Ezekiel 24:1-22

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”  The nation of Israel is preparing to go through a time of judgment in which they will experience pain, death and hardship beyond what the nation could imagine.  Ezekiel gives two tragic illustrations of the coming judgment.  I don’t think any of us can imagine the price that Ezekiel would have to pay in order to deliver the message that God wanted him to deliver.  It was a desperate time for the nation and in order for Ezekiel to communicate God’s message he would enter into a time of personal desperation.  Today we live in a world of desperate times.  I wonder what price the Lord would have us be willing to pay in order to communicate His message to this generation?

A LOSS OF LIFE: The first object lesson that Ezekiel was called to give was typical in that it was a word picture.  However the significance of the word picture was very severe.  The picture was that of a boiling pot where all kinds of flesh would be thrown in and boiled to death.  The fire would grow so severe and so hot that eventually the pot itself would be burned up.  The significance of this parable was that the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem would be killed, many would be burned up and others would be carried away in captivity and then the city itself would be burned up.  This judgment was due to the sinfulness of the nation and their refusal to repent of their sin.  They had rejected God and refused to heed the warnings of the Lord; so He was about to get their attention in the most severe way.  We must be very careful not to harden our hearts to the Word of the Lord and refuse to repent of our sin because when He gets our attention, He is willing to do so in the most desperate ways imaginable.

A LOSS OF WIFE: The second object lesson God called Ezekiel to give was not traditional but was extremely personal and painful.  God told Ezekiel that He was going to take his wife suddenly in death.  God warned Ezekiel of this beforehand and then instructed him that he was not allowed to cry or mourn over the loss of His wife.  This kind of calling is one I imagine most of would have a hard time accepting.  In short order the Word of God came to pass and Ezekiel’s wife died.  The friends and neighbors of the family cried and mourned the death of this woman but Ezekiel was obedient to the Lord and did not cry.  When the people asked him about this strange posture he was able to deliver the message God called him to give.  His message was that the day was coming for the nation when desperation would become so great that they would not even cry when their family members were killed in the slaughter was about to come upon the nation.  There are times when the Lord calls us to be willing to give up our family members in order to accomplish the tasked to which He calls us.  We may not be called to make such sacrifices but as followers of the Lord Jesus we are called to be willing.