Year 6, Day 181: Matthew 7

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.

When we look at full chapters of a Gospel, we usually get many compound stories – especially in the middle chapters that cover Jesus’ time in ministry.  However, when we read through Matthew 7, there are a surprising number of teachings that speak towards obedience to the Father.  This shouldn’t really surprise us, though.  Many of the stories since Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount have been about getting us to think about how we live and how God perceives what life should be like.

• Judge not.  In other words, let the Father determine who gets to spend eternity with Him.
• Worry about your own faults before you try and fix other people.
• Ask God for what you truly need.
• Treat other people as you would have them treat you.
• Bear good fruit and consider what it means should find yourself bearing bad fruit.
• Do more than say you believe, live out your faith!
• Build our life upon the Word of God.

If you truly look at that list, ask yourself how hard those teachings are to accomplish.  Then ask yourself what the world would look like if it followed more of those teachings.  I think these two questions help us understand the power of obedience.

When we pursue our own goals, our own dreams, and our own aspirations we lose all the communal benefits that following Jesus’ teaching in this chapter bring.  However, when we are willing to obey Jesus and live according to God’s ways, it is not only us who benefit but also the community around us that benefits.

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Year 6, Day 180: Matthew 6

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.

Much of this chapter talks about how we relate to this world.  But this is not a chapter about us relating in a ministry kind of way.  Jesus isn’t lecturing us on how to help people or how to council them.  Jesus is teaching us about what is going on within our hearts.

Jesus tells us to be very careful when we give to others.  He doesn’t tell us not to give.  He tells us to be careful that when we give we don’t do it for the accolades.  For the record, He says the same thing about praying.  He doesn’t tell us not to pay for other people – certainly not!  What He says is that we need to be careful that when we pray for them we aren’t doing it to receive accolades.  The same is true for fasting, too.

Do you hear what Jesus is getting at?  Who doesn’t want to receive the recognition of the people around them?  Who doesn’t want to feel valued in life?  Who doesn’t want to feel needed?  Of course we do.  But in the end, what is better – to have the approval of the people around us or to have the approval of God?  Naturally it is the approval of God that matters.

When we do ministry, our motivation is just as important as our action.  Why we do things matters, especially when we consider the eternal.

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Year 6, Day 179: Matthew 5

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 chapter that is absolutely packed full of identity.  Poor in Spirit.  Willing to mourn.  Submitted.  Thirsting for Righteousness.  Merciful.  Pure. Peacemaking.  Persecuted.  Reviled.

Wait a minute.  Do those last two sound right to you?  Of course not.  It’s not what our human ears want to hear.  But it is what Jesus says.  What is our identity?  Persecuted.  Reviled.  Why?  Because of the other things on the list.

But we’re not done yet.  Salt.  Light.  We bring flavor to the world.  We allow people to step out of the darkness of a sinful and self-centered life.

Still not done.  Ones who resist anger and confess it’s wrong.  Feeling the challenge, yet?  Ones who resist lust and confess it’s wrong.  Yeah, that one usually hits home a good bit, too.  Ones who resist divorce and work towards reconciliation.  Ones who are willing to put aside the desire for retaliation.  Ones who embrace the need to love our enemies.

Yeah.  That’s our identity.  When Christ calls us, he calls us to take up our cross.  It’s difficult to set aside our human identity.  However, the identity that He offers us is an easy one to embrace.  Once we let go of our selfish nature bent on focusing ourselves and instead embrace Jesus’ culture of love and focusing on God’s ways, it really is an easy identity to embrace.

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Year 6, Day 178: Matthew 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Calling

• Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.

It’s really easy to speak about calling in this chapter.  After all, this is where Jesus calls Peter and Andrew and James and John.  Jesus gets His first disciples in this chapter.  He is putting calling on display for all to see.  The Son of God tells people to follow Him, and they listen!  That’s what calling is all about.

However, there is a deeper layer of calling here – and in the rest of the book of Matthew.  Do you notice how often Matthew points out the scriptures that Jesus fulfills in doing what He is called to do?  Jesus is fulfilling scripture left and right in the Gospel of Matthew.  Naturally, this happens because Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience and he wants to make it very clear that Jesus is the Messiah.

I think it is really important to see that Jesus not only calls, but responds to calling.  He is not asking us to do something that He is not doing as well.  He listens to the Father and responds.  He listens to God’s Word and responds.  We should go and do likewise.

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Year 6, Day 177: Matthew 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

One of the greatest things that I love about John the Baptizer is his humbleness.  Here is a man whose who calling was to point to someone else’s greatness.  He’s completely and totally okay with that calling.

I think the reason that he is okay with this fact is that he knows from where his authority comes. Look at how John talks about Jesus.  He knows that Jesus is greater than him and he is okay with it.  He knows that he isn’t worthy of untying the sandals on Jesus’ feet.  He has no trouble understanding his place because he knows where he resides with the Father.  He knows that if his authority comes from the Father, then he needs to invest in the will of the Lord.  His own ego has no place because his authority is coming from the Father.

If we look at how this plays out when they meet, we get an interesting perspective, too.  Jesus comes to be baptized.  At first, John doesn’t agree.  He knows his place.  Jesus is superior.  However, when Jesus explains the service that John would be doing to Jesus, John agrees.  Again, John gets his authority from God.  Even though John knows that Jesus is the superior, when God explains that His perspective is different that John’s, John concedes and abides by God’s will.  John not only displays that he can talk and teach about having an authority that comes from God, he can live it as well.

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Year 6, Day 176: Matthew 2

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.

Herod smells a rival and wants to be done away with this would-be-king.  When he sees the magi coming, he also smells innocent people who are so unaware of the political milieu that he could take advantage of them.  This is the context of this chapter.

Notice, however, that the Father makes a case about being able to protect.  The Father will protect His Son until the time of His death has truly come.  The Father puts a plan into motion that will confuse Herod and prevent him from harming His Son.

Part of this protection is also protecting the magi.  Yes, He protects them physically by sending them home a different way.  However, the Father also protects their innocence.  They are simply coming to worship at the feet of someone that the heavens also worship as shown by the star.  God protects their innocence and does not allow them to because Herod’s pawn.

Naturally, god protect Jesus and his family.  Joseph is warned in a dream to go to Egypt.  When they come back they are given the wisdom to settle in Nazareth.  God sets up His Son on a path of protection against the wrath of the human leadership around him.

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As an aside, when I first read this chapter for study, I thought that I was going to write a blog on authority.  After all, it is clear that this chapter is about authority in our life and the competing authority of God and Herod.  The magi choose God’s authority.  Joseph chooses God’s authority.  But in the end, I think that is all really self-explanatory, which is why I looked at protection instead.

Year 6, Day 175: Matthew 1

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.

Matthew 1 always gets a bad rap.  It is largely the genealogy of Jesus.  So-and-so begat another so-and-so.  But there is something extremely significant in this chapter.  Identity.

All of the people in this list belong to the lineage of David.  That makes them all have some kind of legitimate claim to David’s throne.  Furthermore, all of these people – and for the record, all Jews – belong to the lineage of Abraham.  That makes them all have a legitimate claim to faith.  This chapter is full of identity.  When Jesus comes on the scene, He has a right to both the throne and faith.

This sense of identity is highly organized.  14 generations.  From Abraham to David was 14 generations.  From David to exile was 14 generations.  From the exile to Jesus was 14 generations.  God is a God of order.  He brings order to the chaos.  This is also a part of all of our identity in God.

That beings said, there is a contrasting identity here in this passage as well.  God calls Joseph to care for a woman who will give birth to a child that isn’t his.  God is doing something new in Jesus, as Joseph is called to protect that.  Yes, God is a God of order.  But God is also the God of new things, too.  God doesn’t call us to be the same in every context and every time.  God calls us to His plan, which is fluid.  It is consistent – God’s ideals, premises, and commandments do not change.  However, the means and methods that cultures and peoples are reached for those ideals are quite fluid.  God is the God of new things.  Joseph is being called into that as a part of His identity when God asks Him to defend this young virgin who will give birth to His Son.

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Year 6, Day 174: Ezekiel 48

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Invitation

• Invitation: God is always inviting us into relationship with Him. He desires that we know Him and that we know His desire for us.

Do you catch how this book ends?  If you aren’t careful, you’ll miss it.  If you are just reading the words, you can get lulled into a mode of skimming and become just happy to reach the end.  The book ends with the words, “And the name of the City from that time on shall be: The Lord is There.”

Those are powerful words.  Remember, the name Jerusalem means “City of Peace.”  God is essentially changing the name of His Holy City.  Why is this significant?  Ezekiel ends the book with a look into the future where peace with God is transformed into dwelling with God.  No longer with God’s people be about bringing the fallen word into a status of being at peace with God; they will now be about proclaiming what life with God is truly like.

Doesn’t that concept sound incredibly Christian?  Yes, Christians are still desiring to be at peace with God.  But that’s what Jesus accomplished on the cross.  Peace with God is a status that was earned for us in the past.  

We are now invited to dwell with God – or I should say, to have God dwells with us.  When the world looks at us, it should say, “The Lord is There.”

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Year 6, Day 173: Ezekiel 47

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 is such a beautiful portrayal of God’s provision in a vision.  Ezekiel is brought into the temple, where he sees a trickle of water coming out of the temple.  As he goes out, he sees to flow becoming bigger and deeper and stronger.

Of course, there is the natural teaching that we can bring out of this.  Fresh water - the fundamental need for all life – comes from God.  Spiritual speaking, this is God’s way of telling Ezekiel in a vision that all life originates and is sustained by God.  The first layer of this vision is really that simple.  What we need in life starts with God.  He provides for us.

In a more complex level, notice that the water gets deeper the further away you get from the temple.  In the natural word, this makes sense.  You take any river and trace it back to its roots and you will find a simple spring.  But if you go to its end you will usually find a great lake, or more likely an incredible delta system as the river flows into the sea.  But the reason this happens is because along the way this river is made up off many feeder rivers.  There are many sources of water contributing to this great river.  But not so with this vision.  All of this water in the vision comes from God.  This is incredibly important, because what it shows us is that God is capable of taking something that looks so small and turning it into an incredible blessing that is both deep and wide.  Remember the feeding of the five thousand?  This vision is the Old Testament parable version of that kind of story about God’s provision.

Finally, notice the purpose of the water.  Trees will live by it.  Fish will live by it.  Mankind will live by it.  God is telling us that He will sustain us into the future.  All dynamics of sustaining life are touched and made possible by God’s generous provision.

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Year 6, Day 172: Ezekiel 46

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge

• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

Where do we get challenge out of a passage that talks about how to enter the temple, how to give sacrifices, and how to keep from transmitting holiness to the people?  {For more information on that last point, see my blog post from 3 years ago to which I link above.}  It’s really quite simple.  It’s also really quite hard to see without help.  I remember the first time someone taught me about this idea.  I remember thinking that it was a really cool understanding of this passage that I never would have gotten on my own.

Do you notice how the people who come from the north are told to go out the south and not go out how they came?  The same is true for the people from the south.  They go out the north.  The question is, why is this important?

The answer to this is really cool.  When we come to God, we don’t go back to where we were.  In other words, coming to God changes us!  When we come to God, we leave different than when we came.  Isn’t that a really cool understanding?

This is the challenge of God.  When we come to God, we shouldn’t be looking for ways to justify who we are.  When we come to God, we look for ways that God can make up more like Him.  Yes, we do want to celebrate those ways that we are already like God.  But we also want to always be on the lookout for the ways that we can become more like Him.  That’s the challenge of coming to God.

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Year 6, Day 171: Ezekiel 45

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.

As we turn to the next chapter in the book of Ezekiel, we begin to talk about the world around the temple.  We’ve spoken about God.  We’ve spoken about worshipping God.  We’ve spoken about teaching people about God.  Now we get a vision about how life looks when God is the center of society.

As we ponder this question, look at God’s advice.  The first thing that he says is a comment on economic policy.  The people in the marketplace need to start using fair scales.  They need to quit skimping and misrepresenting their goods in order to make a profit.  Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The truth is that we have here a fundamental issue with human society.  We seldom ever find human society that is truly fair unless it is regulated.  In this chapter, that regulation falls to the princes of the land.

In the end, this is an issue of character.  When it comes to making money, are we willing to go about it ethically or not?  Do we have the character to represent ourselves and our goods and then live up to those promises?  In a society that is truly founded upon God, we do.

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Year 6, Day 170: Ezekiel 44

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.

In the midst of all of these chapters on measurements and the temple, we have a really neat mention of the Levites of Zadok.  Notice that the majority of the Levites are called out because of their rebellion.  The majority of the Levites are reprimanded – yet forgiven – because they chased after foreign idols.  But the Levites of Zadok’s family are commended for their faithfulness.

What is it that these Levites are called to do?  They are the only group of Levites that are allowed to participate in the sacrificial aspect of the temple.  But what I want to look at in this post is verse 23.  They are called to teach the people the difference between clean and unclean.  They are to teach the people right from wrong.

There is an important lesson here.  Everyone can learn from mistakes.  Everyone can be forgiven.  But if you are looking to learn from someone, learn from someone who can be counted on to get it right.  Learn from someone who demonstrates that they know right from wrong.  Don’t just listen to people who talk a good talk.  Imitate people who readily apply the good walk to their own life.  Let those people be the teachers in your life.

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Year 6, Day 169: Ezekiel 43

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.”

The end of the chapter deals with sacrifices.  Naturally, sacrifices are for the forgiveness of sin.  It is the shedding of blood that allows for human sinfulness to be overlooked.

This makes great sense when we couple this with what happens at the beginning of this chapter.  In the beginning of the chapter, God promises to come and dwell with His people.  He promises to forgive them.  He promises to put the past behind and come forward into a restored relationship.  This is why we see the vision of the sacrifices at the end of the chapter.

As a Christian, I can’t help push through this text into the future that this text does not presuppose.  We know that Christ will come.  He will teach.  He will die.  Through the shedding of His blood we will find our relationship with Him restored permanently.  And after His death, we see the ultimate fulfillment of the promises of this chapter.  After His death, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells within us.  God dwells among His people in a new and exciting way.  God comes and dwells with His people.  It starts with His forgiveness being poured out upon us.

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Year 6, Day 168: Ezekiel 42

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.

If you have been following the commentary that I wrote in my blog three years ago, you understand that I believe this vision from Ezekiel applies to the time between Ezekiel and the coming of Jesus.  What that does is leave us with a little controversy.  After all, when Christ came there is no need for the Holy of Holies anymore.  As Christ dies on the cross, the temple curtain is torn.  He becomes the ultimate and eternal sacrifice; no further sacrifice is needed.

Thus, when we read chapters like this in Ezekiel 42, we still need to appreciate what we are reading – even if it is different than how we live in Christ.  So what can we find here?

We can find obedience.  These Hebrew people lived in a time before Christ.  As they lived before Christ, they did sacrifice.  They did keep their priestly line separate.  They did keep the food left in sacrifice for their priests.  They observed God’s Law as God had prescribed for them.

Even though the customs may have changed because Christ has intervened and fulfilled the Law, we can appreciate the obedience to God that we find here in this chapter.

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Year 6, Day 167: Ezekiel 41

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.

In a part of Ezekiel that talks about a vision of the coming temple, it makes sense to talk about Up, right?  When Ezekiel thinks about the temple, he is thinking about God at the center of worship.  When we read this chapter, we should think the same thing.

The question that rings through my mind in this chapter, though, is “Where are all the stuff?”  About the only thing that we’ll talk about in the temple is the altar, and we won’t get there for another 2 chapters.  It should strike us odd that when Ezekiel comes to talk about the central place of worship that Ezekiel focus on the building construction rather than the stuff on the inside.

This causes me to pause.  In our modern worship, how much attention do we place on the stuff within our space?  Do we care if we have an organ or piano?  Do we care what color the carpet is?  Do we care if we have chairs or pews?  Do we care if we have a fancy altar and a fancy altar rail?  Do we care if we have a big ornate cross at the front?  Do we care if we have stained glass windows?  Do we care if we have nice hymnals or a projector screen?

In the end, does any of this actually matter?  I’m willing to bet that along the way something in the paragraph above struck a nerve because we do actually care about it.  But should we?  Is my worship of God actually dependent on the stuff inside the space where I worship?  It shouldn’t be.  I think Ezekiel’s lack of focus on the stuff in the temple gives us a significant message.

  

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Year 6, Day 166: Ezekiel 40

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Calling

• Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.

As we look at this chapter, we’ll get the obvious out in the open. This chapter is a fantastic chapter if you are into measurements.  But it is quite light in terms of action; and it feels even lighter in terms of theology.

If you haven’t done so, feel free to read the commentary I wrote on this chapter from three years ago.  In it I paint a very reasonable argument about where in time this vision of Ezekiel rests.  I argue that this Ezekiel is seeing a vision for the time period after the exile but before Jesus comes to the earth in human flesh.

For the rest of this blog, then, I am going to focus on a very simple fact.  In Ezekiel we’ve moved through Hebrew rebellion, Hebrew restoration, and then the rebellion of the world against God.  The final chapters that remain are chapters about the spiritual life of God’s people.  I think it is significant that the vast majority of the chapters that conclude this book are about the people and their worship of God.

Quite simply, our greatest job is the worship of God.  The greatest thing that we can bring to the presence of God is our reflection of His greatness.  The greatest gift that we can bring to God is our humbleness in His presence as we acknowledge that He is God and we are not.  To draw a simple conclusion on a simple chapter: when the dust settles, we are called to worship God.

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Year 6, Day 165: Ezekiel 39

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.

Ezekiel 39 is another very straightforward chapter – once we get past the fact that we still don’t know exactly what Gog and Magog represent.  In any case, the nations will come to war against God.  They will be defeated.  God will defeat them.  God will strip their weapons out of their hands.  God summons the carrion birds to gather around the battlefield.  God is king of the universe.

That is fundamentally what these chapters are all about.  God is the king.  He is the ultimate power.  We can come against Him.  We can rebel if we want to do so.  We can strike out on our own.  We can even organize other people to come against Him.  We have that kind of freedom in our lives.  But none of that causes Him to stop being God.  He is still God even in our rebellion.  He is still God even if we don’t acknowledge it.

I’ve said it many times over the last week in my blogging on Ezekiel.  Yet it continues to be striking and important.  One of the preeminent themes in the latter half of Ezekiel is that all of these things will happen so that people will recognize, know, and understand that God is king.  It isn’t primarily about saving the Hebrew people.  It isn’t about showing how righteous the Hebrew people are.  It isn’t about them finally receiving what they deserve.

For that matter, the same thing is true about us.  God is about making His name great.  He is the only one worthy.  When God reaches down into my life and grants me His grace, it’s just grace!  I don’t deserve it.  I haven’t earned it from Him.  He gives it to me because He is great and He is king and there is no other reason.

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Year 6, Day 164: Ezekiel 38

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.

Confusion comes with Ezekiel 38.  Honestly, we don’t really know much about this chapter.  We don’t know where Gog is.  We know that Magog is a word that means “From Gog.”  But since we don’t know where God is, we don’t really know much about Magog, either.  With respect to specifics, much of this chapter is an enigma to us.

However, we can take away some generalities.  In the end, whoever Gog and Magog is will rise up with their allies and come against God’s people.  In the end, there will be war with the Hebrew people.  That’s the generality surrounding this passage.

What is really interesting is why Gog and Magog will come against the people of the Lord.  They come because the people of the Lord are dwelling in cities without walls.  On one hand, it maybe that God’s people are seen as easy victims because they don’t have walls.  But I think there is more to it than this.  The world rejects God’s people and comes against them because their trust is in the Lord and not in manmade barriers.

Why is this important to note?  Remember that one of the reasons that the Hebrew people went into exile roughly is because they refuse to submit and surrender to God’s will.  They trusted in the walls of Jerusalem to protect them.

So what is Ezekiel saying in this chapter?  The Hebrew people will learn their lesson.  They will trust in God as their king.  But it will earn them the rejection of the world, because the world does not accept God as King.

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Year 6, Day 163: Ezekiel 37

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Father

• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  We get our identity through Him.  When the Father is in our life, obedience becomes clear.

Ezekiel 37 is one of the more famous chapters in an otherwise obscure book. Here we have the famous “Valley of the Dry Bones” prophecy.  Ezekiel sees a vision of a valley with dry bones.  Through God’s power, he sees those bones come to life.  The grow flesh.  They gain breath.  They get new life.

This is the perfect picture of the Father who loves us.  God knows we are sinners.  God knows that we deserve condemnation.  But God doesn’t want us to stay in the dried up judgment.  He wants us to have new life.  He wants us to know life after the death we deserve.  He wants us to know restoration.  He wants us to live again with Him as our God.

That’s what the second half of this chapter is all about.  Once more God gives Ezekiel a prophecy.  He is to take two sticks and bind them together.  On a very literal level, this is God promising to bind Judah and Israel into one unified nation after the exile is over.  That occurs.  On a deeper level, one could interpret this passage as a unification of the Jews and the Gentiles into a spiritual kingdom with Jesus as its king.  That also happened.  On a third level, we can also think of this as God uniting our fallen flesh with His righteous spirit and allowing us to live eternally with Him as our Father.

In any case, we have evidence of the Father’s love.  God gives new life where lie has died.  God restores when we choose exile.  God promises a future when all we can see is the valley of death before us.

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Year 6, Day 162: Ezekiel 36

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.

At first, this chapter reads like a passage of a very kind and forgiving God.  God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the mountains.  The mountains have lost their people.  However, God tells the mountains that they will get their people back.  In a short time, the Hebrew people will return from exile and take back up the life they left.  They will make the land productive and fertile once more.

That’s a good message, right?

Ultimately, yes.  That’s a very good message.  But let’s get one thing straight.  God isn’t bringing the Hebrew people back because they deserve it.  He isn’t bringing them back because they’ve been incredibly contrite.  God is bringing them back for the sake of His name.  God is bringing them back so that people will realize that God is powerful.  After all, if God’s people are in exile, what is to keep the rest of the world from using that to not come to God?  Why should the world pay attention to a God whose people have been brought lower than all other people?

For the sake of His name, He brings the people out of exile.  The rebellious people don’t deserve to return.  He does it for the sake of others who may want to turn to Him.  He does it so that people will realize that He is a powerful God.  He does it so that people will know that He has the power to conquer anything – even a powerless exile into a foreign land.

So the land will be full again.  The land will know its occupants once again.  But it isn’t because the people have come back to God.  It is because God’s good name needs to be preserved in the nations.

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Year 6, Day 161: Ezekiel 35

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.

Ezekiel 35 gives us a unique perspective on Edom.  Yes, we’ve heard a judgment oracle regarding Edom already.  However, God is continuing His point that while the Hebrew people were judged and will be restored, many of the surrounding nations will be judged and be assimilated.  Their culture will become absorbed into the culture of a different people.  There are many reasons for this to happen.  In Edom’s case, it has much to do with their appetite.

Do you hear how in the opening few verses the Edomites are accused of enjoying violence?  They did not do anything to stop the slide of Israel or Judah.  In fact, they planned what they were going to do with the land once the Hebrew people were removed from it!  They enjoyed watching the brutality of Assyria and Babylon against the Hebrew people.  But because they had an appetite for violence, they would likewise be consumed by violence themselves.  People who enjoy violent pursuits usually have other violent dynamics to their life.  Our appetite – that which we desire and crave – usually comes around to get us in the end if it does not come from God in its origin.

As I’ve already said, the Edomites appetite for violence fueled their appetite for accumulating resources.  They planned what they were going to do with the Hebrew land.  The coveted the land that God gave the Hebrew people.  They coveted the status that this particular area of the world commanded in global trade at the time.  They had a distinct appetite for their neighbors’ possessions.  That appetite led them into peril and judgment.

Al of this continues to cause me to look at the modern world.  Are we content with our lot in life?  Are we content with the resources God gives to us?  Do we not covet?  Do we not dream about what we could do with the resources of other people?  Are we any less guilty than the people of Edom?

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Year 6, Day 160: Ezekiel 34

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.

Ezekiel 34 is a very interesting chapter because it contains God’s truth proclaimed on multiple levels of society.  First we hear the declaration against the shepherds.  Remember yesterday when God told Ezekiel that if he did his job as a prophet that the people would be accountable for themselves but if he didn’t do his job as a prophet then the guilt of the people will be on him?  Here in this chapter we hear that in general the people have no shepherd.  In other words, there are no people even trying to lead anymore.  Everyone is doing whatever they want, making it neigh impossible to lead them anywhere!  Leadership is always hard, but it is especially hard when the people seek their own desires – their own appetite – and do not even seem willing to listen.

The next level of condemnation that we hear from the Lord with respect to appetite is far more literal.  Do you hear God talking upon trampling down the grass or muddying the waters?  What God is saying is that the Hebrew weren’t content living in his blessing.  They wanted more; therefore, they were willing to trample down what little blessing had been given to others so that they could maximize their own blessing.  This sounds a lot like business owners charging high prices for finished products but paying their employees low wages.  Or it sounds like wealthy countries taking advantage of developing countries by exploiting their willingness to work for pittance.  It sounds like people going into restaurants and throwing away half of their food.  It sounds like a country who throws away and rebuys rather than fixes and restores.  Through Ezekiel, God is issuing a grand declaration to all people who are so intoxicated by their own blessing that they are willing to help bring the blessing of others to a ruin just so they can get more for themselves.

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Year 6, Day 159: Ezekiel 33

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.

I’m not sure that there is a more iconic chapter in the Bible than this one about what it means to be a prophet.  Prophets care about whether people hear the word of the Lord.  They care about whether the people respond to the word.  They care about the relationship between the Lord and His people.

So what is it that God says in this chapter?  Ezekiel is to be a watchman.  Ezekiel is to tell people about what the Lord desires.  Ezekiel is to warn the people about the coming plans of the Lord and the destruction of Judah.  Ezekiel is called to be a prophet in the best sense of the word.

Then, the Lord comes to Ezekiel and explains the burden to him.  If Ezekiel does what God asks and gives the message to the people, He will not be held liable if they reject the message.  But if Ezekiel hears the message and says nothing, then he will be liable for their rejection. 

I’m not sure that there is a clearer explanation of the expectations and consequences of the life of a prophet anywhere in God’s Word.  This is what it means to be a prophet.  Speak, and people have the ability to turn to God.  Don’t speak, and the prophet is held accountable for the inability for the people to hear that they should turn to God.

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Year 6, Day 158: Ezekiel 32

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge

• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

I remember a story of a nation that was great well before Abraham was even called by God.  This nation sheltered the Hebrew people when famine struck the Promised Land and Abraham’s descendants had to go and find food.  This nation allowed the Hebrew people to grow strong and numerous.

Of course, I’m talking about Egypt.  These are the people that soon enslaved the Hebrew people.  These are the people that didn’t let God’s people go and worship when God desired them to go.  God sent plagues among them.  Did you hear the notes in the middle of this chapter that remind us of the plagues?

That is where this chapter becomes a chapter about challenge.  Egypt was humbled by God once.  They thought they were the rulers of the world until God came and brought plagues among them.  But they didn’t listen.  They still think that they are beyond comparison.  They still believe that they are invincible.  They still believe that they can rule the world.  They didn’t learn.  They didn’t display any character.  They didn’t rise up to the challenge that God brought before them.

What is the verdict brought down by God?  They will go and lay down among the other nations.  God gave them opportunity to grow and learn and be humbled.  They didn’t take the challenge.  They stayed in their arrogance.  They will fall in their pride.

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Year 6, Day 157: Ezekiel 31

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.

This chapter is a stinging blow to Egypt.  After all, this chapter promises to be about Egypt.  But from the very opening line we hear more about Assyria than Egypt.  In fact, God doesn’t say much about Egypt until the very end.  We hear how Assyria was more splendid than many of the trees in Eden!

Why is this such a low blow?  Well, there is the fact that God won’t even talk about Egypt in a chapter that is supposed to be about the splendor of Egypt.  That in and of itself is pretty striking.  God went on and on about the king and prince of Tyre.  In a chapter about Egypt, God talks about Assyria instead.  His point is clear.

Second, remember that at the writing of this chapter Assyria has already fallen to Babylon.  Assyria is a conquered nation.  They were beautiful, high, and mighty.  However, God brought them down.  God will do the same to Egypt.

Third, Assyria was the last major nation to come against Egypt and win.  Assyria embarrassed Egypt in the battlefield until Babylon came along.  They would remember the loss as a mark against their history.

What is the point of this?  God desires to strike against the ambition of Egypt.  They were proud.  They thought they could master the world.  They were convinced that they had what it took.  They were not humble before God.  Their ambition led them far from God.  Because of this, they will be humbled.

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Year 6, Day 156: Ezekiel 30

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.

It makes sense to have a good look at character while we’re in the chapters about Egypt.  The whole of the Old Testament gives a clear impression about Egypt.  It is a corrupting influence.  It is the center of most of the external evil that the Hebrew people encounter.  Yes, the Hebrew people are human and are fully capable of sinning all on their own.  But Egypt is active in assisting the Hebrew people in their sin.

How do we see the character of the Egyptians in this chapter?  Notice the verses in the middle of the chapter that talk about how Egypt has influenced the nations around them with their gods.  They Egyptian people brought their faith into the Hebrew people – and other foreigners, too.  The Egyptian nation was active in promoting an alternative to God.

Furthermore, notice the section of this chapter that talks about the league of nations.  Many nations came to Egypt for protection against Assyria and Babylon.  The refugees of many nations fled to Egypt, believing in their ability to protect them.  God sent Babylon and Assyria into the world to force people to face the consequences of their rebellion against God.  Egypt allowed people to escape the very judgment that God desired them to face.

In the end, we can see that Egypt’s character is contrary to God’s character.  But what is really scary is that if we paint these actions in a slightly different light Egypt sounds like a really good nation.  They are active about promoting their faith.  They are willing to welcome the refugees or war.  In the right light, these are good things.  But they are in opposition to God’s will.  What this really tells us is that character cannot be reduced to external appearances and a black-and-white list of “good things” and “evil things.”  Character is about our orientation with the Father and our alignment to His will.

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Year 6, Day 155: Ezekiel 29

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.

Here is another chapter where God places little value on human ambition and great value on obeying Him.  In truth, I have a feeling I’ll be focusing on ambition a lot in the rest of this year as we’ll be looking at many of the books of the prophets in the Old Testament.  One of the primary concerns of the prophets is that the people follow the desires of their own hearts instead of listening to God.

Look at the condemnation laid out at the feet of Egypt.  They thought themselves to be mighty.  They thought themselves to be a staff that Judah could rely upon in their time of need.  They thought themselves to be the masters of the Nile and all that is in it.  They had a high and arrogant opinion of themselves.

In their arrogance, God would bring them down and judge them.  As they exposed their ambition, they also exposed their weakness.  This is the way of the arrogant.  When we dream and pursue a dream that is not of God, we overextend ourselves and do not have the internal or external resources to support the ambition.

Furthermore, did you notice a distinct difference in the way that God spoke to Ezekiel about Pharaoh ad Egypt verses the way that He spoke about Tyre and its king?  In this chapter, we have no complimentary language.  God lays out judgment and condemnation against Egypt and its Pharaoh.  Even if we look to the next several chapters we find that God says more complimentary things about the other nations than He says about Egypt.  I think that distinction is really important to remember.  God knows that we will all make mistakes in our ambitious humanity.  God can forgive mistakes.  But when we intentionally lead people away from reliance upon Him because of our ambition, He takes that personally.

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Year 6, Day 154: Ezekiel 28

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Father

• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  We get our identity through Him.  When the Father is in our life, obedience becomes clear.

I was surprised where my thoughts went to as I read this passage today.  This is a chapter that reads like judgment.  In fact, it is a passage on judgment.  So where did my mind go as I read this passage?  God’s all-inclusive love.  Naturally.

In the majority of this chapter, God is speaking to Ezekiel about the prince and king of Tyre.  Yes, they are experiencing God’s judgment.  But look at the majority of the words.  Do you see how many compliments God gives to the prince and the king of Tyre?  They are smart.  They are good with economics.  They are great planners and investors.  They are wise.  They are perfect in their beauty.  God compares them to just about every precious stone.  It is amazing how complimentary God is to these people.

Now, let’s remember that these are Gentile kings.  Let’s also remember that this chapter is in the Old Testament.  This is why as I read this chapter I was astounded at the love of God.  So often we get focused on God’s love over the Hebrew people and Christians.  But it is important to remember that the Father of Creation loves everyone, not just those who are His.  He loved the prince and king of Tyre, although He was certainly bothered by their rebellion against Him.  But while this chapter is about the impending judgment coming upon them, it is a chapter fundamentally rooted in God’s love and His desire for all people to choose His ways in the midst of His generosity upon them.

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Year 6, Day 153: Ezekiel 27

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.

What is the downfall of Tyre?  They think themselves invincible.  They built a huge network of trade.  They dealt with an incredible list of nations – read through this passage and see if you can remember all of the nations that are listed here.  Read through this list and see if you can know where all of these nations are – or in most cases, were – located.  The people of Tyre worked hard to make a name for themselves.  The problem was that they started believing more in that name and their own power than anything else.

God promises that they will be brought low.  They will be humbled.  They will realize that there is no great height from which they cannot fall.

They were an ambitious people.  That wasn’t the problem.  There is nothing wrong with having goals, having dreams, and experiencing success.  The problem comes into play when we start seeing ourselves as invincible and stop being humble before God.

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