Behold, survivors will be left in it who will be brought out

Ezekiel 14 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Then some elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me. ² And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ³ “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will be brought to give him an answer in the matter in view of the multitude of his idols, ⁵ in order to lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols.”’

⁶ “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations. ⁷ For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the Lord will be brought to answer him in My own person. ⁸ I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among My people. So you will know that I am the Lord.

⁹ “But if the prophet is prevailed upon to speak a word, it is I, the Lord, who have prevailed upon that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel. ¹⁰ They will bear the punishment of their iniquity; as the iniquity of the inquirer is, so the iniquity of the prophet will be, ¹¹ in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Thus they will be My people, and I shall be their God,”’ declares the Lord God.”

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, ¹³ “Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, ¹⁴ even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves,” declares the Lord God. ¹⁵ “If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts, ¹⁶ though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate. ¹⁷ Or if I should bring a sword on that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and beast from it,’ ¹⁸ even though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be delivered. ¹⁹ Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it to cut off man and beast from it, ²⁰ even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”

²¹ For thus says the Lord God, “How much more when I send My four severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, wild beasts and plague to cut off man and beast from it! ²² Yet, behold, survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come forth to you and you will see their conduct and actions; then you will be comforted for the calamity which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it. ²³ Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done in vain whatever I did to it,” declares the Lord God.

In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus says:    “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.For assuredly, I say to you,till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceedsthe righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”    Jesus then came to fulfill what is spoken of by the prophet Ezekiel in today’s text. The text says:  “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all? Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will be brought to give him an answer in the matter in view of the multitude of his idols, in order to lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols.”’  “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations. For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the Lord will be brought to answer him in My own person. I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among My people. So you will know that I am the Lord.

Before we look at anything else which Christ has come to fulfill, I think in light of the debate in our current culture and society regarding how we should respond toward immigrants and aliens in our nation, we should take note of what is said in the text. Several times in the Old Testament, including in Exodus 22:21 where it says:  "Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt,” the Israelites were instructed not to mistreat foreigners.  Many people will apply that instruction to the situation concerning immigration and illegal immigration in our country.  As with all things, we need to look at all of what God and scripture says on a matter, if we going to apply it to our circumstance. In today’s text it says:    ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations. For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the Lord will be brought to answer him in My own person.    The immigrants who stayed in Israel were to abide by the same laws and were to hold to the same standards as the Israelites themselves. As foreigners they were not given all of the same rights and privileges as the Israelites, only that they were not to be mistreated or oppressed. But again, even though they were not given all the rights, they were held to the same standard and were to abide by the same laws.

Look at what else Jesus fulfilled, in what God says through the prophet in today’s text:  ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations.”   In Matthew 4:17, at the beginning of His ministry and throughout His time on earth, Jesus said:  "Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near."  Jesus came to fulfill the call of God for people to repent of the sinfulness and turn to God and His kingdom.

Finally, we see in the text: “Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves,” declares the Lord God.  “If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts, though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate. Or if I should bring a sword on that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and beast from it,’ even though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be delivered. Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it to cut off man and beast from it, even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”   By the righteousness of even great people of God, no one but those individuals alone can be saved from the judgment of God against sin. There is no one righteous enough to save anyone, not even themselves. Jesus though came to fulfill God’s judgment against sin. Not that He judges, but that the judgment of sin was put upon Him on the cross. Only by the righteousness of Christ, through believing in Him can anyone and everyone be saved from the judgment of God against sin. Only by the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness which exceeds the scribes, the Pharisees; Noah, Daniel and Job, can anyone and everyone be saved and enter the kingdom of heaven.

Acts 4:12 says:  There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.  In John 14:6 Jesus says:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”   Jesus alone fulfilled God’s judgment against sin for us. The text says:   Behold, survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come forth to you and you will see their conduct and actions; then you will be comforted for the calamity which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it. Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done in vain whatever I did to it,” declares the Lord God.   Christ Jesus did not die in vain. He died so that we could be those who are survivors of God’s judgment against sin.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit for goodness and the fulfillment of Your righteousness, that I may enter Your kingdom, through Christ the Lord.    Amen.