Introduction
I’ve been pointing out the pattern which we see in these chapters of Ezekiel, because while these chapters contain a message of judgment from the Lord, they also contain a message of hope and salvation. So, in chapters 13 to 15, the Lord condemned the false prophets among his people and he condemned the people for their idolatry and he likened Jerusalem to the wood of a vine which is not fit for anything apart from the fire. And so, it was a message of judgment and God was going to destroy the city and his rebellious people. But then, in the midst of that message of judgment, he spoke about a time when the people will no longer go astray and they will no longer defile themselves. And their relationship with one another will be restored so that once again he will be their God and they will be his people.
That was in chapters 13 to 15. In chapter 16 he likened the people of Jerusalem to an unfaithful wife who forgets her husband and goes after other men. And so, the Lord’s people have forgotten him and they have gone after other gods. Instead of worshipping him, they have worshipped idols. Instead of trusting in him for help, they have trusted in pagan nations. And so, the Lord was going to punish his unfaithful people. It was a message of judgment. But then the Lord also went on to speak about restoration and a new covenant and atonement. And so, he spoke of salvation for his people.
That was in chapter 16. And in chapter 17, the Lord told the story of the two eagles and the vine which turned away from one eagle and turned instead to the second eagle. And this represented how Zedekiah, the king in Jerusalem, was going to turn away from King Nebuchadnezzar and he was going to turn to the king of Egypt. And by turning from Nebuchadnezzar, he was going to break the oath he made in the name of the Lord. And God was going to punish him for it. And so, it was a message of judgment on Zedekiah and his people in Jerusalem. But the Lord also went on to speak about the coming of a new king whose kingdom will grow and grow until it’s like a splendid cedar where birds of every kind will find shelter. And he was speaking about the coming of Christ the King, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
And last week we spent our time on chapter 18 where the Lord announced that the soul who sins will die. The people thought that one generation pays for the sins of the previous generation and there’s nothing you can do about it. But the Lord made clear that we are not liable for the sins of our parents; and we are not liable for the sins of our children. We are liable for our own sins. And so, it was a message of judgment: we will pay for our sins. But then there was also a message of hope and salvation, because the Lord also made clear that the person who turns from his sins will live. No matter what we have done wrong, no matter how far we have sunk, if we turn from our sins in repentance and if we turn to the Lord for mercy, he will pardon us for our sins and he will accept us as righteous in his sight for the sake of the righteousness of Christ our Saviour which is counted as ours. Even though we may have done everything wrong, God forgives us and treats us as if we’ve done everything right so long as we’re trusting in Christ, who is the only Saviour of the world.
The soul who sins will die. And so, we are liable for our own sins. And that’s why we all need to turn from our sins in repentance and turn in faith to the Lord for mercy.
So, that’s the pattern: a message of judgment combined with a message of hope and salvation. However, that pattern is missing from chapter 19 where the Lord instructs Ezekiel to take up a lament or to sing a dirge for the princes of Israel. And so, we need to go elsewhere for the message of hope and salvation. But the pattern re-appears in chapter 20, because not only does the Lord describe the sinfulness of his people from the days of Egypt right up to the time of the exile, but he goes on to announce his plan to renew his rebellious people who will serve the Lord on his holy mountain and God will accept them. Instead of rejecting them, he will accept them.
God is willing to accept us, even though we are sinners who sin against him continually. He is willing to accept us, because of Christ the Saviour who gave up his life on the cross to pay for our sins and shortcomings and to make peace for us with God. And one day we will serve the Lord on his holy mountain in the new heavens and earth.
19:1–9
Today’s passage is obviously in two parts: there’s chapter 19; and then there’s the first 44 verses of chapter 20. And we begin with chapter 19 which itself can be divided into two main parts: verses 1 to 9 and verses 10 to 14. In the first part, the Lord uses the image of lions to refer to two kings. In the second part, he uses the image of a vine and its branches to refer to more kings.
The Lord tells Ezekiel in verse 1 to take up a lament or to sing a dirge concerning the princes of Israel. A dirge is a lament for the dead. It’s a mournful song. And this dirge is about the princes of Israel. When the Lord refers to the princes of Israel, he really means the kings. Perhaps he refers to them as princes, and not kings, because the Lord is the true king. He is Israel’s true king and the kings of Israel were accountable to him.
And although he calls them princes ‘of Israel’, the dirge is really about two of the kings of Jerusalem in the kingdom of Judah. You’ll remember that the one kingdom of Israel was divided into two following the death of Solomon. There was the kingdom of Judah in the south; and there was the northern kingdom which kept the name Israel. The kingdom of Israel was destroyed years before Ezekiel was preaching. Only Judah was left. But most of the best people in Judah — including Ezekiel himself — have been taken away to exile. And it won’t be long before Jerusalem is destroyed by the Babylonians.
And in this dirge, the Lord refers to a lioness who was mother among the lions. She lay down among the young lions and raised her cubs. And one of her cubs became a strong lion and he learned to tear his prey. But he not only attacked other animals, but he also devoured humans. So, he was fearless and terrifying. But the nations heard about him and they trapped him in a pit to prevent him from hurting more people. And they led him away to the land of Egypt.
The Lord then refers to the mother lioness again in verse 5. He says that she saw that her hope and expectation was gone. I think we’re to take it that she was hoping and expecting her cub to return. She was thinking, ‘Where is he?’ But when he did not return, she took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion. And since he became a strong lion, he was able to prowl proudly among the other lions. He strutted about, because no one could match him. He too learned to tear his prey and he too devoured humans. In fact, he broke down strongholds and devastated towns. Not content to stay in the forest, he went into towns and villages and terrified the people. All the people of the land were terrified when they heard this lion’s roar.
But once again the nations got together and came against him. They spread a net for him and captured him. Using hooks, they put him into a cage and transported him to Babylon, where he was put in a prison. And that meant that the sound of his roar was no longer heard in Israel.
19:10–14
That’s the first part of this dirge, this mournful song for the dead. Who or what does the lioness stand for and who or what are her two cubs who became strong lions? We’ll come back to that in a moment. For now, let’s move on to the second part.
The Lord once again refers to a mother. And he says this mother is like a vine in a vineyard, which was planted by the water. That’s the ideal location for a vine. And so, this vine was fruitful and full of branches. And its branches were strong. In fact they were fit for a ruler’s sceptre. A sceptre, of course, was a staff which kings would carry which symbolised their authority and power. So, the branches of this vine were fit for a king. And the vine towered high above the thick foliage and therefore it was conspicuous. That is to say, it stood out because of its height and its many branches.
But it was uprooted in fury. Do you see that in verse 12? It was uprooted and thrown down to the ground. And the hot east wind blew over it and caused it to wither. And fire consumed the branches.
But then, according to verse 13, it was planted in a desert. So, it was transplanted in a dry and thirsty land. Fire consumed its fruit and there were no more strong branches on it which were fit for a ruler’s sceptre. And so, this was the lament which the Lord wanted Ezekiel to sing about the princes of Israel.
Explanation
Who or what is the lioness? Who or what are the two cubs? Who or what is the vine? Who or what are her branches? It’s likely that the lioness represents the nation of Judah, because just as the cubs come from the lioness, so the kings of Judah come from the nation. Or perhaps the lioness represents David’s family, because David was the first king and all the subsequent kings of Judah came from his royal family line.
The first cub may be King Jehoahaz, because according to 2 Kings 23, he was taken away to Egypt. The second cub may be King Jehoiakim, who succeeded Jehoahaz as king. According to 2 Kings 23:4 he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which matches the description of the second cub who terrified the people of the land with his roaring. And we read in 2 Kings 24 that a number of nations attacked Judah when he was king, which matches what we read in the dirge about the nations gathering together against the second lion. And according to 2 Chronicles 36 he was taken to Babylon, although it’s likely he was later released.
And so, the lioness is the kingdom of Judah or David’s family. And the two cubs are Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. What about the vine? That too probably represents the kingdom of Judah, which was once a great and mighty kingdom. But when the Lord announced these things to Ezekiel, it had been conquered by the Babylonians and the best of the people had been uprooted from their homes and transplanted to Babylon where they were living as exiles. Its strong branches represent the kings of Judah. It’s possible they represent the last two kings only. That’s Jehoiachin, who became king after Jehoiakim; and Zedekiah. When the Lord announced these things to Ezekiel, Jehoiakim had already been taken away to Babylon. In a few years, Zedekiah would also be taken to Babylon. And so, their sceptre was taken from them. That is to say, their authority and power was removed, because Nebuchadnezzar had conquered them.
Ezekiel was told to sing a dirge for the kingdom of Judah whose kings were no more. Once Judah was a great and mighty kingdom, with strong kings to rule over them. In fact, in the days of Solomon, people came from all other the world to see Solomon and his kingdom, which was regarded as great. But now the people had been uprooted and removed to Babylon. And they would no longer have their own king to rule over them.
And this happened to them because they turned away from the Lord and they did evil in his sight. Instead of worshipping the Lord, the worshipped idols. Instead of trusting in the Lord, they trusted in pagan nations. Instead of walking in his ways, they did what was evil in his sight. And so, the Lord uprooted them and sent them away to Babylon. And a foreign king ruled over them. No wonder the Lord told Ezekiel to sing a dirge or a mournful song, because the kingdom was in ruins and the kings were no more and it seemed there was no hope of salvation.
And so it continued until the day when an angel appeared to Mary to announce to her that she would conceive a son by the Holy Spirit. And the angel said that God will give to Mary’s son the throne of David; and he will reign over God’s people for ever; and his kingdom will never end. And in due course, the Lord Jesus was born. And when he rode into Jerusalem, the people welcomed him as their king. But he came gently and riding on a donkey and not on a war horse, because he did not come to raise an army to attack the Romans who were ruling over God’s people in those days. He did not come to kill, but to be killed and to give up his life on the cross as the ransom to pay for our sins.
And everyone who believes in him as the only Saviour of the world receives forgiveness and peace with God and they become members of his kingdom which he’s extending throughout the world through the reading and preaching of his word. And his kingdom is made up of believers from every nation of the world. And his kingdom is indeed an everlasting kingdom which will never end, because Christ our King will live for ever and all who believe in his name and who are members of his kingdom will live for ever. We’ll live with him for ever and we’ll reign with him over the new heavens and earth. His enemies — all who did not believe in him — will be conquered. But his people — all who believed in him — will be happy and holy for ever. We’ll never sing another dirge. We’ll never sing another mournful song. Instead we’ll rejoice in the presence of Christ our Great King and we’ll have fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore, which Christ our King has obtained for us by his life and death and resurrection for us and for our salvation.
20:1–4
And so, we come to chapter 20 which can be divided into four parts. There’s the introduction in verses 1 to 4. Then in verses 5 to 26, the Lord describes the sin of his people in Egypt and the wilderness. In verses 27 to 31 he describes the sin of his people in the Promised Land and in exile. And then in verses 32 to 44 the Lord announces better days to come.
And so, in verses 1 to 4 we have the introduction. It’s now the seventh year that Ezekiel and the others with him have been in exile. And some of the elders of the people came to Ezekiel to enquire of the Lord. And so, they sat down in front of Ezekiel to see if the Lord had a message for them.
And the word of the Lord did come to Ezekiel, but the message he received was not the message the elders were hoping to receive, because the Lord’s message to the elders was: ‘As surely as I live, I will not let you enquire of me, declares the Sovereign Lord.’ They wanted a word from the Lord, but the only word they would receive was that the Lord will not answer them. And then the Lord commands Ezekiel in verse 4 to confront the elders with the detestable practices of their fathers. In other words, tell them what their forefathers have done and how they have sinned against the Lord. And, of course, it wasn’t only their forefathers who did these detestable things, because the present generation did the same things.
20:5–26
In verses 5 to 26, the Lord describes what their forefathers did during their time in Egypt and when they were in the wilderness in the days of Moses.
And so, the Lord describes how he chose them and swore to them that he would bring them out of Egypt where they were slaves. And he would bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey. He would bring them to the most beautiful of lands, where they would have everything they needed. It would be like a return to the Garden of Eden before the fall.
He also told them to get rid of their vile images so that they would not defile themselves any longer with the idols of Egypt. And that tells us that they were a sinful people in those days who were worshipping false gods instead of the true God. But instead of treating them as their sins deserved, the Lord was going to be merciful to them and he was going to rescue them.
But look at verse 8. They rebelled against the Lord and they would not listen to him. They didn’t get rid of their images and idols and all their false gods. And for a moment it seemed that the Lord was ready to pour out his wrath on them and he was going to spend his anger on them when they will still in Egypt. But then, for the sake of his name, he relented. The Lord explains in verse 9 that the reason he relented was to keep his name from being profaned in the eyes of the nations. If he did not save them, then the nations might think he was incapable of saving them. And if he did not save them, then the nations would think he was not able to keep his promise to them to give them the Promised Land. And so, to preserve the honour of his name, he relented from destroying them and he rescued them from Egypt.
And so, according to verse 10, he brought them into the desert where he gave them his laws and decrees for them to keep. By keeping them — including his laws about what sacrifices to offer for forgiveness — they would live and not die. He also gave them his Sabbaths as a sign between them. Since he mentions Sabbaths in the plural, he’s perhaps referring not only to the weekly Sabbath, but to all the religious festivals they were to keep. Just as God had set apart the Sabbath Day and those other holy days, so he had set them apart from all the other nations of the world to be his special, covenant people.
Yet they rebelled against him in the desert. That’s in verse 13. They didn’t follow his decrees and laws, even though he gave them his laws for their good. And they desecrated his Sabbaths. And for a moment it seemed that the Lord was ready to pour out his wrath on them and destroy them in the desert. But — and this is verse 14 — for the sake of his name, he relented. He relented in order to keep his name from being profaned among the nations. He didn’t want the nations thinking that he was not able to keep them alive in the wilderness. He wanted the nations to know that he is able to keep his people.
However, according to verse 15 he swore to them that the ones who rebelled against him would not enter the Promised Land. So, because they turned against him, he wouldn’t bring that rebellious generation into that most beautiful of lands, flowing with milk and honey. However, instead of destroying them immediately and completely, he looked on them with pity and he let them live in the desert.
And the Lord also revealed himself to their children and he told them not to do what their parents had done. This is in verse 18. So, he told them to follow my decrees. Keep my laws. Keep my Sabbaths. But, just like their fathers, the children also disobeyed the Lord. That’s in verse 21. And so, once again for a moment, the Lord was ready to pour out his wrath on them. But once again, and for the sake of his name, he relented. He let them live. But he also warned them that if they continued to rebel against him, he would one day scatter them among the nations. That’s in verse 23. And he also says in verse 25 that he gave them over to statutes that were not good and to laws that would not lead to life. He perhaps means he let them follow their own evil desires. And so, he let them become defiled so that they would be filled with horror by the sinful things they have done and might come to their senses like the Prodigal Son and acknowledge him as their covenant Lord.
20:27–31
That was God’s people in Egypt and in the desert. In verses 27 to 31, he describes what their forefathers did when they finally entered the land.
And what did they do? According to verse 27, they blasphemed the Lord by forsaking him. At every high hill and leafy tree, they offered sacrifices. And these offerings provoked the Lord to anger, because although at first they made sacrifices to him, eventually they made sacrifices to false gods and to idols. They forsook the Lord their God and they bowed down to mere idols instead of to him, the one true and living God who rescued them from Egypt and gave them the Promised Land.
And in verse 30 the Lord tells Ezekiel to address ‘the house of Israel’. The Lord is now speaking to the exiles. He’s speaking to the people who have come to enquire of him. And he’s asking them why do they defile themselves as their forefathers did by lusting after vile images. So, the exiles were worshipping false gods. And the Lord says about them in verse 31 that they were even sacrificing their sons in the fire. So, they were killing their sons and offering them as a sacrifice to their gods. And so, should the Lord let them enquire of him? Should he answer them when they have done these wicked things? Should he answer them when they have turned from him to worship images and idols and false gods? No, he will not answer them.
20:32–44
And yet the Lord can’t help himself. He can’t help himself. He ends up giving them a message of hope and salvation in verses 32 to 44. He says that he will rule over them with a mighty hand and with outpoured wrath. And he says he’ll bring them from the nations where they have been scattered and he’ll bring them to another desert where he will execute judgment upon them. Now, that doesn’t sound very good, does it? It doesn’t sound very hopeful. But look what he means by executing judgment on them. They will pass under his rod, the way sheep pass under the rod of the shepherd. And just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, so the Lord will take from his people all those who revolt and rebel against him. So, before he brings his people back to the Promised Land, he’s going to cleanse them. He’s going to remove all those who revolt and rebel against him and he’ll keep the rest.
And in verse 39 and 40 he anticipates a time when they will listen to him and when they will no longer profane his holy name. And the time will come when the whole house of Israel will serve the Lord on his holy mountain. And he’ll accept them. They’ll offer sacrifices to him and he’ll accept their sacrifices. And they’ll see that he is holy. And according to verse 42, when he brings them back to the Promised Land, they’ll know that he is the Lord, their covenant God, who loves them with a never-ending love. And there they will confess their sins and the evil things they have done. But they will also know that he is their Lord and he hasn’t dealt with them according to their evil ways. If he dealt with them according to their evil ways, then he would destroy every one of them. But for the sake of the glory of his name, he was prepared to bring them back to the Promised Land and to keep them as his people.
Conclusion
And the Lord kept his promise to his people and he brought them out of Babylon and back to the Promised Land in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The city and temple were rebuilt and the worship of the Lord was restored. The people gathered in Jerusalem and they confessed their sins to the Lord and they resolved to walk in his ways and to do his will. And they once again offered sacrifices to him.
And bringing his people back to the Promised Land in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah anticipates how one day the Lord will gather together his people from all the nations of the world. He’ll bring us to his holy mountain in the new heavens and earth, where we will dwell in his presence for ever and for ever. The apostle John wrote of these things at the end of the Bible, where he says in Revelation 21 that the Lord carried him away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain to show him the Holy City, Jerusalem. But the holy city is not really a city, but it’s the church of Christ in glory. And the members of Christ’s church will gather on God’s holy mountain to worship and adore him for ever. And even though we are sinners who sin against the Lord continually and we deserve to be sent out of his presence for ever, nevertheless God is willing to accept us and to welcome us because of Christ, who is the Lamb of God, who shed his blood and died to pay for the sins of his people. John says that nothing impure will enter this Holy City; and anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful will be kept out of it. But all of God’s people will be there, because we’ve been washed and cleansed by means of the death of Christ on our behalf.
And until that day comes, we gather together Sunday by Sunday as the people of God and we confess our sins; and we rejoice in his salvation and in how he does not treat us as our sins deserve and he does not repay us according to our iniquity. Although we deserve to be condemned, he invites us to come and worship him. And he accepts us because of Christ our Saviour. And he accepts the sacrifice of our praise because of Christ our Saviour. And instead of profaning his holy name, we’re to honour his holy name in all we do and say each day.
Sermons and Stuff 