A Boomer in the Pew

Exiled Israel in a Period of Waiting Before the Lord, but the Book of Nehemiah is Coming!

Bible in a Year Series - Day #254 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Ezekiel 44-45.

Think about it.  What a joy it must have been for Israel's exiled remnant to hear of Ezekiel's second temple vision.

Certainly they must have originally felt as though God intended to find a new people for himself.  Yet here, after the 70 years of prophesied exile, it is clear that God will restore Israel, her land, and is now making it understood how he expects them to live.

What a complete joy it must have been to them to see through Ezekiel's vision that God was again in his holy temple in Jerusalem:

"Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And I fell on my face. 5 And the Lord said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. 6 And say to the rebellious house, to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, enough of all your abominations..." (Ezekiel 44:4-6)

How gracious of God to give them this vision of hope. 

When we look at this period from 50,000 feet, there is much for us to learn regarding the way God deals with his own. 

First of all, consider how great it is to be a part of God's remnant and not bear the infinite brunt of his holy wrath.

Secondly, when God does give us a holy "time out", and we find outselves in a period of waiting before the Lord, we should feel confident to approach our heavenly Father and ask that we too might see and understand our own vision of hope.

Everywhere it is clear in the Bible that God only desires good for his own.  Even now, as I stand with Israel in exile, I can look into the future and see Nehemiah, Ezra, and all Israel crying before the Lord with inexplicable joy as they stand in a repossessed Jerusalem.

Abba, there are a great multitude suffering financial trouble as your mighty hand has stricken the world with a great depression.  Help us to search our souls, get on our knees, listen when you cry "enough", turn from our evil ways, and longingly look for our own vision of hope. Amen.

PS ~ Today is 9/11.  What might our sovereign God be trying to teach us through this horrific act of terroism, and now in our economic depression.  Might he be saying to America, "enough already"?

 

Contemplating Ezekiel's Temple Vision and Israel's Three Temples

Bible in a Year Series - Day #253 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Ezekiel 42-43.

 “As for you, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan. 11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; and make known to them as well all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws, and write it down in their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out. 12 This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple." (Ezekiel 43:10-12)

The temple is where the holy name of the Lord dwells.  For the Jew living in 587 BC, the destruction of God's holy temple, and the subsequent leaving of God's Spirit portrayed in Ezekiel's first temple vision, was completely devastating to them as a nation.

Amazingly, God's Spirit again is seen in Ezekiel's vision.  Yahweh makes it clear that he wasn't happy with Solomon's palace being attached to the first temple, and in fact dwarfing God's holy temple.  He also made it very clear that he was greatly offended at the sacrilidge that was most recently occuring in the holy of holies.

The house of the Lord is a monumental and holy part of Yahweh's relationship with his creation.  Even today, after the destruction of three of Israel's temples, Jews can be seen at the Wailing Wall reciting Psalm 79 asking that God would again rebuild his temple on his sacred mountain.  Unfortunately, and making matters very complicated, the Muslims built their Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in 691 AD.

Today, there are Jews who stand ready to build a new temple, Christians who claim that Ezekiel's temple will one day be built on the temple mount, as well as the New Testament's claim that the Spirit of God now resides inside the heart of God's elect, and that God's temple is now our physical bodies.

In later weeks, we will discuss the parting of understandings between the Christian and the Jew.  However, for now it serves both camps well to learn of the holiness of God and spend our lives in humble respect of his statutes.

God desires, actually, God demands is his great holiness that we turn from our evil ways, follow his law, and enjoy his company for ever. 

The question for Jew and Christian alike is this:  will we?

 

 

Ezekiel's New Temple Vision

Bible in a Year Series - Day #252 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Ezekiel 40-41.

In today's narrative, we find ourselves in April of 573 BC.  Ezekiel has been in exile now for 25 years, and Jerusalem was destroyed 14 years ago.

In this, the last of Ezekiel's visions, we once again find a "bronze-like" man taking Ezekiel on a tour.  This time however, the tour is of a new temple.

Our chapters today primary focus on the blueprint of this new temple. However,  as we continue we are going to come to some real head scratching and highly difficult verses to understand.

From the ESV Study Bible:

"Almost all interpreters agree that Ezekiel 40-48 is one of the most difficult passages in the entire Bible."

Now that we got that out of the way, it is certain that I am not going to put forth any profound opinions of my own here.

However, I do think it is instructive to take a peek at the various interpretations of this section.  According to the ESV Study Bible, here are the four main interpretations of these chapters:

1. Some interpreters understand this vision as a prophecy that will be fulfilled literally, with a rebuilt temple and Israel dwelling in the land according to its tribes—a future millennial kingdom on the earth. Many who hold this position believe that literal animal sacrifices will be offered, but that in the future millennial kingdom they will function as reminders of the complete and sufficient death of Christ, a function different from what they had in the OT.
2. Other interpreters see this vision of a new temple and a renewal of the land of Israel as an extended, detailed metaphor predicting the presence of God among his people in the new covenant age (that is, his presence in the church).
3. Another view is that the vision predicts God's presence among his people in the new heavens and new earth (cf. Isa. 66:17; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1), not as physical details that will be literally fulfilled but as symbolic indications of the great blessings of that future age. In this interpretation, the details about worship and sacrifices are symbols of the centrality of worship of God: the temple represents the orderliness and beauty of God's heavenly dwelling place; the priests and their sacrifices represent the service and worship of all God's people; the division of the land represents the allocation of places to live for all God's people; and the river represents the outward flow of God's blessings to his people forever.
4. Finally, it is possible that there are both literal and symbolic elements in this vision, and that, as with the visions in Ezekiel 1, this vision describes future realities that cannot be fully expressed in terms of Ezekiel's present realities.

One of the things that has become clear to me about God is that he enjoys order.  Just look at the detail given here.  My first-born, perfectionist tendencies enjoy that about God. 

See you tomorrow as we continue with Ezekiel's new temple vision.

 

Ezekiel, Gog, Magog, and a Great Scratching of the Head

Bible in a Year Series - Day #251 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Ezekiel 38-39.

There are places in the Bible that have perplexed commentators for many centuries.  This is one of them.

Although the world is full of those who would profess to know the identity of this Gog of Magog, the truth is we just don't know for certain.

To make this whole matter even more complicated, there is a Gog and Magog, instead of Gog from Magog, in the book of Revelation that lead a mighty army against God's people in the end times.

I am going to spend no time in speculation here.  Whoever this is, the almighty sovereign God destroys them and it will take (or did take) seven months to bury the dead.

I am going to take this as another example of God's sovereignty, the great protection of his own, and move on.

See you in chapter 40 tomorrow.

Ezekiel, the Valley of Dry Bones, Regeneration, and a Glimpse of Resurrection

Bible in a Year Series - Day #250 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Ezekiel 35-37.

After God's destruction of Jerusalem, it is critical that we understand that there is re-creation occurring before our eyes.

There are two things especially significant in today's narrative:

1. Yahweh declares through Ezekiel, as he had previously declared through Jeremiah, that he has prepared a "new covenant" for his people: "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you..." (Ezekiel 36:26-27a)  There is regeneration pictured here, and we will here a great deal more about this from the lips of Jesus.
2. When the Spirit of God is present there is life: "Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:12-14)  This is one of the first hints of resurrection in the Hebrew Canon.  We will learn more of this from the book of Daniel.

For those of us living under God's new covenant, it is important that we keep our ears tuned to these initial proclamations of Yahweh.  As we will later learn, regeneration and resurrection were very important messages from Jesus the Christ.

Today a Significant Page Has Turned in Our Chronological Journey Through the Bible

Bible in a Year Series - Day #249 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Ezekiel 32-34.

Imagine yourself a Jew during Ezekiel's day.  You have been exiled to Babylon now for 12 years, and you know that Jerusalem has been under seige for three  years now.

Then...in comes a fugative from Jerusalem.  "All is lost", he cries, "they have torn down the walls, destroyed the temple, killed most of the people, and burned the city to the ground."

For the Jew, I suspect there could be no greater stab in the heart.  All that the prophets had proclaimed has come to pass. 

God has destroyed Jerusalem, the temple, and abandoned Israel (so they thought) to captivity under the most brutal of nations.

In our chronological journey through the Bible, a very large page of history is now turned and we will now begin to view life living under the judgment of God in Babylon.  We're perhaps thankful to be alive, but our mourning and lament is significant.

God has now loosened Ezekiel's mute lips, and will now turn his prophetic attention to his exiled people.  Looking back, we know that God was purifying his people, and in today's narrative God has two things for Israel to learn:

• Stop listening to the words of my prophet as mere entertainment and do as I command. (Ezekiel 33:30-33)
• God promises restoration for Israel in one of the most precious prophecies their ears could possibly hear:
  • “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice." (Ezekiel 34:11-16)

There are still a great many significant lessons for us ahead.  We will begin to understand the unfolding of Jeremiah's foretold "new covenant", we will watch in amazement the narrative of Daniel's life, we will greatly scratch our heads at Daniel's prophecies, we will see God raise Ezra and Nehemiah, we will see the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and in less than 30 days will find ourselves starring at the manger of Messiah.

Something unspeakably horrific happened (the Fall of Man) in the Garden of Eden thousands of years ago.  Today, standing in January 585 BC, we will begin to faintly see the Light of God's plan of redemption.

Do You Believe That God Has Complete Power Over All Present-Day Nations?

Bible in a Year Series - Day #248 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Ezekiel 28-31.

Just take a look at the things that God has told Ezekiel that he has personally brought about, or will be personally bringing about:

• the destruction of Israel and Judah.
• the taking of Ezekiel's wife.
• toppling the nations of Ammon, Moab, Seir, Philistia, Tyre, and Egypt.

God made a promise to David many years ago.  Now, rather than bring about another flood-like annihilation, God has purposed to put most of the known world under the dominion of Babylon's Nebuchadnezzar.  Then, after his purposes have been fulfilled, he intends to put away with Babylon as well.

Why is he doing all this?

He has given us his reason time and time again:

"Then you will know that I am the Lord"

I suspect that a great many in the wealthy nation of Tyre paid absolutely no attention to Yahweh.  In fact, they had dreamed up their own gods, idols, and even idolized their tremendous wealth.

Their disbelief, however, didn't change the fact that Yahweh is Lord of all, and he intended to show them this fact.

The language presented to us here makes some very bold assertions.  If God is indeed Lord of all, then he is Lord over all nations, all religions, all peoples, and all creation.  Furthermore, the Bible claims that everything is under his ordaining.

Further still, the Bible's language doesn't leave room for a syncretic Lord of all, but presents us with one God and one way to God.

Remarkably still, the Bible asserts that one day all will bow before Yahweh and confess that he is Lord.  In otherwords, something is still on the horizon that is so significant that ALL men will bow the knee to Yahweh.

What do you think? 

Does Yahweh rule over the Mujaheddin?  Does Yahweh rule over Osama bin Laden?  Does Yahweh rule over Kim Jong Il?

The Bible affirms that He does. 

The question is:  Do you accept the Bible's claim?

Dear Reader, don't put your head in the sand on this.  Make a decision one way or the other.