New things

 

Ezekiel 10:19

And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh

 

Thought for the day – New beginnings

In our last episode, we talked about things coming to an end. I talked about Ichabod and how it meant the glory had departed, or no glory. And yet in our verse today, God is promising that actually there will be new things happening. How as the old things come to an end, new things begin. The promise is that God will give them a new heart. That he would give them a new spirit. That he would remove the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. The idea here is that rather than the rigid structures of religiosity ,God would give them a living, beating,  heart built on the relationship with Him.

 

And so after our conversation about God's glory departing his church and the death of the structures around us, I think this verse gives us hope. Because God has not abandoned us. God will do a new thing. It may not be something we recognize, and it's probably not going to be something we agree with, but God will do a new thing.

 

It will be a thing that brings life. It will be a living, breathing thing. It will be something that will blow people's minds. And personally, I can't wait. I long to see the Kingdom of God come every day, as do all the people I know who want God's reign to come. We want to see the unjust structures of this world torn down. We want to see the persecuted set free. We want to see Jesus reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. A living, breathing relationship that we have with our Lord and Saviour. That's what we want. That's what we yearn for. And that is what God has promised in our verse today.

Ichabod

Ezekiel 10:4

And the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. 

 

Thought for the day – Ichabod

Here’s the Hebrew word for the day. Ichabod. Most people will associate it with Ichabod Crane, The main character in the story of the Headless Horseman. But we first read about ichabod in the book of 1 Samuel where we read that the glory of the Lord has departed. Ichabod itself means no glory. And it's essentially the theme of today's chapter in Ezekiel. The glory of the Lord slowly leaves the Temple of Jerusalem. And that's a hard one for me. So we read in the books of Kings and the books of Chronicles how the glory of the Lord fills the temple as God comes down to his new resting place. In Ezekiel chapter 10 we see that process reversed.

 

The entire chapter is filled with this amazing imagery of cherubim and the glory of God. And I would imagine Ezekiel watching this would have been completely awestruck. But also heartbroken. In much the same way that I think we look at our Christian churches and see the decline in our churches. Certainly here in the West. I'm not suggesting for a second that God has abandoned his church. I'm not suggesting for a second that God has abandoned some denominations, there is just a sense of sorrow as we see churches close and congregations decline. And I can't help but think has the glory of God departed those churches. I don't know the answer to the question, I don't know the answer to the question of the decline and decay. All I can hang on to is the Jesus promised that he would never leave us nor forsake us. The structures around us might be collapsing, like the temple was destroyed in Jerusalem, but they are just structures. God has not abandoned us.

 

Marked

Ezekiel 9:4

And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.

 

Thought for the day – Marked

Here’s the Greek word for the day. Sphragis. Just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it. It means sealed. And it’s a pattern that we see in Scripture, most notably Ezekiel and the book of Revelation. That sense that God seals his people. Particularly during times of persecution and trial.

 

So, Ezekiel’s vision has a man with a writing block going round marking those who grieve what grieves God. And then the executioners are let loose on Jerusalem. The Sphragis, the mark, or seal is what distinguishes those spared from those who are struck. The mark is a sign of ownership, belonging and protection during times of judgement.

 

But in Revelation we see the opposite. Those who reject God are marked with the sign of the beast. And I believe John relying on his knowledge of the Scriptures uses this to further distinguish between those that choose God and those that reject him. And so, we see whether it’s in Ezekiel or Revelation everyone gets marked, one way or the other. The choice is ours. So what will you choose?

Look North

Ezekiel 8:5

God said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked toward the north, and there in the entrance to the north gate beside the altar, I saw the idol that stirs up God’s anger.

 

Thought for the day – Look North

Here's what gets me about this verse. The idol isn't out in the city somewhere. It's not in some pagan temple down the road. It's right there — by the gate of the altar. In God's own house. Tucked in right next to the place where people came to worship.

And God says to Ezekiel: look. Lift up your eyes. Don't pretend you can't see it.

I find that uncomfortable, if I'm honest. Because it's easy to spot the idols out there — the obvious ones, other people's ones. It's much harder to notice the one I've quietly parked next to my own faith. The thing I've come to lean on more than God. The habit, the worry, the ambition, the grudge I keep warm.

Wesley believed grace doesn't just forgive us and leave us as we are. Sanctifying grace gets to work in the heart, clearing out the clutter we've let pile up near the altar. But it starts with looking. God doesn't drag the idol out before we've even seen it — he invites us to lift our eyes and admit it's there.

So maybe that's the prayer this morning. Lord, show me what I've set up near the altar. And then — gently, the way only you can — help me take it down. Look north today. See what's there. Grace is already at work.

 

The End is nigh!

Ezekiel 7:6

The end is coming. The end is coming. It is stirring itself up against you. It is coming! 

Thought for the day – The end is nigh!

According the a Pew report in 2010, 75% of Christians in the US believe that Christ will return. That’s down from 79% in 2006. Of those who believe Jesus will return only about 1 in 10 believe Jesus will return within their lifetime. So for the majority of believers, the end is nigh, but not imminently. What a change from the early church who firmly held that Christ’s return was imminent. Granted that was nearly 2000 years ago, no wonder the idea of Jesus returning seems more like a distant promise than a close reality.

Where do you sit with this? Are you of the belief that Christ’s return is imminent, within your lifetime, Or is it something we just long for and most likely won’t see this side of eternity during our lifetime? And what does Scripture say about Jesus’ return? There are effectively 6 principles:

1. The return will be visible and universal — not hidden or private

2. It will be sudden and unexpected — like a thief in the night, like lightning

3. It will involve judgment — separating the righteous from the unrighteous

4. It will bring resurrection — the dead raised, death defeated

5. It will mean consummation — God's kingdom fully and finally established

6. The timing is unknown — and Jesus is explicit about that

Wherever we stand on the matter, these principles should be our guiding light when it comes to discussions about the end of the age. And maybe we should be a bit the writers of the Nicene Creed who simply said: "he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead" and not worry particularly about the details.

When will they learn?

 

Ezekiel 6:15

I will use my power against them and destroy the land, from the desert to Diblah. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Thought for the day – When will they learn?

I was watching the movie Sully recently. It's the movie about the pilot that landed his passenger jet in the Hudson River in New York. And one of the things that struck me most about that was just how people seemed to think that they knew better than Sully did about what had happened. The simulations, everything, just seemed to be rigged against Sully and his co-pilot. And it got me thinking about when will we learn. The whole point of the movie was about the bravery of Sully and his courage to stand up and be counted and stand up for the truth. And yet the authorities seemed dead set to disprove him. 

When would they learn? 

And it also got me thinking about how it takes something really horrible happening for us to stop and think about what's gone wrong. 

When will we learn?

So again in the news today there was an article about one of our National Health Service trusts and the care that it gives to mothers and newborn babies. And how that care had fallen far short of what people expected. And so an inquiry is being launched to discover what happened. 

When will we learn?

God's words to the people of Israel today, I will use my power against them and destroy the land from the desert to Dibla, then they will know that I am the Lord, is an example of how it takes a catastrophe before we learn. And surely we as people have the intelligence to think through our actions to come to the logical conclusion but we as Christians have something additional to simply logic. We have the Holy Spirit who is able to guide us and provide us with the information and the discernment that we need to make sure that we don't get to a point where there are lessons to be learned because things have gone horribly wrong. 

So today will you allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you. To speak into situations that might be heading south, but with a bit of forethought and prayer and a bit of discernment, we'll be able to pull up. So that we don't have to have an inquiry about something that's gone horribly wrong.

Compassion Fatigue

 

Ezekiel 5:15

The nations that are around you will ridicule you and laugh at you. When I punish you because of my anger, fury, and fierce revenge, you will become something ridiculed and something horrible. I, the Lord, have spoken.

 

Thought for the day – Compassion fatigue

I wonder how Ezekiel must have felt getting these prophecies. Living in Babylon, far away from Jerusalem, he was getting prophecies about things that were happening in real time to people that he probably knew and cared about. And yet even here, God was asking Ezekiel to say things to the people of Jerusalem that would have no doubt hurt him and made him worry.

 

I don't think we can ever understand what Ezekiel was going through. Knowing that what he was prophesying was coming true and then hearing reports of the prophecies coming true.

 

And while we are never going to be in Ezekiel's position, I wonder how we respond to bad news coming from faraway places. Sometimes I think we develop something called compassion fatigue. A situation where we just cannot be bothered with anybody else's difficult circumstances, particularly those far away that don't really impact us.

 

A good example is the Ukrainian war. To be honest, I'm not sure we really care about the Ukrainian war as much as we did when it first started. And yet there are still people dying on the front lines. There are still people dying in drone attacks and missile attacks. There are Christian pastors being challenged because of the stand they take against Russia or against Ukraine for that matter. Last week we saw the cathedral in Kyiv bombed.

 

Have we developed compassion fatigue? Quite possibly. And maybe we need to be asking God to forgive us for that. Maybe we need to be asking God to renew our hearts so that we can show compassion to those who need it most again.