Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 11

Verses 1-25

1. Intro:
   1. The Golden Compass – Check out our web site ccmurrieta.com ; click on Multimedia, then Movies. 3 articles to have an answer for the hope that is w/in us.
   2. Open: Imagine a hot air balloon tied up just outside our sanctuary in our parking lot, near the entrance to our foyer. You get in & start sailing towards Monroe Ave. When it stops & turns, facing you again towards the church. 25 leaders now stand out front, & 2 of them come into focus. They are the key religious & political leaders of our valley. You prophecy against them & their terrible leadership, & one falls over dead as you speak. Well, there’s our intro…
2. ​​​​​​​LITTLE SANCTUARY’S & FLESHY HEARTS! (1-25)
   1. ​​​​​​​CHICKEN POT PIE! (1-13)
   2. (1) The gate – the traditional place where the elders of a city sat to administer justice & oversee legal matters.
   3. Really don’t know too much about this Jaazaniah, nor Pelatiah.
      1. They probably belonged to Israel’s’ nobility.
   4. (2,3) False optimism - The elders were encouraging the Israelites to build houses…i.e. don’t listen to the prophet’s predictions build! (i.e. peace/safety)
      1. We’re safe!…as precious & protected “meat in a kettle!” 2.4.1.1. Like a baby in a bassinet!
      2. They (those not in Jerusalem) are like table scrapes!
   5. (5) God said I know what you’re thinking!
   6. (6-12) No, the slain righteous were the meat(protected) from the flame.
   7. (11) I will judge you at the border – i.e. right when you think you’ve made it; right when you think you’re out of God’s reach; running for a time with no consequences, the line of safety is in site…then it happens.
      1. This was literally fulfilled in 2 Kings 25:18-21.
   8. (13a) While he was speaking one falls over dead!
      1. Foreshadowed the judgment soon to come.
   9. (13b) Ezekiel responded again by pleading to God for mercy.
   10. LITTLE SANCTUARY’S! (14-18)
   11. 2-fold response: [1^st] The remnant would not be destroyed, but preserved.
       [2^nd] The need for judgment on Jerusalem. Jerusalem’s moral compass was bent.
   12. (16) Those in Jerusalem felt that those in exile were far away from the Lord.
       1. They localized God & thought in terms of geographical rather than spiritual proximity.
          1. The religion I grew up with had the same results with me. I saw God as geographical. When I was at church I’d pray, confess sin, or feel closer to him because of the place I was in.
       2. Yet He desires us to be close to Him everywhere I go, wherever I go!
   13. Give me other names for a sanctuary or define what a sanctuary is: A place set apart(sanctus/sacred); a safe place; a holy place; a refuge.
   14. They had lost access to the “Sanctuary” (i.e. Temple in Jer.); but God Himself would be a sanctuary for them in Babylon.
       1. As He was a refuge to Joseph in Egypt.
       2. As He was a shelter to Daniel in Babylon.
       3. As He will be to a business man/woman doing business in Vegas.
       4. As He will be a sanctuary to a dishwasher working at Pechanga.
       5. As He will be a safe haven to our missionaries away from home.
       6. As He will be a sanctuary to you while away from your city, your church, your home. “I will be with you, even to the ends of the earth!”
          1. You may be taken from your city, your home, your church, but you can’t lose the presence of God, Christian!
   15. Ps.31:20 “You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence.”
   16. Ps.90:1 “LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.”
   17. Ps.91:9 “Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,”
   18. (17,18) There is to be a distinct future for Israel nationally.
       1. A partial restoration after the Babylonian captivity; ultimately in Mill.
   19. STONY HEARTS! (19-21)
   20. Israel’s physical return will be accompanied by a spiritual renewal.
       1. When they get back to the land they’ll remove all vile images & detestable things.
       2. The land will be purged of idolatry & so will the people.
       3. Israel’s external difficulties resulted from her internal condition.
   21. New spirit – This promise refers to the permanent indwelling of the H.S. in Israel.
       1. Before the church age the H.S. dwelt in select individuals, temporarily for specific tasks. {Saul/prophecy; Samson/strength; etc.}
       2. In the Millennium the H.S. will indwell all believing Israelites.
       3. The inauguration of the New Covenant (which includes the permanent indwelling) began w/the death of Christ.
          1. The church today is participating in the spiritual not the physical benefits of the covenant.
   22. Let’s talk about stony hearts!
   23. Dinosaur – On September 1993 in South Dakota, Dinosaur hunter Michael Hammer was amazed at what he saw. Sticking out of the ground were the remains of a Thescelosaurus, a plant-eating dinosaur. The skeleton was almost complete. Scientists reported that inside the dinosaur’s chest was a stone heart - the first dinosaur heart ever seen, about the size of a grapefruit.
   24. Rock in water – Take a rock sitting for a long time sitting in water. Take it out & break it open. Dry inside. The water never penetrated it.
       1. Christ wants to penetrate more than our minds.
   25. Cher sang, “Don’t you wish you had a heart of stone?”
       1. Uhhh not really our goal.
   26. Potato – Looks good on the outside, but cut it open & black & hollow inside.
       1. So many in the church today that look like a good edible potato on the outside. Yet inwardly they’re hard & hollow, & need Christ to take over inside them to make them clean!
          1. Jesus is the cure for a rotten inside.
   27. How do you identify a heart of stone?
       1. Sometimes it’s easy to spot: like the Pharisees who w/joy brought the woman caught in the act of adultery & couldn’t wait to stone her.
       2. Sometimes it’s difficult to see on the outside: like those who come to church & even live a pretty clean life. Or believers who aren’t evil or even immoral yet heir heart just feels cold.
       3. Here are some symptoms. Time for a check up:
       4. Lost compassion for the sick, the hurting, & for sinners.
          1. How do you feel when you see someone who is down & out?
          2. Compassion is to be an identifying characteristic of our faith!
       5. Lost desire to grow & do God’s will.
          1. As Christians we are in the process of being changed & transformed into the likeness of God.
          2. It is the disease of apathy (apathy = lack of interest or concern).
       6. Lost excitement in the work of God.
          1. Do you still like stories of kingdom victories, souls saved, lives changed?
   28. How do you soften a heart of stone?
       1. Have a heart of flesh tender to God’s will!
       2. Have a heart of flesh tender to your bro’s & sis’s in Christ!
       3. Have a heart of flesh tender to others!
       4. Let your heart be wiped clean by repenting of your sin.
       5. Let your heart be protected from what you allow in your heart.
       6. Let your heart be chiseled by the Word of God.
       7. Let your heart soak in the Spirit of God.
   29. UP, UP & AWAY! (22-25)
   30. (22-25) With this announcement the cherubim lifted their wings and the glory of the Lord left not only the temple but the city itself, hesitating briefly over the mountains East of Jerusalem (Olivet).
       1. God had left His sinning people to the fate that, in their hardness of heart, they themselves had chosen.
       2. Lingering, hesitating, as if pleading what Jesus would later plead, standing in the same place, “Lk.19:41-44”.
   31. It’s no coincidence that Christ ascended from this same mount.
   32. Ezekiel’s vision is now ended & he is transported by the Spirit back to the captives in Babylon. (started in 8:3 where he was “hair-borne”)