April 25, Ezekiel 11
And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he said to me, "Say, Thus says the LORD: So you think, O house of Israel. For I know the things that come into your mind. You have multiplied the slain in this city and you have filled its streets with the slain. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the meat and this city is the cauldron, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it." - Ezekiel 11:5-7
As Ezekiel’s vision continues in Chapter 11, remember that he is still sitting bodily in his house in Babylon, with the leaders of the exiles there with him. He has been transported in the vision to Jerusalem to see things that were happening there. God showed him the gross abominations in the city, the slaughter of the idolaters and the preservation of the faithful ones marked by the man in linen. He saw a vision of the glory of the Lord leaving the temple. And in this chapter, God would show him the awful judgment that he would bring on the false counselors. These were men who prophesied lies that contradicted the truth that Jeremiah had spoken in Jerusalem and Ezekiel had spoken in Babylon.
Ezekiel recognized two men in the group he saw. They and their fathers had God-honoring names. Jaazaniah meant "God hears." His father Azzur's name meant "The Helper.” Pelatiah meant "God rescues," and his father was Benaiah, which meant "God builds." But these leaders, despite their God-honoring names, did not live God-honoring lives. They had filled the streets with the slain, and had not obeyed God's rules. Instead, they lived like the pagans around them.
They had also given the people they led false confidence and hope. Their message was popular, but it was not true. Instead of listening to the true prophet's counsel to build houses and be content to dwell in the land, these men contradicted the prophecy, insisting it was not a time to build. They told a parable about Jerusalem being a cauldron protecting them (the meat inside) from the intense heat of the Chaldean invaders. They saw themselves as favored, sheltered and protected by God, and they despised the exiles who had been taken away.
In Ezekiel's vision, God denied what the false counselors in Jerusalem had said. He told them the city was a cauldron all right, but the people they had killed were the meat. They would be taken out of the city, and put to death, along with Zedekiah’s sons, by the Babylonians at Riblah.
Remember that Ezekiel was still in his house seeing and reacting to all this with the exiled leaders present as witnesses. God told them that they were the protected ones, that they were the remnant he would preserve and return to the land. They (or their children) would go back home after the years of captivity ended, but the full blessing of the new hearts and new spirit from God wouldn't come to pass until the times of Messiah and his kingdom.
The point I want us to take from this chapter is made by the recurring phrase, "Thus says the LORD." God stressed to Ezekiel (and to the people with him), "This is what the LORD says." He said it multiple times in this chapter. It didn't matter what lying counselors said or the people in Jerusalem believed. God's word was trustworthy, and always right. He stressed this truth to reassure the captives in Babylon that God knew and controlled their situation in captivity.
What God says about anything should matter more to us than what any person says, regardless of who they may be. What God says means far more than an honored tradition or long-held opinion. There is no valid substitute for what God says. Israel fell because of their idolatry. We must beware ever making our words or our ideas into idols we honor instead of God.
We can enjoy great peace even in heartbreaking difficulties when we believe that God is in control. He gives and takes away. When we accept that truth, we can say "Blessed be the name of the Lord" in both prosperity and adversity. When we accept that God's word is right and his will is best, we can trust and rely on him, even when we don't understand why things happen as they do. That's a far better way to live, don't you think?
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—April 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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