Three Men - Ezekiel 14

Ezekiel 14:16 "Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God."

One thing struck me in this verse. Ezekiel is receiving this prophesy during the captivity and that is when Daniel was living his life in captivity. (We will study about Daniel later.) But the Lord put him in this group of three righteous men. Two from the olden days. Daniel must have had great favor with the Lord and indeed he did.

I believe the point here is that when God starts his judgment on a people, it is bound to be carried out regardless of who prays. Although he has great respect for someone, His will must be carried out. So even Noah, Daniel or Job could not stop this judgment.

Now in the first part of the chapter some elders have come to Ezekiel, it seems they were wanting to find out what God had in mind for the future. The problem with them was that they had not turned lose of their idol worship even though there may have been no images, they still held idols in their heart.

v1 "Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me."

v3 "Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face; should I be inquired of at all by them?"

People cannot come to God for a new life when they hold on to their old life. The first step is repentance which means to 'turn from'.

v6 "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."

The same is true for this generation. As I've said, people cannot make a deal with God. We must come under His conditions. It starts with recognizing that we are sinners and then a willingness to turn from that sin.

Because these men held sin in their heart, the Lord answered thus:

v8 "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."

There will be a few that remain who will encourage the hearts of the captives. It is called the remnant. These are such people as Daniel and others who stayed true to God.

v23 "And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings; and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God."

I am encouraged by some young families coming up who honor the Lord. It seems at times that there is nothing but Hollywood and meanness in the world. Then, I find there are those who have taught their children properly and those children are raising families to fear the Lord. It is an encouragement to me.

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