Ezekiel 7:1-27

“The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”  Paul warned Timothy of this truth.  Ezekiel illustrates with the nation of Israel how this is the truth.  Money tends to foster pride in the lives of those who have a lot of money.  Pride is at the root of almost every sin.  Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the Garden because of pride.  Today people reject the message of the Gospel because of pride.  The nation of Israel was destroyed by God because she became proud in her sin and refused to repent.  Unfortunately much of today’s culture mirrors that of Israel’s.  Money and pride rule the day.  The warning from God is clear, repentance is the only way we can avoid the wrath of God.

THEY WERE PROUD OF THEIR POSITION: Ezekiel describes the coming wrath of God on the nation of Israel.  The people will be slaughtered in the streets, the buildings will be utterly destroyed and the fields will be left in desolation.  This is not a new message by any means.  Isaiah, Jeremiah and now Ezekiel have preached almost nothing else.  There were many reasons behind all of this suffering under the wrath of God, but here Ezekiel tells us that pride was at the root of Israel’s sin.  They had been given a favored position by God so that from that position they could effectively bless the surrounding nations.  Instead, they used that position to look down their noses at the nations around them and at God.  Their hearts were full of pride so God is about to bring them to their knees.  They will become despised by the nations and there will be no hint of a reason for them to be proud in the least.  When God grants us favor, humility is the character quality we need to develop.  God’s grace is the only reason we have been granted an exalted position in Christ.  We do not deserve it so there is no reason we should be made proud because of it.

THEY WERE PROUD OF THEIR POSSESSIONS: There is great evil about to come upon the children of Israel.  They will suffer under a judgment that is harsh, destructive and greatly deserved.  God had blessed the nation with a great amount of wealth.  Gold and silver were abundant in the nation from the very beginning of when they left Egypt.  Unfortunately, they used much of that gold to build idols and altars to gods of their own makings instead of worshiping the Lord.  Wealth, affluence and possessions are not sins in and of themselves but they most certainly can lead us into sin very easily.  Gold and silver lead the nation into a false sense of security and self-worth that made them arrogant and this made God very angry.  All of these wonderful possessions were about to be destroyed and all the gold and silver they had accumulated and in which they had put their trust was about to be scattered in the streets because the hand of God was against them.  Today’s society is one of the wealthiest of all of history.  Perhaps this is why pride is seen as a virtue and why today’s society is headed for the same type of destruction Israel experienced.  We must humble ourselves before the Lord or all of our possessions will be scattered in the streets along with our bodies at the time of God’s judgment.