hiding the brutal truth

Posted on August 27, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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hiding the brutal truth

Ezekiel 16:23-29 (JDV)

Ezekiel 16:23 ” ‘Then after all your evil – Tragedy, woe to you! – the declaration of the Lord Yahveh –
Ezekiel 16:24 you built yourself a mound and made yourself an elevated place in every square.
Ezekiel 16:25 You built your elevated place at the head of every street and turned your beauty into a repulsive thing. You spread your legs to everyone who passed by and increased your prostitution.
Ezekiel 16:26 You engaged in promiscuous acts with Egyptian men, your well-endowed neighbors, and increased your prostitution to anger me.
Ezekiel 16:27 ” ‘Notice, I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your provisions. I gave you over to the throat of those who hate you, the Philistine women, who were embarrassed by your indecent conduct.
Ezekiel 16:28 Then you engaged in prostitution with the Assyrian men because you were not satisfied. Even though you did this with them, you were still not satisfied.
Ezekiel 16:29 So you extended your prostitution to Chaldea, the land of merchants, but you were not even satisfied with this!

hiding the brutal truth

The Mishna records that this chapter was not allowed to be read or translated in public. The prophet goes into the sordid detail of Jerusalem’s promiscuous rebellion against her husband.

Sometimes the message needs to be in shocking language to get the recipient’s attention. I wonder, have we dared to let God tell us what he really knows about us. Or, have we been quietly excluded this message from our actual canon?

The truth is, the whole truth is brutal. We are all guilty of so much more that we admit to in public.

FATHER, forgive us for hiding the brutal truth. Restore us to the purity you deserve.

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you slaughtered my children

Posted on August 26, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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you slaughtered my children

Ezekiel 16:15-22 (JDV)

Ezekiel 16:15 ” ‘But you trusted in your beauty and committed fornication because of your fame. You lavished your sexual favors on everyone who passed by. Your beauty became his.
Ezekiel 16:16 You took some of your clothing and made colorful high places for yourself, and you engaged in prostitution on them. These places should not have been built, and this should never have happened!
Ezekiel 16:17 You also took your beautiful jewelry made from the gold and silver I had given you, and you made male images so that you could engage in prostitution with them.
Ezekiel 16:18 Then you took your embroidered clothing to cover them and set my oil and incense before them.
Ezekiel 16:19 The food that I gave you – the fine flour, oil, and honey that I fed you – you set it before them as a pleasing aroma. That is what happened. This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.
Ezekiel 16:20 ” ‘You even took your sons and daughters you bore to me and sacrificed them to these images as food. Wasn’t your prostitution enough?
Ezekiel 16:21 You slaughtered my children and gave them up when you passed them through the fire to the images.
Ezekiel 16:22 In all your repulsive practices and acts of prostitution, you did not remember the days of your infancy when you were stark naked and thrashing around in your blood.

you slaughtered my children

Jerusalem’s betrayal of her husband is described in bleak detail here, using the analogy of a bride who is exalted by her husband’s love, and then turns around and gives her pride, beauty, wealth and children to other men.

The worst act of betrayal is that the city sacrificed her children by her legitamate husband — the LORD himself. They were infants sacrificed to Molech, burned to death in a hideous sacrilege of a ritual. The LORD, the rejected husband tells the city “You slaughtered my children and gave them up when you passed them through the fire to the images.”

The question I am pondering today — as I reflect on my being part of the bride of Christ — is my own responsibility to raise my own children as God’s children. Have I sacrificed them to an unholy image?

LORD, give me the wisdom to stay true to the one who gave me my children. You have blessed me with three beautiful daughters. My I continue to commit them to you because they are gifts from you.

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his exalting love

Posted on August 25, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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his exalting love

Ezekiel 16:8-14 (JDV)

Ezekiel 16:8 ” ‘Then I passed by you and saw you, and noticed you were indeed at the age for love. So I spread the edge of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged myself to you, entered into a covenant with you – this is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh – and you became mine.
Ezekiel 16:9 I washed you with water, rinsed off your blood, and anointed you with oil.
Ezekiel 16:10 I clothed you in embroidered cloth and provided you with fine leather sandals. I also wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.
Ezekiel 16:11 I adorned you with jewelry, putting bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck.
Ezekiel 16:12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.
Ezekiel 16:13 So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was made of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became extremely beautiful and attained royalty.
Ezekiel 16:14 Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty, because it was perfect through my splendor, which I had bestowed on you. This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.

his exalting love

The Lord is telling the love story of how he brought Jerusalem from nothing into a glorious something. The betrayal part of the story is yet to come. Today, we get to contemplate what a wonderful lover our God is. Each of us, like Jerusalem in Ezekiel’s story, began as nothings. Each of us has been exalted by our Savior’s love.

The question for each of us is how we have responded to his exaltation. Have we, like Jerusalem, betrayed his love by idolatry. Have we chosen our own lovers, and abandoned the one who brought us up from nothing?

LORD, thank you for your redeeming, exalting love. Show us how to be faithful to you, and reject the temptation to seek other gods.

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he said ‘live’

Posted on August 24, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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he said ‘live’

Ezekiel 16:1-7 (JDV)

Ezekiel 16:1 The word of Yahveh happened to me. This is what it said:
Ezekiel 16:2 “Son of Adam, confront Jerusalem with her repulsive practices.
Ezekiel 16:3 You are to say, ‘This is what the Lord Yahveh says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hethite.
Ezekiel 16:4 As for your birth, your umbilical cord wasn’t cut on the day you were born, and you weren’t washed clean with water. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.
Ezekiel 16:5 No eye looked compassionately on you to do even one of these things out of pity for you. But you were thrown out into the open field because you were thought lightly of on the day you were born.
Ezekiel 16:6 ” ‘I passed by you and saw you thrashing around in your blood, and I said to you as you lay in your blood, “Live!” Yes, I said to you as you lay in your blood, “Live!”
Ezekiel 16:7 I made you numerous like plants of the field. You grew up and matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, but you were stark naked.

he said ‘live’

Ezekiel needed to remind his people of their humble beginnings as a nation, and the fact that they owe their existence to the compassion of their God. He saw them when they were unpresentable, and he choose to give them life.

Such is the case with all of us. None of us gave birth to ourselves. We owe our lives to a Savior who cared — and he still cares.

Thank you, compassionate LORD.

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given to the fire

Posted on August 23, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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given to the fire

Ezekiel 15:1-8 (JDV)

Ezekiel 15:1 Then the word of Yahveh happened to me:
Ezekiel 15:2 “Son of Adam, how does the wood of the vine, that branch among the trees of the forest, compare to any other wood?
Ezekiel 15:3 Can wood be taken from it to make something useful? Or can anyone make a peg from it to hang things on?
Ezekiel 15:4 Notice that it is put into the fire as fuel. The fire devours both of its ends, and the middle is charred. Can it be useful for anything?
Ezekiel 15:5 Notice that when it was whole it could not be made into a useful object. How much less can it ever be made into anything useful when the fire has devoured it and it is charred!”
Ezekiel 15:6 Therefore, this is what the Lord Yahveh says, “Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire as fuel, so I will give up the residents of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 15:7 I will turn against them. They may have escaped from the fire, but it will still consume them. And you will know that I am Yahveh when I turn against them.
Ezekiel 15:8 I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully.” This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.

given to the fire

The inhabitants of Jerusalem had thought of themselves as the best of the best. Now that they were under God’s judgment, he views them as wood that is given to the fire — because that is the only thing it is useful for.

I have known the joy of serving the LORD in a number of different functions. It would break my heart if I were ever told the bad news that Ezekiel had to tell the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

LORD, make us into wood for your use — whether glorious or ordinary. May we never get to the point where we are only useful for the fire.

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a survivor generation

Posted on August 22, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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a survivor generation

Ezekiel 14:19-23 (JDV)

Ezekiel 14:19 “Or suppose I send an epidemic into that land and pour out my wrath on it with bloodshed to wipe out both man and animal from it.
Ezekiel 14:20 Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live” – the declaration of the Lord Yahveh – “they could not rescue their son or daughter. They would rescue only their throats by their righteousness.
Ezekiel 14:21 “For this is what the Lord Yahveh says: How much worse will it be when I send my four devastating judgments against Jerusalem – sword, famine, dangerous animals, and epidemic – in order to wipe out both man and animal from it!
Ezekiel 14:22 Even so, notice there will be survivors left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out. Indeed, they will come out to you, and you will observe their conduct and actions. Then you will be consoled about the devastation I have brought on Jerusalem, about all I have brought on it.
Ezekiel 14:23 They will bring you consolation when you see their conduct and actions, and you will know that it was not without cause that I have done what I did to it.” This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.

a survivor generation

A survivor generation will emerge from the judgments and the exile which will prove that God’s actions against his own were not without cause.

God is allowing many of the things mentioned in this passage today. Could it be that he is also going to bring about a survivor generation who walk in holiness out of this generation’s ashes? May it be so.

LORD, we ask you for a future generation willing to stand for your truth, your righteousness, and against this generation’s idols.

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no other Way

Posted on August 21, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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no other Way

Ezekiel 14:15-18 (JDV)

Ezekiel 14:15 “Suppose I allow dangerous animals to pass through the land and depopulate it so that it becomes a sinister desolation, with no one passing through it for fear of the animals.
Ezekiel 14:16 Even if these three men were in it, as I live” – the declaration of the Lord Yahveh – “they could not rescue their sons or daughters. They alone would be rescued, but the land would be a sinister desolation.
Ezekiel 14:17 “Or suppose I bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through it,’ so that I wipe out both man and animal from it.
Ezekiel 14:18 Even if these three men were in it, as I live” – the declaration of the Lord Yahveh – “they could not rescue their sons or daughters, but they alone would be rescued.

no other Way

This text reminds us that we are all personally responsible to seek God. Even though we do our best to protect our loved ones, in the end, they must come to faith and obedience just as we did. No one inherits the kingdom from his or her parents. We each enter it through faith in the blood of Christ.

Are you trying to sneak into the sheepfold in some way other than through the door? It will not work.

LORD, your wrath is coming, but you have made a way for us to avoid it. Jesus is that Way. Thank you for your grace.

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a few strong believers

Posted on August 20, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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a few strong believers

Ezekiel 14:12-14 (JDV)

Ezekiel 14:12 The word of Yahveh happened to me:
Ezekiel 14:13 “Son of Adam, suppose a land fails me by acting faithlessly, and I stick out my hand against it to cut off its supply of bread, to send a famine through it, and to wipe out both man and animal from it.
Ezekiel 14:14 Even if these three men – Noah, Daniel, and Job – were in it, they would rescue only their throats by their righteousness.” This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.

a few strong believers

In lots of communities, there are a few strong believers. Perhaps the majority of rebellious or nominal draw some comfort from their presence — thinking that they would prevent anything really bad from happening in the community.

Here God is warning that even the big three (Noah, Daniel & Job) would not cause him to change his mind about bringing judgment and destruction. There has been too much unfaithfulness for a few heroes of the faith to turn the tide. The LORD will get glory not through victory, but through the repentant ones who respond to his judgment.

LORD, forgive us for thinking that the presence of a few strong believers will keep us from experiencing your just judgment.

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beware official investigations

Posted on August 19, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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beware official investigations

Ezekiel 14:6-11 (JDV)

Ezekiel 14:6 “Therefore, say to the household of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord Yahveh says: Repent and turn away from your idols; turn your faces away from all your repulsive things.
Ezekiel 14:7 You see, when anyone from the house of Israel or from the aliens who reside in Israel separates himself from me, setting up idols in his heart and putting his violating stumbling block in front of himself, and then comes to the prophet to investigate me, I, Yahveh, will answer him myself.
Ezekiel 14:8 I will turn against that one and make him a sign and a proverb; I will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am Yahveh.
Ezekiel 14:9 ” ‘But if the prophet is deceived and speaks a message, it was I, Yahveh, who deceived that prophet. I will stick out my hand against him and exterminate him from among my people Israel.
Ezekiel 14:10 They will bear their punishment – the punishment of the one who inquires will be the same as that of the prophet –
Ezekiel 14:11 in order that the household of Israel may no longer stray from following me and no longer defile themselves with all their rebellions. Then they will be my people and I will be their God. This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.'”

beware official investigations

Ezekiel was responding to an official investigation by a group of influential elders. On such occasions, the prophet who was being investigated would be tempted to speak softly and avoid controversy. But the LORD did not want that. These elders were influential in Israel, but they also had compromised God’s truth and were themselves, idolaters. God’s message to them was not to be conciliatory. The message was a command to repent and turn away from idols.

If we speak up for God’s truth, we invite such official investigations — and many unofficial ones. God is watching to see if we mean in public what we say in private.

LORD, give us integrity — the courage to hold to our convictions no matter who questions them.

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strangers to him

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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strangers to him

Ezekiel 14:1-5 (JDV)

Ezekiel 14:1 Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me.
Ezekiel 14:2 Then the word of Yahveh happened to me:
Ezekiel 14:3 “Son of Adam, these men have set up idols in their hearts and have put their violating stumbling blocks in front of themselves. Should I actually let them investigate me?
Ezekiel 14:4 “Therefore, speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahveh says: When anyone from the house of Israel sets up idols in his heart and puts his violating stumbling block in front of himself, and then comes to the prophet, I, Yahveh, will answer him appropriately. I will answer him according to his many idols,
Ezekiel 14:5 so that I may take hold of the household of Israel by their hearts. They are all strangers to me because of their idols.’

strangers to him

An official delegation of the elders of Israel came for a summit talk with Ezekiel. Maybe this was at first a cause of happiness for the prophet. Maybe he thought that now that the leaders are consulting with him, it would result in forgiveness and restoration. But God tells Ezekiel that these elders are strangers to him because of the idolatry that keeps them from being sincere.

Brothers and sisters, setting up idols in our hearts is a temptation for us today. We need not think that God is any more willing to consult with us if we do so. He must be our only master.

LORD, we want to meet with you. Purge us of our idols.

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