Read Ezekiel 7:1-13
If Chicken Little was in Israel hearing Ezekiel’s words, he would surely be running for his life screaming, “the sky is falling, the sky is falling.” I remember my grandpa reading me that story as a young girl. But the Israelite people didn’t believe it, even though the prophets continued to bring the same message.
In this passage, we see multiple times that the LORD’s fury focuses on the people’s “detestable sins” that will not be tolerated. The Sovereign Lord has spoken, and “no hope remains.” Israel had used up all their “immunity,” and doom was now certain. Yet, God did not want them to be blindsided by what was coming. If only they would listen!
These aren’t easy passages to read, and yet they are crucial in understanding God’s response to people’s willful sinfulness. The people continued to act in sinful ways, stuck in sin with no thought of repentance or turning to God. Sadly, things haven’t changed that much over the centuries.
Many people today want to forget the Old Testament and paint God as only loving and forgiving. God is most definitely loving and forgiving, but he hasn’t changed in terms of how he feels about our sin-filled lives. Why would we think that he was somehow different?
Eventually, things got so bad with the world that God had to come himself in the person of Jesus. Jesus is God and has been present since creation. But the name Jesus was given when he became God incarnate. Jesus was his earthly name, needed because while 100% God, he was also 100% man.
But our text today doesn’t speak of the hope Jesus brings, so let’s not rush ahead. It’s good for us to linger a bit in these passages about judgment to understand with more clarity why Jesus needed to come. The world was broken–the world that God loved so much.
Ezekiel had already arrived in Babylon when he received this message for Israel. As such, Israel’s fall was already underway when God gave Ezekiel this message for Israel. There is no way the people could claim they were blindsided by the life-altering destruction that was taking place.
“Not one person whose life is twisted by sin will ever recover.” Those are chilling words, aren’t they? But it’s true. Without Jesus, we would be stuck in our own lives, twisted by sin with no hope. Ezekiel’s audience didn’t have this hope. Yet most people paid no attention anyway to God’s prophetic messages. I can’t imagine what the Israelites were thinking while all this was happening around them.
How about you? Are you paying attention to God? Is he trying to get your attention?
Let’s pray. LORD, it’s hard to read about the anger you felt towards your people. It’s just as hard to read about how your people turned their backs on you and ignored your messages. Help me to always be open to hearing from you, even if the message is hard to hear. Forgive me for the sins in my own life. You know how hard I try to do my best to please you. Help me to stay close to you and not be distracted by the world and my sinful desires. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
