Ezkiel 14:6

Ezekiel 14:6 says, Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.  Ezekiel was to tell the people that it was time to repent and turn to God if they expected Him to hear them.  As stated before, until a person comes to God by repenting of their sins and by faith in Jesus Christ, He is not going to hear what they have to say.   

Verse seven adds, For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself:  God said that those who came to hear from Him by a prophet but they were worshipping idols and were a stumbling block to those who professed to be His people that He would answer them Himself instead of through a prophet.  This also applied to those who were in the land of Israel, but who were not Israelites by birth.  God is never going to accept anyone, no matter where they are from, until they repent of their sins and come to Him by faith.  If they don’t accept God’s call to repentance and put their faith in Him, He will one day speak to them as their judge.  God calls all people to Him, but unless they repent of their sins and accept His gift of salvation, He will one day speak to them as their judge.   

Vese eight continues, And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.  God said He would make an example of those who wouldn’t believe the prophets and who He spoke to Himself and He would cut them off from the land of Israel and they would know that He is God.  Those who do not accept the gospel and turn to Jesus Christ in repentance by faith when the gospel is proclaimed to them will one day face God as their judge and they will be forever cut off from His kingdom in heaven.   

Verse nine states, And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.  God said that if prophets deceived the people, it was because He had caused them to do so.  Though it may seem to imply that God caused them to proclaim lies, it really means that He didn’t prevent them from doing so and that one day God would stretch forth His hand to punish them.  Neither the one who leads people away from God’s word or the one led away can blame God for it.  He will always have called them to Himself, and they will have refused to respond to His call.   

Verse ten adds, And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;  God said that both the false prophet and those who listened to him would be judged together.  We might think that the false prophet would be judged more harshly, but since both would be sent away to everlasting punishment, the degree of that punishment would be the same.  Still, I wouldn’t want to be either. We can be certain that all sinners who have not repented and put their faith in Jesus Christ will be sent away to everlasting punishment.   

Verse eleven continues, That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God.  God said that when all the false prophets and those who followed them were removed from the land and only those who continued to put their faith in Him remained that they would no longer be polluted by their transgressions but would be His people.  I don’t believe that this means that they would never sin again, but that when they did, they would always repent and obey Him once again.  Once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we are a child of God forever, but this doesn’t mean that we will never sin again, but that if we do, we will repent and return to living by the leadership of the Holy Spirit. 

Ezekiel 14:1

Ezekiel 14:1 says, Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.  Ezekiel said certain of the elders of Israel came to and sat before him.  They were evidently there to see what he had to say, more out of curiosity than belief that what he was saying was true, I believe. Many people come to church or even listen to what Christians have to say today, not out of faith or because they believe what is being said but just out of curiosity about what is being said and often so they can argue against it.   

Verse two adds, And the word of the Lord came unto me saying, As usual, Ezekiel said that the word of God came to him.  If we are in a situation where we are proclaiming God’s word today, we need to first make sure that it is God's word.  If Ezekiel had just told them what he thought, it could have been wrong, but if it was the word that God gave him to share, it never would be, and the same is true for us today as followers of Christ.  

Verse three adds, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?  God said that these men had set up their idols and had become a stumbling block to the people of Israel.  Matthew Henry says these were likely elders of Israel who were note a part of Ezekiel's regular listeners, who had come from throughout Babylon to Jerusalem.  Ezekiel had received them with honor, but God said his honor for them was misplaced, since they didn’t know Him.  If religious leaders come to us today, we should never honor their position but should make sure that they actually believe God’s word first, and then if we honor them, it should be because of their service to God and not just because of their position in the church. God asked if He should hear them because they did not believe in Him and worshipped false gods, and the implied answer was no.  God is not going to hear people if they come to Him for any reason other than because they believe Him and accept His word as the truth, or to give them guidance after they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  As long as we worship idols or make anything more important to us than our relationship with God, He is not obligated to hear us if come to Him without faith in His salvation plan. 

Verse four states, Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;  God told Ezekiel that he was to tell these men that God knew that they had come while worshipping a multitude of idols and having become a stumbling block to the people of Israel that they were supposed to lead spiritually.  We need to pray that those who profess to be the leaders in the church today never become a stumbling block to Christians because they do not believe God’s word and proclaim something that is not consistent with His word.   

Verse five adds, That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. God asked Ezekiel if He should take the people of Israel as His people when they were worshipping idols instead of Him, and again the implied answer is no.  If we come to God looking for validation of what we believe and put our faith in anything other than Him, He is never obligated to hear us.  Until people come to God through faith in Jesus Christ, He will call them to salvation, but as long as they put other gods ahead of Him and refuse to accept His gift of salvation, He is not obligated to hear them, especially if what they believe in leads people away from Him becomes a stumbling block to them.