Day #206 - Ezekiel 37-42 Ezekiel 37 - This is a passage most are familiar with. Youve probably heard the song and even a sermon on Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones. At the end of chapter 36 God had promised to renew Israel; He promised to remove their heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh (see 36:26). This vision in chapter 37 is an illustration of what God had promised to do. The dry bones is a picture of Ezekiels fellow Jews who were in captivity. They were spiritually dead and cut-off, scattered if you would, from the Promised Land and out of fellowship with their God. The two sticks that God puts together into one represent the 2 kingdoms being brought back together as one; they had been divided since the time of Solomon. These dry bones (the spiritually dead exiles) God would release from their graves and bring new life to them. This is a picture of their being reunited in the Promised Land. It is obvious from reading this that it has not been completely fulfilled yet and wont be until Messiah sets up His kingdom in Israel. Maybe you have some friends or family members who have lost all zeal for the will and ways of God; they were once spiritually alive but now seem to be dead. This happens in churches as well. Dont stop praying and dont give up hope. God specializes in taking things that are dead and bringing life to them. He did it with Lazarus, the widow of Nains son, Jairus daughter, and with you and I when we were dead in our trespasses and sin (see Ephesians 2). Ezekiel 38 - In 1950, the U.S. men’s national soccer team scored one of the greatest upsets in sports history. A group of true amateurs including a schoolteacher, a mail carrier, and a hearse driver traveled to Brazil to compete for the U.S. in the World Cup. In an early round game they were to play one of the tournaments favorites, powerhouse England. They stunned the world beating England 1-0. It was too good to be true for some newspapers, believing it must be a typo, they refused to report it. The team’s story was retold not long ago in a book and movie titled The Game of Their Lives. There are times when it seems as though the enemies of God are unbeatable, remember that His triumph at the end of history is assured. Most believe this chapter, though it may have had a few modern day applications, was really a prophecy regarding the coming of the Messiah to the end time period known as the Millennium. When that day arrives, not everyone will welcome the kingdom of God. Ezekiel 38-39 tell of a battle in the future where nations gather in an attempt to destroy Israel. Their leader is Gog, who some consider to be an individual ruler while others see Gog as being a representation of all of the nations gathered by Satan to come against God and His people. Revelation 20:7–10, these nations wield fearsome military power, but against God they stand no chance and are destroyed by fire from heaven; their evil plans are overwhelmed by His sovereign plan. Daily you and I are engaged in spiritual warfare with an enemy who prowls around like a roaring lion (see 1 Peter 5:8). And while Christ has already won the victory (see 1 Corinthians 15:57–58), He has also given us the daily responsibility of putting on the full armor of God so that [we] can take [our] stand against the devils schemes (see Ephesians 6:10–18). Be encouraged that the Lord will be with you today as you stand firm in His mighty power (see 2 Corinthians 1:21–22). Ezekiel 39 - This chapter blends the themes of God gaining complete and total victory of His enemies with the idea of cleansing the land and make it once again holy. We read how it is the Lord who will knock the bow out of your left hand and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand (verse 3). He too will give their dead bodies to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field (verse 4). God tells Ezekiel it will take 7 months to dispose of all of the dead bodies; thats why He God calls the birds and beasts to His sacrificial meal (verse 17). After burying the bodies they would sweep through the land and every time they found a bone they would mark it to be buried. Numbers 19:14-16 said that contacting dead bodies out in the open would be ceremonially unclean. There are days when it looks like the good guys, or in this case the God guys are losing. But take heart. Ezekiel gives us a sneak preview of what we read in Revelation 20. In the end God will completely destroy those in opposition to Him and His people will once again be holy and serve Him. Ezekiel 40-42 - These 3 chapters give the dimensions and specifications God gives Ezekiel for this temple that He is having a vision of. Ezekiel’s vision of a new temple seems to be a future building project as no temple matching the measurements given in chapters 40 and following has yet been built. Commentators are divided over whether this is a literal building that will be built during the end times or if perhaps this temple is symbolic or allegorical (like so many other pictures in Ezekiel). In any case, the temple was hugely significant for Israel because it represented the covenant and Gods presence with His people. It was the center place of worship and represented His love and faithfulness to them while reminding them of their responsibilities to obey and walk with Him. It pointed back to a golden age under the kingships of David and Solomon. Even though the people had pursued false idols and defiled the temple, they were still devastated when the Babylonians destroyed it. Ezekiel, although a priest, had never had the privilege of serving in the original temple. That must have made this a thrilling vision for him to see. While a prophet and in exile, he remained a priest. Even though it was just a vision, he still was not allowed into the Most Holy Place (41:3–4). In December 2007 the newly built U.S.S. New York, a Navy assault ship, sailed into New York harbor. What made her visit extra special was a bow built from 7.5 tons of steel recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Center. Firefighters and relatives of those who died on 9/11 watched the arrival of the ship, which delivered a 21–gun salute to honor those who died on that tragic day. The ships crest design shows a phoenix rising from between the twin towers with the motto, Never Forget. For the Jewish exiles listening to Ezekiel’s description of a new temple, the point was also Never Forget. Remembering how the glory of God once dwelt in Jerusalem but departed due to their sin had to have been painful. It had been 19 years since Ezekiel delivered that word from the Lord (Ezekiel 10) that the Gods glory had departed from the Temple and it would soon be destroyed, which has hard to hear. His vision of this new temple served to remind and encourage the people that God had not forgotten them and that His glory would return one day.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 23:34:10 +0000