In Ezekiel 12, the LORD tells Ezekiel to pack his baggage as for exile, and to go to the city wall in the evening and dig through it. When the people ask what he is doing, Ezekiel is to say this is what will happen to the prince and to his troops. They will be carried away into exile after they have dug through the wall in attempts to escape. The prince will die in Babylon, and many others will be scattered to the wind. But…a remnant will be preserved! This is the “good news” we find in the midst of bad news throughout God’s word. The LORD also tells Ezekiel to eat his food and drink his water with quaking, to symbolize the people will eat and drink in this way as they are being taken to exile. The final point of this chapter is the LORD tells Ezekiel to let the people know the time of the exile is soon. The vision is not for a time that is far off, but will be fulfilled in the near future.
In Ezekiel 13, the LORD tells Ezekiel to call out the false prophets who proclaim “Declares the LORD…” when the LORD had not spoken. The chapter is rather long, but it says the same thing over and over: you false and lying prophets will be destroyed for leading the people astray.
In Ezekiel 14, 5h3 LORD condemns the elders of the city who have practiced idolatry. As the false prophets ought to have spoken only the truth, so the elders ought to have remained faithful to the LORD, but because of their unfaithfulness, they will be destroyed. In the remainder of the chapter, the LORD tells Ezekiel that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the city of Jerusalem at the time of the coming judgment, only they would be saved. Their goodness would not save anyone else. Think of that: three of the greatest men in the history of Israel could not influence the LORD to preserve more than themselves in this time of destruction!
As we return to Matthew 19, the Pharisees come to Jesus to ask them whether a man can divorce his wife for “any reason”? Jesus asks them what the Law of Moses says about it? They say Moses said it was okay. Jesus tells them that was because of their hardness of heart, but from the beginning it was God’s intention that a man and woman would be united in marriage permanently. He condemns the practice of divorce except for reason of marital unfaithfulness. Next, Jesus blesses children who are brought to Him to be blessed, even over the disciples’ objections that Jesus doesn’t have time for such activity. Jesus reminds them once again that the Kingdom of heaven is made up of such as them. Finally, in the chapter, a rich, young man comes to Jesus to ask what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to obey the commandments in the Law. The man tells Jesus he has done so. Jesus tells him he lacks one thing: to go sell all he has, give it to the poor, so he will have riches in heaven, and then come and follow Him? The man turns down the opportunity, because he couldn’t give up his wealth. The disciples were astounded, but not because the man wouldn’t give up his wealth. Jesus’ request astounded them. They thought wealth was a sign of God’s blessing, but Jesus told the man it was what was getting in the way of his discipleship. Jesus told the disciples this was so as well. We must never let material wealth get in the way of our spiritual wealth. That is the key to following Jesus. When we recognize that every material blessing belongs to Him, and is to be held lightly, even given away if Jesus asks us to do so, we can follow Jesus wherever He calls us. But when we cling to the “stuff” of life, we can’t go where He calls, or follow where He leads.