Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S11 || Israel's Heart of Stone will Become Flesh, but not Without Judgment First || Ezekiel 11:1-21 || Session 11
The cooking metaphor in Ezekiel 11 packs a powerful punch. God reveals Jerusalem as a pot where rebellious Israel will be "cooked" through the fires of Babylonian judgment. Yet remarkably, this severe message comes with an unexpected promise of restoration.
Standing at the temple's east gate, Ezekiel confronts false prophets spreading dangerous security messages. The archaeological confirmation of specific leaders mentioned—Jehozaniah and Pelatiah—adds striking historical credibility to this ancient text. When Ezekiel accurately predicts Pelatiah's death from his exilic position in Babylon, he establishes his prophetic authority in real-time.
The heart of this passage reveals God's complex relationship with His covenant people. Despite centuries of rebellion culminating in child sacrifice and temple desecration, God makes a stunning promise. Not only will He regather scattered Israel to their land, but He will perform spiritual heart surgery—removing their "heart of stone" and replacing it with a "heart of flesh" capable of genuine obedience.
This transformation transcends the physical return from Babylonian exile. It points to a future spiritual renewal where obedience becomes natural rather than forced. God emphasizes that this restoration comes not because of Israel's merit but for the sake of His own name and covenant faithfulness.
The tension between judgment and promise creates a profound spiritual principle: God must judge rebellion, yet remains unwaveringly committed to His covenant promises. This paradox reveals divine character in its fullness—righteous in judgment, faithful in promise.
Have you experienced this tension in your spiritual journey? Consider how God's discipline might actually demonstrate His deeper commitment to relationship and transformation in your life.
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Today in Reasoning Through the Bible, we'll be in Ezekiel, chapter 11, and we're going to have a cooking lesson. You might not have known that God gave a lesson on meal preparation, but we're going to see one. Only, this particular meal isn't going to feel very good and is certainly not going to taste very good to the people of Israel, the people of Israel. We are again in Ezekiel 11, and, as we've been seeing, god is speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, giving a very direct, very blunt, very clear message to the Jewish people of Israel. The timing, of course, is Babylon has come in in different ways, and Assyria as well, and caused God's judgment on the people. Some of them were killed, some of them were taken captive. The city of Jerusalem has not yet been destroyed, but that is God's message through the prophet Ezekiel is that there is no hope for Jerusalem or the temple. So that's what we're going to meet today. So if you have your copy of the Word of God, open it to Ezekiel, chapter 11. Steve, can you read the first six verses?
Speaker 2:Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord's house, which faced eastward. And behold, there were twenty-five men at the entrance of the gate, and among them I saw Jehozaniah, son of Azur, and Pelatiah, son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. He said to me, son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and give evil advice in this city, who say the time is not near to build houses. This city is the pot and we are the flesh. Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me and he said to me Say Thus says the Lord. So you think, house of Israel, for I know your thoughts. You have multiplied your slain in this city, filling its streets with them. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, your slain, whom you have laid in the midst of the city, are the flesh and this city is the pot. But I will bring you out of it With this.
Speaker 1:in verse 1, god takes Ezekiel to the east gate of the temple in Jerusalem and of course, the east gate is the main gate. That's the one that all the way back to the Mosaic Law said had to be there, had to face east. There at that gate, it mentions two specific men and it calls them leaders Jehozaniah and Pelletiah. Now, interestingly enough, these two relatively minor figures were leaders in Jerusalem at the time. The archaeologists uncovering digs in that area found the family seals of these two specific men. So it's interesting that we have these again relatively minor figures that are corroborated by historical fact. Therefore, we can trust these eyewitness accounts. Here in Ezekiel he gives us specific names of specific people that were leaders in Jerusalem at the time and modern historical corroboration shows them to be real people that were there at the time. Therefore, we can trust our Bibles on the things that history has no way of proving, such as what God said to whom, on which day we can trust our Bibles. It also tells us here that Ezekiel was this eyewitness to these things.
Speaker 1:Then, in verse 3, the false teachers in Jerusalem were saying that it was time to build houses and establish families. The NIV phrasing says will not soon be time to build houses. Therefore, instead of Babylon coming in and destroying the city, which was the true God's message, these false prophets were going around saying oh, babylon's not going to be a problem, it's going to be time to build houses, we're going to have prosperous times ahead. And God says no, steve. Which one of these prophets can we really trust? Ezekiel or the false ones?
Speaker 2:Well, Ezekiel, of course, because everything that he is saying is told to him directly by the Lord. We see that everything that he is talking about is going to come to pass At the time that he's given these prophecies. The city of Jerusalem itself has not been taken over and the temple hasn't been destroyed, but the city has been surrounded, the siege. They've already had two waves of people that have been put in exile. The only thing left is the sacking of the city and the destruction of the temple. This is all the things that God has been instructing Ezekiel to do and to portray as object lessons to the people. So we can know and trust that Ezekiel is the one that we should trust. And we're going to see here that God has some pretty harsh things to say about these false prophets that are giving false hope hope that their exile isn't going to be that long, that they're going to be able to go back relatively soon to Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:Then, in the last part of verse 3, it says there the city is the pot and we are the flesh. The symbolism is that Babylon's going to be surrounding the city of Jerusalem, the walled cities. In those days when they laid siege, the enemy armies would physically surround it. So he gives the symbolism here the city is the pot and we are the flesh.
Speaker 1:Therefore, this is a harsh message. He's saying that the people in Jerusalem are really going to get cooked. Babylon's going to start a fire, they're going to destroy the city and we're going to be the meat inside this pot. It's a very graphic picture of the burning and the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. God tells Ezekiel to announce that he's about to slaughter many people in Jerusalem and he tells them, in verse 7, that they're going to be cooked. God is saying the city's going to burn. Steve, that's a very harsh message. I can imagine that the people in those days were equally hesitant to hear this message than today. I mean, we tend to shy away from these harsh messages, and I think it's probably the case in those days too, but is there not time for some harsh messages sometimes?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we refer to it in our day as being tough love. It's whenever your child needs to be told the truth of something as to the realities of how the world works or whatever the situation might be that they're dealing with. If they are in denial as to something that is going to happen say, maybe it's a sport that they think they are really good at and you could tell that they're not good at that sport or some type of an artistic thing, such as playing a musical instrument then at some point you might support them, but at some point you're going to tell them the truth that, no, you're not really good at this. Maybe it's something else that you should do Now. That's a simplified example.
Speaker 2:In this case, the people had turned their back on God, and they'd done it for hundreds of years. At this time, god is finally saying enough is enough. I'm going to have the tough love. You're going to be in exile. You're going to be in exile for 70 years, as he has prophesied through Jeremiah, and that's the way it's going to be. These people don't want to hear it, as the natural effect is no, we don't want to hear stuff like this. We want to feel that we can go back and that God will protect us. But when you've ignored God and turned your back on God for so many years, there's going to be a time whenever there's going to be a reckoning for the consequences to your decisions.
Speaker 1:It's a very harsh message and there will be consequences to your decisions. Let's look at this again. Verse 7, he says he's going to burn the city is what he's saying. Then, in verse 9, god's going to cause the Jews to be delivered into the hands of strangers that are going to punish them. The next verse, verse 10, enemies are going to cause them to fall by the sword. God is telling them that the city of Jerusalem will not be protected, that there are going to be many of them that are killed. Over and over again. God reminds them that he's punishing them. Why? Because of their disobedience.
Speaker 1:That's the message here. Because of your disobedience, I'm going to allow a pagan nation. Strangers are going to come in, they're going to surround the city, they're going to set fires, they're going to cook you. They're going to be slain in the street. It says, and he also says twice I will deliver you. But he says Jerusalem's going to fall, there's going to be mass death. The delivering is going to be one that they don't really want to hear. The delivering he mentions in here is Babylon's going to take a remnant captive and take you, haul you off into Babylon. That's really the message here. It's very blunt. It's repeated. Steve, this is again a message they didn't really want to hear.
Speaker 1:But if we look at the very next verse verse 12, it says thus you will know that I am the Lord. I find this interesting and that's a theme that gets repeated throughout the book of Ezekiel. God gives Ezekiel this very harsh message there's going to be many people killed because of their disobedience. They would not listen to my prophets. So therefore, the enemy is going to come in and solve this problem with idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Lord and he says that over again. When the severe trials and severe punishment happens, then you'll know that I'm the Lord. Steve, why is it? Do you think that the severe suffering is going to cause the people to realize, oh my goodness, we've really been violating the Lord all these years?
Speaker 2:The reason that he gives there in verse 12 is because you haven't been following my statutes and ordinances. So he is, in this discipline, driving home the point that they are disobedient as the book started out. They're stubborn and obstinate people and they've come to the point where they have to pay the consequences for their stubbornness and their obstination. The people of Israel have a tendency, through all their centuries, to follow their leadership, and when their leadership goes astray, so goes the nation of Israel. This is an example. These 25 leaders were at the East Gate. They were saying these things that the exile wasn't going to be long. They were saying that the city wasn't going to be totally sacked, giving them false hope that God was going to once again going to come through for them. But God is being very plain with Ezekiel it's not going to come through and I'm going to carry out the justice and the consequences where you're turning your back with me and not following my ordinances and statutes.
Speaker 1:Remember where Ezekiel is when he's giving this message. He is in Babylon, in front of a group of Jewish people that had been taken captive there. He's seeing a vision that God is showing him and he's communicating what he's seeing and the message that God is telling him to the leaders that are in front of him. In Ezekiel 11, verse 13 says this Now, it came about as I prophesied that Pelletiah, son of Benaiah, died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said Alas, lord, god, will you bring the remnant of Israel to a complete end? Now, this person he mentioned that died was one of the two that he had seen at the beginning of the chapter that we mentioned. Again, the idea here is that Ezekiel was very far away from Jerusalem, was one of the two that he had seen at the beginning of the chapter that we mentioned. Again, the idea here is that Ezekiel was very far away from Jerusalem and he's seeing in a vision what's going on. He sees this man die. Ezekiel is then able to tell the Jewish leaders that are around him all the way over here in Babylon oh, this man just died. Now why is that important? Well, that's important because the prophets.
Speaker 1:In those days again we already mentioned there were false prophets running around. How do we know Ezekiel's telling the truth? Well, ezekiel is telling the truth because he gave a message of this man's death weeks before the people would have heard about it. It would have been days or weeks before the message got across that this man had died. Therefore, within the time frame of the immediate people that were hearing Ezekiel, his prophecies were proven true. All of the Old Testament prophets predicted things that came about in the hearing of the people that were right there. Therefore, the people knew that these were true prophets.
Speaker 1:Why was Ezekiel in our Bibles? It's because he made predictions like this one that came true within the hearing of the people that were around him. Therefore, they knew that he was a true prophet. Let's go ahead and read the next part. God has made it very clear that he's going to punish the Jewish people because of disobedience. He's going to pour out his wrath on his people, and many people are going to die With that message. People, and many people are going to die With that message. That's the message up to now. Next, god's going to give a promise of the future.
Speaker 2:Steve, can you start at verse 14 and read down through 21? Then the word of the Lord came to me saying Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, your fellow exiles and the whole house of Israel, all of them are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said Go far from the Lord. This land has been given us as a possession. Therefore, say Thus, says the Lord God, though I had removed them far away among the nations and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary for them a little while in the countries where they had gone.
Speaker 2:Therefore, say thus, says the Lord the God, I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. When they come there, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it, and I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them, and I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them. Then they will be my people and I shall be their God. But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down on their heads, declares the Lord.
Speaker 1:God At the end of verse 15,. He's saying here that God knew that the people of Israel were saying in their hearts look, we have this land that God promised us, so therefore we can go far from the Lord. That's the language they use. What they're meaning is oh, we can act any way we want to. Our behavior can go far from the Lord Because we've got this land that God promised us. Then we are in like Flynn, we don't have to worry about whether God's going to punish us and he's condemning them because of that thinking. Look at the next verse, verse 16. What does it say there about where God had sent his people?
Speaker 2:It says that he had sent them among the nations and the countries, so he had scattered them to other areas. Assyria was the first ones that took them off. Now Babylon has come in. After they've defeated Assyria and they've taken them off into Babylon, god has displaced them from the land Next question is why?
Speaker 1:Why would God send in Babylon and Assyria, mass murder, take the remnant off to a foreign country? Why is he doing?
Speaker 2:this. It's a disciplined thing. We've talked about that and we're going to continue to talk about it as we go through these first 24 chapters of Ezekiel. But I think it's also to show it's God's land, and he says that whenever he made these promises that they're referring to in their heart to Abram and Isaac and Jacob, at the time he said this is my land and I'm going to give it to you. So I think he's demonstrating to them don't take it for granted that yes, I have promised this land to you, but it's my land and you're not going to disregard me and you're not going to disregard me and you're not going to desecrate the land. I think it's an object lesson, a really harsh one, to be taken out of the land and put to another country and another nation, but it's one that will make a lasting impact on them.
Speaker 1:If you've been following along with us through Ezekiel up to this point. You've heard a series of very severe messages. God is quite angry, he's quite full of his wrath at this point and, because of Israel's disobedience, he is going to pour out his wrath on his people. And he just said okay, I'm going to take you away into another country. God has made that very clear. He said it over and over again. Therefore, when we get to verse 17 here, it's a little bit of a surprise. What does God command, or at least what does God promise rather, to do to the people he had scattered in verse 17?
Speaker 2:Yeah, in 17, it says that he's going to bring them back to the land. Even though they were scattered, he's going to bring them back. And in verse 16, he says even though they're in these foreign lands, he's still going to be a sanctuary for them. So he's still giving them protection, even while he's disciplining them.
Speaker 1:If we look at the history of the Jewish people up to this point, they've been quite disobedient for a very long time, going all the way back to the golden calf. That was a complete, total rejection of the true God. Then in the time of the kings, over and over again they had brought in idols and had rejected God to the point that now God is judging them by taking them out of the land because of repeated, long-term rejection of the true God, disbelief and complete disregard for the true God and his ways. Therefore, god is punishing them by taking them to Babylon. Yet right here, right in the midst of that, he says I'm going to gather you back from the people and bring you back to the land.
Speaker 1:That is one of the themes in the entire book of Ezekiel, one of the major themes. Yes, there's going to be judgment. Yes, it's going to be immediate, swift and sure and severe. It's going to be quite painful. It is indeed God's wrath poured out on a disobedient people. But at least four times in the book of Ezekiel he promises to bring them back.
Speaker 1:Where To the land? Says here, I will gather you from these peoples, I will give you the land of Israel. He says he is judging Israel by scattering them, but he's going to bring them back and change them so they can keep his statutes In the midst of God's message of severe judgment. He also has again. Four times in this book he talks about bringing them back to the land. Here in 11, 16 through 20, we'll also see it again in chapter 16, verses 60 to 63, chapter 20, verses 33 to 38, and most of the entirety of chapter 36 is all talking about bringing the people back from Babylon and blessing them where In the land, steve. Where I find it interesting is that this is Ezekiel, jeremiah, daniel. This time frame is God's wrath on a disobedient people, yet he is saying here I'm going to bring them back to the land. Is it true that Israel can disobey so much that God will forever cut them off from the land?
Speaker 2:No, I don't believe so. I think that the scripture proves that out, just as we're going through this. So let's talk about this a little bit, glenn. They are going to be allowed to come back into the land. A few decades later, cyrus is going to give his decree and it's going to allow Zerubbabel to go back along with Ezra. So the question is at this time and at some of the other places that you mentioned, is that the time that this is talking about? And I would say that what's the criteria? The criteria is he's going to give them a new heart and they're going to walk in his statutes and ordinances. He's going to be his people, and this reminds me of Jeremiah, chapter 31, when he talks about the new covenant.
Speaker 2:I would say, glenn, that this particular depiction of God bringing them back into the land the criteria here is not a description of how it was coming back from Babylon. Not all the exiles came back. As I just mentioned, there were still a lot of them that were outside of the area of Jerusalem, because they're going to be actually kind of scattered a little bit further by some of the Greeks and the Romans as they fight them later on in the decades later, when Jesus came, he had a major contention with the Pharisees and the Sadducees because they had misinterpreted much of the statutes and ordinances. There's a great deal with some views of theology that say, yeah, god brought him back from the exile, then that's what Ezekiel is talking about. But I think that the criteria here shows that no, there's still some time in the future that he's going to bring them back. Under these conditions, what do you think?
Speaker 1:Well, one of my questions first is why do you think he focuses here on the land? Because they're again very disobedient people. Why is God promising to bring them back from the land? Why not scatter them and leave them scattered and judge them entirely? Why would he promise here to take a very disobedient people Again? These people were sacrificing their children to a pagan idol and had them in the temple. So why would God say, even in the face of that, I'm going to bring you back to that land Because it's been a promise that he has given to them.
Speaker 2:And he cut the covenant with Abraham and his descendants and he validated it that it was going to be Isaac and Jacob. He reiterated it with both of them. Those were the descendants that he had given this promise to. It's a major part of the promise, unconditional promise, that was given to Abraham. So he's going to fulfill that promise because it's one that he has made to them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would agree. It's a promise that goes all the way back to Abraham Isaac and Jacob. God made a unilateral promise to them that I will give you this land. And if we ask the question, why would he bring them back to the land? He gives us a specific answer in chapter 36. We'll get to it. But he says it's not because of you that I'm bringing you back to the land and blessing you. It's because of my name, he says so. He tells them specifically it's because of me, I made a promise to do this. I will bring you back to the land.
Speaker 1:God made a unilateral promise on his own that was not conditional on any obedience of Israel. It was because of God's promise. Several times in the prophets the Lord says he's going to bless Israel, not because of their behavior, but because of himself, because of what he did. The Jews will be forever associated with that land. God will judge them for disobedience. He's not going to accept them in the face of disbelief and disobedience. Again, that's the clear message in Ezekiel. But he says because of me, I will bring you back to the land. Let's look at verse 19 again, because he makes it really clear and I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them, and I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them.
Speaker 1:So, steve, your question was was this fulfilled when they came back from Babylon at the end of the 70 years of captivity? And the answer is no. They disobeyed God, sent in the Greeks and additional judgments. They were continually under war One of Jesus's main complaints, as you well pointed out. The leaders were tithing mint and all the spices out of their garden, but they were ignoring the weightier parts of the law. They were manipulating the law against their own family members. So they were not obedient. When they came back, they still had a heart of stone.
Speaker 1:If you don't believe it, read Matthew 23, when Jesus was very directly condemning the Jewish leaders. This didn't get fulfilled. Then it's true that he's going to bring them back and it's true there will always be a remnant, and it's true that the judgment happened very quickly after he gave this message, but the time of bringing them back and softening their hearts is still yet to be fulfilled. The next we're going to see is that God sends a very clear message that he is abandoning Jerusalem to the Babylonians that will come in and judge his people, and we're going to see that in the last part of chapter 11, when God's glory leaves the temple and leaves the city. We'll see that next time as we continue to reason through the book of.
Speaker 2:Ezekiel, thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.
