Year 2, Week 18, Day 3 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 18, Day 3

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Ezekiel 11-12.

Today’s reading continues the Book of Ezekiel. Today’s reading proceeds further into the first segment of Ezekiel (chapters 1-24), which is a series of prophecies about impending judgment on the people of Judah for their persistent disobedience to the LORD. Ezekiel 11 which concludes a subunit of thought that began with chapter 8, is a prophetic vision from the LORD in which Ezekiel is transported to Jerusalem and given a glimpse of what was unfolding in the Temple. The glory of God, which slowly began its departure, is complete: “Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles” (Ezekiel 11:22-24a). Meanwhile, the elders who were leading the idolatry in the Temple are also revealed as conspiring in wickedness: “The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of the LORD, which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway there were twenty-five men…And he said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city; who say, The time is not near to build houses. This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’ Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of man” (Ezekiel 11:1-4). Ezekiel 12 describes another sign-act in which Ezekiel demonstrates, by way of carrying around luggage and digging a hole in the wall, the impending judgment that the people will face. However, the people do not grasp what Ezekiel shows them: “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house” (Ezekiel 12:2).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the promise offered to a remnant already taken into captivity: “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel” (Ezekiel 11:17). Not the ones currently still in Jerusalem, but the ones in exile, will be given the land. They are currently scattered, but they will one day be regathered. In the meantime, and this is perhaps even more intriguing, while the LORD has departed from the Temple, the LORD is reassuring His people who are currently in exile, that the presence of the LORD is with them: “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone” (Ezekiel 11:16). The LORD has vacated the sanctuary in Jerusalem but has provided His people in captivity a sanctuary. This sanctuary is not a physical structure, but the very presence of God with them. The LORD did not need a building to meet with His people. This reality, which is emphasized much more in the New Testament, but it is already operational: “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).

And when the exiled people return, they will do things differently: “And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations” (Ezekiel 11:18). Their idolatrous practices had provoked the LORD to jealousy: “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore I will act in wrath” (Ezekiel 8:17-18a). But the remnant would not repeat the same provocations, for they will do things differently because they will be a different people: “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19-20). 

As the root of living a different kind of life is the necessity of God Himself, out of the sheer power of His grace, providing a different heart into which He places His Spirit. With a new heart, consisting of a different orientation, we can live in a different direction with a different purpose. This is what God gives to His people in Christ Jesus: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Though the only condition that God finds people to redeem is in a sinful condition, He does not leave them in the condition He finds them in. He swaps out the heart of stone with a heart of flesh—a heart sensitive to and inclined toward the leading of the Spirit—a leading toward obedience.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe