Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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