Ezekiel's vision

      A lot of times when you mention prophesy, people get a glazed look in their eye like you are speaking another language and try to end the conversation as soon as possible.  They have in mind people who try to predict Jesus coming to the day and hour or someone who is extreme in their views at worst and at least someone who is talking about something that isn't very practical.  If you ask people about Old Testament prophesy you will probably get the response that they don't know much about it or blank stares because they haven't read it or if they have they don't know what they have read.

      There is that struggle with some of the Old Testament if we are going to be completely honest.  And since this is my blog, I will be honest.  Some of it is very difficult to understand and every harder to find out how to apply.  Which is why many busy christians don't bother with reading it hardly at all.  Which in some ways is a shame because if you plum the depths of it you will find riches there.  I believe all of the Bible has riches in it if you are open to receiving it.  Sometimes it takes more work and is less evident at first.

      One of those places is in the book of Ezekiel.  Ezekiel starts his book of prophesy while already in exile by the Babylonians.  He sees a series of visions where the Spirit of God shows him visions of Jerusalem and the men of leadership there committing acts of idolatry.  God has Ezekiel act out his prophesy in front of the people in a variety of ways.  One of the ways that God appears to him is with the cherubim under the throne of God. 

      The cheribum themselves sound like something out of a science fiction movie.  We are told that they have four faces and four wings each (Ezekiel 1:6).  They gleam like bronze and have feet like calf's hoof and under the wings are hands like humans (Ezekiel 1:7-8).  The four faces are in the likeness of man, lion, bull and eagle.  Their was a wheel beside each being that Ezekiel called the whirling wheels Ezekiel 10:13 and eyes throughout the cherubims bodies.

     Ezekiel's vision is in some ways troubling and in some ways mysterious and it is unclear how we are to take the vision if some of it is symbolic.  Some commentators have said that the four faces are symbolic of the different types of creatures God has made including flying things, domestic animals, wild animals and mankind.  And that may be part of what is going on here.  Whatever the symbolism is I think there is also the message that Ezekiel has for us that God is all together different than we think He is.  That God is unique and powerful and holy and something completely different than we imagine.

    At one point early on in Ezekiel's vision, God lifts him up and takes him to the temple and tells Ezekiel to dig through a wall (Ezekiel 8:8).  So, he does and he comes to a door.  He enters this door and is shown 70 elders of the people of Israel.  The seventy are the group that would later make up the Sanhedrin.  These are the religious and community leaders of Israel.  God shows Ezekiel what up until now has only been suspected, that they are bowing down to idols in their hearts.  God is saying to Ezekiel that what is done in secret He sees and will judge.

    And that is one of the great truths here that gets lost in the symbolism and the wierdness of the visions and creatures.  God is saying that while it may appear that he doesn't see what is going on that He does.  The judgments that feel on the people of that day were a result of God disciplining his people for their idolatry.  There is a lesson to be learned here.  God sees the good, the bad and the ugly which is done in secret.  His eyes, which are covering the angels around the throne sees what is going on.

     One of my concerns about the church today is that the church appears to be busy and full of activity, but is a lot like a New Years Eve party with all the whistles and noise and no substance.  You can hear it in the sermons that are listened to each Sunday in most churches.  You can see it in the lack of an impact the church makes on the community each week.  You can see it in how apathetic the witness is of the church.  The church appears to be a mile wide and a inch deep.  Hopefully, this is not a reflection of the heart of most christians, but I fear that it is.  For those who have settled into their christian life like a well worn easy chair, the Spirit of God cries out to us and says that he sees the state of our hearts and minds and calls us to take up our cross, to quit compromising with the world and its values and to live holy lives.

A few thoughts. . . .

     I started a new book today called "The Warfare of the Spirit" by A.W.Tozer which has a quote in it that I would like to share with you.  It says, "Our Lord did not think about money the way His professed followers do today; and more particularly He did not give it the place our religious leaders give it.  To them it is necessary; to Him it was not. He had nowhere to lay His head, and we have made poetry out of His poverty while being extremely careful not to share it."  (Tozer, p.6).

     I thought about what Tozer is saying there and what he says later in this chapter.  Already I am only a few pages in and I feel challenged.  Tozer does that for me.  The man simply doesn't preach like a modern day preacher who panders to others.  He speaks about the reality that Jesus was persecuted by the world and told us that if we reflected Him that we would also be persecuted.  It just seems to me that the church today doesn't preach that message.  It speaks about the promises, but not the promise of persecution.

     As I sat watching the praise band the other day in worship, I noticed the loud music and the band playing.  I noticed they had two spotlights and probably more moving around.  I noticed several people raising their hands.  I noticed a lot of noise, but does that really equate with worship.  It looked more like a movie production than a worship service.  Maybe I'm just old fashion, but I am 44 years old and have been in church all my life and have never needed a spotlight before.  

     Sometimes I wonder if the church spends too much time trying to placate the world and become its friend.  About a week and a half ago, I visited a church with my kids and one of my daughter's friends.   I wasn't getting anything out of the service and so we left a little early.  My daughter, who gets her intelligence from her mother, said something that hit the nail right on the head.  She said, "That pastor talks a lot about himself."  I thought about it and she is right.  We endured a long dialogue about how many television stations they were now on and how their ministry was growing and I thought about what Jesus said when he warned about how to beware when all men speak well of you. 

      Another quote from Tozer, "One truth we may learn form His life as well as from His doctrine is that earthly riches cannot procure human happiness.  It is hard for a rich church to understand that her Lord was a poor man.  Were He to appear today on our city streets as He appeared in Jerusalem, He would in all probability be picked up for vagrancy." (Tozer, p.6).  Not only a vagrant, but a hated vagrant.  Watch what Jesus says about himself in John 15:20  "Remember the word that I said to you, "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also."  We need to remember that when Jesus spoke, sometimes people not only stopped coming, but sometimes they walked away also.  The word of God is a narrow gate and not everyone unfortunately finds it.

      I wonder what your experience has been like or if it has been similiar?  Has the church walked away from being the church that Jesus has called us to be?  Are we spending too much time pandering to the rich and well off and not being true to the gospel?

Treasures in Heaven

Jesus said in Matthew 6:20-21 "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where thieves do not break in or steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

    So when I read this verse, a couple of thoughts go through my mind.  The first is the most important "Do I do this?"  The verse is interesting in that the person who Jesus is speaking to is not passive.  The NASV uses the words "lay up for yourselves".  I have a tendency to look at the original greek or hebrew to understand words in the Bible better.  In this case, it isn't all that helpful.  It is what it says.  Which is that the person should be actively storing up treasure or things that you would put in a treasury in heaven.
     So, again, I ask "Am I doing that?"  And I come back with the answer "Yes and no."  I mean, I try to lay up treasures in heaven.  I really do try, at least some of the time.  But, to be completely honest, there are days that won't be a part of that holy registry.  Nothing much of value was created or stored up on that day.  I think the key issue is not the treasure, but where the heart is.
     In Adam Clarke's commentary on this verse he says, "If God be the treasure of our souls, our hearts, our affections and desires will be placed on things above."  And I think if the truth be known that this is a problem for all of us.  Because of the fall mentioned in Genesis 3, we all have a tendency to put our hearts and affections on here and now rather than heaven.  We all have a tendency to get selfish and to not treasure our relationship with God as much as we should.  Because if we did, a byproduct of that would be that God would be allowed to transform us from the inside out.
      In Genesis 15:1 God speaks to Abraham and says, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great."  I like the way the NIV translates this verse, it actually translates it that God is Abraham's great reward.  It isn't actually what God gives, but God Himself.  So, I think that is the key.  Not trying harder, because let's face it, we are all kinda a mixed bag of nuts.  Your never quite sure what your going to get.  I can't change my heart.  Only God can do that.  So, my first priority is to treasure my relationship with God and allow Him to deal with my heart condition and transform me.  Then, I will be laying up the treasures in heaven that He wants for me.

The Veil

The veil that is mentioned in the Old Testament was a veil that God commanded Moses to created between the holy place and the Holy of Holies where a priest entered only one time a year and that with a sacrifice.  This is mentioned in the Old Testament and also in Hebrews 9:2-10.  The priest would offer up a sacrifice for himself and for the people before entering the Holy of Holies.  This place in the center of the temple represented where God dwelt.

It is interesting that when Jesus died on the cross, it says in Matthew 27:51 that this veil was torn.  It was torn from top to bottom.  From God to men because of what Jesus did.  The way to God was open now to anyone at any time because of what Jesus did.  I wonder to myself what those Pharisees and Sadducees that saw the veil torn would have made of it.  I wonder to myself if they tried to sew it back together.  It seems to me that in a sense man is still in many ways trying to sew it back together, so that we can come to God on our own terms instead of his.

In his little book "The Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer, the author devotes a chapter titled "Removing the Veil" to this subject.  Tozer comments that what we have today is not a veil of fabric, but a veil over the heart.    For the christian, this creates distance in his or her relationship with God.  Tozer identifes some of the threads of this veil as self-sins of "self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love".  This veil is strong in the church today and in our world.  In fact, most of those qualities are applauded in our world today.

Tozer goes on to say in his book, which I would recommend to you by the way, that our part in removing the veil is to pray and yield and surrender this to God and allow him to remove it.  The veil is torn not from bottom to top, but from top to bottom.  Tozer goes on to say, "We must confess, forsake, repudiate the self-life, and then reckon it crucified." (Tozer, p.47).  As a believer, I must be careful because this world has a firm hold on those things that Jesus told us to rid ourselves of.  The world applauds pridefulness and self-centeredness and those who accumulate toys and things.  Rather, my desire is to be rich towards God and not to be seen sewing the veil back together.

Abba's Child

       The latest book I am reading is called "Abba's Child" by Brennan Manning.  Some of you who read my posts know I mentioned another book by this author a while back.  I had not heard of him until recently running across another one of his book at the library.   The title of this book was taken from Romans 8:15, where Paul tells us that we can cry out to God "Abba! Father!"  Here's the whole verse
    "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!".  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." Romans 8:15-16
     Knowing Jesus, gives us the right to come to God as his children.  It gives us the freedom to know that we do not come to him as strangers, but as our Heavenly Father.  The term "Abba" was a very intimate term.  It was a very familiar term.  God wants us to know him like that.  He wants us to feel the freedom to come to him like that and know that we will be excepted.
     Another quote from Brennan, "God created us for union with Himself. This is the orginal purpose of our lives. And God is defined as love (1 John 4:16). Living in the awareness of our belovedness is the axis around which the Christian life revolves. Being the beloved is our identity, the core of our existence." Manning, pg.52.
    I have to wonder if we lived daily in the light of how much God loves us instead of trying to pursue the approval of man how much our lives would change.  Also, understanding the depth with which God loves us.  Have you thought about how much God loves you?  The proof of that love is that He sent Jesus to die for you. 
   "And to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:19-21, NASV.

http://www.amazon.com/Abbas-Child-Intimate-Belonging-EXPANDED/dp/B001TM9YXW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1330055238&sr=8-2

Spiritual Appraised

     When I was in college, I was reading a book called "Billy Budd".  I hated that book.  More than just hate it though, I didn't understand it.  It was confusing and I might as well of been reading French or some other language foreign to me.  I complained to a friend's mother about it and she took pity on me and bought me a copy of the cliff notes for the book.  Largely because of those cliff notes, I was able to make enough sense of it to pass.
     And that is largely how I would approach most subjects.  I feel like I am intelligent enough that if I simply study hard enough and work hard enough then I can figure it out.  Many people approach trying to read the Bible and understand spiritual things in the same way.  But, the Bible declares that we need to not only have intelligence, but to be spiritual appraised in order to understand God's Word.  In fact, it says regarding the natural man and the Bible that:

  "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man."

    Maybe this is why we have so many theories and ideas about spiritual things.  So many churches and cults and false religions.  Because there is a way that seems spiritual and good and right to man and then there is another way that is right to God.  And also the thing is, that unless God gives understanding and gives us guidance and understanding from the Holy Spirit, then no cliff notes in the world are going to help.  We must be willing to swallow our pride to understand that.

     I think this is why Paul said this in the book of Colossians, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.  For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form." Colossians 2:8-9.  He said this because he said that the cross of Christ was foolishness to those who are lost.  They don't understand how victory can come through a cross.  They want to continue to add to Christ. 

   In 1 Corinthians 2:16 it says, "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him?  But we have the mind of Christ."  So what does that mean to have the "mind of Christ"?  I believe it means that God reveals truth to the believer through His Spirit when we are truly depending on Him.  It means we have to humble ourselves and realize that interpreting and understanding the Bible requires more than our own insights or intelligence.

   

Inside Out

    I don't know if you've had the pleasure of reading any of the work of Dr.Larry Crabb.  I had to read about his counseling model for a class last fall and now I am reading one of his other books on my own called "Inside Out".  It is about how God desires to change us from the inside out.  To be honest, Dr.Crabb is a deep thinker and I'm not sure I understand all that he is saying, but one of the things that he talks about is that as people we tend to seek out things that will fill our needs with things and stuff instead of God.  Dr.Crabb calls this part of who we are the crucial part of our person.  And he says that nobody can fill this area of our life except for God.
    He points out how often Jesus referred to himself as water or living water.  But, he also shares this passage in Jeremiah 2:13 "For My people have committed two evils; They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns, that can hold no water."  It's like a man who refused to use the well of water that is provided and takes a shovel and digs through rock randomly seeking water.
    This is what the woman at the well was trying to do when she met Jesus.  Jesus said to her in John 4:10, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you. "Give me a drink" you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  Later Jesus says to the crowd, 'If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture said, "From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water."  So, Dr.Crabb was pointing out that one of the first requirements to be changed on the inside is that we must recognize our thirst.  Upon recognizing it, we must go to the right source to fill it, which is Jesus.
    But, sometimes people get prideful and think they are doing okay and don't recognize their thirst.  They hew cisterns for themselves, which can be any kind of pleasure of thing that brings passing satisfaction.  Our own stubbornness keep us from recognizing our need.  So, we try to be self-sufficient.  But, you can't receive if you don't come to Him and to do that you must humble yourself and see your need.  The Pharisees never did, they thought they had it all together and Jesus condemned them.

For a review and info about this book on amazon go to
http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Out-Larry-Crabb/dp/1600060994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327256483&sr=1-1#_