Forgotten Ezekiel 22 Emmanuel Christian Church 9.22.24 INTRODUCTION: Memorials are important because they cause us to remember. Remembering is important because forgetting is dangerous. EXAMPLES: The OT sacrificial system reminded people of their sin. The NT Lord’s Supper reminds us of God’s grace. Remembering is important… PROPOSITION: But what happens when people forget about God Himself? That’s the story of Ezekiel 22. The key sentence in the whole chapter is the last sentence in verse 12: “And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD.” The simple act of forgetting God is the downfall of any nation. Are you listening America? But how did the nation of God’s chosen people get to that point? To answer that question, we need to take a close look at the first twelve verse of chapter 22. Listen carefully as I read; and when I’m done I’ll make three simple points to answer that question.Ezekiel 22:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices 3 and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, 4 you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil. Ezekiel 22:6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. 7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths. 9 In you are slanderous men bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts. 10 In you are those who dishonor their fathers’ bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean. 11 In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter. 12 In you men accept bribes to shed blood; you take usury and excessive interest and make unjust gain from your neighbors by extortion. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD.
- Did anything sound familiar? Verses 9-12 retell the deadly sins listed in Ezekiel 18. Three Observations:
- God’s people VIOLATED His Commandments. - The first six verses broke 6, 2 and 1!
- The last six verses broke 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10!
- When God first gave those commandments, His people promised Him they would keep them! Exodus 24:3 When Moses went and told the people all the LORD’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.”
- One Commandment was NOT specifically mentioned (Do you know which one?) Number 3: “You shall not abuse the name of the Lord.”
- Really? Truth is, their breaking of all the other commandments WAS the greatest abuse of “the name of the Lord”!
- Leviticus 18:1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God. 3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. 5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.
- Then, God takes the next 4 chapters to specifically outline the sins of rebellion.
- Five times in five chapters God repeats this phrase: Leviticus 22:32 Do not profane my holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the LORD, who makes you holy. APPLICATION: Here’s the challenge- “Live up to the Name by which we are called as the people of God: ‘Christian’”.
2 Thessalonians 1:11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Having forgotten the Lord and their promise to obey His Word, God says this in response to His people: “I will scatter you among the nations.” Ezekiel 22:13 “‘I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst. 14 Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it. 15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness. 16 When you have been defiled in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the LORD.’” APPLICATION: And so God did! From AD 70 to 1948 (1,878 years) God scattered His Jewish people among the nations of the world! Why? All because they had forgotten the Lord and their promise to obey His Word. They very next verses sound brutal to our ears…Ezekiel 22:17 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver. 19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. 20 As men gather silver, copper, iron, lead and tin into a furnace to melt it with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you. 21 I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the LORD have poured out my wrath upon you.’”
APPLICATION: Without a doubt, these are words of God’s judgment against His people. But, these are also words of MERCY! God’s gathering of His people not the fiery furnace is NOT for their destruction, but rather for their REFINEMENT! The heart of the furnace separates the silver from the dross- in the end it produces silver that is PURE. Hebrews 12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. In the next passage from Ezekiel 22, we see what happens to the nation that forgets the Lord: Ezekiel 22:23 Again the word of the LORD came to me: 24 “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has had no rain or showers in the day of wrath.’ 25 There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her. 26 Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27 Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. 28 Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says’ — when the LORD has not spoken. 29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice. Five groups are mentioned. Each of them becoming notorious for evil: PRINCES - ABUSE and consume the people. PRIESTS - PROFANE that which is holy. POLITICIANS (officials) - DEVOUR PROPHETS - LIE
PEOPLE - EXTORT, ROB, OPPRESS APPLICATION: It has been said that “Culture is downstream from religion.” And so it is! And God’s Word says: Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. Our chapter ends with this word from God: Ezekiel 22:30 “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. 31 So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.” CONCLUSION: the searching eyes of God are upon every generation- looking for those who are willing to “stand in the gap” of faithful witness to their rebellious culture. Taking that stand is NEVER easy. It is NEVER without cost. But, it ALWAYS results in these wonderful words at His judgment seat: “Well done, good and faithful servant! ...Come and share your master’s happiness!” Matthew 25:23
