epcblog

Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Ezekiel 14

Elders or leaders within the covenant community have a very important role in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. They provide a structure for accountability that we all need if we are to make progress in our service of God. They need to be able to teach people the truth of God’s Word. One of their most important functions is to be examples to the people of what it means to be a godly person. It should be spiritually safe for people to follow the elders within their congregation of the Lord’s disciples.

When there is a deep-seated corruption within the leadership of any assembly, it is hard to imagine that the people are going to find a way to rise above the impiety of their leaders. In the case of Ezekiel, certain of the elders visit him, presumably to hear a word from God, or to inquire of the prophet. Though their outward behavior would seem to be commendable, God gives Ezekiel an insight into the souls of these leading men. They have taken idols deeply into their hearts. In their minds they have a stumbling block of some false god that they secretly love. What can the people of God do, and what will become of them when even their spiritual leaders are secret idolaters? The leaders may still want to know some hidden information that they hope to get from God’s prophet, but the Lord will not reveal to them what they desire to know. As God responds to these people, we learn that the rest of the people of Israel have done as these leaders have done. The nation is a nation steeped in secret idolatry.

What should these foolish elders do who have committed their hearts to idols and who secretly bow down before strange objects of worship? They must repent of their evil. They need to turn away from their false gods. This is true not only for the leaders but for all of the people, even for those strangers who are simply traveling through the land. They better turn away from their idols before they would presume to inquire of the Lord’s prophet. Otherwise, instead of getting an answer from the prophet, it may be that God will answer more directly in hands-on judgment against the idolaters. In a way that is obvious to all, such men may be cut off from the people of God directly by God. It is a fearful thing when God Almighty confronts an evil man, when the appointed prophetic mediator is pushed out of the way and a sinner needs to face God more directly.

God will not put up with any of this hypocrisy. Even if His prophet speaks a word to people like that, God will turn it around to punishment for both the inquirer and the prophet. We cannot fool God. The Lord hates idolatry, and He will punish those who claim to hear him or speak for him who have dedicated themselves to false gods. If God’s people would only repent of all this evil, then there would be hope for them. They would be His people and He would be their God. The way of safety and blessing is actually very clear.

The prophet of God is not a spiritual guru for hire. He does not perform his services as one who is ready to do whatever is necessary as long as the customer can pay the price. He is to be a true representative of God. If God cuts off bread from the land, if He brings a sword, if He sends disease upon the land, the best prophets of the Old Testament cannot change the mind of God when He has determined to punish iniquity. Things have come to that point during the days of Ezekiel. The prognosis is not good, and there is nothing that could be done except a serious and complete repentance. Noah could not change God’s mind. Neither could Daniel or Job. They could not even save their own families at this point. They could clear their own names by repenting, but they could not save the people. God will judge them unless they really repent. Having the right prophetic man, like an Ezekiel, reveal some hidden secrets of God, will not turn away the wrath of God. If the elders think that the prophet can solve their problems as some quick fix without real repentance on their part, they are deeply mistaken.

Just a few will be saved from the Lord’s judgment upon Jerusalem. There will be a small number of survivors left to live. All of this has not been done without a cause. The way of life has been patiently displayed before the people, but they have been unwilling to repent.

A generation with ignorant and immoral elders in positions of authority in the Lord’s house is a generation that is headed for trouble, and probably very quickly. We have a great Shepherd over the church. He has never filled His heart with the love of idols. He has never bowed down before strange religious objects. His life was one of whole-hearted devotion to God. At the very top of the chain of command within the church is a Man without spot or blemish or any such thing. It is our task to be honest with Him. Have we taken idols into our hearts? If so, God surely knows. Have we loved false gods and fallen down before an abomination? The call to repentance is still before us today, so many centuries after the ministry of Ezekiel.

Will not God grant His elect true repentance? I don’t know what false thing we might be holding on to. Family, prestige, wealth, ease, approval from men, fame, emotional comfort: All these things must not be allowed to be objects of false worship in our hearts. We are to worship Almighty God, and serve Him alone. There is only One who made us, and there is only One who died for our sins. So much of what we want is so easily entangled in our idolatrous affections. May the Lord who rescued us from hell through His death on the cross, rescue us again now, so that we will submit to His holy will and rejoice in the glory of His divine excellence.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Ezekiel 13

God has chosen to speak through men. A true prophet receives His message from God. He then speaks the message to the people as the Lord has instructed him. To the ones who listen, there is a sense in which the prophet is simply a man speaking words or performing certain symbolic actions. The listener does not hear the voice of God in the same way that the prophet does. He does not go where the prophet goes in his prophetic vision. The listener may two men with contradictory messages speak, both claiming to be true prophets. Which one really brings the message of God? This method of communicating to people is subject to great abuse. A false prophet has not had the experiences of a true prophet, but he looks very similar to the true prophet when he speaks to the people.

This has always been a challenge and it will continue to be a challenge until the Lord returns. This problem is certainly something of which God is well aware. The false prophet will be judged by the Lord. Those who are eager for a false message will eagerly listen to lies. They will convince themselves that the message that they have heard is from God. Their false messages will be of no lasting benefit to anyone. The true prophet may face great suffering in this world, but the Lord will surely remember his faithful service. The people of God will ultimately hear and believe the truth, and will be kept in the way of faith by the invisible power of God. As Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

It is very unwise for people to take upon themselves the office of a prophet and to speak lies to people under the Name of the Lord God Almighty. Though even today they may still gather an audience among those who claim to be God’s people, the day will come when the sons of God are revealed forever. On that day there will be a separation of the wicked from the righteous. An aspect of that separation will be the clear distinction between true prophets and false prophets. Those who presume to speak lies and who call these things the word of the Lord, unless they repent, will not be found in the register of the true Israel. Such people will have no place in the Lord’s house.

The false prophets insisted that there was peace coming. While Jeremiah was denouncing these men in Judah, Ezekiel was denouncing such false prophets from the place of captivity, where those had been brought who were part of the early stages of the exile. Of course the people in Babylon would have wanted to believe that they would be back in the land of Israel almost immediately. They would have loved to believe that their captors would be destroyed and that God would bring about an immediate age of glory for Israel like the days of King Solomon. New Testament believers would love to believe that those who trouble them would be immediately converted to faith in Christ. We would love everyone in our families to believe and to perfectly obey the Lord immediately. We would be thrilled to have perfect physical and spiritual health throughout the church. To prophesy this kind of immediate “peace” would be a lie. It is a wall of dried mud smeared with whitewash. The foolish might suspect that it is a structurally sound wall, but when the torrent of rain comes, it will be evident to all that it was a fake.

It is not only men who are acting as false prophets. There have also been women in every age who are involved in false spiritual arts. In the days of Ezekiel they made little idolatrous objects for people, wrist bands and veils that were supposed to have special powers or serve as reminders of some false god or message. People who listened to these lies were trapped in this kind of foolishness to the damage of their own souls. Though they may have seemed attractive or innocent, these women were like brutal hunters, hunting down the souls of people. The prophet tells us that God would hunt them down and capture them. As always, if we set ourselves against the Lord, we will soon discover that we are no match for God.

Whether false prophets were men or women, they would not have their way. They have discouraged the righteous and encouraged wicked men and women who would never repent. No matter how attractive, interesting, talented, or spiritual they might seem to be, they will be exposed as enemies of God and His people.

In every era there are those who would presume to speak for God, though they were never called by God as prophets. Those who were against Jesus accused Him of being a false prophet. They saw Him as dangerous. He spoke a message of peace, but it was not a message that they wanted to hear. His works were signs that He was the true Messiah. There was also the testimony of a voice from heaven. But beyond that, we can examine His life and His words to see how well they fit with the Word of God.

When we do this we can see that everything that He did and everything that He said was in perfect accord with the Scriptures. His words were not the words of a madman or a fool. His acts of mercy were beautiful, and were performed without self-promotion. Another test of the truth of the messenger is in the willingness of the prophet to suffer for the message. The willing death of our Messiah on the cross together with the amazing sign of the resurrection was an astounding vindication of His status as the greatest of all prophets. He not only speaks the true Word of God; He is the Word of God who came from heaven to bring a true message of heavenly peace that will never be taken away.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Monday, April 28, 2008

Ezekiel 12

Most people are born into this world with eyes that see and with ears that hear. Despite possessing the organs of sight and hearing, we have hearts that are unwilling to see and hear the truth about God. Our problem is not our physical inability. It is our moral and spiritual inability. We do not want to listen to God. Idols may have eyes and ears painted on wood or chiseled into stone, but of course that idol could never see or hear. God tells us that those who worship such objects become like them. This is their moral inability. They will not submit to God.

God’s people were rebellious. They seemed to lack spiritual sight and spiritual hearing. The Lord had warned them for many generations through many prophets. Now the time had come for exile. The Lord is slow to exile His people, but it eventually happens after many years of hardened resistance to the call for godly repentance. Ezekiel, at the Lord’s instruction, now acts out the part of one going into exile. This is not a superior method of communicating the message of God. It is very inferior to the clarity of simple preaching. But what can be done when people refuse to hear? No more words are left. The exile is really going to happen.

The prophet’s play-acting showed that not everyone was going to cooperate with this exile. Ezekiel digs through the wall to show what some will do to attempt to run from God and his appointed agents of discipline. Their efforts will not be successful, but they will make their attempts.

Would the people receive this message? Would they ask the prophet, “What are you doing?” If people are determined not to hear, they may be very careful not to ask questions. They may have an unavoidable understanding of what it is all about, but they may wish to do what they can to evade the message. A caption is now given to add to the parable that was lived out before them. What Ezekiel has done is a sign. It is about the remaining leaders and the people who are still in Jerusalem. They shall go into exile. Even the highest leader among them will try to escape, but he will be unsuccessful. God will spread His net over him. God will use the Babylonians as His snare. He will die in a foreign land.

This will not only be the fate of a select few. Almost everyone around the ruling group who come to their aid will also die. A few will survive to give testimony to the sin of God’s people. God is the Lord, and He will be known even in His righteous discipline of His own people. This was a significant message, since there were others who were claiming something very different than this. They were suggesting that any difficulties would soon be over, and that those who had been taken away to Babylon up to this point would soon be back. Ezekiel lived out the true message from the Lord in acting out the exile, and then added an explanation for any who would have ears to hear. The first exile play was followed by a similar one with a second explanatory message. The prophet ate and drank with trembling and dismay. Others would soon do the same, and there would be nothing left in the land as the people were taken away.

The rejection of the truth among God’s people had become proverbial at this point in the history of the Lord’s covenant people. They seemed to be so confident that the warnings of true prophets were false that they had a saying with which they comforted themselves. “The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing.” The point of the proverb was this: Prophets talk with their dire warnings, but nothing actually happens. Everything continues on as it always has.

It is amazing that such a saying could be spoken at this point in their lives as a nation. Disaster is all around them. Some people have already been taken away. Could they really believe that every true vision of judgment would really come to nothing?

It is still the case, after the coming of Christ, that some people reject the message of His return in judgment. They do not see the cross for what it is. The cross is the greatest display of both judgment and mercy ever known to man. God’s wrath came upon our innocent Substitute that we might dwell eternally in righteousness and safety. Still there are scoffers who continue to follow their sinful desires and who proudly mock saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” They overlook the fact of the flood. They ignore the truth of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and centuries later by the Romans. Most of all they do not see the warning and hope of the cross – a warning since this is what we deserve, a hope because the sins of all who believe have been completely atoned for.

No one should presume that the Lord will not keep His promises. The message for us is well stated in God’s words through Ezekiel. “The word that I speak will be performed.” The Savior who died for us in mercy and who satisfied the demands of God’s justice for all who turn to Him and call upon His name, will Himself return to judge the living and the dead. In the words of Psalm 2, “Kiss the Son His wrath to turn, lest ye perish in the way, for His anger soon will burn. Blessed are those that on Him stay.” He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Prayers based on the Songs of Ascent

Psalm 120

Lord God, please help us in our distress. There is much trouble all around us. It is a great challenge to live in this world. Our confidence is in Christ. For His sake You will hear us and help us.

Psalm 121

Father God, our help comes from You. You have created us, and You keep us through all kinds of difficulties. You will help us as we move along in our journey to the heavenly Jerusalem. You will keep us forever.

Psalm 122

Sovereign Lord, we long for Your presence. We thank You for the blessing of worship in Your temple even now. Your Son is full of the Holy Spirit. In Him there is full peace. We are united to Him, and are called the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 123

O God, we look to You. We need You day by day. There is no other place that we can go to for the mercy that we need. We need relief, O Lord. A proud foe is hard against us. We resist the devil and look to You for deliverance.

Psalm 124

Our Father, You have been our help. We are very thankful. Without You we surely would have fallen and been destroyed. You have helped us, Creator God. We will glorify Your Name forever.

Psalm 125

Lord God, we do trust in You. Make us to stand firm in Jesus Christ. Surround us and protect us. Cause us to live in obedience in the strength that comes from Your grace. By Your mercy bring Your church peace forever.

Psalm 126

Great God, You have given us laughter and joy in the day of Your deliverance. You have done great things for us. Now we have tears, but we will come home to You with shouts of joy. Our labor in Your Name is not in vain.

Psalm 127

Father God, You build the house. You watch over us. You guard us. We can sleep at night because of You. You will bring the next generation of faithful people forward. Surely Your Son Jesus Christ has a multitude of children who will glorify You forever.

Psalm 128

Our God, we will walk in Your ways. The day is coming when all things will be right. You have granted us a glorious family in Zion. You will bring perfect peace upon Your church, and we will dwell securely with You forever.

Psalm 129

Merciful God, Your people have faced much persecution for many generations. Surely those who hate You and who kill Your loved ones will face Your wrath. Our only hope is in Your Name. In Christ we have great blessing forever.

Psalm 130

Lord God, we cry to You again today. You have forgiven our many sins. Because of the mercies of Christ, we now wait for Him with hope. Your Son is our plentiful redemption. A day of the fullest joy is surely near.

Psalm 131

Our Father, we rest in You. Like a child we rest in the security of Your embrace. We rest in You and trust in You even now. Your people will not be put to shame, for Your love will endure forever and ever.

Psalm 132

God in Heaven, be with Your people who trust in the greatest Son of David. We are Your priests forever. We are counted as Your holy ones in Him. A Messiah has come for us, and He reigns. His crown will shine forever. We will rest in Zion according to Your promise.

Psalm 133

Great Lord, it is a joy to be together with our brothers as we serve You in peace. This is Your church. You have given us the oil of gladness. Our security in Christ will never be taken away.

Psalm 134

Great God, we have come to our destination. We look to You with the fullest happiness. Your Son’s hands are lifted up in blessing upon us even now. We are receiving a divine blessing from the heavenly Jerusalem. What a wonderful blessing!

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Prayer based on 1 Chronicles 1

1 Chronicles 1

Great God of Creation, we have been made in Your image. From one man, our father Adam, have come all men. Each nation is known by You, where they have come from, and where they are going. Some have been mighty in their own eyes, and in the opinion of their neighbors. Even the strongest have faced trouble and death. You have granted to us the great gift of faith. Abraham, chosen by You, and sent out by You, is also a father to us, a father in this most precious gift of faith. Help us to walk in the power of faith today. Our days and our people come and go, but You are eternal. Through faith in our Messiah Jesus Christ we have everlasting life. This world will pass away, and so many of the names and nations of this world will perish, but You will remain forever and ever. Our life is in You.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Friday, April 25, 2008

Prayers based on 2 Kings 23-25

2 Kings 23

Lord God, we need You. We have been made sick by our sin. We want to walk in Your ways again. Cleanse Your temple. Remove those leaders who will not turn away from idolatry and wickedness. Bring a powerful repentance to many. Do Your work in the midst of this evil age and show us hope for a new life. We need the courage of Your Son among us again. Send forth Your messengers to call Your people to worship again in truth. Is there some horrible unseen adversary who is against us? Surely You know what You are doing, even governing all things for Your glory. Teach us to turn to You in a fuller imitation of Your Son. Do not utterly abandon us, O God. Give us hope for the future, even on the day when the most godly leaders are suddenly destroyed. Have mercy on us, O God. We know that we should trust You today. We will obey You, even though many give themselves over to sin.

2 Kings 24

God in heaven, what can we do when good gifts are taken away from us? The godly way of a father may only be a memory. Sons and grandsons have lost all sense of Your truth. They are taken captive by enemies that are too strong for them. How will we find hope again? Surely You will send Your Son for us. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

2 Kings 25

Father, we love You and cling to You. We have no one left but You. All our pride and joy have been taken away. Yet through it all, You are God. We will trust You. You have the words of life. The cross is still the only atoning sacrifice for sin. The resurrection is still our only hope. Our words flee from us. What can we say in the depths of our grief? Where is Your glory, O God. Will we provoke You to wrath even now? How can there be more wrath when our sins have been atoned for? Surely our hope in Christ is still secure, and we will eat at Your table forever.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Prayers based on 2 Kings 21-22

2 Kings 21

O God, how can it be that a child will not follow in the way of a godly father and mother? Does one generation tear down the idols of wickedness, only for the next generation to build up the same abominations again? How can those who are called by Your Name be so foolish and hard-hearted? O Lord, bring us the blessings of the new age even today. Innocent blood is shed all around us in every age, but some times are worse than others. Grant us relief. How many years of sadness can we survive? You will surely hear us and help us. We long for the day of victory when all of our disappointments and sins will be utterly swept away.

2 Kings 22

We thank You, O Lord, for a surprisingly wonderful day of relief. We thank You for righteous children that come from homes that were committed to idolatry and sin. Grant that Your church will rediscover Your Word even in our day. Grant that we will be grieved concerning our rebellion against You. Help us to have a godly response to the troubles that we face. Have mercy on us. You know that Your church has so often forsaken You. If You were not true to Your great promises, we surely would have been destroyed long ago.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Prayer based on 1 Samuel 1 - In memory of Samuel Stephen Magee - April 23, 1985-August 4, 2007

1 Samuel 1

Lord God, You have granted to us many blessings. Though we grieve for what we cannot have, surely You hear the cries of Your loved ones. We know of nothing that can be given to us that would take away our pain, but You are God, and You will help Your people. We give our lives to You. Our children are surely gifts from You. Though love for others opens the door to loss and sorrow, You will help us when we are troubled in spirit. There is an assurance of Your love that can only come from You. Even when we cannot feel any joy, surely one day we will laugh, for You will give to us our heart’s desire. In Your Son, we have everything we need for the greatest happiness. You are so kind to us. Though we live in this world of misery, You are with us. We give our lives to You again. As we are able, we also give You the lives of our children. As long as they live, they are Yours. Even when they die, they are in Your hands. Blessed be Your Name.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Prayers based on 2 Kings 18-20

2 Kings 18

Father God, You are able to bring good news to Your people at just the right times. You also know the right discipline to give to Your children at just the right time. We thank You for the relief that You grant by giving us leaders who will listen to and obey Your commandments. Even the best of these will yet have weakness and sin. Enemies of great power and skill may come and speak to us words of hate and faithlessness. Teach us to trust in You, O Lord our God. Help us not to fall into dangerous lies and traps. The world around us is full of trouble and hate, but You are far more powerful than any foe. We will listen to You. Thank You for Your Son. His holiness and power are so far above even the best rulers. He must be the One who fights for us in our day of desperate trouble

2 Kings 19

O God, we have been humbled by our troubles. We were so proud of ourselves until a day of distress came to us. You must help us, or we will not be able to survive. You can send powers and principalities fleeing, despite all of their proud boasts. Grant us courage today. Fill us with a spirit of heartfelt prayer. Hear us when we cry out to You. You hear and see those who mock You. Save us from the hands of enemies that are too strong for us. You hear our prayers, and grant us the gift of hope. We will stand with You. You are able to humble the proudest foe. Our enemies are mortal, and the years of the most powerful adversary will come to an end. Your plans are from of old, and You will do all Your holy will. We will be amazed by Your wonderful deliverance. Surely You are God, and we are Your people. The end of the story will be different than the sorrow of the present moment.

2 Kings 20

Our Father, our lives are in Your hands. When we face our mortality, we cry out to You. You grant us life according to Your good pleasure. We thank You that our King Jesus reigns forever. The resurrection of our Messiah is the greatest sign to us of the truth of Your promises. On the day of blessing, help us to remain in watchfulness. Teach us to remember the humbling providences that we have suffered in the past, and to resist the danger of foolish pride.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Monday, April 21, 2008

Prayer based on 2 Kings 17

Sovereign Lord, how can Your people survive under wicked leaders? Our sin is all around us, and we face enemies that are too powerful for us. O God, we admit to You our fascination with the idolatries of this world. Like Your people of old, we have secretly served false gods. You warned us through those who have brought us Your Word. We despised the message of truth and Your commandments. We have moved in directions that have been horribly unprofitable. What trouble we have brought upon our lives! Please forgive us, help us, and rescue us from evil. We thank You for our strong Deliverer, Jesus Christ. He is able to help us. He is powerful and holy, and He has made promises to be with us, and to help us and our children. Please teach us how to live in a world full of false religious philosophies and immorality. We do not know how to do this. We need You to help us today and always. We need to remember how to fear You and to follow You, Deliver us out of the hand of our enemies. Teach us to be dedicated to You with all that we are and all that we have.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Prayers based on Leviticus 25-27

Leviticus 25

Merciful Lord, You have granted Your people rest in Your Son Jesus Christ. We are so often running in one direction, and then running in another. Please forgive us. One day a week is not enough for us to understand the fullness of rest that You have granted to us. We long for the age to come, the time of eternal Sabbath. Help us to enter into that rest even now. Grant us the material blessings necessary for us to live as we take the little day of rest that You have commanded us to observe. We rejoice in You. Lord God, we pray that You would grant to our hearts the joy of the fullest Jubilee in Your Son. We are priests who attend to You through Him. We also care for our brothers, for we have been redeemed from bondage. We are Your servants, and now we are Your Sons. What shall we be in the age to come? We know that we shall be like Jesus, for we shall see Him as He is. Grant us great joy in our families even now. Especially grant to us a fuller sense of our family joy in Your church. Why should the redeemed mourn or celebrate alone? We are Your people. We are Your servants. We are Your family.

Leviticus 26

God of Glory, You who made the heavens and the earth. Why would we make idols? Why would we hate the rest that You so kindly bestow upon us? Why would we turn away from Your Law. You have granted to us great promises for those who will believe and obey. Your Son has won for us the fullness of every blessing. We thank You, O God. By our own hypocrisy and disobedience we deserved the fullness of discipline from Your hand. You have discipline us in love, but not according to what we have deserved. We turn to You now. We will not walk contrary to You. Please do not send the curse of the covenant of works upon us. Please do not send Your fury against us. Your Son has fully atoned for our sins. Grant us a full mercy forever, Bring us rest in Jesus Christ. Take away our tears and our anxiety. We shall not perish forever. Please bring us resurrection lives. Do not leave our bodies in the grave forever. Come soon, Lord Jesus. We know that we spurned Your rules, but we hate our sin. You know that we cannot take much trouble or we will be ruined. We have had high spiritual pretensions, but low spiritual attainments. We have been given so much, and much is rightly required of us. Please forgive us.

Leviticus 27

Lord God, Your Son has made a precious vow upon the cross. We are the payment of that vow. His vow was a vow of persons. We have been promised to You by our gracious Savior. We will be perfectly holy one day, and we shall be Yours forever. We are Your servants, but we are also Your sons, and the bride of Your only-begotten Son, even His body. You have made such great promises to us. We have been redeemed. You certainly will not abandon us. We are not ashamed to ask You for those things that You have promised us in Your Word. You have said to us, “Never will I leave You. Never will I forsake You.” Please keep us in Your love forever.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Prayers based on Second Timothy

2 Timothy 1

Our Father, we thank You that we have been brought into Your family as beloved children. We also thank You for the blessing of godly elders and parents in the faith who have led us in the way of power, love, and self-control. Continue this great work of Your Holy Spirit among us. You have displayed to us Your wonderful grace. We see life even now. One day we shall see the resurrection. We long for the glorious coming of Your Son. We commit ourselves to the sure foundation of Your holy Word. We will guard that good deposit. Keep us in the faith, and move us forward in love.

2 Timothy 2

Lord God, help us to be faithful to Your Word. Grant that we would entrust Your truth to the next generation. Help us to see the battle and to commit ourselves to the work that You have granted to us. Christ is surely with us. May we never abandon Him. Thank You, O God, that He remains faithful, even in our moments of weakness and unbelief. Your Son will not deny Himself. You know those who are Yours. We depart from iniquity again by Your power. We are to be Your holy people. We want to pursue Your truth and righteousness with a stable heart. Grant us persistence and victory as we serve You day by day.

2 Timothy 3

Sovereign Lord, there is much sin in the world, and in the current age there is even much wickedness in the church. Bless us with spiritual wisdom, courage, and perseverance. We do not want to follow in the way of the proud. Grant us Your power so that we will resist foolish passions and hypocrisy. We thank You for the Scriptures. Keep us in Your Word, that we might live a godly life in Christ Jesus, lest we be deceived. Provide us constant faith and repentance. Thank You for the ministers of the Word You have granted to us. May they be equipped for every good work by Your wonderful Word.

2 Timothy 4

Almighty Father, help Your ministers to preach the Word faithfully. Why should Your people wander off into myths and the philosophies of men? Help us to keep the faith. We long for the appearing of Your Son. Keep us from an inordinate love of this world that would lead us in directions that would not be profitable for Your Kingdom. Despite whatever persecution we may face, help us to continue boldly in the gospel of Christ by Your grace.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Friday, April 18, 2008

Ezekiel 11

When God sent destruction upon Jerusalem, He did not act against a faceless city. God has an exhaustive knowledge of all His creatures. He knew all of the people in the city. In particular, He brings attention to two specific leaders who had somehow risen to prominence after the former ruling class had been carried off to Babylon. These two men are mentioned by name, and their words are recorded. Their counsel to the city is called wicked. These leaders were not leading God’s people in heartfelt repentance for their sin. They were not seeking to hear the Word of God and to obey. God revealed the idle words of these men to His prophet.

Not only was the Lord aware of the words of these men, He was also aware of their thoughts. That is why He says here, “So you think, O house of Israel.” People who quickly rise to power often make their plans in pride. They will come, they will go, and it will all be by their plan. Even if they die, they imagine that it will be by their prediction. There is no sense of the will of a sovereign God in their words or in their meditations. They do not consider how their own actions have led to trouble for so many people. There is no sense of remorse, or any willingness to admit their responsibility for the sanctions that have come upon the land. They are filled with pride like new wine, and they are ready to burst out of their skins. They will not humble themselves before God.

The truth is that God’s people had not walked in His statutes. They had not obeyed His rules. This had led to horrible difficulties for all concerned. If they would not follow the Lord’s ways in former days, what was their way of life? People have to live by some standard. Even when people are doing what seems right in their own eyes, where did their desires spring from? In this case, the source of their philosophy of life is revealed. They observed the rules of the nations all around them, and they chose to follow their ways, rather than obey the Law of God.

At this very moment, while Ezekiel was prophesying, word came to the prophet that one of the two men mentioned earlier had just died. Rather than gloat over the demise of one who had been censured, Ezekiel uses this announcement to plead before God for the remaining people who are yet alive. Will they all die? Will anyone be left alive?

God has a word of encouragement now for His people who are in exile. It may appear that the lucky ones have remained in the land, but that is not the case. The remaining people in the land had misinterpreted providence. They had assumed that the fact of their being left behind in the land was a sign of God’s favor of them over their exiled brothers. The truth is that God uses this false theory to announce that He has great intentions of calling back home those who have been exiled. There is no time schedule hear, just a word to give hope to those who would receive it.

One day there will be a new generation that will return to the land. That generation will have a new way about them. They will clean out the land of all the idolatry of former years. They will have a new heart from God. They will obey the Lord. They will be His people. He will be their God. While there would be a small fulfillment of this in the restoration of the people in the years ahead, the more significant fulfillment would come in the New Covenant era. It is then that the Spirit would be poured out, and the people of God would be those who had been born again from above. Even more than this, the day would eventually come when the people of God would all have the fullness of a heavenly Spirit. This is still our hope to this day, and we know that this is what will be granted to us when the Lord Jesus returns.

For now, those who have no gift of faith and repentance have a bleak future. God will bring their deeds upon their own heads. The glory chariot lifts away from the temple and the city of Jerusalem, and the Spirit of God carries Ezekiel back to the place of exile. There he brings a word of hope to the exiles in this place who might have been easily discouraged. God yet reigns. God has a plan. The place to be now is not in Jerusalem. God will restore the fortunes of His exiled people.

No matter how good life was in Babylon, or later in Jerusalem, or even now in the church, the promise of God is bigger than our best days here below. Because of the Son of God, our hope goes far beyond the borders of Israel, and far beyond our own ability to repent and believe. Christ has supplied all the necessary merit for a bigger blessing than you have ever seen or experienced.

In that day of blessing to come, it is still the fact that God knows us by name. His care for us is not faceless. As He was particular in judgment, so He is particular in blessing. He has a plan for each of us that fits the best person we are to be within an environment of the best love that can ever be known. Such news is good for our souls. Even now we rejoice in the life to come, though for a little while we may still suffer.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Ezekiel 10

God is a Spirit. He does not have a body like man. Jesus is God, but He is also fully man, which is why He is visible. Yet God has made Himself visible in some sense at different times, taking on an appearance before someone to make some point or other. In this prophetic book we are now used to thinking about the presence of God in terms of His glory chariot and His throne. Details of color are mentioned and angelic beings are described.

All of this is not so that we will know what God looks like, since there is some sense in which the Bible tells us that no man has ever seen God. Despite this fact mentioned in the first chapter of John’s gospel, the apostle goes on to state that “the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.” Jesus has made God known to us. What we saw before Jesus came were various visible images that simply confirmed to us the divine presence at a key moment in salvation history, or confirmed a key message from God through an amazing appearance. As we hear in Ezekiel this message from the temple, the chariot and the throne confirm to us that the voice that the prophet hears is the voice of God, perhaps through an angelic mediator.

The angelic scribe from the previous chapter is then instructed to go in among the whirling wheels of the glory chariot. He is to fill his hands with burning coals. It is obvious that this is a very dangerous image. First, the picture presented is something that no man would want to act out. To put one’s hands near those wheels and to pick up fire from heaven is beyond us. This is even more the case when we think of what this represents. It is a picture of the judicial presence of God who is bringing horrible disaster upon Jerusalem. Think of this biblical principle: Judge not, lest ye be judged. Who can be engaged in this work of touching the wrath of God in order to cast it down upon others? In our current sinful condition we cannot be anywhere near this scene. We would just as soon presume to rush up to the heavenly throne of God in Revelation 4 and 5 and rip open the seals on His book of divine woes coming upon the whole earth. A holy angel can do as he is commanded here. Nevertheless, consider this: One day, purified from all sin, we will even judge angels. How did we become so pure that we will be able to do that? This could never have happened except through the blood of the perfectly pure Messiah.

When Solomon dedicated the temple, we were told in 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 that “the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.” Now we have the glory cloud filling the temple, but no longer is their any joy at this amazing presence of God. Here God has come not to bless the temple or the people, but to judge them, and then to depart from the place of His presence.

The vision is frightening, and the sound of it must have been terrifying. We are told that the sound of the wings of the cherubim was like the voice of the Lord God Almighty. The angels are placing heavenly fire into the hands of the angelic scribe. He then goes out from that place, presumably to execute God’s vengeance upon the city with the fire of the Lord’s judgment. When we think that we would like to be near God, this scene is not what we imagine. We do want to be near Him when He comes with blessing in His hands. We could not bear to be anywhere near Him if he should come with His holy angels to execute His wrath. The description of this chariot throne is at least very similar to what we were first introduced to in the beginning of the book, but the occasion here is different, and it is not comforting.

What follows is further description of the angelic presence alongside of God on this occasion. Much of this requires no further comment, but there is one other detail that should be noted. The glory of the Lord seems to be on the way up and out. Is this the end of God’s presence here? When the glory of the Lord came at the dedication of Solomon’s temple there was a great sense of a new beginning in the presence of God. Now we cannot shake the feeling that we are seeing a very important end, and it is very sad to consider what this would mean for all the glories of God’s operations among men.

When Christ came as the new temple of God, something old was surely finished. We cannot have the temple in Jerusalem as the place of God’s special presence, and still have room for Christ as the fulfillment of that earlier picture. The picture must ultimately give way to the reality of worship in Christ. The old had to make way for the new. The place of worship was no longer in Jerusalem, for those who would worship God would only be able to do so in Jesus, the new temple. To worship in Christ is to worship in Spirit and in truth. We have been united to this new glory temple through faith in the Son of God.

Because of the abiding peace that has come from His acceptable sacrifice, that presence is one of great blessing. In Him the elect will not face the judgment of His presence in wrath. What we have in Him today we will have in Him forever. His presence of peace and joy will never change into a different presence of fire and fear for those who have fled to Christ for refuge.

Furthermore, the joy of temple living is now an everlasting joy. Our great priest lives forever to make intercession for us. There is no further assault coming against the true temple of God, Jesus Christ. Evil hands came against Him in His earthly ministry, but they cannot lay a finger upon Him now. He is coming again. For us, His coming is one of the fullest salvation. Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God in the wonderful glory temple of the Holy Spirit.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Ezekiel 9

When was the last time someone yelled something in Your presence for the purpose of emphasis? It is already a profound experience for this prophet to be taken in a vision by what must be an angel and to be brought from the place of exile back to the temple in Jerusalem. It is that much more startling when this powerful being from heaven cries out in a loud voice, calling for executioners. There appears to be no opportunity for some saving intercession in this vision. Powerful beings with capabilities of sure destruction are coming to carry out the deadly instructions given to them.

The beings that will carry out heaven’s sentence against God’s people in Jerusalem include six warriors and one scribe with a writing case. They are ready for action. We can readily imagine what the fighting beings are supposed to be doing. The small number of them necessary for the task tells us that they are powerful in their job of destruction. They will do what they are commanded to do with amazing speed, and will not be denied. What is the purpose of the one scribe? What or who will He be marking, and what will be the impact of this mark? We wait to discover this in the verses that follow.

As the operation of divine judgment is about to begin, the God of Israel is somehow seen and heard. His glory presence is at the Head of all that will happen here. It is God’s judgment at work in the midst of the holy city. The scribe is sent out first to mark those who will be spared. Like the blood on the doorposts of the houses of the Israelites during the Passover, the mark written by this angelic scribe will be necessary for life. What is it that causes a person to be spared? This is an amazing detail. Those who are saved display this characteristic: They genuinely care about the horrible spiritual condition of the city of God. They sigh and groan over the abominations that are committed there.

The fighting angels follow the scribe. They are to strike down all who do not have the mark of deep care for the Lord’s great city. They are to do this without any pity. No special exception is made based on age or sex. Judgment begins with the people who worship God, and within that sanctuary, death comes first to the men there who are the elders, the men who are in a position of special authority and responsibility. This is where judgment begins, but it is not where it ends. It proceeds out into the whole city. The numbers of the slain will be horribly overwhelming.

Though there would seem to be no room for mercy, Ezekiel pleads for Israel. He falls on his face, alone before God, the single intercessor. What does he ask for? He does not deny that God is right to bring forth His righteous wrath against the city. He does not expect that there is any way to save the whole of the city. He asks whether God will destroy the remnant of Israel. This remnant is something that the Lord spoke of through the earlier prophets. Even back in the days of Abraham, that great man of God pleaded for the few who would be counted as righteous in the midst of God’s general destruction of the wicked. For the glory of the Lord’s Name, and for the fulfillment of His wonderful promises, there will be a small percentage of the whole, a remnant of God’s choosing, who will be kept. These are presumably the ones who have been marked by the scribe, the few who were deeply troubled by the sorry condition of the Lord’s city.

From the Lord’s response it is clear that there will be no other vessels of God’s mercy than those who have that special mark. The offense against God has been deep. He has been patient for generations, but now judgment has come. What particular statement of the offenders is noted by God in His refusal to expand mercy to others? They had claimed that God had given up on His land, and they had presumed that they could continue in their sin, because the Lord would not see. It was their denigration of the character of Israel’s God that seems to have sealed their fate. Like those in the Lord’s church even today who have a hardened rejection of God’s mercy, and who will not repent despite the gravest chastising discipline, these rebellious people in the days of Ezekiel are asking for the worst kind of trouble that can be known on the earth.

The chapter ends with the speedy return of the angelic scribe. “I have done as you commanded me,” he says to the Lord. Yes, it is finished.

Hundreds of years later, the most righteous servant of the Lord would be able to say these words. He had done all that His Father had commanded, not for judgment to begin against the church, but for mercy to be extended to the remnant. He did all that was commanded. He loved His Father with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength, and He loved His neighbor with the fullness of love that was supremely expressed through His death on the cross. He was able to say, “It is finished.”

One day He will return in judgment. Until then we are imitators of His love for His church. We mourn over the abominations that we see in the city of God in our lifetime, just as those who have been marked by the Holy Spirit have mourned in every era. We know that God knows how to save the righteous and He knows how to judge the wicked. Though we deserve the fate of the wicked, we rejoice that we are included with the righteous, for the blood of the Lamb of God has been sprinkled on the doorposts of our hearts, and gathering angels will indeed rescue us for salvation rather than gather us for the wrath that we deserve.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Ezekiel 8

The people of God were in exile. Ezekiel was with the elders of Judah, and the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon him there in the land of exile. The message from God came through His prophet in the hearing of those who had special responsibility for the Lord’s nation. They were leaders of the people, though they were in forced subjection to another nation by God’s hand.

God speaks through all of the things that He has made. Because of this speech, man is without excuse. Yet God also speaks with great clarity using words. He normally speaks those words through an appointed messenger. The words that we have recorded in the Bible are a completed deposit of this special revelation. We stand in great need of this speech of God, which we should value for what it is, the Word of God to us. Particularly those who have positions of responsibility among the people of God should recognize their great need to hear from the Lord.

In the case of the prophet Ezekiel, he not only hears from God or his angel, he may actually see the one who speaks in some way. The appearance of a human figure is presented to the prophet. There is more to this being than his humanity. The fire that seems to be a part of him is reminiscent of the divine representation to Moses in the burning bush. This man with a torso like gleaming metal is somehow more than a man. He shows this by his actions as well as his appearance, since he can pick up Ezekiel by a lock from the prophet’s head, and with the Spirit of God, lifts him up in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the court of the temple. There he is confronted by idolatrous images and actions that seem almost designed to bring God’s wrath upon those who embrace them. This is not only because such instruments of false worship are always against the Law of God, but especially because of their placement in the temple area, the place of God’s presence with His people.

What follows in the remainder of the chapter is an account of the various provocations against God by His people. In this vision Ezekiel digs into the wall, discovers an entrance, goes inside, and there sees all kind of images of the idols of the house of Israel. Even if such a wall as this one had never existed, the placement of this vision is appropriate, because here we are given a glimpse into the idolatrous affections of the hearts of God’s people. This sin begins in the heart and the mind. God has granted to us the amazing capacity to desire, to feel things deeply, and to meditate upon them. These capacities are to be dedicated to Him. We are to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In our hearts we have instead plastered the inside walls of this temple of the Holy Spirit with idol upon idol, till these creeping things have obscured the image of God in us, and the light of the Lord that should be shining through us seems irreparably darkened by our sin and iniquity.

This is bad enough when the weakest people among the descendants of Jacob would be taken in by such strange worship. The next level of abomination Ezekiel is made to see is the participation of seventy leading men in burning incense to false gods. They fall prey to strange opinions and practices, convincing themselves that god will not notice such things. They also say, “The Lord has forsaken the land.” Instead of taking in this information as a further directive towards the deepest kind of repentance, the elders seem to seize upon it as a wild excuse in their determination to ignore the word of the Lord.

This is followed with visions of organized worship, first of women weeping for a false god, and then of men turning away from the presence of God so that they could worship the sun. In addition to these ritual sins of spiritual wickedness, they express their hatred of the Author of all that is good and right by filling God’s land with violence. The end result of their superstition, idolatry, and murderous oppression will be that God will not hear them when they call out to Him in distress. His eye will not spare, and he will have no pity.

This description of God’s people, his elders and the men and women in Jerusalem, bares no resemblance to the Son of God. They were insensible spiritually, with no remaining feelings of shame. They were full of all that was false, and covered in the depravity of all that was hateful and wicked. The Messiah, on the other hand, was as far away from even the thought of such sin as the east is from the west. He was entirely pleasing to His Father, without even the slightest blemish.

How is it, then, that He faced their end? How is it that the Father turned away from Him on the cross, since Jesus could never have ceased to be the Son of His love? It was surely for our sake that He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted. Divine justice came upon Him as our substitute. This alone is quite amazing, but it would not be enough if the only thing that was accomplished was the removal of the just penalty that was against us. If we no longer had the fact of hell to deal with but were still as fit for hell as ever, this would not be the fullness of good news that is ours in Christ. We have something more promised to us. We shall not be full of unbelief and wickedness forever.

By the cross our lives have been changed. We have been granted the presence of God in the temple of the Holy Spirit. We hear the Word of God in nature, and especially in the Bible, even now. We have a new heart that loves that Word. One day we will be lifted up to the heavenly sanctuary. Every trace of our sinful inclinations will be completely removed from us in every conceivable way. We are being cleansed now, but we shall one day be without spot or blemish or any such thing. The temple of God shall be forever holy. We will be there. In fact, in Christ, we will be the perfected temple of God. On that day we will not only hear our God, but we will see His Son face to face. With our resurrected bodies we will see Him as He is. This perfection of holiness is an essential component of what we understand to be the perfect salvation. Because of Christ, God hears us when we call. In fact, all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Monday, April 14, 2008

Ezekiel 7

“An end!” We are moving toward an end. The end is in God’s hand, and it always has been in God’s hand. That end will be glorious, so glorious that we live today in the light of that coming day. That end will not be a mere local end. It will be global. In the day of Ezekiel a lesser “end” came for Judah and Israel. Though that was not the big end, it was very big for the people who lived through it. That end came upon the four corners of Israel. The bigger coming day will come upon the four corners of the entire earth. That day will not only be a day of wrath. It will be a day of the fullest salvation for the people of God. It is the beauty of that salvation that gives us courage and strength as we feel the horror of smaller ends that come upon us in the trials that the Lord ordains for his people and his church in the current age.

In the judgment that God announced through Ezekiel, God’s wrath was the obvious emphasis of His message to His people. God would judge His people according to their ways. It is always the case that God will not be mocked. He is unwilling to have the supposed loyalty of His people at the very time when they have obvious abominations in their behavior and worship. What would it say about God if he were satisfied with our protests of loyalty despite our obvious and open rebellion against His commandments? He is the Lord. We should know that He is not satisfied with hypocrisy by the plain story of the history of Israel combined with the words of the prophets. This point is also strongly presented to us in the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees.

The end of Judah in the days of Ezekiel, or any other expression of the wrath of God, surprises us because God is so patient with us and is so full of mercy. We should not be confused into thinking that the Lord is lax regarding His demands of righteousness. We are helped in understanding this important point by the descriptions of times of uncompromising judgment as recorded in the Scripture. There comes a time when the Lord will not spare any longer. When wickedness first takes root in the church, that beginning may be just a seed. Pride is not a good seed in the life of an individual or in any faith community. When that ugly plant grows and blossoms it leads to violence and doom. Perhaps the history of Israel and Judah help us to see the seriousness of the Lord concerning willful and persistent unrighteousness. Even in the New Testament era the church is warned to repent, last our lamp stand be taken away. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church as a whole, but individual expressions of the church will be removed by the same Lord who ordained the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.

We live our lives as if everything will always continue on as it has for many years. We buy and sell. We go out to our jobs, and we deal with the common frustrations and opportunities of our routine. We should not imagine that we will somehow escape the temporal troubles that would come upon us when the Lord brings an end to a church or even a nation. We will not be able to simply maintain our existing habits as if nothing were wrong. Our iniquity leads to trouble.

We should also not assume that we will somehow have the resources to push away trouble by our own force when it is Almighty God who brings judgment upon us. This is not just something for the world to consider, for judgment begins in the household of God. We could try to sound the alarm and marshal all our forces to put off all danger and trouble, but if God is bringing trouble upon us, we will not be able to force His hand away by our imagined strength. There is news that by itself is so bad, that every hand would be instantly weak, and every spirit within the most courageous men would immediately grow faint.

This kind of disaster can come upon us with such speed and force that we would be shocked by the events unfolding around us. Nonetheless, there is no need for us to be surprised. We have been warned by God sufficiently concerning His demands of holiness. We have heard His Word. What is our surprise? Did we imagine that we could buy our way out of every trouble? Did we think that our ingenuity would be the solution for every possible disaster?

Where we will surely fail, Christ has convincingly succeeded. His victory over the righteous wrath of God has not come from forcing the Father to back down from His holy demands. His victory for us has come through Christ taking the full weight of God’s righteous requirements upon Himself. He did not push away the wrath of God. He faced it. He did this for us.

Because of this tremendous act of power and love, the end has become for us a day of salvation. Let us not turn away today from the one who has won for us such a complete victory. It is a frightening thing to think of our exclusion from the assembly of those who have their hope and trust in Jesus Christ. Outside of Him, there simply is no hope for sinners, but in Him there is abundant help for us now and always.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Prayer based on Luke 21

Our Father, we give You all that we have today; even out of our poverty. Surely we are a part of a new temple through faith in Your Son. There is much trouble all around us. We know that the gospel must be preached to all nations. You will protect Your children as we move forward in this task. Provide for Your servants who are seeking only to do what You have commanded. One day there will be signs in the heavens, and Your Son will come. All Your good plans will be fulfilled. May we be those who wait faithfully, and who serve You diligently, as we long for His appearing.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Friday, April 11, 2008

Ezekiel 6

One day the earth as we see it now will have to make may for a new creation. Old things will be as if forgotten, and new things will be our everyday existence. God speaks in another place about creation being rolled up like a garment. There is a sense in which the old earth will be destroyed under the weight of all that has happened upon it, as if the creation itself had become so thoroughly defiled by all our sin.

In the days of Ezekiel, God had the prophet face toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them. What had the mountains do to deserve this? Mountains don’t sin, but God’s people did sin upon the mountains of Israel. Because of this sin, the mountains would be destroyed. What had they done on the mountains? Throughout the history of Israel and Judah we have heard of high places where the people went to sacrifice and to offer incense. They performed unauthorized rituals to God and even to their many idols. They built altars and defiled the land with their false worship. Now the Lord promises to scatter their dead bodies on their idolatrous altars.

Through the Lord’s judgment upon the mountains, upon the high places, the altars, the cities, and the people, God is accomplishing a very important purpose. When the slain fall in the midst of the people it is a testimony to something. Through these difficult days, the people will know that He is the Lord. He is the great I AM. He does not need anyone to defend Him. He has defended His own Name and His own great glory. For centuries He showed great forbearance. Now He displays His incomparable holiness and justice.

Everyone will not be destroyed. Some will be thrust out into other nations. In the places where they have been scattered they will remember the Lord, and they will despise themselves because of their sins. God had said that he would send His people into exile. In that day, the people would know that their God, the God of Israel, was the Lord. God is not only known through the good that He does. We sometimes ignore the many blessings that we receive, and forget that the Lord is the source of every good gift. It is a fact that we may more readily remember God when He disciplines us according to His promises.

Grief has physical manifestations. When people talk about a heartache, they speak the truth. There is a cry that is experienced by the grieving soul that is a deeper mourning than people without such grief have ever experienced. Children stamp their feet in disappointment when they do not get their way. Here, God tells Ezekiel, mature adults among His people will clap their hands and stamp their feet, not in the joy of a festival dance, but in the horrible grief of divine chastisement. Sword, famine, and pestilence, the familiar trilogy of prophetic disaster, will come upon the Lord’s people, as He had promised through the prophets long ago.

The reason for this is not mysterious. Their false worship, their idols, and their special spiritual places of their own creation were all deeply offensive to the true God. This was not a new message. God had raised up His people to be a display of Himself. They were to show forth His holiness and His mercy. God had designed His worship and Law for this purpose. His people simply would not do what He had commanded. They had other spiritual practices in mind, and even other gods that they insisted on worshiping.

God was not finished with His people, though so many of them would lose their lives. To the rest, He would show Himself through His wrath, and that would end up being a mercy for all who would receive the truth that the God who disciplined them was truly the Lord God Almighty, and not some lifeless idol. The key question would be whether His people could get the right and obvious message from the devastating events all around them.

Do we get the right message from the events of judgment that fill the history of salvation? Are we able to see that the Lord is God when we consider the flood, the trouble in the wilderness, or the exile of Israel and Judah? Most importantly do we know that the Lord is God when we hear the message of the cross?

The cross is the greatest fulfillment of divine judgment that has ever been known by man. It is far more than any trouble that the Old Testament people of God ever faced, far more even then the destruction of the older world in the flood. On the cross, hell came upon one man. Like the mountains of Israel, He had done nothing wrong. He willingly took the eternal wrath due against us for our sin. Do we see that only the Lord could have accomplished our full salvation through this death? Jesus is the Lord. He is great in holiness, and wonderful in mercy. His is the only Name by which we must be saved.

One day the present heaven and earth will have to give way to a new creation. The fire of God’s judgment is coming. Christ has faced that fiery ordeal for us, and has emerged victorious so that we may live forever in a land of permanent holiness.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Ezekiel 5

In the prior chapter of this book, the prophet Ezekiel was instructed by God to act out certain judgment pictures. This continued in the fifth chapter with another display, which was then explained through the Word of the Lord. The picture was not a happy one, but a further confirmation of the trouble that would come upon the people of Jerusalem.

The Lord had his prophet act as both the barber and the one getting the haircut. He was to cut his hair and his beard, and then divide the hair into three equal groups. This was to be done with precision, measuring out the hair by weight using a scale. This was a puzzling detail that should cause us to consider that the Lord’s ways with men are not haphazard, but very deliberate.

We know that the Lord was not ultimately saying something about hair in this chapter, but about people. Our Savior would eventually make a similar point many years later in Matthew 10:28-31, when He said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” The illustration of hair is used in the Bible to identify a large number of particulars that are beyond our counting, but are well known to God. There were many people in Jerusalem. Their destiny was not a matter of chance, but a fact that was settled in the will of God.

One third of the hair would burn in the fire in the city at the end of the siege. Another third would die by the sword in the city. The final third would flee from the city at the end, but they would not escape disaster. They would also die by the sword, since they would be pursued and captured. There would be just a few people that would not have this end. They were represented symbolically by a small number of strands of hair that would be bound up in the skirts of the prophet’s robe. Even some of these would end up in the fire. Some would survive, all of this according to the Lord’s particular plan. (One thinks of the baptized church, and then within that number the elect church, that will one day be revealed as the true sons of God.)

God had set Jerusalem as the showcase of His Law and of His covenant faithfulness in front of the entire world. All the nations should have been able to come to this great city and admire the beauty of following the Lord God Almighty. Many should have seen the order and truth of the people of God, her kings and her priests, and should have asked for the reason that this city was so greatly blessed above all the other centers of influence throughout the world. The answer would have been obvious; because the God of Jerusalem was the real God, and He loved His people, and gave them great laws, and they were only too happy to delight in Him and to follow Him.

This was not what happened. God’s people not only rebelled against Him, they did it by committing more wickedness than the surrounding nations. They refused to follow His commandments and to walk in His love. What possible good news did the people of Jerusalem have for the rest of the world? They would not believe the Lord’s Word. Why would anyone else have been moved to follow the Lord by their example?

God would not bless this city. He would bring His judgments against her. That would be His testimony to the nations. They had chosen to rebel against Him more than those who did not have His Law. He would punish them with horrible things that even the other nations had not faced. They had the tremendous blessing of a sanctuary where God promised to be present with them. They had neglected this gift and had filled the temple with abominations. Consequently God announced that He would withdraw from them, and that He would have no pity on them.

What He had promised with Ezekiel’s razor, He now confirmed with His Word. Fire, the sword in the city, and the sword outside of the city would consume the people. Beyond these three, famine would destroy many, and even wild beats would come against them, taking away their young ones. This was God’s settled will against Jerusalem. He concluded His message with these solemn words: “I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

When the wrath of the Lord came upon Christ on the cross, it came upon Him definitively. The punishment was weighed out carefully. It was for His remnant, for those loved ones who were kept safe in the fold of His garments and not surrendered to the fire. For those beloved children the devastating horrors of hell came upon the perfect soul of Jesus of Nazareth. This great judgment is a source of some consolation to us now, for we know that the justice of God must have been fully satisfied. We clearly could not take God’s fury against us, which we deserved because of our sin.

Now the Lord’s church has a blessed opportunity to live by faith in Christ. We still may face trouble, but our debt has been fully paid. We need to follow Him faithfully, always being ready to give a reason for the hope that lies within us. We are more precious to Him than many sparrows. Even the hairs of our heads are numbered. Christ the Lord has died for us.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM 0 comments