Isaiah 55:1-9
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
This is the New Heaven and the New Earth, in New Jerusalem the Capitol City with the Water of Life flowing and the Tree of Life growing along its banks (Revelation 22:1-2).
Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?
We are spending our means for worldly pleasures and focusing on this life, that can never satisfy our real needs.
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live;
When we listen to what God says in His Word, and take to heart what He tells us, shaping our lives according to His life principles; real life is spirit.
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David.
Also called the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31; 32:40; Hebrews 13:20), it is as enduring as the covenant made with David (II Samuel 7). (The Ryrie Study Bible, p. 1095.)
Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you, because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you.
There will be people from every nation who will enter into this New World and recognize the honor God gave Israel, His chosen.
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.
Don't put it off; when you feel the drawing of the Lord, don't ignore it. When I felt His drawing me, I didn't know it was God, I was looking for Truth; and when He found me (I'm the one who was lost!) I let Him overwhelm me, I didn't push Him away; I knew He was the Truth I'd been seeking after.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Exactly what happened to me: I didn't fall back into the wickedness that had been my lifestyle, and my thought processes turned away from worldly pursuits to wanting to know more about God's Word, the Bible.
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are My ways higher than Your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."
God is saying that He has a higher perspective on what He's looking at and understands. It's like we're in a maze, and we must try every turn and every path to figure out the map of the lay of the land; but God is in the helicopter above the whole maze, so He can just see the way out without having to figure it out--He understands it all, so we can trust Him.
Don't ever think that you can put off to tomorrow turning your life around, when today is the only time we have; yesterday is gone, and tomorrow is a dream. Today is the day of Salvation.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Different Kinds Of Bodies
I Corinthians 15:35-42
Still on the subject of Resurrection, Paul now discusses different kinds of bodies:
But someone may ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?'
Here is an argument raised against Resurrection, assuming that what we see we have now will be the same when we are raised.
How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
It is silly to make such an assumption. Even what is planted will only grow after it is buried.
When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps wheat or something else.
Taking farming as an example, the farmer plants a seed in the ground, to grow wheat or some other crop.
But God gives it a body as He has determined, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body (or form).
When God created the Earth He set forth the laws of biology, with the DNA and all the inheritable traits we know about now, that everything reproduces after its own kind (Genesis 1:24): Apple trees will not produce peaches, wheat will not produce corn, and a dog won't have kittens.
All flesh is not the same:
All the material bodies God designed for all the different species are all different.
Men have one kind of flesh,
All men, of every race, are all descended from one man, Adam, and can produce children.
Animals have another,
We cannot naturally produce a human/animal hybrid.
Birds another, and fish another.
Men, animals, birds and fish are all incapable of producing any kind of hybrid at all, each kind reproduces only after its own kind. This is how God planned it all out, and it works.
When scientists today artificially insert animal genes into plant genomes, the product is not good or healthy, and animals won't eat it; if they do, they grow grotesque tumors and die.
There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies;
We only are familiar with our earthly bodies, as we are of the Earth. But we know Heaven exists, and Angels don't have earthly bodies. We now know that they must have heavenly bodies.
But the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.
God has put His beauty into all of His creation. Even on Earth, the different geographical regions each have a different beauty: The Arctic and the Desert; the mountains and the rainforest; the seashore and the fruited plain; and everywhere else on Earth, each with its own beauty. And people are beautiful, too.
The Sun has one kind of splendor, the Moon another, and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
Even in Space, every object is different from every other object. And we even know now that other planets in our own and in other solar systems are all different in their elemental make-up, with different elements in different proportions, all different from one another. No one has found another Earth anywhere that is suitable for our Human life except the one where God put us. Our bodies are made of this Earth, in the same elemental make-up in the same proportions of this Earth, and these bodies belong here.
So will it be with the Resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable.
God is consistent. The body we have now is subject to death and destruction, and cannot last forever. The body we will be raised with will not be vulnerable to any of the maladies we suffer today, it will be indestructible.
So all the bodies, all the forms God made, are suitable for the environments in which He put them; and since He plans to take us out of this environment into another, He will also change these bodies into forms that are suited to the Heavenly realms we will live in forever.
God always does everything well.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Still on the subject of Resurrection, Paul now discusses different kinds of bodies:
But someone may ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?'
Here is an argument raised against Resurrection, assuming that what we see we have now will be the same when we are raised.
How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
It is silly to make such an assumption. Even what is planted will only grow after it is buried.
When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps wheat or something else.
Taking farming as an example, the farmer plants a seed in the ground, to grow wheat or some other crop.
But God gives it a body as He has determined, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body (or form).
When God created the Earth He set forth the laws of biology, with the DNA and all the inheritable traits we know about now, that everything reproduces after its own kind (Genesis 1:24): Apple trees will not produce peaches, wheat will not produce corn, and a dog won't have kittens.
All flesh is not the same:
All the material bodies God designed for all the different species are all different.
Men have one kind of flesh,
All men, of every race, are all descended from one man, Adam, and can produce children.
Animals have another,
We cannot naturally produce a human/animal hybrid.
Birds another, and fish another.
Men, animals, birds and fish are all incapable of producing any kind of hybrid at all, each kind reproduces only after its own kind. This is how God planned it all out, and it works.
When scientists today artificially insert animal genes into plant genomes, the product is not good or healthy, and animals won't eat it; if they do, they grow grotesque tumors and die.
There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies;
We only are familiar with our earthly bodies, as we are of the Earth. But we know Heaven exists, and Angels don't have earthly bodies. We now know that they must have heavenly bodies.
But the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.
God has put His beauty into all of His creation. Even on Earth, the different geographical regions each have a different beauty: The Arctic and the Desert; the mountains and the rainforest; the seashore and the fruited plain; and everywhere else on Earth, each with its own beauty. And people are beautiful, too.
The Sun has one kind of splendor, the Moon another, and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
Even in Space, every object is different from every other object. And we even know now that other planets in our own and in other solar systems are all different in their elemental make-up, with different elements in different proportions, all different from one another. No one has found another Earth anywhere that is suitable for our Human life except the one where God put us. Our bodies are made of this Earth, in the same elemental make-up in the same proportions of this Earth, and these bodies belong here.
So will it be with the Resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable.
God is consistent. The body we have now is subject to death and destruction, and cannot last forever. The body we will be raised with will not be vulnerable to any of the maladies we suffer today, it will be indestructible.
So all the bodies, all the forms God made, are suitable for the environments in which He put them; and since He plans to take us out of this environment into another, He will also change these bodies into forms that are suited to the Heavenly realms we will live in forever.
God always does everything well.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, August 19, 2016
Warn The Righteous And The Wicked
Ezekiel 3:16-21
At the end of seven days
The seven days here refer to the verse before this one, that tells us that Ezekiel went from the dazzling vision he had back to the people in exile, and sat among them for seven days--deeply distressed.
The word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked person, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself (from accountability).
Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them (to perhaps turn them around but they don't), they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live, because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself (from accountability)."
Now we see an instruction to Ezekiel that we can take as a principle that applies to our lives as Christians: We are also watchmen to our families and neighbors, to live our lives as examples of how God's ways work and bring strength, discernment, and prosperity in every way. When we are living these triumphant lives, others will ask us how we can do it, and we need to be prepared to answer them with the Gospel. We need to tell them God's Truth from His Word, whether to turn the wicked person from his ways or to remind the righteous person of that right way to continue to go.
God prepared Ezekiel for the hard message he was to deliver by having him "eat" or ingest the sorrow and heartbreak God felt for His people who Ezekiel was being sent to preach to. And we need also to realize how God's heart breaks for all the people who are muddling and stumbling through life, not knowing God or how much He loves each of us and has already met all our needs.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
At the end of seven days
The seven days here refer to the verse before this one, that tells us that Ezekiel went from the dazzling vision he had back to the people in exile, and sat among them for seven days--deeply distressed.
The word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked person, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself (from accountability).
Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them (to perhaps turn them around but they don't), they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live, because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself (from accountability)."
Now we see an instruction to Ezekiel that we can take as a principle that applies to our lives as Christians: We are also watchmen to our families and neighbors, to live our lives as examples of how God's ways work and bring strength, discernment, and prosperity in every way. When we are living these triumphant lives, others will ask us how we can do it, and we need to be prepared to answer them with the Gospel. We need to tell them God's Truth from His Word, whether to turn the wicked person from his ways or to remind the righteous person of that right way to continue to go.
God prepared Ezekiel for the hard message he was to deliver by having him "eat" or ingest the sorrow and heartbreak God felt for His people who Ezekiel was being sent to preach to. And we need also to realize how God's heart breaks for all the people who are muddling and stumbling through life, not knowing God or how much He loves each of us and has already met all our needs.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Some Are Ignorant Of God
I Corinthians 15:30-34
And as for us,
Paul is getting back to speaking about Christians again.
why do we endanger ourselves every hour?
It would only be reasonable to take a safe, easy road if this life is all we will ever have.
I die every day--I mean that, brothers--just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul is saying that just as the Corinthians know how proud Paul is about what God has done for the Christians in Corinth, they can be just as confidant in the knowledge that Paul's life is lived on the edge, in danger of some sort every day.
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
There is no point in trying to gain worldly renown by putting one's life in danger if he will not be alive to experience it, so we might as will take it easy and enjoy the pleasures of life, if we'll never rise.
Do not be misled:
Don't be fooled.
Bad company corrupts good character.
We need to be careful of who we listen to, to weigh the arguments and not be deluded into being deceived.
Come back to your senses,
Let's be reasonable here, sensible, using our brains logically.
as you ought,
It's the right thing to do.
and stop sinning;
Stop missing the mark with faulty thinking processes.
for there are some who are ignorant of God--
You have neighbors who have never been taught anything about the True God.
--I say this to your shame.
You have fallen short of the standards God has set for His people; we are to be an example to the World of how God's ways work, and bring success in life; and tell them why.
Every Christian is expected to do the work of an evangelist, whenever anyone asks us why we are the way we are: how we can handle the pressures of life, and overcome the trials and troubles that everyone faces. When we are the example of how God's ways work, others will notice and ask.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
And as for us,
Paul is getting back to speaking about Christians again.
why do we endanger ourselves every hour?
It would only be reasonable to take a safe, easy road if this life is all we will ever have.
I die every day--I mean that, brothers--just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul is saying that just as the Corinthians know how proud Paul is about what God has done for the Christians in Corinth, they can be just as confidant in the knowledge that Paul's life is lived on the edge, in danger of some sort every day.
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
There is no point in trying to gain worldly renown by putting one's life in danger if he will not be alive to experience it, so we might as will take it easy and enjoy the pleasures of life, if we'll never rise.
Do not be misled:
Don't be fooled.
Bad company corrupts good character.
We need to be careful of who we listen to, to weigh the arguments and not be deluded into being deceived.
Come back to your senses,
Let's be reasonable here, sensible, using our brains logically.
as you ought,
It's the right thing to do.
and stop sinning;
Stop missing the mark with faulty thinking processes.
for there are some who are ignorant of God--
You have neighbors who have never been taught anything about the True God.
--I say this to your shame.
You have fallen short of the standards God has set for His people; we are to be an example to the World of how God's ways work, and bring success in life; and tell them why.
Every Christian is expected to do the work of an evangelist, whenever anyone asks us why we are the way we are: how we can handle the pressures of life, and overcome the trials and troubles that everyone faces. When we are the example of how God's ways work, others will notice and ask.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
"Baptized For The Dead"?
I Corinthians 15:29
Now if there is no Resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
This is a very confusing passage. After researching quite a few resources, I must agree with Wikipedia that, "The meaning of that phrase is an open question among scholars."
I think that the most reasonable explanation is that the city of Corinth was a major crossroads of many other regions and faiths, and the Greek that is used here translates as, "Why are they baptized for the dead?" referring to some other cult the Corinthians were familiar with. Baptizing for the dead has never been a Judeo-Christian concept at all, let alone a practice, considering the view of personal responsibility taught throughout Scripture. But even the Pagans that have this practice are relying on the fact of Resurrection, giving secular validity to this teaching.
So we will all rise after we die, either to stand before Christ's Seat of Judgment for rewards, or to face the Great White Throne Judgment to determine the depth of suffering to endure through eternity.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Now if there is no Resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
This is a very confusing passage. After researching quite a few resources, I must agree with Wikipedia that, "The meaning of that phrase is an open question among scholars."
I think that the most reasonable explanation is that the city of Corinth was a major crossroads of many other regions and faiths, and the Greek that is used here translates as, "Why are they baptized for the dead?" referring to some other cult the Corinthians were familiar with. Baptizing for the dead has never been a Judeo-Christian concept at all, let alone a practice, considering the view of personal responsibility taught throughout Scripture. But even the Pagans that have this practice are relying on the fact of Resurrection, giving secular validity to this teaching.
So we will all rise after we die, either to stand before Christ's Seat of Judgment for rewards, or to face the Great White Throne Judgment to determine the depth of suffering to endure through eternity.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
The All-In-All
I Corinthians 15:27-28
For He "Has put everything under His feet" (Psalm 8:6).
God the Father has made Jesus Lord over all the Creation, the whole Universe and the Angelic Host in Heaven and in Hell.
Now when it says that "everything" has been put under Him, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, Who put everything under Christ.
Obviously God the Father is not subject to Christ, Christ Jesus does the Father's will.
When He has done this, then, the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all.
God is everything: He thought and spoke all creation into existence, and we all "live and move and have our being" inside Him (Acts 17:28), as though we are His imagination, and if He wasn't thinking about us all the time, we would cease to exist! He will eventually show Himself to be everything, The All-In-All (Revelation 21 & 22, especially 21:22-23). And if we're not Resurrected, how could we partake and enjoy this eternity!?!
These two verses follow the ones about King Jesus' Millennial Reign on this Earth, and refer to the New Heaven and New Earth that will last forever.
After this, Paul goes back to his defense of the reasonableness and logic of Resurrection.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
For He "Has put everything under His feet" (Psalm 8:6).
God the Father has made Jesus Lord over all the Creation, the whole Universe and the Angelic Host in Heaven and in Hell.
Now when it says that "everything" has been put under Him, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, Who put everything under Christ.
Obviously God the Father is not subject to Christ, Christ Jesus does the Father's will.
When He has done this, then, the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all.
God is everything: He thought and spoke all creation into existence, and we all "live and move and have our being" inside Him (Acts 17:28), as though we are His imagination, and if He wasn't thinking about us all the time, we would cease to exist! He will eventually show Himself to be everything, The All-In-All (Revelation 21 & 22, especially 21:22-23). And if we're not Resurrected, how could we partake and enjoy this eternity!?!
These two verses follow the ones about King Jesus' Millennial Reign on this Earth, and refer to the New Heaven and New Earth that will last forever.
After this, Paul goes back to his defense of the reasonableness and logic of Resurrection.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, August 15, 2016
God's Tough Love
Ezekiel 3:1-15
And He said to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel." So I opened my mouth, and He gave me the scroll to eat.
Then He said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
God's Word is always a delight to me when I approach it with anticipation, as my Father's "love letter" to me; it tasted as sweet as honey to his taste. Even when God is revealing how His heart is breaking, with lament and mourning and woe, it is still sweet to consume and digest.
Then He said to me: "Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak My words to them."
Now that Ezekiel has consumed all the sorrow and heartbreak God has for His people, now he is ready to go speak to them. Not in anger or harshness, but in a spirit of compassion, inviting them into the right paths of thinking and acting, to turn around from the ways that have already resulted in capture, deportation and bondage.
"You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel--not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand."
God is not sending Ezekiel to the other national people in Babylon where he is, but only to his own Hebrew people, the family God chose to be His own.
"Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you."
These other nations did not have the advantages God gave to Israel, but even so, if Ezekiel had been sent to them, they would have been more open to listening to him and believing what he said.
"But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to Me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate."
God is saying that His people Israel have been jaded, having had God's word given to them so freely for so long, that they have become blind and deaf, unwilling to obey. They just figure that they've "been there, done that" already.
"But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people."
He will strengthen Ezekiel to be able to withstand all the attacks and mistreatment he will be facing, without giving in or giving up. (We need to also remember that "He Who is in us is greater than he that is in the world.")
And He said to me, "Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says,' whether they listen or fail to listen."
God wants Ezekiel to be sure to get His message right, in both the words themselves, and the spirit in which they are given. All these people of God who have been carried off into exile in Babylon need this encouragement, even though they are still rebelling against what they consider God's unfairness to them. Apparently there were some who would listen, but they would be outnumbered by those who refuse to listen.
Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing. It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound.
As God and His retinue begin to depart, Ezekiel hears the noise of all the moving parts, and again it sounds like a troupe of motorcycles roaring down the street. (see my blog of 8/12/16)
The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me.
Ezekiel now must go and carry out what he has been commissioned to do, knowing that it will be a "hard row to hoe." He is willing to do this, and must trust that God would do what He said He would do for him in withstanding the pressure he will face.
I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days--deeply distressed.
Ezekiel went to where the people were living and inserted himself among them, so they would see him and be aware of his presence. And he prepared himself to preach, knowing how negatively it will go.
This is a hard, difficult task that God gave Ezekiel to do. God's "tough love" for His people is shown in this message He will give His prophet to deliver.
I think about when my children were small, and I found it necessary to threaten capital punishment for their dangerous disobedience. I loved them too much to let them go their own foolish ways, and I wanted to direct them into better, more advantageous ways of reasoning, thinking and acting. I knew that if they didn't learn these better ways, then their adult lives would be hard, poor and unhealthy.
How much more does God love us, His own creation, and wants us to learn to do right, to do good to one another, and trust Him to direct us into the ways to cooperate with how He designed this World to work. Then He will be able to bless us with the results of our actions, in prosperity, good health and long life, with the ability to enjoy each day. And then to be given the authority to enjoy His own Presence for all eternity!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
And He said to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel." So I opened my mouth, and He gave me the scroll to eat.
Then He said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
God's Word is always a delight to me when I approach it with anticipation, as my Father's "love letter" to me; it tasted as sweet as honey to his taste. Even when God is revealing how His heart is breaking, with lament and mourning and woe, it is still sweet to consume and digest.
Then He said to me: "Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak My words to them."
Now that Ezekiel has consumed all the sorrow and heartbreak God has for His people, now he is ready to go speak to them. Not in anger or harshness, but in a spirit of compassion, inviting them into the right paths of thinking and acting, to turn around from the ways that have already resulted in capture, deportation and bondage.
"You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel--not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand."
God is not sending Ezekiel to the other national people in Babylon where he is, but only to his own Hebrew people, the family God chose to be His own.
"Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you."
These other nations did not have the advantages God gave to Israel, but even so, if Ezekiel had been sent to them, they would have been more open to listening to him and believing what he said.
"But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to Me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate."
God is saying that His people Israel have been jaded, having had God's word given to them so freely for so long, that they have become blind and deaf, unwilling to obey. They just figure that they've "been there, done that" already.
"But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people."
He will strengthen Ezekiel to be able to withstand all the attacks and mistreatment he will be facing, without giving in or giving up. (We need to also remember that "He Who is in us is greater than he that is in the world.")
And He said to me, "Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says,' whether they listen or fail to listen."
God wants Ezekiel to be sure to get His message right, in both the words themselves, and the spirit in which they are given. All these people of God who have been carried off into exile in Babylon need this encouragement, even though they are still rebelling against what they consider God's unfairness to them. Apparently there were some who would listen, but they would be outnumbered by those who refuse to listen.
Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing. It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound.
As God and His retinue begin to depart, Ezekiel hears the noise of all the moving parts, and again it sounds like a troupe of motorcycles roaring down the street. (see my blog of 8/12/16)
The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me.
Ezekiel now must go and carry out what he has been commissioned to do, knowing that it will be a "hard row to hoe." He is willing to do this, and must trust that God would do what He said He would do for him in withstanding the pressure he will face.
I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days--deeply distressed.
Ezekiel went to where the people were living and inserted himself among them, so they would see him and be aware of his presence. And he prepared himself to preach, knowing how negatively it will go.
This is a hard, difficult task that God gave Ezekiel to do. God's "tough love" for His people is shown in this message He will give His prophet to deliver.
I think about when my children were small, and I found it necessary to threaten capital punishment for their dangerous disobedience. I loved them too much to let them go their own foolish ways, and I wanted to direct them into better, more advantageous ways of reasoning, thinking and acting. I knew that if they didn't learn these better ways, then their adult lives would be hard, poor and unhealthy.
How much more does God love us, His own creation, and wants us to learn to do right, to do good to one another, and trust Him to direct us into the ways to cooperate with how He designed this World to work. Then He will be able to bless us with the results of our actions, in prosperity, good health and long life, with the ability to enjoy each day. And then to be given the authority to enjoy His own Presence for all eternity!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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