Amen. We turn again to Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter twenty-four. It is together with chapter thirty-three. The turning point of Ezekiel and actually talk more about that next week, Lord willing, and what the chapters in between do, what's going on in chapters 25 to 32. But chapter 24, together with chapter 33, can be called the turning point. In fact, there's one commentary on Ezekiel that puts the commentary on these two chapters together and titles it the turning point. And so, here we are, Ezekiel chapter 24, and we'll be reading and considering verses 15 to 27. That's page 903, many of the blue ESV Bibles. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Leviticus, Ezekiel, chapter 24, we begin our reading at verse 15. The word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke, yet you shall not mourn poorly, nor shall your tears run down. sigh, but not aloud, make no mourning for the dead, bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet, do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died, And on the next morning I did as I was commanded. And the people said to me, Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus? Then I said to them, The word of the LORD came to me. Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the LORD God. Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the prime of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your soul. And your sons and your daughters, whom you left behind, shall fall by the sword. And you shall do as I have done. You shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. Your turbans shall be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet. you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall rot away in your iniquities, and groan to one another. Thus shall Ezekiel be to you a sign, according to all that he has done, you shall do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God. As for you, son of man, Surely on the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their souls' desire, and also their sons and daughters, on that day a fugitive will come to you to report to you the news. On that day your mouth will be opened to the fugitive and you shall speak and be no longer mute, so you will be assigned to them. and they will know that I am the Lord. So far the greeting, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation, this text is about death. A sudden, unexpected, painful death. There is a woman, the wife of Ezekiel, not mentioned before, who is now mentioned, enters the pages of the Word of God, we might say, and then two verses later, she is removed. This passage is about destruction. Destruction prophesied again, as it has been prophesied over and over. the coming destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. This should have been expected. It has been prophesied more than once by more than one faithful prophet. But to the people, it would still be sudden and unexpected. This is a passage about hope. A hope that shines more brightly the longer we look at it. A hope that shines more clearly the more we think about the movement of the text before us and so we're going to be thinking about that all through the sermon in different ways and it's going to be our third point. We're And so our theme, as we think about this text that takes us from death and destruction to hope, as we think about this text which takes us from bad news to good news, our theme is this, may the bad news bring you to the good news. Our three points, the prophet's delight removed, the people's delight removed, Those are our first two and then three after death and destruction. Well, we begin with this. The prophets delight removed the book of Hosea gives us a number of details about how Hosea was called by god to marry a harlot who would be unfaithful to him. but he was continued to bring her back and this was a picture of redemption. It's a picture of redemption that runs all through the book of Hosea which was really part of his life, part of his marriage that God called him to prophetically as the sign act in his life. The prophet Jeremiah and the prophet Ezekiel are also called to a sign act with relationship to their married status. Uh those are not as well known. I do not think as the story of Hosea but they also have a calling. Jeremiah chapter sixteen tell us about how Jeremiah was called to be celibate but as a prophet, he was called to have no wife, no sons, no daughters. This was part of the picture prophetically in his ministry of what would happen to Jerusalem. who is only 34 years old. His wife may still be in her 20s. He is called to something different. He is called to, as a sign act, see his wife die. She does not die of natural causes. She dies by the hand of the lord. Look at verse sixteen. I will take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke. She was in the bloom of life. She was the delight of Ezekiel's eyes and she will be gone that night. But Ezekiel is not even allowed to spend every remaining hour with her. He is to go out and speak to the people that morning. And that evening his wife died. And he is not allowed to stop his ministry the next day. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded. Indeed, he is not allowed because of the prophetic sign-act nature of God's work. Because of the way God is using this sudden and unexpected death of His wife, He cannot give any outward sign of mourning at all. Now, verse 17 has a few details that sound strange to us. One, which is more familiar when we see what it is, but they're all words about, you cannot do the customary things. that one does for a time of mourning in Israel. So customarily, you would take the turban off of your head if you were a man, and instead of having the turban on your head, you would have dust or ashes on your head. And your turban, instead of being on your head, would be wrapped around your lips, it would be wrapped around your beard. And then instead of having sandals on your feet, you would have your sandals taken off. Well, Ezekiel, you cannot do any of those things. Your turban is going to remain on your head, your sandals are going to remain on your feet, and your turban is not going to be covering your lips. Your face is going to be open for all to see, and you cannot do the customary morning rites. The last detail in that verse, nor eat the bread of men, that's, we might say, the only custom that has a parallel in our own day. It was, there's reference in this and a couple other places in the Old Testament. It was the fact that when you have a severe tragedy in your life, friends and family would bring you food, would bring you meals, would bring you the bread of men. And what was this eagle to do when his friends came and said, your wife just died. Here's some food that you can eat. He was to say, no. He cannot give me any bread. Anything he ate, he had to prepare himself. He could have no outward sign of mourning. None of the ordinary customs associated with displaying your mourning, associated with receiving comfort from others. He could not participate in any of these things. related to a happy marriage. Now, we only have one detail in the text, and that is the description of Ezekiel and his love for his wife. She is the delight of his eyes. It's a Hebrew expression for his most treasured possession, his beloved. was a happy marriage. That's the only thing that says it explicitly but it's also implied in verse nineteen. The the people are going to say, what what's what does this mean? In other words, it was a happy marriage and it was known to be a happy marriage. This is part of what makes the sign act so powerful. Brothers and sisters, before we go any further, does God ask anything of his prophets that he is not willing to do himself? There are many ways that the cross is described for us in the Bible. What is one of those ways? He gave up his only beloved son. And why did Jesus come? Not to conquer, but to die. God gives His only begotten Son to the world, to die. And there's another connection. Was the death of Jesus Christ a painful event? Yes, it was. But was it an event where there was to be any mourning? Like the last words of Jesus on the way to the cross when Simon of Cyrene has to carry the cross for him, he looks back and says, do not weep. Do not weep. And then one of the first things he says after the cross, Let's read this from John chapter 20. Please turn with me to John chapter 20 beginning at verse 11. So here is the record of the women coming to the empty tomb. John emphasizes Mary Magdalene. And what does the Bible say about mourning, weeping, and the death of Jesus Christ? John chapter 20 beginning at verse 11. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener? She said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary, She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, Do not claim to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and to your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord. and that he had said these things to her. Do not weep, Jesus says, on the way to the cross. Woman, why are you weeping? The first words recorded from Jesus after the cross in John to Mary Magdalene. The death of Jesus Christ is the good news. It's the good news where we have an event which is an event of death, an event which is incredibly painful, but an event where we are told, do not weep. These are some of the connections. This is some of the way that Ezekiel chapter 24 anticipates a different death in the life of Jesus Christ. This is one of the ways that the Now, we're going to we're going to continue to speak about that as we go. Now, let's come to our second point. Uh we're going to spend just a few moments here at the beginning of our second point thinking about where where we are. Lord willing, we'll talk about this more next week and what is happening in chapter twenty-five to thirty-two but for a moment, we're going to think about where we are and where we are is by that this day and the it's it's probably the day of twenty-four verse one is the same as the day of Ezekiel twenty-four verse eighteen. So, the the day that his wife died was the same day that by divine revelation, Ezekiel knew that the what 24 verse one and two reveal to us in the ninth year, the 10th month on the 10th day of the month. This is verse one. The word of the Lord came to me, son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day, the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. Now, remember, there is no phone calls, messages, instant instant messages. This is this is something you can only know by divine revelation. The trip from Babylon to Jerusalem took months. There's two different times the journey is recorded for us in the scripture. One time we go up to a party of people four months, another time we go up to a group of people six months. So, by divine revelation, Ezekiel knows that the siege upon Jerusalem has started. that does not mean that the temple is destroyed yet. Jerusalem is a well-fortified city. It is a well-supplied city. It is going to take two and a half years before it falls and it crumbles. But the siege has begun. It is a moment of change. And it's together with chapter 33, when the man comes to to announce that it has fallen, it's 2433 are together, the turning point. So, on this day, the day when the speech begins, the day when Ezekiel's wife dies, please look with me at verse nineteen. And the people said to me, day. This is the day after the siege began. This is the day after his wife died. And he's not doing any of the mourning and and the people, they've been watching Ezekiel do a series of strange signing acts. We we haven't even considered them all in our sermons. If you've if you've read each of the first twenty-four chapters, you know, there's there's even more than the ones we looked at. They have for 5 years, they've seen him do a whole series of unusual signed acts. They've heard him only speak the prophetic word from the lord. That's the only time his mouth is opened. Remember that from the end of chapter three. That was This is this is not normal. Zeke and his wife had a happy message and had a happy marriage. There must be a prophetic thing going on here. There must be a prophetic sign impact here. There must be something for us but look again at that language. Will you not tell us what these things mean for us? This is the first time in the book of that the people are described as being ready and willing to listen. We might think back to, this was some time ago, we might think back to chapter 14, where the elders of Israel pretended to be ready to listen, and God told Ezekiel, you can read the first five verses of chapter 14 again, God told Ezekiel, they're not really ready to listen. This is what's really on their hearts and minds, and this is the word you need to bring to them. That's the, we don't have the people being ready to hear Ezekiel. This is really the first time in the book. where the people are prescribed with being ready to listen. Now, what does it take to make you listen to the word of God? What does it take? Now, the Lord is gracious. and he speaks to us again and again. And if you've grown up in the church, you've heard the gospel many, many times. But what does it take to make you ready and willing to listen? I sincerely hope that you are truly hearing the word of God before a faithful servant of God endures an incredible tragedy to make you listen. Now, there is such a thing as a powerful testimony of someone who has suffered for the faith. When someone has suffered intense persecution, and they praise the lord and they're delivered from it and they and they come and they speak the testimony of what god has done for them. That is a powerful thing. but I hope you listen before them. even as I praise god that he is gracious and sometimes he uses even even this to Well, here it is, Ezekiel suffered the death of his wife. The people are ready to hear. And now with the context being set, we can explain the meaning simply enough. He tells them, the delight of your eyes is going to be taken away. Notice we're after chapters 8 to 11, so the temple is no longer described as the delight of God's eyes. Now it is merely the delight of the people's eyes. Even though it's full of abominations, it's still the thing that they're trusting in. Even though they've heard many prophetic declarations of its coming destruction, they're still holding on to that building like it's their home. It's still the delight of their eyes. It's still the power, the pride of your power that says it's going to be taken away. The siege has begun. And as well fortified as Jerusalem is, as long as they're gonna be able to hold out, the temple is going to fall. And, just like Ezekiel, they are called to not mourn. And then the description of that in verse 22 is the same as, into verse 23, it's the same as all these things that Ezekiel could not do. This is critical. In the end of verse 23, there's only one thing they can groan on. Your own sins. That's the only thing they can have any kind of mourning or groaning over. Verse 23, but you shall rot away in your iniquities and groan to one another. In other words, do not weep. at the destruction of the physical temple groan over your sins. Now let's go back to the cross again. The body of Jesus was the temple which was destroyed. What do we, what do we see when we look at the cross? Are we allowed to mourn? Does Jesus tell us to weep over his death? No. Jesus says, do not. What is the only thing that we can mourn about? Our own sins were put in. You see the parallel. Brothers and sisters, We are not saved by the death of Ezekiel's wife, but the death of Ezekiel's wife points us to the death of our Savior. And God used the death of Ezekiel's wife to finally open up the stubborn hearts of rebellious exiles. Do not mourn over this. mourn over your sins. And when we look at the cross, we do not mourn at the death of our Savior, even though it was the greatest pain that was ever suffered. The only thing that we should mourn about is our own sins which put our Savior there. When we think about the hymn writer Philip Bliss, the look when we think of the cross, and then we think of our own sins and we say, I am guilty, vile, and helpless but Christ dying for me and so we end with the chorus, hallelujah, what a savior. In the end, the cross is a reason for joy. And just one more detail from the text is the word for turban in Hebrew. It can just refer to a regular turban, but it can be a word that talks about your festive turban. Put on your hat of rejoicing. Put on your festive turban. This is not sad. The only thing you can mourn about are your sins. do not mourn. Only mourn over your sins. Verse twenty-three, this shall be a sign for you. Verse twenty-four, when this comes, then you shall know that I am the lord god. There's a repeated phrase. We're going to see it again at the end of the chapter. Now, here's here's something about about that phrase. It it can be that there's there's not going to be true repentance but you're you're going to know sovereign rule of god or it it can be used. It can be used either way. It can be brothers and sisters, this is this is the turning point in the book of Ezekiel. The message to Israel is mainly one of hope whereas up to this point, it has been mainly one of judgment and we have this language of you're going to groan over your sins and we say, here, here we have and now, now, we're coming to our third point because what we We have a turning point. The stubborn hearts which are mocking Ezekiel over the first 5 years of his ministry, to whom Ezekiel is only allowed to bring a word of primarily warning and judgment with only the glimmers of hope. This is the turning point. From here on out, Ezekiel will only have slippers of warning and judgment, and will primarily be, to Israel, the word of hope. We're going to talk about what 25 to 32 is next week, but to Israel, it's the word of hope. They are not saved by the death of Ezekiel's wife, but God used the death of Ezekiel's wife to drive stubborn hearts to finally be willing to hear and to be the beginning of true repentance for the remnant. And so, brothers and sisters, when we take the flow of the text and the fact that your mouth will finally be opened Okay, so he's still gotta wait, still gotta wait to really three more years, because he's gotta wait until the fugitive actually comes on that day. Verse 26 can mean when that day happens. So it's, you know, Jerusalem's gonna be destroyed, and then they gotta wait for the messenger to come. But when that finally comes, God says, your mouth is gonna be open. You are no longer going to be restricted the way you have been for the last five years, all the way back from the end of chapter three. You will be able to preach freely. You will be preaching a word of hope. So, brothers and sisters, we pull these things together and we see this turning point and we see this hope and we see that there's going to be true repentance for the remnant. And it's not the easiest answer. You see, God is even telling Ezekiel why his wife died. Ezekiel, the reason why your wife died is because I am using it to drive people truly to me. Now, we don't usually have a direct answer to the why of God's sovereign acts that we can't understand. God is telling us, I am using the death of your wife to look forward to the death of my own beloved son, where there will be no making over anything except for sins, and I'm using this tragedy to bring the people to hear your ministry. and through your ministry, I will now be changing hearts. The word of judgment is going to primarily come to Israel from this point forward. The word of god. because god is using it. to draw stubborn hearts to himself for eternal life. and this still must have been days of incredible pain and difficulty. but that would be a truth for us. brothers and sisters. This is uh this is not the easiest chapter of god's word. I don't think it's the most well-known chapter of god's word. As I said earlier, I think you're more familiar with what Hosea was called to do in his marriage and what Ezekiel was done called to do in his in his marriage but the more we look at it, the of our own sins that we must roam over and of painful events that occur in this world, the more it brings us from the bad news to the good news of the death of God's beloved son for which there is no weeping except for the weeping over your own sins and for which there is eternal life. It is a text where the hope shines more clearly the longer we look at it and and and even the more we consider it's it's place in this whole turning point in prophets ministry. So, we have this event in mind as we move forward to the final the beloved son of god, our savior revealed in each page of god's word. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, our lord. How Lord, may we indeed hear, truly hear your word. May earthly tragedies not be required to bring us before you. But may you this very day, from day to day, bring our eyes always to Jesus Christ, our Savior. And his death, which is preceded by and followed by the words, do not weep. So we pray in Jesus' name.