Ezekiel 8
Ezekiel has vision of a man verse 1- 2
And it came to pass in the sixth year – in the sixth month
in the fifth day of the month – as I sat in my house
and the elders of Judah sat before me
that the hand of the Lord GOD
fell there on me
THEN I beheld – and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire
from the appearance of his loins even downward – fire
and from his loins even upward
as the appearance of brightness
as the color of amber
Ezekiel taken by the Spirit to Jerusalem verse 3- 4
And HE put forth the form of a hand
and took me by a lock of mine head
and the SPIRIT lifted me up
between the earth and the heaven
and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem
to the door of the inner gate
that looks toward the north
Where was the seat of the image of jealousy
which provoked to jealousy
And – BEHOLD – the glory of the God of Israel was there
according to the vision that I saw in the plain
Ezekiel saw idol to the north verse 5- 6
THEN said HE to me – Son of man
lift up your eyes now the way toward the north
SO I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north
and BEHOLD northward at the gate of the altar
this image of jealousy in the entry
HE said furthermore to me
Son of man – See you what they do?
even the great abominations
that the house of Israel committed here
that I should go far off from MY sanctuary?
BUT turn you yet again
and you shall see greater abominations
Ezekiel told to dig in court of Temple – finds a door verse 7- 8
And HE brought me to the door of the court
and when I looked – BEHOLD a hole in the wall
THEN said HE to me – Son of man – dig now in the wall
and when I had digged in the wall – BEHOLD a door
Ezekiel commanded to enter a door verse 9- 11
And HE said to me
Go in – and BEHOLD the wicked abominations
that they do here
SO I went in and saw
and BEHOLD every form of creeping thing
abominable beasts
and all the idols of the house of Israel
portrayed upon the wall round about
And there stood before them seventy men
of the ancients of the house of Israel
and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah
the son of Shaphan
with every man his censer in his hand
and a thick cloud of incense went up
LORD showed what leaders were doing verse 12
THEN said HE o me – Son of man
have you seen what the ancients of the house of Israel
do IN THE DARK
every man in the chambers of his imagery?
FOR they say
The LORD see us not
the LORD has forsaken the earth
LORD showed Ezekiel weeping to Tammuz verse 13- 14
HE said also unto me
Turn you yet again
and you shall see greater abominations that they do
THEN HE brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’S house
which was toward the north
and – BEHOLD – there sat women
weeping for Tammuz
LORD shows twenty-five men worshiping sun verse 15- 16
THEN said HE to me
Have you seen this – O son of man?
turn you yet again
and you shall see
greater abominations than these
And HE brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house
and – BEHOLD – at the door of the temple of the LORD
between the porch and the altar
were about five and twenty men
with their backs toward the
temple of the LORD
and their faces toward the east
and they worshipped the sun toward the east
LORD not going to listen to prayers verse 17- 18
THEN HE said to me
Have you seen this – O son of man?
Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit
the abominations which they commit here?
for they have filled the land with violence
and have returned to provoke ME to anger
and lo – they put the branch to their nose
THEREFORE will I also deal in fury
MINE eye shall not spare – neither will I have pity
and though they cry in MINE ears with a loud voice
YET will I not hear them
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looked toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. (5566 “image” [semel] means idol, figure, statue, a pagan and material effigy that is worshiped, or sculpture.)
DEVOTION: The God of the Bible is jealous over HIS people and what they worship. In this chapter we finding them worshiping many false gods. They are doing it in the Temple in Jerusalem thinking that God will not see them because they are doing inside the Temple. They seem to think that HE can’t see through walls into buildings.
The children of Judah that were doing this type of worship were wrong. God took Ezekiel by the hair to show him what was going on in Jerusalem. Whether his body left the building or not is not known but that the LORD gave him a vision that was real.
Throughout the Old Testament we read of the children of Israel worshiping false gods of the people around them. They seemed to think that if they could see and handle a god that it was real. They were wrong and we are wrong if we worship the LORD any way but in spirit and in truth.
In the book of Revelation the LORD warns that HE will remove the candlestick from any church that is not worshiping HIM in spirit and in truth. HE deals with seven churches in the second and third chapter of the book and only one seems to be worshiping the LORD properly. The other six churches have problems that if they are not dealt with HE will remove HIS presence from them. HE continues to be jealous of worship that included anyone or anything other them HIM.
CHALLENGE: Are we worshiping the LORD today in spirit and in truth? Are we letting any false god into our life?
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, have you seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, The LORD sees us not; the LORD has forsaken the earth. (2822 “dark” [choshek] means obscurity, night, blackness or lack of light.
DEVOTION: This chapter is another one with visions from the LORD. The first one was of the appearance of the LORD. HE came in the form of a man. HE had the appearance of fire. HIS appearance was also one with brightness to it.
Next Ezekiel was lifted up by the Holy Spirit to take Ezekiel to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem he was shown the glory of the LORD in Jerusalem. He was told to look to the north to see an image of jealousy. He was shown a hole in the wall and told to dig down to find a door. Inside the door was there was a room with all forms of creeping things, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. Seventy men stood there offering incense to these false gods. These were the leaders of the nation.
In Isaiah 29: 15, Isaiah told of the children of Israel not thinking that the LORD can see in the darkness. Here we have Ezekiel being shown by the Holy Spirit that the ancients in the house of Israel were thinking that the LORD can’t see in the night.
They thought the LORD had forsaken the earth. Therefore HE didn’t care what happened on earth. Both thoughts were wrong. The LORD did care what was happening on the earth. HE cared about what they were doing in Jerusalem. It was HIS Holy City.
HE continued to show Ezekiel what was happening in the city. Next he saw a group of women weeping for the god Tammuz. He is thought to be a Sumerian-Babylonian deity of vegetation and fertility. They were truly worshiping the gods of the people around them instead of the TRUE God of Creation.
Finally HE showed him that there was a group of men who were in the temple area with their backs to the temple worshiping the sun. They were in the area where they were supposed to worship the LORD but turned their backs on HIM and worshiped HIS creation.
The LORD spoke to Ezekiel about the reason for HIS present anger with the children of Judah. HE told him that HE would not hear their prayers when they cried for help. It was truly a sad day.
We sometimes think that we can hide our actions from the LORD. We think sometimes that there are places we can hide from the presence of the LORD. We sometimes think that we can hide our false worship from the LORD. We need to remember that the LORD is omnipresent. HE is everywhere present. That is great news when we are in trouble and want HIS help.
However, we must want the LORD to see all our actions all the time for HIM to bless us. Are we glad that the LORD saw everything we did yesterday??? Are our leaders leading us in the right direction by their actions???
CHALLENGE: The Bible says that what we hear the LORD say in the night we should share in the daylight. Our responsibility is to worship HIM both night and day.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and, behold there sat women weeping for Tammuz. (1058 “weeping” [bakah] means to cry freely and profusely for sadness or distress, bewail, to flow by drops, weep bitterly, or lamentations.)
DEVOTION: Ezekiel receives a vision of false worship in the Temple of the LORD. They were worshiping a false god. It was the false god of spring vegetations. It involved the fertility rites of the earth.
They believed that it was this false god that caused the plants to grow and because of the LORD’S curse it was not going and so they were sad that the false god was not giving them what they thought this false god was bring them.
Israel was following the lead of the people of the land. This is true even today in some places that try to worship the God of the Bible and the false god of the earth. It can’t be done in the eyes of the LORD.
HE wants our complete worship with no other god in our thinking or worship. Too often the children of Israel were going after the false gods of the land and thinking that they could get the LORD’S blessing at the same time.
The LORD wants HIS people to ONLY worship HIM. If they try to please the world and the flesh with false worship, HE will judge them and us even today. The God of the Bible doesn’t want to share worship with any other god which would be a false god.
Today do we examine our lives to see if we are looking to worship someone or something else other than the God of the Bible? The LORD wants exclusive worship in the lives of genuine believers.
Israel was going after other gods because they wanted to take part in all the sinful activities of the people of the land. Is that happening even today in our nations?
CHALLENGE: God wants to be exclusive. Are we making HIM the only God we are worshiping?
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: 18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. (7121 “cry” [qara] means utter a loud sound, announce, proclaim, summons, or invite.)
DEVOTION: Ezekiel is having a vision of the LORD while he is in captivity to Babylon with the elders sitting in his home. The hand of the LORD came upon him and took him to show him what was happening in Jerusalem.
The LORD showed the prophet Ezekiel many visions of false worship being done by the people of Jerusalem. HE stated that they were to be worshiping HIM but they were only doing it as show in public. The LORD showed Ezekiel the private lives of the leaders and women of Jerusalem. They were worshiping the sun. They were worshiping a fertility goddess. They were doing it near or in the Temple of God.
The people even expressed the thought that the LORD had forsaken the earth so they could do whatever they wanted. Their thought process included the thought that God doesn’t see anything that is happening on earth.
God sees all. God knows all. HE stated to Ezekiel that HE was going to unleash HIS fury on Jerusalem. HE was not going to spare or pity those who thought they could get away with not worshiping HIM and expecting to have HIS blessing and protection while they did it.
HE knew that they were going to pray to HIM for help. HE knew that there comes a time in everyone’s life when they don’t want to face the consequences of their sins. However, HE was not going to hear or deliver them from their consequences.
Why? HE had sent HIS prophets to warn them that consequences were coming but they were depending on the fact that the Temple was a place that God honored and as long as they were in the Temple area they were under HIS protection. They were wrong.
Even believers today think that as long as they go to church and give money they are under the protection of the LORD and will not have to pay the consequences of their sins. They are wrong too. Go wants us to be faithful to HIM in public and private.
CHALLENGE: If we want the LORD to hear our prayers, we need to be faithful in private as well as public. The LORD wants true servant to our LORD Jesus Christ.
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
LORD says HE will not hear prayer verse 18
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Sanctuary verse 6
Gate of the LORD’s house verse 14
Inner court of the LORD’s house verse 16
Door of the Temple of the LORD verse 16
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
Lord – Adonai (Owner, Master) verse 1
GOD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 1
Lord GOD verse 1
Hand of the Lord God verse 1- 3
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign, Plural name) verse 3, 4
Visions of God verse 3
Glory of the God of Israel verse 4
LORD – Jehovah verse 12, 14, 16
I will deal in fury verse 18
Anger of the LORD verse 18
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Spirit lifted Ezekiel up for a vision
between the earth and the heaven
and brought me in the vision of God
to Jerusalem – to the door of
the inner gate that looked toward
the north
seat of image of jealousy
HE said to me verse 3
HE said furthermore to me (Ezekial) verse 6
HE said: Have you seen this – O son of man?
Is it a light things to the house of
Judah that they commit the
abominations which they
commit here? For they have
filled the land with violence,
and have returned to provoke ME
to anger: and lo, they put the
branch to their nose verse 17
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Image of jealousy verse 3, 5
Provoked to jealousy verse 3
Altar to false god verse 5
Abominations verse 6, 9, 10, 13,15, 17
False worship verse 10
Worship creeping things verse 10
Worship abominable beasts verse 10
Idols verse 10
Incense to false gods verse 11
Imagery in dark verse 12
Lying to self : God doesn’t see verse 12
Lie that God has forsaken the earth verse 12
Greater abominations verse 13
Worship of Tammuz verse 14
Worship of sun verse 16
Violence verse 17
Provoked LORD to anger verse 17
Branch in their nose verse 17
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Working of God in our life verse 1
Working of the Holy Spirit in our life verse 3
Glory of the LORD verse 4
Prayer verse 18
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Ezekiel – son of man verse 1- 8, 11- 15, 17
Sixth year- sixth month – fifth day
aat in mine house
Hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me
Saw a vision:
likeness as the appearance of fire
appearance of his loins even
downward – fire
from HIS loins
upward
appearance of brightness as
the color of amber
Son of man = Ezekiel
Told to lift up eyes to north
Saw gate of the altar an image of
jealousy
Saw image of jealousy – great
abominations of house
of Israel
Door of the court – hole in the wall
Saw seventy men of the ancients of
the house of Israel
Saw Jaazaniah – son of Shaphan
Every man saying: The LORD sees
us not; the LORD has forsaken
the earth
Brought to the door of the gate of
the LORD’s house – a woman
weeping for Tammuz
Greater abominations
Brought inot the inner court of
LORD’s house at the door of
the temple – between the porch
and the altar
Twenty-five men – faces toward the
East – worshiping the sun
Elders of Judah verse 1
Jerusalem verse 3
House of Israel verse 4, 6, 10- 12
Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan verse 11, 12
House of Judah verse 17
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
After the introduction to the visions (8:1–4) are scenes of idolatry: (1) the image of jealousy (8:5–6), (2) cultic worship of animals (8:7–13), (3) weeping for Tammuz (8:14–15), and (4) the worship of the sun (8:16–18). These four pagan cults bear testimony to the pervasiveness of syncretistic worship in Israel in the time of Ezekiel.3 In the years prior to the fall of Jerusalem in 587/586 b.c., there was a rise in syncretistic worship that abounded in the pagan practices of Judah’s neighbors. This increased the external pressure to be like the nations (1 Sam 8:5). (Cooper, L. E. (1994). Ezekiel (Vol. 17, p. 118). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
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8:5–6 Ezekiel stated that the figure brought him “in visions of God” (cf. 1:1) to Jerusalem, indicating that the trip to Jerusalem was a visionary experience in which his body remained in Babylon seated before the elders (v. 1). Upon his “arrival” at the temple in Jerusalem, the prophet saw the first of the four forms of apostate worship. He saw an image called an “idol of jealousy” (v. 5) or “the idol that provokes to jealousy” (v. 3). There was no physical description of this image that provoked jealousy. It is obvious from vv. 3–4 that God was the one provoked to jealousy against the image. Ezekiel looked toward the north, the direction of the temple sanctuary, and saw the image of jealousy in the gate of the altar (v. 5).
The image was located near the sacrificial altar or perhaps a pagan altar was a part of the shrine of this idol (v. 5). The worship Ezekiel described suggested a developed program of regular pagan worship in the sanctuary that was to be exclusively for the worship of Yahweh.
Some have suggested that this image may have been the one of Asherah set up in the temple by Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:7; 2 Chr 33:7, 15). This conclusion is not mere speculation but was suggested by the use of the same word (sēmel) for Manasseh’s idol in 2 Chr 33:7, 15. These are the only occurrences of the term except in the prohibition against idol worship in Deut 4:16–18. After Manasseh, Josiah had purged Judah and Jerusalem of such things (2 Chr 34), but his work was reversed after his death (2 Chr 36:5, 9; Jer 3:10). Whatever the details are, the significant fact is that the people had violated God’s prohibition and brought an idol into the temple area dedicated to worship of Yahweh alone (cf. Exod 20:4). (Cooper, L. E. (1994). Ezekiel (Vol. 17, pp. 119–120). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
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Beside the north entrance to the inner court was the idol that provokes to jealousy. Ezekiel also called it the idol of jealousy (Ezek. 8:5), probably because he viewed it as an affront to God. This idol violated the second of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:4; cf. Deut. 4:23–24). God was being provoked to jealousy because a foreign god was receiving the homage that should have been His alone. The god or goddess represented by this idol is not named, but it may have been Asherah, the Canaanite goddess of fertility. King Manasseh had placed a carved image of Asherah in the temple during his reign (2 Kings 21:7; cf. Deut. 16:21), but later he removed it (2 Chron. 33:13, 15). After Manasseh’s death an Asherah pole found its way back into the temple, and Josiah removed it during his reforms (2 Kings 23:6). He burned it in the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem in the hope of eradicating this idolatrous worship forever. Unfortunately after Josiah’s untimely death the people returned to their idolatry. Evidently a new Asherah pole was made to replace the destroyed one.
As Ezekiel stared at this idol, beside him was the glory of the God of Israel (cf. comments on Ezek. 1:28). God’s moral outrage was expressed in His rhetorical question to Ezekiel: Do you see what they are doing … detestable things … that will drive Me far from My sanctuary? God will not share His glory with an idol (cf. Isa. 42:8). If the idol inhabited the temple, God would leave. (Dyer, C. H. (1985). Ezekiel. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1243). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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Jaazaniah’s presence there surprised Ezekiel because everyone else in Jaazaniah’s family had remained faithful to the Lord. (Dyer, C. H. (1985). Ezekiel. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1244). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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8:3 the visions of God. Ezekiel 8–11 deals with details conveyed only to Ezekiel in visions. Ezekiel’s trip to Jerusalem was in spirit only, while his body physically remained in his house. In visions, he went to Jerusalem and in visions he returned to Babylon (11:24). After God finished the visions, Ezekiel told his home audience what he had seen. The visions are not a description of deeds done in the past in Israel, but a survey of Israel’s current condition, as they existed at that very time. the seat … idol of jealousy. God represents to Ezekiel the image of an idol (cf. Dt 4:16) in the entrance to the inner court of the temple. It is called “the idol of jealousy” because it provoked the Lord to jealousy (5:13; 16:38; 36:6; 38:19; Ex 20:5). (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Eze 8:3). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
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As Ezekiel gazed upon the idol, his own heart must have been stirred to its depth. He heard the voice of Jehovah say, “Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel do commit here, that I should go far off from My sanctuary?” One can sense the pathos of this. God had been as a Father unto Israel: He had brought them out of Egypt and cared for them all through the centuries since. And now this was the return they gave Him: they spurned His Word, and followed after other gods, even worshipping stocks, stones, and metallic images which could neither see, nor hear, nor in any way deliver them in the hour of trial. (Ironside, H. A. (1949). Expository notes on Ezekiel, the prophet. (p. 51). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers)
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Ver. 3. And he put forth the form of an hand, &c.] That is, he that appeared in the likeness of a man, and with so much glory and splendour, out of the midst of the fire and brightness which were about him, put forth the form of a hand, that looked like a man’s hand; for this appearance was not real, only visionary; and this seems to design the spirit of God sent forth by Christ, sometimes called the finger of God, Luke 11:20. as appears by what follows: and took me by a lock of mine head: without hurting him, shewing his power over him; and by this means raising him from his seat, as it seemed to the prophet: and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and heaven; took him off of his seat, and out of his house, lifted him up in the air, and carried him through it, as he thought; for this was not real and local; in like manner as the spirit caught away Philip, Acts 8:39. but in vision, as follows: and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem; so it was represented to him in a true vision, which was of God, and not of Satan, that he was carried from Chaldea to Jerusalem; not that he really was, for he was still in Chaldea; and hither in vision was he brought again, and found himself to be when that vision was over, ch. 11:24, 25. but things so appeared to him, as if he was actually brought to Jerusalem by the power of the spirit of God: to the door of the inner gate; not of Jerusalem, but the temple, or rather the court, the inner court; see ch. 10:3 and so it should be rendered to the door of the gate of the inner court; and thus it is explained by Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech: that looketh toward the north; for there were gates on every side: where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy; some graven image, perhaps the image of Baal; so called, because it provoked the Lord to jealousy, Deut. 32:21. Gussetius suggests, that סמל, Semel, here may be the same with Semele; who, in the opinion of the Heathens, made Juno jealous. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 6, p. 34). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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Christ Will Come Again
“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2-3)
The world has not seen the last of Jesus Christ! He was in the world once, but the world would not have Him, even though He had created it (John 1:10). While He was on Earth, He made it clear that He would be returning some day to judge the world.
But here in the upper room, just before His arrest and crucifixion, He told His disciples, for the very first time, that He would be coming for them personally, not to judge them with the world, but to “receive you unto myself.” In the first epistle written by the apostle Paul, this wonderful promise was repeated and amplified: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
When He comes again, we shall be where He is, forever! In the meantime, the “dead in Christ” are already with Him. At that time, “we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. . . . For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).
During this present time, He is preparing a place for us in the New Jerusalem that, like Christ Himself, will be “coming down from God out of heaven” (Revelation 21:2). All of this is exactly what we might expect from such a gracious and loving Savior, and He assures us that “if it were not so, I would have told you.” (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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Nearing his death, Joshua charges the Israelites to be faithful to the Lord.
INSIGHT
After a brilliant career as Israel’s leader, Joshua bids them farewell. He urges them not to allow themselves to be corrupted by the gods or people of the nations around them. Then Joshua encourages them that if they are faithful, “all the good things” of the Lord will come upon them (23:15); if they are not faithful, “the Lord will bring upon you all harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land” (23:15). (Quiet Walk)
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Judging Others
“Judge not, that ye be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1)
This is a very familiar maxim, often cited by unbelievers and carnal Christians as a rebuke to Christians whom they regard as intolerant. These words of the Lord Jesus Christ do, indeed, warn us against a self-righteous attitude, condemning others who disagree with us on the basis of superficial criteria.
On the other hand, this caution by no means relieves us of the responsibility of evaluating the beliefs and practices of others in the light of Scripture. In the very same sermon, in fact, Jesus said just a few moments later: “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine”; and, “beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:6-15). Obedience to such commandments obviously requires one to make a judgment as to whether certain unbelievers should be regarded as “dogs” or “swine,” to whom it would be counterproductive to try to speak of spiritual matters, or whether certain professing Christian leaders are actually false prophets who should be repudiated. Jesus also said: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
Since the Scriptures themselves are to be used in the final judgment (John 12:48; Revelation 20:12; etc.), it is obvious that we should use them right now to discern truth and error, right and wrong. “For the word of God . . . is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
There is another basis of judgment that the Lord Jesus has authorized us to use. “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. . . . Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:18-20). Thus, the test of Scripture plus fruit produced can serve as the basis of a valid judgment. Until adequate data for making such a test are available, judge not! (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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WHEN WE DON’T UNDERSTAND
All things work together for good to them that love God. Romans 8:28
Our Lord’s message to us is that we must trust Him absolutely and explicitly, even when we cannot understand. That, in effect, as we have seen, is what He was saying to John in Matthew 11:2-6. “I am doing the things you have heard reported of Me. But then you say, ‘Why aren’t You doing other things?’ But if you really believe that I am the Messiah, the Son of God, cannot you leave it to Me? Even about this question of your being in prison and what your friends are saying about My not being concerned about you—John, if you know that I am who I am, cannot you trust Me there in prison itself?”
Faith means that I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ absolutely. Ah, we all have to learn this lesson. Even Paul had to pass this way. He had a thorn in the flesh, and he could not understand it. It seemed all wrong to him. He wanted to preach the gospel, but the thorn was a hindrance to him. Three times he besought the Lord to remove it, but this was the answer he got: “My grace is sufficient for thee.” “I am not taking out the thorn,” said the Lord in effect, “but I will do something infinitely bigger. I will bless you with the thorn in your side. I assure you that even with the thorn I can do wonders through you.”
“Quite right,” says Paul, “and I see that when I am weak, then I am strong, and I care about nothing except that I be right with You.” The place that God would have us come to is the one in which we can say, “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28). “All things”—it doesn’t matter what. “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content” (Philippians 4:11).
A Thought to Ponder: Faith means that I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ absolutely.
(From The Heart of the Gospel, pp. 51-52, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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For me, the Bible is the best GPS for my life. I thumb through its pages and hear a chorus of voices offering affirmation even though these people have been through far more anxiety than I could imagine. (p. 206)
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Charles Spurgeon preached to Victorian England about the same problem: “You can sleep, but you cannot induce the devil to close his eyes… The prince of the power of the air keeps his servants well up to their work…. If we could with a glance, see the activities of the servants of Satan, we would be astonished at our own sluggishness.” (p. 219)
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Consider also that one out of every three Christians believes the Bible and the Koran teach the same truths. (p. 222)
(Living With Confidence in a Chaotic World by Dr. David Jeremiah)
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