Overview
Ezekiel: After 7 days, Ezekiel heard from God. The Lord told him he was a watchman and must tell people what God says and warn them. If he doesn’t warn them and they die for their sins, Ezekiel will be held responsible. He will not be responsible if they die and he has warned them. If a righteous person turns and becomes unjust, he will die.
The Lord told him to go to the valley and he saw the Lord again. The Lord told him to go to his house and the Lord would bind him so he couldn’t go out and would close his mouth so he could only speak “Thus says the Lord God.” The ones who are willing will hear and the ones that are not will not because they are rebellious.
He is also to use a brick to represent Jerusalem, build siegeworks against it, and put an iron griddle between him and the brick. It is a sign for Israel. He is then to lie on his left side 390 days to represent the punishment of Israel for the years of their punishment. Then he is lie on his right side 40 days representing the years of punishment of Judah. He is to prophecy against Jerusalem. The Lord will put cords on him so he can’t turn during this time.
During this time, he is to make bread according to the recipe the Lord provided and drink the measured amount of water the Lord specified. The Lord told him to cook over human dung, but Ezekiel protested that would defile him. The Lord told him to use cow’s dung instead. This is a sign for Jerusalem that they will have to ration bread and water and be astonished by their punishment.
At the end of the siege, Ezekiel is to shave his head and beard with a sword then divide the hair into three parts. He is to burn one part, strike one part with the sword around Jerusalem, and scatter one part to the wind. The Lord will send the sword after the part in the wind. From those he will take a small number of hairs and tie them to the end of his robe and throw some more in the fire.
The Lord says that this represents Jerusalem, which is the center of nations. She rebelled and acted wickedly violating his rules and even the normal rules of other nations. Therefore, the Lord will execute judgment. They will eat each other and scatter survivors to the wind. 1/3 will die of famine and disease, 1/3 by the sword, and 1/3 will be scattered to the wind with the sword following them.
When all these things happen because of his anger, they will know God is the Lord and is jealous for them. All the nations around will look upon them in horror.
The Lord told Ezekiel to look to the mountains of Israel and prophecy that the sword would come upon them. He would break down all the place of idol worship. The dead of Israel will be scattered around their idols. Then they will know he is the Lord. He will leave some alive among the nations and they will remember the Lord and hate themselves for their idolatry. His punishment will not be in vain. The survivors will know he is the Lord when they see all this happen.
Psalm: The Psalmist continues to glorify and praise God for his attributes. His wisdom is seen in the way he created day and night with animals and people to function in each. In his wisdom, he created the oceans teaming with animals.
All creatures look to the Lord for their food and life. God is life as he causes living creatures to live by his Spirit and die when his breath is removed.
The Psalmist asks for God’s glory to continue forever and that he may rejoice in all he has created and upholds. The Psalmist will sing praise to him all his life. He asks that his mediations be pleasing to the Lord. He asks that sinners be removed from the earth.
Proverbs: If you try to get even and harm others with traps or violence, you will be hurt by them.
Hebrews: The promise of entering God’s rest is still available but we should fear for those who haven’t received it. We have the good news but just like some of those in the desert who didn’t believe, some of us haven’t believed and entered God’s rest. This rest isn’t the rest of entering the Promised Land with Joshua, otherwise God wouldn’t have mentioned another rest. God’s people have a rest like God’s rest from the work of creation but ours is the rest of our working for salvation.
That rest can’t be entered by anyone who doesn’t believe and is disobedient. God’s word is sharp and will be able to judge what’s in your heart and soul. You can’t hide your thoughts or actions from God who sees all. We will have to give an account to him.
Jesus is our great high priest who has already gone to heaven. He is the Son of God. We don’t want to lose our confession of faith in him. When we are tempted to turn from faith we can go to him and he sympathizes with us because he was tempted but never sinned. Therefore, we know we can draw close to his throne of grace to receive mercy and grace when we need it.
What Stood Out
Ezekiel: “And they shall know that I am the Lord. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them” (Ezek 6:10).
Psalm: “When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground” (Ps 104:30).
Proverbs: “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling” (Prov 26:27).
Hebrews: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12).
Insight
Ezekiel: The Lord tells Ezekiel to be a watchman and warn the people. Most are not going to listen and will die because of their sins. Even a person who was righteous then turns to evil will die. (This isn’t a narrative about the ability to lose salvation, but is speaking of physical death.) The people of Israel were so hardened by their idolatry that they would not listen to the prophets that God sent. To get their attention, he used Ezekiel as a symbol as he laid in the dirt making a diorama of Jerusalem and the siege against it. Like Jeremiah, he foretells the destruction of Jerusalem and the horrid decimation of the population of Judah and Jerusalem.
While his actions all seems useless because the people are rebellious, the Lord says that it isn’t in vain because some of the people who survive will repent and know that he is the Lord (Ezek 6:10). We can’t imagine what things look like from God’s perspective. Things that appear evil to us are used by the Lord to accomplish something much greater. It is possible that in God’s omniscience, he knows some will never listen to him and their death is the only thing that will jolt others to repent and believe. Since God is perfect in all respects, we have to trust him when we don’t understand what he is doing in this broken world with evil people. It isn’t in vain when what we think is evil results in the salvation of others.
Psalm: A lot of people don’t believe that a person is a human until he reachs a certain stage of development in the womb. Psalm 104:30 affirms that a person is created when God sends forth his Spirit. Does God only send his Spirit after three months, six months, or nine months? If the Lord didn’t send his Spirit at the moment of conception, the two cells would not live because life is in Jesus (John 1:4) and he holds all things together (Col 1:17) and uphold everything in creation (Heb 1:3). God is active in making each of the cells divide and do what they are supposed to do (Ps 139:13). Sure, all that DNA, RNA, genes, and chromosomes are programed to do it, but Jesus is the spark of life and he is the programmer once the spark ignites. He is able to determine which things come together to make each one of us unique. Like any good programmer, he is able to alter the code to suit his purposes. For his provision in this and all creations, we must praise him.
Proverbs: Digging pits and rolling stones to harm others always backfire. Anyone who has watched old black and white movies or TV knows this. However, in real life it isn’t always as quick as those old dramas. Sometimes, that harm is in the soul and not necessarily in being caught and punished by the law. It doesn’t matter if the purpose is retribution or robbery, Christians are called to a different standard. We are called to overcome evil with good (Rom 12:17-21) and of course, not to do evil in the first place.
Hebrews: All this talk of entering rest and not entering rest, obeying and disobeying, believing and disbelief can get complicated until you get down to Hebrews 4:12. The author of Hebrews is trying to make it clear that belief must result in obedience or it is of no value. If we think we can believe one thing in our hearts and then do something else claiming God knows our hearts, then God’s word will be the judge when we have to give account to him. He knows if your profession of faith is real or not. We judge by outward appearance, but God judges the heart. If there is true faith, we expect to see it in obedience to God because that is what the word says. If the word says that and the word is the judge, then a profession of faith that doesn’t result in obedience is just like the people who didn’t make it into the Promised Land.
However, we must make sure that obedience comes from faith and not think that being obedient will save us. The word is clear in Ephesians 2:8-10 that our works are a result of saving faith, not a means of getting salvation. So, we rest from trying to achieve salvation and accept it as a gift.
If we ever think about losing our faith, we can approach Jesus and ask for help. He was tempted also and in every way as we are, so he knows we are weak but he will give us the grace to be steadfast.
Application
I need to keep on trusting the Lord that the messes in this world are going to be worked out for his glory. I need to continue in his word to keep from being distracted by evil.
No comments:
Post a Comment