Ezekiel 11—The Wicked Counsel11:1.Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the Lord's house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah, the son of Azur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.—The east gate types Christ, the entrance to true Christianity. (John 10:9.) At the door of the gate were the leading sects, Jaazaniah, the son of Azur (helper) types the idea that by self-help man can please God. Pelatiah (Jah delivers), the son of Benaiah (Jah is intelligent), types the belief that earthly wisdom will deliver the world from its difficulties. (1 Cor. 1:21.) These were“princes among the people”—very popular ideas.11:2.Then said He unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city.—These teachings have actuated many of the erroneous beliefs and wicked acts of nominal Christians.11:3.Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.—Ecclesiasticism's thought is that the Time of Trouble is not near, and the destruction of Christendom is not to be thought of. (1 Thes. 5:3.)“Let us build houses”is an expression implying confidence in the permanence of things as they are. (2 Pet. 3:4.)“This city is the caldron, and we be the flesh”(Jer. 1:13) is a proverb, here applied to the iron sides of the caldron keeping away the fire, or in antitype civil and military powers, protecting from actual anarchy (fire), however hot things may become.11:4, 5.Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man. And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak: Thus saith the Lord; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come unto your mind, every one of them.—The false teachings of the clergy are nothing new. Every one of them is the old worship of Nimrod and Baal.[pg 425]11:6.Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.—There never was a war that a clergy did not preach“their people”into it, and multiply the slain. Furthermore, the number is legion of those who would have liked to gain spiritual life, but the clergy have discouraged (John 7:48), and in millions of cases caused their actual death.11:7.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.—Another sense in which the Jerusalem Jews used this proverb was that the Jews taken captive into Babylon were worthless, and they in Jerusalem were the valuable flesh remaining. (Mi. 3:3.) God here tells that the only ones to remain in Christendom will be the literally dead, or those who are dead to the claims of Mystic Babylon. These have the best chance of surviving the trouble. The walls, defences, military and police, will be broken down by war and revolution; and nothing can save the adherents of ecclesiasticism from their fate.11:8.Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a Sword upon you, saith the Lord.—The devotees of established priestcraft fear both the literal sword and the Sword of the Spirit. The armies of the nations will be in open revolt against the established powers, religious, political and economic. Also the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, will cut through all pretense and bring about the death of religion in all not begotten of the Holy Spirit.11:9.And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.—Christendom win fall literally into the hands of revolutionists and anarchists, Industrial Workers of the World, Syndicalists, Socialists, unfriendly to established systems, and spiritually into the power of the Word of God in the hands of His“strangers.”(1 Pet. 1:1; 2:11,) a“just recompense of reward.”(Heb. 2:2.)11:10, 11.Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel.—The Jews taken captive out of Jerusalem were tried and slain at Riblah (a bare place) outside of Palestine, typifying that the destroying judgments on Christendom will come upon her after her institutions have gone to pieces, and she is desolated.11:12.And ye shall know that I am the Lord: for ye have not walked in My statutes, neither executed My judgments, but have done after the manner of the heathen[pg 426]that are round about you.—The people of Christendom will finally appreciate that their distress is a punishment from God, because of not having followed the plain injunctions of the Bible, having mistaught the Word of God, and having lived no better than unbelievers.11:13.And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?—While Pastor Russell's reasonable and Divinely appointed teachings are doing their good work throughout Christendom the idea that human wisdom, Prussian culture, etc., can save the old order of things, will be seen lifeless.11:14.Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying.—Verses 14 to 25 are the message of comfort and hope to those who are now out of harmony with ecclesiasticism.11:15.Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given in possession.—The Jews in captivity were despised by those remaining in the“holy”city, Jerusalem. They type the people of Christendom who honestly own themselves to be of the world and are despised by the“best people,”the educated, religious“holy”Churchianity.“Get you far from the Lord”is the attitude of the tares toward those who do not pretend as much, but who are often much better in God's sight. The“best people”not merely own most of the earth now, but expect to own Heaven too—with the now worldly people forever consigned to a devil-imagined hell of eternal torment.11:16.Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little Sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.—God especially favors the honest-hearted, humble-minded, however far they may now be from Him in outward appearance. Christ avoided the Scribes and the Pharisees, but freely associated with the publicans and sinners.11:17.Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.—In the coming Kingdom God will gather first the outcasts from their condition of disfavor, even from the dead, and will give them possession of the earth before the proud-minded ecclesiastics are permitted[pg 427]to return from the dead. This is to have also a literal fulfillment on Fleshly Israel.—Z. '94-76.11:18.And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.—The common people, free from the perverse influence of priestcraft, in Christ's Millennial Kingdom will abolish all the clergy-fostered ideas and practices now so abominable to God.11:19.And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.—They will be single-hearted to serve God and do His will alone. (Jer. 32:39.) From having the spirit or mind of natural men they will be given the Holy Spirit, when God“pours out His Spirit upon all flesh.”(A. 333; Z. '03-171.) From being hard-hearted they will become tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God, for Christ's sake will forgive them.—Eph. 4:32.11:20.That they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.—They will keep God's Law of Divine love. The“best people,”who now regard themselves as God's people, in the Age to come will learn that God opposes the proud and favors the humble.11:21.But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God.—Those who at heart love established ecclesiasticism are counted as having the heart, mind or will of the author of priestcraft, the Devil.“Ye generation of serpents (devils), how scarcely shall ye escape the condemnation of Gehenna (Second Death).”—Matt. 23:33.11:22, 23.Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.—God, and Divine favor, has ceased to be in or with Christendom (D. 527), but is upon and with the true Kingdom (mountain) of God (A. 318), toward the east (Zech. 14:4), the antitypical Mount of Olives.—D. 653.11:24, 25.Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the Lord had shewed me.—These things seen in the Scriptures are now preached and published to the captives in Mystic Babylon.[pg 428]Ezekiel 12—Christendom's Blind Flight12:1, 2.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.—In Chapter 12:1-16 is depicted the blind flight of Christendom into revolution and anarchy. Pastor Russell and his co-workers once dwelt in the midst of the rebellious nominal house, or church, of God, with eyes blinded and ears made deaf by their spiritual defection.—Matt. 13:13.12:3.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.—He found in the Bible the Truth of God, which exhorts to“come out of her, O My people”(Rev. 18:4); and in obedience, he came out of his church home into a condition of separateness, by every means of publicity (in their sight) drawing the attention to his removal, in the hope that those left behind might turn truly back to God.12:4.Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.—In their estimation, he did this as one taken by the Evil One.12:5.Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.—He dug through the creeds walls and thus“came out of her.”12:6.In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.—To them he was one not knowing whither he went, with eyes blinded; whereas his action and his publishing of the Truth was but God's way of beseeching Christendom and warning her of her own fate.12:7.And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth[pg 429]in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.—Pastor Russell and the Truth people did this with their limited power (hand), and laboriously (upon shoulder) made their way with their goods, the precious Truths,“out of her.”12:8-9.And in the morning came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?—The nominal church (home) of Spiritual Israel have often inquired of Pastor Russell and of the Truth people,“What doest thou?”12:10.Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.—The import of the answer concerns the exalted class (prince, exalted one), the lords in Christendom, the clergy, and all professing Christians that are with them.12:11.Say, I am your sign, like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.—What has been, is a lesson for them; as the Royal Priesthood has done, so shall it be done unto them; they shall move down from their exalted place and go into captivity to the laborite and revolutionary elements. The Jews were literally to go into captivity into ancient Babylon, which they did.12:12.And the prince that is among them shell bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby; he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.—As to the Jews, their ruler Zedekiah was by night to try to escape from Jerusalem, but he should not see the way. Regarding Christendom's clergy, they shall at the close of their day, abandon Christendom in the time of revolution, to save what they can for themselves, and“get out of her.”They shall find a still more worldly way out of their creed walls and shall be self-blinded to the real condition of society (the earth).12:13.My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.—Like a snare shall revolution, in the guise of freedom for all, come upon them; and, utterly blind to the significance of world events, they shall be forced into revolution and anarchy, and there shall this lordly class come to its end. (Hos. 7:12.) The literal application upon King Zedekiah is of course understood; for he went to Babylon, but never saw it, because his eyes were put out.[pg 430]12:14.And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.—God will scatter in war, tumult and confusion and in error; all that adhere to the clergy class, and all their congregations (bands); and against them shall He direct weapons of war and the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit.12:15.And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.—And they shall appreciate that Jehovah is God, when this has come.12:16.But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come: and they shall know that I am the Lord.—From among them God will leave a few manly believers, who shall escape the sword, the famine, literal and of the Word, and from the pestilential errors; that they, as then faithful members of the Great Company, may explain to the revolutionists and anarchists the Truth about the Divinely forbidden doctrines and deeds of the clergy, and their following.12:17, 18.Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness.—The Lord's people were to eat, drink and live with great economy.12:19.And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.—They were to say to the people of Christendom:“God says to the clergy and people of nominal Spiritual Israel, the churches: You shall eat your food by measure, and with economy—on the food-ticket plan—and drink your Truth with amazement at the famine; for Christendom is to be desolated of its people, because of the violent wars, and the revolutions and anarchy of the people.”12:20.And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.—The governments (cities) shall be destroyed and the social order desolated in anarchy; and they shall feel the outworkings of Jehovah's purposes upon them.12:21, 22.And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in[pg 431]the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?—Nominal clergy and Christians say concerning the Bible, that this Age will last for thousands of years and that Bible prophecies fail of fulfillment—2 Pet. 3:4.12:23.Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.—God says that He will make their saying to cease; for close at hand is the Time of Trouble and of the Kingdom of God, and the fulfillment of prophecy.12:24.For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.—There shall be no more, in the churches, delusive theories of the everlasting welfare of Christendom or of evolution, or immortality, or flattering prediction of peace, peace.—Lam. 2:14.12:25.For I am the Lord; I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; It shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.—Jehovah's Word shall come to pass promptly, in the present day.—Isa. 55:11.12:26, 27.Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.—The clergy say that Pastor Russell's predictions of early trouble and the setting up of the Kingdom are for hundreds or thousands of years to come, and about things that are far off.—Amos. 6:3.12:28.Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, There shall none of My words be prolonged any more, but the Word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.—Jehovah says that none of the words spoken through His servant Pastor Russell, shall wait any longer for fulfillment, but the things shall come as spoken.“Sometime, when all life's lessons have been learned,And sun and stars forevermore have set,The things which our weak judgment here has spurned—The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet—Will flash before us out of life's dark night,As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;And we shall see how all God's plans were right,And how what seemed unkind was love most true.”[pg 432]Ezekiel 13—The Gaps In The Wall13:1, 2.And the Word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the Word of the Lord.—God's Word is to write and speak against the preachers of Christendom that say things originating in their own imaginations; let them listen now to the Words of Jehovah.13:3.Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing.—Woe to the foolish preachers, who as blind leaders have seen nothing respecting today's crisis in the Word of God, or in the signs of the times!13:4.O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.—O Christendom, thy preachers will be like cunning foxes, finding profit in the desolation of their country!13:5.Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the Day of the Lord.—They have not preached God's Truth to fill up the breaches among Christendom's defenders, or to build up the broken-down forsakers of Christendom's moral and spiritual defenses, to enable Christendom to have strength to stand before God in the Time of Trouble.13:6.They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the Word.—They have taken and taught fallacious and delusive theories of evolution, destructive criticism of the Bible, the Divine right of kings and of clergy, and preached their people into savage warfare, saying it was the Word of God, when God has not said it; and they have made others believe their lies.13:7.Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken.—They have misrepresented Jehovah.13:8.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am[pg 433]against you, saith the Lord God.—Wherefore God is against them.13:9.And Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.—God will stretch out His hand against these preachers. They shall not be in the Church triumphant (Heb. 12:23), nor shall they be written as members of the spirit-born Great Company; nor shall they enter the Heavenly phase of the Kingdom.13:10.Because, even because they have seduced My people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.—Because the clergy have deceived and ruined Christendom (Micah 3:5-7) proclaiming peace when there was no peace (Jer. 6:14); and when one of them would build up a slight wall of workers of earthly, civic, social betterment, the others would bind it together with the binder of self-interest, not with truth (water) or love.13:11.Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall; there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.—It shall fall; there shall be an overflowing downpour of the water of Truth; and hard truths, great hard facts shall fall upon the wall; and gigantic wars and world wide commotion shall tear to pieces the preachers' earthly-civic-social defense.13:12.Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye daubed it?—Behold, when Christendom's slight defense against the forces of evil, is fallen, it shall be inquired of the clergy,“Where is that worthless, loveless, selfish binder wherewith you inefficiently cemented together its members?”13:13.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in My fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in Mine anger, and great hailstones in My fury to consume it.—Therefore God says: I will destroy your defense with a furious storm of war and revolution, with a flood of Truth and great hard facts.13:14.So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.—So will I break down your flimsy defenses of selfishness; they shall fall and you shall be buried in their fall.[pg 434]13:15.Thus will I accomplish My wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it.—The defense of Christendom exists no more, neither they that plastered it with showy self-interest.13:16.To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her when there is no peace.—Namely, the preachers of Christendom who preach peace when there is no peace.13:17.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.—God directs true Christians to set their faces against the man-made churches, which preach things of their own imagining.13:18.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?—Woe to the churches (women) that practice superstition (sew amulets about their elbows—an oriental method of incantation), and wear veils of mystery to ensnare men.13:19.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?—Shall they continue to profane and prostitute My name among My people, for the price of the spiritual fornication of church-state union (barley was the customary offering for an adulteress) and for the weekly collections offering, to discourage, persecute and kill the godly?13:20.Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt 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 will strip the churches of the power of their superstitions, and will let the people go out of the bondage.13:21.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.—Their veil of mystery will He tear away, and deliver His people, the Great Company, out of bondage.13:22.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.—Wherefore the churches shall no more hold forth delusive hopes.[pg 435]Ezekiel 14—Insincere Inquirers14:1.Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.—There will come certain of the clergy of Christendom to the Truth people to listen and inquire.14:2, 3.And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 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?—God's Word for them will be that these men have insincerely set up in their hearts their idols of gold, power, etc., and with a pretended face-to-face sincerity, have retained their iniquitous stumbling block of love of sin. Should God be inquired of at all by such men?14:4.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 stumbling block 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:—Every man in the nominal church that insincerely clings to his idols and to his love of iniquity, and yet comes to one of God's people, Jehovah will answer not with words, but with the retribution deserved for his idolatry.14:5.That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols.—God will treat the nominal Christian church in a manner like their own insincere hearts, because by the idols they serve they are all estranged from their love for Him.—2 Thes. 2:11, 12.14:6.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.—Say first to them: Repent of your evil deeds, turn away from your idols, O Christendom, and resolutely turn your faces unto Him, and from superstition, error, and from practices which are abominable to His standards.14:7.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 stumbling block of his iniquity before his face,[pg 436]and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me; I the Lord will answer him by Myself.—Every church member and every one associated with him, who ceases to love God supremely, sets his heart upon other subjects of love or worship, clings to iniquitous practices, and then comes to the Truth people to find what God says, verily Jehovah Himself will answer him—with deeds, not with words merely.14:8.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 will thoroughly disfavor that man, and make him an example and a by-word; He will cut him off from a place among His people.14:9.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.—And if any preacher—even one of the Truth people—shall get so wrong in heart that he is deceived in what he says (Jer. 20:7), Jehovah will“send him a strong delusion that he should believe a lie,”and will be against him and will destroy him from the midst of His people.14:10.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.—Both shall bear the same punishment for their iniquity—the preachers and the man that listens to him.14:11.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.—Professed Christian people shall stray no longer from Him, nor become unclean spiritually through their wrongdoing, but may truly be God's people, and He their God.14:12, 13.The Word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it.—When a whole country sins against God with grievous, willful sin, then will He exercise His power against it, and cut off the necessary supply of material (Lev. 26:26) and spiritual food—send a famine of food and of the Word of God upon it, and cut off all life from it.[pg 437]14:14.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.—Though in that country were the three most upright men of history, Noah, Daniel and Job—typing here the Little Flock, the Great Company, and the Household of Faith—they should by their righteousness save but their own lives.14:15.If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts.—God has caused savage governments to overrun Christendom with military and naval forces, and to ruin and desolate it, so that no manly independent man can exist there.14:16.Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.—Though these three classes be in Christendom, they shall deliver no one but themselves; they only shall be delivered, but Christendom shall be desolated.14:17.Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:—God has brought upon Christendom destroying weapons (Lev. 26:25), and the Sword of the Spirit is to go through Christendom and cut off all that can be cut off, and no one shall save aught but himself.14:18, 19.Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out My fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast.—God will permit a pestilence, both of literal disease and of pestilential errors in Christendom, in wrath to take away life.14:20, 21.Though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughters; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send My four sore judgments upon Jerusalem—the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence—to cut off from it man and beast.—Christendom is so corrupt that God is sending upon her His four dreadful punishments—the sword, the famine, the savage government and the pestilence—as His destroyers!14:22.Yet behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted[pg 438]concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.—There shall be left from the anarchy a few who shall be brought through into the Kingdom as samples of Christendom's pollution. They will live among those who have suffered in Christendom's trouble, and amid the blessed Kingdom influences by contrast the others shall see their continued evil ways and doings. And they will cause everyone to feel satisfied, content, over the trouble God is bringing upon Christendom.14:23.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.—When the others see their evil ways and doings, they will be content as to the need of the Time of Trouble, for they shall realize that not without good cause shall God have done all that He will do to Christendom.
Ezekiel 11—The Wicked Counsel11:1.Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the Lord's house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah, the son of Azur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.—The east gate types Christ, the entrance to true Christianity. (John 10:9.) At the door of the gate were the leading sects, Jaazaniah, the son of Azur (helper) types the idea that by self-help man can please God. Pelatiah (Jah delivers), the son of Benaiah (Jah is intelligent), types the belief that earthly wisdom will deliver the world from its difficulties. (1 Cor. 1:21.) These were“princes among the people”—very popular ideas.11:2.Then said He unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city.—These teachings have actuated many of the erroneous beliefs and wicked acts of nominal Christians.11:3.Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.—Ecclesiasticism's thought is that the Time of Trouble is not near, and the destruction of Christendom is not to be thought of. (1 Thes. 5:3.)“Let us build houses”is an expression implying confidence in the permanence of things as they are. (2 Pet. 3:4.)“This city is the caldron, and we be the flesh”(Jer. 1:13) is a proverb, here applied to the iron sides of the caldron keeping away the fire, or in antitype civil and military powers, protecting from actual anarchy (fire), however hot things may become.11:4, 5.Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man. And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak: Thus saith the Lord; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come unto your mind, every one of them.—The false teachings of the clergy are nothing new. Every one of them is the old worship of Nimrod and Baal.[pg 425]11:6.Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.—There never was a war that a clergy did not preach“their people”into it, and multiply the slain. Furthermore, the number is legion of those who would have liked to gain spiritual life, but the clergy have discouraged (John 7:48), and in millions of cases caused their actual death.11:7.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.—Another sense in which the Jerusalem Jews used this proverb was that the Jews taken captive into Babylon were worthless, and they in Jerusalem were the valuable flesh remaining. (Mi. 3:3.) God here tells that the only ones to remain in Christendom will be the literally dead, or those who are dead to the claims of Mystic Babylon. These have the best chance of surviving the trouble. The walls, defences, military and police, will be broken down by war and revolution; and nothing can save the adherents of ecclesiasticism from their fate.11:8.Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a Sword upon you, saith the Lord.—The devotees of established priestcraft fear both the literal sword and the Sword of the Spirit. The armies of the nations will be in open revolt against the established powers, religious, political and economic. Also the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, will cut through all pretense and bring about the death of religion in all not begotten of the Holy Spirit.11:9.And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.—Christendom win fall literally into the hands of revolutionists and anarchists, Industrial Workers of the World, Syndicalists, Socialists, unfriendly to established systems, and spiritually into the power of the Word of God in the hands of His“strangers.”(1 Pet. 1:1; 2:11,) a“just recompense of reward.”(Heb. 2:2.)11:10, 11.Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel.—The Jews taken captive out of Jerusalem were tried and slain at Riblah (a bare place) outside of Palestine, typifying that the destroying judgments on Christendom will come upon her after her institutions have gone to pieces, and she is desolated.11:12.And ye shall know that I am the Lord: for ye have not walked in My statutes, neither executed My judgments, but have done after the manner of the heathen[pg 426]that are round about you.—The people of Christendom will finally appreciate that their distress is a punishment from God, because of not having followed the plain injunctions of the Bible, having mistaught the Word of God, and having lived no better than unbelievers.11:13.And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?—While Pastor Russell's reasonable and Divinely appointed teachings are doing their good work throughout Christendom the idea that human wisdom, Prussian culture, etc., can save the old order of things, will be seen lifeless.11:14.Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying.—Verses 14 to 25 are the message of comfort and hope to those who are now out of harmony with ecclesiasticism.11:15.Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given in possession.—The Jews in captivity were despised by those remaining in the“holy”city, Jerusalem. They type the people of Christendom who honestly own themselves to be of the world and are despised by the“best people,”the educated, religious“holy”Churchianity.“Get you far from the Lord”is the attitude of the tares toward those who do not pretend as much, but who are often much better in God's sight. The“best people”not merely own most of the earth now, but expect to own Heaven too—with the now worldly people forever consigned to a devil-imagined hell of eternal torment.11:16.Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little Sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.—God especially favors the honest-hearted, humble-minded, however far they may now be from Him in outward appearance. Christ avoided the Scribes and the Pharisees, but freely associated with the publicans and sinners.11:17.Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.—In the coming Kingdom God will gather first the outcasts from their condition of disfavor, even from the dead, and will give them possession of the earth before the proud-minded ecclesiastics are permitted[pg 427]to return from the dead. This is to have also a literal fulfillment on Fleshly Israel.—Z. '94-76.11:18.And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.—The common people, free from the perverse influence of priestcraft, in Christ's Millennial Kingdom will abolish all the clergy-fostered ideas and practices now so abominable to God.11:19.And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.—They will be single-hearted to serve God and do His will alone. (Jer. 32:39.) From having the spirit or mind of natural men they will be given the Holy Spirit, when God“pours out His Spirit upon all flesh.”(A. 333; Z. '03-171.) From being hard-hearted they will become tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God, for Christ's sake will forgive them.—Eph. 4:32.11:20.That they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.—They will keep God's Law of Divine love. The“best people,”who now regard themselves as God's people, in the Age to come will learn that God opposes the proud and favors the humble.11:21.But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God.—Those who at heart love established ecclesiasticism are counted as having the heart, mind or will of the author of priestcraft, the Devil.“Ye generation of serpents (devils), how scarcely shall ye escape the condemnation of Gehenna (Second Death).”—Matt. 23:33.11:22, 23.Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.—God, and Divine favor, has ceased to be in or with Christendom (D. 527), but is upon and with the true Kingdom (mountain) of God (A. 318), toward the east (Zech. 14:4), the antitypical Mount of Olives.—D. 653.11:24, 25.Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the Lord had shewed me.—These things seen in the Scriptures are now preached and published to the captives in Mystic Babylon.[pg 428]Ezekiel 12—Christendom's Blind Flight12:1, 2.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.—In Chapter 12:1-16 is depicted the blind flight of Christendom into revolution and anarchy. Pastor Russell and his co-workers once dwelt in the midst of the rebellious nominal house, or church, of God, with eyes blinded and ears made deaf by their spiritual defection.—Matt. 13:13.12:3.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.—He found in the Bible the Truth of God, which exhorts to“come out of her, O My people”(Rev. 18:4); and in obedience, he came out of his church home into a condition of separateness, by every means of publicity (in their sight) drawing the attention to his removal, in the hope that those left behind might turn truly back to God.12:4.Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.—In their estimation, he did this as one taken by the Evil One.12:5.Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.—He dug through the creeds walls and thus“came out of her.”12:6.In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.—To them he was one not knowing whither he went, with eyes blinded; whereas his action and his publishing of the Truth was but God's way of beseeching Christendom and warning her of her own fate.12:7.And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth[pg 429]in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.—Pastor Russell and the Truth people did this with their limited power (hand), and laboriously (upon shoulder) made their way with their goods, the precious Truths,“out of her.”12:8-9.And in the morning came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?—The nominal church (home) of Spiritual Israel have often inquired of Pastor Russell and of the Truth people,“What doest thou?”12:10.Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.—The import of the answer concerns the exalted class (prince, exalted one), the lords in Christendom, the clergy, and all professing Christians that are with them.12:11.Say, I am your sign, like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.—What has been, is a lesson for them; as the Royal Priesthood has done, so shall it be done unto them; they shall move down from their exalted place and go into captivity to the laborite and revolutionary elements. The Jews were literally to go into captivity into ancient Babylon, which they did.12:12.And the prince that is among them shell bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby; he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.—As to the Jews, their ruler Zedekiah was by night to try to escape from Jerusalem, but he should not see the way. Regarding Christendom's clergy, they shall at the close of their day, abandon Christendom in the time of revolution, to save what they can for themselves, and“get out of her.”They shall find a still more worldly way out of their creed walls and shall be self-blinded to the real condition of society (the earth).12:13.My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.—Like a snare shall revolution, in the guise of freedom for all, come upon them; and, utterly blind to the significance of world events, they shall be forced into revolution and anarchy, and there shall this lordly class come to its end. (Hos. 7:12.) The literal application upon King Zedekiah is of course understood; for he went to Babylon, but never saw it, because his eyes were put out.[pg 430]12:14.And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.—God will scatter in war, tumult and confusion and in error; all that adhere to the clergy class, and all their congregations (bands); and against them shall He direct weapons of war and the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit.12:15.And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.—And they shall appreciate that Jehovah is God, when this has come.12:16.But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come: and they shall know that I am the Lord.—From among them God will leave a few manly believers, who shall escape the sword, the famine, literal and of the Word, and from the pestilential errors; that they, as then faithful members of the Great Company, may explain to the revolutionists and anarchists the Truth about the Divinely forbidden doctrines and deeds of the clergy, and their following.12:17, 18.Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness.—The Lord's people were to eat, drink and live with great economy.12:19.And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.—They were to say to the people of Christendom:“God says to the clergy and people of nominal Spiritual Israel, the churches: You shall eat your food by measure, and with economy—on the food-ticket plan—and drink your Truth with amazement at the famine; for Christendom is to be desolated of its people, because of the violent wars, and the revolutions and anarchy of the people.”12:20.And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.—The governments (cities) shall be destroyed and the social order desolated in anarchy; and they shall feel the outworkings of Jehovah's purposes upon them.12:21, 22.And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in[pg 431]the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?—Nominal clergy and Christians say concerning the Bible, that this Age will last for thousands of years and that Bible prophecies fail of fulfillment—2 Pet. 3:4.12:23.Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.—God says that He will make their saying to cease; for close at hand is the Time of Trouble and of the Kingdom of God, and the fulfillment of prophecy.12:24.For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.—There shall be no more, in the churches, delusive theories of the everlasting welfare of Christendom or of evolution, or immortality, or flattering prediction of peace, peace.—Lam. 2:14.12:25.For I am the Lord; I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; It shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.—Jehovah's Word shall come to pass promptly, in the present day.—Isa. 55:11.12:26, 27.Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.—The clergy say that Pastor Russell's predictions of early trouble and the setting up of the Kingdom are for hundreds or thousands of years to come, and about things that are far off.—Amos. 6:3.12:28.Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, There shall none of My words be prolonged any more, but the Word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.—Jehovah says that none of the words spoken through His servant Pastor Russell, shall wait any longer for fulfillment, but the things shall come as spoken.“Sometime, when all life's lessons have been learned,And sun and stars forevermore have set,The things which our weak judgment here has spurned—The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet—Will flash before us out of life's dark night,As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;And we shall see how all God's plans were right,And how what seemed unkind was love most true.”[pg 432]Ezekiel 13—The Gaps In The Wall13:1, 2.And the Word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the Word of the Lord.—God's Word is to write and speak against the preachers of Christendom that say things originating in their own imaginations; let them listen now to the Words of Jehovah.13:3.Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing.—Woe to the foolish preachers, who as blind leaders have seen nothing respecting today's crisis in the Word of God, or in the signs of the times!13:4.O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.—O Christendom, thy preachers will be like cunning foxes, finding profit in the desolation of their country!13:5.Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the Day of the Lord.—They have not preached God's Truth to fill up the breaches among Christendom's defenders, or to build up the broken-down forsakers of Christendom's moral and spiritual defenses, to enable Christendom to have strength to stand before God in the Time of Trouble.13:6.They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the Word.—They have taken and taught fallacious and delusive theories of evolution, destructive criticism of the Bible, the Divine right of kings and of clergy, and preached their people into savage warfare, saying it was the Word of God, when God has not said it; and they have made others believe their lies.13:7.Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken.—They have misrepresented Jehovah.13:8.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am[pg 433]against you, saith the Lord God.—Wherefore God is against them.13:9.And Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.—God will stretch out His hand against these preachers. They shall not be in the Church triumphant (Heb. 12:23), nor shall they be written as members of the spirit-born Great Company; nor shall they enter the Heavenly phase of the Kingdom.13:10.Because, even because they have seduced My people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.—Because the clergy have deceived and ruined Christendom (Micah 3:5-7) proclaiming peace when there was no peace (Jer. 6:14); and when one of them would build up a slight wall of workers of earthly, civic, social betterment, the others would bind it together with the binder of self-interest, not with truth (water) or love.13:11.Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall; there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.—It shall fall; there shall be an overflowing downpour of the water of Truth; and hard truths, great hard facts shall fall upon the wall; and gigantic wars and world wide commotion shall tear to pieces the preachers' earthly-civic-social defense.13:12.Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye daubed it?—Behold, when Christendom's slight defense against the forces of evil, is fallen, it shall be inquired of the clergy,“Where is that worthless, loveless, selfish binder wherewith you inefficiently cemented together its members?”13:13.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in My fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in Mine anger, and great hailstones in My fury to consume it.—Therefore God says: I will destroy your defense with a furious storm of war and revolution, with a flood of Truth and great hard facts.13:14.So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.—So will I break down your flimsy defenses of selfishness; they shall fall and you shall be buried in their fall.[pg 434]13:15.Thus will I accomplish My wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it.—The defense of Christendom exists no more, neither they that plastered it with showy self-interest.13:16.To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her when there is no peace.—Namely, the preachers of Christendom who preach peace when there is no peace.13:17.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.—God directs true Christians to set their faces against the man-made churches, which preach things of their own imagining.13:18.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?—Woe to the churches (women) that practice superstition (sew amulets about their elbows—an oriental method of incantation), and wear veils of mystery to ensnare men.13:19.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?—Shall they continue to profane and prostitute My name among My people, for the price of the spiritual fornication of church-state union (barley was the customary offering for an adulteress) and for the weekly collections offering, to discourage, persecute and kill the godly?13:20.Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt 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 will strip the churches of the power of their superstitions, and will let the people go out of the bondage.13:21.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.—Their veil of mystery will He tear away, and deliver His people, the Great Company, out of bondage.13:22.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.—Wherefore the churches shall no more hold forth delusive hopes.[pg 435]Ezekiel 14—Insincere Inquirers14:1.Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.—There will come certain of the clergy of Christendom to the Truth people to listen and inquire.14:2, 3.And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 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?—God's Word for them will be that these men have insincerely set up in their hearts their idols of gold, power, etc., and with a pretended face-to-face sincerity, have retained their iniquitous stumbling block of love of sin. Should God be inquired of at all by such men?14:4.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 stumbling block 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:—Every man in the nominal church that insincerely clings to his idols and to his love of iniquity, and yet comes to one of God's people, Jehovah will answer not with words, but with the retribution deserved for his idolatry.14:5.That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols.—God will treat the nominal Christian church in a manner like their own insincere hearts, because by the idols they serve they are all estranged from their love for Him.—2 Thes. 2:11, 12.14:6.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.—Say first to them: Repent of your evil deeds, turn away from your idols, O Christendom, and resolutely turn your faces unto Him, and from superstition, error, and from practices which are abominable to His standards.14:7.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 stumbling block of his iniquity before his face,[pg 436]and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me; I the Lord will answer him by Myself.—Every church member and every one associated with him, who ceases to love God supremely, sets his heart upon other subjects of love or worship, clings to iniquitous practices, and then comes to the Truth people to find what God says, verily Jehovah Himself will answer him—with deeds, not with words merely.14:8.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 will thoroughly disfavor that man, and make him an example and a by-word; He will cut him off from a place among His people.14:9.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.—And if any preacher—even one of the Truth people—shall get so wrong in heart that he is deceived in what he says (Jer. 20:7), Jehovah will“send him a strong delusion that he should believe a lie,”and will be against him and will destroy him from the midst of His people.14:10.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.—Both shall bear the same punishment for their iniquity—the preachers and the man that listens to him.14:11.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.—Professed Christian people shall stray no longer from Him, nor become unclean spiritually through their wrongdoing, but may truly be God's people, and He their God.14:12, 13.The Word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it.—When a whole country sins against God with grievous, willful sin, then will He exercise His power against it, and cut off the necessary supply of material (Lev. 26:26) and spiritual food—send a famine of food and of the Word of God upon it, and cut off all life from it.[pg 437]14:14.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.—Though in that country were the three most upright men of history, Noah, Daniel and Job—typing here the Little Flock, the Great Company, and the Household of Faith—they should by their righteousness save but their own lives.14:15.If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts.—God has caused savage governments to overrun Christendom with military and naval forces, and to ruin and desolate it, so that no manly independent man can exist there.14:16.Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.—Though these three classes be in Christendom, they shall deliver no one but themselves; they only shall be delivered, but Christendom shall be desolated.14:17.Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:—God has brought upon Christendom destroying weapons (Lev. 26:25), and the Sword of the Spirit is to go through Christendom and cut off all that can be cut off, and no one shall save aught but himself.14:18, 19.Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out My fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast.—God will permit a pestilence, both of literal disease and of pestilential errors in Christendom, in wrath to take away life.14:20, 21.Though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughters; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send My four sore judgments upon Jerusalem—the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence—to cut off from it man and beast.—Christendom is so corrupt that God is sending upon her His four dreadful punishments—the sword, the famine, the savage government and the pestilence—as His destroyers!14:22.Yet behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted[pg 438]concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.—There shall be left from the anarchy a few who shall be brought through into the Kingdom as samples of Christendom's pollution. They will live among those who have suffered in Christendom's trouble, and amid the blessed Kingdom influences by contrast the others shall see their continued evil ways and doings. And they will cause everyone to feel satisfied, content, over the trouble God is bringing upon Christendom.14:23.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.—When the others see their evil ways and doings, they will be content as to the need of the Time of Trouble, for they shall realize that not without good cause shall God have done all that He will do to Christendom.
Ezekiel 11—The Wicked Counsel11:1.Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the Lord's house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah, the son of Azur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.—The east gate types Christ, the entrance to true Christianity. (John 10:9.) At the door of the gate were the leading sects, Jaazaniah, the son of Azur (helper) types the idea that by self-help man can please God. Pelatiah (Jah delivers), the son of Benaiah (Jah is intelligent), types the belief that earthly wisdom will deliver the world from its difficulties. (1 Cor. 1:21.) These were“princes among the people”—very popular ideas.11:2.Then said He unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city.—These teachings have actuated many of the erroneous beliefs and wicked acts of nominal Christians.11:3.Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.—Ecclesiasticism's thought is that the Time of Trouble is not near, and the destruction of Christendom is not to be thought of. (1 Thes. 5:3.)“Let us build houses”is an expression implying confidence in the permanence of things as they are. (2 Pet. 3:4.)“This city is the caldron, and we be the flesh”(Jer. 1:13) is a proverb, here applied to the iron sides of the caldron keeping away the fire, or in antitype civil and military powers, protecting from actual anarchy (fire), however hot things may become.11:4, 5.Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man. And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak: Thus saith the Lord; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come unto your mind, every one of them.—The false teachings of the clergy are nothing new. Every one of them is the old worship of Nimrod and Baal.[pg 425]11:6.Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.—There never was a war that a clergy did not preach“their people”into it, and multiply the slain. Furthermore, the number is legion of those who would have liked to gain spiritual life, but the clergy have discouraged (John 7:48), and in millions of cases caused their actual death.11:7.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.—Another sense in which the Jerusalem Jews used this proverb was that the Jews taken captive into Babylon were worthless, and they in Jerusalem were the valuable flesh remaining. (Mi. 3:3.) God here tells that the only ones to remain in Christendom will be the literally dead, or those who are dead to the claims of Mystic Babylon. These have the best chance of surviving the trouble. The walls, defences, military and police, will be broken down by war and revolution; and nothing can save the adherents of ecclesiasticism from their fate.11:8.Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a Sword upon you, saith the Lord.—The devotees of established priestcraft fear both the literal sword and the Sword of the Spirit. The armies of the nations will be in open revolt against the established powers, religious, political and economic. Also the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, will cut through all pretense and bring about the death of religion in all not begotten of the Holy Spirit.11:9.And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.—Christendom win fall literally into the hands of revolutionists and anarchists, Industrial Workers of the World, Syndicalists, Socialists, unfriendly to established systems, and spiritually into the power of the Word of God in the hands of His“strangers.”(1 Pet. 1:1; 2:11,) a“just recompense of reward.”(Heb. 2:2.)11:10, 11.Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel.—The Jews taken captive out of Jerusalem were tried and slain at Riblah (a bare place) outside of Palestine, typifying that the destroying judgments on Christendom will come upon her after her institutions have gone to pieces, and she is desolated.11:12.And ye shall know that I am the Lord: for ye have not walked in My statutes, neither executed My judgments, but have done after the manner of the heathen[pg 426]that are round about you.—The people of Christendom will finally appreciate that their distress is a punishment from God, because of not having followed the plain injunctions of the Bible, having mistaught the Word of God, and having lived no better than unbelievers.11:13.And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?—While Pastor Russell's reasonable and Divinely appointed teachings are doing their good work throughout Christendom the idea that human wisdom, Prussian culture, etc., can save the old order of things, will be seen lifeless.11:14.Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying.—Verses 14 to 25 are the message of comfort and hope to those who are now out of harmony with ecclesiasticism.11:15.Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given in possession.—The Jews in captivity were despised by those remaining in the“holy”city, Jerusalem. They type the people of Christendom who honestly own themselves to be of the world and are despised by the“best people,”the educated, religious“holy”Churchianity.“Get you far from the Lord”is the attitude of the tares toward those who do not pretend as much, but who are often much better in God's sight. The“best people”not merely own most of the earth now, but expect to own Heaven too—with the now worldly people forever consigned to a devil-imagined hell of eternal torment.11:16.Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little Sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.—God especially favors the honest-hearted, humble-minded, however far they may now be from Him in outward appearance. Christ avoided the Scribes and the Pharisees, but freely associated with the publicans and sinners.11:17.Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.—In the coming Kingdom God will gather first the outcasts from their condition of disfavor, even from the dead, and will give them possession of the earth before the proud-minded ecclesiastics are permitted[pg 427]to return from the dead. This is to have also a literal fulfillment on Fleshly Israel.—Z. '94-76.11:18.And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.—The common people, free from the perverse influence of priestcraft, in Christ's Millennial Kingdom will abolish all the clergy-fostered ideas and practices now so abominable to God.11:19.And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.—They will be single-hearted to serve God and do His will alone. (Jer. 32:39.) From having the spirit or mind of natural men they will be given the Holy Spirit, when God“pours out His Spirit upon all flesh.”(A. 333; Z. '03-171.) From being hard-hearted they will become tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God, for Christ's sake will forgive them.—Eph. 4:32.11:20.That they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.—They will keep God's Law of Divine love. The“best people,”who now regard themselves as God's people, in the Age to come will learn that God opposes the proud and favors the humble.11:21.But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God.—Those who at heart love established ecclesiasticism are counted as having the heart, mind or will of the author of priestcraft, the Devil.“Ye generation of serpents (devils), how scarcely shall ye escape the condemnation of Gehenna (Second Death).”—Matt. 23:33.11:22, 23.Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.—God, and Divine favor, has ceased to be in or with Christendom (D. 527), but is upon and with the true Kingdom (mountain) of God (A. 318), toward the east (Zech. 14:4), the antitypical Mount of Olives.—D. 653.11:24, 25.Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the Lord had shewed me.—These things seen in the Scriptures are now preached and published to the captives in Mystic Babylon.[pg 428]Ezekiel 12—Christendom's Blind Flight12:1, 2.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.—In Chapter 12:1-16 is depicted the blind flight of Christendom into revolution and anarchy. Pastor Russell and his co-workers once dwelt in the midst of the rebellious nominal house, or church, of God, with eyes blinded and ears made deaf by their spiritual defection.—Matt. 13:13.12:3.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.—He found in the Bible the Truth of God, which exhorts to“come out of her, O My people”(Rev. 18:4); and in obedience, he came out of his church home into a condition of separateness, by every means of publicity (in their sight) drawing the attention to his removal, in the hope that those left behind might turn truly back to God.12:4.Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.—In their estimation, he did this as one taken by the Evil One.12:5.Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.—He dug through the creeds walls and thus“came out of her.”12:6.In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.—To them he was one not knowing whither he went, with eyes blinded; whereas his action and his publishing of the Truth was but God's way of beseeching Christendom and warning her of her own fate.12:7.And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth[pg 429]in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.—Pastor Russell and the Truth people did this with their limited power (hand), and laboriously (upon shoulder) made their way with their goods, the precious Truths,“out of her.”12:8-9.And in the morning came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?—The nominal church (home) of Spiritual Israel have often inquired of Pastor Russell and of the Truth people,“What doest thou?”12:10.Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.—The import of the answer concerns the exalted class (prince, exalted one), the lords in Christendom, the clergy, and all professing Christians that are with them.12:11.Say, I am your sign, like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.—What has been, is a lesson for them; as the Royal Priesthood has done, so shall it be done unto them; they shall move down from their exalted place and go into captivity to the laborite and revolutionary elements. The Jews were literally to go into captivity into ancient Babylon, which they did.12:12.And the prince that is among them shell bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby; he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.—As to the Jews, their ruler Zedekiah was by night to try to escape from Jerusalem, but he should not see the way. Regarding Christendom's clergy, they shall at the close of their day, abandon Christendom in the time of revolution, to save what they can for themselves, and“get out of her.”They shall find a still more worldly way out of their creed walls and shall be self-blinded to the real condition of society (the earth).12:13.My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.—Like a snare shall revolution, in the guise of freedom for all, come upon them; and, utterly blind to the significance of world events, they shall be forced into revolution and anarchy, and there shall this lordly class come to its end. (Hos. 7:12.) The literal application upon King Zedekiah is of course understood; for he went to Babylon, but never saw it, because his eyes were put out.[pg 430]12:14.And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.—God will scatter in war, tumult and confusion and in error; all that adhere to the clergy class, and all their congregations (bands); and against them shall He direct weapons of war and the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit.12:15.And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.—And they shall appreciate that Jehovah is God, when this has come.12:16.But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come: and they shall know that I am the Lord.—From among them God will leave a few manly believers, who shall escape the sword, the famine, literal and of the Word, and from the pestilential errors; that they, as then faithful members of the Great Company, may explain to the revolutionists and anarchists the Truth about the Divinely forbidden doctrines and deeds of the clergy, and their following.12:17, 18.Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness.—The Lord's people were to eat, drink and live with great economy.12:19.And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.—They were to say to the people of Christendom:“God says to the clergy and people of nominal Spiritual Israel, the churches: You shall eat your food by measure, and with economy—on the food-ticket plan—and drink your Truth with amazement at the famine; for Christendom is to be desolated of its people, because of the violent wars, and the revolutions and anarchy of the people.”12:20.And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.—The governments (cities) shall be destroyed and the social order desolated in anarchy; and they shall feel the outworkings of Jehovah's purposes upon them.12:21, 22.And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in[pg 431]the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?—Nominal clergy and Christians say concerning the Bible, that this Age will last for thousands of years and that Bible prophecies fail of fulfillment—2 Pet. 3:4.12:23.Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.—God says that He will make their saying to cease; for close at hand is the Time of Trouble and of the Kingdom of God, and the fulfillment of prophecy.12:24.For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.—There shall be no more, in the churches, delusive theories of the everlasting welfare of Christendom or of evolution, or immortality, or flattering prediction of peace, peace.—Lam. 2:14.12:25.For I am the Lord; I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; It shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.—Jehovah's Word shall come to pass promptly, in the present day.—Isa. 55:11.12:26, 27.Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.—The clergy say that Pastor Russell's predictions of early trouble and the setting up of the Kingdom are for hundreds or thousands of years to come, and about things that are far off.—Amos. 6:3.12:28.Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, There shall none of My words be prolonged any more, but the Word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.—Jehovah says that none of the words spoken through His servant Pastor Russell, shall wait any longer for fulfillment, but the things shall come as spoken.“Sometime, when all life's lessons have been learned,And sun and stars forevermore have set,The things which our weak judgment here has spurned—The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet—Will flash before us out of life's dark night,As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;And we shall see how all God's plans were right,And how what seemed unkind was love most true.”[pg 432]Ezekiel 13—The Gaps In The Wall13:1, 2.And the Word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the Word of the Lord.—God's Word is to write and speak against the preachers of Christendom that say things originating in their own imaginations; let them listen now to the Words of Jehovah.13:3.Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing.—Woe to the foolish preachers, who as blind leaders have seen nothing respecting today's crisis in the Word of God, or in the signs of the times!13:4.O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.—O Christendom, thy preachers will be like cunning foxes, finding profit in the desolation of their country!13:5.Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the Day of the Lord.—They have not preached God's Truth to fill up the breaches among Christendom's defenders, or to build up the broken-down forsakers of Christendom's moral and spiritual defenses, to enable Christendom to have strength to stand before God in the Time of Trouble.13:6.They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the Word.—They have taken and taught fallacious and delusive theories of evolution, destructive criticism of the Bible, the Divine right of kings and of clergy, and preached their people into savage warfare, saying it was the Word of God, when God has not said it; and they have made others believe their lies.13:7.Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken.—They have misrepresented Jehovah.13:8.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am[pg 433]against you, saith the Lord God.—Wherefore God is against them.13:9.And Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.—God will stretch out His hand against these preachers. They shall not be in the Church triumphant (Heb. 12:23), nor shall they be written as members of the spirit-born Great Company; nor shall they enter the Heavenly phase of the Kingdom.13:10.Because, even because they have seduced My people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.—Because the clergy have deceived and ruined Christendom (Micah 3:5-7) proclaiming peace when there was no peace (Jer. 6:14); and when one of them would build up a slight wall of workers of earthly, civic, social betterment, the others would bind it together with the binder of self-interest, not with truth (water) or love.13:11.Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall; there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.—It shall fall; there shall be an overflowing downpour of the water of Truth; and hard truths, great hard facts shall fall upon the wall; and gigantic wars and world wide commotion shall tear to pieces the preachers' earthly-civic-social defense.13:12.Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye daubed it?—Behold, when Christendom's slight defense against the forces of evil, is fallen, it shall be inquired of the clergy,“Where is that worthless, loveless, selfish binder wherewith you inefficiently cemented together its members?”13:13.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in My fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in Mine anger, and great hailstones in My fury to consume it.—Therefore God says: I will destroy your defense with a furious storm of war and revolution, with a flood of Truth and great hard facts.13:14.So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.—So will I break down your flimsy defenses of selfishness; they shall fall and you shall be buried in their fall.[pg 434]13:15.Thus will I accomplish My wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it.—The defense of Christendom exists no more, neither they that plastered it with showy self-interest.13:16.To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her when there is no peace.—Namely, the preachers of Christendom who preach peace when there is no peace.13:17.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.—God directs true Christians to set their faces against the man-made churches, which preach things of their own imagining.13:18.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?—Woe to the churches (women) that practice superstition (sew amulets about their elbows—an oriental method of incantation), and wear veils of mystery to ensnare men.13:19.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?—Shall they continue to profane and prostitute My name among My people, for the price of the spiritual fornication of church-state union (barley was the customary offering for an adulteress) and for the weekly collections offering, to discourage, persecute and kill the godly?13:20.Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt 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 will strip the churches of the power of their superstitions, and will let the people go out of the bondage.13:21.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.—Their veil of mystery will He tear away, and deliver His people, the Great Company, out of bondage.13:22.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.—Wherefore the churches shall no more hold forth delusive hopes.[pg 435]Ezekiel 14—Insincere Inquirers14:1.Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.—There will come certain of the clergy of Christendom to the Truth people to listen and inquire.14:2, 3.And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 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?—God's Word for them will be that these men have insincerely set up in their hearts their idols of gold, power, etc., and with a pretended face-to-face sincerity, have retained their iniquitous stumbling block of love of sin. Should God be inquired of at all by such men?14:4.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 stumbling block 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:—Every man in the nominal church that insincerely clings to his idols and to his love of iniquity, and yet comes to one of God's people, Jehovah will answer not with words, but with the retribution deserved for his idolatry.14:5.That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols.—God will treat the nominal Christian church in a manner like their own insincere hearts, because by the idols they serve they are all estranged from their love for Him.—2 Thes. 2:11, 12.14:6.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.—Say first to them: Repent of your evil deeds, turn away from your idols, O Christendom, and resolutely turn your faces unto Him, and from superstition, error, and from practices which are abominable to His standards.14:7.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 stumbling block of his iniquity before his face,[pg 436]and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me; I the Lord will answer him by Myself.—Every church member and every one associated with him, who ceases to love God supremely, sets his heart upon other subjects of love or worship, clings to iniquitous practices, and then comes to the Truth people to find what God says, verily Jehovah Himself will answer him—with deeds, not with words merely.14:8.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 will thoroughly disfavor that man, and make him an example and a by-word; He will cut him off from a place among His people.14:9.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.—And if any preacher—even one of the Truth people—shall get so wrong in heart that he is deceived in what he says (Jer. 20:7), Jehovah will“send him a strong delusion that he should believe a lie,”and will be against him and will destroy him from the midst of His people.14:10.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.—Both shall bear the same punishment for their iniquity—the preachers and the man that listens to him.14:11.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.—Professed Christian people shall stray no longer from Him, nor become unclean spiritually through their wrongdoing, but may truly be God's people, and He their God.14:12, 13.The Word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it.—When a whole country sins against God with grievous, willful sin, then will He exercise His power against it, and cut off the necessary supply of material (Lev. 26:26) and spiritual food—send a famine of food and of the Word of God upon it, and cut off all life from it.[pg 437]14:14.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.—Though in that country were the three most upright men of history, Noah, Daniel and Job—typing here the Little Flock, the Great Company, and the Household of Faith—they should by their righteousness save but their own lives.14:15.If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts.—God has caused savage governments to overrun Christendom with military and naval forces, and to ruin and desolate it, so that no manly independent man can exist there.14:16.Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.—Though these three classes be in Christendom, they shall deliver no one but themselves; they only shall be delivered, but Christendom shall be desolated.14:17.Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:—God has brought upon Christendom destroying weapons (Lev. 26:25), and the Sword of the Spirit is to go through Christendom and cut off all that can be cut off, and no one shall save aught but himself.14:18, 19.Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out My fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast.—God will permit a pestilence, both of literal disease and of pestilential errors in Christendom, in wrath to take away life.14:20, 21.Though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughters; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send My four sore judgments upon Jerusalem—the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence—to cut off from it man and beast.—Christendom is so corrupt that God is sending upon her His four dreadful punishments—the sword, the famine, the savage government and the pestilence—as His destroyers!14:22.Yet behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted[pg 438]concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.—There shall be left from the anarchy a few who shall be brought through into the Kingdom as samples of Christendom's pollution. They will live among those who have suffered in Christendom's trouble, and amid the blessed Kingdom influences by contrast the others shall see their continued evil ways and doings. And they will cause everyone to feel satisfied, content, over the trouble God is bringing upon Christendom.14:23.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.—When the others see their evil ways and doings, they will be content as to the need of the Time of Trouble, for they shall realize that not without good cause shall God have done all that He will do to Christendom.
Ezekiel 11—The Wicked Counsel11:1.Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the Lord's house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah, the son of Azur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.—The east gate types Christ, the entrance to true Christianity. (John 10:9.) At the door of the gate were the leading sects, Jaazaniah, the son of Azur (helper) types the idea that by self-help man can please God. Pelatiah (Jah delivers), the son of Benaiah (Jah is intelligent), types the belief that earthly wisdom will deliver the world from its difficulties. (1 Cor. 1:21.) These were“princes among the people”—very popular ideas.11:2.Then said He unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city.—These teachings have actuated many of the erroneous beliefs and wicked acts of nominal Christians.11:3.Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.—Ecclesiasticism's thought is that the Time of Trouble is not near, and the destruction of Christendom is not to be thought of. (1 Thes. 5:3.)“Let us build houses”is an expression implying confidence in the permanence of things as they are. (2 Pet. 3:4.)“This city is the caldron, and we be the flesh”(Jer. 1:13) is a proverb, here applied to the iron sides of the caldron keeping away the fire, or in antitype civil and military powers, protecting from actual anarchy (fire), however hot things may become.11:4, 5.Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man. And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak: Thus saith the Lord; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come unto your mind, every one of them.—The false teachings of the clergy are nothing new. Every one of them is the old worship of Nimrod and Baal.[pg 425]11:6.Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.—There never was a war that a clergy did not preach“their people”into it, and multiply the slain. Furthermore, the number is legion of those who would have liked to gain spiritual life, but the clergy have discouraged (John 7:48), and in millions of cases caused their actual death.11:7.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.—Another sense in which the Jerusalem Jews used this proverb was that the Jews taken captive into Babylon were worthless, and they in Jerusalem were the valuable flesh remaining. (Mi. 3:3.) God here tells that the only ones to remain in Christendom will be the literally dead, or those who are dead to the claims of Mystic Babylon. These have the best chance of surviving the trouble. The walls, defences, military and police, will be broken down by war and revolution; and nothing can save the adherents of ecclesiasticism from their fate.11:8.Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a Sword upon you, saith the Lord.—The devotees of established priestcraft fear both the literal sword and the Sword of the Spirit. The armies of the nations will be in open revolt against the established powers, religious, political and economic. Also the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, will cut through all pretense and bring about the death of religion in all not begotten of the Holy Spirit.11:9.And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.—Christendom win fall literally into the hands of revolutionists and anarchists, Industrial Workers of the World, Syndicalists, Socialists, unfriendly to established systems, and spiritually into the power of the Word of God in the hands of His“strangers.”(1 Pet. 1:1; 2:11,) a“just recompense of reward.”(Heb. 2:2.)11:10, 11.Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel.—The Jews taken captive out of Jerusalem were tried and slain at Riblah (a bare place) outside of Palestine, typifying that the destroying judgments on Christendom will come upon her after her institutions have gone to pieces, and she is desolated.11:12.And ye shall know that I am the Lord: for ye have not walked in My statutes, neither executed My judgments, but have done after the manner of the heathen[pg 426]that are round about you.—The people of Christendom will finally appreciate that their distress is a punishment from God, because of not having followed the plain injunctions of the Bible, having mistaught the Word of God, and having lived no better than unbelievers.11:13.And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?—While Pastor Russell's reasonable and Divinely appointed teachings are doing their good work throughout Christendom the idea that human wisdom, Prussian culture, etc., can save the old order of things, will be seen lifeless.11:14.Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying.—Verses 14 to 25 are the message of comfort and hope to those who are now out of harmony with ecclesiasticism.11:15.Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given in possession.—The Jews in captivity were despised by those remaining in the“holy”city, Jerusalem. They type the people of Christendom who honestly own themselves to be of the world and are despised by the“best people,”the educated, religious“holy”Churchianity.“Get you far from the Lord”is the attitude of the tares toward those who do not pretend as much, but who are often much better in God's sight. The“best people”not merely own most of the earth now, but expect to own Heaven too—with the now worldly people forever consigned to a devil-imagined hell of eternal torment.11:16.Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little Sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.—God especially favors the honest-hearted, humble-minded, however far they may now be from Him in outward appearance. Christ avoided the Scribes and the Pharisees, but freely associated with the publicans and sinners.11:17.Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.—In the coming Kingdom God will gather first the outcasts from their condition of disfavor, even from the dead, and will give them possession of the earth before the proud-minded ecclesiastics are permitted[pg 427]to return from the dead. This is to have also a literal fulfillment on Fleshly Israel.—Z. '94-76.11:18.And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.—The common people, free from the perverse influence of priestcraft, in Christ's Millennial Kingdom will abolish all the clergy-fostered ideas and practices now so abominable to God.11:19.And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.—They will be single-hearted to serve God and do His will alone. (Jer. 32:39.) From having the spirit or mind of natural men they will be given the Holy Spirit, when God“pours out His Spirit upon all flesh.”(A. 333; Z. '03-171.) From being hard-hearted they will become tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God, for Christ's sake will forgive them.—Eph. 4:32.11:20.That they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.—They will keep God's Law of Divine love. The“best people,”who now regard themselves as God's people, in the Age to come will learn that God opposes the proud and favors the humble.11:21.But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God.—Those who at heart love established ecclesiasticism are counted as having the heart, mind or will of the author of priestcraft, the Devil.“Ye generation of serpents (devils), how scarcely shall ye escape the condemnation of Gehenna (Second Death).”—Matt. 23:33.11:22, 23.Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.—God, and Divine favor, has ceased to be in or with Christendom (D. 527), but is upon and with the true Kingdom (mountain) of God (A. 318), toward the east (Zech. 14:4), the antitypical Mount of Olives.—D. 653.11:24, 25.Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the Lord had shewed me.—These things seen in the Scriptures are now preached and published to the captives in Mystic Babylon.
11:1.Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the Lord's house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah, the son of Azur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.—The east gate types Christ, the entrance to true Christianity. (John 10:9.) At the door of the gate were the leading sects, Jaazaniah, the son of Azur (helper) types the idea that by self-help man can please God. Pelatiah (Jah delivers), the son of Benaiah (Jah is intelligent), types the belief that earthly wisdom will deliver the world from its difficulties. (1 Cor. 1:21.) These were“princes among the people”—very popular ideas.
11:2.Then said He unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city.—These teachings have actuated many of the erroneous beliefs and wicked acts of nominal Christians.
11:3.Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.—Ecclesiasticism's thought is that the Time of Trouble is not near, and the destruction of Christendom is not to be thought of. (1 Thes. 5:3.)“Let us build houses”is an expression implying confidence in the permanence of things as they are. (2 Pet. 3:4.)“This city is the caldron, and we be the flesh”(Jer. 1:13) is a proverb, here applied to the iron sides of the caldron keeping away the fire, or in antitype civil and military powers, protecting from actual anarchy (fire), however hot things may become.
11:4, 5.Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man. And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak: Thus saith the Lord; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come unto your mind, every one of them.—The false teachings of the clergy are nothing new. Every one of them is the old worship of Nimrod and Baal.
11:6.Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.—There never was a war that a clergy did not preach“their people”into it, and multiply the slain. Furthermore, the number is legion of those who would have liked to gain spiritual life, but the clergy have discouraged (John 7:48), and in millions of cases caused their actual death.
11:7.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.—Another sense in which the Jerusalem Jews used this proverb was that the Jews taken captive into Babylon were worthless, and they in Jerusalem were the valuable flesh remaining. (Mi. 3:3.) God here tells that the only ones to remain in Christendom will be the literally dead, or those who are dead to the claims of Mystic Babylon. These have the best chance of surviving the trouble. The walls, defences, military and police, will be broken down by war and revolution; and nothing can save the adherents of ecclesiasticism from their fate.
11:8.Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a Sword upon you, saith the Lord.—The devotees of established priestcraft fear both the literal sword and the Sword of the Spirit. The armies of the nations will be in open revolt against the established powers, religious, political and economic. Also the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, will cut through all pretense and bring about the death of religion in all not begotten of the Holy Spirit.
11:9.And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.—Christendom win fall literally into the hands of revolutionists and anarchists, Industrial Workers of the World, Syndicalists, Socialists, unfriendly to established systems, and spiritually into the power of the Word of God in the hands of His“strangers.”(1 Pet. 1:1; 2:11,) a“just recompense of reward.”(Heb. 2:2.)
11:10, 11.Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel.—The Jews taken captive out of Jerusalem were tried and slain at Riblah (a bare place) outside of Palestine, typifying that the destroying judgments on Christendom will come upon her after her institutions have gone to pieces, and she is desolated.
11:12.And ye shall know that I am the Lord: for ye have not walked in My statutes, neither executed My judgments, but have done after the manner of the heathen[pg 426]that are round about you.—The people of Christendom will finally appreciate that their distress is a punishment from God, because of not having followed the plain injunctions of the Bible, having mistaught the Word of God, and having lived no better than unbelievers.
11:13.And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?—While Pastor Russell's reasonable and Divinely appointed teachings are doing their good work throughout Christendom the idea that human wisdom, Prussian culture, etc., can save the old order of things, will be seen lifeless.
11:14.Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying.—Verses 14 to 25 are the message of comfort and hope to those who are now out of harmony with ecclesiasticism.
11:15.Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given in possession.—The Jews in captivity were despised by those remaining in the“holy”city, Jerusalem. They type the people of Christendom who honestly own themselves to be of the world and are despised by the“best people,”the educated, religious“holy”Churchianity.“Get you far from the Lord”is the attitude of the tares toward those who do not pretend as much, but who are often much better in God's sight. The“best people”not merely own most of the earth now, but expect to own Heaven too—with the now worldly people forever consigned to a devil-imagined hell of eternal torment.
11:16.Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little Sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.—God especially favors the honest-hearted, humble-minded, however far they may now be from Him in outward appearance. Christ avoided the Scribes and the Pharisees, but freely associated with the publicans and sinners.
11:17.Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.—In the coming Kingdom God will gather first the outcasts from their condition of disfavor, even from the dead, and will give them possession of the earth before the proud-minded ecclesiastics are permitted[pg 427]to return from the dead. This is to have also a literal fulfillment on Fleshly Israel.—Z. '94-76.
11:18.And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.—The common people, free from the perverse influence of priestcraft, in Christ's Millennial Kingdom will abolish all the clergy-fostered ideas and practices now so abominable to God.
11:19.And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.—They will be single-hearted to serve God and do His will alone. (Jer. 32:39.) From having the spirit or mind of natural men they will be given the Holy Spirit, when God“pours out His Spirit upon all flesh.”(A. 333; Z. '03-171.) From being hard-hearted they will become tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God, for Christ's sake will forgive them.—Eph. 4:32.
11:20.That they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.—They will keep God's Law of Divine love. The“best people,”who now regard themselves as God's people, in the Age to come will learn that God opposes the proud and favors the humble.
11:21.But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God.—Those who at heart love established ecclesiasticism are counted as having the heart, mind or will of the author of priestcraft, the Devil.“Ye generation of serpents (devils), how scarcely shall ye escape the condemnation of Gehenna (Second Death).”—Matt. 23:33.
11:22, 23.Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.—God, and Divine favor, has ceased to be in or with Christendom (D. 527), but is upon and with the true Kingdom (mountain) of God (A. 318), toward the east (Zech. 14:4), the antitypical Mount of Olives.—D. 653.
11:24, 25.Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the Lord had shewed me.—These things seen in the Scriptures are now preached and published to the captives in Mystic Babylon.
Ezekiel 12—Christendom's Blind Flight12:1, 2.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.—In Chapter 12:1-16 is depicted the blind flight of Christendom into revolution and anarchy. Pastor Russell and his co-workers once dwelt in the midst of the rebellious nominal house, or church, of God, with eyes blinded and ears made deaf by their spiritual defection.—Matt. 13:13.12:3.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.—He found in the Bible the Truth of God, which exhorts to“come out of her, O My people”(Rev. 18:4); and in obedience, he came out of his church home into a condition of separateness, by every means of publicity (in their sight) drawing the attention to his removal, in the hope that those left behind might turn truly back to God.12:4.Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.—In their estimation, he did this as one taken by the Evil One.12:5.Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.—He dug through the creeds walls and thus“came out of her.”12:6.In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.—To them he was one not knowing whither he went, with eyes blinded; whereas his action and his publishing of the Truth was but God's way of beseeching Christendom and warning her of her own fate.12:7.And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth[pg 429]in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.—Pastor Russell and the Truth people did this with their limited power (hand), and laboriously (upon shoulder) made their way with their goods, the precious Truths,“out of her.”12:8-9.And in the morning came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?—The nominal church (home) of Spiritual Israel have often inquired of Pastor Russell and of the Truth people,“What doest thou?”12:10.Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.—The import of the answer concerns the exalted class (prince, exalted one), the lords in Christendom, the clergy, and all professing Christians that are with them.12:11.Say, I am your sign, like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.—What has been, is a lesson for them; as the Royal Priesthood has done, so shall it be done unto them; they shall move down from their exalted place and go into captivity to the laborite and revolutionary elements. The Jews were literally to go into captivity into ancient Babylon, which they did.12:12.And the prince that is among them shell bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby; he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.—As to the Jews, their ruler Zedekiah was by night to try to escape from Jerusalem, but he should not see the way. Regarding Christendom's clergy, they shall at the close of their day, abandon Christendom in the time of revolution, to save what they can for themselves, and“get out of her.”They shall find a still more worldly way out of their creed walls and shall be self-blinded to the real condition of society (the earth).12:13.My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.—Like a snare shall revolution, in the guise of freedom for all, come upon them; and, utterly blind to the significance of world events, they shall be forced into revolution and anarchy, and there shall this lordly class come to its end. (Hos. 7:12.) The literal application upon King Zedekiah is of course understood; for he went to Babylon, but never saw it, because his eyes were put out.[pg 430]12:14.And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.—God will scatter in war, tumult and confusion and in error; all that adhere to the clergy class, and all their congregations (bands); and against them shall He direct weapons of war and the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit.12:15.And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.—And they shall appreciate that Jehovah is God, when this has come.12:16.But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come: and they shall know that I am the Lord.—From among them God will leave a few manly believers, who shall escape the sword, the famine, literal and of the Word, and from the pestilential errors; that they, as then faithful members of the Great Company, may explain to the revolutionists and anarchists the Truth about the Divinely forbidden doctrines and deeds of the clergy, and their following.12:17, 18.Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness.—The Lord's people were to eat, drink and live with great economy.12:19.And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.—They were to say to the people of Christendom:“God says to the clergy and people of nominal Spiritual Israel, the churches: You shall eat your food by measure, and with economy—on the food-ticket plan—and drink your Truth with amazement at the famine; for Christendom is to be desolated of its people, because of the violent wars, and the revolutions and anarchy of the people.”12:20.And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.—The governments (cities) shall be destroyed and the social order desolated in anarchy; and they shall feel the outworkings of Jehovah's purposes upon them.12:21, 22.And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in[pg 431]the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?—Nominal clergy and Christians say concerning the Bible, that this Age will last for thousands of years and that Bible prophecies fail of fulfillment—2 Pet. 3:4.12:23.Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.—God says that He will make their saying to cease; for close at hand is the Time of Trouble and of the Kingdom of God, and the fulfillment of prophecy.12:24.For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.—There shall be no more, in the churches, delusive theories of the everlasting welfare of Christendom or of evolution, or immortality, or flattering prediction of peace, peace.—Lam. 2:14.12:25.For I am the Lord; I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; It shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.—Jehovah's Word shall come to pass promptly, in the present day.—Isa. 55:11.12:26, 27.Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.—The clergy say that Pastor Russell's predictions of early trouble and the setting up of the Kingdom are for hundreds or thousands of years to come, and about things that are far off.—Amos. 6:3.12:28.Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, There shall none of My words be prolonged any more, but the Word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.—Jehovah says that none of the words spoken through His servant Pastor Russell, shall wait any longer for fulfillment, but the things shall come as spoken.“Sometime, when all life's lessons have been learned,And sun and stars forevermore have set,The things which our weak judgment here has spurned—The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet—Will flash before us out of life's dark night,As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;And we shall see how all God's plans were right,And how what seemed unkind was love most true.”
12:1, 2.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.—In Chapter 12:1-16 is depicted the blind flight of Christendom into revolution and anarchy. Pastor Russell and his co-workers once dwelt in the midst of the rebellious nominal house, or church, of God, with eyes blinded and ears made deaf by their spiritual defection.—Matt. 13:13.
12:3.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.—He found in the Bible the Truth of God, which exhorts to“come out of her, O My people”(Rev. 18:4); and in obedience, he came out of his church home into a condition of separateness, by every means of publicity (in their sight) drawing the attention to his removal, in the hope that those left behind might turn truly back to God.
12:4.Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.—In their estimation, he did this as one taken by the Evil One.
12:5.Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.—He dug through the creeds walls and thus“came out of her.”
12:6.In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.—To them he was one not knowing whither he went, with eyes blinded; whereas his action and his publishing of the Truth was but God's way of beseeching Christendom and warning her of her own fate.
12:7.And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth[pg 429]in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.—Pastor Russell and the Truth people did this with their limited power (hand), and laboriously (upon shoulder) made their way with their goods, the precious Truths,“out of her.”
12:8-9.And in the morning came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?—The nominal church (home) of Spiritual Israel have often inquired of Pastor Russell and of the Truth people,“What doest thou?”
12:10.Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.—The import of the answer concerns the exalted class (prince, exalted one), the lords in Christendom, the clergy, and all professing Christians that are with them.
12:11.Say, I am your sign, like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.—What has been, is a lesson for them; as the Royal Priesthood has done, so shall it be done unto them; they shall move down from their exalted place and go into captivity to the laborite and revolutionary elements. The Jews were literally to go into captivity into ancient Babylon, which they did.
12:12.And the prince that is among them shell bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby; he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.—As to the Jews, their ruler Zedekiah was by night to try to escape from Jerusalem, but he should not see the way. Regarding Christendom's clergy, they shall at the close of their day, abandon Christendom in the time of revolution, to save what they can for themselves, and“get out of her.”They shall find a still more worldly way out of their creed walls and shall be self-blinded to the real condition of society (the earth).
12:13.My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.—Like a snare shall revolution, in the guise of freedom for all, come upon them; and, utterly blind to the significance of world events, they shall be forced into revolution and anarchy, and there shall this lordly class come to its end. (Hos. 7:12.) The literal application upon King Zedekiah is of course understood; for he went to Babylon, but never saw it, because his eyes were put out.
12:14.And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.—God will scatter in war, tumult and confusion and in error; all that adhere to the clergy class, and all their congregations (bands); and against them shall He direct weapons of war and the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit.
12:15.And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.—And they shall appreciate that Jehovah is God, when this has come.
12:16.But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come: and they shall know that I am the Lord.—From among them God will leave a few manly believers, who shall escape the sword, the famine, literal and of the Word, and from the pestilential errors; that they, as then faithful members of the Great Company, may explain to the revolutionists and anarchists the Truth about the Divinely forbidden doctrines and deeds of the clergy, and their following.
12:17, 18.Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness.—The Lord's people were to eat, drink and live with great economy.
12:19.And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.—They were to say to the people of Christendom:“God says to the clergy and people of nominal Spiritual Israel, the churches: You shall eat your food by measure, and with economy—on the food-ticket plan—and drink your Truth with amazement at the famine; for Christendom is to be desolated of its people, because of the violent wars, and the revolutions and anarchy of the people.”
12:20.And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.—The governments (cities) shall be destroyed and the social order desolated in anarchy; and they shall feel the outworkings of Jehovah's purposes upon them.
12:21, 22.And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in[pg 431]the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?—Nominal clergy and Christians say concerning the Bible, that this Age will last for thousands of years and that Bible prophecies fail of fulfillment—2 Pet. 3:4.
12:23.Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.—God says that He will make their saying to cease; for close at hand is the Time of Trouble and of the Kingdom of God, and the fulfillment of prophecy.
12:24.For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.—There shall be no more, in the churches, delusive theories of the everlasting welfare of Christendom or of evolution, or immortality, or flattering prediction of peace, peace.—Lam. 2:14.
12:25.For I am the Lord; I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; It shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.—Jehovah's Word shall come to pass promptly, in the present day.—Isa. 55:11.
12:26, 27.Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.—The clergy say that Pastor Russell's predictions of early trouble and the setting up of the Kingdom are for hundreds or thousands of years to come, and about things that are far off.—Amos. 6:3.
12:28.Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, There shall none of My words be prolonged any more, but the Word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.—Jehovah says that none of the words spoken through His servant Pastor Russell, shall wait any longer for fulfillment, but the things shall come as spoken.
“Sometime, when all life's lessons have been learned,And sun and stars forevermore have set,The things which our weak judgment here has spurned—The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet—Will flash before us out of life's dark night,As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;And we shall see how all God's plans were right,And how what seemed unkind was love most true.”
“Sometime, when all life's lessons have been learned,And sun and stars forevermore have set,The things which our weak judgment here has spurned—The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet—Will flash before us out of life's dark night,As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;And we shall see how all God's plans were right,And how what seemed unkind was love most true.”
“Sometime, when all life's lessons have been learned,
And sun and stars forevermore have set,
The things which our weak judgment here has spurned—
The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet—
Will flash before us out of life's dark night,
As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;
And we shall see how all God's plans were right,
And how what seemed unkind was love most true.”
Ezekiel 13—The Gaps In The Wall13:1, 2.And the Word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the Word of the Lord.—God's Word is to write and speak against the preachers of Christendom that say things originating in their own imaginations; let them listen now to the Words of Jehovah.13:3.Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing.—Woe to the foolish preachers, who as blind leaders have seen nothing respecting today's crisis in the Word of God, or in the signs of the times!13:4.O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.—O Christendom, thy preachers will be like cunning foxes, finding profit in the desolation of their country!13:5.Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the Day of the Lord.—They have not preached God's Truth to fill up the breaches among Christendom's defenders, or to build up the broken-down forsakers of Christendom's moral and spiritual defenses, to enable Christendom to have strength to stand before God in the Time of Trouble.13:6.They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the Word.—They have taken and taught fallacious and delusive theories of evolution, destructive criticism of the Bible, the Divine right of kings and of clergy, and preached their people into savage warfare, saying it was the Word of God, when God has not said it; and they have made others believe their lies.13:7.Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken.—They have misrepresented Jehovah.13:8.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am[pg 433]against you, saith the Lord God.—Wherefore God is against them.13:9.And Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.—God will stretch out His hand against these preachers. They shall not be in the Church triumphant (Heb. 12:23), nor shall they be written as members of the spirit-born Great Company; nor shall they enter the Heavenly phase of the Kingdom.13:10.Because, even because they have seduced My people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.—Because the clergy have deceived and ruined Christendom (Micah 3:5-7) proclaiming peace when there was no peace (Jer. 6:14); and when one of them would build up a slight wall of workers of earthly, civic, social betterment, the others would bind it together with the binder of self-interest, not with truth (water) or love.13:11.Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall; there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.—It shall fall; there shall be an overflowing downpour of the water of Truth; and hard truths, great hard facts shall fall upon the wall; and gigantic wars and world wide commotion shall tear to pieces the preachers' earthly-civic-social defense.13:12.Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye daubed it?—Behold, when Christendom's slight defense against the forces of evil, is fallen, it shall be inquired of the clergy,“Where is that worthless, loveless, selfish binder wherewith you inefficiently cemented together its members?”13:13.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in My fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in Mine anger, and great hailstones in My fury to consume it.—Therefore God says: I will destroy your defense with a furious storm of war and revolution, with a flood of Truth and great hard facts.13:14.So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.—So will I break down your flimsy defenses of selfishness; they shall fall and you shall be buried in their fall.[pg 434]13:15.Thus will I accomplish My wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it.—The defense of Christendom exists no more, neither they that plastered it with showy self-interest.13:16.To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her when there is no peace.—Namely, the preachers of Christendom who preach peace when there is no peace.13:17.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.—God directs true Christians to set their faces against the man-made churches, which preach things of their own imagining.13:18.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?—Woe to the churches (women) that practice superstition (sew amulets about their elbows—an oriental method of incantation), and wear veils of mystery to ensnare men.13:19.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?—Shall they continue to profane and prostitute My name among My people, for the price of the spiritual fornication of church-state union (barley was the customary offering for an adulteress) and for the weekly collections offering, to discourage, persecute and kill the godly?13:20.Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt 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 will strip the churches of the power of their superstitions, and will let the people go out of the bondage.13:21.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.—Their veil of mystery will He tear away, and deliver His people, the Great Company, out of bondage.13:22.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.—Wherefore the churches shall no more hold forth delusive hopes.
13:1, 2.And the Word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the Word of the Lord.—God's Word is to write and speak against the preachers of Christendom that say things originating in their own imaginations; let them listen now to the Words of Jehovah.
13:3.Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing.—Woe to the foolish preachers, who as blind leaders have seen nothing respecting today's crisis in the Word of God, or in the signs of the times!
13:4.O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.—O Christendom, thy preachers will be like cunning foxes, finding profit in the desolation of their country!
13:5.Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the Day of the Lord.—They have not preached God's Truth to fill up the breaches among Christendom's defenders, or to build up the broken-down forsakers of Christendom's moral and spiritual defenses, to enable Christendom to have strength to stand before God in the Time of Trouble.
13:6.They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the Word.—They have taken and taught fallacious and delusive theories of evolution, destructive criticism of the Bible, the Divine right of kings and of clergy, and preached their people into savage warfare, saying it was the Word of God, when God has not said it; and they have made others believe their lies.
13:7.Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken.—They have misrepresented Jehovah.
13:8.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am[pg 433]against you, saith the Lord God.—Wherefore God is against them.
13:9.And Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.—God will stretch out His hand against these preachers. They shall not be in the Church triumphant (Heb. 12:23), nor shall they be written as members of the spirit-born Great Company; nor shall they enter the Heavenly phase of the Kingdom.
13:10.Because, even because they have seduced My people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.—Because the clergy have deceived and ruined Christendom (Micah 3:5-7) proclaiming peace when there was no peace (Jer. 6:14); and when one of them would build up a slight wall of workers of earthly, civic, social betterment, the others would bind it together with the binder of self-interest, not with truth (water) or love.
13:11.Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall; there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.—It shall fall; there shall be an overflowing downpour of the water of Truth; and hard truths, great hard facts shall fall upon the wall; and gigantic wars and world wide commotion shall tear to pieces the preachers' earthly-civic-social defense.
13:12.Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye daubed it?—Behold, when Christendom's slight defense against the forces of evil, is fallen, it shall be inquired of the clergy,“Where is that worthless, loveless, selfish binder wherewith you inefficiently cemented together its members?”
13:13.Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in My fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in Mine anger, and great hailstones in My fury to consume it.—Therefore God says: I will destroy your defense with a furious storm of war and revolution, with a flood of Truth and great hard facts.
13:14.So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.—So will I break down your flimsy defenses of selfishness; they shall fall and you shall be buried in their fall.
13:15.Thus will I accomplish My wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it.—The defense of Christendom exists no more, neither they that plastered it with showy self-interest.
13:16.To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her when there is no peace.—Namely, the preachers of Christendom who preach peace when there is no peace.
13:17.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.—God directs true Christians to set their faces against the man-made churches, which preach things of their own imagining.
13:18.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?—Woe to the churches (women) that practice superstition (sew amulets about their elbows—an oriental method of incantation), and wear veils of mystery to ensnare men.
13:19.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?—Shall they continue to profane and prostitute My name among My people, for the price of the spiritual fornication of church-state union (barley was the customary offering for an adulteress) and for the weekly collections offering, to discourage, persecute and kill the godly?
13:20.Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt 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 will strip the churches of the power of their superstitions, and will let the people go out of the bondage.
13:21.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.—Their veil of mystery will He tear away, and deliver His people, the Great Company, out of bondage.
13:22.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.—Wherefore the churches shall no more hold forth delusive hopes.
Ezekiel 14—Insincere Inquirers14:1.Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.—There will come certain of the clergy of Christendom to the Truth people to listen and inquire.14:2, 3.And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 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?—God's Word for them will be that these men have insincerely set up in their hearts their idols of gold, power, etc., and with a pretended face-to-face sincerity, have retained their iniquitous stumbling block of love of sin. Should God be inquired of at all by such men?14:4.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 stumbling block 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:—Every man in the nominal church that insincerely clings to his idols and to his love of iniquity, and yet comes to one of God's people, Jehovah will answer not with words, but with the retribution deserved for his idolatry.14:5.That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols.—God will treat the nominal Christian church in a manner like their own insincere hearts, because by the idols they serve they are all estranged from their love for Him.—2 Thes. 2:11, 12.14:6.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.—Say first to them: Repent of your evil deeds, turn away from your idols, O Christendom, and resolutely turn your faces unto Him, and from superstition, error, and from practices which are abominable to His standards.14:7.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 stumbling block of his iniquity before his face,[pg 436]and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me; I the Lord will answer him by Myself.—Every church member and every one associated with him, who ceases to love God supremely, sets his heart upon other subjects of love or worship, clings to iniquitous practices, and then comes to the Truth people to find what God says, verily Jehovah Himself will answer him—with deeds, not with words merely.14:8.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 will thoroughly disfavor that man, and make him an example and a by-word; He will cut him off from a place among His people.14:9.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.—And if any preacher—even one of the Truth people—shall get so wrong in heart that he is deceived in what he says (Jer. 20:7), Jehovah will“send him a strong delusion that he should believe a lie,”and will be against him and will destroy him from the midst of His people.14:10.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.—Both shall bear the same punishment for their iniquity—the preachers and the man that listens to him.14:11.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.—Professed Christian people shall stray no longer from Him, nor become unclean spiritually through their wrongdoing, but may truly be God's people, and He their God.14:12, 13.The Word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it.—When a whole country sins against God with grievous, willful sin, then will He exercise His power against it, and cut off the necessary supply of material (Lev. 26:26) and spiritual food—send a famine of food and of the Word of God upon it, and cut off all life from it.[pg 437]14:14.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.—Though in that country were the three most upright men of history, Noah, Daniel and Job—typing here the Little Flock, the Great Company, and the Household of Faith—they should by their righteousness save but their own lives.14:15.If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts.—God has caused savage governments to overrun Christendom with military and naval forces, and to ruin and desolate it, so that no manly independent man can exist there.14:16.Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.—Though these three classes be in Christendom, they shall deliver no one but themselves; they only shall be delivered, but Christendom shall be desolated.14:17.Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:—God has brought upon Christendom destroying weapons (Lev. 26:25), and the Sword of the Spirit is to go through Christendom and cut off all that can be cut off, and no one shall save aught but himself.14:18, 19.Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out My fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast.—God will permit a pestilence, both of literal disease and of pestilential errors in Christendom, in wrath to take away life.14:20, 21.Though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughters; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send My four sore judgments upon Jerusalem—the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence—to cut off from it man and beast.—Christendom is so corrupt that God is sending upon her His four dreadful punishments—the sword, the famine, the savage government and the pestilence—as His destroyers!14:22.Yet behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted[pg 438]concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.—There shall be left from the anarchy a few who shall be brought through into the Kingdom as samples of Christendom's pollution. They will live among those who have suffered in Christendom's trouble, and amid the blessed Kingdom influences by contrast the others shall see their continued evil ways and doings. And they will cause everyone to feel satisfied, content, over the trouble God is bringing upon Christendom.14:23.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.—When the others see their evil ways and doings, they will be content as to the need of the Time of Trouble, for they shall realize that not without good cause shall God have done all that He will do to Christendom.
14:1.Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.—There will come certain of the clergy of Christendom to the Truth people to listen and inquire.
14:2, 3.And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 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?—God's Word for them will be that these men have insincerely set up in their hearts their idols of gold, power, etc., and with a pretended face-to-face sincerity, have retained their iniquitous stumbling block of love of sin. Should God be inquired of at all by such men?
14:4.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 stumbling block 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:—Every man in the nominal church that insincerely clings to his idols and to his love of iniquity, and yet comes to one of God's people, Jehovah will answer not with words, but with the retribution deserved for his idolatry.
14:5.That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols.—God will treat the nominal Christian church in a manner like their own insincere hearts, because by the idols they serve they are all estranged from their love for Him.—2 Thes. 2:11, 12.
14:6.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.—Say first to them: Repent of your evil deeds, turn away from your idols, O Christendom, and resolutely turn your faces unto Him, and from superstition, error, and from practices which are abominable to His standards.
14:7.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 stumbling block of his iniquity before his face,[pg 436]and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me; I the Lord will answer him by Myself.—Every church member and every one associated with him, who ceases to love God supremely, sets his heart upon other subjects of love or worship, clings to iniquitous practices, and then comes to the Truth people to find what God says, verily Jehovah Himself will answer him—with deeds, not with words merely.
14:8.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 will thoroughly disfavor that man, and make him an example and a by-word; He will cut him off from a place among His people.
14:9.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.—And if any preacher—even one of the Truth people—shall get so wrong in heart that he is deceived in what he says (Jer. 20:7), Jehovah will“send him a strong delusion that he should believe a lie,”and will be against him and will destroy him from the midst of His people.
14:10.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.—Both shall bear the same punishment for their iniquity—the preachers and the man that listens to him.
14:11.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.—Professed Christian people shall stray no longer from Him, nor become unclean spiritually through their wrongdoing, but may truly be God's people, and He their God.
14:12, 13.The Word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it.—When a whole country sins against God with grievous, willful sin, then will He exercise His power against it, and cut off the necessary supply of material (Lev. 26:26) and spiritual food—send a famine of food and of the Word of God upon it, and cut off all life from it.
14:14.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.—Though in that country were the three most upright men of history, Noah, Daniel and Job—typing here the Little Flock, the Great Company, and the Household of Faith—they should by their righteousness save but their own lives.
14:15.If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts.—God has caused savage governments to overrun Christendom with military and naval forces, and to ruin and desolate it, so that no manly independent man can exist there.
14:16.Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.—Though these three classes be in Christendom, they shall deliver no one but themselves; they only shall be delivered, but Christendom shall be desolated.
14:17.Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:—God has brought upon Christendom destroying weapons (Lev. 26:25), and the Sword of the Spirit is to go through Christendom and cut off all that can be cut off, and no one shall save aught but himself.
14:18, 19.Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out My fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast.—God will permit a pestilence, both of literal disease and of pestilential errors in Christendom, in wrath to take away life.
14:20, 21.Though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughters; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send My four sore judgments upon Jerusalem—the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence—to cut off from it man and beast.—Christendom is so corrupt that God is sending upon her His four dreadful punishments—the sword, the famine, the savage government and the pestilence—as His destroyers!
14:22.Yet behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted[pg 438]concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.—There shall be left from the anarchy a few who shall be brought through into the Kingdom as samples of Christendom's pollution. They will live among those who have suffered in Christendom's trouble, and amid the blessed Kingdom influences by contrast the others shall see their continued evil ways and doings. And they will cause everyone to feel satisfied, content, over the trouble God is bringing upon Christendom.
14:23.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.—When the others see their evil ways and doings, they will be content as to the need of the Time of Trouble, for they shall realize that not without good cause shall God have done all that He will do to Christendom.