No Strength in Iniquity

Ezekiel 7:1-13

1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 "And you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel:

An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.
3 Now the end has come upon you,
And I will send My anger against you;
I will judge you according to your ways,
And I will repay you for all your abominations.

4 My eye will not spare you,
Nor will I have pity;
But I will repay your ways,
And your abominations will be in your midst;
Then you shall know that I am the LORD!'

5 "Thus says the Lord GOD:
'A disaster, a singular disaster;
Behold, it has come!
6 An end has come,
The end has come;
It has dawned for you;
Behold, it has come!

7 Doom has come to you, you who dwell in the land;
The time has come,
A day of trouble is near,
And not of rejoicing in the mountains.

8 Now upon you I will soon pour out My fury,
And spend My anger upon you;
I will judge you according to your ways,
And I will repay you for all your abominations.

9 'My eye will not spare,
Nor will I have pity;
I will repay you according to your ways,
And your abominations will be in your midst.
Then you shall know that I am the LORD who strikes.

10 'Behold, the day!
Behold, it has come!
Doom has gone out;
The rod has blossomed,
Pride has budded.

11 Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness;
None of them shall remain,
None of their multitude,
None of them;
Nor shall there be wailing for them.

12 The time has come,
The day draws near.
'Let not the buyer rejoice,
Nor the seller mourn,
For wrath is on their whole multitude.

13 For the seller shall not return to what has been sold,
Though he may still be alive;
For the vision concerns the whole multitude,
And it shall not turn back;
No one will strengthen himself
Who lives in iniquity.

Judgment on Israel was coming near and they were agin warned that living in sin will weaken those proudly thinking themselves to be strong instead of living in humility according to His word in willing obedience (2 Corinthians 12:9).  God’s wrath on their sin was bringing judgment according to their ways of abomination in the temple of worship in Jerusalem and in the temples of their individual bodies with the idolatry of immortality and covetousness.  Recompense was coming due for their unrepentant and proud hearts full of disobedience and disbelief.  This justice was given so that they would know that He is the LORD and not any other just as told in the first moral commandment which was handed down to them years ago through Moses, along with the clarification that substituted idols of their own hands’ making was equally forbidden.  He alone was to be worshiped because there is no other real or true living God but Him and their pride sought to escape accountability and their vain imaginations took over as Romans 1:22-25 reveals the end of those doing these things and the results to follow.  Disaster, trouble, and doom had arrived at their doorstep and they did not resist the sin which brought it there as Genesis 4:7 warned us all in the beginning.  The end was coming and had arrived before their eyes, just as it will be for all at the time of the final judgment to come at time’s end.  This then was a warning to God’s people then and for all now.  All will be judged according to his or her ways which always come short of good enough (Romans 3:23, 6:23) just as Israel was unless they hear and heed God’s living Word, Jesus Christ, who takes away sin from the humble who confess their state and receive Him as their atonement who sacrificed Himself for them and takes away their individual iniquity.  Without Him there is only God’s due wrath of just punishment for forsaking Him is disbelief and unrepentant disobedience, just as Israel was here in the time of Ezekiel.  There is no hope of we are repaid according to our own ways and works which are tainted with evil from birth.  When that Day comes and we all face Him, the fruit of our budding pride in disbelief and disobedience will only find the doom we were warned of unless we flee to the Rock of grace to shelter us from the wrath we earned since Adam.  Yes, as it is written here, “No one will strengthen himself who lives in iniquity,” unless we admit our sin and turn from it to Him in the certain forgiveness and shelter of Christ our  rock (1 Corinthians 10:4) and foundation (Matthew 7:24-25, 1 Corinthians 3:10-11) of certain hope (Romans 4:23-24, 8:24-25,15:4).  Our only hope is in God’s Word! 

Judgment on Idolatry and Immortality

Ezekiel 6:1-14 

1 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 2 "Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, 3 and say, 'O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, to the hills, to the ravines, and to the valleys: "Indeed I, even I, will bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Then your altars shall be desolate, your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. 5 And I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars. 6 In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. 7 The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

8 "Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. 9 Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the LORD; I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them."

11 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Pound your fists and stamp your feet, and say, 'Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! For they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. 12 He who is far off shall die by the pestilence, he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus will I spend My fury upon them. 13 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when their slain are among their idols all around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, wherever they offered sweet incense to all their idols. 14 So I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land desolate, yes, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblah, in all their dwelling places. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.'"'"

Judgment on the idolatry of God’s people was pronounced by the LORD.  This blatant disregard for the first commandment with no remorse or repentance brought their just sentence on themselves.  Ezekiel heard the word of the LORD and pronounced it as His messenger and mouthpiece saying, “hear the word of the LORD!”  He did not judge them himself, but committed all judgment to (Luke 10:16, John 12:48) God’s word.  We are to listen most of all now to the final Prophet who is Christ our Lord (Deuteronomy 18:18-20, Acts 3:22, 26, Hebrews 1:1-2) and God’s Word from before time began.  Israel refused to listen and suffered the consequences of judgment as will all who refuse the living Word come to speak to us more directly and face to face more than He did with Moses (Exodus 33:11, Deuteronomy 34:10).  As the Word of God, Jesus is the final prophet and no other can claim that title of any false religion because they are not divine as the Son of God is, but mere idolatrous imposters who are not to be heard because they can enact no divine judgment for true justice.  The words God spoke to Ezekiel against Israel were final as well in judging their idolatry and immortality against His word.  He would destroy the altar and temple of worship because it was sullied with sin and worship of false and dead gods of the imagination.  Their sinful works were to be abolished and all they relied on laid to ruin.  The sword of judgment would strike many of them down as well that some would see, hear, and repent of their insurrection against their Sovereign Maker and Lord.  Yes, there was hope of a remnant given to inspire that turn from sin back to Him.  These would remember Him and cast off their wandering adulterous hearts to serve Him only.  They would hear the word and turn from their evil abominable actions and thoughts with true remorse and an active change in direction of their hearts and lives.  That is true of all repentance to faith for deliverance (salvation) from sin’s penalty, even now.  As for the unrepentant Israel then, for all their evil abominations they fell “by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”  Only a remnant would survive and turn back; the road is always wide to destruction by rejecting God’s word, but narrow to life through repentance to faith in obedience to hear and heed (Matthew 7:13-14).  If we listen and turn to Him then we also know that He is the LORD as verse 14 says here in the reality of impending judgment.  Thanks be to God (1 Corinthians 15:57, 2 Corinthians 9:15) for His gift of saving grace to forgive and reconcile us to Himself!

Righteous Sword of Judgment and Justice

Ezekiel 5:1-17

1 "And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber's razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair. 2 You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them. 3 You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment. 4 Then take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel.

5 "Thus says the Lord GOD: 'This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her. 6 She has rebelled against My judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are all around her; for they have refused My judgments, and they have not walked in My statutes.' 7 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in My statutes nor kept My judgments, nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you'— 8 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. 9 And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations. 10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments among you, and all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds.

11 'Therefore, as I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you; My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity. 12 One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

13 'Thus shall My anger be spent, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, and I will be avenged; and they shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it in My zeal, when I have spent My fury upon them. 14 Moreover I will make you a waste and a reproach among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.

15 'So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken. 16 When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread. 17 So I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.'"

A a word was pointed against Jerusalem as enacted by Ezekiel over his head and beard.  This was God’s graphic method to demonstrate what the sword would do against the city which rejected Him for idolatry and immortality.  He took the hair, weighed it, and divided in three piles.  When the siege against Jerusalem was finished he was to burn one third and hack one third with the sword in the air, while the remnant last third was thrown to the wind to be scattered everywhere.  There were a few kept back to tie to his garment and to burn as a fire started in Israel.  These symbolic acts were prophetic illustrations of greater things.  They showed the judgment on God’s people who disregarded their calling as His own out of the sinful nations all around them, having done the same sins and much worse by their wicked actions, rejection of Him, and disobedience of rebellious sin.  They sinned more than the sinful nations which God destroyed to give them that promised land to serve and worship Him in.  The consequences were terrible in judgment against them by the sword of His word (Hebrews 4:12, Revelation 19:15).  This was so terrible that as the siege went on and food ran out that they would actually eat their own young which even the heathen around them would never have done.  Then they would be scattered to the wind as the hair of the prophet and as worthless threshed husks of wheat.  They had taken what was set apart for God, what was made holy, and desecrated the temple with idols and abominations in sexual immorality and perverse worship.  One third would die of disease, another third with starvation, and the final lot would be scattered to the winds and hunted down by the sword as the hair was in the air by Ezekiel as in verse 2 here.  God’s wrath would be poured out on them for sin’s just due as wages earned (Romans 6:23) according to His word.  They would be dishonored among the nations which they were lifted out of because they had despised their calling and dishonored His holy name which God’s people were to imitate (Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, 1 Peter 1:16, 3 John 1:11).  It is a terrible and fearful thing to fall into God’s hand of rebuke (Hebrews 10:26-28, 31) and judgment by willingly sinning against Him without repentance.  The LORD spoke judgment as a sword of justice and righteousness for their disobedience; how much more for those who reject His Word now (Hebrews 10:29) and love for idolatry and immortality instead?  The final judgment against all is coming and we should not take that lightly.  The examples we read should move us to confess our sins and repent of them along the way as we are conformed to the image of Christ (Hebrews 12:1-2) and warn those not yet with confirmed reservations in the Celestial City to come through faith in Jesus Christ.  The righteous sword of justice is coming in judgment for all who reject Him and His Son (John 6:29).

The Siege of Jerusalem

Ezekiel 4:1-17 

1 "You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem. 2 Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around. 3 Moreover take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

4 "Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. 5 For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6 And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year.

7 "Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem; your arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it. 8 And surely I will restrain you so that you cannot turn from one side to another till you have ended the days of your siege.

9 "Also take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them into one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. During the number of days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat it. 10 And your food which you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time you shall eat it. 11 You shall also drink water by measure, one-sixth of a hin; from time to time you shall drink. 12 And you shall eat it as barley cakes; and bake it using fuel of human waste in their sight."

13 Then the LORD said, "So shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them."

14 So I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Indeed I have never defiled myself from my youth till now; I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has abominable flesh ever come into my mouth."

15 Then He said to me, "See, I am giving you cow dung instead of human waste, and you shall prepare your bread over it."

16 Moreover He said to me, "Son of man, surely I will cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem; they shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and shall drink water by measure and with dread, 17 that they may lack bread and water, and be dismayed with one another, and waste away because of their iniquity.

God told Ezekiel that the siege against Jerusalem was because of their sin of rebellion against Him.  He had the prophet make a drawing of the city on a clay tablet and build siege walls for the enemy to come over the city walls to destroy it as it would soon be in real life.  He even had miniature enemy camps set up all around.  He then placed an iron plate between himself and Jerusalem with his back turned as a sign to Israel that God had turned His back on them for their rejection of Him and His word with their unrepentant idolatry and immortality, and no pleas now would pass through the plate to change God’s mind.  He suffered long with them and now it was to be the day of reckoning for their sin.  He then laid on each side to bear their sin with each day counting for a year.  This was an act of mercy, for he was used by God as a way to atone for their sins by limiting the time of their suffering to the end that they would repent in the end.  He pointed towards Jerusalem the entire time as a prophetic gesture to remind the people of the siege of disciplinary justice in God’s judgment until the siege was over and they were taken captive to Babylon.  Ezekiel was told to lay up enough food and water for the entire time in which he would lie there so he did not have to move from that place as an ongoing reminder to the people of their punishment of discipline towards eventual repentance.  He cooked on dung as a sign to Israel how they would eat defiled food in the foreign land where they would be driven for their dis for a time.  Even before that time, they would slowly starve in Jerusalem under the long siege as a result of their unrepentant sin over the years.  This passage is a reminder that we need to deal with sin and keep short accounts by repenting by confessing and turning from each and every act of sin in thought, deed, or action as we are aware (1 John 1:9).  The corrective consequences of His discipline for unrepentant sin are worse than those admitted and dealt with as we put sin to death by his Spirit according to His word (Romans 8:13).  May we not be as Israel and Judah in refusing God’s instruction in His word with rebellious sin left unconfessed and not repented of.   We are to learn from these examples instead (1 Corinthians 10:6-8) of repeating the same sinful mistakes.  Remember the siege of Jerusalem as a warning of divine discipline of sin’s siege against our souls, and remember His correction when we sin (Hebrews 12:10-11) is to make us more like Christ as an act of mercy and grace.

The Watchman

Ezekiel 3:16-27 

16 Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 17 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: 18 When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

20 "Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul."

22 Then the hand of the LORD was upon me there, and He said to me, "Arise, go out into the plain, and there I shall talk with you."

23 So I arose and went out into the plain, and behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, like the glory which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. 24 Then the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, and spoke with me and said to me: "Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25 And you, O son of man, surely they will put ropes on you and bind you with them, so that you cannot go out among them. 26 I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and not be one to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.

Ezekiel was made a watchman over God’s people.  When God gave him words to speak to them, he was to speak them immediately and not hold back for any reason.  When the LORD therefore gave word to the wicked that they would certainly die for their sin, he was to warn them straight away that they would have time to repent.  If he did not warn them right away, he would be held accountable as well for not giving them the chance to avoid judgment to death.  If he gave them immediate warning when God gave the word, then if they refused to repent it was on them and not for him to answer for.  Likewise when God told him to warn the righteous ones who sin, he was to warn them immediately as well or be held accountable along with them for not warning them.  The righteous one will suffer more because his sin would be the only thing remembered, not his previous righteous deeds.  If the righteous heard the warning given right away not to sin and kept himself from sinning, he would live and Ezekiel would also deliver his own life.  He was his brothers’ keeper.  After receiving this charge, he was called to go talk with the LORD.  He beheld God’s glory as before and fell prostrate in worship with fear and trembling in submission to the Sovereign Almighty God.  God put His Spirit in him again and told him to hide in his house until they came for him in their rejection of the words spoken through the prophet.  They would tie him up to keep him silent because of their rebellious nature, but God would give him the ability to speak and tell them more.  He would speak the word faithfully as God gave him (Luke 12:11-12).  He was to begin with, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.'  If they listened, they heard; if they refused to hear, they were refused and likewise rejected.  God knew that they were a rebellious house and that many would reject His word, but the faithful messenger was to speak for those with ears to hear and eyes to see, the righteous chosen of God who were warned to turn from their sin and hear Him for reconciliation in His grace and mercy.  There are pictures of the gospel here for us to heed, especially to tell others and give the bad news to warn them of the certain judgment to come and the good news of His work in Jesus Christ to set them free from sin and death (Romans 5:12, 15, 18-19).  May we be like faithful Ezekiel the watchman and not wait to speak truth to warn others and offer the balm of the gospel’s healing grace.  We are to give warning to all sinners that the chosen righteous may turn and live.

Take and Eat His Word to Speak

Ezekiel 3:1-15 

1 Moreover He said to me, "Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel." 2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.

3 And He said to me, "Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you." So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.

4 Then He said to me: "Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. 5 For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, 6 not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. 7 But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. 8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. 9 Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house."

10 Moreover He said to me: "Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears. 11 And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,' whether they hear, or whether they refuse."

12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: "Blessed is the glory of the LORD from His place!" 13 I also heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, and a great thunderous noise. 14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me. 15 Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib, who dwelt by the River Chebar; and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.

The scroll book was commanded to be ingested by Ezekiel so he would be full of God’s words as it was written to come back out to His people.  He willingly obeyed and ate of the sweetness of that scroll written by the LORD (Jeremiah 15:16, Psalm 119:103, Revelation 10:9).  He was to take those words and speak them back out to God’s people Israel, not to the nations who would actually hear and accept them.  No, he was to speak to God’s own rebellious people as a testimony against them and a chance of repentance for a small remnant who still had hearts for God.  He could have gone where other languages made it difficult to hear but they would have taken the message to heart once the communication barriers were breached.  Those of rebellious Israel, however, were hard headed and resisted the word of the LORD, yet that was to whom Ezekiel went with that message ready to burst out from him (Jeremiah 20:9, Psalm 39:3) like a fire confined until it erupted.  God gave him strength and protection from their assaults like a flint rock that is hard and sparks a flame into existence when struck (Isaiah 50:7) and he spoke His words without shame or fear.  He gave such a foundation rock of resolve in the prophet that may have been as hard as a diamond, tougher than even flint, against opposition.  He was told then not to fear or be disappointed in the people as the message hit them hard and their harder hearts let it bounce off.  He was still to preach the word of God to them as it was written, whether they heard or refuse to listen to the words of God treasured in his heart from the book.  God then lifted him by His Spirit as a thundering voice (John 12:28) pealed out praise of His glory from heaven’s throne and the living beings thundered in response.  He was taken from that moment of glorious praise and left with bitterness because of the coming rejection of the wonderful message, just as now men reject the wonderful good news of Jesus Christ who is God’s Word given and spoken to us all to hear and accept or reject.  Ezekiel was stunned by it all and had to sit for a week among his outcast people to take it all in and prepare for the events to follow.  We are also to consider the message of the good news in man’s bad condition of sin as we take and eat of His word to speak it to others.

Eat All the Words He Gives

Ezekiel 2:1-10 

1 And He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you." 2 Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me. 3 And He said to me: "Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. 4 For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' 5 As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse—for they are a rebellious house—yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.

6 "And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house. 7 You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. 8 But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you."

9 Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 10 Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.

Ezekiel was told to hear what God was to tell him.  To enable the prophet to hear and understand, the LORD put His Spirit in him for that time, unlike now in Christ where we have Him living constantly in us (John 14:16-17, Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 1:13).  Before Christ came and rose again, God’s Spirit filled men and women only to enable them to hear and understand so that they could speak for God to His people.  Here Ezekiel was filled and heard the commission to go and tell the rebellious people of Israel of their sin and their consequences of rebellion against the Divine.  God let the prophet know also that their stubbornness and impudence of a stiff-necked and hardhearted mindset would likely result in refusing to hear him, though the possibility of some hearing was left open.  This rebellious people were not to scare Ezekiel no matter the response to God’s word to them through his mouth.  God assured and charged him that even their response as a poisonous scorpion or their thorns of resistance should not be allowed to hinder him from speaking all of His word faithfully to them (Jeremiah 23:28-29).  Even now we are to speak the gospel faithfully as we trust the message to break hardened hearts and not our own wisdom or persuasiveness (1 Thessalonians 2:4-5).  God alone convicts through the hearing of His word and understanding given by His Spirit of sin, righteousness, and judgment as John 16:8-11 has told us.  No matter their response, Ezekiel was to tell them of their sin and to repent.  Therefore, he was told to open his mouth to take in those words as symbolized by a small book similar to John in Revelation 10:9-11.  He was to take in whatever message God gave him to speak, not worrying about how bitter or sweet the message to the hearers.  This book given him had words of sorrow, woe, and sadness, which is the bad news of the fallen human nature of sin in the larger sense.  This is why the good news of Jesus Christ who died as an atonement and sacrifice for that sin must be understood in context of the bad news of our lost state in sin within us all from birth or it makes no sense.  Nobody can turn from sin without understanding the full weight and consequences of it.  That was the bitter book of words given to Ezekiel for rebellious Israel and to us all.  May we therefore also eat the full counsel of God to speak His word faithfully.  His word is powerful (Hebrews 4:12) enough to do the work which we ourselves are incapable of by human persuasion or reasoning.  May we eat all the words He gives and speak them faithfully. 

The Glory of the Lord on His Throne

Ezekiel 1:15-28

15 Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their workings was like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 17 When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went. 18 As for their rims, they were so high they were awesome; and their rims were full of eyes, all around the four of them. 19 When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. 20 Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, because there the spirit went; and the wheels were lifted together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When those went, these went; when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

22 The likeness of the firmament above the heads of the living creatures was like the color of an awesome crystal, stretched out over their heads. 23 And under the firmament their wings spread out straight, one toward another. Each one had two which covered one side, and each one had two which covered the other side of the body. 24 When they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise of an army; and when they stood still, they let down their wings. 25 A voice came from above the firmament that was over their heads; whenever they stood, they let down their wings.

26 And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. 27 Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.

How awesome and overwhelming it must have been for Ezekiel to see the very throne of God Almighty in this vision of Him and His angelic entourage!  He was admiring the four living angelic beings quite unlike any human of God’s creation, noting their synergy of movements and of purpose.  Who knows exactly what they looked like as words seemed to fail to find a common language of the heavenly realm with our earthly one.  The wings and faces seem easy enough to grasp, but the wheel-like things beside them which had eyes all around and moved with the beings wherever they went is difficult to picture clearly.  Especially unnerving is when he wrote that “spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.”  Then there is the heavenly sky above them all that looked like an immense ice jewel similar to the description in Revelation 4:6 of the sea of glass crystal before the throne of God.  Under that clear canopy of crystal beauty the four touched wings in a circle and made a sound echoing the voice of Almighty God (Revelation 1:15) that was like many waters of a great river flowing and as a marching army of overwhelming power.  The crowning part of the vision, however, was the One seated in the sapphire throne above their heads!  He looked like a man but the colors of amber and fire glowing from all over revealed this was no mere mortal (Revelation 4:2-3).  The bright shining light was almost a rainbow after a storm brought rain and the sun illuminated everything all around.  This, said the prophet, was the very likeness of God’s glory he was seeing!  Seeing His glory as Isaiah did in Isaiah 6:5, Ezekiel fell prostrate in worship and fear of the LORD (Daniel 8:17).  Then he heard God speak.  Imagine even seeing God in a vision and not face to face as we will when He sets up His throne on the new earth in the  Jerusalem brought down from heaven to earth!  Ezekiel was overwhelmed with fear and awe, and we will be also before the throne of grace because of Christ.  That will be no vision but reality, and it will not end with us waking from a God-given vision.  God will be actually there and we will see Him forevermore.  What glory is to come to see the LORD on His throne (Revelation 22:3-4)!  The high and lifted up throne will be set before us to rule us in person.  I cannot wait in my anticipation of fearful awe to worship and enjoy Him forever! 

Ezekiel's Strength in Seeing God

Ezekiel 1:1-14

1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the River Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. 2 On the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, 3 the word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was upon him there.

4 Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 5 Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. 6 Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves' feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. 8 The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. 9 Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward.

10 As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle. 11 Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies. 12 And each one went straight forward; they went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went.

13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning. 14 And the living creatures ran back and forth, in appearance like a flash of lightning.

Ezekiel, “Strengthened by God.” is indeed strengthened by God for the prophetic ministry to which he is called (3:8, 9), like Jeremiah before him.  Jeremiah was the weeping prophet warning of the judgment of God and captivity in Babylon, while Ezekiel was the messenger during the captivity.  His strength came in the vision where he saw God and found encouragement to persevere with the messages given because he had seen the glory and power of the One giving His word to be spoken to His people through him.  The first half of the opening chapter shows the scene among the captives of Judah when they were yet at the river Chebar in Mesopotamia, possibly the man made 'Royal Canal' of Nebuchadnezzar.  While there, the prophet was given an opening into heaven to see wonderful things of God beyond imagination.  This priest Ezekiel was purposefully given to him by the LORD and God’s hand was on him as an instrument of divine purpose to speak His word to warn and comfort those chosen by God for His glory in their captivity.  There they would learn the worship and obedience to the Holy One which they had left before Jerusalem was leveled.  The visions Ezekiel would see were written down for us as best a man could understand at the time (and indeed even now in our time).  It began with a flaming whirlwind like a dust devil or tornado, a self-consuming fire out of a cloud with bright amber light flashing from it.  Inside were the four living beings, cherubim, of bizarre and unworldly appearance which Ezekiel tried to describe in feeble and limited human language.  They stood like men but each had four faces around their heads and flew with four wings like immense angelic dragonflies.  Their knee-less legs had feet like a bull with hooves and their appearance shone brightly as bronze metal which was polished to a high luster.  They had a man’s hands under those four wings and the four beings were in a circle with wingtips touching as a suggestion of the Ark with the seraphim above the lid in worship of the LORD who met with the high priest there for atonement of sins.  Here they were worshiping the LORD as well.  Their other sets of wings covered themselves in submission and holiness perhaps.  Their movement was fluid and purposeful in a steady way as they kept eyes front like dutiful soldiers of the King of kings.  They also had four faces each: a man’s, a lion, an ox, and an eagle.  These suggest God’s creation of man, the power and majesty of a lion, the strength of an ox, and the oversight of a bird flying high above the earth.  They are representative of God’s creation as well as some of His attributes.  They appeared as burning coals with flames or flashes of powerful lightning arcing among themselves.  Even their moving was as lightning in its quick and bright appearance.  This was God’s heavenly show for Ezekiel to find humility and submissive strength in God’s power and calling for him.  We are not as the prophet to see such unmentionable glorious sights as Paul did (2 Corinthians 12:2-4), but we do have the written accounts which are reliable and give us hope to persevere until the day we stand at last in His presence (Job 19:26-27, 1 John 3:2, Revelation 21:3, 22:4).  How our hearts yearn within us in anticipation (Romans 8:23, 25) of seeing the divine presence in the heavenly places!  This gives us strength like Ezekiel in persecution to proclaim the gospel and set the captives free.

Humility and Confession for Restoration

Lamentations 5:1-22 

1 Remember, O LORD, what has come upon us;
Look, and behold our reproach!

2 Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens,
And our houses to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans and waifs,
Our mothers are like widows.
4 We pay for the water we drink,
And our wood comes at a price.

5 They pursue at our heels;
We labor and have no rest.
6 We have given our hand to the Egyptians
And the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more,
But we bear their iniquities.

8 Servants rule over us;
There is none to deliver us from their hand.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives,
Because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
Because of the fever of famine.

11 They ravished the women in Zion,
The maidens in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hung up by their hands,
And elders were not respected.
13 Young men ground at the millstones;
Boys staggered under loads of wood.

14 The elders have ceased gathering at the gate,
And the young men from their music.
15 The joy of our heart has ceased;
Our dance has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!

17 Because of this our heart is faint;
Because of these things our eyes grow dim;
18 Because of Mount Zion which is desolate,
With foxes walking about on it.

19 You, O LORD, remain forever;
Your throne from generation to generation.
20 Why do You forget us forever,
And forsake us for so long a time?

21 Turn us back to You, O LORD, and we will be restored;
Renew our days as of old,
22 Unless You have utterly rejected us,
And are very angry with us!

Israel yearned for restoration.  This book ends on a dismal note while yet looking for hope and restoration in a prayer of deep contrition and apparent confession of sin with repentance.  They cried out through the prophet to the LORD to beg Him to consider their sorry state and hear their groanings of suffering.  What God had promised as an inheritance in that promised land now was in the hands of strangers and foreigners not of God’s people.  It did not seem to make sense unless they considered it was their rejection of the LORD and His word which earned them these wages of their sin (Romans 6:23).  They thought back on how their trust in Him was replaced with the feeble leanings on worldly Egyptian and Assyrian might for their protection from the Babylonian invaders.  That sin cost their nation and people dearly in addition to their idolatry and immortality.  Their food and shelter were no longer blessings given by God and they only had the bare minimum of food which they had to scrape up in hard labor to obtain.  The good old days were gone.  The invaders had molested their women, young and old, and defiled them in humiliation.  All respect and fair treatment to honor their elders and leaders was gone.  The joy of their hearts had ceased and mourning overtook their dancing and happiness.  They then admitted and confessed their sin to Him after reflecting on their sad state.  It took the loss of all good things to look back to the LORD for sustenance and life.  They fainted from all strength when faced with their offense against God and lost hope in the vision that once was fixed on Him.  Yet they admitted His sovereign rule and eternal existence while begging to not be forgotten as the ones He once chose for His name and glory.  Yes, they begged for aged to turn them back in repentance to reconcile and restore them as it once was, yet still they wondered if it was too late and they had been forever rejected for rejecting Him.  This contrite heart (Psalm 34:18, 51:17, Isaiah 57:15, 66:2) is what the LORD desired and does still desire from all His people.  If we confess our sins and humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord He will lift us up! 

An End to Punishment

Lamentations 4:12-22

12 The kings of the earth,
And all inhabitants of the world,
Would not have believed
That the adversary and the enemy
Could enter the gates of Jerusalem—
13 Because of the sins of her prophets
And the iniquities of her priests,
Who shed in her midst
The blood of the just.

14 They wandered blind in the streets;
They have defiled themselves with blood,
So that no one would touch their garments.
15 They cried out to them,
"Go away, unclean!
Go away, go away,
Do not touch us!"
When they fled and wandered,
Those among the nations said,
"They shall no longer dwell here."

16 The face of the LORD scattered them;
He no longer regards them.
The people do not respect the priests
Nor show favor to the elders.

17 Still our eyes failed us,
Watching vainly for our help;
In our watching we watched
For a nation that could not save us.

18 They tracked our steps
So that we could not walk in our streets.
Our end was near;
Our days were over,
For our end had come.
19 Our pursuers were swifter
Than the eagles of the heavens.
They pursued us on the mountains
And lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD,
Was caught in their pits,
Of whom we said, "Under his shadow
We shall live among the nations."

21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
You who dwell in the land of Uz!
The cup shall also pass over to you
And you shall become drunk and make yourself naked.

22 The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished,
O daughter of Zion;
He will no longer send you into captivity.

He will punish your iniquity,
O daughter of Edom;
He will uncover your sins!

After suffering the punishment of judgment on their sins of rejecting the LORD and idolatry with immortality, God’s people finally found relief, though the Edomites who helped Nebuchadnezzar overthrow Jerusalem and who were given land around their old enemy were judged as their sins were uncovered afterwards.  This teaches us that God’s discipline is to correct and restore sinners, not destroy.  It also teaches us that those aligning with the enemies of God’s people will suffer the fate they wished on the chosen ones out of hatred and spite.  The sins of Judah had reached the point where judgment fell and they had been scattered and led into captivity to learn humility, repentance, and holiness once more.  They had blood on their hands, even the prophets and priests who should have been speaking truth in love and interceding for the sins of the flock.  By neglecting these things and actively working against their good and God’s honor, they were disciplined harshly but still far less than they deserved because of His mercy and grace.  That was His character and goodness towards the chosen remnant.  Their sin had resulted in rejection from others within and without as they vainly looked to Egypt and others to deliver them from their enemy and bondage, which is ironic since they were in bondage to sin already.  They were just to exchange masters for a generation until they would be returned to their promised land once more in a corrected character of humility and righteousness in holiness according to His word.  Yes, they saw their end coming near as the Babylonian army overtook them at last and those old enemies of Edom would be given their land for a short while in aid to the enemy of Judah.  But Edom was to be exposed and judged for this and punished for their iniquity as Judah’s punishment was fulfilled and ended.  God’s people are held accountable for sin and are disciplined so that they may be restored and reconciled as we are in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18-19) forevermore.  Grace is mercy’s hand of discipline for correction according to His word (2 Timothy 3:16) for those He calls to Himself as His own.  There is an end to punishment and a restoration in our Savior, just as there was for Judah in their outward destruction and captivity until their freedom was given by God’s goodness and merciful loving kindness. 

Precious Clay Pots

Lamentations 4:1-11

1 How the gold has become dim!
How changed the fine gold!
The stones of the sanctuary are scattered
At the head of every street.

2 The precious sons of Zion,
Valuable as fine gold,
How they are regarded as clay pots,
The work of the hands of the potter!

3 Even the jackals present their breasts
To nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people is cruel,
Like ostriches in the wilderness.

4 The tongue of the infant clings
To the roof of its mouth for thirst;
The young children ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.
5 Those who ate delicacies
Are desolate in the streets;
Those who were brought up in scarlet
Embrace ash heaps.

6 The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom,
Which was overthrown in a moment,
With no hand to help her!

7 Her Nazirites were brighter than snow
And whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than rubies,
Like sapphire in their appearance.
8 Now their appearance is blacker than soot;
They go unrecognized in the streets;
Their skin clings to their bones,
It has become as dry as wood.

9 Those slain by the sword are better off
Than those who die of hunger;
For these pine away,
Stricken for lack of the fruits of the field.
10 The hands of the compassionate women
Have cooked their own children;
They became food for them
In the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 The LORD has fulfilled His fury,
He has poured out His fierce anger.
He kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has devoured its foundations.

The precious children of God were brought low to appear as clay pots to Jeremiah in seeking their fall from great value according to their possessions and conditions before their sin allowed Babylon in for their humiliation and destruction of pride.  The degradation of Zion was seen all around in the destruction of the holy city Jerusalem.  The fine gold lining the temple had been stripped away and its rubble scattered in the streets outside the holy of holies and the altar of sacrificial offerings for atonement of sins.  The sight made the holy of God appear ordinary as if the vessels of the precious sons and daughters were remade on the potter’s wheel using the dust of Adam’s constitution instead of gold and precious gems.  They needed to learn the lesson of 2 Corinthians 4:7 regarding how these earthen vessels of clay should hold the excellence of God in us and not our own power or value apart from what He puts in us.  We are not the potter to turn the wheel and make ourselves, but are made and formed and reformed according to His word and purpose.  Judah had to see the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple to begin to understand that it was not the possessions or glory of the outward temple that was important to God, but they themselves.  Their delicacies and shelter were removed and desolation given to open their eyes with clear vision to see God’s judgment and corrective discipline in their overthrow and captivity in a land of idols to cause them to cast off their own idolatry and immortality.  This was an extended punishment in comparison with the price of Sodom’s sin which was overthrown in a moment of flaming annihilation.  The sin of homosexuality of Sodom was less severely punished than the idolatry of serving gods which were not on top of the sexual immorality of Judah, though it was stopped instantly for its abominable character compared to the prolonged punishment in Babylonian captivity for the deep betrayal of breaking the first commandment.  The outward appearance of righteousness seen in the Nazirites was darkened as sin of the heart within was brought to the surface in this judgment.  It was seen as better to die by the sword than suffer such starvation and deprivation of life and the living according to the prophet.  The LORD judged righteously in distributing His deserved wrath on their sin and devoured the corrupt foundations which His children had built on.  This points us to consider the wrath of God on all our sin and to see the captivity of its enslavement on us all which needs to be either judged and sentenced or atoned for in the grace of forgiveness.  Our trust in His work on the cross to atone and redeem His people is the only way out of certain judgment and eternal desolation as our end.  Our bondage to sin destroys us and holds us imprisoned until He sets us free and these humble vessels of clay then hold the precious righteousness of Christ in whose hands we are reformed for His glory.  We are clay pots made precious for His use (2 Timothy 2:20-21) in our obedience based on His transformative work.  Thanks be to God for His deliverance and indescribable gift (2 Corinthians 9:15)! 

Tears for those under Judgment

Lamentations 3:43-66

43 You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us
You have slain and not pitied.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud,
That prayer should not pass through.

45 You have made us an offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.
46 All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
47 Fear and a snare have come upon us,
Desolation and destruction.

48 My eyes overflow with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes flow and do not cease,
Without interruption,
50 Till the LORD from heaven
Looks down and sees.
51 My eyes bring suffering to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.

52 My enemies without cause
Hunted me down like a bird.
53 They silenced my life in the pit
And threw stones at me.

54 The waters flowed over my head;
I said, "I am cut off!"
55 I called on Your name, O LORD,
From the lowest pit.

56 You have heard my voice:
"Do not hide Your ear
From my sighing, from my cry for help."
57 You drew near on the day I called on You,
And said, "Do not fear!"

58 O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul;
You have redeemed my life.
59 O LORD, You have seen how I am wronged;
Judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
All their schemes against me.

61 You have heard their reproach, O LORD,
All their schemes against me,
62 The lips of my enemies
And their whispering against me all the day.
63 Look at their sitting down and their rising up;
I am their taunting song.

64 Repay them, O LORD,
According to the work of their hands.
65 Give them a veiled heart;
Your curse be upon them!
66 In Your anger,
Pursue and destroy them
From under the heavens of the LORD.

This last part of the chapter talks of how sin hindered God’s people’s prayers from Him listening and answering according to their petitions because they kept sinning in idolatry with a divided heart and in immortality with deaf ears to love in holiness and righteousness as their covenant He made with them required.  They dishonored and rejected Him and expected Him to hear anyway as if their form of religion could be enough.  It was not.  Their fear snared them and they were led into destruction and desolation with nothing left.  Jeremiah wept for his fellow people called by God to Himself because of their headlong rush into destruction in unrepentant sin and rejection of God’s word.  He desired the LORD to see his tears of genuine grief and anxiety over the people and kept interceding until God answered favorably.  His enemies kept attacking him, however, for the message calling God’s people to repentance and for calling them to submit to the invading forces instead of accepting captivity in Babylon as a corrective discipline to restore a remnant of them to God once more.  When he was thrown in the prison well, a pit of mud, it felt as if the waters overflowed his head.  He felt abandoned by God and cried out from that despair until God answered, "Do not fear!"  The LORD pleaded his case and redeemed his life, a shadow of the saving grace of Jesus Christ in redeeming His remnant out of the mire of sin’s hold and despair of certain judgment in captivity to sin.  He also prayed for justice in persecution by his enemies with all their wiles and scheming much as our Adversary continues to do now to all who are His chosen ones in Christ (Ephesians 6:11, Psalm 22:13, 1 Peter 5:8).  Be assured that God hears the evil slander and will avenge His own (Revelation 6:10) in the judgment.  They will be repaid for harming God’s messengers of the truth, including the prophets of old and ministers of the gospel.  Those opposed are blinded still with a hardened heart veiled from coming to the truth as 2 Timothy 3:7-8 gives us an example.  Here then is the sorrow for those under judgment which we should have as our example and why we must bear witness to  God’s work in Christ which is the good news of redemption and deliverance for all He calls and draws to Himself (John 6:44, 64-65).  Do we sorrow for the lost and bear witness of the good news of redemption? 

Hope Born out of Humility

Lamentations 3:19-42

19 Remember my affliction and roaming,
The wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul still remembers
And sinks within me.

21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.

24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"Therefore I hope in Him!"

25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the LORD.

27 It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him;
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust—
There may yet be hope.

30 Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,
And be full of reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32 Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.

33 For He does not afflict willingly,
Nor grieve the children of men.

34 To crush under one's feet
All the prisoners of the earth,
35 To turn aside the justice due a man
Before the face of the Most High,
36 Or subvert a man in his cause—
The Lord does not approve.

37 Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That woe and well-being proceed?

39 Why should a living man complain,
A man for the punishment of his sins?

40 Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the LORD;
41 Let us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
42 We have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned.

Here is the hope in the midst of adversity’s despair.  Like the writer of this message from God, we also call to mind our restlessness and troubles of various kinds, and that low feeling leads to looking up to the Lord for hope as we remember Him and the promises of His word for us.  His mercies of goodness and grace are our sustenance as He lifts up our heads.  His compassion never fails us as we experience it as each new day begins and remind us of His faithfulness to feed our hope that springs eternal and which we eagerly anticipate (Romans 8:25).  Because the LORD Himself is our portion to feed on and inheritance to live within, we can confidently hope in Him and His good grace by a certain faith exceeding any mere passing whips of a wish.  God is good to those who patiently wait for and trust in Him according to his word, to those running after Him and waiting on His deliverance from our adverse circumstances and eternal salvation from His just sentence of wrath on our sin alike.  It is good, the prophet says, to have this rock solid certainty of hope as we await His salvation.  Yes, and it is also good to suffer while young to learn patient endurance (Hebrews 10:36, Luke 21:19) and learn humility and reliance on God instead of self-reliance through the trials which test our hearts and minds (1 Chronicles 29:17, 2 Chronicles 16:9, Proverbs 17:3) to trust Him in all things, good and bad.  Hope is born out of learned humility.  Just as Jesus repeated later, we are to turn the other cheek and take the insults instead of fighting back because we know our Lord allows grief to bestow His compassion on us according to His infinite mercy of grace and goodness.  Suffering builds our trust and reliance on God and is the fertile ground for hope to spring eternal.  God does not excessively grieve us in our tests and trials but seeks justice in mercy for us.  All we and others do is according to His providence and sovereignty, and so we can understand as Jeremiah did that both suffering’s woe and blessings’ well-being come from God’s hand of good grace.  Furthermore, we have no right to complain when we suffer for our sin.  Realizing our offenses to the Lord is meant to examine our hearts and deeds that we may continually turn from sin to Him in ongoing repentance (1 John 1:9) in humility and thanksgiving.  Israel lamented because they sinned and had not yet been forgiven and their sin pardoned with their sentence commuted, but now as Christ the Messiah has come we with them find that sentence of death is pardoned forever (2 Corinthians 1:9, Romans 6:11, 22-23)!  We therefore have a most certain hope in Him born out of humility and faith in believing and receiving Christ and His work to deliver us according to his word. 

Affliction, Anguish, and Hope

Lamentations 3:1-18 

1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.

2 He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
3 Surely He has turned His hand against me
Time and time again throughout the day.

4 He has aged my flesh and my skin,
And broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me
And surrounded me with bitterness and woe.

6 He has set me in dark places
Like the dead of long ago.
7 He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.

8 Even when I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.

10 He has been to me a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in ambush.
11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.

12 He has bent His bow
And set me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He has caused the arrows of His quiver
To pierce my loins.

14 I have become the ridicule of all my people—
Their taunting song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink wormwood.

16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel,
And covered me with ashes.
17 You have moved my soul far from peace;
I have forgotten prosperity.

18 And I said, "My strength and my hope
Have perished from the LORD."

Sometimes we feel like the prophet who endured affliction and anguish in his adversity of the circumstances.  But there is hope to seek relief as well.  All is not lost when we trust in God over the pain of the situations we find ourselves in as Jeremiah did.  This first third of the chapter shows his affliction under God’s wrath where it appeared that the LORD was against him and darkness had covered the light from his vision.  All seemed quite hopeless.  He felt beaten and broken as his countrymen were and felt as if a battle had set siege walls against the fortress of his faith and attacked with bitterness and woe in the place of joy and peace.  It was like the darkness of the hopeless grave encompassed him as if chained in a dungeon again before Jerusalem was under siege by Babylon.  His shouts of prayer seemed to go nowhere as if God had shut him out from being heard, like hitting a stone wall of that imprisonment of his body and soul.  He felt as the prey of a bear waiting to attack him along the way which was made crooked and turned him out of the way of the LORD he was used to walk in and was left desolate and ruined.  He felt like arrows were shot at him as if he was a target for these afflictions aimed at him.  Others around laughed and mocked him with taunting jeers of songs made to irritate and humiliate him.  Such bitterness!  The man was so far removed from peace and prosperity which he had in the LORD before and it led him to declare that all his strength and hope had disappeared.  That is how circumstances can bring depression and anxiety to take away our peace when our focus leaves the Lord and settles on the adverse circumstances which God allows for our good (Romans 8:28).  We need to remember that He brings peace (Isaiah 32:17, Hebrews 12:11) as a fruit of trust in His providence in His best time, just as Jeremiah was to discover for himself.  Affliction and anguish of soul are cured by sovereign hope for all who are called by Him.  May we not allow our steadfast hope to be taken from the narrow path we walk with our Lord (1 Peter 5:10-11). 

God’s Sorrow for His Chosen People

Lamentations 2:11-22

11 My eyes fail with tears,
My heart is troubled;
My bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.

12 They say to their mothers,
"Where is grain and wine?"
As they swoon like the wounded
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
In their mothers' bosom.

13 How shall I console you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?

14 Your prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.

15 All who pass by clap their hands at you;
They hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
"Is this the city that is called
The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth'?"

16 All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, "We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the day we have waited for;
We have found it, we have seen it!"

17 The LORD has done what He purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you;
He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.

18 Their heart cried out to the Lord,
"O wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Give your eyes no rest.

19 "Arise, cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger at the head of every street."

20 "See, O LORD, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
Should the women eat their offspring,
The children they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 "Young and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.

22 "You have invited as to a feast day
The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the LORD's anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have destroyed."

This half of the chapter shows God’s sorrow through the tears of Jeremiah for His people.  The prophet was sick to his stomach and extremely troubled inside over their demise due to their unrepentant sin.  As their lives were poured out in the open streets God’s compassion was poured on them through the heart and message of Jeremiah who desired to comfort and console the broken in heart.  But healing seemed out of reach because they had listened to false teachers promising health and wealth instead of accountability for their idolatry and immortality.  Even today we see these same type of false teachers who peddle false prophecies and delusions over the truth of God’s design for us of holiness and righteousness through repentance and faith according to his word.  God’s people then were mocked at their fall from grace and badly talked about openly.  That is the result of not living by God’s word while resting on their laurels of being the chosen people.  God was not and is not so mocked by our self righteousness but looks for the humble heart to trust in His righteousness and walk in holiness as we were called to in Christ and as Israel was called to in the spirit of the Law (John 4:24) given to teach them reliance on Him in all things (Galatians 3:23-24).  The nation chosen did not individually choose to trust and obey from their hearts and therefore God fulfilled His word to judge them according to his word given many times with that warning.  This warning of living by doing the letter of the Law was to teach them and us to trust the LORD in faith to live by His word because it would be impossible to keep every letter of the Law to perfection; only God Himself can do that, and that living Word is Christ Jesus (John 1:1, 14).  That is how worshiping in spirit and truth with humility and reliance on God was to be understood.  They did not yet grasp this and suffered defeat at the hands of their enemies.  Yes, they were told to seek God’s grace in seeking Him as verse 19 says, pouring out their hearts to Him.  Jeremiah did not quite understand either and asked why the people had to suffer so greatly as without pity, even though he had brought them the message of accountability to judgment for their rejection and lack of repentance to life (Acts 11:18).  God had invited disaster on them as a nation that each might understand and repent instead of being overtaken by the enemy.  It seemed quite hopeless until we read further.  Also as Ezekiel 33:11 and 2 Peter 3:9 explain to us, it is not God’s desire for us to face judgment but to find life in forgiving grace in Him and not our own vain efforts.  There is such hope as Romans 15:4 reminds us daily.