GOD IS IN CHARGE: God began at the throneroom with Ezekiel's revelation because God's purpose is above all, behind all, beyond all. God's won't be thwarted in His eternal purpose, which is to manifest Himself in a people made in His image and likeness. As believers, we are to be an expression or outward manifestation of God's thoughts. The basis of God's success is the living union between us and Himself, through Jesus Christ. The "glory of God" is the product of God's presence. When Ezekiel saw the glory of God enthroned on the four living creatures, he saw the God enthroned on His creation, revealing that everything exists by and for God's pleasure and purpose.
JUDGMENT: In the OT the glory of God was accompanied by fire, light and power. (John 1:14 says it is "full of grace and Truth".) The glory of God cannot co-exist with evil. So, when God's Presence fills a place, it is to either judge it or to grace it. With God's judgment on Jerusalem already declared, they endured 20 years of being besieged by Babylon. God spent twenty chapters showing Ezekiel WHY. The first thing God showed Ezekiel was the abominations committed with holy things. The leadership treated them like they were common, turning their backs on the altar.
NOAH, DANIEL, JOB, MOSES & SAMUEL: (Jer 15:1 adds Moses and Samuel) These must have been God's favorite intercessors or prayer warriors. Even if THEY prayed, they can't delay or prevent judgment from happening. They couldn't even save their own children! "The sword, the famine, the wild beast, and disease". However, there will still be a REMNANT who are unwilling to compromise, who will be marked for preservation.
NO HOPE: The "parables" of chapters 15-17 show that there is no hope of deliverance from out of God's hands (Heb 10:31). The only thing certain vines are good for is to burn for firewood. They are worthless and fruitless. And if they were useless before they were burned, just how much more useless they will be afterwards. The people living in Jerusalem are those "vines". They will burn because they are unfaithful. They CHEATED ON GOD by preferring their counterfeits and substitutes.
God's elect are an UNFAITHFUL WIFE. But they have taken it several steps further: they have prostituted themselves - giving it away! They "slept with" Egypt, the Philistines, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians. What makes this so abominable is that God's love and grace were meant to bring about repentance, not betrayal. But man is ever an idolater and whoremonger. We need a new nature! God rescued them when they were poor little cast-off orphan babies. He gave them everything, then married them, conferring royalty on them! Now they are punished as an ingrate and a harlot! A queen who became a prostitute! They have not lived up to their call! They fell far "short of the glory" that God had planned for them.
RESPONSE: Everything was made by and for Jesus Christ. It was created for His pleasure and for His purpose. When we go astray, God is jealous, not in a weak, whiny way, but with strength of ownership. God considers us USELESS, apart from Himself! When we go to substitutes and counterfeits for our hungers, God says we have prostituted ourselves! And many times we don't even get "paid for it"! We get nothing out of it except hunger for more. Addictions are like that. "The law of diminishing returns." That's how they draw us in. The benefits don't last long, and we need another "fix". This is proof that we need to spend more time in God's Presence, because we aren't getting satisfied! God had spoken through Jeremiah and promised us that we do not need to drink from our "broken cisterns". He would satisfy us with Living Water. Are we so self-centered that we prefer our addictions over God? Are we so unbelieving that we don't trust God to be sufficient? God will satisfy us to the place where we will keep wanting Him and keep coming for more, and can then resist temptation from substitutes. Remember, when we call Him, HE STANDS BEFORE US. He IS love - so He showers all that love on us. Believe that and you will be saved.
Jude 1:21 says, "Keep (guard & protect) yourselves (preserve, watch over, protect) in the love of God." This means that God's love has the ability to protect us - to draw us close to Himself and save us from harm. We can depend on God to love us. We don't need to prostitute ourselves. We can set ourselves to be satisfied in God's Presence - determine not to leave until He fills us up.
HEBREWS 7:18-28
CONTEXT: Hebrews thru Revelation are all about "faith". Hebrews, in particular, shows us the goal of faith - maturity ("perfection"). Of course, growing up has its price; the self-life is dead and stripped away, and our "spiritual babyhood" must be let go. And so, Hebrews demonstrates how our new "spiritual adulthood" is "better" than all that we leave behind. This particular section of Hebrews, chapters 7 & 8, are a continuation of the third "warning" in Hebrews, beginning with 4:14, of the falicy of continually "starting over". If we go back to the starting line every time we fall, we will never finish!
HE CAME OUT OF NOWHERE! Who is Melchizedek? Some think he is a pre-incarnate appearance (theophany) of Jesus. Comparing this passage with Genesis 14, we find that Melchizedek was a king and a priest ("royal priesthood" (1Pet 2:9; Rev 1:5-6). "Melchizedek" actually means "king of righteousness". He was "a priest of the Most High God". He has no past, and an endless future. But the Bible doesn't really identify him otherwise. If it really mattered, God would have told us. As it is, he is a type of Jesus first, then the matured believer. Melchizedek is in contrast with the OT priesthood of Aaron's line, the tribe of Levi, who served God and the Temple, and ministered the Law.
"ANOTHER TRIBE": One purpose for Melchizedek, NOT from the tribe of Levi, is to prepare the way for Jesus. When Jesus was on earth, He could not serve as a priest because He was of the tribe of Judah. There are many other contrasts set up here to show us that Jesus' priesthood, and thus OUR priesthood as well, is "better" than what had been experienced so far. We must not MIX these together, or we will never grow up because grace can't have its work in us. So this is important. The biggest contrast is that the Law ministered by the Aaronic priesthood can NEVER produce the image of Jesus in us, but the Melchizedek priesthood of grace and righteousness DOES.
AARONIC PRIESTHOOD MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD
Based on human descent Based on Divine appointment
Based on the Old Covenant of Law Based on New Covenant grace.
Temporary Permanent and unchangeable
Priests subject to death Eternal and everlasting
Priests to one nation Ministers to all the earth.
"weak" and sinful. Entered Heaven itself,
"separated from sinners"
Impotent, in that it cannot reproduce Jesus. Brings "perfection" - the image of Jesus in us.
"BETTER HOPE": Our hope is NOT the rapture! If that were true, then the Gospel here on earth is irrelevant. NOTE: 1 John 3:1-3 tells us that our hope is that we will be like Him - conformed to the image of Jesus. Heb 7:18 tells us that the former priesthood served a covenant with (the Law) commandments that were "impotent" - they were unable to produce the Son in me; so Jesus set it aside because He is the "potent one". Our hope is based not on Levitical requirements, but on the Life of God at work in us. Furthermore, Heb 7:25 tells us that Jesus saves "to the uttermost" - to completion.
"BETTER COVENANT": Heb 8:6 tells us that our covenant is better because it is based on "better promises" and it is "everlasting". We will read further in Hebrews 8 how the first covenant ministered blame, shame, and death. Our "better covenant" made by Jesus Christ ministered righteousness, freedom, and life, bringing "perfection" - spiritual maturity.
RESPONSE: There is a new King in town! He is able to bring "many sons" into glory! By fulfilling and abolishing the Old Covenants, Jesus then made the New Covenant effective and IRREVOCABLE (Heb 13:20). We are free to grow up thru the influence of God's Presence in us. However, we can't have both. We must not combine the old with the new, or we won't have ANYTHING! The wineskin will burst and leave us with NOTHING (Mark 2:22). We cannot combine childhood rules (external boundaries) with the freedom of grace (internal working). God must be the center of our lives. We must keep bringing our minds back to Him. We have no life of our own! We have His life! This is "better" than whatever we must let go of!
PSALM 106:1-12
This is the last "Numbers" Psalms (Psa 90-106). Psa 106 covers the Exodus to the Babylonian captivity, and reveals to us that not one lesson was learned; and that even tho Israel failed and disobeyed, God is still faithful and full of mercy.
"SIN": To sin is to forfeit because of falling short of the goal (Rom 3:23; Heb 4:1) It exposes us to danger from our enemies. We don't just grieve the Holy Spirit or injure our conscience, we forfeit GOD'S REST. INIQUITY: to be perverse in turning aside from reflecting Jesus. WICKEDNESS: is when we violate Truth and it causes unrest and inner chaos. Psa 106:2-5 is the contrast, showing the blessing and favor and glory that we inherit when we submit and obey and love God.
PROVERBS 27:4-6
"Envy" goes deeper than wrath or anger, and is often hidden until it erupts. "Open rebuke" does NOT mean public, it just means "spoken out loud".
Proverbs 27:5-6 are not written to encourage a criticizer to keep criticizing. It is written from the standpoint of a person who has just received correction - that this correction is better for you than the pats on the back from someone who doesn't love you enuf to tell you the truth. They are only thinking about themselves and won't risk the backlash. And, those "kisses" may even be hiding hatred or envy.
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