Cornerstonekaty

Ezekiel 4-5

This morning we come to the first message that Ezekiel was given. We’ve talked about the timeframe of Ezekiel’s life and ministry as he was among the exiles taken captive during the 1st siege of Jerusalem in 597 when the king and 10000 were carried away. He was there among the captives for 5 or so years before receiving his call as a prophet by way of his vision of the glory of God coming in a whirlwind from the North. His call was so powerful upon him, it struck him mute for the first six years of his prophetic ministry, unable to speak except when given words by God to speak. His message would be received by a stubborn people, largely unwilling to receive it. But what was that message? Here we have it and it comes to us in 3 acted out parables followed by an interpretation. We’re going to go through these because they are both strange and interesting. And the meaning that God gives to them will be our guide in interpreting them.

Ezekiel 2-3

Last week we talked through the historical context of Ezekiel’s ministry. He was exiled from the land of Judah along with 10,000 men of valor and craftsman, including the king, to the Babylonian empire, many of whom were settled in this suburb of Babylon, Tel-abib, near the Chebar canal. They were exiled after King Jehoiachin rebelled against the king of Babylon who thus laid seige to Jerusalem until his surrender, which he did. The Babylonians installed another king, Zedekiah, who would continue to pay tribute and afterward they left Jerusalem in tact.

All of this was a surprise to the people of Judah, unless they had been listening to the prophet Jeremiah who had been warning of such a thing. They assumed that God’s promises were everlasting and that this was a minor setback. Soon, they would return. But it was a false hope. This wasn’t a minor setback, as though God had temporarily let his guard down. This was God’s own doing, and that is the message that Ezekiel has been called to reiterate to the exiles.

In this passage, we see this call come to Ezekiel. Through his prophets, God makes his Word known. The question for you is this: what will you do about it?

Ezekiel 1

This morning I want to do two things. I want to layout some background to the book of Ezekiel and explore this first vision we find in the book. Ezekiel is a difficult book. It is filled with visions and enacted parables that are not always explained in enough detail for a reader to fully understand what an observer what have understood. It is difficult also because it has to do with prophecy and prophecy has, historically, invited a variety of attempts to interpret. It is cited or alluded to in the New Testament 65 times, 48 of which are in the book of Revelation. The visions of John have many connections to the visions of Ezekiel. So, it is no surprise that Ezekiel is a difficult book.

On the other hand, Ezekiel isn’t as difficult to understand as it might seem on the surface. Yes, the visions are hard, if not impossible to fully visualize, but that is okay. They are visions, not reality. In a vision, just as in a dream, you can see things that are hard to describe but make sense within the dream. I think that is going on here to a degree. What Ezekiel sees has meaning that we can discern, even while we can’t get a clear picture in our minds.

Revelation 2:8-11

Remember, our enemy is a defeated foe, our citizenship is the coming kingdom of God, and our promise is found in the resurrection of Christ.

1 John 4:7-18

Perfect love drives out fear.

Psalm 97

History is filled with stories of conquest. Alexander the Great conquering Greece, Asia Minor, the Middle East and the Persian empire, even into India. His conquest was shockingly swift. He brought a hellenization to his conquered lands, seeking to unite the East and the West with a common, syncretistic culture.

A few centuries later, Rome conquered the Greeks and extended their conquest of Europe under Julius Ceasar. They brought a common law and roads to facilitate trade across the new empire.
There were the Islamic conquests in the 7th and 8th centuries that conquered the Arabian peninsula, North Africa, Persia, and Spain.

Then there were the Mongols in the 13th and 14th centuries; perhaps the most brutal of all, creating the largest contiguous land empire in history from Eastern Europe to the Sea of Japan.

There are more: the Ottomon empire, the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the Brittish empire, Napolean, and Hitler.
Conquests turn the world upside down as they impose new cultures, customs, laws, and ways of life to the people. They sweep in like a tidal wave that threatens everything in its path, sweeping it up, turning it over and over, and settling it in a shifted landscape. Sometimes it works out well for people, other times it destroys. Sometimes the conqueror is viewed as a liberator, other times, as a destroyer. How he is viewed, depends upon the allegiences of the people.

One thing that a conquest does: it proves the power of the conquerer. Nothing can stand in his way.

This psalm was written to sing the praises of God as THE great conquerer. This isn’t a popular view of God in today’s culture. More often you hear about God as merciful, which he is; or holy, majestic and transcendent, which he is; or as savior, which he is. The idea of God as conquerer puts him in the same category as Hitler, and Napolean, Genghis Khan, Julius Ceasar, and Alexander the Great. These are not figures that history looks kindly upon because of their brutality and hardness. Nonetheless, their conquests are mere shadows compared to the great conquest that God will accomplish.

God is the ultimate conqueror. And that pushes away the darkness and ushers in joy. For those that belong to Him, it is the hope we cling to and drives us forward in faith. For those who bow before other gods, it is the ultimate terror.

Psalm 96

Psalm 95

Worship is ascribing worth. What is the worth of the Lord? His worth is beyond the universe, which is merely a reflection of His glory.

Psalm 94

One of my favorite movies over the years is Gladiator. It tells the story of a Roman General who has been faithful and effective in his service to Rome and the Emperor. But when the emperor is killed by his son, the general is viewed as a threat and is betrayed. His family is killed and he is sold into slavery. You feel the wrongness when you watch and you root for the general to find his revenge. When he finally gets it, you can’t help but feel a release of satisfaction. Most movies that deal with a revenge stir you up in this same way. It is a popular genre.

Have you ever thought about why it is such a popular genre? Why are those desires for vengeance so strong? It is a universal sentiment. So, is it wrong for a Christian to have desires for vengeance? Not according to the Bible. This morning’s psalm is a plea to God, in the context of corporate worship, to bring vengeance. This is not incompatible with the character of God.

In the past few psalms we’ve seen a great emphasis on the steadfast love of God. His “hesed.” We think of his great mercy. We will also worship him for his holiness and majesty as the psalmist highlights these attributes of God. We resonate with these.
But here the psalmist calls upon God, as the God of vengeance. How do we reconcile this with what we know about God?
The Westminster Divines define God as: infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. (WSC4)

Where does vengeance fit in? It fits into his justice. What does it mean that our God is a God of vengeance?

Psalm 93

Niether my mother or mother-in-law will drive in Houston. The size of I-10, the volume of the traffic, and the chaos of bringing drivers together from all over the world with their imported driving habits is terrifying. You can attest. So when my mother-in-law comes to town and we pick her up from the airport, we’ve learned to ask her to close her eyes while we drive. Otherwise she wears out the imagined brake on the passenger side of the car and fills the silence with the sound of bracing yourself. However, by the time she goes back to the airport, she is a bit more calm as she’s had time to trust the driver. Have you experienced that?
Jesus shows us a similar experience he had with his disciples one day when they were out on a boat in the Sea of Galilee.

The disciples were learning that if Jesus is with them, they need not fear. Why? Because Jesus was Lord of the storm. In fact, he is so much so, they could have gone to sleep even with the storm raging around them. How do you get to this point in your life? There is only one way. With a sovereign God who is for you.

That’s what we see in this Psalm. It is a celebration of God’s absolute governorship of the world. God is in control.