When God Acts On His Word (4:1–7:27)

Kids’ Lesson: What’s Happening in Ezekiel 4–7?

Before we dive in, here’s a quick way to help the kids (and maybe all of us) picture what’s going on in these chapters:

Ezekiel built a tiny city. He used a brick, drew Jerusalem on it, and pretended an army was attacking it. God was showing that a real army — Babylon — was coming to destroy Jerusalem.

Ezekiel laid on his side for over a year. 390 days on one side, 40 on the other — one day for every year Israel and Judah disobeyed. God was showing how long His people had sinned and how patient He had been.

Ezekiel ate small meals cooked over dung. It sounds strange, but God was showing that His people would soon eat defiled food in exile. When people ignore God’s Word, life always loses its taste and joy.

Ezekiel shaved his head and beard with a sword. His hair was divided into three parts — burned, struck, and scattered — showing that judgment would fall on Jerusalem.

Ezekiel cried out: “The end has come!” (chapter 7) God’s patience had run out. Judgment was coming — not because He is cruel, but because He keeps His Word.

So even though all these actions seem strange, they tell one story:

When we stop listening to God’s Word, He’ll use whatever it takes to get our attention — not to pay us back, but to bring us back.

Introduction: When God Acts on His Word

“Hey Trenton” If my kids say this. I realize I haven’t been listening to them.

Have you ever tried to talk to someone who’s completely tuned you out? You can raise your voice, repeat yourself, even wave your hands — but nothing gets through.

That’s where God is in Ezekiel 4–7.

For years, He spoke through prophets. For years, He warned His people. But they stopped listening.

So God does something drastic. He tells Ezekiel to stop talking and start showing. Build a little clay city. Lay on your side for 430 days. Eat tiny meals cooked over fire. Shave your head with a sword.

It’s strange. It’s uncomfortable. But it’s powerful. Because when people won’t hear the Word — God lets them feel it.

This is what happens when grace ignored turns into grace displayed through judgment. Ezekiel shows us that when we stop listening to God’s Word, He lets the brokenness of life reveal our need for Him.

1. When we stop listening to God’s Word, He lets the brokenness of life reveal our need for Him

Ezekiel builds a small model of Jerusalem and lives out the siege. His actions warn a deaf nation: when the Word is ignored, suffering becomes the teacher.

A. Ezekiel’s clay city shows that God sometimes speaks through actions when His words are ignored. (v.1–3)

Ezekiel 4:1 “1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:”

Ezekiel’s clay city becomes a sermon without words.

The brick mirrors the city’s rebellion—what they built against God now collapses before Him.

God communicates through symbols when His people won’t heed His Scripture.

When the preached Word is rejected, God often turns to providence as His preacher. He allows the discipline of circumstance to proclaim what the declaration of Scripture could not.

B. Ezekiel’s long days on his side remind us that sin’s weight grows heavier the longer it’s carried. (v. 4–8)

Lying 390 days for Israel and 40 for Judah reveals sin’s long memory.

Ezekiel’s posture preaches: the weight of guilt crushes the unrepentant heart.

His body becomes a living illustration that sin enslaves before it destroys.

Sin always weighs more than we expect and lasts longer than we imagine.

As Matthew Henry wrote, “Those that lie longest under guilt lie hardest. The length of their sin is the measure of their suffering.”

C. Ezekiel’s measured meal teaches that when we turn from truth, God may let hunger and hardship get our attention. (v. 9–17)

Ezekiel 4:9–10 “9 Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof. 10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.”

Limited rations symbolize spiritual famine—when hearts starve from lack of truth.

Food cooked over defiled fuel represents a nation’s moral decay.

God’s silence becomes judgment’s first sign.

Summary Thought: When conviction won’t wake us, hunger will. God’s Word ignored becomes God’s lesson lived.

Transition: When His warnings go unheard, His justice will not be withheld.

2. God’s judgment isn’t vengeance—it’s love refusing to let evil win

Ezekiel 5:11 “11 Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.”

Visual Lesson: The prophet shaves his head and beard with a sword, dividing his hair into thirds. His shocking act dramatizes God’s deliberate, righteous judgment—not rage, but justice.

A. The shaved prophet shows that God’s discipline is deliberate and never without purpose. (v. 1–4)

A priest’s hair was his honor—Ezekiel cuts it off to picture total humiliation.

One-third burned, one-third struck, one-third scattered: judgment precisely measured.

A few hairs hidden in his robe remind us—mercy is never absent.

God’s discipline is never reckless it is purposeful.

B. God’s anger toward Jerusalem proves that real love must confront real sin. (v. 5–11)

Jerusalem stood at the center of the nations—yet turned from the center of truth.

Her privileges increased her responsibility.

God’s anger flows not from cruelty but from covenant faithfulness.

Love that never confronts evil isn’t love at all.

C. The fire of judgment burns away pride so that renewal can begin. (v. 12–17)

Judgment burns away their illusion of control.

The famine and sword cleanse what false religion corrupted.

Even the fire of wrath makes room for renewal.

Judgment is God’s way of saying, “Sin will not have the last word.”

Transition: In chapter 6, we see that beneath the flames of wrath beats a wounded heart.

3. Every act of judgment is also an act of grace pointing us back to the true Judge who bore our judgment

Ezekiel 6:9–10 “9 And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.”

Visual Lesson: Ezekiel speaks to the mountains, not men—because the land itself is soaked in idolatry. God’s message echoes through creation when hearts are deaf to conviction.

A. God speaks to the mountains to show that even creation testifies against idolatry. (v. 1–7)

The mountains were the stage of their sin—now they hear the sentence of justice.

God’s Word breaks idols in the very places they were worshiped.

The place of idolatry becomes the place of repentance.

God knows how to address our strongest fortresses until they become our altars of surrender.

B. God’s broken heart reveals that He takes no pleasure in punishment but longs for repentance. (v. 8–10)

“Yet will I leave a remnant.” Even judgment carries mercy’s fingerprints.

Remembrance leads to repentance—when they recall the Lord, they recoil from sin.

This is not a God who enjoys punishment, but One who sorrows over rebellion.

C. God’s righteous purpose is that through justice and mercy alike, we come to know that He is the Lord. (v. 11–14)

The refrain returns: “And they shall know that I am the Lord.”

God’s goal is not destruction—it’s revelation.

Every act of justice unveils His holiness; every act of mercy magnifies His grace.

The cross is the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s message: judgment executed, mercy extended, glory revealed.

Transition: Chapter 7 closes this section of prophecy—the day has come, the end declared, yet even here God is working toward redemption.

4. The gospel reminds us that when everything falls apart, God is already building something new

Reading: Ezekiel 7:5–6 “5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come. 6 An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.”

Visual Lesson: Ezekiel announces, “The end has come.” But in God’s plan, endings are never final—they are the prelude to resurrection.

A. The end declared shows that God’s patience has limits and His holiness will act.(v. 1–9)

The word “end” is repeated to emphasize completion—sin’s wages are due.

Peaceful illusions collapse; idols fall silent.

God’s patience has done its work—now His holiness acts.

When God says “enough,” it’s not because He’s tired—it’s because truth demands it.

B.The end experienced exposes every false hope and reveals that idols always fail. (v. 10–19)

The nation’s wealth cannot buy its way out. “They shall cast their silver in the streets.”

Panic fills the people; leaders lose their courage; prophets lose credibility.

Every false savior fails in the hour of truth.

Whatever replaces God in our hearts will one day betray us.

C. The end transformed reminds us that God tears down what pride builds so grace can rebuild what only He can redeem.(v. 20–27)

God strips the land bare so that He can rebuild it clean.

The end of self-reliance becomes the beginning of grace.

Later, in chapters 36–37, we see the new heart and the breath of life—hope rising from the ashes.

God tears down what pride builds so He can raise up what grace redeems.

Conclusion: When God’s Word Comes True

Ezekiel’s strange actions make one clear statement: God acts on His Word.

He blesses obedience, judges rebellion, and fulfills every promise He’s made. The same God who kept His Word of judgment in Jerusalem kept His Word of salvation at Calvary.

When He acts on His Word, delay ends and destiny begins. Our only safe place is under the blood of the One who bore judgment for us.

Final Appeal

The people in Ezekiel’s day said, “The vision is for many years from now.” (Ezekiel 12:27) But when God speaks, later becomes now.

The same Jesus who wept over Jerusalem is coming again—not to weep, but to reign. So fall before Him today. Trust His mercy. Rest in His promises.

If God acts on every word of judgment, He will also act on every word of promise.

“And they shall know that I am the Lord.”