Let's turn now in our Bibles to Ezekiel,
chapter 11.
Now, Ezekiel is in Babylon during the time
of these prophecies.
But the Spirit of God transports him back
to Jerusalem.
And there he sees things that are transpiring
in Jerusalem.
Now, as a background, there are some Jewish
zealots who are still in Jerusalem, who have
rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, and they are thinking that
they are going to be successful in their
rebellion.
There are false prophets in Jerusalem that are
encouraging the people in their rebellion, telling them
that they are going to push Nebuchadnezzar right
out of the picture.
Jeremiah is in Jerusalem, saying to the people,
don't listen to the false prophets, they are
prophesying to you lies in the name of
the Lord.
You'd be much better off to surrender to
the Babylonians, because if you try to resist,
you will be slain by the sword and
the pestilence and the famine.
So, surrender to Nebuchadnezzar.
But Jeremiah is accused of treason and is
imprisoned by Zedekiah the king.
But they have sent messengers, the false prophets,
to those in Babylon, saying, hang loose.
It won't be long, we'll defeat the Babylonians
and you're going to be allowed to come
back to Jerusalem.
You'll be allowed to dwell in Jerusalem, so
don't build houses, just hang loose.
Deliverance is coming soon.
But Ezekiel is there in Babylon, saying, settle
down, build houses.
It's going to be a long time before
there is any return back to Jerusalem.
So, just realize that those that are in
Jerusalem are going to be destroyed, and the
false prophets with them.
So, you have a confusing situation, in that
you have false prophets that are encouraging a
soon victory over the Babylonian army, you have
the true prophets of God, Ezekiel and Jeremiah,
that are speaking God's truth and saying, no,
we are not going to conquer over Babylon,
that God is judging the nation Israel for
their sins, because they've turned against God, and
it's going to be a long period of
judgment, you're going to be in Babylon, as
Jeremiah said, for 70 years, so make the
best of it.
Settle down, make the best of it there,
because you're not coming back in a hurry.
Now, Ezekiel is in Babylon, but there in
Babylon, occasionally he gets carried by the Spirit
back to Jerusalem, where he beholds the things
that are happening in Jerusalem, and he relates
them to the people there in Babylon.
And so, in chapter 11, we have another
one of these instances, where the Spirit lifted
me up and brought me unto the east
gate of the Lord's house, which looks eastward.
And behold, at the door of the gate
there were 25 men, among whom I saw
Jazaniah, the son of Ezra.
Now, this is not the Jazaniah among the
25 men that he had seen earlier in
a vision.
That was the son of Shalom, I think
it was.
But this is a different Jazaniah, probably a
popular name, I don't know why.
And Pelletiah, the son of Benaiah.
And they were the princes of the people.
Then said he unto me, Son of man,
these are the men that devise mischief, and
they are giving wicked counsel to the city.
They are saying to them, look, it isn't
near.
Let us build houses.
This city is the cauldron and we be
the flesh.
The destruction isn't near.
The city is like a cauldron in which
we are protected from the fire.
Babylon's fires may burn, but they won't burn
us, because the city is the cauldron and
we are like the flesh.
It's going to be a long time before
the heat will ever get to us.
So just go ahead and build your houses
and settle down, because we are protected by
this city from Babylon.
Therefore, prophesy against them.
Prophesy, O son of man.
And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon
me, and said unto me, Speak.
Thus saith the Lord.
Thus have ye said, O house of Israel,
for I know the things that come into
your mind, every one of them.
Notice that.
God says, I know the things that are
coming into your mind, everything.
That's sort of a heavy thought, isn't it?
I, the Lord, He said, do search the
hearts.
God knows every thought that comes into your
mind.
Nothing is hid from Him with whom we
have to deal.
Actually, the Bible says, all things are naked
and open before Him.
I know everything that comes into your minds.
You have multiplied your slain in the city,
and you have filled the streets thereof with
slain.
That is by their false counsel.
They have encouraged the people to rebel, but
all it's going to do is multiply the
number of people that will be killed.
As Jeremiah was saying to them, Surrender and
you can save your lives.
They will be merciful to you if you
surrender.
You know, they'll take you to Babylon, give
you a nice place to live and all.
But surrender to them, don't resist.
But these men, by their false prophecies, encouraging
them to resist, were only multiplying the number
of people that were to be killed.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, your slain,
whom ye have laid in the midst of
it, they are the flesh, and this city
is the cauldron, but I will bring you
forth out of the midst of it.
So the people that have already died, they're
the only ones that are going to be
protected from the cauldron.
I mean, from the fire of Babylon.
They are the flesh.
They're the ones that will be protected, but
you are going to be carried away captive.
You're going to be led out of this
city.
You have feared the sword and I will
bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord
God.
I will bring you out of the midst
thereof and deliver you into the hands of
strangers and will execute judgments among you.
Ye shall fall by the sword.
I will judge you in the border of
Israel and ye shall know that I am
the Lord.
Interesting prophecy.
I shall judge you in the border of
Israel.
Now, when the Babylonian army came against Jerusalem
and conquered it, the king Nebuchadnezzar remained in
the city of Riblah, which is in the
border of Israel.
And they brought them to Nebuchadnezzar in Riblah,
where he judged them.
Zedekiah, you remember, was captured and brought to
Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah and there Nebuchadnezzar killed his
sons right before his eyes and then put
his eyes out and he took him captive
onto Babylon.
And so a very fascinating prophecy of Ezekiel,
who is over in Babylon, really not knowing
what's going on except by the Spirit of
God, as he is taken back and sees
these things and he predicts the fact that
they will be judged in the borders of
Israel, which indeed they were.
And this city shall not be your cauldron.
It will not be a protection to you.
It's not going to save you from the
Babylonian fire.
Neither shall ye be the flesh in the
midst thereof.
But I will judge you in the border
of Israel.
Again, repeated.
And thus they were.
And ye shall know that I am the
Lord, for ye have not walked in My
statutes.
God's indictment against them now.
You've not walked in My statutes.
Neither have you executed My judgments, but have
done after the manners of the heathen round
about you.
So their failure was to not walk in
the ways of the Lord, but to follow
the patterns of the heathen society around them.
Or to succumb to the mores.
Now there is strong pressure upon us as
Christians to forsake the statutes of God and
to walk according to the popular mores of
our society.
There's tremendous pressure in our society today to
accept things that God has condemned.
And this pressure of the society is such
that if you dare to condemn those things
that God has condemned, then you're looked upon
as some kind of a religious nut.
A prude.
A backwards individual.
Don't you realize that times have changed?
We're not living back in the Victorian age
any longer.
This isn't a Puritan society.
And this tremendous pressure to do what?
Exactly what the children of Israel did that
brought their destruction.
Forsake the commandments, the statutes, the judgments of
God and start living like the people around
you.
But we dare not.
For as sure as God did judge the
nation Israel, so will he judge us if
we do the same things.
Now it came to pass when I was
prophesying that this fellow Pelitia, the son of
Benaiah, died.
So while he was there prophesying to them,
this guy fell over dead.
That's powerful preaching.
Then I fell on my face.
Now it wasn't something that Ezekiel was expecting
because it shocked him.
I fell on my face and I cried
with a loud voice and said, Oh Lord
God, wilt thou make a full end of
the remnant of Israel?
Are you going to wipe them all out,
Lord?
And again the word of the Lord came
unto me saying, Son of man, your brothers,
even your brothers, the men of your own
family, and all of the house of Israel
wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of
Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the
Lord.
Unto us is this land given for a
possession.
They're saying that this land is ours.
We're not going to be defeated.
We're not going to fall.
Therefore say thus, saith the Lord God, Although
I have cast them far off among the
heathen, and although I have scattered them among
the countries, yet will I be to them
as a little sanctuary in the countries where
they shall come.
God said, I will watch over them in
the lands where they've been driven.
I will be to them a little sanctuary
there.
God will preserve his people, even though they've
been driven throughout the world.
Now, that of course again is another amazing
prophecy.
Because though the Jews have been hated, scorned,
discriminated against, perhaps more fiercely than any other
nationality.
Yet, in spite of two thousand years without
a homeland, they have continued to exist as
a race of people.
Nothing short of a divine miracle.
There has been no other national ethnic group
in the history of man that has been
able to remain as a national identity for
more than five generations without a homeland.
If they don't have a nation that they
can say, that's our homeland.
They have lost their national ethnic identity in
five generations.
That is why you never meet an Ammonite,
a Hittite, a Perizzite, or any of these
other people that were once great and powerful
nations.
Because without a national homeland, they've lost their
national ethnic identity.
And yet the Jew remain because God made
them a little sanctuary.
God was watching over to preserve them, and
they remained an ethnic group, a national identity
for more than two thousand years after having
been driven from their homeland.
In the first captivity of Nebuchadnezzar.
Of course, they went back for a period
of time.
But then since 70 A.D. they've been
driven out of the land and still to
the present day, whether they be in China,
whether they be in Germany, whether they be
in Russia, whether they be in Yemen, or
Africa, or the United States, the Jew has
been able to maintain his national identity because
God has made them a sanctuary.
And you can only explain it by that
fact.
Because no other nation, no other ethnic group
has been able to maintain a identity.
So, the Lord promises to be a little
sanctuary in all of the lands where they've
been scattered.
Therefore, say, Thus saith the Lord God, I
will even gather you from the people and
assemble you out of the countries where you
have been scattered, and I will give you
the land of Israel.
Now, this is not referring to the regathering
after the Babylonian captivity, but is more of
a reference to the present regathering.
And they shall come thither, and they shall
take away all the detestable things thereof and
all of the abominations thereof from thence.
And I will give them one heart, and
I will put a new spirit within you.
Now, that has not yet been fulfilled.
God is gathering them back in the land,
but this new spirit that God has promised
has not yet been fulfilled.
It will take place when God defeats Russia's
invasion of Israel.
And we'll get to that as we move
on in Ezekiel 39.
The last verse of 39, God declares that
in the day in which He is sanctified
before the nations of the earth, He will
again put His spirit upon the nation of
Israel.
So, this prophecy is relating to chapter 39
and to a day that is yet future
when God manifests Himself unto these people in
such a dramatic way, and He puts His
spirit upon them again.
I will give them one heart, I will
put a new spirit within you, and I
will take the stony heart out of their
flesh and will give them a heart of
flesh.
Now, Paul the Apostle tells us in the
New Testament that blindness has happened to Israel
in part until the fullness of the Gentiles
be come in.
God's spirit in the present time is working
primarily among the Gentile nations.
Among you who have been called of God.
Actually, among all men.
Not that the Jews are excluded because the
Gospel is open to all men, but there
seems to be a national blindness on these
people in regards to Jesus Christ.
And it is interesting, I have talked to
some of them who are extremely knowledgeable of
the Scriptures.
And you wonder when they know the Scriptures
so well, why is it that they do
not see that Jesus was indeed the promised
Messiah?
You wonder how they can just explain away
those prophecies.
Daniel chapter 9, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Zechariah
chapters 11 through 12 and on.
You wonder how can they not see the
truth that Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah.
And there can only be one explanation, and
that is what Paul gave us, that there
is a blindness that has happened to these
people.
A couple of years ago when we were
in Israel and I was speaking at a
congress in which the Christians from all over
the world were seeking to demonstrate to Israel
our support of them as a people, I
received a letter from one of the rabbis
in Jerusalem.
And the letter was a rebuke for my
being there at that congress showing support for
the nation of Israel.
He said, you have no right being here,
for Israel has no right to be existing
as a nation.
This same rabbi had sent a letter to
King Hussein in Jordan and asked the Jordanian
king to annex Measherim into Jordan because they
wanted nothing to do with the modern state
of Israel.
They said, Israel has no right being a
state.
And you as a minister have no right
being here, supporting the nation of Israel.
Well, I had been witnessing to these guides
for quite some time, and they do know
the Scripture quite well, and I showed them
the letter and I said, look what one
of your rabbis sent me.
And they read the letter and they were
horrified because they appreciate the fact that I
love Israel and have been supporting Israel.
And they said, ah, don't pay any attention
to that, Chuck.
They're a bunch of religious nuts.
They're radicals, you know.
They don't know what they're talking about.
They're just religious radicals.
Don't pay any attention to that.
I said, but they're rabbis.
Ah, it doesn't make any difference.
They're nuts.
You know, just don't pay any attention to
them.
And I said, have you ever stopped to
think that those rabbis that rejected Jesus from
being the Messiah were perhaps just like them,
some religious fanatics, and that Jesus was indeed
the Messiah, but these religious fanatics rejected Him,
and here you are 2,000 years later
in spite of all of the evidence still
following the religious nuts of those days.
They didn't have any answer.
But surely anyone looking at the evidence of
prophecy and of the life of Jesus Christ
must conclude that if Jesus wasn't the Messiah,
there never will be a Messiah.
It would be impossible for any man to
come along today and prove that He was
of the lineage of David.
No one has His genealogy and can trace
it back to David any longer.
So, God is going to change their hearts
though.
This stony heart is going to be turned
to a heart of flesh.
You know, one thing about the Jewish people
is that they are a very...
they're dynamic people.
They're very alive.
They love to sing.
They love to show their feelings in dancing
and in singing.
And quite often, over there, the bus drivers
and the guides, they'll get together and they'll
sit at a table and they'll start singing
their Jewish, typically Jewish songs, and they really
get into it.
I mean, it's the, you know, Hiya!
and the whole thing, you know, and the
dancing and they get up and they start
dancing around and singing.
They really get into it.
And it's a lot of fun because they
are such a dynamic people.
They're exciting to be around.
Oh, I can hardly wait till they get
turned on to Jesus Christ.
With all of that excitement and all of
that expression that they have, when they really
discover the true Messiah.
What a glorious day when the heart of
stone is replaced.
God does a heart transplant and He puts
in a heart of flesh.
That they may walk in My statutes.
You see, this is the thing they had
failed to do and that's why the judgment
was coming.
That they will keep My ordinances and do
them that they shall be My people and
I will be their God.
But as for them whose heart walks after
the heart of their detestable things and their
abominations, I will recompense their way upon their
own heads, saith the Lord God.
Now at this point, these cherubims representing the
glory of God and the presence of God
that was once there in the temple, but
was lifted from the temple out to the
porch, from the porch to the east gate.
Now He watches as the Spirit of God
is removed even from the east gate of
the temple to the Mount of Olives, east
of Jerusalem.
Then did the cherubims lift up their wings
and the wheels beside them and the glory
of the God of Israel was over them,
above them.
And the glory of the Lord went up
from the midst of the city and stood
upon the mountain which is on the east
side of the city, the Mount of Olives.
And afterwards the Spirit took me up and
brought me in a vision by the Spirit
of God back into Chaldea, back to Babylon,
to them of the captivity.
So the vision that I had seen went
up from me.
Then I spake to them of the captivity,
all of the things that the Lord had
shown me.
So He was taken by the Spirit, went
through these interesting experiences, and then brought back
and shared with these people that were around
Him there the vision that God did give
to Him.
Now, it is interesting, the glory of the
Lord, the last place there on the Mount
to the east of Jerusalem, it was on
this same mountain that Jesus ascended into glory.
It was on this same mountain that Jesus
came in His entry to Jerusalem as the
King, as the Messiah, fulfilling the prophecy of
Zachariah, Behold, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, but He
is lowly, sitting on the colt, the foal
of an ass.
And it is upon this same mount that
Jesus will return.
As Zachariah said, And He shall set His
foot in that day on the Mount of
Olives, and it will split in the middle
and all.
And right there, where He saw the glory
of the Lord departing from the mountain there
on the east, there is where the glory
of God in the person of Jesus Christ
will come.
And again, as He comes into Jerusalem, the
glory of God's presence once more returning to
the land.
And that beautiful restoration of God and the
glorious Kingdom of God when it comes.
Chapter 12, The word of the Lord also
came unto me, saying, Son of man, you
dwell in the midst of a rebellious house,
which have eyes to see, and they do
not see.
They have ears to hear, and they do
not hear, for they are a rebellious house.
Now you remember Isaiah said the same thing.
Having eyes to see, they see not.
Ears to hear, they hear not.
Lest at any time they see with their
eyes and hear with their ears and be
saved.
Jeremiah accused them of the same thing.
You don't see, you don't hear.
David said, They that are worshiping the idols
have become likened to the idols, which cannot
see, which cannot move, which cannot hear.
And so Jesus said, Well saith Isaiah the
prophet concerning this generation, having eyes to see,
they will not see.
Ears to hear, they will not hear.
Now, the Lord is saying you're in a
rebellious house.
The interesting thing is that as the Jews
look back upon their fathers and upon their
history, they always do it with extremely great
pride.
They really honor their fathers.
They honor the dead.
They honor their heritage.
And that's where Stephen got into trouble.
For as Stephen was standing before the Sanhedrin
and he was rehearsing their history to them,
telling them all that God had done, relating
to them the illustrious history of their fathers,
he finally said, Which of the prophets of
God did not your fathers kill?
You know, you'd say, Oh, our fathers, our
fathers, so on.
Hey, they killed every prophet God sent to
them.
And now you are even worse than they
are because you've killed the one that they
all prophesied concerning.
That was when they got so angry they
began to gnash their teeth.
They grabbed rocks and began to throw them
at him and they stoned him to death.
Paul the Apostle was right there holding their
coats, encouraging them on.
Now, here is God saying to Ezekiel, Look,
you're dwelling in the midst of a rebellious
people.
They have eyes, but they will not see,
ears, but they will not hear, for they're
rebellious.
Therefore, thou son of man, prepare these stuff
for removing.
Prepare your stuff for moving and move by
day in their sight.
And thou shalt remove from thy place to
another place in their sight that they will
consider even though they are a rebellious house.
Now, they're rebelling.
They're thinking that they're going to go back
right away from this captivity.
They've listened to the false prophets.
But you just move your stuff from one
place to another.
Just pack up your duds, pack your suitcases
and just move around with your suitcases because
maybe they will hear even though they are
rebellious.
Then you shall bring forth your stuff by
day in their sight, the stuff as though
you're moving, and you shall go forth even
in their sight as they did go forth
into captivity.
Now, dig a hole through the wall in
their sight and carry your stuff out by
this hole in the wall that you dig.
And in their sight, bear your stuff on
your shoulders and carry it forth in the
twilight and cover your face so that you
can't see the ground.
For I have set you for a sign
to the house of Israel.
Now, this is going to be a little
illustrated message, Ezekiel, that you're going to carry
to the house of Israel.
Pack your suitcases, dig a hole in the
wall and crawl out with your suitcase, carry
them on your shoulder and just walk around
from one place to another.
Move out from your house.
And so I did as I was commanded.
And I brought forth my stuff by day,
the stuff for captivity.
Even I dig through the wall with my
hands and brought it forth in the twilight
and I bear it on my shoulder in
their sight.
And in the morning, the word of the
Lord came unto me saying, Son of man,
has not the house of Israel, the rebellious
house, set in view?
What are you doing?
And that was, of course, the purpose to
create the question.
Doing this, you know, he wasn't saying anything,
covered his face and, you know, carrying his
stuff around after having dug the hole through
the wall.
He said, what on the world are you
doing?
So you go and say to them, Thus
saith Jehovah God, or the Lord God, Adonai,
this burden concerning the prince in Jerusalem and
the house of Israel that are among them.
Say, I am your sign and like as
I have done, so shall it be done
unto them.
They shall remove and go into captivity.
Now, what you see me do is what's
happening to the princes back in Jerusalem.
They are going to dig a hole in
the wall and they're going to try to
escape with their stuff.
And the prince that would be Zedekiah that
is among them shall bear upon his shoulder
in the twilight and shall go forth and
they shall dig through the wall to carry
out their stuff and he shall cover his
face that he not see the ground with
his eyes.
My net also will I spread upon him
and he shall be taken in my snare
and I will bring him to Babylon to
the land of the Chaldeans.
Yet shall he not see it though he
shall die there.
Now, an interesting prophecy concerning Zedekiah the king.
He is going to in the evening twilight
hours dig a hole through the wall and
try to escape.
But he's going to get caught in the
snare, in the net.
And he is going to be brought to
Babylon but he won't see it.
We have the record of the Scriptures that
Zedekiah one night tried to escape from Jerusalem
from the siege of the Babylonian army and
he got as far as the plains down
near Jericho where the Chaldeans caught up with
him and captured him and they took him
to Nebuchadnezzar that was at Riblah and Nebuchadnezzar
there took his sons who tried to escape
with him and he killed them in the
eyes as Zedekiah was watching and then he
put out Zedekiah's eyes and he was taken
to Babylon and so as Ezekiel predicted so
it happened.
He came to Babylon but he never saw
Babylon because his eyes were put out.
Again, God's amazing prophetic word as God speaks
of events and those servants of God speak
of events which it would be impossible to
do with such accuracy unless they spoke as
they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
The Lord said, and I will scatter toward
every wind.
All of that are about Him to help
Him and all of the bands, the armies
and I will draw out a sword after
them and they shall know that I am
the Lord when I shall scatter them among
the nations and disperse them in the countries.
But I will leave a few men of
them from the sword and from the famine
and from the pestilence that they may declare
all their abominations among the heathen whether they
come and they shall know that I am
the Lord.
God again promised to leave a few of
them but they're going to be slain, most
of them.
Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto
me saying, Son of man, eat your bread
with quaking and drink your water with trembling
and with carefulness.
In other words, just drink a little, measure
your swallows.
Drink it with carefulness and shake as you
eat your bread and drink your water, you
know, like you're frightened.
And say unto the people of the land,
you know, these prophets must have been extremely
colorful people.
But God is seeking to get the attention
of the people.
Now, they won't listen to God anymore.
So, God has these prophets do these colorful
things to draw the attention of the people.
Now, what's Ezekiel doing now?
Look at the way he's drinking his water
and eating his bread, you know.
What's he got up his sleeve this time?
And they become curious as they see these
bizarre kind of actions.
But all planned of God in order to
get the attention so He can still speak.
Now, that to me is amazing.
God still desires to give the message though
they're not listening anymore.
But He still wants them to receive the
message.
Long after a person has closed his heart
to God, closed his ear to God, God
continues to speak in different ways.
If you won't listen directly, then God will
speak to you subtly through the things around
your life.
Circumstances, events and all.
But God will get His message across one
way or the other.
Now, say to the people as you're eating
and drinking your water and eating your bread
this way, say to the people of the
land, Thus saith the Lord God of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem and of the land of
Israel, they shall eat their bread with carefulness.
There's going to be a tremendous famine.
They'll drink their water with astonishment that her
land may be desolate from all that is
therein because of the violence of all of
them that dwell therein.
And the cities that are inhabited shall be
laid waste and the land shall be desolate
and ye shall know that I am the
Lord.
And the word of the Lord came unto
me saying, Son of man, what is that
proverb that ye have in the land of
Israel saying?
The days are prolonged and every vision faileth.
This is what they were going on saying.
Ah, you know, not in our time.
The days are prolonged.
Every vision fails.
You know, you've heard that for a long
time.
What do you mean, you know, the Lord
is coming?
What do you mean?
We're getting close to the end.
The days are prolonged.
We're going to be here for another thousand
years.
Life is going to go on.
Man is going to continue.
What do you mean, we're getting close to
the end?
That's what they were saying in Jerusalem at
this time.
Destruction was right on them.
It was days away, and yet the proverb
was, ah, the days are prolonged, every vision
fails.
It's not going to happen in our lifetime.
As Peter said, in the last days scoffers
will come saying, where is the promise of
His coming since our fathers have fallen asleep?
Everything continues as they were from the beginning.
But Peter said, the day of the Lord
will come, and God is saying to Ezekiel,
this proverb that they're using, tell them therefore,
thus saith the Lord God, I will make
this proverb deceased.
They'll no more use it as a proverb
in Israel, but say unto them, the days
are at hand and the fulfillment of every
vision.
For there shall be no more any vain
vision nor flattering divination within the house of
Israel.
For I am the Lord and I will
speak, and the word that I shall speak
shall come to pass, and it shall be
no more prolonged.
For in your days, O rebellious house, not
in the days of your grandchildren or great
grandchildren or whatever, but in your days will
I say the word and will perform it,
saith the Lord God.
Again, the word of the Lord came unto
me, saying, Son of man, behold, they of
the house of Israel say the vision that
He sees is a long time off for
many days to come.
Not going to happen for a long time.
And He prophesies of the times that are
way off.
Therefore, say unto them, thus saith the Lord
God, there shall none of my words be
prolonged any more, but the word which I
have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord
God.
And within a year it was.
The word of the Lord came unto me,
saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets
of Israel that prophesy and say unto them
that the prophecy is out of their own
hearts.
Hear ye the word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God, woe unto the
foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and
have seen nothing.
They're following their own imaginations.
They have really seen nothing from God.
They are proclaiming their own visions, their own
ideas.
O Israel, your prophets are like foxes in
the deserts.
Ye have not gone up into the gaps,
neither have you made up the hedge for
the house of Israel to stand in the
battle in the day of the Lord.
They have not helped Israel.
They have not stood in these gaps.
They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying,
the Lord saith, and the Lord hath not
sent them, and they have made others to
hope that they would confirm the word.
So here were these false prophets going around.
They had not really heard from the Lord,
but they were saying, well, the Lord says.
Oh, the Holy Spirit told me, or the
Holy Spirit showed me, or God has shown
to me.
And then they go around seeking for others
to confirm their words.
Now, the tragedy of the church is that
there are false teachers and false prophets in
the church today doing the same thing.
Speaking in the name of the Lord when
God hasn't spoken.
Saying, oh, the Lord says, or the Holy
Spirit showed me.
When they are talking out of their own
spirits in their own hearts.
Jesus warns about these men.
He said they are wolves in sheep's clothing.
Beware of these false prophets.
Paul warned over and over again against these
false prophets that were going around deceiving the
people speaking in the name of the Lord.
Peter warns against them in a very heavy
indictment as does the little book of Jude.
These men who speak in the name of
the Lord have been the curse of the
church from the beginning, but they've always existed
clear back into this Old Testament period.
There were those false prophets and God spoke
out against them in Jeremiah.
God spoke out against them through Isaiah.
And God is now speaking out against them
here in Ezekiel.
They've not really helped the people.
They've hurt the people.
Have you not seen a vain vision?
You've spoken a lying divination where as you
say, the Lord saith it, albeit God says,
I haven't spoken.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, because you
have spoken vanity and you've seen lies, therefore,
behold, I am against you, saith the Lord
God.
That's heavy.
God just doesn't like you speaking in His
name your own ideas, your own thoughts.
Well, the Lord showed me.
I had a fellow one day that was
one of those the Lord told me kind,
you know.
And the Lord told him to go out,
you know, into the desert.
And he went out there and the Lord
told him this.
The Lord told him that.
The Lord told him this.
And, you know, and he lost all his
money and he lost all this.
And, you know, he got sunburned and dehydrated
and everything else.
And why would God do that to me?
Why would God, you know?
And it's obvious that the guy was nuts,
you know, that God didn't speak to him.
If God had told him to do all
these things, then it wouldn't have, you know,
messed up.
It would have ended in a calamity.
And then he wants to blame God for
all of the, you know, the misery that
he went through.
Well, the Lord told me this.
I said, well, if the Lord told you
to do all those things, then why are
you asking me why the Lord would do
something?
Ask Him if He tells you all that
stuff.
The Lord didn't tell you to come to
me because I don't have any sympathy for
you.
But I get tired of, you know, how
can you argue when a person says, well,
the Lord told me to do it.
Well, then what can you say?
You say, well, man, you're nuts.
The Lord didn't tell you that.
But, you know, you don't want to say
that to a person.
But they don't leave you anywhere to go.
We need to be careful about that.
Thus saith the Lord, or the Lord said,
or, you know, the Lord told me.
We've got to be careful about it.
I think that we use that much too
loosely.
God doesn't like that.
Speaking in His name when He hasn't spoken.
And God said, I'm against you.
You that say the Lord saith when I
haven't spoken.
And my hand shall be upon the prophets
that see vanity and divine lies.
And they shall not be in the assembly
of my people.
Oh, boy, that is heavy duty.
When God's people are assembled together in that
heavenly scene, these guys aren't going to be
there.
Neither shall they be written in the writing
of the house of Israel.
Neither shall they enter into the land of
Israel.
And ye shall know that I am the
Lord God.
Because even, because they have seduced My people,
saying, peace, and there was no peace.
And one built the wall, and lo, others
came along and daubed it with untempered mortar.
So they build a wall, and other guys
come along, and they daub it with untempered
mortar.
And thus it has no strength.
It's going to fall in the day of
battle.
Notice what they're saying.
And Jeremiah was rebuking them.
They're saying, God said through Jeremiah, scarcely have
you healed the hurt of My daughter Israel,
saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace.
Oh, but they were making positive confessions.
Weren't they?
Oh, you don't want to say war and
desolation.
That's terrible.
That will happen to you if you say
that.
Make a positive confession.
Oh, but God says that positive confession is
a lie.
It's not going to do you any good
to go around saying, peace, peace, when there
is no peace, saith the Lord.
And God really rebuked them for those positive
confessions.
Because God had not promised peace.
And it was hurting the people.
They were denying the truth.
They were trying to escape the truth.
And denying the truth.
They were actually lying when they were saying,
peace, peace, when there is no peace.
So they're building a wall that's not going
to stand.
Because one guy will say it, and another
guy will come along and confirm it.
Oh, yes, saith the Lord.
Show me the same thing, brother.
Oh, hallelujah.
Untempered mortar.
Say unto them that are daubing it with
that untempered mortar, that it shall fall, there
shall be an overflowing shower, and ye, O
great hailstones, shall fall, and a stormy wind
shall tear it.
Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it
not be said unto you, Where is the
daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
Where are those prophecies that you gave us?
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, I will
even tear it with a stormy wind in
my fury, and there shall be an overflowing
shower in my anger, and great hailstones, fury
to consume it.
So will I break down the wall that
ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring
it down to the ground, so that the
foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall
fall and shall be consumed in the midst
thereof, and ye shall know that I am
the Lord.
That phrase over and over and over and
over again sixty-two times in this book.
And ye shall know when I bring my
judgments, when I bring my word, when my
word comes to pass.
And that, of course, is the purpose of
prophecy.
Is when the prophecy comes to pass that
ye shall know that He is the Lord.
That it is God who has spoken.
And that God can speak of things before
they happen.
And sixty-two times God spoke, and spoke
of when it was fulfilled, ye will know
that I am the Lord.
And thus will I accomplish my wrath upon
the wall, and upon them that have daubed
it with the untempered mortar, and I will
say unto you, the wall is no more,
neither are they who daubed it.
To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy
concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace
for her, and there is no peace, saith
the Lord God.
Likewise, thou son of man, talking to Ezekiel,
set your face against these daughters of your
people, which are prophesying out of their own
heart, and prophesy against them.
Now, there were these gals there in Jerusalem
also who took the title of a prophetess,
and they were prophesying out of their own
hearts.
And thus saith the Lord God, woe unto
the women that are sewing pillows to all
the armholes, and making kerchiefs upon the head
of every stature to hunt souls.
Will ye hunt the souls of my people,
and will ye save the souls alive that
come unto you?
Now, it sounds like that they are in
some kind of witchcraft, a cultish kind of
practice in the sewing of these pillows onto
the armholes and putting these little bonnets on
every...
that is, for every size of head, every
stature.
So, for every size head, they were making
little bonnets that they could wear.
Will you pollute me among my people for
a handful of barley?
In other words, they were divining for anything.
You know, give me a handful of barley,
and give me a wheat, and I'll tell
you your fortune.
You know, cross my palm of the dollar,
dearie, and I'll tell you what's going to
come, you know.
And so, God is speaking out against them,
who pollute me among the people for a
handful of barley or a piece of bread
to slay the souls that should die and
to save the souls alive that should not
live by your lying to my people that
hear your lies.
Now, they were slaying the souls by telling
them, hey, things are going to be alright.
You know, you've got a bright future.
There's going to be a handsome man, you
know, that's going to come into your life,
and you're going to be, you know, live
happily ever after.
And these people were not listening to the
Word of God and the warnings of God
because of the comfort that they were receiving.
Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I'm
against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the
souls to make them fly.
And I will tear them from your arms
and will let the souls go, even the
souls that hunt and make them fly.
It seems like they were probably into setting
up curses, you know, against people, going into
these little incantations, putting pins in the dolls
and this kind of thing in trying to
create a fear in the minds of the
people, oh, they put a hex on me.
Your kerchiefs also will I tear and deliver
my people out of your hand and they
shall be no more in your hand to
be hunted and ye shall know that I
am the Lord.
Because with lies ye have made the heart
of the righteous sad.
And of course, the righteous people, when they
see this kind of junk, it hurts.
You think, oh God, you know, how long
are you going to let them go?
Whom I have not made sad and you've
strengthened the hands of the wicked that he
should not return from his wicked way by
promising him life.
You're comforting those that are dying in their
wickedness.
And because of the comfort you're giving, they're
not repenting.
They're not turning away from it.
It's much like many of those ministers today
who stand in the pulpits and say, there's
no hell.
You don't have to worry.
You know, every day and in every way
the world is getting better and better and
better.
We're on the verge of the glorious millennium.
You know, the glorious age is about to
be ushered in.
And people are attracted.
And it's interesting to me that in this
religious science and spiritism and so forth, that
most of the practitioners are women.
You ever notice that?
In this theosophy, religious science, and all of
these, you know, metaphysical type of things, most
of them teaching and all are women.
And so the Lord really has a word
against them here.
Therefore, ye shall see no more vanity nor
divine divinations, for I will deliver My people
out of your hand, and ye shall know
that I am the Lord.
Then came certain of the elders of Israel
unto Me, and they sat before Me.
And the word of the Lord came unto
Me, saying, Son of man, these men have
set up their idols in their heart, and
they put a stumbling block of their iniquity
before their face.
And should I be inquired at all by
them?
Why should I talk to them?
Why should I deal with them?
These guys that are sitting here in front
of you, they've got idols that they have
set up in their hearts.
Idolatry begins in the heart.
There's where you first turn against God.
There's where you really turn to God.
Believe in thine heart that God has raised
Him from the dead.
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out
of it are the issues of life.
Out of the heart proceeds the evil speakings,
the murders, the adulteries, the fornications, the lies,
the heart.
And here were these men coming to inquire
of God, to hear the word of the
Lord from the prophet.
And God says to Ezekiel, Hey, these guys
that are sitting here, Ezekiel, why should I
speak to them?
Why should I be inquired of by them?
Because they all have their little idols all
set up in their hearts.
Now, usually they would set up an idol
on an altar, on a table, or someplace
in their home.
That's bad enough.
But it's even worse to set up an
idol in your heart.
Because then you begin to deceive yourself.
You say, well, I don't have, I'm not
guilty of idolatry.
I don't have any idols.
I don't have any little shrines in my
home.
But you've got it right here in your
heart.
That's worse.
Therefore, speak unto them and say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord God, Every man of
the house of Israel that sets up his
idols in his heart and puts the stumbling
block of his iniquity before his face and
comes to the prophet, I, the Lord, will
answer him that comes according to the multitude
of his idols, that I may take the
house of Israel in their own heart because
they are all estranged from me through their
idols.
I'll answer them.
They've all become a stranger to me because
of their idols, idolatry, worshiping an idol, a
principle, an ideal, a philosophy, having a master
passion governing your life other than God.
Always estranges a person from God.
Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus
saith the Lord God, Repent.
Turn, change.
Don't just be sorry.
Repent.
Have a change of action and turn yourselves
from your idols and turn away your faces
from all of your abominations.
For every one of the house of Israel
or of the stranger that sojourns in Israel
which separates himself from me and sets up
his idols in his heart and puts the
stumbling block of his iniquity before his face
and comes 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 out of the midst of
my people and ye shall know that I
am the Lord.
God says I'm going to be fierce in
my judgment of that person.
I'll cut him off.
Come to inquire of me with idols in
your heart?
Hey, that's dangerous business.
Ananias and Sapphira sought to do so.
They came to God but they had idols
in their hearts.
Mammon was sitting there.
A desire.
Oh, there were other idols too.
His desire to be acknowledged and recognized by
the church as generous givers.
Oh my, isn't that marvelous?
They sold their property and turning all the
money in.
Ooh, great.
Fantastic.
But they weren't.
They were only pretending to do so.
They were holding back part of the profit
for themselves.
Now, there's nothing wrong with that.
They didn't have to sell their house.
They didn't have to bring anything in.
God didn't require that.
But they were making a pretense.
It was a hoax.
It was a sham.
They were coming before God.
But there were idols in their hearts.
Why have you conspired in your heart, Peter
said, to do this evil and to sin
against God and to lie to the Holy
Ghost?
You haven't lied unto man.
You've lied unto God.
Of course, they fell over dead.
They were carried out.
God said, hey, I'll wipe them out from
among My people.
Be thankful God isn't so severe today as
He was in the early church.
We wouldn't have a church the size that
we do.
God's heavy hand.
And if the prophet be deceived when he
has spoken a thing, I, the Lord, have
deceived that prophet and will stretch out My
hand upon him and will destroy him from
the midst of the people of Israel.
And they shall bear the punishment of their
iniquity.
The punishment of the prophet shall be even
as the punishment of him that seeketh unto
him.
That the house of Israel may go no
more astray from Me nor be polluted any
more with all their transgressions.
But that they may be My people and
I may be their God, saith the Lord
God.
Oh, how He longed to be their God
and for them to be His people and
that they walk before Him in holiness and
in righteousness, not polluted by their transgressions.
Now the word of the Lord came unto
me, saying, Son of man, when the land
sins against Me by trespassing grievously, then will
I stretch out My hand upon it and
I will break the staff of the bread
thereof and will send famine upon it and
will cut off man and beast from it.
Now these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job
were in it.
They should deliver but their own souls by
their righteousness, saith the Lord God.
In other words, God says, when I bring
judgment upon the land, even though there are
righteous men in it, those righteous men will
only deliver themselves.
They can't deliver anybody else by their righteousness.
They'll only deliver themselves.
Now it is interesting the three men that
God spoke of.
Noah, whom God delivered when He brought His
judgment upon the earth.
Daniel.
Now Daniel was at this time alive and
one of the counselors to Nebuchadnezzar.
Already he was a very young man at
this point, probably in his early twenties.
But yet he had already developed a tremendous
reputation as a spiritual giant and as a
spiritual leader, a spiritual man.
And of course that was evidenced when first
he was brought into captivity in Babylon.
And he purposed in his heart not to
defile himself with the king's meats and requested
that he be allowed a vegetarian diet.
He didn't want the meat that had been
sacrificed to pagan idols.
The meat that wasn't killed according to the
kosher laws.
And he said, just let us eat vegetables.
And the guard says, hey, you know, if
you guys just eating vegetables, you begin to
look skinny and sick, you know, then you'll
have my head, man.
Daniel said, well, give us 10 days and
take a look after 10 days.
And if we look skinny and malnourished, then
we'll eat your meat.
The guy said, fair enough.
And after 10 days, so Daniel and his
buddies were healthier, ruddier looking and all than
the others.
They were eating this polluted meat of the
king.
So they were able to go on.
Then he had begun to be known for
his interpreting of the king's dreams and all.
And so Daniel already was coming into prominence
in the minds of the people.
And though he was a young man, still
he is named with Noah, Daniel and Job.
Righteous men, examples of righteous men.
Now, if I can, if I cause noisome
beast to pass through the land and they
spoil it so that it is desolate, that
no man may pass through it because of
the beast.
Though these three men were in it, as
I live, saith the Lord God, they shall
deliver neither sons nor daughters.
They shall only be delivered, but the land
shall be desolate.
These men, if they were dwelling there, they
could only deliver themselves.
They can't even deliver their families.
Every man must have his own personal relationship
with God.
God has no grandchildren, only sons.
You cannot have a relationship with God through
your mother, through your father, through your family.
You've got to have your own personal relationship
with God.
And these men, as righteous as they were,
Noah found favor in the eyes of the
Lord, for he was righteous in all of
his generation.
And yet he could only deliver himself and
his sons who came into the ark with
him.
Now, this of course to me is a
God that says, if I'm bringing these terrible
things upon the land, the noisome beast and
the famines and so forth, the righteous can
only deliver themselves.
In other words, the righteous will be delivered,
even as we will be delivered before God
brings his judgment upon this earth.
And any man who says otherwise is denying
the righteous principles of God.
Or if I bring a sword upon that
land, and I say, sword, go through the
land so that I 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.
Or if I send a pestilence into the
land and pour out my fury upon it
in blood to cut it off from man
and beast, though Noah and Daniel and Job
were in it, as I live, saith the
Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor
daughter, they shall but deliver their own souls
by their righteousness.
For thus saith the Lord God, how much
more when I send my four sword judgments
upon Jerusalem, the sword, famine, noisome beast, and
the pestilence to cut it off from man
and beast, 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
ye shall see their way and their doings,
and ye 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 see
their ways and their doings, and ye shall
know that I have not done without cause
all that I have done to it, saith
the Lord God.
Now soon these captives will be coming from
Jerusalem, that remnant that will escape.
And when they tell you the things that
happened, and when you see these people, you'll
know that what I did was righteous in
my judgment.
When you hear of the abominations and things
that are going on, you'll know that I
was righteous when I brought my judgment against
Jerusalem.
Now in chapter 15, the word of the
Lord came unto me saying, Son of man,
what is the vine tree more than any
tree?
Now you remember God said concerning the nation
Israel in Isaiah chapter 5 that God had
planted a pleasant vineyard in the nation of
Israel.
He put a hedge around it, built walls
around it, fenced it in, built a wine
press therein.
And he came at the time of harvest
that he might partake of the fruit from
his vine.
But behold, it had wild grapes.
What shall I do?
I'll let the wall go into deterioration.
I'll let the weeds grow in.
I'll let the vine just go to pots
and I won't watch over it.
I won't come to it anymore.
The vine failed to bring forth fruit.
And thus saith the Lord concerning the nation
of Israel, you've been my vine.
What else could I have done for you
but what I've already done?
And yet you haven't brought forth fruit.
It of course brings to mind Jesus in
John's Gospel chapter 15.
I am the true vine.
My Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that bringeth forth fruit
and all.
You're the branches.
And the whole idea and the purpose of
God for you is that you might bring
forth fruit unto God.
There is only one purpose.
There's only one value, one thing that a
vine is good for and that's to bring
forth fruit.
And he's pointing that out here and that's
the whole jest of chapter 15.
The vine has one purpose only to bring
forth fruit.
And if it doesn't bring forth fruit, it's
worthless for anything else.
Shall wood be taken thereof to do any
work?
Can you build you a bookcase out of
the wood from a grapevine?
No way.
The wood is not good for working.
You can't make anything out of vines.
Actually, the vine begins to rot almost immediately
and it becomes very weak and you can't
put any weight on anything else.
Neither can you use it for pigs.
It has no value.
You can't even use it for a pin
to hang something on because it'll just rot
and fall.
It just sort of becomes hollow inside just
like a piece of paper.
It just falls.
It has no value for wood at all.
Behold, it is cast into the fire for
fuel.
But the fire devours both ends.
It makes punkish kind of fuel.
It doesn't even burn good.
There's only one thing that a vine is
good for and that's to bring forth fruit.
Now, you are God's vineyard is what the
Lord is saying.
And there's only one thing that God is
desiring from you and that is that you
bring forth fruit.
Herein is my Father glorified.
Jesus said that you bear much fruit.
God wants your life to be fruitful for
Him that you might bring forth those fruits
of righteousness from your life unto the Lord.
Behold, when the vine is whole, it wasn't
good for any work.
How much less for work when the fire
has devoured it and it is burned.
Therefore, thus saith 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 haven't brought forth fruit.
They're good for nothing.
And thus I'll just let them burn like
a punk.
And I will set my face against them
and they shall go out from one fire
and another fire shall devour them and ye
shall know that I am the Lord when
I have set my face against them and
I will make the land desolate because they
have committed a trespass, saith the Lord God."
And so, as God through Isaiah speaks of
the failure of the people as a vineyard,
as a vine to bring forth fruit and
thus the desolation was coming, so the prophet
Ezekiel takes up the same figure and again,
the idea that their failure to bring forth
fruit, they're worthless for anything else, no sense
of keeping them around, destroy them.
They have no value.
Destroy them.
You remember Jesus gave the parable of the
tree that failed to bring forth any fruit
and the master said, destroy it.
Why encumbereth it the ground?
The servant said, oh Lord, give me another
year.
You know, I'll plant around and fertilize it
and all and see what will happen.
But the question of Jesus, hey, if you're
not bringing forth any fruit, why encumbereth you
the ground?
What value are you?
What good for you being around if you're
not bringing forth fruit?
God desires that you bring forth fruit for
His glory.
Therefore, look at your life.
Are you bringing forth fruit unto righteousness for
God?
Now, Paul tells us in Galatians 5.20,
but the fruit of the Spirit is love.
God is looking for fruit from your life.
He's looking for love.
Love for Him, which is manifested in our
love one for another.
How much fruit is God finding in your
life?
God comes to His garden desiring to partake
of the fruit, enjoy the fruit of it.
There is nothing but wild grapes.
They're sour.
They're no good.
They're no value.
I wonder how many times God comes just
to have a time of fellowship with us,
just to experience our love for Him and
just to have a time of just the
expression of loving relationship.
And here we are all soured out, bummed
out at God because, you know, things aren't
going like I wanted them to go.
And I'm all sour and bitter against God.
How tragic that when God is coming to
just receive love and friendship and fellowship with
us that He finds us in these sour,
bitter attitudes.
God wants your life to be fruitful, to
bring forth fruit for His glory.
And really, that's the only value that you
have.
The vine has no other purpose.
It's good for nothing else but to bring
forth fruit.
Now, Jesus said, I'm the vine, you're the
branches.
And the idea is bring forth fruit.
May your life be fruitful for God.
Shall we pray?
Father, help us that we might be so
filled with Thy Spirit and with Thy love
that any time You come to Your garden
You may take Your fill of the fruit
as we express to You our love, our
worship, our appreciation for all that You are
and for all the goodness that You have
bestowed upon us.
Lord, help us to be more expressive of
our love and of our thanksgiving in all
things unto Thee.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.