Unjust Rulers
Eze 11:1 Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD'S house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
Eze 11:2 Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:
The twenty five men were the city council, the princes; they made the official policies. Some say Jerusalem was divided into twenty four parishes, districts, or wards, and everyone had its own head, ruler, and governor; and that there was one who was the president over them all, like the mayor and aldermen of a city; they were up to no good, seekling and passing unjust laws. The gate was the place of judgment. Thinking of our own time now, if times get rough, and they soon will be more so. We need leaders who are born again Spirit filled leaders. More often the leaders are ungodly and corrupt, doing as the failed nations; as were these leaders in Jerusalem.
Eze 11:3 Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.
We do not think we are in danger, so let us build houses, perhaps mansions for ourselves. If the enemy comes we will be as flesh in a pot; or in joking slang, we will be dead meat. I think of the frog in a pan of water that was heated. It never jumped out, but gradually boiled to death. Even now politicians spend money, build their houses as if there was no end coming. They were not accountable to people or to truth. They become their own authority, changing reality for their view of reality or those who own them. The cauldron is on the fire.
2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
The flesh in the pot were those dying of starvation and crime; also the people of the city of Jerusalem would soon be meat to the invading armies.
Eze 11:4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
Eze 11:5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
Eze 11:6 Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
They may hide from truth and God, but the LORD knows what the authorities are thinking. Jesus was most angry with those who were given authority to preach the word of God, and who were corrupt.
Isa 1:15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
Eze 11:7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
They would be brought out of the city by the Chaldean invaders.
Eze 11:8 Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 11:9 And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
Eze 11:10 Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Jer 42:16 Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.
Jer 39:6 Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
Jer 39:7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.
Eze 11:11 This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:
Eze 11:12 And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.
Lev 18:3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.
Lev 18:4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.
Lev 18:5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
They refused to obey the LORD and did that which they were told not to do. They brought judgment on their own heads and they would lose their land and their holy temple. If we are running from God, if we have lost that closeness to our Lord. Now is the time to repent and to remember His ways. Pray for our leaders that God would have mercy on our land. Those who have wanted God removed, if they will not repent, remove them and purify your people. We want to be your people LORD, holy and obedient.
The Glory left the temple
Eze 11:13 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?
Pelatiah means "Yahweh's Remnant", his death brought concern to the prophet about the fate of the Remnant. Names are important in the Bible, they carry a message. Eze 11:14 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Eze 11:15 Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession. Eze 11:16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
Comforting words, although the Remnant be removed to other lands the LORD is their sanctuary. The LORD is our sanctuary too, in times of plenty and in want. He is able to deliver us and to comfort us.
Psa 90:1 A Prayer of Moses the man of God. LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
Psa 32:7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Psa 119:114 Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.
Eze 11:17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
Eze 11:18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
Eze 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
Eze 11:20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
This is a restored end time Israel.
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
New hearts, written on by the hand of God, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
2 Cor 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.
Eze 11:21 But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.
Mat 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Mat 15:20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
Eze 11:22 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
Exo 16:10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
Eze 11:23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
The presence of the LORD left the temple and departed to the Mount of Olives.
Eze 11:24 Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.
Eze 11:25 Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had shewed me.
The vision was over and Ezekiel is back in Chaldea speaking with the captive remnant. There is always good news in trusting the LORD. Things will be better, in the bye and bye. Even if a captive, the LORD goes with you. Sin has it's payday for a nation that has turned from God. Share with faithful men the word of the LORD.
2Ti 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
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