Ezekiel 7:14-27
14 'They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready,
But no one goes to battle;
For My wrath is on all their multitude.
15 The sword is outside,
And the pestilence and famine within.
Whoever is in the field
Will die by the sword;
And whoever is in the city,
Famine and pestilence will devour him.
16 'Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains
Like doves of the valleys,
All of them mourning,
Each for his iniquity.
17 Every hand will be feeble,
And every knee will be as weak as water.
18 They will also be girded with sackcloth;
Horror will cover them;
Shame will be on every face,
Baldness on all their heads.
19 'They will throw their silver into the streets,
And their gold will be like refuse;
Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them
In the day of the wrath of the LORD;
They will not satisfy their souls,
Nor fill their stomachs,
Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.
20 'As for the beauty of his ornaments,
He set it in majesty;
But they made from it
The images of their abominations—
Their detestable things;
Therefore I have made it
Like refuse to them.
21 I will give it as plunder
Into the hands of strangers,
And to the wicked of the earth as spoil;
And they shall defile it.
22 I will turn My face from them,
And they will defile My secret place;
For robbers shall enter it and defile it.
23 'Make a chain,
For the land is filled with crimes of blood,
And the city is full of violence.
24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the Gentiles,
And they will possess their houses;
I will cause the pomp of the strong to cease,
And their holy places shall be defiled.
25 Destruction comes;
They will seek peace, but there shall be none.
26 Disaster will come upon disaster,
And rumor will be upon rumor.
Then they will seek a vision from a prophet;
But the law will perish from the priest,
And counsel from the elders.
27 'The king will mourn,
The prince will be clothed with desolation,
And the hands of the common people will tremble.
I will do to them according to their way,
And according to what they deserve I will judge them;
Then they shall know that I am the LORD!'"
The judgments on God’s people are further exposed and explained to rebellious Israel. They who had trusted in the riches of precious metal and jewels of the unused and misused temple of worship for the LORD now found it all worthless to deliver them because they considered it as mere monetary wealth. The ornaments of God’s house were crafted according to the heavenly pattern given as a shadow of the heavenly one (Exodus 25:40, Acts 7:44, Hebrews 8:5) where He dwells, yet they made it ordinary and defiled by their misuse in burning incense to unholy manmade gods without life, honor, or glory due to them as is fitting for the owner and King over that place. Therefore, the trumpet of God was blown against them and the sword came from without as starvation and disease spread within those walls and in themselves whom they defiled with sinful immortality of idolatry. They defiled not only the physical temple, but their own bodies where God was to be seated as Sovereign on the throne of the heart and worshiped from that sanctuary (1 Corinthians 6:19) where He desired to live. Those who survived the onslaught from within and without would go hide in the mountains and mourn their iniquity; but would they turn from it in humble repentance, or continue only to be sad at all they had lost? They were made weak in their shame and horror at what had become of them, as if being part of God’s people gave them license to sin and protection from all accountability. We must also beware of those errors, learning humility and what grace means for all we have been freely given and yet held accountable for in holiness and righteousness. Their silver and gold could not save them because they warped it into dead idols and put their hearts on the work of their hands instead of God who formed them by his hand on His Potter’s wheel of life according to His design and purpose. Their wealth was cast into the streets as worthless to save and taken away by the strangers of the surrounding nations for further desecration. The LORD turned away from them to leave them to the consequences and allowed His defiled place of corrupt worship to be taken away from them. The nations came in and took everything, including their houses and the chain of violence which they began came full circle to enslave them and take them into captivity as sin always does as it defiles and leads often to violence and destruction. Israel cried out in the suffering but not to true repentance and so could not find peace with God or in themselves. Disaster came as they could no longer discover or discern the word of the LORD. He had left them because they left in rejection and disbelief of Him and His word. All their mourning and tears only led them to hear this from God, that they were getting only what they earned according to their ways (Matthew 7:2, Romans 6:23). Then they would know and acknowledge Him as their LORD and no other. Sometimes it takes the loss of everything we own, our health and wealth, to appreciate and worship our Lord as He should be in response. May we instead humble ourselves and keep from idols (1 John 5:18-19, 20, 21) to avoid such drastic consequences for sin’s captivity instead of deliverance from its bondage. We have been set free who are in Christ. Let us worship Him only. As 1 John 5:21 says “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Amen.
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