Lessons From Ezekiel – Lesson 19
The siege of Jerusalem has started and God had two more object lessons for the Jews in captivity before God has Ezekiel switch gears into other areas.
We looked at the first one last week. God put good choice ingredients into Israel so God has Ezekiel put good choice ingredients into the pot. What should have come out of Israel should have been good and what you would have expected to come out of the pot should have been good.
But out of both what came out was scum. God’s words not mine. It was filthy. It was disgusting. We sometimes see the same thing happen today.
What did God give for us? What did He put in? The Best. His only begotton Son. And when someone gets saved, what does God put into the heart? The Best. His Holy Spirit.
So what then should be expected to come out of the pot of our lives? What comes out should be good. What comes out of our lives should reflect the good that God put in.
But all too often we see bad come out of the lives of Christians. Greed and pride and so on. And when we do we should always remember that is not God’s fault. It is not His doing.
The bad sinful choices that Christians make can really make a mess of it all. The object lesson that Ezekiel did is a very visual powerful illustration.
The second object lesson is hard. It is hard for several reasons. It is well, hard to take. God asks something extremely hard of Ezekiel. So hard in fact that it is hard to get your head around it.
It is also hard to get all the information with one read thru. Some of the information that helps to see what is going on does not come in the first verses but later on.
So we are going to look at some of the later verses first and get a few facts in our minds before we read the entire thing.
Eze 24:24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
This object lesson does not use Eagles or vines, or models, or trees. It does not involve Ezekiel digging thru walls or cooking in pots. The object lesson here involves Ezekiel himself.
Ezekiel and how he is to respond to something very hard is the object lesson. And how he handles this is a sign to Israel. Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do:
And how Ezekiel acts thru this is how they will also act. According to all that Ezekiel has done they will do. So we know Ezekiel is the focal point of the object lesson and that he is a sign and that they will do as Ezekiel has done.
Next we need to understand the problem that God is addressing here. And it has to do with the desire of their eyes. And this is one that is hard to understand. On the surface this does not seem to fit.
Eze 24:21 Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.
The second one mentioned your sons and daughters that is easy to understand. But the first one here. My sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes. That is all about the Temple, then comes the and, and then the children.
There are two groupings here. The temple and the children. And it is the temple that is called the desire of your eyes.
But wait a moment. Are not these people far from God. So bad that God calls them filthy. So bad that they are worshipping idols and murdering children. If you go thru the list of the wickedness that they are guilty of, and it was long, then you see that they are really cold to God’s word and to God Himself.
So the fact that the Temple is the desire of their eyes, does not seem to fit with how they live their lives.
What makes this fit is when you ask yourself this question. What was it about the Temple that they desired? It is not what the sacrifices pictured; they all pictured the coming Jesus. It is not humble honest seeking prayer that was supposed to happen there.
It was not God’s Word that was supposed to be taught there. It was not anything spiritual or godly. What was it then that made it the desire of their eyes?
Their eyes is the clue. It is what you could see. Solomon’s temple was impressive. It was huge. The structure towered over everything around it. Huge stones and huge furniture. Massive baths for example. Instead of one laver for the priest to wash their feet in, Solomon went big. And built huge baths.
And the Temple was full of Gold and brass and had a treasury.
And that impressive temple was a visible source of a proud history. They see that Temple and they think of David who prepared materials and Solomon who had it built. They see that Temple and the pride that they are God’s chosen people.
And seeing that Temple would remind them of all the great history and victories. They looked at that Temple not in a spiritual way. They looked on that Temple in a prideful carnal way.
It was precious to them. For all the wrong reasons. But it was truly the desire of their eyes. God says so.
So now we are ready to read this.
Eze 24:15 Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 24:16 Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.
God is going to take something precious away from Ezekiel. The desire of Ezekiel’s eyes will be taken away. The Temple is the desire of Israel’s eyes for the wrong reasons, but will be taken away.
The desire of Ezekiel’s eyes is his desire for the right reasons. It is his wife.
And this is the hard part. Ezekiel is not to mourn or weep. There are to be no tears running down his face.
This is hard. When God says that his wife is the desire of his eyes, she really is. It is not like they had a bad marriage and she was a horrible impossible to live with tyrant. Not at all. Ezekiel loved her. She really was the desire of his eyes.
Losing her is going to hurt. God is asking a hard thing here. Ezekiel is not to mourn or weep. You have had your desire taken away, but do not cry about it. Instead just carry on. Do your duty.
Eze 24:17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.
Eze 24:18 So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
I have said many times, that these people were watching Ezekiel. They were watching him all the time. So the people see that his wife died, and in the morning they see Ezekiel and they notice he is not mourning. He is not crying. He is going about his business.
Eze 24:19 And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?
Catch that? It is not just what are you doing? It is what are these things to us? They get it. Ezekiel is Mr. Object lesson. They know there must be a point. He is doing this for a reason. There is a message from God in this. They get it.
And so they ask what is it? What does this mean to us, to our lives?
Eze 24:20 Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 24:21 Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.
Eze 24:22 And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
Eze 24:23 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
Eze 24:24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
God is about to destroy their precious Temple. He is going to take away the desire of their eyes. It will be a great loss to them.
But just like Ezekiel who just suffered a great loss before them, they will not cry over it. They will not mourn for that.
O’ they will mourn. They will pine away. But not over the loss of the desire of their eyes. It will finally be over their iniquities. They will mourn one toward another.
They are going to realize that unlike Ezekiel’s loss they had it coming.
Ezekiel did nothing wrong to cause his loss. They did. And Ezekiel was told to be an example of how they should act about losing theirs that was deserved.
Their sin had caused this loss of the Temple. It was all on them. So don’t mourn for that loss. Mourn for the reason why. Your sin.
When I sometimes say that God does sometimes ask hard things of his own. I mean it. This had to be very difficult for Ezekiel.
But it was not done to be mean to Ezekiel. The reason is in verse 24.
Eze 24:24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
It is so that when this comes true, when it happens to them, they will have a light bulb moment and know that it is of God. That it is the Lord that is working.
The Temple at this moment is the desire of their eyes. They most likely would have a hard time believing that they will not mourn over its loss.
But when that happens and instead they mourn over their sin, of course that is God sent conviction, when they mourn over their iniquity instead then they will know that I am the Lord God.
Ezekiel was obedient, even in this hard thing, and the purpose was to be an object lesson, and example, but it was also a prophecy of what was going to happen. God was going to move in hearts and when they mourned over sin and not their loss, they would experience God’s Word on a future event come true in their own lives.
And one effect that has is it increases your faith in the other promises God has made and in their case is about to make.
When you see God’s word come true in one area, it increases your faith in other promises that have not come true yet.