Year 3, Day 142: Ezekiel 16

Stunned

It has been a long time since I have read a chapter in the Bible and been this stunned.  Of course, by a long time I don’t mean years.  I have been stunned like this a few times per year as I have gone through the process of writing this blog.  It’s one of the reasons I have come to enjoy this time in my life each and every day.  I never know what the Lord has planned for me.  Every day He has something.  Some days – like today – it is … overwhelming.  That’s still under stating how this chapter has affected me.

Birth in God

The story that God tells is of a baby who is born into a world that is uncaring.  The baby is born, but not treated with any sort of respect or even acknowledgement.  So the Lord came along, saw the baby, and told it to live.  The Lord directed the baby to a place where it could grow into adolescence and even puberty.  The baby prospered, developed, and grew.

Of course, this is an allegory to the call of Abraham.  Abraham was the one born into a land that didn’t care about him.  That’s not entirely true; it’s not like Abraham was abused.  But it is fair to say that Abraham was just one of many people dwelling in Ur of the Chaldeans.  He was common, ordinary, and just one of the crowd being treated like a normal unimportant sort of guy.  But God came along and offered Abraham something else.

Good took Abraham and planted him in Canaan.  In Canaan, Abraham grew from a people of 2 (He and Sarah) to a people of dozens (Jacob, his sons, their wives and families).  In the adolescence of the growth of Abraham’s offspring, they went to Egypt.

Covenant and Marriage

Of course God made a covenant with Abraham.  But in Egypt, the Hebrew people grew, multiplied, and cried out to the Lord.  In Egypt the Lord came, saw their condition, clothed them in His righteousness, escorted them out, gave them the Law, and bound Himself to them.  In the Exodus, God called them His people.  Of course, that first generation rebelled pretty badly and it was under Joshua and the next generation that the Promised Land was mostly conquered.  Eventually we get to David and Solomon who were leading the country when God lavished upon the people His riches, wealth, and prosperity.  God has seen this single regular baby in Abraham grow into a fully mature bride in the Hebrew people – especially underneath the often flawed leadership of David.

Let the Whoring Begin

Under Solomon, the false gods come in.  In the kings who follow Solomon, the slide becomes an avalanche.  God watches as His bride turns away from Him and instead pursues other gods.  God watches as His bride turns away from Him and looks for joy and satisfaction anywhere else but in Him.  God watches as His bride lusts after anything but Him.

Religiously, there is something to be said for the graphic nature of this chapter.  The Hebrew people did learn the practice of child sacrifice from the Canaanites, Babylonians, Assyrians, and a few other surrounding people.  So when God talks about them offering up His own children in verses 20 and 21 we’re not only talking about an allegory to allowing their children to sin.  We’re talking also about literal child sacrifice.  We know that during their fall the Hebrew people literally participated in child sacrifice.

However, we are also talking symbolically.  God is upset that parents and community leaders are teaching their children and communities to pursue things in general other than God.  When we teach our children to worship something ahead of God, we may not be committing literal child sacrifice but we are certainly offering them up to another god!

A Unique Version of Whoring

Then God accuses the Hebrew people of something that sounds utterly ridiculous.  God tells Ezekiel that the Hebrew people aren’t like other prostitutes.  Normal prostitutes receive payment for their services.  However, the Hebrew people are paying others while prostituting themselves out to these false gods, idol worship, and unholy ways of living.  The Hebrew people were offering prizes for alliances with other nations.  They were paying people to teach them their religious systems.  They were taking the wealth that God had lavished upon them and wasting it away on things that in the end do not even matter.

Perhaps it is that thought that stopped me the most today.  Imagine, if you will, a country that has been blessed by God with tremendous wealth and resources.  Now imagine the people of that country see their wealth as not only disposable, but disposable on stupid and meaningless things.  Imagine a country that voluntarily pays for things that in the long run are absolutely meaningless to life.  You see, that’s what God means here when He tells the Hebrew people that they are the most unique type of prostitutes that He has ever seen.  They don’t receive payment for their time spent away from God.  They are paying people for their time spent away from God.

So I had to ask myself something today, and I’m going to caution you – this was an incredibly humbling question.  If you don’t want the challenge, skip to the next section.  But of the things in my life that pull me away from God or distract me from God, for how many of those things do I actually pay?  How can I come to any other conclusion that I am guilty of the same vile offenses for which the Hebrew people went into exile?  Sure, I may not be quite as focused on it.  But is a smaller sin worse than a bigger sin?  Does not all sin separate us from God?  Is my smaller sin any less urgent in needing confession and repentance than someone else’s bigger sin?  No, I am guilty.  Those times that I am drawn away from God are times that are spent doing something that actually costs me family resources.  I toss away part of that which God has entrusted me to be a good steward for things that actually draw me away from God.

A New Covenant

Yet, God forgives.  God loves.  God embraces repentance.  As I have said many times, God knows we cannot deliver perfection, so God asks us for repentance instead.

God promises a New Covenant.  Thanks be to God that there is a New Covenant because – to quote the prophet Isaiah – I could not exist under the Old Covenant as I would be a sinner living in the land of sinners.  Thanks be to God that as this chapter ends, God promises that HE will atone for all that I have done, because I am not worthy or eligible to make atonement myself.

It appears that I have some confessing and repenting to do today.  How about you?

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Year 3, Day 141: Ezekiel 15

The Usefulness of the Vine

The word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel.  There is a simple question that the Lord asks.  In what manner is the wood of a vine superior to that of the trees of the forest?

At first pass, it seems like a ridiculous question.  Who would ever use the wood of a vine to actually build something?  Nobody in their right mind would build out of a vine when a tree is just as available.  The wood of the vine is a vastly inferior building tool.

However, there is one answer in which this question makes absolute sense.  What does the vine do incredibly well?  To help us understand, we should remember that when the Bible talks about “the vine” it is usually talking about grapevines.  So what does the grapevine do exceedingly well – even better than the trees around it?  The vine produces incredible fruit.  A properly fertilized and tended grapevine will produce fruit like crazy.

So there is an answer that satisfies the question that the Lord asks.  The wood of the vine surpasses the wood of a tree when the plant is bearing fruit.  When the plants are alive, healthy, and living out their intended and created purpose the vine is superior to the tree.  This is especially true with respect to the harvest.

So what’s the point?  God’s people were called God’s people for one reason: to bear fruit.  What good is the vine if it refuses to bear fruit?  At least a fruitless tree can be cut down and used for building supplies.  But a vine?  What good is a fruitless vine except for kindling a fire?

Speaking of Fire

God drives the point even harder.  If part of a vine is burned, what use is the rest of the vine?  If both ends are burned, then what good is the vine at all?

You see, remember that God has been chipping away at the Hebrew people for a while now.  The people of the northern kingdom – Israel – went into captivity under Assyria a little more than a hundred years prior to the fall of Jerusalem.  Then the Assyrians marched the whole way up to Jerusalem before God struck them with a plague and they had to return home.  In that process, much of Judah was conquered.

The Babylonians returned and began a siege of Jerusalem that took more of the people into captivity.  This was the military campaign that brought the likes of Ezekiel and Daniel to Babylon.  At that point, all that was left was Jerusalem as a vassal state to Babylon.  Then they rebelled again Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar came back to finish the job completely.

As you can see, the “vine” of the Hebrew people had been burned before.  Israel was already in captivity.  Much of Judah was in captivity.  Jerusalem was in rebellion.  As God asks, when much of the vine is burned, what good is the part that remains except to burn it the rest of the way?

Applying the Lesson

I don’t often have a bunch of space at the end of a blog post, but this is an exceedingly short chapter today.  So let me spin a little bit of application out here today.

It is clear that idolatry has been a part of the problem for the Hebrew people all along.  If you read the account of 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings, it is idolatry that time and time again is mentioned.  The people’s hearts fall away from God because their hearts lust after other things.

Of course, this is the fundamental problem with humanity.  But it is especially dangerous among God’s chosen people.  After all, if the hearts of those who are supposed to proclaim the greatness of God are turned elsewhere, then what good are the chosen ones?  In what way are the chosen ones of the world different if they are no longer pointing people to God?

This is my fear for Christianity as well.  When God’s people of the New Covenant have their hearts turned increasingly more and more to the things of the world, what good are we?  As we become more and more like the world, how do we point towards God?  Isn’t that our calling?  Are we not supposed to go into the world and make disciples of Jesus Christ?  As we turn to the things of the world and our idolatry increases, what happens to our ability to make disciples of Jesus Christ?

Idolatry is not just a problem of the heart.  As this chapter in Ezekiel so poignantly illustrates, idolatry is a problem of fruit as well.  Idolatry is both an internal and an external problem.  For such a short chapter, this is an incredible appropriate and deep lesson.

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Year 3, Day 140: Ezekiel 14

Idolatry

Back in captivity, Ezekiel is in his home doing the base ministry to which God had originally called him.  While he’s in his home, some of the leading Hebrew people come to him for spiritual direction.  They see him as a prophet, and they are in need of advice.

However, these leading Hebrew people are also worshipping false gods.  Unlike the idolatry that was happening in Jerusalem which was out in the open, these leaders are private about their idolatry.  However, notice that God doesn’t miss the idolatry.  We can hide idolatry from one another.  We can’t ever hide idolatry from God.

Then God asks a simple question.  God asks Ezekiel if He should even allow them to inquire of Him.  For God, it isn’t a question of should He answer their inquiry.  Rather, the question is if God should even listen in the first place.

Spend a second thinking about that for a moment.  Idolatry is not just something that can cause God to stop speaking to us.  Idolatry is something that raises the question of whether or not God stops listening to us.  That’s pretty serious.  It is one thing to offend God.  So long as God is listening, repentance is possible.  But how does one repent to a God who may have ceased to listen in the first place?

Of course, I am admittedly anthropomorphizing God.  God wouldn’t stop listening to a person who is genuinely repentant.  God knows our hearts; He knows when He can listen and when He can stop listening.  He knows; He’s God.  But the point for consideration is still valid.  What is the effect of idolatry other than that which pushes us to the brink of God considering whether to continue listening to us?  This is the severity with which God sees idolatry.

God’s Response

Ultimately, God does continue to interact with these Hebrew leaders.  But God does not respond to their inquiry.  One could say that God does not listen to them.  Instead, God gives them the message they need to hear.  God doesn’t give them what they want or about which they inquired; God gives them what they need to hear.

What do they need to hear?  Repent!  Turn away from your idolatry!  Come back to God!  Trust in Him, not idols made by human invention!

This is a tough message for Ezekiel to give.  No doubt Ezekiel knows this isn’t why the elders have come to Him.  No doubt Ezekiel would actually like to speak to their issues – whatever they might be.  Ezekiel knows that in God’s response he is going to have to deliver a message that they did not even seek.  Ezekiel will have to tell them something they didn’t come to him to find out.

However, God knows that in the long run their idolatry is the far bigger issue.  Unless their relationship with the Lord is made right, they will be cut off from the Lord’s people.  What could ever be more important than that?  Ezekiel knows this to be true as well.

Faithless Actions

The second half of this chapter is haunting.  For a brief time, God steps outside of the exile and speaks generically to all time.  If any land acts faithlessly, God will come upon them in judgment.   God will judge by famine, plague, war, wild animals, or pestilence.  This prophecy applies not just to Jerusalem but to any land in any time.

However, I find a small note of grace here.  Perhaps I need to confess and acknowledge that it is smugness that I also feel.  You see, God says that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were present in such a faithless land that those three would only be able to save their own life.  Of course, Noah was an incredible man of faith with respect to the story of the flood.  Daniel was an incredible man of faith in many stories.  Job was a man of faith with respect to his whole life.  {Note: of course these men were not perfect and yes, they absolutely struggled.}

Where my smugness comes in to play is the announcement that the righteous will only be able to save themselves.  We cannot save the nation around us.  Only the nation can save itself.  The individuals can save themselves within the nation.  But none of us can save the whole nation on our own.

However, God goes a step further. Notice that God specifically says that Noah, Daniel, and Job are not capable of saving their own sons or daughters.  The reality is that a person is held accountable by God for their own actions.  Every single one of us can choose to act righteously or choose to act against God’s ways.  Every single one of us will be held accountable by God for our decisions.  Even parents can only go so far with their own children!

In this light, God is truly seen as righteous.  Yes, He judges.  Yes, God brings accountability.  But what God brings is only the consequences of our own choices.  God is fair.  In fact, God is more than fair.  He is merciful.  Yes, there are consequences.  But God does not always force the full weight of the consequences upon our shoulders.  He does spare us.  He does offer us grace and salvation from our sinfulness.  He is righteous and merciful at the same time!

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Year 3, Day 139: Ezekiel 13

Jackals Among Ruins

I love this expression.  The truth is that I didn’t understand it when I read it.  But in doing some research, here is what Ezekiel is going after.

The jackal (some translations give fox, which is equally acceptable) is content to make their home wherever.  The jackal is completely happy to make a den out of something that is ruined.  They don’t’ need any kind of specific circumstances to make a den.  They are happy just about anywhere that they can use.

At first, that sounds very opportunistic of them.  But really, God is laying a critique at the feet of the false prophets.  Rather than put in the hard work to regenerate the Hebrew society that once flourished when they were in a relationship with God, the false prophets simply wanted to accept the status quo.  It was easier to whitewash their crumbling society than put in the hard work needed to build a society. 

This is the true danger of the false prophets.  They are like jackals among ruins.  They are content to be where they are rather than spending the time looking for and preparing a proper home and life.  In calling the false prophets jackals, God is telling Ezekiel that they have no interest in developing true culture.  They just want to hold on to whatever they’ve got for as long as they can.

No Longer Counted Among the Record of the Hebrew People

What is the consequence of being a false prophet?  God tells Ezekiel that the false prophets will no longer be counted among God’s people.  I think this is an expression that has two meanings.

First, it means that soon the false prophets will no longer be counted among the people of influence over the Hebrew people.  For too long the false prophets have had influence over the people and with the king.  But when Jerusalem falls, their influence will end.  The message of “peace” that they are proclaiming will be proven untrustworthy.  When Jerusalem falls, these false prophets will lose any and all influence that they once had.

Second, I believe there is an eternal judgment being pronounced here as well.  These false prophets are leading God’s people astray.  They are actively leading them against the ways of the Lord.  These false prophets may have been born according to the Hebrew lineage but they will not be counted as God’s spiritual people. 

Prophetesses

As we progress through this chapter, the “daughters” of Israel who proclaim false prophetic messages are specifically called into account.  As we go forward, though, we have to be careful.  God’s objection here is not that they are women at all!  In fact, throughout the Old and New Testament we have several good examples of female prophetesses.

Rather, there are two things of which these false prophetesses are accused.  The first is that they make magic charms and cover their heads with magic veils.  These would be akin to good luck charms as we see today.  They put their trust in these things of their own creation.  Again we see the problem with idolatry.  People desire to trust their own creation rather than the one who created the world.

The second accusation is the more dangerous one, however.  God accuses these false prophetesses of “hunting for souls.”  These women were going around targeting people who were able to be swayed under their control.  Remember the post I left yesterday about how discipleship happens because people hear a message and begin to ask questions?  God loathes this practice of these women because it is actually subversive discipleship.  Rather than making disciples of God, these women are hunting for souls to make them a disciple of anything but God!  No wonder God has issue with them.

I really like this description of “hunting for souls,” though.  I wonder how much of our secular world falls under that category.  How much of our music, television, movies, entertainment, and even culture in general is looking to make people into a disciple of something other than God?  How much of our entire culture is guilty of “hunting for souls?”

Proof of God

Once more we end a chapter with God announcing that the coming destruction will happen so that people will know that He is God.  God will deliver His people out of the hands of the false prophets and false prophetesses.  He will use exile to do it.  Through the exile, the faithful will be freed of the corruption of Jerusalem.  There we see the hand of the Lord at work in a most unusual way.  Yet, it is still the hand of the Lord at work – even in the form of captivity!

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Year 3, Day 138: Ezekiel 12

Result of Rebellion

God tells Ezekiel another truth about the state of the Hebrew people.  They have eyes to see but don’t see.  They have ears to hear but don’t hear.  For me, here is the really significant point.  The reason that they are in this state is because of their rebellion.  Because they are a rebellious house they have ears and eyes but neither see nor hear.

I have to speculate upon this point.  Is this fundamentally the reason that any adult does not have the ability to hear and see God’s hand at work?  When I meet adults who can claim to have “gone to church all their lives” and “lived a good life” yet they can neither speak truth into the lives of others nor even see God’s truth in their own life, could it be that such a status is really an indicator of their own rebellion against God?

I think this is actually true.  How is it that a person gets to an age of maturity yet is incapable of speaking from a mature Christian perspective in order to bring truth into the lives of others?  Simply put, it is because the person has not pursued their own spirituality.  Other things in life took such precedence that they did not develop as God desired.  If they were not developing spiritually, I am willing to bet that they were pursuing their own agenda rather than pursuing the agenda of God.  What do we call that but rebellion?  It is our rebellion from God and our desire to pursue our own interests that cause us to become a people who should see and hear God at work but who are actually clueless.

So, what do we do if we recognize that we are in such a state?  What is a person to do if they are of a mature age but yet feel as though they have no truth to speak into the life of another person?  First, become humble before God.  Second, repent of that reality.  Third, spend time developing spirituality.  Fourth, when ready, teach others what God has taught you.  It is one thing to recognize that through rebellion one is “coming late to the party.”  It is another thing to never get to the party because one is embarrassed to have become physically and emotionally mature but stayed spiritually like a child.

As an aside to this discussion, I need to preface that I am not speaking about the young here.  Children often do not see and hear because they are still developing.  So please don’t take my words here to be also true about children.  Sometimes children miss things because they aren’t mentally and spiritually developed yet.  Children are a whole different ball game.

Exile

Because of the spiritual immaturity of the people – their incapability to see what God is doing among them – God tells Ezekiel to do something.  Ezekiel is to pack as though he is an exile.  He is to dig a hole through the wall of his house.  Then, in the presence of all the people, he is to leave his house as though being dragged into captivity.

Just for a moment, stop and ask yourself how you would respond if God told you to dig a hole in the side of your house and act this way before your neighborhood.  Would you have the guts to do it?  Could you be obedient?  Could you bring truth into the lives of other people?

Obedience

Ezekiel is obedient.  He does as the Lord commands.  He is spiritually mature.  He cares more about God’s decree than what people think of him. 

Also, note that this is a second time that Ezekiel is told to leave his house after God told him to stay put as his base ministry.  Again – for a short time – God changes Ezekiel’s calling in order to accomplish a short-term ministry.  See my blog post on Ezekiel 5 for more on this topic.

A Difference in the Response to Ezekiel

Then, something cool happens.  Something happens that only happens among people who are willing to explore humbleness before God.  When Jeremiah did things like this inside of Jerusalem, people laughed at him and mocked him.  They threw him in prison and ignored him.  But here in this passage we hear God telling Ezekiel that the people are questioning him.  They are curious.  They want to know what is going on.  They hearts are soft, malleable, and open.  They don’t mock this man doing strange things.  They want to question, listen, and learn.

You see, when people are at least willing to be humble before God they will show a response.  They will do more than mock and laugh.  They will actually be willing to think.  They will ponder.  They will be open to learning.

I’ve made this point many times in doing studies in the New Testament.  People assume Jesus taught in parables in order to make things easy to understand.  If you actually read how the Gospels talk about Jesus’ parables, the parables didn’t make it easier to understand at all!  In fact, Jesus’ disciples had to ask Him to explain the parables at greater depth every single time!  Rather, what a parable does is help the one who is making disciples learn who the people are who are ready to become a disciple.  Jesus knew who to bring into His circle by who came up to Him and asked for more information when he was done teaching.  That is the purpose of parables.

What is Ezekiel doing in this passage but acting out a parable!  In doing so, a few people begin to ask him what is going on.  There Ezekiel discovers who has their hearts open to God.  Ezekiel knows who God has prepared for learning by who comes to him as a result of not understanding the parable that he is acting out.

Want to know a secret to spiritual leadership?  Good spiritual leaders don’t usually teach crowds with the impression that the people are learning what the leader has to say.  Good leaders teach crowds with a deft eye towards who is going to seek them out later for greater understanding.  Spiritual leaders teach crowds to prompt personal questions.  Those personal questions lead to a foundation of spiritual relationship.  The opportunity to be before a crowd is nothing more than an opportunity to seek for disciples.

Spiritual leaders teach crowds more out of looking for disciples than believing that the crowd actually understands what the leader has to say.

With several visions Ezekiel goes before the people: packed bags, bread, complaints against prophecy.  But each vision that God gives has a lesson to learn.  Ezekiel teaches those lessons to those who come to him as he acts out the visions of God.  Remember, he is doing this in the sight of those who are already exiled with him to Babylon while Jerusalem is currently under siege.  {Ezekiel was part of the exile that happened in 597 BC.  Jerusalem fell completely in 586 BC.}

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Year 3, Day 137: Ezekiel 11

One Last Vision

As the glory of the Lord departs Jerusalem, He takes one final stop at the gate.  The gate of the city was the place of counsel and legal advice.  The gate of the city was like the courthouse.  It was at the gate that justice was handed out and advice on certain matters could be sought.

Ezekiel sees 25 people.  He is told that these 25 people are the people who are giving false hope to the Hebrews living in Jerusalem.  We are told that these are largely the people to blame for the reality that the people will not repent.  Of course they will not repent so long as they hear their leaders tell them that they have nothing to worry about!

This brings us to their counsel.  This counsel is tricky at first glance.  When I hear, “The city is our cauldron and we are the meat,” I don’t think of it as a good prophecy.  I know the purpose of cauldrons.  Cauldrons are used to cook meat.  From my modern frame of mind, I hear these words and think that they are speaking the truth.  Literally, they are being cooked!  The Babylonians will slaughter the Hebrew people during the siege.  From a modern perspective, meat within a cauldron is not safe!  Meat within a cauldron is dinner!

But, all of that line of thinking comes from my modern perspective.  In those days, cauldrons weren’t used for cooking meat.  Cauldrons were used for protecting meat.  When you had meat, you would want to put it is some safe place.  There are few places safer than a thick iron cauldron.  Don’t think of a cooking cauldron; think of a heavy iron pail.  The pail keeps the meat safe from being stolen, collecting flies or parasites, or more generally from being used for other purposes than the owner intends.

Therefore, in the ancient mindset the people would have heard these false prophets saying, “Jerusalem is impenetrable.  We are like meat kept safe in a heavy pail.  Nothing can get in and spoil us.  Build houses, this siege can’t last forever!”

Of course, we know it is this advice that cannot last.  We know that this advice is wrong.  The city does fall.

A New Prophecy

God tells Ezekiel to tell the truth.  Jerusalem is not the safe haven that the people in Jerusalem think that it is.  Jerusalem will not be the fortified impenetrable city.  They will fall.

What I love about this part of the prophecy is the personal nature of God that is contained within it.  God says that the people will be dragged out of Jerusalem by His action.  It is God that will remove them from their so-called safe place.  Again we hear scripture affirm that God is the impetus for the fall of Jerusalem.

I’ve made this point before, so in this blog post I want to take this thought on a bit of a tangent.  It is passages like this that actually make me believe in the God of the Bible more.  No human author would ever write this as fiction.  Who, in writing a fiction book, would think to present a God that drags His own people into captivity?  No, a human author trying to write a human book would talk about an incredibly great God who never makes anyone suffer or deal with consequences.  A human writing a book like this would want to make God so perfect that people would naturally fall in love with His uncharacteristic benevolence and grace.

Don’t get me wrong.  I do believe God is beyond gracious, merciful, and benevolent.  But God is also righteous.  God is jealous.  God is faithful and true to His Word and His promises.  God does hold people accountable.  God does judge when we deserve it.  God does drag us out of our so-called safe places and place us in captivity once and a while.

The God of the Bible is a real God.  This is not some made-up testimony.  The fact that the Bible is so bold in the proclamation that the captivity of the Hebrew people was from the very hand of God actually causes me to believe the message of the Bible even more.  No human could – would – make this up.

God Leaves His Temple

After this, the presence of the Lord departs.  Ezekiel is returned back to his home as he is already in captivity.  But Ezekiel is given a message to tell to the people.

God will return them to the Promised Land.  God will allow a remnant to exist.  God will put within them a new heart and a spirit to obey.  God will do all of these things.  These people will be His people, and they will be His God.  These people will obey His statutes and they will walk in His ways.

That being said, I have to read this through the eyes of the New Testament.  I know who those new people are.  I know who it is that God’s Spirit dwells within.  I know who it is that knows God’s Laws because I know who is responsible for inscribing Himself upon our hearts.  I know all of that.

So I really think it is quite significant that the Lord leaves His temple before giving Ezekiel this message.  It is as if God is saying, “I am leaving this place.  I will no longer dwell among people in this fashion.  I am going to dwell in heaven.  And I will dwell on earth.  I will dwell within people.”  It’s as if when God leaves the temple He is giving Ezekiel a sign that things are going to change. 

I really like this ending to the vision. 

Abomination.  Judgment.  Promise of something new.  Hope for the future – the next installment of God’s plan.

Sin.  Judgment.  Repentance.  Something new.  Hope for the future – the next installment of God’s plan.

Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

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Year 3, Day 136: Ezekiel 10

Coals

It is easy for us to think of fire as judgment.  After all, fire destroys, right?  Fire consumes, right?  Fire gets hold of things and alters their state, right?

Only this last one is correct from the perspective of Old Testament spiritual symbolism.  Fire is a means of purification.  Fire purifies.  It burns away that which cannot stand the true test of God.

I suppose, in the case of something that has absolutely no redeeming qualities, fire would consume it entirely.  But it is best to think of fire in the Old Testament as a purifier rather than a consumer.

Think about the call of Isaiah.  He claimed that he was a “person of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips.”  {If you need to, go back and read Isaiah 6.  One of my favorite calling stories in the Bible.}  What is it that God uses to purify Isaiah’s unclean lips?  It is a coal from the altar.  Fire is a means to purify by burning away all that which cannot stand in God’s presence.

Additionally, notice that God tells the man in linen to take the fire.  Remember from yesterday that the man with the fire is also the man who went around and marked those who mourned for what had happened to the temple.  The man in linen was the one who marked people to be spared.  It just makes sense that this divine being would be using the coals as a sign of purification and not as a sign of destruction.

So what is this really all about?  We know that symbolically Ezekiel has been shown by God how few would remain after Jerusalem falls.  Here, God is also telling Ezekiel that even if many are killed, the few that remain will be purified.  This is actually a story of grace!  Those who remain will be purified back into the presence of God.  Sure, they will go into captivity.  But captivity will be a process of purification for them!

I really like the deep symbolism of the 7^th man.  This is a brand new concept to me – I’ve never really studied the book of Ezekiel in depth before.  But here is the 7^th man.  He is the one who symbolically turns the sign of judgment from a work of creation (6 people) into a work of God (7 people).  He is dressed differently – as a priest.  He goes about Jerusalem marking the ones who are to be spared.  Once spared, He goes about the ones remaining as He brings a symbol of purification to them.  I’ll have to think far more deeply on this passage, but I think that this passage is really ripe with images and messages that point us to seeing this 7^th man as a Christ-like figure.

Cherubim

The rest of this chapter really deals with the cherubim (or cherub, in the singular).  I don’t know about you, but when I think of the word cherub I typically think about cupid.  I think of this little cute almost naked baby with these dainty wings flying around shooting little arrows at people.

I’ve got news for you.  That is not the Biblical concept of what a cherub is.  I’d guess on some level you already knew that.  However, what I am also guessing is that you had no real idea just what a cherub is from a Biblical perspective.  So let’s spin these guys out for a second.

These are beings with four faces.  {Cherub, human, lion, eagle}  In many places, the face of the cherub was said to be like that of an ox, so you can feel free to think about it that way.  In fact, if you go back to the description of the cherubim in chapter 1, you’ll notice in that chapter Ezekiel says ox rather than cherub.  They also have multiple sets of wings.  Below the wings, they also appear to have hands like a human.  This is a far cry from your garden variety of cherub.

What is the point of all of this?  These are divine servants that we don’t really understand.  In some respects there are human qualities about them.  But in many obvious ways they are completely and totally other-worldly different from human life.  The cherubim are not some simple, cute angelic being.  The cherub is something unfamiliar, perhaps a bit scary, and not understood at all.  They are beings who dwell in the presence of God and who appear to be tied to His personal throne.

God leaves His Temple

As we get to the end of this chapter, we have a sad story.  God leaves His seat in the temple.  He goes to join the cherubim.  They leave the temple.  God goes elsewhere to dwell.

Obviously, this passage is sad because God leaves.

What I find sad is why God leaves.  God doesn’t leave because of sin.  Human beings are always full of sin.  He couldn’t have dwelled in the temple at all if God was permanently offended by sin enough to leave.  Every human priest that served Him was a part of original sin.  Sure, there had been sacrifices; but still.  Humanity is sinful.

To figure out why God leaves, go back to where this vision began.  God showed Ezekiel the abominations that were occurring in the temple.  God leaves because the people have lost sight of their sinfulness.  There is no longer a sense of repentance.  There is no longer a sense that they have done anything wrong.  There is a sense that God is oblivious to their behavior.  The people aren’t in a relationship with God.

They don’t force God out.  Their actions testify that they no longer want God to be a part of their life.  So God obliges.  God gives them their desire.  His presence leaves.

I think this point is worth further pondering.

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Year 3, Day 135: Ezekiel 9

7 Men

As I was reading this passage I came across a thought in my head that I am going to share.  I can’t find validation for this thought anywhere else in a commentary, so you’ll have to read and discern yourself.  But here goes.

Ezekiel hears God call for the executioners of the city.  {Some translations say guard, but as we’ll see in a little bit that I think executioner is an appropriate translation here.}  Six executioners come forward.  Each executioner has a weapon for slaughter in his hand.  Certainly these are angelic or some kind of divine beings sent by God to watch over what is happening in Jerusalem.

But then, interestingly enough, comes a seventh man.  This seventh man is different.  He is dressed like a teacher of the Law or a priest and has the tools of a scribe at his side.

Numerically speaking, six is the number of creation.  It took six days to create the world.  However, the number seven is God’s number.  It represents completion.  So here at the time of the judgment of Jerusalem there are seven judges present.  God’s judgment on Jerusalem is symbolically complete and divine.  The Babylonian conquest is not a worldly thing as it appears at first glance.  Rather, the Babylonian conquest is something that comes at the hand of God.

Judgment

This is a really deep chapter.  God then tells the 7^th man to go around the city and to put a mark on people who are mourning for the abominable acts being done in God’s place of worship.  God tells the 7^th man to select out those who are spiritually opposed to what the people have made the temple to become.

God then tells the other 6 to go around and slaughter any who are not marked.  Let’s think about this for a second.  God knows everything.  So what does it really say about the status of Jerusalem if He appoints 1 divine being to mark out the spiritually faithful and 6 divine beings to slaughter the spiritually unfaithful.  Clearly, wide is the path that leads to destruction.  Many found it.

There is a deep point here.  Those who follow God mourn when the things of God are corrupted.  Those who follow God may be powerless to stop the slide into rebellion on behalf of the people around them, but they still mourn the corruption.  Following God is not always about winning.  Following God is about faithful obedience.  We know that the faithful few in Jerusalem could not sway the people of Jerusalem into repentance.  But that doesn’t mean they didn’t likewise mourn the slide into rebellion.  God desires us to mourn with Him when the world chooses to abandon Him.

Again, Ezekiel Falls on His Face

Ezekiel is overcome with grief.  Ezekiel cannot conceive of just how many people will die at the hand of God’s judgment.  He has just seen a vision from God of how much abomination is happening in the temple.  He knows the outcome cannot be good.

But he has absolutely no recourse.  What can Ezekiel do?  He’s already in captivity.  He cannot change the course of Jerusalem’s fate!  So all he can do is mourn.

In many ways, this goes back to my prior point.  Sometimes we cannot change the course of events.  Sometimes we are absolutely powerless to stop it.  In those moments, all we can do is to turn to God, mourn, and accept that ultimately all things are in His hands.

And there is the point of grace in this story.  Yes, people will die during the Babylonian siege.  The people of Jerusalem will reap the consequences of their idolatry.  It will be a difficult time.  But it was not Ezekiel’s burden to bear.  Ezekiel is not to blame.  Ezekiel is called to mourn so that he can begin to prepare the next generation to not make the same mistakes.  Ezekiel is not called to fix the problems of the world.  Ezekiel is called to recognize them, mourn, and then go ahead with God’s plan for the exiles while letting God deal with Jerusalem.  God’s grace is that He doesn’t expect us to solve the world’s problems.  We just recognize them and mourn.

Obedience

The 7^th man completes the task and reports back to God.  He is first obedient.  He is thorough.  He does what the Lord asks of Him.

Having done what the Lord has asked, it is time for judgment to begin.  Those who were righteous would be spared.  Those who were righteous had God’s seal of protection.  The time had come for those outside of God’s protection to face the God from whom they had walked away.

This is a dark note to end upon.  But it is the note I need to end on today.

How important it is to mourn for the lost and to speak truth into people’s lives…

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Year 3, Day 134: Ezekiel 8

In My House

A few chapters ago we heard God tell Ezekiel to stay in His house.  Then, a few chapters later, we see God give Ezekiel a vision instructing him to go out and perform a specific task before returning back into his base ministry.  Here, in Ezekiel 8, we have confirmation that Ezekiel is indeed back in his base ministry.  He’s back in his house. 

What is even more important is that the leaders of the Hebrew people already in exile were gathered in his house with him.  They had begun to understand the importance of coming to God (or God’s emissaries on earth) wherever they can be found.  The path back to humbleness before God has begun – if ever so small.  Now it was important to teach those leaders why judgment had finally come upon them.

A Second Theophany

As the elders are gathered around Ezekiel, he sees a second theophany.  This theophany is identical to the theophany in the first chapter.  The appearance was as a man, but of fire and glowing metal.  The appearance stretched out something that could have been a hand and grabbed Ezekiel’s hair.

It is important to maintain the metaphoric language.  Ezekiel didn’t see a man.  He didn’t see a glorified man.  Ezekiel saw an image of God, a representation of God.  God is not a glorified human being.  God is something other.  God comes to us and makes His presence known, but we can neither see nor comprehend God’s true presence.  It is important to understand this difference.  If we lose sight of this too often, it becomes too easy to think of God as just a superhuman.  Of course, that would be wrong.

Idolatry

As Ezekiel is transported in the vision to Jerusalem, he is able to see an idol that had been erected in the court of the temple.  Ezekiel calls it an idol of jealousy.  This is an incredible description, because it is a window into the mind of God.  An idol had been constructed in His temple, and it is God who is jealous.  The idol was evoking jealousy from God, not jealousy from people.  God wanted to show Ezekiel what exactly He was so upset about.

When it comes down to it, God is upset about idolatry more than anything else.  Yes, idolatry is bad.  But idolatry within the spaces that we have dedicated to Him is unthinkable!  Of course God would be upset when people have utterly profaned His worship space with idols to other gods!

But then I wonder about myself and the congregation I serve.  I wonder about the churches in this country in which I live.  What idols have I helped to create in our worship spaces?  What things have I been a part of that actually serves to take the focus off of God and put it somewhere else?  Are there people, programs, or even ideals that take the focus off of God when we come to gather in worship?

Hidden from God

Then Ezekiel is called to go deeper into the temple.  Ezekiel is brought in the vision through the walls and into the inner portions of the temple.  He is brought into the quarters for the priests.  The spiritual leaders of the Hebrew people are gathered in the quarters and they are worshipping other gods in the privacy of their own rooms and office spaces.

They think that they are hidden from God.  They think that they are doing things in private where nobody can see them.  They think that their public persona will hide the private things going on in their life.

From the perspective of the world, they may be right.  They can hide things from the people.  They can hide things from each other.  But where they cannot hide is from God.  God sees what they are doing and knows it.  God finds it deplorable and reprehensible.  No wonder God is bringing judgment upon the people.

But as with the last section, I cannot help but ask myself a question.  What have I buried within my heart?  What practices do I do in secret that I can hide from the world but cannot hide from God?  What do I do in my life that ends up driving God out of my life?  What idolatry do I do that pushes God to the side?

Tammuz

Tammuz is a Sumerian God.  The people of Babylon and that general area would mourn the “death” of Tammuz every year when the crops would die and turn brown at the end of the growing season.  Tammuz was believed to go into the underworld for a while and then be resurrected each year in spring.  Here Ezekiel finds a woman who is mourning the death of Tammuz in God’s holy temple.  Idolatry in practice.  What’s horrible is that in this story of Tammuz we can see an idolatrous replacement to the truth resurrection that God will bring about in Jesus.

Worship in the Court

Then Ezekiel gets to see a vision of many of the leaders in the court of the Lord who are worshipping the sun.  Here in the court of the Lord they are worshiping something other than God.  Idolatry proliferates.

I am saddened, because I see the same thing happening in our culture.  We worship all kinds of things in our sanctuaries.  We promote all kinds of behavior that competes with the worship of God.  We’re no different at heart.

I’ve even heard of churches now that open doors to people who want to worship any god, just to do it in their space.  There are churches that are worshiping Sophia or even Wiccan goddesses of love and war among people who confess that they are Christian.  Reading this chapter today has caused me to mourn.

I wonder how much the perspective of God differs between this vision with Ezekiel and His perception of the direction of the western Christian church.  In a day and age that seems to profess “many paths to the same god,” what would God really have to say about it?  I think His point is clear with Ezekiel.  Judgment comes to people who allow His space to be profaned with the worship of other gods.  Idolatry in His holy spaces will not be tolerated

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Year 3, Day 133: Ezekiel 7

Punishment from a Righteous God

Ezekiel is told of yet another vision.  In this chapter, we have a very dark and bleak vision.  There is no grace to be found here.  This is a chapter of judgment.

In this chapter, the Hebrew people will learn about a side of God that has not been unveiled for almost a thousand years.  In this chapter, the people will see the side of God that is righteous.  Ezekiel 7 demonstrates that the people will see a God who punishes sin because of His righteousness.

Because of God’s love, He allows people to sin and repent.  Because of His mercy, He allows people to repent and repent and repent.  But when a people are no longer interested in repenting, then it is time for judgment.  It is one thing to do something wrong.  It is another thing to do something wrong repeatedly and struggle against it each and every time.  It is another thing entirely to do something wrong and no longer see it as wrong.

The last people to see this side of God on a grand scale were the Hebrew people coming out of Egypt.  They hardened their hearts against God and no longer saw themselves as doing evil.  So God had them wander the desert until they all died.  Then, for almost a millennium God has endured a people who went through various levels of righteousness and unrighteousness.  But now the people no longer repent.  The people worship other gods and don’t see any error in it.  So the hand of judgment is upon them.

No Mercy

I find the middle portion of this chapter striking in its confessional severity.  God tells Ezekiel that He will strike without pity.  God’s eye will not spare.  When the nation falls away, the whole nation will be judged.

What I find even more striking is the reason that the Lord gives for such severity.  The Lord says that this will happen so that the world will know that it is the Lord who struck.  The Lord will bring such severity so that people will have no recourse but to understand that such a grand calamity could only be from the hand of God.

I find that I have a love-hate relationship with this idea.  I love the idea of God being seen through big things.  I love the idea of God being visible through miracles.  I love the idea that there are some things out there that are just so big that only God could be behind them.  However, I only love this idea when I am free to apply it to the things that paint God in a positive light.

I naturally resist this idea when calamities strike the world or strike a nation.  I resist the idea that God could bring judgment upon a people so that others will know that He has been at work.  To be honest, I just don’t like thinking about the God who could condemn Sodom, drown the Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea, or bring the nation of Judah to its knees before the Babylonians.  Don’t get me wrong.  I accept it.  I believe it to be true.  But almost every fiber within me resists peering into that face of God.

We don’t like to look at the God who judges.  We don’t like to look at the righteousness of a God who gives us what we truly deserve.  We’d much rather see God in the grace, love and mercy side.  Staring into the righteous side of God is a daring thing indeed.  It is not for the faint of heart.  But it is indeed a true part of God’s character.  He is righteous.  He is holy.  It is a terrible thing to look in awe to this God who judges in righteousness and brings nations to their knees simply so that they will know that the Lord has acted.

Economic Collapse

In the second half of the chapter we have a lot of talk about buyers, sellers, and various other economic terms.  At first I found this part of the chapter really confusing.  Why is it that the seller would rejoice at the calamity brought on through the Babylonian captivity?

The reason the seller rejoices is because the Hebrew people are losing everything.  In captivity, economics stops.  In captivity, nobody owns anything except the captors.  The captors – the Babylonians – come in and take what once did not belong to them.  Then they drag it all over their empire and sell it for a lucrative profit.  They sell portions of their newly acquired land.  The sellers rejoice because through the captivity they will sell what they did not earn or make.  They will sell what they took from the Hebrew people. 

Such is the utter and absolute fall of the Hebrew people.  Foreigners will be given the plunder and the spoils of war.  People who do not belong to Jerusalem will take possession of it and make it profane.  This image would haunt the Hebrew people at the early stages of their captivity.

The End is Near

To close this chapter, we hear God tell Ezekiel to forge a chain.  With chains the Hebrew people would be led away from Jerusalem in judgment.  It would be a hard and painful day.

However, the worst part of it is that the Lord says that He will bring the worst of the nations to oppress them.  God uses the vile of the vile to accomplish His judgment.  The pride of the Hebrew people would be brought low at the feet of the vilest nation in the world at the time.  But the worst part for me is how this chapter ends.  Why is the vilest nation used to bring down the Hebrew people?  Again, this grandest of calamities will happen so that the people will know it is at the hand of the Lord.  Again we see that the righteous face of God can be seen clearly through calamity and through judgment.

Weep and mourn!  It is never easy watching judgment come.  It is never easy seeing people fall.  It is never easy seeing people reap the fruit of their labor.  But sometimes it is necessary.  So we weep and we mourn for those who push against God so hard that there is no longer room for repentance.

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