When God Judges the Ones Who Clapped

Service Notes

Some of you think Ezekiel 23 broke me.

Bible testimony night on Feb 22nd

KIDS STORY

Title: The Kids Who Clapped

God cares not only about what happens, but how we respond when it happens.

Kids, here’s the big lesson:

God is pleased when we help people who fall.

God is pleased when we feel sad about sin.

God is not pleased when we enjoy someone else’s trouble.

Adults, Ezekiel 25–32 says the same thing, only louder.

When God Judges the Ones Who Clapped

Ezekiel 25–32

God judges not only actions, but attitudes. Not only violence, but delight in violence. Not only sin, but celebration of sin’s consequences.

Review

1. What has already happened

Chapters 1–7: God shows Ezekiel His glory and announces judgment.

Chapters 8–11: God exposes hidden sin and His glory leaves the temple.

Chapters 12–24: God explains judgment again and again until Jerusalem finally falls.

By the end of chapter 24, the city is gone. The worst has happened.

That matters.

Because Ezekiel 25–32 is not about warning Israel anymore. It is about how everyone else responded when Israel fell.

2. What this section is doing (Chapters 25–32)

This section shifts the focus.

God stops speaking to Israel and starts speaking about the nations.

These nations did not burn the city. They did not destroy the temple.

They watched. They reacted. They celebrated.

God quotes them saying, “Aha.” He describes them clapping, stamping, and rejoicing.

This section answers a question many people never ask:

Does God care how we respond when others are judged?

Ezekiel says yes. very much.

3. Why this matters before hope arrives

Chapters 33–48 will be about:

restoration

new hearts

dry bones

returning glory

But God does not rush there.

Before He restores His people, He humbles the nations.

Before He heals wounds, He exposes pride.

Before He gives hope, He silences applause.

Ezekiel 25–32 clears the ground so that when grace comes, no one mistakes it for entitlement.

“We are at the point in Ezekiel where Jerusalem has fallen, and God now turns to judge the nations not for causing the fall, but for celebrating it.”

Bible Reading

Ezekiel 25:3–7 (KJV)

3 And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity;

4 Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.

5 And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

6 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel;

7 Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

We spend more time thinking about other peoples sins then our own.

I don’t hate them.

I’m just relieved it finally caught up with them.

I’m not bitter.

I am just happy to see they got what was coming to them.

Ezekiel 25–32 presses on that quiet space in the heart.

It exposes the difference between grief and gratification. Between justice and enjoyment. Between trusting God and enjoying someone else’s downfall.

I read this section and realize how easily my heart can look righteous while being wrong.

We live in a culture built on commentary.

Someone falls and we analyze.

Someone fails and we repost. (Philip Yancey this week.)

Someone collapses and we call it accountability.

But Scripture keeps asking a deeper question: What did you feel when it happened?

Ezekiel does not let us hide behind silence. God names clapping hands. God names stamping feet. God names rejoicing hearts.

He judges nations not only for what they did, but for how they responded.

God judges nations not only for what they do, but for how they respond when others fall.

I. God condemns those who rejoice at the downfall of others.

A. God confronts nations who celebrated Jerusalem’s destruction

Ezekiel 25: “3 And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity;”

Judgment has come.

Jerusalem falls.

The temple burns.

The people are taken.

And surrounding nations do not weep.

They rejoice.

They say, “Aha.”

That word matters.

It is not grief.

It is not shock.

It is satisfaction.

Scripture warns us against this.

Proverbs 24:17 “17 Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:”

Obadiah 12 “12 But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.”

God consistently condemns joy at another’s ruin.

B. God treats emotional response as moral responsibility

Ezekiel 25:6 “6 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel;”

Notice what God lists:

Hands clapping

Feet stamping

Hearts rejoicing

This is embodied sin.

James reminds us that sin begins in desire before it becomes action. James 1:15 “15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

God is not overreacting. He is exposing the heart.

Jesus does the same in Matthew 5 when He says anger and lust already violate God’s law.

C. God responds with judgment, not tolerance

Ezekiel 25:7 “7 Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.”

God does not say:

“They were hurting too.”

“They were just reacting.”

He says: “I saw it.” “And I will respond.”

God is not mocked. Galatians 6:7 “7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

II. God humbles powerful nations who think success makes them untouchable.

(Ezekiel 26–28)

A. Tyre interprets Jerusalem’s fall as opportunity

Ezekiel 26:2 “2 Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:”

Tyre does not attack Jerusalem but they capitalize on it.

They profit from pain.

This is pride.

Amos 1–2 condemns the same thing.

B. God identifies the root sin as pride

Ezekiel 28:2 “2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:”

Success distorts identity.

Tyre begins to believe:

Wealth equals wisdom

Stability equals righteousness

Power equals permanence

But Scripture consistently reminds us:

Promotion comes from God. Psalm 75:6–7 “6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.”

Pride goes before destruction. Proverbs 16:18 “18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

C. God restores reality and let’s everyone know where they stand.

Ezekiel 28:2 “2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:” This is the corrective.

No matter how advanced, no matter how secure, no matter how wealthy, you are still a man.

“Dust does not become divine because it is polished.”

III. God destroys false saviors that people trust instead of Him.

(Ezekiel 29–32)

A. Egypt promised strength but failed Israel

Ezekiel 29:6 “6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.”

A reed looks strong until weight is applied.

Israel leaned on Egypt politically instead of leaning on God spiritually.

Isaiah warned them:

Trusting Egypt would bring shame. Isaiah 30:1–3 “1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: 2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.”

B. False hope causes real damage

Ezekiel 29:7 “7 When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.”

Egypt did not just fail to help. They harmed those who trusted them.

False saviors always leave wounds.

Jeremiah 17:5 echoes this truth.

C. God levels every throne

Ezekiel 32:31 “31 Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.”

Kings die.

Empires rot.

Pride meets the grave.

No man has power over the day of death. Ecclesiastes 8:8 “8 There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.”

This passage does not ask who deserved what.

It asks: What did you feel when it happened?

Did you grieve?

Did you pray?

Did you secretly feel justified?

The gospel exposes celebration at ruin as sin.

Luke 15 shows us heaven rejoices over repentance, not destruction.

The gospel follows the same path.

We are not saved because others fell and we are better than them

We are saved because Christ stood in our place.

That truth reshapes how we watch the world fall.

Jesus teaches us a lesson in how to respond.

Luke 13:1–5.

Some people come to Jesus with news. Pilate has killed Galileans while they were offering sacrifices. In other words, religious people suffered a brutal, public death.

Then Jesus brings up another tragedy on His own:

Luke 13:4 “4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?”

This was a construction accident, as far as we know.

A tower collapsed. Eighteen people died.

No obvious villain. No moral scandal. Just sudden loss.

The unspoken question behind both stories is the same one people still ask today: “Were they worse than the rest of us?”

Jesus answers twice with the same sentence:

Luke 13:2–3 “2 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

Luke 13:4–5 “4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

That matters.

Jesus refuses to let tragedy become a scoreboard.

Jesus does not:

rank the dead

speculate about hidden sins

explain the mechanics of the accident

Instead, He redirects.

Luke 13:3 “3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

Jesus redirects the question away from them and toward you.

Jesus is teaching by addressing their hearts.

Jesus is saying:

The point of tragedy is not why they fell The point is what it should awaken in you

He refuses to let suffering become entertainment, speculation, or moral comparison.

That’s crucial.

Because the human instinct is to stand at a distance and say:

“That wouldn’t happen to me”

“They must have done something”

“This proves something about them”

Jesus shuts that down.

Collapse does not prove guilt. Survival does not prove innocence.

Conclusion

God is never surprised by collapse. He is watching how we respond when they do.

How have you responded in the past.

Take a moment. Is there someone or some group that if you heard of tragedy coming their way you would be happy about. Take time and pray for that person.