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Please turn in your Bibles to
Ezekiel chapter 36, verses 24 through 28. For I will take you from among
the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you
into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water
on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your
filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new
heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of
stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will
put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes,
and you will keep my judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell
in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people,
and I will be your God. Amen. Father God, we thank you
for this, your word, and we pray that as we begin to examine the
beautiful book of Ezekiel, that you would help me to be clear
and accurate in my presentation, each one of us to be helped and
edified through our examination of it. May you be worshiped as
we interact with your word, in Jesus' name. Well, as Rodney mentioned earlier,
today is Reformation Day and Ezekiel deals with a lot of the
issues that the Protestant Reformation dealt with. It contrasts the
pure, sovereign grace of God with the works righteousness
that the Jews of Ezekiel's day engaged in. And I love Ezekiel
36 particularly because it's sovereign grace written all over
it. This book, like the Protestant Reformation, addresses and confronts
head-on that false, sacred, secular divide that worships God on a
Sunday but leaves God out of everything else that you do during
the rest of the week. Ezekiel sought to bring reform
to Israel's doctrine of God, its worship, how they treated
the temple, the idolatry of both church and state, and many other
areas. But I think one of the genius
aspects of at least the Reformed side of the Reformation was that
they saw that the lordship of Christ over all of life meant
that none of life could be secular. All of life must be lived as
unto God. All of life was made sacred.
That is the Reformation viewpoint, which means that a plumber or
a carpenter or a farmer can be just as effective in serving
God with their calling as I can as a pastor. That was the Reformation
view, and it is certainly the view of Ezekiel. And so the Reformed
Church sought to bring reformation, not just to liturgy and things
in the church, it sought to bring reformation to economics, politics,
art, so many other areas of life, and that's why it resulted in
more than merely a revival. It was a reformation that swept
up all of life into the kingdom of God. So, in this book, We see that God is sovereign
over those results. Ezekiel really was hoping for
a reformation of the sizes that the Protestant Reformation would
be. But in Ezekiel 33, God tells him, no, what you're seeing is
fake. That does not really constitute even a revival, let alone a reformation. Don't get excited about that.
But in any case, all of life comes under God's scrutiny in
this book. Ezekiel deals with God's view
of marriage outside the bedroom, marriage inside the bedroom.
God deals in this book with politics, but not only judges the politicians
and their political activities, but their hearts and their lives. He takes offense at business
practices that are unethical. and economics that were false.
One commentary says, Ezekiel's words touch on finance and debt,
economic development, honesty, allocation of capital, workplace
evaluations, fair return on investment, economic opportunism, success
and failure, whistleblowing, teamwork, executive compensation,
and corporate governance. And you'll have to read the commentary
to see how this book deals with all of those things. It's an
economic commentary, very unique, that seeks to apply the whole
Bible, Genesis through Revelation, to the workplace issues that
we go through every day. I don't agree with all of their
conclusions, but I think it's a very notable contribution. But the point is, Ezekiel claims
that God claims every square inch of life outside of us and
every square inch of life inside of us. What do I mean by every
square inch of life inside of us? Well, there were people in
Ezekiel's day who were outwardly quite upright, but God was offended
with the pornography that was going on inside of their hearts.
And in chapter six, verse nine, God says, I was crushed by their
adulterous heart. What goes on inside the heart
matters a great deal to God. So just like Christ was not content
to clean up the outside of the cup like the Pharisees did, Ezekiel
was not content with outward conformity. He wants the Holy
Spirit working, cleaning up the inside of us as well. That was
a big part of his critique of what the pastors or the shepherds
of his day were engaged in in chapter 34. It's a big part of
his discussion of the Holy Spirit's work in chapter 36. Too many
Christians think that what goes on between their ears is nobody
else's business, but God reads your thoughts a whole lot more
clearly than you read your thoughts. And in chapter 6, verse 9, God
says, well, actually 14, verse 3, a very similar concept, that
the idols that they set up in their heart, they didn't necessarily
have idols outside, but he said the idols that they set up in
their heart were things that bothered him as well. He addresses
that in Ezekiel 14. So basically he says in that
chapter, if you watch inappropriate videos on your phone, well they
didn't have phones back then, but it was something very similar,
the kind of stuff that they had. He says he's not gonna listen
to your prayers. He says, son of man, these men put before
them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should
I let myself be inquired of at all by them? And the implied
answer is, no, I'm not going to listen to their prayers if
that's what they're completely focused on, if the idolatry of
their hearts has been captured by these things that lead them
into sin. So Ezekiel really is a hard-hitting
book that rips off the facade of a fake Christianity and wants
us to have hearts that are lifted up before God and transparent. It's such an appropriate book
for Reformation Day. So that's what I mean by saying
that it claims every square inch of what goes on inside of us.
What do I mean by every square inch of life outside of us? Well,
in chapter 20, verse 16, he notices when we don't take seriously
his Sabbaths. In 18.6, God says that there
are certain common sexual practices and marriages that he takes great
offense to. Your bodies are not your own.
That's what Ezekiel says. They belong to God and you need
to honor God even with your sexuality. In 18.7, he goes after people
for taking advantage of the naive in their business practices.
The same commentary said of that verse, God's denunciation of
arrangements that provide no benefit for buyers does not have
to be limited to securitized debt obligations. Ezekiel 18.7
is about loans, but the same principle applies to products
of all kinds. withholding information about
product flaws and risks, selling more expensive products than
the buyer needs, mismatching the product's benefits to the
buyer's needs. All these practices are similar
to the oppression depicted in Ezekiel 18 7. They can creep
into even well-intentioned businesses unless the seller makes the buyer's
well-being an inviolable goal of sales transaction. to care
for the buyer is to live in the terminology of Ezekiel. So the
first half of the book is a detailed critique of every imaginable
kind of compromise that we Christians can make And in the process says,
you're not going to profit if you do that. It's not in your
best interest to violate God's law. The second half of the book
gives hope to Israel that what we can't do in our own strength,
God can do through us. God knows we're not going to
be perfect. He says it's direction, not perfection. Okay. God is
pleased when we're in the boxing ring, we get knocked down and
we get right back up and we keep duking it out with the world,
the flesh and the devil. We get knocked down again. He
is pleased when we do that. It's direction, not perfection.
But when we give up and say, Oh, I don't know that I want
to really fight. And we begin becoming friends with the enemy
instead of, uh, continuing to fight with the enemy, which is
the world, the flesh and the devil. Right. That's where we
begin grieving the Spirit, and so Hebrews uses that metaphor
of a boxing ring, and he says, you have not yet resisted the
bloodshed striving against sin. He's asking, you said you were
fighting? Where is the broken noses? Where
is the cuts on your cheeks? Where is the sweat? I don't even
see you sweating. It doesn't look like you're really fighting
against sin very hard. Are you taking the battle seriously?
Now, of course, the second half of the book does not ask us to
do this on our own. That's the whole point of the
second half. So the boxing metaphor is not entirely accurate. Christ
will be right in the boxing ring with you, so to speak, strengthening
your willpower, giving us motivation, changing our hearts, helping
us to land those punches strategically. And in chapter 36, he promised
to do inside of them what they absolutely could not do on their
own. So the second half of the book
gives incredible confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit,
and we realize that eventually it is going to be transforming
planet Earth. How many thousands of years in
the future this is all going to be, we don't know. So where
the first half of the book is a dark picture of every part
of life being stained by sin, the second half of the book moves
us ultimately into the messianic kingdom where every area of life
will be transformed by God and made holy by God. The grace of
God's kingdom will extend more pervasively than the sin in the
first half of the book. Now when you realize how pervasively
sin extends in the first half of the book, that's an astounding
promise. As Romans 5 verse 20 worded it,
where sin abounded, So that's the first half of the book, where
sin abounded, grace abounded much more. That's the second
half of the book, and I love that phrase, much more. I think it'll be an awesome thing,
you know, as the kingdom of Christ advances, and more and more you're
gonna begin to see people thinking godly thoughts, and having holy
conversations, and their sex will be holy, and whether they
eat or drink or whatever they do will be holy because they're
going to be doing it as unto the glory of God. Zechariah promises
eventually on planet earth there's going to be so much knowledge
of the Lord, so much holiness, that everything's going to be
dedicated to the Lord. Even the things that used to be considered
unclean in the Old Testament, like horses, the bells on the
horses are going to be holiness to the Lord, right? So let's
take a look at this interesting character, Ezekiel. Ezekiel had
already seen a lot of depravity and war and trouble in Israel
before he got deported in the second deportation. He was 17
years old when Daniel had earlier been deported in the first deportation. That was in 605 BC. But Ezekiel had been left in
Israel at that time, and he no doubt sorrowed at all of the
people. This was the cream of the crop. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego had been taken off. So just in terms of historical
background, Nebuchadnezzar had three deportations. and three
stages of his conquest. He first defeated Jehoiakim in
605 BC, carried off some of the cream of the crop of all of the
citizens, including Daniel and his three friends. Jehoiakim
remained in power, but later when Jehoiakim and his son Jehoiakin
rebelled again, there was further punishment, and Nebuchadnezzar
carried off another 10,000 hostages, including King Jehoiakin and
Ezekiel. Now Ezekiel would have been 25
years old when he was taken to Babylon. Perhaps it just started
his apprenticeship to the priesthood in the temple. So Ezekiel's captivity
started, if you wanna just compare, where does this line up with
Lamentations and Daniel? Ezekiel starts 13 years after
Daniel chapter one. And it starts six years before
Lamentations. Okay, so that gives you a little
bit of a picture of where it lines up. Chapter one, verse
one. Now it came to pass in the 30th
year. 30th year of what? 30th year of Ezekiel's life.
And that lets you know that when Ezekiel was in Israel, that was
five years before, he was not yet a priest. A priest did not
get inducted into their ministry until they were 30 years of age.
Now they could start being apprentice and doing a lot of the work at
age 25, but he grew up in the temple, he was hugely interested
in the purity of the temple, intimately aware of all of the
details of that temple. You see this in the book. No doubt trained for it for his
whole life, but he was not a priest. Now it came to pass in the 30th
year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as
I was among the captives by the river Chibar, that the heavens
were opened and I saw visions of God. So his prophetic ministry
started that year. Verses two through three place
this in terms of the chronology of Israel as a whole. On the
fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of King Jehoiakim's
captivity, the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the
priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the
river Chebar, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there."
So if Jehoiakim was taken into captivity in 597, And this is
five years later. You can put in the margin verses
one and two, 592 BC. That's just six years before
Jerusalem will be completely destroyed. The temple, everything
gone in the third invasion. Now let's just do an overview
of the whole book. In verse 4, God suddenly gave
Ezekiel his first vision. Now this was a magnificent, brilliant
cloud that he saw, and inside of this cloud were four cherubim
angels who were standing on top of wheels within wheels that
are spinning. like a chariot throne, and on
top of the throne is a glorious being that is said to represent
the glory of Yehoah. Now that Hebrew word for glory
clues us into the fact this is none other than the glory cloud
that used to be in the temple. And so any Hebrew who's picking
up Ezekiel and his vision there, he's going to say, what on earth
is the glory cloud doing in Babylon? The cherubim, the glory cloud,
God's throne room is in the temple. That's where that's supposed
to be. So what is going on? Well, the whole of the first
section will resolve that puzzle. God systematically informs Ezekiel
that the nation called Judah in Palestine is no longer his
people. I'll just give you a couple of
hints. Look at chapter 2, verse 3. And he said to me, son of
man, I am sending you to the children of Israel to a rebellious
nation that has rebelled against me. They and their fathers have
transgressed against me to this very day. Now, you're not going
to catch the significance of this very strongly in the English. But when he calls them a rebellious
nation, the Hebrew word for nation there is goy. It's a word that
was reserved for the Gentiles. Very few times does the Bible
use that term of Israel. So he's saying Israel's become
a Gentile nation. It's now one of the goyim of
the Gentiles. In fact, in chapter 16, he will
repeatedly speak of Judah as Sodom. That's how bad it had
gotten. That's the same thing that the
book of Revelation does in A.D. 66. So these first two chapters
alone completely overturn the message of the false prophets
back in Judah who claimed that King Zedekiah, the last king,
would restore the glory of Israel, and they claimed that all of
the people who had been taken into Babylon in the first two
deportations were accursed of God. They were abandoned by God. Don't listen to Ezekiel. Listen
to us. If Ezekiel was truly of God,
why would he be abandoned in Babylon? Now, of course, Jeremiah
had earlier said, hey guys, it's the good figs that are going
to be carried into exile, the bad rotten figs are going to
be left in Israel to rot and to be destroyed. But they didn't
believe Jeremiah either. They thought we are the people
of God, God is in favor of us. This is very similar to the theology
of some Christians today, who think, you know, God's got a
covenant with Israel, and God has them as His special people,
regardless of what they do. And Ezekiel argues against that. Well, in chapter 1, we find that
the glory cloud had abandoned Judah, was now with the exiles
in Babylon. God would reconstitute a new
Israel in exile amongst the remnant. He would leave the temple, and
in Ezekiel he's going to say, my new temple is the people of
God in Babylon, and I'm going to make my glory cloud be with
them. So it really fits as a perfect
introduction to the whole first section. It's a remarkable theological
statement. So section one, I wish I had
put into your outlines what all the sections are, but I'll just
give them to you, you can write them in. Section one is chapters
one through 11, and it explores the question of why the glory
cloud is in Babylon. God commissions Ezekiel to bring
a series of accusations against Israel. We've already looked
at some of those accusations in the introduction. They basically
had ignored God's laws in every area of their lives, and he warns
them, hey guys, the first two deportations that you have seen,
they are nothing compared to the absolute devastation that's
going to happen to the temple, to Jerusalem, and to the people
who were there. And it's going to be soon. It'll
end up being less than seven years. So this is the section
where Ezekiel does some rather interesting drama. You can think
of it as street theater. And those street theater things
were designed to help reinforce the message, and he had to interpret
what he meant by these things. For example, He built a small
model of Jerusalem, and the picture doesn't reflect it very well,
but he had model horses and soldiers, and he staged attacks against
Jerusalem to tell them, okay, this is what's gonna be happening
to Jerusalem fairly soon. I think that was one of the more
fun of the street theaters he was engaged in. He shaves off
his hair, he carefully weighs it, and then he divides the hair
up into three piles, equal piles. There's one-third that he burns. One-third of the hair, he hits
it with a sword, and then one-third he scatters to the wind, and
he says, this is what's gonna happen to the people that are
in Jerusalem. One-third will die of starvation and plague. One-third will be killed by the
sword. One-third will be scattered to the winds. Now probably the
most bizarre of all of the street theatrics is found in chapter
four, where Ezekiel is tied up and he's lying on his left side
for 390 days, and then he's lying on his right side for another
40 days. And God supernaturally kept Ezekiel
from being able to move his body during that time. He ate and
drank very limited rations, and he was to eat barley cakes. Barley
was the food of the poor back then, but he ate barley cakes,
and God said, they're going to be cooked over human dung in
order to show the dire straits that the people of Jerusalem
were going to go through. Ezekiel begged off from that.
He said, please, Lord, don't make me eat this cooked over
human dung. God said, okay, I'll relent.
You can eat it cooked over cow dung, okay? So the point is,
his office was a difficult office to get into. You would not want
to sign up, say, oh yeah, I'd love to be a prophet. No, most
of the prophets ended up dying, right? They had a tough, tough
life, but He was called to it. He fulfilled it faithfully. And
these early chapters are just filled with drama and very powerful
metaphors. I think he must have been very,
very skilled in what God called him to do. In chapters 8 through
11, Ezekiel is lifted up by the hair and flown in a vision. It's obviously not literal flying
there. He's flown in a vision over to
the temple in Jerusalem, and when he gets to that temple,
he is shocked by what he sees. He sees this pagan image that
the people are worshiping, and then he goes to another part
of the temple, and he sees these women weeping and worshiping
Tammuz, and he goes inside the temple. He sees sun worship and
all kinds of idolatry. He comes to the realization Israel
is without hope. It has apostatized beyond redemption. And in chapter 9, God has His
angels put a mark on the faithful remnant who were in Israel to
protect them. I love that image of the mark.
God can protect His people during times of catastrophic judgments.
In chapter 10, the glory cloud of God abandons the temple and
it flies east to Babylon. And so it explains why the glory
cloud's not in Israel, why it's in Babylon. And then he explicitly
says at the end of chapter 10, by the way, this is what you
saw in chapter one. So he brings it around full circle
and explains the presence of God's glory in Babylon. The reason
is God has abandoned his temple completely. But he also makes
the important point that he had not abandoned his people. Okay,
God went into exile with his people and promises he's gonna
return them. I think that is the coolest thought,
that God was willing to go into exile with them. Even in our
most dire circumstances, God has promised to never leave us
nor forsake us. He was there with Paul and Silas
in the prison. He was there with the Apostle
Paul when his ship went down. He had not abandoned him and
we can praise God for his presence and his help. So, the first 11
chapters serve as an explanation. of the judgments that are going
to be coming in the next two sections. So the first section,
chapters one through 11. Section two, chapters 12 through
24, predicts imminent and catastrophic judgment against Judah. The third
section, chapters 25 through 32, promise imminent and catastrophic
judgment upon the pagan nations. God is an equal opportunity judger. All nations must bow before His
Lordship or they will face the music. So all nations must submit
to His laws, receive His grace, or be similarly judged. People
who deny that America could possibly receive catastrophic judgment
have either not read the Old Testament prophets who have read
them with blinders on. God did not give us Ezekiel as
some quaint history that, you know, is just dusty and has nothing
to do with us. He gave us Ezekiel to tell us
how God tends to judge nations and even give us hints as to
the kinds of things we can expect that might indicate that catastrophic
judgment is imminent. He helps us out. Well, let's
go through section 2. In chapter 12, God asks Ezekiel
to destroy the wall of his house by digging a hole in it and crawling
through and bringing a bunch of his stuff out with him. And
when the people ask him, what on earth are you doing? That
would seem strange, wouldn't it? He tells them, OK, God told
me to do this because The king of Judah, who's right now under
siege, is going to soon dig a hole in a wall, crawl through with
some of his belongings, but he's going to be captured by a King
Nebuchadnezzar, he's going to be blinded, and he's going to
be brought back to Babylon. And very shortly that was fulfilled
to a tee. 2 Kings 25, 7 says, So the last
thing that he witnessed was his kids being killed. a ghastly scene for him to remember
the rest of his life. Now, in chapter 15, Ezekiel likens
Judah to the wood of a wild vine to show why he's throwing Judah
away. Now, if you've ever dealt with
vines, I think you'll appreciate this metaphor. A vine of a good
grape, it at least produces good fruit, right? But a wild vine,
no. It's not good for fruit. It's
not good for furniture. It's not even good for cutting
a piece and putting a peg in the wall because it's so bendy.
Anything you hang on, it's going to fall. It's not even good for
firewood. You put it in the fire, it just
smokes. It is worthless, only good to be thrown away. And that's
what God said Judah had become. Utterly worthless, incredibly
powerful metaphor. In chapter 16, he likens Judah
to an orphan whom God had raised up, clothed, provided for, and
eventually married. And yet Judah proved to be a
rebellious and adulterous wife, and yikes, the descriptions of
her adulteries are quite graphic. She is never satisfied with her
adulteries, and unlike a harlot who charges people to sin with
her, she paid tons and tons of people to sin with her. Indeed,
she was worse than a harlot, and he calls her Sodom. The whole
section is filled with metaphors, more street dramas that stand
as a powerful indictment of Judah. Some of the most risque language
in the entire Bible is included in chapter 23 as he likens Israel
to two promiscuous sisters. It's almost embarrassing to read.
But all of this stands as a covenant lawsuit against Judah, and it's
such vivid, bold language that it captures the hearts of the
remnant and draws them to the Lord. Now, the second section
Actually, it's not the second, this would be the third section.
Chapters 25 through 33 pronounces judgments against the pagan nations
of Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, and Egypt. I won't spend
much time on this section. Most of the chapters are Tyre
and Egypt because those are the ones that Judah admired the most.
borrowed so much paganism from those two countries, very powerful
and yet in a few short months they would be reduced to nothing
under Nebuchadnezzar's hand. In chapter 33 Ezekiel is told
that he must be a faithful watchman warning the people of danger
to come so as not to have blood on his hands. This is a passage
that I take very, very seriously as a pastor. I do not dare to
give messages that soft-pedal God's Word, or God will hold
me accountable for your sins, hold me accountable for any judgments
or disciplines you receive. That's the kind of testimony
it is. Anyway, at the end of chapter
33, A messenger comes to tell Jeremiah that all of this was
fulfilled, Jerusalem has fallen, and then comes a stirring message
in verses 30 through 33. In fact, I'm going to read that
for you. This is chapter 33, verses 30 to 33. through 33. As for you, son of
man, the children of your people are talking about you beside
the walls and in the doors of the houses, and they speak to
one another, everyone saying to his brother, please come and
hear what the word is that comes from the Lord. So they come to
you as people do. They sit before you as my people,
and they hear your words, but they do not do them. For with
their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their
own gain. Indeed, you are to them as a very lovely song of
one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument,
for they hear your words, but they do not do them. And when
this comes to pass, surely it will come, then they will know
that a prophet has been among them." Ezekiel was pretty excited
that a revival might be happening because crowds came to hear him. They loved listening to him.
But God warns Ezekiel that this is counterfeit revival. This
doesn't even remotely approach a reformation. It is counterfeit.
And let me tell you, a lot of churches are satisfied if they
have these six things. our church should not be satisfied
with these six things. I believe that there are churches
that are under God's judgment that have these six things. Let
me quickly list them for you. First, God says in verse 30 that
interest in the pastor and his message is not a sign of success
or revival. And it's certainly not a sign
of reformation. Even though the people listened,
it was for the wrong reasons. According to Matthew 7, 22, there
will be many who have sat under good preaching who will end up
in hell. Second, verse 30 indicates that these people were spreading
the message. They were like they were being
evangelistic. They were inviting people to church. but God saw
their heart. Third, they had faithful attendance
at church. Verse 31 says, they come to you
as people do, they sit before you as my people, but God did
not consider that to be a necessary sign of revival. Yes, those things
do happen under revival, but he says you can have those things
without revival. It goes much deeper than that.
Fourth, they seem to understand. Verse 32 says, for they hear
your words, but they do not do them. Understanding without obedience
just makes them more guilty. Fifth, they loved worship. They
gave great devotion to God. I can almost see them in my mind's
eye raising their hands, smiling, and telling God how much they
loved Him. Verse 31 says, with their mouth
they showed much love, but their hearts pursued their own gain.
God was in their worship, but nowhere to be seen in their business,
nowhere. Six, they enjoyed the preaching
immensely. It was as interesting to them
as going to a concert. He said, indeed, you are to them
as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and
can play well on an instrument, for they hear your words, but
they do not do them. So how can things look so right,
but be so wrong? Ezekiel is one of those books
that looks at the heart and says that without a heart that's engaged
with God, it's all for nothing. These verses call for our heart,
our minds, our wills, our emotions, our entire being to be completely
devoted to God. Radical holiness, holiness of
heart, holiness of life. And what a great way to end the
first half of the book and gradually transition into what God is going
to do to change the situation, because we can't have self-reformation,
can we? So the second half of the book
says, pretty bad, right? Now let me show you what my grace
is going to be able to accomplish in changing all of that upside
down. Reformation can happen. Reformation
did happen. It happened after the exile in
the post-exilic community. He says it will happen in the
future under the Messiah. And I love the second section
of Ezekiel because it gives hope to Israel, but it gives hope
to the nations, and eventually it gives hope to the entire creation. The hope for Israel is seen in
the next section, that's chapters 34 through 46. So God tells the
exiles that as a result of God's judgment upon Babylon, Israel
will escape and come back to their land. He promises that
the false shepherds of chapter 34 will be replaced by the true
shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. But in the meantime, He's also
going to raise up imperfect shepherds who will seek to faithfully pattern
their shepherding after the coming Messiah. And by the way, if you
want, you fathers, you're called to be shepherds in your home.
We elders need to study what does it mean to shepherd people?
Well, chapter 34 says, here's bad shepherding, here's good
shepherding. It's a great self-examination tool. But first of all, they
must be restored to Israel. Ezekiel 36 speaks of Cyrus' future
overthrow. of Babylon, Israel returning
to the Lord and beginning to rebuild the cities of Israel. And I especially love the language
of chapter 36, verses 24 through 34, which shows God will do by
His Spirit within our hearts what they have not been able
to do. This is not just political renewal. This is spiritual renewal. Now, I already read this earlier.
But let me read it again within its context, the broader context. Chapter 36, verses 24 through
34. For I will take you from among
the nations, gather you out of all countries, bring you into
your own land, and I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall
be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and
from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and
put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone
out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put
my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and
you will keep my judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell
in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people
and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your
uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it and
bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit
of your trees and the increase of your fields so that you need
never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.
Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were
not good and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight.
for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake
do I do this, says the Lord God. Let it be known to you. Be ashamed
and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. Thus says
the Lord God, on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities,
I will also enable you to dwell in the cities and the ruins shall
be built. The desolate land shall be tilled
instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by.
So they will say, this land that was desolate has become like
the Garden of Eden and the wasted, desolate and ruined cities are
now fortified and inhabited. Then the nations which are left
all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the
ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have
spoken it and will do it. and I read more of the context,
so that you would not assume that this is during the time
of the New Covenant. He's using New Covenant language
for what he's going to do in the post-exilic community. This
is why some commentators speak of them as being the prelude
to the New Covenant. God's already beginning to introduce
some of these New Covenant ideas as he moves to that time. But
what a marvelous promise. Chapter 37. This is the Valley
of Dry Bones that there's so much controversy over. It's the
same wind of the Holy Spirit that in the previous chapter
had renewed their hearts that is now going to raise up Israel
and return them to the land. I used to think that this was
a literal resurrection. Those of you who have been around
me long enough know that I used to teach that. But I have been
convinced, and most commentators, whether dispensational, historic,
pre-, postmill, aumil, most commentators say this is not a literal resurrection. There's hints in the chapter
that it's not. This is a metaphor of a nation
that was 100% dead. scattered to the wind, being
revived and brought back into the land. That's never happened
before. So it's a remarkable metaphor of a nation coming back
from death. Now this is immediately followed
by the Battle of Gog and Magog in chapters 38-39. This took
place during the time of Esther, Nehemiah, and Mordecai. Every Jewish man, woman, and
child was slated for death by Prince Haman. But miraculously,
God turned it all around and the Amalekites who were associated
with Haman, they got killed themselves. And I've written a paper outlining
25 boring reasons why this chapter absolutely has to be during the
time of Esther. I'm just gonna give you just
a few of those reasons and not take too much time on that. First,
Haman the Agagite, who was the villain of Esther, is mentioned
in three verses in chapter 39, verses 11, 15, and 16. But instead
of the word Agagite, it uses the root of that word, Gog. So
Ezekiel calls him Haman of Gog, or Haman from Gog, but that would
make him an Agagite. Second, according to chapter
38 verse 11, Jerusalem and other towns have no walls. That was
not true in the time of A.D. 70 where some preterists put
this. In fact, the only time that it would have been possible
for Jerusalem to not have walls was in the first years of Nehemiah. Third, the battle engages exactly
the same nations that were in the empire under Darius in his
year 12 in the book of Esther. So India was not conquered by
Darius until his 16th year, so it makes sense that India is
not mentioned in this book either. All the other nations are, but
not not India. And so there's only a small window
of time when this battle fits. It fits the Battle of Esther.
Fourth, there are three verses in Ezekiel 38-39 that indicate
that this was an empire-wide conflict led by a prince. a mere prince, not the emperor.
That would seem strange to people, that it's not the emperor who's
addressed, but a prince, and yet this prince is called the
chief prince, indicating there are other princes. Well, that
perfectly fits the situation of Haman in the book of Esther.
The emperor was deceived, he was not involved. Prince Haman
alone led and organized the attack. Fifth, in both books, Israel
has just recently come back into the land. Sixth, this occurs
at a time in history when Israel is divided up into tribes. You
can see that in 3719, for example. Now, this rules out fulfillment
any time after the Middle Ages, because you can talk to any Jewish
rabbi. By the time of the Middle Ages,
the Jewish tribes were so intermixed and intermarried that there are
no tribes that are discernible anymore. So it had to be fulfilled
prior to 8300. Seventh, the people only used
horses, and I won't give you all the references here, but
horses, swords, arrows, bows, war clubs, and other ancient
wooden instruments. So again, it doesn't quite make
sense for a future to us on that as the premillennialists would
have it. Now, the Gog and Magog at the end of Revelation, it's
this same Gog and Magog that have been killed, but they are
resurrected on the last day of history, okay? So it's a resurrected
Gog and Magog. Eighth, though it is true that
the fighting occurs in every province in Esther, and that
the focus in Ezekiel is upon the battle in Israel. Chapter
39 gives two verses that hint, this is actually an empire-wide
conflict. Chapter 39, verse 21 says, all
the nations shall see the punishment. 39.6 says, God will send fire
on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands.
So both passages, both books portray the fighting throughout
the empire, not just in Palestine. Ninth, both books mentioned that
it was anti-Jewish hatred that motivated it. Tenth, both books
mentioned that the people wanted to plunder the Jews. Both passages
say the planned destruction was reversed, came upon the enemy.
Both passages say that Gentiles, some Gentiles sided with Israel.
Both passages show the fear of God falling upon the Gentiles.
There's a conversion of Gentiles to the true faith. And in both
passages, Israel gains respect and influence among the nation.
So I believe that this was the battle that occurred in the early
years of Nehemiah, the book of Esther. Well, if that's the case,
then chronologically it makes sense that the temple would be
the next thing to be built. Well, that's exactly what happens
in the next chapters, chapter 40 through 46. If you want a
super brief introduction to this huge topic, Philip Morrow does
a good job of showing that the intricate blueprints that Ezekiel
40-46 gives are indeed the blueprints used by Ezra, Zerubbabel, Nehemiah,
and others in building that temple. This is in his book, The Hope
of Israel. Now there are other scholars as well that I'll reference
on the web, that have dug deep into the measurements, the history
of it and all, and I'm not gonna have the time to do that this
morning. But since it's obvious that not everybody agrees with
me on this, what I wanna do is I want to quickly dispose of
the only two alternative theories out there. The first theory is
held to by dispensationalists who claim that this temple was
never built and therefore it must be built in a future millennial
temple. Now here's the problems with
that view. First, Ezekiel is quite clear that the entire Levitical
system of sacrifices must be literally restored to the temple. And I'll just give you one example.
Ezekiel 43, 18 through 19. And he said to me, son of man,
thus says the Lord God, these are the ordinances for the altar
on the day when it is made. For sacrificing burnt offerings
on it and for sprinkling blood on it, you shall give a young
bull for a sin offering to the priests, the Levites, who are
at the seat of Zadok, who approach me to minister to me, says God.
Now, the premillennialists insist, well, when it's done in the future
it's not going to be done for atonement, it's only going to
be done as a memorial, just like we have a memorial service here.
That is absolutely false. The very next verse says it's
for atonement. So does verse 26. So does Ezekiel
45, 15, which says, These shall be for grain offerings, burnt
offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement for them. Verse 17 calls the sacrifices,
offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel. So here's
the problem. To claim that the whole Levitical
system will be resurrected in a future millennium for atonement
is a blasphemy against the finished work of Christ, completely contradicts
the entire book of Hebrews. Now, they're right in making
this a literal temple. I totally side with them on that and against
a lot of Reformed people. Totally right on that, but they're
absolutely wrong in making this temple future to us. This was
Ezra's temple. Secondly, Ezekiel mentions a
prince, and where this prince was allowed to make sacrifices,
what his role would be. Premillennialists say that this
prince is Jesus in a future millennium. By the way, so do those who take
the opposite viewpoint, say there's nothing literal here whatsoever.
But they do say that the prince is Jesus. Well, here's the problem
with saying that the prince is Jesus. This prince has to offer
sacrifices for his own sins. in Ezekiel 45, 22, and 46, 12.
Jesus didn't have any sins. It doesn't fit Christ. This prince
only owns part of the land and is prohibited from taking eminent
domain over other people's property, chapter 46, 18. That does not
fit Christ. He is the Lord and owner of all
of life, and prohibition of eminent domain does not apply to him.
Furthermore, Ezekiel has rules which govern how this prince
and his sons can inherit land, where he's allowed to enter,
where he can sit in the temple, where he cannot sit, none of
that even remotely fits Jesus. That fits the rubble. It fits
all of the later rulers in Israel. They were princes, not kings.
So these were instructions for the post-exilic princes. Third,
Take a look at the map that's in your outline. Chapter 48 gives
the borders of the land around this temple. They're very specific
borders that include the tribes of Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh,
Ephraim, Reuben, and all the tribes. Here's the problem. Those
tribes no longer exist. Any Jewish rabbi will tell you
that all of the genealogies were lost long ago, and by the Middle
Ages, they were so intermarried, you can't distinguish one tribe,
let alone all of the tribes. There is no way that these tribal
divisions could be achieved in the future. And people say, oh,
you're limiting the power of God. Premillennials say, God
could have kept them. Even though they don't know what
their tribal affiliation is, God could have kept them from
intermarrying. all of this time, and maybe He will reveal to them
by divine revelation in the future who's of the tribe of Naphtali,
who's in the tribe. There's nothing even remotely
like that in this text. This text is clear. They know
what tribes they are from. And it actually gets much more
specific. The offerings couldn't be done by any Levite, just any
Levite. It had to be the Levitical family
of Zadok who performed the sacrifices. 40 verse 46, 43, 19, 44, 15,
48, 11. No one could do any work unless
they had a genealogy proving they were from the family of
Zadok. There is no family of Zadok today,
and so for these and numerous other reasons, the premillennial
idea, and I used to be a premill, and I do respect them, but I
do not respect the idea of resurrected sacrifices in the future, I'm
sorry. It is grossly unbiblical, and it undermines the atonement
of Jesus, but it's just not exegetically feasible. But I find the opposite
and most dominant viewpoint to be equally problematic, where
they ignore 98% of the details of this magnificent building,
and they say that it's simply a vision of what the essence
of New Covenant worship will look like. Let me give you an
example. This is from the Geneva Study Bible. They say, Ezekiel's
restored temple is not a blueprint, but a vision that stresses the
purity and spiritual vitality of the ideal place of worship
and those who will worship there. It is not intended for an earthly
physical fulfillment, but expresses the truth found in the name of
the new city, the Lord is there, Ezekiel 48, 35. God will dwell
in the new temple and among his people. If that's all God intended
to communicate, why didn't he do it in one paragraph instead
of confusing us with nine chapters or 260 verses of detailed measurements
of every nook and cranny of this temple, including the window
sizes and insets, thickness of walls, stairs, thresholds, vestibules,
hallways, gateways, doors, storage cupboards, cooking hearths, intricate
carvings and decorations, tables, and a bunch of other detailed
blueprint kinds of ideas? I could show you pictures that
I didn't have room. I decided I'm just gonna try
to keep things on one page. But amazing, if you follow the
directions, very intricately, beautifully interwoven archways
and how they built it in a way that even though it was made
of stone, you could have multiple stories without things falling
down. It makes no sense. if this was not intended to be
a blueprint but was instead intended to only symbolize the simplicity
of spiritual worship in the New Covenant. It seems the very opposite
of the simplicity of New Covenant worship. This is Old Covenant
worship entirely. And why the detailed instructions
on how sacrifices were to be offered and what kind of clothing
the priests had to wear to make sure they didn't wear clothing
that would make them sweat. Why? If it's not literal real
priests, why does 4422 say, they shall not take as wife a widow
of a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of
the house of Israel or widows of priests. Even on the surface,
it appears to be literal blueprints and instructions sufficient to
guide Ezra and the other priests on how to do absolutely everything
that needed to be done in that temple. It even specifies that
the priest is to cover his head when he represents Israel before
God in the holy place, but he's commanded to uncover his head
when he comes out of the holy place and he represents God to
the people. Why? because all glory except for the glory of
God is to be covered in worship. So when he represents the people,
he even wears their names on his breastplate, He is the glory
of Israel. So that's why he had to be covered
in the holy place. When he came off, he had to take
all of that off. Why? Because now he's representing
God to the people. So when Paul says that he based
his ideas of head coverings, long hair on the Old Testament,
was not teaching anything new, it's right there. It's all through
Ezekiel. There's nothing new that Paul taught. He said to
the Bereans, he praised them for checking out everything he
said by the Old Testament. The point is, it sure looks like
these instructions were intended to be followed by literal priests.
Now second, what I've just said seems to be the case is actually
explicitly stated in chapter 43, verses 10 through 11. In
that paragraph, God explicitly tells Ezekiel, Israel must follow
every detail of this blueprint. They're not just to ignore it
and say, oh yeah, it's a beautiful symbol, and we're going to follow
the symbol, meaning. Let me read that. Ezekiel 43,
verse 10. And if they are ashamed of all
that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple
and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, its entire
design, and all its ordinances, all its forms, and all its laws.
Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole
design and all its ordinances and perform them." I don't see
how anything could be more clear. These were blueprints intended
by God for them to follow. In fact, He uses a synonym for
blueprint. It's the word design. Now, of course, the spiritualizers
say, OK, then you're in trouble, Phil. Here's two objections that
we bring to your ridiculous interpretation. First of all, if you're going
to take this literally, you're going to have to completely change
the landscape of Palestine, because this is a temple that is 60 miles
square, and it's not going to fit. It's going to extend out
over the Mediterranean. And my response to that is, you've
been reading the King James, haven't you? The King James mistranslated
that. And actually, the Hebrew doesn't
have the measuring unit. It assumes we're going to use
the same measuring unit that Solomon used, which was cubits,
not reeds. But unfortunately, the King James
put reeds in there, and it's in italicized, because it's not
in the Hebrew, it's italics words. So this is why so many of the
images of the temple are gigantic. They're way, way, way too big.
If you use cubits, you got an ordinary-sized temple. If you
use reads, then yes, it's extended way out over the city. But that's
an easy objection to overcome. Second objection, not quite so
easy. Their objection is, Phil, everybody,
everybody agrees that the stream that comes out of that temple
cannot possibly be a literal stream. It's a miraculous stream.
Remember the stream is up to his ankles, then it's up to his
knees, up to his waist, finally it's so deep he cannot swim over
it, and it finally brings healing to all of the world. That's obviously
not a literal. And so this is actually a pretty
strong argument. If the stream that comes out
of the temple is not literal, then maybe the whole temple is
not literal. That's the gist of their argument. But even that
is not entirely true. Yes, the temple is symbolic,
just like Solomon's temple was symbolic, symbolized every facet
of the person and work of Christ. But there are still literal temples
that symbolize, and the same is true of the river, at least
the river as it was in the temple and came out of the temple. I
think I'm going to end this sermon by looking at this strange, but
encouraging to me, river. Ezekiel 47, I'm beginning to
read at verse 1. Then he brought me back to the
door of the temple, and there was water flowing from under
the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the
temple faced east. The water was flowing from under
the right side of the temple, south of the altar. He brought
me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside
of the outer gateway that faces east, and there was water running
out on the right side. Was this part of the description
literal? I believe so, and if not, it
was at least symbolized by the literal water that literally
flowed out of a literal temple in the first century with lots
of documentation of this river, lots of documentation. The Gihon
Spring was a powerful siphon spring that had sufficient water
to push the water up Warren's Shaft and into the temple. George
Wesley Bucon, Ernest Martin, quite a number of other scholars
have done some fabulous archaeological and historical work on which
of the four theories of the temple's location is true. You've got
to realize this is not a settled thing. Academics to this day
do not know for sure where that temple, well, I know for sure,
but I'm arrogant, right? But anyway, his theory is that
the temple was built right over the Gion Spring rather than a
little further northwest over the place where the Dome of the
Rock or Haram al-Sharif currently stands. Now I pointed out in
a previous sermon that the huge platform area, Haram al-Sharif,
is the remnants of the Roman fort known as Antonia, and the
temple was immediately southeast of it but right next to it. Now,
if that's the case, then it fits perfectly. Everything fits perfectly.
There are certainly solid historical sources proving that the Gihon
Spring was under the temple. Let me give you three. Aristides
reported to King Ptolemy in the 2nd century BC his own eyewitness
account of the glories of the temple. And in one place in that
letter he said, and there is an inexhaustible supply of water
because an abundant natural spring gushes up from within the temple
area. Now, there has never been a place
on the platform where the Dome of the Rock is where any water
has come, period. They have to haul water there,
okay? But on the oldest theory, which
I hold to, of the temple's location, you do have water. Anyway, Aristides
said that this vast water supply was carried under the temple
through an intricate array of pipes that dumped water into
cisterns. and eventually flowed out of
the temple and into the city, providing all the water that
the entire city needed. What marvelous symbolism, because
it was kind of patterned after the heavenly throne that has
that spiritual river coming out. It's to symbolize that water
that the entire Jerusalem drinks. They have to drink from the temple.
It's to symbolize every aspect of our lives has life only from
the Holy Spirit of God. Anyway, Aristides pointed out
that some of the water supply under the temple flowed to the
area for sacrifices, was used to wash away the blood of sacrifices
so quickly that he said the blood was removed, quote, in the twinkling
of an eye, out through a different sewer system. So even the sacrificial
area was pristinely clean. I always wondered how they got
rid of the blood. Well, he describes it. And the
water stream was loud enough that it could be heard running
underfoot no matter where you went in that temple. And there
are scriptures that speak of the noise of many waters under
God's throne. Psalm 29.3, 93.4. Well, Aristides describes the
sound of many waters under the temple. Okay, a second, very
briefly, historical source. The book of Enoch, written around
the same time, also mentions a stream flowing under the temple
area. It's 1 Enoch 26, two through
three. The Roman historian Tacitus said that the temple, quote,
contained an inexhaustible spring. That's impossible if it was on
the platform where the Dome of the Rock is. And Tacitus would
have known exactly because he described the war, he described
the destruction, of the temple. There's not a trace of Herod's
temple left, not one stone, not one single stone. That's why
they still, academics can't figure out where the temple is. There
is no stone left. In fact, the ancient historians
said the ground was plowed up. It was plowed up. It was a plowed
field afterwards. So the Wailing Wall was part
of the Roman fort, which makes it so, so ironic that the modern
Talmudists treat this as a holy place. It's the place representing
their enemies that destroyed them, as a number of Jewish scholars
have tried valiantly to prove. But anyway, what the inspired
Scripture itself says about the water end of the temple I think
is most noteworthy. These verses do not make sense
if the temple was on the spot of the Dome of the Rock. Psalm
87.7 speaks of springs of water being in Zion. Psalm 29.10 says
the Lord sits enthroned over the flood. So that would imply
the mercy seat, the God's throne, the Holy of Holies was over a
flood of water. In fact, verse 3 says He is over
the waters, plural. Joel 3.18 says, a fountain shall
flow from the house of the Lord. Psalm 46.4 says, there is a river
whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place
of the tabernacle of the Most High. So the literal river of
waters that flowed from the temple symbolized the spirit that would
flow from the temple at Pentecost. But because of the way this stream
was diverted eastward, it may well have brought temporary healing
to the Dead Sea. I haven't been able to find any
historical evidence for that, but it wouldn't surprise me if
we do find it. It makes sense to me. Now back to Ezekiel 47,
the literal flow of water from under one of the gates, the east
gate, symbolizes Pentecost falling upon the disciples gathered in
the upper room of the temple premises, and as they left the
east gate, they took the Spirit with them. Why? Because they're
filled with the Spirit. And the flow of the Spirit grew larger
and larger until it is destined to fill the earth with Spirit-filled
Christians. Continuing to read at verse three.
And when the man went out to the east with a line in his hand,
he measured 1,000 cubits and he brought me through the waters.
The water came up to my ankles. Again, he measured 1,000, brought
me through the waters. The water came up to my knees.
Again, he measured 1,000 and brought me through. The water
came up to my waist. Again, he measured 1,000. It was a river
I could not cross for the water was too deep, water in which
one must swim, a river that could not be crossed. So he is describing
a miraculous river here. He is fluidly moved from symbol
to the thing symbolized, the healing influence of the Holy
Spirit. He continues to describe this healing. Verse six is in
following. Said to me, son of man, have
you seen this? Then he brought me and returned me to the bank
of the river. When I returned there along the bank of the river,
there were many trees on one side and the other. Then he said
to me, this water flows toward the eastern region. That would
be the desert region, pagan region. So it symbolized the gospel going
beyond Israel. It goes down into the valley, enters the sea, that
would be a reference to the Dead Sea. When it reaches the sea,
its waters are healed and it shall be that every living thing
that moves wherever the rivers go will live. There will be a
very great multitude of fish because these waters go there,
for they will be healed and everything will live wherever the river
goes. "'It shall be that fishermen will stand by it "'from En-Gedi
to En-Egleon. "'They will be places for spreading
their nets. "'Their fish will be the same
kinds "'as the fish of the great sea, exceedingly many. "'But
its swamps and marshes will not be healed. "'They will be given
over to salt. "'Along the bank of the river, on this side and
that, "'will grow all kinds of trees used for food. "'Their
leaves will not wither. "'Their fruit will not fail.
"'They will bear fruit every month "'because their water flows
from the sanctuary. "'Their fruit will be for food
"'and their leaves for medicine. So did God heal the Dead Sea
for a period of time in order to serve as a symbol? I don't
know, but if He did, then the strength of the symbolism is
even better, but it's not necessary, it's not necessary. How much
is literal, how much is symbolic is hard to make out, because
Scripture sometimes does move fluidly between symbol and that
which is symbolized, from the sign to that which is signified.
If the river symbolized Pentecost, then the river of life brings
the life in history as the Spirit transforms the planet. And that
means there can be no restored paradise in our marriages or
any other area of life without the Holy Spirit. So my position
really is a blend of the strongest features of the literalist position
and of the premillennialist and the symbolic position of the
rest of commentators. And most types in the Bible are
that way. They're not either or, they are
both and. Just like Moses struck a literal rock in the wilderness,
literal water flowed out, but it was a symbol. So we can't
say because it was a symbol of Christ being struck and the Holy
Spirit being struck, there was no rock in the wilderness. Both
are true. So what are we to make of the overall flow of the book? Well, you can look at it through
the lens of the Holy Spirit's presence. First part has the
Holy Spirit forsaking the land of Israel, moving to Babylon.
That's a scary state for the land of Israel to be in, but
it's encouraging for the exiles. The Holy Spirit was with them.
Chapter 36 shows the wind of the Holy Spirit blowing upon
the hearts of individuals, making them ready to return. Chapter
37 shows the same wind of the Holy Spirit blowing upon the
bones of national Israel, a nation no longer alive at that point,
and yet by God's power they're made alive as a nation, restored
to the land. Chapter 39, verse 29 says, it will not hide my
face from them anymore. For I shall have poured out My
Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord God." So this is
the Spirit of God preserving His people during the battle
of Gog and Magog. Next, the Spirit of God instructs
Israel on how to make every detail of the temple. And in 43.5, the
Holy Spirit lifts up Ezekiel, just like He did earlier in the
book, lifts him up in the air via vision, takes him to a future
not yet built temple, but it's going to be the temple that Ezra
would build. And He says there, the glory
of the Lord filled the temple. But chapter 47 shows that out
of this temple would come Pentecost. Christ's parting instructions
to his disciples in Luke 24, 49 to 53, was to wait in Jerusalem
until they were endued from on high by the Holy Spirit. So just
as Ezekiel says, you guys can't serve me without the power of
the Holy Spirit. You've got to have the Holy Spirit. Jesus said,
I don't care how spiritual you are, you cannot serve me without
the filling of the Holy Spirit. So they wait for Pentecost. And Luke ends, they were continually
in the temple praising and blessing God. It was in that temple, one
of the upper rooms, meeting rooms of that temple, that Pentecost
was poured out upon 120. They preached. The converts are
filled with the Holy Spirit. They leave the east gate. They
begin preaching and this presence of the Holy Spirit keeps growing
and growing and is destined to eventually fill the entire earth
with His healing. That is the beautiful message
of Ezekiel. Let's pray. Father, we thank
you for this book that not only reminds us of our sin and of
our helplessness, but also reminds us of the supernatural power
of your Holy Spirit that can change hearts, that can change
lives, that can change institutions and even politics. And I pray
that you would do so, even in our day, that we would have a
faith that where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. Fill
us, oh God, with your spirit and enable us to be ambassadors
taking this world for Christ. And I pray it in Jesus' name.
Ezekiel
Series Bible Survey
| Sermon ID | 102819210536961 |
| Duration | 1:07:37 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
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