Ezekiel 14:1-23

Men are responsible before God for their sin.  There are consequences for sin that men must eventually pay.  God is patient and long-suffering but we must never think that God’s patience is and an indication of His indifference.  God will hold man to an account of His sin and there will be judgment.  The only way to escape this judgment is through personal righteousness or through repentance and restored faith in the Word of God.  Many men think they can carry on a relationship with God as if nothing has happened even though they continue to live in sin.  Others believe that they will escape from God’s judgment because they have a godly ancestry.  This is delusional thinking.  God judges every man according to his own righteousness and personal repentance.  We cannot hide behind the righteousness of others or hope that God will simply ignore our idolatry.

GOD WILL NOT REVEAL HIMSELF TO THE UNREPENTANT: The elders of the people who had been taken captive to Babylon come to sit before Ezekiel in order to inquire of him concerning the plight of the people of Judah.  God has a very harsh message for these men.  God points out the idolatry of these men’s hearts and informs them that they have no right to come before Hi to inquire about anything as long as they continue in this state of rebellion.  These men thought that their position as leaders gave them the right to come before God despite their idolatry.  They were mistaken.  God tells Ezekiel not to even entertain their questions or give them any answers.  The only think God is interested in responding to these idolaters is personal repentance.  God tells Ezekiel not to waste his time arguing with or explaining things to idolatrous men.  The only think Ezekiel was to tell them was to call them to repentance.  God will not deal with or reveal Himself to idolatrous men who refuse to repent.  Many men come before God to satisfy their own curiosity with no interest whatsoever in repentance.  God will ignore such requests.    

GOD WILL NOT RELIEVE THE UNRIGHTEOUS WITH THE RIGHTEOUS: Another misconception within the people was that they could hide behind or be delivered by the righteousness of other men.  There were many godly and righteous men in the history of Israel so the people thought they would be able to escape the judgment of God on the nation because of the history of these godly men.  There has always been a remnant of faithful men in Israel even in the most difficult of times and in the midst of great idolatry.  This continued to be true in Ezekiel’s day.  God makes it very clear to the people that God was able to deliver the righteous from His judgment but that the unrighteous would not find relief from His judgment because of the righteous minority.  God tells Ezekiel four different times that even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in Israel at this time their own children would not be spared from the sword, famine, pestilence and wild beasts that were going to fall on the people as God’s judgment.  If God would not spare the children of these righteous men how much less would he spare the people of Ezekiel’s day?  We cannot hide behind the faith of our fathers or the faith of our friends.  Every man will be personally held accountable before God for his or her own response to His Word.