Ezekiel 16:1

Ezekiel 16:1 says, Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,  Ezekiel said God sent another message for Him to share with the people of Israel.  As stated before, as He did with Ezekiel, God will continue to speak to us as followers of Christ, and then we need to share His word with those around us.   

Verse two adds, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, God told Ezekiel that he was to make the abominations of the people of Israel known to them.  Matthew Henry points out that Ezekiel was in captivity in Babylon at this time and Jeremiah was in Jerusalem, and Jeremiah had a message of comfort for the people there, and Ezekiel had a message of conviction of their sins.  They did not see themselves as rivals, but both were proclaiming the word that God gave them.  Preachers today may have messages that are different than what other preachers are preaching, such as one may be pointing to the comfort that believers have even in the midst of adversity and another maybe pointing out the need to repent for sins that have come into the lives of believers.  Still, as long as they are both proclaiming the word that God gives them, they will never be rivals.  I know that preachers also preach to call the unsaved to salvation, but when comparing them the Ezekiel and Jeremiah who were speaking to the people of Israel, then we would be looking at the massage of preachers to people Christians.

Verse three continues, And say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.  Ezekiel was to tell the people that they were born in the land of Canaan but that their father was an Amorite and their mother a Hittite.  The people of Israel did not just suddenly appear when God called Abraham into a covenant relationship with Him, but they were born as a part of another group of people.  We as Christians were not just born as a  part of God’s kingdom, but wherever we are from in the world, when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we become a part of God’s kingdom.  Matthew Henry points out that they often looked to other nations for security instead of having destroyed them all as God commanded.  Once we are a born-again believer, we need to destroy all of the things that might lead us away from God and should never look to the powers of this world for protection.   

Verse four states, And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.  God said that the nation of Israel had been like a new-born baby who was not cared for by the people of the world.  They could no longer depend on other people to care for them but must depend on God alone.  When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we are born again as a newborn baby in Christ, and we can no longer look to people of the world to be our source of nurturing spiritually, but we must look to God alone.   

Verse five adds, None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.  God said that no one cared for the people of Israel when they were first called to be a new nation under God, but instead they were cast out in the open field where they would have died if they had been depending on people of the world to keep them safe.  He also said that other people loathed the people of Israel.  We know that the people of Israel were often looked on with contempt and that the people of the world tried to kill or enslave them.  As followers of Christ, we should not expect the people of the world to keep us safe, but we should look to God alone.  As a matter of fact, we may find that those who do not believe in God will often want to kill or at least enslave us.  This should never stop us from putting our faith in God and proclaiming His word to the world.   

Ezekiel 15:6

Ezekiel 15:6 says, Therefore thus saith the Lord God; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  God said just as He had given the worthless vines to be burned, He would do with the people of Israel, because they had refused to put their faith in Him and therefore had become worthless to Him.  If we do not accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and thereby refuse God’s gift of salvation, we will always be worthless to Him and will one day be sent away to burn in the fires of hell.  Though today many people don’t want to believe in hell even if they profess to believe in God, God's word tells it is real and that this is the place that all who do not accept His gift of salvation will sent to forever.   

Verse seven adds, And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.  God said that when He sent His punishment on Israel, there would be no escape.  They would escape one fire only to find themselves in another one.  When God sends people away to everlasting punishment, there will be no way to escape.  When this happened, the people would know that He is God.  Those who refuse to acknowledge God in this life will acknowledge Him one day, but there will be no way to escape the everlasting punishment that they will be sent away to, which is why it is so important that we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord when He calls us to salvation, and He will call everyone to salvation.  He will never force any to accept His gift of salvation though, and if they are sent away to everlasting punishment, it will be because they chose to go there.  

Verse eight continues, And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord God.  God said He was going to make the land of Israel desolate because the people had committed a trespass against Him and would not come to Him by repenting and putting their faith in Him.  Since it says a trespass and not trespasses, I believe that this refers to the fact that they did not believe in Him and put their faith in Him.  I do know that the sin that will send everyone to hell is not putting their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Ezekiel 15:1

Ezekiel 15:1 says, And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,  As followers of Christ, as He did with Ezekiel, God will continue to talk to us to give us direction in life if we will only hear Him.  The message will be what we need to hear at that time.   

Verse two adds, Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?  God asked Ezekiel if the vine was greater or more important than the tree that it grew on if it produced fruit or if it was greater than the branch of  the tree.  Israel was a vine which God had planted to bear fruit for Him, or I believe looking to the New Testament that Jesus Christ is the true Vine and we as Christians are the branches The people of Israel had become a detestable vine because they had quit bearing fruit for God, so it became necessary for the true Vine to come and for those who would be God’s people to be a branch of that Vine.   

Verse three adds, Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?  God said if the vine bore no fruit, what was it worth?  It wouldn’t even be good for hanging things from since it would not be strong enough to bear any weight.  Israel had become such a worthless vine when they turned away from God and stopped bearing fruit for Him.  Like the people of Israel, we become worthless branches to God if we stop obeying His commandments, but it will not be because the true Vine, Jesus Christ has failed us.  Like Israel the fault will always be ours.   

Verse four states. Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work?  God said that the worthless vine would be thrown into the fire since it was worthless for anything else.  I believe that followers of Christ, we will never be thrown into the fires of hell, but if our life is not rooted as a branch in Him, our works may one day be thrown into the fire.  Anyone who is rooted in any other vine will be thrown into the fires of hell one day.  Matthew Henry points out that once the vine has been thrown into the fire, there will never be a reason to take it out.  Once a person has been thrown into the fires of hell, there will be no redemption for them, nor will there be any redemption for the works of Christians that are done outside of the will of God.   

Verse five adds, Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned?  God asked Ezekiel if the vine had not been useful by bearing fruit when it was whole, how much more useless would it be once it was devoured by the fire.  If a person has been useless to God in life by not being a part of the true Vine, they will be even more useless when they have been thrown into the fires of hell.  There will be no hope of redemption then.