God Determines Access To Him - Ezekiel 37-42

Ezekiel 40:20-23 (ESV)

The North Gate

As for the gate that faced toward the north, belonging to the outer court, he measured its length and its breadth. Its side rooms, three on either side, and its jambs and its vestibule were of the same size as those of the first gate. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. And its windows, its vestibule, and its palm trees were of the same size as those of the gate that faced toward the east. And by seven steps people would go up to it, and find its vestibule before them. And opposite the gate on the north, as on the east, was a gate to the inner court. And he measured from gate to gate, a hundred cubits.

In chapter 40 we have Ezekiels prophecy about a future temple for Israel.  It is prophesied 14 years after Solomon’s Temple was destroyed, as the nation went into captivity under Babylonia rule.   The chapter is full of design, dimensions and word pictures of diagrams.  The above particular section is about the North gate of the Temple.  There are four gates listed.  The East Gate, the Outer Gate, the South Gate and this, the North Gale.  This is an important teaching lesson of this section.  The Temple has entry gates.  No one gets in without going through a gate.  There is no “west” gate because that is where the Temple would be built.   The west side was the most sacred.    The concept of the gates is to teach us that God is only accessible where He wants and how He wants.   God not only designs the place He resides, He designs the avenues to Him.  Note how Jesus framed it to His disciples at the Last Supper:

John 14:6 (ESV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This Temple in Ezekiel 40 is to both real and symbolic.   This section is meant to inspire the retuning nation with hope and possibility of their restoration; central worship of Yahweh will be restored.   But it is also to teach us about God and His holiness.  No one comes to a holy God without His designed access, through His Son.   

Beware: What You See May Not Be True - Proverbs 13

Proverbs 13:7 (ESV)

One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;

another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth. 

This is a peculiar proverb in that it seems to have more ambiguity than clarity.  This is an observation that Solomon is making and stating, without giving us any moral right or wrong ... not clearly, at least.   We are not told why the one who is poor is making himself look rich, nor why the one rich is making himself poor.   The words here for "pretend" are the way in which they are pretending, not indicating any particular deception.  The proverb is saying one man makes  himself to look rich and one makes himself to be poor, when the opposite is true.   Assuming evil motives, we would say the world is full of such deception.  People go out on any given night of the week and party as though they are something they are not.   Or, conversely, they look pious and they are not; inwardly they are full of evil.   If we think those spoken of here have pure motives we might think that the poor simply wants to be accepted and considered valued, while the rich doesn't want others to always take advantage of them ... preferring just to be one of the crowd ... pedestrian.   Perhaps, however, what Solomon is warning us about is that we should be careful to make judgments off appearances.  We might observe one who is something else and something else who is one.   The Spirit gives discernment.  The Proverbs are written that we might have wisdom and discernment.   We should not be persuaded by outward status.   God knows the hearts and wisdom will make us wise to what is real and not simply presented. Perhaps Solomon is just warning us that what we see might not be true.  

Life is Short - Psalms 87-89

Psalms 89:46-48 (ESV)

How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?

How long will your wrath burn like fire?

Remember how short my time is!

For what vanity you have created all the children of man!

What man can live and never see death?

Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

The framework for Psalm 89 is dealing with the tension between the faithfulness of God and the certain death facing all mankind.  The psalm starts out this way:

Psalms 89:1 (ESV)

A MASKIL OF ETHAN THE EZRAHITE.

I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever;

with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

So the writer exalts the faithfulness and steadfast love of God.   But then also makes it sound like God is his greatest adversary:

Psalms 89:38-40 (ESV)

But now you have cast off and rejected;

you are full of wrath against your anointed.

You have renounced the covenant with your servant;

you have defiled his crown in the dust.

You have breached all his walls;

you have laid his strongholds in ruins.

Then we come to the passage in 46-48.   Here we read that the writer is facing certain death.   He knows the end of his days.  He is not necessarily seeing his finality in hope.  He sees death as a bitter end.  He sees the limits of his life.  He sees the end of the clock.   His is not presumptuous about life.   Note how James frames it:

James 4:13-17 (ESV)

Boasting About Tomorrow

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

It is humbling to know that God cares for you but also allows trouble into our lives in order for us to see the limit of life.    Our lives are short, but He watches.  Our lives are brief, but not always pain free.   Yet, through it all, His faithfulness remains.  

One Step Away From God is One Step Closer to Evil Behavior - 2 Kings 16-20

2 Kings 17:1-5 (ESV)

Hoshea Reigns in Israel

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.

The book of 2 Kings is a set of historical accounts of the kings of Israel (the 10 tribes in the north) and the kings of Judah (the 2 tribes in the south).   As you read the book, like the above, you read how evil and bad the kings of Israel were in their leadership.  The kings of Judah are not much better, but every once in a while you do see a king from Judah, doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord.   

In the above passage we read about one of the last kings of Israel, Hoshea.   He, as we can read, was very evil. One of his most evil acts was to offer his own son as a sacrifice to the gods of foreign lands.   In those days ungodly leaders, to show their great devotion to their god (idols), would offer their children to invoke favor from those idols for blessing in battle and/or harvest.   Hoshea’s evil heart was fully exposed in this act.  This was not the only king who did this type of evilness, however.  Note God’s condemnation of Israel after it finally fell into the hands of the Assyrians:

2 Kings 17:16-17 (ESV)

And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

The evilness that can control mankind after they’re abandoned from God is horrific.   Note how Jeremiah framed this practice as he told Israel what God had to say about it. 

Jeremiah 19:5 (ESV)

and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind—

When we walk away from God our mind and heart will do corrupt and evil things.   Each step away from God gets you one step closer to these types of choices and behaviors.   

Treat Others Like God Treats Them - Leviticus 19-21

Leviticus 19:11-14 (ESV)

“You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.

“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

Whenever I wake up in the morning and know the my time in God’s word is centered in Leviticus, I think the same thing:  In the book of Leviticus God is showing us His character, His mindset and His holiness.  We may not be able to relate to all the laws the book mentions, but we can relate the God behind the laws.   We are learning how God thinks as we read Leviticus. We are learning who He is.  We are learning about His holiness; His desire for us to be holy and separate from those around us in how we conduct ourselves.    The above portion of Leviticus could not demonstrate these thoughts more.   In the above words we see God’s character, mindset and His desire for us to be holy like Him.   

How we treat others is the pathway to God’s character.   This entire book demonstrates this, but the above even more specifically.   God wants us to treat others with the highest respect and love.  The same love He has for mankind we are to have for mankind.  We are to set our own interest aside and approach those around us with God’s character.    What is the reason God gives for us to live this way toward others? He states at the end of this set of verses and repeats it throughout these three chapters and the entire book:  I am the LORD.   In the entire book of Leviticus God states, “I am the LORD” 52 times; mostly in chapters 17-27.  We are to treat others like God would treat them because He is the LORD.   Our behavior toward others demonstrates our likeness to God.  

Sin Is To Be Destroyed - Colossians 3-4

Colossians 3:5-7 (ESV)

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.

The concept of put to death in theological terms is called the mortification of sin.  In psychology terms, mortification of something is be subjugated to shame, humiliation and the destruction of all pride.  But in theological terms is the death of sin.   Paul is addressing the past of those he is writing to in the city of Colossae.   He is reminding them of who they were before their lives were hidden with Christ (3:3).   But there is an imperative in Paul’s words.  Although they have been set free from the penalty of the things he lists in the above verse, they are not set free of the presence of these things.  Therefore, by the power of the Holy Spirit they are to put to death that which Christ already crucified for them.  We are, hidden with Christ, to kill these things in our lives.  This is the act of sanctification.  We were living in these things.   But now we are NOT.   We have, hidden with Christ, been set free from their penalty and their power.   It is their presence that haunts us.  As Paul stated in Romans 7, they are always with us.  But Christ has empowered us, if by faith we mortify them.   They are not to be played with.  They are not to be pampered.  They are not to be simply paused in our life.  They are to be mortified; put to death.   Don’t toy with the sins that lurk in your life.  They are to be utterly destroyed.   

Don’t Deny Him - Luke 21-22

Luke 22:54-62 (ESV)

Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

The denial of Peter is one of the most famous stories of the Gospel accounts of Jesus life.   It was predicted at the Passover meal and fulfilled at Jesus’ first trial.   Peter, after boasting he could never leave Jesus, denies he even knows Jesus. Not once; not twice; but three times.  And perhaps the worse part of this entire story (only recorded by look) was the face Jesus made to Peter at that moment.  Note the last two verses of the above passage, again:

Luke 22:61-62 (ESV)

And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

Imagine the face of Jesus.  If you have ever had a parent look at you in disappointment you might be able to relate to what Peter saw that day.  But this is not our parents.   This is the Son of God, the Savior of the world.   It is important to remember that we, too, deny Jesus in our lives.  When we don’t speak up for Him in a crowd that does not prefer Him, we deny Him.  When asked about success in life and we point to our resume’ of life, we deny Him.  When we are lost and need answers and we turn to mankind’s solutions, we deny Him.  It is not hard to condemn Peter for what he did.  It is much easier than we think, however, to act just like what Peter did.