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site allows you to select from several languages and several English
translations.
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.
Please Read
the Following Disclaimer
I'm writing the Reading Notes to and
for those who are following a One Year Bible and are 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, that is, 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 and important discipleship manual we have and it is the 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, or whom we are to be following. 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, as disciples, 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, making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a more descriptive
commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary (BKC).
I read the BKC in doing background for the Reading Notes and refer to it quite
often. I also make reference to maps or charts in the BKC, though I will only
note where those resources can be found. Often you can do a search for these
and find them in Google books. Buying both volumes of the Bible Knowledge
Commentary would be a good idea.
I am not endorsing any particular
One Year Bible translation; in fact, I read something you probably don't, Die
Revidierte Lutherbibel, 1984. Unless noted, all Scripture quotes are from the
ESV Bible.
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. Often there is a breadth of opinion on certain events, both
historical and prophetic. Many of my views come from my church background,
theological training and my personal study.
I'm
doing this with discipleship in mind, meaning, I'm writing out thoughts that
will keep discipleship and our growth as disciples applied to what we are
reading. Remember, the real focus of the Reading Notes is to be a supplement,
a disciple’s commentary, giving motivation and insight so that we will keep
following our Lord in the harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples, who
make disciples. Being in the Word every
day, sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning directly from Him, is the essential
essence of being and making disciples.
May the Lord bless you as you follow Him in the
harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples, who make disciples. Dan
If you would like documents
containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
If you would like a full
presentation of discipleship read Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples.
Or if you are struggling with
insomnia and would like a long boring dissertation on disciple making, these
can both be found on https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
Reading Notes ©, Dan Kachikis
2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
The One Year Bible © by
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton Illinois 60189
The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.
All charts/graphics/outlines
from the Bible Knowledge Commentary are used with the permission of David C.
Cook.
© 1983, 2001 John F Walvoord and Roy B Zuck.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary is published by David C Cook.
All rights reserved. Publisher permission
required to reproduce.
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