Ezekiel 12  Ezekiel is given a series of instructions.. 

First, he was to act out the exile of the king of Israel.. he was to pack up all he had as if he was just now going into exile.  He was to dig a hole through the wall and then leave through that hole during the night.  He was to cover his eyes and load his baggage on his shoulders.  All of this would happen to Zedikiah.. he would go into exile from Jerusalem, he would carry his baggage, and he would be blinded. 

Next, Ezekiel was told to "eat [his] bread with trembling, and drink [his] water with quivering and anxiety".. ( v18).  This was a picture of what would happen to the inhabitants of Jerusalem because of the violence they committed and the desolation that was coming. 

Thirdly, Ezekiel was told that God was going to change the way that people perceived His Words.. up until this point they didn't concern themselves with the prophecies, because they thought that it would not happen for a long time. But, now God said, "For I the Lord shall speak and whatever word I speak shall be performed. It will no longer be delayed... "  

All that God did.. He did to make the people see that it was their own rebelliousness that they needed to understand.  Everything happened.. and the rest would happen just as He said.. so that they would know that He IS the LORD!

We need to hear what the Lord is saying to us today.. perhaps we too have felt like the Words of God.. the prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled.. are "far off".  Perhaps that has made us less urgent about the work He calls us to do.. preaching the Gospel to those who are of the same attitude as Israel.. rebellious and wicked.  We say we are waiting for the day of Christ's return.. but are we really?  

Lord God, our heavenly Father, may we have ears to hear and eyes to see.. may we not be a rebellious people or a people without faith that what You have said.. You will do!  Sometimes, it does seem as if the time is drawing near for the return of our Lord.. and other times.. it seems as if He will never come in our lifetimes.. Help us to have the right perspective.. to trust and obey.. as we wait on You.. resting in Your grace and goodness. Renew in us that urgency to share the gospel with those who need to hear.  Send forth workers into the harvest fields as You patiently allow more of Your children to be born again into Your great Kingdom.  Thank You for the Word and for Your Spirit who opens eyes and ears.  We are seeking You, Lord.  Fill us today. Amen. 

 Ezekiel 8-11  These chapters report a vision given to Ezekiel as he sat in his house with the elders of Judah... while in exile.  He was taken.. as the Spirit of God lifted him up by his hair.. and brought to Jerusalem.  There, God showed Ezekiel the extent of the "abominations" that Israel was committing.  They had an "idol of jealousy" at the gate of Jerusalem.. they had rooms engraved with "every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things.." carved on the walls of the court.  They were offering sacred incense to the idols in these rooms.  The women were crying over Tammuz, a Syrian god, at the gate of the Lord's house.  In the temple men were "prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun."  They were filling the city with violence and wickedness. In every way.. they had forsaken the God that made them, loved them, and had given them a way to true Life through His Word. 

As Ezekiel encountered this scene, his heart must have broken.  For God was removing Himself from His sanctuary.. the place where His Name was meant to be.. Only those who were marked.. those who sighed and groaned over the "abominations".. would be spared.  All others would be slain. 

Ezekiel watched as the glory of God departed the temple.. departed Jerusalem and  he cried out to the Lord.. "Alas, Lord God! Wilt Thou bring the remnant of Israel to a complete end?"

But, God did not leave Ezekiel without hope.. for He promised a restoration.. " I shall gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I shall give you the land of Israel. And I shall give them one heart, and shall put a new spirit within them. And I shall take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them. Then they will be My people and I shall be their God."

Father in heaven, once again I see how our world has followed the footsteps of ancient Israel.. setting up "idols".. worshiping detestable things.. bowing before the creation that You made.. but not bowing to You. Violence and wickedness continue to fill our cities and Your glory has departed from us..But, Lord, we weep with those who weep.. we sigh and groan at the abominations all around us.. we wonder.. like Ezekiel.. will You leave any remnant?  Oh Father, how thankful we are that Your promise is still true.. You bring restoration.. You change hearts.. from stone to flesh!  You bring people that are not Your people.. and make them Your own!  Hallelujah! We have a Savior who gathers the lost and broken.. Who came for us.. and will come again.. soon.. to take us to the place He is preparing for us.. where Your glory dwells and will never depart.. Thank You for this great salvation.. for forgiving our sins.. for cleansing us and making us whole again... for giving us Hope!  We bow only to You, Lord God. Be exalted in all of the earth...we pray...  In Jesus' name. amen. 

 Ezekiel 7 "An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land. Now the end is upon you... "  This message to Israel could be the warning that is yet to come for the end of days.. God's anger will be poured out upon the sinful earth.. and He will no longer show pity, "nor spare you".  God has said it again.. "A disaster, unique disaster, behold it is coming!"

Israel's fate is a warning to us.. "Behold the day! Behold it is coming! Your doom has gone forth; the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed. Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their multitude, none of their wealth, nor anything eminent among them. The time has come, the day has arrived... " 

In that day, the Word says that "all of them will be mourning, each over his own iniquity." They will throw their useless silver and gold into the streets.. they will have nothing to deliver them from the wrath of the Lord.  "Disaster will come upon disaster, and rumor will be added to rumor; then they will seek a vision from a prophet but the law will be lost from the priest and counsel from the elders. The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble."

Sounds exactly like the judgements prophesied in Revelations. "According to their conduct I shall deal with them, and by their judgements I shall judge them. And they will know that  I am the Lord."

Father in heaven, we pray for our nation and our world.. filled with arrogance and violence and wickedness. We know that there will come a day when Your wrath will be poured out again.. on the whole earth and we fear for those who do not repent and turn back to You. What great horror and disaster awaits the rebellious and wicked.  What heartbreak and mourning awaits those who have turned their backs on the Truth that they have been taught, choosing arrogantly to do their own thing.. How can we pray?  What will move Your Spirit to bring salvation ? Father, before it is too late, will You pour out Your mercy on the lost and dying? Give ears to hear.. give hearts that will receive.. bring forth a harvest of souls that seek You and know Jesus Christ the Lord. We ask this in the mighty Name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

 Ezekiel 6  The Lord gives another message to Ezekiel.. to prophesy against the "mountains of Israel".  Every mountain, every hill, every ravine, every valley, every high place.. every green tree, every leafy oak... every single place where the people had worshiped idols.. would become desolate, for God would bring them to an end.   All of this so that the people.. His people would "know that I am the Lord"!

"Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they are carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes, which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed for all their abominations." 

The Lord would do what He said.. He would send plague, sword, and famine.. and His people would know... "know that I am the Lord"..  Four times this statement is repeated.  This is the Lord's will and desire.. that His people KNOW who He is!  If they do not know Him in peace and prosperity.. then they will know Him in desolation.  Everything else.. everything that they trusted and worshiped and lusted after..would be "blotted out". 

We must learn from this message and the aftermath of Jerusalem's fall.  God will do what He says.. and in the end.. we will all know that He is the Lord!  Everything that we trust.. outside of God Himself.. is empty and will come to an end.   As our Lord Jesus taught, "Everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against the house; and it fell, and great was its fall." 

Only when we know that Jesus is Lord of all.. that our God and Father holds our lives in His hands.. that we are His and that He will not allow His glory to go to any false idol.. only when we hear His Words and act on them.. will our house.. our lives stand, through the storms, through the floods, through the winds.  

Father, You are speaking to us again, as You did to Ezekiel.. for Your Word is a Living Word.  Your desire is that we know You.. that You are the Lord.. Jehovah.. the self-existent and Eternal God.. and there is no other!  To trust in anyone or anything else.. is foolish.. and will result in destruction and desolation.  O Lord..  open our eyes.. give us ears to hear and hearts to receive Your Word and to act on them.  May we worship and obey You and honor Your Name in all we do.. all we say.. in every part of our lives.  Come near to us as we see draw near to You through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Oh what a Savior! For He has made a way and brought us back to You.  Hallelujah  and amen!

 Ezekiel 5  Here is a stark, frightening, and heart-breaking picture of God unfurling His wrath upon the rebels.. The nation that was "set.. at the center of the nations.. " that was given God's  statutes and ordinances.. who had every opportunity to be the greatest nation.. walked away from their God.  In His zeal and wrath.. He would pour out on them "judgements.. in the sight of the nations." 

Israel had disregarded God's commandments. They had put detestable idols in His sanctuary.  They committed every kind of wickedness in defiance of His holy Word.  The Lord told them, " I will also withdraw, and My eye shall have no pity and I will not spare." 

One third of the people would die of plague or famine so severe that men would eat their children... .  One third would die by the sword.  And, one third would be scattered "to every wind".  Every man, woman, and child would suffer because of the sins of Israel and Judah.  God declared, " I, the Lord, have spoken." 

What is God speaking to us today? Our nation has had great freedom and privilege.  Yet, wickedness is taking over our cities and states.  Sin is on every street corner and flows through the airways.  God's wrath will once again be poured out.. and this time on the whole earth. 

But... Jesus took upon Himself our sins and those of us who put their faith in Him are given "rivers of living water".. flowing from our hearts.  Living water that brings hope to the dying, help to the suffering, and love to those who know none. May we realized the truth of God's provision for us.. an endless fountain of His grace and mercy.. and through His Spirit may Life flow to those in our city and nation who are headed to eternal judgement.. far worse than even what Israel and Judah faced in the days of Ezekiel. 

Father, move in us. Have Your way in us. Flow through us. Help us to faithfully proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to a world of lost sinners for whom He was slain. Amen. 

 Ezekiel 4  When I read this chapter, my first thought is.. I'm so sorry for poor Ezekiel!  Glad I'm not him.. The Lord gave Ezekiel some of the most difficult assignments.  Here, he had to build a model of Jerusalem, with siege walls and camps and battering rams... Then he was told to lay on his left side for 390 days.. representing 390 years of iniquity for Israel, plus another 40 days on his right side for the house of Judah.  This whole time he was to eat a ration of bread that he had prepared and have a ration of water.  This also represented the current situation of Jerusalem.. under siege, and lacking bread and water.  

Ezekiel did not question the Lord on this assignment.. except for one thing... he did not want to cook his bread over human dung... so, the Lord allowed that to change.. to cow dung. 

Don't you think that Ezekiel was really regretting his calling as a prophet about this time?  We can't even imagine giving one day fully to the Lord.. let alone over a year of such sacrifice and surrender.  Think about the last time we were in the Lord's house.. on the Lord's day..  Did you sacrifice anything of your own comfort.. your own pleasure.. your own needs?  Was it a sacrifice of a few minutes of your time? 

Oh Father, how weak we  are.. how self-centered and self-absorbed.  We need to see Your glory.. to hear Your calling.. to take in Your Words.. like Ezekiel.. so that we can freely give ourselves fully to You.  May we see You and know Your greatness and glory in a new and deeper way, Lord God.. May we truly worship and obey You in all that You call us to do.  Help us we pray.. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

 Ezekiel 3:  Ezekiel is given a commission to "eat what you find..and go, speak.."  The scroll was fed to him.  He would be given words to speak from the Lord.. otherwise he would not speak.  He would be held responsible for the blood of those who died in their iniquity, if he did not warn them as he was told to.  He would be responsible for those who turned from their righteousness to commit iniquity, if he did not warn them..   How difficult this commission that Ezekiel was given.. 

Yet, he was also given the privilege of experiencing the "glory of the Lord".. standing right in front of him and being filled a second time with the Spirit of the Lord.  He was fed on the Word of the Lord.. and exhorted to tell the stubborn, hard-hearted people of Israel.. whatever the Lord told him to say. 

"But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you will say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God' He who hears let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house." 

Father in heaven, what a privilege we have.. this Word recorded for us.. words of life and salvation.  Help us to be faithful in speaking this word to a rebellious people of our own nation.  Let some have "ears to hear.. " and to come to repentance.. turning from their wickedness and rebellion.  Fill us Spirit of God.. that  Your glory would be made known in Your people.. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.