NOVEMBER 5
Ezekiel
12-14:11
In reading any of the books in the
Bible, it is good to have an idea of what the entire book is about. You'll be
able to do this yourself if you ask yourself that question while reading each
book year after year. Take notes and make it your hobby to figure out the
purpose of each book. As you read you can test your theory. God will not grade
you as if you'll get docked points for "getting it wrong." Most Bible
expositors differ slightly in their expression of what each book is saying. But
God will reward you for digging and thinking, and the Spirit might even give
you something that the well-known preachers never saw.
This is just me, but I think that in
Ezekiel, God is preparing the exiled people of Israel for the return to the
land, and He is preparing the future nation of Israel for the Millennial
Kingdom. As God uses Ezekiel, this strange, mute, immobilized man, to jolt the
people, God will focus them on who He really is and make them sick of their
idolatry. We've seen the idolatry in the temple that caused God to leave the
city. I'm sure that jolted the people. Today, God goes after them again for
listening to false prophets, and the idolatry that was at the core of this
deception. When Israel returned to the land, for the most part, idolatry is
never mentioned again. God is preparing the people.
Ezekiel 12
Vs. 1-7 Somehow this became a big
event. Remember that Ezekiel normally couldn't go out of his house. What that
baggage meant might have been more than a back-pack. Whatever this was, it
became a city-wide event. As Ezekiel put stuff out in front of his house in the
morning, it became news. By the time evening came and he had made the hole,
everyone was watching.
V. 2 The "eyes and ears"
proverb is the same as in Isaiah and what Jesus quotes in the NT. It means they
have the ability, but refuse to do it. It's willful.
V. 6 Covering his face would have an
interesting application.
V. 7 What made this event even stranger
is that, apparently, since God never spoke to Ezekiel during the event, Ezekiel
remained completely mute. They could ask him what he was doing, but if
anything, he could only grunt.
Vs. 8-16 The next day, finally, God let
Ezekiel speak. Now he had everyone's attention.
Vs. 12-13 This is talking about King
Zedekiah. Ezekiel wore the veil symbolizing the blinding of Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar.
All of this took place just as Ezekiel said it would.
If you're underlining, vs. 15 and 16
have that very important phrase in them. Notice that this is said with a strong
sense of assurance. God will make sure the lesson is learned.
Vs. 17-20 This is both a sign and a
message. This happened somewhere in public, like at a feast, while Ezekiel was
eating and drinking; or maybe he brought his own lunch to the marketplace.
Ezekiel did this weird thing of eating and drinking with great fear and dismay.
I'm sure all the parents rushed to make sure their kids were nowhere near this
madman.
Vs. 21-25 Notice And the word of the Lord came to me. It will keep coming.
V. 22 The visions were false visions of
hope. The people opened themselves up to listening to lies and putting their
hopes in false gods. Now they wanted nothing to do with any prophecies
including those that were true. They were lumping Ezekiel's sermons into this
category of falseness. God didn't like this proverb.
Vs. 26-28 And the point of this sermon
is… God is throwing their motto back into their faces. The fulfilling of this
word would be soon.
Ezekiel 13
As you observe this chapter, keep in
mind that these practices were taking place in Jerusalem as well as among some
of the Jews in Babylon. The exiles in Babylon hadn't been cleansed yet, but it
would come.
Vs. 1-7 This is against the false
prophets. You wonder why these prophets preached. It was obviously for
themselves and to be known. The effect of lies and unfulfilled visions is to
dull, discourage, and deceive a people. Verse 5 shows that none of the
prophets, except Jeremiah, put themselves in harm's way to help the city or the
people by standing in the breach. This lack of a man with a heart for the
people will be mentioned again in a famous verse in Ezekiel 22:30.
Vs. 8-16 Rather than building up the
wall, they disguised and helped its decay. Notice v. 9. The wall in v. 10 was a
dangerous, cracked wall that was smeared with a light coat of plaster to hide
the cracks.
V. 14 God would make sure it fell and
in that day they shall know…
Vs. 17-23 This is against the false
prophetesses. They actually ventured into paganism with the magic bands. This
sounds like Kabbalah bracelets.
V. 18 This was being done by the women and
apparently it was like witchcraft and involved cursing people.
Vs. 20-23 God was going to hunt these women
down and make it His personal goal to ruin them for this magic and for the
effect it had had on the righteous. And He would do it in such a way that they shall
know…
Ezekiel 14
Vs. 1-5 So, how do you understand v. 3?
You could say "old habits die hard," but it is worse than that. These
men still love their idols. They may have gotten rid of them, but they are
still there, in their hearts. Just like a picture of a spouse or a child that
you put on a desk or on the wall where you can look at it, these men still had
those desires before their eyes. Yet, maybe torn by the disaster that has
happened to them, they are coming to ask of the Lord, just not with their whole
hearts. And God can see it.
Vs. 4-5 This looks like God saying He
would take immediate and personal action against anyone who filled their hearts
with their gods. At this time, the Jews were the only people in the Babylonian
Empire who could refuse to worship any god but their own, Yahweh. It was an
unheard of exception for an exiled people. God did it and if the people
rejected Yahweh, they showed their sickness and their need for judgment. God
will eventually cleanse the people of idols.
Vs. 6-8 It seems that God Himself will
now take every idolater and false prophet and make an example of them to the
people.
Vs. 9-11 Remember back to Ahab and
Jehoshaphat and Micaiah in 1 Kings 22:8. Both kings had already decided to do
something wrong, but thought it would be good to get God's approval. So the
lying prophets all told them to go ahead. Jehoshaphat thought it was all fishy,
so he asked if there was a real prophet; and Micaiah was brought out of prison.
Micaiah had seen a vision of the demons coming before God and God sending one
to be a lying power in the mouths of the false prophets as a punishment against
Ahab. That is what is happening here. If the people have itchy ears and seek
teachers to say what they want to hear, God will let it happen, but the point
even in that judgment is that some may see all of this and turn and be saved.
Hebrews
7:1-17
Vs. 1-3 There is a lot here we can't
understand. Our first impulse would be to dismiss this as flowery, sermonic
language. But this is one of these places where God reveals something that has
only been hinted at in the past. We met Melchizedek in Genesis 14 and it does
raise a few questions. I've always wondered how many other witnesses to God
there were in the world, on other continents, we never knew of. Suddenly we
find this guy who is representing God. Not only is Melchizedek a great guy, but
Abraham shows him respect. He's got a rescue mission going in Jerusalem,
spreading the Word about Yahweh.
Then in Psalm 110 suddenly it says that
the Messiah will be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. So the Spirit is
saying that this is really important.
Now, hundreds of years after that
psalm, and 20-30 years after the death, resurrection and departure of Jesus,
almost at the end of the time of the apostles, this writer and the Spirit tell
us something more about Melchizedek and Jesus. I find this very interesting how
and when God lets more information flow to His people.
V. 3 If this verse is taken literally,
it means that Melchizedek may have been an angel. There is Jewish tradition
that indicates that they had that understanding. It is just conjecture, but you
wonder in those days how God spoke to people who sought Him. Why not angels?
Whatever Melchizedek was, he was a priest of the Most High God whose priesthood
was "forever" and greater than the priesthood of Aaron under the law.
Vs. 4-10 The point here is that
Melchizedek was greater than Abraham. Abraham didn't worship Melchizedek, but
worshipped God through the mediation of Melchizedek, showing that Abraham, the
inferior, went to the superior person to honor and learn of God. The Jews would
have understood that Melchizedek was a very special character and a mysterious
mediator of God.
Vs. 9-10 This is an interesting
application, once again showing that Jesus' priesthood is superior to the
Levitical priesthood.
Vs. 11-17 This shows that going back to
the inferior law with its inferior priesthood is foolish. Jesus, the Messiah,
is the ultimate mediator for mankind, after the order of Melchizedek.
Just so we don't forget what is
happening here, these people are in danger. They are tired and under pressure
to be quiet and retreat to safety. It's no different than the danger each
disciple faces every day. We are under the constant pressure to be comfortable,
to be inoffensive, to be self-focused, and to be "used to" our
salvation. What the writer to the Hebrews is doing is showing them Jesus. Jesus
is the center of our faith and our lives. It is impossible to know Him and
still be content on earth. It is impossible to know His salvation and not care
about the salvation of others. It is impossible to call Him Lord and not follow
Him into the harvest. If any of these are possible for us, we may have fallen
to what the Hebrews had fallen to. The answer, as we are seeing, is nothing
other than Jesus. We need to rekindle that first love, if it's possible, and
follow Jesus our Savior.
Psalm
105:37-45
Vs. 37-38 It wasn't Israel's effort
that did this. Israel's glory was the mercy and love of God. With all we have
read about idolatry, we can understand God being so upset about their sin.
Vs. 39-42 And God did all of this
because of His promise to Abraham, the man saved by faith. The truth for Israel
here is that God will always honor that promise, so there is always hope and
they should always follow.
Vs. 43-45 God brought them out with joy
and gave them a position, but to what purpose? That is in v. 45 and it was to
have been Israel's witness to the nations. As Israel obeyed and was blessed,
the nations would see and would know.
V. 45 Praise the Lord! God provides
deliverances and we've read about a lot of these. We experience a lot of little
deliverances in our lives, and through them God puts a new song in our mouths.
That's what The Psalms are all about. Now, we are involved in this harvest in
bringing news of the greatest deliverance to people who desperately need to
hear it. Although the message is at once very serious and very good, because we
have experienced it and know Jesus, we can deliver the message with a tone of
praise.
Proverbs
27:3
And because it is so heavy and foolish,
the Lord is telling us, warning us, not to react to it.
If you’re reading along
and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these
comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and interested in
growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see
the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting
weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make
disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we
have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused
on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to
provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of
redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us
focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in
these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others
to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making
disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a
complete description of this model of being and making disciples you can find
it in my book: Simply Disciples*Making Disciples.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more
descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the
Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is the
commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never
hurts.
I am not endorsing any
particular One Year Bible; in fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte
Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with
us is welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their
own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular
tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to
criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has
written to us, as I understand it. Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like
documents containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download these to use on your computer or to
print.
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