THE DAY OF RECKONING

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In the ninth year, in the tenth month on the tenth day, the word of the Lord came to me:

“Son of man, record this date, this very date, because the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. Tell this rebellious people a parable and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:’”

“‘Put on the cooking pot; put it on and pour water into it. Put into it the pieces of meat, all the choice pieces—the leg and the shoulder. Fill it with the best of these bones; take the pick of the flock. Pile wood beneath it for the bones; bring it to a boil and cook the bones in it.’”

“‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the city of bloodshed, to the pot now encrusted, whose deposit will not go away! Take the meat out piece by piece in whatever order it comes. For the blood she shed is in her midst: She poured it on the bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground, where the dust would cover it. To stir up wrath and take revenge I put her blood on the bare rock, so that it would not be covered.’”

“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the city of bloodshed! I, too, will pile the wood high. So heap on the wood and kindle the fire. Cook the meat well, mixing in the spices; and let the bones be charred. Then set the empty pot on the coals till it becomes hot and its copper glows, so that its impurities may be melted and its deposit burned away. It has frustrated all efforts; its heavy deposit has not been removed, not even by fire.’”

“‘Now your impurity is lewdness. Because I tried to cleanse you but you would not be cleansed from your impurity, you will not be clean again until my wrath against you has subsided.’”

“‘I the Lord have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not hold back; I will not have pity, nor will I relent. You will be judged according to your conduct and your actions, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

Ezekiel 24:1-14

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Through the Book of Ezekiel, we have read over and over about God vowing to bring judgment upon His people because of their blatant, sinful disobedience and disregard for His word, will, and way. As Ezekiel 24 begins, we see where the day of reckoning had come. The talking was over and the actual punishment was about to begin. Look at these verses:

In the ninth year, in the tenth month on the tenth day, the word of the Lord came to me:

“Son of man, record this date, this very date, because the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. Tell this rebellious people a parable and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:’”

“‘Put on the cooking pot; put it on and pour water into it. Put into it the pieces of meat, all the choice pieces—the leg and the shoulder. Fill it with the best of these bones; take the pick of the flock. Pile wood beneath it for the bones; bring it to a boil and cook the bones in it.’”

“‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the city of bloodshed, to the pot now encrusted, whose deposit will not go away! Take the meat out piece by piece in whatever order it comes. For the blood she shed is in her midst: She poured it on the bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground, where the dust would cover it. To stir up wrath and take revenge I put her blood on the bare rock, so that it would not be covered.’”

“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the city of bloodshed! I, too, will pile the wood high. So heap on the wood and kindle the fire. Cook the meat well, mixing in the spices; and let the bones be charred. Then set the empty pot on the coals till it becomes hot and its copper glows, so that its impurities may be melted and its deposit burned away. It has frustrated all efforts; its heavy deposit has not been removed, not even by fire.’”

“‘Now your impurity is lewdness. Because I tried to cleanse you but you would not be cleansed from your impurity, you will not be clean again until my wrath against you has subsided.’”

“‘I the Lord have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not hold back; I will not have pity, nor will I relent. You will be judged according to your conduct and your actions, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”  Ezekiel 24:1-14

It was not any secret when judgment was coming on Judah and Jerusalem because we find God giving Ezekiel the exact date:

In the ninth year, in the tenth month on the tenth day, the word of the Lord came to me:

“Son of man, record this date, this very date, because the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.”

We get a better idea of the time God is speaking of by looking at other translations of Ezekiel 24:1:

On January 15, during the ninth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord. (NLT)

Nine years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, the Lord spoke to me on the tenth day of the tenth month. He said. (CEV)

One day late in December of the ninth year (of King Jehoiachin’s captivity), another message came to me from the Lord. (TLB)

It was 597 B.C. when King Nebuchadnezzar first attacked the city of Jerusalem and took away the King of Judah into captivity, an eighteen year old by the name of Jehoiachin. Nebuchadnezzar replaced Jehoiachin with a puppet king who would always do his will. That king bore the name of Zedekiah.

As Chapter 24 opens, we find it is the ninth year of Jehoiachin’s exile with the word of the Lord coming to Ezekiel on the tenth month and on the tenth day of that month.  This would make it January 15th, 588 B.C.

Why was this date so significant?

Because it was the day of reckoning for God’s rebellious people, the day when Nebuchadnezzar was returning to lay siege to Jerusalem for the final time. When he was done, there would be nothing left but ruins and all of the Israelites who survived the onslaught would be taken away to Babylon for a seventy year exile, the punishment imposed on them by God.

So how did God choose to portray the day of reckoning?

The scriptures show us it was in the form of another parable. In Chapter 23, the allegory involved two unfaithful sisters representing Samaria and Jerusalem; in Chapter 24, the object of focus is a copper cooking pot, the pot being Jerusalem.

Note that when you cook meats, you are typically doing so to kill off anything within the meat that might be harmful like bacteria. In fact, many cooking instructions instruct you to cook a meat at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time. At the end of that time, the meat should be done and safe to eat.

In the parable God tells through Ezekiel, the cooking pot represented Jerusalem and the meat and bones were the Israelites living within the city. God was trying to see if He could somehow remove the impurities from His people so He would not have to follow through with punishment but no matter how long the “pieces of meat” or “best of the bones” were cooked, the impurities within could not be removed. Such was the extent of the Israelites’ iniquities which included the willful and willing killing of others, killings that were in no way concealed. Rather, the blood shed by the victims was in plain sight, evident on bare rocks instead of the ground where it might be covered by dust.   

Thus we see the Lord proclaiming woe on Jerusalem, a woe that would be marked by fire as He tried to melt away the impurities of His people but it was a fruitless effort. The lewdness of the Israelites could not be cleansed because they were not willing to be cleansed. God had tried to warn them over and over and over about the consequences for opting for sin over His righteousness but His people ignored Him. Now they would wish they would have listened because they would not have another chance to be cleansed until after they had experienced God’s wrath and that wrath had subsided. It would take seventy years for that to happen.

Yes, by His own admission, the time had come for God to act in response to the sins of His people and He assured everyone that He would bring judgment with no sense of pity, no second thought that might cause Him to change His mind. God was done talking and ready to bring on the punishment He had promised if His people did not change their ways. The Israelites would be judged according to their conduct and actions.  

Since that day, January 15th 588 B.C., there have been many more times the Lord has fired up the cooking pot and unleashed His wrath on sinful nations and/or people. In other words, there have been plenty of other days of reckoning after the events in Jerusalem more than 2,000 years ago and anyone who is living in sin today and not turning away from that sin can expect to show up on the Lord’s calendar sometime in the future.

Of course, that appointment with punishment could always be cancelled. All one has to do is repent from the sins that God has decided need reckoned with and turn to Him fully, obedient to His word, will, and way. For as we have seen in the word of God, He does not delight in having to bring consequences on any of His children. He would rather see them choose to change their ways and turn back toward a proper relationship with Him, one that brings favor and blessing instead of penalties.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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