Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #8 of Revelation, chapter 6, and we are continuing to take a look into Ezekiel 14 and God’s four sour judgments that He describes there. At this point of looking into that chapter and the passage from Ezekiel 14:12-20, we are looking specifically at God’s statement concerning sons and daughters in Ezekiel 14:16:
Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord JEHOVAH, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves, but the land shall be desolate.
And, again, in Ezekiel 14:18:
Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord JEHOVAH, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.
And a third time, God again speaks of sons and daughters in Ezekiel 14:20:
Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord JEHOVAH, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
Now we have thought about this in our last study or two and realize that you cannot find more faithful men than Noah, Daniel and Job. Also two of these men, Noah and Job, were very concerned for their children. Through Noah’s preparing the ark, it was used to bring salvation to his household – to his children, to his sons and their wives. And Job would offer sacrifices constantly for the sake of his children. Yet, God is saying here that when He brings judgment upon the earth and when it is time to unleash his four sore judgments, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in the earth during the Day of Judgment (and they are representatives of God’s elect), they cannot deliver sons or daughters. They cannot deliver anyone.
Yet we would think that if they could deliver someone, it would certainly be their own children because they would have certain controls within their households: they could make sure they read the Scriptures to their children; they could make sure there was a great deal of prayer for them; they could make sure they were instructing them in the way of righteousness. Yet, God says that no matter what they were to do, they could not deliver son or daughter.
You know, God speaks of parents delivering their children in Proverbs 23:13-14:
Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
This is one of the encouraging verses that the LORD has given for parents. He has told parents to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord and make sure they bring the Word of God to discipline them. Yes, you can “spank” them and correct them in that way, but make sure, above all, that you discipline them with the Word. God, here, is offering some hope to the father and to the mother: “Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” God’s Word is at times likened to a rod and the Word of God is what delivers a sinner from hell, if it be God’s will and if the person is one of God’s elect and, yet, that is no longer the case in the Day of Judgment. God will have “judgment without mercy.” There is no more salvation and this is basically what the passage in Ezekiel 14 is emphasizing and re-emphasizing, as God says the same thing again and again: if Daniel, Noah and Job were in the earth at the time that the judgment of God was being poured out and at the time of punishment for the unsaved of the world, they cannot deliver either son or daughter. And if they cannot deliver their own children in their own households, then we can be sure no one else can be delivered.
You know the Proverbs also say in Proverbs 14:25:
A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies.
These men are true witnesses. They are not deceitful witnesses, but very faithful and true witnesses to the Word of God. You cannot find truer witnesses than these individuals – Noah, Daniel and Job. A true witness will deliver souls during the day of salvation, but they will not be able to deliver souls once the day of salvation has ended and the Day of Judgment has begun.
It is no longer possible and this is the grievous thing that God would have us to understand, to realize that this is His judgment. It is probably the most difficult thing for us – this matter of children. What if children are conceived and born after May 21, 2011? (It is possible that a child could have been saved that was conceived prior to May 21, 2011 and then be born up to nine months thereafter into the early part of 2012.) But now, by this time, we are over two years after that point and what of children that were conceived and born afterwards? Well, it is just tragic. There is no escaping that. There is no way of making it any less sorrowful, any less grievous or any less tragic than it is. This is a very hard thing when we realize that God has ended His salvation for this world and He has shut the door to heaven.
The passage in Ezekiel 14 is letting us know that even the most faithful of believers can find themselves in a situation in this world at the time when the four sore judgments are occurring; and it is no fault of theirs. It is just “the time.” It is the season for reaping (and not sowing any longer). It is the time when the door is shut and the Light of the Gospel is out. These are evil days. It is an evil day of judgment and even the presence of true believers in the world (and even in their own households), cannot bring about the salvation of anyone.
You know, God likens true believers to “silver and gold” in several places in the Bible. It is a type and a figure that God uses and He says, for instance, in Zechariah 13:8-9:
And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith JEHOVAH, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, JEHOVAH is my God.
The “third part” is likened to “silver and gold” tried in the fire, and that is exactly what God is doing now, according to 1st Corinthians, chapter 3. There comes a day – the Day of Judgment – that will reveal what has been built upon the foundation of Christ, whether it be gold silver and precious stones (which picture the true believers) or wood, hay, stubble (which picture the “professed believers” that are not born again) and the fire of Judgment Day will reveal which is which. So God likens believers to “gold and silver.”
Then we read an interesting statement from the LORD in Zephaniah, chapter 1, and this chapter is one of the most intense chapters detailing the Day of Judgment that we can find in the Bible. For instance, it says in Zephaniah 1:14-18:
The great day of JEHOVAH is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of JEHOVAH: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against JEHOVAH: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of JEHOVAH’S wrath…
Now, of course, we do not understand that until we look for the spiritual meaning. “Gold and silver” (according to Zechariah 13:8-9 and 1st Corinthians 3), represents true believers. And in Ezekiel 14, it is true believers – Noah, Daniel and Job – that are unable to deliver even son or daughter in the day of wrath. In Zephaniah 1:18 (in an intense and clear description of the wrath of God in the Day of Judgment), God suddenly makes a statement: “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of JEHOVAH’S wrath.” What is God saying? Is He saying that men’s wealth will not be able to deliver them out of His hand? Of course there could be an element of truth to that, not that anyone would actually think they could buy their way out from under the wrath of God with some literal “gold and silver” in the Day of Judgment.
It may have a little application, but the underlying and more important spiritual meaning is that God is telling us…as some people say today and it is amazing how some people very specifically say this very thing: “May 21, 2011 could not have begun the Day of Judgment and it could not be a spiritual judgment and God could not have shut the door and ended His salvation plan.” Why do they say this? “It is because,” they say, “true believers are still here in the world and since we are here, that means Christ is here and, therefore, He is still shining the Light.”
Well, I am afraid that those people may be well-intentioned, but those people certainly have not read Ezekiel 14, where you have Noah, Daniel and Job “in the land” or in the earth and the presence of Noah, Daniel and Job did nothing to hold back the wrath of God or to prevent the wrath of God from falling. It did nothing. The presence of Noah in the world and his family did not hold back the wrath of God in bringing the deluge upon the world and destroying the world with a flood. The presence of true believers within the churches and congregations did not prevent God from removing the candlestick and the Light of His presence and departing out of the midst of the churches and congregations and shutting the door upon all of the churches all over the earth during the Great Tribulation period.
The presence of believers never presents God from carrying out His plans. He will take precautions for their safety and make sure that “Noah and family” are safe and secure inside the ark before He brings the flood. He will make sure that righteous Lot reaches Zoar before He rains down fire and brimstone that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. He will make sure that all of the “firstfruits” (those to be saved during the church age) were saved before He ends the church age and He will make sure that the latter rain accomplishes its purpose in saving a great multitude of sinners out of Great Tribulation before He finally shuts the door to heaven for evermore and ends His salvation program.
Yes, God will make sure (as we read in Matthew 25 regarding the five wise virgins) they enter safely into the chamber and then He shuts the door. And God has done that; He has guaranteed the eternal safety of everyone whose name was recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life before He began to bring judgment upon the unsaved inhabitants of the earth. Although true believers are still living on the earth in the Day of Judgment (and the world can say that “gold and silver” are still here, spiritually speaking), God says, “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of JEHOVAH’S wrath.” It is a very, very flimsy thing for someone to hold upon and say, “Well, I am going to trust it is not Judgment Day because there are true believers.” No, no, no. If Noah, Daniel and Job could not even deliver their own children and “stay” the anger of God against their own houses, then what true believer today could measure up to those three individuals? The presence of true believers means nothing; it is the presence of Christ that is important. It is God’s program and end time judgment plan that is important. It is not whether, or not, believers are here and living in the earth; just as some believers were still in the churches when God removed the light of the candlestick; true believers continued attending the churches even after that point when God had removed His spirit and Satan had entered in. God’s people were not even aware of it until the period of time when God opened up our understanding. Our presence within the congregations did not hold that back at all.
Well, let us look at two more places. Let us look at Ezekiel, chapter 9, because we keep mentioning how the “cup of the wrath of God” given to the churches and congregations is the same “cup” that is given to the world. Now notice what God says regarding His judgments on the place that is called by His name (which in turn would point to the New Testament churches and congregations) in Ezekiel 9:5-6:
And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
This is the Old Testament companion verse to 1st Peter 4:17: “judgment must begin at the house of God.” And notice that God’s judgment upon those within the churches is upon all of the people; it is the old and young, maids, little children, women and, of course men. God’s judgment is upon them all and when God removed the Light of the Gospel back in May 1988 on the day before Pentecost, He removed the possibility of salvation from the churches. And, yet, for the twenty three year Great Tribulation period (the twenty three year judgment upon them), there were families going to church all over the world and there were children born into the families within these congregations.
Some of the children never “knew” anything but the church; they were born as a member of a family within the church; maybe they were born in 1990 or 1995 and their family continued to go to church all the way up to May 21, 2011. They never spent a day outside of the churches. Well, what of then? God says here: “Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children.” Yes, He brought judgment upon all within the churches and congregations, all approximately two billion of them, including men, women, young and old and children of all ages. It is the judgment of God. God is judging sin and the judgment process began at the “house of God” and it has transitioned now to the world. God describes the judgment upon the world in Isaiah 13:11:
And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
And then He goes on in this context (which is without question the context of punishing the world which happens on the Day of Judgment) and He says in Isaiah 13:16-18:
Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
Notice again this reference to “the Medes.” Why the Medes? Isaiah 13 is describing “the burden of Babylon,” as Babylon represents the world, the kingdom of Satan. Historically, after the seventy year period that represents the Great Tribulation period, the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon and they were led by King Cyrus. And the LORD says of King Cyrus that he was His shepherd, the annointed one; he was a great type and figure of Christ. And, as he took Babylon (and he took it as a thief in the night, according to Daniel 5), he took it at the end of the seventy years, just as Christ has taken the world by surprise at the end of the Great Tribulation, which ended on May 21, 2011.
So the judgment comes and the Medes have no regard for “silver and gold.” Notice that again. They have no regard for these things, just as Zephaniah 1:18 said: “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of JEHOVAH’S wrath.” Christ will have no regard for the presence of “silver and gold,” which represents true believers, and it will not prevent Him from destroying the wicked, including the children. We cannot escape this language: “Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.”
Just as God commanded the ones destroying at His house in Ezekiel 9, their eye should “not spare.” And it is the same “cup” of the wrath of God and He did not spare children that were found in the churches and the congregations and He is not sparing children that are found outside of the churches and congregations in the world today. Again, these are very grievous things and we cannot get away from the time that we are living in. This is not like any “normal” period of time. This is the time of the end. It is the Day of Judgment and it is a time when very grievous things are taking place.