silver stumbling blocks, dirty gold

Posted on July 18, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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silver stumbling blocks, dirty gold

Ezekiel 7:14-22 (JDV)

Ezekiel 7:14 They have blown the trumpet and prepared everything, but no one is going to war, because my wrath is on her whole crowd.
Ezekiel 7:15 The sword is at the outside; epidemic and famine are at the inside. Whoever is in the field will die by the sword, and famine and epidemic will devour whoever is in the city.
Ezekiel 7:16 The survivors among them will escape and live in the mountains. Like doves of the valley, all of them will moan, each over his own violation.
Ezekiel 7:17 All their hands will become weak, and all their knees will run with urine.
Ezekiel 7:18 They will put on sackcloth, and terror will overwhelm them. Shame will cover all their faces, and all their heads will be bald.
Ezekiel 7:19 They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem like something dirty. Their silver and gold will be unable to save them on the day of Yahveh’s wrath. They will not satisfy their throats or fill their stomachs, because these were the stumbling blocks that brought about their violation.
Ezekiel 7:20 He appointed his beautiful ornaments for majesty, but they made their repulsive images from them, their repulsive things. Therefore, I have made these into something dirty to them.
Ezekiel 7:21 I will hand these things over to foreigners as plunder and to the guilty of the land as plunder, and they will profane them.
Ezekiel 7:22 I will turn my face from them as they profane my treasured place. Violent men will enter it and profane it.

silver stumbling blocks, dirty gold

The condemned people will suddenly discover that the silver and gold they had trusted in is useless to save them. Such will be the case on the day of final judgment as well. When we stand before the judge of all the earth on that day, if we had trusted in our wealth instead of in him, we will discover that that trust was treachery. That silver and gold will be useless to save us from his wrath. We will look at that money we had hoarded for ourselves and suddenly discover that our trust was placed in something dirty, something repulsive — and we will throw it to the ground. We will stand empty-handed, with nothing to show for our lives.

LORD, give us the wisdom to treasure the right things in this life. Things like a relationship with you, and the joy of serving you and others in your name.

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doomsday

Posted on July 17, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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doomsday

Ezekiel 7:10-13 (JDV)

Ezekiel 7:10 Notice the day! Notice it is coming! Doom is on its way. The branch has blossomed; arrogance has bloomed.
Ezekiel 7:11 Violence has grown into a branch of guilt. None of them will remain: none of that crowd, none of their wealth, and none of the eminent among them.
Ezekiel 7:12 The time has come; the day has arrived. Let the buyer not be glad and the seller not mourn, because wrath is on her whole crowd.
Ezekiel 7:13 The seller will certainly not return to what was sold as long as he and the buyer remain alive because the vision concerning her whole crowd will not be revoked, and because of the violation of each one, none will feel his life strengthened.

doomsday

The prophet Ezekiel was not just being cynical. He was literally called to be a prophet of doom. We need people with the courage to stand up today and tell the world that the day is coming, and nobody is going to escape it. We might escape COVID-19, but none of us is going to miss the return of Christ. That day will be a day of joy only for those who follow Christ today. For all others, it will be doomsday.

LORD, give us the courage to stand up for your kingdom and your gospel today.

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the God who slaps

Posted on July 16, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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the God who slaps

Ezekiel 7:5-9 (JDV)

Ezekiel 7:5 This is what the Lord Yahveh says: Notice, one disaster after another is coming!
Ezekiel 7:6 An end has come; the end has come! It has awakened against you. Notice, it is coming!
Ezekiel 7:7 Doom has come on you, residents of the land. The time has come; the day is near. There will be panic on the mountains and not celebration.
Ezekiel 7:8 I will pour out my wrath on you very soon; I will exhaust my anger against you and judge you according to your ways. I will punish you for all your repulsive practices.
Ezekiel 7:9 I will not look on you compassionately or spare you. I will punish you for your ways and for your repulsive practices within you. Then you will know that it is I, Yahveh, who slaps.

the God who slaps

I only remember one spanking from my dad, Buck Vann, but it was a doozy. He wailed on me with a belt. What did I do to incur his wrath? I had repeatedly acted up in church. After warning me for weeks, he met me at the steps of our house and commenced to punish me without pity.

The LORD gave his people fair warning that disasters would come upon them for their idolatry, and that when it happened, everybody would know that these disasters are from him. He is the God who slaps. But thank God for the slap. If it were not for God’s discipline, we would all turn away from him and do our own thing — resulting in permanent death.

But our God who disciplines the ones he loves also calls us back to himself. He is not going to take pity on a sinful son or daughter. He wants to restore them. So, he disciplines the way a truly loving father would.

LORD, thank you for loving us so much that you will not overlook our acts of rebellion and sin.

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the end is upon you

Posted on July 15, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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the end is upon you

Ezekiel 7:1-4 (JDV)

Ezekiel 7:1 This word of Yahveh happened to me:
Ezekiel 7:2 “Son of Adam, this is what the Lord Yahveh says to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come on the four corners of the land.
Ezekiel 7:3 Now the end is upon you; I will send my anger against you and judge you according to your ways. I will punish you for all your repulsive practices.
Ezekiel 7:4 I will not look on you compassionately or spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for your repulsive practices within you. Then you will know that I am Yahveh.”

the end is upon you

Ezekiel’s people had been living life like it had no end. Well, now God tells him to announce that their end had come. It is a scary thing to think that the bill is due, and you do not have enough to pay it. That is the prophet’s message.

Each of us should look carefully at our accounts as well. We cannot go our whole lives thinking that they will not come to an end. That is being irresponsible.

LORD, give us the wisdom to live every day like it was our last. Someday it will be.

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his hand stuck out

Posted on July 14, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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his hand stuck out

Ezekiel 6:11-14 (JDV)

Ezekiel 6:11 “This is what the Lord Yahveh says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and cry out over all the evil and repulsive practices of the house of Israel, who will fall by the sword, famine, and epidemic.
Ezekiel 6:12 The one who is far off will die by epidemic; the one who is near will fall by the sword; and the one who remains and is spared will die of famine. In this way I will exhaust my wrath on them.
Ezekiel 6:13 You will all know that I am Yahveh when their murdered ones lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and every leafy oak – the places where they offered pleasing aromas to all their idols.
Ezekiel 6:14 I will stick out my hand over them, and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the open country to Diblah. Then they will know that I am Yahveh.”

his hand stuck out

Ezekiel was commanded to display signs in this passage which are usually signs of a highly charismatic religious experience. But what they were intended to do was get the people’s attention. The LORD wanted his people to know that some terrible things were about to happen, and he was behind them.

It seems to me that when bad things happen nowadays, we preachers fall all over ourselves trying to convince others that God is not to blame for them. We don’t want to give anyone the impression that our God is to blame.

Well, in this case, what God wanted Ezekiel to proclaim is exactly that. He wanted the survivors to see that the tragedy was directly connected to the treachery. When bad things happen, it is not always God acting in judgment, but it can be.

LORD, give us the wisdom to see your hand in history, even in the events we cannot understand.

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not without a reason

Posted on July 13, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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not without a reason

Ezekiel 6:8-10 (JDV)

Ezekiel 6:8 “Yet I will leave a remnant when you are scattered among the nations, because throughout the countries there will be some of you who will escape the sword.
Ezekiel 6:9 Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are taken captive, how I was crushed by their promiscuous hearts that turned away from me and by their eyes that lusted after their idols. They will detest themselves because of the evil things they did, their repulsive actions of every kind.
Ezekiel 6:10 And they will know that I am Yahveh; I did not threaten to bring this disaster on them without a reason.

not without a reason

The LORD told Ezekiel that he was not going to totally wipe out all the Israelites, but he was going to allow them to be almost wiped out. He had his reasons for this disaster that would ravage his people. His honor was one of those reasons. His heartache over being abandoned by them was another. His awareness that the survivors would remember him in their captivity was another.

Lots of bad things are happening in this world today, and lots of them are being experienced by us. But not one thing is happening without a reason. We must trust our God and seek to do his will in the midst of the disasters that come. He is still in control and he can still be glorified in our lives.

LORD, show us how to trust you and obey you so that your reasons for everything will become evident.

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against the mountains

Posted on July 12, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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against the mountains

Ezekiel 6:1-7 (JDV)

Ezekiel 6:1 The word of Yahveh happened to me, and this is what he said:
Ezekiel 6:2 “Son of Adam, face the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them.
Ezekiel 6:3 You are to say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahveh! This is what the Lord Yahveh says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: Notice, I am about to bring a sword over you, and I will destroy your high places.
Ezekiel 6:4 Your altars will be desolated and your shrines smashed. I will throw down your murdered ones in front of your idols.
Ezekiel 6:5 I will lay the corpses of the Israelites in front of their idols and scatter your bones around your altars.
Ezekiel 6:6 Wherever you live the cities will be in ruins and the high places will be desolate, so that your altars will lie in ruins and be desecrated, your idols smashed and obliterated, your shrines cut down, and what you have made wiped out.
Ezekiel 6:7 The murdered ones will fall among you, and you will know that I am Yahveh.

against the mountains

As a hiker, I am used to describing my success by listing the mountains I have summited. To name a mountain region you have hiked is to quantify your success. The majestic mountain ranges are a source of pride, and remembering your experiences on them a source of pleasure.

Ezekiel’s people saw the mountains as a source of pride as well. But they were proud of their mountains because they had turned them into idols, setting up high places to worship the false gods of the nations all around them.

The LORD would not stand for that. He told Ezekiel to face those majestic mountains and prophesy against them. He was to predict murder and mayhem, destuction and desolation. No longer would these mountains be places of pride and hypocrisy. They would become places of punishment and shame instead.

What are the things in your life that you are proud of, but distract you from worshiping God? You should have no other gods before Him.

LORD, rid us of the majestic mountains that keep us from acknowledging your glory.

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a disgrace among the nations

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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a disgrace among the nations

Ezekiel 5:13-17 (JDV)

Ezekiel 5:13 When my anger is spent and I have vented my wrath on them, I will be appeased. Then after I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I, Yahveh, have spoken in my jealousy.
Ezekiel 5:14 “I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of everyone who passes by.
Ezekiel 5:15 So you will be a disgrace and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and furious rebukes. I, Yahveh, have spoken.
Ezekiel 5:16 When I shoot deadly arrows of famine at them, arrows for destruction that I will send to destroy you, residents of Jerusalem, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of bread.
Ezekiel 5:17 I will send famine and dangerous animals against you. They will leave you childless. epidemic and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, Yahveh, have spoken.”

a disgrace among the nations

In yesterday’s text, we saw how Jerusalem would learn that being in the center of the nations would not be safe for them. Their stubborn refusal to repent and obey God would lead to their being punished by him. The city who was supposed to display God’s glory would instead experience his wrath.

In today’s text, the LORD explains the details. That wrath would entail famine, attacks by dangerous animals, childlessness, epidemics and being ravaged by war.

Instead of displaying God’s glory among the nations, Jerusalem would be made a ruin and would display disgrace among the nations. Their sin was public. Their punishment would be just as public.

Personally, we need to learn from this text that one cannot presume that a position of prominence will keep him from experiencing the consequences of sin.

LORD, may we all learn to come to you in repentance and humility, and not presume that we are protected by a position of prominence.

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the center of the nations

Posted on July 10, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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center of the nations

Ezekiel 5:5-12 (JDV)

Ezekiel 5:5 “This is what the Lord Yahveh says: I have set this Jerusalem in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.
Ezekiel 5:6 She has rebelled against my rules with more guilt than the nations, and against my prescriptions more than the countries that surround her, because her people have rejected my rules and have not walked in my prescriptions.
Ezekiel 5:7 “Therefore, this is what the Lord Yahveh says: Because you have been more arrogant than the nations around you– you have not walked in my prescriptions or kept my rules; you have not even kept the rules of the nations around you –
Ezekiel 5:8 therefore, this is what the Lord Yahveh says: Notice, I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will execute judgments within you in the sight of the nations.
Ezekiel 5:9 Because of all your repulsive practices, I will do to you what I have never done before and what I will never do again.
Ezekiel 5:10 As a result, fathers will eat their sons within Jerusalem, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments against you and scatter all your survivors to every direction of the wind.
Ezekiel 5:11 “Therefore, as I live” – this is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh – “I will withdraw and not look compassionately, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your repulsive acts and repulsive practices. Yes, I will not spare you.
Ezekiel 5:12 A third of your people will die by epidemic and be consumed by famine within you; a third will fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter a third to every direction of the wind, and I will draw a sword to chase after them.

center of the nations

The inhabitants of Jerusalem in Ezekiel’s day thought they were safe because God had set them in the center of the nations. But their rebellion and indifference to God’s covenant and law turned that safe position into an unsafe one. God was going to withdraw from them, resulting in death by disease and warfare. Those who did not die would become hunted refugees.

God’s favored people are the ones who have ears to hear his word, repent of their sins, and seek his face. Being in the center of the nations made Jerusalem more responsible to listen to their God and obey him. It was not a safe place for hypocrisy.

LORD, give us the wisdom to stop trying to hide our hypocrisy. May we be more concerned to be in the center of your will than in the center of the nations.

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shave and a hair cut

Posted on July 9, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

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shave and a hair cut

Ezekiel 5:1-4 (JDV)

Ezekiel 5:1 “Now you, son of Adam, take a sharp sword, use it like you would a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair.
Ezekiel 5:2 You are to burn a third of it in the city when the days of the siege have ended; you are to take a third and slash it with the sword all around the city; and you are to scatter a third to the wind, because I will draw a sword to chase after them.
Ezekiel 5:3 But you are to take a few strands from the hair and secure them in the folds of your robe.
Ezekiel 5:4 Take some more of them, throw them into the fire, and burn them in it. A fire will spread from it to the whole house of Israel.

shave and a hair cut

When Ezekiel first heard these words from the LORD, how he must have cringed. For him, personally, to shave his head and beard would have meant he was forsaking the priesthood. It would have been a rejection of his inheritance.

As a prophet, he would also recognize the symbolism that his people would suffer loss, shame and even the ones who did survive would be in mourning.

The cost of a shave and a hair cut is much more than two bits. The cost that this event predicted was astronomical.

LORD, as we contemplate the cost of Judah’s rebellion and sin, may we learn its lesson. May we grow strong in obedience, and quick in repentance.

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