The Map to God’s Heart – Ezekiel 45-48, Preview

How many of you still have maps in your cars?  Remember those?  When I was growing up, my parents had numerous maps shoved in the glove box or door pockets of our cars.  Most of our travel was in Pennsylvania, so our PA map was well-worn.  But we also had maps of Maryland and New Jersey because we had relatives there.  There were also a few other maps from vacations we took.  If you watch an older film or TV show that includes travel, you can see the classic map scene.  Lost travelers pull their car off to the side of the road.  They get out and gather around the hood of their car.  As they unfold the map, it just keeps unfolding and covers almost the entire hood.  Or perhaps they stay in the car and open the map sitting in the front seat, as the map blocks the windshield.  Do remember those huge maps?  Do you remember trying to fold them back up, and how impossible it was to get the fold right? 

Or how about those county map books?  Every convenience store had racks of those books, including surrounding counties.  Those books of maps were great, because they detailed the roads down to the street level.  You’d be flipping back and forth between the pages plotting your travels.  Often the road you’re following, as you drove along, would go off the end of the page of the map, and it would be very confusing as to what page it continued on.  Remember that? 

Fast forward to 2022.  How many of you still use maps?  I can’t remember the last time I had a map in my car.  We still have one of those Lancaster County map books in the church office, but it is so out of date, it doesn’t have the new highway interchange.  I say “new interchange,” but that roadwork was complete over 20 years ago.  For years now we have access to the Global Positioning System in our cars or through our smartphones. GPS not only has the latest data on new road construction, but can give us up-to-the-minute traffic flow information.  If there’s an accident, your GPS will sometimes reroute you, and you might not know it.  Have you had that experience of thinking, “Huh? This is a strange route…” as the GPS takes you on some back roads you wouldn’t normally use?  In 2022 physical paper maps have become a relic of the recent past. 

Our study through the book of Ezekiel concludes this coming Sunday with an ancient map.  Still in the vision where God gave Ezekiel blueprints for a new temple, now God gives Ezekiel a new map of the nation of Israel.  As with the blueprints of the temple, God has a deeper purpose for his map.  He wants to show Ezekiel his heart.  God wants his people to know what he really cares about, so that they can live according to his heart, which is to say, a life that is in their best interest and which is best for all humanity.  You could say that God shows Ezekiel a map to God’s heart. Now that sounds important.  As God’s children, it is vital that we know the map to his heart!  Read Ezekiel chapters 45-48, and see if you can find not only the map of Israel, but much more importantly, the map to God’s heart. Then join us on the blog next week, as we’ll talk about it further. 

Photo by Tabea Schimpf on Unsplash

How to have a deep experience with God – Ezekiel 40-44, Part 5

In the New Testament there are many ways the writers talk about God in us. As we studied in yesterday’s post, “your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” is one way.  There are others.  All of the ways can be brought together under one heading, “Union with Christ.”  Take for example what Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”  Does the human body of Jesus live inside Paul’s human body?  No.  What Paul means is that Jesus’ Spirit, the Holy Spirit, lives in Paul, and Paul so deeply identifies with and relates to the Spirit, that he is correct to say that he, Paul, has a union with Jesus. That union, that closeness, that deep relational connection, is exactly what God describes in the vision to Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapters 40-44, when he gave Ezekiel plans for a new temple.  But here is the most important part of this union. When we are in union with God, we will think, talk, and act more and more like Jesus. 

How is your union with Jesus?  Take a look at how Paul describes this in Ephesians 3:14-19.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Notice a couple things about this prayer.  First, the prayer is Trinitarian.  It mentions the Father, it mentions Jesus Christ, and it mentions the Spirit.  All are described as equal, all are God.  We believe in God as three equal persons. 

Second, the prayer describes each member of the Trinity as dwelling within the person.  In verse 16, Paul prays that they would be strengthened with power through the Spirit in their inner being.  Then in verse 17, he says prays that Christ may dwell in their hearts.  Finally he prays that they may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 

Third, this intense inward union with Christ is rooted in Christ’s love.  Our God is loving!  And notice how expansive his love is.  God wants to have union, connection, relationship with us because he loves us!

Fourth, God wants us to experience this love in two ways.  One is knowing about the love, how expansive it is.  The second way he wants us to know his love if to experience it.  He wants us to know it in a way that surpasses knowledge.  That’s more than factual knowledge, that is experiential relational knowledge, because God is so deeply rooted in our being.  That is union with Christ.

Do you have that deep experience with Jesus?  With the Spirit?  That deep union with God is what God shows Ezekiel through the vision of the Temple.  It is what God wants for us through his Spirit.  All flowing from his indescribable love.

So whatever happened to these temple blueprints?  As far as we know, nothing.  Another temple would be built, but not Ezekiel’s temple.  You can read about the new temple in the biblical books of Ezra and Haggai.  It is often called Zerubbabel’s temple, because he was the Jewish leader who oversaw construction.  That temple was smaller than Solomon’s, but it lasted longer.  Eventually it too was replaced by Herod’s much larger and more magnificent temple, which was standing in Jesus’ day, until 70 CE, when the Romans destroyed it, never to be rebuilt again.  The Western or Wailing Wall is the only remaining part of the temple in Jerusalem to this day, and the Muslim Dome of the Rock stands on the temple mount.  But remember that God did not ultimately want a building to be his home.  This vision symbolizes God’s heart to be present with his people, and we can praise God that through his Spirit, he lives in us!

I personally have learned about this connection with God over the last 4-5 years in a new way, contemplative prayer for union with Christ.  Recently, one of the ways, I have practiced union with God, and there are a variety of ways, is through the Pause app.  You don’t need the app to practice union with Christ, but I appreciate the guided prayers the app provides. Here’s how it works:  You pause and pray, and the person narrating the prayer invites you to pray many different prayers including, “Lord, heal my union with you.”  I appreciate that prayer.  Does your union with God need to be healed?  Israel’s union with God needed to be healed.  I invite you to begin praying that prayer, “Lord heal my union with you.”  Make time for quietly praying that prayer, asking God to do a work of renewal in your heart.

Photo by Fuu J on Unsplash

How (and why) God wants you to care for your body – Ezekiel 40-44, Part 4

I love watching videos of chiropractors giving people adjustments, hearing the loud cracks. I don’t quite know why, but something in me finds it fascinating. After watching a variety of chiropractors use similar techniques, I asked my wife if I could give her an adjustment. She said, “No way!” I was kidding, kinda. I have in the past given her a back massage, and without trying it, some of her vertebrae made that cracking noise. She said it scared her, but she also admitted that it brought some relief. I have heard some people swear to the efficacy of chiropractic adjustments, and I’ve heard some people claim that chiropractics is a hoax. I don’t know. What I do know is that it is a good thing to take care of our bodies. Why?

“Your body is a temple.”

Do you look at your body that way? What does it mean that “your body is a temple?” That phrase is common in our culture, a reason for people to exercise, eat healthy, get good sleep, take vitamins, and so on. Those are all important parts of caring for our bodies, but as we will see in this post, there are other ways that God wants us to think about our bodies as a temple.

Remember Ezekiel’s vision of the bronze man who measured the temple so Ezekiel had blueprints to share with his fellow Jews living in Babylon? After taking a break for God’s glory to burst into the temple, the measurements start up again.  In Ezekiel chapter 43, verses 13-26, we read the measurements of the altar, after which God describes the process for offering sacrifices to cleanse the altar and make atonement for sins.  Look at chapter 43, verse 27.  God says that at the end of a week of making cleansing sacrifices, the priests will dedicate the new altar.  From that day forward the priests will perform their normal daily ritual sacrifices, and God will accept the nation.  What God describes in these verses is a ritual of repentance and cleansing, the beginning of a new relationship between God and his people. 

Finally in chapter 44, the bronze man brings Ezekiel to the temple, where in verse 4 we read that Ezekiel again sees God’s glory fill the temple, and Ezekiel falls face-down.  There in the presence of the glory of God, God speaks to Ezekiel, another amazingly powerful experience.  Listen to what God says to Ezekiel in chapter 44, verses 4-7.

God says he is concerned for the holiness of his people.  He says, “Enough!  Enough of your detestable practices.”  The people went astray from God, allowing detestable practices to occur inside God’s temple.  Now this new temple symbolizes the holiness God desires for his people.  God says in verses 8-31 that he wants the priests and Levites to practice a holy life too.  Previously some of the priests had not followed God’s ways.  Now he calls them, too, to a holy life.  He reminds them of their duties, but it is holiness that is most important to God.  Last week we saw in chapters 38 & 39 how God is passionate about his holiness.  We learned that holiness is best defined as “set apart”.  God is set apart.  God is utterly different from all else.  But how can people be holy?  What do you and I do with this vision of a new temple?  Does it have anything to do with Christians in 2022?  It does. 

We have seen two major principles.  First of all, God desires to be among his people.  And second, he desires that his people live according to his way of holiness so that nothing gets between him and us.  He cannot have his home with us if we are living in persistent lifestyle sin. 

It is precisely these two principles that the Apostle Paul taught to the Christians in the city of Corinth in 1st Corinthians 6:19, which is the familiar passage “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God. Therefore honor God with your body.”  Paul wrote this, because he was saddened that the Christians in Corinth were behaving in inappropriate ways.  They were using their bodies in was that did not honor the fact that their bodies were the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Just as Israel defamed the original temple, and God now gives Ezekiel a plan for a new holy temple, Paul tells the Corinthian Christians that they they were defaming the temple of God.  What about us?  Are we defaming God’s temple, our bodies?

That defamation can happen in all sorts of ways.  Could be sexually.  Could be addictions.  Could be gluttony.  Could be the music we listen to or the TV or film we watch.  Could be pornography.  Could be indulging in luxury purchases and experiences.  Could be hoarding money and other possessions. 

If we see these kinds of things flowing out of our lives, they are almost certainly symptoms of a heart and mind which is not in line with God’s desire for our bodies to be his temple.  If we see bitterness, anger, self-righteousness, selfishness, greed, rudeness and unkindness flowing out of our lives, we have work to do.  It is important that we regularly examine our lives and hearts, to see if we are truly a body fit for the Spirit.

When we see those outward and inward symptoms, we see the condition of our hearts. 

Photo by Afif Kusuma on Unsplash

For more on your body as a temple, check out this previous post.

When God says, “You don’t know what you’re missing.” – Ezekiel 40-44, Part 3

Have you experienced the sinking feeling of missing out? In our era, we call it FOMO, the Fear Of Missing Out. Most people don’t want to miss out. We like to be in the know, part of a group that is experiencing things together. In fact, we can use the fear of missing out as a motivator when we say, “You don’t know what you’re missing!” So what could it mean when God says to us, “You don’t know what you’re missing”? It seems to me that if God says that, we should pay attention. In our continuing study of Ezekiel 40-44 this week, God says just that.

But first, let’s review. In Ezekiel chapters 40-42, God takes Ezekiel, through a dream vision, to a mountain in Israel. There Ezekiel sees a city below him, and at the gate of the city, he meets a man made of something that has the appearance of bronze. The man invites Ezekiel into the city to a temple complex, where the man starts measuring the temple, seemingly giving Ezekiel ancient blueprints. Then at the beginning of chapter 43, the bronze man takes a break from making measurements for God’s dream house, because the man has something special to show Ezekiel.  Let’s read it in Ezekiel 43, verses 1-12.

God himself shows up!

First God’s glory returns from the east, and then the glory enters the temple. The Spirit of God appears, bringing Ezekiel into the temple, where the glory of the Lord fills the temple.  Ezekiel certainly had numerous mind-blowing encounters with God over the years.  By now Ezekiel is approximately 57 years old.  Not an old man by our standards, but in the ancient near east, with its lower life-expectancy, he is very possibly in his twilight years.  Did he wonder if his prophetic ministry mattered?  All those prophecies of restoration, of dry bones coming to life, of new hearts and a new Spirit…were they going to come true?  God gave him those prophecies around 14 years prior.  The life situation of the Jews in Babylon hadn’t changed in 14 years.  They’re still in exile.  No new heart, new Spirit, new King.  No return to the land.  Was Ezekiel discouraged?  Doubting?  I wouldn’t fault him if he was feeling lonely and down.

Ezekiel says that what he saw was just like the earlier vision of God’s flaming lightning throne chariot in chapters 1-3, and the vision of the glory of the Lord departing the temple in chapters 8-11.  This was an astounding experience for Ezekiel.  We know that because he tells us that he fell face-down, as is to be expected when the glory of God appears to us.  I don’t know if you’ve ever had an experience like that, where God is so real that you need to fall flat. 

Just then God speaks, promising that God will live among his people Israel forever. That’s what his glory in the temple symbolizes.  In a previous vision he left the temple, but now he’s back!  More on that in a moment.

In Ezekiel 43, verses 7-12 we learn that God is very concerned about the sin of the people.  He wants to live among them, to dwell with them, to make his home with them, but he mentions their sin.  Their sin was the reason that he allowed them to face destruction and exile.  Look at verse 9.  God wants the people to make a change. To put away their prostitution and lifeless idols of their kings.  Then he will live among them. 

God is making a pronouncement against the long line of wicked kings in Israel, and the people who followed the kings into sin. Prostitution is a reference to the fact that Israel was married to God, and then they chose to commit adultery with other false gods, worshiping false God, and practicing wickedness.  This prostitution could also be very literal, as the false religion of the nations around Israel included ritual prostitution as part of its worship.  Israel indulged in that too.  So the prostitution was literal and figurative.  God says that they need to be done with it, and they need to pursue him.  That step of their repentance and return to God is necessary for God to return.

In verses 10-12 he is basically saying, “Ezekiel I am giving you these measurements so that you can draw up architectural drawings of the new temple and then show the people of Israel these drawings.  I want them to see this new temple plan so that they will be ashamed of their sins.”  It is almost like God is saying, “I want the people to know what they are missing.” 

What are they missing?  A building?  No doubt they looked to the temple in Jerusalem with great pride.  It was a grand building.  But even this new temple wasn’t all that big compared to other temples in the ancient near east.  There were plenty of others that were way bigger and more opulent.  It wasn’t like God was saying, “I am going to make the biggest, best, most expensive and amazing temple in all the world, to show you what you are missing.”  No!  What Israel is really missing is not a building.  They are missing a relationship with God, they are missing his presence among them.  It was never the temple building that was important in the first place.  What was always important was the presence of God that resided in the temple. 

That’s what God is saying, “I want to be among you, with you, near you, and Israel, it is your sin that broke the covenant relationship we had.”  So now God is saying, “Ezekiel, show them this, show them that I really want to be with them.  Maybe they will agree and turn from their wicked ways!”  God wanted the people who were languishing in exile to have hope.

And then the bronze man starts measuring again. More on that in the next post.

Photo by DDDanny D on Unsplash

God has plans for his dream house – Ezekiel 40-44, Part 2

There have been a few times when the hand of God transports Ezekiel in some kind of vision.  In chapter 1, he saw the flaming lighting throne chariot of God.  In chapter 8, God took him to Jerusalem to the temple to see the ways the people of Jerusalem were defaming the temple.  In chapter 37, the Spirit took him to the valley of dry bones.  Now, in visions, God takes him to Israel to a high mountain overlooking a city.  There he meets a man who appears to be made of bronze, standing in the gateway of the city.  But the man is not a bronze statue, he is alive.  He is holding measuring tools, and the man tells Ezekiel to pay attention because he is about to see something that Ezekiel is then to relate to the Israelite exiles back in Babylon. 

I’m concerned that I’m relating this story too casually. Pause with me and think about what is happening.  Is Ezekiel at the city in person, for real?  Or is he just dreaming in his bed back in home at his village in Babylon?  Or is there some other way to describe this?  We don’t know.  I suspect that Ezekiel felt as though he was really there.  But at the same time, I also believe Ezekiel knew that he was just seeing a vision, a very realistic vision.  We need to see this as amazing.

We also need to read the vision as prophetic literature.  Like the prophecy of Gog and Magog, which we studied last week, this vision it is almost certainly not meant to be interpreted literally, but symbolically. Let’s start with the man who has the appearance of bronze.  What is the man a symbol of?  I wonder if the man looked like C3PO from Star Wars?  Ezekiel doesn’t ever tell us who this man is, but the bronze appearance clues us in that he is not human.  Maybe he is an angel?  We don’t know.  Ezekiel never asks him what kind of creature he is.  Ezekiel just goes with it.  And the bronze man never reveals who or what he is. It’s almost like the man’s identity isn’t what is important.  Otherwise, the text would tell us.

But there is something that bronze man really cares about.  He tells Ezekiel to pay attention to what will happen so that Ezekiel can tell the people of Israel what he saw.  Ezekiel is being given a vision experience which he needs to communicate. So what does the man show Ezekiel? 

Scan through the chapters and what do you notice? The bronze man makes lots and lots of measurements of a new temple.  Ezekiel sees it all, in exacting detail.  That is the topic of the rest of chapter 40, and all of chapter 41 and 42.  In chapter 40:5-37, the bronze man measures the outer courtyard and walls.  Then in 40:38-47 he measures the rooms for preparing sacrifices, rooms for priests, and the inner courtyard.  Next in 40:48-41:26, he measures the temple building and its outbuildings.  In chapter 42:1-15, the bronze man measures more of the priests’ rooms, and finally in 42:16-20 he measures the outer boundary of the entire temple complex. 

The bronze man is a measurement pro!  It is one measurement after the other.  As they visit a part of the temple grounds, the bronze man measures it.

Do any of you like measuring things?  What we are reading in these chapters is basically ancient blueprints. It could be said that they are the plans for God’s dream house. What would it look like? Here is an artist’s rendering:

Other than all those measurements, the only other details mentioned in the blueprints are two decorations: palm trees and cherubim.  Cherubim are angels, but the plans call for images of cherubim to be carved into the walls of the temple building, and that makes sense, at least in my mind.  Angels are symbolically guarding God’s holy place.  If it makes sense to decorate the temple with angels, why would God also decorate his temple with palm trees?  Solomon’s temple, the original temple, also had palm tree decorations. You can read about them in 1st Kings 6.  The palm trees were carved into the stone walls and overlaid with gold.  But why?  Some speculate that the palm trees provided a visual representation of a new Garden of Eden.  The temple was the place of God’s dwelling, just as in the Garden he had walked with the first people.  So the angels and the palm trees carry a theological message.  God’s holiness and God’s presence among his people.

That brings us to chapter 43, and the bronze man takes a break from measuring, because he has something special to show Ezekiel. Check back to the next post as Ezekiel gets a massive surprise.

Photo by Daniel McCullough on Unsplash

What is the difference between a relationship with God and a building where people worship God? – Ezekiel 40-44, Part 1

Over the years, as I’ve talked with numerous people about their relationship with God, what often comes up is church.  If the person feels a distance from God, they often begin to talk about attendance at worship service.  A phrase they share is “Yeah, I want to get back to church.”  Of if a person who does attend church is talking about reaching out to their friends, they will often express a desire for their friends to go to church.  It is interesting to me that a conversation about a relationship with God takes that turn.  Certainly, there is a connection between the two topics.  They are related.  Relationship with God and attendance at worship services.  But those two topics have an important distinction.  It is that distinction that God brings up in the next section of Ezekiel.  What is the difference between a relationship with God and a building where people worship God?

We find out in Ezekiel chapters 40-44.  Let’s start by looking at Ezekiel 40, verse 1.

A few things stand out in this verse.  First, dates.  A lot of time has passed since Ezekiel last dated his prophecy, which was in chapter 33, verse 21.  At that time, Ezekiel and the 10,000 Jews who were originally from Jerusalem in Israel had been living in exile in Babylon for nearly 13 years. On that day a man arrives from Jerusalem to tell Ezekiel and the exiles that Babylon has destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.  Ezekiel gives us no more dates in chapters 34-39.

Now in chapter 40 we have a new date.  Ezekiel tells us that it is now the twenty-fifth year of exile.  He also says that the city of Jerusalem has been laying in ruins for 14 years.  To get a sense of the passage of time that Ezekiel and the exiles might have been feeling, let’s think about what was happening in our world using the same lengths of time.  First of all, Ezekiel and the exiles have been living in Babylon for twenty-five years.  What was happening in our world 25 years ago? 

The year was 1997.  Bill Clinton was president, and scandals surrounded him.  The economy was booming, and something called the internet, the world wide web, was bringing a whole new approach to economic growth.  I got my first email address, but most people still didn’t have them.  In fact, most people didn’t have cell phones.  Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were the hottest thing in sports.  Princess Diana died in a car crash.  Mother Theresa died in India.  The Dow Jones closed over 7000 for the first time ever.  A gallon of gas cost $1.22.  A lot changes in 25 years.  That’s how long Ezekiel has been in Babylon. A long time. 

But what about 14 years?  That’s how much time has passed for Ezekiel since the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple.  For us, 14 years ago was 2008.  Economically, the country was in shambles, the Dow Jones has been tanking all year, and eventually President George W. Bush approved a massive bailout of some major banks. A little-known senator from Illinois was elected to be the first African American President of the USA. Barack Obama. A device named the iPhone had been released the year before, and it was taking the world of communications by storm.  SpaceX became the first private company to send a vehicle into orbit. The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series. A lot changes in just 14 years too. 

In addition to the passage of time, there is an important phrase at the end of verse 1.  Ezekiel tells us that the hand of the Lord was on him.  God was at work in Ezekiel’s life in amazing ways on a regular basis, but there were six times in the book when things go to another level. On each of those six occasions, Ezekiel lets us know some different is happening when he uses the phrase, “the hand of the Lord was upon me”.  This time, when God’s hand is on him, God takes Ezekiel to the city of Jerusalem which had been laying in ruin for 14 years.   What happens there? 

Check back to the next post, and we’ll find out.

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

What I learned about God from teaching my kids to drive – Ezekiel 40-44, Preview

I am currently teaching the youngest of my four children to drive.  If you have taught anyone to drive, you know the somewhat scary feeling of being a passenger in a car piloted by a new driver.  You the passenger have little control, other than using your voice and hoping the new driver is listening to you, that they are ready to act on your commands, and that they able to act on your commands.  Did you ever have the experience of sitting in the passenger’s seat, watching the road in front of you with growing concern as you get closer and closer to a car in front of you, but the new driver is not braking at the time you think they should brake?  Then have you had the experience in which, without telling it to do this, your leg reaches out to push the brake pedal in front of you, except that there is no brake pedal in front of you.  You’re the passenger!  And you start thinking, “Where can I get one of those driver’s education cars with a brake pedal on the passenger side?”

What I have told my kids as they are learning to drive is that they should try to drive with their passengers in mind.  They should try to think about how their driving is affecting their passengers.  The principle I try to get across to them is that they should drive in such a way that their passengers should not be thinking about their driving.  Their passengers shouldn’t feel scared or concerned, and their passengers shouldn’t have one of those automatic leg reactions.  Their passengers should feel so peaceful that they don’t even notice the way the driver is driving.  My wife will tell you that she does not feel that peacefulness when she is the passenger of a car I am driving!  So I have some learning to do as well. 

I’m telling you this today because I wonder how God feels as our passenger?  Of course, we are not driving a car in which God is the passenger. But we are living a life in which God’s Spirit lives with us.  What kind of ride are you giving God?  Does God feel concerned or saddened?  Does he feel elated and excited?  Is he wishing he could push the brake pedal?  If you are a true follower of Jesus, his Spirit lives in you, and that means he is along for the ride of your life.  How do you think he would evaluate his experience? Then take a moment and read Ezekiel chapters 40 through 44.  Yes, we’re going to cover five chapters this coming week, but I think you’ll see why, and I think you’ll see how it relates to God’s Spirit living with us.

Photo by Orkun Azap on Unsplash

How evangelicals have given God a bad reputation and what we can do about it – Ezekiel 38 & 39, Part 5

Are there any ways in which we, though we claim to be Christians, are living in opposition to the way of Jesus?  Are there any ways in which we are sullying his name and reputation?  The more I walk through this life, the more I am concerned that there are many ways we evangelicals, especially, are guilty of doing the very thing the ancient Israelites of Ezekiel’s day were guilty of.  Giving God a bad name, because of our poor behavior.  How so?  To name just a few, we focus on Sunday worship in buildings, rather then living out discipleship to Jesus in the community.  Some of us indulge in luxury and extravagant lifestyles. We can worship celebrity.  We can give our allegiance to political power.  We can spend inordinate amounts of time and money on entertainment.  We could go on and on.  I am deeply concerned that we have defamed God’s holy name. 

How does God come back from this near total defeat?  How does he fix his tarnished reputation?  God goes on to describe his victory in Ezekiel 39, verses 9-20.  This section is another very symbolic description of God’s victory.  Skim down through it and you’ll find very colorful and, frankly, gruesome descriptions.  The entire passage describing his total victory must be seen in relationship to God’s reputation.  God here is not describing a literal military battle, but instead a figurative rebuilding of his reputation.  We can see this, I believe, when we read God’s conclusion in verses 21-29.

This section is so important because it includes more of those principles that we found earlier.  What principles?

First, in verse 21, God says he will display his glory among the nations. 

Next, in verse 22, the most repeated phrase of the book of Ezekiel: Israel will know that he is the Lord their God.

Third, in verses 23-24, God addresses the sin and unfaithfulness of the people of Israel that led to their exile.

Fourth, in verses 25-28, God describes his compassion for Israel, how he will rescue them, and in the process, he repeats some of the principles he has mentioned already: his zeal for his holy name, his desire to be shown as holy in the sight of the nations. Once again, he says that Israel will know that he is their God.

Finally, in verse 29, he says he will pour out his Spirit on them.

God is repeating themes that he has previously mentioned in the last few chapters.  He wants to restore his good and holy name among the nations so that everyone can be in relationship with him.  That means that the people of God will need to repent of their sin, renew their relationship with God, and live for him. 

Thankfully, that work is not solely up to the people.  Yes, God wants us to choose him.  I believe in free will, and I don’t think the Bible makes sense without it.  But God also is there ready to help us, and in fact, he says he will give us his Spirit.  That is God the Spirit, with us.  We have talked about that a lot these past few chapters.  We the people of the church are the new temple of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit lives in us. 

In the Hebrew mindset, people did not consider a relationship with God as the Holy Spirit living in them.  Only a few exceptional leaders like David and Ezekiel experienced the work of the Holy Spirit directly in their lives.  But now in Ezekiel chapter 39, verse 29, God says he will not hide his face anymore.  Instead he will pour out his Spirit on them.  We Christians are used to the idea of the Holy Spirit living with us, because that doctrine is a standard part of New Testament teaching.  But I wonder how close we feel to the Holy Spirit?  I wonder if the Spirit feels as mysterious and unrelatable to us as the Spirit likely felt to the Israelites in Ezekiel’s day?

What we conclude is that a passage that seems to be about a massive global war is actually about God’s ruined reputation. God’s is heart-broken that his people have turned away from him, so he takes drastic action to make it possible for everyone in the world to be in close relationship with him. 

What about you?  Are there any ways that you might have given God a bad reputation?  What will you do to help rebuild God’s reputation? 

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

When God weeps over his ruined reputation – Ezekiel 38 & 39, Part 4

Is it possible God is so emotional that he would weep? Is it possible that he cares about his reputation? I think so.

In the previous post we talked about how repeated says in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 that he is zealous for his holy name. What “zealous for his holy name” means is that he wanted everyone to know that he was holy. But why would God be so concerned about his reputation? Isn’t it obvious that God is holy, the one true God? 

Maybe to us it is.  But who God is would not be obvious to the people in Ezekiel’s day.  Why not?  Because powerful countries like Assyria and Babylon had just invaded Israel multiple times, and in the end, Babylon destroyed the city of Jerusalem, burned down the temple, and sent the Jews into exile.  When you look at the utter defeat of the people of Israel, consider what the status of God’s reputation would have been?  God’s people, the people who are called by his name, have been soundly defeated.  That defeat gives all the nations very reliable evidence to conclude that Israel’s God is not powerful, and thus not holy. It seemed that Israel’s God was no match for the Babylonians, and therefore, it would be entirely reasonable for the people in Ezekiel’s village, and for people all over the ancient near east to conclude that Israel’s God was weak at best, and false at worst.  Do you see how God’s reputation has been seriously damaged?

Here’s the thing, God’s reputation is not just about his ability to win a military war.  There is a much more important side to his reputation, that of his truth and righteousness and justice.  God’s reputation is also connected to his claim that God’s way of life is the best possible way of life.  In being zealous for his reputation, God also wants to protect the truth about his way of life.  He went to great pains to give Israel his Law, which describes in detail the righteous and just way of life that he wanted them to live.  Starting with their ancestor Abraham, they were to be a blessing to the whole world, living faithfully in obedience to God’s way, and thus showing the rest of the world how to be in relationship with God and live his way.  If Israel could do that, if they could live his ways and help others do the same, they would make an astonishing impact on the rest of the world.  That would put not just Israel in relationship with God, but a whole lot more people in relationship with God.  That would put not just Israel living the way of righteousness and justice, but the rest of the world could experience God’s blessed life of righteousness and justice. 

But that didn’t happen.  Israel chose to turn away from God, worshiping foreign false gods and living in wickedness and injustice.  Israel’s choice to live selfishly did not just impact them.  Their selfish, disobedient lives had the disastrous ramification of making it next to impossible for the rest of the world to know the truth about God.  Do you see the result of this?

Do you think the people like the Babylonians invaded Israel, saw how the people of Israel were living their lives, which was totally not in line with God’s ways, and thought, “Oh I want to know the Israelites’ God and follow his ways.”  Of course not.  Instead the Babylonians thought, “These Israelites don’t even follow their God’s ways.  We just totally defeated them.  So their God must have been false.”  In the end, God’s reputation was in shambles.  God’s heart was grieving because he desires a relationship with all people, but no one, not even his own people were following his ways.  They showed that they did not think he was worth following.  Imagine how it must have felt to be God. 

I want us to take a moment and think about God weeping over his ruined reputation in Israel’s day.  Is it possible God is weeping over Christians now.  Have we done anything to give God a bad reputation in our culture?  In our nation, I think of slavery and white supremacy and how that continues to lead to racial injustice in our land.  It is fascinating to me that enslaved Africans eventually took on the Christianity of their wicked masters who were living in direct contradiction to the way of Jesus, which is acutely obvious when the masters enslaved other humans and often beat them.  Some enslaved people endured this and responded, “If this is what Christianity results in, I want nothing to do with it.”  Thankfully, and amazing, many enslaved people took the beatings, worked under horrid conditions and still said, “The Christianity of my master is not the Christianity of Jesus.  I like Jesus and the teaching of the New Testament. Jesus suffered too.”  In fact, it is astounding to me how many enslaved persons practiced a much purer form of Christianity than did their masters.  I think it is highly possible that some masters and owners were actually not Christians, though they claimed to be, and though they went to church faithfully, while the enslaved people were genuine Christians, though they were not allowed to set foot in the church, and instead had to meet in hiding, in secret.  As Jesus taught, by their fruit you will know them.  Which group could it be said had the fruit of the Spirit flowing from their lives?

But you say, that was 150 years ago.  What about now?  Are there any ways in which we, though we claim to be Christians, are living in opposition to the way of Jesus?  Are there any ways in which we are sullying his name and reputation? 

Check back into the next post as we’ll find out.

Photo by Danie Franco on Unsplash

God’s passion for relationship with you – Ezekiel 38 & 39, Part 3

How passionate is God about being in relationship with you? How much does he love you? Do you ever wonder about this? Does God seem distant?

Keep reading, and I think you’ll find out how God really feels about you.

So far in our study of Ezekiel 38, we’ve learned about the vast armies of Gog and Magog (read more about them here) and their allies from all over the world surrounding God’s people to destroy them. As threatening as that might seem, God comes to Israel’s defense and wins the victory.  But at the very end of Ezekiel chapter 38, God says something fascinating in verse 23.

The result of the global war is that God’s greatness and holiness are made known to the nations.  All will know that he is the Lord.  Once again, there’s the most repeated phrase of Ezekiel: God’s desire is to be known.  We could scratch our heads a bit and ask, “Wait a minute, God, if you want to be known by all people, why did you just destroy the armies of Gog?”  That is a good question, if we are reading this passage literally.  But this is apocalyptic literature, as we learned in the previous post, which means that it is almost certainly not meant to be taken literally.  It is highly unlikely that God, in Ezekiel 38 and 39, is describing a future world war.  Instead we look for the principles embedded in the passage and we focus on them.

What are the principles we learn in chapter 38?  There are many, but I’d like to highlight two.  First, it is not a good idea to bet against God.  God wins in the end.  Second, God desires to be known by all people.  God’s passion for relationship with all people of the world is so powerful, so intense that he will do what is necessary to make it possible for all people to know him!  Think about the loving heart of God that wants to be in relationship with you, with your children, your grandchildren, your neighbors. 

The imagery of chapter 38 is that of something getting in the way of relationship to God, and God doing the work to remove that barrier.  But we’re only halfway there.  There is more to come in chapter 39. God is not done with Gog and Magog.  Read what comes next in Ezekiel chapter 39, verses 1-8.

How about that?  More of the same apocalyptic imagery as what we read in chapter 38.  God takes dramatic and powerful action against Gog and Magog.  Why?  Because, as we read in verse 6, then they will know that he is the Lord.  Not just Israel, but all nations will know that he is the Lord, and they will know that he is holy.  So far in chapters 38 and 39, we have seen God repeatedly talking about his holiness.  He wants his reputation to be that of holiness. He is the holy God, and he wants everyone to know it.  Why?  Isn’t it obvious that God is holy? 

To answer the question of why God wants everyone to know that he is holy, first we need to answer the question, what does it mean that God is “Holy”? 

When you think of God as holy, what comes to mind?  That he is pure?  That he is perfect?  Those are good answers, but the meaning of “holy” is “to be set apart.”  That which is holy is utterly different from everything else.  There is no god like our God.  He is the one and only true God.  All other gods are false gods.  In this sense, God is the holy, the one and only. 

In Ezekiel 38 & 39, God wants everyone to know that he is holy.  In other words, God is clearly saying, “All people of the world, those other gods that you followed and worshiped…they are false gods.  I am the one true God.  I want to be in relationship with you.  I don’t want you to be deceived!” 

Then to show them that it is not just his word against their word, he authenticates the holiness of his name by his victory over evil.  God isn’t just saying, “Ooo, ooo, pick me, I am the one true God.”  He is showing he is holy by his victory.  God wants it to be known that there are no other options.  He is the only one.

But wait a minute.  Isn’t it obvious that God is holy, the one true God?  Maybe to us it is.  But who God is would not be obvious to the people in Ezekiel’s day.  Why not? 

Check back tomorrow as we’ll find out in the next post.

Photo by Jackson David on Unsplash