A Rebellious Nation
Now notice some of the highlights of Ezekiel's message. No warning is more urgent or more timely for today.
"I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me," God tells Ezekiel.”They and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day" (Ezekiel 2:3).
God calls the people of Israel "impudent children and stiff-hearted" (2:4). He is not overly optimistic that they will respond to his warnings through Ezekiel.”The house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me," God observes (3:7).
Yet God encouraged Ezekiel to faithfully execute his commission nevertheless. Whether the people heed the warning or not, God says, "they shall know that there hath been a prophet among them" (2:5). They will be without excuse!
Ezekiel's message is not a pleasant one. It is one of "lamentations, and mourning, and woe" (2:10). It is one that many critics — oblivious to its real purpose and ultimate objective — have labeled a doomsday message.
In reality, it is the only message that holds out any real hope for the world today!
Time of Jacob's Trouble
Consider the following: Bible prophecy reveals that in the years ahead, a great confederation of 10 nations will arise in Europe — an end-time revival of the ancient Roman Empire. This power will come under the leadership of a military dictator known as "the beast" (Revelation 17:12-13). The beast will ultimately invade Egypt, Palestine and other areas of the Middle East. Later he will confront the power of Soviet-led Asia and then of Jesus Christ himself at his Second Coming (Rev. 17:14).
But where are Britain and the United States in this prophetic picture?
The answer is Britain and the United States — the modern-day descendants of Joseph, leader of the house of Israel — will themselves be subjugated by the beast! This will occur at the beginning of a period of religious persecution called the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21). The prophet Jeremiah calls it "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7). The American and British peoples are to become embroiled in a crisis that will pale the first two world wars into insignificance!
See what Ezekiel has to say of the impending fate of the 20th-century house of Israel:
"A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence [disease epidemics], and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them" (Ezekiel 5:12).
One third of the peoples of America and Britain are — yet in the future — to die of famine and disease! Another third will perish in military attack! The remaining third will be taken captive as slaves into all parts of the earth! This is the terrifying future in store for the English-speaking peoples if events continue in the direction they are now headed and if our peoples do not repent of their sins! Sin is the transgression of God's law (I John 3:4).
There will be no escape for those who refuse to heed the warning. There will be no safe haven of refuge — no hiding place from the sure punishment of God (Ezekiel 6:12; 7:15).
Hydrogen Warfare
The destruction wreaked upon the house of Israel will be unparalleled in history.”In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste . . .” God declares (6:6). Cities will be completely destroyed — probably the result of hydrogen bomb warfare!
How, many have wondered, will the combined nuclear might of the United States and Britain ever succumb? Ezekiel provides the answer:
"They have blown the trumpet [of war], even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. The sword is without, the pestilence and the famine within . . ." (7:14-15).
The United States and Britain will be so weakened by famine and disease that no one will be in any condition to resist!
Why this punishment?
Why will God bring these dire punishments upon the modern-day house of Israel? God himself answers:
". . . for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them" (5:6). And again: ". . . for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel . . ." (6:11).
Ephraim and Manasseh have refused to obey God. They have refused to live the way of life that produces peace and prosperity. They have turned their backs on the commandments of God and have committed abominations in his sight.
For these reasons God declares "they shall fall" (6:11). When Ezekiel wrote, the ancient house of Israel had long since fallen into Assyrian captivity. This prophecy therefore clearly refers to the fate of the modern-day house of Israel. God is going to send it into captivity and slavery for the purpose of learning a great lesson!
Anciently, God chose the nation of Israel for a great purpose — a purpose it has stubbornly refused to fulfill to this day! Instead of becoming a positive example to other nations of God's right way of life, Israel has instead degenerated into a shameful illustration of the consequences of disobedience.
Peace and harmony — the fruits of obedience to God's laws — are nowhere to be found, within Israel's borders. Instead, "the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence" (7:23).
The British and American peoples and the gentiles who dwell among them have been blessed above all nations of the earth. But in their material prosperity they have abandoned true spiritual values. They have forgotten their God!
God is going to break their spirit of rebellion and disobedience! The result of that unprecedented punishment will be an eye-opening, spiritual realization of the true extent of national and personal sins — and a large-scale national repentance (6:8-9).
"They shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations," God declares.”And they shall know that I am the Lord, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them" (6:9-10). Israel will at last yield to the will of God!
"And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you . . .", God says. . . and they shall be my people, and I will be their God" (11:19-20).
You Can Escape!
Amid all his prophecies of war and captivity, Ezekiel has another message: No one need suffer these frightful calamities! Those individuals who yield to God now will be spared his corrective punishment in the days just ahead.
Notice: In a vision (recorded in chapter 9), Ezekiel saw six men bearing weapons of slaughter in their hands. Another man held a writing implement. God instructed the man with the writing implement to go through the midst of Jerusalem — the fall of ancient Jerusalem is a type of the fall of the modern house of Israel — and "set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof' (verse 4).
To the six armed men God instructed: "Go ye after him [the man with the writing implement] through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity . . . but come not near any man upon whom is the mark . . ." (verses 5-6). Compare this account with the seventh chapter of the book of Revelation.
Just as righteous Noah was divinely protected through the worldwide Flood that erased all life from the face of the land, God today promises to spare all those who individually turn from the evils of this present world — those who "sigh and cry" over its abominations.
Are you one of these individuals?
Global Punishment
The handwriting is on the wall! God is very soon to intervene mightily in world affairs!
Britain and America are not the only nations that will suffer God's corrective punishment. All mankind has rejected God and his ways! But modern Israel will be first to receive correction — and later the first to be delivered (Ezekiel 36:7-11).
In the end, all nations will learn the great lesson that God's way of life is the only way that will produce the peace and prosperity that all peoples seek. Then will begin the utopian World Tomorrow — with global peace and abundance at last.
But first must come a time of divine correction. The entire world is entering a time of chaos and calamity. The world as a whole will not heed the warning!
Will you take Ezekiel's warning seriously?