Ezekiel 22:14
Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it. Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.
The verse was given through Ezekiel, who belonged to the priestly family and prophesied among the captives of Israel between 595 and 574, beginning and closing his work just a little later than Jeremiah. Before his prophetic work began God revealed His glory to him in wonderful visions and impressed His great majesty upon him, so that having once seen God he would not fear the face of man when sent to meet sinners with such warnings. It stands as one of his awful messages of warning and reproof to the sinners among his own people.
Its chapter recounts the transgressions that brought Israel into trouble, exile, and dispersion, especially idolatry and Sabbath desecration. Israel there means the professed people of God, so it describes those people in the last days as walking in violation of God's precepts and law, if not outwardly then in thought and motive. This is because God's law reaches even to the hidden things of the heart, and God looks upon the heart and measures acts and words by underlying motives rather than upon outward acts alone as man does.
The chapter shows false prophets proclaiming peace and assurance when danger is near and there is no peace. By the cry of peace and safety the people are lulled into deeper slumber, little dreaming that sudden destruction will come upon them and they shall not escape. At the same time they refuse to hearken to the voice of God through His word to awaken them to their soul's peril.
The question whether the heart can endure and the hands be strong means that no one can endure or remain strong in the day the Lord deals with them in judgment. Sinners cannot rely on their own courage, wisdom, or strength to withstand that day. The declaration that the Lord has spoken it and will do it means His judgment is certain because He has spoken and will carry it out. It thus underscores the fearful consequence of neglecting salvation and facing God's punishment, leaving the sinner to meet Christ either under His mercy or under His justice.