Through the Bible (Ezekiel 12-13)

book of ezekiel we left off in chapter 12. so why don't you grab your bible ezekiel chapter 12 is where we are the book of ezekiel is quite a ride we've seen him uh giving you know pantomimes and theatrical you know displays of truth um he's not been using words as much because the people by the time they were hearing ezekiel they weren't listening and they'd rejected you know jeremiah the prophet ezekiel and you know even isaiah the prophet like there's so much that the people have done just to reject the word of the lord and so this is where ezekiel is saying um lord what do you want me to do and the lord says uh i want you to be seen but not heard um you know the actions that you'll you'll you know display will be lessons for the people and so here in chapter 12 we come up with a sort of a two-act play uh and uh and we're going to see how ezekiel sort of acts out these things little dramatic interpretations and what have you uh scene one act one i guess i should call it is really verses one through sixteen act two is verses 17 through 28 uh in chapter 12. so let's take a look at act 1 here what's what's ezekiel going to do it says in verse 1 the word of the lord also came unto me saying now pause right there come on brett get past verse one at least well well actually this is an important thing did you know in this in this chapter five times will ezekiel say this phrase the word of the lord also came unto me saying why five times verse one right here verse eight verse verse 17 verse 21 verse 26 all have this phrase the word of the lord came also unto me saying uh the word lord there's jehovah now the reason i think he had to say this is because there were many prophets remember that were running around both in judea and maybe even in babylon by this time that were saying they had the word of the lord but they really didn't and these prophets that were true man they had to remind me this is the real word of the lord what i'm what i'm about to share with you is the real deal and it's it's not my word that i just made up you see people making up words that was commonplace at that time just making up stuff um man i hope this is this is one of the main lessons we get out of the book of ezekiel at least this first half of this book is you just can't make stuff up making it up even though it sounds holy and religious and righteous if you make stuff up it can really get you off course down the road quite radically and that's why we're going to be reminded tonight to be sticklers to doctrine to what the bible actually teaches and that was ezekiel's challenge he was trying to get people to say this is what god is really saying and that's why i think he employs this phrase five times over and over again the word of the lord came into me saying there's another phrase let's see if you can catch it as we get into tonight uh that we'll catch on as we get uh later on but this is a this is one of the phrases that we're gonna see a lot of and it's just the lord speaking to ezekiel and then this is what he tells him to do verse two son of man thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house which have eyes to see and see not they have ears to hear and they hear not for they are a rebellious house eyes to see ears to hear but they don't see and they don't hear um the implication of that a person that sees stuff and has ears to hear but they just totally ignore the truth um i always marvel at how the bible is so relevant for today there's so many people today that they can see what's going on they have eyes they have ears but somehow they've been deceived to believe lies even though it's really clear and and even very obvious and one thing we have to remember you know when when it comes to some of the debates that are going on in today and put in politics or in medical science so-called um and you're seeing stuff being said about this or that the other thing and you're like how can people believe that um well you have to understand it's not a a physical real tangible touchable problem it's a spiritual problem you know we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities powers spiritual wickedness and high places darkness and what have you and and you have to understand eyes are being blinded ears are being deafened uh so that people will not receive the truth or not believe the truth and this is where ezekiel finds the people the lord says man the people they have ears they have eyes but they can't see and they can't hear so two plus two equals five and you better believe that um but it doesn't look right who cares your eyes are deceiving you uh it's funny how we we see the parallel here of the rebellious people of israel and the rebellious world that we live in today and this shouldn't shock us uh ii timothy if you recall jot this down in your notes second timothy chapter four we're reminded of what things would be like in the last days in second timothy chapter four verse two it says preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables but thou watch in all things endure affliction do the work of an evangelist make full proof of thy ministry i love this because not only does paul tell young timothy the the ministry in training minister in training he says man things are going to get rough where people won't endure sound doctrine of itching ears and they want to hear stuff that only fulfills their own lust that's where we're at you've got you guys we have to acknowledge that it's it's what the bible predicted we shouldn't be shocked but what paul does is not only gives us the what but he also gives us the how how do you proceed with that kind of a behavior he says preach the word in season or out of season just preach the word not preach your next you know finest ideas or what's in your brain no preach the word that's why you know at ac we're just really really committed to say let's let's just stick with the bible let's go verse by verse through the bible because that's what we're supposed to be into not the latest hippest book or series or movement or any of that stuff we got to say let's stick to god's word it's the rock that we can put our feet upon it's it's sure it's immovable it's unshakable and so we're to preach the word but then he also says uh but watch thou in all things watch we're to be watching what's going on around us watching the signs of the times watching for christ return watch he says in all things endure afflictions this is one that i started to tap into at the prophecy update you know how we might have to be gearing up as a church even though i believe the rapture in the church is going to happen before the tribulation really gets kicked into gear but even still you and i we could face real affliction and persecution we're starting to see that did you see the video footage up in canada last week when that pastor got arrested for just teaching the bible in london another pastor arrested for teaching the bible these guys weren't you know angry hateful guys they were just saying here's what the bible says about marriage and what have you and two guys around in canada and london i think that's where we're headed um but be that as a may what are we supposed to do preach the word in season or out of season and and uh it says and be ready to endure affliction to do the work of an evangelist an evangelist uh tells people the gospel message we're called to be evangelists and show people the good news that's what an evangelist does and make full proof of thy ministry in other words you know withstand the test and uh do the right thing and make your ministry full proof is the idea so when you get to those days paul says when people have itching ears and they they you know get you know teachers that will only tell them what they want to hear and things that make their ears tickle uh then what are we supposed to do preach the word exhort rebuke um you know with all long-suffering and patience good doctrine well that's what we're called to do that's what you and i are called to do but that's what the people of ezekiel's day refused they didn't want to hear truth they didn't want to hear the word of god and so when ezekiel would say thus saith the word of the lord you know the word of lord came unto me saying that the people just checked out said we don't want to hear it well the lord says ezekiel that's where they're at their ears they don't hear they have bibles but they can't see verse 3 therefore thou son of man prepare thee stuff for removing and remove by day in their sight and thou shall remove from thy place to another place in their sight it may be they will consider though they be a rebellious house that they uh that then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight and uh as stuff for removing and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight as they that go forth into captivity he's doing this act this drama where he's loading up his stuff you might say baggage or luggage uh is the idea you know the obvious you know it's not that he's just grabbing stuff it's like if you were told to get out of your house because there was a fire or something wrong and just grab whatever you can grab your stuff and run that's the idea it's not just you know pulling up a u-haul and loading up all the stuff this is like grab whatever you can the the symbology here would be of them fleeing jerusalem when the babylonians would come and take them into captivity so he's supposed to be like in a hurry demonstrating here's what you guys are going to be doing grabbing your you know your family photos and your favorite things that you can load up and running for your life that's the idea so that's what ezekiel's going to do he's going to grab his stuff and then he does another funny thing verse 5 it says dig thou through the wall in their sight and carry out thereby so so what's going on he's supposed to dig a hole in his wall and sort of you know uh shawshank redemption kind of thing where he's digging a hole through the you know you understand it's not drywall and two by fours and stuff this is rock walls that they built these houses with and so so you know ezekiel's got to get out probably the pickaxe you know start picking away and tearing down his his wall and then makes a hole and then grabbing his stuff and going through the hole in his house can you imagine what the people must have thought of ezekiel what a wacko oh but it gets worse check this out so he's supposed to dig a wall a hole in the wall in their sight carry their stuff out verse six in their sight thou shall bear upon my shoulders and carry it forth in the twilight thou shalt cover thy face this is apparently they had to wear masks back in those days too i i'm more along with paul the apostle on the road to damascus but um d mask us um sorry thou shall cover thy face and but it's not your mouth he's covering his face and his eyes check this out cover thy face that thou see not the ground for i have set thee for a sign under the house of israel okay now he's got to carry his stuff through the hole that he put in his wall and he's got to put a towel over his face so he can't see where he's going uh wow they must have thought ezekiel just lost his marbles altogether but i love verse 7 mark it well verse 7 and i did so as i was commanded don't you love ezekiel these guys that just did what the lord told him to do i liken you know ezekiel to daniel and jeremiah and isaiah these prophets that just said here am i send me i'll do whatever you want me to do. and ezekiel we don't see him complaining or griping or grumbling he's like okay lord this is which i'm gonna do i'm gonna do it i love people that just kind of go and do what the lord has called them to do with a little bit of a reckless abandonment you know just to go and and just do it let people's thoughts about you or impressions of you you know let it just fall by the way said who cares what they think i'm going to do what the lord calls me to do we're so worried about people think of us but ezekiel and these prophets these guys had it seems here like they had no care of that whatsoever so he did what he was commanded verse seven i brought forth my stuff by day as stuff for captivity and in the evening i digged through the wall with my nan and i brought it forth in my in the twilight and i bear it upon my shoulder in their sight and in the morning came the word of the lord unto me saying there it is again son of man hath not the house of israel the rebellious house said unto thee what does thou say thou unto them thus saith the lord god this burden concerneth the princes of the prince in jerusalem and all the house of israel that are among them the lord says has anybody asked you ezekiel what what what the world you're doing there with your stuff going through the hole with a towel over your head when they ask you the lord says here's what you tell them this is what's going to happen to the prince in jerusalem and all the house of israel that are among them now there's an interesting thing about this who are we talking about the prince in jerusalem ezekiel does use this term a couple times but he's speaking of none other than zedekiah but he's not calling him the king zedekiah would eventually be the king in judah when this prophecy was going about but you never see ezekiel willing to call him the king because why well if you recall zedekiah was sort of a puppet king of the babylonians he was put into place there and he was a total loser and so it's almost like ezekiel never gives them the full credit of being king ah the prince and by the way in israel there were princes among the leaders they were the young you know up-and-coming uh politicians and leaders in israel so really you know ezekiel's sort of just kind of putting zedekiah down as sort of a just a prince in israel a leader but the lord is saying this this prince here uh zedekiah he's going to go out through a hole in a wall with his stuff and he's not going to see be able to see where he's going now if you know this story you realize wow that's actually pretty specific and it's actually pretty accurate it's exactingly accurate of what would happen to zedekiah we'll look at that here in a minute but verse 11 it says say i am your sign i am your sign like as i have done so shall it be done unto them they shall remove and go into captivity and the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight and shall go forth and they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby he shall cover his face that he shall not see the ground with his eyes my net also will i spread upon him and he shall be taken in my snare and i will bring him to babylon to the land of the chaldeans yet shall he not see it though he shall die there now we've talked about this mystery this is this is kind of fun because i've heard critics of the bible say well which one is it did zedekiah go to israel babylon or did he not go and there's there's an apparent um controversy it never really is but it's an apparent controversy that skeptics have liked to criticize the bible for by the way even josephus he was that you know first century historian that wrote a bunch of history about the antiquities of the jews is what it's called it's a it's not armchair reading it's it's like a five-volume set of of ancient you know a guy in the first century writing about moses and zedekiah and the old testament and and he worked for the roman empire and people um this this historian people used to question is josephus was he making stuff up to sort of appease the romans and there there's a big debate on who josephus was but as it turns out josephus this ancient historian he's been proven to be really accurate both with the bible and also with as we uncover archaeological digs joseph is a pretty legit dude if you ask me now the reason that's interesting is josephus is not the bible but he gives us more information about the bible for example moses josephus writes about moses before he was even 20 years old he conquered ethiopia for the egyptians and he brought home all kinds of wealth uh as a 19 year old kid moses came he was a war hero by the time he was 20 in egypt now that fits by the way the biblical narrative in different ways that we could talk about but one of the eras that josephus spent time talking about was this era and josephus writes some stuff that's kind of interesting about about the contradiction here and um he writes that king zedekiah did not believe isaiah jeremiah or ezekiel he chose to reject them um we know that from the biblical narrative remember the king just would hear you know jeremiah and throw him in a dungeon and say get out of my face i don't believe you um and even when jeremiah would come he'd say come on tell me the truth and and jeremiah would tell him the truth and zedekiah would just blow it off every time but josephus says the reason this is interesting the reason that zedekiah chose not to believe particularly ezekiel and jeremiah the prophets when he read about himself in their writings is because they contradicted themselves whether he would end up in babylon and see babylon or not where would he die would he die in jerusalem or would he see babylon and where did that confusion come from well it comes from sections like this verse 13 says i will bring him to babylon to the land of the chaldeans yet he shall not see it though he shall die there what's that well let's go back you can jot it down or flip back there really quickly if you can jeremiah 32 we went over this oh about a year ago now jeremiah 32 verse 4 it says and zedekiah king of judah shall not escape out of the hand of the chaldeans but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of babylon and shall speak with him mouth to mouth and his eyes shall behold his eyes and he shall lead zedekiah to babylon and there shall he be until i visit him saith the lord though ye fight with the chaldeans you shall not prosper so you've got this strange mention that he's going to go with zedekiah zanacha is going to go with you know the captives into babylon now back up even further still the second kings chapter 25 and this is where we read the actual story second kings chapter 25 verse 27. it says and it came to pass in the seventh and 13th year of the captivity of joya chin king of judah in the twelfth month of the seventh and twentieth day of the month that evil meredith king of babylon in the year jojoya chin wait let me am in the right place here yes second kings 25 20 27 um [Music] verse six thank you i'm not sure oh right let's let's start i was in the wrong part of the chapter start in verse two and the city was besieged in the 11th year of king zedekiah on the ninth day of the fourth month and then verse four and the city was broken up and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls which is by the king's garden now the chaldees were against the city roundabout and the king went the way toward the plane so there's these two walls and they sneak through a hole in the wall to get out of the cities ring a bell and so they sneak through this wall and they go out toward the plane and the army of the chaldees pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of jericho and his army were scattered from him so they took the king and brought him up to the king of babylon to ribla and gave judgment upon him listen and they slew the sons of zedekiah before his eyes and put out the eyes of zedekiah and bound him with fetters of brass and carried him to babylon so josephus said the reason zettacai didn't believe is because um one prophet said you won't see babylon with your eyes the other prophet said you're going to go to babylon and you're going to die there well which one is it contradiction it wasn't a contradiction he would go to babylon they'd poke out his eyes so he couldn't see and he would die there like it's really a sad pathetic story of zedekiah but according to josephus that's the main reason zedekiah rejected ezekiel and rejected jeremiah's because of the contradiction of the two true prophets that were speaking in that time now we we don't know that for sure you can ask you know zedekiah well probably not i'm not sure he went north or south but um but you could ask ezekiel and jeremiah when you get there is that what was going on but but we do know that today in colleges and universities those skeptics and cynics of the bible they like to say see there's a contradiction and they somehow didn't catch up with what the bible actually says and they talk about apparent contradictions watch out for those guys they always say there's contradictions but they really are not uh be careful with that um so we see here uh in ezekiel chapter 12 this is where he's talking about he will not see babylon but he will die there all the confusion is cleared up when you actually see the way the story literally happened i love that i love that by the way no matter what topic we're talking about when it comes to the um authenticity and the truth of the bible um be really skeptical if somebody comes is the bible's full of contradictions um and then if you ask them well where where can you just give me one give me your top biblical contradiction i've noticed in my you know experience most people they say well i heard that from someone somewhere so they don't have one but if you have a person like my college professor at southern oregon university when i was at school there in a secular college and that prof said the bible's full of contradictions and i said well can you tell me one i raised my hand i asked that question he said well i don't have my notes or my bible and i pulled my bible out of my backpack i said i have my bible here you go show me like just one contradiction i don't know i and i said you you don't really have one because and then he and then he tried to bring up some contradictions that were so elementary and embarrassing uh i remember he brought up the the whole um you know whales cannot swallow a man uh argument uh and it's a contradiction to say that a whale swallowed a man or or that adam and eve took a bite out of an apple at that time time magazine did this big full like four page article on why the story of the garden in eden could not have ever been true and it's because there are no apples in that region of the world and there never have been and they and they made this whole you know academic thing and it was quite a scholarly work how there were never apples uh in that region of the world and blah blah blah and then all the all the all these christian pastors all kind of said uh the bible doesn't say it was an apple it was a piece of fruit are there any fruit pieces in that part of the world other than all the college professors and what have you but uh but be careful when you hear these esoteric guys waxing eloquent they sound so good as they puff their pipes and wear their cardigans and all that they look really impressive but they really do fall short when it comes to having real contradictions and real troubles uh be careful when you hear that don't just especially if you're a young person oh young people are being told such untrue things and the problem is i think the world is becoming more and more wacko because we've had years now decades of college professors feeding our young people total lies and misinformation about history about society about sociology and psychology like all the ologies have been really contorted and tweaked and we wonder why our society is so tweaked out be wise study the scriptures be uh be aware that there's a bunch of craziness out there well all that to say um this is this is the confusion that was brought up whether where's zedekiah would die but ezekiel made it clear verse 14 and i will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him and all his bands and i will draw out the sword after them and they shall know that i am the lord when i shall scatter them among the nations and disperse them in the countries now this verse 15 is talking about something we're going to get into in depth later on in ezekiel the diaspora where god disperses the jews over all the nations over all the world for almost 2 000 years that's a huge part of israeli history it's maybe one of the best arguments as to why the bible is true is the prophecy of the diaspora we'll talk about that later verse 16 but i will leave a few men of them from the sword from famine and from the pestilence that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whether they come and they shall know that i am the lord moreover the word of the lord came to me saying son of man eat thy bread with quaking and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness now this is uh by the way act two uh what's he supposed to do quaker oats sorry he's supposed to eat his bread with quaking uh with quakers like do we gotta go to newburgh and find some quakers or no the idea is to shake and and why is he shaking the idea is anxiety he's supposed to eat his food hangs anxiously and so that's what he starts doing this is act two uh eating food anxiously he just dug a hole in his house and had a towel over his head and carried his stuff out at night time now he's eating his food in front of everybody with anxiety and it says um verse 19 and say unto the people of the land thus saith the lord god of the inhabitants of jerusalem and of the land of israel they shall eat their bread with carefulness or anxiety and drink their water with astonishment that her land may be desolate from all that is therein because of the violence of all them that dwell therein and the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste and the land shall be desolate and you shall know that i am the lord one of the things that you know we humans like to do is in our leisure uh eat meals together and just have meals and as part of our entertainment for some of us some people eat to live some people live to eat depends on who you are but these people are just going to be trying to stay alive and they're looking around anxiously and just trying to get some calories because how horrible things are going to be and ezekiel was supposed to act that out verse 21 and the word of the lord came unto me saying son of man what is that proverb that ye have in the land of israel saying the days are prolonged and every vision faileth what do you think that means there was a saying in israel ah the days are prolonged and the vision fails well let's read on and we'll see what it's saying verse 23 tell them therefore thus saith the lord god i will make this proverb to cease and they shall no more use it as a proverb in israel but say unto them the days are at hand and the effect of every vision for there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of israel for i am the lord i will speak and the word that i shall speak shall come to pass it shall be no more prolonged for in your days o rebellious house i will say the word and we'll perform it saith the lord god and again the word of the lord came to me saying son of man behold they of the house of israel say the vision that he seeth is for many days to come and he prophesies of the times that be far off therefore say unto them thus saith the lord god there shall be none of my words prolonged anymore but the word which i have spoken shall be done saith the lord god this is human nature at its worst where the vision that was given by the true prophets not the false prophets the true prophets the vision that was given was being um you know there was an attitude that had developed and a saying a proverb in the land saying oh you guys have been saying this stuff forever this stuff's gonna come and your vision has been prolonged that's the word prolonged there it's just never coming to pass but you see there's a way that human nature thinks when you start thinking that's not going to happen in my lifetime ah the rapture of the church and the end times you go brett you've been talking about that for years but here the lord says to ezekiel okay people are saying that but it's going to happen now it's going to come down now and it did and the people who said ah now that way of thinking by the way evolves did you see that back up in verse 22 the proverb said the days are prolonged and every vision faileth it goes from saying ah it's not gonna happen in a long long long time two it's just not gonna happen it's gonna fail and the prophecies the vision it's just going to fail and here's the truth of the matter today and i say this sadly and humbly i'm not saying we're amazing church because we teach bible prophecy i'm just saying every church should be teaching bible prophecy but what's amazing is that churches are ignoring it and saying ah in fact they've gone from saying ah that's not gonna happen the lord's delaying is coming i've been hearing this since i was a kid about the rapture grandma was talking about the rapture of the church it went from that to churches now say there's no such thing as a rapture and the tribulation and we're living in a kingdom now and and dominion theology and all this theology that you know the catholic church and the presbyterian church and all kinds of churches big churches big denominations the reason they don't talk about bible prophecy is because they don't believe in it and to me the church is so much poorer because of it and we're told in the bible to not make the same mistake of these people here in ezekiel chapter 12 and 13. these two chapters this is where the people were saying yeah it's not going to happen whatever prophecy's prophecy meanwhile you and i are living in this now you say but the difference between ezekiel's time and our time is the lord's telling ezekiel tell him yeah there's no more prolonging of days it's here you've arrived and then shortly thereafter the babylonians came and showed that ezekiel was correct so you're saying that we're just like ezekiel's day but how do we know that the lord's not going to prolong his days maybe the rapture of the church is not going to happen in our lifetime maybe you know you're wrong about the apostle now remember nobody knows the day or the hour of the lord's second coming or the rapture of the church we don't know when that's going to happen but we do know the signs of the times and the seasons that we live and the lord has given us not like ezekiel it's it's up time is up but he is saying you'll know when the time is near and what are the signs of the times oh listen to our prophecy updates we we really do go into the signs of the times and what that's why we do it once a month on a friday night uh to say let's let's see what's going on in the world to see if the signs that we're seeing are uh signs of the end are you wondering what's going on in jerusalem right now it's it's actually kind of an amazing thing we talked about this friday night i didn't know it was going to ignite exactly uh perfectly like we were talking about uh but um you know uh more than 1500 rockets fired from hamas over the border from gaza into azkaban i've been to ascalon uh took a an armored vehicle with a friend uh a couple friends and we shot some video and stuff and it was fun um but right literally you know rockets you know in fact in 20 minutes 400 rockets flew over the border and it overwhelmed i always talk about the iron dorm the dome the israelis have the iron dome system that you know shoots these rockets out of the sky but in this case there were so many rockets some people are saying the iron dome was malfunctioning others are saying that um it's just they got overwhelmed there were too many rockets all once 420 minutes um 1500 over the last couple days if you haven't seen the video footage of this you know it looks like the fourth of july in downtown portland but it's not fireworks they're real missiles that blow up real buildings and they're just blowing up in the sky because israel has the technology to shoot it all down yeah bro what about that those mean israelis shooting those poor palestinians missiles out of the sky can i just say the narrative in the news is pathetic you know rockets after rockets flying over the border well brett those jews don't deserve to be there oh my the narrative you know people think that it's um it's about religion or it's about land or it's about this or that you know what it is it's a spiritual demonic battle that's going on for that region of the world jerusalem is mine saith the lord israel is the lord's and god gave man i could go into this long time but god gave the jews that land according to the bible thousands of years ago and you know after the league of nations uh felt guilty after world war ii and the holocaust where the jews had no place to go finally they the world granted them that land to live there and and and so the palestinians who are really jordanians honestly many of the palestinians sad to say are pawns and i feel sorry for the palestinians many of them but i do not feel sorry for a violent terrorist group called hamas funded by the iranians those missiles are becoming more and more technologically savvy they used to be so easy for the jews to shoot down but now the the rockets are becoming more powerful i heard a um an expert uh israeli talking about how these rockets are more high tech and where did they come from they've come from the iranians the iranians want to blow israel the jews off the map and if you're one of the kook people who are saying um you know the jews are mean aggressors you you don't know anything about that region of the world i've been there a lot of time spent a lot of time in israel in jerusalem and and here's the truth this is how you know who's really the aggressor what would happen if the men and women and the soldiers and the you know violent terrorists of gaza what would happen if they laid down their arms right now what would happen there would be peace the israelis do not just fire rockets across into the gaza strip there would be peace what would happen if the jews just laid down their arms today total annihilation and it's been that way all the way since may 14th 1948 when this jews became a nation the five arab nations the next day attacked israel when the jews didn't have any military but they miraculously biblically proportioned defended themselves you see i think that there's been this narrative from a bunch of people who really don't know what they're talking about talking about like the jews being did you see the cnn guys today talking about the jews are just arbitrarily shooting at skyscrapers in gaza and just you know and killing women and children and you know the palestinians they love they love it when women and children are dying because they can put it up on the news look what these jews have done they're killing all these women and children um what really happened if you know even slightly like this is really not even hard to find the jews will say that building there we know that it has rocket launchers and it's got uh whole battalions and loads of weapons and and so they literally the jews will call that building you know like look it up and say okay we're about to blow this building up if you want to live you need to get out of this building because we know it's a place of stockpile weapons so they warn them then the jews will fire these little tiny rockets that will go and just kind of knock on the roof of the building like literally and the people in the building have said oh wow uh we got to get out of here and so they get out um and and then the jews blew this one particular building where you saw all over the news uh several places in this tall building uh and the buildings they're worried about it coming down but um but everybody was gone out of the building how did that happen it happened because the jews are not trying they're they're doing it as strategically and carefully as they can surgically striking where where the missiles are being stored where they're being launched from um but but that's the attitude of the jews trying to have as little collateral damage they're killing commanding officers and and people that are firing rockets but if you look at what the hamas is doing they're arbitrarily flying 1500 rockets without any guidance across into these cities in tel aviv and even trying to reach jerusalem with these rockets and they're hoping to kill women and children that's what's actually happening and sadly uh you know normally the jews get hit because they're you know knocked in the news because nobody ever dies in israel like would it be better if children died to make it balance out let's have some death in palestinians and death in israel well the israelis have they're they're a modern people they are very westernized there are uh allies in israel in the middle east their only real ally in the middle east and israel has defended herself quite well and then this this last couple days soldiers and children people have been killed in israel which hasn't happened for a long time and and the world almost acts like oh finally some jews are dying in israel listen if you're one who's saying um you know we need to have a two-state solution or those mean israelis not only read history maybe more importantly read your bible the lord says i will bless the nation that blesses israel and i will curse the nation that curses israel and the nation that curses israel will be cursed and the arab nations have been cursing israel for uh you know for a long long time and we wonder why there's a curse there the bible makes it clear so if you want to follow the academics and the cnns and the wolf blitzers and and be in this little crazy la la land of thinking that you know the palestinians uh are really the ones who deserve to live there and the jews are just these mean aggressors man you've been sold a bill of goods and and it's it's pretty gullible to believe all that if you look at real history which uh man again i can talk about this for hours but if you look at the real history you will you will realize this is a biblically proportioned demonic kind of attack on god's people i'm not saying the jews are always good i'm not saying they're perfect or sinless largely israel's atheist right now but god has a plan for the jews and um and and if you stand with the jews the bible says i will bless you so be careful don't get sucked in don't go on your social media and start saying those jews you know like like all these other things read your bible first and foremost and we're supposed to be supporters of israel we're supposed to pray for the peace of jerusalem and that's what the bible says now you say bro what does that have to do with ezekiel nothing no i'm just kidding no no actually very much so it has to do with the signs of the times the bible says in the last days that there is going to come a war where all the world is going to set its sights against israel and against the jews anti-semitism around the world is on on the rise and it's you know it's interesting because um you know some people if you if you don't know what to listen for you might say well biden was really nice about the jews when he was talking about the jews today when he finally addressed the situation but but if you really listen to what he really said and through his uh press secretary um you actually think it's if you really think about it for a second it's horrific we're going back to the obama days where we were the most unfriendly administration to the jews uh in history of the united states we're going back to that well what was wrong with what he said he said you know we need to you know everybody needs to calm down there be needs to be a more measured response um measured response what would what would we do if say china started launching missiles from a submarine and started blowing the daylights out of washington dc what if china launched 1500 rockets in a 24-hour period toward washington dc what would we do would we would we want to give a measured um attack or would we go back to shock at all and and blow the daylights out of that submarine or whatever we had to do like like it's so hypocritical you know um we we uh we have something happen you know in in the united states like 911 which is a bad thing and we blow the daylights out of several nations and you know it's like and we could argue about whether it's right or wrong but the truth of the matter is um the bible just says listen the world's gonna hate the jews and there's gonna be this gathering of the nations against israel uh you know it starts i think with that gog magog invasion of ezekiel 38 which we'll get into in a few weeks but it also kind of culminates at the very end with the battle of armageddon where all these nations come to that region of the world the valley of armageddon where we're gonna see the last battle or the nations gather and what what we're seeing i hope you're understanding what we're seeing is the world uh changing their attitude to hate jews more and more anti-semitism is on the rise and we're seeing this narrative that the jews are the mean aggressors even though the arabs have this huge region of land and the jews have a tiny speck see that's the problem these these oppressors the jews um if you took a football field and you showed that all the arab land is represented by one football field including the touchdown end zones how much of that football field would be jewish owned or jewish land it's really easy to do the math if you do the math one square foot of that football field would be israel the rest of it would all be arab lands so here's the jews trying to survive on their one square foot while the arabs have a football field and the jews are taking their little one square foot and they're farming and and inventing and science and they're the only nation in the middle east that's like really doing really well that's why by the way the saudis and uh bahrain and morocco have signed peace treaties with israel because israel's got so much to offer these nations um and uh and they're just saying man we need protection from the crazy iranians that's why we're seeing peace deals you know the abraham accords that we've seen israel sign in the last year we're seeing that because israel's the only squared away country in that region of the world meanwhile our academics and our mainstream media is all saying those israelis are oppressors and they're occupiers and it's just anti-semitism that's what you're seeing all you know gussied up to look like wolf blitzer and uh what's the other dude i don't even want to say there's these guys are horrible they're they're haters of the jews but all that to say uh be careful folks don't get sucked into the world view that goes with the end times scenario and and and the reason that's important is because here in ezekiel's time they said the days have been prolonged and really that's the attitude of the church largely today the presbyterians don't even believe in the jews having their own land the the the side that's that voted there was a split in the presbyterian church over this and some other issues but does israel have a right to exist is the question um and there's churches that say no how can that be a bible reading person get to that it's because of deception and people saying stuff like ah prophecy and the days are prolonged let me remind you about what jesus said about this in matthew 24. listen as i read this matthew 24 44 therefore be ye also ready for in such as our you think not that's when the lord is going to come who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his lord made ruler over his household to give him meat and due season listen blessed is that servant whom his lord when he comes shall find him doing verily i say unto you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods but if that evil servant shall say in his heart my lord delays his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow servants and eat and drink with the drunken the lord of that servant shall come in the day when he looks not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and shall cut him asunder and appoint him with his portion with the hypocrites and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth brett are you saying the people that are denying the coming of the lord are going to be in hell all i know is this there's the wise servant here that jesus says is watching and waiting and working for the serving the lord ready for his return the wicked evil servant said ah the lord delays is coming you've been talking about this forever and so you start doing what partying down because you can you can sin because you don't really think the lord's coming back right now so party it up punch your brother in the face um by the way in john 1 john 3 it says he who has this hope of the lord's return purifies himself if you believe the rapture of the church could happen tomorrow or tonight you're not going to do a bunch of sinful stuff go punching people in the face and going down and you know looking at pornography and doing stuff that's evil and you know getting drunk all the time if you think man the lord could come back tonight you'll be purified but the wicked servant does sinful stuff and he says the lord delays his coming you know ii peter says you know in chapter three it says that in the last days they'll be scoffers we'll say where is the promise of his coming so was it in the time of ezekiel and the destruction of jerusalem so it will be in the time of the end people will say ah god's prolonging this whole thing and it's not even going to happen anyway like that's the attitude of these people let it be a warning to us we're seeing jerusalem being attacked crazily right now as i speak and it's just again signs of the times now is this the big one don't know could just be one of the birth bangs the bible talks about you know like when a woman is the bible says like uh you know going in labor pains they become more intense and more frequent than the baby comes maybe this is just another war of israel they haven't called it a war yet but i'm sure it's headed there um is it another intifada war or something like that i don't know but it's another birth pang i think at least but this could be the thing that triggers some of these battles like the gog magog invasion anyway that's what we learned from chapter 12. let's quickly uh take one more chapter because i wanted to get through chapter 16 tonight but let's just do uh let's just do chapter 13 and then call tonight so it says in the word of the lord came unto me saying son of man prophesy against the prophets of israel that prophesy and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts hear ye the word of the lord thus saith the lord god woe into the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing oh boy do you remember these prophets were doing the same thing with jeremiah remember the the guys that were getting on the horns of the bull and acting like they were going to charge ahead thus saith the lord and these dumb prophets were saying that everything was going to be rosy um but actually everything was not remember there were some problems that in two years time we shall live in peace and harmony uh with babylon two years came and went and the babylonians were getting ready to crush jerusalem these were prophets that were false prophets where did they get their information where did the false prophets get what they were saying well this verse tells us amazingly in two places verse two it says out of their own hearts that's interesting and also verse 3 following their own spirit it wasn't the lord it was their own hearts have you ever heard that dumb phrase just follow your heart go with your heart dumb dumb dumb don't follow your heart your heart the bible says is desperately wicked deceitful above all things who can know it that's the heart of man i wonder how many sermons are prepared out of the heart which i'm just sharing from my heart no share from the word let's get the word of god that's what jeremiah was doing that's what ezekiel was doing these prophets the false prophets were sharing from their heart and from their own spirit sounds so warm and fuzzy but it was actually quite evil and destructive and the problem is the people tended to listen to these false prophets more than they would listen to the guys who were sticking to the word like ezekiel and like jeremiah you know i gotta say i'm really thankful to be a pastor of a church like this i marvel um you know we we see people leave even tonight i think people have already got up and left i'm used to it um but i really am thankful for a church that's willing to go through the world i mean here we are in in um the city of portland that man if you don't live in portland uh portland is like armageddon and it is a little small way if you drive downtown portland it's like it's so sad i used to think portland was actually one of the most beautiful big cities around i mean i i i think poorly it looks like armageddon downtown um there's there's whole websites that document what portland looks like now and and it's it's horrifying there's video of uh ladies that are selling meth and screaming at people because she they didn't pay and pulling out weapons from her back glock 45 uh and and you know and screaming at people like this is what downtown portland looks like in broad daylight naked people running around uh um people like like it's like it's just a crazy stores have closed um it's it's just really something it it it's kind of amazing that you and i live so close to that and uh and and we live in one of the most unchurched cities in america meanwhile here at 8th greek we're seeing kind of a revival we're seeing more and more people piling in saying what does the bible say let's go with the bible see i love that i get to be a pastor of a church and and i i honestly thought man the more i teach the word probably the thinner it's going to get but i've noticed here at the creek our front door is much bigger than our back door there's a lot of people leaving the back door they i don't know if i like what you say about marriage and about the israelis and about this and you know wokism and and all that and people get all upset up in a tizzy about this and that and there's some that leave but i think there's more people that are saying man we're just hungry for what's true and that's what i think we're seeing both here in the building but maybe even more so online um it's amazing to me what the lord is doing around the country with these studies online live and also those watching uh after the fact and i i really feel like the lord is doing something here that's kind of unique and it's it's exciting i love to be a part of it and i i think it has nothing to do with uh anything that i do or athy creek is i think it's the word of god that's living and powerful and i i just want to say if you're a pastor listening don't be afraid to teach the word people are hungry for the word of god get into the scripture and forget your heart and forget your spirit go with god's word and it'll be a winning compilation because people want to know what the bible actually says well that's that's what that's what says here about these these prophets that were for their own thing but they've really seen nothing verse 4 o israel thy prophets are like the foxes in the desert you have not gone up into the gaps neither made up the hedge for the house of israel to stand in the battle in the day of the lord this is probably speaking of israel's moral walls that were in collapse um because their physical walls were still kind of standing so some bible scholars wonder is maybe the lord saying figuratively your your walls are going to fall apart maybe maybe both literally i don't know verse 6 they have seen vanity and lying divination saying the lord saith and the lord hath not sent them and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word have ye not seen a vain vision and have he spoke not spoken a lying divination whereas you say the lord sayeth it albeit i have not spoken this is what the lord says i've not really told you any of this you're saying thus saith the lord but it wasn't me therefore verse 8 thus saith the lord god because you have spoken vanity and seen lies therefore behold i am against you saith the lord and mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity and that divine lies they shall not be in the assembly of my people neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of israel neither shall they enter into the land of israel and you shall know that i am the lord your god. interesting that you know they said they're false they're saying one thing but they're not going to be approved they're not going to last they're not going to be written as it says here in the writing of the house of israel what's the writing of the house of israel anybody yes the bible we might say the hebrew bible because it's genesis to the end you know in malachi and the hebrew bible it's our bible too uh the new testament and old testament are interesting terms that we can talk about but but these books and these writings aren't going to make it in the bible because they're not inspired word of god um one thing you got to understand is watch out also for these college professors they're saying the book of enoch really should have been in the bible or the book of jude or the book of this or the book of that the lost books of this and that or the other forget that uh there's there's a measurement that the early church fathers had as they sought the lord and equally as inspired as the guys that were writing the word of god those early fathers said what is the word of god and they compiled it's called the canon of scripture the word canon means read or measurement they measured and said is this the word of god or is it not and the word was compiled now there's a very academic and esoteric thing we could spend hours and hours talking about how the canonicity of scripture is legit or we could just say and this is really where i land on the topic we can just say listen um as the bible was inspired as they wrote it so to the early church fathers as they compiled it they were equally inspired by god to put the bible together and thus we have a book that has got no contradictions 1500 year period it was written uh three different continents 40 different authors some shepherds kings prisoners you know doctors like we've got all these different authors uh over 1500 years and and we've got this perfectly complete and correct book that's miraculous um but that's why those prophets of those days didn't get in the bible because they were false and they didn't make it that's what the lord says i'm not going to let that get into my my writings of israel because it's false so even though enoch was a character in the bible that we like even though enoch is quoted by jude in one verse enoch the book of enoch didn't make the canonicity of scripture and i'm good with that i've read the book of enoch it's interesting but it's not the inspired word of god are you guys with me on that that's important to know um verse 10 because even because they have seduced my people saying peace and there was no peace and one built up a wall and lo others dubbed it with untempered mortar say unto them which daub with untempered border that it shall fall there shall be an overflowing shower and and you owe great hailstones shall fall and a stormy wind shall rend it your wall is going to be beat up by wind lo when the wall is fallen it shall not be said unto you where is the dobbing wherewith you have dobbed it therefore thus saith the lord god i will rend even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury and there shall be an overflowing shower in my anger and great hailstones in my fury to consume it so basically their work is unsound they think it's going to stand but it's going to be easily blown over by the wind and it'll come to nothing it sort of reminds me of what jesus said in matthew chapter 7 remember when jesus said the wise man built his house upon the but the foolish man builds his house upon the and when the winds come and the rain comes the rock the house stood but when the winds came and the rains fell and the house was built on the sand came a tumbling down remember that song we sang in sunday school we need to bring that song back that was a great old song um but that's what he's saying here their little construct of safety and protection was just untempered mortar and it wasn't going to hold together as much of what people are trusting in today it's untempered mortar so verse 14 will i break down the wall that you have dobbed with untempered mortar and bring it down to the ground so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered and it shall fall and you shall be consumed in the midst thereof and ye shall know that i am the lord thus will i accomplish my wrath upon the wall and upon them that have dobbed it with untempered mortar and will say unto you the wall is no more neither they that dubbed it to wit the prophets of israel which prophesied concerning jerusalem and which seeth visions of peace for her and there is no peace saith the lord god all of this is about the false prophets building and constructing what they felt in their soul in their heart but it was all just a wall that was crumbling do you want to hear about the prophetesses huh prophetesses were there prophetesses of course there were what's probably one of the most famous prophetess in the old testament yeah deborah might be the the most famous miriam uh moses sister was called a prophetess interestingly enough there was a prophet named prophetess named holda and there were gates in jerusalem named after the hold the gates you can see those they're they're they're uh blocked over uh you can't go through the gates but you can still see the ancient gates of the hold the gates the prophetess hold the um noah diaz another prophetess of the bible so there are these prophetesses and they were true and right prophets prophetesses but there was a bunch of false prophetesses how many times can i say prophetesses let's read verse 17 likewise thou son of man set thy face against the daughters of thy people which prophesy out of their own heart so these are false prophetesses out of their own heart and prophesy thou against them and say thus thus saith the lord god woe to the women that sow pillows and to all armholes and make kerchiefs upon the head of every statue stature to hunt souls will you hunt the souls of my people and will you save the souls alive that come unto you now was that the most confusing verse you ever did read she sewed some armholes and pillows is this the my pillow guy uh and what's go is what's going on okay um the reason this and some of your translations are even more crazy uh it's worse than the king jimmy uh you're like what in the world are we talking about uh some of your was it like charm bracelets uh or magic you know like what's going on here well the reason there's confusion is in verse 18 and also in verse 20. we'll come to that in a second there's a word that's used nowhere else in history no and it's only used just here in the hebrew bible so even the jews to this day if you ask the rabbis what is the word here they say we don't have the foggiest it's a word that somewhere went extinct and we don't know exactly what it was but there are some word studies and linguistic people who have deduced what was probably going on here and you know the bracelet idea with charms and stuff that's probably what this stuff was there were women that were claiming to be prophetesses saying that we're going to make these veils and scarfs flowing scarves that have meaning and we're going to have you wear charm bracelets that were magical and they would make you you know successful and be protected and all the stuff and it was really superstitious paganism and and and by the way when you study this and go deeper it kind of is a new age sort of thing that they're talking about here which is really weird new age is nothing but an old lie do you know that new age started in the garden of eden when uh you know satan approached eve and said your eyes will be open and you'll be like god that's new age new age is an old lie and it's been around long before shirley maclaine uh and oprah uh it's but it's alive and well today uh and we're to have nothing to do with that stuff so these little charm bracelets of magical and stuff like that um verse 19 and will you pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread to slay the souls that should not die by the way the slaying of the souls and the hunting of souls that's talked about her probably is reaching back to the uh babylonian paganism i was telling you about last week nimrod remember nimrod was the mighty hunter against the lord some say this is the hunting of souls that has to do with the babylonian paganism again it's a it's a deep study and if you want to dive there's there you can you can find experts who write about this but it's it's a kind of a difficult passage to con to understand but it's basically these people doing pagan things and these women were leaders of this kind of paganism so this idea of slaying souls and what have you verse 20 wherefore thus saith lord god behold i am against your pillows my pillow your pillows wherewith there hunt the souls to make them fly and i will tear them from your arms to make souls fly probably means to kill their soul is the idea and i will tear them from your arms and let them let the souls go even the souls that you hunt to make them fly your kerchiefs also will i tear and deliver my people out of your hand and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted and you shall know that i am the lord these these people were trying to catch souls and maybe even kill them but the lord says i'm gonna i'm gonna rip that all up and tear up your little goofy uh paganism verse 22 because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad whom i have not made set and strengthen the hands of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way by promising him life therefore you shall see no more vanity no more divine divinations for i will deliver my people out of your hand and you shall know that i am the lord the phrase that i told you about at the beginning of our study was the word of the lord came unto me saying five times tonight we read that phrase but there's another phrase that was said five times anybody want to take a stab at what it was yes the last phrase we read tonight and you shall know that i am jehovah the lord um you can know him by accepting him and believing his word and repenting and being saved or you will know him ultimately in his wrath and his judgment god is kind and compassionate and gracious and gentle but he's also full of fury and wrath and judgment and righteousness and the question is which side of that are you on and it has totally to do with whether you're going to follow his word uh we're gonna go with the world go with the scriptures or go with satan it's just that simple and sad to say um there's so many people that are making the wrong choice i hope you've chosen i hope everybody online i hope you've made the right choice to follow and believe in the true word of god it's where it's where we find absolute perfect truth amen amen lord we thank you tonight for your word i pray that it would do its work now and that we not be sucked into worldly ways and today we see really the same thing lord false prophets peoples sharing from their own hearts and from their own souls but not really your word i pray that we'd be able to rightly divide your word as when it's true and when it's just people's ideas give us discernment in these days lord i pray that your word would just be remembered and stuck in our hearts lord and it would bring forth good fruit bless these people tonight both here and online who's taken this evening to to do some difficult studies and difficult passages but lord we're just thankful these reminders are good for us we do take time lord tonight to pray for the peace of jerusalem i'm so sad to see that the children that have been killed both sides really um and and we do grieve for so many the palestinians are sort of stuck in a between the jewish state and the uh the violent terrorism of hamas and and so many of the palestinians just want to be peaceful lord i pray that you would just put your hedge of protection around those that would seek after you first and foremost but i do pray lord that you'd be preparing israel for that day when they shall open their eyes and see that you are the messiah that jesus was their messiah that they missed we pray that that day would come sooner than later we know when we pray for the peace of jerusalem ultimately that means that jesus is seated upon the throne there on the temple mount when that happens there's going to be an everlasting righteousness and peace lord your word tells us so give us that hope i pray that you'd give the united states wisdom lord i pray that this current administration would somehow learn or see how important it is to be supporting the jewish state according to your word lord give us wisdom in that forgive us for bad decisions on that lord i pray that you'd put your hedge of protection around the jews even tonight as rockets are flying we pray you're covering on them in jesus name amen

Channel: Athey Creek

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Keywords: Brett Meador, Bible, Church, Teaching, Study, Christian, Jesus, Oregon, Through the Bible, Athey Creek, Athey Creek Church, Athey Creek Christian Fellowship

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Length: 71min 28sec (4288 seconds)

Published: Wed May 12 2021