And is the work of the false teachers, the false women-cults, any different? The righteous are saddened. Each one of the false teachers and movements like Spiritualism, Theosophy, Russellism, Christian Science and others deny the eternal punishment of the wicked. They strengthen the hands of the wicked by promising him life.
THE MESSAGE AGAINST THE IDOLATROUS ELDERS.
Chapter xiv.
The elders now appear to inquire of the Lord through the prophet (verse 3; xx:1). Though the prophet had faithfully uttered the messages of judgment and impending doom and the people and their leaders had heard them, yet would they inquire of the Lord. The Word, the Lord had sent to them, they rejected and now they expected some new kind of a message. When these inquiring elders were in the presence of Ezekiel, the Word of the Lord came unto him. This chapter contains two sections; each is introduced by the statement, "And the Word of the Lord came unto me."
I. The Idolatrous Elder. The Call to Repentance.
Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself. And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God (verses 1-11).
These inquiring elders with wickedness in their hearts, give another illustration of the depth of degradation in which the people had sunken. He who searches the hearts knew what was in them. They came with pious, religious pretensions. It sounded well to inquire of the Lord and seek the prophet-priest for that purpose. Their hearts were full of evil. While their lips spoke of asking the Lord, their hearts were full of idolatry. They liked idolatry. Their hearts were in it and this stumbling-block of their iniquity they had put before their faces, which means they openly defied the Lord God of Israel by their doings. "Should I be inquired of at all by them?" To seek the Lord and inquire of Him in such a condition reveals a brazen spirit and the deepest depravity. Yet this also belongs to the conditions in which the professing people of God are when judgment overtakes them. We see much of it in our own days. There is a great deal of so-called religious exercise and activity, attempts to produce more "religiousness," as it is termed. There is, however, no real heart-turning to the Lord, but the idols are kept in heart and life. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Ps. lxvi:18). Then the Lord tells them through the prophet, "I, the Lord, will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of their idols; that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart because they are all estranged from me through their idols." Estranged from Jehovah through idols; this described the spiritual condition of these certain elders and the people. If God's people do not give the Lord the place of pre-eminence and follow Him wholly they become estranged from Him. And such is the condition of thousands of professing Christians who walk in a carnal way, who follow their idols instead of the Lord and who still maintain an outward religiousness. Then follows the call to repentance. "Repent and turn yourselves from your idols." Next is the announcement that the Lord Himself will deal with such miserable hypocrites. He will answer the unrepenting, idol follower, who separates himself from the Lord. No true prophet of Jehovah would certainly encourage the men who inquire of the Lord and have evil in their hearts, for fellowship with Jehovah is impossible for such.
The ninth verse states more than a possibility. "And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I, the Lord, have deceived the prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and I will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel." As we learned in the previous prophetic message that such deceiving prophets were in abundance among Israel. They were the curse of the nation. Little did they care about the spiritual condition of the people. They prophesied for filthy lucre's sake and lived in sin like the rest of the apostates. To them people came to inquire of the Lord and the deceiving prophets prophesied smooth things. But the Lord Himself as a judgment had deceived their prophets to ripen the people for the deserved doom. It is the same what Micaiah declared in the presence of King Jehosaphat and King Ahab (1 Kings xxii:13-23). The four hundred prophets of Ahab were possessed by a lying spirit.
II. Judgment is Unavoidable.
The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: Though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it: Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my fourscore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. And they shall see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God (verses 12-23).
The Word of the Lord came again to Ezekiel. The previously announced judgment cannot be averted, it is unavoidable; this is the burden of the second message the inquiring elders heard from the prophet's lips. Perhaps this was on their minds when they came to the prophet and sat in his presence. Famine is threatened first; it would come upon man and beast. Then the noisome beasts would pass through the land, to spoil it and make it desolate. These beasts must not be understood in the literal sense; they symbolize the Gentiles, whom Daniel in his vision saw also as beasts (Dan. vii). These nations like the Chaldeans would overrun the land and waste it. The last two judgments were to be the sword (verse 17) and the pestilence (verse 19). These four sore judgments were about to fall upon Jerusalem and the land—famine, noisome beasts, Gentile invasion, the sword and pestilence. Twice in this address Noah, Daniel and Job are mentioned. They were righteous men, yet if they were all three in Jerusalem they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness, which was the result of their faith in and obedience to Jehovah. They were witnesses and men of prayer. Noah, the witness before the great judgment by water swept over the earth; Daniel even then in Babylon, and Job of the patriarchal age. All their righteousness, and all their witnessing and prayers would not help in preventing these four sore judgments. Then there is a gracious promise for the remnant which is to be preserved in these judgments.