Now you understand there's a gap between the gospels - the Old Testament ends with them in slavery. There's 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament; and then Jesus starts His ministry at 30, so 430 years later the new son of David comes around. Do you understand now why there's beggars and stuff, sitting on the side of the street, going: son of David! Son of David! Have mercy on me. You're reading that, and you're going: well Jesus' dad was named Joseph, and His heavenly father was named Yahweh. Where do they get son of David? What they were talking about was: are You the one that God is supposed to send to minister to the poor? You're that one? If You're the Messiah, You're here to preach the gospel to the poor - and hello, I'm poor!
Son of David - so what was going on in Babylon was this: the present generation was blaming their circumstances on the previous generation. My father ate sour grapes, so it sets my teeth on edge. In other words, the only reason I'm where I am, is because my dad messed up. Ezekiel is bringing something around that's never been said before. Up until this day, it was common knowledge that if your father sins, you have to pay for his sins. If your father messes up, you're stuffed. You're done. It was common knowledge, and Ezekiel says: we're not going to do that this way any more. Ezekiel's pointing out that God is saying: I don't want to ever hear this again - that the reason you're where you are today, is because your dad messed up. It's not true! The reason you're where you are today, is because you refuse to change the pattern your father set up. The reason you're where you are today, is because you refuse to do something about it.
So the exiles, were blaming their exile, on their parents. Is that any different than us today? My parents made destructive choices, so I suffer. My parents chose a path, so I'm paying for it. My parents set a financial path, so I'm suffering. My parents gave me nothing to start with, so I have nothing. My parents were angry, temper-tantrum sort of folks, so I have an anger problem, and I throw temper-tantrums. My parents performed dishonest business, so I'll perform dishonest business. My parents were drunks, so I'll be drunk - and it just sounds... I'm a counsellor by trade. I've heard it 100,000 times, and because I have a counselling background, I could sit with you for an hour, and you could tell me your story about why you are the way you are, and I'll understand. I will. I'll listen to it, and I'll say: you know what? I understand that. Oh, your dad was this way, that's horrible. Your mum was this way, oh that's horrible. Oh so you grew up in this circumstance, oh that's horrible. I understand how you developed to be the way you are. Here's the problem: you're 40! How's that working for you?
Look, you might say: my family had issues. My dad had issues. Well - all dads have issues. If they've got flesh on, and they have to pull their pants up one leg at a time - they've got issues. My dad was a great man, up every day praying for me at 4.30 in the morning, every single day praying for me at 4.30. He had issues. He loved to scare us. My dad was a Vietnam vet, and I think he sniffed something over there that hurt him. My dad would do things he thought it was hilarious to scare us. He'd do things like hide under my bed - I was eight! Eight year olds think the bogey man lives under their bed anyway. Little did we know that the bogey man was actually a white red-neck dude! My mum would come get me up in the morning. Sometimes I'd sit on the side of the bed, and dad would be under there, and he'd reach out and grab my feet! Issues!