ONE YEAR BIBLE - NOVEMBER 18

EZEKIEL 37:1 - 38:23                                                                                                          

"DEM DRY BONES":  Death and Resurrection.  Captivity is likened to "death" because they were cut off from God's Presence in the Land and in His Temple. Israel's sin had separated them from God.   Israel's return from captivity is depicted as the resurrection from the dead because they are being returned to God's fellowship in His land.  God gathers His elect from the "grave" of captivity and brings us back to life and fellowship with Himself - raised from the death of judgment.   This hope is also connected to the resurrection of the martyrs (Heb 11:35).  The resurrection of Jesus from the dead was the hoped-for restoration of the elect of God, the re-creation of a nation (a "holy nation").  The "dry bones" made us desperate to "hear the Word of the Lord".   The picture is of God giving life to a spiritually dead people. It is the imparting of resurrection life. God is breathing into His people and beginning His new creation (John 5:25-29).  "And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting." (Acts 2:2; Ezek 37:7, 9)  The Holy Spirit aligns bones, rejoining us in the Body.   Here we have the raising up, uniting, and God-breathing on the Body of Christ.  We must "hear the Word of the Lord", experience the breath of God (Holy Spirit giving us life), the muscle and sinews of ministry, the "coming together" of the Body, (baptized into His Body), and the "four winds" of the Spirit (in empowering and enabling transformation). 

TWO STICKS:  Uniting of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms (JEW & GENTILE into One Body).  This is made possible by the "covenant of peace", the "everlasting covenant", subject to ONE KING (Eph 2:14-15).  In the covenant, we are cleansed from all sin and sin becomes disgusting to us.  And nothing shall ever separate us from the love of God.  (Rom 8:36-39)  His Presence is promised to us forever. 

GOG AND MAGOG:  Gog seems to be the king and Magog the kingdom; so that Gog and Magog are like Pharaoh and the Egyptians.   Except that Ezekiel has already prophesied to the Egyptians. . . . and everybody else around him EXCEPT Babylon!  It could be that this describes the judgment of Babylon down the road.  On the other hand, Revelation alludes to the same scene, as does Matthew 24.  Since Revelation and Matthew 24 refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD, maybe that's what Ezek 38-39 refers to also.  Many believe that Ezekiel refers to the book of Esther when Haman conspired to have the Persian armies destroy all the Jews, and it backfired and the Jews killed 75,500 and plundered their enemies (Esther 9). 

What matters is this:  "ALL Scripture is  God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. " (2 Tim 3:16-17)  To be "trained in righteousness", the Scriptures must be INTERNALIZED so we can reproduce it in our behavior.  So, what is the real point here?  It is this: once we are born again, Blood-bought, believers, and then we sin and commit abominations, is there any future for us in God?  I believe this question is answered in Ezekiel 37 and in Hebrews where we are told that we don't have to be "saved" all over again.  In fact, TWICE in Hebrews (8:12 and 10:17) it says that God will not even remember outs ins and iniquities once we are born again!  It also explains why everything about the NT and the New Covenant is BETTER, because WE CAN GET BACK TO THE LORD.  First we repent (turn back toward God), of course.  Sometimes we receive correction, and in some cases, even punishment - and learn from it.  Then, like thistles and briars that are cleansed from a field  by fire, that bad stuff burns,  we leave it behind us, and we go on.  Even though the princes and powers of hell come against us, they can't touch us because Jesus already defeated them.  We dwell safely.  God deals with everything and He will "sanctify Himself".  All enemies are under His feet. 

RESPONSE:  No matter how bad things get, God is still greater than anything the enemy can throw at us.  I believe that it is important that the "everlasting covenant" is named BEFORE all hell breaks loose.  We have nothing to fear.  Whether this is future or not is immaterial.  Our assignment as Christians is to please God in all we say and do, and that takes loving obedience to His Voice and His Word.  When we are newly "recovered" from being in the enemy's hands, we receive cleansing and forgiveness and go on.  ONLY JESUS is so grand and so merciful!  We listen and He tells us the NEXT STEP. 

JAMES 1:19 - 2:17                                                                                                                  

OVERCOMING OPPOSITION TO REST (SETTLED, SINGLEMINDED FATH) (continued)

JAMES 1:19-2:13  To "rest" in faith, our lives must be oriented around God, and not ourselves.  To get our minds off ourselves is a difficult things to do, but God has a plan!  James 2:8 says that "the law of kings" is that we treat others in love, with a servant-attitude.  Anger is self-righteous and we cannot walk in wisdom if we are angry.  Instead we are to meekly (humbly and teachably) receive the Word of God.  The CURE for unwanted behaviors is the Word of God, "which is able to save your souls".  Our souls (the "self") are where all these unwanted behaviors are hiding: in our minds, in our emotions, in our desires. 

But first, we must "bridle our tongue" - control it by speaking in agreement with God's Word, because we follow the directions of our words, and eventually our feelings and our behaviors will reflect what we are saying.    We re-orient our lives around God by getting filled up with Bible-reading, and then putting those words in our mouths.  It is an intentional act. 

JAMES 2:14-16: A servant attitude:  This test of whether we are "resting in faith" is manifest in how we serve others (any others, not just people we want to serve) and that we stay pure while we do it.  When we lay our lives down for someone else, this is godly love, or "the Law of Kings" (2:8). These "works" - or outcomes of living by faith, apply the pressure to our lives that will reveal the genuineness of our faith (1:3).  If we DON'T or WON'T re-orient our lives by serving others, then we are no better off than "devils".  V. 19 shows us how UN-Christian it is to know what God says, but not be affected by it.  Remember, faith is the substance and evidence that there is an invisible realm all around us that includes God and His Throne.  By faith, we live as tho that realm is real and visible, and therefore it affects how we behave.  Unwanted behaviors are not shed by "works" , but by faith.  The "works" spoken of here is the effort of believing what God said and continually drawing close to Him thru praise and worship.  Notice in 2:23 that Abraham was called God's friend because he "believed" , not because he "obeyed". 

RESPONSE:  I've been on the treadmill of trying harder, getting frustrated, giving up, despairing of being a Christian.  I would go around and around, never changing very much, never getting anywhere.  Then one day I discovered that nearly everything that I was believing about God and about myself was LIES!  God wanted to help me, but I really didn't believe what the Bible said was true about me!  And so I went around saying things like, "Whenever some disease goes around, I am sure to get it."  "If anything can go wrong, it will."  "I know I'm hard to live with."  And so on and on.  I was "unstable in all my ways."  (Jam 1:8)  I have learned that I can talk myself into feeling terrible about myself.  I was obsessed with my own feelings.  Then I read how much God loves me, that He didn't collect my sins in a pile until He couldn't take any more, and that if I would get my mind off myself and on to Him, I would change.  So I decided to act as if I believed it!  (Some would call it "pretending" - and hypocritical.  As them how they are doing!)  To do that, I had to change what I was saying about myself.  At first, I had a difficult time believing it, but then as things started dropping off my personality, and as my feelings changed, I saw that my real efforts were to be spent connecting to God (and one way to do that is thru Bible study)- and He did the transformations.   Any feelings  can be changed by changing what we say about them.  They are just perceptions, they are not permanent parts of our personality.  This is how two children can grow up in the same home and be radically different --- their perceptions of what was happening around them are different.  The events are different, their perceptions are.  That changed how they felt about their growing-up years, and subsequently their feelings changed their behavior. 

PSALM 117:1-2                                                                                                                     

"Deuteronomy Psalms" (107-150).  First, did you know that this is the middle chapter of the Bible?  It is also the shortest chapter; Psa 119 is the longest chapter, and Psa 118:8 is the exact middle verse of the Bible.  Romans 15:11 uses this verse as proof that God has ALWAYS loved Gentiles.  V.2 "merciful kindness" is the word "grace".  God has always governed us with grace.  And His "truth" is God's "faithfulness".  God is entirely reliable, and the more time we spend in thanksgiving and in praise (out loud), the more we will realize it and believe it. 

PROVERBS 28:1                                                                                                                    

A bad conscience makes us paranoid. 

RESPONSE:  When I start getting paranoid or afraid at meeting certain people, I examine my heart to see if I am unforgiving, gossiping, going behind their backs, etc.  When I meet someone I am not drawn to, if I am "righteous" (innocent) - then I can  be bold when greeting them.