Ezekiel 22

“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the midst of a furnace; they have become dross from silver. " v.18

Read chapter 22
Dross is a waste matter taken off a metal when smelted in fire.    The Lord is saying that Israel has no long become the precious metal they were but now the refuse, the dross to Him.  Mixed metals were often thrown together, so the refiner would throw it in the melting pot or fire that the silver would separate and be brought out.  This silver would be made shinny once the dross was removed.  Thus refining was needed, refining fire.  There was both hope and terror in this process both literally and figuratively.  The fire the Israelites were about to go through was the destruction and captivity under Babylon.  Just as a refiner sits by the fire to make sure the metal is not in the fire any longer than necessary, so God brings His own people into the furnace to purify them.
What dross needs to be melted off in your life?

Ezekiel 21

For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the road, at the fork of the two roads, to use divination: he shakes the arrows, he consults the images, he looks at the liver... And it will be to them like a false divination in the eyes of those who have sworn oaths with them; but he will bring their iniquity to remembrance, that they may be taken. vv.21,23

Read chapter 21
The King of Babylon is "the slayer" from verse eleven that will bring about God's wrath.  Here we see him consulting divination for his decision on which way to go about destroying Israel.  This divination is so false to the Israelites that it brings to remembrance how they had sinned and gone so far astray.  They see the ludicrousness of the king's divination yet it calls them out.  Look at how similar the King's actions here are compared to the ways of the High Priest:

• The King of Babylon shakes the arrows (a way of casting lots and how they fell was the answer from the gods) vs. the high priest would shake the Urim and the Thummim for God's answer
• The king of Babylon consults the images (images of ancestors/heritage) vs. the high priest consults God
• The king of Babylon looks at the liver of sacrificed victims to continue to understand the will of the gods for a sign vs. the high priest need look no further once God's decision made known the first time

Often the thing we hate most about others is the thing we hate most about ourselves.  What is it for you?

Ezekiel 20

"I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out.  And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face." vv.34-35

Read chapter 20
We get a look into the start of the kingdom here. This isn't just when the Israelites get out of captivity since we know this never happened, so must be a future event.  The future scripture talks about when Israel is gathered together again.  We must note that this is a gathering of ISRAEL and not all believers.  This will most likely take place at the beginning of the Kingdom.  The Lord will gather all Israel and bring them out to the wilderness and plead, or more-so judge, Israel.  God's not going to try to coax them but plea like a lawyer presenting all the facts concerning their beginning, their failures, and all His love. This wilderness will be a separation from all other peoples, a special gathering and judgement of Israel.  In the following verses we'll see that not all Israel will get to enter the land of Israel (v.38).  There would be no better place in all the earth than the land of Israel in the Kingdom on earth.
Oh to have the Lord plead this way with you.  What do you think He'd say to you in presenting all the facts of your life and His love?

Ezekiel 19

“Moreover take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,  and say: ‘What is your mother? A lioness: She lay down among the lions; Among the young lions she nourished her cubs." vv.1-2

Read chapter 19

A lamentation is mournful reading or song usually at a funeral.  This lamentation is for the funeral of Israel that was about to and did become destroyed.  It addresses the princes of Israel, who were kings but the use of the word princes is a diminutive of their position since the ones referred to here were subject to Babylon even though a king to Israel.  The princes/kings this is speaking about are Jehoahaz, Jehoiachin, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, the lasts of the kingly line we read about in scripture.  Their mother is referring to the whole nation of Israel that once was a strong nation yet she laid down, or more so crunched down like a lion does, among the other nations to become like them, lowering herself to their standards.  No longer was she a lion known for her strength and feared among the nations of her glory but now known for her cruelty and fierceness, for her want of humanity.  Results of intermixed marriages and religions was their culture now, only to grow farther and farther away from the True God.  When children grow up with an ungodly parent usually the wicked way of the world is the way they will go too.

What is your mother?  And how has she had an effect on who you are today or the rest of your family (whether bad or good)?

Ezekiel 18

"...The soul who sins shall die...For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,' says the Lord God. 'Therefore turn and live!'” vv.4,32

Read chapter 18
Is the soul mortal or immortal?  Seems like some marvel movie about the character that can never die- the immortal soul.  As silly as it is in movies we know that it's appointed once for everyone to die (Heb. 9:27), in reality many believe that the soul is immortal.  They'd say this when someone dies that they go somewhere else, referring to the soul.  But this verse clearly shows that not just the body dies, but the soul dies too.  We are all sinners, so we will all die for "the soul who sins shall die." Notice it's "who" and not "that."  
Our body, which is a living soul, returns to dust from where we came when we die. Ecclesiastes 12:7 "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it."  (There is a difference between spirit and soul.)   

There is no detachable part of man that survives physical death. The Bible states nothing of the immortality of a detached and independent soul, or of our future state as one of disembodied blessedness. The idea that the soul is a detachable part or substance, capable of existing independently of the body, is an idea adopted from Greek philosophy and incorporated into Christian thought by the so-called church fathers. This started in the third century and was fully developed by the thirteenth century. The Reformation did nothing to clear this up; so today in Reformed Theology, we find a mixture of Greek and Biblical ideas, with the Greek ideas predominating.  Bible Teacher Otis Q. Sellers 

Only God is immortal.  1 Timothy 6:16 "who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen."
The Lord even says He has no pleasure in the death of the one who dies.  We see Jesus cry at the death of Lazarus (John 11), so why do we think God is happy when someone dies?  Is it because we believe something false to make us feel good?  Since the beginning when Adam and Eve sinned death was the punishment of their sin, and it still is today.  Death is not a reward.  Death will one day be done away with (Rev. 20:14).  It's a hard truth to accept this at first.  Study the scriptures on soul.  Can you find one verse that proves the immortality of the soul?

Ezekiel 17

“Son of man, pose a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel, 3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

“A great eagle with large wings and long pinions,
Full of feathers of various colors,
Came to Lebanon
And took from the cedar the highest branch. vv.2-3

Read chapter 17
A riddle is a difficult problem put forth for a solution.  A parable is a short story designed to illustrate or teach some truth. What Ezekiel is to say to the house of Israel is a riddle and a parable.  Just like we see in the gospels with Jesus says a parable, it's followed by the meaning of it.  This riddle is to portray the treacherous character of King Zedekiah.   There are two great eagles mentioned, the first is Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who is often described as an eagle as we see spoken of by Jeremiah and Daniel.   The other eagle was Pharaoh, king of Egypt.  At the first captivity Zedekiah was taken by Nebuchadnezzar and placed in a position of authority over the Israel captives in Babylon.  Zedekiah was king but dependent on Nebuchadnezzar.  Nebuchadnezzar made an oath with Zedekiah, but Zedekiah broke that oath by going to Pharaoh for help to overthrow.  And now as a result and teaching of this riddle was that Zedekiah would die in the land of Babylon (v.16) for despising the oath and braking the covenant.  We may think it's strange that God is mad at Zedekiah for trying to rebel against an evil king who brought God's people into captivity and destroyed Jerusalem, but we have to remember that God appointed Nebuchadnezzar to carry out His wrath and how the Lord was still providing for them during captivity.  Now we can't take this teaching for today as it is not the same case.  This parable was spoken and has been fulfilled already.  Yet what we can learn from it is that the Lord's desire is to make humble even the highest of rulers and exalt the lowest (v.24).

Ezekiel 16

"You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.” v.34

Read chapter 16
Ezekiel is now speaking to Jerusalem as a whole.  He's not speaking to thin air in a certain direction but to the whole of the nation of Israel.  Jerusalem takes on the feminine article as most cities do referring to "her."  Jerusalem started off as a wicked city before it was the City of David, the capitol of Israel where the temple was.  The Lord reminds the city of where it came from, how it was redeemed and how they turned. "This is done under the parable of an exposed infant rescued from death, educated, espoused, and richly provided for, but afterwards guilty of the most abandoned conduct, and punished for it; yet at last received into favor, and ashamed of her base conduct." (Matthew Henry's Commentary).
Jerusalem is described as worse then playing the harlot.  A harlot would earn money by selling her body for sex.  Yet Jerusalem is said to be the harlot that pays other men to have sex with her, not earning payment but paying for others to commit harlotry with her; she was a wife who so utterly abandoned her husband by searching for her own dishonor.  Now this wasn't just sex that it's speaking of but all adultery of abandoning God.  Israel had made covenants with other nations and amused and were entertained by their various idols and gave gifts to them.
There are times when peer pressure or temptation cause us to sin and there are times that we go looking for sin.  What are examples of each in your life (either past or present)?