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.   

Ezekiel 13:17

Ezekiel 13:17 says, Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,  Ezekiel was told to not only set his heart against the men who prophesied falsely, but against the women as well.  We may say that women should never prophesy, or proclaim God’s word, but God said that He would pour out His Spirit on both men and women who put their faith in Him and they would prophesy.  We may always think of only men being able to prophesy for or against God, but God said that both men and women would proclaim His  word, but God is no respecter of people, so both men and women will be held accountable for their sins, especially if they are professing to proclaim God’s word when they aren’t.   

Verse eighteen adds, And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?  These  prophetesses held the people in awe with their lies.  They would make it seem that they were giving comfort to the people of Israel, but it would all be based on lies.  There are still women today who profess to speak for God who build all their promises on falsehoods, but those women who profess to be followers of Christ never will if they have actually accepted Him as their Savior and Lord.   

Verse nineteen continues, And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?  God asked if the people would trade His truth for a handful of barley and pieces of bread. They were under siege and bread was scarce at this time, but the situation was not going to change no matter who proclaimed that it would.  Matthew Henry says that the people came to them to be told the truth of God, but they told them lies instead.  When people are in need today, they may be willing to put their faith in anyone who proclaims that everything is going to get better without putting their faith in God.   

Verse twenty states, Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.  God said He was going to free the people from the false teachings of these false prophetesses.  We should never put our faith in an individual but  must always put our faith in God.  If someone proclaims that we can find peace outside the will of God, they are leading astray those who believe them.  God said He would destroy these pillows that they proclaimed would bring peace to the people, and He will one day destroy all the false gods that people put their faith in.   

Verse twenty-one adds, Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.  Along with the pillows God said He was going to destroy their kerchiefs that they proclaimed to bring peace to the people.  Every false god that people put their faith in will one day be destroyed by God and those who put their faith in them will discover that there is only One God Who can redeem them, but for too many this knowledge will come too late.   

Verse twenty-two continues, Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:  God said that the prophesies of these women made the hearts of the righteous sad when He had not made them sad.  He also said that they strengthened the hand of the wicked so that they would not turn to Him for salvation. As followers of Christ, we should never allow false prophesies to make us sad about our relationship with God.  If we are not a follower of Christ, we can never put our faith in the things of this world and expect them to bring us success.  Everything gained outside the will of God will one day be destroyed and those who put their faith in them instead of God will be sent away to everlasting punishment, no matter how many people say this isn’t true.  

Verse twenty-three concludes, Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.  God said that these women would see no more vanity, or prophesies based on nothing and that He would deliver the people out of their hands.  When we put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, He will deliver us from the lies of the world as long as we are faithful to Him,