Destination: Ezekiel 1-48 | Skip Heitzig

[Music] earlier in our flights over the Old Testament we watched the glory of the Lord descend upon the temple as King Solomon prayed but now we come to the Book of Ezekiel in a sad episode in Israel's history the glory of the Lord departs it was from the very temple mount behind me that the Shekinah glory of God reluctantly left the temple in our study of Ezekiel we'll find out why this dramatic event took place here are some fast facts about Ezekiel who lived at the same time as Daniel and Jeremiah Ezekiel provides a preview of the eventual triumph by God over all Israel's enemies but first Ezekiel has many lessons to point out for Israel and for those of us on this flight tonight we turn to the book of answers the Bible where there are more answers about life than there are questions I remember when I was a little kid watching my favorite Marcia and all this talk about aliens reminded me of that show anybody remember that my favorite Martian remember that's cool spaceship that uncle Martin had I remember being so enamored with that watching television and later on in life when I was a bad kid in my teenage years I snuck into MGM studios in Hollywood it was all locked up I climbed the fence and and got inside and as I open door this is true story the first thing I saw was uncle Martin's spaceship and I thought this is so cool and I went up to it and it wasn't really all that cool it was just spray painted fiberglass and I was really disappointed I don't know why this childhood dream was very shattered and you know when you get up close to a lot of things in life they are that way how different from the that is from the glory of God whatever vision Ezekiel sees of these strange creatures in chapter 1 and chapter 10 moreover all of the images that he gets of the future glory of God when you see it up close is going to be even better than all of the words that were used to describe it to you that's really where the payoff is now Ezekiel was a priest as well as a prophet like Jeremiah Ezekiel was a priest who never it seems got to serve in the priesthood because he was taken away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon now I'm gonna refresh her memory because this is the Bible from 30,000 feet three times that little area of Judah including Jerusalem was besieged by the Babylonians attacked 605 BC was the first time on that first attack a young boy by the name of Daniel and his friends were taken away captive into Babylon some years later 597 BC the second attack came and this time Ezekiel the priest was taken away captive and 11 years later in 586 BC is when Jerusalem will besieged the third time and it will fall to the Babylonian army Ezekiel was a contemporary then of both Jeremiah and Daniel so while Ezekiel is in Babylon where all the captives are by the rivers there this we'll read about it Jeremiah was back in Jerusalem or maybe an old man in Egypt because he was taken to Egypt later Daniel was serving in the court of Nebuchadnezzar there's no indication that they knew each other at all all of them are simultaneously ministering to God's people during this era now something about Ezekiel if you've read the book you know this guy not only gave messages he play acted them we call him a pedagogy in biography he lived the message he had to shave his head and his beard to prove a point he had to play army on one occasion he had to lie on one side that on the other side there was all of these things he had to act out in front of a group of people so he didn't just speak the message he role played the message so people would really get the idea now there's forward that can sum up the whole Book of Ezekiel I'll give you those four words then I'll quickly explain them forwards sum up the Book of Ezekiel number one Commission Commission number two correction number three castigation and number four restoration the first one is chapters one through three God Commission's Ezekiel to be a prophet he gets a wild vision that we'll cover in part and then God gives him the Commission to be a spokesperson to the captives in Babylon Commission number two is correction God sends him to be a spokes man a spokes person a watchman to correct the behavior of Judah and that's chapters four through 24 and he will explain the captivity he will explain the destruction of Jerusalem that's God's correction number three is castigation all of the surrounding nations around Judah were happy when Judah fell and went away into captivity and so because many of them treated Judah harshly God will castigate them and punish them as well and then word number four is restoration that's the last part of the book chapters 34 33 through 48 is where God promises to restore the Jews back to the land so you can see if you've been with us before there are similarities between the message of Ezekiel and the message of Isaiah and Jeremiah etc God kicked him out of the land God will bring them back into the land but he has his own unique style chapter 1 verse 1 it came to pass in the thirtieth year in the 4th month on the fifth day of the month note how exact this guy is one of his trademarks throughout the book is he gives exact dating techniques as I was among the captives by the river k-bar the canal where ships would go in between the tie in Euphrates River that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God now what does it mean when it says in the thirtieth year here's a possibility because we don't exactly know it could mean his 30th year Ezekiel's 30th year he turned 30 perhaps when he was there as a captive in Babylon why is that significant because the priesthood demanded that priests didn't serve until they were 30 from age 30 to 50 they served in the temple here's the point here's a priest who never got a chance to serve because he was taken out of the land of Judah and the temple was later on destroyed that'd be very difficult to be groomed for a particular ministry and never get to fulfill that ministry it would sort of be like if you were a 16 year old or tomorrow was your 16th birthday you've got the permit tomorrow you're gonna go down and get the license tomorrow's the day you've been dreaming of the day when you have your own bona fide driver's license but the night before your 16th birthday you hear on the news that the government just changes the law so that you have to now be 18 years old before you can drive that would be a bummer if you're 16 actually I think it's a pretty good idea and it'd be a great law given the number of accidents that happen nonetheless you understand how Ezekiel must have felt down in verse 5 also from now he's gonna see this vision of God that he mentions in verse 1 also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures so this whirlwind this fire and this vision four living creatures now get this vision of what he saw this was their appearance they had the faces they had the likeness of a man and each one had four faces each one had four wings their legs were straight the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves feet they sparkle like the color of furnished bronze or glossy brass the hands of a man were under their wings and on their four sides and each of the four had faces and wings what a wild vision now this is a real vision from God this is not a late-night burrito or a Pizza dream or a nightmare this is what he saw and it will be recounted to him a second time in Chapter ten but in a different location now chapter 10 tells us exactly what they are he says I saw and I note it was the same vision he said I saw in chapter one or back at the river key bar he calls them cherubim cherubim these special breed or special class of angelic beings that guard the presence of God and guard the access that man has with God now you remember back in the book of Genesis chapter 3 it's the first time we read about cherubim after Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden a couple of cherubim with flaming swords guarded the entrance to the Garden of Eden so that Adam and Eve could not go back into the garden and eat of the tree of life and live forever in their sin so they were guardians and they were very powerful later on the Ark of the Covenant pictured two cherubim atop the mercy seat whose wings touched in the middle in fact God said I will meet you the only place on earth I will meet with you is between the cherubim on that mercy seat where atonement will be made for your sin cherubim were also placed on the veil that separated the holy of Holy's from the holy place so it played a prominent role in israel's history the special class of beings that speak of God's glory with his people go down to verse 9 their wings touched one another the creatures did not turn when they went but each one went straight forward now the Hebrew term for this vision that he saw is called the Merkabah the Merkabah which means the chariot this is like God's divine wheels this is the divine chariot or the the mobile throne that's how the Hebrews referred to it this vision in Chapter one and chapter ten forms the basis for most all of the Talmudic mysticism including a whole branch of Judaism called Kabbalah ever heard of Kabbalah madonna's into Kabbalah her kind of her own kind and a lot of other stars are into this mystical cabbalistic teaching which at the very core of it has the vision of Ezekiel chapter 1 and chapter 10 and all sorts of fanciful explanations as to what this is have been given and even in Judaism in Kabbalah I was on a couple websites today and I noticed I typed in Ezekiel UFO boy did I get site after site after site saying he saw UFOs he had an encounter with alien beings and even draw these things out and try to prove from the Bible that these are aliens more on that in a moment as for the likeness of their faces each had the face of a man each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side and each of the four had the face of an eagle so each being has four faces an eagle a lion a man and ox thus where their faces their wings stretched upward two wings of each one touched one another and two covered their bodies and each one went straight forward they went wherever the spirit wanted to go and they did not turn when they went these are four interesting faces and it could be many theologians tie a couple of threads together that I'd like to tie together for you it could be that what we're getting a glimpse of in part is a model of the throne of God in heaven do you remember back in the wilderness when the children of Israel were called to march on the wilderness march that there were four directions they camped around the tabernacle north south east and west there were twelve tribes and three tribes gathered to one standard one emblem of one tribe three to another three and three so there were twelve tribes divided by four what's interesting is the emblems of the tribes themselves on one side toward the east was the tribe of Judah the emblem was a lion then on another was the tribe of Ephraim and Ephraim was the ox on another side was the tribe of Reuben and he had the standard of the man and the other was the tribe of Dan whose standard was the Eagle same pictorial layout then we come to the New Testament and we find there's not one gospel but there are four Gospels and they all have a different emphasis and theologians once again note that Matthew seems to speak of Jesus as the promised king he speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven the kingdom of God that seems to be the theme of Matthew as if Matthew was writing about here's Jesus fulfilling the the king of the Jews prophecies he's the Lion of the tribe of Judah you get to the Gospel of Mark it's the shortest of the four Gospels and you read words like immediately and so and immediately you get this this idea of constant motion in the Gospel of Mark and it pictures Jesus as someone on the go fulfilling his masters will the ox the servant the servant of God immediately doing all the will of the Father you get to the Gospel of Luke and you find that Luke has a very different emphasis he calls Jesus the Son of Man more than any of the other Gospels Luke Oh Gentile physician writes about the perfect Humanity of Jesus and then finally you have John who deals with the deity of Jesus the Eagle the Son of God again all four very different facets of the life character and Ministry of Jesus then you get to the book of Revelation and these four living creatures come back again around the throne of God and these four phases so it could be that we're dealing with in part a model a model of God's throne verse 15 now as I looked at the living creatures behold a wheel uh-oh here comes the flying saucers you say a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four phases the appearance of the wheels and their workings was like the color of Beryl kind of a blazing amber color and all the four had the same likeness the appearance of their workings was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel now because of that verse and this whole vision actually but especially these wheels some identify the vision of Ezekiel as Ezekiel saw in the Old Testament a UFO sighting based on this now I don't quite get that but some do that there's an estimated 14 percent of Americans who believe in UFO or who say they have sighted UFOs 14 percent say they have actually seen UFOs now before you go well that's a lot of proof to me keep in mind that it's about the same number about fourteen fifteen percent believe they seen Elvis sightings as well so just want to keep that a little bit in perspective Ezekiel doesn't guess what they are Ezekiel knows what they are as I said in chapter 10 time after time he calls them cherubim the special blend or brand of angels that deal with the glory in the presence of God that's all be it that'll be in chapter 10 which we won't cover tonight second this is not alien power this is cherub power there's not like a 500 horsepower engine this is just a four cherub power vehicle and it has incredible capability but again this is that special class of angel verse 18 as for their rims check this out God has mags as for their rims they were so high they were awesome you know you kind of see spinners don't you wow that's cool and their rims were full of eyes these are very different from any other wheels you've ever seen all around the four of them now eyes in Scripture often depict intelligence and probably here omniscience being able to see and know all when the living creatures went the wheels went beside them and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth the wheels were lifted up wherever the spirit wanted to go they went because there the Spirit went and the wheels were lifted together with them the spirit of the living creatures get this the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels now up to this point the zekiel really just been looking under the hood last part of the chapter he's checking out the chassis and the body and and basically in verse 28 he says it was the appearance of the glory of God this was God's glory that he saw Ezekiel says which takes us into chapter 2 as part of his commissioning and he said to me son of man stand on your feet and I will speak to you now you see the little phrase son of man that's one of the the hallmarks of Ezekiel's writings a hundred times in this book the phrase in reference to Ezekiel is used son of man son of man son of man it's a hit brake phrase that emphasizes man's mortality it's as if God is saying Ezekiel guess what I'm God you're not hey Israel Judah I'm God you're not no matter how much stature a person has intellectually physically spiritually they're still flesh now which is flesh is flesh she kills a godly person he has an incredible vision like Isaiah who had incredible visions but they're just people keep this in mind this is why we don't worship Peter or Calvin or Mary or any other person we worship God only because God would say to them Son of Man emphasizes their humanity their mortality and their mortal nature verse two the spirit entered me when he spoke to me and set me on my feet and I heard him who spoke to me 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 and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day so he's called to speak to the captives who are now in Babylon in chapter 3 is his commissioning but notice this before we get into chapter 3 the spirit entered me when he spoke to me now this will explain how Ezekiel could make it through his ministry how could he lie an aside 430 days how could he say what he said and it stall of the taunts all of the rejection all of the hardships only by the Holy Spirit entering him infusing him and empowering him to do this there's no way he could have done it on his own he's the son of man a mere mortal but indwelt by the Spirit of God so it becomes a powerful tool something else I want to point out notice in verse 3 the God's people are called here a rebellious nation it's a very unusual term he's referring to the Jewish people of Judah who are now in captivity but he calls him a rebellious nation here's what's weird about that the word for nation in Hebrew is go you familiar with that term gouge in tile hog oi'm is a Hebrew word hog om the Gentile nations hog ie God is referring to his Jewish people in the same way that he would refer to pagan peoples usually it's a term that set in contrast to his people you've got hugging the nations and then you've got his people the Jews here God says you're acting just like them basically you're no different in your activity in your idolatry then huh gleam so he calls them a rebellious nation chapter 3 verse 1 moreover he said to me son of man eat what you find for some people that's not a hard command to keep but this is what he has to eat eat this scroll and go speak to the house of Israel so I opened my mouth and he caused me to eat the scroll there's only one other guy in the Bible has told he to scroll what's his name John book of Revelation here Ezekiel is is gonna eat something that's sweet at first but then turned sour and his stomach the opposite reaction that John will have in the book of Revelation but here's the point I believe anybody who's a spokesperson for the truth man or woman preacher or layperson must first internalize that truth in their own life you can't just speak it forth though we're not perfect were to internalize were to apply the truth in our own lives were to swallow the book Jeremiah I think it's chapter 15 your words were found and I did eat them and they were the joy and the rejoicing of my heart said that prophet verse 17 of chapter 3 son of man I'm just giving you highlights now son of man I made you here's his commissioning I made you a watchman for the house of Israel therefore hear a word from my mouth and give them warning from me now as you can imagine a watchman in ancient times was was absolutely essential for the survival of a city cities are very different today than they were back then cities back then had walls around them and Watchmen on the walls because you know those cities were always being looked at by other nations and being at least they tried to take them prisoner camp it was an ongoing battle so the walls meant protection we don't have that problem today you know we don't we're not worried about an Arizona invasion into New Mexico but back then they were always worried about invaders Texas maybe we're sort of worried about the invasion from Texas but we're not worried about some of the other states but back in those days the Watchmen had to be on the walls during the night there were three watches of the night and that was from sunset to midnight that was the first watch and somebody had that shift the second group was from midnight to 3:00 in the morning and the third shift was from 3:00 in the morning till sunrise those three shifts Watchmen had to be out and look in the shadows and here and report if they saw anything weird like the enemy who would typically attack at night God calls Ezekiel a watchman now he's a priest and a prophet why does he call him a watchman I think the word watchman sums up what a prophet really is did you know that the the original term for a prophet was not a prophet but a seer a seer for Samuel chapter 9 the prophet Samuel is called the seer Rho a is the Hebrew word he sees visions of what God wants later on they became known under the Hebrew term nebby and EBI nebby that means prophet spokesperson one who can speak a message from God both of those descriptions fit nicely into the better description of a watchman somebody who can see God's perspective and declare it to the people with power a watchman always on the watch for what God is doing what God is saying and able to communicate that for the people so Ezekiel does that now in chapters 4 through 24 he predicts the siege of Judah look at chapter 4 verse 1 you also son of man and watch this here's what God tells him there's this his action he's not just gonna speak he's gonna he's gonna demonstrate you also son of man take a clay tablet and they found in archaeology many such clay tablets on the babylonian plains where cuneiform writing was placed and their messages were exchanged from one leader to another so he used to take a clay tablet lay it before you and portray or draw on it a city Jerusalem so he said go out there take a clay tablet draw a picture of the city of Jerusalem and then his gut says lay siege against it build a siege wall against it keep up a mound against it said camps against it also and placed battering rams against it all around men do you remember playing army when you grew up Ezekiel the Prophet gets to play army can make a little men out there and little cool little wooden implements and can you just hear him and see him oh guys make a lot of sounds like that they did a study the difference between boys and girls and girls will describe something to you boys will give you the sound of it and I can imagine this old prophet or young man thirty year old guy out there portraying playing army for those who would be watching him because that's what God would do to the city verse four the Lord says lie on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it according to the number of days that you lie on it you shall bear their iniquity for I have laid on you the years of their iniquity according to the number of the days three hundred and ninety days so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel and when you have completed them lie again on your right side and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days I have laid on you a day for each year of 430 days to depict 430 years now probably he would lie on a side maybe left side first facing the north because that's where the Assyrians came out of to attack the Northern Kingdom of Israel you remember 722 BC then he'd lie on his other side facing south because that represented Judah and the attackers of Babylon had take that now that's a tough job he said it's clowns gun easy meat is lying around all day yeah but on the same side 430 days you know you most say on one side than in another does it mean he did it 24 hours a day probably not there was probably a period of time when the people were out and about and every day he would lay on the side for a specific period of time to give a message to the people of God laying upon the nation punishment for their iniquity verse 12 gets worse if you think being a prophets easy watch this and you shall eat it as barley cakes the meal was prepared and bake it using fuel of human waste in their sight I don't have to explain that I I think you get the idea then the Lord says so shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles where I will drive them if you think being a prophets an easy job think again bake your bread using human waste God says now watch the reaction so I said Oh Lord God hears he he's a kosher kid he's a priest this is so defiling he can't even imagine it Oh Lord God indeed I have never defiled myself from my youth until now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts nor has abominable flesh ever come into my mouth now why is this going on God is going to picture for him and for them how desperate it will be in 586 BC they're already captives but for the people in Jerusalem how desperate it's going to be in that city when Jerusalem is under siege this is not unlike Peters reaction when he sees a vision let down from heaven a sheet with unco sure animals remember the story in the book of Acts and God says Peter get up and eat that stuff and Peter being the obedient compliant kid said not so Lord I've never eaten anything uncommon or common or unclean he just couldn't imagine that verse 15 then he said to me see I am giving you cow dung instead of human waste and you shall prepare your bread over it so God understands his dilemma his heart is bound for purity and so God makes a concession he can cook over like cow chips I it's a kind it's a kind move to do that God giving him this concession now this is not unheard of to this day the bed ones the Bedouin Arabs where there's scarcity of wood to cook will use animal wastes to cook and prepare their meal the idea is the siege in Jerusalem would be difficult now look at chapter 6 it's further described verse 7 and again just giving you highlights verse 7 I'm drawing your attention here in this verse to one of the most significant things in the book the slain shall fall in your midst and you shall know that i am the lord see that last part and you shall know that i am the lord if you've read through the book of ezekiel you know that phrase occurs a lot 60 times in the book god says i'm gonna do that so when i do it you'll know i am the lord then i'm going to do that and when i do that you're gonna know i am the lord then when all that happens you're going to know i am lord he keeps repeating that so we understand a theme a thread that runs through the book god is unique God is holy God is different and because God is all that God can make demand on his creation if you were to just look at the Temple in Jerusalem very same kind of a message on one hand the Temple in Jerusalem speaks of the approach to God you can go to God there's a way where by which you can approach God animal sacrifice going through the cords go through the priests the sacrificial system and go and worship on the other hand it speaks of separation there's a court for Gentiles a court for men the court for women a court for priests you can't just cross over and your own free will any time or you could be killed so it speaks of the uniqueness and the holiness Israel had forgotten this and here is the reason folks for 70 years of captivity not just to give the land rest as we've already talked about but to let them know I am the Lord you've forgotten that fact you've worship idols it's a lesson by the way they'll never forget in fact I would say the captivity worked the spanking worked it did its job when they come back after 70 years they will never again fall into the gross kind of idolatry they did before the captivity so God says this is why you're gonna learn this lesson you will know that I am the Lord and chapters 25 to 32 up to chapter 24 it's all about correction remember and there's enough we've already covered about that in previous prophecies I'm not gonna belabor it Jeremiah has the same material Isaiah the same material so up to chapter 24 he's talking about correction correction correction that you may know that I'm the Lord that you may know that I'm the Lord now chapters 25 through 30 - God's dealing with outside the boundary of Judah - all the other nations Moab Edom tyre etc God's gonna judge them this is the castigation of surrounding nations I want to draw your attention to one particular City because it's a very important scripture chapter 28 turn over to chapter 28 God predicts the fall of tyre but it's really weird if you think chapter 1 is weird this gets sort of right around the same because there's a segue here I don't want you to miss the segue where God through the prophet Ezekiel is dealing with an earthly ruler of Tyre and then goes into a spiritual segue of a spiritual ruler and the description could not fit any human ruler that's a prophecy in chapter 28 verse 1 the word of the Lord came to me again saying son of man say to the Prince of Tyre now keep in mind God is going through all of these nations the Philistines the the Moabites in pronouncing judgment on him he gets to tyre and he speaks to the Prince of Tyre thus says the Lord God because your heart is lifted up that's pride and you say I am a god I sit in the seat of gods in the midst of the Seas yet you are a man and not a God though you set your heart as the heart of a God you see the word verse to Prince the Hebrew word is not gay neguin it means ruler it means the man at the top the man at the top the ruler nuggie this is the Hebrew word the man at the top we know who that was Flavius Josephus tells us his name the Prince of Tyre was a guy named Ito ba all Ito ba all was the Prince of Tyre during this era of the prediction and he ruled from 590 to 572 BC very proud man proud because of the wealth his own personal wealth the wealth of the city the power of the city and the location of the city tyre at that time was on a little rocky island just off the coast they thought to be impregnable they thought to be the favorite island of Hercules so here's a prideful King a prideful nation it's the perfect the perfect earthly model of a spiritual example called Satan there's the safe way look at verse 11 moreover the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man take up a lamentation for the king of tyre and say to him thus says the Lord God you were the seal of perfection full of wisdom and perfect in beauty now he uses an entirely different word he doesn't use the word nug heed Prince ruler man at the top he uses the term mela mela which is Hebrew for King however Ezekiel uses the term Mela very sparingly in fact Ezekiel never calls any of the other any of the kings of Judah Malik except for one that's ahoy a Jehoiachin that's chapter one verse two is the only one he calls by the name Malik he uses the term very sparingly now the following description of this king of Tyre we know the prince was eat Oba all there was no king of Tyre at the time the following description of the king of Tyre cannot fit any earthly ruler look at verse 13 you were in Eden the garden of God do you think any of the princes of Tyre lived in the Garden of Eden do you think there was any earthly ruler this could be said of any human person you except for Adam and Eve you were in Eden the garden of God every precious stone was your covering the sardius topaz the diamond the Beryl the Onyx the Jasper the Sapphire the turquoise the emerald with gold the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created hmm we're getting a picture of a very special kind of being not a human ruler not a human at all but somebody who lived in the Garden of Eden who was decked out with nine of the twelve stones that were on the priestly hype breastplate and he was created the idea of a special creation verse 14 identifies who this is you were the anointed cherubim or angelic being who covers you were the angelic guardian I established you you were on the holy mountain of God you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones now remember cherubim were that inner circle they were guardians of the glory of God they're sort of like the angelic form of Secret Service or FBI these were the FBI angels these were the Secret Service angels and we've already seen Ezekiel saw four of these beings carrying this Merkava this chariot but this being that God is talking to here stood to guard the throne you were the anointed cherub who covers you were numero uno - uno that's what bothered him and Isaiah 14 gives another description of his fall of Satan saying I will exalt myself above the stars of God look at verse 15 here you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created until iniquity was found in you the word perfect is a Hebrew word Tom meme that means you were undefiled you were blameless but notice this until iniquity was found in you it's one of the saddest words in the Bible it's one of the saddest sentences in the Bible until iniquity was found in you because when iniquity was found in him that's when all the bad stuff happened that's when Satan was cast out of God's presence took a third of the angels with him cast him to the earth revelation 12 tells us and then we see what he did to Adam and Eve in the garden and what he's done around the world ever since you say I don't believe in the devil well somebody's doing his business and I love what Dwight o moody used to say I believe in the devil because I've done business with him I have a hunch you have to and so the fall begins here now understand this God did not create Satan as the prime minister of evil he became that when he by his own free will fell verse 15 tell iniquity was found in you verse 16 you sinned God says to the same being verse 17 your heart was lifted up that's when the fall happened remember what Jesus said in Luke chapter 10 listen to what Jesus said he was there when all this happened he said I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning that quick and he was out of God's presence banished forever but look how he's pictured beautiful there's no there's no description here of a guy with a red suit and little horns and a pitchfork and a fort or you know pointed tail you know where that comes from by the way not the Bible it comes from the medieval depictions of Satan who used the Greek mythology of the god Bacchus or the Greek god Pan who was half goat on the bottom with cloven hoofs and and a pointed tail and all of that mythology was created and it crept into the church but the Bible depicts Satan is a very beautiful being in fact in Isaiah 14 when we see Satan we're gonna go that's the guy that caused all the problems you're a kiddin you know he might look like a little wimp or something a beautiful wimp but nonetheless Oh like you're kidding that guy created such havoc on the earth of chapters 33 through 48 deals with that final fourth word restoration and this is the restoration of Israel the rest of the book is devoted to that and here's how the chapters flow the first part of these chapters in chapter 33 34 go from the false shepherds these bad rulers of Israel who didn't feed the flock who didn't teach the flock the knowledge of God and it segues from the false shepherds to the one true Shepherd who is Christ who is coming now by the way we don't have time to cover them but the last nine chapters of the book the last nine chapters are specifically devoted to a detailed description of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ in Judah and Jerusalem with the building of the temple etc thus chapters 40 through 48 now I'm gonna read something to you go to chapter 36 because God makes a promise that has three parts and here's the parts here's the promise Israel will be regathered to their land remember they're kicked out at this point they'll be regathered to their land okay the first time was after the captivity Isaiah said in chapter 11 you'll be regathered twice one time and then the second time they'll be regathered to the land number one number two God will regenerate their hearts a spiritual awakening that has not happened yet by the way and then chapter the third part of the promises God will reestablish his kingdom those are the final nine chapters chapter 36 verse 23 is the promise of their regather I will sanctify my great name God is speaking which has been profaned among the nations which you have profaned in their midst and the nations shall know that I am the Lord says the Lord God when I am hallowed in you before their eyes for I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries and bring you into your own land I want to read something to you from encyclopædia Britannica it's not a modern edition it's a 1911 edition a 1911 edition but this is the revered Encyclopedia Britannica interesting common quote the possibility that we can ever again recover the correct pronunciation of ancient Hebrew is as remote a possibility as that of a Jewish nation or Jewish Empire that will ever again be established in the Middle East close quote in that quite a statement if you go to Israel today you discover two things number one they speak Hebrew they speak a version of the revived ancient Hebrew and number two they're speaking it in a place known as Israel the State of Israel that has been reestablished since May 14th of 1948 so see even encyclopedia can be wrong go down to verse 25 the second part of the promise Israel's to be regenerated notice the language of the priesthood is used here then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean I will cleanse you from all your filthiness 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 or a new nature that will overcome the old nature I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them you see a word sprinkle that's the language of the priesthood in the rites of purification the priests would sprinkle houses dwelling places sprinkle vessels for worship sprinkle the people so that they would be cleansed it's a prediction I believe of Messiah who will do the priestly work of cleansing the nation by his own suffering on the cross the cross is predicted here the Messiah is predicted here God promises to cleanse Israel from their defilement this is the nation that lost its temple that lost its ability to atone for their own sins God says I will provide atonement for you sprinkle same word Isaiah used Isaiah 52 a prediction of the Messiah and he shall sprinkle many nations not just Israel salvation isn't just for the Jews for the whole world for many nations John the Baptist looked at Jesus and said behold or check it out look the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world the prediction of atonement chapter 37 is an illustration of chapter 36 that's basically all it is chapter 36 is the declaration or we gather you I'll regenerate you we're still waiting for that and re-established the kingdom that's the last part of the chapter 37 is an illustration here's just a few verses verse 1 the hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out of out in the Spirit of the Lord and sent me down in the midst of the valley literally battlefield it was full of bones and he caused me to pass by them all around and behold there were very many in the open Valley and indeed they were very dry this is a dead nation their capital had been destroyed the people have been dispersed they were dead in their dispersion and destruction again he said to me verse 4 prophesy to these bones and say to them here's the vision he has to go speak to a bunch of dead bones and say to them Oh dry bones hear the word of the Lord probably get more response out of them than a lot of the people he was preaching to fact he did verse 5 that says the Lord got to these bones surely I will cause breath to enter you Hebrew word is Ruach wind spirit same word I will enter I will cause the spirit to enter you ruach ha'qodesh the Hebrew word for a Holy Spirit I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live so chapter 37 is the illustration of the declaration made in chapter 36 that great army that comes together in that chapter now chapter 38 39 describe an invasion of Israel and the defeat of those who invade Israel in the last days chapter 39 is the cleanup that occurs afterwards now I believe no I know just from reading these chapters that these events chapter 38 and 39 will occur after the events in 36 and 37 after all after Israel's regathered to their land which they are today but before the Millennial Kingdom chapter 40 through 48 this war of Gog and Magog against Israel will occur now some believe this is the Battle of Armageddon that this happens during the Tribulation Period I don't necessarily believe that I think that this actually could be before Daniels 70th week in fact it could give some people an explanation as to what happened the rapture and it could then lead to and precipitate later on in the Tribulation Period Armageddon don't have time to unravel all that tonight verse 1 chapter 38 the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man set your face against GOG the word means the leader that's what GOG means the leader such your face against the leader GOG of the land of Magog the Prince of rosh Meshach and tubal and prophesy against him these are these are old titles in fact these titles come to us in Genesis chapter 10 that's where they're extracted from the same titles in Genesis 10 it's called the table of Nations but we have a little help from historians like Herodotus Hesiod Josephus that tell us exactly what we're dealing with here this is those from the far north the area of modern Russia and her allies those in the far north verse 5 Persia that's Iran actually part of Iraq and Iran Ethiopia it's ancient cush one of the tributaries of the Nile River that borders that and Libya in North Africa are with them and all of them was shield and helmet verse 6 Gomer that's East Germany and Poland all of its troops the house of togarmah that's the Baltic States and far north and all its troops and many people are with you now get this when Ezekiel wrote these words there was absolutely no connection no ties at all between any of these nations together but there's something today that ties all of these nations together they're all haters of Israel as a nation national Israel Zionism and mostly pro Islam it's interesting that it would seem that these prophecies could not have been fulfilled until we have the modern phenomenon that we have today that brings all of these nations a lot of you already know that Vladimir Putin of Russia has made strong political and economic ties with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say that 10 times real fast of Iran and they're forming a consortium together and seems to be against Israel very very interesting chapter 39 God will destroy the nations that are in that attack and and here's the point I want to make this usually the point people forget chapter 36 God promises I'll regather you in the land but then I'll put my spirit within you all regenerate you the Battle of Gog and Magog and these other states other nations is the catalyst that will turn Israel's heart back to God they'll see God powerfully defeated our enemies like in biblical times that is what will turn their hearts back to God and turn many of them to receive the Messiah chapter 42 48 don't have time to go through deals in detail with the Millennium a whole new temple will be built after Herod's temple there is no temple there today there will be a rebuilt temple during the Millennium the reorganization of national life during the thousand-year reign is also mentioned chapters 47 and 48 very simple the land is divided but get this a river flows out of this temple that will be rebuilt during the Millennium Ghost eastward flows down toward the Dead Sea and you know the Dead Sea is dead because it's dead nothing living in it it's like 10 25 20 percent saline nothing lives in it but look at this verse 8 chapter 47 then he said to me this water flows toward the eastern region goes down to the valley and enters the sea when it reaches the sea its waters are healed it shall be that every living creature 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 fisherman will stand by it from Engedi to end Gollum we've been on a trip to Israel you've been to n getti Qumran is probably in gulling there'll be fishermen up and down the coast you guys that are fishermen one day you're gonna be fishing over there and Getti in the Dead Sea and catch whoppers the waters are gonna be healed I want to do that I'm not a great fisherman but I want to go with the guys who know what lures to use there will be places for spreading of nets there fish will be of the same kind as the fish of the Great Sea that's the Mediterranean Sea exceedingly many and the chapter xlviii are the tribal allotments the tribes of Israel re gathered and allotted land in a new way look at the look at verse 35 last verse of the book all the way around that's the city of Jerusalem shall be 18 thousand cubits a six mile perimeter of the old city and the name of the city from that day shall be now what's the name of the city now Jerusalem that's what we're dealing with Jerusalem it's gonna get a new name back then the name of the city will be the Lord is there you won't say Jerusalem you call it Yahweh Shama that's the name of the new city Yahweh Shama the Lord is there that's the great truth as the book closes God will be there by the way it's the same in the book of Revelation now get this really briefly after the thousand year millennial reign of Christ on the earth after that will be the great white throne judgment after that will be the eternal state the earth will be obliterated obliterated God will make a new heaven new earth and a new city Jerusalem that comes out of the heavens toward the earth there won't be a temple there in eternity there won't be a temple for a thousand years there will be after that there won't be in Revelation 21 verse 22 but I saw no temple in it for the Lord God and the lamb are its temple here's the best ride ever the best ride ever the best ride ever isn't in that Merkava though that would be very cool maybe one day that'll be like the family car you can take it around the universe and the best ride ever isn't the car whose keys I have up here the the best ride ever is a life surrender to Christ who will take you from Earth to heaven to the Millennium to the new heaven new earth New Jerusalem eternal State you've got a ride ahead of you that's exciting some of that we're learning on Sunday morning let's pray Heavenly Father this man Ezekiel living in his day and age a day of idolatry and at the same time a day of desperation as the people were in such depression over being taken from their homes the chosen people the land of promise being judged and they're being taken their property values plummeting completely losing everything and if you promise to bring them back and you promise to be present to be present with your people forever Lord just as Ezekiel needed the spirit living in him empowering him so too Lord we need your Holy Spirit to live in this day in this age in this city among these people and I pray that we would be faithful witnesses and faithful stewards of our time and we would in our lives reflect the glory of God and by our lives lead many others into the Kingdom the kingdom of heaven help us like Ezekiel to be a comfort to those who are in captivity and to draw them out from their captivity into a relationship with you in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Skip Heitzig

Views: 2,308

Rating: 4.875 out of 5

Keywords: How to study the Bible, How to read the Bible, Jesus, Skip, Skip Heitzig, How to know God, Ezekiel, prophecies, Jerusalem, Babylonian, Priest, restoration, hope, tribulations

Id: oxrex4YUbi8

Length: 60min 2sec (3602 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2019