Archive | September 2024

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 250

Sep6

    Day 250—We are in the NINETH month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and EZEKIEL’s prophecy.

    Day 250– Ezekiel 34 – 36 (Messages of comfort, hope, God’s grace and faithfulness to His promises)

Ezekiel 34. Prophecy against Israel’s past “shepherds” (kings, priests, prophets) who “fleeced” the sheep for personal gain. Wearing their wool and eating their fat, while the sheep were not fed, cared for, or gone after when they strayed. 

In contrast, Ezekiel shows the LORD as their good shepherd.  “I will seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they were scattered… And I will feed them with good pasture.  There, they will lie down in good grazing land, on rich pasture. I will seek the lost, I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. I will feed them in justice.”  (Sounds so much like Psalm 23!)

God promises to make a covenant of peace with them.  They will dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.  He will  send down showers in season – “showers of blessing.”

“You are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD.”

.

Ezekiel 35. Although it’s not said, Ezekiel prophesies against Mount Seir (Edom) as though they were false shepherds, too.  “BECAUSE you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment, THEREFORE…..I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you because you did not hate bloodshed.”     

“AS you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, SO I will deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

.

Ezekiel 36. Next, Ezekiel is to prophesy to the ancient land, “O mountains of Israel hear the word of the LORD.  Say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys….. You, O mountains of Israel shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home.

But, unless Israel (and we too) forget, this grace and mercy is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned. I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, and the nations will know that I am the LORD. 

“I will gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols.

I will cleanse you.

I will give you a new heart,

A new spirit I will put within you.

I will remove the heart of stone… and give you a heart of flesh.

I will put my Spirit within you, cause you to walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules.

I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses.”

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 249

Sep5

    Day 249—We are in the NINETH month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and EZEKIEL’s prophecy.

    Day 249– Ezekiel 31 – 33 (Pharoah, Egypt & Assyria, Ezekiel as watchman, Jerusalem fallen)

Ezekiel 31. Egypt and its leader are metaphorically compared to a towering tree that dominates the forest and a nation that dominates the world.  Then Ezekiel warns them that, like great Assyria, compared to a cedar in Lebanon, God could and will easily topple it.

“Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height, I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out.”  “This is Pharaoh and all the multitude, declares the Lord God.”

.

Ezekiel 32  is a lament over Pharaoh and Egypt. God says they considered themselves like a great lion or dragon, but He will easily “throw his net over them, cast them up on the ground, and let the birds and beasts of the earth gorge on them.”  How will this be done?  “The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon them and cause their multitudes to fall.” And God will make the land of Egypt desolate.

Then, there is a picture of Egypt and her mighty chiefs in Sheol (the grave), along with other great and fallen nations. Assyria is there. Elam is there, along with Meshech-Tubal, Edom, and Sidon. Pharoah and all his army are laid to rest among the uncircumcised… declares the Lord GOD.

.

Ezekiel 33 portrays Ezekiel as a watchman over the house of Israel.  When he hears a word from the LORD, he must speak it and warn them.  A watchman who warns the people will be saved, even if the warned people do not listen to him.  But if the watchman fails to warn the people and they perish, their blood will be on his hands.

Then God tells Ezekiel His desire for the wicked. “As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?”

On the other side of the coin, Ezekiel must tell them that the “righteousness of the righteous” shall not deliver them either.  “If he TRUSTS in his (own) righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done, he shall die.”   But if he turns from his sin and does what is right, he shall surely live and not die. None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him.

Still, Israel’s heart is hard. “YOUR way is not just!” they tell their God.   Whoa!!

.

And then….on the 12th year of their exile to Babylon, in the 10th month, and on the 5th day….a fugitive from Jerusalem comes to tell Ezekiel that “THE CITY HAS BEEN STRUCK DOWN.”

“Then they will know that I am the LORD when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed…..”

(Oh, American, wake up too!)

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 248

Sep4

    Day 248—We are in the NINETH month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and EZEKIEL’s prophecy.

    Day 248– Ezekiel 28 – 30 (prophecy and lament against the Prince of Tyre, with metaphor, Sidon, plus prophecy and lament for Egypt)

Ezekiel 28. The word of the LORD continues against the prince (or leader) of Tyre because of his PRIDE in saying he was “a god.”

Yet the LORD says, “Yet you are but a man and no god, though you make your heart like the heart of a god.”   “Because you make your heart like the heart of a god, therefore, behold, I will bring foreigners upon you, the most ruthless of nations….they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor.”

Verses 13-15, speaking of the king of Tyre in metaphor, is often taken for a description of Satan. Perhaps it’s good to consider the powerful, proud king of Tyre as being used by Satan, much like the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14:3-23. And in both cases, the supreme sin is of PRIDE.

Next a prophecy against Sidon, which was a sister port city to Tyre.  Even in the times of the Judges it had a corrupting influence on Israel. It was the center of Baal worship, and where Jezebel was from.  God promises to execute judgment (death by pestilence and sword) on Sidon and to “manifest my HOLINESS in her” (as opposed to corrupt idol worship).

The last of chapter 28 speaks of the opposite end of Israel — restoration.  “…then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely when I execute judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt.”

.

Ezekiel 29 & 30 are prophecies against Egypt.  God has set his face against Pharaoh, calling him the great dragon that dwells in the midst of his streams, who says, “My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.” (Again, PRIDE precludes a fall.)  God says he will draw him out of the water and throw him into the desert…“Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD.”

“I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I put my sword into the hand of Babylon, and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Egypt was to lay dormant for forty years (after they fell to Babylon), then God would restore them, but not to a world power again to which Israel would run for help. They would be a “lowly kingdom.” (Because Nebuchadnezzar “put an end to the wealth of Egypt.”)

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 247

Sep3

    Day 247—We are in the NINETH month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and EZEKIEL’s prophecy.

    Day 247– Ezekiel 25 – 27 (Prophecies against  seven other nations around Israel)

Ezekiel 25. In this chapter, the LORD, through Ezekiel, prophesies vengeance on five city-nations surrounding Israel, giving the reason for each pronouncement. Ammon, Moab, Seir, Edom, & Philistia all gloated over the fall of Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple when Babylon invaded, saying that this proved Israel’s God, the LORD, also failed.

When God enacted his judgments on them, they would “know that I am the LORD.”

.

Ezekiel 26. This chapter and the next two are against Tyre, the kingdom-city north of Israel. In David’s and Solomon’s time they were friendly, supplying their great cedars in the building of the Palaces and the Temple. Later they were involved in selling Jews as slaves. They boasted of their incredible commercial success.

“For thus says the Lord GOD; Behold I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings (because he’d conquered so many kingdoms), with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of soldiers. He will kill with the sword your daughters on the MAINLAND. He will set up a siege wall against you…..”  

The following verses could also picture the successive attacks “wave on wave” by the Greeks who brought ships against it, and the Saracens until Tyre is finally totally destroyed in the 4th century, “I will make you a bare rock. You shall be a place for spreading nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I am the LORD; I have spoken.”     “I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more.”

.

Ezekiel 27.  Here, the LORD tells Ezekiel to “raise a lament over Tyre.”  The chapter describes Tyre as a great trade ship destroyed on the high seas.  Sections describe the commercial glory of Tyre with the nations around the then-known world,  Greece, Spain, Asia Minor, Assyria, Turkey, Rhodes, Syria, Arabia, and Mesopotamia.

In verses 26-27, Tyre’s fall is pictured as a shipwreck on the seas. The “east wind” pictures Babylon.  “Now you are wrecked by the seas, in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and all your crew in your midst have sunk with you. All the inhabitants of the coastlands are appalled at you, and the hair of their kings bristles with horror; their faces are convulsed. ….you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.”

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, days 245 & 246

Sep2

    Days 245 & 246—We are in the NINETH month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and the prophecies of Ezekiel.

NOTE: Sundays and Mondays are posted together.

    Day 245– Ezekiel 21 – 22 (The sharp & polished “sword” of Babylon judging Jerusalem/Judah, the end of turban and crown in Israel, bloody sins in Jerusalem returns upon her.)

Ezekiel 21. Ezekiel is to “groan with breaking heart and bitter grief: before the people because God is “drawing a sword against all flesh from the north to the south…“to cut off from you both RIGHTEOUS and WICKED.”

God is to judge the RIGHTEOUS?

Remember in Genesis when Abraham prayed the wicked city of Sodom would be spared judgment because his nephew, Lot, lived there. God agreed to spare it if just TEN RIGHTEOUS people could be found there.  Well, Lot was the only one, and God saved him and his immediate family but destroyed the city.  IN EZEKIEL 22:30, God said He looked for ONE RIGHTEOUS MAN in Jerusalem that He should not destroy the city…but He found NONE. No, not one. (Romans 3:10-14)  Wow.

And now God (the swordsman) is using Babylon as His sharp and polished sword (21:19) to “slaughter” the wicked.   God especially speaks against Judah’s last king, Zedekiah. “And you, O profane wicked one, prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of your punishment.”

God also says, “Remove the turban and take off the crown.  Things shall not remain as they are. A ruin, ruin, ruin, I will make it. This also shall not be until HE comes, the One to whom judgment belongs, and I will give it to HIM.”  This says that neither the office of king or priest will be fully restored after captivity….until the Messiah takes BOTH.   This judgment begins “the times of the Gentiles.”

.

Ezekiel 22.  In verses 4-13, God, through Ezekiel, lists more than 17 kinds of sin condemning Jerusalem (their blood-guiltiness). More are listed in verses 25-29.

God tells Ezekiel (and us) that “the house of Israel has become dross to me, like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace when you smelt silver.”  All are to be melted and burned off.  And so, “I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, says the Lord GOD.”

.

    Day 246 – Ezekiel 23 – 24 (More metaphors, dark, bloody, and a shared grief)

Ezekiel 23. This is a dark chapter, with an obscene metaphor for the capital cities of Israel: Samaria & Jerusalem, and how they acted as lewd, adulterous wives of the Lord in their idolatry.

God gives Samaria the name Oholah and Jerusalem the name Oholibah. Both “played the whore” in a spiritual sense, seeking fulfillment and security from other nations and their idols. And as “Oholah” was taken into Assyrian captivity, “Oholibah” learned nothing and lusted after the pagan power of Egypt and Babylon, and will be taken away too.  Some parts of the chapter portray spiritual unfaithfulness in graphic sexual terms.

God, therefore, stirred up these cities’ “lovers” to deal with them in fury, God’s fury for being so shamed when He was a faithful and loving “husband.” These nation-lovers will “cut off the noses and ears of the unfaithful “wives,” and the survivors will be burned with fire.”  “They will “strip them of their clothes and take their beautiful jewels.”object lesson  And so, God will put an end to their lewdness and their whoring brought on them because they defiled themselves with idols.”

In Verses 36-49, God tells Ezekiel how to judge Oholah and Oholibah, first with their “nation-lovers” whom they pursued, turning to them and using them brutally as whores.

For thus says the Lord God, “Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and you shall know that I am the LORD GOD.”

.

Ezekiel 24.  In this chapter, God sends word to Ezekiel (900 miles away in Babylon) that right then, the city of Jerusalem is under siege by the king of Babylon.  God compares the inhabitants of Jerusalem to bloody pieces of meat ready for the boiling cauldron. God gives the harsh proclamation, “I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not relent; according to your ways and your deeds, you (Jerusalem) will be judged.”

Then Ezekiel performs another harsh “object-lesson.”  His wife dies, but he is not allowed to mourn or weep. He can sigh, but not aloud, and make NO MOURNING for the dead. This is an example to the Jews in Babylon not to mourn the fall of Jerusalem because this is the just judgment of God on their wickedness. 

God told him to say, “Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your soul, and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword.” And you shall do as I have done… you shall not mourn or weep.

Then God tells Ezekiel that when it is completed in Jerusalem, He will send a fugitive to report the news.  On that day, Ezekiel can open his mouth to speak, for after the previous judgment, he was mute (there was no more need to preach judgment) – although he was allowed to prophesy against other nations.