Two Eagles and Three Shoots PT-1 (Ezekiel 17:1-2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/30/2014 12:21 PM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Two Eagles and Three Shoots PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ezekiel 17:1-2

            Message of the verses:  As I read through this chapter I get the idea why Stewart Briscoe entitle his commentary on Ezekiel “All Things Weird and Wonderful,” for this chapter is pretty weird to me, but as we look at it we will see that the Lord has a purpose for giving this message to Ezekiel.  Stewart Briscoe begins this section in his book with the following words “Still another parable or riddle came from the Tel-abib story-teller’s lips.”  I can’t imagine what the people who first heard this thought of this “parable.”  Dr. Wiersbe begins his section writing “From the image of a vine and a marriage, Ezekiel turned to the image of a great tree, two eagles, and three shoots.  This message is called a “parable” or “riddle,” which means a story with a deeper meaning, an allegory in which various objects refer to people and what they do.”

            “1 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, propound a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel,”

            We will only look at the introduction to this section in today’s SD, but this should set the stage for what Ezekiel has to say to the exiles in Tel-abid.

            I want to first look at Psalm 78:1-3 “1 «A Maskil of Asaph.» Listen, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, 3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.”  As we read these three verses we perhaps can see some of the Jewish men at the gate of the city trying to figure out different riddles and or parables, and so we can believe that the Jewish people loved riddles or parables.  We know that after the people of Israel in the time that our Lord was on earth rejected Him by stating that His miracles were done by the power of Satan that He began to speak to them in parables so that they could hear and not understand, but He then explained what He said to His disciples.  In the case of Ezekiel’s parable he hoped that the people, who also had heard hearts would understand what he was saying to them.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “The allegory is about three kings (‘shoots’), because the cedar tree represents the royal dynasty of David.  David’s dynasty was very important, because through it God had promised to bring a Savior to His people and to the world (2Sam. 7:16; Luke 1:32-33, 69).  It was essential that a descendant of David sit on the throne so that the blessing of God’s covenant with David might rest on the land.  At that time, the kingdom of Judah was a vassal state of Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar was in charge.  He is the first ‘great eagle’ (Ezek. 17:3).  The second eagle (v.7) is the ruler of Egypt, probably Pharaoh Hophra who promised to help Judah in her fight against the Babylonians (v. 17).  The eagle is used as a symbol of a strong ruler who invades a land (Jer. 48:40; 49:22).”  In our next three Spiritual Diaries we will look or consider the three kings, who are represented by the shoots.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I was listening to this chapter this morning I was tuned into the following verse:  “24 “All the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD; I bring down the high tree, exalt the low tree, dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will perform it."”  What I see out of this is that I am to be humble, and I am to trust the Lord to do as He says that He will do.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  As I mentioned in our last SD what I desire to do in the upcoming year is to learn how to treasure the Lord, to love the Lord with all my heart, soul, and mind, better than I have in the past, so this will be what my step of faith will be for 2015.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-7.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Israel” (Gen.32:28).

Today’s Bible question:  “What was Paul’s occupation?”

Answer in our next SD.

12/30/2014 12:53 PM 

The Unfaithful Wife PT-4-5 (Ezek. 16:48-63)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/29/2014 10:33 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The Unfaithful Wife PT-4-5

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ezekiel 16:48-63

            Message of the verses:  We want to look at the last two sub-points from this very long chapter in Ezekiel that we have been looking at since the 23^rd of this month.

            God Names the Sins of Sodom (Ezekiel 16:48-50):  “48  "As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49 “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. See note from verse 35. 50 “Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.”

            Dr. Wiersbe writes the following and as we look at this quote we can better understand why the sin of homosexuality is happening in our country today:  “The people were proud and haughty, overfed, idle, unconcerned about the poor and needy, and guilty of detestable acts, which probably refers to their homosexual lifestyle (Gen. 19).  These were abominable sins of attitude and action, commission and omission; and yet the people of Jerusalem and Judah were far guiltier than were the people of Sodom!”  He goes on to say that the sins of Judah were worse than the sins of the people of Samaria (the Northern Tribe), and worse than the sins of Sodom.  I believe that this is because of the light that was given to the people of Judah as they had the Law which informed them of what sin was and how they were to avoid it, but they refused to do so. 

            Dr. Wiersbe goes on to write:  “But is the church today any less guilty?  Members of local churches commit the same sins we read about in the newspapers, but the news doesn’t always get to the headlines.  Congregations are being torn apart because of professed Christians who are involved in lawsuits, divorces, immorality, family feuds, crooked business deals, financial scandals, and a host of other activities that belong to the world.  Is it any wonder that lost sinners pay little attention to our public ministry or our personal witness?”   When you take in account that this quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s book is close to fifteen years old and in the past six years the sinfulness of our country has grown far worse.

            Israel Will Experience a Great Restoration (Ezekiel 16:53-63):  “53 “Nevertheless, I will restore their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and along with them your own captivity, 54 in order that you may bear your humiliation and feel ashamed for all that you have done when you become a consolation to them. 55 “Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to their former state, and you with your daughters will also return to your former state. 56  "As the name of your sister Sodom was not heard from your lips in your day of pride, 57  before your wickedness was uncovered, so now you have become the reproach of the daughters of Edom and of all who are around her, of the daughters of the Philistines-those surrounding you who despise you. 58 “You have borne the penalty of your lewdness and abominations," the LORD declares. 59 For thus says the Lord GOD, "I will also do with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

    “60 "Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. 61  "Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both your older and your younger; and I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant. 62  "Thus I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, 63  so that you may remember and be ashamed and never open your mouth anymore because of your humiliation, when I have forgiven you for all that you have done," the Lord GOD declares.”

            As we look at this prophecy of what the Lord will do with Judah in the future we must remember as we have written on before that there are times when it is difficult to understand which time of restoration is the prophecy about.  There are times when the prophecies speak of the restoration of Judah back to their land around 535 BC and there are times when the prophecy is speaking about the restoration that will take place in the future when the 1000 year kingdom takes place, and there are times when the prophecy is speaking about both.  I believe that that may be the case in this prophecy. 

            As we look at the prayers of Nehemiah and Daniel and also look at the great revival that took place after Israel was restored to their land beginning in 535 BC we know that there was a remnant that loved the Lord and desired to serve Him, but that revival did not last too long as we read in the later chapters of the book of Nehemiah.  However when the 1000 year kingdom comes and Jesus Christ is living again on planet earth leading His Kingdom then righteousness will be seen this entire time, and sin will be swiftly dealt with during His reign.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  We know that God is righteous and cannot stand sin and this is the reason that He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to become sin so that those who accept His forgiveness will receive His righteousness.  We also see that there is always a remnant and that God cares for this remnant as seen in these latter verses of chapter sixteen, and this brings comfort to me.  I know that the Lord loves me and cares for me and this was evident to me in what some would say is a small way yesterday, but not me as I was in great need of the Lord to answer my prayer and He did.  I believe that there were actually two things that happened to me yesterday that I could see the hand of the Lord in my life, and one of them was from a message that one of our Pastors’s preached on yesterday.  He was speaking on money from First Timothy and named nine things about money and asked us to pick one of them to work on for 2015 and it was the last one that the Lord seemed to shout to me to pick and that was what is said in 1 Timothy 6:15-16 “15  which He will bring about at the proper time-He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16  who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”  Our Pastor said that from these two verses that we are to “Treasure God,” and that very morning I was confessing to the Lord that I needed to love Him more so my steps of faith for this coming New Year will be to treasure God, to learn how to love Him more. When I first became a believer in January of 1974 I heard a song on the radio that at the time did not know that it came from a play that was a blasphemy against the Lord, and yet that song spoke to my new heart and actually came back to me early yesterday morning when I was thinking that I needed to love the Lord more than I do at this time in my life.  As I said the play “Jesus Christ Superstar” is blasphemous to our Lord, and most of the song is too, but the first part of it is what spoke to my heart in 1974:  “I Don’t know how to love him, what to do, how to move him I've been changed, yes really changed In these past few days when I see myself, I seem like someone else.” Yes I truly had been changed and in those past few days after being saved I truly did seem like someone else, and yes I still am in the process of learning how to Love Him in the way that the Word of God tells me to.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to treasure God.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-7.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The second coming of Christ or the Rapture.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What new name did God give Jacob?

Answer in our next SD.

12/29/2014 12:01 PM

 

 

The Unfaithful Wife PT-3 (Ezek. 16:35-42)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/28/2014 11:45 PM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  The Unfaithful Wife PT-3

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ezekiel 16:35-42

            Message of the verses:  We look at the next to the last sub-section from this main section in Today’s SD.

            Israel Suffered a Great Discipline (Ezekiel 16:35-42):  “35 Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD. 36 Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your sons which you gave to idols, 37 therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, even all those whom you loved and all those whom you hated. So I will gather them against you from every direction and expose your nakedness to them that they may see all your nakedness. 38 “Thus I will judge you like women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. 39  "I will also give you into the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, strip you of your clothing, take away your jewels, and will leave you naked and bare. 40 “They will incite a crowd against you and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 “They will burn your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. Then I will stop you from playing the harlot, and you will also no longer pay your lovers. 42 “So I will calm My fury against you and My jealousy will depart from you, and I will be pacified and angry no more.”

            We see again a list of the sins that Israel had committed against the Lord and against His covenant with them, and when we look at the punishment for these sins in the Law we will see that the Lord was doing exactly what He said He would do if they broke His commandments, the Law.  Israel had been a prostitute and the punishment for that sin according to Lev. 21:9 prostitutes were to be burned, and they also committed adultery and for that the punishment was to be stoned, and we can see that the Babylonians were the ones that the Lord used to take care of His wrath against Israel by the killing and the burning of the people and the city of Jerusalem and the Temple in Jerusalem.

            The crimes are seen in verses 35-36, and then in verses 37-42 we see that the Lord through Ezekiel announces the punishment for these sins.  As stated God would call all the lovers of Israel and have them attack Israel and destroy the city and the temple, and kill many people, and send many more into exile. 

            What happened to Israel to cause them to have the wrath of God come upon them?  In verse 43 we see that Israel had forgotten what the Lord had done for them.  I suppose that is a part of human nature asking what have you done for me lately.  Now in verses 44-52 we will see that Israel failed to understand how great their sins were against the Lord.  We must remember that Israel was tempted by Satan and Satan had a great deal of time to get them to fall into sin as this came more gradually.  Judah had the benefit to see the Northern kingdom fall because of their sin against the Lord, but this did not seem to have any effect on them because they committed the same sins at the Northern Kingdom had done. 

            We see that Ezekiel calls Judah Sodom and we know that Sodom was destroyed because of the sins of homosexuality, however Sodom did not have the benefit of having the Law like Israel did and when more is given then more is expected.  When I look at our country I see some of these same sins being committed, sins like homosexuality, greed, killing of innocent unborn babies, and now even turning our backs on the state of Israel, and people do not think that the Lord will bring His wrath on us, but that is wrong.  Billy Graham once said to an audience that if God did not judge the USA that He would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. I totally have to agree with that statement.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have to make sure that I take sin seriously and not sin or else I will be a part of the problem that will help cause our nation to fall.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Hate sin!

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Eli” (1 Samuel 3:11-14).

Today’s Bible question:  “What coming event had the people of Thessalonica so disturbed that Paul wrote First Thessalonians?”  I think you can add Second Thessalonians into this question too.

Answer in our next SD.

12/29/2014 12:15 AM

The Unfaithful Wife PT-2 (Ezekiel 16:15-34)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/27/2014 11:57 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The Unfaithful Wife PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ezekiel 16:15-34

            Message of the verses:  Today we look at the second of four sub-points under this main point of the “unfaithful wife.”

            Israel committed a great sin (Ezekiel 16:15-34):  “15 "But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing. 16  "You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen. 17  "You also took your beautiful jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them. 18 “Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them. 19  "Also My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil and honey with which I fed you, you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened," declares the Lord GOD. 20 “Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? 21 “You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire. 22 “Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood. 23 “Then it came about after all your wickedness(’Woe, woe to you!’ declares the Lord GOD), 24  that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square. 25 “You built yourself a high place at the top of every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry. 26 “You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and multiplied your harlotry to make Me angry. 27 “Behold now, I have stretched out My hand against you and diminished your rations. And I delivered you up to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd conduct. 28 “Moreover, you played the harlot with the Assyrians because you were not satisfied; you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. 29 “You also multiplied your harlotry with the land of merchants, Chaldea, yet even with this you were not satisfied."’" 30 “How languishing is your heart," declares the Lord GOD, "while you do all these things, the actions of a bold-faced harlot. 31 “When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every square, in disdaining money, you were not like a harlot. 32 “You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband! 33 “Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from every direction for your harlotries. 34  "Thus you are different from those women in your harlotries, in that no one plays the harlot as you do, because you give money and no money is given you; thus you are different."”

            I have mentioned the following statement in earlier SD’s, and this statement is found in many of Dr. Wiersbe’s books, but I have to believe that the Lord put it into my heart as I had to learn the truth of it the hard way; “As believers we are not to bless the gifts that the Giver gives to us, but bless the Giver of the gifts.”  Israel got fat on the gifts that God gave to them, and instead of giving thanks and blessing the Giver of those gifts, they began to worship the gifts that He had given to them and thus making those gifts an idol, or should I say idols.  Paul writes the following in Romans 1:21-25 “21  For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”  This is truly a sad set of affairs when this happens.

            Ezekiel writes about Israel not getting paid to be a harlot, but paying others who practiced harlotry with her.  He is speaking of all the times that Israel would send money to countries like Assyria, and Egypt to help them get out of trouble, when what they should have done was to trust the Lord to get them out of the trouble that they were in, but first they should have confessed their sins to the Lord and then asked for help which is what the story of the book of Judges is all about, but in that book the trend continued to go downhill in their commitment with the Lord.

            We see the following, very famous verse, in the book of 2 Chronicles which showed Israel what they should have done, but failed to do.  “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land (KJV).” 

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes this section with the following words “Believers today who live for the world and depend on the world are committing ‘adultery’ in a similar way (James 4:4-6).  The Lord desires and deserves our full and complete devotion (2 Cor. 11:1-4; Rev. 2:4).”  Let us look at the three different passages that he speaks of by first looking at James 4:4-6; and then 2 Cor. 11:1-4, and finally Rev. 2:4:  “4  You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5  Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? 6  But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."”  “  1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. 3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.” “’But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When we worship the gifts instead of the Giver of the gifts we will always get ourselves into trouble with the Giver of the gifts, and then He will be forced to discipline us, but we must remember that even in His disciplining of us it is done because He loves us.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Worship the Giver of the gifts.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-6.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Ammon” (Judges 11:32).  I have to admit that this was a very difficult question that I did not know the answer to.

Today’s Bible question:  “Upon what judge did God ask Samuel to pronounce judgment?”

Answer in our next SD.

12/27/2014 12:31 PM

The Unfaithful Wife PT-1 (Ezek. 16:1-14)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/26/2014 8:20 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The Unfaithful Wife PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ezekiel 16:1-14

            Message of the verses:  We will continue to be in Ezekiel chapter 16 for the next few days as we look at five sub-points under this main point of the unfaithful wife.

            Introduction:  Dr. Wiersbe writes “This long chapter contains some of the most vivid language found anywhere in Scripture.  It is addressed to the city of Jerusalem but refers to the entire nation.  The chapter traces the spiritual history of the Jews from ‘birth’ (God’s call of Abraham) through ‘marriage’ (God’s covenant with the people), and up to their ‘spiritual prostitution’ (idolatry) and the sad consequences that followed (ruin and exile).  The Lord takes His ‘sife’ to court and bears witness of her unfaithfulness to Him.  At the same time, the Lord is replying to the complaints of the people that He had not kept His promise when He allowed the Babylonians to invade the land.  God did keep His covenant; it was Israel who broke her marriage vow and also broke the heart of her Lord and invited His chastening (Ezek. 6:9).  But as we read the chapter, we must see not only the dark background of Israel’s wickedness but also the bright light of God’s love and grace. ‘But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more’ (Rom. 5:20 NKJV).”

            Israel Experienced a Great Love (Ezekiel 16:1-14):  “1 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2  "Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations 3  and say, ’Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem, "Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4  "As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. 5 “No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.

   “ 6 "When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, ’Live!’ Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, ’Live!’ 7 “I made you numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine ornaments; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare. 8 “Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine," declares the Lord GOD. 9 “Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. 10 “I also clothed you with embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 “I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 12 “I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 “Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 “Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you," declares the Lord GOD.”

            There was a great deal of pride in the nation of Israel, but Ezekiel reminds them of where they came from and who their parents were and how they got started as a people and then as a nation and how they became the bride of Jehovah in these fourteen verses.  We see a similar story of Israel in the seventh chapter of the book of Acts where Stephen tells the leaders of Israel the story of Israel from the beginning up until the time they were in when he told them the story.  The leaders could not stand what they heard and so they killed him, but before he died he saw heaven open and the Lord Jesus Christ standing at the side of His Father ready to welcome Stephen home. 

            Abram was an idol worshiping man before the Lord called Him from his idols and told him to go to what would become the Promised Land.  Abraham obeyed the Lord as we read in the 12^th chapter of the book of Genesis.  The rest of the book of Genesis tells the story of Israel’s beginnings and at the end of the chapter we see the children of Israel in the land of Egypt where over the next 400 years God makes a nation out of them as they swell to over two million people.

            Next we see God raise up Moses and led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt as God does ten great miracles against the gods that Egypt worshiped in order to defeat this mighty nation and allow Israel to leave with great spoils. 

            God marries Israel at the ceremony which took place at Mount Sinai, as He gives the marriage covenant to her, and she accepts this covenant.  However Israel continues to disobey the Lord as she has to wonder around the desert for forty years because of her unbelief.  Finally Israel goes into the Promised Land and conquers most of it, but does not obey the Lord to get rid of all its sinful inhabitants, and this will haunt them until the time when God takes them out of the Promised Land and sends them to Babylon where they are now hearing this story from Ezekiel to remind them of their unfaithfulness to the Lord.

            God raises up David and unites the country and gives them great prosperity which continues through the reign of Solomon.  Israel was the crown of the Middle East as rulers come to Israel to seek advice from them during this golden age of Israel.  This is where we will leave the story at this time, but will pick it up in our next SD as we continue to look at the history of Israel through the pen of Ezekiel.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  You cannot help but see the grace and love of God in this story of Israel, but you will also see His wrath and justice in this story because of the unfaithfulness that Israel had against God.  To learn this important lesson is what I as a true believer in God need to continue to do and that is to obey the covenant that I have with the Lord.  Jesus said that if you love Me you must keep my commandments.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Walk with the King today and be a blessing.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-6.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,

Answer to our last Bible question:  “Jesus” (John 20:15).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where were the people from who fought against Jephthah?”

Answer in our next SD.

12/26/2014 9:14 AM

 

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS

            I promised a couple of days ago to write a Christmas greeting on my blog on Christmas Day.

            What I have to day about Christmas has probably already been said before, well at least some of it, but if that is the case then I will say it again.  Christmas, to me, holds mixed feelings in my mind.  I am not one who likes going all out on buying presents just because it is Christmas, but want to remember what Christmas is suppose to be all about.  Now we know that Jesus Christ was probably not born on the 25^th of December, but we do know that He was born, and probably born in the winter months, and I do not know exactly know how the 25^th of December came about as the day we celebrate Christmas.  I suppose a little digging on the internet would answer that question, but I probably will not do that.  Like I say the important thing is that Jesus Christ was born into the world and the first prophecy of Him coming into the world goes all the way back to the book of Genesis, and right after Adam and Eve sinned we read “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."”  God is speaking of Satan in this passage and also He is saying that there will be war between Satan and the offspring of the woman.  “I’m declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He’ll wound your head, you’ll wound his heel." (Message)” We see in the NASB that God speaks of the “seed of the woman,” and this is the only time we see this in the Word of God.  The seed comes through the man, but there were three differences in the Scriptures when this did not happen that way.  First God created Adam out of the earth, and then God created woman out of Adam’s rib, and then we read that Mary became pregnant through the Holy Spirit and this is where we get the seed of the woman as involved in the birth of Jesus Christ.

            Now as we read through the Old Testament we see how the Lord narrows down the line in which the Messiah would come from.  In the book of Matthew we see the bloodline of Jesus through Joseph, and in Luke’s gospel we see the bloodline of Jesus through Mary.  Both Joseph and Mary were descendants of David, but Mary came through the line of Nathan while Joseph came through Solomon.  Luke’s line of Jesus goes all the way back to God, while Matthew’s line only goes back to Abraham.  One of the kings of Judah, Jeconiah had a curse against him and so his line could not be in the line of the Messiah to be King.  As I said Mary came through the line of Nathan, Luke 3:31 “the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,.”   Joseph also came from the line of David and even though Jeconiah was in his line this did not permit Jesus from being the Messiah for He was not born of Joseph but of the Holy Spirit and Mary.

            Now as far as the place where Jesus was born and who was there when He was born, it is not like the nativity scenes we see in people’s yards or in their houses.  I read a historic novel a few years ago and the author incorporated into the birth of Jesus a place called Midgal Eder and this place is mentioned in the book of Micah 4:8 where we read “8 "As for you, tower of the flock, Hill of the daughter of Zion, To you it will come-Even the former dominion will come, The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”  The words “tower of the flock” in the Hebrew is Midgal Eder, and this place was near Bethlehem on the way to Jerusalem and is where the lambs were born who would go to the temple and used for sacrifices.  There was a cave there and many believe that Jesus was born in that cave where these sacrificial lambs were born.  When you think about this it all makes perfect sense.  Now as far as who was there we know that Joseph, Mary, Jesus and later on the shepherds came, but as far as the wise men they did not come and see Jesus until he was near two years old.  They probably came from what was once Babylon and they probably got their information from Daniel who prophesied in his book of the time when the Messiah would die and so they would know when it would be near time for Him to be born and looked for Him following a star.  They first came to see Herod and asked him where the Messiah would be born and then went to find Him, giving gifts to Him and were then told in a dream not to go back to tell Herod.  Herod then had all male boys from the age of two years old and younger killed as was prophesied by Jeremiah. 

            Okay so the story of Jesus’ birth is probably much different than what we use to celebrate it in our world today as I tried to bring out, but the point of all of this is that God was in control of all the things which would bring His Son into the world to fulfill what His plans were for Him to accomplish, and He accomplished all of them, and we can praise the Lord on this Christmas Day that He did accomplish all of them.  Jesus told His mother while in the temple that He came to do His Father’s will and at the end of His life, while hanging on a cross He said “It is finished.”  What was finished was His becoming sin for us so that we could receive His righteousness and have it credited to our account so that when the Father looks at those who have received this free gift of salvation He will see Jesus Christ and not our sinfulness.

            The all time very best gift a person can receive on Christmas Day or any other day is to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, to confess that they are a sinner in need of a Savior and find out that Jesus paid it all, and receive Him as Savior and Lord.

            Merry Christmas to all!

Poor Little Rich Girl PT-2 (Ezek. 16:34-63)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/24/2014 11:08 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Poor Little Rich Girl PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ezekiel 16:34-63

            Message of the verses:  As I mentioned in yesterday’s SD we will look at what Steward Briscoe has written on this rather long chapter in Ezekiel.  We also mentioned that this chapter is a parable that Ezekiel wrote to the exiles who were living there in Babylon at this time and it spoke of a history of the nation of Israel and how God brought it into existence and how He had to deal with it because of the sins that they had committed against the Lord.  Steward Briscoe has written two points on this chapter and we will finish the one and then quote the second one too.

            “Through Ezekiel, the Lord announced that He would deal with Israel in the manner of an abused husband.  Publicly disgraced by His wife, He would publicly disgrace her before the ones with whom she had misbehaved.

            “To add weight to His words, the Lord reminded His ‘wife’ of  her two sisters, Sodom and Samaria, whom she despised.  ‘They didn’t do half the things you did, bu I dealt with them.  So don’t think for a minute that I will fail to deal with you,’ He said.  ‘Sodom was truly guilty of all manner of things, but not like you.  Her problem was that she became self-satisfied and selfish, caring nothing for those in need around her.  She became lazy and thoroughly obnoxious, wallowing in luxury while those around her struggled with insurmountable problems.  To a certain degree, the same was true of Samaria.  You thought you were far superior to both of your sisters, but you were far worse.  I judged them; and I will judge you’ (see 16:25-59).

            “A note of impending judgment sounded from the Lord’s prophet, but remember that there was always a message of hope, a promise of something better. ‘I will bring back your sisters from their captivity and restore them to their rightful place, and when they return you will return too’ (See Ezek. 16:60-63).”

            The Covenant

            Charles Lee Feinberg, commenting on Ezekiel’s presentation of God’s dealing with His ‘unfaithful wife’ Israel wrote in The Prophecy of Ezekiel, ‘God can no more help being gracious than He can cease begin God.  He is the God of all grace, and He always finds a covenant basis on which He can express His grace.’  This is beautifully true of God’s ways with His people, Ezekiel quoted the Lord’s words, ‘Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with thee in the days of they youth and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant’ (16:60).  At the very time that He was pronouncing His judgments, the Lord was announcing His covenant.

            “Such statements seem so contradictory to us that some commentators believe that the sections dealing with eternal covenants in the context of judgment are obviously in the wrong place and probably belong in another part of the prophecy.  Without denying the possibility that some parts of the manuscript were shuffled over the years, it hardly seems necessary to suggest that the Lord could not speak in grace at the same time He spoke in judgment.  Surely this is the essence of Calvary, where grace and justice met and ‘righteousness and peace kissed each other.’

            “The everlasting covenant God announced to His people was designed, as we have come to expect, to let the people know that He is the Lord.  He is Lord not only of unfailing mercy, but One willing to take the most unfaithful and restore them to positions of trust and opportunity.  He was willing to take Israel and make her a blessing to the nations of the world.

            “The same God has shown that He was willing to take murderer Moses and make him a leader of men; adulterer David and through him bring sinners to repentance; persecutor Saul and make him Paul, the missionary par excellence; and slave trader John Newton and make him a minister of the Gospel.  It has been demonstrated through the years that the everlasting covenant of our God is one of forgiveness and unbelievable trust.  He is prepared to run the risk of placing irresponsible and unfaithful people in areas of responsibility.  He gives second chances to the repentant and superb opportunities to the undeserving.  He is eternally committed to being a forgiving and restoring God.

            “What a humbling thing for the forgiven and the restored to realize.  Ezekiel said that those so forgiven would ‘remember and be confounded and never open their mouths again’ (16:63).  I’m sure he didn’t mean to contradict the psalmist who insisted that the ‘redeemed of the Lord’ should ‘say so’ (Ps. 107:2).  Rather, they should never open their mouths to brag and boast again but only to proclaim ‘the riches of the glory of His grace.’”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Stewart Briscoe has brought some very interesting and truthful points out of this 16^th chapter of Ezekiel.  I especially liked the points he made about how the Lord used all the people he mentions even after the wrong things they had done.  We have to remember that it is only sinners that the Lord has to work with, and when He uses us we can truly be amazed at His amazing grace, and we can also realize that by Him using us He shall receive all of the glory and not us.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To God be the glory, great things He has done.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-6.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “A priest and a Levite” (Luke 10:31-32).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’”

Answer in our next SD.

12/24/2014 11:48 AM

           

Poor Littel Rich Girl PT-1 (Ezek. 16:1-34)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/23/2014 11:57 AM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  Poor Little Rich Girl PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ezekiel 16:1-34

            Message of the verses:  You know that whenever I look at long chapters in the Word of God I get a little nerves as to how long it will take to get through that long chapter, and this 16^th chapter of the book of Ezekiel has 63 verses in it which ranks it with some of the longer chapters found in the Word of God. 

            In Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on this portion of Ezekiel he calls the girl that is described in chapter sixteen as “the unfaithful wife” and in Stewart Briscoe’s commentary he calls this woman “Poor Little Rich Girl.”  I am sure as we go through this chapter we will see reasons as to why each author entitled it the way that they did.  Now due to some time restraints today I wish to do something that I do sometimes and that is quote from an author for this entire Spiritual Diary.  This will be Steward Briscoe’s commentary that I will use for today and probably for tomorrow and then on Christmas Day I will probably write some things on what Christmas means to me so we will get back to our longer look at chapter sixteen probably on Friday of this week.

            “Poor Little Rich Girl.”  It seems as if the momentum of Ezekiel’s ministry was building up.  The words he spoke were becoming more and more challenging and at times downright offensive to his listeners.  None more so than Ezekiel’s parable of the poor little rich girl.

            “A baby girl was abandoned in a field on the day of her birth.  None of the usual things had been done for the baby.  Her umbilical cord was uncut; her body had not been washed or cleansed with salt; no ‘swaddling clothes’ had been given to her.  She was a piteous sight, but because of her mixed parentage and her unpleasant appearance, no one showed compassion to her.

            “Along came a stranger who, seeing the abandoned child, took care of the situation and commanded that the child dying in her own blood should live.  Provision was made for her so that she grew to a beautiful, charming, and poised young lady.  Thanks, of course, to the benevolent stranger.

            “Years later, he returned to the neighborhood, saw the beautiful girl whom he had rescued and cared for, fell in love with her, and proposed marriage.  She accepted and they were married, presumably to live happily ever after.

            “But they didn’t because the girl, for reasons known only to herself, accepted the clothes and the jewels, the status and the prosperity of her loving husband, but never, accepted him.  She took all she could get but never gave herself.  She became increasingly arrogant and selfish, and eventually, shamelessly and openly had affairs with other men.  She introduced her children to her lifestyle, used her husband’s home and goods to further her own unfaithfulness, and even went into business establishing centers of immorality around the neighborhood.

            “Hers was a story of abject shame, dishonor, and unspeakable ingratitude.  Accustomed as they were to storytellers and story telling, the inhabitants of Tel-abib loved this kind of tale.  But the application of the story raised not a few eyebrows and maybe even a few fists!  

            “Ezekiel’s point was that Israel was the ugly, unwanted child of mixed parentage, lying in the field among the nations, disregarded and despised.  The Lord had come and rescued her for no other reason that it is His nature to pity the pitiable and rescue the lost.  He had cared for and loved the despised people, marrying them to Himself and setting His eternal purposes upon them.  He had blessed them among the nations, shown His might power on their behalf, enriched them, and given them the tools to show forth His glory among the nation.  But they had used their status to promote their own sin.  They had abused their blessings and used them to their own willful ends, and generally had brought unspeakable shame to their heavenly Husband.  (See Ezekiel 16:1-34).
            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  While walking on my treadmill this morning I was listening to a sermon by John MacArthur, well the end of one and the beginning of another, and the second on was from the 2^nd chapter of Revelations on the Church at Ephesus.  Anyone who reads through Revelations will find that there is a church there that it is said of them that they left their first love, and that was the church of Ephesus. This pretty much describes the nation of Israel in the days of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and this parable fits into what was going on in Ephesus.  I do not want to get so busy doing things for the Lord that I forget the Lord, forget the love that He has for me, and thus forget to love Him, and this is what happened to Israel and also to the church at Ephesus.  Loving the Lord means that we keep His commandments that we delight in keeping His commandments, taking time to be thankful that He has called us to keep them in order to bring glory to His name.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Not to lose my love for my Savior.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-6

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:8).

Today’s Bible question:  “In the story of the good Samaritan, what two people passed by on the other side?”

Answer in our next SD.

12/23/2014 12:39 PM

    

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The Worthless Vine (Ezekiel 15:1-8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/22/2014 9:18 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The Worthless Vine

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ezekiel 15:1-8

            Message of the verses:  “1 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2  "Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any wood of a branch which is among the trees of the forest? 3 “Can wood be taken from it to make anything, or can men take a peg from it on which to hang any vessel? 4 “If it has been put into the fire for fuel, and the fire has consumed both of its ends and its middle part has been charred, is it then useful for anything? 5 “Behold, while it is intact, it is not made into anything. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it still be made into anything! 6 "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, ’As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 7 and I set My face against them. Though they have come out of the fire, yet the fire will consume them. Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I set My face against them. 8 ’Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,’" declares the Lord GOD.”

            We begin chapter five in Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on the book of Ezekiel, as we follow along in his outline from his commentary, and we begin and finish the eight verses of chapter fifteen in the book of Ezekiel.  Wiersbe entitles his chapter name “Pictures of Failure,” and the reason is that in chapters 15-17 we will see Ezekiel speaking in “parables” that he receives from the Lord.  The exiles do not believe what Ezekiel is saying about the destruction of Jerusalem, and they do not want to really listen to Ezekiel, but they do when he uses his action sermons, and when he tells his so called stories as they are entertained by them.  They listen with their ears but their hearts are far from what the Lord is teaching them through Ezekiel’s messages.  We will be looking at the parable of “The Worthless Vine” as seen in Ezekiel chapter eight.  Israel has been seen as a vine in the past, but now they will be seen as a worthless vine.  Now one other thing to remember and that is since the third chapter of Ezekiel he has remained silent unless the Lord gives a message to him to relay to the exiles.

            Now we not only see Israel as a vine from the pages of Scripture, but Jesus speaks of Himself as a vine in John chapter fifteen, and in that same chapter he sees His disciples as branches.  Why is Jesus seen as a vine?  Well the branches are totally depended upon the Vine for their spiritual nourishment and so were His disciples and for that matter so are we as He born-again believers.  Revelations 14:17-20 speaks of “the vine of the earth,” and this is seen as a symbol of the corrupt Gentile society at the end of the age who is ripening for their judgment from the Lord.  As we mentioned Israel is often seen as a vine as we will see in today’s SD from chapter 15 and then again in chapter 17 we will see them as an image of “shoots.”

            Israel was first a lowly vine that the Lord had the Lord had planted in the Promised Land, and this is seen in some of the chapters where the vine is used as a picture of Israel.  The vine, Israel, did not do too well in the early part of their existence as we see in the book of Judges, but then when we see the Lord raise up David the vine began to prosper, but after David the vine began to have great difficulties until now we see it on life support during the time when Ezekiel speaks this parable to the exiles.  Israel began to produce “wild grapes” as their downward spirial began with Solomon. 

            Now in chapter fifteen we see in Ezekiel’s parable of the vine as Israel that they are at the point of worthlessness and do not bear any fruit at all.  Remember what Jesus said of those branches that did not produce fruit, that they would be thrown into the fire and burned.  Now to be honest I believe that those branches that our Lord was talking about were what has been called “Judas branches.”  I say that because Judas had just left the fold to go and betray the Lord, as Judas was the worst form of being an apostate, and the branches that Ezekiel speaks of were also apostates and must be burned too, however the shoot will begin to produce fruit again as the line of David will continue even when Israel is in exile, and as it returns to the land of Israel again and the Lord Jesus Christ will be born some 400 plus years later as we are about to celebrate His birth later on this week, but for the most part the nation of Israel was dead spiritually during the time of Ezekiel.  During his time the branches were only good for one thing and that was fuel for the fire.  This began in 605 BC and then again in 597 BC and finally the destruction comes to its fullest in 586 BC when Jerusalem is burned and the temple destroyed as we see the vine being burned in its fullest.  The problem the false prophets in both Jerusalem and in Babylon that of the exiles, did not believe this as they held to the false hope that the Lord was obligated not to have Jerusalem or the temple destroyed.  They taught that because of the Lord had made a covenant with the house of David to always have a king on the throne that Judah would never be destroyed, but God destroyed the temple and also kept the line of David intact as our Lord was born into the line of David as we see from the pages of the gospels in the NT.

            Dr. Wiersbe finishes his commentary on this chapter with the following:  “Those of us who are branches in Jesus Christ, the true vine, need to take this lesson to heart.  If we fail to abide in Christ, we lose our spiritual power, wither , and fail to bear fruit for His glory.  The fruitless branch is tossed aside and eventually burned (John 15:6).  I don’t think this burning means condemnation in the lake of fire, for no true believer can be condemned for sins for which Jesus died (John 6:37; 10:27-29; Rom. 8:1).  The image of the burning branch is that of a worthless life, a life useless to God.  John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, prayed, ‘Lord, let me not live to be useless!’”  As I said earlier, and I think that this does go along with what Dr. Wiersbe said that the branches that will be burned will be the apostate branches of which it is probably the ones that Ezekiel was preaching this message to.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I wish to use an endnote for this section:  “Parables and allegories are given primarily to elucidate one main truth, and it’s dangerous to build one’s theology on imagery that is supposed to illustrate theology.  The major truth in John 15 is the believer’s need to abide in Christ, through prayer, meditation in the Word, worship, and obedience.  Our union with Christ never changes because the Holy Spirit abides with us forever (John 14:16), but our communion with Him does change.”  I want my communion to be the best as I walk with the Lord today and every day.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I will use a quote from a man who is now with the Lord:  “Walk with the King today, and be a blessing.”

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-6.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance godliness,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “He was killed in battle” (1 Kings 22:29-30).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where was the faith of the Romans spoken about?”

Answer in our next SD.

12/22/2014 10:33 AM