Journal Through the Bible: Week 83 Tuesday

Ezekiel chapter 24

Does God issue any commands?

• On the ninth year, the tenth month, and the tenth day God told Ezekiel to write down the date as the day that the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem.
• God told Ezekiel to tell the people in captivity there to set a pot on the fire, pour water in it, gather the choice pieces of meat and bones in it, and let it boil to seethe the meat off the bones. The fire was to be kept hot and the meat was to be seasoned. Then the contents was to be removed piece by piece. Finally, the empty brass pot was to be set upon the fire and allowed to burn off the impurities. This was to represent Jerusalem.
• God told Ezekiel that his wife was going to die but that he was not to show signs of mourning. He was to fast, clothe himself as usual, and go about his business.
• God told Ezekiel to tell the people what the absence of mourning meant. Ezekiel told them that many of their family members would die but that as survivors they would not be able to mourn their loss there in the land of their captivity. The people would not feel like eating but would pine slowly away and mourn privately.

Does God make any promises?

• God promised that He would spare Jerusalem or her inhabitants but would treat them like the boiling pot and its contents.
• God said that when the sign of private grief over those killed in Jerusalem was completed the people would know that He is God.
• God promised that some of the people who escaped death in Jerusalem would come to speak with him and God would open Ezekiel's mouth and give him the words to speak.

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• Ezekiel is a type of Christ, the man acquainted with our grief. Ezekiel experienced the loss of his dear wife which made him empathetic to those whose loved ones were dying in the final siege upon Jerusalem. Ezekiel could not bear their sorrows but he was acquainted with grief. This is why Jesus had to live a life upon the earth. How else could He actually have the same experiences that result from being residents of a sin-cursed world unless He was an earthly resident Himself?

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• Many times in the last few chapters God told Ezekiel that a certain disastrous event would happen and then the people would know that He is God. This will be the case in the final conflict between God and evil, too. The world will experience the horrors and will ultimately acknowledge that God really is God. (Much better to acknowledge that now!)