“Judgment, But Still a Remnant”

Scripture: Ezekiel 14:12-23

From what we have seen in the past few weeks, it’s obvious that God’s judgment is on Israel in a powerful and all-consuming way. He is angry with the faithlessness of the nation in general, but it isn’t a general condemnation that is coming down. Its specific for each and every person - men, women, leaders, prophets – they have all denied the majesty of their God and have, instead, chosen to glorify the false gods of other nations. They look to fertility gods and look away from the true gift of fruitfulness. They show honor to the gods that come and go, seemingly at their own whim, while the faithful and omnipresent God is seen as inadequate and irrelevant. They put their trust in the gods of stone and wood and earth, and rebuke the only God who truly is trustworthy.
Judgment has come upon the “nation of the chosen” – not because their Yahweh God has desired it, but because the chosen people have caused it. The relationship is broken and a penalty must be paid if it is ever to be healed. The day would come when God Incarnate would become that penalty for all of humanity, but that day was still a long way off.
Judgment could not be avoided, and now Ezekiel was to learn just how severe it would be.

Read Ezekiel 14:12-14

You may remember that many passages in this book begin with the words “The word of the Lord came to me.” The prophet wants the people to know without question that the message is not his – that it comes directly from the Lord God of Israel, and that the word that is about to be given to them is God’s and his alone. And the people should be justly nervous, as the Lord never wastes words – it will be a message that will make a significant difference in their lives, and by now, they knew that it would not be a message of blessing. And even though God doesn’t specifically call out the names of Israel and Judah, they knew that the words were for them.
And they knew the three names that were offered as examples of righteousness. The faith of Noah had been the reason that 8 people were saved from the Great Flood; the captive Daniel, whose great faith the people may or may not have already heard about, would be an example that they had not lived up to; and Job who, even in the days before Abraham, had suffered unspeakably at the hand of Evil, had endured in faith right to the end of his ordeal. Even these men, each of whom had a faith that allowed them to endure the absence of God in the poverty of a sinful world, could do nothing to convince God to spare these people from the consequences of their judgment. And of the three men who Yahweh mentions, only Daniel is a Jew – both Noah and Job precede the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Could this mean that the Lord actually looks beyond the “chosen” people to show where righteousness really abounds, and where his grace is at work?

Israel had grown up knowing that God’s mercy knew no bounds. In the 2nd Great Commandment (Exodus 20:4), they had been told that Divine Mercy would extend for a thousand generations from those who loved the Lord. The faith of Rahab, the prostitute of Jericho, saved not only her own life, but the lives of her entire family (Joshua 2; 6:24-25). The faith of Esther would save all of the captive people from the hatred of Haman (See the entire book of Esther). A few faithful people had always been the saving grace for the nation. But no longer – now, each and every person must look to the depth of their own faith for salvation, and they weren’t prepared for this.

But how bad could it get? After all, hasn’t God chosen them over others, and doesn’t he love them more than all the rest?

Read Ezekiel 14:15-20

How bad? Not just one judgment, but now there were 4!
No food, bringing about a famine that would be death for humans as well as their animals.
And wild beasts would come to prey upon the weak and young and helpless, and would continue to scavenge the countryside to the point that no one could even journey through it, let alone live there.
And conflict – either that from outside the nation or from some internal strife – would devastate the populace.
And if all of this wasn’t bad enough, a plague would come that would wreak havoc on anyone who had survived the first three.

And the faith of the righteous few would be insufficient to save any others – even the lives of their own children would be lost.

That’s how bad it could get when God steps back and allows humanity to take care of themselves and to make their own way in this world. And one way or another, God will, one day, make himself known to all people, - and whether they get to know his grace and mercy or not, they will know.

Read Ezekiel 14:21-23

How much worse could it possibly get! And yet, as bad as it will be, some will be saved. Note that the Lord doesn’t say that the righteous won’t have to suffer along with everyone else! They will be subjected to the same judgment, but they won’t succumb to it.

Was this talk only about Israel? Or was it about the calamities that had come upon the earth in years gone by? Or is it about the Godly Wrath that many expect will come on the nations of today? Or could it be about the judgment that will, one day, come upon the entire earth? Or is it a commentary on the power of God, intended to bring all nations into his fold?
Maybe the answer is a simple “Yes” – all of the above! Israel had forgotten just who their God is, and the Lord is in the process of reminding them of the fullness of his Being – that he is the All Mighty, the All Powerful, the All Consuming, the All Knowing, the All Giving, the All in All, and there is no other like him. No one is forced to worship the one true God, no one is required to give him the honor that is due him, human existence will never be abruptly jerked into compliance with God’s nature! But there will always be consequences! And Israel was beginning to understand this is a rather dramatic way.
Their judgment would last 70 years, and would only come to an end when their Lord would work his Will through the life of the Persian King Cyrus (2 Chronicles 36:22-23). 70 years of captivity. 70 years of occupation. 70 years of oppression. 70 years of exile from their homeland. 70 years of relearning about Yahweh and his glory. A harsh lesson, to be sure - even worse than 40 years of wandering in the wilderness! But it had to be. Israel had to understand that a fulfilling relationship with the mighty Yahweh had to be personal, and that you couldn’t depend on the faithful life of a friend to see you through.
No longer could the righteousness of one suffice for the thousand generations to come. But it would be equally true that the sins of one would not be carried through to the succeeding three to four generations (Exodus 20:4-6). Every person’s faith would be judged by its own depth, and not by that of others.
But this would never mean that the righteous would never have to suffer, that faith would preclude judgment, that trust in God would spare them from pain. It only meant that the two outcomes of judgment – life or death – would now hinge on the life in faith, or its absence. Nothing else would matter.

And the prophet would be consoled in his task by those who would be plucked from the flames of refinement. The next chapter of this book will be left to you as homework, as it is about the fire that will consume the wicked of Israel.

Is faith enough to save us from that all-consuming fire? Jesus says that it is (John 3:16-20). But it is up to each person as to whether they will be the refined into perfect gold, or become the dross that is separated out and rejected. That’s what our 5 day revival event next week is all about. It is the opportunity for the righteous to bring our friends and family into the Light of Christ. John 3:16-17 – “For God so loved the world that he send his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world though him.” And John 3:21 – “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

Israel thought that it was all about what they did – right living, right sacrifice, right lineage. But God sent his prophet to let them know differently. So just maybe salvation can come through the efforts of others! Not that we can save, but we can bring others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We can be part of the salvation process!
Remember Philip’s words to Nathaniel? “Come and See.” (John 1:44-46) Remember the Samaritan woman’s words to her neighbors? It was basically the same witness – come and decide for yourself! (John 4:39)
We do not save, but we all know the One who does. Invite your friends to come and see and decide for themselves. “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” (Joshua 24:15) They just might choose to become a part of the remnant!