In chapter 12 Ezekiel moves his household goods.
This is another symbolic action to emphasize
Jerusalem’s coming captivity. It contains an amazing
detailed prophecy of Zedekiah’s fate; his secret
flight; capture; and removal to Babylon, without seeing
it. Five years later this prophecy came to pass.
Zedekiah attempted a secret escape, was capture, his
eyes were put out, and he was taken to Babylon. It is
readily seen that Ezekiel’s prophecies are very closely
knit with those of Jeremiah. God gave basically the
same message and same prophecies to two men; they both
delivered them; and the messages perfectly coincided.
Note in chapter 13 that there were numerous
false prophets in Jerusalem and among the captives.
These prophets were denounced because they spoke lies
and were contaminated with paganistic beliefs. Ezekiel
said their message was as useless as whitewash on a mud
brick wall, placed there to protect it against a storm.
In chapter 14 we are shown some hypocritical
inquirers. Idol-loving elders were answered by God with
a swift and terrible destruction of idolatrous Israel.
Unbelief of these elders is shown by the fact that they
came to God with their questions. If they knew the true
God, and had believed and trusted in Him, they would
have known that He knew they were sinful; and they
would have fallen on their faces before Him.
A hypocrite or counterfeit can so often fool
men, and is many times very harmful to the cause of
Christ. But no one can fool our all-seeing, all-knowing
God. Many have made the mistake of trying, and many
will continue to try, but the ultimate result will
always be the same. God chastises sin. His methods of
chastisement may vary, but the reality of the judgment
will never vary. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and
forever. He cannot change. He cannot lie, and He is
always true to His Word.