Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 46-48.

The first thing I want to comment on is that Ezekiel refers to “the prince’ rather than “the king” when prophesying about the restored Israelite nation.  I do not know the significance of that fact, it is just something which stands out to me as I read the Book of Ezekiel.  It is one of those things which I have noticed for some years, but I do not think I have ever written about it.  I was not going to write more about that fact, but I wanted to write a bit about the prince coming into the temple when the people came in for the festivals, and then leave the temple when they left.  As part of looking at that I looked at yesterday’s passage again.  There I took note that the prince was to enter the temple through the portico of the east gate to the temple, and only the prince was to enter through that gate, because that was the gate through which the glory of God had entered the temple.  This suggests to me that he is referred to as the prince because God is the king.  Which brings me to the part which I was going to write about before looking at the idea about why the ruler is called “the prince” rather than “the king”.  When the people came to the temple for festivals and feasts, the prince was to be among them, even though he entered through a different gate.  He was to enter the temple when the people entered, and stay until they left, and only until they left.  The prince did not get special privileges to arrive early, or late, nor leave early.  He was also not privileged to stay in the temple after the people left for the day.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 44-45.

While describing the temple in his vision, Ezekiel quotes God as saying, “No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary, not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites.”  One could easily get caught up on the exclusion of foreigners from God’s sanctuary, but that would miss the real point, because we should really read that as “no uncircumcised in heart foreigner…”  Once a foreigner has allowed God’s Spirit to enter their heart and circumcise it, they are no longer a foreigner.  As I was reviewing that part of the passage in order to write the above I also noticed that this condemnation of bringing uncircumcised foreigners into the temple (and it reads to me that the important part was being uncircumcised in their hearts) was addressed not just to the priests and Levites (as most of this passage is).  It was directed at all of the people of Israel.  Then upon further reading I found that instead of carrying out their duty to care for God’s holy things, they put foreigners who had not truly joined God’s people in charge of them.  Then a little later, when Ezekiel had gotten back to speaking directly to the priests and Levites, he said that the duty of the priests and Levites was to teach people the difference between the holy and the profane.

Which brings me to the lesson for us today.  First, we should make sure that those we put in charge of God’s sanctuary, which today, in my mind , is the Church (and our various congregations and other organizations through which we carry out God’s will) are not “foreigners”, are not people who have not truly and fully dedicated themselves to serving Christ.  Second, our first duty in serving God is teaching others the difference between the holy and the profane, between the clean and the unclean.

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

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.