Fall Of Man

Condemnation does not seem like Enough (Part 2)

Dan

It was my observation while reading and processing Ezekiel 13 that the message delivered was not the usual prose they were accustom to hearing. This was a much stronger message similar to what we read in 1 John 1:1 — That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life [NIV]. Just as the readers of Johns letter felt, the Hebrews were feeling as Ezekiel is talking. He is firmly saying to walk away from the false prophets. Get away. Their dreams and visions are homemade. They are not real. They are mere vanity and divination, stuff made up and presented as something they heard or saw when in fact nothing happened.

Ezekiel 13:6-9 says — Their visions are false and their divinations a lie Even though the Lord has not sent them, they say, the Lord declares, and expects him to fulfill their words. Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, The Lord declares, though I have not spoken? Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because of your false words and lying visions, I am against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord [NIV].

It goes without saying – the message from Lucifer is false, he is the father of lies, he will never change. He will work hard to prove that God has lied, God is no longer relevant, God’s form of moral judgement is outdated and no longer pertinent to the issues we face. We need a new message from a new kind of God. Perhaps a well-meaning software program known as AI (or perhaps we call it HAL?). Lucifer has many new shades of the same old tricks. Expect him to exploit the woke community and redefine God’s character and attributes to match their needs. In the end they reshape God (1000 small edits to his character) until we no longer have confidence in the one true living God.

They are like the coyotes of the desert, good hunters, skillful at finding our weakness, attacking when we are at our most vulnerable position. They run to-and-fro, giving the appearance of being in a great hurry, but they are working to snare us. They flatter people into a vain kind of hope, not well defined, not easy to gauge when you have achieved the goal. They suggest that we can have hope and have all our vices at the same time. They suggest we are not shackled by the tired outdated rules of Ozzy and Harriet. They suggest we have woken from a great slumber in antiquity and we are now free of God’s oppression.

They are pretenders. They spew their woke concepts in a neat package as some new and improved truth. But, the one true living God has made it clear – I am the Lord your God – I change not. Goodness, what folly we engage in when we think that absolute truth is not so absolute.

We read in Matthew 5:19 — anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven [NIV]. In a woke world, at the very least, followers of the one true living God are discounted by the community, at worst they are pushed out of the community, ashamed to lift their head in the midst of their friends, the woke people who are deceived find it necessary to hold believers at bay, being careful to avoid their message.

No one wants to be trapped in captivity, marginalized in their woe. Once the truth comes out, when God’s word prevails, the mercy and grace of God play a dominate role. For the troubled who repent from wokeness, forgiveness is always available. God’s mercy is renewed every morning. Restoration is possible. I choose Jesus.

Condemnation does not seem like Enough (Part 1)

Dan

It was my observation that Ezekiel chapter 13 is addressing the vain vision and divinations that were floating around the Hebrew culture. They were hunting for some scrap of truth they could rest their life decisions upon. This chapter is focused on the impact of aimless wandering. In this case the message from God expressed through his prophets is very clear when speaking about false prophets.

Every day we hear people comment on what will happen in the future if some event or policy is implemented. The soothsayers (talking heads) abound in their message of woe or hope depending upon their situation. When the talking heads are passionate and judgmental against others, they sometimes move into the realm of prophecy. They set themselves up as judge and jury.

This is God’s job not ours. God tells us — Get it right or close your mouth (Deuteronomy 18:22). Do not flatter others, do not present illusions as truth, stay away from deceptive messaging. Get it right! Why, because true wisdom and strength are sourced in God; we learn how to live from him, we learn what to live for by listening to the message (implied in Job 12:16).

Esekiel 13:2-5 says — Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: ‘Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolishprophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals among ruins. You have not gone up to the breaches in the wall to repair it for the people of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord. [NIV].

Some of the receptors for this message were local to Jerusalem and the immediate area surrounding Jerusalem (see Jeremiah 23:14). Others were among the captives in Babylon. Ezekiel and Jeremiah addressed the problem of false prophets (see Jeremiah 29:8) when Jeremiah said — Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed [NIV].

This specific dual message is reasonable evidence they were guided by the same Holy Spirit. On the other hand, the false prophets worked hard to create a unique message that set them apart from the heard and drew listeners to their events. As you might guess there was little hope the false prophets would repent, but God made the provision, offering grace to all. At the same time the message went out to the remnant to caution them from embracing the false messages.

The deeper truth – I cannot recall a time in Hebrew history that God’s people rejected false prophets and God did not shower them with grace. Furthermore, the examples of false prophets operating rarely occurred until the true prophets of the one true living God were ignored and maligned. Arrogance led to the magnification of counterfeit messages and troublesome guidance. The false prophets were exposed to the word of God, some repented, most did not. They were trying to make a living.

They made a folly of their own message (see 2 Timothy 3:9). They are blocked by the Holy Spirit from rendering too much damage for the people of God (the remnant). nature of the false message. Thus, the listeners who ascribed to the false prophet rendered These false voices were called foolish prophecies, their followers did not ascertain the serious damage to their own soul. How do the listeners recover? They should repent! I choose Jesus.

I’m done with the Delays

Dan

It was my observation while reading Ezekiel 12 that God had employed an assortment of themes to get the attention of the careless Hebrews to understand the Judgement that was at the doorstep. They needed to focus, repent and walk away from their crazy ways to halt the judgement. Unfortunately, they resolved to stand behind their stone safeguard, stand behind the walls of the city to protect them; they were adamant, the one true living God was not going to protect them.

Instead, they kept reassuring each other they were on the right path. Elohim was an ancient relic, no longer relevant to their modern thinking and ideas. Elohim was not coming. Ezekiel was just another soothsayer trying to make a living peddling bad news. They wondered out loud, where is this God, he is not so tough. He hides behind hacks and mystics. He had no real power. Then God says — Enough!

Ezekiel 12: 22-25 says — Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel: The days go by and every vision comes to nothing? Say to them, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to put an end to this proverb, and they will no longer quote it in Israel. Say to them, the days are near when every vision will be fulfilled. For there will be no more false visions or flattering divinations among the people of Israel. But I the Lord will speak what I will, and it shall be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, you rebellious people, I will fulfill whatever I say, declares the Sovereign Lord [NIV].

Goodness, how these Hebrews have made a mess out of things. There is a remnant present, but the leadership and most of the community are rebellious. They have no real belief that God is a God of his word. They use what they want from his message but refuse the full counsel of Scripture and his teachers. They make up new proverbs to support their position. Enough, says God! Enough! Yet, they continue in their rebellion. Even if they were remotely aware of the message, they feel the end was a long way down the road. Therefore, they need not be troubled by the threat or prepare for the threat. More than likely, they will die of natural causes from old age in honor and peace rather than some kind of threat to the city walls. But this turned out to be a massive mistake on their part. God was putting his foot down. He was done with the preparations. The time was now!

Their quaint sayings had morphed into proverbs, it was as if they had been on the evening news day after day until they became accepted as truth and spoke by all at the dinner table and at the workplace. I think this demonstration of degeneracy by the Hebrews revealed the depth of corruption in their heart. This thing became a tricky artifice used by Lucifer to reinforce the corruption in our heart and make us feel like we are in safe ground. Yet, it is a clear tool of the woke Hebrew community, a clear tool creating prejudice against the way of God. This progressive idea ‘woke up’ the Hebrews to a false reality. They move in their woke state and deliver a great offence to the one true living God.

The deeper truth – when our life and message demonstrate the truth of heaven and paints a contrast between heaven and hell; we are a persuader. We are being used by God. He provides opportunities to answer the questions, he provides the answers. We simply become available. It is not our place to view them as infidels, even if they rail against God’s plan. We are to love them with everything inside of us. We are to be patient with them as they struggle to walk away from the old ways and embrace the new.

Some decide that the cost is too great. For them, we still love them. Why? Because we may be the last person who speaks Jesus into them. We may be the last time they hear God speak to them through another human. We do not know. Just love them. Our message must always be one of life with Jesus and death without Jesus. Our compassion and mercy must reflect the gravity of their poor decisions. For even if the return of Jesus is more than a few weeks away, it is near, very near indeed. I choose Jesus.

Hanging out on the Kebar River

Dan

It was my observation while reading Ezekiel chapter 10 that things were changing rapidly in the City of Jerusalem. Trouble was at the doorstep. God was on the move. Literally. God was pulling out of Jerusalem and leaving it to the dogs of war. The stench of their sin caused God to oblige their wish for autonomous control and he backed away from them. Their mantle of protection was gone. Initially Ezekiel saw the glory of God shining in the temple, But the shekinah glory is moving. God’s Cherubim (angels) are getting started on their mission. Ezekiel saw visually what the Hebrews had asked for and now were receiving. God to depart from them, the imagery was to help them know what they had given up, providing one last opportunity for lamentation and groaning that would lead to repentance by their Ichabod (see 1 Samuel 4:21). But this did not occur. Instead, they learned the true meaning of – be careful what you ask for, it just might happen!

Ezekiel 10:15-22 says — Then the cherubim rose upward. These were the living creatures I had seen by the Kebar River. When the cherubim moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the cherubim spread their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not leave their side. When the cherubim stood still, they also stood still; and when the cherubim rose, they rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in them. Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Kebar River, and I realized that they were cherubim. Each had four faces and four wings, and under their wings was what looked like human hands. Their faces had the same appearance as those I had seen by the Kebar River. [NIV]

I think we can attach some meaning to the vision components. It appears to demonstrate the angels are in close communication with God on constant basis. Furthermore, the four columns and the four wheels (which are individually alive) seem to be able to move in a coordinated manner. We could infer – because the same Spirit dwells in the columns (angels) and wheels (angels), the infinite wisdom of God is dispersed to accomplish the common good. This vision definitely presents an integrated cadre of angels supporting and empowering the throne room. The vision demonstrates that the Lord has strong control over the heavens (see Psalms 103:19-22). Furthermore, God commands his kingdom, dispatching the mighty ones who implement his will, and the vision speaks to the eventual positive outcome of all his actions. Why positive? Because God is in control.

In spite of the changes and odd turns we take in life, we know there is no one more Holy than the God we serve, he is our rock. The proud talk of the Hebrews was full of arrogance, but God knew better. He weighed their deeds on the scale and shattered their haughty plans. He brought angels to the gates of Jerusalem to clean out the mess. Yet for the few, the remnant, he had compassion (see 2 Samuel 2:2-5). They were protected by the mark.

In this vision we see the shekinah glory of God hovering over the cherubim, having provided direction, the angels are left to their work. The platform, columns and wheels are a symbol of a chariot, they demonstrate the departure of God from the City. The cherubim lift up their wings and head out as the wheels follow. Notice the extreme point and counter point.  The Hebrews are resistive, rebellious, unruly. They refuse the commands of God. The angels are obedient, worshiping, attentive to every thought coming from God. The Hebrews cast of the yoke offered by God and push him away, yet the angels are engaged in service, implementing the will of God. They are responding to his voice (see Psalms 103:20). The contrast displayed on the Kabar River can be no more profound.  I choose Jesus.

The Man Clothed in Linen (Part 2)

Dan

It was my observation that things are getting serious for Jerusalem as I continue reading Ezekiel. The first thing I notice in chapter 9 is the markings of the remnant. But there are many things that define that mark. I can feel the remnant shuddering at the changes in the City of God. I am sure Ezekiel could see the coming trouble and felt sad for his people. I hope they did what they could to turn the tide back toward the one true living God. Once the angels begin, if you did not have the mark, you were going to die. If you did have the mark, you were heading to Babylon. Not much of a prize for being in the remnant. But at least they were alive and part of the solution, not part of the problem.

I think it prudent to say clearly – we are not getting it done of we think a simple ‘turning away’ from the sin of others is good enough. We do not hate them for their actions, but we do not embrace or overlook the sin. We avoid embracing their sin. We need to carefully reach out to help others find their way out of trouble. We mourn for them as we see their trouble unfold. We grief for those who push away from our hand of help. This tenderness we exude comes from God, we are asked to love mercy and walk humbly, for it is only the Grace of God that separates us from those we are trying to help.

Ezekiel 9:3-6 says — Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it. As I listened, he said to the others, follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers, and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary. So, they began with the old men who were in front of the temple. [NIV]

As we can see the Angels rolling through the city, hunting down the remnant, placing a mark on their head of all people on the list, this clearly pulls the remnant from the fire, they are a work of grace, chosen by God so the Angels know to leave them alone. This mark is a calming event, they become aware they will be spared from the coming trouble.

The Hebrews who stayed clear of the rampant sin were protected from this extreme judgement. I think they would have been somewhat concerned, but they had been trusting God, so there was no real solid reason to not continue trusting God. They had every reason to expect delivery or extreme peace as they endured trouble. We are reminded of the sealing of the servants of God on their forehead (see Revelation 7:3) as the same mark of care and protection related in this passage. In Ezekiel’s situation the mark protects from immediate death, in the case of Revelation, the seal protects the heart from seduction soon to happen.

So, the angelic work begins. Without exception they move through the city. They kill everyone who does not have the mark. The make no distinction to age or sex. There is no hesitation. Those who live in sin die. They resisted change, they pursued their sin even when pursued by God, day after day. They died.

The angels are warned to avoid people with the mark. Coming close would create unnecessary concern and fear. God made promises to the remnant (see Jeremiah 15:11) they should be treated well; things should go well for them. We have no evidence that any of the remnant were killed. And, in other times we see the remnant protected such as when the romans crushed Jerusalem, the Christians were secured in a city called Pella. None perished. But the unbelieving Jews were crushed. They started in the temple, the Ringleaders were first meet the judgement, the sin of the eminent were quashed first. Then the rest of the city. There is no place to hide. Therefore… I choose Jesus.

The Man clothed in Linen (Part 1)

Dan

It was my observation in the vision that Ezekiel saw and wrote about in Chapter 9 was focused on the trouble in the land, the misbehavior and evil that was accomplished in Jerusalem even within the walls of the temple. He clearly was troubled by the situation, and he felt the sorrow from God. He could see the outcome of their lifestyle choices and was helpless to cause them to change. Yet he stayed the course, speaking God’s thoughts and visions even though he could see the ruin coming. It is inevitable, where sin is not abated, judgement will follow. He could see the angels coming with weapons. He knew why they were at the gate. They could not be allowed at the altar if they were not on God’s business. Then the glory of God, the shelter of the Hebrews, started moving towards the threshold of the temple. This is the beginning of the departure of God from Jerusalem. How helpless Ezekiel must have felt as he watched this vision unfold in front of his eyes.

Ezekiel 9:1-3 says — Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, bring near those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand. And I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar.

Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple [NIV].

God wanted Ezekiel’s complete attention, he speaks in a loud voice, a commander is speaking to his cohort. Position the troops. Prepare for action. Notice, at this point, we are no longer talking about the Chaldeans attacking. We are talking about Angels attacking the city. This is a demonstration of the strong hand of the Lord. Clearly, we need to respect the hand of God and his Angels. (see Isaiah 8:11-13)

God deployed one Warrior Angel to support Moses during the extraction of the Hebrews from Egypt. Two Warrior Angels were deployed to support operations during the destruction of the city of Sodom. Now we see six Warrior Angels deployed to flatten the population of Jerusalem, one for each gate of the city. No one leaves the city unless they have permission. In Revelation we see seven warrior angels pouring out the vials of God’s wrath (see Revelation 16:1). Considering the magnitude of the last days, we clearly see the importance of this event.

Standing near the altar, they felt no sense of personal revenge from God. This was not his intent. Rather, we see a pure and sincere expression of the Glory of God. The angels were standing near the altar to protect the integrity of the Altar as they went forward to accomplish their tasks. I think that God was determined to follow through with his plan; however, he took no pleasure from the work accomplished by the Angels.

The identity of the man clothed with linen is not clear, but I think we are looking at our High Priest, who arrived at this event with a writer’s inkhorn, similar to one carried by the ancient attorneys and lawyers.  I think this is Jesus, functioning as the Mediator (see 1 Timothy 2:5) isolating the remnant from the swords of Justice yielded by the warrior angels (see Revelation 19:6-10).  In the middle of this vision, we see God’s grace, his redemptive solution, his son, protecting the remnant.

Finally, we see the removal of God’s glory from the core of the temple. It moves to the outer edge of the temple. In chapter 10, God’s Glory departs the temple. This is a sad day, but God’s mercy is still present. His Mediator is on the job, protecting the remnant. Having read this passage and considered the gravity of the message, my decision is easy. I choose Jesus.

Detestable Things

Dan

It was my observation that detestable things come in many flavors. Ezekiel defines one of those flavors in Chapter 8. He makes it clear the Hebrews are on a dark slippery slope downward. They thought they were on high ground and were navigating the speedbumps, even pointing fingers at others. But they were fools. They criticized God; they missed the point. Never pick a fight with the boss. All you do is condemn yourself. This is the plain truth. They work hard to deflect their sin to something else or somebody else. But God sees through their smoke screen and knows the plain truth.

Ezekiel 8:14-18 says – He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz. He said to me, do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this. He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east. He said to me, have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! Therefore, I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them. [NIV]

Only a fool believes he can deceive the one true living God. Only a fool thinks they can negotiate with God. Never assume you can divert God’s attention and then press him to play the nice guy card, getting yourself off the hook. Bad move. He is a merciful God but not a pushover. Ezekiel, speaking for God, hammers out the message. In his kindness, he leads us firmly, holding our hand with a strong grip, and leading us to truth. Then God looks you in the eye and says – You still want to resist? Bad move!

And so, here we are. Idols worshiped in the temple courtyard. Women mourning and weeping for Tammuz. This practice was an ancient Sumerian cult ritual commemorating the death of seasonal fertility. Not much trust of God in this activity. It was clear that atheism or some form of God denying was at the core of their idolatry. The Hebrews seems to be flippant about their view – God does not hear us, so we can do what we want to do. They seem to feel they are out of God’s purview. God’s response? I cannot hear? I am deaf?  Not really. It is because of your behavior; I choose to not hear you.

I suspect, in most of these cases that Ezekiel was prophesying about, the essential problem was a denial or disbelief of the omniscience of God, this denial feeds the Hebrew departures from his law and leads many people from today’s church into chaos. This departure, to find yourself, to find some new truth, to find an easier path to walk, to find ‘real’ truth, to find a better set of friends, this departure starts when we stop accepting the omniscience of God. Huh? We start doubting that God knows everything about everything. We start assuming he is dated, out of step with the new and improved moral ideas. This pushes you to step away from an ignorant God. God starts feeling a little too small for your ‘higher level’ world. You start feeling like you got a handle on things and a better plan than God has. You start thinking God’s old, outdated moral law is not as pure as your new moral law. You start feeling superior in thought to this ancient God. And, in that instant, you are starting to cross the line.

And so, we place the branch to our nose to negate the detestable things. The branch, in this case, is often thought to be a highly aromatic branch used to shield us from detestable odors. Odor? You know. The kind of aroma we smell in a field frequented by a large herd of Javelina. We are talking about that unmistakable smell. You cannot see them, but you can hear their hooves and that detestable smell. That unmistakable smell. You know danger is near and you try hard to convince yourself you can avoid the trouble. After all, Javelina cannot see very well!  As for me?     I choose Jesus.