Year 6, Day 151: Ezekiel 25

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

I have found a great change in me over the last decade.  I mourn when I come across chapters like this in the Bible.  I used to get excited.  Now I mourn.

You see, when I was younger I got excited about chapters like this because I saw them as a sign of God’s supremacy.  These nations rebelled, God judged.  These nations went against God’s people, so God brought vengeance upon them.  I always saw these chapters in the light of God’s supremacy, so they were good chapters in my book.

However, then I grew up.  I matured a bit.  I learned that the prophecy of the exile has more in common with lament than joy.  Does God celebrate that people turned away from Him?  Does God celebrate when He gets to prove Himself to be right?  Does God celebrate the hard human heart?  Does God celebrate when we are so proud we cannot humble ourselves before Him?  No.  He does not.  Yes, God judges the world; but He does not judge in celebration when it comes to our failing character.

There is a deeper level of mourning yet.  If you read the blog post I put up on this chapter from 3 years ago, you can get a deeper sense of what I am about to say here.  Remember where these nations are located.  These are all the surrounding nations.  These are the nations to whom God had called His people to reach with His love and grace and mercy.  The reason I mourn here is because in the failing of the Hebrew character we also see a failure in mission.  Our character deeply affects our ability to do mission.

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Year 6, Day 150: Ezekiel 24

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Prophet

• Prophet: A prophet is one of the fivefold ministry categories that is used throughout the Bible and especially lifted up in Ephesians 4:11. The prophet is primarily concerned with whether or not the people are hearing the voice of God.  The prophet is also concerned about whether or not the people are responding to God’s voice.

In this chapter, Ezekiel’s wife dies.  Ezekiel goes into mourning.  In fact, Ezekiel also becomes mute for a while.  Ezekiel is unable to put his grief into words.  This is truly a sad moment in scripture.

This is also a very neat moment in scripture.  Israel is often said to be God’s bride.  Yet in this moment in history, God’s bride is going into exile.  The Hebrew nation is ceasing to exist – temporarily, of course.  God’s bride is dying. Can you imagine His grief?  Can you imagine how God felt watching His people reject Him so much that they embraced exile rather than turn to Him?

This is what it means to be a prophet.  God’s prophets get a sense of feeling what God feels.  God’s prophets get a taste of what God sees and hears and does and thinks.  Sometimes this is an incredible experience.  Sometimes it is an experience of mourning and sorrow.  In all times, though, the prophet of God gets a taste of what God experiences as they try and bring God’s ways to the people.

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Year 6, Day 149: Ezekiel 23

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Provision

• Provision: God gives us what we truly need.  God knows our needs better than we can know them.  We learn to trust God to provide for us.

This chapter is an analogy to idolatry.  In this chapter, both Israel (the northern kingdom) and Judah (the southern kingdom) are compared to virgin women.  Although God loved these women very much, they lusted after other things and other people.  They want what the world has around them.  They are not satisfied with God; they want the world.

At its heart, this is the issue of idolatry.  But at its core, this is fundamentally an issue of provision.  God will provide for our needs.  He will grant us His provision upon us.  He is a gracious and loving God.  He will meet us where we need Him to be.

The question that remains is whether or not we are content with God’s provision.  If we are content, then we will walk with the Lord and obey His commands.  But when we are not content, we lust after that which the world has but God does not provide.  We become idolatrous because we are not satisfied with God’s provision.

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Year 6, Day 148: Ezekiel 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

Ezekiel 22 speaks greatly to the character of the Hebrew people at the time of the Babylonian exile.  We begin with the leaders.  Do you notice how the leaders are held accountable?  They extort the people.  Their policies are responsible for making widows – in other words, they probably engage in much warfare.  They encourage idol worship.  They ignore God.  They aren’t doing much right.

But it isn’t just the leaders who are suffering from a poor character.  The people extort.  The people commit robbery.  They oppress the poor.  They mistreat the sojourner in their midst.  They don’t care about justice.

But here’s the real kicker.  Up until now, we’ve really been talking more about human nature and sin than we’ve been talking about character.  How does God make His point about character to Ezekiel?  God says it in only a few words.  He looked for someone to stand in the gap and could find nobody.  In a nation full of people that are supposed to be His, He couldn’t find a single person to stand in the gap.

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Year 6, Day 147: Ezekiel 21

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Prophet

• Prophet: A prophet is one of the fivefold ministry categories that is used throughout the Bible and especially lifted up in Ephesians 4:11. The prophet is primarily concerned with whether or not the people are hearing the voice of God.  The prophet is also concerned about whether or not the people are responding to God’s voice.

In Ezekiel 21, god gives four messages of the sword to Ezekiel.  Judgement is coming.  It won’t be pretty.  It won’t be enjoyable.  It will be thorough.  The sword will sweep through the Hebrew people and leave little in its wake.

What does this have to do with the prophet?  Ezekiel is told to mourn this.  Human beings often enjoy the thrill of people getting caught.  Ever experience that smug feeling when you pass by a car whose driver is getting a ticket from a policeman?  Ever hear a student exalting over another student getting some kind of detention?  Ever feel a sense of satisfaction when someone gets what they deserve in your own eyes?

No.  the prophet of God does not enjoy the pain and consequences of others.  The prophet knows it is necessary.  The prophet knows that it will bring about good results.  But the prophet doesn’t take joy in this process.  The prophet mourns that such judgment had to happen in the first place.  This is what allows the prophet to minister in the midst of judgment.

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Year 6, Day 146: Ezekiel 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

Ezekiel 20 is a really neat chapter to bring out the idea of obedience.  God takes us through a long journey of remembrance.  The people cried to Him when they were in Egypt.  God brought them out.  They rebelled.  God gave them all they needed to live in the wilderness.  They rebelled.  God brought them into the Promised Land.  They rebelled.  God gave them spiritual leaders.  They rebelled and wanted a human king over them.  They rebelled with foreign gods.  They rebelled with many wives.  Their rebellion grew and knew no end.

The people weren’t interested in living according to God’s statutes.  They wanted to live according to their own desires.  They wanted all the privileges of being God’s people minus any of the obedience and responsibility.

Here’s the neat part.  God doesn’t forsake them.  He does punish them.  He does judge them.  But in punishing them He is also purifying them once more.  God doesn’t walk away from us when we opt to not be obedient.  Instead, God gives us the opportunity to refine us so that we can walk more closely with Him.

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Year 6, Day 145: Ezekiel 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Ezekiel 19 s a great lens through which we can see identity.  We talk about a proud lioness who gives birth to some potentially great lions.  The lioness is the Hebrew people.  We know that King David and the house of Judah is called the lion of Judah.  It makes sense to see these lions as the last few kings of Judah.

What happens to these lions?  Even though they come from good stock, they are dragged into captivity.  Egypt takes one.  Babylon takes a second.  They have such potential, but they don’t live up to it.  Instead, they flaunt themselves and find themselves captured.  They don’t get an opportunity to live out their God-given identity.

Isn’t this also true about each of us as human beings?  We are made in God’s image.  He formed us.  He breathed our spirit within us.  But do we not often chase after our own dreams?  Do we not often flaunt ourselves rather than get our identity from the Lord?  We can easily find ourselves in bondage to our sinfulness when God has offered us an identity that is far superior.

As Ezekiel says at the end of the chapter he wrote, this is a reason to lament.

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Year 6, Day 144: Ezekiel 18

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

This chapter is really a chapter that boils down to: “Do the right thing and live.”  It genuinely is about obedience.  It is about our desire to follow God’s ways rather than bow to our own sinfulness.  Obey God and live.  Disobey God and die in your sin.  It doesn’t get much more simple than that.

What does flabbergast me about this chapter is the idea that the Hebrew people thought this was unjust.  How can God possibly be considered unjust by saying that people are judged according to their own works?  How is that line of thinking even rational?

The reason that it is rational is because of the interpretation that the Hebrew people take regarding God’s interaction with Abraham.  They believe that they are God’s chosen people because their biological heritage grants them a special circumstance.  So when God comes out and says that even Hebrew people will be judged according to their obedience they cry foul!

Think about it for a second.  Who would voluntarily want to be judged based on our obedience when we could be judged on our lineage?

Of course, we know that this isn’t what God is talking about.  The offspring of Abraham are a spiritual offspring, not a biological one.  Abraham’s seed is not in genealogy; it is in spiritual obedience to the Father.  Those who are humble before God and obey Him after listening to His call are Abraham’s offspring.

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Year 6, Day 143: Ezekiel 17

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Ambition

• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.

Ezekiel 17 is a very complex and difficult parable.  If you haven’t read my theological commentary from three years ago, I would recommend doing so.  If you click the link above, it’ll take you to a post where you can read what each of the elements in this parable represent.

One of the main points that God is making in this parable is that things were going well for the Hebrew people until Zedekiah got it in his mind that he could break free from Babylon and become free again.  Prior to this decision, Nebuchadnezzar had made Judah a vassal state and was content leaving them alone so long as they did their duties in vassalage.  But when Zedekiah rebelled, trusting in the support of Egypt, the wheels came off altogether.

Zedekiah wasn’t content being a vassal king.  He wasn’t content being a low-growing vine.  He wanted to be powerful and free to do as he pleased.  So he rebelled in his ambition.  His personal ambition overpowered any ability he had to be humble in God’s calling for him.

As a result of Zedekiah’s ambition, they get conquered completely.  As a result of Zedekiah’s ambition, he gets to see Jerusalem conquered, his sons put to death before his very own eyes, and then his eyes are put out and he is dragged into captivity.  Zedekiah wasn’t content with where God called Him.  He followed his own ambition and paid the price.

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Year 6, Day 142: Ezekiel 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

This is a very sad chapter.  Here we have an allegory to God’s relationship with the Hebrew people.  God found a child, abandoned and for whom there was no cared.  God picked up that child, placed them in a safe place, and allowed them to mature.  Yet, just when they were becoming mature and truly useful, the child rebelled and turned away.  The child scorned God’s love.  The child intentionally spent time pursuing things apart from God.

But there’s something more.  God claims in the allegory that the forsaking child is flittering away that which God has given to it in order to pursue things apart from God.  This child is not just rejecting God, but using God’s grace to reject Him even more!

What drives this?  Appetite.  We want, so we pursue.  We want what we should not want, so we pursue what we should not pursue.  We do not find satisfaction in God’s things; we find satisfaction in what we want.  So often, it is our appetite that fuels our rebellion against God.

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Year 6, Day 141: Ezekiel 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

This is a very short and sweet chapter.  God compares the Hebrew people at the time of the exile to a vine.  What good is it, except to be burned?  It isn’t straight, so you can’t make a board.  It doesn’t bear weight well, so you can’t use it for furniture or for building.  What use is there for it except for burning?

This really is an issue of identity.  The identity of the Hebrew people during the exile is a useless one.  They don’t worship God.  They aren’t willing to submit.  They aren’t humble.  They won’t even consider that they might be wrong!  They identity is in themselves and their own selfish pursuits.  In that, they find judgment.

We should learn from this chapter.  Our identity needs to be in the Father.  We need to be open to Him, pursuing His will.  When our identity is in Him, we will find satisfaction in His purposes and joy in His work.  We will find an escape from judgment because when our identity is in Him He can become our salvation.

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Year 6, Day 140: Ezekiel 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

This is a tough chapter to hear.  It begins with God telling Ezekiel to confront these people in their idolatry.  Confrontation is never easy.  Confronting elders and respected people is even less easy.  But God gives a stern warning.  If the people continue to part from God in order to be with their idols, then God threatens to part with them.

After this, we hear a series of harsh prophesies.  Because of their idolatry, God will not save them.  Even if Noah, Daniel and Job were among them, God would not save them!  God is comparing these people to the time of the flood, when God destroyed the population of the world because of their sin.

Yet, there is something interesting in these passages.  If Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, they would save their own lives.  And here we get a truth about God’s protection.  God may bring judgment against a nation, but He does not overlook the righteous ones in their midst.  Judah may be falling to Babylon, but God will spare a righteous remnant.  Of course, we know this to be true because we have studied the book of Jeremiah.  God spared Jeremiah even when the city fell completely.

God will remove His protection when we fall as a community.  But He will continue to walk with the righteous even when the community falls.  He is a righteous God in His protection.

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Year 6, Day 139: Ezekiel 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Prophet

• Prophet: A prophet is one of the fivefold ministry categories that is used throughout the Bible and especially lifted up in Ephesians 4:11. The prophet is primarily concerned with whether or not the people are hearing the voice of God.  The prophet is also concerned about whether or not the people are responding to God’s voice.

This is a great day to do a back-to-back message about the prophet.  Today, we get to hear God speak about the false prophets.  In the opening verses, God makes it very clear that He is upset with the false prophets because they prophesy false messages.  They claim that the Lord has said one thing to them when in reality God has not given the message that they attribute to God.

Prophets should be concerned about whether the people of God are hearing God’s message and living up to God’s will for their lives.  These false prophets are concerned with telling the people what they want to hear.  They are concerned with giving a message of hope.  They are using the name of God to proclaim something they want to be true rather than proclaiming what God actually says is true.

Prophets need to be careful to be in tune with God.  None of us will always speak truth.  We’re human and sinful and we occasionally mistake our will for God’s will.  But when a prophet attributes something to God, they need to be sure that it is actually God speaking the message. 

All of us can learn that lesson.  As we share our faith with others, we need to share from our heart.  But we need to be clear with people when we are sharing from our heart and when we are sharing from God’s heart.

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Year 6, Day 138: Ezekiel 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Prophet

• Prophet: A prophet is one of the fivefold ministry categories that is used throughout the Bible and especially lifted up in Ephesians 4:11. The prophet is primarily concerned with whether or not the people are hearing the voice of God.  The prophet is also concerned about whether or not the people are responding to God’s voice.

Ezekiel is asked to live out a parable here in this passage.  He gets to pack up his bags.  Then, he gets to dig out a hole in the wall of his house in exile.  Then, he gets to carry out all of the stuff in his house through the hole. In this, Ezekiel becomes a sign to the Hebrew people regarding the impending fall of Jerusalem and the exile to the people of Jerusalem.

In doing this, Ezekiel no doubt confuses the people around them.  After all, if you saw your neighbor carving a hole in the side of their house for no apparent reason, what would you think?  But then something really neat happens.  The people start asking Ezekiel what they are doing.  He lives a prophet message and a few people start getting curious.

This is what prophets live for.  They are strange and unusual.  Prophets are often misunderstood.  But prophets live this way to see who is curious.  Prophets don’t mind being strange and unusual and unique because they know that God will use it to draw people to them.  They’ll be able to make disciples out of those who are drawn to their uniqueness in God. 

That’s what is so neat about Ezekiel’s mission.  He’s not afraid of being unusual and unique.  He also gets to reap the benefit of speaking into the lives of those who see him and who inquire about his activities.

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Year 6, Day 137: Ezekiel 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

Ezekiel 11 is a sad chapter.  Here we get the promise of the last few chapters.  The glory of the Lord departs Jerusalem.  The presence of the Lord departs Jerusalem.  No longer will the Lord protect the people.  They have turned their back upon Him; He will walk away from them as well.  They will be judged in their arrogance.

Yet, at the same time this chapter is a chapter of promise.  God doesn’t get rid of all Jews in every place.  No, God simply removes His protection from the Hebrew people in Jerusalem.  The Hebrew people in exile will still Know His protection.  God will be able to bring a remnant out of their captivity.  Those who allowed themselves to be humbled will find a God who loves them and welcomes them and forgives them and protects them.

When we look at this dichotomy, we really see just how much control God puts into our hands.  He wants to love us and protect us.  But He gives us the ability to reject His protection and walk away from Him.  When we do that, He will depart from us and give us the freedom to make that choice.

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Year 6, Day 136: Ezekiel 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Approval

• Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted.  When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place.  But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.

Ezekiel 10 is an easy chapter to walk away from feeling confused.  If we focus on the cherubim and their description, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.  After all, can you easily figure out what Ezekiel is describing here in this vision?

However, if we take a step back and accept that the vision of the cherubim is difficult to understand, then we can see the bigger picture.  The chapter opens with a promise of purification.  The man in chapter 9 who placed the marks on the foreheads of those who mourned is given a new task.  He is to take fire out of the altar and scatter them onto the city.  We are tempted to see this as a sign of destruction.  But remember that where the prophets are concerned fire is usually a symbol of purification.  Remember the call of Isaiah?  It is a coal from the altar that purifies him. 

What can we conclude, then?  Even though Jerusalem is judged, it will be purified.  There is redemption in the future.  After judgment, God’s people will find approval once more.

While this chapter opens with a good note of promise, it ends on a really sad note.  The presence of the Lord leaves the temple.  The Lord decides that it is time to get up, move, and let the Hebrew people fend for themselves against the Babylonians.  What is really sad is the reason why.  Remember that this set of chapters is all rooted in the idolatry going on in the chapter.  The people choose to worship something else.  When they do that, they lose the approval of God.

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Year 6, Day 135: Ezekiel 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

In the last chapter, we saw a gross image of the rebellion of the Hebrew people.  We saw all of their idolatry.  We saw that the idolatry infiltrated all of the way to the top of the leadership in Jerusalem.  In this chapter we see that such rebellion brings about judgment.

Do not miss the fact that God sends out seven beings to judge.  Of those seven, six are sent out with the command to kill.  One is sent out with the command to spare by placing a mark upon the foreheads of those who mourn the idolatry.  God sends out six times the amount of beings for punishment as salvation.

What does this tell us?  The road to obedience is hard to find.  Many more find the path to idolatry than those who find the path to obedience.

What is also interesting is Ezekiel’s response.  He can’t do anything about it.  He’s already in Babylon in exile as the Babylonian armies go to surround Jerusalem and bring judgment upon it.  So he mourns.  In truth, this is all that the obedient to God can do.  We can preach obedience.  We can teach obedience.  We can model obedience.  But if the people around us do not choose obedience for themselves, all we can do is mourn their choice.

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Year 6, Day 134: Ezekiel 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

Ezekiel 8 is all about idolatry.  Ezekiel is sitting in his house with the leaders of the exiled Hebrew people sitting with Him when he sees a theophany of God.  The image of God brings him spiritually into the temple back in Jerusalem.  Ezekiel sees what regular people could not see.  There is idolatry going on in the corporate spaces.  But even more importantly, there is idolatry going on in the secret space of the religious leaders.  They think that they can hide their idolatry, but God can see.

God takes idolatry very seriously.  He doesn’t want us to worship Him first; He wants us to worship Him alone.  He is a jealous God, jealous of our worship.  It is this jealousy that drives God to bring the Hebrew people under judgment.

This is a very important lesson for us to learn today as well.  He demands that we worship Him alone as well.  Yet we live in a world where there are plenty of other things for us to worship.  We can worship our money.  We can worship our education.  We can worship our children.  We can worship our athletes.  We can worship our media stars.  We can worship our technology.  We can worship the things we build.

In the end, we’re really not much different after all of these thousands of years.  We may be able to do more, do better, and do faster.  But we’re not necessarily any different.  We are just as susceptible to idolatry as they are.  This is why it is important to make sure that God truly is in our Up position.

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Year 6, Day 133: Ezekiel 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

So often when I talk about the idea of King, I am talking about an all-powerful God who can accomplish anything.  Usually when I think of God as king, my mind goes to positive actions as He bestows His grace and mercy upon us.  It is easy to think of a king who is benevolent and wraps His subjects in love, grace, and mercy.

That being said, today is not one of those days.  Today we get to see the angry king.  Today we get to see the omnipotence of the king.  Today we get to see the judgment.  God’s own people have rebelled.  They no longer see their rebellion as bad.  They are rebelling and not looking back.  Therefore, God will judge them.

Furthermore, we see God’s judgment against the Babylonians as well.  God will bring the Babylonians to serve judgment against the Hebrew people.  But the Babylonians will also be judged.  God’s wrath will burn against them.  This shows us the kingship of God.  God is king not only over His own people, but all of the people of the world.

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Year 6, Day 132: Ezekiel 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

“Go yell at the hills, Ezekiel.”

Isn’t that a really strange command?  After all, what did the hills do to God?  How could the hills deserve to hear about God’s wrath?

It isn’t the hills that are bad.  It is what the human beings are doing in the hills.  The Hebrew people have adopted the Canaanite gods.  They’ve adopted the gods of the nations around them, too.  They’ve even adopted the foreign gods of nations that come to trade with them or who make political alliances with them.  Judah is absolutely full of people who have created worship spaces to other gods in the mountains, the hills, beside the rivers, etc.

God’s point in this chapter is to focus on the places where idolatry has been happening.  What’s the main problem here?  The Hebrew people have something in Up that isn’t God.  It is truly that simple.  They were worshipping just about anything other than the Father.  Because of that, they would find themselves in judgment.

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Year 6, Day 131: Ezekiel 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

There are several foci that can be applied to just about any chapter in the books of the Bible that we call the prophets.  We can almost always talk about the nature of the prophet.  We can often talk about obedience.  We can talk about calling on most days.  But one of the topics that we can always bring to light is God’s nature as king.  This is especially true about the earlier prophets when God is describing the rationale for His judgment against the people.

Where do we see evidence of God as King?  First of all, notice that God tells Ezekiel to shave with a razor.  Here we see a symbol of God’s wrath against the people.  They will be met with the sword of judgment: the Babylonians beckoned by God’s own call.

After Ezekiel shaves, he is to weigh out the hair.  The scales are a clear sign of judgment.  God can and will weigh out the attitude of His people.  God can and will look at the relationship – or lack thereof – between the king and His own people.

He truly is an omnipotent king.  He is the only one capable of righteous judgment.  He is the only one true power in the world.  He is the one who empowers Ezekiel into his ministry.

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Year 6, Day 130: Ezekiel 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

There is a simple reality about God.  We don’t have to be forgiven.  He would be completely righteous if He judged us because in our free will we chose sin.  He would be completely righteous if He were to let us perish when we so readily choose to abandon His ways.

That’s the meaning of the iron pan in God’s command for Ezekiel.  Clearly this first vision in this chapter is given with respect to the siege of Jerusalem.  The iron pan shows that there is an impenetrable barrier between the brick (Jerusalem) and Ezekiel (God’s messenger).  In the same way, the real Jerusalem is under siege because their sinfulness is an impenetrable barrier between them and salvation.

When we realize this, we come to an understanding of God’s grace.  Our sin in our life is no less of an impenetrable barrier than the people of Jerusalem.  Just because we understand that it is wrong does not make it okay.  What makes it okay is that God has atoned for us in our sinfulness.  He has paid the price; He asks us to live repentantly as a response to what He has already done.  That’s grace and forgiveness.

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Year 6, Day 129: Ezekiel 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Prophet

• Prophet: A prophet is one of the fivefold ministry categories that is used throughout the Bible and especially lifted up in Ephesians 4:11. The prophet is primarily concerned with whether or not the people are hearing the voice of God.  The prophet is also concerned about whether or not the people are responding to God’s voice.

God instructs Ezekiel about being a prophet.  Ezekiel is told that that his job will be hard.  He is told that the people are stubborn.  In fact, he is told that they won’t listen to Him.  The reality for many of us is that we are called to proclaim God to the world.  But we can’t force people to listen.  Many of the people to whom we talk just won’t listen.  Remember what we learned in the last few days?  Success is determined by our obedience to God, not by whether we convert the world.

Then, God tells Ezekiel that he is to go and lock himself in a room.  At first, this sounds rather un-prophet-like.  After all, what good is a prophet that never goes into the world to speak?  What we have to remember is that while God bound Ezekiel to the house, God did not bind him in isolation.  God simply didn’t let Ezekiel go out and about.  In other words, as a prophet Ezekiel had to learn that the real people that he will be able to reach are the ones who come looking for God’s truth.  Ezekiel can take God’s truth anywhere, but it will only find harvest when it finds fertile soil because a person wants to find it.

This brings us back to the scroll.  Ezekiel sees that the scroll is full of words of lament and mourning.  But the scroll is sweet in his mouth.  The work of a prophet is hard and difficult.  It’s not easy experiencing rejection.  It’s not easy pouring yourself into the lives of others only to get no response. But when our frame of reference is right, we are reminded that all obedience to God is sweet work.

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Year 6, Day 128: Ezekiel 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Calling, Obedience

• Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.
• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

Ezekiel 2 is such an incredibly powerful chapter when we consider spiritual leadership.  First, look where it begins.  God tells Ezekiel to get up.  As I say in my theological commentary from three years ago, God is the one who decides who can stand in His presence.  Our default position is humbleness as we bow before Him.  He tells us to get up.  Furthermore, notice that it is God who enables Ezekiel to stand up.  God’s spirit enters into Ezekiel and stands him up.

After God sets Ezekiel on his feet, God calls him to a task.  This is important, too.  How many of us decide for ourselves what God is calling us to do?  We sit down and decide what we are good at and we determine that God must want us to do it, too.  It shouldn’t be that way.  God establishes us in His presence; God calls us to a task.  Our job is to patiently listen to God’s calling.  Far too often God’s people – and God’s leaders especially – jump too quickly to the task rather than to consider if God is calling us or we are calling ourselves because we want the recognition, praise, or glory.

Third, notice that God calls Ezekiel to a hard task.  God tells Ezekiel that the people are rebellious and won’t be quick to listen.  In fact, God hints that his task may not even be what Ezekiel would call successful.  This is why calling and obedience are so important to bring together.  God’s definition of success is different than our definition of success.  We are successful when we are obedient in our calling.  Even if the task does not bear the fruit we desire, we are successful when we are obedient to our calling.

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Year 6, Day 127: Ezekiel 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

As I read through the commentary I wrote three years ago, there was a comment that I thought is important to once again bring into the forefront of the study.  Ezekiel saw visions of God as this book opens.  Ezekiel doesn’t just see a vision from God; Ezekiel sees a vision of God.  That’s really significant.

The reason that I find it significant is that it truly cements the idea that this book begins in Up.  Ezekiel starts off his book with the focus on God. 

• When God comes, He comes like a storm.  But when He comes, He doesn’t cast darkness upon the world as a typical storm does.  God comes like a storm and brings light.
• Ezekiel sees a vision of a God who can go anywhere He wants.  Wherever God wants to go, the wheels turn and take him.  God brings light to any location He desires.
• Ezekiel looks upon the theophany – a vision of God Himself.  He sees a metal man.  In other words, God is strong.  He is powerful.  God is precious.  He is reliable.  He doesn’t break.
• Ezekiel also sees a man whose lower half is composed of fire.  In other words, God is capable of bringing judgment.  But God is also capable of purifying, too.  God can consume, but He can also burn away the impurities in order to allow the more permanent precious things remain.

How does Ezekiel respond to this?  Ezekiel worships.  He falls down and worships.  Ezekiel finds his Up and does what he is supposed to do.

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Year 6, Day 126: James 4-5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

James concludes with a great discussion on character.  Of course, one might make a great argument that this whole book has been a book about character.  Taming the tongue is about character.  Living in godly wisdom is about character.  Showing partiality is a matter of character.  Putting faith into practice is a matter of character.  Responding to testing and persecution is a matter of character.

James begins by warning us to not live in worldliness.  When we pursue our worldly passion, we put ourselves at odds with one another.  When we pursue our worldly passion, we think more about ourselves than others.  When we pursue our worldly passions, we destroy community.  The question James is really asking us is whether or not we have the character to be about God’s community or to be about ourselves.

Then James warns us against the corruption of wealth.  The real question that we need to ask ourselves is if we have the character to store up treasure in heaven rather than here on earth.  Do we have the character to trust both our eternal future and our worldly future to the hands of God?

Then James talks about suffering.  Do we have the character to endure suffering?  Do we have the character to rejoice in suffering?  Do we have the character to be patient and wait for God in the midst of our suffering?

James truly knows how to elevate challenge when it comes to looking at character.  I think that is why James is such a controversial book.  Those people who love challenge and grow out of being challenged tend to love this book because they enjoy looking at their character and exposing their weaknesses.  But rest assured, when we read James we have plenty of opportunity to look at our character.

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Year 6, Day 125: James 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Teacher

• Teacher: One who holds forth the truth and is excited by it. The teacher looks for ways to explain, enlighten, and apply truth.  A teacher's authority doesn't come from how smart they are but from the Word of God and the power of a transformed life.

I love how James connects the ideas of the teacher and the tongue.  Of course, he begins with the thought that not many should become teachers.  Yes, he is right.  Only those with wisdom should teach.  Only those who bear fruit comparable to their teaching should teach.  Nobody will follow a hypocrite.  So only those who can live without being blatantly hypocritical should even think about teaching.

But then James talks about the tongue.  The tongue needs tamed, but we are not capable of doing so.  This is another great thought to consider when we talk about teachers.  How do teachers teach?  They teach with their tongues.  They teach with their words and their thoughts.  If a teacher does not have their tongue under control, how will they be able to teach?  If a teacher cannot be relied upon to say what is true all the time, how can they be trusted any of the time?

Teachers need to be in control of their tongue.  If teachers want to be a part of helping others bear good fruit, then they need to make sure that their tongue only speaks that which can produce good fruit.  Outside of faith, which is given by God anyways, the tongue is the most important tool in the arsenal of the teacher.  It needs to be tamed and fine-tuned.

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Year 6, Day 124: James 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Bear Fruit

• Bear Fruit: We bear fruit after we grow.  Bearing fruit is ultimately the goal of abiding and the goal of being called into the Kingdom of God.  However, while bearing fruit is our calling, it is not the end.  We bear fruit so that we can then prune, abide, grow, and bear more fruit in another season.  Bearing fruit is not the end, but rather only a portion of the whole rhythm of life into which God has called us.

James gives us a whole chapter in which we can look at the fruit of our life.  The reality is that even Jesus tells us that we will know each other by the fruit of their faithfulness.  Talking about fruit is not a matter of works-based salvation.  Talking about fruit is a matter of responding to God’s free gift of grace and faith to us.

We begin with partiality.  If a rich looking person walks into a room and I show them better treatment than a poor person, what does my fruit say about my faith?  If a famous person comes in and I treat them better than an unknown person, what does that fruit say about my faith?  If I show partiality based on any sort of higher condition, what does that say about my faith?

What about the next section of scripture?  If I walk by someone, smile, and greet them without caring about the needs in their life, what does that say about my faith?  If I wish someone to have a good day but deep in my heart I can’t wait to pass by them and get on with my life, what does that say about my faith?  If I go to church and shake people’s hands and offer them God’s peace but I never pause to get to know them, know their faith, and hear their needs, what does that say about my faith?

In the last paragraph, James gives us one of my favorites quotes.  You believe in God?  Good!  So do the demons.  In other words, one has to do more than just believe in the existence of God.  Demons know God exists.  What does that get them?  James is arguing that we need to not just believe in the existence of God but also obey His will.  We need to submit to Him and bear that fruit in our life.  If our faith is genuine, our fruit will be present.

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