Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 41-43.

Every time I read this passage I am convinced that the measurements given by Ezekiel of the temple in his vision have great significance, and not just the dimensions, but all of the details.  Unfortunately, that significance still eludes me.  However, in the middle of that description from his vision, Ezekiel describes seeing the glory of God enter this new temple in a reverse of the way he saw it leave.  Ezekiel saw the glory of God fill the temple and God spoke to him about how the people of Israel had defiled His name by placing their threshold and doorposts next to His.  In light of the fact that Paul tells us that our bodies are now God’s temple.  In what ways are we conducting detestable practices right next to God’s temple by sinning?  We must be ashamed of our sins and be determined to be faithful to God’s regulations.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 39-40.

I am not quite sure what to make of today’s passage.  However, the prophecy about the armies of Gog and their destruction tells us one thing: from time to time throughout history God takes actions so that the nations will know that He is the Lord, that He is sovereign.  As I thought more about this prophecy I noticed that God said that He would send fire on Magog “and those who live safely in the coastlands.”  The people of Magog attacked Israel and they suffered God’s punishment for doing that, but it seems that there were also those who supported the attack who thought that because they did not join in directly they would be safe.  God sent judgement against them as well.  I don’t think the message that those who support an unjust attack should not feel themselves exempt from God’s judgement applies just to this prophecy.  Those who think they can profit from sending others to plunder the defenseless while remaining safe will face God’s judgement.  God will pour out His Spirit upon His people and use them to bring glory to His name.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 37-38.

I love the message of Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones.  The story makes the point that God can bring life where ever He wills.  The people in this vision were not just dead, they were decomposed so that they were just bones piled together.  Nevertheless God was able to revive them and turn them into an army.  So, if God gives you a vision of a task He wishes you to take on, don’t think it can not be accomplished.  If you are part of a congregation which appears to be dying, or even dead, but you believe God has a plan for it, take the actions to which God guides you.  Do not think, “There aren’t enough people here to accomplish anything.”  When God breathes His Spirit upon it, He will raise up the people to get the job done.

The rest of the passage contains two prophecies about God re-establishing the nation of Israel.  There are other prophecies in the Old Testament in which God says that He will restore Israel.  Some of those prophecies may be fulfilled by the Church, but at least a few of them seem to refer to God establishing an actual nation of Israel.  Some people believe that the modern nation of Israel to be the fulfillment of those prophecies.  That does not seem to me to work because all of those prophecies tell us that the nation of Israel which God will establish will be united in being faithful to God.  However, today’s nation of Israel is a secular nation.  So, what does this all mean?  I believe that God still desires to bring all of the Jews to Him.  What I am unsure of is whether He intends to establish a nation on this earth which will for the Jewish people who faithfully follow Him, or if it will be part of His Kingdom which He has established through the Church.  I started this paragraph thinking that my thoughts on the meaning of Ezekiel’s prophecies on the rejoining of the “sticks” of Ephraim and Judah and on Gog would come together in a different way, but this is where it went.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 34-36.

Every time I read Ezekiel 34 I think of Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Sheep from Luke 15.  Here Ezekiel prophesies against the shepherds of Israel, but the prophecy also applies to all too many of those who have been made pastors in the Church (Remember that the word pastor originally meant shepherd).  In this passage God says, “My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.”  Think about what that means in light of Jesus’ parable.  In fact, think of this whole passage about sheep and shepherds in light of Luke 15.  God condemns the pastors who care only for themselves rather than for God’s sheep; who feed themselves without looking for His lost sheep.  God will hold those pastors accountable and will search out His lost sheep Himself.  However, Ezekiel is not done.  He goes on to condemn those who are not pastors who trample down the grass after they have eaten and muddy the waters after they have drunk.  Those who drive away those sheep which are weaker.  God will hold those who drive others away from Him accountable as well.  This passage contains a question for you to answer after examining yourself.  If you are a pastor (and I do not think this is limited to those who have the job of pastor with a congregation, many of us have been called to shepherd God’s sheep in other ways), ask yourself, “Am I searching for God’s lost sheep?”  And, if you are not a pastor, ask yourself, “Am I driving the weaker sheep away from the flock? Or am I muddying the water for the other sheep?”

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 32-33.

As I read today’s passage I was struck by the fact that God tells the Egyptians, through Ezekiel, “Go down and be laid among the uncircumcised.”  Then he goes on to describe the armies which God had brought down previously, among whom the Egyptians would lie.  He describes the horde of Elam’s destruction by saying, “All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword.”  He repeats variations of this as he describes other fallen empires.  Saying in various ways “uncircumcised, killed by the sword.”  Elsewhere, I had learned that the Egyptians circumcised their young men.  Which led me to think that Ezekiel means something different than just “not Israelite” when he says “uncircumcised” here.  As I thought about it more and read more closely I began to think that the passage seems to be describing a place where those distant from God went after death.  It seems to me that Ezekiel is saying that those who died because they brought God’s judgement against themselves will lie somewhere separate from God and from those whom God has judged righteous.  The passage which most brings home to me what Ezekiel is telling us in this prophecy is in verse thirty of chapter 32, “They lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.”  That reads to me like there is a place to which it is shameful for the dead to go, and one to which it is not shameful to go in death.  Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the “uncircumcised”, those whom God judges as unrighteous, go “down to the pit” in death, and those whom God judges as righteous do not go to the pit.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 29-31.

Ezekiel now turns his attention (or, has it turned there by God) to Egypt.  The first reason God gives for the disaster which Egypt is about to experience is that its ruler thought he was the creator of the Nile River, and it was the Nile which was the root of Egypt’s greatness.  Therefore the ruler of Egypt thought that Egypt’s greatness was because of himself.  This echoes God’s condemnation of Tyre because Tyre’s king thought he was a god.  In both cases I do not think it was just the ruler taking undo credit for the success of their nations.  I believe that God was condemning the people for sharing their ruler’s belief in their own divinity.  They took credit for what God had done.  In the same way, many people in the United States think that the success of the United States owes nothing to God’s blessing (and I am sure that the same is true of people in other countries).  Ezekiel tells us that God is bringing judgement upon Egypt so that all who live there will know that He is God.  Let us not think that we are gods and thus inspire God to demonstrate to us that He alone is God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 27-28.

In his prophecy against Tyre Ezekiel speaks of how they accumulated great wealth through trade, through making good deals with many nations.  They had wisely made trades with various nations which made those nations feel they were receiving value.  But then they became proud and began to think that they did not need to necessarily return value for the value received.  I am really struggling with getting my wording together today.  Tyre became wealthy because they wisely made trade deals which benefited both themselves and their trade partners.  God brought judgement against them because once they became wealthy they began to take advantage of their trade partners in ways which brought suffering and misery to others.  The rulers of Tyre thought that no one would be able to hold them accountable because of their wealth and power.  The same applies to us today.  The rulers of Tyre thought they were wiser and smarter than others, but they did not act with God’s wisdome

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 24-26.

Today is another day where my thoughts revolve around a single phrase.  In verse thirteen of chapter twenty-four God says through Ezekiel, “Because I tried to cleanse you but you would not be cleansed from your impurity, you will not be clean again until my wrath against you has subsided.”  This is part of the explanation for the parable about the cooking pot which Ezekiel had just finished.  God is trying to cleanse us of the lewdness which makes us impure.  If we resist Him He will use ever more abrasive methods to purify us.  God will continue to increase the force He brings to bear until we yield, or are destroyed.  He allowed the desecration of the temple where He had put His name.  Let us yield to His efforts to cleanse us before He desecrates the temple He has made of our bodies.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 22-23.

When I read through this passage my initial reaction was that I was not feeling anything to write.  Then when I re-read the passage I was struck by verse three in chapter 22.  In particular this part of it, “You city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst…”  It made me think of the murders and crimes in so many of the cities of the United States.  Reading a little further I came across this, “See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood.”  This made me think about the ways in which the elites of our cities benefit from the crime in their cities.  As I read on Ezekiel condemned them for treating father and mother with contempt and for oppressing the foreigner.  My thoughts went from there to think about how parents are treated with contempt in our cities, but also in much of our society.  Foreigners are oppressed by various groups encouraging illegal immigrants to work for low wages and in poor work conditions.  Ezekiel’s condemnation of Jerusalem continues to call out the way in which those with any level of power took advantage of those without power to satisfy their sexual desires and greed.  Each of us needs to consider to what degree our actions lead to harm to others.   

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 20-21.

In today’s passage some of the elders of Israel came to Ezekiel to inquire of God.  Ezekiel tells them that God will not allow them to inquire of Him and then gives them a history lesson.  He describes the way that God had done good things for their ancestors and how their ancestors had rebelled against God.  As I read that I was struck by how God repeatedly listed desecrating His Sabbaths among the ways in which the people rebelled against God.  As I reread the passage to formulate what I would write, I noticed that early on God told them that He had given them (and us) His Sabbaths as a sign that He had made them (and us) holy.  In addition, I saw that God repeatedly said “my Sabbaths”, not “the Sabbath”.  So, where does all of this lead me?  We should dedicate one day each week to worship God.  That day belongs to God and its purpose is to remind us that God made us in His image, made all of us in His image.  Further, it reminds us that we have chosen to make ourselves vile and repugnant by doing evil.  Yet, God has chosen to make us holy.  We have no goodness of our own that we might make ourselves holy.  Let us not desecrate the day which belongs to God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.