The Book of Ezekiel EXPLAINED

over a span of 2,000 years 40 authors on three different continents and in three different languages pinned 66 books all of which were supernaturally inspired and intricately designed as God's revelation to man The spoken word of God living and active sharper than a two-edged sword recorded and B found just for us join us on a journey from Genesis to Revelation all 66 books the big book cover to cover this is Michael Easley in context Francisco how many of you saw elf Francisco sorry if you're not an elf fan you don't know what in the world

he's talking about Francisco kulot was a Spanish B broke painter about 1630 he painted the vision of Ezekiel and it's an interesting painting because what he pulls together in this one image is a pretty comprehensive sweep of a very complicated book um the area when Ezekiel wrote this was called Tel Aviv and that's not the same as modern-day Tel Aviv but it perhaps is in the region there around there um and he melts quite a bit of the account of the book in this picture even with one little homage there's a skeleton man so the

valley of Bones some of us know that story perhaps more than we know the story of Ezekiel and at God's command these bones are going to live which of course is is it's a we've talked about AEL a tell is a city that's rubbled and rebuilt rubbled and rebuilt r i want you to think of theology in the same way and the Bible in the same way we're looking at things and then they're built upon built upon built upon so when we talk about prophecy it had a meaning in the context text but it also

has layers of meaning as we go forward in the Bible and of course only one person can make dead men alive and that's Jesus Christ but the primary uh analogy was pointing to a city that is going to be destroyed completely and only God can if you will resurrect quote unquote that city that is dry bones is decayed it's in the ground nothing is left but the skeletal remain and God of course can raise the dead Ezekiel prophesies during a time when the Jewish EX are in Babylon so he's going to write uh during the

decline and downfall of the city but his ministry is going to point forward a real simple way to remember it and Christie mentioned it as well Jeremiah is a man of Tears Ezekiel is a man of visions and I have actually written both those phrases over the front page of each of those books Jeremiah is a man of tears and Ezekiel is a man of Visions uh he goes from horror to Hope and I remind you again and again again these men uh and women living at this time they would not see what was promised

and prophesied they're going to live a short span just like we are and die and they're not going to see the outcome uh in their lifetimes um a helpful way to look at the book and I'm going to give you a number of handles because it is perhaps one of the more complicated prophetic pieces and so I'm going to give you a couple of Frameworks these are four broad Strokes the renouncing of the Jews the prophecies against enemy Nations the prophecies after Jerusalem's destruction and then the prophetic Vision that's bound to the Book of Revelation

and so if you step back and just look at those he's covering a lot of ground in these broad Strokes first there's the judgment and the word of God that's coming to them because they have not repented he is going to prophesy against them he's going to use enemy Nations to bring AC bring about this destruction and then in the future there will be a new Temple com complex and that will be bound to the Book of Revelation uh so these three or four ways of looking at these prophecies helps me as I come to

a book like this that frankly is harder than Isaiah or Jeremiah to get through because there's so many different topics and sub themes within the book um the closing visions of the book are parallel to a number of passages in Revelation and I've put that on the slide for those of you and this would be a real easy Devotion to do this week just to take a make a photo copy or on your computer Ezekiel 38 over against Revelation 20:8 and then Ezekiel 47 the first eight verses compare and contrast with revelation 22 the first

two verses and it will astonish you how the Bible continues to be a unit and how these prophecies there are many many more for those of you who are BSF precept CBS uh folks those of you who just like studying your Bible uh it's it's a sinkhole when you get into this how many of the things Ezekiel refers to are referred to in the New Testament by Paul and other authors as well um it it's noted that Daniel is 14 years uh after the deportation so again we've got these contemporaries think about these guys living

at a time when they overlapped along with Noah as well as job they would have S we could say known each other at some uh point it is a complicated book Jerome uh the great scholar translation scholar by the way side bar for those of us from a Catholic background uh there are six so-called apocryphal books in the Catholic Bible that aren't found in the Protestant Bible Jerome was perhaps the most brilliant translator that uh lived in that time period and he argued against those books being included in the canonization of scripture and if memory

serves uh they waited until Jerome died before they canonized the Catholic Bible he was so influential of a scholar but Jerome's comment on Ezekiel is quite telling um he calls it a Labyrinth of the mysteries of God a Labyrinth of the mysteries of God uh because it was so complex and it was so obscure uh many renic Traditions uh forbade men to read it until they were of age 30 because it was just too complicated and too difficult to comprehend Ezekiel is singular in the frequency with which he talks about the pent no other Prophet

refers so much to the first five books which when we think of Torah that's a big word but generally speaking we're talking about Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy the penet the first five books and Ezekiel refers more to the penit than any other author which is striking when you think of all the ground that he does cover in his text let's talk about some high overview General observations about the book that might handle give you some better handles as well and I've already mentioned Jeremiah Zechariah Ezekiel are uh contemporaries but they're also the only Prophet

priests you have prophets you have priests you have Kings there's only one who will hold all those offices of prophet priest and King so when someone has two of these titles remember when when Saul is prophesying and they go is Saul among the prophets because a king Prophet they didn't happen very often that you have these two offices three offices only in the person of Jesus but Jeremiah zachari Ezekiel are prophets and Priests and that comes into uh it comes into color when you read the book because what does Ezekiel spend a lot of time

talking about the temple complex who knows about the temple Ministry priests that's his day job so to speak so when he writes about the temple complex it's fitting in this new vision of this new Ezekiel Temple that you're going to read about that's it's complicated to understand that here's a priest who would have known the the drill so to speak before it's destroyed he sees the destruction and now he's writing about a future when it's going to be put back together in a new way and so it would be fitting to have a priest do

that right um when you think about inspiration the Greek word is theopus God breathed in second Peter 3:16 he breathed and these prophets wrote the book we talked about many times the big a author God and the little a author is the person in this casee Ezekiel or Paul or Peter so you got the big a author and the little a author and we differentiate that because there are styles that you can pick up in johanan literature there are Styles in davidic literature you can see the way they write there's actually vocabulary unique to the

to the Apostle Luke so you you've got these these pictures of a big a author God writing to through the vehicle of a little a author in this case Ezekiel so if if if his profession is a a fig picker if his profession is a warrior if his profession is a priest it would make sense the little a author is going to talk about his worldview right so don't overwork this but we're still it's still inspired by the big a author but the little a author has fingerprints if you will on the manuscripts that he

is pinning um ezekiel's prophetic Ministry lasts about 22 years and one of the things I've been doing in this study for my own benefit is not looking at the date so much as the time span this helps me a lot I think I've mentioned this almost every Sunday is how long a time so he's 30 years age we have good timestamps in Ezekiel so he's about 30 to 52 when his ministry is done with this piece of literature so you've got a pretty short run in some respects of what he's writing on the other hand

it's kind of a long time when you think about the siege and the laying in front of the brick for over a year and so forth and so on now during these final years of Ezekiel he's in Babylon conducting this ministry so the Exiles have gone to Babylon we read in Jeremiah Lamentations the destruction of this beautiful complex the place where God was going to put his name for them to worship has been destroyed dismantled cut up and if you will melted down or reused for whatever Babylonian Gods they might have and so this message

falls on deaf ears but his message in the future is about something they'll not live to see in in their lifetime of course the fall of the city prompt the change in his message and that's when the transitions go to the vision and Ezekiel is going to talk about the future then of judah's restoration third is the chronology the chronology of Ezekiel he has the most precise chronological arrangement of any Prophet we talk about this all the time this book was this chapter was probably added later and that's where critical Scholars say well the Bible

isn't really trustworthy because this chapter was obviously added later this didn't happen in this part of the book and the author has it here and that's what Scholars do they debate these things uh ezekiel's chronology is pretty tight and so for those who who are you know kind of oriented I like to have a sequence when you watch these movies now and I don't know um some of you are in this world everything flashes back it drives me nuts three years ago way wa wa now I got to go back and see what I'm supposed

to or two days ago or 15 hours before drives me nuts when I'm watching a movie well that's what happens when we read some of these books they're a little bit out of sequence and so Ezekiel is a very accurate chronology if that is helpful for you again the structure of the book and I'll give you a shorter version in the first four and this is the Judgment of Judah the Judgment of Gentiles and the restoration of Judah and this of course brings up a topic I'll talk about more in a minute is how God

uses enemy Nations to discipline Israel and yet he will hold them accountable and that's one of those tensions we live with uh God's glory and God's name are perhaps the most prominent theme in this book and I'm going to read from chapter 126 to 24 you can follow along on the screen or in your copy of the Bible Ezekiel 1:26 now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne like lapis lazuli in appearance and on that which resembled a throne high up was a figure with the appearance of a

man then I noticed from the appearance of his loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it and from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw something like fire and there was a Radiance around him as the appearance of the rainbow and the clouds on a rainy day so was the appearance of the surrounding Radiance such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord and when I I saw it I fell on my face and that's a tell to the man of Revelation when

he sees the angel angel of the Lord he fell on his face like a dead man what a great picture I fell on my face and I heard a voice speaking then he said to me son of man stand on your feet that I may speak with you as he spoke to me the spirit entered me and set me on my feet and in my Sanctified imagination he is so over overwhelmed with the glory of God he's dropped and he physically does not have the strength to stand up and it takes the spirit of God

if you will helping him to stand up physically then he said to me son of man I am sending you to the sons of Israel to a rebellious people who have rebelled against me they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children and you you shall say to them thus says the Lord so if God's glory and God's name are the if not the one of the most predominant themes let me make some observations and again when we've talked about this

before when you read your Bible and it's overwhelming look for repetitions look for restatements look for recurring phrases referring recurring topics because if the author is talking about something a lot that's probably what the book is about this isn't that hard right if you if you're in high school or older you can learn Bible study methodology and the most simple Baseline is to watch for repetition restatement recurring vocabulary it's really pretty fun and it's pretty easy 15 times uh God speaks that he acted for his name's sake It's A peculiar phrase that he does something

for his name's sake then I loved and Jason and I did not coordinate it so we give credit to the holy spirit of God and however else you want to talk about it but his opening remarks are are in tandem because the believer in Jesus Christ and I don't mean to be unkind or hard but just my observation last decade it's all about I Mei I call it horizontal Christianity uh what God's doing for me and my and I and my passion and my vision and my heart and this this horizontal orientation and this is

unique to the West we're obsessed with I Mei and we should be more concerned about him so to get out of our I Mei when you think about he does things for his name's sake are the we are we the beneficiaries yes but is it about us not so much it's about him if you remember when Isaiah we talked about he forgives us for his name's sake I remember the first time reading as a young Christian it just tripped me up he doesn't forgive you and me of sense to make us feel better that's a

benefit that's a that's a wonderful benefit of the believer to not live with a guilty conscience know we're forgiven but he forgives us for his reputation he forgives us for his name because people who look at Yahweh Elohim in the Old Testament and say he forgives his people and doesn't punish them retribution or capriciously like other gods might little G Gods he forgives his people he loves his people he protects his people because they're good we just read how obstinate and stubborn they are how obstinate and stubborn we are he does it for his name's

sake and that's back to fallowing your face theology why does he forgive the likes of you and me that's a question you should Ponder not to be morbid or depressed or you know beat up on yourself but to think through uh biblically theologically critically why in the world would he forgive me for all the stupid things I've done and continue to do sure because he loves me but because his son died in my place on my behalf instead of me and it's his reputation if you will that's not the best way of saying it but

that helps me put my brain around it is for his reputation when something is done for his name's sake 60 times the word of the Lord again it's the most obvious thing we miss it all the time we miss the common repetitions the word of the Lord the word of the Lord the word of the Lord God has spoken and as my professor Howard Henrik says he did not stutter now that would be politically incorrect today that's why I'm quoting him he said it I didn't say it God has spoken and he has not stuttered

his word is clear the Mark Twain uh probably paraphrase quote it's hard to find the actual uh citation and ain't those parts of the Bible I don't understand that bother me it's the parts I do it's pretty plain it's pretty clear and so when we read read the word of the lord we should almost stop the book you hold in your hand is the very word of God there's no other book on the planet that comes in second place he spoke and isn't it if you step back further he spoke and we have it in

so many languages it's not even funny and all we have to do is hear or read it and anyone on the planet can do one of those two things even a blind and deaf disabled person can learn to read and hear quote unquote the scripture the most basic form of communication God gave us his word and then of course it's personified that Jesus is the word became flesh and dwelt Among Us 67 times the Lord intervened so his people will know that I am the Lord I'm doing this so you'll know that I am the

Lord I'm trying to remind you one more time that I am the the Lord Ezekiel 38:23 I will magnify myself sanctify myself and make myself known in the sight of many nations that they will know that I am the Lord back to the plagues what's the argument what's the pmic we call it in literature it's is Pharaoh God or is Yahweh Elohim God that's the whole story until the Exodus proper occurs in chapter 14- 15 who's God Pharaoh or Yahweh Elohim he says over and over again that they will know that I am the Lord

that I am the Lord Pharaoh ain't God he may call himself God he may call the son the firstborn son God that's a veiled false religion over against my firstborn Jesus Christ not the first physically born but the first Primacy the first in rank the first entitle the Eternal Son of God 126 times we read thus says the Lord again in tand them with the word Lord God saying these things I mean early in Ministry I would have people come up to me and they would encourage me God told me to tell you this or

that and they want to encourage me I always love that and uh you know you don't quite I mean people are sincere I don't mean to be completely dismissive but it's a little intimidating when some you know person the Lord told me to tell you and I wasn't always kind and I said 'w I'm waiting for him to tell me I mean may he told you but I'm going to wait till he tells me cuz you're not the intermediary um and they didn't like that much but they never left the church that's I never figured

that out either thus says the Lord God speaks do we listen it's God's word when I was a young Christian in Houston I went to this little church called bethl independent Presbyterian Church Bob tulson was the pastor and um he would he would talk about the word of God in a way that it just rocked my world When God Says something it's not up for debate this is the word of the Lord it should stop us in our tracks we shouldn't be Cavalier to it if God says it it's a cheeky bumper sticker I believe

it that settles it I mean it's a little bit to colloquial but you get the point and a very important note that doesn't occur as number of frequency but it occurs 93 times as a reference to the son of man now you know a little Hebrew right you know the word Ben is son Benjamin the son of Yamin this is Ben Adam Adam so 93 times uh in your Ezekiel Hebrew text he's referred refer to as the son of man that's really significant because who's going to be called the son of man Jesus Christ in

fact it seems to be Jesus preferred self- reference when he talks about him son s the son of man came to do this the son of man came the son of man is here he doesn't outright call himself God's son but he does in so many words um it comes as no surprise that God's prophets are going to call God's people to account rarely do we read a prophet's recommendation hey you guys are doing a great job prophets come out to judge to confront to call them to sin and if you say thus says the

Lord and the son of man you go do this it's heaping on of this you know God's Authority if you will 157 times the land is mentioned this is a remarkable study um and depending on your persuasion and background and and how you've been you know taught theologically the the land is a big Topic in the Bible back to the uh unilateral Covenant with Abraham that I will give you a land and that's a unilateral Covenant that I believe is unbreakable now when we come to judges We Begin the book much of the land had

not yet been taken basically they had a lot of work to do Joshua is coming on the scene is Moses the second leader and they're going to go up in the land and Caleb and Joshua only two old men still living in their 80s and they're Conquering the land and of course judges doesn't go so well and one could argue how much of the land Israel ever possessed and I have some dear dear friends who we disagree completely on this subject I think the land is still in play I think the land is still important

I think God sense the humor that this little tiny piece of land smaller than the state of Connecticut with the Mediterranean Ocean on one side with Syria and uh Lebanon in the north with Jordan on the other side of the river Egypt in the South and and to the south of them there I mean the Middle East is like this big this little tiny piece of Connecticut over here and to me it's God's great sense of humor that they are hanging on their fingernails on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea with nowhere to go they're

not trying to go across the Jordan they came the other direction to get the so-called promised land now no matter what you think of the land whether it plays a part in the story or not it's mentioned 157 times in the Book of Ezekiel not all of those are talking about the land of Israel that's a more complicated study but the point Ezekiel is making in the land of the Canaanite the land of the Amorite the land of the Philistines ju opposed against the land that I gave you where I put my name that's why

it's important going back to the name of the Lord being the recognition of this all Ezekiel is another Prophet who warns him that judgment is imminent he's got a horrible task ahead of him he's going to be maligned and abused and a lot of of problem a lot of problems are going to fall his way let me just I didn't put these on the screen because I just want to scan through some of these things beginning in Chapter 3 of Ezekiel he said to me son of man eat what you find eat the scroll and

go up and speak to the house of Israel so I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll what a word picture what a what a vision picture of I'm you're going to ingest my word and you're going to speak my word that's the point he said to me son of man feed your stomach and fill your body with the scroll which I am giving you then I ate it and it was sweet as honey in my mouth then he said to me son of man go to the house of Israel and speak with

my words to them for you are not being sent to the people of unintelligible speech or difficult language but to the house of Israel nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language whose words you cannot understand but I have sent you to them who should listen to you yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you since they are not willing to listen to me surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate behold I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard

as their foreheads like like Emory harder than Flint I have made your forehead do not be afraid of them or be dismayed of them though they are a rebellious house moreover he said to me son of man take into your heart all my words which I speak to you and listen closely go to the Exiles to the sons of your people and speak to them and tell them whether they listen or not thus says the Lord you got a job to do were they going to pay attention or not then the spirit lifted me up

and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me blessed be the glory of the Lord Lord in his in his place and I heard the sound of wings the living beings touching one another and the sound of Wheels behind them even great rumbling sounds again these allegories and pictures I think um a literal interpretation of scripture is very important and when we come to Ezekiel or Daniel or revelation we need to be careful not to overp spiritualize it but not to minimize it or take it away just because we were in the context when those

words and terms were used that doesn't take a lot of study to realize he's hearing what sounds like an Angelic host moving around and whatever Wheels would sound like in the in that time probably wooden wheels on gravel and sand Earth the spirit Lifted Me Up took me away and I went embittered into the Rage of my spirit and the Hand of the Lord was strong on me so twice verse 12 and verse 14 the spirit of God is moving him to do this then I came to the Exiles who lived beside the river kear

in Tab and I sat there seven days while they were living causing consternation among them at the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man I've appointed you a Watchman to the house of Israel whenever you hear a word from my mouth warn them from me ezekiel's going to have a very interesting message here as we continue in the chapter basically he going to say Ezekiel you tell my word or you're going to die oh that's encouraging he knows what he's up against secondly Ezekiel if they don't

turn they're going to die Ezekiel if they turn they will live Ezekiel you go tell them or I'm going to kill you if they don't listen to you I'm going to kill them if they listen to me they're going to live that's the message in a nutshell of emphasis somewhat unique are his Visions because of the Temple complex as I noted he's a priest he sees this to a different lens if you've not been to Israel it's hard to Envision the herodian complex that we look at today was much after the time of Christ uh

the time of the Old Testament the time of Christ you said the herodian complex a big Plaza but to Envision this Temple complex where worshippers went up the southern steps every year at least three times a year if they were Pious God-fearing adults they all went up for Passover they were supposed to and this was his this was his day job he understood the pasturing of animals 8 miles south in a town called Bethlehem he understood the sacrificial system he understood the water the amounts of water that had to be brought in to clean all

the blood from this Bloody Business called sacrifice he understood dealing with the ashes of the animals he understood the priest's role in this process and that's his home if you will and ezekiel's Visions are revealed to him about the glory of God leaving the temple but there'll be a future when the temple will be be Beyond imagination you could truly say God has left the city because when the temple complex the Tabernacle is where God meets man where his name is and now he leaves the destruction of the temple and we await in ezekiel's vision

and Revelation for Christ's return we don't need that Temple for sacrifice like we they used to but we see that as God's foot stol place where he will return to and again we're confronted with with the tension that God uses enemies to discipline his people and this is one that I don't have any simple explanation for other than God's Sovereign and I'm not he's he's going to use enemies to discipline his own people and then hold those enemies accountable for what they did that's not in my judicial system I don't get that but it is

in God's economy and the only way I you've heard me say for the only way I can sort of begin to explain it to myself and maybe to others is these people hated God they hated God's people the hated Yahweh Elohim they had their own Gods their own Idols which is of course a big part of the story as well the whole idolatry system that continued to invade Israel and God said you'll have one God you won't make any images of him all the other religions have multiple gods and and endless Idols Egypt they've chronicled

something north of 8,000 unique Idol names you think the uh Star Wars characters are hard to keep up with think about 8,000 idols and gods in Egypt no there's one God one monotheistic God and so over against this this relationship that they had with him um he's going to use people that hate Yahweh Elohim and they hate Yahweh elohim's people and again go back to Pharaoh is Pharaoh God or is Yahweh God that's the question which by the way continues all the way through the Bible and when it becomes New Testament time it's are you

God or is he God in the moment we say I could never believe in a God who we've just made God in our own image that's the hard reality of it well God's people are going to be dispersed into Exile he will not completely abandon them but it'll be a far distant future Before He'll restore them Ezekiel 36:24 for I will take you from the Nations gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land and so long in the future there'll be this calling back if you were alive in the 70s

when the Jews for Jesus movements were were huge Messianic Judaism Zionism Jews were moving back to Israel there was a whole geopolitical story guy named Herzel and others who wanted Jews to come back and repopulate Israel or it would it would have would gone to other hands and so when you go to Israel and go to Yad bashim which is their Holocaust Museum it means a name in a place Yad bashim and you go through this incred you could spend days in this place it's it's enormous and the in the uh in the different times

and pictures and and footage they have you really you can spend days in it it's it's overwhelming it's depressive is all get out but when you walk through Yad bashem a name in a place this is the place God chose to put his name and in the end of time he'll bring people back well in the 70s they thought this is it the Lord's coming and there were a lot of people a lot of Prophecy uh hounds that thought this is it God's going to return and establish his kingdom and these things come and go

give it 10 years these these theologies and isms and all you know they come and go give them a decade see if they last but there's always this swing and we saw a lot of attention to Judaism and Messianic Ministries and a lot of people came to Christ and a lot of people relocated back to Israel uh it didn't happen in fulfillment of Ezekiel 36 yet but it will one day now again with every book of the the Bible uh to me themes are important this one perhaps more than any and so I've got seven

lessons that they aren't quick they're short but they're not quick uh number one God is faithful to his faithless people um why God continues to uh love Israel because he made a promise he made a unilateral Covenant promise that they were his people called by his name a stubborn and stiff necked people and God is going to be faithful to them even when they're faithless and boy as a believer in Jesus Christ today I'm glad he's faithful when I'm faithless secondly God is Holy when his people are yet Unholy I mean you can think of

so many stories in the Book of Ezekiel and Other Stories that you might recall when they're dabbling in Unholy things Unholy fire uh witchcraft immorality idolatry child sacrifice eating their own children for goodness sakes all the horrific things nothing new Under the Sun you probably saw the news this morning this boy that killed basically killed his whole family in Utah this morning a teenage boy the father is the only one he's wounded in critical condition and the boy is in handcuffs this stuff happens what what do you do with this we're Unholy people and he's

a holy God he set apart and aren't you glad that his Holiness makes you and me holy I don't understand that God's judgment brings God's righteousness and mercy and this is the two-edged sword perhaps the best picture of uh justice is the two-edged sword to administer Justice you cut the guilty in order to administer uh um recompense to the victim so the easiest illustration we all know is when the baby is brought to Solomon and he says bring me a sword and if I my memory is fading but I think it's just two words in

Hebrew bring sword and we've all seen depictions of that Two Soldiers holding a child by his legs and they're about to cut the child in two the sword brings Justice the sword cuts to punish the evildoer but the The Cutting of the sword on both edges gives uh Liberty gives freedom to the victim makes righteous the victim fourth God will judge his Shepherds and any of you have been around churches with Elders or have if you've been an elder um this is one of the most chilling parts of the book is to read about God's

faithless Shepherd I mean my lands when we read James comments about not many of you become teachers because you incur stricter judgment anybody wants to teach the Bible for a living or in a home study or whatever needs to have your head examine whether you like it or not you're speaking for God and that's dangerous I I used to do some pastor's workshops from time to time and I would I would tell these young pastors use the word seems a lot it seems to me I can't be Bulldog Matic but it seems to me CU

one day you're going to cross that threshold and I imagine pretty quickly know all the things that you said were wrong and you were forgiven for but as a young person who opens the Bible or in a Bible study or you lead a a group or precept whatever you do thus says the Lord is pretty heavy stuff if you're wrong God will judge his Shepherds fifth God's glory departs yet God's glory will return and this again it seems sort of ethereal and a little bit super mystical out of our our you know knowledge and we

don't think about God's glory that much but um when it departs everything goes to pot and when the city's destroyed again I think I referenced last week or the week before I slept since in but you know if if if DC the OAB the 17 Acres if Chicago if Dallas if La were all taken out in one day by an enemy literally there's nothing left there chemical nuclear weapons dropped on those areas epms go off in our grid how would we feel how would we respond how much more when the temple of God is destroyed

the very center of where he said I'm going to put my name so you can worship me has been erased and think of the pious believing Jew who was certainly in a minority but they loved God they loved God's word they were Yahweh followers they got nothing now and that's what would happen to the so-called Remnant six God is patient toward his people and aren't we glad aren't we glad um sometimes these things come across in email or some of the nudes feeds I watched uh a woman recently uh abusing her child with this video

camera taping her and you know the the uh old man uh redneck man and me wants to go just take her out back and put a bullet in her head you don't kick a child for whatever reason and um boy I'm G glad God's patient because when parents lose patience and yell and scream and say heart hurtful things or pick up a stick or something else and hurt a child because we're out of patience if God wasn't patient I doubt many of us would have made it to our 18th month and finally God's land is

as sure as his word God's land is as sure as his word I have dear friends who disagree with me completely on this in fact they think I'm not only wrong but heretically wrong I sat at a table I probably told this story before but it Bears repeating I sat at a table in DC many years ago in Cindy and I lived in Northern Virginia Washington DC and we were invited to an event and there were these roundtables of eight or 10 pastors most of them were uh art reformed Anglican a couple of Baptists I

was the token Bible Church dispensational weirdo and rather than talk about the latest movie or whatever which is fine I threw a question on our table and I knew most of these men and I said uh is the land somehow we talked about Israel and I said is a land important in God's scheme is it play a role in the end or is it just a piece of dirt it doesn't really matter CU a lot of people that have a certain uh training hold that view land doesn't matter anymore and uh so they went around

the table and they all answered it and essentially none of them thought the land played a role I don't think any of them had been to Israel that's a second Point uh but the gentleman who sat to my left was the one who was organizing this event of about I don't know 80 people or so and um he's sitting right beside me he's with the Lord now but he's sitting right beside me he goes well Michael given your uh given your parameters it's more than a piece of dirt but not much and this was the

guy running this big event and I thought to myself how can you read the scripture and not see the land playing a prominent role now it's not like I have to put a steak in the ground say this is Israel and that's the border and the Palestinians are either don't have a right or do have a right or all those political we see in in in the news if you will God told Abram he was going to give his people a land and from that land would come Messiah and it would bless the world and

Ezekiel paints a picture of a future where that land plays a role as does the Book of Revelation unless of course you allegorize or spiritualize or take those out which again I'm not mad at people who do that I disagree with them but um it's a place where he put his name and that's important not because the Jews inhabited or who you know whose Land Is It Anyway that's the big debate you know whose land it is it's God's it's not the Palestinians it's not the Jews it's not the people live there today they're just

tenants they're just renters it's his land and again to me the importance of that when I read this book or a book like this where it talks about the land so prominently is it goes back to God's word if he said that this was his land if he said this is a place he's going to put his name if he said he's doing it for his name's sake that should reassure you and me we call these things the promises of God very glibly but that should reassure you that you can trust him you and I

may not in our lifetime see things rectified and Justified the way we want but this book is not going to change and the outcome is not going to be altered you can trust he's going to put his name where he wants to in the place that he wants to and it's as good as his word Michael easan context is fully funded by our listeners would you consider giving a one time or perhaps monthly donation to support our ministry you can give at michaelin context.com in context is produced by Hannah Seymour and music composed by Chad

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