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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 38-40.

    Chapter 38 was part of the reading I did two days ago (it was supposed to be yesterday). However, I did not write about it because Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones took up my time. So, I am going to include it in today’s blog. The first thing I want to mention is that Ezekiel is prophesying this as something which will happen in the far future. Most of the other prophecies in the Old Testament were perceived by the prophet as being in the near future; happening inside the next hundred years. I am not sure that they were all fulfilled in that time frame, but the prophet who prophesied them expected most of them to be. Another thing I want to mention is the locations to which Ezekiel would have been referring. Meschech and Tubal were in what is now Turkey, while the location of the Land of Magog is less clear. The Land of Magog may also have been in Turkey, although that is less clear.

    If the above understanding of the prophecy is correct, then it has not yet been fulfilled. Now I am going to do something I usually avoid because it tends to lead to bad theology, but I cannot help myself today. Looking at current world politics I could easily see something like what Ezekiel prophesied happening in the near future (there is currently one “glitch” in this which I will point out shortly). If this prophecy were to be fulfilled in my lifetime it would involve Turkey leading an alliance of themselves, Iran (Persia), Libya, and Ethiopia. This alliance might include some of the Muslim majority former Soviet Republics (Gomer and Beth-togarmah might be other parts of what is now Turkey, or they might be areas which are some of the southern former Soviet Republics). The only part of such an alliance which seems improbable in the current political landscape is Ethiopia. One can even see countries of the Arabian peninsula (Sheba and Dedan could easily be the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia) demurring from the alliance and questioning its chances of success. All of that being said, if such an invasion takes place, it will be a total failure.

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

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

    OK, so yesterday I accidentally skipped this passage. The passage I did yesterday was supposed to be for today, and vice versa. However, I think I am in a better state of mind for this one today than I was yesterday. The passage starts out with a rebuke to the spiritual leaders of Ezekiel’s day; one which applies to many today. The passage starts out with condemnation of those who make their living as spiritual leaders who fail to care for those who supply their living. It is particularly aimed at those spiritual leaders who live well. In a way we should take the list of things they are condemned for not doing as a set of instructions. We should care for the weak, tend the sick, bind up the wounds of the injured, and seek the lost. The line which really struck my from this is “They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.” That reads to me like a not so subtle hint for each and everyone of us. Have you looked for God’s lost sheep? Have you at least checked in your backyard?

    The beginning of this passage is addressed to spiritual leaders, particularly those who make their living that way. However, Ezekiel soon segues into addressing everyone. You may not be just one of the flock, but were you responsible for driving out into the wilderness one of those lost for whom God is searching? Even if we are not spiritual leaders we can give those whose faith is weaker than ours the impression that they are not good enough to be one of God’s sheep, that they are not good enough to graze in this pasture. Instead of pushing aside and out the spiritually sick and hungry, let us surround them and protect them from the predators waiting for them. Let us encourage them to eat the choice spiritual food while we take the attacks from the predators who wish to prey on them. God may not have given us the gifts to guide them to the pasture He has provided for them, but we can at least stand between them and those who wish them harm.

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

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

    Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones is a powerful message. As I read it I saw two important messages for us. First I want to set the stage. In his vision, Ezekiel is taken to a valley full of human bones which are scattered about. They are not arranged as skeletons and they are completely dried out. There is no flesh left on them at all, not even connective tissue. Then God asks him if these bones can once more become living people. And here is where we learn the first lesson. The obvious answer is “No”. That is even the answer which we would think God was expecting. However, Ezekiel does not give that answer. Instead, he replies that God alone knows the answer to that question. You could view this as avoiding the question, but that is not what Ezekiel was doing here. Ezekiel was open to the possibility of God bringing life to these bones. He recognized that if God wanted to bring these bones back to life He could and would do so. Would we have been open to the possibility of God bringing life to those dry bones? How often do we throw up our hands and walk away from the “dry bones”?

    This brings me to the second message I see in this passage: with God nothing is truly dead if He wants it to live. When God gave Ezekiel the message to preach to the dry bones, he did so. Ezekiel preached God’s message that He was going to bring these bones back to life and the bones from each skeleton came together from where they were scattered throughout the valley, muscle and flesh formed over the bones, and skin formed over the flesh. However, that was not enough. The bodies which had formed at the prophetic words spoken by Ezekiel still did not live. So, God gave him a second message to speak. It was only after the second message that the bodies formed from the dry bones came to life. And this leads to a follow up to the question I asked at the end of the first paragraph; Do we keep on preaching God’s word when the bodies form, but do not come to life? We need to be persistent in preaching God’s life giving message. And just now I saw another related mistake we sometimes make. What if Ezekiel had said, “Well, the bones formed into bodies. They may not be alive, but that’s an improvement. I’ll just leave well enough alone.” It is not enough for people to change away from the worst of their sinful behavior. We need to keep preaching to them until the Holy Spirit breathes Life into them.

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

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

    Ezekiel was called to be a watchman for the people of Israel. In the same way many of us are called to be watchmen today. In that role we are called to warn the wicked to turn from their wicked ways. If we are so called it is important to remember the important part of this passage. God takes no pleasure in the deaths of the wicked. Rather, He desires that they turn from their wicked ways and live. When we call out the wicked for their sins, our purpose is not to show that we are better than they, or to make the righteous feel good about themselves. Our purpose should be to convince the wicked to turn from their self destructive behavior and do what is in their own true interest. We need to remember that if the righteous turn to sin they will receive the same judgment as the wicked and if the wicked turn from their sin God will forgive them. I want to reiterate that the motivating factor in warning against sin should be love of the sinner, not a desire to see them punished. We do not show love for others by pretending that their self destructive behavior (sin often harms others, but it always harms the sinner) will not harm them.

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

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

    The Pharaoh and the people of Egypt thought that they were gods, that they had made themselves great. Ancient Egypt’s power and wealth came from its position along the Nile. The people of Egypt had become so content in the position of power and wealth which resulted from their location that they believed that they had created it for themselves. They failed to acknowledge that their wealth and power were, in part, the result of things over which they had no control. They were guilty of the same hubris of which Ezekiel accused the King of Tyre; they thought they were gods. Reading this, it is easy to see how the people of the United States can fall into the same error. Egypt was a land with natural defenses and with resources to rise to power. The United States has similar advantages. In both cases, these natural features did not automatically make the nations powerful and wealthy. It required the people to make the most of the assets they were given. However, in both cases the temptation to take credit for the gifts which God gave them was/is great and many people have fallen into that temptation.

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

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

    When I read how God told Ezekiel that his wife was about to die and he was not allowed to mourn her death. It is hard for me to imagine being told that my wife was about to die, that I was not allowed to mourn for her, AND I was to use this as a message to people. But that is what happened to Ezekiel. God told Ezekiel to do this to communicate to the people of Jerusalem that when Jerusalem fell they would not time, energy, or ability to mourn for their loved ones who had died.

    The passage concludes with a warning to Judah’s neighbors against the epicaricacy (the English word I was told did not exist when I first heard the word “schadenfreude”) they were experiencing over the fall of Jerusalem. The destruction which came to Jerusalem was going to come upon them as well. As we see in the world today, chaos and war are not limited to a single nation. When people begin to make war it is rarely limited in scope. The chaos and violence tend to spread to surrounding countries, sometimes spreading to countries that are far distant to the ones first engulfed.

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

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

    Ezekiel lists out the sins of the people of Israel still living in Jerusalem and Judah. The leaders are in it for themselves, going so far as to kill to advance themselves. The people despise anything holy. Sexual immorality is rampant, even that which most would consider deviant and twisted. So-called prophets speak words on behalf of God which He has not said. Even the common people oppress others when they get the opportunity. Then Ezekiel tells us what we can do if we find ourselves in a similar society (which, in my opinion, we do). God was looking for people to rebuild the wall of righteousness and others to stand in the gap in the wall.

    What does it mean to “stand in the gap” and to “rebuild the wall of righteousness”? This is certainly not authoritative, but here is my take on it. We stand in the gap by pointing out how these various sins have negative consequences both for the people committing them and for the people around them. We do so by showing how sexual immorality leads to misery and poverty (sexual immorality leads to people failing to form stable families and stable families are the surest way to not be in poverty). I will not go into details about how other sins do similar things, but I will point out that God was not arbitrary in declaring things sin. He commanded us not to do certain things because those things have negative consequences, even when we do not see it that way. But standing in the gap is not enough, someone must rebuild the wall of righteousness. This involves doing more than just showing people how sin destroys themselves and others. It involves doing positive good and convincing others to turn from sin to do positive good. It means helping the poor and oppressed (and convincing others to do likewise). It means showing those trapped in sexual immorality that love is not sex and sex is not love; showing them how following God’s commands about sexuality will allow them to heal from the hurt and pain they are suffering.
    God is calling some of us to “stand in the gap” and others to “rebuild the wall”, but most of us He is calling to go back and forth between standing in the gap and rebuilding the wall. We make our statements declaring the devastation of sin. Then we walk along side those who have been broken by sin and show them how God can rebuild their lives and heal them.

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

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

    When some of the leaders of the people of Israel came to Ezekiel requesting a message from God, Ezekiel confronted them over their idol worship. Ezekiel recounted how the people of Israel historically had repeatedly failed to follow God’s commands. Ezekiel tells how God repeatedly offered the people a fresh opportunity to give up their sins and serve Him. However, He eventually gave them over to the sorts of lifestyle and rules which they craved.

    I was really struggling with understanding what the point of this passage was for us today. Then I wrote the final sentence of the last paragraph and realized how it applies to our society today. Generation after generation God has sent prophets, preachers, and leaders to bring revival and to turn people to the course which brings joy and happiness. And generation after generation people yearn after the perceived delights of serving other gods. Generation after generation God calls us to make Him the center of our lives and generation after generation people instead seek to make themselves the center of the universe. Finally, we come to the point where people sacrifice their very children on this altar and hold doing so up as a positive thing. Ezekiel says that God will allow us to pollute ourselves in this manner. He will let us chase after those detestable practices for which we yearn. Elsewhere, Ezekiel and other prophets have promised that God will send His judgment upon us for these sins, but here Ezekiel tells us that God will show us that He is Lord. Despite our yearning after detestable practices, sooner or later we will turn to God and His commands. Then we will serve God in all we do and hate ourselves for the evil we did in the past.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 17-19.

    Once more Ezekiel uses a metaphor to communicate his message. The message here is pretty obvious and much the same as the one which Jeremiah gave for the same situation. King Zedekiah was put on the throne of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, who demanded, and received, an oath of fealty from Zedekiah. Later, Zedekiah turned to the Pharaoh of Egypt for support in breaking that oath of fealty. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel condemned him for this and warned him that it would lead to the destruction of Jerusalem. In this passage, Ezekiel laws some of the blame for Zedekiah’s faithlessness at the feet of the people of Jerusalem. As I read the biblical record, Zedekiah was under significant political pressure to obtain independence from Babylon. Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem made the mistake of putting their faith in the Pharaoh, who was merely human, while themselves being faithless.

    Chapter 18 contains a message from God which is at the heart of understanding God’s will for us all. Ezekiel begins the chapter by challenging the belief that children are destined to suffer because of their parents’ failures and sins. We have tendency to hold people accountable for the actions of their parents and their grandparents, sometimes even of the people they live among. And there is a reason why we do this. Someone who was abused as a child is more likely to abuse their own children. Someone whose parent (father or mother) abused alcohol or drugs is more likely to do the same. The same is true of many other sins and behaviors, both good and bad. However, God declares that it does not have to be this way. We can choose to turn from the sins we learned from our parents and to live righteously. If we do, God will not punish us because our parents were sinners. God will judge each and every one of us according to our actions. The same is true of those who had good parents. If they do not follow in their parents’ footsteps of living righteously, they will suffer for their wickedness. It is God’s wish that each and every person live righteously. He takes no pleasure in the suffering we bring upon ourselves.