The word of the Lord also came unto me, saying, Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house. (Ezekiel 12:1 to 3)


There’s a somewhat sobering theme that runs throughout the entire Word of God; namely, the rebellion of far too many of His people, which results in spiritual blindness and deafness. We can see it in the book of Numbers, where the children of Israel rebelled against the Lord at the word of the ten spies, and in the book of Ezekiel, and in the book of Matthew, where the disciples asked Jesus why He spoke only in parables. Those are definitely not the only three places; but they show that this rebellion was inherent in man from the beginning. The result of this, then, is seen in the following portion of Scripture.

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. (Matthew 13:13 to 15)


I’ve been looking over this chapter for quite a while to understand what the message is for us today, and I realized that this was speaking more conditional than situational. The original prophecy was revealing that the natural Jews were on the verge of being overcome and taken captive by the natural Babylonians, and the spiritual Jews are on the verge of being overcome and taken captive by spiritual Babylon. Can you see what the Lord is saying here? I want to bring out something here that I’ve mentioned before in order to clarify this.

Back in the twenty-third chapter of 2 Kings is the account when the book of the law was found during the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem. The book was read to King Josiah, who then sent a delegation to Huldah the prophetess to find out what the Lord had to say concerning the situation. The word that she spoke to them was something that I’m pretty sure they were hoping would be different.

Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. (2 Kings 22:16 and 17)


Because of the failure of the people to walk faithfully with God, they brought His wrath upon themselves. You see, He’ll do anything He can to avert judgment; but He has a limit.  Once His limit has been passed, then His judgments won’t cease until the reason for His judgments has been completely and eternally eradicated. Thus Peter tells us that “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17); and though he was speaking about the days in which he was living, that has been consistent throughout the subsequent centuries. Unfortunately, far too many Christians can’t fathom the concept that God will judge us, since, according to the book of Romans, “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Their disconnect comes because they fail to realize that there are a couple of other portions of Scripture which are vital for us to include.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)


But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9)

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. (Exodus 19:5 and 6)


Now, the portion of Scripture from 1 Peter 2:9 is commonly quoted; but, even though it originated from the one in Exodus 19, the latter fails to be mentioned. However, to understand what the Lord requires of us, the second can’t be omitted without having a serious effect on the first.

I’ve said what I have to explain something that far too many believers don’t seem to understand. It’s true that we’ve been “justified by faith”, and that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”, but, through salvation, we’ve entered into a covenant with Him, which places responsibilities upon each of the parties. His responsibility is to obey His Word, while our responsibility is to obey His Word. He always does, while we often don’t. So, because we fall short, He has to reprove us and to correct us. He does that individually right now, but the time is coming when He’ll have to do that on a corporate level; and that’s what so many fail to accept. They can’t believe that God would subject His people to judgment. But, then again, neither did the natural Jews.

Think about something for a moment. The natural Jews who were permitted to remain in Jerusalem after the captivity in the days of Jehoiachin (2 Kings chapter 24) refused to believe that the Lord would allow the kind of judgment that they were hearing from the prophets; and, as a result, they found themselves being subject to the power of Babylon. Moving ahead into the days that we’re in, the spiritual Jews refuse to believe that the Lord is going to allow the kind of judgment that many are prophesying about. But true to the pattern, they’re going to find themselves being subject to the power of spiritual Babylon. In other words, many in Christianity will be overcome by spiritual confusion. That’s right in keeping with what the Lord spoke through the prophet Amos.

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. (Amos 8:11 and 12)

So, contrary to what is being taught by the Hananiah ministries of soon coming peace and prosperity, many Christians are going to find themselves with no direction in the days to come. They’ve never been weaned from the milk of the Word, nor have they been prepared for battle. True: they’ve heard of the need of those things; but the ministries have far too often soothed their flesh and their egos with God’s promises of blessings and joy and of the fallacy of an escape from the troubles to come and have left them as sheep without a shepherd. It’s not going to happen at this time, though it’s taking shape. However, we read in verse six that Ezekiel was to “carry it forth in the twilight”. This actually was speaking about the thick darkness; and, by extension, that’s speaking about the night season which is imminent. I’m saying that this will happen at the beginning of the tribulation period when, to their horror, they’ll find that they will still be earthbound and unprepared for what will come. And whereas Ezekiel was instructed to “dig through the wall” (verse 5), which resulted in a breach large enough for a man to pass through, so will that which they’ll have built and which they’ll have boasted to be the house of God be brought low.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. (Matthew 23:37 and 38)

There’s something that I find rather interesting concerning what seems to be common in Christianity. Many ministries provide an option for legacy planning, whereby donors are able to regularly place funds into a special account for future generations. However, many of these ministries are continually preaching that we need to be ready because the return of the Lord is imminent.

Am I missing something?

The Lord reminded Ezekiel of a Proverb that the Jews had whereby they said “the days are prolonged, and every vision faileth” (verse 22). It appears to me that today’s spiritual Jews are following in their footsteps. By providing an option for legacy planning, these ministries are unknowingly stating that they really don’t believe that the return of Jesus is as imminent as they claim. The time is going to come, however, when God is going to send His chosen company of prophets to them and will throw down the gauntlet. Through them He’ll present what He requires but which has been either watered down or ignored altogether; and then He’ll present two options: they can either turn from their ways and submit to Him, or they can continue as they always have. There will be eternal consequences either way; but those consequences will no longer be delayed. And the rebellious will find themselves descending into spiritual confusion.