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Living Hope SDA Church

Chris Holland

Waiting and Warning: Echoes from the Book of Ezekiel

Heavenly Father, we have gathered and we have most certainly experienced you through music.

We have experienced you through the reading of your Word.

And now, Lord, we want to experience your presence through the proclamation of the Word.

Help us Lord to experience the promise that your word will not return unto you void.

Transform us by the power of your word, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

On June the 24th at approximately 1.30 a.m., the residents of the Champlain Towers were awakened by a loud noise and a jolt.

Of the 126 units in the Champlain Towers, those in the South Tower, 55 of those units collapsed to the ground.

It took just 12 seconds for that side of the building to collapse.

As of July the 2nd, 22 people have been identified as perished with another 126 that are missing.

While search and rescue teams still seek those who may be buried in the rubble, investigators have begun to try to figure out why this happened.

What we do know is that in 2018, an outside engineering company flagged the towers with a seething report of major structural damage and cracking in the foundations and concrete.

What we do know is that the building was sinking at 2 millimeters per year.

And in a letter 3 months prior to the collapse of the towers, the Condo Association President issued a letter outlining the building's worsening condition and need to make repairs and expend money, to expend 60% more money because they had waited 3 years to make those repairs.

And as is now apparent, that waiting cost lives.

Could it be that this sad story from South Florida has a lesson for us today as God's people?

I'd like you to journey back with me in time to the sixth century BC.

There in the sixth century BC, I am hoping that we might discover a tie-in, some type of insight that will help us in the 21st century not to be caught unawares and taken by surprise.

I'd like, if you have your Bibles with you, to open to the book of Ezekiel.

While Ezekiel is 1 of the major prophets, and has a major prophetic book.

His messages are seemingly not too frequently read.

It is misunderstood often because the visions of heaven that Ezekiel had are possibly confusing and the characters that show up in these visions are a little misunderstood.

And so many times as we begin to read the book of Ezekiel, just as quickly, we lay it down aside because of its misunderstood texts.

However, in my own personal devotional time, I have had the opportunity to read through the entirety of the book of Ezekiel.

And by reading and studying this book, it has been an eye-opening experience as I have read this prophet who is a contemporary of Jeremiah and Daniel, Ezekiel was the son of Buzzi.

He was a priest of God, but called to be a prophet.

His name literally translated means God will strengthen.

Ezekiel lived in Judah in the days of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Judah in 605 B.C.

But he was not taken captive in that initial attack of Nebuchadnezzar as Daniel and his friends were taken captive.

However, Nebuchadnezzar returned in 597 B.C.

Not too amused by Jehoiakim's rebellion, and so Ezekiel was taken captive along with 10, 000 others who were political and military leaders and skilled craftsmen.

And it is from his book that we understand that Ezekiel, once he had been taken captive, settled down in his own home somewhere along the river Chabar, which was a tributary to the Euphrates River.

We also know from the book of Ezekiel that Ezekiel was a married man, but in chapter 24, his wife seemingly and apparently died unexpectedly.

The message of the book of Ezekiel seeks to make something clear.

And that essential item that Ezekiel attempts to make clear through his writing is that God has a purpose for His people even though they're in captivity.

Counsel and warnings for centuries on end, but they continued.

The nation of Israel continued to sink deeper and deeper into apostasy.

The Babylonian captivity gives us clarity to the reality that there are lessons that God's people needed to attain the heights that God wanted for them, and for whatever reason, those attainments, those goals, would not be achieved in peace, but rather in adversity.

It is a lesson for us today that sometimes we want lessons in life to come easy, yet sometimes it is in adversity that God is best able to reach us.

Ezekiel's call was to be obedient to God and learn His ways and cooperate with Him through submitting to His will.

And when you look at the book of Ezekiel, it's basically divided into 2 sections.

The first were prophetic warnings of what was going to happen in 586 B.C.

If God's people would not yield to the Babylonians.

If they would not yield, there would be destruction.

And we know now, looking back, that that is exactly what happened in 586 B.C.

When Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem, finding a rebellious nation, finding a rebellious king who would not be willing to submit to him, and so therefore Nebuchadnezzar not only destroyed the city, but leveled the temple.

The second portion of Ezekiel is God's promises, His prophetic promises to God's people for their desired future.

Those promises would be fulfilled through repentance and obedience in the context of a new covenant experience.

But the prophet contended with a people who were willfully ignorant, a corrupted priesthood, false prophetic messages, and apostate leaders who cried peace, comfort, and safety.

The book of Ezekiel could be summarized in this simple phrase.

Today, I would like for us to focus our attention on the 33rd chapter of the book of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 33, and beginning in verse 1, the Bible says the following, Again the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, speak to the children of your people and say to them, When I bring a sword upon a land and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head.

He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning.

But he who takes warning will save his life.

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned and the sword comes and takes any person from among them he is taken away in his iniquity but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand so you son of man I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.

Therefore, you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them.

When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, the wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.

Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus you say, if our transgressions and our sins lie upon us and we pine away in them, how can we then live?

Say to them, as I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from your evil ways, for why should you die, O house of Israel?" The theme of this passage surrounds the person of the watchman.

The word occurs 30 times in the Old Testament and it carries with it the idea of watching, observing, looking, spying, scanning, and examining.

Ancient cities had watchmen posted on the walls.

They were the ones who stood guard of the city.

Their responsibility was to sound a warning if danger approached.

Yet it was also common in vineyards and fields amongst farmers to have watchmen stationed on the wall.

That way, if there was also danger coming, especially during the harvest, they were to be warned.

In times of hostility, the dangers of the night were especially feared, And so the watchmen would eagerly look forward to the breaking of the day.

Israel's prophets saw themselves as watchmen warning the nation, warning the nation of God's approaching judgment if the people did not repent.

And ultimately, as emphasized in verse 11, The goal of the watchman as a servant of God was to help the people.

Quoting verse 11, as I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from His way and live.

Turn from your evil ways, for why should you die, O house of Israel?" It is in this passage, in this seldom read prophet, that we see and have a glimpse into the character of God.

God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

The common evangelical message of the day is God is out to get you.

In fact, Ezekiel 18.23 further emphasizes this point when Ezekiel writes these words also a message from God.

Ezekiel 18 23, Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the Lord God.

And not that He should turn from His ways and live?

You see, the Lord's pleasure, His delight, is the choice of people to live and live eternally.

In fact, Proverbs 10.29 gives us a bit of insight into this when it says, the way of the Lord is strength for the upright, but destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.

You see, this shows us the deep difference between God's way and man's way.

Just in case we think this is only Old Testament theology, Jesus Himself said in Matthew chapter 7 some profound words that many of us may know by heart.

Matthew chapter 7 and verses 13 and 14, the Bible says this, enter by the narrow gate.

For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction.

Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it.

You see the goal of God throughout the Scriptures is singular in nature.

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Waiting and Warning: Echoes from the Book of Ezekiel

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