Ezekiel

Ezekiel 22: God exposes the bloody city

Begin in prayer

Before God names Jerusalem's corruption, let us ask Him for honest hearts under His Word. Seek His help to listen with calm hearts, His nearness to our family and a clear sight of Christ in Ezekiel 22.

Hear Yahweh’s word, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.

Hosea 4:1

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Help us understand the guilt You expose and see Jesus, who brings guilty people before You through His saving work. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

God exposes Jerusalem's bloodshed, idols, oppression and contempt for parents and His holy things. He names sexual sin, bribery and dishonest gain among the sins of people who have forgotten Him. God will scatter them and consume their filthiness, so they know He is the LORD. He compares Israel to the dross of silver and Jerusalem to a furnace where His wrath will melt them. Prophets, priests, princes and people share in the corruption, from false teaching to oppression of the poor and foreigner. God seeks someone to repair the wall and stand before Him for the land, yet finds no one. He pours out wrath and brings their own way on their heads.

As you read Ezekiel 22, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God exposes His people's corruption and judges them according to their ways.

Jerusalem's sins are charges against a city that has forgotten God, so its treatment of neighbors belongs with its contempt for His holy things. Power given to princes becomes a means of bloodshed, and those needing protection suffer oppression from the people around them. Priests should teach God's distinctions, yet their disregard for holy and common, clean and unclean, helps the people profane Him. Prophets whitewash the rulers' wrongdoing with false visions, so religious speech protects the corruption it ought to expose. The dross picture compares Israel to worthless material mixed among metals, showing what God finds where His people should honor Him. Gathering them into Jerusalem therefore becomes furnace judgment, with His wrath melting those who have corrupted the city. Repairing the wall and standing in the gap would mean resisting the wrong and pleading before God for the land. His search finds no one, and the judgment returns their own ways upon their heads.

How does Ezekiel 22 show us that God exposes His people's corruption and judges them according to their ways?

God names His people’s sinful ways.

The city sheds blood, worships idols and oppresses those needing protection (verses 1 to 16). Sexual sins fill the city, even within families (verses 9 to 11). They also take bribes to shed blood, charge interest and gain from neighbors by oppression. God will scatter the people and consume their filthiness.

God's wrath exposes what His people have become.

God calls Israel the dross of silver, mixed with other metals in a furnace (verses 17 to 22). He will gather them in Jerusalem. The fire of His wrath will melt them there.

God judges a land without a faithful defender.

Prophets devour souls and cover the rulers' sin with lies (verses 23 to 31). Priests violate God's law and profane His holy things, ignoring His Sabbaths and distinctions between holy and common, clean and unclean. Princes kill for gain, and the people oppress the poor and foreigner. God finds no one to stand before Him for the land. He brings their own ways upon them.

Memorize

Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it.

Ezekiel 22:14

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what wrong am I excusing for gain? Do I need Jesus to forgive me?

After naming the land's corruption, God says, “I sought for a man among them”. He sought someone to build the wall and stand before Him for the land. He found no one. The people whose ways deserved judgment had no one to avert the ruin.

God sought someone to stand before Him for the land. Jesus stands before God for His people. He is able to save those who draw near to God through Him, and He lives to intercede for them (Hebrews 7 verse 25). On the cross He bore His people's sins and died in their place. He completed the sacrifice that reconciles them to God, fully meeting their need for salvation. God raised Him from the dead, and He brings His people into God's presence.

Come to this Savior, turning from the sins you have excused. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. He promises forgiveness to all who come to Him, including those guilty of harming others for gain. The risen Savior brings guilty people to God, and His mercy teaches those who trust Him to honor His Word.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God exposes sin, and Jesus died and rose to bring those who trust Him to God. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart. Please explain the violence and sexual sins in your own words, keeping God's judgment on them clear.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for exposing corruption and providing a Savior, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.

James 5:4

Father, thank You for seeing the harm that sin does and for providing Jesus Christ to save sinners. Forgive our selfishness and dishonesty, and help each one repent and trust Him. Please teach us to honor Your Word and treat others with truth and care. Amen.