Bible Study: June 19, 2024

Okay, so tonight we're going to look at Ezekiel 12. You'll remember last week that we finished a series, a vision of Ezekiel, that we read from Ezekiel 8 through 11, where God showed Ezekiel what was going on behind the scenes, if you will. He took him into the temple, showed him the abominations that were there, and then he showed the punishment that would be coming upon those nations, as God talked about how he would take out his vengeance on the people. And the vision then ended in chapter 11 with Ezekiel back with the elders that he had begun in chapter 8 talking to. So when we begin chapter 12 tonight, it's a new series of chapters. Actually, the next several chapters up until chapter 18 or 19. We'll talk about God's vengeance, in a way. But as we begin chapter 12, we will see God going back, and now that Ezekiel has seen these things, he's going to talk about some other signs that Ezekiel is going to have to go through.

As God tries to get the attention of the people back then, and get our attention today about these things that are surely going to happen, you'll remember early on in the Ezekiel that God gave Ezekiel a vision of the kingdom, of the heaven. He took him up into the throne room. In chapter 2, he often referred to the house of Israel as a rebellious house. And he reminded Ezekiel that, you're going to talk, but they're not going to listen. They just don't listen. And then you remember that he had him take a clay tablet. He said, picture this siege that's going to come on Jerusalem as he tried to reach the people in a different way than just talking through the prophets.

And Ezekiel laid 390 days on one side to picture the captivity of Israel, and 40 days on another side to picture what was going to happen to Judah. And then we had the other chapters that were there. When we come into chapter 12, we see God now that he has exposed what is going on in Israel. And the reason that God is going to bring his punishment, if you will, on Israel, we see him asking or telling, commanding Ezekiel, some other things. And in this chapter, we see three different things God is going to ask Ezekiel to do. So let's pick it up in verse 1, chapter 12. And we can see we're in a new kind of news thing. The commentary say this has happened literally right after chapter 11. So vision ends, as we see in chapter in verse 25. A new vision or a new command from God comes as a result of that vision of what Ezekiel now knows. The word of the Lord, verse 1, says, came to me saying...

Let me just see that these are you. Okay. Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house. Hear me? Hear God saying that again. Warning, Ezekiel. You're going to tell them, but they're not going to listen. You dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see, but doesn't see, and ears to hear, but does not hear. For they are a rebellious house. So as God says, He goes, they could understand what you're saying, Ezekiel. Their ears aren't closed. Their eyes are open. They can understand. And as you read those words, you think about the words that God tells us today. And Christ will often talk about, they have eyes to see, and they don't see. They have ears to hear, but they won't hear. And He makes those comments. And there are those in the church whose minds are open. God has opened minds to understand the Bible. He has opened minds to understand the principles and to hear the words that He's saying. But there are some who just don't listen. And as we get along in this chapter, we're going to see that some of the prophets that are out there will tell people things that they want to hear. And even though they have eyes to see and ears to hear, they just don't want to hear the truth. I want to go back to, keep your finger there in Ezekiel 12. Let's look at some words that are just fascinating. I always find them fascinating to read that Jesus Christ said back in Matthew 13. Matthew 13 and verse 16. Matthew 13 verse 16. And you see He's talking to His disciples here. And in verse 14, you know, He says, Hearing you will hear and won't understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes, they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, they should understand with their hearts and turn, so I should or could heal them. He says, they closed their eyes. They aren't listening anymore. Verse 16 is where I wanted to go. But He goes, But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. We have ears to hear. We have eyes to see. God gives us that. And it would be us if we aren't listening to what God's word are. It would be our fault if we're not listening to the warnings that God gives us. If we just choose to ignore them, and just choose our own way and our own beliefs, and set those what God says aside. Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For assuredly I say to you, verse 17, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

So as he begins in Matthew 12—not Matthew 12, Ezekiel 12 here—he says, They do have eyes to see. They do have ears to hear, but they won't do it. For they are a rebellious house. So verse 3, back in chapter 12 of Ezekiel, therefore now he's going to give him kind of an acting thing. Act this out for Israel. They won't listen to your words. They didn't pay attention to when you were lying on one side for more than a year, and then more than a month on your other side. They didn't pay attention to that. So here, let's act out what is going to happen to them. In verse 3, therefore, Son of Man, prepare your belongings for captivity, and go into captivity by day in their sight. You shall go from your place into captivity to another place in their sight. It may be—maybe they'll pay attention to this, he's saying—that they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. So he's going to have Ezekiel act out as if he is being carried away captive. And so he's saying, if you're going to go in, you're going to prepare your belongings like you're leaving your house, you're going to go out, and then they're going to look and see, what are you doing, Ezekiel? Why are you doing this? And you'll give them the message. So maybe they'll listen to this. So God says, well, maybe they'll see that what is going to happen to them is they are going to go into captivity. Nebuchadnezzar is going to complete the conquest of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is going to fall. You are going to go into captivity. There were apparently people at that time who thought, well, God will deliver Jerusalem back to the Jews. He will defeat Nebuchadnezzar. But God is saying, no, it is going to happen. Jerusalem is going to fall, and Judah is going to fall. So in verse 4, then, he goes on with what he's instructing Ezekiel. By day you shall bring out your belongings in their sight, make sure they see you, and at evening you shall go in their sight like those who go into captivity. And he gives them instructions. This is what you're going to do. Dig through the wall in their sight. Go through the wall in your house as if you're leaving. Make sure they see what you're doing. Make it very obvious to them that you are acting out something for them. You got your bags packed. You're going to go out. You're going to dig through the wall in their sight and carry your belongings out through it. In their sight, you shall bear them on your shoulders and carry them out at twilight. You're leaving at the end of the day. You shall cover your face. Just like sometimes when people are going getting led into captivity, what do they do? They'll cover their head so they can't see where they're going. Or it can indicate that you're not going to know where you're going. It's going to be dark. You're going to be wandered away. You're going to be taken away from where you live. In their sight, over and over, God says, make sure the people see what you are doing. In their sight, you shall... In their sight, you shall... I was looking at my notes here.

In their sight, you shall...

In their sight, you shall bear them on your shoulders and carry them out at twilight. You shall cover your face so that you cannot see the ground, for I have made you assign to the house of Israel. So here God is given a pretty explicit instructions. In Ezekiel, what we see is always willing to do what God says. God doesn't even record that it is hard. It was like, well, that's a silly thing to do. They're not going to listen to me. If God says it, God even warned them, they're not going to listen to you. Do it anyway. Do it anyway. Do what I say to do. And Ezekiel always just did what God asked him to do. Quite an example for us. Sometimes we may be asked to do something that we just don't want to do, but we do it anyway if we know it's from God. We do the things that he says to do, because if it's from God, it is always the right thing to do, and it is always for our benefits.

It is a sign for Israel that he says there. He is showing them that they are going to be taken captive. If we look back just a few chapters in Ezekiel, we see that Ezekiel has already said this to the house of Israel and to Judah in prior verses. In chapter 6, for instance, he will talk about the people, what's going to happen to them, and he'll talk about some will be taken by sword, some will die in the famine, some will be taken captive.

In verse 6, you're going to see, if you're looking at chapter 6 right now, you're going to see kind of one of the things that show us that this book and these chapters are for the end time as well, because in verse 6 he says, In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate. So we know when we read those things, that's a prophecy for the end time because that never happened to Judah, that never happened to ancient Israel. That's an end time prophecy that all your cities shall be laid waste. When Israel was taken captive, you'll remember, the Assyrians came in and they desired that land. They wanted to live in that land. When Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon conquered Judah, they didn't destroy it, they destroyed the temple, but they wanted to be there. They wanted to be there. They wanted the riches of that time. They didn't destroy, completely lay the city waste. Today, of course, with the nuclear armament that nations have, cities can literally be laid waste, as the Bible says. But in verse 9, he says, Then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations, where they are carried captive. They're going to be carried captive. And then again, he repeats, why? Because I was crushed by their adulterous heart, which has departed from me, and by their eyes, which play the harlot after their idols. They're going to be taken away. They're going to be taken to another place.

And there they will learn. They will begin to understand God. They will begin to see what it is they did, and they will loathe themselves. They will come to repentance when they see what it is that they have done to God, is what he's saying here. They will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations. In verse 10, something we're going to see here, and this is where, and they will know that I am the Lord. Because God drives them out, because they go through this harsh punishment, they do come to a recognition of who God is, what he's done, and why, and they begin to acknowledge what they did to bring that upon. It's never God who just desires to punish people. He always does it because he has eternal life and people's good in mind. He wants them. He wants them to be in his kingdom, and sometimes we have to go through some difficult times and even be put out of the church in some cases, right? As we see in 1 Corinthians 5 with the man who the Corinthian church Paul instructed to put out, and when they were out, when they felt the result of straying from God and turning against God and not acknowledging their sins, they realized how empty and meaningless and futile life was. They want to come back, and when that happens, it's a beautiful thing because they are committed at that point to God, as Israel will be in the end time. Let's go back to Ezekiel 12. We say this isn't the first time, of course, God has said, you're going to be taken captive. Now he has Ezekiel actually acting it out.

So the thing here will be, well, we'll read verse 7. Verse 7 of Ezekiel 12. Ezekiel says, So I did, so I did as I was commanded. I brought out my belongings by day, as though going into captivity, and that evening I dug through the wall with my hand. I brought them out of twilight, and I bore them on my shoulder in their sight. And so Israel would ask, what are you doing, Ezekiel? What are you? What are you doing? And he would answer them, but they still didn't listen. In verse 8, in the morning, after Ezekiel acted this out, the word of the Lord came to be saying, Son of man, hasn't the Son, hasn't the house of Israel, the rebellious house? Now we're going to see in this chapter, there's going to be a prophecy that comes about that is fulfilled within five or six years of when Ezekiel says this. But the prophecy is also for the end time, and talking about the house of Israel and the modern day nations, the descendants of Israel today. So when God says the house of Israel, he's talking about some things that are going to happen there, as we're going to see in a minute, but he's talking about the house of Israel and the end time that we'll see as well. So this is one chapter that's going to have some fulfilled prophecy that we'll see, and then also the dual prophecy that is for the end time. Son of man, hasn't the house of Israel? Notice he describes them again, the rebellious house? They just won't listen. Haven't they said to you, what are you doing? Well, that would be the natural thing. If you went out and your neighbor was acting like he was going into captivity, digging a hole in his house, you would say, what are you up to? And so God says, well, didn't they ask what you're doing? So then he tells them what to say. Say to them, thus says the Lord God, this burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel who are among them. So where we have, we have a current king in Jerusalem. Remember as Babylon conquered Jerusalem, it was in stages. You have Daniel who was taken out as part of the first exportation. You have Ezekiel who was taken out as part of the second exportation. And then finally Nebuchadnezzar completely conquered Judah and they fell in 586 BC. So at this time, the Ezekiel's writing, Zedekiah is still on the throne in Judah. So God is talking about this burden. What I'm going to tell you here, this prophecy, this burden, which is kind of like a not a pleasant prophecy, that I'm going to tell you this burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem. He's talking about who's there in Jerusalem, the king, and all the house of Israel who are among them. So all the house of Israel, all the house of Israel, remember, has been taken captive. So we've got a prophecy for now, or then I should say, and then a prophecy for the end times. Verse 11, say, I am assigned to you. No, he's telling Ezekiel, say this, I'm assigned to you. As I have done, so shall it be done to them. They shall be carried away into captivity. Pretty straightforward when God says these things. They're going to be carried away into captivity. You saw me do it? This is what God says. This is why I'm asking, acting it out. And the prince, this is the king, right, in Jerusalem, who was Zedekiah at that time, and the prince, who is among them, shall bear his belongings on his shoulder at twilight and go out. Oh, you're going into captivity.

You're going into captivity. The prince, the king, is going to go into captivity. He'll be carrying his belongings out of Jerusalem to where he will be carried captive. They shall dig through the wall to carry them out through it. He shall cover his face, just like I've done, so that he cannot see the ground with his eyes. So here God is giving a pretty detailed prophecy. Now, I didn't go back and check all the dates. You can do that. But the commentaries say, including our UCG Bible commentary, that you can date the book of Ezekiel by because it pretty much tells you when it was written.

You can compare it to Jeremiah and 2 Kings, and you can see that when Ezekiel was writing these things was five to six years before the final fall of Jerusalem. We're going to go back and see that in a little bit, but compare that in mind. The commentaries aren't saying, well, this was written after the fact. They are saying this was written before it happened in Jerusalem.

What Ezekiel wrote was a prophecy, and they just say the only purpose of this prophecy was it was fulfilled with the complete downfall of Judah five or six years later. So we go back to it. We know about Zedekiah. We see what's going to happen to him. God says, I will also spread, verse 13, my net over him, and he shall be caught in my snare.

He'll kind of be trapped. He's not going to escape. He may think he's going to escape. If you remember when you're fleeing from an enemy in Jerusalem and you see Nebuchadnezzar coming in and Jerusalem's going to fall, what are you going to do? You're going to flee. You might flee for the borders, right? Remember a couple of chapters ago, it talked about the borders. You will fall at the borders. And so we look at what God said. Let's see if I can find that real quickly. Yeah, chapter 11 and verse 10 says, oh, let's just read verse 9. I will bring you out of this mist. I will deliver you into the hands of strangers and execute judgments on you.

You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am the eternal. I'll judge you at the border of Israel. And he's saying here, okay, he's going to go out. He is going to, I will spread my debt over him. He is going to be looking to escape from what is certain, what is certain defeat at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. But at the border, at the border, he will not escape. I will spread my net over him. He will be caught in my snare.

And I will bring him to Babylon, to the land of the Chaldeans. Yet he shall not see it, although he shall die there. So we have this pretty detailed thing that God is giving Ezekiel. Ezekiel is to repeat it to the people of that time. And when they hear this prophecy, they can, as God tells them, they may just reject it.

But since it's going to happen in their lifetime, they don't know that at that time, when they see it happen, they will know. They will know that I am the Lord, God says. I'll read verse 14, then we'll go back and see what actually happened here, too, at the end of Jerusalem. Verse 14 says, I will scatter to every wind, all who are around him, this is the prince in Jerusalem to help him, and all his troops, I will draw, and I will draw out the sword after them.

Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. So if God told us today, within the next few years, this is what's going to happen to America. These are the four horsemen that are riding across the landscape of the earth, the false religion that intensifies, the wars and rumors of wars that intensify, the famines and pestilences that come.

And then you look at the other things as you look at what's going on all around us. If I told you all these things and you see that they happen, you'll know that I'm God. And God records for us these prophecies, and when people see them come to pass, you cannot deny it's God because there are things that happen that can only be by God's ordination. So let's go back just a few books here to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 52. Keeping the verses that we just read in mind, let's see what the actual result of or the actual downfall of Jerusalem was. It's recorded here in Jeremiah 52. It's also in 2 Kings 25. You can see that it's recorded in a couple of places, but here in Jeremiah 52, it goes right along with what we've just been talking about. You will see what Ezekiel said that even the commentary say was written five or six years before it occurred. That is exactly what happened here in Jerusalem. Let's pick it up. We're going to read the first several verses here. As you see the story unfold, this is an actual Jeremiah who was there at the fall of Jerusalem. It is actually his eyewitness account of what happened at that time. Jeremiah 52. Zedekiah, he's the king, was 21 years old when he became king. He reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. He has his mother's name and her lineage as well. Verse 2, he did evil in the side of the eternal. According to all that, his predecessor Jehoiakim had done. For because of the anger of the Lord, this happened in Jerusalem and Judah till he, that's God, finally cast them out from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. As you would expect a king to do. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon, and it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it, and they built a siege wall against it all around.

Now remember in Ezekiel 2, when God first had Ezekiel act out a prophecy, he said, get a clay tablet and build a siege wall. Build a siege wall as if it's around Jerusalem. Here's part of the prophecy. He showed Israel that, said it, also had Ezekiel act out this thing through the clay tablet, but now we see it happening. We have this siege wall against Jerusalem all around. So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. When you have sieges in times of war, famine was the result. The city was completely cut off. I think I mentioned back in chapter 2, you see Israel, modern day, little Israel over in the Middle East today, kind of trying to do the same thing to Gaza. You know, we can build a siege against them. We can have them surrender when we caught off their supplies. But you have the world, I'll use the word, but I don't mean it as harshly as I say it, you see the world interfering. We have to get food to Gaza. We have to get aid to Gaza. We have to get all those humanitarian things in there. And I'm not saying that's wrong, but what was in Netanyahu's mind is, if we can cut off their supplies, and if we can make them, if we can build that siege against them, and he even used the word siege, then they will listen, and they will understand that they have been defeated. But he's got the world against him and that as well. But this is what happened back in ancient Jerusalem. So Nebuchadnezzar builds a siege wall. Jerusalem goes into famine, so there isn't enough food. Then the city wall was broken through.

Remember Ezekiel? Dig through the wall. The city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls.

Get your stuff together. Dig through the wall. Flee it twilight. Run. Run out of Jerusalem. Run out of your home. Run toward the border, which is where they're going. Let's just get away from Jerusalem. If we can get out of here and sneak out of here, that's what we need to do. So all the all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was to buy the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around, and they went by way of the plain. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king.

They knew what was going on. They were trying to escape, right? Army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him, so they they find him. They get him. They get him. At the place we talked about a couple Bible studies ago, this place called Ribla in the land of Hamath, which was at the border at the border of Israel. So they may have thought that they were running for the border where we're going to be free, but as God says in Ezekiel, I'll lay a snare for him. He's going to get caught in a trap. He will not escape. So all the army, his army was scattered from him. They all disappeared.

Excuse me. So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon, captured Zedekiah, brought him up to the king of Babylon at Ribla in the land of Hamath, this border area, and he pronounced judgment on Zedekiah. Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he killed all the princes of Judah in Ribla. They were all trying to escape, but the end had come. He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah, so he literally could not see.

He was carried away to Babylon, but he never saw it because his eyes were put out. He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and the king of Babylon bound him in bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. So even the details of what God had given Ezekiel all came through. He never saw Babylon. He was defeated. He was captured in his own country. His sons were killed. His eyes were put out, and he was led away in the darkness to die in Babylon, even though he never saw it. So as Jeremiah records this, which happened some five, six years later, the commentaries who look at all these 11th year of this reign and 9th year of this reign and Ezekiel wrote in this time frame and everything, as they even say, that prophecy was perfectly fulfilled just a few years later exactly the way God gave Ezekiel to do that, to say it. So Zedekiah and Jeremiah, who also knew what that prophecy was, and I guess Zedekiah could be told, look what God did. It's exactly what he said. How can you deny ever that it wasn't God's Word? So when these things happen and the prophecies are fulfilled, as we went through the book of Isaiah, we saw several prophecies that had been fulfilled exactly the way God said, and there were no explanations for them to be fulfilled. They weren't like natural disasters that could happen to anyone. The one that comes to mind most significantly is the prophecy of Tyre, how that all came about exactly the way God said in a most improbable way that only God could bring about so that they would know he is the Lord and that what he says is exactly what's going to happen. So when we go back to Ezekiel 12, and we look at the words that were said there, and what Ezekiel acted out, and that God told Ezekiel, when they ask you what you're doing, tell them this.

And so in their own lifetimes, in their own lifetimes, they saw it acted out exactly, or happened exactly, the way God said. So when he says in verse 15, then they shall know that I am the Lord when I scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries, exactly what I said, God says, is exactly what happened. And they get it. They get it, maybe not immediately, but as they're there in captivity and thinking about everything that has happened, they realize what God said was exactly, exactly right. Now, you know, we can look at this, and this was completely fulfilled and perfectly fulfilled in Zedekiah's time at the fall of Judah. But what about the fall of the house of Israel in the end time? Because there is this end time part of the end time part of this. As we go to Matthew 24, Christ talks when he has asked, what is going to be the sign of your coming? What's going to be a sign of the end of the ages? And you know, Matthew 24, we're not going to rehearse everything that's in there. He talks about, don't be denied. You know, he talks about wars and rumors of wars, false prophets, famine, pestilence, earthquakes in diverse places. In verse 8, he says, all these are the beginning of sorrows.

This is how it begins. Watch what's going on, see what's happening, and understand the progression of things. Just like God gave Ezekiel, if you remember in Ezekiel 7, you don't have to turn back there, but you go back and review it, and he talks about a singular disaster. A singular disaster will come. The end is near. The day draws near. And then he goes and he says more things. So you go down through the chapter, disaster upon disaster. Everything just speeds up. The day is near. The end is near. Pay attention to what's going on. Watch what's going on, Christ says. So he says, when you see these things happening, this is the beginning of sorrows, but then he says in verse 9, the next thing is going to be tribulation. They'll deliver you up to tribulation. They're not going to like what you say. If they hated me, God says, Christ said, they're going to hate you, and many will be offended. We get people who are offended all the time by simple little things. The thing I did last week, the little 10-minute thing on the young man who stood up for family and motherhood and being a homemaker and having a family in the traditional sense, who he took a lot of, he took a lot of goth, right? People wanted to, people wanted his job. They wanted him to kick off of his football team. Were they offended? Should they have been offended? Absolutely not. He, what he said, most of America, most of the world would agree with and champion, but then many will be offended. They will betray one another, and we'll take one another. We begin to see this, right? You're mad because of this? This is what made you mad? Someone said this, that we see this type of thing beginning to show up in the world, and people get offended, and they want you gone. False lawlessness, in verse 12. Because of lawlessness, well, let's just do a wave with God's law. I've got this clever little argument why this way is right, and that way is right, and everything. We talk about what the world does. Blame everything on, well, not blame everything, but use love. Oh, we just have to love everyone regardless of what they do. Well, that's true. Jesus Christ loved all mankind, but we don't use that as an acceptance of every lifestyle. There is a biblical way of doing things that we adhere to. So, we talk about the gospel being preached, and then as you go down to the end, in verse 33, of course, he goes through everything that's going to happen, and as these disasters and signs begin to multiply, like we read in Ezekiel 7, that pretty soon they're happening right on top of one another. You know, sometimes you will hear me and probably other ministers in the church say, boy, sometimes it's like every week there's something new that's going on. It's like it's hard to keep up with the things that are changing so quickly. So, in verse 33, he says to you and me, all his disciples, so you also, when you see these things, know that it's near. Know that it's at the doors. And then he says in verse 34, surely I say to you, this generation, this generation that sees these things beginning to happen, the beginning of sorrows, all these things, the tribulation, the people getting offended, etc., etc., surely I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. All these things take place. So, as we live in a time similar to Ezekiel's, where God is warning, where God is showing, look at these things that are happening. They're different than life was five years ago, six years ago, seven years ago. Pay attention, and pay attention to these little, as I sometimes say, buds that are appearing on that prophetic tree.

Watch what's going on, not that anyone is setting any dates, but just so that we are all reminded. We live in a time that God prophesied would come. Some of us have been around in the church for 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years. We've heard about it most of our lifetimes. But there is a time that it will come. In chapter 12 of Ezekiel, God is going to address that very same situation that we live in today. So, let's go back to that, because in that day, these people were going to see those things happen, and they did see those things happen. If we look back at chapter 12, and pick it up back in verse 16, we're going to go into some other things that God is going to have Ezekiel do that, again, spell out some of the things to them. Verse 16, he talks about scattering the people in the nations, and he says, But I will spare, I will spare a few of their men from the sword, I'll spare a few of them from famine, and from pestilence. Why will he do that? That they may declare all their abominations among the Gentiles wherever they go. What he's saying by that is, they're going to look at what they've done. They're going to see what their part in it was. That God did exactly what God said he did, that he would do. That they ignored every warning. That's why it's so important to God that his church preaches a warning message to the world. Not just to, yes, to church members, but to the world. This is what's going to happen. This is what God says is going to happen, so that they will know when it happens, oh, there is God. That is God who said that. What we heard was true. That they may declare all their abominations. That they can go wherever they've been scattered and say, now we did this. We did this. We sinned against our God. We didn't do what he said. We ignored those messages. We departed from his ways. He said, if we depart from his ways, this is what's going to happen. He was very clear in what would happen. It all happened exactly the way he said it would. It's our fault. We departed from him. We repent, sackcloth, and ashes. We loathe ourselves because we didn't listen. We know he's God. We should have followed him exactly by every word that he said. Then they will know. Then they will know, God says here in verse 16, that I am the Lord.

Now, let's go back because in Leviticus 26, just again, point out the consistency and the continuity of the Bible from the Old Testament, from early Old Testament books to major prophets, to minor prophets, to the New Testament. In Leviticus 26, we have a prophecy that talks about what will happen to Israel, God's people, physical people, if they depart from his ways.

In Leviticus 26, we see a multi-stage, this is what's going to happen. Then you will suffer this and boom, boom, boom. If you don't return to me, then this is what's going to happen. It goes through three or four different stages here. Let's come down to verse 31, the very last stage where God says in Leviticus 26, 27, he says, and after all this, if all these things happen, and you're still not listening because you are a rebellious house, you just won't listen. You won't even see the signs that are going on around you. And after all this, if you do not obey me, but walk contrary to me, then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I will chastise you seven times for your sins.

Verse 31, again, this is the last, last segment here before we go to verse 40, which we're going to come down to. I will lay your cities, I will lay your cities waste. When we see I will lay your cities waste, we know we're talking about end time. We're going to come back to that a little bit. But let's go to verse 40, because God says this is what's going to happen. This is all the things that are going to happen. And then finally, they are taken into captivity, and they do, they, God talks about here in verse 40 through the next several verses exactly what He's talking about in Ezekiel 12 and verse 16.

If, but if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, if they will acknowledge it, if they will, what they come to recognize their sin, if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to me, God says, and that they also have walked contrary to me, and that I have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies, if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they accept their guilt, there's that repentance that we all must come to if we're going to have salvation and and yield to Jesus Christ, and they accept their guilt, we know God is willing to forgive, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, I will remember, and I will remember the land.

The land will be left empty by them and will enjoy its Sabbath while it lays desolate without them. They will accept their guilt because they despise my judgments and because their soul abhorred my statutes. Yet for all that, when they're in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor will I abhor them to utterly destroy them and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God.

So again, the reason God has this happen is so that they go into and that they can understand we did it. We did it to ourselves. We didn't obey God. We must do what he says. Yes, Tracy? So that makes me ask when I was younger, they used to be afraid, pray that these things do not come to pass.

If the church, as a whole, prayed and fasted sincerely for a year or two years, whatever it was, would it be possible that they could turn their hearts and that these things would not happen? I've always wondered that. You mean like America, for instance? America, England, Australia. You know, you would want to say yes if we did that, but remember that the people, God won't make people yield to him. It has to be in their hearts. And there is a point in time where he says they're a rebellious house.

They're not going to listen. They're not going to pay attention. They're not going to get it until they lose everything and find themselves in a total mess worse than they ever could have imagined. So will it happen? Would he like to believe it would happen? Yes, we would like to believe it happened. Looking at the world around us today in half of the country that is so against everything that's moral and that literally hates the other half of the country, be it on both sides, is that a realistic expectation or has America gone too far where they won't listen to any message?

And yet we still have to do it. So no, I don't think it's I don't think it's realistic. I think America has gone too far. That's my opinion, but also the Bible is right because God tells us what's going to happen. So okay. I was just talking to it. Yep.

So you know we go back to Ezekiel 12 there and see verse 16 and you can see where the mind of God is. I won't take the time to turn to 2 Peter 3 verse 9, but you know what it says there. I think it's in that or verse 10 or somewhere in that area where God says, I'm not willing that any should perish.

He is just looking for everyone to come to repentance because when it's genuine repentance and you turn to God with all your heart, then salvation is possible, right? So that's the same thing he's saying there. And Israel, those that survive all this time, they will be repentant. They will loathe themselves just as we loathe ourselves when we sin against God, and they will commit to following him. So in verse 17, verse 17, it says, Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying. So here we have one episode done, and we're going to go into something else. Xavier, you gotta climb up before we go on here to verse 18.

Oh, sure. Hi, Brown Shaby, and everyone. In regards to Zedekiah, our Father and Lord always tell us, don't look to Egypt. And that was part of his problem. He tried to make an ambassador to Egypt and tried to save himself. That's Ezekiel 17, 15, we're not doing it, but yeah, he was trying to go back to Egypt. And there's only been one case when someone went to Egypt and came back, and they were commanded to go to Egypt. That's our Lord and Joseph and Mary. Yep. Everybody else don't go into it. Yep, don't do it. Don't look at Egypt. Yep. Hey, Samantha. Hey, how you doing? I just had a question about the prophecies. I know in the Old Testament that there's prophecies for that time, and then also as end-time prophecies as well. Now the Old Testament prophecies, do they only apply to Jerusalem, Israel, and then in the New Testament, do those prophecies apply to all of us? Because I've heard before that America, like the United States, is not really going to be a factor in the end-to-end times because we're already going to be done for pretty much.

That's true, but these prophecies that we're talking about, like in Ezekiel, there is an end-time prophecy, and therefore the nations, the modern-day nations of Israel, we say, the countries that have received God's blessings, like America, Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, those nations. So we're going to talk about that here in a little bit. So when Ezekiel, you know, it happens in Jerusalem, but we also see this end-time element that your cities will be laid to waste. That's going to happen in the future before the return of Jesus Christ when the final fall of those modern-day Israelite nations happens. Thank you. Okay, so verse 18, son of man, another thing that Ezekiel is going to act out, eat your bread with quaking.

It means he's going to actually, as he's eating, demonstrate these things. Drink your water with trembling and anxiety. This can kind of reflect a little bit of what happens in a siege, right? You're scared of what's going to happen. You're weak. You're faint. And say to the people, verse 19, of the land, Thus says the Lord God to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and notice it, and to the land of Israel, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the land of Israel. They shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their water with dread, so that her land may be emptied of all who are in it because of the violence of all those who dwell in it. Those of the violence of all those who dwell in it. So we have, you know, the land being emptied, if you will, and indeed when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah, he did move the people out of that land, and the Babylonians, you know, took it over. The same thing with the Assyrians when they conquered Israel. They moved the people out and their own people in, and left a few people there to help them with some of the things. But notice he says, because of the violence of all those who dwell in it, it was just a wicked place to live. I don't know exactly, you know, we don't know exactly what the magnitude of violence or how God defines that, but as we look at violence in our societies, and we talk about some of those things that are talked about in Leviticus 26, and we talk about terror within, and we see the things even from other nations where, you know, recently in Europe where they had their European Union elections, and this kind of statement against immigration, because they see violence and crime in their lands. The same type of things that we are beginning to talk about in this land within wide open border where anyone can walk in. What is the violence that is in store? What is the violence that, what will it be like? You know, we get these periodic news stories of this happened and that happened. We see mass shootings and those type things. We say the mental illness of the people that lead to some of this stuff. But what is the violence? Because God says they're all losing their land because of the violence that's in it. So violence is there. And then verse 20 is this end time element. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall become desolate, and you shall know that I am the Lord. So you get to the point where the cities are laid waste. Is that mankind dissembling them? Are they burned down in some of these riots like we saw back in the summer of 2020? Is it nuclear attacks that laid away some of the cities? Only God knows what it is, but it will happen. And these cities are fortresses that, you know, certainly can't be toppled, will be toppled. And you shall know that I am the Lord.

Now again, let me go, you don't even have to turn there if you don't want to. I talked about it, but in Leviticus 26, as we just read, that last phase of that prophecy, if Israel, the people of Israel, the physical people have turned from God, has in it, I will lay your city's waste. I will bring your sanctuaries to desolation. And verse 31, verse 32, I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. Notice your enemies who dwell in it will be astonished in it.

They're enemies living within the nation? This is what happened to them? Verse 33, I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you. Again, your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. And so we see God repeat that three times. Your cities will be laid waste.

When we went through the book of Isaiah, you'll remember when God was calling Isaiah in Isaiah 6.

And he was telling Isaiah that I'll give you the words to speak. Isaiah said, whatever you want me to do, God, I will do it. In verse 11, he asks God, well, how long does this message need to be preached? And God says in Isaiah 6, 11, until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, until the houses are without a man and the land is utterly desolate. That means this message will be preached until that time. Certainly the commission of the church today send that warning message. They may do nothing with it. They are rebellious, but they need to hear it so that they will remember it. And so when it comes to pass, they will know it's God and have the opportunity to say, we were told it would happen. We were told it would happen and we didn't pay attention.

So as we look here in verse 20, then, we begin to see that there is, this is going to be more for our time, probably for the time of Jerusalem as well, because human nature is the same. What we're going to see in verse 20 through the rest of the chapter is human nature at work, because God is very patient. He says some things, and it will certainly come to pass. It may not come to pass the next week or the next day or the next five years or decade. It may take millennia for it to happen, but when God says it is certainly going to happen. So let's see what he says if we go back to Ezekiel 12 now and see, you know, cities will be laid waste. In verse 21, and then he says to Ezekiel, and the word of the Lord, I'm Ezekiel 12 verse 21, and the word of the word of the Lord came to me, Ezekiel, saying, Son of man, what is this proverb that you people have about the land of Israel, which says, the days are prolonged and every vision fails? Well, you know, Peter kind of said that same thing in 2 Peter 3 when he said, you know, we've been hearing about these things forever. God delays his coming. Let me read it exactly the way Peter read it or wrote it in 2 Peter 3. Scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts and saying, well, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. Really? We've been hearing about this forever. I've been in the church since 1960. You know what? We reached these crises like we did in the 60s, but everything returns to normal. We had the 9-11 attack, but then things returned to normal. We had a financial crisis in 2007 and 2008, but it rebounded the country. I remember someone in the church telling me in 2008, and I thought, you are not paying attention. When he said, America always rebounds. America always rebounds. And he didn't mean it like just this time. In his mind, it was like, you're not going to destroy America. But this is what happens. God warns. We see the things that are there. He says, well, so he's asking Ezekiel, the days are prolonged and every vision fails. Come on, the prophets have said these things. The Bible says these things. Is it really going to happen? We've been hearing about this forever. The Bible was written 2,000 years ago. Everything is still here. We've got a lot of things going on. The country looks pretty wealthy. Here's God's response in verse 23. Tell them therefore, thus says the Lord God, I will lay this proverb to rest and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel. But say to them, the days are at hand at the fulfillment of every vision. The time is now. This is the time it's going to occur. They've said it. They're kind of mocking me saying God's not going to do it. But the time is now. There will always become a time when God is going to do exactly what He said. When Christ said, pay attention to all these things. When He said in Ezekiel 7, pay attention. The time is near.

Now, if we look back on those other times, the time wasn't then. But we see many things in now and again. We have the sense of urgency. No one is setting dates. So the days are at hand at the fulfillment of every vision. Everything, every prophecy you've been told, will come to pass, is what God is saying. For no more shall there be any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. No more are people going to say, eh, it's later on. Don't worry about it. Or flattering, you know what? The country's really strong. Just, you know, I'm going to speak to you smooth words. What you want to hear, don't worry about it. No more shall there be any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. For I am the Lord, God says, verse 25, I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass. It will no more be postponed, for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it, says the Lord God. Well, in their days that he talked about what was going to happen to Zedekiah and Judah, it happened. When Christ says this generation that sees all these things will not pass before all is accomplished, he means it. In Isaiah 55, 11, and I think in Isaiah 45 as well, God says, I speak my word, it's going to happen. Take it to the bank. There is nothing more certain that if God said it, it is going to happen. It's his determination when. Our determination and our thing is to have faith in him, live our lives as if the end would come tomorrow because any of us could drop dead tomorrow. The end for us could be at any time. It doesn't have to be. He doesn't guarantee that we're going to live until the return of Jesus Christ. So the time is now. Judgment is now on the house of God that we need to be drawing closer to him, becoming more like Christ, looking at our lives, comparing it to the Bible, and becoming who he wants us to be. I think those are very harrowing words and that we're reading them in the time that we are here in 2024 when we see everything that could happen in the rest of this little calendar year we're in with the whole world, it seems like, having elections, the whole world wondering what is going to happen with America, the whole world watching what's going on, and the uncertainty that's in it in every single area. When God says words, it will no more be postponed, for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it. On verse 26, again, the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, look, the house of Israel is saying, the vision that he sees is for many days from now. Some are saying, it's never going to come to pass. Put it out. We've been hearing about this for decades, not going to pass. But then there's other group of people. He says, look, son of man, the house of Israel is saying, the vision that he sees is for many days from now, and he prophesies times far off. Don't worry about it. It's not going to happen. You say in your days, but it's not going to happen in my days. It's not going to happen a little bit. Go ahead and just put it out of your mind and whatever. And we kind of even see that a little bit, even in the church today. Some will say, it's for a time farther off.

I don't think it's imminent. And yet, when we look at it, we need to have that sense of urgency, but not say, not in my day, not in our lifetimes. It may well be in our lifetimes. It could happen whenever God says that that march toward the return of Jesus Christ begins in earnest, and the disaster upon disaster, and the suddenly, that's part of every prophecy, becomes to come to pass. Son of man, look! The house of Israel is saying the vision that he sees is for many days from now, and he prophesies the times far off. Don't do that, God says. Therefore, say to them, here's his response, Thus says the Lord God, None of my words will be postponed any more, but the word which I speak will be done, says the Lord God. Don't lull yourselves to sleep. Don't take the attitude we have plenty of time, and we don't have to rush things, or we don't have to be that concerned. There should always be that sense of urgency. So, God has some very interesting things to say in chapter 12 that certainly pertain to us today and all of mankind, because no matter if we lived in 5000 years ago or today, human nature is the same. There's this proclivity to do that. We just need to be sure we're letting God's Spirit lead us, guide us, and direct us, and give us that sense of urgency and commitment to come out of the world and to live the way of life He called. So, let's finish there with verse 28, and next time we'll pick it up in chapter 13, where God has more words to say about the prophets and prophecies. So, let me tell you, though, our next Bible study is not going to be next week. Next Tuesday, Steve Myers, Darius McNeely, and I are going to be headed off to Australia for our next round of international conferences. Our wives are going with us, so we're going to be. Debbie and I in Australia and Darius, next Sabbath, no, not next Sabbath, we'll be here the 22nd, but on the 29th, and we'll be also there, we'll be in Australia for two Sabbaths, and then we're going to be headed off to meet with the people. Many of you have heard of Leon Sexton. He used to be, he's kind of affiliated with the church, but he's really dedicated his life to the work in Myanmar, and he has something called the Legacy Institute. He believes exactly the same things we are, so we're going off, Darius and I, to meet him, because he's had some ill health and working together with him in the work in Myanmar to take over kind of, well, to work with him and continue what he's begun and the things that God has opened our into our, you know, the people that are working with us in Myanmar too that are learning. So we're going to be there, and then we're going to be two Sabbaths in South Africa, so we're going to be gone for a while. So you are going to have, you are going to have a break from some Bible studies for a while, but only because we're going to be out of the country on where we are when it's seven o'clock your time. It's, I don't even know when it is that time, but it's not even conducive to trying to Bible study. So really, the next Bible study we're going to have is August 7th, so it's really going to give the month of July off, and there will be, God willing, we'll be back in Cincinnati earlier that week, and we'll have a Bible study on August 7th, and we'll pick it up on August 13th. I'll put that on the website as well.