Ezekiel 20 – Why God May Spare MePastor JD 
talks about how God, through the prophet Ezekiel, paints a powerful picture of why and when God has mercy on us and spares us despite all of our sins.
Or watch here on youtube
More recent services available here!Oh my, His love I find to be deeper and deeper it seems each new day. It truly is unfathomable. How can it be?
Thank you Pastor…I am overwhelmed (in a good way)
Thank You Lord - we certainly don’t deserve Your GOODNESS
Quite a sobering teaching. Even though God was not taking questions, He still kept His promise. Think of how many of us would not and now think about how great it is we’re not God.
I know! Time after time after time, God spares His children! Wow, God is so Good…He’s gooder than good. He is GREAT
First, I thoroughly enjoyed, agree, and “Amen” all that J.D. taught on this chapter of Ezekiel 20.
And as J.D. and the scriptures teach, we are only spared / saved because of God’s Sovereign Will, for His Name’s Sake. (and no that isn’t Calvinism 
)
I also fully understand that we could hear many sermons on these same scriptures, and that although they may vary, they may all have valid points, and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, in what is being taught / shared.
I have no disrespect for J.D. in my heart either, quite the opposite, and only love. He and his family, and the fruit of his ministry, are in my prayers regularly, and I wish I could sit down and discuss this with him, bibles open, like I do with my own pastor.
My question is:
Did anyone notice a very clear topic / area that was not covered, or even specifically touched on at all, in this sermon / teaching?
Brethren, please don’t get angry with me, or believe I am here to cause strife or argument, I am not.
So… I will just lay out what I am speaking about, which I believe to be very valid. I am sincerely hoping that others will “see” and discern the more “prophetical” take / understanding on some of these scriptures, that I will share.
I also appreciate any feedback, whether in agreement or disagreement. We can all learn, and I am coachable and teachable. I do specifically ask that if you are going to “correct” me or enlighten me… that you do so with not only your own “opinions”, but listing the specific scripture verse(s) to back them up.
If you want to review it in the sermon, it begins at approx. 1:10:18 minutes into the video and lasts throughout 1:28:08 at the end of the sermon… about 18 minutes… and deals specifically with Ezekiel 20:33-49.
So, I would ask you to, and recommend, praying, and reading it first, right here… right now… in your own bibles or online / however you do it, before you read my thoughts on this… just to refresh your memories. It’s only 16 verses
I am sharing this because I am led to, and because it’s “end times” prophecy, something this forum is all about… right?
I look forward to your thoughts and feedback… so thank you in advance.
(All my own thoughts and comments below, are in parenthesis like this)
Ezekiel 20:33-49
New King James Version
God Will Restore Israel
(context: God is addressing the Jews specifically, after a harsh scolding on how unfaithful they have been to Him, and yet how faithful, longsuffering, merciful, and gracious He has been, to them, but not out of , or because of anything they have done, but solely due to His Own Holy Nature, and for His Name, and His Honor, and His Glory.)
So we begin with :
Ezekiel 20:33 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out,
(This is speaking specifically of the return, and judgement of Jesus, the Lion of Judah, their Messiah, God, King, and Savior, that they rejected)
I (Jesus) will rule over you.
(In many places in scripture God states/promises the Jews that “I will be your God, and you will be My people” and this is referring to the fulfillment of many Messianic promises to the Jewish people, which we know He will fulfill during “Daniel’s Seventieth Week” / the 7 year Tribulation Period, and His 1,000 year Millennial reign)
Ezekiel 20:34 I (Jesus) will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, (there are Jews worldwide, currently, at this time) with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out.
Ezekiel 20:35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. 36 Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,” says the Lord God.
(Jesus will supernaturally bring out, protect, and guide 1/3rd of the Jews in Jerusalem to the Petra area, in Jordan, after the “Abomination of Desolation” occurs at the 3rd Jewish Temple, at the 3-1/2 year point, in the 7 year Trib Period.
(Dan. 9:27 and Matt.24:15 / Mark 13:14)
(2/3rds of the Jews in Israel will Die. Jesus is done withholding judgement He is speaking about to the Jews here in Ezekiel 20)
(see Jeremiah 6:11)
Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord. I am weary of holding it in. “I will pour it out on the children outside, And on the assembly of young men together; For even the husband shall be taken with the wife, The aged with him who is full of days.
Ezekiel 20:37 “I will make you pass under the rod (the Law), and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant
(the Law / 10 Commandments is a Curse, in both OT and NT… see Deut. 27:26 and Gal. 3:10);
(Jesus ends the Dispensation of Grace and re-instates the Law, specifically for the Jews (but it will apply for everyone) in the Millennium Dispensation… Jesus is now in His Glorified State, He is God, and He is Holy, Holy, Holy, and cannot have sin dwell in His Presence, the Millenium is for the Jews, to experience Life under their Messiah on this earth, as was promised to them in OT scriptures… there will no longer be any doubt, or doubters, now the Jews will KNOW that Jesus IS their God and Messiah, but remember, all survivors of the 7 year Tribulation who enter into the Millennium in the human bodies, will still have a Sin Nature, how will they do when He is right there in front of them, Face to face ?)
(As J.D. pointed out about the “rod” … it is used to separate the sheep from the goats, but Jesus will Shepherd / Rule over the Jews with a Rod of Iron, first to separate the “saved” from the “unsaved” … then to forcefully prevent Sin during His time on earth with mankind, that still has the propensity for sin)
(Remember that after the 1,000 years , even knowing Jesus, God in the flesh “in person”, satan will be released to deceive, and to gather all those who have repopulated the earth with a “sin nature”, and who still “want” / desire to live sinfully… to make war against Jesus. Wow, hard to believe, but God is just showing mankind that however man says he wants it… Law, Prophets, Judges, Kings, Grace, Forced “outward” holiness… in truth, mankind still want’s to be his own “god”.)
Psalm 2:9
You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”
Revelation 2:27
‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’— as I also have received from My Father;
Revelation 12:5
She bore a ***male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.
Revelation 19:15
Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And ***He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Ezekiel 20:38 I will purge (judge , kill off, exterminate) the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.
(Jesus kills off / exterminates all non believers worldwide, and all those who took the “Mark of the Beast” when He returns, yes, including many Jews.)
Zechariah 5:3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth: ‘Every thief (John 10:8-10) shall be expelled (judged, killed off, exterminated),’ according to this side of the scroll; and, ‘Every perjurer (“liar” 1 John 2:22) shall be expelled (judged, killed off, exterminated),’ according to that side of it.”
Ezekiel 20:39 “As for you, O house of Israel,” thus says the Lord God: “Go, serve every one of you his idols—and hereafter—if you will not obey Me; but profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols.
Ezekiel 20:40 For on My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel,” says the Lord God, “there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me;
(Have you ever thought about “why” Jesus has a 4th Temple built, and sacrifices being offered “during” His Millennial reign? After all His Sacrifice was Once and for ALL… right? But The Jews have NOT been keeping the “Law” for over 2,000 years now, and the Covenant He made with the Jews is ALL about the Law. The Jews have some “making up” to do.
Zechariah 8:3
3 “Thus says the Lord:
‘I will return to Zion,
And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth,
The Mountain of the Lord of hosts,
The Holy Mountain.’
there I will accept them,
and there I will require your offerings and the firstfruits of your sacrifices, together with all your holy things.
Ezekiel 20:41 I will accept you (Jews) as a sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered;
and I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles.
(Jesus is not being Hallowed / Glorified by the Jews in the eyes of the world, but He will be… and they will be glorified as the world looks at them and honors them as being His “Chosen” people.)
Ezekiel 20:42 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel,
into the country for which I raised My hand in an oath to give to your fathers.
(speaking of the end of the Trib Period / beginning of the Millennium" when Jesus leads the Jewish “Remnant” that He has supernaturally protected for 3-1/2 years back into Israel to rebuild Jerusalem and the 4th Jewish Temple that they will now worship and serve him at)
Ezekiel 20:43 And there you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have committed.
(The Jews will experience great shame for a brief period when Jesus returns, but Jesus will remove it)
Isaiah 54:3-5
3 For you (Jews are blessed and proliferate during the Millennium repopulating the planet) shall expand to the right and to the left,
And your descendants will inherit the nations,
And make the desolate cities inhabited.
4 “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame;
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
5 For your Maker is your husband,
The Lord of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called the God of the whole earth.
Isaiah 61:7
Instead of your shame you (Jews) shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs.
Zephaniah 3:11 In that day you shall not be shamed for any of your deeds
In which you transgress against Me;
For then I will take away from your midst
Those who rejoice in your pride,
And you shall no longer be haughty
In My holy mountain.
Zephaniah 3:12 I will leave in your midst
A meek and humble people,
And they shall trust in the name of the Lord.
Ezekiel 20:44 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel,” says the Lord God.’ ”
Fire in the Forest
Ezekiel 20:45 Furthermore the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 46 “Son of man, set your face toward the south; preach against the south and prophesy against the forest land, the South, 47 and say to the forest of the South, ‘Hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree and every dry tree in you; the blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be scorched by it.
(just a couple brief thoughts here)
Zechariah 3:8:
“For in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed.”
Zechariah 12:6
In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.
Romans 11:24
For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature in to a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these (Jews), who are natural branches, be grafted in to their own olive tree?
John 15:6
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Ezekiel 20:48 All flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.”
(The Jews time of Judgement will come, and it will not tarry)
Ezekiel 20:49 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Does he not speak parables?’ ”
(Ezekiel did not understand the numerous references, or the prophetical fulfillment of what the Lord was telling him, so how could the Jewish people possibly understand?)
(Jesus spoke in Parables at times, for a reason. And we are also told “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says”)
Isaiah 28:13 But the word of the Lord was to them,
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little,”
That they might go and fall backward, and be broken
And snared and caught.
