Ezekiel 7:7
The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
The morning that has come upon those dwelling in the land is the appointed time of judgment arrived, the commencement of the time of trouble soon to break with the sword already present and famine and pestilence to follow. The lack of a sounding again from the mountains means this is not a recurring alarm nor a distant echo, but real and present trouble. Its day of trouble is the unparalleled time of trouble of Daniel 12:1, an unprecedented and final trouble near and coming upon the nations before Christ appears and before the end. It describes with the next verse the coming final day when God's judgment, fury, wrath, and anger will be poured out very soon at the close of probation and in connection with the second coming, when judgment falls on the wicked. This graphic prophecy reaches down to the present day, spanning from 1844 to the closing events of the world.
Words and Historical Setting
The morning is the commencement of the time of trouble, soon to break upon the land, with the sword already present and famine and pestilence to follow. The appointed time of judgment has arrived, and the day of trouble and calamity is near for those dwelling in the land. That nearness is not a distant echo from the mountains but real and present trouble. The declaration that there will not be the sounding again of the mountains means this is not a recurring alarm.
The word stands in the book's first twenty chapters, spoken through Ezekiel as God's mouthpiece among the captives in Babylonia by the river Chebar. There the visions of living creatures and ordered wheels show God's overruling providence and rule over the nations. It belongs to a graphic prophecy that reaches down to the present day. In that reach it spans from 1844 to the closing events of the world.
Prophecy of Final Trouble
The day of trouble is the unparalleled time of trouble foretold in Daniel 12:1. Together with the next verse it describes the coming final day when God's judgment, fury, wrath, and anger will be poured out very soon. That outpouring belongs to the close of probation and to the events connected with the second coming, when judgment falls on the wicked. The chapter's warning about wrath and the loss of buyers' and sellers' goods is tied to that future fulfillment.
The following verses declare that the end has come, with pride flourishing and violence rising as a rod of wickedness. That violence will fill the earth in exceptionally warlike and revolutionary last days. Murder and suicide are evidence of that violence.
The warning is that an unprecedented and final time of trouble is near and coming upon the nations before Christ appears and before the end. The chapter's prophecy spans from 1844 to the closing events of the world. The morning has come and distress is close at hand in a tremendous time when all the elements of colossal conflict are present. War in China threatens to draw in Russia, France, Germany, England, the United States, and Japan, with the vials of wrath being opened on the nations and further and greater trouble still ahead, so it is a warning to get ready, get ready, get ready.
Judgment is now imminent and distress is close for the apostate and the worldling who are willfully blind to prophetic light. They unheed the warning of coming judgment while pursuing evil pleasures and forming plans for future peace. Their expectation of peace under the false prophet is futile, and their hope of refuge in other folds than the fold of Christ will be blighted and exposed as trouble when the sign of the Son of man appears. The chapter gives warning and testimony concerning the character God's people should have in the last days, urging readers to heed that testimony.