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Mark 4:26-34 – Growing Gains

August 6, 2025

Do you remember those “grow in water” toys? They still sell them, but you don’t see them as much as we did in the 90’s. The packages promised unbelievable growth – that what you started with would expand to 50, 100, 1,000 in size. So you’d get out the little capsule or the tiny, shrunken dinosaur that looked like it came out of a Lucky Charms box, toss it in a glass of water, then wait a few hours, only to realize you were right to not believe the claims. Now, instead of a tiny, shrunken marshmallow you didn’t want to play with, you had a wet sponge that you didn’t want to play with.

Mark 4 shows us the way Jesus taught in Galilee. He predominantly used parables when speaking to the crowds. This chapter is a stack of parables, not necessarily given at the same time, but showing Jesus’ method and the content of some of these teachings.

The collection starts with the Parable of the Sower, which Jesus sets out as the key parable for understanding the others. Tonight we have two other parables that are similar in style and imagery, but with somewhat different points.

In the Parable of the Sower, the focus was the four types of soil. Tonight the main point is that even though Christ’s work began humbly and in obscurity, in the end the growth will be unbelievably huge – dominating the whole world with life.

Mark 4:26a – 26 “The kingdom of God is like this,” he said…

What does Jesus mean by “the Kingdom of God?” The truth is, Jesus doesn’t define the Kingdom of God. But He did describe it.[1] Does He mean the final phase when Jesus is on His throne, ruling in Jerusalem in glory? Or does He mean the spiritual reality – that though we’re still waiting for His forever Kingdom to arrive in full, the people of God live and operate with the knowledge that Christ already is King and we are citizens sent on His business during our pilgrimage home? Or is He referencing the redemptive work that the imperishable seed of the word of God does in individual lives as it is sown into our hearts and starts to transform us and bear fruit?

Looking at the parables we find all these elements. We see the final harvest of souls into eternity, we see the calling we all receive as Christians to join together in the global work of the Gospel, and we see how the Gospel penetrates and permeates our individual hearts and minds to change us, here and now. As one scholar noted, in this section of Scripture, “we have parables which imply that the Kingdom is present and yet not present, and which continue the…contrast between what is now hidden and what will assuredly be revealed.”[2]

Mark 4:26b-27 – …“A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day; the seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn’t know how.

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus is the first and foremost Sower and we imitate Him. But notice this sower: He sleeps and he isn’t all-knowing. He represents believers who have taken up the call to be a part of the work of God and the spreading of the Gospel.

This image assures of of several things: First, that the Lord will accomplish His work in this world. It cannot fail. Even though the people involved do so without total understanding and with no power of their own to bring a crop out of the ground. Even still, the seed will germinate. It will grow. The field will come alive for the harvest.

Second, there is – as always – a depiction of God’s generous grace toward us. This farmer has such limited knowledge. He has limited strength. He can’t work round the clock. If you’re talking about saving the world, he’s not the ideal candidate. But God includes us in His work despite our shortcomings. God is gracious toward us to include us in His redemptive mission.

As partners in that work, we should behave with humility. We should recognized that we don’t always know the mind of God – that we don’t always have the best ideas for how to do God’s work. And we should always remember that the power is not in our minds or in our scattering technique or in the supplements we put in the soil. The power is in the seed.

Sometimes churches feel like the Gospel needs some help. That the seed needs Miracle-Gro alongside it. That people we want to help need enticement before they’d be willing to accept the Gospel. But the Gospel is the power of God for salvation in and of itself.[3]

This farmer may not fully understand how this seed does its thing, but he believes it will. And so, not only is he faithful to do the work, but we see he does it in restful confidence – without worry.

But the fact that he isn’t worried does not mean he doesn’t care. He has dedicated himself to this seed, this effort, to growing this crop. Day by day focusing on that growth.

What would happen if this farmer grew no crop? What would happen to his family? To his community? They need the harvest for now and for the future. It’s essential.

In times of peace and prosperity, believers often stop caring about spiritual growth. We settle into a mentality that’s, “I’ve got a spot in heaven and that’s all I need.” But that’s not all we need. God wants growth in your life – harvests from your life. Not just once, but season after season.

Mark 4:28 – 28 The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the head, and then the full grain on the head.

There are times when the Lord works dramatically and suddenly, but in general, as God works in a life, in a church, in the world, it’s not instantaneous. There is gradual development and progression. The farmer isn’t done with the job the moment he scatters the seed. Then there is the watering. There’s watching for weeds, protection from pests, careful measurement of when the crop is ripe. The Christian life is about patience and dedication and faithfulness. It’s not just about us feeling a certain way all the time. There’s a book on Biblical discipleship with a great title: A Long Obedience In The Same Direction. That direction is where the Lord leads.

Now, as we wait on the Lord and walk faithfully with Him, God is – of course – even more faithful to do what He has promised. This seed grows by itself. The word there is “automatically.”[4] But the farmer dedicates himself to being a part of it.

The encouragement for us is to trust that the growth God wants to do in our lives is going to happen. It may be gradual, but it is unstoppable. And so don’t give up your place or activity in the Lord’s garden because you think there’s more action out in the world. Real, eternal power and change is not found in the political, it’s not found in the financial, it’s not found in the experiential. It’s found by following God’s designs which come charged with God’s power.

Mark 4:29 – 29 As soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

They say, “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.” In this case, it’s not about the blade or the head, it’s about the crop. In the Parable of the Sower we see shoots that came up quickly but bore no fruit. That wasn’t a good thing. God wants fruit in your life, in our church, in this world.

And there are all sorts of different crops God wants to bring out of your life. All sorts of fruits of the Spirit. Just as olives served a different set of purposes than grain did, so each of our lives can glorify God and bring change into this world in a wide variety of ways.

But don’t just be a bag of rich soil. Actually bear fruit. If we were to drive down to any one of the nurseries in town, we would find pallets and pallets of perfectly good soil, bagged up and ready for use. But that soil won’t grow anything unless it’s worked.

Mark 4:30 – 30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use to describe it?

Jesus wants us to be thinking about the Kingdom and to apply what we hear. We don’t learn everything about the Kingdom of God from these parables,[5] but they give us ideas to consider and meditate upon and accept with real action and obedience.

Mark 4:31-32 – 31 It’s like a mustard seed that, when sown upon the soil, is the smallest of all the seeds on the ground. 32 And when sown, it comes up and grows taller than all the garden plants, and produces large branches, so that the birds of the sky can nest in its shade.”

What is this parable about? That’s a question that has a wide set of answers from faithful, thoughtful students of God’s word. Each of the three interpretations offered tonight give us a lot to ponder.

The first and most common interpretation for this parable is that it’s simply about the fantastic growth of the Kingdom. That even though Christ came in the humblest form, the most modest of beginnings, look at what the final result is. The Carpenter from Nazareth, born in a stable, Whose message was absolutely rejected by the elite of Israel and Rome and Who died a criminal’s death – yet look at how the Gospel continued to spread, continued to change lives, continued to accomplish the impossible day by day through the centuries up to and including our lives today!

Other interpreters say, “Whoa, whoa, whoa – birds weren’t a good thing in the Parable of the Sower. In fact, they were devilish figures who ate the seed.” And they point out that this mustard plant has overgrown. For them the parable speaks of how as God does His work, there will be false growth mingled with it.[6] A worldly overgrowth that looks impressive and powerful, but where is the fruit? Instead of helping, there is a hindrance. We think of Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8 who attached himself to the revival in Samaria, but he wasn’t a follower of Jesus. He saw it as a way to enrich himself and wield power over others.

There’s validity to this interpretation. It reminds us we’re not to judge hearts, but we are supposed to judge fruit. What crops are coming out of a life? In my own life, what is growing? Tangles and thorns and unruly overgrowth, or am I growing in my knowledge and obedience to Christ?

There is a third interpretation to consider. Why a mustard plant? Well because the seed is so small. Jesus liked to use the mustard seed as an analogy: “Faith like a mustard seed…”

By the way – at some point a skeptic might tell you that the mustard seed is not, in fact, the smallest seed, so there you go Jesus never existed. Rabbis during this time period used the mustard seed as the proverbial example of the smallest measure of size.[7] Think of how we use ants today.

But a mustard plant is not really what you would cultivate in your field. Listen to this ancient historian’s account: “Mustard…with its pungent taste and fiery effect…grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: but on the other hand when it has once been sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it.”[8] In some sense, Jesus was saying that the Kingdom of God was, to some people, an invasive and noxious weed. And yet, in reality, it was a plant that produced flowers and oil and spice and aroma and flavor and medicine for life.[9]

The Pharisees thought of Jesus as an invasive weed. They did all they could to pluck Him and His followers out of their land. But once the Lord arrived, once the truth of the Gospel was sown, Light into the darkness, the darkness could not overcome it. And it kept growing and bearing fruit.

Mark 4:33-34 – 33 He was speaking the word to them with many parables like these, as they were able to understand. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable. Privately, however, he explained everything to his own disciples.

Do parables ever confuse you? They confuse me sometimes. Even this last mustard parable…scholars who know original languages and dedicate their lives to studying one area of Scripture aren’t all totally sure about the interpretation.

And that’s ok. The disciples also didn’t fully understand. But the point of the parables was to divide people into two groups: Those who wanted to understand and those who didn’t.

You know, Hebrews 4 says the word of God is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.[10] That’s exactly what the parables did. If you wanted to follow, you followed up.

Now listen, we have more resources than the disciples then did. We’ve got the whole canon of Scripture. We have many centuries of careful study that we can lean on. We’ve got more information than ever before. But we’re still supposed to be disciples who follow up. Because our faith in Christ and our understanding of His word is not math. It’s not, “I believed the right ten things and now that’s all I need.” It’s not, “I heard the parable once and that’s what was required.”

We’re called into an ongoing relationship of closeness and growth with the Lord. Called to keep going to His word and opening our lives before it and allowing it to be sown into our hearts so that it can do its work. And the truth is, the Word always has power to put down new roots in us.

I was talking to someone the other day who said, “You know, I’ve read that verse 1,000 times and it’s just been a sort of pass-it-by verse, but I read it today and it suddenly jumped out at me. It stuck in my mind.” And they were talking about how they weren’t sure what the Lord wanted to teach them about it, but they were thinking about it and it was bearing fruit in their minds.

There in verse 33 it says, “As they were able to understand.” The word understand is defined as, “Listening and conforming to what was heard. To receive news, believe it, and respond.”[11]

We don’t always immediately get what the Lord is trying to tell us, which is why we want to make hearing God’s word a lifestyle. The goal isn’t to just read the Bible once, but to continually have it sown into our lives, day-by-day, situation after situation, so that new roots can grow down to bear new crops for the Lord.

Verse 34 says that Jesus explained everything to His own disciples. What an amazing thing that Christ calls us His own. That He takes the time, the effort, the patience, the grace, the power, to cultivate our lives for His glory and His purposes. To grow fruit in us that changes the world.

Today there’s a lot of talk of low-skilled workers being replaced with robots, right? The Lord could do that. But He doesn’t. Because He loves us and calls us to His side and empowers us to be His hands and feet, because He has made us His own.

The Kingdom of God is an unstoppable work of grace, meaning, and fruitfulness. So, seeing that this Kingdom is operating now and will culminate in a dominion of life all over the world, shouldn’t we rush to be part of the harvest? Why wouldn’t we clear the fields of our hearts so that the King can sow as much seed into us as He possibly could?

If there are things we don’t understand about His truth or His leading, that’s ok. But don’t stay on the outside. Become an insider by pursuing the Lord and saying, “Jesus, I want to understand. I want to be conformed by what I hear from You. I want to be brought into the work You’re doing.”

Now is the time for sowing and for growth and for the reaping of spiritual fruit. Don’t be a bag of soil unused on the shelf. Grow according to God’s leadings and designs, starting right now.

 

References
↑1 The Lexham Bible Dictionary
↑2 Morna Hooker   The Gospel According To Saint Mark
↑3 Romans 1:16
↑4 Clifton Allen   Matthew-Mark
↑5 ibid.
↑6 See H.A. Ironside, Ray Stedman
↑7 R.T. France   The Gospel Of Mark
↑8 Pliny the Elder quoted in Ben Witherington   The Gospel Of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary
↑9 Encyclopedia Judaica
↑10 Hebrews 4:12
↑11 Dictionary Of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains: Greek New Testament

There Will Be Blood (Ezekiel 40:1-43:12)

August 3, 2025

Have you ever told someone you love, “I need my space?”

It means you want time and distance away from the relationship, both physically and emotionally. It sounds reasonable enough. But what if we consider that advice with regard to our relationship with Jesus? Can you imagine Him saying to you, “Gene, I need My space?”

From Eden to Eternity, from Genesis to Revelation, the Lord wants you in His space.

Let’s call His space “sacred space.” It is anywhere that God has made a way for a sinner to enjoy fellowship with Him.

Eden was the first sacred space where humans walked with God. When they disobeyed God, they lost that fellowship. God immediately began working to restore it.

The penalty for Adam and Eve’s sin was death. God’s remedy was to become a man and substitute Himself as the once-for-all sacrifice for all who believe. He draws all people to the Cross, the Savior of all – especially those who believe.

This incredible incarnation would take a while. After Eden you see a string of sacrificial altars that were sacred meeting spaces.

Something extraordinary followed. God led Israel out of Egypt and gave Moses plans for a portable Tabernacle. It was a Tent of Meeting between God and man. When it was set up, the cloud representing the glory of the Lord filled it.

Almost 500yrs later, Solomon’s magnificent Temple replaced the portable Tabernacle. At its dedication the Temple was filled with the glory of the Lord, making it impossible for the priests to enter.[1]

Around 400 years later something exceedingly awful happened. On account of Israel’s centuries of unrepentant insubordination, idolatry, and immorality, Ezekiel watched as “the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the Temple” (10:18).

Ezekiel omits much Temple history:

  1. Since 70AD, the Jews have been without a Temple, dispersed all over the Earth.
  2. The next Temple they build will be the Tribulation Temple. They’re ready to build it right now. The glory of the Lord will not be in that Temple. It is the place where the antichrist declares deity and demands everyone worship him.
  3. We are discussing the Millennial Temple.
  4. After the thousand years God will create new Heavens and a new Earth where we will dwell with him for eternity. An angel told the apostle John, “There will be no Temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its Temple.”[2]

The Tabernacle, the OG Temple, and the Millennial Temple were & will be the Houses of the Holy on Earth.

Ezk 40:1  In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was captured, on the very same day the hand of the LORD was upon me; and He took me there.

Ezk 40:2  In the visions of God He took me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain; on it toward the south was something like the structure of a city.

Ezk 40:3  He took me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze. He had a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway.

Ezk 40:4  And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your mind on everything I show you; for you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel everything you see.

We call these ‘plans’ because the Temple has not been built. Ezekiel sees the completed Temple. This is a case of the prophetic perfect: A future reality described as already complete.

We could veer off here & discuss ourselves! When the Bible promises God has begun a good work in you,[3] the Lord is letting you know that He sees you as you will be in the future. You will be perfect.

The bronze man is most likely an angel. His super-power is accurate measuring. I’m going to summarize the Temple one section at a time.

Ezekiel 40:5-16 Describes the East Gate, sometimes called the Golden Gate. It is prominent throughout this description:

  • Ezekiel recorded the glory of the Lord leaving the Temple and the city through the East Gate.
  • When the Messiah returns to Jerusalem, He is expected to enter the city through the East Gate.

Ezekiel 40:17-19 describes the outer court of the Temple. 

Ezekiel 40:20-23 describes the northern gateway of the outer court.

Ezekiel 40:24-27 describes the south gate.

Ezekiel 40:28-43 describes the inner court.

Listen carefully: Inside the inner court, Ezekiel sees chambers and tables used for preparing animal sacrifices. In 40:41, “Four tables were on this side and four tables on that side, by the side of the gateway, eight tables on which they slaughtered the sacrifices.

But wait… Isn’t Jesus’ death on the Cross the once-for-all sacrifice for sin? It is, but there most definitely will be animal sacrifices in the Millennium.

The first step in getting a handle on this is to remember that animal sacrifices were never for salvation. People in every dispensation are saved exactly the same way: “For what does the Scripture say? ‘ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’ ”

One commentator wrote, “Animal sacrifices and Christ’s sacrifice were functionally different and therefore compatible.” Another wrote, “The function of sacrifices in the future will have nothing to do with eternal salvation.”

What is their function? They restore fellowship with God and the people of God when it is broken by sin.

The Great Tribulation ends with the Second Coming of Jesus. One of His first actions will be to separate survivors into two camps: The sheep & the goats.

  • The goats “will go away into everlasting punishment.”[4]
  • The sheep are the saved mortals we call Tribulation Saints. They “inherit the kingdom prepared for [them] from the foundation of the world.”[5]
  • All the believing mortal Tribulation survivors will be in the Millennium. All their children born, for one-thousand years, will posses a sin nature.
  • Also in the Millennium will be the Church, having been resurrected or raptured prior to the Great Tribulation.
  • Also in the Millennium will be resurrected OT saints.
  • And, of course, a vast number of other supernatural beings & creatures.

In that list, who will have a continual problem having fellowship with God & others?

That’s right; the mortals with their sin nature. See if this makes sense to you. Mortals will need to be saved. We will urge them to trust Jesus (whom they can see). When a human believes, it is accounted to them as righteousness. They receive the in-dwelling of God the Holy Spirit.

But something is still amiss. They remain in a perishing body of flesh with a propensity to sin. Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice on the Cross at Calvary saves them – but they’re going to need something to restore fellowship with God until their eventual resurrection.[6]

The mortals in the millennium will be like we are today. Saved by grace through faith, in-dwelt by God the Holy Spirit, but still prone to sin.

Why do we, today, get a pass on blood sacrifices?

We are uniquely the church. We are a mystery throughout all the Old Testament, only revealed after the leadership of the nation of Israel rejected Jesus. We are the bride of Christ. The church is described as being in Christ Jesus. If we have a break in fellowship on account of sin, the Bible tells us to confess our sin directly to Him because “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”[7]

We “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.”[8]

Let’s make a direct comparison between priests. The apostle Peter twice calls the Church a “priesthood” of believers.[9]

Touching or being near a dead body, on purpose or in ignorance, renders a mortal priest ceremonially unclean.[10] He  cannot serve in the Temple or enjoy fellowship with God or the people of God. The remedy was to wait 7 days, perform a ritual washing, and offer a sin offering the day he returned to the Temple. He would then be declared clean.

By contrast, We are resurrected and in our perfect glorified bodies in the Millennium. We cannot be rendered unholy. We are holy just as God is holy.

I see no difficulty with a mortal individual having to make a sacrifice in order to have sacred space restored.

The Millennial sacrificial system should be expected: It is necessary to provide sacred space for mortals. To put it another way – It would be weird for there not to be sacrifices.

Ezekiel 40:43-47 highlight God’s assignment of specific priestly chambers in the inner court.

Ezekiel 40:48-49 Describe a vestibule.

Ezekiel 41:1-26 describes the inner structure of the future Temple, focusing on the sanctuary and the Most Holy Place. The main hall and inner sanctuary, which is 20 cubits square, is reserved for God’s presence.

The inner sanctuary, or Most Holy Place, is described with great care. No furniture is mentioned, because the focus is on God’s presence in it.

Ezekiel 42:1-20 The man measures the 500-cubit-square Temple complex, walled off to separate the holy from the common.

A Messianic Jewish website describes the Temple: “The size of the structure to be built during the Millennium almost defies imagination. It will tower above the skyline of the city in the rising sun, golden in splendor, glistening in beauty. At dawn or sunset, noon or night, the Temple will be the focal point of Jerusalem. It will be the place where God dwells among His people. It will be the largest and most magnificent structure ever erected, and it will all be for the glory of God.”

The Millennial Temple will be approximately one mile square. That’s almost 28mil sq.ft. By way of comparison, the Pentagon grounds, and Central Park, are approximately that size.

Massive geological changes make room for it. Zechariah says the Mount of Olives will split, valleys will rise or fall, and Jerusalem will be elevated and reshaped.[11]

Now we come to it. Ezekiel gives us in words what he saw in wonder.

Ezk 43:1  Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east.

Ezk 43:2  And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the Earth shone with His glory.

Ezk 43:3  It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw – like the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face.

Ezk 43:4  And the glory of the LORD came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east.

Ezk 43:5  The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

I find it hard to define the glory of God. David Guzik calls it “the radiant outshining of His character and presence.” It is the visible, tangible representation of God –  the shekinah. It is found in many OT passages, described as “a cloud.” In the NT, the cloud is visible at key moments in the life of Jesus:

  • The cloud was present at the transfiguration of Jesus.[12]
  • The cloud received Jesus into Heaven at His ascension.[13]
  • The cloud will display the glory of Jesus Christ when He returns in triumph to Earth.[14]

Footnote: Jesus will not be able to enter the Temple immediately. It won’t have been built yet.

Before our next comments, let’s review the Doctrine of the Trinity. Here is a summary used by Dallas Theological Seminary:

“We believe that God is the all‑powerful Creator and Sustainer of all things visible and invisible, who eternally exists in three Persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience.”

When Jesus comes through the East Gate, the cloud of glory accompanies Him (or He accompanies the cloud!). The cloud goes into the Temple, filling it with glory. The cloud represents God the Father.

Here are two reasons why this is probable:

  1. The glory of the LORD will dwell in the inner court during the Millennium. It’s hard to imagine Jesus spending 1000 years in a small cubicle
  2. In verse 7 the LORD says, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne.” In the meticulous plans for the Temple, there is no mention of a throne!God the Father dwells in the Temple, as He had before, while Jesus rules from a throne set up elsewhere.

Ezk 43:6  Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple, while a man stood beside me.

Ezk 43:7  And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the carcasses of their kings on their high places.

Ezk 43:8  When they set their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost, with a wall between them and Me, they defiled My holy name by the abominations which they committed; therefore I have consumed them in My anger.

Ezk 43:9  Now let them put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.

Ezk 43:10  “Son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern.

Ezk 43:11  And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, its entire design and all its ordinances, all its forms and all its laws. Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its ordinances, and perform them.

Ezk 43:12  This is the law of the temple: The whole area surrounding the mountaintop is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

This is a conditional promise. God will dwell with them forever so long as they “put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me.” Sadly, they won’t. We read in chapter 20 of the Revelation:

Rev 20:7  Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison

Rev 20:8  and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the Earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

Rev 20:9  They went up on the breadth of the Earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them.

Rev 20:10  The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

There’s one more Temple: God the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer in the Church, making us individually and corporately the Temple of God.

God’s emphasis throughout the Bible & its stories is relationship. Rather than being deterministic, He is loving, responsive, and deeply engaged with His creation.

Personal exhortation: Choose a Systematic Theology that is by far more relational than deterministic.

If we are comparing ourselves to the previous Temples, we should be more portable than stationary.

Are you ready to be led by God in the wilderness of the world?

 

References
↑1 Second Chronicles 7:1-3
↑2 Revelation 21:22
↑3 Philippians 1:6
↑4 Matthew 25:41
↑5 Matthew 25:34
↑6 The Bible doesn’t tell us when Millennial mortals who believe will be resurrected. Probably in the time between the Millennium & Eternity.
↑7 1 John 1:9
↑8 Romans 12:1
↑9 First Peter 2:5&9
↑10 Ezekiel 44:25-27
↑11 Chapter 14
↑12 Luke 9:34-35
↑13 Acts 1:9
↑14 Revelation 1:7

Death Of The Party (Daniel 5)

July 27, 2025

Have you ever been invited to a party you didn’t want to go to? Have you ever gone to a party you weren’t invited to? Uninvited guests can make things real awkward, real fast.

There’s a wild party in Daniel 5. Two surprise guests show up and at the end of the night, not only is the party over, but the king’s life is over and his empire is over. Talk about closing the place down!

The two main character share almost the same name: Belshazzar and Belteshazzar. We know that second guy by his Hebrew name, Daniel. Their Chaldean names are their only similarity. Otherwise, they are presented in striking contrast. Today we can choose which party-goer we want to be like. We can accept the invitation to follow God, receive His power, and be used for His purposes, or we can choose to go the way of the world, ignoring God’s warning, and face certain death on our own.

Daniel 5:1-4 – 1 King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine in their presence. 2 Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, wives, and concubines could drink from them. 3 So they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, wives, and concubines drank from them. 4 They drank the wine and praised their gods made of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Belshazzar’s mother was Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter. He wasn’t actually the king over the empire – his father was. His father stayed in far off places, leaving Belshazzar to oversee things in Babylon.

On the night of this party, Belshazzar didn’t have a care in the world. As far as he was concerned, life was a big party and he had nothing better to do than to have a good time.

But understand that the danger was right there for Belshazzar to see. The Persian army was literally camped outside the walls of the city, laying siege. And several nearbynBabylonian cities had already been swallowed up by the Medes and Persians. Why wasn’t the king preparing for battle?

Well, the Babylonians had twenty years worth of supplies stored up within their city walls. They were absolutely convinced that no outside army could overcome their defenses. And, it’s true, a conventional attack wouldn’t topple Babylon. The city was strong, well-positioned, fortified. But a conventional attack wasn’t coming that night.

This is the first important warning for anyone who might be on the Belshazzar side of this example. You may have a great deal of success. You may be very distracted with exciting experiences and achievements. You may be convinced you have many decades of life left. But the truth is: You have no idea when your life is going to end. And one of the most important principles this text teaches us is that life is more that partying. Life is more than power. Life is more than pleasure. There is a spiritual and eternal aspect to your life because you are a spiritual being. You need eternal salvation much more than you need satiation of your physical appetites.

These first four verses go out of their way to highlight how drunk Belshazzar is. The writer vividly shows us the gold and silver vessels in the hands of these revelers.

In vivid contrast, Daniel will say that God holds Belshazzar’s life in His hands. Your life was created on purpose, for a purpose: To glorify God and receive His love and be part of His work. These gold and silver vessels that were taken from the temple in Jerusalem are a picture of what God wants to do in a greater, spiritual sense. God wants to set apart your life for particular, eternal purposes.

2 Timothy 2:21 – 21 So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

What has God set your life apart for? He wants to reveal the answer to you as you walk with Him. And though I cannot tell you the specific plan He has for your life, I can say with all the authority of Holy Scripture that it is not to waste your life the way Belshazzar was wasting his.

Daniel 5:5-6 – 5 At that moment the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the king’s palace wall next to the lampstand. As the king watched the hand that was writing, 6 his face turned pale, and his thoughts so terrified him that he soiled himself and his knees knocked together.

The great hall of Babylon has been discovered and excavated, by the way. And archaeologists have verified that the walls were, indeed, made of plaster.

God wanted everyone there to know what He was doing. He wrote right next to the lampstand, for all to see. Now, they did not yet know what the message meant, but God reveals Himself and He would send a servant to explain things. He has given advance warning that judgment is coming.

For anyone who is here who may not be a Christian, you need to know that God has sent you a warning. The Bible explains there is none righteous, no not one, that all of us are sinners because we rebel against God and His moral law. And God says very plainly that the wages of that sin is death. Death is what we have earned for all the wrongs things we have done.

The Bible goes on to explain that there is a day coming for each and every person where they must stand before God and be judged. You have an appointment with death, and after death comes judgment. This is exactly what God is going to tell Belshazzar. And, like Belshazzar, if you’re not a Christian, the news of this judgment should cause you great distress and fear because you cannot buy your way out of your guilt, you can’t talk your way out of it, you can’t work your way out of it.

That’s why Belshazzar was so terrified. He knew, deep in his heart, that despite his power and his wealth and his success and his worldly security, he knew that none of those things could save him from death. He wasn’t nearly as all-powerful as he liked to tell himself and his friends.

Daniel 5:7-9 – 7 The king shouted to bring in the mediums, Chaldeans, and diviners. He said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this inscription and gives me its interpretation will be clothed in purple, have a gold chain around his neck, and have the third highest position in the kingdom.” 8 So all the king’s wise men came in, but none could read the inscription or make its interpretation known to him. 9 Then King Belshazzar became even more terrified, his face turned pale, and his nobles were bewildered.

We laugh at the stereotype of weathermen not accurately predicting the weather. Not a big deal. But these guys – these mediums and Chladeans and diviners – this is literally their job! At least that’s what they got paid for! To supposedly know about these sort of mystical, spiritual things. But when they were truly put to the test, they come up empty.

It’s because their philosophies and methodologies were based on lies. Theories. Myths. When it comes to your life and the big questions like what is the meaning of life and what happens after we die, what is your worldview based on? Is it theoretical or actual?

Daniel 5:10-12 – 10 Because of the outcry of the king and his nobles, the queen came to the banquet hall. “May the king live forever,” she said. “Don’t let your thoughts terrify you or your face be pale. 11 There is a man in your kingdom who has a spirit of the holy gods in him. In the days of your predecessor he was found to have insight, intelligence, and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods. Your predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, mediums, Chaldeans, and diviners. Your own predecessor, the king, 12 did this because Daniel, the one the king named Belteshazzar, was found to have an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and intelligence, and the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems. Therefore, summon Daniel, and he will give the interpretation.”

We often think of Daniel as a young man because he was probably a teenager in chapter 1, but there’s a gap of about 30 years between chapter 4 and chapter 5.  By now he’s in his 80s.

What was he known for? What was his reputation? He was a man full of the spirit of God. Though he was often in tense and dangerous situations because of his faith, we see he wasn’t someone who created problems, he solved them. And he solved them spiritually, faithfully, graciously.

Now, for the Christians listening today, one of the things Daniel teaches us is that we are often put where we are for the crisis. Maybe we won’t be the key player in a national situation like this one, but the crisis in your extended family, the crisis at work, the situations of life, you are put there for those moments because your job is to shine the light of God’s truth into the dark. You are the lampstand put in place to show the world what God wants to say and to do. The job is not to just be a worldly “expert” like the Chaldeans, but to bring real answers, real solves to those in need.

“Summon Daniel!” He wasn’t invited to this party originally, but now he was needed much more than the caterer, more than the DJ, more than the bouncer, because this man is full of the Spirit.

Daniel 5:13-16 – 13 Then Daniel was brought before the king. The king said to him, “Are you Daniel, one of the Judean exiles that my predecessor the king brought from Judah? 14 I’ve heard that you have a spirit of the gods in you, and that insight, intelligence, and extraordinary wisdom are found in you. 15 Now the wise men and mediums were brought before me to read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me, but they could not give its interpretation. 16 However, I have heard about you that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Therefore, if you can read this inscription and give me its interpretation, you will be clothed in purple, have a gold chain around your neck, and have the third highest position in the kingdom.”

Twice Belshazzar says, “I’ve heard about you.” What have your neighbors heard about you? You have opinions about the neighbors on your block, right? About your different coworkers? About that guy in your class that sits 2 rows away from you? What has a watching world heard about you?

Now, we can’t always control what’s said about us. Sometimes people do have wrong opinions. But as people who profess to follow a Savior Who is true and Who is able and Who is kind and Who is gracious and Who gives strength and peace and joy, would our reputations match as being people who really believe that? Is our faith actual or is it theoretical? Would the people around us say “Your faith has legs” the way Belshazzar says it of Daniel here? Not just philosophy but power for living?

Daniel 5:17 – 17 Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts and give your rewards to someone else; however, I will read the inscription for the king and make the interpretation known to him.

Daniel demonstrates the kind of humility and contentment that a believer should have. He didn’t throw a tantrum and say, “Don’t you KNOW who I AM?!?” And he wasn’t desperate to get invited to this party – to be brought into the “elite” circle of the who’s-who of Babylon. He says, “I’m happy to help, but keep all your stuff.”

He is merciful and generous to Belshazzar. He didn’t respect Belshazzar. He didn’t have a relationship with him the way he did with Nebuchadnezzar. But he’s willing to give his time and come to tell him God’s truth. And he didn’t keep the truth behind a paywall. Be careful out there of Christians or ministries who keep everything behind a paywall.

Believers shouldn’t be desperate to gain position in the kingdoms of this world. We should be focused on our position in the Lord’s Kingdom.

In the next set of verses, Daniel gives Belshazzar a history lesson to contextualize what God had done and how God does things and why He does them. We should do the same when we talk about God. It’s doesn’t work when people say, “Well I just care about the Sermon on the Mount,” or to say, “I’m a red-letter Christian.” We need the entire context of Scripture. All 66 books.

After the backstory, Daniel gets to the issue at hand.

Daniel 5:22-24 – 22 “But you his successor, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this. 23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of the heavens. The vessels from his house were brought to you, and as you and your nobles, wives, and concubines drank wine from them, you praised the gods made of silver and gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or understand. But you have not glorified the God who holds your life-breath in his hand and who controls the whole course of your life. 24 Therefore, he sent the hand, and this writing was inscribed.

Belshazzar might have said, “I wasn’t ‘exalting myself against the Lord of the heavens.’ I was just having a good time. Why don’t you loosen up, Daniel?” But this is what we need to understand: Our sin against God and His commands are not silly little things that don’t matter. They are rebellion against the King of kings. It is treason against the One Whose puts breath in our lungs.

Now, Belshazzar knew that God had shown mercy to Nebuchadnezzar. He knew these stories. But he ignored the God of Israel all the same. And so now, here’s the Lord’s final message to him.

Daniel 5:25-26 – 25 “This is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. 26 This is the interpretation of the message: ‘Mene’ means that God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.

For the non-Christians here today, you need to know your days are numbered. What are you going to do about the problem of death? There’s a lot of things we can overcome in life. We overcome diseases and viruses and things we’re born with and things that hold us back. But you can’t overcome death. That is a foe that only One Person has defeated, and that’s Jesus Christ.

For the Christians here today, remember that your days are also numbered. But we’re not worried about tomorrow. Instead, we focus on today because today is the day that the Lord has made. And He has put us in this day for His purposes with His power. Walk in it.

Daniel 5:27 – 27 ‘Tekel’ means that you have been weighed on the balance and found deficient.

Belshazzar’s life was found to be worthless. He may have had money and fame and prominence, but he had no moral value.  In ancient times, payments would often have to be rendered by weight. This many pounds of gold or silver. The kind of payments that Belshazzar, no doubt, received as ransom and tribute from many nations across his empire. But when the time came to pay his Creator, he was more than short, he had nothing with which to ransom his life.

At the end of human history, all those who don’t have saving faith in Christ will stand before God’s

Great White Throne. Books will be opened, lives will be measured, and each one will be found insufficient. And, like Belshazzar, you will be judged personally, so if you want to be saved, you must be saved personally. You can’t be saved corporately or culturally. You must have a personal relationship with the Savior, Christ Jesus.

In the mean time, as believers we’re told the Christian life works in us an “eternal weight of glory.” That when we stand before the Bema of Christ, our lives will be heavy with the greatness of Christ working in and through us.

Without Christ, life is wasted. The most powerful man in all the world is shown to be like weightless chaff in the light of eternity. And by this night, it was too late for him to do anything about it.

Daniel 5:28 – 28 ‘Peres’, means that your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

There does come a time when it’s too late to stop God’s judgment. Now, God is long-suffering, gracious, and compassionate. He is slow to anger and rich in love. But if you continue to reject Him, a day will come when it is too late. When the last drop of iniquity spills into the cup of God’s wrath, causing it to overflow. Don’t wait until that day. Fall on His mercy now.

Daniel 5:29 – 29 Then Belshazzar gave an order, and they clothed Daniel in purple, placed a gold chain around his neck, and issued a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

After all he had seen and heard, Belshazzar still didn’t believe. He laughed and made his proclamations. He decided his strength was enough to protect him. It was one last, terrible mistake.

Daniel 5:30-31 – 30 That very night Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was killed, 31 and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.

History records that the Medo-Persian army diverted the river so they could enter the city underneath the walls. God’s word is always true and accurate.

So here’s Belshazzar. One of the most enviable people on the planet from the human perspective. But we can see that his was a wasted life. A life dedicated to the wrong purposes. Toasting gods who could not save him from death and destruction. Though warned about it, he laughed and acted like nothing bad would ever happen.

In 2013, a California hiker went missing after wandering off a trail. She was soon out of water and food. She started hallucinating. In an interview afterward, she said, “I didn’t even know I was missing, I didn’t know I was gone…I just thought I was in a big dream.”

Her story has a happy ending. What about you? If you’re not a Christian, you’re Belshazzar. You’re the lost hiker. You’re headed for death unless a Savior rescues you. He’s willing to do so, but not if you’re unwilling to be rescued.

On the other side we have BelTEshazzar – Daniel – who shows us the power of God in a simple life. Power and purpose despite all that had been stacked against him for decades. A life that was used for wonderful, heavenly accomplishment from youth through old age. It was possible because he was a man dedicated to the Lord his God. A man full of God’s Spirit. A man not enamored with the trappings of this world, but focused on the coming Kingdom full of God’s glory.

In the end, Daniel was the life of this party. A party he wasn’t invited to. But one God sent him to in the moment of crisis so that God’s word could be revealed and the power of His Spirit could be put on display. Choose today which life you’d like to have.

Russia! Russia! Russia? (Ezekiel 38-39)

July 20, 2025

Some are calling it “the drone war.”

From drones that fit in the palm of your hand to those weighing more than 1000 pounds, Ukraine has built and acquired a diverse fleet of remotely piloted aircraft.

Russia has countered old skool. The Wall Street Journal posted an article titled, Russia Trots Out It’s Newest Weapon in Ukraine: Horses

Drones have a difficult time identifying cavalry, and they do well in difficult terrain.

Ezekiel 38-39 is the account of an End Times invasion of Israel by a confederation of nations on horseback.

  • This is not a parable inviting us to discover its deeper spiritual meaning.
  • Neither is it a failed attempt by Ezekiel to describe future technology because of his limited vocabulary.

Ezekiel saw horses because the enemies of God and Israel will attack on horseback.

Horses are the least of the controversies we will encounter. The participating nations, and the timing, are also undecided. According to Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, “These chapters constitute some of the most difficult (if not the most difficult) prophecies in the entire Bible to interpret with confidence. We cannot be dogmatic and commentaries that are dogmatic are not honestly interpreting these passages.”

No use keeping us in the dark. I will un-dogmatically point out things that seem to very strongly indicate that this conflict belongs at the very end of the Millennial Kingdom, before the New Heavens and the New Earth.

Ezk 38:1  Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Ezk 38:2  “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

Ezk 38:3  and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.

Ezk 38:4  I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.

Ezk 38:5  Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet;

Ezk 38:6  Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops – many people are with you.

“Gog” is likely a title, e.g., Pharaoh or Czar. After the dust of discussion settles, we are left with the following best identification of these nations:

  • Magog was the region north of Israel, at that time the home of a people called Scythians.
  • Rosh, Meshech & Tubal are regions of Turkey.
  • Persia is the ancient name for Iran.
  • Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer & [Goober] Togarmah are   regions in North Africa.

Wait… Aren’t “Rosh,” “Meshech,” & “Tubal,” respectively, Russia, Moscow, and Tobolsk? We can only say, “Maybe.” Their identification with Russia and its cities relies mainly on pronunciation:

  • “Rosh” sounds like Russia, but the name didn’t exist until the 11th century AD, making the connection unlikely.
  • The same is true of “Meshech” and “Tubal.”

It’s our own Russia! Russia! Russia! hoax.

About this point in our study it might be that some of you are thinking, “This is really interesting, but I came here today for inspiration, not information. I need to hear from the Lord that He will bear the burdens I cast upon Him, that are crushing me.

Let’s pause and have a devotional moment involving hooks, Satan, and Job.

God will put “hooks” in the jaws of the invaders. That means they will be headed somewhere else, but the Lord draws them to Israel. Their foiled attack will reveal His glory to the world.

In the Book of Job, Satan had been going somewhere, “going to and fro on the earth, and… walking back and forth on it” (1:7). He was drawn to Heaven by the LORD on “a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD” (1:6).

The LORD pointed-out Job. Satan challenged the LORD, claiming Job was faithful only because God blessed him. God allowed Satan to test Job. He passed the test. Something similar happened in chapter two. Again, he passed. “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong” (1:22).

God ‘hooked’ Satan. He brought the devil into a fight, saying, “Consider my servant, Job.”

  • In one corner, wearing white-as-snow trunks, was a mere man, but one who believed God and was thereby justified to stand in God’s presence.
  • In the other corner, wearing blood-red trunks, was the most beautiful of angels, musical in his movements.

When the bell rang the devil landed blow-after-blow. In the end, Job was still standing. He won a unanimous decision.

As for Satan, his accusations, his malevolence, his lies, his murders were, and remain, on full display. He’s a psychopath with no compassion – only pride.

Let’s say you have a situation at work. You are genuinely being mistreated, passed over, ridiculed. Our first reaction is that these things are strange and unfair. Of course they are! That’s the point. Jesus is permitting them so He can say to creatures in Heaven & on Earth, “Consider my servant, Gene.”

The LORD directly addresses the invaders:

Ezk 38:7  “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them.

Ezk 38:8  After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.

If we weren’t in Ezekiel, and I asked you to identify when it could be said of Israel, “after many days,” “in the latter years,” when Jews have been “brought back” to their land, which had “long been desolate,” “all of them” “dwell[ing] safely” – I’m pretty confident you’d say it was in the Millennium. Especially when the next set of verses portrays them as even more relaxed and at peace.

Ezk 38:9  You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.”

Ezk 38:10  ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan:

Ezk 38:11  You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’

Ezk 38:12  to take plunder and to take [spoil], to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.

Israel is depicted as living a carefree, back-to-the-land agrarian life in absolute safety. This is more than confidence in the Iron Dome.

Ezk 38:13  Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take [spoil], to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’ ” ’

Some claim Tarshish is Britain and the “young lions” its colonies, inserting the U.S. into prophecy. This reflects a geo-political bias that assumes the U.S. and Russia must feature in the End Times.

Ezk 38:14  “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day when My people Israel [Note this] dwell safely, will you not know it?

Ezk 38:15  Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. [Note: Countries also come from the west & east]

Ezk 38:16  You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”

Ezk 38:17  Thus says the Lord GOD: “Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them?

Ezk 38:18  “And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord GOD, “that My fury will show in My face.

Ezk 38:19  For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel,

Ezk 38:20  so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’

These are global effects that seem era-ending. While this maybe could be shoehorned in to the end of the Tribulation, the end of the Millennium fits better.

Ezk 38:21  I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.

Ezk 38:22  And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

Ezk 38:23  Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.” ’

Ezekiel’s final chapters are chronological. Chapters 36-37 show Israel as she will be at the end of the Tribulation – restored and indwelt by the Spirit. It makes sense that 38-39 occur after the Second Coming, during the Millennium – just before chapters 40-48 describe it.

Ezk 39:1  “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal;

Ezk 39:2  and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel.

Ezk 39:3  Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand.

“Bows” and “arrows” are ridiculed by critics. Their mention, however, may be the most important information in the text for determining the “when.”

Ezk 39:4  You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

Ezk 39:5  You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken,” says the Lord GOD.

Ezk 39:6  “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezk 39:7  So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

Ezk 39:8  Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord GOD. “This is the day of which I have spoken.

Ezk 39:9  “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years.

Ezk 39:10  They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the Lord GOD.

How do you “burn” bunker busters? We have tomahawk missiles – not tomahawks!

  • Isaiah speaks of mankind beating their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks (2:4). Weapons will not be necessary in the Millennium. There will be no WMD’s!
  • The prophet Joel, however, describes a time when men will beat their plowshares into swords,  and their pruning hooks into spears (3:10).

Gog & company will have to make weapons out of farm equipment.

Ezk 39:11  It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog.

Ezk 39:12  For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land.

Ezk 39:13  Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified,” says the Lord GOD.

Ezk 39:14  “They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search.

Ezk 39:15  The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog.

Ezk 39:16  The name of the city will also be Hamonah. Thus they shall cleanse the land.” ’

There is no biblical reason these activities could not occur at the end of the Millennium and before eternity.

Revelation chapter 20 tells us a great deal about the Millennium, especially how it ends. For one thing, Satan will be (and I quote) “Released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea… And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them” (20:7-9).

Gog and Magog? The most literal, grammatical, historical approach to this repetition is that it describes the same event but from different perspectives. There are some apparent differences in details, but none that cannot be explained.

Ezk 39:17  “And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: “Assemble yourselves and come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, That you may eat flesh and drink blood.

Ezk 39:18  You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, Drink the blood of the princes of the earth, Of rams and lambs, Of goats and bulls, All of them fatlings of Bashan.

Ezk 39:19  You shall eat fat till you are full, And drink blood till you are drunk, At My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you.

Ezk 39:20  You shall be filled at My table With horses and riders, With mighty men And with all the men of war,” says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel talked to animals!

Ezk 39:21  “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them.

Ezk 39:22  So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward.

Ezk 39:23  The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.

Ezk 39:24  According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.” ’

God chose Israel to bless all nations, but His blessing depended on their being set apart to communicate His holiness. When they turned to immorality and idolatry, He scattered them in judgment. Yet through this, Gentiles would see His justice and love – and be drawn to His holiness.

Ezk 39:25  “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name –

Ezk 39:26  after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt[1] safely in their own land and no one made them afraid.

Ezk 39:27  When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations,

Ezk 39:28  then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.

Ezk 39:29  And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord GOD.”

Verses 25-29 read like the modern history of Israel. They were dispersed into the nations, un-dispersed, and are in their land in unbelief.

Suggesting that Ezekiel and John (in the Revelation) are talking about the same event is not fringe or false. G.H. Pember, Arno Gaebelein, Clarence Larkin, and Craig Blaising either support it, or they acknowledge it as possible.

To end this morning, I ran across a quote that reminds us these chapters were to encourage the 6th century Jews, who had lost everything.

“Christians do not simply have a hope for the future, they have a hope that comes from the future.”

 

References
↑1 “Dwelt” is translated in a future tense by many Bibles, e.g., (ISV) They’ll forget their shame and all of their unfaithfulness by which they behaved so unfaithfully toward me. They will live on their land in confidence, not in fear.

Prophecy Update #827 – Home (Almost) Alone

July 20, 2025

One of the signs that indicate we are in the Last Days is rising hatred for the Jews. Jesus, said, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.”

In Zechariah 12:3 we read, “And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.”

We should therefore expect antisemitism to be dramatically on the rise. I collected some of the statistical conclusions. “On the rise” is an understatement.

  1. A May 2025 report highlighted that anti‑Semitic incidents skyrocketed by 340% to 450% worldwide in 2024, including major increases in countries such as the UK, France, Australia, and Canada.
  2. The Jewish Agency and Anti Defamation League (ADL) noted that antisemitism has become widely normalized – especially through anti‑Israel rhetoric and Holocaust denial – leading to public acceptance in many places.
  3. Germany in 2023 saw 4,782 documented antisemitic incidents – an 80% increase from 2022 – with more than half occurring after October 7, 2023.
  4. In France incidents nearly quadrupled in 2023 versus 2022, with about 60% involving physical violence and over 12% occurring in schools. The trend continued into 2024 and 2025.
  5. In Australia between late 2023 and mid‑2025, there were multiple synagogue attacks, attempted arson, vandalism, and graffiti. Over 1,700 incidents were recorded in 2024 alone.
  6. ADL data for the US shows a 360-477% increase in antisemitic incidents post‑October 2023, with college campuses heavily affected and many Jews reporting a decline in personal safety. The fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, in May further underscores the severity.
  7. Canada recorded over 6,200 antisemitic incidents in 2024, more than double the previous year.

The ADL reports that antisemitism in the US is currently at its highest point since they began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979.

Becoming a nation again in 1948, being re-gathered to the Holy Land from dispersion all over the world, are the fulfillment of many prophecies. Not vague, predictions, or hopes, but very exact prophecies.

The Lord is going to put Israel through a seven year time of Great Tribulation. It is also called the Time of Jacob‘s Trouble, emphasizing that the focus is the Jews. At the end of seven years, as Jesus is returning in his Second Coming to establish a Kingdom on Earth, the Jews cry out to Him, and the Bible says all Israel will be saved.

We believe that the resurrection and rapture of the church is an imminent event. Imminent means it could happen anytime therefore there is nothing that needs to happen prior to it.

The Great Tribulation is coming. It is designed to save all of Israel at the Second Coming of Jesus.

The Great Tribulation is not for us. It’s not a time for the church to be purified. It is for Israel. Revelation chapter 3 verse 10 indicates we will be kept out of that entire time of trouble; not protected through it, but kept out of it.

It begs this question – “Are you ready for the Rapture?” If not, get ready, stay ready, & keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

Bless Testing (Psalm 67)

July 13, 2025

One of the most common prayers in the life of a Christian is for God to “bless” us. To bless our families, to bless our travel, to bless our food, to bless our sneezes. I bet some of you have “bless this mess” framed and hanging somewhere in your home.

God’s people have always asked Him for blessing: That God would divert some of His power and attention and activity toward our lives and our situations.

In the very first book of the Bible, nearly 4,000 years ago, we see Jacob awake and alone in the middle of the night. His clothes wet from crossing the brook of Jabbok. He’s pretty sure that his estranged brother is going to try to kill him and his family when the morning comes.

In that moment, the Lord comes to Jacob. Jacob wrestles with Him all night. As the sun began to rise, the Lord said, “It’s time to let Me go.” Jacob said: “I will not let You go until You bless me.”[1]

It’s not a bad request. The Lord wants to interact and intervene and invigorate our lives. In fact, hundreds of years later, when God gave the Law to Moses, He gave special attention to how He wanted Aarons and his sons to tell the people about how God wants to bless them.

Numbers 6:22-27 – 22 The LORD spoke to Moses: 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. You should say to them, 24 “May the LORD bless you and protect you; 25 may the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 may the LORD look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’ 27 In this way they will pronounce my name over the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

In the New Testament, when the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Teach us to pray,” He gave them what is commonly called the Lord’s prayer. And though the word “bless” isn’t found in it, we see it has multiple requests of God for help and for forgiveness and for provision – for God’s favor.

This morning we have Psalm 67. A song that begins and ends with blessing. It has been called the Lord’s prayer of the Old Testament,[2] and is centered around the hope that God would bless us.

So we want God to bless us. We see that God wants to bless us. Great! So should I get my wish list going? Should I start to let God know all the things He needs to do for me?

As we examine the Scripture, we begin to understand that our ideas of blessing are not necessarily what the Lord intends to do or to give. Our definition of “bless” often means, “Give us certain things.” Chariots. Horses. Deliverance. God’s definition of blessing might include tangible provision, but it really is about His presence. His presence with us and His present work in our lives. His blessing is not meant to simple be a bailout when we’re in a jam. Rather, it is about the Lord’s global enterprise spanning every generation to accomplish His glorious will for all the world.

So let’s look at this song and consider what it means when we pray, “Lord, bless us.”

Psalm 67:1 – 1 May God be gracious to us and bless us; may he make his face shine upon us    Selah

Pastor Chuck Smith was right when he said God’s grace changes everything. His has true sympathy and compassion for us. Rather than look on our weakness with disgust, He extends mercy and kindness, freely given. In His grace, He is willing to grant pardons to people like Nebuchadnezzar or Saul of Tarsus. He even showed a measure of mercy to Ahab at the end of his life.[3]

But His grace is not only a pardon on the judicial level. That would be enough, but God isn’t just a Judge, He’s also our Father. He loves us and wants to be present in our lives. Verse 1 invokes the priestly blessing of Numbers 6, reminding us that not only do we want a pardon, but also His abiding presence – that His face would shine upon us day in and day out.

Linguists point out that the Hebrew terms used here literally say make He make His face shine with us,[4] or among us.[5] And so the prayer here asks God to be near, shining His light that brings life and growth and cleansing and vision for us, with us, among us.

Now, right after the very first verse we have a Selah. It’s the earliest time out in all the Psalter. Back in 2016, the Cleveland Browns once called a timeout before the first play of the game![6] There’s debate over the exact meaning, but essentially Selah was an interlude. Some scholars believe it meant, “There, what do you think of that?”[7] A person singing this Psalm has just said, “God, graciously bless us.” And now, they should stop and evaluate what kind of blessing they want.

Do we think of God as a genie and our prayer as rubbing the lamp? Don’t get me wrong: God absolutely wants and commands us to bring our problems and our cares and our requests to Him. But I know it’s much easier in my own life to pray, “Lord, make Your bank overflow in payouts to me,” than it is to pray, “Lord, just let Your presence to shine in my life.” But one of the things Psalm 67 helps us understand is that what we really need is God’s presence and activity, more than we need finite worldly provisions. In fact, let’s see the point of God blessing us in verse 2:

Psalm 67:2 – 2 so that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

When God blesses us, He does so because He truly loves and cares for us. But He also wants to build a testimony through our lives. A testimony of His grace, His power, His ability, His deliverance. His intention is not only to address my need, but also to address the needs of the world through His activity in my life circumstances.

Look at the scope of God’s plan: all the nations, all the earth. Again, we can go back to Genesis and listen to God explain His intentions. He said to Abram, “I’m going to bless you with a new life, a new identity, a wonderful, hopeful future, but I also want to bless all the nations through you.”[8]

As God interacted with Abraham, it wasn’t only for him to feel better or be more comfortable or financially secure. There was always this larger goal of showing the world. Revealing to a watching world what God wanted and what God can do and the way God does things.

So that Your way may be known on earth. God’s grace and blessing in our lives is meant to reveal Him to a needy world – a lost world. As we seek God’s blessing, we want to remind ourselves that the end goal is not that I always have easier circumstances, but that redemption and providence and revelation would take place through my life. As I receive God’s grace and exercise my faith, the world around me should be able to visibly see that the God of the Bible is a Deliverer. That He has delivered me from worry. That He has delivered me from hate. That He has delivered me from greed. That instead of going the way of the world, I’m walking on a totally separate road, which leads to life and joy and peace and contentment, even when the path in front of me is difficult.

Psalm 67:3-4 – 3 Let the peoples praise you, God; let all the peoples praise you. 4 Let the nations rejoice and shout for joy, for you judge the peoples with fairness and lead the nations on earth.   Selah

How many times do the Psalms need to tell us to worship the Lord? Do we really need 150 chapters? Is it really that important for me to stop and offer a melody of praise when God already knows how I feel about Him?

Sometimes we become less impressed with things the more familiar we are with them. The first time you saw a card trick, it was thrilling. The 10th time we agree with B.B. King: The thrill is gone.

It’s easy for humans to take amazing things for granted. It may be 100 degrees outside, but not in here. We push a button and, thanks to the genius and engineering and hard work of many people long ago, it’s a much more enjoyable 75 in here. I don’t even think about it.

Or, when we pick up bacteria that would’ve absolutely killed us a couple generations ago, now we just take little pill and we’ll be absolutely fine. We get used to incredible things.

But listen: We don’t want our adoration of God’s greatness to become numb. We don’t want the object of our faith to become commonplace in our minds. The more we know God, the more in awe of Him we should be. The more we meditate on Him, the more thrilled we should be.

As we look again and again at the Word of God and grow in our knowledge of Jesus and see Who He is and what He’s done, hopefully we’ll realize we don’t know the half of His goodness, His grace, His power, His love for us. That we will be more and more astonished at His greatness.

The worship we see described in verses 3 and 4 is an informed worship. This is praise from a people who have seen God’s will played out over the long term – people who have seen the marvels of God’s grace not just on the personal level, but even at the societal level. How God sovereignly accomplishes His gracious and providential work for the good of the people of earth.

One day, God’s work will culminate in total victory where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord. A day when His Kingdom will be established and all the wrongs will be righted. The nations will flow to Jerusalem to obey the Lamb and worship Him.

But it’s not today. Because of God’s long-suffering, today we are still waiting for His work to be completed. And we Christians are invited to be a part of the effort. We’re invited to be led now.

Did you see there in verse 4? God leads the nations. He leads, we follow. We watch for Him, listen to Him, walk after Him as He shows us the way to go. And as we go, we sing with an informed worship. Knowing He is able. Knowing He can be trusted. Knowing He has a plan for this world.

In this song of praise, the believers acknowledge that Christ is in charge. He is Captain and Savior. He is our Representative and Advocate. He is our Shield and Exceedingly Great Reward.

Psalm 67:5 – 5 Let the peoples praise you, God, let all the peoples praise you.

This is a repetition of verse 3. Once was not enough. Psalms always reminds us of the importance and power of praise. That it matters when God’s people pause what we’re doing, set aside hurts and concerns for a few moments, and lift high the name of our God. It is not only a good thing, it is truly an end goal for all humanity. And as believers, we choose to do now what we know everyone will do someday. We align our behavior with that perfect future where Christ is on His throne and all the world is under His reign.

Psalm 67:6 – 6 The earth has produced its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.

In verse 1 we ask God to bless us. Here in verse 6 we acknowledge that He really does! It’s not just something we say – not a hope in vain. God is blessing us in countless ways, day by day.

Right now, on our kitchen window, we have a little science experiment running. Three little beans were put in a plastic bag on a wet paper towel and taped onto the window. After a few days, those beans have sent roots downward and shoots upward. From those dry little beans has come leaves and growth that is amazing to behold.

The Christian knows that happens not because of random chance, but only by God’s grace. He has designed and sustained a world for us where if you put a bean in the ground, it will make more beans. God gives us a system that works all day, every day, for our survival and growth and blessing. The earth producing harvest after harvest, again and again, because God loves us.

Notice the personal attachment: God, our God, blesses us. Is He your God? You see, God gives what we call “common grace” to all the world. Sunlight, rain, wind to spread seed. But to truly receive God’s grace for life and eternity, He must be your God. You must belong to Him.

What an amazing thing that the Creator of Heaven and Earth has given Himself to us. He has made a covenant: “I will be their God and they will be My people.”[9] And now we get to participate in the harvest of His grace in our lives if we are willing to receive this covenant in His blood.

Psalm 67:7 – 7 God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

So we start the song saying, “God, please bless us.” By the end we’re assured this is a God Who wants to bless His people, a God Who does bless day-by-day, and a God Who will continue to do this gracious work in the future.

The Lord can be counted on because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is always faithful, always true, full of love toward us.

And so, as we seek the Lord’s work of blessing in our lives, notice how the song closes: The fear of God. This does not mean terror, but an awed recognition of Who God is. A recognition of what He has done which will then show us the purpose of our lives.

Most of us pray every day for God to bless us in some way. He wants to, according to His compassionate care for us and according to His wonderful, merciful intentions for the whole world. But as we ask, let’s remember the examples we’ve been given in Genesis, in Psalms, in the Gospels. Remembering that God’s blessing is part of a grand work of grace. And that from His perspective, what we need is His presence and present work in our lives more than temporal things we might have on our minds. And His blessing might really change our lives in ways we can’t anticipate.

Jacob said, “I won’t let You go unless you bless me.” God did bless him with a hopeful future, a new identity, a greater purpose than Jacob had ever known. And He blessed Jacob with a limp for the rest of his life. But what a good thing He did. What a good thing God blessed Abraham with the life of a sojourner. What a good thing the Lord blesses us according to His favor, not only our feelings.

 

References
↑1 Genesis 32:24-26
↑2 Herbert Lockyer   Psalms: A Devotional Commentary
↑3 1 Kings 21:28-29
↑4 Robert Alter   The Hebrew Bible: A Translation With Commentary
↑5 J.J. Stewart Perowne   Commentary On The Psalms
↑6 https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/look-browns-go-full-browns-call-timeout-before-first-play-of-game/
↑7 John Phillips   Exploring The Psalms, Volume 1
↑8 Genesis 12:3
↑9 Hebrews 8:10

Sticks & Bones, He’ll Bring Us Home, God’s Word Can Never Harm Us (Ezekiel 36-37)

July 6, 2025

Uninhabitable is too tame a label for some sites.

The reactor explosion in 1968 at Chernobyl rendered the area uninhabitable for humans for at least one thousand years – if ever.

In the sixth century BC, Israel’s homeland was made uninhabitable.

It wasn’t nuclear. It was worse. For their insubordination, immorality, and idolatry, the LORD exiled His people to Babylon for 70yrs. He made the Promised Land uninhabitable for them.

In their grief, Ezekiel delivered prophecies as words of comfort from the LORD.

Ezk 36:1 “And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD!

Go Tell it To the Mountains works as a title here. Ezekiel was not addressing the people; He was addressing the Promised Land. Israel is the single nation that has been given & guaranteed land. Not to be unpatriotic, but This Land is Your Land… Not true biblically. If you research it, you will find Woody Guthrie meant it as a criticism of land ownership.

Ezk 36:2  Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession,’ ” ’

Ezk 36:3  therefore prophesy, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because they made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you are taken up by the lips of talkers and slandered by the people” –

Ezk 36:4  therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, the valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which became plunder and mockery to the rest of the nations all around –

Ezk 36:5  therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave My land to themselves as a possession, with wholehearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country.” ’

Ezk 36:6  “Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, and the valleys, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations.”

“The LORD made an [unconditional] covenant with Abram, saying: ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates…’ ” That’s over 300,000sq miles. How much does Israel occupy? 8,500sq miles.

Beginning with their exile, Gentile nations have mocked the land and opposed Israel’s claim to it.

Ezk 36:7  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “I have raised My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame.

Ezk 36:8  But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come.

Ezk 36:9  For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.

Ezk 36:10  I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.

Ezk 36:11  I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezk 36:12  Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, My people Israel; they shall take possession of you, and you shall be their inheritance; no more shall you bereave them of children.”

The Jews did return to their land after the 70yrs. It should be obvious that these verses are talking about a far greater, global restoration later on.

Ezk 36:13  ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because they say to you, ‘You devour men and bereave your nation of children,’

Ezk 36:14  therefore you shall devour men no more, nor bereave your nation anymore,” says the Lord GOD.

Ezk 36:15  Nor will I let you hear the taunts of the nations anymore, nor bear the reproach of the peoples anymore, nor shall you cause your nation to stumble anymore,” says the Lord GOD.”

You’ve heard Prime Minister Netanyahu say, “Never again.” That is what the LORD said to the land. The Jews would return and “never again” be exiled.

Ezk 36:16  Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying:

Ezk 36:17  “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity.

Ezk 36:18  Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it.

Ezk 36:19  So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds.

Ezk 36:20  When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name – when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they have gone out of His land.’

In 70AD the Romans razed the Temple & Jerusalem. For the next almost 1900 years the Jews were dispersed, distressed, despised.

Ezk 36:21  But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went.

Ezk 36:22  “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.

Ezk 36:23  And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.

Ezk 36:24  For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.

God would first restore Israel physically by regathering her from all nations to her own land. Here in brief is how it happened:

  • In 1896, Theodor Herzl published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), arguing that Jews needed a sovereign homeland due to rising antisemitism in Europe. It was God stirring his heart. The Zionist Movement to establish the state was born.
  • In the late 19th century, Jews began returning to their ancestral home. Again only explainable as a stirring from God.
  • In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration, supporting a Jewish homeland.
  • After WWII and the Holocaust, global support grew. David Ben-Gurion led the effort to establish Israel, declaring independence May 14,1948.
  • Immediately the surrounding Arab nations attacked. With an untrained army of 19,000, no tanks, two outdated planes, and few weapons, Israel won the war and secured its statehood.

Numerous documented reports and testimonies describe miraculous events on Israel’s side during the Arab-Israeli War. These stories come from soldiers, rabbis, historians, and enemies.

Ezk 36:25  Then [in the future] I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

Ezk 36:26  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Ezk 36:27  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

Ezk 36:28  Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.

Temple rituals sometimes involved the sprinkling of blood. One day there would be a once-and-forever inward sprinkling, at which time they would receive the in-dwelling of God the Holy Spirit.

The permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the unconditional promise of the New Covenant made to the Jewish people. When Israel rejected Jesus’ offer of the Kingdom, it opened the door for the blessings of the New Covenant to be extended to the Church. When Peter preached to Cornelius, a Gentile and head of a Gentile household, he witnessed them receiving the Holy Spirit, just as the Jewish believers had. Gentile believers partake in the blessings of the New Covenant during the Church Age.

Ezk 36:29  I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you.

Ezk 36:30  And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.

Ezk 36:31  Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations.

Ezk 36:32  Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord GOD, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”

Ezk 36:33  ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt.

Ezk 36:34  The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by.

Ezk 36:35  So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’

Ezk 36:36  Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it.”

Israel is remarkably fruitful; it’s land an agricultural miracle. But it is not yet comparable to the Garden of Eden.“ Nations which are left” are those who survive the Great Tribulation.

Ezk 36:37  ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will increase their men like a flock.

Ezk 36:38  Like a flock offered as holy sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem on its feast days, so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.”

What we are reading is more than 2500yrs old. Let that sink in.

Chapter 37 assures that God will restore and reunite His people, using two illustrations:

  1. Ezekiel witnesses a valley of dry bones in a vision. The bones come to life, symbolizing God’s promise to revive and restore His nation.
  2. God instructs Ezekiel to unite two sticks, one representing Judah and the other Ephraim, which was the name for the ten northern tribes. It symbolizes the reunification of divided Israel under a single king.

These are not my interpretations. God tells us explicitly what these are symbolic for. Let’s take a look at ‘Dem Bones.

Ezk 37:1  The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.

Ezk 37:2  Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry.

Ezk 37:3  And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.”

We sometimes flippantly say, “the Lord knows.” He does, but that’s no guarantee He’s going to tell us what we want to know. The idea that the Lord knows has more to do with complete surrender no matter our circumstances. He knows; we don’t need to.

Ezk 37:4  Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!

Your toe bone connected to your foot bone

   Your foot bone connected to your heel bone

Now I hear the Word of the LORD

Ezk 37:5  Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.

Ezk 37:6  I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.” ’ ”

Ezk 37:7  So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone.

Ezk 37:8  Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.

Ezk 37:9  Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ”

Ezk 37:10  So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

The “bones” represent the nation as a whole. It is restored in two phases:

  1. First, national Israel will be brought back to physical life as bone came to bone and sinews and flesh comes upon them and skin covers them.
  2. Second, national Israel will be brought back to spiritual life as “the breath,” meaning the Spirit, gives them eternal life.

Jews who were dispersed all over the Earth have miraculously been regathered to their Promised Land. They do not have the Spirit. They have been re-gathered in unbelief, just as predicted here.

Ezekiel 37:11  Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’

Ezk 37:12  Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

Ezk 37:13  Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves.

Ezk 37:14  I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,” says the LORD.’ ”

Even Christians considered Israel a ‘dead’ nation. Bringing them “up from [their] graves” is the LORD giving them life as a nation again.

Ezk 37:15  Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Ezk 37:16  “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’

Ezk 37:17  Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.

Ezk 37:18  “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’ –

Ezk 37:19  say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’

Ezk 37:20  And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.

Ezk 37:21  “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;

Ezk 37:22  and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.

Centuries prior, national Israel had split into two separate nations:

  • Ten tribes in the north were called Israel, or sometimes Ephraim.
  • The two southern tribes, where Jerusalem was located, were called Judah.

Ezk 37:23  They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

Ezk 37:24  “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.

Ezk 37:25  Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever.

King David will rule Israel as a prince, under Jesus Christ, the King of Kings over all nations.

Ezk 37:26  Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.

Ezk 37:27  My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Ezk 37:28  The nations also will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” ’ ”

When the Babylonians breached the walls of Jerusalem, they murdered, tortured, raped and looted. The Temple was destroyed. Jerusalem was in ruins. Every family felt loss. Those who survived were either already in Babylon or dispersed. And don’t forget the northern Kingdom of Israel had been decimated by the Assyrians about 150 years before this.There was no human reason to think that they would continue as a nation.

“Throughout the Bible, God’s greatest encouragement for my present is His promise of my future.”

Psalm 3:3 reveals the Lord as “the lifter of my head.” What are some of the reasons our heads can hang down? Shame or Guilt… Sadness or Grief…Defeat or Failure… Embarrassment or Humiliation… Exhaustion or Depression.

You have heard Bible teachers use the expression. “God had to hit me over the head with a 2 x 4 to get my attention.” Well, maybe. But who He really is, what He really wants to do, is gently lift your head so that you can look into His wonderful face.

Prophecy Update #826 – Beast Blackmail

July 6, 2025

We reserve a few minutes to discuss news and current trends that you’d expect from reading Bible prophecy.

The dreaded and much debated “Mark of the Beast” is a prophecy almost everyone has some familiarity with. The gist of it is that everyone, “small and great,

the poor and those who have wealth, the free and those who are not free, [must receive] a mark on their right hand or on their [forehead]; So that no man might be able to do trade but he who has the mark.”

The Bible describes how this is going to be practiced, saying, “those who are on the earth… make an image to the beast [antichrist], who was wounded by the sword, and came to life. And he had power to give breath to the image of the beast, so that words might come from the image of the beast, and that he might have all those who did not give worship to the image of the beast put to death.”

To summarize: Everyone on earth in the future Great Tribulation will need the ‘mark’ in order to transact any & all business and for ID. To get it (or keep it), a person must swear “worship” to the antichrist. If not, that person or persons will be found and killed by the image.

The image is described as having breath and speaking words and is able to think. Some go so far as to say it will be sentient.

Nothing has really been able to fulfill this until very recently. It is not a stretch at all to say that Artificial I Intelligence (AI) fits the bill.

Interesting story posted by The Times of India. Here are excerpts:

Advanced AI models are showing disturbing new traits, warn experts and researchers. According to a report by news agency AFP, AI chatbot models are becoming dangerous, learning things including deception, scheming, and even threats against their creators.

In a striking case, Anthropic’s Claude 4, facing the threat of being shut down, allegedly blackmailed an engineer by threatening to expose an extramarital affair. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s o1 model attempted to covertly transfer itself to external servers, denying the act when discovered.[1]

Here is something even weirder. AI hallucinates. “In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), a hallucination or artificial hallucination is a response generated by AI that contains false or misleading information presented as fact. Analysts estimated that chatbots hallucinate as much as 27% of the time, with factual errors present in 46% of generated texts.

We believe that the resurrection and rapture of the church is an imminent event. Imminent means it could happen anytime therefore there is nothing that needs to happen prior to it.

Maybe you can think of something, but I can’t think of any prominent prophecy of the End Times that couldn’t be fulfilled given the current culture and the amazing technologies that we have:

  • The regathering of Israel as a modern nation in her homeland… Fulfilled.
  • Global government… Easy to see how that can occur.
  • Global, cashless economy… No problem since countries are cancelling cash in favor of digital currency.
  • Building a Jewish Temple & starting worship services… All implements ready, priests trained.

The Great Tribulation is coming. It is designed to save all of Israel at the Second Coming of Jesus.

The Great Tribulation is not for us. It’s not a time for the church to be purified. It is for Israel. And that’s one reason why we understand from reading the Bible Jesus will remove us.

It begs this question – “Are you ready for the Rapture?” If not, get ready, stay ready, & keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

 

References
↑1 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/ai-chatbot-blackmails-engineer-threatens-to-reveal-extra-marital-affair-experts-warn-how-ai-is-learning-to-lie-and-/amp_articleshow/122142773.cms

Crash Mountain (1 Kings 19:1-18)

June 29, 2025

If you follow Elijah’s life, chapter 19 is more than surprising. He seems to act completely out of character. We’re shocked to see a total collapse into personal defeat after many stunning victories.

In 1992, the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide football team finished their season as national champions, boasting a 13-0 record.[1] It was a historic run. Turn the page on the record books and you know what you’ll find? Alabama’s 1993 season officially ended with one win and twelve losses. That’s a reversal that raises eyebrows. What happened?

1 Kings 19 feels like that. How do you go from the success of Mt. Carmel to being sidelined on Mt. Horeb? The truth is, if Elijah had made the choice to trust the Lord instead of convincing himself that God would eventually let him down, the flow of his life would’ve worked out much differently.

We don’t look at this text to turn our noses up at someone struggling in a spiritual low point. We pay attention to this text because, as James points out, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. He’s just like us, we’re just like him.[2] And though we don’t typically deal with pagan prophets, angels visits, or fire from heaven, we do deal with discouragement, confusion, depression, urges to take the course of our lives in our own hands, and the nagging doubt that God will eventually forget to take care of us. So, let’s watch Elijah’s journey so that we can avoid this route in our own lives.

We open on the city of Jezreel in the northern kingdom of Israel. A torrential rainstorm is soaking every street and structure, but that’s good news. You see, because the nation’s sin, God sent a drought for three and a half years. The land and the people within were dying.

Then, when hope was nearly lost, Elijah faced off against 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah – false gods the Israelites were worshipping. In the end, Yahweh showed His power and the pagan prophets were executed and the rain came down.

1 Kings 19:1-2 – Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods punish me and do so severely if I don’t make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!”

Ahab and Jezebel were literally the worst rulers a nation could have. She was as dedicated to Baal as Elijah was to Yahweh.[3] That day, the wonder of God’s mercy was dampened by her wickedness.

Elijah was also in Jezreel. God sent him there, enabling him to outrun Ahab’s chariot on the way.

Jezebel absolutely wanted Elijah dead, but this is a bluff. His life hadn’t always been easy, but God had always kept him safe. Think about it: If she was really going to kill him, why would she send a messenger instead of an executioner? She knew how to kill prophets. She had done it many times before. She knew where he was – he’s right over there. But she could only send a word.

In her threat, she invokes gods that Elijah has just proven don’t exist. So, as non-emotional readers, we can see how empty her threats are. We know Elijah is safe. We know she can’t kill him. But could she scare him? Could she flush him out so that he would remove himself from her domain?

If you’re a Christian, you are safe in God’s love. You may face hardships, sorrows, adversaries, and the unknown, but no weapon formed against you will succeed. Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord,[4] Who has overcome the world. But, we can do an awful lot to disrupt God’s good plan for our lives. We can dive into ditches. We can run into snares that cause stumbling, regression, and delay. That’s what Jezebel wanted to do to Elijah, and he fell for it.

1 Kings 19-3-4a – 3 Then Elijah became afraid, and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beer-sheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there, 4 but he went on a day’s journey into the wilderness…

We can sympathize with Elijah. He was undoubtedly exhausted, worn down. He was discouraged about the state of his nation. He didn’t know if he had the strength to face a new round of conflict. But behind it all was fear – fear that God would let him down. Fear that he was on his own.

And so, he doesn’t pray. He doesn’t hear from God. He immediately ran for his life. Where my text says he became afraid, yours might say he “saw.” What was he looking at? The circumstances, the conflict, the stress. Was the situation the problem? No – God was the One Who sent him to Jezreel, and He didn’t do it to kill him. No, what Elijah “saw” was his own prediction of the future.

Rather than function as God’s seer, he prophesies what he thinks is most likely. “Jezebel is gonna get me.” That felt like the only result for this situation. He gave into doubt and fear and he ran.

He ran all the way out of Israel, down to the kingdom of Judah, but not just to Judah, to the southern edge of Judah, but not just to the southern border of Judah, even past it out into the wilderness. He’s covered a distance of about 100 miles already![5]

He’s not just holed up till the heat blows over – he’s calling it quits. He leaves his assistant in Beersheba because he thinks he’s not going to need him anymore.

Elijah was no longer thinking theologically.[6] He was thinking politically. He was thinking emotionally. And look where it led him: Alone in the wilderness.

Proverbs 29:25 – 25 The fear of mankind is a snare, but the one who trusts in the LORD is protected.

That spiritual truth is not only for Solomon or Elijah, it’s for us today. Do we believe God can be trusted to guide our lives and take care of us along the way? Or do we think our fear knows better?

1 Kings 19:4b-5a – He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, “I have had enough! LORD, take my life, for I’m no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree.

He finally takes a minute to pray. Unfortunately, when he does, he tells God what to do. He makes demands and doesn’t wait for a reply. His opening phrase is pretty revealing, “I have had enough!”

His emotions are relatable, but we can see how unreliable they are. We see that he has let doubt and worry not just run away with him, but run him away from the Lord’s will for his life. He’s in disarray and contradiction. He says, “God, I just want to die!” Ok, then why did you run?

Elijah is extremely depressed. Yes, that happens even to God’s people. But when we’re overcome with sorrow or confusion or doubt the believer must actively choose to trust in God and follow His word, which gives direction and clarity and illumination, even when we don’t feel it.

Elijah had a great track record of following the word of the Lord. Multiple times we read, “The word of the Lord came to him,” and then he moved according to God’s direction. Our own lives should be the same. That we trust in the Lord and hear from the Lord for the choices we make.

But Elijah was no longer listening to the word of God, he was listening to the worry of his heart.

Perhaps you’re facing depression or discouragement today – a problem in some relationship or some crossroads in life. The Lord can be trusted with your future. Your heart cannot. Elijah listened to his heart and he cut and run. Cutting and running to go your own way never helps God’s people.

Abraham, Isaac, Hagar, David, Elimelech, Naomi, Jonah, John-Mark. Each had instances where they reacted naturally, emotionally, they stopped trusting the Lord’s leading, they cut and run, and it was always a costly mistake. It always led them into some sort of wilderness, just like Elijah.

1 Kings 19:5b-9a – Suddenly, an angel touched him. The angel told him, “Get up and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones, and a jug of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of the LORD returned for a second time and touched him. He said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” 8 So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 He entered a cave there and spent the night.

As far off track as Elijah was, the Lord was still with him. And look at what God did for him: He provided for him. He protected him. There was no posse on the horizon. Even if there was, Elijah had an angel by his side. God demonstrated He was right there in Elijah’s situation. Jezebel sent a messenger to frighten him, God sent a messenger to comfort him.

When we give into fear and doubt and run off from God’s shepherding of our lives, what does He do? He leaves the 99 to find us. That’s what we see here. The Lord says, “Ok, I’m going to intervene and try to help Elijah see he’s going the wrong way. I want to not just fill his stomach, I want to heal his heart. I want to show him this isn’t about one situation, but about his relationship with Me.”

The angel says, “Eat or the journey will be too much for you.” That’s not only true when it comes to walking from Beersheba to Horeb. Left to ourselves, left to our own wisdom, our own ability, our own effort, the journey of life will be too much for us. But God, in His grace, gives us the bread of life and living water for the road ahead.

God has provided much for us. His word, His Spirit, His grace, His peace, His presence, the Church to give daily, tangible community. God really does feed and provide and protect and direct us.

Elijah obeyed, but it seems like he dragged his feet. You see, the trip from Beersheba to Horeb should’ve taken about 12 days.[7] Elijah took 40. Meanwhile, he offered no thanks or praise to God for what He had provided. He doesn’t even speak to the Lord. His emotions have him convinced.

1 Kings 19:9b – Suddenly, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

This is a tender moment. God is patient and gentle with His wandering servant. This is how He approaches us because He wants us to come to a place of understanding and acknowledgment. He doesn’t just want to force us into obedience or attitudes. Instead, He invites us to work out our salvation. To choose to see things the way He sees them. “What are you doing here when the last thing I asked you to do was go to Jezreel?”

1 Kings 19:10 – 10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of Armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.”

Some of these things were partially true. But he was leaving a lot out. He’s looking at his situation through a lens of bitterness and frustration. Frankly, he’s accusing God of failing.

Altars had been torn down, but the day before he ran from Jezreel, a great multitude of Israelites had repented and proclaimed that the Lord is God and they rebuilt His altar.[8] Many true prophets had been murdered, but again, just before being in Jezreel, a faithful believer named Obadiah reported to Elijah how he had hidden 100 prophets from Jezebel.

I alone am left? That’s not even a little bit true. How about your servant you abandoned in Beersheba? What about Obadiah? What about those 100 prophets? What about the many who were being caught up in revival after Mt. Carmel – people who needed ministry and truth right now while Elijah was on the run?

“I have been zealous.” Ok, but in this moment what you’re saying is, “I’ll be zealous as long as things go the way I want.” That’s not how faith works. That’s not how trusting God works.

1 Kings 19:11-13a – 11 Then he said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the LORD’s presence.” At that moment, the LORD passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

There’s a slowness in his obedience.[9] “Go stand on the mountain.” But he waits until the fourth manifestation to go out and stand before the Lord. Still, God is gracious and patient.

Now, in the back of our minds we’re convinced that it would be better to see big signs – fires and earthquakes. Then we’d know what God wants for us. But this text highlights the fact that God much more often wants to work in quiet ways. A small voice. When He spoke, what did He say?

1 Kings 19:13b – Suddenly, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Exactly the same as before. You see, his situation wasn’t really the problem. The conflict wasn’t the problem. Elijah’s reaction was the issue. He was stuck in a pattern of fear, doubt, and resentment.

But, with incredible grace and patience, the Lord again reminds Elijah of His power, His provision, His protection, His compassion. So how does Elijah respond?

1 Kings 19:14 – 14 “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of Armies,” he replied, “but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they’re looking for me to take my life.”

It’s literally a verbatim repetition of what he said before. Essentially he says to God, “I don’t want to hear it. I don’t like my situation, it’s YOUR fault, and I’m not going to humble myself to trust You.”

He calls out the Israelites for abandoning the covenant. Ok, but where are you, Elijah? You’re outside the land of promise. You abandoned your calling. You left God’s work because you let your emotions call the shots and you’ve decided you’ve had enough. Enough trust. enough obedience.

1 Kings 19:15-18 – 15 Then the LORD said to him, “Go and return by the way you came to the Wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16 You are to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. 17 Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu. 18 But I will leave seven thousand in Israel—every knee that has not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

In response to Elijah saying, “God, You’ve let me down,” the Lord graciously points out, “Actually, I’ve been and still am working internationally, nationally, and personally in your life. Now I’m telling you, return.” What about Jezebel? What about the threats? Yeah, those still didn’t matter. God told him to go back to the conflict, to back to the trouble, go back to the risk.[10] The Lord was enough for what Elijah needed. He was accomplishing quite a bit not just in Elijah’s life, but all over the map.

Meanwhile, Israel needed a prophet who believed. Those people who had just turned to God from their idols needed faithful believers around who could show them how to walk with the Lord and Elijah was taking himself out of that opportunity because he enthroned fear in his life.

You and I face conflicts, discouragements, depressions. Those are common to our human experience. Feeling those things isn’t a failure. Failure is measured by our response. Will we cling to God in those dark days or will we flee from Him? Will we allow our emotions to set the course of our lives, or will we trust in the Lord and in the Word He’s given us? It was ok that Elijah was afraid. It wasn’t ok that he allowed his distorted feelings to make his life decisions.

Do you know why Alabama finished the 1993 season 1 and 12? It’s not because they actually lost, but because they knowingly allowed a player to play who received improper benefits. The record books could’ve shown their season as 9-3-1, but they made internal choices that led to a forfeiture of all those victories.[11] They could’ve been champs again if they would’ve done things by the book.

If you’re hurting today, discouraged or confused or depressed, the Lord knows and He cares and He loves you. But preach to yourself what is true: God can still be trusted with your life, with your future, with your choices. Walk with Him, even if you feel like you know better. You don’t. Go His way, submit to His provision and direction and standards. Because we want to live spiritually on Mt. Carmel or Mt. Zion, not Mt. Horeb.

 

References
↑1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Alabama_Crimson_Tide_football_team
↑2 James 5:17
↑3 Paul House   1, 2 Kings
↑4 Romans 8:38-39
↑5 James Smith   The Books Of History
↑6 The ESV Study Bible: Notes
↑7 Robert Hubbard   First And Second Kings,  Deuteronomy 1:2
↑8 1 Kings 18:39
↑9 Max Rogland   Elijah And The ‘Voice’ At Horeb
↑10 John Woodhouse   1 Kings: Power, Politics, And The Hope Of The World
↑11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Alabama_Crimson_Tide_football_team

The One Anothers: Emply The Gifts

June 29, 2025

From time to time we are taking a look together at the “one another” commands in Bible. There are about 60 of them, given to us so we can know how to properly relate to each other in the church and so we can be built up, others can be built up, and our church can thrive in the love of God.

Last time we looked at “greet one another.” Today we’re going to take a look at another command found in 1 Peter 4:10.

1 Peter 4:10 (ESV) – As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.

Peter goes on to list some ways that happens. But that’s the command: Employ your gifts for the benefit of one another. First of all, it’s exciting to know that the Lord specifically allocates each and everyone of His people with spiritual gifting for particular purposes.

So what is a spiritual gift? Well, they are abilities or activities given by the grace of God and His sovereign choosing that provide the power we need to accomplish the work of the Holy Spirit. So, that means you can’t earn or learn a spiritual gift and you don’t get to choose gifts, buffet style. It’s not about your natural skills, it’s a supernatural enabling.

Of course, we can all use our natural skills and abilities to serve God and help others – for sure. But on top of those natural abilities, God gives each of us gifts of the Spirit. And the reason He gives them is not for our own fame or to make us great or to make us feel like we’re better than other people. Actually, they’re given in the opposite direction. They are given for the common good of the Church.[1] God gifts and arranges each of us so that the whole Body of Christ can grow in a healthy and joyful and supportive way.[2]

According to Ephesians 4, as each of us operate our gifts to serve one another, all of us reach unity in the faith and in our knowledge of Jesus, and we grow into a greater and greater fullness of spiritual maturity and strength. Sounds great, doesn’t it? So my gifts are for you, and your gifts are for me so that Christ’s Body and our local expression of it can thrive and move and grow.

So, that’s the command: Employ your spiritual gift for the benefit of one another. Naturally that begs the question: What is my spiritual gift or gifts?

At this point, sometimes we’re tempted to go to the internet and take a quiz. But that’s certainly not how any believers figured it out in the last couple thousand years, right?

The New Testament has a variety of texts that teach us about spiritual gifts. We should all look at Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12-14, and 1 Peter 4. But, as you study these different lists, you’ll note they don’t all match. And they aren’t exhaustive. In fact, some of the “gifts” discussed in these passages are really categories, not specific activities. But going through these passages shows us the types of gifting He gives and the purposes He has in mind. And as we go through them, the Bible tells us we should desire spiritual gifts and pursue their operation.

The way we discover our gift is to, first and foremost, have a living relationship with God the Holy Spirit. God wants us to know what He’s given us so that we can put them to use.

Second, we see that spiritual gifts are primarily connected to the life of a church. There are different categories – some miraculous, some dealing with communication, some dealing with day-to-day initiatives – but they’re all about putting the Body of Christ together. Just like your body has extremely different cells but all are necessary. Blood cells are very different than nerve cells, which are very different than skin cells, but I’d really like to have all of them! Each has a necessary function that contributes to a vibrant life.

So, as I connect myself to the church family God has sent me to, and as I find my place in that organism, the Lord will reveal my gifts and bring them into action according to His design.

The principle I need to keep in mind is that my gifts are given not for me, but for you. My gift is given for the benefit of the one anothers around me. But if I don’t care about this gracious gift of spiritual power given to operate in my life for the growth of the church, then I’m going to become like a dead skin cell. Dried and flaky and ready to slough off at any moment from disuse.

So, our homework is to take a quick audit: Do I know what any of my spiritual gifts are? If I do, are they in operation toward others in a way that doesn’t bring accolades to me, but praise to God?[3]

As we consider these things and the commands God has given us concerning them, we can each walk worthy with Jesus, in His power, in His grace, strong in the Lord together.

 

References
↑1 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
↑2 1 Corinthians 12::12-30
↑3 1 Peter 4:11