Ezekiel 40

As we move into Ezekiel 40 we begin to read of a vision Ezekiel had of the future temple in the Millennial kingdom. This vision is explained from Ezekiel 40-48. “The Millennial what”, you may say. Well let me explain the timeline. The next event to take place for us as Christians will be the rapture of the church. This is where Christ appears to grab us up to be in heaven with Him for a 7 year period, sort of like a honeymoon period where believers will be with the Lord in Heaven. At that same time on Earth, God will be pouring out His wrath on a Christ rejecting sinful world. After that 7 year period, Christ will return, with us, to reign in Jerusalem for 1000 yrs. This period is known as the Millennium or Millennial Kingdom. During this time “Christ will throw the Antichrist in the lake of fire, and God will begin to serve their eternal sentences. Satan will be confined in the bottomless pit, and there will be none of his minions to torment and tempt the millennial earth-dwellers. It will be a time much like the times of Eden, with the earth restored to its pristine beauty. (Read Rev. 20-10.) After the 1,000 years, the devil will be released from the pit for a short space of time. He will lead millions of those who have been born during the millennium in an assault on Christ at Jerusalem. God will send down fire and consume them all. Satan will be cast into the lake of fire. The lost dead will be resurrected (their eternal bodies joined to their souls), and all will stand before the great white throne of Christ to be judged. All will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity. (Read Rev. 20:10-15.) God “Jesus Christ” will remake the heavens and the earth in preparation for everlasting, ever-growing ecstasy in God’s presence. (Read Rev. 20:16-22: 16.)”

This all may sound so crazy and hard to follow, but know this – in the end we end up with Christ in a new Heaven and new Earth. Being in God’s presence forever. As Adam went to Israel this past week he saw how the Jews worship at the western wall. He told me they did this because it was the closest they could get to the holy of holies, God’s “presence”. How sad I thought, because in the future we are promised to be in God’s presence because of the atonement made by Christ on the cross for our sins.

The True Shepherd

Ezekiel 34

Ezekiel showed that the responsibility for the people of Israel going astray was on the greedy and cruel kings and priests. In this chapter Ezekiel sees a vision of the future Shepherd, the true shepherd.

A shepherd was one who took care of the flock. We see Israel in the very beginning of a nation was shepherds and throughout even today they still have shepherds that play an important role. As the shepherd is responsible for the well being of the flock, they would feed them and protect them. David was a shepherd before he was king and he protected his flock. The shepherd cared for his flock so much that they would not want anything to happen to even just one. But in this chapter the kings and the priests served as shepherds over the people of Israel and in verses 4-5 we see that they did not care for the people, they allowed them to stray, they have been lost and were not sought after, and because of the lack of the shepherd they became food for all the wild beasts.

The True Shepherd

In verse 15 we see that Ezekiel was able to see the True shepherd the one who truly cares for his people, Jesus Christ. In verse 22-23 we see that Jesus as shepherd will rescue the flock and they will be feed. As Ezekiel prophesied this hundreds of years before Christ we see what Jesus has done. The kings and priests were to lead the people closer to God but instead pushed them further away. Jesus being the true Shepherd is the WAY, TRUTH, and the LIFE, no man can come to the Father except through him (John 14:6). In Mark 6:34 Jesus comes along the shore and sees a big crowd waiting for them. It says that he had compassion on them because they were sheep without a shepherd. He is the shepherd, the one who shows us, leads us, protects us, and guides us. How exciting this must have been for Ezekiel to see, we have even greater news, Jesus did come and is alive today! He is the shepherd that protects his flock. You do not have to wait for future events, this is now. Are you part of Jesus’ flock? I would not want it any other way.

Ezekiel 33

Ezekiel now has become popular because people see how prophesies have come to pass. Ezekiel 33:30-33 says, ” As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

The key part of this is at the end of verse 32 where it says that the people listen but they will not do it. Basically the people listening to Ezekiel believe what he was saying now, however they still remained unrepentant. I wonder how many Jr Highers out there are just like the remaining people of Judah who hear the word of the Lord, but they remain unrepentant. Some of you may be just coming every Sunday over and over just listening to the word be taught, you may even believe some of it but you remain unrepentant.

It’s not enough to just believe some of the stories we hear or maybe even believe that Jesus is God. The bible says even the demons believe in Jesus. See what we need to do is repent from our sin. Jesus’ first sermon He starts out in Matthew 4:17 by saying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus calls us to repentance, He calls us to turn away from our sin and trust in what Christ has done on the cross. We can’t be a slave to sin and a slave to Christ. Who are you serving as Lord today? is it your sin who is Lord over you or is it Christ who is Lord over you?

Repent of your sin and trust in Christ. That is what our faith is all about. If you are not doing that today, you are just as bad as the people in Ezekiel’s time.

Ezekiel 30

In this chapter we see another part of the judgment on Egypt. Yesterday we read ch. 29 which was the opening to the vision that Ezekiel saw concerning Egypt. In this chapter we will see that Egypt will be taken over by the Babylonians. In verse 11, the Babylonians are called the most ruthless of nations. In verse 23 we will see that they Egyptians will be scattered among the nations. And, the chapter ends with what verse 26 says, “Then they will know that I am the Lord.” This chapter continues on with the second vision against Egypt where Nebuchadnezzar’s army will come against Egypt and go away with wealth.

A couple of things we can see in these chapters about judgment with Egypt is that God is true to His word. These were prophesied before they happened but eventually they did happen.  Sixteen years after the fall of Jerusalem, Babylon did invade Egypt. Another is God’s ultimate goal is for all to come to know him (2nd Peter 3:9).

If God is true to His word, if God is faithful to fulfill his promises, what does that mean to us? He will be faithful and is true to what the Word says. Not only on fulfilling the judgment as we see with Egypt and the other nations but also to believers. He is faithful and showed grace to us. He is faithful to forgive us. He is faithful to love us. The other thing to remember is if God’s ultimate goal is for all to come to know him, then that means he is patient with us. I am so glad that God is patient with me. I have a tendency to cause others to not be so patient with me, but God is patient with me. He is patient with all and desires for all to come to repentance.

As you read this chapter, how is God faithful? What are some verses that come to your mind that shows God’s faithfulness? Also God is patient, how is God patient towards you? What about a friend that does not believe in Christ? How can you praise God for Him being patient with you?

Ezekiel 29

The Mighty Crocodile

We see now the judgment that will be against Egypt. This will be until we get to ch. 32 and within these next chapters we will read about how Ezekiel will have six visions with the outcome of Egypt. Remember the beginning of Egypt and Israel’s relationship. Egypt was a shelter for Israel as Joseph was 2nd in command over Egypt. He took his family in and in Egypt the nation of Israel grew. From there they were put in slavery and God heard their cry. God then used Moses to deliver them and bring them to the Promised Land. Egypt was very instrumental in the affairs of Judah before Babylon came and destroyed Jerusalem. The Egyptian king was used to form King Zedekiah of Judah’s rebellion from Babylon which resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem.

In the first vision we read Egypt is compared to a crocodile that lies in the Nile but even though Egypt was prideful in its position we see that this mighty crocodile will be caught and put in the wilderness. We know that crocodiles are mighty creatures and not just one man can take on a crocodile, usually like 3 or more. Then a crocodile needs to be in a swamp like territory, but this crocodile will be taken out of its normal condition and in the wilderness. The prophecy that Ezekiel proclaims will happen with Egypt. They will face problems from Babylon and they will never recover to a mighty nation again. The goal we see is in verse 6 which says, “Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord.”

For God to Be Known

It is interesting to know that judgment takes place for God to be glorified but when you look at the consequences of sin and disobedience, God’s judgment shows his perfection. God does not grade on a curve, his holy standard is high. We fall short from his standard and his judgment is hell. We see that God was showing himself so other people will know who he is. When the plagues came upon Egypt we see that they knew God was the TRUE God. God also reveals himself by His creation and also by our example.

As Christians we are representing Christ to this world. We need to live as one who has been forgiven and justified of sin. Justified is looked at as if you have never ever sinned and always obeyed God. The only way you or I am forgiven of sin is through God’s grace which is a free gift in Jesus Christ. We are called to turn from our sin and the example we give from one different than every person in the world is a GREAT one. We should be different in our speech, in our conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity (see 1st Timothy 4:12). If we are an example that would mean the best image of what we are trying to be an example of and if that is Christ we need to represent him as holy and pure as he is. Make God KNOWN!

Ezekiel 28

Prince of Tyre

In this chapter we see that Ezekiel continues with the warning from Tyre. This chapter focuses on the prince of Tyre. As this was written to the actual prince we also see that this can be a description of the Devil. In verse one we see that he was proud and said, “I am a god.” The devil fell because of pride. We also see that he is wise. In verse 12 we see that he was the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. He was beautiful that as he was in Eden every precious stone was his covering. In verse 17 he was proud in his beauty which corrupted his wisdom and splendor. The result of the Devil’s pride was being thrown out of heaven. Now he desires to destroy all he can (1st peter 5:8). Some scholars suggest that this took place sometime after creation (Genesis 1 & 2) and before the fall of mankind (Genesis 3).

We can see as we have the past couple of days that pride is not good. We know that Proverbs tells us that it leads to destruction (Proverbs 16:18). We know that pride dishonors God and bring shame upon us. Satan who was a created angel fell because of his pride and wanting to be god. Pride is ultimately doing that, putting ourselves in the place of God and thinking we know better than him, and are better without him. Pride is deceiving as the truth is you are worse because you are fighting with God. Get rid of your pride now. Let this be a warning as it is to me, that our pride is destructive. Our pride is deceiving us to think we are all right. Our pride hinders us from God. Be humble and ask God to forgive you for what you have done and forgive you of your pride.