master” (again, the Devil) was that great! And furthermore, Satan’s (future) destruction will be even greater!

Just an idea!

Guess what sin God hates most? It’s at the “top” of His List! “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A PROUD LOOK!” Proverbs 6:16-17

Wow!

 

In Ezekiel chapter 26 … God preaches “against” the heathen city of Tyre, capital of the Kingdom of the Philistines. These people were the maritime “sailors” of the ancient world. This small nation (the area of Lebanon today) was, of course, located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

In essence, here are God’s Words: “Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste: therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.” Ezekiel 26:2-3

Glad at Israel’s downfall … “Aha, she is broken!”

Since she is “laid waste,” I (Tyre) shall be replenished!  (Her loss is my gain!)

Such hatred for the Jews rises to the level (in God’s Eyes) of a punishable crime, a sin indeed!

Therefore, God is righteously angry: “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; BEHOLD, I AM AGAINST THEE, O TYRUS, and will cause many nations to come up against thee.”

Now, watch the illustration God uses, “I will cause many nations to come up against thee, AS THE SEA CAUSETH HIS WAVES TO COME UP. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers.” Verse 4, like a tsunami, a tidal wave! Or some potently violent storm! How appropriate a “word picture” for such a seafaring society!

And God kept His Word, too.

Our chapter’s next paragraph describes (in advance) the King of Babylon’s “attack” against Tyre! “For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.” Verse 7, the aggressor is named!

And what Ezekiel here wrote as prophecy … is now history!

Truthfully … “one of the most precise descriptions of enemy attack in all ancient literature!”

^“He (Nebuchadnezzar) shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water. And I (God) will cause the noise of thy songs (Phoenicia being well known for her music) to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. And I will make thee like the top of a rock (a bare rock): thou shalt be a place to spread (fishing) nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.” Verses 7-14, a precise Text, isn’t it?

And the great fall of Tyre had a rippling effect across the word, too. Financially, materially,

That’s what the last paragraph of Ezekiel 26 depicts for us. In part: “Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee.” What mourning, Tyre’s “allies” in shock!

Now a funeral dirge, public lamentation: “And they (neighboring nations, city-states) shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou (Tyre) destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt (dwell in) it (the whole earth)!”  Verse 17, the reality of God’s judgment!

“Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure. For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee” Verses 18-19, sounds partly like the world mourning when Babylon falls, in Revelation chapters 17 and 18!

“When I (God still talking) shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit (the grave at least, but perhaps Hell itself), with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited … and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD.” Verses 20-21

Sure sounds like God loves his people, the Jews!

And will defend their honor!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

If the chapter seems to end abruptly … there’s more to come. In fact, Ezekiel chapters 27 and 28 both continue the theme of God’s judgment on these people of Tyre.

 

Four Nations, all of whom hate Israel!

Yes, Nations, though they are small. (Think of Cuba, a nation? Yet an “honored” member of the perverted organization called the “United Nations!”)

Ezekiel chapter 25 … begins a section of the Book that pronounces judgment upon a series of nations or leaders who also have flagrantly sinned against God. And who have wished harm to God’s people. Who have lifted hands against Israel!

Here’s an overview of our chapter for today. Judgment on Ammon, verses 1-7. Judgment on Moab, verses 8-11. Judgment on Edom, verses 12-14. And finally judgment on Philistia, verses 15-17.

The first three of these nations are “distantly” related to the Jews. The Ammonites and Moabites through Lot’s sinful relationship with his daughters! Then the Edomites through Esau, the unbelieving son of Isaac and Rebekah.

I see a “pattern” in each of these four pronouncements of judgment. Two words, “because” (followed by a statement of sins, iniquities, wrongdoings) and “therefore” (followed by God’s reaction to those sins) clearly permeate these cycles.

Seems God does “keep a record” of wrongdoing! Such “books” will (again) be opened at the Great White Throne Judgment some day, Revelation 20:10. “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” These are the “wicked” dead … “saved” folks having already been evaluated and rewarded at the Judgment Seat of Christ!

Let me show you what I mean, beginning with verses 1-7, the Ammonites.

“The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, ² Son of man (Ezekiel), set thy face against the Ammonites (immediately east of Israel, present day Jordan), and prophesy against them; ³ And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; BECAUSE thou saidst, AHA (a term of delight, rejoicing in Judah’s fall), against my sanctuary (the Jewish Temple), when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity; ⁴ behold, THEREFORE I will deliver thee to the men of the east (foreign enemies) for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk. ⁵ And I will make Rabbah (Ammon’s capital city) a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. ⁶ For thus saith the Lord GOD; BECAUSE thou hast clapped thine hands (in glee), and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite (hatred) against the land of Israel; ⁷ Behold, THEREFORE I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.”

Wow, three times … “therefore!”

Jew hatred, judged!

Next comes Moab, same paradigm, verses 8-11.

“ ⁸Thus saith the Lord GOD; BECAUSE that Moab (land of Lot’s incestuous children, immediately south of Ammon) and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto (no better than) all the heathen (thus demeaning Judah); ⁹ THEREFORE, behold, I will open the side (flank) of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory (best) of the country, Bethjeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim (three of her prized cities, now open to attack), ¹⁰ unto the men of the east (wild Bedouin tribes) with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations (extinction). ¹¹ And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the LORD.”

Sure enough, there is no longer any Nation called Ammon!

Wow!

Want to hear about Edom?

“¹²Thus saith the Lord GOD; BECAUSE that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance (terrorism, vandalism), and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; ¹³ THEREFORE thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off (destroy) man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman (her capital); and they of Dedan (another of her metropolitan areas) shall fall by the sword (enemy attack). ¹⁴ And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.” Verses 12-14, with God still calling Judah “My people!”

Lastly, still in this same orderly cadence, the Philistines:

“¹⁵Thus saith the Lord GOD; BECAUSE the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it (Judah) for the old hatred; ¹⁶ THEREFORE thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon (against) the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims (identical to the Philistines), and destroy the remnant of the sea coast (their homeland). ¹⁷ And I (God) will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.” Verses 15-17, full of wrath!

What a chapter!

And really, in an ironic way, I suspect an encouragement to Judah!

Genesis 12:1-3 was still then in effect, fifteen centuries after Abraham first heard the promise! In fact, it still is today! “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation (the Jews), and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will BLESS them that bless thee, and CURSE him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Perhaps this last part of chapter 24 is the most “touching” part of the whole Book, particularly as it concerns Ezekiel’s personal life. That’s an opinion, of course, and you must decide for yourself.

At any rate, the Prophet’s Wife dies in this chapter!

Remember when Sarai, Abraham’s Wife, died? (Genesis 23:2 … “And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. Then 17 more verses follow, giving details of her burial!)

But Ezekiel knew his Wife would die, in advance! Suddenly, with a major stroke, and clearly unexpectedly as far as her general health was concerned!

Ezekiel 24:15-17 … “Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, I take away from thee THE DESIRE OF THINE EYES (HIS WIFE) with a stroke.”

Cause of death?

A “stroke,” in Hebrew “maggephah.” Translated elsewhere in the Bible “plague” 22 times! Then “slaughter” 3 more times! It literally means “to smite” someone, and 5 times its root word is rendered “to put to the worse!”

God “took away” the man’s Wife! “Laqach” means “to fetch, seize, snatch,” amazing!

Then God (unusually so) forbids Ezekiel to mourn the death! “Yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead.”

What then did Ezekiel do?

In one of the greatest acts of absolute obedience recorded in Scripture, he did exactly what God asked! “So I spake (preached, taught) unto the people in the morning: and at even (sunset, night) my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded (no crying, wailing).” Verse 18, Wow!

WHY would God ask this of Ezekiel?

He is using the man as a “sign” to the people of Judah. Read it: “And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us WHAT these things are to us, THAT THOU DOEST SO? Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying …” Thus I can assuredly proclaim: A preacher not only “says” things for God via a pulpit … but also through the life he lives!

God Himself was (just like Ezekiel already did) about to “bury” the beautiful “Temple” in Jerusalem, to demolish and burn it. That structure which was the “desire of the eyes” of thousands upon thousands of Jews!  “Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will PROFANE MY SANCTUARY, the excellency of your strength, THE DESIRE OF YOUR EYES, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.”

See the parallel, verse 21 above?

The loss of something precious?

Something beautiful?

With widespread death accompanying the tragedy, in Jerusalem’s case! (Not just one Wife, but many!)

And God did not mourn!

Sin is so hated by God that He must judge it, whatever the cost!

Neither would the citizens of Jerusalem mourn all those deaths! They themselves would be under enemy attack, fleeing from the fierce Babylonian army!

God states plainly … “Thus Ezekiel is unto you a SIGN: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.”

That’s the story of the death of the Prophet’s Wife, and God’s rationale behind the tragic event.

And all this happens … “to the glory of God!”  (“And when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.”)

Amazing!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Some good news now … Ezekiel has been reunited with his Wife! Both are in heaven today, because of the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

Hallelujah!

I need some “input” on today’s unusual Lesson! Text me: 770-844-7627.

This too, God forbade Ezekiel any “public mourning” for his Wife, that’s clear. But I do not see where he was banned from weeping “in his heart!” In his “home!” Or am I just trying to “soften” the command?