Sermon Tone Analysis

A lament was a common and distinctive form of song, frequently sung at a funeral, extolling the virtues of the departed and grieving the tragic circumstances surrounding the person’s death.

To conduct a “funeral service” for a still-living patient may not always be considered in the best of taste,² but it is an effective way of communicating the certainty with which a death is anticipated!

This certainty is particularly striking following on from , where the wicked man has been summoned to turn and live.

Ezekiel’s lament is made up of two distinct images: a lioness and her cubs, and a vine and its branches.

At first sight, these images seem distinct and unconnected.

However, both were familiar images for the royal tribe of Judah, and the images are brought together, albeit in a different way, in Jacob’s blessing of a ruler who would come from the tribe of Judah ()

Introduction —

Weird Al Yankovic --

Gangstas Paradise = Amish Paradise

Blurred Lines - Word Crimes.

Smells Like Nirvana — Smells Like Teen Spirit

Lola - Yoda

Trans — God is using biting sarcasm here in two ways:

1) He tells Ezekiel to construct a dirge and then Ezekiel writes one that follows the form but not the substance.

Instead of the normal material he puts lions and vines in it.

2) He is singing a dirge about someone who isn’t dead.

Numbers

2) He is singing a dirge about someone who isn’t dead.

Egypt — Jehoahaz

Babylon — Jehoiakim / Zedekiah.

What is God saying through this biting irony?

Hoping in God while being disobedient show presumption, not faith

Hoping in God while trusting in lesser things brings God’s anger.

1) Cultural Christianity —

God's verdict on false religion is not "it's better than nothing" but "I hate your feasts" () and "I will spit you out" ().

Cultural Christianity is worse than no Christianity at all, if there is Judgment Day.

2) Family Heritage —

Hoping in God while being disobedient shows presumption, not faith.

3) Connection to Good Institutions —

Only personal commitment and faith matter.

God would have sustained the kingdom had they trusted in him.

Hoping in God while being disobedient shows presumption, not faith.

Hoping in God and trusting in his ultimate Lion/Vine is the way to blessing.

5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne ha scroll written within and on the back, isealed with seven seals. 2 And jI saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, kthe Lion lof the tribe of Judah, mthe Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

h ,

i ;

j [ch.

10:1; 18:21]

k

l

m ch.

22:16; , ;

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.

(2016).

().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.