LIFE-STUDY OF EZEKIEL
Message 14
THE JUDGMENT OF GOD UPON HIS PEOPLE
WEEK 6 - WEDNESDAY
Scripture Reading: 2 Chron. 36:9-10, 19; Jer. 52:11; Ezek. 3:8, 9, 17, 9:4, 11:16, 33:21
Read and pray: “and he said to him, Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are done in its midst” (Ezek. 9:4)
THE TEMPLE IS DESTROYED
AND THE CITY IS BURNED
The third result of God’s judgment was that the temple was destroyed and the city burned. Around 606 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and captured King Jehoiakim, taking him to Babylon (2 Chron. 36:9-10).
Ezekiel was also captured at that time. Five years later, he began to see the visions in chapter one of Ezekiel. In the following years, he continued to have visions concerning a later capture of Jerusalem. While he was in captivity, he was brought back in spirit to Jerusalem to see the coming events.
After Nebuchadnezzar captured Jehoiakim, he appointed his brother, Zedekiah, as king of Israel (v. 10). However, Zedekiah, rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar, turned to Egypt for help. Then Nebuchadnezzar returned to Jerusalem, burned the city, destroyed the temple, and captured Zedekiah (v. 19; Jer. 52:11; Ezek. 33:21). Before these events actually took place, Ezekiel saw them in his visions.
There was an interval of eleven years between these two captivities. The city and the temple were destroyed not at the capture of Jehoiakim but at the capture of Zedekiah. At the time of Zedekiah’s capture, the glory of the Lord left the holy city and the holy people. Then both the temple and the city were destroyed. Apparently, this was the end of Israel’s history.
DIVINE MERCY
Although everything seemed to be lost because of God’s judgment, God showed His mercy. We praise the Lord that in His judgment there is still His mercy and the visitation of His mercy.
How marvelous this is! This also applies to Christianity today. Although the situation is deplorable and apparently hopeless, God’s mercy is still present. No matter how much Christianity is under God’s judgment, His mercy still remains there. In the midst of His judgment upon Israel, God was merciful to His people and provided innumerable things for them.
HE APPOINTS A WATCHMAN
First, in His mercy, God appointed watchmen such as Ezekiel to warn the people (3:17). As we read the book of Ezekiel, we can see that the people of Israel were not happy with him, because Ezekiel did not speak pleasant words to them.
God told Ezekiel that He was sending him to the rebellious house, to those with stubborn foreheads and hardened hearts. However, He said that He would make Ezekiel’s forehead harder than theirs and his heart harder than theirs, like a diamond that is harder than flint (vv. 8-9). In His mercy, God appointed this watchman to warn His people. The principle is the same today.
GOD MARKS HIS SEEKERS
Before God sent fire to execute His judgment, He sent His angel to mark His seekers (9:4). He marked those who sighed and groaned because of the sinfulness and abominations in the city of Jerusalem.
God told His angel to mark them so that they would not be slain by the sword, nor die by pestilence, nor be devoured by wild beasts, nor suffer famine. Only the marked ones would remain alive.
The situation is the same today. Some dear seekers have truly been marked by God. No matter how much other Christians fight, they have nothing to do with it. These dear marked brothers are not damaged by the battles among Christians, do not suffer a lack of spiritual food, nor have any kind of spiritual disease.
Praise the Lord, for He has some who are marked. At the beginning of the Lord’s recovery in this country, in 1962, some brothers and I prayed day after day for the seekers, praying that the Lord might bring them into His recovery. Today the Lord still has His seekers, those who have been marked by Him.
HE PRESERVES A REMNANT
Ezekiel 6:8-9 says, “Yet I will leave a remnant, in that some of you shall escape the sword among the nations when you are scattered through the lands. Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I have been broken over their unfaithful heart which has departed from Me and over their eyes which play the harlot after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.”
Here we see that in the midst of His judgment, God, according to His great mercy, preserved a remnant. The majority were slain by the sword, and others died of famine or pestilence or were devoured by wild beasts. The rest were scattered in the captivities, where God kept them as a remnant.
The principle is the same today. God has not only marked the seekers, but He has also preserved and maintained a remnant. I believe that those who come into the church life in this country will be the remnant, the seekers marked by God. The remnants—the seekers marked by God—will be brought by the Lord into His recovery.
HE IS A TEMPORARY SANCTUARY FOR THOSE IN CAPTIVITY
God said that even in captivity He would be a sanctuary to His people for a time (11:16, lit.). He did not become a permanent sanctuary like that in Jerusalem, but a temporary sanctuary for His captured and scattered people.
If you tell others that Christianity has become degraded, they may argue with you, saying that they have the Lord’s presence in their meetings. We must admit this fact. It is true that the Lord is a temporary sanctuary for those who were in captivity.
We should not say that they do not have the real presence of the Lord at all; rather, we should point out that this is only a temporary sanctuary. Here and there, in some homes and groups, they have the Lord’s presence in a temporary way as a temporary sanctuary.
However, no one should be satisfied with a temporary sanctuary. The temporary sanctuary should be a call to return to Jerusalem, to return to the permanent sanctuary.
🌿Enjoy more:
Hymn: Our spirit is God’s sanctuary
https://hinario.org/detail.php?tab=1&mainmp3=admin/Uploaded-mp3-Files/0747.voz_piano.mp3&id=826
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