Judgment on Persistent Unfaithfulness

Ezekiel 14:12–23
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Noah, Daniel and Job were great men in Israel’s history who were known for their wisdom and relationships with God (v. 14). However, even these great men of God could not have saved the people of Judah because He had already passed judgement on the nation’s pervasive evil. The three men mentioned here, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were righteous, not by virtue of their own deeds, but by virtue of the imputed righteousness of God (vv. 16-20). The remnant mentioned were not righteous individuals, but characterized the gross idolatry that prevailed in Jerusalem (v. 22). When these are brought to Babylon, the exiles already there realized the justice of God in bringing His fourfold judgment upon Jerusalem (v. 21).

The four judgements are specified as follows:

1. War - “Or if I bring a sword on that land” (v.17). God often chastises sinful nations by bringing a sword upon them, the sword of a foreign enemy. It is bad enough if the sword do but enter into the borders of a land, but much worse when it goes through the land.
2. Famine  -  “I will cut off its supply of bread” (v. 13). He cuts off man and beast by cutting off the provisions which nature makes for both. God cuts off its supply of bread, when, though we have bread, yet we are not been nourished and strengthened by it (Hag. 1:6).
3. Wild Beasts - “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they empty it” (v. 15). It seems that these beasts, either ravenous or poisonous, were not only preying upon their flocks and herds, but  devouring men, women, and children.
4. Pestilence - “Or if I send a pestilence” (v. 21). A dreadful disease, which has sometimes depopulated cities; kills as effectually as if the blood were shed by the sword.

Application

From this passage of Scripture we can see how God has many ways of fighting sin. I am glad that my sin has been judged once for all, and I do not have to fall into the hands of an angry and just God.