Ezekiel 22:23-31

In chapter 22 of Ezekiel, he is commissioned as a judge to show Jerusalem her abominations, to pronounce the determinations of God against Jerusalem (Verses 1-2), calling it the bloody city (Verse 2) defiled by idols (Verse 4).

Verses 5-12 are a catalog of sins from which the charges against them are cited. Making a complete list of America’s sins would be impossible; time and space are limited, but some instances will be applied.

Verses 13-22 are the pronouncement of judgment, but within those verses, note that verses 17 through 22 discuss the necessity of the refining process they must undergo. Many types of metal and alloys are mentioned denoting that the purification of this refining will affect everyone; none shall escape the ire of God. Being purified and having the dross of sin skimmed can be painful for a man. But praise the Lord, put through the fire with sin purged, the end is sweet as honey, for we come out as a son of God after chastisement which yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11).

Then, in our text, holy God calls out a roster to Ezekiel of the specific groups and their sinful actions; the prophets, priests, princes, and the people. The chapter concludes with verses 30 and 31; God could find no just man, a leader among the people that would give Him reason to forestall His wrath.

As background, Deuteronomy 19 is the Law of Innocent Blood. And in Proverbs chapter 6, cataloged among the things God hates are hands that shed innocent blood. “A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood” – Proverbs 6:17. Also, see Matthew 27:3-4, carefully considering the ends of men and the demise of empires that shed the innocent blood.

Some application for today is needed from the section starting in verse 23 to the end of the chapter. We’ll look at their situation and similarities today to understand why judgment is arriving in the West and what repentance should be if only we would.

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“23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.”

Verse 24 is not a pronouncement of drought but an indication that the land and people were not being cleansed, having no refreshing of God’s mercies due to their wickedness. Water is often a picture of the Spirit of God or, particularly, the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus offered the woman at the well living water (John 4:14). Christ places the Spirit of God in a man’s soul, born again by the Spirit, making all who would believe “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Also, see Revelation 22:1.

In Ezekiel chapter 22, the Spirit of God was being withdrawn, a horrifying thought indeed, for in the absence of God, darkness prevails, sin abounds, wickedness multiplies throughout the land, and the people suffer. What is outer darkness, but the absence of inner Light? It’s reasonably apparent that an exit from faith in God has been crossed for America and the West.

There is an Old Testament distinction between priests and prophets; verses 25 and 26 list them separately. Some thoroughly understand the Old Testament structure of roles and modes of worship, days of observance, purposes of the offices, and various sacrifices, but this writer has a weakness. Firmly planted in the New Covenant, the history is of interest but the application rules.

The prophets are most noted when God calls them and declares judgment on the people by them. The prophets had a separate school; in 2 Kings 6, they needed a more extensive training and living facility. We think today of a prophet as a man of old who foretold the future at the word of the Lord and did great miracles. But most often in the Bible, a prophet is a teacher (John 3:2) or a messenger of God. Though He was a prophet, but not only a prophet, billions of people today do err, thinking that Jesus was just another visionary. But Jesus rose from the grave. Everything Jesus said is coming true, and we serve in hope while awaiting His return to finish our course. Be sure Christ dwells in your heart by faith, making you rooted and grounded in love.

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“25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.”

Deuteronomy 18:15-22 details the creation of the office of the prophet; note carefully in verses 21 and 22 how to identify a false prophet. The modern prophecy movement today is run by the devil himself. Only God knows the future, but it’s plain to read what becomes of a people when their state is such as ours.

The prophets then, as today, were divining lies for personal gains, like a roaring lion ravening the prey, which sounds remarkably like the description of the devil in 1 Peter 5:8. The making of many widows refers to the false declaration to the king(s) about the authority of God to go to war, which is detailed further in verses 27 and 28 below.

Today false prophets further devour souls by selling the self-righteousness of works salvation, declaring rites, rituals, and ceremonies as equal to the grace of God that comes only through faith in the sacrifice of His own Son. They steal the foundation of the Gospel truth (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) and simplicity that is in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:3), filling men with the pride of their own achievements, which are wood, hay, and stubble (1 Corinthians 3:10-13), the filthy rags of men’s own righteousnesses (Isaiah 64:6), all of which, every last thing, will burn up in the final conflagration at the judgment of Christ (2 Peter 3:10-12).

How many false health and wealth movement prophets today have taken treasure and precious things?

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“26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.”

As background, the book of Leviticus outlines the Old Covenant law of the priesthood. We worship today, or we should, under the New Covenant in Christ.

First, profane can mean anything not ordained of God, not necessarily wicked, but even the ordinary. God is holy; nothing about Him or the worship He demands is common. There certainly are very profane things, wickedness and evil of all types, but taking the things not ordained of God and including them in worship, claiming them to be godly or holy, is a problem that leads to idolatry.

Unrepentant sinners abound among Christians, some even teaching in the churches, women “priests,” and many other examples come to mind today. But none of those churches started by having, for instance, sodomite preachers. Somewhere in the history of those churches, they allowed the profane. Perhaps the problem started before the current membership was alive: the leadership let some things slide, and just a few “little sins” began to creep in. Righteousness begets righteousness, and evil is forced to flee. So too, sin produces even more corruption by eroding the holy, just, wholesome, and clean, making God see all that worship as profane.

The application of verse 26 to today is rather apparent, or it should be. The priests are allowing all manner of sins, which is a violation of God’s holy law. The churches have put no difference between the holy and the mundane, let alone rejecting sin among them.

In Acts, the body of Christ met and worshipped daily and from house to house (Acts 2:46-47, 5:42), and God grew it mightily for their faith. I attend church on Sunday: it’s the right day under the New Covenant. I’m not telling you when to gather together, but you must do it; it’s a commandment (Hebrews 10:25). I know the churches are messed up. Even the good ones are messed up, for they’re full of sinners.

America’s churches are full of professional liars, teaching you to obey the god-government and how to get along by successfully integrating your family into a secular evil society while pretending it’s not all sin, debauchery, and unclean.

But you have to go to church. Go to every church within miles until you find one that obeys Christ’s command in Matthew 22:37-40. And John 13:35 is how you know who are His disciples. Most folks who won’t attend church today don’t go because they see how bad they are. Without you in some assembly, how can they stay right with God? Christianity isn’t a consumer activity in which you choose your favorite; it’s sometimes very formidable work to be obedient and please the Lord personally and as a group.

You can do this even in the face of what church leaders are doing. Show yourself to Holy God, one repentant sinner, desiring to be consecrated in the Lord, a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) worthy to be reckoned as belonging to the Most Holy. Then take charge of your family, purge all sin from among you, seeking God’s favor that you might be bathed in the blood of Christ, sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God. Next, your local church body; cleanse it of all sin, remove the unrepentant, and present it to God in like manner. “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” This isn’t somebody else’s job; it’s yours.

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“27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.”

It’s just too many sins today to list; frankly, I don’t even care what our leaders do anymore. We deserve them. The issue in the text is the shedding of blood for gain.

It’s difficult to understand why anybody of sound mind would join the armed forces of America or NATO countries. Without going on a tirade against the evil rulers of America, the West, and the global Oligarchy, I’ll point out that America has been at war my entire lifetime and doing it for fun, profit, and one world order. Waring for a few men’s pleasure and gain establishing a global central banking cartel is not a righteous endeavor; have no part in it. The bloody city, Washington D.C., has its due coming, along with all those who shed innocent blood to our ruin.

And what about abortion? America has princes in many states ravenous for the innocent blood of babies. Horrors undertaken too difficult to bear for a man not owned spirit of antichrist occur daily. Healthcare and healing have been turned into sickcare and a death mill. What else could come of a people who don’t value the next generations of their people?

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“28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.”

“untempered morter” seems to be a metaphor for patching up the rulers with lies, making feel and look good.

In verses 27 and 28, the prophets have sanctioned unjust wars. What was happening in Ezekiel’s day is happing here. The mainline Christians love war, and presidents take to themselves false prophets who divine “peace peace” lying through their teeth. See Jeremiah (a contemporary of Ezekiel) 6:14, 23:16-17.

As a young voter, politicians would promise a continuation of the “largest peacetime expansion” of the economy in history (but by flagrant usury debt to our children, a part they would omit) and, in the next breath, tell us who they were going to bomb back to the stone age. Take heart; I fell for it, too, even offering myself for military service. God has seen these lies! Presidents have had wicked men and women “spiritual advisors” and many famous professional fake Christian “men of God.” God has seen these lies, too, and the dual citizens they really serve.

“Even those who profess themselves to be my prophets, have been unfaithful in the discharge of their office; have soothed the people in their sins, and pretended to have oracles of peace and safety when I had not spoken to them.” – Adam Clarke on verses 27 and 28.

Separate yourself from the evil of Babylon as much as possible. Escape from her any way you can but run to the Lord God!

“My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.” – Jeremiah 51:45

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” – Revelation 18:4

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“29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.”

It’s so bad in America that just about everybody has decided to “get mine” while the gettin’ is good. Dishonesty in business, whether with customers or employees, repressive wages, and much more, is now standard, while government mandates acceptance of the New Religion in all affairs of life. Welfare and insurance/disability fraud are rampant. People just accept sin as a way of life and that everybody does it. God also sees these lies. Christians are supposed to be different; be ye separate (2 Corinthians 6:17).

And don’t let liars and false Christians abuse this verse where it mentions oppressing the stranger. God required Israel to apply the entire law to the strangers and sojourners among them (Exodus 12:49) and requires the same of us today (Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11). Verse 29 is not Christ’s license to import a billion heathens and destroy your civilization through 501c3, Soros funded “refugee resettlement!” Notwithstanding, do good to whom God has said in the New Testament.

But not every one of us has turned to evil. There are those among you, come what may; we’ll try as God allows us to endeavor for what is right. Lord, have mercy on us.

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“30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. 31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.”

And finally, we arrive at the fury of God Almighty in the indignation of His wrath, having determined fiery vengeance to recompense those men for their evil. This same God is the only one that can save our civilization now, and it starts with you. It’s not justice you need; it’s the mercy of God’s forgiveness.

This is where every man stands, born into sin, helpless before the power of God’s holy throne, condemned already to hell’s eternal depths for your sin. The law can’t save you; no amount of religion or good deeds can appease God, for there is only one just atonement.

“For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” – Ezekiel 18:32

Though you deserve it, God takes no pleasure in your soul’s eternal demise. He offers life if you would turn unto Him and live. Without Him, judgment is at the door.

Look back at verse 30; regrettably, there is none righteous, no, not one. It’s horrifying to hear in the day of Ezekiel that God searched out among all men one who could stand before Him, a hedge, a man to fill the gap between sin and the peace that lies at heaven’s gate, and there was none to be found.

But God, in His mercy, has given a man, His only begotten Son, a righteous hedge, a Mediator, a daysman betwixt you and God’s anger. Jesus fulfilled the Scripture according to the prophets and the law when He was crucified for your sins to pay the debt in total that you never could. He was buried and rose again the third day, triumphant over sin, death, hell, and the grave, now seated at the right hand of God the Father. Christ lives to make intercession for you.

“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” – Hebrews 7:25

Saved to the uttermost, it sounds like a perfect offer; go ahead and take it. He’s making intercession to God for you; call upon Christ Jesus, understanding you are a sinner, and whatever evils come our way, without Christ, you will surely perish in the fire of God’s wrath. But God loves you, and hell doesn’t have to be your home. Believe in your heart that the resurrected Christ, Jesus, is the way to life eternal and a life of service to the good of God that He would bless you now and into eternity. It will get worse here in the coming days; show yourself to God as belonging to Jesus Christ, ask for forgiveness for your sins, and offer yourself before the mercies of God’s courts.