What is your automatic response when life goes bad? – Ezekiel 17, Part 3

Last week I caused a car accident. Thankfully it was minor, and no one was hurt. As I was driving, I glanced down at my phone to check the GPS, and in that split-second, the vehicles in a line of traffic in front of me slowed to a stop. It all happened so fast. I looked up, realized the pickup truck in front of me was stopped, and I slammed on my brakes. My car skidded, but there wasn’t enough space, and I rear-ended the pickup. I hit them hard enough to deploy my airbags. Because my phone was connected by Bluetooth to my car, the airbags triggered an automatic call to 911. Within seconds, the emergency operator was talking to me asking how I was doing. Soon after that, local police arrived. It was amazing and comforting that technology and people were instantly available to help in my time of need.

What is your automated response in times of need? Our automated responses reveal who we are and what we care about, don’t they?

As we have been studying Ezekiel 17 this week, we have learned, through the parable of the Two Eagles and the Vine, the major historical events that had recently occurred in the city of Jerusalem. The parable turned out to be an allegory about those events. If you want to learn more about the parable, pause this post and start reading the first post in the series.

The final event in that recent history was a desperate plea made by Jerusalem’s King Zedekiah to the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, asking for military help to overthrow Babylon’s control of Jerusalem. Will Zedekiah succeed?  Will his ploy to enlist help from Egypt work?  Let’s keep reading as we now come to the part of Ezekiel 17 that is a prophecy about the future.  Look at verses 16-21.

In these verses, God says that Zedekiah’s plan of rebelling against Babylon by getting military help from Egypt will be an utter failure.  Babylon will destroy Zedekiah and his forces, just like the vine in the parable will be withered completely.  And why?  Why would God allow his people in Jerusalem to suffer such defeat?  Look at verse 20.  There God gives the answer, “because he was unfaithful.”

There it is.  This is what we have heard all along in Ezekiel.  The people of Jerusalem will be attacked and defeated again by Babylon, but this next time will devastating.  No puppet king.  No treaty.  No peace and prosperity. Their rebellion will be answered with destruction because they were unfaithful.

Before we start thinking about how awful that is, and it is awful, God reminds us that this is all happening because the king of Jerusalem and the people have been unfaithful to God.  They rebelled not just against the king of Babylon, but first they rebelled against God.  They worshiped false gods and made idols.  They practiced ritual worship that included prostitution or child sacrifice.  They committed acts of injustice.   The people no longer knew God.  That’s why God has been repeating a phrase throughout the book of Ezekiel, “Then you will know that I am God.”  He says a variation of that phrase again here in verse 21, “Then you will know that I have spoken.” 

Think about it.  There is Zedekiah, King of Jerusalem.  He is a puppet king, controlled by Babylon.  He’s not free. His people aren’t free.  Yes, they have peace, but only if they do what Babylon says and pay tribute, in the form of taxes, to Babylon.  Not many people would like to be controlled by another nation.  So Zedekiah wants to be free from the shackles of Babylonian control.  His solution is to reach out to Egypt for help.  Egypt? Why Egypt?  Egypt is another regional power.  They might have a common interest in pushing back Babylon’s ever-increasing encroachment. But take notice of a pretty important detail in Zedekiah’s plan for rebellion: when Zedekiah knows he will need help to rebel against Babylon, he does not choose God for help!

Think about this from God’s point of view, as he is watching this play out.  His people, the Jews have rebelled against him for decades, so he allows Nebuchadnezzar and the military of Babylon to attack and capture Jerusalem and exile the people.  We can imagine God thinking, “This will get their attention.  Now they will return to me.”  But they don’t return to God.  Instead, when he is desperate to break free from Babylon’s control, King Zedekiah goes to Egypt for help!  If you’re God watching this, you’re shaking your head thinking, “Why won’t my people return to me?  I love them.  I rescued them from slavery in Egypt all those years ago.  I gave them the Promised Land where they could flourish.  Now they are fixated on turning away from me.” 

Think about the irony of Zedekiah reaching out for help from Egypt, when it was Egypt that enslaved Israel centuries before.  Zedekiah has finally trampled on God’s covenant with Moses one time too many, and God says that Zedekiah’s plan will fail, and Babylon will decimate Jerusalem.  As we heard in chapter 7, the end is near. 

But the parable is not done.  God has more to say, and to many, what God says next, in part 2 of the parable, will make no sense whatsoever, especially when you consider how his people had ripped up the covenant and turned their backs on God.  Check back tomorrow, as we’ll look at the surprise ending to the parable. 

For consider how you typically respond when life blows up in your face. What is your normal go-to for help? Do you call a friend? Do you google it? Do you eat some ice cream or grab a beer? Does God cross your mind? What do you need to do to make turning to God your automatic response?

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Interpreting the parable of the Eagles and the Vine – Ezekiel 17, Part 2

Can you interpret the allegorical parable of the Eagles and the Vine in Ezekiel 17? In the previous post, we talked about how this parable is for people that have lost hope, or are feeling it slip away. So it is important that we understand it.

In this second post of a five-part series studying Ezekiel 17 (the series started here), let’s read the parable in verses 3-10, trying to understand it.  Please don’t peek ahead!  Don’t look at your Bible’s study notes!  The text itself will eventually explain the parable.  Just keep your eyes on verses 3-10 and see if you can figure it out.  Go ahead and read the parable in Ezekiel 17, verses 3-10.

Alright.  You get all that?  It’s a pretty simple story.  Most parables are simple.  But what is so difficult is understanding their meaning. Let’s review the story to make sure we understand it. 

A powerful eagle flies to the country of Lebanon, which is famous for its cedar trees, and there the eagle breaks off the top of a cedar tree and carries it away to another land where the eagle plants it. 

Then the eagle gets some seed from “your land.”  Whose land?  Your land?  What land is God talking about?  Scan back up to verse 2.  Who does verse 2 say that Ezekiel is talking to?  The house of Israel.  Ezekiel is talking to his fellow Jews living in exile with him there in Babylon, but their homeland is Palestine, the land of Israel.  So this eagle scoops up seed from Israel, planting it in the fertile soil of Israel with abundant water.  The seed grows into a vine.  Notice the detail in verse 6.  The vine grows, turning its branches toward him.  Toward whom?  The eagle.  The vine’s roots also stay under the eagle, as the vine grows.  It is a picture of peace and prosperity.

Another powerful eagle appears, and things start to change.  The vine sends its roots out toward the new eagle, seeking water from the eagle.  A detail in verse 8 is important.  In verse 8 the parable reminds the listener that the vine had been planted in fertile soil with abundant water, but that wasn’t good enough for the vine, because it sought water from the new eagle. 

What will happen to the vine?  It will be weakened, stripped of its fruit, and uprooted.  Even a rescue operation like transplanting the vine will not work.  And that is the end of the parable.

So what does the parable mean?  Before we read the next section of verses in Ezekiel, and before you check your Bible’s study notes to try to help you understand what the parable means, let’s meet our cast of characters. We have four primary figures in the parable: the two eagles, the tree and the vine. Can you guess who they represent? Answers are at the bottom of the post! Before you scroll down to reveal the answers, try to guess!

Who is the first eagle? 

The top of the tree he breaks off and plants in a different city? 

The seed that became a vine? 

Hint: We talked about all three of these already in previous posts.

The second eagle?  This one is tricky because we have not yet talked about it in our study. 

Okay…do you have answers for all four? If so, scroll to the bottom of the post and check your guesses! Then return to this spot in the post and keep reading!

Now that we have the cast of characters, do you understand how the parable is a prophecy that is very similar to the prophecies Ezekiel has proclaimed previously?  Yes?  No?  Maybe?  Well, thankfully, God explains the parable.  But before we read the explanation, see if you can use the identity of the cast of characters to interpret the parable!  Then read Ezekiel 17, verses 11-15, for the explanation.

In verses 11-15 God says that the parable is essentially an allegory telling the story of Jerusalem, its two most recent kings and their international political affairs with Babylon and Egypt.  This is the history that has been the context of the book of Ezekiel.  Here’s a summary: Babylon attacked and defeated the city of Jerusalem.  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon forced King Jehoiachin of Jerusalem, along with Ezekiel and 10,000 other Jews from Jerusalem, into exile in Babylon.  Then Nebuchadnezzar installed another member of Jerusalem’s royal family, Zedekiah, as the new puppet king in Jerusalem. To keep peace and thrive, all Zedekiah had to do was follow the decree of Nebuchadnezzar.  But Zedekiah rebelled, seeking military help from Egypt.

When Ezekiel was telling this parable to the 10,000 Jews in Babylon, everything he told them thus far in the parable was recent history.  Ezekiel and the 10,000 Jews living in exile in Babylon knew all about the various kings and their international politics.  But Ezekiel and his fellow Jews in Babylon were left with some troubling questions; the same questions that God asks in verse 15:  Will Zedekiah succeed?  Will his ploy to enlist help from Egypt work?  Will Israel be freed from Babylonian control?

Check back in to the next post as we come to the part of the parable that is a prophecy about the future, and how it can help us when have lost or are losing hope!

Photo by Richard Lee on Unsplash

Answer Key for Cast of Characters:

First Eagle: King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

The Tree: King Jehoiachin of Jerusalem who was exiled to Babylon at the same time as Ezekiel.

The Vine: King Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s relative, who Nebuchadnezzar installed on the throne of Jerusalem as a puppet king.

The Second Eagle: Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

An ancient parable to read when it seems hope is lost – Ezekiel 17, Part 1

Have you ever had that feeling of being dead inside?  Lacking hope.  Lacking energy.  Blah.  Depressed.  Feeling like there must be more to life than this.  Looking around for answers and satisfaction, and maybe finding it temporarily in TV shows, social media, food, alcohol.  What do you use to ease the frustration of life? 

Maybe you’re in a dead-end job.  Maybe you have a relationship that is going nowhere.  Maybe you’re a parent and feel like a failure in raising your kids.  Maybe it’s a health situation that lingers, lingers, lingers and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.  Maybe you’re growing older, and you know you are closer to the finish line than to the start.  Maybe you’re real close.  Maybe you’re scared.

Maybe you look at the price of living and find it utterly maddening.  Gas just jumped to $3.35/gallon here in Lancaster.  Prices of food are going up.  Car and home and rental prices seem ridiculously high.  There’s a lack of affordable housing, and your salary might not be keeping up with it all.  Do you ask for a raise?  Do you look for another job?  Or maybe you try a side hustle.  But do you really want to add one more thing to your already busy life?  You think to yourself that you’re already probably too busy.  You go to bed exhausted, you don’t sleep that great, you wake up still tired, and you face another day to make another dollar or try to pay attention in school, and you wonder if this is what life is supposed to be about.  Where can you go for help?  You know the churchy answer is “God,” but maybe he feels real far away.  You might have even prayed in the past, and it didn’t seem to help.

Turn to Ezekiel 17.  We’re going to hear a story that I think speaks to the reality of the frustration of our world.  Read Ezekiel 17, verses 1-2.

In our study of Ezekiel, we’ve watched as God has told Ezekiel to perform skits.  God has given Ezekiel astounding visions.  God has asked Ezekiel to declare straightforward prophetic sermons.  Here in Ezekiel 17, verses 1-2 God tells Ezekiel that his next prophecy will be a parable, an allegory. 

When you think of parables, you probably think of Jesus.  Jesus is famous for his parables.  They are creative stories, genius in their simplicity and power.  But sometimes Jesus told parables, confused the heck out of people, and then did not let his listeners in on what the parable meant.  Other times he told the parable and the meaning.  In Ezekiel 17, thankfully, God will tell the parable and the meaning.  I would like read the parable, and you see if you can figure out what it means.  Before you read it, let me give you a couple important hints that I hope will help you understand Ezekiel’s parable. 

First hint: Think about the content of nearly all of Ezekiel’s prophecies.  More than likely this one will be similar.  What was the content of his previous prophecies so far?  I’m not going to tell you.  Sorry.  I want you to think about it and remember as you read to the parable.

Second hint: Parables are stories where one thing or group of things symbolizes another thing or group of things.  So, when you hear a parable, you should think, what might that object refer to?  When you are trying to understand most parables, it can be very helpful to make a cast of characters.  For example, Jesus tells a parable about a man who holds a banquet and invites various guests to the banquet.  But he’s not really talking about a man, a banquet, and guests.  Instead, the man, the banquet and the guests stand for something else.  The man stands for God, the banquet stands for the Kingdom of God, and the guest are the people God wants to enter his Kingdom.  See if you can do the same thing for this parable.

The parable is recorded in verses 3-10. Please only read those verses. Don’t peek ahead!  If your Bible has study notes, please don’t look at your study notes!  Like I said, God will eventually explain the parable.  Just keep your eyes on verses 3-10 and see if you can figure it out.  Ok! Read Ezekiel 17, verses 3-10, and then in the next post we’ll try to interpret it.

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Have you ever lost hope? – Ezekiel 17, Preview

Have you ever lost hope?

I paused after typing that question, thinking to myself, “Have I ever lost hope?”  There have certainly been difficult periods in life, and I know I have become very frustrated, very anxious, and very sad.  But I don’t know that I have lost hope, at least in the sense of losing all hope.  I’m talking about losing hope in a final sense, to the point where a person thinks seriously about committing suicide.  I know I haven’t been at that point.  Maybe you have.  Maybe you know the feeling of darkness creeping in, when it seems there is no way out.  Even then, hope is not lost.

Though we might not have encountered that final sense of lost hope, my guess is that we have experienced at least a partial loss of hope.  Last night we were watching Conestoga Valley High School’s varsity boys’ soccer team play Penn Manor.  In the first half, CV dominated, keeping the ball on Penn Manor’s side of the field nearly the whole half, pounding shots at the goal, but they were unable to put one in the back of the net.  There was no doubt that CV is the better team, but the score was 0-0.  Early in the second half, though, with the ball yet again on Penn Manor’s side, the Comets’ defense cleared the ball, and they caught the CV defense a bit flat-footed.  In the ensuing breakaway, Penn Manor scored a goal.  At this point in the game, CV probably had 95% possession, and loads of shots on goal, but scored none of them.  Penn Manor had one shot on goal, and they scored it.  But hope was not lost, as there was lots of time on the clock.  We could tell that after trying so hard, getting so close, now being down 0-1 was an emotional setback for the CV team.  But CV did not give up the fight, knowing that when you keep possession, taking shots, invariably one will go in.  Then Penn Manor scored another breakaway goal.  Now down 0-2, and with time dwindling, CV had a mountain to climb.  They kept fighting, kept shooting, and nothing was going on.  Still, hope is not lost.  Yes, scoring goals in soccer is difficult, but with CV’s skill, speed and fight, they could do it, even with the game clock under five minutes.  With the ball near the midfield stripe, a Penn Manor defensive back took a rocket shot, sailing it over the unsuspecting CV keeper’s outstretched arms, and into the goal.  Even though it was a high school game, I wouldn’t be surprised if that shot made ESPN’s SportsCenter highlights this morning.  The Penn Manor team and fans went wild.  It was one of the most impressive goals I have ever witnessed live.  It was particularly grueling because, without question, CV is the better team.  Maybe you know the feeling.  It could be when you wanted a relationship to work, and you tried to work it out, but the pain was too deep, and the relationship broke apart.  It could be when you studied and studied, in hopes of getting a high enough grade on the final test, so you could pass the course, and when the grade came back, you didn’t pass.  Even then all hope, final hope is not lost.

There are times when life seems hopeless.  It could be that you feel hopeless about our national political situation.  Or maybe about paying off debt.  Or about beating an addiction.  Even then hope is not lost.

This coming week we study Ezekiel chapter 17, and we’re going to hear an interesting story about two eagles, a tree and a vine, that will teach us an important reminder about hope.  Read it ahead of time and see what you think, then in the next post we’ll start talking about it.

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Practical ways to stay connected to God – Ezekiel 15 & 16, Part 5

What do we do to stay connected to God?

First of all, we must spend time with him, getting to know him, hearing from him.  Too often Christians have said that to build a relationship with God, “Go to church on Sunday,” as if what happens in that building is what God really wants.  Not so.  We don’t need a building to worship God or to be a church family.  I think that is especially obvious when we hold worship in the park twice each year. Sure, a building makes gathering for worship convenient, and they can be used for many good things in line with the mission of God’s Kingdom, so we do well to care for church buildings.  But let us not mistake entering a building with staying connected to God.  We need to have a connected, vibrant relationship with God that goes beyond the four walls of the church building.  That means opening up time in our lives to be with him throughout the other hours and days of our week, and that will likely mean sacrificing other activities to make time for God.   

It could be while you’re driving.  It could be while you’re washing dishes.  It could be a specific quiet time.  Maybe you get a lunch break, and you can find a quiet spot. Staying connected with God can occur in any time where it is just you and him.  In those dedicated times alone with God, include study of God’s word, reading devotional books, memorizing God’s word, praying, listening in the quietness, and just being in his presence.  In those moments we are saying God, “I remain in you, I stay with you, I need you.  Be like the vine and the branches, empower me by your Spirit, help me to orient my whole life around you.  I want to bear much fruit for you.”

Then consider developing what Brother Lawrence called an unceasing conversation with God, whereever you are, all throughout the day, even when you are busy. I know it can be hard to focus on two things. For example, am I have a conversation with God as I type this post? It can be hard. But Brother Lawrence was right when he said that if we practice a continual conversation with God, we can learn to keep it going. He called it the Practice of the Presence of God. You can read or listen to his small, fascinating book for free here.

So in conclusion, I have to ask, are we giving the idea of being disciples of Jesus lip-service?  Are we saying, “I believe,” but then not actually living our lives in such a way that shows we really want to bear much fruit?  Are we living our lives pretty much disconnected from God? 

As we saw in our previous posts in this five part series on Ezekiel 15 & 16, let us not wander from God, but stay with him.  Sit with him.  Remain in his presence.  Get to know him.  Serve him.  Sacrifice for him, the one who atoned for our sins.  No matter if you are at work, at home, driving, or wherever you are, remain in him.  To remain in him means we are acknowledging his presence, our need for him, the Holy Spirit within us.  To remain in him means we remember who we are in him.  We remember that we are children of a living, active, loving God and that knowledge will move us to love others as he loves us.  The more we are connected with him, the more of God will be seen in our actions, our attitudes, our choices, our thought patterns. 

Finally, invite others into the process.  He made us for relationship and for community.   Our faith is not solitary or individualistic.  We need to be together as we remain in God. Encouraging one another in our connection to our main source of life as it was intended to be, challenging one another to deeper connection and communion with God. 

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Do you feel disconnected from God? – Ezekiel 15 & 16, Part 4

How close do you feel to God? Do you feel distant? Maybe you participate in your church’s worship, and you feel closer, but the rest of the week is so darn busy you can go for days without giving God a thought. The result feels like a growing distance between you and God. As we conclude our discussion of Ezekiel 15 & 16 in this post and the next, we have already seen how desperately God wants to be connected with us.

In the previous post we talked about the importance of atonement, and how atonement makes it possible for us to have a connection with God. As we think about how God’s atonement leads to the transformation of our lives, I remembered something Jesus once taught.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus was thinking about Ezekiel 15 when Jesus taught about the vine and the branches in John 15.  Read verses John 15:1-8.

See the parallel between Ezekiel 15, which we studied here and here this week, and John 15?  Wood from the vine that is no longer bearing fruit gets pruned.  In verse 6 we see the closest parallel to the point that God is making in Ezekiel 15.  Jesus says in John 15:6 that those branches which no longer bear fruit are not only cut off, but they wither and die and are good for nothing except to be burned.  This is the very point God made in Ezekiel 15.  In Ezekiel’s day, the people of Jerusalem were not bearing fruit; they were like grape wood that is not making grapes, and therefore they are only good for kindling. 

The principle in both passages is that God desires to be connected to his people so that his life-giving power will flow from himself to his people, and they will flourish and bear fruit.  This is the same principle in Ezekiel 16, which we studied here and here.  The queen becomes, out of her free will, disconnected from her king, and her life is the opposite of flourishing.

God wants to be connected to his people so that his people can experience his power, flourish and bear fruit.  What, then, will it look like for us to be people who are connected to God? 

The first way we often answer that question is worship services. Our hearts desire is that our church family gathers to worship and connect with God together.  That is important and inspiring.  But we need to think about connection with God beyond the 1-2 hours we participate in gathered worship. We also seek to be people who connect with God throughout the rest of the week. 

Jesus in John 15:4 describes connecting with God as remaining or abiding.  Another word we could use is “Stay.”  Stay with God.  Stay connected to God.  How do we stay connected to God throughout the hours and days of our busy lives?

Maybe Jesus means that we need to believe in him. No doubt, especially in the Gospel of John, we read Jesus calling us to believe in him.  That is important.  But belief does not guarantee connection with God.  James the brother of Jesus writes in chapter 2 of his letter than even the demons believe, and of course they are not connected to or staying with God.  So belief must move to action.  We do something about our belief.  In John 15, I highly doubt that Jesus is talking about belief when he says, “Remain in me.” What do we do to stay connected to God, to remain in him?

We’ll talk about some practical ideas in the next post.

Photo by Pier Monzon on Unsplash

How atonement changes everything – Ezekiel 15 & 16, Part 3

A family had planned a trip to a Major League baseball game to cheer on their favorite team. The whole family, parents and kids, were very excited to put on their team jerseys, drive to the big city, eat ballpark food, and cheer with the crowd.  The day before the game, though, a son in the family was disobedient, and his punishment was that the son was no longer allowed to go to the baseball game.  We call that getting grounded.  The day of the trip, alone in his room, he heard the sounds of the rest of the family excitedly getting ready to leave without him. He looked at his team jersey hanging in his closet, and he felt angry, guilty and frustrated. Then he heard a knock on his door.

I thought of this story and it’s fascinating conclusion, which I will tell you a few paragraphs below, when I considered God’s response to his people who had rebelled against him. We’ve been studying Ezekiel 15 and 16 in a five-part blog series starting here. In the previous post, God likens his people to his wife who has prostituted herself to others, terribly hurting him. When you hear his emotions, and you read what they did to God, the first thing that comes to mind is that God should divorce them. He would be totally justified in doing so. What is surprising is that God says he will restore their fortunes!  Read Ezekiel 16:59-63.

God says he will remember the covenant.  Though they have broken covenant, God will not.  Instead he says he will establish an everlasting covenant, and they will know that he is the Lord. How? He mentions a very important word. Atonement.

He will make atonement for them, for all they have done.  That is a concept that is vital for us.  Atonement.  This word conveys the idea of covering for someone.  You’re out to eat, the bill arrives, and you go for your wallet, and you are embarrassed to discover it is not there.  You must have left it at home.  So you ask your friend, “Can you cover me?”  When your friend pays your bill and does not expect to be repaid, they are atoning for you.  God says he is going to atone or cover for the people of Jerusalem, meaning that he will not count their very substantial sins against them.  When they see what God does, it will cause them to feel the weight of the sin to the point that it will silence them. 

Now let’s return to the story of the son who was grounded and missing the baseball game. Just before the rest of the family left for the game, the father came to the son who was sulking in his room, and the dad said, “Get ready, son, you’re going to the game.”  The son was shocked and elated, and he scrambled to pull his team jersey over his head.  As he thanked his dad, he asked, “What are you doing this?”  His dad went on to explain atonement and said, “Someone’s covering for you.”  The son was confused, “What do you mean?  Who?”  The dad, “I am staying home in your place.”  Just as fast as the son felt the consequences of his sin lifted, he now felt it heavy on him when he realized that his dad was atoning for him. 

That’s what God says he will do for the people of Jerusalem, and for us! How so? This passage wonderfully looks ahead to what God does for us in Christ. Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection are atonement for us.  They are God covering for us, making right which was wrong.  Atonement does that.  It enables us to be transformed.

The grape wood, which is no longer producing fruit, maybe even broken off and laying on the ground, waiting to be collected for kindling, is given new life.  It is reconnected to the vine, and the life-giving power of the vine enables it to produce fruit.

The baby which is left to waste away is given new life when God rescues it.

The queen turned prostitute is redeemed.

God’s atonement changes everything. 

Photo by Joshua Peacock on Unsplash

God has a wife? – Ezekiel 15 & 16, Part 2

I’m excited to feature the photography of my friend, Heather Leicy! Please learn more at her website. She does amazing work!

God has a wife! Am I talking about Jesus marrying Mary Magdalene, as was popularized in The Da Vinci Code? No. While that is a thrilling story, it based on fiction. What I am talking about is a different section of the Bible that tells a story about God getting married. Unfortunately for God, the marriage is difficult. Before we talk about God’s wife, we need to learn the answer to a riddle.

We talked about the riddle in the previous post. Here’s the riddle from Ezekiel 15 verse 2: “How is the wood of a vine better than that of a branch on any of the trees in the forest?” As we learned in the previous post, the main purpose for grapevine is to make grapes!  When grapevine wood is no longer making grapes, it has only one purpose remaining!  What do you think that one purpose might be? 

Look at Ezekiel 15, verses 4-5 for the answer.

Vine wood is better than the other word of the forest, because it is the best fire starter.  Kindling.  Dead vine wood is not good for much else, but to be burned!

Why does God share this riddle? God explains it to the people in verses 6-8.  The riddle about dead vine wood is actually a prophecy against Jerusalem using figurative language.  What is the figure of speech?  It’s a metaphor: just as the dead wood from the vine is best used for starting fires, God will treat the people of Jerusalem in like manner.  Why?  Because they have been unfaithful, he says in verse 8. That word “unfaithful “is the perfect transition to chapter 16, where God gives another prophecy against Jerusalem using metaphor.  Turn in your Bible to chapter 16.  It is a long chapter, and rather than comment on it verse by verse, I’ll summarize it. I think you’ll see how the metaphor in chapter 16 connects to the word, “unfaithful.” 

God compares the city of Jerusalem to a baby that is unwanted and left out to die.  He rescues the baby, speaks life over the baby, and brings it to health and maturity as a beautiful woman.  Then, surprise, through the covenant of marriage, he makes her his queen.  But the queen becomes arrogant and proud, caught up in her own beauty and fame, and she becomes a prostitute.  Through this metaphor, God is describing his people, the Jews.  How they broke his covenant and pursued foreign nations and false gods. In verses 30-34 God describes the people of Jerusalem as a reverse-prostitute, where instead of receiving pay for services, they run after suitors offering them bribes. 

Imagine being God.  He is the husband in this scenario.  Though he rescued the people and made them flourish, what do they do?  Look at verse 32.  They prefer strangers to their own husband.  God is so emotional in this prophecy, as I’m sure any spouse would be when their spouse is not just receiving other lovers but chasing after them with bribes.  God is basically saying, “How much do you hate me?”   

What is so surprising, then, is that God says he will restore their fortunes. 

Why? And how? We’ll talk about it in the next post, and what seems to be a rather dark section of Scripture, turns out to have great hope!

When someone close to you wanders away – Ezekiel 15 & 16, Part 1

My college roommate was best man in my wedding.  We were very close. After graduating from college, we even worked together for a few years.  Then he asked me to be his best man.  On the one hand I was elated, but on the other hand, my wife and were very concerned about his relationship with his fiancé.  There was enough trouble in the relationship that we felt it was very unwise for them to get married.  So, out of that concern, I told him I couldn’t be his best man.  I’m guessing it will not come as a surprise, then, when I tell you that my decision pretty much killed our relationship.  We had a mediation with the pastor who was doing their premarital counseling, and we worked things out, but not to the point where I was still his best man.  We attended the wedding, but that was about it.  It was a wound that lingered. We didn’t talk much for the next six years.

Maybe you know the feeling.  It is exceedingly emotional and painful when a close relationship changes level.  It is even worse when it is the other person that wanders away, and you don’t want them to.  I am not talking about when someone close to you passes away.  Certainly, that is a change in relationship that carries very similar emotions.  I am specifically talking about a very close relationship that gets broken.  It could be a spouse.  It could be a friend. 

While I am deeply grateful that my friend and I reconciled to the point where we are close again, I know many broken relationships don’t. In our continuing study through Ezekiel, in chapters 15 and 16, God expresses the heart-wrenching emotion of a person whose loved one is wandering, unreconciled.

From nearly day one, God has given Ezekiel prophetic messages about a coming destruction of Jerusalem.  Many of those prophecies have been in the form of skits.  In Ezekiel 15 and 16, however, God gives Ezekiel two prophecies in the form of figurative language.  Turn to Ezekiel 15 and read verses 1-2, looking for a riddle that introducing the first prophecy using figurative language.

The riddle is in verse 2: “How is the wood of a vine better than that of a branch on any of the trees in the forest?” Do you know the answer?

Before we see if you correctly guessed the answer to the riddle, God has two other questions in verse 3. First, is wood from grape vine useful for making things?  What do you think?  I asked two carpenters in our church family, and neither of them have used grape wood, and hadn’t really heard of it being used.

Why?  It’s too small!  Too thin.  And it is really twisty.  Google it and you’ll see.  Of course, in 2021 you can find furniture made from grape wood.  It is cool-looking because of how twisted grape wood is.  But in Ezekiel 15, God is talking to people living 2600 years ago, and their options for using wood for furniture were extremely limited.  They didn’t use grapevine wood for making things. So we have an answer to the first question in verse 3.

God asks a second question, because someone in that culture might respond, “Okay, true, you’re not going to be making tables or chairs from grapevine wood, but you could use it to make pegs, right?”  Pegs for hanging things are very small.  We make pegs out of dowels, wood that is made into rods.  Maybe grape wood would work for that.  Of course someone could try.  Someone probably had tried.  But the reality is that it is not the normal process for carpentry.  You don’t use grapevine wood for making things, because it is too thin or twisted.  What God is doing here is speaking the obvious.  Everyone in that culture already knew that you don’t use grape wood for making things, even small pegs like dowels. The main purpose for grapevine is to make grapes!  When grapevine wood is no longer making grapes, it has only one purpose remaining! 

What do you think that one purpose might be? 

We’ll find out in the next post!

Photo by Road Trip with Raj on Unsplash

Do you feel disconnected from God – Ezekiel 15 & 16, Preview

When is the most recent time you encountered God?  Maybe it was long ago.  Maybe it was today.  Maybe you wonder if you have ever encountered God.  Maybe you encounter God on a regular basis.

What was it like when you encountered God?  Did it happen during worship?  Maybe you felt his presence in nature?  Perhaps you were reading the Bible, and you sensed God speaking to you?  The famous movie, Chariots of Fire, is about Eric Liddell, an Olympic runner, and he said that when he ran, he felt God’s pleasure.  Maybe you know what that’s like.  We can encounter God while we are creating art, singing songs, praying, serving, working, driving…anywhere.  God is not limited to manifesting himself during worship services.

Maybe you’re reading this thinking, “I haven’t encountered God in a long time, and I feel distant from him.”  You might admit that you haven’t encountered him even in worship services, which have the specific purpose of helping us connect with God every week.

Do you feel dry?  Spiritually dead?  Disconnected from God?  If so, you’re not alone.  You might remember the story of Mother Theresa.  Yes, that Mother Theresa, the famous nun who gave her life to serve the poor in India.  She claimed that for most of her ministry years she experienced what some people call a dark night of the soul, a sense of disconnect from God, in which the felt presence of God seems nowhere to be found.

In Mother Theresa’s case, she remained faithful, of course, even though she longed for God, and only rarely felt his presence.  In other words, she remained spiritually vibrant.  Some of us, and perhaps many of us, don’t feel spiritually vibrant.  In fact, it could be that we have neglected God.  It could be that we have turned away from him.  Sure, we still believe in him, but we must admit that we haven’t done much to cultivate a relationship with him.  We haven’t really tried to encounter God.

Does that describe you and your relationship with God?

In the next series of posts we study Ezekiel chapters 15 and 16, and God has some very emotional things to say about his relationship with his people.  Read it ahead of time and see what you think, then check back in next week as we discuss it further.

Photo by Jackson Douglas on Unsplash