Ezekiel 12

Ezekiel 12:1

EZEKIEL’S ENACTING JERUSALEM’S DESTRUCTIONChapter 12 opens a section in which Ezekiel continues to proclaim that judgment is imminent, but the people will not believe. The important thing here is the proclamation of the Word of God; Ezekiel is to make sure that he gives the Word of God Five times in this chapter (vv. Eze_1:1, Eze_1:8, Eze_1:17, Eze_1:21, and Eze_1:26), Ezekiel says, “The word of the LORD came unto me, saying.” Do you get the impression that Ezekiel is trying to tell these people that he is giving them the Word of the Lord? He is giving them nothing short of that.

Ezekiel 12:2

Of course, God had warned Ezekiel before about these people, but He is reminding him because Ezekiel may get discouraged. God said way back at the beginning of Israel’s history, “Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day” (Deu_29:4). These people had their eyes closed and their ears stopped. Ezekiel was not the only prophet who confirmed this truth about these peopleIsaiah (Isa_6:9-10) and Jeremiah (Jer_5:21) did also. In addition, the Book of Acts closes with this statement: “Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Act_28:26-27). These people had closed eyes and ears. Today, when people say they cannot believe, it is not a mental problem; it is a matter of the will of the heartthey do not want to believe. Some say they have certain “mental reservations,” mental hurdles which they cannot get over. My friend, your mind is not big enough to take even one little hurdle. The problem is never in the mind but in the will. There is sin in the life, and a man does not want to turn to God; he does not want to believe Him. Israel is just a miniature of the world; that is, the condition of Israel described here is the condition of the world today. In her spirit of unbelief she was a little microcosm of the entire world. That is why we need to look carefully at what the Book of Ezekiel has to say. I remember talking to a college professor who told me that he appreciated my ministry and what I had to say about the Bible, but that he had certain mental reservations. I had to bite my tongueI do not believe he was so far ahead of me intellectually that he could see so much more than I! You know what his real problem was? He was having an affair with a former student from one of his classes. She was his “intellectual problem"he did not want to forsake the sin in his life. Blindness in part had happened in Israel, and this is true of our world today. Because of Israel’s unbelief, Ezekiel is not only going to give the people a parable, he is actually going to act it out. Ezekiel was a very brilliant man, but I think he also had a real sense of humor. I would love to have seen his face when he went through some of these mechanics! I think he might have been somewhat of a ham actor and been greatly amused as he did these things.

Ezekiel 12:3

I tell you, this is a good one! Here’s what Ezekiel does: He goes into his house (the houses then were right on the street, by the way); he packs his baggage like he’s going on a trip, digs through the wall, and comes up out in the street. You can imagine the effect that would havea man coming out through the wall bringing his suitcases with him! People would have to stop and look. Here in Pasadena, California, where I live, digging up the street is not anything new. Actually, the city here plays a game with all of us. They dig up one street, and so you decide to get smart and use another street. So the next day they find out what new street you’re using, and then they go dig up that street too! It gets to be quite a puzzle, like a maze, finding your way around dug-up streets. But I have a notion that when this man Ezekiel came up in the middle of the street with his suitcase, it was something new, and people stopped to ask, “Where are you going? What’s the big idea?” Ezekiel had an answer for them:

Ezekiel 12:8

Zedekiah was on the throne in Jerusalem, and the false prophets were saying to the captives, “Look, Nebuchadnezzar has made two sieges of Jerusalem, and he’s carried away captives, but he did not destroy the city, he did not burn the temple, and he did not execute the king. You are going to be able to return soon. There’s nothing to worry about.” But Ezekiel says, “I have news for you: What I have just done is a picture of what is happening back in Jerusalem. The king over there, the prince (that’s Zedekiah), thinks he’s very clever. He thinks he will be able to slip out of the city during the siege, but he won’t. When he leaves the city, he won’t even see the ground.” Do you know why Zedekiah didn’t see the ground? Read the historical record in 2Ki_25:1-7; Nebuchadnezzar put out his eyes. Zedekiah was a deceptive, wicked fellow, and he had broken his treaty with Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar, the pagan king, was more honorable than the man on Israel’s throne. There is nothing that hurts the church more today than a dishonest Christian, particularly when it is a layman who is active in the Lord’s work but in the business world has a poor reputation. Zedekiah was like that, and Ezekiel’s message was a bitter pill for those captives to swallow when the false prophets had said, “It’s so wonderful back in Jerusalem.”

Ezekiel 12:17

This is quite a stunt Ezekiel is going to pull. He is to bring his table out into the street and sit there, trembling as he eats. Then the people will come and say, “What’s the matter with you? Have you got a chill, or is it something you ate?” Ezekiel will give them God’s message: “I want you to know what’s happening over yonder in Jerusalem. There’s a famine over there. There’s fear over there. God is destroying the city.” What an awesome message he has to bring.

Ezekiel 12:22

Ezekiel is saying, “God has been patient, but it’s all up now. The captivity is coming, and God is not going to wait any longer.”

Ezekiel 12:28

Everybody wants to believe that the future out yonder is beautiful. My friend, the only beautiful thing that lies ahead is the fact that someday the Lord Jesus will take His church out of the worldthat is the only hope we have. This world is not going to get better, and we are not going to have peace. In all of recorded history there have only been two to three hundred years of what could actually be called peaceman is not building the new world he thinks he is.