Encounter the Bible

This week, we cover chapters 40-48 of Ezekiel.   Ezekiel certainly ends on a high note as he is given a vision of a restored temple and a restored Israel.  What a wonderful message to receive!  What a wonderful word of hope!  But we have to remember that this was given while they were still in exile.  If you were in exile and heard this prophecy, what would be your reaction?  Would you believe it?  Would you be hopeful, yet skeptical?  Would you think Ezekiel had lost his mind? Our God hates and must punish sin because he is just and righteous.  But he is also full of mercy and compassion.  The tension that we feel in Ezekiel between God's justice and mercy is resolved at the cross where those two things came together in Jesus Christ, where Jesus took our punishment and satisfied God's wrath against sin. The prophets remind us that the good news is good because, on our own, it's only bad news.  Israel wandered far from God, but...

This week, we cover chapters 30-39 of Ezekiel.  There is a significant shift that happens at chapter 36.  After multiple prophecies against Israel and the surrounding nations, there is finally a word of hope.  The shift begins in chapter 34, where God promises to be Israel's shepherd because its previous shepherds have failed. But then in chapter 36, God promises the return of his people and then illustrates that through the valley of dry bones coming to life. When we read prophecy, God's justice and anger are often front and center.  But there is always a word of hope.  God is also merciful and compassionate and wants his people to live in relationship with him.  Ultimately, that hope is realized through Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd, the one who would also lay down his life for his sheep and then take it back up again so that we, too, can share in his victory. Yes, there are consequences to sin.  Israel learned that.  We learn that, too. But ...

This week, we cover chapters 18-29 of Ezekiel.  It's impossible to imagine what Ezekiel was going through as he prophesied to the people.  If what was happening to God's people wasn't bad enough, the death of Ezekiel's wife also becomes something of an object lesson. If someone were to argue that God doesn't take sin seriously and that the judgment is just a formality because everyone will be saved anyway, please direct that person to Ezekiel.  That God is disgusted with sin and punishes it severely is obvious throughout Ezekiel. It's not just the Hebrew people who are guilty of sin; God punishes the surrounding nations as well.  Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt will also experience God's judgment against sin.   It's only when we understand our own sin and how much God hates sin that we can fully appreciate what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  No longer are we subject to punishment; rather, we've been redeemed/saved from jud...