May 3rd - Chapter Eleven and Twelve

We see the confidence straight off the bat in chapter eleven, as the leaders of Israel receive judgment.
3: They say, 'Will it not be soon be time to build houses? This city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat.'
I think those that weren't exiled by the Babylonians had the pride to state that there was no more Babylonian threat to fear and the fact that they considered themselves the meat of the city - they place themselves at a high position, basically the best part of the cooking pot.
Then God speaks against them, that they would fall by the sword at the borders of Israel.
I think this would mean that they would die a shameful death, almost an insignificant death - that nobody would witness at the borders.

This resembles the pride of Israel, which ultimately stemmed from the leaders.
Verse 18-21 speaks of a beautiful reconciliation as God states that Israel would be fully restored with all its idols removed.
From an undivided heart to a new spirit, from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, God promises that He would bring them back and for them. Then we get the relational understanding when God says that "they will be my people, and I will be their God."
His covenant promise would be restored and also kept until Christ would be born - we see His faithfulness once again.

12:3; We still see God's hope within the hopeless... Although they have rebellious hearts and unseeing/hearing eyes and ears, God still has hope, I think that this brings out God's glory more abound rather than wiping them all out as He still is ready to rescue those that are willing to turn back from their ways.
I think the world challenges Christianity by stating that God does not act against evil and not saving EVERYONE from damnation.
But I think His grace is more abound and recognized when only the faithful remnant are saved, the ones who live by faith and confess that Christ is LORD and is LORD over their lives. The concept of grace is such a mystery and I feel as if the book of Ezekiel really reveals God's grace to those that are rebellious, to those that seem so far from Him. We see that He doesn't give up on us although we may give up on Him.

Verse 22 speaks about a proverb that has been growing within the land of Israel, the fact that visions don't come true and the prior prophets prophecies have not come true yet. I think Jeremiah and/or Isaiah prophesied that Israel would fall to the hands of their enemies.
But there ears were deaf and their eyes were blinded to prophecies that were given to Israel. God states that He would put an end to it and in verse 28 states that none of his words will be delayed any longer, whatever He said would be fulfilled.

Only did chapter 11 Chapter 11

This chapter is about the judgment God brings onto Israel’s leaders for not following God as well as God’s promise to return Israel to how it should be in His way. We also see God talk through Ezekiel this chapter as Ezekiel is prophesying to the people.
The Spirit once again flies Ezekiel to where God wants Him to be. Ezekiel sees two leaders of Israel.
God shows Ezekiel the way the people think, “They say…” and then after shows him the right way in which God wants it to be, “This is what the Lord says…” or “This is what the Sovereign Lord says…”
The leaders of Israel have been wrongfully killing the people on the streets yet say they are building houses. God knows their evil intent and advice to the city (Verse 5). God then punishes the people by scattering them to foreigners and falling by the sword (as they fear the sword).
Then, through this punishment, they will know God is Lord.
As one of the leaders died, Ezekiel once again falls face down to the Lord. He has a great fear of the Lord and understands that God is a powerful and Almighty God.
God then promises Ezekiel that those who are in exile, the people who are scattered will come back to the land of Israel again. They will change this land and remove the evil and detestable idols. God will give them undivided hearts and hearts not of stone but of flesh. They will truly follow God. Though God will still punish those who are still devoted detestable idols.
The chapter then ends with the glory of God moving to the mountains and then Ezekiel is carried by the Spirit to the exiles in Babylonia to tell them what the Lord has shown Him.

Kind of reminds me of that line in ‘blessed be your name’ of how God can just give and take away so easily. God is truly showing and revealing Himself to Israel as He punishes them. They follow these evil idols over God and His commands.
One of the leaders of Israel dies which makes Ezekiel cry out and wonder if God will destroy Israel as a whole. Yet, God still shows His compassion. He will rebuild Israel in the way that He wants it to be, following and worshipping Him over those idols. What amazes me is how He uses these “exiles” the people who have been banished away from Israel to rebuild it at the end. These people who were deemed as unworthy of inhabiting Israel are chosen by God to return to Israel and rebuild it in the right way, following God. He will give them undivided hearts, a new spirit in them and give them hearts of flesh. I think God shares this vision with Ezekiel in order to really encourage Him to continue to follow God as Ezekiel seems in verse 13 as if all hope is lost for Israel.

Reminds of this from the devo book I’m using: “If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing. But if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience.”

Chapter 12

Chapter begins with God commanding Ezekiel to follow His command of bringing out His belongings and then going out like those who go into exile, digging through the wall and carrying it over his shoulder. All while the people are watching. God uses Ezekiel as a symbol. “As I have done, so it will be done to them”
That Ezekiel represents the prince of Jerusalem will do those things and God will punish him and his people by which he will die and also his staff/troops will be scattered.
Maybe God uses Ezekiel as a way to show that He is a true prophet of God to the people. They may perhaps not believe in him and thus after this has been done, will understand that what God speaks through Ezekiel is true and not a bunch of lies.
“They will know that I am the Lord.” – God says this a lot throughout Ezekiel. Was it because people just did not know who the true God was and just worshipping false idols and listening to false preaching?
When looking at verse 22, it shows that there were many false teachings and thus people began to lose hope. Knowing that whatever was prophesized, they would assume to be false in order to even have this proverb. Yet God speaks through Ezekiel telling them that there will no longer be these false visions and they will be fulfilled without delay.
God is revealing Himself more to His people, showing who He is and how much greater He is than all those false teachings and understandings the people had.