Aug 24-30-08 Ezekiel 1-13

Ezekiel 1-13Ezekiel 1-13

This week’s lesson,A Brief Overview of Ezekiel 1-13

is taken from, The Word In LifeTM Study Bible

and Max Lucado’s Devotional Bible

Is Your Life DiscouragingIs Your Life Discouraging

Ezekiel, a priest who had favor in God's eyes, suffered because of the sin of

the whole nation. In exile, he preached to fellow Jewish captives.

God ordains our position so that we can show God's love to those around us.


What we want is relief. We want our problem or heartache to just go away. And yet the biblical message of rest is

that your relief may come from the power you gain when you accept your

suffering.


Your relief may come from the strength you develop from serving in spite of it.

Remember, Jesus said, "Take My yoke (suffering) upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and

you shall find rest for your souls."

Is Your Life DiscouragingIs Your Life DiscouragingIf you are bewildered, badgered, broken, or

battered as you try to make your way along the freeways of life, take a rest.

You'll find a quiet calm awaiting you when you accept what you cannot change, and serve the very people who contribute to

your pain. (From Little House on the Freeway by Tim Kimmel)


Is your life discouraging? Is the difficulty unavoidable? God has placed you where you can help others. Encourage others who

have the same illness you have.


Share Christ with those who have also experienced the loss of a loved one.

Get to know others who are recovering from a problem you have faced and

share with them what has helped you.

Impending JudgmentImpending Judgment

Before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., God told Ezekiel about the impending

judgment.Israel’s idolatry needed to be judged.

God will not tolerate anything that displaces him in our lives.


What is idolatry? Idolatry is anything that comes between us and God. Joshua told his people that their nation would

be destroyed if they persisted in idolatry, and their souls would suffer

eternal death.


He said, "You must make your decision today. You must decide whether you want to serve the

idols of this life, or the living God." Joshua 24:15e NET But I and my

family will worship the Lord!"


What about you? Are you taking your stand with Joshua? No

matter what the cost? I am asking you to choose this day whom you

will serve


Our families cannot choose Christ for us. Our friends cannot do it. God is a great God, but even God can't make the decision for us. He can help, but

only we can decide. We have to make our own choice.

(From Day by Day with Billy Graham

by Joan W, Brown)


We don't see many people worshiping idols today. However, we do see career, cars, money,

and pleasure crowding God out of people's lives.


No one is immune from such temptation. Be aware of selfish desires for material wealth or social status. Have only one

concern: a right relationship with God.

Then You Will Know: Then You Will Know: I Am The Lord I Am The Lord

Ezekiel 6:7 NET The slain will fall among you and then you will know that I am the Lord. Ezekiel was sent to the Hebrew captives in Babylon. Despite

the fact that the Babylonians had invaded Judah twice, fulfilling the

warnings of the prophet Jeremiah,

Then You Will Know: Then You Will Know: I Am The LordI Am The Lord

the exiles still did not understand why God had allowed these events to happen, nor why they had been

deported to Babylon. They still had not grasped the fact that their nation's

troubles were the result of their idolatry and other sins against the Lord.


God used Ezekiel to make this truth clear. Time after time, over a

period of at least 20 years, the prophet spelled out the people's

sins and warned them of the certainty of God's wrath.


Nevertheless, the people remained willfully blind to their condition.

This hardness of heart helps to explain why the phrase, "You [or they] shall

know that I am the LORD," is repeated some 60 or 70 times in the book.


Quite often, these declarations can be found in the middle of a promise of

God's wrath: "The slain shall fall" (6:7);

"I would bring this calamity" (6:10); "thus will I spend My fury" (6:12); "I will. . .

make the land desolate" (6:14).


We will either know the Lord in His grace and mercy, or in His wrath and fury. The

choice is ours. But regardless of our response, God makes it clear that "You shall know that I am the LORD." God is

determined to be heard. He is the Lord—and sooner or later, we will know that He

is.

God Hates IdolatryGod Hates Idolatry

God spoke through his servant Ezekiel. He showed the Israelites the reason

for their exile.God hates idolatry. He hates anything

that gets in the way of a relationship with him. And self-centeredness, at its

root, is idolatry.


The self-centered see everything through self. Their motto? "It's all

about me!" The flight schedule. The traffic. The dress styles. The worship

styles. The weather, the work, whether or not one works— everything is

filtered through the mini-me in the eye, Selfishness.


Such a condition can be fatal.Listen to the words of James.

James 3:16 NET For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice.


Need proof?Let's examine one newspaper,

today's edition. How many examples of selfishness will we

find in the first few pages?


1. A teenage girl died in a car wreck. Her boyfriend was

challenged to a race on a city street. He took the dare and wrapped the car around a

telephone pole.


2. The largest petroleum company in the world has filed for

bankruptcy. Executives allegedly knew the ship had leaks but told

no one until they had time to make huge profits.


3. A prominent citizen is put in jail for child pornography.

Selfishness is to society what the Exxon Valdez was to scallops and

sea otters—deadly.

God Hates IdolatryGod Hates IdolatryIs it any wonder that Paul writes: "Do

nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one

another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for

your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others" (Philippians 2:3-4,

NASB).


At first glance the standard in the passage seems impossible to meet.

Nothing? We shouldn't do anything for ourselves? No new dress or suit. What about going to school or saving money

—couldn't all of these things be considered selfish?


They could, unless we are careful to understand what Paul is saying. The word the apostle uses for selfishness

shares a root form with the words strife and contentious. It suggests a self-

preoccupation that hurts others.

God Hates IdolatryGod Hates IdolatryA divisive arrogance. In fact, first-century

writers used the word to describe a politician who procured office by illegal

manipulation or a harlot who seduced the client, demeaning both herself and him.

Selfishness is an obsession with self that excludes others, hurting everyone.


Looking after your personal interests is proper life

management. Doing so to the exclusion of the rest of the world

is selfishness, (From A Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado)

God Hates IdolatryGod Hates IdolatryIdols come in attractive packages today. You can identify them when they keep you

from worship, consume your tithe, or become what you are most proud of.

What can you do? Take time to evaluate what may be idols in your life. Pray that

God will help you remove them from your life.

Mercy To The RepentantMercy To The Repentant

Ezekiel 9:4 NET The Lord said to him, "Go through the city of

Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who moan

and groan over all the abominations practiced in it."


God’s forgiveness has always required repentance on the part of sinners. It did in ancient times; it

still does today.


In Ezekiel's vision of Jerusalem, the Lord commanded angelic executioners

to place a special mark on the foreheads of those who were moved to

repentance over the "abominations" being committed in the city.

Mercy To The RepentantMercy To The RepentantThe rest were to be slain (Ezek. 9:4-7).

The justification for this slaughter was that the sins of the wicked—bloodshed

and perversity (idolatry)—were "exceedingly great" (9:9). By contrast,

citizens who demonstrated a deep concern for holiness were shown

mercy.


This vision recalls a similar judgment in Egypt, in which the

Lord killed the firstborn children of the Egyptians, but spared the Hebrew households that had

marked their doorposts with blood.

Mercy To The RepentantMercy To The RepentantIn both cases, God marked out those to

whom He would show mercy on the basis of their heart attitude toward

Him.It is interesting to note that the "mark"

referred to by Ezekiel is the Hebrew letter taw, the last letter of the Hebrew

alphabet.

Mercy To The RepentantMercy To The RepentantToday, taw is the equivalent of "T," but in

Jeremiah's day it was written like an "X" and was often used as a signature (Job 31:35). Early Christians pointed out the similarity between Ezekiel's "mark" and

the sign of the Cross. Both indicated God's mercy and redemption of sinners.


The judgment foreseen in Ezekiel's vision applies to people today. It demonstrates that God shows mercy, but He always looks for

repentance.


Those who resist Him and remain committed to sin can expect His wrath. But those who "sigh and cry" over their

own sins and the sins of others will know His comfort and forgiveness. (Word

in Life Study Bible)

Mercy To The RepentantMercy To The Repentantcompare

James 4:8 NET Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you

sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn, and weep.

Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. 10 Humble yourselves before the

Lord and he will exalt you.

The Ultimate Tragedy The Ultimate Tragedy

Ezekiel 10:18 NET Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. 19 The cherubim lifted up their wings, and as I watched they

rose up from the earth and the wheels went out alongside them.

The Ultimate TragedyThe Ultimate Tragedy

They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the Lord's temple as

the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.


Readers of Ezekiel 10 are likely to focus on the spectacular vision of the cherubim and the wheels within wheels. But the real story in this

passage is the Lord's departure from His temple at Jerusalem.


Given the history and significance of the temple, nothing could be more tragic

for Judah.The temple was designed by David and

built by Solomon to be the "house of the LORD.”

(2 Chr. 5:1)


When it was completed, God blessed the magnificent structure by filling it with His glory and presence (5:14).

From then on, the temple was regarded as a hallowed symbol that

stood for God (6:20).


Yet now Ezekiel saw God departing from the temple. There is little wonder why. The people had

turned the "house of the LORD" into a house of idolatrous

abominations.


As a result. God decided to leave His temple and go "far away" from

His people (Ezekiel 8:5-17; compare 11:23). Clearly, the end

of Judah was at hand.


Can there be a greater tragedy—to enjoy the Lord's presence, only to

have it withdrawn because of a willful, long-term commitment to

sin and rebellion?


If that is the picture of your life. then Ezekiel's vision should serve as a

warning and an appeal to repentance. Nothing could be worse than to drive

God away when He longs to bless you with His presence (Heb. 6:4-12).


Even though God departed from the temple, He did not completely

abandon His people. He scattered them throughout the world, but also

assured those who feared Him that He would be a "little sanctuary" for them

wherever they went.

How Will You Know Him?How Will You Know Him?

We will either know the Lord in His grace and mercy, or in His wrath and fury. The

choice is ours. But regardless of our response, God makes it clear that "You shall know that I am the LORD." God is

determined to be heard. He is the Lord—and sooner or later, we will know that He

is.

Aug 24-30-08 Ezekiel 1-13

Spiritual

god hates

ultimate tragedy

lordand sooner

impending

god makes

life discouraging

personal interests

idolatry