In my Bible, the chapter is titled, The Siege of Jerusalem. And of course, we've been seeing this being built toward all the way through the book of Ezekiel, as God has given the prophet his message. And it's a message primarily to the people of Judah that have already been brought captive in the first phase He's speaking to them of what is going to happen back in the land of Israel, in Jerusalem, for those that were left behind. In fact, He speaks of those people in this passage. And this is where things are finally coming to a head. God is going to carry out the thing that He had been warning of for years. And in fact, as we look into this, God has been about 50 years since God first said, I'm going to wipe Jerusalem like a man wipes a dish. I'm going to wipe it out and destroy it because it's 50 years and now it is coming to pass. And so when we read here, it starts us off Chapter 24, verse 1, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. And utter a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, thus says the Lord God, set on the pot, set it on, pour in water also, put in it the pieces of meat, all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder, fill it with choice bones, take the choicest one of the flock, pile the logs under it, boil it well, sieve also its bones in it." So he's got this description of this cauldron, or this pot, filled up with water and choice meat, and he's making this wonderful stew. Right? Except it's not a wonderful stew. What's interesting is as God starts off with this, he starts off by saying, setting a date. He says, this is a date, write it down, name it. This is when I'm going to act. And then he goes and tells this parable about this cauldron, this stew pot. This actually brings us back to something that God had said back in chapter 11, speaking back at that time of Jerusalem as being a cauldron or a pot. Does anyone recall what they said back in chapter 11 about Jerusalem being Yeah! They were saying, just like a cauldron protects the meat from being burned by the fire, so Jerusalem will protect us. That's what they had been saying. And what's interesting is, in that, saying those things, they were actually responding to a previous prophecy that Jeremiah had given, where Jeremiah told them will be like a pot. And they're gonna get dragged out and destroyed. And they're, oh, no, no, no, no, Jerusalem is the pot that protects us. This is God's city. This is the holy city. God would never let that happen. They were like, we're like that choice meat that's in the pot. And now, oh, it's just gonna come to this beautiful condition, you know, they're thinking of it as, you know, the joy, the fulfillment of when it is well-cooked and the aroma and the flavor is all there. That's us. We are the choice meat in the pot, and God's gonna do beautiful things with us because we're God's people and this is God's city. Well, as I said, they were kind of snide retort to Jeremiah. He said, no, no, no, it's a boiling pot, and your goose is cooked. Well, now, chapter 24, this imagery of the pot is brought back. God has said, even through Jeremiah, and even through Ezekiel in chapter 11, He says, well, you're going to be dragged out of the pot to be judged. fills that out. And so He reminds them, because this had been a very popular saying, which, I mean, to my brain, my ears, I don't know if I want to describe myself, my people, as a pot of stew being cooked. But it worked for them, I guess. But God brings this back. And God is very careful in bringing this back. He starts off by setting the date. He said, in the ninth year of the captivity, in the tenth month of the year, on the tenth day of the month, that would set it at January 15, 588 BC. God says, Ezekiel, write this date down. Make sure you make a note of this date, because it is on this day that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, is going to set his siege against Jerusalem. Well, history tells us that is exactly when it did happen. But this was written beforehand. It says right now, let the people know, this is when the destruction is going to happen. When we go back to 2 Kings chapter 25, where it describes the actions, the history of that event and that day, Nebuchadnezzar set the but it took two years. Two years of the people of Jerusalem being trapped in their city, surrounded by the Babylonian army, and it got ugly in that time. They were trapped in the pot as the fire was getting turned up. Continued for two years before Nebuchadnezzar finally destroyed the city. But as we read this, and God described, okay, set the pot, on and fill it with water and put the choice meat in it and then set it on the fire and stoke up that fire. Get it boiling well. That's that two years of the seas. Set it to boiling. Get it up to a good, heavy boil. We want it to be cooking. But then God describes Here in the verses following, verse 6, Therefore, thus says the Lord God, Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose corrosion is in it, and whose corrosion is not gone out of it. Take out of it, piece after piece, without making any choice. For the blood she has shed is in her midst. She put it on the bare rock. She did not pour it out on the ground to cover it with dust. To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance, I have set on the bare rock the blood she has shed, that it may not be covered. So God describes here that the pot is filled, set to boil, and then this corrosion in the pot ruins the meat. And the word corrosion, in the King James, I love the way the King James puts it here, the scum. The scum appears in the pot. The Hebrew word is actually rust or corrosion. Anyone ever cook in a rusty kettle? What does it do to the meat? It tastes bad. Tastes like rust? Tastes like milk. Yeah. He said, that's what's happening. You've got this corrosion. And whether it is, you know, because I think later in the text it talks about copper in the pot. So it's not an iron pot that's going to have that kind of rust. It's the corrosion that copper gets. in your food now, right? He said, this corrosion that is in the kettle, it's part of the kettle. And what had the Jews already said was the kettle? The city of Jerusalem. It's this corrosion. It's part of the city. It's all there. And when the fire's put to it, that corrosion shows up. It reveals. this corrosion. And all this choice meat that's been put into the pot to make this wonderful stew, now what's done with it? Drag it out, throw it away, throw it on the rock. It's ruined. It's worthless. It's been ruined by the corrosion, by the sin within the pot, within the city. So the meat is taken out and set on the ground, wasted. The people who thought they were the choice cuts, who would be safe and would be brought to perfection as a finished meal, they're gonna be dragged out of the city. They're gonna be dragged into exile without regard for their position in society. When he says, you know, take out of it piece after piece without making any choice, it doesn't matter what it is, because it's ruined now. The best pieces, the filling pieces, take them on. This also brings a picture of what would happen in the actual siege of Jerusalem. Their social standing make no difference. They're all slaves. They're all exiles. They're all victims. Just, you're all being dragged out. All being taken into exile or killed. But as we read that of, okay, god is going to drag out this wasted meat because of the corrosion, the corruption, the scum of sin that's in it. He then says why this evil was coming. Notice what he says there in verse six, woe to the bloody city and then Down in verse seven, for the blood she has shed is in her midst. Verse nine, therefore, thus says the Lord God, woe to the bloody city. I also will make the pile of grape, heap on the logs, kindle the fire, boil the meat well, mix in the spices, and let the bones be burned up, then set it empty upon the coals, that it may become hot, and its copper may burn, that its uncleanness may be melted in it, its corrosion consumed. verse 13, on account of your unclean lewdness. Over and over he says it's the sin, but notice he repeatedly says because of the blood that has been shed. When we look back in the history of what led to this time and other messages that God had given through his prophets, one of the things that we find Back in 2 Kings 21, God said, Because Manasseh, king of Judah, has committed these abominations, and has done things more evil than all the Amorites did who were before him, because they have done what is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger. Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, King Manasseh, he was the one 50 years before. He was the one that god said, enough. You've gone so far in your depravity, in your sin, that that you're, I mean, one of the things that Manasseh was doing, that we read about back in second Kings, he had officially instituted sacrifices to Molech at the temple. to a pagan god. He had set aside the altar of God in the temple and set in its place an altar to other gods. He had set up this image of Ashtoreth to worship And God was showing him all the corruption within the temple, and there was this image of jealousy, and the people worshipping other images, and turning their backs to the altar, and turning their faces toward the sun. All of this started with Manasseh. Or, I should say, it didn't start because there had been much of this going on before, but he brought it to a head. And it was under Manasseh that God finally said, what I am going to bring on Jerusalem and Judah, will be such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle, because they have done what is evil in my sight, and it provoked me to anger." And he said, you shed all of this innocent blood, all these people that have died in your worship of false gods and turning away from me. So God had set up because of the blood that had been shed for 53 years since Manasseh's reign. And God said, woe to the bloody city. Kindle the fire. And think about how patient has God been. Not only in the 53 years from the time of Manasseh until he finally brought Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the city of Jerusalem, but back there in 2 Kings when God said, not only has Manasseh done this, but you have done this since the day I brought you out of Egypt. How many times do we find in the history of the people of God that they have turned their backs on God, worshipped false gods, come to God in bitterness, saying, look at what you did to us! Right? How often were they turning against God, and yet God was patient? And even just during their 40 years in the wilderness, how many times did Moses intercede for the people because God said, I'm gonna wipe them out and I'm gonna start over with you. And Moses is like, oh, Lord, wait, stop. Remember your promises to Abraham. Remember what you said, what the nations around will see. You want them to see you and your power and your mercy. And God said, okay, I'll relent. One of the things that we see in this is that God has been very patient with his people. And he says, you know, I've been patient enough. Now I'm ready to pour out my wrath, kindle the fire, and let the bones be burned out. He says, I want to heat that pot up to the point that it burns out all that scum that's been built up in it. setting it to the refiner's fire. But in order for that to happen, everything else that's there has to be burned away, has to be gotten rid of. But here's the thing, as we read all of this, is God was describing this corruption that he's going to burn away in the fire, in verse 13. He said, He's doing all these things on account of your unclean moodness, because I would have cleansed you, and you were not cleansed from your uncleanness. Notice what God says right in the middle of this message. He said, I'm bringing judgment, but my real desire is to cleanse you. I must do this because my holiness demands it. But what I desire to do, what I want, what I would rather do, is forgive you and bring you to myself. I would have cleansed you, but you were not willing. You wouldn't be cleansed. This is how God works. As this phrase that we've seen so many times, and you will know that I am the Lord God, I am the sovereign God. God is sovereign in the affairs of men, is He not? He raises people up, He sets them down, raises kingdoms up, sets them down. He gives us life, He takes away life. He is sovereign over all things. And yet, as the sovereign Lord over all things, He also allows freedom of choice. He says, I would have cleansed you, but you would not be cleansed. Or like Jesus said when He, remember when Jesus was looking over the city of Jerusalem and weeping over it? He said, How often would I have gathered you to myself as a hen gathers her chicks under God allows us to make a choice, even when that choice goes against His desire. Does that take away from God's sovereignty? Does it take away from God's holiness? Not at all. Because God also says, okay, I've given you the choice, I've given you life and death, choose. And if you choose death, guess what? I'm sovereign over that. choose life, guess what? I'm sovereign over that. God establishes all of the ifs, ands, and conditions, you know, put everything together. God's in control of it all. He remains sovereign because He carries out the judgment that is deserved for violating His law. And as He says in verse 14, I am the Lord. I have spoken I've spoken. Judgment has been declared. It will happen. I will do it. I will not go back. I will not spare. I will not relent." And notice that last phrase that God puts in there. It says, "...according to your weight and your needs you will be judged." You chose this. I told you! I told you from back When Moses gave the law to you, what would happen if you defy my law? If you defile my law? If you go back from following me? He says, I'm just telling you, I'm doing the very thing that I've been saying from the beginning. According to your ways, according to your choice. according to your ways and your deeds, you will be judged, declares the Lord God. So after this image of the pot in the pouring out of God's wrath, then God changes the framework of his message, but he's continuing on this message of judgment, and this latter half of chapter 24 is I would say one of the saddest passages in the book of Ezekiel, because this is where God tells the prophet, your wife is gonna die. And I have a purpose in this. This part of the chapter is really hard for us to comprehend. The word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, behold, I'm about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke. you shall not mourn or weep nor shall your tears run down. Sigh but not aloud. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban and put your shoes on your feet. Do not cover your lips nor eat the bread of men. So, I spoke to the people in the morning and at evening, my wife died and on the next morning, I did as I was commanded. How would you like to be Ezekiel? I mean, we read something like We do. We struggle. And and it's like, god, is this how you reward your faithful servant? Ezekiel? I mean, hasn't Ezekiel done all the things that you've told him to do? In what we have read so far in this portion of the chapter, is there any indication that god is doing this as a judgment on Ezekiel? As a punishment doing good with evil. That's not what's happening here. God is working and just as he is throughout the book of Ezekiel using Ezekiel's life to be a message to the people of Israel. That's still continuing. God tells the prophet, your wife is going to die and you We sometimes, in reading a passage like this, we sometimes lose sight of the fact that the Bible is abundantly clear. Death is common to all. Right? Everyone will die. Why? Because we are all under the condemnation of sin. Sin entered the world, and with it, death entered the world. Right? So, this is the experience that we know, at some point, is coming on all of us, regardless of righteousness or unrighteousness in our life, right? It's the condition of being human in this world. We may expect a long life, particularly if we live in obedience to God, because God has given some general promises that way of righteousness tends to life, unrighteousness tends to death. But does that guarantee us a long life for living righteously? No. It does not exempt us from the prospect of death. And God was not heartless in his dealings with Ezekiel here. What God did is he said, you are going to be assigned to the people. And because you are assigned to them, you will not be allowed to publicly mourn. But God was very specific about it. He didn't say don't mourn, don't grieve for your this. He describes Ezekiel's wife as the desire of your eyes. Basically, god was saying, I know you love her dearly and this is right. and she's going to die and you are going to we and that's right but for the sake of the ministry, the message that I have for the people, you can't Because as we look into it, verse 19, and the people said to me, will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus? Because they looked, and they said, whoa, wait a minute. God told you your wife is going to die, and you just take it? And you're not mourning? You're not doing the normal things that we would expect you to do in mourning? What is going on? What do you mean by all of this? Then I said to them, the word of the Lord came to me, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God. Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes." He uses the same phrase. Basically he's saying, look, you know how dear my wife has been to me. She was the center of enjoyment in my life, my companion, my delight. eyes, and the yearning of your soul, and your sons and your daughters, whom you left behind, shall fall by the sword." Remember, again, tying it with the cauldron, protecting the choice pieces of meat. They have been saying, oh, our sons and our daughters that are left there, they will be protected in Jerusalem. And God says, no, no, no, no. They're not protected. and take away all the things that have been dear to you, because you have turned your backs on me. He continues on, and you shall do as I have done. You shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. Your turbans shall be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet. You shall not mourn or weep, but you shall rot away in your iniquities and groan to one another. Thus Ezekiel shall be to you a sign. and you will know that I am the Lord God. God was telling Ezekiel and telling the people through him that the same kind of anguish that Ezekiel was going through of losing his dear wife, of not being allowed to publicly mourn for her, they were going to go through that They're not going to be able to mourn. God was taken away. God said, remember back to the scum in the pot? The stench, the corruption, the sin? He said, don't mourn because it had to be destroyed because of that. You should have mourned over your sin. But now you're wanting to mourn over the loss of the city, the loss of the temple, Why don't you care about mine?" That's kind of what God was saying. He said, you're not to mourn over my judgment that I bring on my city, on my people, on my temple. And as God closed that out, He said in verse 24, when this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God. He keeps coming back to this statement. When things that have been declared are brought to pass, you will know who did it. You know who I am, that I am the sovereign Lord, that I am the one doing all these things because I foretold them. I carried them out exactly the way I said. In all of these things, I mean, God is bringing the message of judgment on Jerusalem, but God is saying throughout all of this, I have a purpose. I want you to come back to the proper knowledge of who I am. I want you to know me. Recognize, acknowledge who I am. God said that once this message was accomplished, look at verse 25. As for you, son of man, surely on the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their souls' desire, and also their sons and daughters, on that day, A fugitive will come to you to report to you the news. On that day, your mouth will be opened to the fugitive, and you shall speak and be no longer mute." From the beginning of the book, remember God said, I'm going to zip your lip. You will not speak unless I tell you to speak. All the rest of the time, you're going to be mute, and the people are going to wonder, what's going on? He says this finishes the message. The message of judgment has been accomplished, and you're released from that bind, the binding of your lips. You'll be able to speak once again. And He said, in that day, when you're able to speak freely once again, the result will be, and they will know that I am the Lord. Over and over and over again. God wants the people to know who He is. And the thing that we've seen throughout this book is that that phrase, they will know that I am the Lord, gets applied to both the Jewish people and the Gentile people. In everything that God is doing, though Israel is the center of His focus, the people with whom He is dealing, They are His chosen people. They are the ones through whom the Messiah was going to come, through whom the knowledge of salvation would come. But God says, look, this message is going to be for all people. Everyone will know that I am the Lord when I have worked. So when God says repeatedly, and they will know that I am the Lord, what are some of applications. What does that mean? What is important about us knowing that God is the Lord, particularly when we look at a passage like chapter 24 here? Who is God in this chapter? I'll let you answer some questions. Nothing happens apart from God. He is sovereign over all. The thing that gets to me is the lengths to which God will go to to make that obvious to us. Oh, yeah. He will go to the ends of the earth to get His message across to people. What else? He fulfills His promises. The things God says He will always do. That's who our God is. What else do we know about God from this? Here's one we've not hit upon in this review. God is a holy God who must judge sin. He will always judge sin. Will God always judge sin on the time schedule that we expect? No. I mean, in this case, 53 years from prophecy in the time of Manasseh until it was accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar. That's a whole generation has come and gone as far as who's running the show, right? But now, God still says, that's the same thing that I said back then. I'm still the same God, same judgment is going to occur. God will always do what He says. He will judge sin. Anything else that we draw from it? He's extremely long-suffering, but when He says it's done, it's done. Yeah, and I like that you brought that up. He's extremely long-suffering. That's a word that, in our common usage in the English language, has largely been replaced by patience, right? And there is certainly a relationship between, but there's a different intensity between the words. suffering and yeah, if you break that up, he suffers long with wrongs against him. Why? Does the Bible tell us anything related to that that would be a great application to tie all things neatly together for us in this message today? Count the patience of the Lord as salvation. God is patient. He is patient. He is patient. Why? Because He wants us to be saved. And then He verbalizes it better for us in verse 9. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise. You know, that which He says He will do. He's not slow in that. But He is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach day to repent of their sins? He said, I wanted to cleanse you! But what? You were not willing. You wouldn't be cleansed. How about the Babylonians? How about the Egyptians? How about, you know, all these other nations? Who's gone? Willing and desiring that they would come to salvation? Yes, absolutely. And they will know that I am the Lord. You know, that's what God is saying. He wants people of any nationality, any ethnicity, in any time frame, He wants this – that all should reach repentance. That we turn from our sins and turn to God in faith. We look back at history to see the workings of God. We see what God declares He will do, and then we see Him fulfilling that which He has declared. What should be the result? If we could sum up the entirety of the Bible, wouldn't that be a great way to do it? God tells us what He's going to do. Then He does what He says, and He wants us to believe it. That's it. The problem is, too often we don't believe it. Too often we say, ah, you know, that's not what it means. Oh, that's not what it was. Oh, I have my own understanding. The Bible tells us, don't lean on your own understanding. We'd rather acknowledge Him, right? Acknowledge Him as Lord, as Master, as the One who truly sets the purpose of all things. And He is the Holy God. And He is the One that every man will have to give an answer to. How much better to answer to Him in submission and obedience and faith, Father, thank you for fulfilling the Word that you have spoken, for being the faithful God who is unchanging from beginning to end. We can count on you to always be the same God, the Holy God, the Sovereign God, enjoy a relationship with you. Help us to turn to you in faith, to turn away from sin, to allow you to cleanse us, that we might enjoy a right relationship with you through Jesus Christ. We thank you for this message of hope, salvation, and mercy. Help us to always keep it connected with the message of judgment. then we would know that it is really only two options that you give to us, to believe and be saved, or to reject you and suffer the judgment. That you treat us, judge us according to our ways, as you said here in Ezekiel, of our ways to be following