Ezekiel 20-21

Well brothers, there are a couple of things on which I would like to comment.  I remember a day many years ago when I was going door to door to share the Gospel.  At one particular house a man answered the door and was willing to speak with me for a few moments.  As I shared with him his need for a savior he told me he was a Catholic but that he viewed Jesus as just a really good guy who set a really good example but that He was not God.  He offered as proof of this statement the fact that Jesus referred to Himself as “The Son of Man”.

Have you ever wondered about that?  We have been hearing here in Ezekiel God refer to Ezekiel as the son of man.  Is there a connection?  Well let me share with you some thoughts from a couple of commentaries.

“Jesus used the term “Son of Man” as His favored description for Himself. It has been suggested that the title “Son of God” is Jesus’ divine name (Matt. 8:29); “Son of David,” His Jewish name (Matt. 9:27); and “Son of Man,” the name that ties Jesus to His earthly mission. The term itself is based on Daniel 7:13–14, where it served as a reference to God.”

Dockery, D. S. (1998). Holman concise Bible commentary: Simple, straightforward commentary on every book of the Bible. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

“IN FOCUS – “son of man”

(Heb. ben ?adam) (2:1; 3:1; 17:2; 24:16) Strong’s #1121; 120: The expression son of man is used nearly one hundred times as a title for Ezekiel (2:1). It serves both to emphasize the difference between God the Creator and His creatures, and to mark the prophet Ezekiel as a representative member of the human race. Ezekiel’s life was a living parable or object lesson to the Hebrew captives in Babylon (compare 1:3; 3:4–7). In word and deed, Ezekiel was a “sign” to the house of Israel (12:6). Jesus adopted the title Son of Man because He too is a representative person—the “last Adam” who became a life-giving spirit (Matt. 8:20; 1 Cor. 15:45). The title of Son of Man for Jesus also alludes to Daniel’s vision of the heavenly being who is “like the Son of Man” (Dan. 7:13). Thus the title Son of Man for Jesus highlights the mystery of the Incarnation, the fact that Christ is both divine and human. As the God-man, Jesus became a glorious sign for all of sinful humanity (Luke 2:34)…”

…Son of man: Ezekiel uses this phrase more than ninety times to refer to himself. It emphasizes his humanity in his God-given role as a spokesman for God. The meaning of the phrase is “human one.” In the OT, only Dan. 7:13 and  8:17 also employ this phrase. In the NT, Son of Man is used frequently by Jesus for Himself. With this phrase Jesus was calling Himself “the Human One,” the long-awaited Messiah who came as God in the flesh (Luke 21:27; John 1:14; 2 John 7). Thus the expression Son of Man is not a contradiction of Jesus’ divinity, as is sometimes alleged.”

Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary. Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.

Finally this verse stood out to me as a challenge to all men today.

Ezekiel 20:8

“But they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.”

Have you cast away the detestable things that your eyes have feasted upon?  You know what I’m talking about.  Our society today idolizes sex, and it is difficult for a man to turn his gaze in any direction without his lustful nature being assaulted by some vision that pulls his heart away from God.  That is not, however, an excuse to continue in this sin.  The issue isn’t what the world around you is doing.  The issue is your decision to submit to your Heavenly Father and obey Him.  Once you have truly decided to obey Him you will find the strength to resist the world.  If you continue to stumble here it is because you are rebelling against God and are not willing to listen to Him.  You don’t want to give it up.

This is hard to hear, I know.  It is hard for me to say it for I am a man like you and my senses come under attack just like yours.  I have stumbled and it hurts; it burns.  It hurts because that is not who God created me to be.  It is not who He created you to be.  He created us to worship and glorify Him.  It is our willfulness, our desire to be our own god that keeps us from obeying and submitting completely to Christ.  The world and its idol sex have only the power over us that we give it.  It is a choice and we must learn to choose differently.  Allowing our eyes to feast upon this idol is a willful rebellion against your Creator and Savior.  It cannot continue.  It must stop now.  In His strength you can cast that detestable thing aside.

Have a rebellion free day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Ezekiel 17-19

Have you ever spoken to someone who said “I can’t believe in a god who would allow all this suffering in the world”?  Did you know that such a statement is actually idolatry?  They are choosing to believe in something other than God.  They have created their own god because they won’t believe in a god who does not function as they see fit.  What foolishness.  God is God whether you like it or not.  You can say you won’t believe in Him but that doesn’t take away His existence or authority.

This is God’s world and He can do with it as He sees fit.  Listen to this from today’s reading:

Ezekiel 18:4

“Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.”

All souls are God’s and He has decreed that all who sin shall die.  Who has sinned?

Romans 3:23

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

His world, His rules; you are a dead man.  Still, God does not wish that any will perish.

Ezekiel 18:25-32

“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?  When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die.  Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life.  Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.  Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?  “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.  Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”

Let there be no confusion.  All who die will deserve their death.  Yet, it is not God’s desire that any should perish.  He has provided a way to be saved.  It isn’t cheap, and it isn’t easy, but it is simple.  “Turn and live”.  Jesus died on the cross that we may live.  We must accept His atoning sacrifice to be saved but we can only truly accept it after we have decided to turn from our sinful ways.  He will help us destroy sins hold on us be we must decide to do so first.

I worry that far too many people have walked the aisles of churches proclaiming they have accepted the salvation that only Jesus can provide but have not truly decided to turn from their sin.  Oh, I’m sure they feel badly about their past behavior, and that is part of it, but feeling bad does not mean that you have firmly committed yourself to turning your back on your sinful ways.  Feeling bad and saying the magic words does not save you.

A changed heart that accepts His sacrifice and is humbly and thankfully submitted to Christ saves you.  That change is the commitment to turn.  God wants you to live but you must decide to do so.  Jesus isn’t a cheap insurance policy; He is a changed life dedicated to the glory of God.  If you haven’t already, will you turn and live?

Have a God glorifying day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Ezekiel 14-16

Do you know what I thought when I finished reading today’s passages?  I thought “Boy is God mad!  He is really, really mad!”  Now we have been reading of God’s condemnation of Judah for a while but in today’s verses He used some pretty strong examples to get the point across.  The first verses that really stopped me in my tracks was this:

Ezekiel 14:13-14

“Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God.”

The reason these verses got my attention is that Ezekiel and Daniel were contemporaries.  Ezekiel was using Noah and Job as examples of righteous men and I understood that.  These were examples from the earliest of recorded history.  People had millennia to read of them and learn to revere their righteousness.  Daniel could very well have been alive at the time of the writing of these verses.  This meant that his renown as a righteous man had spread fairly quickly.

God’s point in mentioning these men was to help the wayward people of Judah to understand that not only did they lack righteousness to save themselves from punishment, but that, even if these three righteous men themselves were among them, even their righteousness would not be enough to save them.  You see Noah’s righteousness saved his sons and their wives and even the future of all mankind.  Job’s righteousness had allowed him to survive his trials and saw children and wealth restored to him.  Daniel was the current “rock star” of righteousness.  His fame as a righteous man, and the protection God had afforded him, was obviously known far and wide.   Ezekiel was simply using the most widely recognized person of righteousness known to the people of the day as another example of righteousness that could not save the condemned.

The people of Judah considered themselves righteous and they were horribly mistaken.  God was trying to get that point across to them.  I recently spoke with an individual who was as lost as lost can be.  He was rather nasty in his attitude toward Christians.  He was one of the most arrogant men I have ever met.  He viewed himself as a purveyor of peace and justice and love – all while cussing up a blue streak at me for the crime of being stupid.  He has it all figured out you see.  The rest of us are just too stupid to understand his brilliant truth.  He is his own idol.  He has no intention of repenting and turning away from all his abominations.  He is dead meat.  It breaks my heart.

The reason God said that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were among them they would only deliver themselves, is because these lost folks would not listen to even these righteous men.  That man I spoke with?  I wonder if he would repent even if Jesus Christ himself appeared before him.  That is how hard his heart seemed to me.  That is how hard the heart of the people of Judah’s time had been.

Moving on, all of chapter 16 is a vivid example of how horribly Judah had behaved toward God.  God gave an analogy of infidelity as a way to communicate the severity of Judah’s transgressions.  I pictured a Hollywood movie as I read that chapter.  I’m sure I’ve seen some version of this on the silver screen.  The man that finds a down and out, helplessly wretched woman in a gutter and saves her, and pours his love and riches on her only to later discover her cheating on him and giving away his extravagant gifts to her many lovers who simply use her and cast her aside.  How would you feel if your wife did something similar to you?  Would you be angry?

Finally, this next verse made me wonder about the church in America.

Ezekiel 16:47

“Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.”

Judah had become more corrupt than the nations that surrounded them.  What was God’s purpose in establishing Israel as His people; His nation?  He established them to show His power and grace to the rest of the world.  What did His chosen people choose to do?  They chose to cast Him aside and chase after foreign gods.  They became even more debauched than the rest of the nations around them.  In today’s reading God mentioned Sodom in comparison to Judah.

I remember hearing a quote attributed to Billy Graham “If God doesn’t punish America He will owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology”.   America has certainly become a rather toxic culture.  Many in our country today think the Muslim world hates us because of our politics.  I’m sure our support of Israel doesn’t go down easy for some Muslims but many of their Imams seem to harp on our poisonous culture.  If you think sex and violence is a corrosive influence in society then you must think the American culture is pure acid.

So if our American culture is so foul, why do the statistics show little difference between Americans that call themselves Christians and those that don’t?  The divorce rate is almost identical.  We hear of sexual perversion and violence committed by alleged Christians almost every day.  I don’t believe we are there yet, but is there a day when the church in America is more corrupt than the non-believers?  I find it hard to believe that such a thing could ever occur, but why is that we so closely mirror the society around us?  Aren’t we supposed to be different?

Let me ask you; are you different than your lost neighbor?  How?  How does this difference make itself known?  Would your neighbor view you as different – in a good way?  Christians in America today are not the people of Judah back in the day; not even close.  The people of Judah had surpassed the evil of their neighbors; we have not done that, nor do I think we ever will, but our behavior is getting too close to that of our lost neighbors and boy is it time for us to start pushing the needle the other way.  It is time for us to stand up and show the difference.  Will you be different?  I hope so!

May your neighbor see the light of Christ in you!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!