From Ezekiel 5-8

The people of Israel and Judah died for their abominations. Jesus died, freeing his people from slavery to devil and enabling them to worship the true God. What does the wrath of the LORD look like?

This post is part of my bible in a year series.

Passage and Comments

The Judgment of Israel and Judah continues. Today’s passage looks at the wrath of the LORD

7 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “And you, O son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. 3 Now the end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. 4 And my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

5 “Thus says the Lord God: Disaster after disaster! Behold, it comes. 6 An end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you. Behold, it comes. 7 Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting on the mountains. 8 Now I will soon pour out my wrath upon you, and spend my anger against you, and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. 9 And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord, who strikes.

10 “Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has come; the rod has blossomed; pride has budded. 11 Violence has grown up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them. 12 The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude. 13 For the seller shall not return to what he has sold, while they live. For the vision concerns all their multitude; it shall not turn back; and because of his iniquity, none can maintain his life. (Eze 7.1-13)

The obvious justification for the LORD’s wrath is Israel and Judah’s continued disobedience. The commit abominations. In previous chapters we have seen they have introduced these abominations into the Temple. They have abandoned the LORD so he is punishing them.

An important note is to remember the LORD judges people according to their ways (Eze 7.8). This is a repeated theme in the New Testament as well (e.g. Rom 2.6). In the context of Ezekiel he hands them over to the nations whose gods they worship. Perhaps in this you can see their punishment fits the crime.

Story of Israel

The LORD did pour out his wrath. Israel and Judah were punished. Many of them died. The rest were taken away into exile. We are going to see much of this in the next week or so.

Story of Jesus

I suggest the significance of this is that it is fulfilled in the death of Jesus. Much later there’s a point in the Gospel where Jesus speaks about drinking a cup. He is referring to the cup of the LORD’s wrath and the LORD’s judgement he took upon himself in his death. Jesus never sinned. He never worshipped other gods like Israel and Judah did. He took the punishment, he died for those he came to save, who were living apart from God. When he rose again, his people understood the significance of his actions. Thats why the author of Hebrews says;

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Heb 2.14-17)

The people of Israel and Judah died for their abominations. Jesus died, freeing his people from slavery to devil and enabling them to worship the true God.

Copyright © Joshua Washington and thescripturesays, 2014. All Rights