God has several important reasons for announcing judgment upon people. Here are two important reasons for speaking to people through his prophets.
First, it helps them recognize that they have violated the standards that promote life and well-being. God uses remedial judgment to correct these violations.
Second, it clarifies the cause of the troubles they are experiencing. These difficulties are not random but are brought by God, who loves them but has been disregarded.
Like not paying attention to the effects of gravity, we disregard God’s directions at our own peril.
In 592 BC, Ezekiel was living in exile in Babylon, likely working in a labor camp alongside others who had been deported with him in 597. The impending destruction of Jerusalem was approaching in 587 BC, when the city would be devastated, and its entire population exiled to Babylon.
Ezekiel faced the difficult task of speaking on behalf of God, informing his fellow exiles about the fate that awaited their beloved Jerusalem.
Here is a summary of the prophet’s message in Ezekiel 7:1-9.
- The word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel with a message for Israel.
- God declares that the end has come for the land of Israel, encompassing all its corners.
- God’s anger will be unleashed upon the people, and He will judge them according to their actions and sins.
- There will be no mercy or pity from God; He will punish them for their abominations.
- The people will recognize that it is the Lord who brings this judgment.
- Disaster is imminent, with one calamity following another.
- The time for judgment is near, and doom is coming for the inhabitants of the land.
- God’s wrath will soon be poured out, with His anger directed at their sinful ways.
- The Lord will not spare anyone, punishing them according to their actions.
- The people will know that it is the Lord who strikes them in judgment.
As we read through the book of Ezekiel, we notice that the prophet often uses repetition to emphasize key points in his message. Here, he stresses that the end is near—and indeed, it was.
If he delivered this message in 592 BC, the destruction of Jerusalem followed just five years later, in 587 BC.
Another key theme in the book of Ezekiel is that God is the source of Israel’s troubles. Though He loves them more deeply than anyone else, He cannot tolerate their ongoing disregard for their relationship with Him.
God understands that the way they treat Him reflects how they treat one another, and this behavior is unacceptable. As a result, judgment is brought upon the people.
The phrase “then you shall know that I am the Lord” is repeated because God desires His people to truly know who He is. They have refused to know Him in a loving relationship, to honor Him as keepers of His covenant, and to reflect His image to the surrounding nations.
As a result, they will come to know Him as their judge.
More than History
Fifty years ago, I was taking a seminary class on the prophet Amos. In the introduction to the book I was reading, the author remarked, “We have now put a person on the moon, but our morality has not advanced beyond that of the times of the prophet Amos.”
The same could be said about Ezekiel. While our technology has reached remarkable heights, our moral progress remains no greater than it was in the days of the Old Testament prophets.
It is up to people like you and me to recognize the message of the prophets and humbly return to God’s ways. In the last century, Frank Laubach called on a million people to offer “flash prayers” for God’s mercy on the world they lived in.
Now, 70 years after Laubach, we need to do the same. We must offer prayers of repentance, asking God to have mercy on the world we live in today.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 