Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture - Ezekiel 3-7, 29-31 Jer 52 & 2 Kngs 25
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: Hey, it's good to see you today. Welcome to our journey through scripture. We are going to reach the ⁓ fall of Jerusalem. So we've been building to that point, seeing lots of prophecies about it, Ezekiel warning about it, Jeremiah had been warning about it. And today we're going to reach the conclusion of that. We're going to start by reading Ezekiel chapter, the end of chapter three through seven. And then we'll be reading from Ezekiel 29 through 31. And then we'll have a few from Jeremiah and 2 Kings. It's just a few scriptures from that. So I'll just give them to you as I read them. They all say kind of the same thing about the fall of Jerusalem. So starting in Ezekiel, the end of Ezekiel chapter 3, ⁓ where Jeremiah, ⁓ there'd be times where he would ⁓ illustrate ⁓ you know, what was going on and what was going to be happening to the people. And many times he would do it with kind of lengthy prose and poems and things like that. ⁓ Ezekiel, it's kind of viewed as ⁓ a street actor. ⁓ He would act things out that were symbolic of what was going to happen. So these are things that God has called him to do, ⁓ but he physically reenacts them or acts them out. and to try to prepare the people for what is to come. So the end of chapter three, starting in verse 22, you have, it says verse 24, sorry, the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, spoke to me and said to me, go shut yourself inside your house. You shall surely be, will put ropes on you and bind you with them so that you cannot go out among them. They will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so you shall be mute and not be one to rebuke them, they are a rebellious house." So again, this is kind of what's going to happen to Israel or to Jerusalem. ⁓ It's also that Jerusalem doesn't want to hear, the people don't want to hear these words from Ezekiel. Verse 27 says, But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, thus says the Lord God, he who hears, let him hear and he who refuses, let him refuse for they are a rebellious house." ⁓ Again, so the people are going to be receiving judgment, but as individuals, the ones who hear can hear and they will know and be aware of what's going on. But there will be those who refuse and who continue to go their own way. So in a sense, what this saying is God is giving each individual the opportunity to hear His words. Now, all of them are going to experience the judgment though. ⁓ So there's both this corporate judgment that's happening to the people as a whole, but within that as individuals, ⁓ know, not every individual is is equally guilty in a sense, right? There are those who have an opportunity to hear the Word of the Lord and to be faithful to Him even in the midst of the judgment. ⁓ Chapter 4 is a ⁓ of a scene that Ezekiel ⁓ acts out where there's a clay pot that represents Jerusalem and then he builds kind of the ramparts around it. He builds the wall around it. He is kind of illustrating how the Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians are going to lay siege ⁓ to Jerusalem. ⁓ talks about the number of years that the northern kingdom rebelled and then the number of years that Jerusalem rebelled and Ezekiel lays on his side and only can eat a little bit and drink a little bit during that time. All of this is... is sharing this brutal message of what is to come and what is going to happen to Jerusalem. says ⁓ verse 15, then He said to me, see I am giving you cow dung instead of human waste and you shall prepare your bread over it. So they're going to have to prepare their bread by burning dung. Moreover, He said to me, son of man, surely I will cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety. and shall drink water by measure and with dread. And they may lack bread and water and be dismayed with one another and waste away because of their iniquity." Again, kind of a brutal picture of what is going to be happening to Jerusalem as the siege begins. Then chapter 5, ⁓ he acts this out. He takes a sword and he cuts all the hair off of his head and his beard, which was a sign of humiliation. So Jerusalem is going through humiliation. And then it says, and you son of man, take a sharp sword. This is right at the beginning of chapter five. Take it as a barber's razor, pass it over your head and your beard. Take the scales to weigh and divide the hair. You shall burn with fire one third in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are finished. And then you shall take one third and strike it around with the sword. And then one third you shall scatter in the wind. It will draw out a sword after them. You shall take a small number of them, bind them with your edge garment, then take some of them again and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire. From there, the fire will go out into all the house of Israel." ⁓ So it's basically saying that a third of the people are going to die in the siege, a third are going to be shut down by the, or going to be burned with fire, a third be taken by the sword. and a third will be destroyed during the siege, but then there's this remnant, right? There's always the remnant that are going to be scattered to the far ends of the earth, but God will return a small remnant in His timing. A horrible prediction, verse 10, Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers, and I will execute judgments among you. and all of you who remain, will scatter to the winds." ⁓ What that's alluding to, and this was not uncommon in sieges ⁓ during this time period, the sieges would last, they could last years. And when the people would run out of food, there were many times that they would resort to cannibalism. this is going to be a horrible time. And again, Ezekiel is saying this. as the people are kind of getting excited because remember King Zedekiah, is rallying the troops, telling everybody that God's going to deliver them. And Ezekiel's going through this and saying, no, you're about to go through horrific events. But the people, they wanted to listen to Zedekiah. ⁓ Chapter 6 just talks about the judgments on an idolatrous Israel, of how Israel has turned his back on God. Verse 8 though, again, says, "'Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations when you are scattered through the country.'" And it goes on and on. ⁓ Verse 14, "'So I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land desolate, yes, more desolate than the wilderness towards ⁓ De Blas and in all their dwelling places. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.'" This is what we're going to see in ⁓ chapter seven. We're going to see more of this. ⁓ God is allowing this to happen and he's using Babylon to do this because the people have been idolatrous. They have gone after other gods. What does God keep reiterating is they are going to realize, then they shall know that I am the Lord. So the people have thought that they're smart enough that they can incorporate these other gods. Well, this is going to prove to them there's only one God, and it's the God that they have chosen to rebel against. If you look at chapter 7, read through there, it's just ⁓ lots of kind of poetic language of ⁓ proclaiming disaster coming. Verse 4 says, and your abominations will be in your midst, then you shall know that I am the Lord. Verse 9. I will repay you according to your ways and your abominations will be in your midst. Then you shall know that I am the Lord who strikes." Verse 27, I will do them according to their way and according to what they deserve. I will judge them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord. All So it's very important for us to understand who the Lord is and there's only one true God. Ezekiel chapter 29 through 31, kind of are in this time period, but it's a proclamation against Egypt where Ezekiel is also prophesying that not only is Jerusalem going to fall, but Egypt will fall as well. I thought it was interesting in 29, you can read that. talks about Egypt. 29 verse 13 says, "'Yet thus says the Lord God, at the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from their peoples among whom they were scattered. I will bring back the captives of Egypt and cause them to return to the land of Pethros.'" to the land of their origin, and they shall be a lowly kingdom. It shall be the lowliest of kingdoms, and shall never again exalt itself among the nations. For I will diminish them so that they will not rule over nations any longer. No longer shall it be the confidence of the house of Israel, but will remind them of their iniquity when they turn to follow them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord God." Right? actually going to show mercy to Egypt that they will be able to be a nation again, but they will never be as a national, a world empire again. Chapter 30, same thing, continues to talk about Egypt being overrun. 31, the same thing, Egypt was cut down like a great tree. So I encourage you to read through there. The last few verses were going to be 2 Kings 25, Jeremiah 52, and Jeremiah 39. So 2 Kings 25, Jeremiah 52, and 39. You can read through those. This is kind of broken up a little bit. Again, we're trying to go in chronological order. ⁓ So it starts off, ⁓ it talks about the fall and captivity of Judah. You see that in the first part of 2 Kings 25 verses 4 through 7. ⁓ The people after the siege, the people flee, and then ⁓ says verse 7, then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, took him to Babylon. Okay, so that is talking about what happens to Zedekiah. So this is the now Jerusalem has fallen. Jeremiah 52 verses 7 through 11 also talk about this, how the walls were overcome and they took the people and they killed King Zedekiah's sons and they removed his eyes. Jeremiah 39, 1 through 7 also talks about the fall of Jerusalem. It talks about how Zedekiah, they tried to leave and to flee by night, but the king caught them and killed Zedekiah's sons and removed his eyes. So pretty brutal stuff. And then you move into 2 Kings again, going back to 2 Kings 25, 8 through 21, it talks about the destruction of the temple. So we have the fall of Jerusalem and then the destruction of the temple. It says, verse 9, he burned the house of the Lord and the king's house, all the houses of Jerusalem, that is all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem. So they broke down the walls, they burned the temple, they burned the palace, ⁓ says, but the captain of the guards left some of the poor in the land. So they removed the rest of the people. but they did leave some of the poorest people there. The bronze pillars were in the house of the Lord, the carts, the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord. They broke into pieces, carried the bronze to Babylon. They took away the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priest ministered. The firepans, basins, things of solid gold and silver, the captain of the guard took away. The two pillars of the sea, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all the articles was beyond measure. The height of one pillar was 18 cubits. The captain of the guard then took the chief priest, Zephaniah, the second priest and the three doorkeepers. He took them out of the city who had charge over the men of war and says, the captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Ribla. Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death. So they just annihilate. the temple, they annihilate the priests, they destroy it completely. Jeremiah 52 repeats this, 12 through 27, talks about the temple being plundered and being burned and how the people are taken to Babylon. Jeremiah 39, 8 through 10 also talks about that. This is a brutal time for the people. Now all the things that the prophets have been saying that were not popular, that the people didn't want to hear, that they didn't listen to, they didn't change their ways, they didn't heed the warnings. Now it's all coming to fruition. And that leads us to the book of Lamentations. Next, read chapters one through five of the book of Lamentations, ⁓ and we will look at that. It's clearly lamenting what has happened. And the people are going to start realizing that the Lord God is the one true God. ⁓ It's a shame that it had to get that far, but you know what? Unfortunately, that's human nature. So we think we can do it on our own until we're proved that we can't. And eventually we recognize and we turn and follow him again. So I encourage you to read Lamentations 1 through 5. It's not going to be too cheery, but Lamentations 1 through 5.