Visions of the Kingdom: Week 36

Ezekiel 33:1-33: The Fall of Jerusalem

• 33:8 "accountable for his blood" - have you ever failed to warn a sinner?
• 33:9 "you will have saved your life" - Ezekiel is responsible for obeying God himself, not for the response of the people.
• 33:10 "wasting away" - in the land of their enemies as prophesied by Moses Leviticus 26:39, and Ezekiel Ezekiel 24:23.
• 33:11 "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked" - they are choosing death.
  "why should you die?" - they did not have to die in the coming judgement.
• 33:13 "trusts in his own righteousness" - "All our righteousness is as filthy rags."
• 33:19 "turns from his sin" - as the political pollsters like to ask, "Is your life going in the right direction?" If two men meet on the side of a mountain, one going up, the other going down, their destinations are very different.
• 33:20 "each according to his ways" - "by their fruits ye shall know them", "faith without works is dead".
• 33:22 "no longer mute" - at the beginning of his prophetic ministry, Ezekiel was struck mute except when a prophetic word came: Ezekiel 3:26-27, and a few chapters ago, God said he would regain speech when the messenger of the fall of Jerusalem came: Ezekiel 24:27
• 33:24 "surely the land has been given to us" - the survivors think they will possess the land.
• 33:25 "should you then possess the land?" - but they do not repent, and continue in their wickedness.
• 33:30 "a message from the LORD" - also a song from Jonah movie. Q: Any messages in the song not actually in the Bible?
• 33:31 "do not put them into practice" - "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only".
• 33:32 "beautiful voice" - to the people, Ezekiel is entertainment, and they do not heed his warnings.