Good Monday July seventeenth as we continue studying this prophecy by Ezekiel.
God will do to you what He has done to me-
Ezekiel is told by God your wife is going to die but you are not to grieve for her. We read that Ezekiel obeyed God fully, what God was doing was using Ezekiel’s life as an example to what the people had done to Him and what was going to happen to them. Reminiscent of the life of Hosea, who was asked to take a harlot as his wife who was unfaithful to him. Hosea 1:2-3 “When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.” As with Hosea God intends to use the death of Ezekiel’s wife for the people to see what they have become. The grief that Ezekiel held is a high cost in being obedient to the Lord, but you know what would be worse, missing the eternal call to heaven. Jeremiah 16:5 “For thus says the Lord: “Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “loving-kindness and mercies.” Any personal sorrow, we may go through in life in our obedience to the Lord, will be overcome by our positions with Jesus in heaven. Let us now read from Ezekiel 24:19-24 “And the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things signify to us, that you behave so?” 20 Then I answered them, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 21 ‘Speak to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I will profane My sanctuary, your arrogant boast, the desire of your eyes, the delight of your soul; and your sons and daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. 22 And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your lips nor eat man’s bread of sorrow. 23 Your turbans shall be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; you shall neither mourn nor weep, but you shall pine away in your iniquities and mourn with one another. 24 Thus Ezekiel is a sign to you; according to all that he has done you shall do; and when this comes, you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.” Ezekiel, having just spoken to the people that his wife would be dead by morning was shocked and saw Ezekiel’s behavior as strange to them. “‘Behold, I will profane My sanctuary, your arrogant boast, the desire of your eyes, the delight of your soul; and your sons and daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword.” Again using Ezekiel as the source in his joy and security with his wife, Israel though has been disobedient by treating God improper, what is said here is as Ezekiel’s wife had died suddenly so the sanctuary would as well die suddenly. Their sons and daughters left behind still in Jerusalem as Judah it says will fall to the sword. The nations would experience grief so deep that as Ezekiel expressed as a deep quiet moan. What would happen to both Judah and Jerusalem was what they deserved not taking God at His word. In Ezekiel as God’s leader to the people we see that true servants of God may go through personal sufferings as they allow God to use them as He so wishes. Too many believe living right with Jesus is not having losses or sufferings, not so. Are you willing to be used by God? Remnant
