Ezekiel 7:10-27: The Day of Destruction

Introduction

Succinct Summation

Diagnosing the Problem

Outline

Ezekiel 1-24 - Oracles against God’s People

Ezekiel 1:1-3 - Ezekiel the Priest

Ezekiel 1:4-28 - The Glory of the Lord

Ezekiel 2:1-3:15 - Ezekiel Commissioned

Ezekiel 3:16-27 - Ezekiel the Watchman

Ezekiel 4:1-5:4 - The Dramatization of Jerusalem’s Siege

Ezekiel 5:5-17 - The Dramatization Explained

Ezekiel 6:1-14 - Israel Will Know the Lord

Ezekiel 7:1-9 - The Land of Israel will face Judgment

Ezekiel 7:10-27 - The Day of Destruction

Ezekiel 7:10-12a - The Day Announced

Ezekiel 7:12b-18 - Destruction: View 1

Ezekiel 7:19-27 - Destruction: View 2

Purpose of Book

The purpose of Ezekiel is Yahweh rebukes His people for their sinfulness and He promises to restore His glory so all nations will know He is the one true Lord. In short, the purpose of Ezekiel is the glory of God.

Main Point

The unclean and unholy land will finally meet the wrath of Yawheh

Ezekiel 7:10-12a - The Day Announced

10 “Behold, the day! Behold, it comes!

Babylon, through God’s sovereignty, is coming to destroy Jerusalem, Judah, and the entire land of Israel

Your doom has come; the rod has blossomed; pride has budded. 11 Violence has grown up into a rod of wickedness.

Numbers 17 Aaron’s staff

Numbers 17:8–10 ESV

8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. 10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.”

Instead of a blessing of leadership like Aaron, Israel has become like the rebels in Numbers 17 with their pride and violence - God promises their doom

None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them.

Babylon’s destruction will leave the land entirely abandoned:

Very few people will survive the onslaught

The abundance of the land will be taken away

Their wealth will be removed

The Hebrew wording here is an alliterative combination and obscure - onomatopoeic (deep grief)

The sentences are left unfinished and could signify the resulting chaos of divine wrath

12 The time has come; the day has arrived.

Destruction is no longer far off

The greatest curses from Leviticus 26 will be enacted soon

THEY WILL NOT ESCAPE

Christ Connection - Jesus Announces the Day is Coming Soon

Revelation 22:12–13 ESV

12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Ezekiel 7:12b-18 - Destruction: View 1

12b Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude. 13 For the seller shall not return to what he has sold, while they live.

A buyer who made good on a negotiated price will no longer rejoice, the seller will no longer mourn over lose of property because the wrath of God has come upon them - daily financial negotiations will no longer matter/mean anything because the divine wrath of Yahweh has wiped out the normal rhythms of life

Sabbath Year and Year of Jubilee will cease

Deuteronomy 15:1–2 ESV

1 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed.

Leviticus 25:13 ESV

13 “In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property.

For the vision concerns all their multitude; it shall not turn back; and because of his iniquity, none can maintain his life.

Vision - prophetic vision

14 “They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but none goes to battle, for my wrath is upon all their multitude.

There will be no battle - Yahweh’s wrath will utterly consume

15 The sword is without; pestilence and famine are within.

The three-fold of how God will destroy the land is described

War

Plagues

Famine

He who is in the field dies by the sword, and him who is in the city famine and pestilence devour.

Those who attempt to flee will be killed in the in the fields

Those who seek refuge in the city will be killed by the plagues and famines

16 And if any survivors escape, they will be on the mountains, like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, each one over his iniquity.

There will be survives, but they will be few and far between

The survivors will be forced to the mountains because of the total destruction of the cities and towns

Though they escape the Babylon onslaught… they won’t be able to escape their sin - it will follow them

17 All hands are feeble, and all knees turn to water.

All knees will run with urine

Ezekiel refers to the moment of extreme crisis where one loses the ability to control their own bladder

Joshua 2:9 ESV

9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

18 They put on sackcloth, and horror covers them. Shame is on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.

Voluntary responses

Putting on sackcloth

Shaved heads

Involuntary response

Horror

Shame

Christ Connection - When Christ Returns, People will Seek a Hiding Place

Revelation 6:12–17 ESV

12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Ezekiel 7:19-27 - Destruction: View 2

19 They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing.

Their silver and gold have become more than a tool for commerce - they have become gods

Unclean thing - menstrual blood - major ritual contamination, but not in and of itself immoral

Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord.

Their financial resources are unable to save them from the destruction that will come upon them from Babylon

They cannot “bank” on Yahweh’s covenant love at this time - Yahweh’s provoked covenant anger will be evident

They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it.

With gold and silver stripped away, they will be unable to buy food to fill their stomachs

For it was the stumbling block of their iniquity.

Materialism and a love of wealth has provoked the anger of Yahweh

20 His beautiful ornament they used for pride, and they made their abominable images and their detestable things of it.

The Israelites have either used temple treasures and fashioned them as gods rivaling Yahweh’s Lordship or they’ve taken gold and silver melted them and manufactured their own gods

Exodus 32:1–8 ESV

1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. 7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ”

Therefore I make it an unclean thing to them.

The gold and silver they have trusted in will now become repulsive to them

21 And I will give it into the hands of foreigners for prey, and to the wicked of the earth for spoil, and they shall profane it.

The silver and gold they previously trusted in will now go to those who will ransack the land

The objects of worship they enjoyed will now be given over to a fearful nation (Babylon) who will utterly desecrate the idols

22 I will turn my face from them, and they shall profane my treasured place. Robbers shall enter and profane it.

Ezekiel 4:3 ESV

3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.

Yahweh is acting upon the sin/iniquity of the nation, but notice Yahweh - a sorrowful turned head as the promised land/city/temple is profaned

23 “Forge a chain! For the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence.

Those who survive destruction are led away as slaves in exile to Babylon

Ezekiel is actually telling Babylon to make the preparations for the exiles

Full of bloody crimes and violence

Genesis 6:11–13 ESV

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

24 I will bring the worst of the nations to take possession of their houses.

Not will the land will given over abstractly, people will lose their homes as wrath comes upon the nation

I will put an end to the pride of the strong, and their holy places shall be profaned.

The holy places here is not a reference to the temple, but to the idolatrous places they have set up for false worship

When the wrath of Yahweh is finished these abominations will be utterly destroyed

25 When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there shall be none.

There will be no peace when divine wrath comes, only anxiety

26 Disaster comes upon disaster; rumor follows rumor.

Disaster is promised and story upon story of horror will be told as society comes crashing to an end

They seek a vision from the prophet, while the law perishes from the priest and counsel from the elders.

The prophets have no visions - God is silent

The priests/elders have no wisdom to give

Those who hear from God and those who teach the people have NOTHING

27 The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror.

Total despair and paralyzing fear consumes everyone

According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.”

The people are given a taste of their own ways - they’ve done destruction to their relationship with Yahweh and now He does the same in accordance to His covenant

Once again we see the ultimate aim for this destruction - Israel to know that He is the Lord

Christ Connection - Christ will not Share Glory

Philippians 2:5–11 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

How Should we Live in Light of Ezekiel 7:10-27?

All of life to the Glory of God

Philippians 2:18–23 ESV

18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me. 19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me,

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Peter 4:10–11 ESV

10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Main Point

The unclean and unholy land will finally meet the wrath of Yahweh