Journal Through the Bible: Week 80 Friday

The nation will be no more

Ezekiel 6:1-7:27

Through Ezekiel God told the captives in Babylon that were taken during the earlier invasions and who were awaiting deliverance that the nation was going to fall and not be a nation for many years. The inhabitants would be scattered. The day of trouble had arrived!

Does God issue any commands?

• God told Ezekiel to set his face toward the mountains of Jerusalem and prophesy against them. God said He would bring a sword against their high places and idolatrous altars. Men who worshiped the idols would be killed in front of those altars.
• God told Ezekiel to clap his hands and stomp his foot and say the words that God told him to say concerning the evil abominations of Israel.

Does God make any promises?

• God promised to leave a remnant alive although they would be scattered among the nations.
• When the people fall near their altars and the remnant is scattered, those who survive will know that the LORD is God.
• God would judge the people for their abominations.
• The gold and silver that the people possessed would be taken by the strangers that conquered them.
• God would turn His face away. The robbers would defile His temple, including the Holy of Holies.

Does this passage teach anything about Jesus?

• God would judge the people of Judah. Jesus is the Sovereign Judge.
• A remnant would survive the siege and the captivity. Jesus would be descended from a line that survived.

Does this passage teach anything about yet-future events?

• The people who were suffering wished for the day of the Lord thinking that their troubles would end when the Lord delivered them. What really happened was that many of them were worse than before because the Lord judged them! Many who know something about the Lord today but do not know the Lord suffer from the same mistaken delusion and will be shocked when the Day of the Lord arrives. Many will be surprised at the time of judgment.