So we turn in our Bibles at this
time to the 16th chapter of Ezekiel, the
prophecy of Ezekiel, chapter 16.
Ezekiel declares, again the word of the Lord
came unto me saying, Son of man, cause
Jerusalem to know her abominations.
So God is speaking out against Jerusalem, but
of course a city is always made up
of inhabitants.
A city as itself is not good or
evil, it all depends on what the people
are that live within that city.
So it is against those who are inhabiting
Jerusalem that God speaks and say, Thus saith
the Lord God unto Jerusalem, Thy birth and
thy nativity is in the land of Canaan.
Thy father was an Amorite and thy mother
a Hittite.
Now before the children of Israel came to
dwell in the land, the first inhabitants of
the land of Palestine were the Hittites and
then also the Amorites.
And so Jerusalem, or first of all rather
the Amorites followed by the Hittites, but thy
father was a Amorite, thy mother a Hittite,
referring to the nations that inhabited the land
prior to the coming in of Abraham.
And as for thy nativity, in the day
in which you were born, thy navel was
not cut, neither was thou washed in water
to supple thee.
Thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled
at all.
Evidently in those days when a child was
born, of course the first thing you do
is you wash the child.
And then evidently they salted the child.
This no doubt would be to kill bacteria,
because salt is a tremendous antiseptic as far
as killing bacteria.
We were out in a group that were
exploring for the lost Virgin Guadalupe mine, and
we were blasting away some boulders.
And one of the fellows that was with
us, working with us, got hit by a
piece of rock that had cut off from
the boulder when we were blasting it out,
and cut his hand.
And the old miner that was with us
reached in and got out a little pack
of salt and poured it all over.
Of course, the guy winced like everything.
But he said, I never go out without
my bag of salt.
He said, it's, you know, the great antiseptic
and it'll cause it to heal faster and
it'll keep it from any infection from setting
up.
And so they no doubt in those days
salted the baby as an antiseptic to kill
the bacteria that might be upon the child.
So speaks about salting it and then swaddling
it, wrapping it up in these blanket kind
of thing to swaddle the baby.
But when Jerusalem was born, none of this
was done.
The umbilical cord was not cut.
You were not washed in water.
You were not salted nor swaddled.
No, I pitied you to do any of
these things to you to have compassion upon
thee, but thou was cast out in the
open field to the loathing of thy person
in the day when thou was born.
And when I passed by thee and saw
thee polluted in thine own blood, I said
unto thee, when thou was in thy blood
live, yea, I said unto thee, when thou
was in thy blood live.
So God is saying that you were an
outcast.
And there was no one to care for
you, but I came by and I saw
you polluted there in your blood.
And I said, and he lived now verse
six, interestingly enough, from old times was used
as a verse to stop hemorrhaging or stop
the flow of blood.
It is a verse that people have used
for years.
When someone is bleeding to stop the bleeding,
they would quote this verse.
Now, I don't think the verse does it,
but their faith to believe that God is
going to do it does stop the bleeding.
But people for years have used this almost
as a charm kind of a thing to
stop bleeding.
But of course it's out of context.
God is talking about when he first saw
the nation of Israel, Jerusalem, the people of
Jerusalem, called them unto himself.
I've caused thee then to multiply as the
bud of the field and now has increased.
You've become great.
You become an excellent ornament.
Your breasts are fashioned and your hair is
grown.
Whereas you were naked and bare.
Now, when I passed by thee and looked
upon thee, behold, thy time was the time
of love.
And so I spread my blanket over thee
and covered thy nakedness.
Yea, I swear unto thee and entered into
a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God,
and you became mine.
So as the nation developed, the time came
for love and God came to the nation
to receive the love, entered into a covenant,
married them in that sense, entering into that
covenant relationship where God claimed them as his
own, as his bride.
And I washed thee with water.
Yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from
thee.
And I anointed thee with oil and I
clothed thee also with broidered work and shod
thee with badger skins.
And I girded thee about with fine linen
and I covered thee with silk.
And I decked thee also with ornaments.
I put bracelets upon thy hands, a chain
on thy neck.
I put a jewel in thy forehead and
earrings in thine ears and a beautiful crown
upon your head.
And thus was thou decked with gold and
silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen
and silk and broidered work.
And thou didst eat fine flour and honey
and oil, and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and
thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
And thy renown went forth among the heathen
for thy beauty, for it was perfect through
my comeliness, which I put upon thee, saith
the Lord.
Now God speaks of his work for the
nation Israel and that work of God's spirit
in making them great, making them beautiful, making
them desirable, perfect in beauty.
Now, this is all a foreshadowing of the
relationship of Jesus Christ to his church.
How that when the Lord first came to
us, we were polluted because of our sins.
As Paul writes in Ephesians 2, and you
hath he made alive who were dead in
your trespasses and sins, who in times past
you walked according to the course of this
world.
The word walk there is meandered, which means
you were walking without any purpose or direction.
You were meandering through life.
Your life was aimless before the Lord met
you.
As you meandered according to the course of
this world, the word course comes from the
Greek word weathervane.
Whichever way the world was flowing, that's the
way you were going.
Flowing in that way of the world, you
know, just the fashions of the world.
And you were by nature, Paul said, the
children of wrath because you were obeying the
lust of your flesh, the lust of your
mind.
And thus we were when Christ came, but
he washed us.
Now you are clean, Jesus said, through the
words that I have spoken unto you.
The washing of the regeneration of the word
of God, the washing of our lives through
the blood of Jesus Christ.
I washed you from your pollution.
And then the Lord said, I anointed thee
with oil.
And so he anointed our life with the
Holy Spirit.
And then the Lord goes on to declare,
I clothed thee with broidered work, not just
throwing an old gunny sack at you and
saying, you know, dress up.
Broidered work speaks of care.
It speaks of skill.
And so God took so much care and
so much skill to clothe us with the
righteousness, which is of Jesus Christ through faith.
I shod thee with badger skins, or I
gave you shoes of badger skins.
Now the badger of the scripture, what that
Hebrew word is today, we don't know.
The King James translators guessed badger, but it
was a soft leather that was usually dyed
purple and was the favorite of the young
girls for their slippers.
And they were, because soft leather, they were
worn for parties and for luxuries, really not
for hard labor or hard work out in
the fields.
Sandals were more the dress for that, but
these were luxurious leather slippers.
And I girded thee about with fine linen
in Revelation 19 verse six, he speaks about
in the bride hath made herself ready and
she was adorned in fine linen, pure and
clean.
And the fine linen is the righteousness of
the saints.
That righteousness that is ours is that which
God has imputed to us through our faith
in Jesus Christ.
I am clothed tonight, not in my own
righteousness.
I do not dare to stand before God
pleading my own goodness before him.
And I don't care how moral, how honest,
how sincere, and how good a person you
are.
You're a fool if you seek to stand
before God in your own goodness and in
your own righteousness.
You know, there are so many people that
are just sort of good natured people.
Like you have dogs that are good natured
and dogs that are bad natured.
There's some dogs that are just mean.
You don't want to be around them.
There's some people that are just mean.
You don't want to be around them.
They have peptic type of dispositions, like their
stomach is constantly upset or something.
They're always growling, always on edge.
And that person, as far as standing before
God, is no worse off than the person
who has by nature a very pleasant disposition,
who's easygoing and calm.
You know, we have phlegmatic and we have
different types of temperaments, and none of them
really have any acceptance before God.
The only way I can be accepted before
God is to be clothed in that linen,
pure and clean, which he has given to
me, the righteousness which is of Christ through
faith.
Now, the difficulty is when a person does
have more of a problem with his disposition,
he is usually more conscious and aware of
his need for help.
And he usually is coming to the Lord
more readily.
He's a sinner, he knows he's a sinner,
and he knows he needs help, and he
comes to the Lord quite readily.
Whereas that person who is morally good, he's
honest, you know, has all of these qualities,
so often that person does not feel a
need of coming to Jesus Christ, and thus
is oftentimes much further from the Lord than
the person who has a naturally miserable disposition,
which of course is a very interesting thing.
A lot of good men go to hell,
and a lot of bad men go to
heaven, because when you have that kind of
a nature, you know, oh God, I need
help, and you're coming to God for help.
And the only way any of us could
ever stand before God, surely not in our
own righteousness, because our righteousness is as filthy
rags in the eyes of God.
So God takes, washes, anoints with oil, clothes,
and then he said in verse 11, I
deck thee also with ornaments.
Put bracelets on thy hands, a chain on
your neck, a jewel in your forehead, and
earrings in your ears, and a beautiful tiara
crown upon your head.
I see these as the fruit of the
Spirit, whose adorning, Peter said, let it not
be the outward adorning by the wearing of
fancy clothes, and the putting on of jewelry,
and the fixing up of your hair, but
that inward adornment of that meek and quiet
spirit, which in the eyes of the Lord
is all very, very valuable.
And he speaks about the true beauty is
not outward, but inward.
The true beauty of a person is in
the character of their lives, and the fruit
of the Spirit, as God places this glorious
jewels of meekness, temperance, long-suffering, goodness, love,
joy, peace.
And then God said, I've given you to
eat the fine flour, and honey, and oil,
and you were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered
into a kingdom.
And your fame, your renown, went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty.
Throughout the world they were talking of the
beauty of the nation, of the people.
The Queen of Sheba came from the south
to see and to hear, and when she
had been there with Solomon, she said, Oh,
I heard, but I did not believe, but
now I have seen, and it was not
told to me half of the glory of
your kingdom.
I blessed you, I honored you, I prospered
you, you became famous, became renowned throughout among
the heathen, they all heard of your beauty.
For the Lord declared, for it was perfect,
that is your beauty, through my comeliness, which
I have put on thee, saith the Lord.
And so God works in us his work
of the Spirit, and as God works in
us by his Spirit, the purpose is to
conform us into the image of Christ.
And as God works in us by his
Spirit, and as we are changed into the
image of Christ, God looks at us and
says, Oh, you're perfectly beautiful.
God sees you in Christ, and in Christ
there is no condemnation for those that are
in Christ Jesus.
God sees you complete in Christ, he sees
you perfected in Christ, and he declares that
you are perfect in beauty.
Now, after all of this, God now charges
them, but you did trust in your own
beauty, and you played the harlot because of
your renown, and you poured out your fornications
on everyone that passed by, his it was.
That is, they turned away from God, and
they began to worship every god of all
of the people that were round about.
God said, You are mine, I'm the one
that made this covenant with you.
I purchased you, I'm the one that saved
you.
You were nothing, you were perishing, you were
cast out, but I'm the one that rescued
you and saved you, and put my beauty
on you, and now you've prostituted yourselves, and
you've turned after every god, played the harlot,
poured out your fornications on everyone that passed
by, his it was.
And of thy garments, you did take and
you decked your high places with diverse colors,
and you played the harlot thereupon.
The like thing shall not come, neither shall
it be so, for thou hast also taken
thy fair jewels of my gold and my
silver, which I had given thee, and you
made unto yourself images of men, and you
did commit whoredom with them.
I prospered you, I gave you gold and
silver.
What did you do?
You used it to make little images and
idols, and you began to worship the gold
and silver that I have blessed you with
and prospered you with.
How tragic it is when a person's life
has been blessed of God, and then they
turn away from God, and they begin to
worship the gold and the silver that God
has given to them, the possessions that God
has given to them.
And you took your broidered garments, and you
covered them, and you have set my oil
and my incense before them, and my meat
also, which I gave thee, the fine flour,
the oil, the honey with which I fed
you.
You have even set it before these little
images as a sweet savor, and thus it
was, saith the Lord God.
You've taken those things that I have given,
and you've profaned them.
Moreover, thou hast taken thy sons and thy
daughters, whom you have borne unto me, and
these have you sacrificed unto them to be
devoured.
Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,
that thou hast slain my children and delivered
them to cause them to pass through the
fire for them?
And in all thy abominations and thy whoredoms
thou hast not remembered the days of thy
youth when you were naked and bare, and
you were polluted in your own blood.
Now, of course, the people of Israel had
turned to all of these pagan gods, but
worst of all, they began to follow the
practice of the pagans of the land in
offering their own children as sacrifices unto the
pagan gods, burning them in the fire, casting
them into the fire, or putting them in
the arms of the little outstretched iron gods
of Bel that were heated in the fire
till they were red-hot, and then they
would place their babies in those red-hot
arms and burn them as an offering unto
the gods.
And here are God's people committing this horrible
sacrilege.
And so God's indictment against them.
No wonder God destroyed them.
No wonder God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to drive them
out of the land.
They had forgotten the condition that they were
in when God first came to them.
You haven't remembered how you were naked and
had nothing.
It came to pass after all the wickedness,
woe, woe unto thee, saith the Lord God,
that thou hast also built unto thee an
eminent place, and you've made a high place
in every street.
The high places were the places of pagan
worship, where all every kind of licentious practice
went on in their worship of these pagan
gods.
Thou hast built thy high place at the
head of every way, and you have made
thy beauty to be abhorred, and you have
opened thy feet to everyone that passed by
and multiplied thy whoredoms.
Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians,
thy neighbors, great of flesh, and hast increased
thy whoredoms to provoke me to anger.
Behold, therefore, I have stretched out my hand
over thee, and I've diminished thine ordinary food
and delivered thee unto the will of them
that hate thee and the daughters of the
Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.
So God said, I began to turn you
over to your enemies, because you have played
the whore also with the Assyrians, because you
were insatiable.
Yea, thou hast played the harlot with them,
and yet you couldn't be satisfied.
Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the
land of Canaan unto Chaldea, and yet thou
was not satisfied herewith.
How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord
God, seeing thou doest all these things the
work of an imperious, whorish woman, and in
that thou buildest thine eminent place in the
head of every way or every street, and
you make your high place in every street,
and you've not been as the harlot in
that thou hast scornest hired.
You're even worse than a prostitute.
You've scorned the payment.
But as a wife that commits adultery, which
takes strangers instead of her husband, they give
gifts to all whores, but you have given
gifts to all of your lovers, and you've
hired them that they may come unto thee
on every side for thy whoredom.
So, Israel had so turned away from the
worship of God, and the worship in their
worshiping of these false gods that God is
just speaking here of the horrible relationship that
they would forsake God who had done so
much for them.
You say, oh, but could a people really
do that?
Well, I ask you to look at the
United States today, a nation that in its
beginning understood its dependency upon God, a
nation that was framed with a constitution guaranteeing
the freedom of worship of the people, freedom
to worship, a nation that placed upon its
coins in God we trust, a nation that
placed within its national anthem the recognition of
God, and in its pledge to the flag
acknowledged it to be one nation under God.
But look how the nation today has turned
its back upon God.
On the Lord's day, it has become a
day where people go out and worship their
idols as they run up and down a
line field throwing balls to the cries and
the cheers of their devoted followers, a day
for pleasure, a day for seeking after the
flesh, a day of attempting to satiate the
flesh in pleasure.
How far we have fallen when Superman replaces
the word of God on television on Sunday
mornings.
How tragic that a nation turns from the
God who made them great, the God who
made them strong, the God who clothed them,
fed them, made them prosperous, and they forget
their beginnings.
They forget it was God who made us
strong.
They forget how that God watched over the
early colonists, and they begin to attribute this
strength to such foolish things as free enterprise,
the democratic system.
America, America, God shed his grace on thee,
but you've turned your back on God, even
as did Israel.
We did not have the wisdom to learn
from history, and the Christians by their inactivity
have allowed these things to be.
We're soon going to be electing school boards
and other officials in our community.
How many of you have really planned to
vote?
Probably not very many.
Did you know that there are some outstanding
Christians that are running for the school boards?
That if all of the Christians got out
and voted for those Christians that are running
for these offices, they could be elected to
these offices, and we could actually perhaps help
guide the curriculum of our schools.
There is a Dr. Peterson, there is a
George Rhoda, both of them outstanding born-again
Christians running for school board.
Now every Christian ought to be out voting.
I'm not going to tell you who to
vote for, that's illegal.
I'll just tell you there's a couple Christians.
So God speaks about Israel, their folly, and
about the judgment that is going to come.
He was first, their lover.
He created them, took them when they were
nothing, made them great, made them beautiful, and
they turned against him.
Verse 34, and the contrary is in thee
from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none
follows thee to commit whoredoms, and in that
you give a reward, and no reward is
given to thee, therefore you are contrary.
Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the
Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God, because thy filthiness
was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through
thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with the
idols of thy abominations, and the blood of
thy children, which thou didst give to them.
Behold, therefore, I will gather all thy lovers
with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all
of them that thou hast loved, with all
of them that thou hast hated, and I
will gather them round about against thee, and
will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they
may see all thy nakedness, and I will
judge thee as a woman that has broken
wedlock and shed blood, and those that have
shed blood are judged, and I will give
thee blood in fury and jealousy.
And I will also give thee into their
hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent
place, and shall break down thy high places,
and they shall strip thee also of thy
clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and
leave thee naked and bare.
And they shall also bring up a company
against thee, and they shall stone thee with
stones, and thrust thee through with their swords,
and they shall burn thine houses with fire,
and execute judgments upon thee in the sight
of many women, and I will cause thee
to cease from playing the harlot, and thou
also shalt give no any more.
So will I make my fury toward thee
to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from
me, and I will be quiet, and will
be no more angry, because thou hast not
remembered the days of thy youth, but you've
fretted me in all of these things.
Behold, therefore, I also will recompense thy way
upon thy head, saith the Lord God, and
thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all
thine abominations.
Behold, everyone that uses proverbs shall use this
proverb against thee, saying, As the mother, so
is her daughter.
Thou art thy mother's daughter, that loatheth her
husband and her children, and thou art the
sister of thy sisters, which loath their husbands
and their children.
Your mother was a Hittite, your father was
an Amorite, and thine elder sister is Samaria.
She and her daughters that dwell in thy
left hand, and thy younger sister that dwells
at thy right hand in the south is
Sodom and her daughters.
Yet hast thou not walked after their ways,
nor done after their abominations, but as if
that were a very little thing, thou hast
corrupted more than they in all of your
ways.
You've been worse than Samaria and worse than
Sodom.
As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom
thy sister hath not done, she nor her
daughters, as thou has done thou and thy
daughters.
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister
Sodom.
What was the sin of Sodom?
The Lord in looking at it looks behind
it, and he said it was pride.
It was fullness of bread, prosperity.
The abundance of idleness was in her and
her daughters, and neither did she strengthen the
hand of the poor and the needy.
So this is God's indictment against Sodom.
The reason why Sodom was judged, pride, prosperity,
idleness, and no concern for the poor and
the needy.
Now these conditions of pride and prosperity and
idleness of time, men began to look for
things to fill in their idle time.
And in looking for things to fill their
idle time, they began to indulge themselves and
their flesh.
And having run the gamut of kinky flesh
and not finding any satisfaction, only a greater
lust, they began to burn in their lust
for each other.
And that horrible condition in which we find
Sodom when the angels of the Lord came
and were staying in the house of Lot
and the men of the city began to
knock on the door saying, open unto us
and send out those men that came into
your house that we may know them.
And Lot went to the door and said,
go away.
Don't do this evil unto these men.
Behold, I have a couple of daughters that
are virgins.
I'll turn them over to you, but don't
do this evil to these men.
And they said, you're a stranger.
You come to live with us and now
are you going to judge us?
And they were going to grab him.
And the angel said to Lot, stand back.
And they smote the men with blindness so
that they wearied themselves of trying to find
the door.
And they said, get out of here.
But you see, behind this scene, there was
the pride, there was the prosperity, there was
the idleness of time.
Now, these are the conditions that produced this
blatant demonstration of these homosexual men.
It was because of this kind of an
environment they felt the bravado to parade publicly.
When the conditions of a nation become so
corrupt and immoral that men of this character
feel a forwardness in expressing themselves publicly
and begin to parade in public demonstrations, you
know that you are at the end of
the rope.
The next thing is judgment.
And as I see the things that are
happening in the United States, San Francisco, Hollywood,
Washington DC, I realize that the cup of
God's indignation is about to overflow.
And America will be judged of God.
God said they were haughty.
They committed abomination before me.
Therefore, I took them away as I saw
fit, as I saw good.
Neither hath Samaria committed half of your sins,
but you have multiplied your abominations more than
they.
And you have justified your sisters in all
your abominations, which you have done.
And that's, of course, the whole thing, the
rationale, the justification.
Well, you know, every man has a freedom
to express himself however he desires, and no
one has the right to dictate their moral
standards on other people.
Thou also which has judged thy sisters bear
thy own shame, for thy sins that you
have committed are more abominable than they, and
they are more righteous than you.
Yea, be thou confounded also and bear thy
shame, and that you have justified your sisters.
When I shall bring again their captivity, the
captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the
captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will
I bring again the captivity of thy captives
in the midst of them.
That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and
mayest be confounded in all that you have
done, in that you are a comfort unto
them.
When your sister Sodom and her daughters shall
return to their former estate, and Samaria to
her daughters shall return to their former estate,
then thou and thy daughters shall return to
your former estate, for thy sister Sodom was
not mentioned by thy mouth in the day
of thy pride.
Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the
time of thy reproach of the daughters of
Syria, and all of those that are round
about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which
despise thee round about, thou hast borne thy
lewdness and thy abominations, saith the Lord.
For thus saith the Lord God, I will
even deal with thee as thou hast done,
which has despised the oath in breaking the
covenant.
God made a covenant with them, you are
mine.
They broke the covenant, and they gave themselves
over to every God and idol and abomination.
And so God speaks of them that they
have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
Now, God here, of course, speaks of the
day of restoration, even of Sodom and of
Samaria.
That day is coming.
I do not believe the day is far
off.
As we go further in Ezekiel, we are
going to find that there is an earthquake
that is going to take place in Jerusalem
that is going to create a new valley
and is going to unlock an underground river,
a spring, that will begin to flow from
Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea with such
a supply of water that when it comes
into the Dead Sea, the waters of the
Dead Sea will be healed, and there will
be all manner of fish and all there
in the Dead Sea, and Ein Gedi will
be a place where they will be drying
their fishing nets.
And the area of the Dead Sea will
no doubt become a verdant, beautiful valley again.
Sodom shall be inhabited as Samaria, and of
course, as Jerusalem.
Nevertheless, the Lord said, I will remember my
covenant with you.
You've broken it, but I'm going to remember
it in the days of thy youth.
I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.
And so God is, for all that they
have done, God is not utterly destroyed, not
utterly rejected, but he is going to take
them back again and establish a everlasting covenant
with them through Jesus Christ.
Then thou shalt remember thy ways and be
ashamed when you shall receive thy sisters, thine
elder and thy younger, and I will give
them unto thee for daughters, but not by
thy covenant.
And I will establish my covenant with thee,
and thou shalt know that I am the
Lord, that thou mayest remember and be confounded
and never open thy mouth anymore because of
thy shame when I am pacified toward thee
for all that thou hast done, saith the
Lord God.
Now in chapter 17, he speaks a parable
of a great eagle.
And this is where some of these harebrained
people begin to spiritualize and try to read
the United States into prophecy, because there is
an eagle on the top of the flag.
And thus, because he uses an eagle in
a parable, that must refer to the United
States, you know, and they start twisting and
spiritualizing to try to make this fit the
United States.
But if you'll just read the beginning, there's
no way that you can twist it.
And the word of the Lord came unto
me saying, Son of man, put forth a
riddle and speak a parable unto who?
The house of Israel, not to the United
States, but to the house of Israel.
But people get all into the spiritualizing of
scriptures, and they fail to read this part.
And they get down into the eagle and
snapping the twig from Lebanon, and they start
making all of these spiritual types of analogies,
and it just gets off the wall.
And say, Thus saith the Lord God, a
great eagle with great wings, long wing, full
of feathers, which had various colors, came unto
Lebanon and took the highest branch of the
cedar.
Now, this greatest eagle is Nebuchadnezzar.
The highest branch of the cedar would be
the house of David, the king who was
Jehoiakim at this particular time, and cropped off
the top of the young twigs and carried
it to the land of traffic and set
it in the city of merchants as the
king was taken as a captive to Babylon.
He took also the seed of the land
and planted it in the fruitful field.
That is, he took the son, Zedekiah, and
he made him the king, entering into a
covenant, swearing by God you'll be faithful to
him and so forth.
Zedekiah made a pledge to Nebuchadnezzar to rule
the people as a vassal state to Babylon,
and he swore by God his allegiance to
Nebuchadnezzar.
But, of course, he rebelled against it.
He did not honor this covenant that he
had sworn by the Lord.
So he took also the seed that is
the eagle of the land and planted it
in a fruitful field.
He took Zedekiah, he placed it by the
great waters and set it up as a
willow tree.
And it grew and became a spreading vine
of low stature, whose branches turned toward him.
And the roots thereof were under him, so
that it became a vine and brought forth
branches and shot forth springs.
But there was also another great eagle, Egypt,
with great wings, the pharaoh Hophro, with great
wings and many feathers.
And behold, this vine did bend her roots
toward him.
Zedekiah sent down to Egypt to make an
alliance, to come up against the Babylonian army.
And it was planted in a good soil
by great waters, that it might bring forth
branches, that it might bear fruit, that it
might be a goodly vine.
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
wither?
And it shall wither in all the leaves
of her spring, even without great power or
many people to pluck it up by the
roots thereof.
Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper?
Shall it not utterly wither when the east
wind touches it?
It shall wither in the furrows where it
grew.
So this alliance with Egypt will not stand,
but the nation will be destroyed.
Zedekiah will be destroyed.
And so it goes on to speak of
his rebellion.
Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto
me, saying, Say now to the rebellious house,
to Zedekiah, know ye not what these things
mean?
Tell them, behold, the king of Babylon is
come to Jerusalem, and he has taken the
king thereof and the princes thereof, and led
them with him to Babylon.
And he hath taken of the king's seed.
And of course he's explaining now this parable,
and it's nothing to do with the United
States.
This is the explanation of this eagle parable.
It's the king of Babylon who has come
to Jerusalem and taken the king thereof and
the princes thereof, and led them with him
to Babylon.
And he has taken the king's seed, and
that is Zedekiah, made a covenant with him,
and has taken an oath of him.
He has also taken the mighty of the
land, that the kingdom might be based, that
it might not lift itself up, but that
by the keeping of his covenant it might
stand.
But he, Zedekiah, rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar in sending
his ambassadors to Egypt, that other eagle, that
they might give him horses and many people.
Shall he prosper?
Shall he escape that has done such things?
And shall he break the covenant or be
delivered?
As I live, saith the Lord God, surely
in the place where the king dwells, that
made him king, whose oath he despised and
whose covenant he broke, even with him in
the midst of Babylon he shall die.
And Zedekiah was indeed brought to Babylon and
died there.
Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and
great company make for him in the war
by casting up mounts and building forts to
cut off many persons.
Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the
covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand,
you know, they shook on it and all,
and had done all these things, he shall
not escape.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, as I
live, surely my oath that he has despised
and my covenant that he has broken, even
it will I recompense upon his own head,
and I will spread my net upon him.
And he shall be taken in my snare,
and I will bring him to Babylon and
will plead with him there for his trespass
that he has trespassed against me.
And all of his fugitives with all of
his bands shall fall by the sword, and
they that remain shall be scattered toward all
the winds.
And ye shall know that I am the
Lord, and I have spoken it.
Thus saith the Lord God, I will also
take of the highest branch of the high
cedar, and this is a prophecy that goes
on now concerning Jesus Christ, as he was
the root out of the stem of Jesse,
or the rod out of the stem of
Jesse.
So again, the highest branch from David, the
high cedar, I will set it, I will
crop off the top of his young twigs,
a tender one, and will plant it upon
Mount Zion, the high mountain and eminent.
And in the mountain of the height of
Israel, Mount Zion, will I plant it, and
it shall bring forth boughs and bear fruit
and be a goodly cedar, and under it
shall dwell all of the fowls of every
wing, and the shadow of the branches thereof
shall they dwell.
And all of the trees of the field
shall know that I the Lord have brought
down the high tree, and have exalted the
low tree.
I have dried up the green tree, and
have made the dry tree to flourish.
I the Lord have spoken it, and have
done it.
Now there are instructions for those who have
been taken to Babylon, and Ezekiel now turns
and speaks to them.
The word of the Lord came unto me
saying, What mean ye that you use this
proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The
fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's
teeth are set on edge.
Now it is interesting that Ezekiel was in
Babylon, and this proverb was at that time
being spoken in Babylon.
They go around saying, Well, our fathers ate
sour grapes, and our teeth are set on
edge.
In other words, we are bearing the results
of our father's sins.
We're suffering because of what our fathers did.
Now, Jeremiah makes mention of the fact that
this same proverb was being spoken back in
Jerusalem.
Those people in the siege were saying, Our
fathers have eaten sour grapes, and our teeth
are set on edge.
It's interesting how that we just don't like
to take the blame for what we have
done.
We always like to blame someone else.
So if you're some kind of a neurotic
nut, you go to a psychologist, and they'll
tell you, Well, it's not you, it's your
father.
You see, that's your problem.
Your father ate the sour grapes.
Now you're a neurotic mess, you know.
Hey, you are what you are, and you
might as well take responsibility for yourself.
Quit trying to blame someone else for all
of your ills or all of your problems.
That old business of trying to blame someone
else goes back to the beginning.
God said, Adam, what have you done?
Oh, the woman that you gave me to
be my wife, you know.
She did tempt me, and I did eat.
You know, rather than accept the responsibility for
what a person has done, we always like
to throw it over onto someone else.
We're quite irresponsible in this manner.
But God is saying, What is this proverb
that these people are saying?
Our fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the
children's teeth are set on edge.
As I live, saith the Lord God, God's
going to explode this proverb now.
Ye shall not have an occasion to use
this proverb any more in Israel.
Behold, all souls are mine, as the soul
of the father, so also the soul of
the son is mine, and the soul that
sinneth, it shall die.
Every man is going to be responsible to
God for himself.
But when I stand before God, I'm going
to have to answer for only one person,
me.
I'm not going to have to answer for
my children or my wife as close as
we are.
The only one I answer to God for
is me.
The only one God's going to talk to
me about is me.
When you stand before God, you're only going
to be responsible for you, but you will
be responsible for you.
You're going to have to answer to God
for yourself.
And you can't say, Well, my dad was,
you know, or my mom was or you
can't throw it off.
You're going to have the soul that sinneth,
it shall die.
And God isn't going to punish your parents
for what you are, nor is he going
to punish you for what your parents were.
Nor is he going to reward you for
what your parents were or reward your parents
for what you are as the case may
be.
Each man stands before God as an individual
and answers for himself.
And it's time that you face up to
that reality and you begin to be responsible
before God, knowing that we shall all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ to give
an account for the things that we have
done while we've been living in these bodies,
whether they be good or evil.
I will prepare yourself.
But if a man is just and does
that which is lawful and right and has
not eaten upon the mountains, that is these
abominable feast to these pagan gods or lifted
up his eyes to the idols of the
house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbor's
wife, neither has come near a menstruous woman
and that not oppressed any, but has restored
to the debtor is pledge when someone would
make give you a pledge for a debt.
A lot of times they just keep the
pledge and has spoiled none by violence and
has given his bread to the hungry and
has covered the naked with the garment.
He that has not given forth upon usury,
neither has taken any increase that has withdrawn
his hand from iniquity and has executed true
judgment between man and man has walked in
my statutes and have kept my judgments to
deal truly.
He is just.
He shall surely live, saith the Lord God.
Now, those are the things that you want
to live by the law that you'll have
to do.
Now, God has a better way of righteousness
through faith in Jesus Christ.
If he beget a son that is a
robber or a shedder of blood, and that
does the like to any of these things
and that does not any of those duties,
but has eaten upon the mountains and defiled
his neighbor's wife, oppressed the poor and needy,
has spoiled by violence, has not restored the
pledge and has lifted up his eyes to
idols and committed abomination and has given forth
upon usury loaned with usurious interest rates and
has taken increase.
Shall he then live?
He shall not live.
He has done all of these abominations.
He shall surely die.
His blood shall be upon him.
Now, lo, if he beget a son that
sees all of his father's sins, which he
has done and considers and does not such
like that he has not eaten upon the
mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to
the idols of the house of Israel, nor
defiled his neighbor's wife.
Neither is it pressed any nor withheld the
pledge and so forth that he has taken
of his hand of the Lord and he
has not received usury nor increase and has
executed my judgments, has walked to my statutes.
He shall not die for the iniquity of
his father.
He shall surely live.
Every man answers for himself as for his
father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother
by violence and did that which is not
good among his people.
And lo, he shall die in his iniquity.
Yet you say, why does not the son
bear the iniquity of the father when the
son has done that which is lawful and
right and has kept all my statutes and
has done them?
He shall surely live.
The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
The son shall not bear the iniquity of
the 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.
But if the wicked will turn from all
of his sins that he is committed God's
grace, God's mercy of the wicked will turn
and keep my statutes and do that which
is lawful and right.
He shall surely live.
He will not die.
And all his transgressions that he has committed,
they shall be not 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 way
and live.
God is so maligned in the minds of
people is as people look upon God as
as some kind of a vengeful character who
is just, you know, waiting to cast people
into hell.
Not so.
God is so patient, so long suffering, he'll
do anything to keep a person out of
hell.
He has done everything to keep a person
out.
He even sent his only begotten son to
bear all of our sins to make it
so easy to get into heaven and to
get into hell.
You have to go against the grace of
God, the love of God.
You have to despise his son, Jesus Christ.
Turn your back upon the provisions of God.
And really, you have to, in a sense,
cross over the body of Jesus Christ to
get into hell because he stands in your
way to block you and you've got to
shove him aside.
It's not easy to get to hell.
You've got to fight God every step.
Conviction of God's Holy Spirit.
But if you're stubborn enough and hang in
there, you can make it.
But when the righteous turns away from his
righteousness and commits iniquity and listen carefully and
does according to all of the abominations that
the wicked man does, shall he live?
All of his righteousness that he hath done
shall not be mentioned in the trespass that
he hath trespassed and in his sin that
he hath sinned in them shall he die.
Yet you say the way of the Lord
is unequal.
That isn't fair.
God said here now, O house of Israel
is not my way equal are not your
ways unequal when a righteous man turns away
from his righteousness and commits iniquity and dies
in them for his iniquity that he hath
done, shall he die again when the wicked
man turns away from his wickedness that he
has committed and does that which is lawful
and right, he shall save his soul alive
because he is considered and turned away from
all of his transgressions that he hath committed
and he shall surely live.
He shall not die.
Yet say at the house of Israel, the
way of the Lord is not equal.
O house of Israel are not my ways
equal and not your ways unequal.
Therefore, I will judge you, O house of
Israel, everyone according to his way, saith the
Lord God, repent and turn yourselves from all
of your transgressions so iniquity shall not be
your ruin.
Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby
ye have transgressed and make you a new
heart and a new spirit.
For why will you die, O house of
Israel?
For I have no pleasure in the death
of him that dieth, saith the Lord God.
Wherefore, turn yourselves and live.
So God's crying to Israel, look, turn from
your transgressions, turn to me and live.
I don't have any pleasure in the death
of the wicked turn and live.
God's pleading with him.
You say, but what does that mean?
If the righteous turns from his righteousness and
commits iniquity and dies in his iniquity, his
righteousness will not be remembered.
Well, that's for you to figure out.
I think it means what it says.
Moreover, take thou up a lamentation.
So this is a lamentation.
And notice at the beginning, he says a
lamentation at the end.
He said, this is a lamentation and shall
be a lamentation.
Now, if I were a Bible critic, I
would tell you why this wasn't a lamentation.
If I were in the school of higher
criticism, one of those biblical scholars.
Moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes
of Israel and say, what is thy mother?
She's a lioness.
She laid down among the lions and she
nourished her whelps among the lions.
These are the princes.
Now your mother is a lioness.
She laid down among the lions and she
brought up one of her whelps and it
became a young lion and learned to catch
the prey and it devoured men.
And the nations also heard of him and
he was taken in their pit caught in
their trap.
And they brought him with chains to the
land of Egypt.
That would be the prince or the King
Jehoia has.
Now, when she saw that she had waited
and her hope was lost, then she took
another of her whelps and made him a
young lion.
This would be Jehoia Chin, Chin, Jehoia Chin.
And he went up and down among the
lions and he became a young lion and
learned to catch the prey and devoured men.
And he knew their desolate palaces and he
laid waste their cities and the land was
desolate and the fullness thereof by the noise
of his roaring.
Then the nation set against him on every
side from the provinces and spread their net
over him and he was taken in their
pit.
And they put him in a ward in
chains and they brought him to the king
of Babylon.
And they brought him unto the prisons, the
holds, and his voice should no more be
heard upon the mountains of Israel.
Jehoia Chin was carried away captive to Babylon.
And thy mother is like a vine in
thy blood.
Planted by the water, she was fruitful, full
of branches by reason of many waters.
And she had a strong rods for the
scepters of them that bear rule.
And her stature was exalted among the thick
branches.
And she appeared in her height with a
multitude of her branches, but she was plucked
up in fury.
She was cast down to the ground.
In the east wind dried up her fruit
and her strong rods were broken and withered.
The fire consumed them.
And now she is planted in the wilderness
in a dry and a thirsty ground.
And fire has gone out of a rod
of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit
so that she hath no strong rod to
be a scepter to rule.
This is a lamentation and shall be a
lamentation."
It of course speaks to the end of
the kings of Israel because of their being
conquered.
Now it came to pass in the seventh
year of the fifth month, the tenth day
of the month, that a certain of the
elders of Israel came to inquire the Lord
and they sat before me.
Now this evidently was their custom.
We read earlier last week where the elders
came to sit before Ezekiel to inquire the
Lord.
And so the Lord came into me saying,
son of man, speak to the elders of
Israel.
Now the last time God said, you know,
why should I be inquired of them?
You know, these guys have idols that they've
set up in their hearts and God's still
not speaking to them.
Son of man, speak to the elders of
Israel, saying to them, thus saith the Lord
God, are you come to inquire of me?
As I live, saith the Lord God, I'll
not be inquired of by you.
You've come to get my advice.
You've come to get my counsel.
I'm not going to counsel you.
Will you judge them, son of man?
Will you judge them, cause them to know
the abominations of their fathers?
Saying to them, thus saith the Lord God
in the day when I chose Israel and
lifted up my hand to the seat of
the house of Jacob and made myself known
unto them in the land of Egypt.
Now he goes back, cause them to know
their history, rehearse their history for them.
Go back to when they were in Egypt.
When I lifted up my hand unto them
saying, I am Jehovah, your God.
In the day that I lifted up my
hand unto them to bring them forth out
of the land of Egypt into the land,
which I had aspired for them flowing with
milk and honey, which is the glory of
all the lands.
Now you go to Israel today and you
see a tremendous work of restoration.
They have planted millions of trees all over
the land.
And as a result of the planting of
all of these trees, they have been able
to change the climate in Israel and creating
a lot more humidity and thus a lot
more rain.
And the land is again becoming a land
of streams and a land of greenery as
they are getting more and more rains all
the time as a result of this reforestation
program that they have had.
And of course they've been able to, through
drainage canals and planting of eucalyptus trees and
all, been able to take a lot of
the marshes, the areas that were just swampy
and they've been able to make them very
productive as far as the growing of fruit
and all.
The Sharon Plain that used to be nothing
but marshland is now beautiful citrus orchards.
The same with the Valley of Megiddo that
was marshland is now just so verdant and
beautiful and green with all of the agriculture
that is there.
Of course, by their planting and all and
bringing water down to Beersheba, they're really creating
now a whole new look to this land.
Now, when God first brought the children of
Israel into the land, it was a land
of heavy forest, a land of beautiful streams
and forests, a land that flowed with milk
and honey.
They sort of sneer now because it is
a rocky land and they make jokes out
of the rocks.
You know, like when God was creating the
earth, he sent two angels out with baskets
of rocks to distribute around the world.
And one angel took and distributed his rocks
over half the world, but the other angel
was lazy and just dumped all of his
rocks on Israel.
And it is true that it is a
rocky land now, but it wasn't always so.
When the Turks took the land, they deliberately
cut down all of the forest to just
denude the land.
And without the trees and all, the topsoil
all washed away and the land became a
barren desert wilderness.
But of course, except in the valleys, it
became marshlands because of all of the silt
that plugged up the streams and so forth.
And so it developed these marshlands plus the
rocky mountains, the barren rocky mountains.
Now, the Jews started planting pine trees on
these rocky mountains because the pine tree roots
are able to go down in the crevices
and are able to, actually, as they go
down and they swell, they begin to crack
the rocks and break them up, creating new
topsoil.
And all of the planting was done on
a scientific basis.
And extremely educational and valuable lessons can be
learned agriculturally in going over and studying.
They've really done the whole thing from a
scientific base.
Because eucalyptus trees drink up so much water,
they've planted eucalyptus trees in these marsh areas
so that they would drink up gallons of
water every day.
And of course, they drained the marshes and
drained the rivers and all and allowed them
to flow on out again to the Mediterranean
so that you don't have the marshland.
And they are really restoring this land in
a marvelous way.
And it's an exciting thing to see.
But when God first brought them into the
land out of Egypt, it was a beautiful,
verdant land of forest and streams and all
throughout the entire land.
It was according to the word of God,
one of the most beautiful places in the
world.
And as you see where they are restoring
and where the rain has been restored and
all, there are some beautiful, beautiful areas.
That Sea of Galilee and the areas around
the Sea of Galilee, up at Tel Dan,
one of the most beautiful places.
The water in the springs and all.
It is just lovely, beautiful.
And the whole countryside is being restored and
as it is, it's again becoming a place
of great beauty.
But the land, God said, I spied out
this land for them.
It was flowing with milk and honey.
It was the glory of all of the
lands.
Then said I unto them, cast your way
every man the abominations of his eyes.
That is while they were in Egypt.
Don't defile yourself with the idols of Egypt,
for I am Jehovah, your God.
But they rebelled against me.
They would not hearken unto me.
They did not every man cast away the
abominations of their eyes.
Neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt.
Then I said I will pour out my
fury upon them to accomplish my anger against
them in the midst of the land of
Egypt.
But I wrought for my name's sake that
it should not be polluted before the heathen
among whom they were in whose sight I
made myself known unto them in bringing them
forth out of the land of Egypt.
Wherefore, I caused them to go forth out
of the land of Egypt, and I brought
them into the wilderness.
And I gave them my statutes.
I showed them my judgments, which if a
man do, he shall even live in them.
So God gave the statutes, the judgments, the
right way to live.
Moreover, I also gave them my Sabbaths to
be assigned between me and them.
Now, the Sabbath was not assigned to the
Gentiles.
And there are people today who get on
a Sabbath, they kick and wonder why we
don't worship God on the Sabbath.
We do.
I worship God every day.
But why don't you observe the Sabbath?
Because I'm not a Jew.
It's a sign between God and the Jew.
You say, how can you be so sure?
Because God said so.
How sure can you be?
Exodus 31, 12, when God gave the law
of the Sabbath, Exodus 31, 17.
It is a sign of 16.
Wherefore, the children of Israel shall keep the
Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations,
a perpetual covenant.
It is a sign between me and the
children of Israel forever.
For in six days the Lord made the
heaven and the earth.
The seventh day he rested and he was
refreshed.
So it's a sign between God and Israel.
So I'm with Paul.
I'm the type of man that Paul described.
One man considers one day above another, that's
not me.
But another man considers every day alike, that's
me.
I'm sort of boring to be around because
as far as I'm concerned, every day is
alike.
Anniversary, birthday, so on.
Every day is alike.
You know, people set days.
Oh, you know, it's a special day.
Just another day.
As far as I'm concerned, they're all the
Lord's day.
But the house of Israel rebelled against me
in the wilderness.
They did not walk in my statutes.
They despised my judgments, which if a man
do, he would live in them.
And my Sabbath, they greatly polluted.
Then I said I would pour out my
fury upon them in the wilderness to consume
them.
God said to Moses, stand back and wipe
them out.
But I wrought for my name's sake that
it should not be polluted before the heathen
in whose sight I brought them out.
Now, they were, they didn't obey me in
Egypt.
They didn't obey me in the wilderness.
Yet I lifted up my hand unto them
in the wilderness, that I would not bring
them into the land which I had given
them, flowing with milk and honey, which is
the glory of all the lands, the glorious
land, because they despised my judgments and walked
not in my statutes, but they polluted my
Sabbath.
For their heart went after their idols.
Nevertheless, my eyes spared them from destroying them,
and neither did I make an end of
them in the wilderness.
But I said unto their children in the
wilderness.
So he cast the fathers out.
They failed.
So I spoke then to their children in
the wilderness.
Walk ye not in the statutes of your
fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves
with their idols.
I am Jehovah your God.
Walk in my statutes, keep my judgments, and
do them, and howl my Sabbath, and they
shall be a sign between me and you,
that ye may know that I am Jehovah
your God.
Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against me.
They walked not in my statutes, neither kept
my judgments to do them, which if a
man do, he shall live in them.
They polluted my Sabbath, and then I said
I would pour out my fury upon them
to accomplish my anger against them in the
wilderness.
Nevertheless, I withdrew my hand and wrought from,
I withheld for my name's sake, that it
should not be polluted in the sight of
the heathen in whose sight I brought them
forth.
And I lifted up my hand unto them
also in the wilderness, that I would scatter
them among the heathen and disperse them through
the countries.
God spoke to them through Moses and said,
Look, God is going to scatter you throughout
all the nations.
He's going to disperse you among the nations.
That's in the song that Moses taught them,
so that when they were scattered, that they
would be singing the song, and they'd remember.
God warned them of this.
If you turn from God and all, then
God will turn you over into the hands
of your enemies and you'll be dispersed.
Throughout among among the nations, you become a
curse and a byword on the lips of
all the people, because they had not executed
my judgments, but had despised my statutes, have
polluted my Sabbath, and their eyes were after
their father's idols.
Wherefore, I gave them also, I gave them
also statutes that were not good.
He said, All right, verse 39, go serve
everyone as idols.
In other words, God says, All right, that's
what you do it.
So he gave them statues that were not
good.
You know, just he saw that they were
bent in that direction.
All right, if that's what you want to
do, do it.
It's terrible when God gives up on a
person and just turns him over to his
own desires, to his own destruction.
And I polluted them in their own gifts
and caused them to pass through the fire,
all that opened the wound that I might
make them desolate to the end that they
might know that I am the Lord.
Therefore, son of man, speak into the house
of Israel and say to them, thus saith
Jehovah God.
Yet in this, your fathers have blasphemed me
in that they have committed a trespass against
me for when I have brought them into
the land for the witch, I lifted up
my hand to give it to them.
When I finally brought them in here, then
they saw every high hill and all of
the thick trees, the forest, and they offered
their, their sacrifices.
And there they presented the provocation of their
offerings, which they're also, they made their sweet
savor and poured out their drink offerings.
So I brought them finally into the land
and they saw the beauty, the hills and
all, and they began to worship on every
one of these hills, these false gods.
Then I said to them, what is the
high place where into you go?
And the name thereof is called Bama to
this day, which means high place.
Wherefore say to the house of Israel, thus
saith Jehovah God, are you polluted after the
manner of your fathers and commit ye whoredoms
after their abominations?
For when you offer your gifts, when you
make your sons to pass through the fire,
you pollute yourselves with all your idols, even
unto this day.
And shall I be inquired of by you
or house of Israel, as I live, saith
Jehovah God, I'll not be inquired by you.
So here they are sitting before properties.
You can say inquire the Lord for us.
And God says, Hey, is he killed?
Just tell him the history and then say,
should I be inquired of by you?
No way.
And that which comes into your mind shall
not be at all that you say, we
will be as the heathen as the families
of the countries to serve wood and stone.
As I live, saith Jehovah God, surely with
a mighty hand and with a stretched out
arm and with fury poured out, will I
rule over you and I will bring you
out from the people and we'll gather you
out of the countries where you have scattered
with a mighty hand and with a stretched
out arm and with fury poured out.
And I will bring you into the wilderness
of the people.
And there will I plead with you face
to face.
Like, as I pleaded with your fathers in
the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so
will I plead with you, saith Jehovah God,
and I will cause you to pass under
the rod and I will bring you into
the bond of the covenant.
And I will purge out from among you,
the rebels and them that transgress against me.
And I will bring them forth out of
the country where they sojourn and they shall
not enter into the land of Israel and
you shall know that I'm the Lord.
So God says, I will come again in
that day.
And of course this day is in the
future, but God is going to cause it,
cause him to pass under the rod to
enter into the covenant.
There will be those that God will deal
with, that he will bring into the land
and he will bless and he will favor,
but he's going to rule.
They will have to make that commitment unto
God.
As for you, O house of Israel, thus
saith Jehovah God, go ye serve everyone as
idols.
Hereafter also, if you will not hearken unto
me, but pollute ye my holy name no
more with your gifts and with your idols.
For in my holy mountain, in the mountain
of the height of Israel, saith the Lord
God, there shall all the house of Israel
and all of them of the land serve
me.
There will I accept them and there will
I require your offerings and the first fruits
of your oblations with all your holy things.
I will accept you with your sweet savor
when you bring, when I bring you out
from the people.
This is when Christ returns and the gathering
together again of the people into the land
and God will then accept them as his
people.
And he will be sanctified in you before
the heathen.
And you shall know that I am Jehovah
when I shall bring you into the land
of Israel, into the country for the, which
I lifted up my hand to give it
to your fathers.
And there shall you remember your ways and
all your doings wherein you have been defiled.
And you shall loathe yourselves in your own
sight for all of the evils that you
have committed.
It said that in Zachariah prophesies.
And when they see Christ, they shall look
upon him whom they have pierced and they
shall mourn and wail over him as a
mother wails over her only son who has
been killed.
Oh, when they realize what they have done,
what they have missed in the rejection of
their Messiah weeping, but it will be a
glorious thing because it will be the weeping
of repentance and it will be their restoration
in their life and their glory.
And you shall know that I am the
Lord.
When I have wrought with you for my
name's sake, not according to your wicked ways,
nor according to your corrupt doings.
Oh, ye house of Israel sayeth Jehovah God,
the Lord God.
I don't know how I hear.
Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto
me saying, son of man, set thy face
toward the South and drop thy word toward
the South and prophesy, prophesy against the forest
of the South field and say to the
forest of the South, hear the word of
the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will
kindle a fire in thee and it shall
devour every green tree in thee and every
dry tree.
The flaming fire shall not be quenched in
all faces from the South to the North
shall be burned therein and all flesh shall
see it that I, the Lord have kindled
it and it shall not be quenched.
Then said I, Oh Lord God, they say
of me, does he not speak parables?
They're already saying, Lord, he's speaking in parables
and I tell him this and they're going
to just give me a bad time.
But of course, God is here speaking, uh,
this parable of the force of the South
field in which he is, uh, prophesying, uh,
the fact that Jerusalem is to be burned.
And, and this is the end.
And of course, this is the final prophecy
after this prophecy, Jerusalem, the news came of
Jerusalem's destruction.
And so we, this is the last prophecy
before, uh, the news of the destruction of
Jerusalem arrived to Babylon.
And now beginning with chapter 21, uh, we
get into a new set of prophecies after
now that Jerusalem has fallen and those in
Babylon have realized it.
So may the Lord be with you and
bless you and strengthen you for this week.
May the anointing of God's Holy Spirit rest
upon your life and through his beauty, may
your life shine forth.
May God cause fullness of his spirit to
rest upon you and may your life be
a strong testimony and a witness to those
around of the grace and the love of
our Lord in Jesus name.