Read: Ezekiel 16:43-17:24; Hebrews 8:1-13; Psalm 106:13-31; Proverbs 27:7-9
Israel constantly lived for the moment. They forgot their rich heritage of God’s deliverance through the Red Sea and all the wonderful miracles God did for them to show them his great love for them. They added lewdness to their idolatry which in the Hebrew means heinous crimes. He described them as being like their mother who hated her husband and her own children. God was their husband and their children were the ones they were teaching. Ezekiel told them that their mother was a Hittite. Esau had married Hittite women which were so evil it made Rebecca send Jacob off to marry women from his own family. He said that their father was an Amorite which were from the incest relationship between Lot and his daughter. Their sister was Sodom who were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned. They neglected helping the poor and needy. Their sins made their enemy’s sins look good.
God gave them an allegory of two eagles. The first eagle represented Assyria’s god, Nisroch which symbolized a bird with wings. It came to Lebanon which was another name for the temple in Jerusalem, since the temple was built from the cedars of Lebanon. The highest branch that the eagle took represented King Jehoiachin who was taken to Babylon.
The second eagle was the god of Egypt. King Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s uncle and successor became ambitious and tried to rid himself of Babylonian rule to find help in Egypt. This was rebellion against what God had decreed for him so he would be caught and brought back to Babylon where he would pay for his rebellion.
In the end, God would plant a branch in Zion, Jesus, who would bring forth his Church. God will bring down the kingdoms of the world to exalt his kingdom in the earth.
In Hebrews we learn that Jesus was never to be a high priest on earth according to the old covenant. The old priesthood was only a copy of God’s priesthood in heaven. Jesus was to be the high priest in heaven after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus’ blood was the only sacrifice needed to cleanse us forever of sin.
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Tues.’s Devo - Jesus, Our High Priest
Read: Ezekiel 14:12-16:42; Hebrews 7:18:28; Psalm 1061-12; Proverbs 27:4-6
God said that if the nation rebelled against him and he judged the people, only the righteous would be saved. Everyone would be judged according to their own lives, not the lives of their fathers. He used Noah, Daniel, and Job as the examples of righteous people. Each of them lived righteously in a very unrighteous time in history.
God explained to the people that he had chosen to serve other gods symbolizing having an Amorite father and a Hittite mother. God had made a covenant with Abraham to be his God and his seed would be his children. God had blessed his descendants and made them multiply. Instead of being grateful and loving him back, they had chosen to wear their beauty as an ornament to entice lovers of other gods instead of being an example of God’s people. They had prostituted themselves and paid other nations to teach them their idolatrous ways. They had run after sin so God was going to hand them over to their lovers to strip them of their pride and put a stop to their prostitution. When they were humbled, God would not be angry any more.
Hebrews explained that the law never made anyone sinless. Jesus came with a new covenant where he would be their high priest forever. He would be a perfect high priest who was sinless not like the high priests they had had before. He would be able to intercede for us because he walked the earth and was tempted in every way we are tempted so he is compassionate and worthy to intercede for our weaknesses before God.
He would not have to offer sacrifices for his own sins like the priests did before, but His blood would be suffice for our sins past, present and future.
Jesus, thank you for your blood that covers our sin and your priesthood that intercedes for our sin.
God said that if the nation rebelled against him and he judged the people, only the righteous would be saved. Everyone would be judged according to their own lives, not the lives of their fathers. He used Noah, Daniel, and Job as the examples of righteous people. Each of them lived righteously in a very unrighteous time in history.
God explained to the people that he had chosen to serve other gods symbolizing having an Amorite father and a Hittite mother. God had made a covenant with Abraham to be his God and his seed would be his children. God had blessed his descendants and made them multiply. Instead of being grateful and loving him back, they had chosen to wear their beauty as an ornament to entice lovers of other gods instead of being an example of God’s people. They had prostituted themselves and paid other nations to teach them their idolatrous ways. They had run after sin so God was going to hand them over to their lovers to strip them of their pride and put a stop to their prostitution. When they were humbled, God would not be angry any more.
Hebrews explained that the law never made anyone sinless. Jesus came with a new covenant where he would be their high priest forever. He would be a perfect high priest who was sinless not like the high priests they had had before. He would be able to intercede for us because he walked the earth and was tempted in every way we are tempted so he is compassionate and worthy to intercede for our weaknesses before God.
He would not have to offer sacrifices for his own sins like the priests did before, but His blood would be suffice for our sins past, present and future.
Jesus, thank you for your blood that covers our sin and your priesthood that intercedes for our sin.
Monday, November 5, 2018
Mon.’s Devo - Prophetic Acts
Read: Ezekiel 12:1-14:11; Hebrews 7:1-17; Psalm 105:37-45; Proverbs 27:1
Ezekiel was told by God to do a prophetic act to show the people what was going to happen to them. He was to act out the process of going into exile. When they asked what he was doing with a packed suitcase digging through the wall, he was to tell them that he was a sign to them. They would be taken to Babylonia and never see their land again. Only a few would be saved. The rest would die.
Next, Ezekiel was to eat his food trembling and shuddering in fear to show them that they would one day eat their food in fear and despair because of the violence that was coming to their land.
God told Ezekiel to prophesy against the false prophets who said that Ezekiel’s prophesies were for a time in the far future. He was to tell the people that God was going to bring all the disaster that Ezekiel said upon them very soon. God was angry at the lies of the other prophets and they would be judged for saying things out of their own imaginations and not out of God’s heart.
The elders came to listen to what Ezekiel had to say, but the Lord saw their hearts. They were two-faced with idolatrous hearts so they were stumbling blocks for the people. They were hypocrites in their devotion to God and God was having no more of their lies. He was ready to cut them off entirely from being his people.
Hebrews tells us exactly who Melchizedek is. He is the priest of God. God told Moses to build the tabernacle like the one he saw in heaven - it was God’s temple he was copying. Everything in heaven is copied on earth so we will understand God’s kingdom.
Lord, help us to see earthly things and understand spiritual things.
Ezekiel was told by God to do a prophetic act to show the people what was going to happen to them. He was to act out the process of going into exile. When they asked what he was doing with a packed suitcase digging through the wall, he was to tell them that he was a sign to them. They would be taken to Babylonia and never see their land again. Only a few would be saved. The rest would die.
Next, Ezekiel was to eat his food trembling and shuddering in fear to show them that they would one day eat their food in fear and despair because of the violence that was coming to their land.
God told Ezekiel to prophesy against the false prophets who said that Ezekiel’s prophesies were for a time in the far future. He was to tell the people that God was going to bring all the disaster that Ezekiel said upon them very soon. God was angry at the lies of the other prophets and they would be judged for saying things out of their own imaginations and not out of God’s heart.
The elders came to listen to what Ezekiel had to say, but the Lord saw their hearts. They were two-faced with idolatrous hearts so they were stumbling blocks for the people. They were hypocrites in their devotion to God and God was having no more of their lies. He was ready to cut them off entirely from being his people.
Hebrews tells us exactly who Melchizedek is. He is the priest of God. God told Moses to build the tabernacle like the one he saw in heaven - it was God’s temple he was copying. Everything in heaven is copied on earth so we will understand God’s kingdom.
Lord, help us to see earthly things and understand spiritual things.
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Sun.’s Devo - Secrets of Heaven
Read Ezekiel 10:1-11:25; Hebrews 6:1-20; Psalm 105;16-36; Proverbs 27:1-2
Ezekiel was among the exiled taken to Babylon when God gave him this vision of what was happening in Jerusalem. He is taken to heaven to get a heavenly perspective of what was happening.
There are three heavens mentioned in the Bible. One is the sky we see, the second is the heaven where angels and demons operate and the third is where God’s throne is. The expanse is the crystal floor of heaven so that is why the throne was above the heads of the cherubim. Cherubim can go to all three heavens. The man in linen is one of God’s heavenly priests. He was to put coals from the table of incense in the hands of the cherubim so they could scatter them over the city. This was to mark their destruction.
The cherubim took the place of the ox in the faces of the four creatures because they were to be God’s servants to bring judgment. The face of the ox was on the front this time because he was in charge.
God showed Ezekiel the twenty-five elders who stood at the door of the gate of the city. They were the ones who executed judgements for the people. Two of them were named: Jaazaniah and Pelatiah. Their names mean “God has heard” and “God has delivered”. The one whose name meant “God has delivered” died the day that Ezekiel told the people his prophesy. God was making the point that the day of deliverance had died. Ezekiel saw the parallel and fell on his face and cried out, “Ah, Sovereign Lord! Will you completely destroy the remnant of Israel?”
God, in his kindness, showed Ezekiel the bigger picture. Israel would be driven from their land and dispersed throughout the land, but they would return one day and they would have undivided hearts and God would give them a new spirit. They would follow God’s decrees and carefully keep his laws. They would be his people and he would be their God.
Hebrews explains that a person who is born again will drink in the water from heaven and produce fruit for the kingdom. A person who is not born again will produce curses and briers. Briers in the Greek means a crow-foot which is a three-pronged obstruction used in war. In other words they will bring death.
God has promised us that our works will be judged and we will be rewarded by them but the works of the heathen will also be judged and they will be rewarded for them.
Lord, may our works bring honor to you and remain in the end.
Ezekiel was among the exiled taken to Babylon when God gave him this vision of what was happening in Jerusalem. He is taken to heaven to get a heavenly perspective of what was happening.
There are three heavens mentioned in the Bible. One is the sky we see, the second is the heaven where angels and demons operate and the third is where God’s throne is. The expanse is the crystal floor of heaven so that is why the throne was above the heads of the cherubim. Cherubim can go to all three heavens. The man in linen is one of God’s heavenly priests. He was to put coals from the table of incense in the hands of the cherubim so they could scatter them over the city. This was to mark their destruction.
The cherubim took the place of the ox in the faces of the four creatures because they were to be God’s servants to bring judgment. The face of the ox was on the front this time because he was in charge.
God showed Ezekiel the twenty-five elders who stood at the door of the gate of the city. They were the ones who executed judgements for the people. Two of them were named: Jaazaniah and Pelatiah. Their names mean “God has heard” and “God has delivered”. The one whose name meant “God has delivered” died the day that Ezekiel told the people his prophesy. God was making the point that the day of deliverance had died. Ezekiel saw the parallel and fell on his face and cried out, “Ah, Sovereign Lord! Will you completely destroy the remnant of Israel?”
God, in his kindness, showed Ezekiel the bigger picture. Israel would be driven from their land and dispersed throughout the land, but they would return one day and they would have undivided hearts and God would give them a new spirit. They would follow God’s decrees and carefully keep his laws. They would be his people and he would be their God.
Hebrews explains that a person who is born again will drink in the water from heaven and produce fruit for the kingdom. A person who is not born again will produce curses and briers. Briers in the Greek means a crow-foot which is a three-pronged obstruction used in war. In other words they will bring death.
God has promised us that our works will be judged and we will be rewarded by them but the works of the heathen will also be judged and they will be rewarded for them.
Lord, may our works bring honor to you and remain in the end.
Saturday, November 3, 2018
Sat.’s Devo - Jesus, Our High Priest -
Read: Ezekiel 7:1-9:11; Hebrews 5:1-14; Psalm 105:1-15; Proverbs 26:28
The end had come and the day that God was going to do all he had told his prophets for years had finally arrived. The people who lived in the fields would be killed by the sword and the people in the city would be killed by famine and plague. When this happened, the people would race to the prophet for a vision but there will be none. They would want to know what the law says, but there would be no one to teach them. They would want to know the wisdom of the elder, but they would all be gone.
That night, God came and took Ezekiel by the spirit to show him what the elders and the priests were doing in secret. The elders were worshipping idols and offering incense to idols instead of to God. The priests were bowing down to the sun. Ezekiel watched as God called one of his heavenly scribes, the man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. He was to go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieved and lamented over what was going on - those whose hearts were pure toward the Lord. Then, he was to kill all who didn’t have the mark. He was to show no compassion or mercy - that time was over. Ezekiel watched in horror wondering if anyone would be saved.
This is a picture of end time judgment.
Hebrews explained the selection of the high priest. He had to be a man who knew how hard it was to overcome temptation because he had experienced it himself. That is why Jesus had to come to earth as a man. He had to go through the same hard temptations that we do. He learned to obey God laying down his own passions. He had to become perfect the same way we become perfect and that is through hard trials. James says that our trials make us perfect. We think of Jesus as never sinning, and we think it means he never made a mistake. I think he made plenty of mistakes and learned by each of them just as we do. We are perfect through his blood and he became perfect through his own sufferings.
His life on earth qualified him to be our high priest in heaven on our behalf as Melchizedek was God’s high priest in heaven on heaven’s behalf. Everything on earth is a prototype of what is already in heaven, minus the evil.
Lord, thank you for becoming our high priest that we might have an advocate in heaven.
The end had come and the day that God was going to do all he had told his prophets for years had finally arrived. The people who lived in the fields would be killed by the sword and the people in the city would be killed by famine and plague. When this happened, the people would race to the prophet for a vision but there will be none. They would want to know what the law says, but there would be no one to teach them. They would want to know the wisdom of the elder, but they would all be gone.
That night, God came and took Ezekiel by the spirit to show him what the elders and the priests were doing in secret. The elders were worshipping idols and offering incense to idols instead of to God. The priests were bowing down to the sun. Ezekiel watched as God called one of his heavenly scribes, the man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. He was to go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieved and lamented over what was going on - those whose hearts were pure toward the Lord. Then, he was to kill all who didn’t have the mark. He was to show no compassion or mercy - that time was over. Ezekiel watched in horror wondering if anyone would be saved.
This is a picture of end time judgment.
Hebrews explained the selection of the high priest. He had to be a man who knew how hard it was to overcome temptation because he had experienced it himself. That is why Jesus had to come to earth as a man. He had to go through the same hard temptations that we do. He learned to obey God laying down his own passions. He had to become perfect the same way we become perfect and that is through hard trials. James says that our trials make us perfect. We think of Jesus as never sinning, and we think it means he never made a mistake. I think he made plenty of mistakes and learned by each of them just as we do. We are perfect through his blood and he became perfect through his own sufferings.
His life on earth qualified him to be our high priest in heaven on our behalf as Melchizedek was God’s high priest in heaven on heaven’s behalf. Everything on earth is a prototype of what is already in heaven, minus the evil.
Lord, thank you for becoming our high priest that we might have an advocate in heaven.
Friday, November 2, 2018
Fri.’s Devo - God’s Rest
Read: Ezekiel 3:16-6:14; Hebrews 4:1-16; Psalm 104:24-35; Proverbs 26:27
We left Ezekiel yesterday sitting in wonder after seeing the vision of the four living creatures. He sat for a week and then God spoke and told him his mission. He was to be a watchman for the house of Israel. It was his responsibility to listen to Gods’ voice and warn them of what he said. If he didn’t warn them then Ezekiel would be held responsible for the man’s sin. That was a heavy responsibility, but Ezekiel agreed to it. He was to act out the people’s sins and God’s judgements on the sin. Ezekiel was to be a living picture of what God was doing on the earth.
Ezekiel was told to draw a picture of the city and construct siege works against it. After that he had to lie tied in ropes on one side for 390 days to bear the sin of Israel and 40 days on his other side for the sin of Judah. During that time he was to eat measured out wheat to show that their food would be portioned out during the siege.
He was told to shave his beard and head and divide the hair into thirds to show that a third of the people would die by the sword, a third by the famine and a third would be scattered over the earth. God was coming to judge the gods Israel had come to trust in instead of him.
Ezekiel gave up his life totally to serve and suffer for his people. It cost him dearly to be God’s spokesman on earth.
Hebrews talks much about the word “rest”. God rested on the seventh day but he didn’t rest like we view rest, he sat to rule. His work was over. It was his plan that the children of Israel were to rule the earth, but they failed to enter into their destiny because they hardened their hearts. He is still calling to us to enter into that place of rulership where we cease from doing our own thing and we choose to rule and reign with Him. He judges the thoughts and the intentions of our hearts.
Lord, may our thoughts and intentions honor you. May we rule and reign with you on the earth.
We left Ezekiel yesterday sitting in wonder after seeing the vision of the four living creatures. He sat for a week and then God spoke and told him his mission. He was to be a watchman for the house of Israel. It was his responsibility to listen to Gods’ voice and warn them of what he said. If he didn’t warn them then Ezekiel would be held responsible for the man’s sin. That was a heavy responsibility, but Ezekiel agreed to it. He was to act out the people’s sins and God’s judgements on the sin. Ezekiel was to be a living picture of what God was doing on the earth.
Ezekiel was told to draw a picture of the city and construct siege works against it. After that he had to lie tied in ropes on one side for 390 days to bear the sin of Israel and 40 days on his other side for the sin of Judah. During that time he was to eat measured out wheat to show that their food would be portioned out during the siege.
He was told to shave his beard and head and divide the hair into thirds to show that a third of the people would die by the sword, a third by the famine and a third would be scattered over the earth. God was coming to judge the gods Israel had come to trust in instead of him.
Ezekiel gave up his life totally to serve and suffer for his people. It cost him dearly to be God’s spokesman on earth.
Hebrews talks much about the word “rest”. God rested on the seventh day but he didn’t rest like we view rest, he sat to rule. His work was over. It was his plan that the children of Israel were to rule the earth, but they failed to enter into their destiny because they hardened their hearts. He is still calling to us to enter into that place of rulership where we cease from doing our own thing and we choose to rule and reign with Him. He judges the thoughts and the intentions of our hearts.
Lord, may our thoughts and intentions honor you. May we rule and reign with you on the earth.
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Thurs.’s Devo - The Awesomeness of God
Read: Ezekiel 1:1-3:15; Hebrews 3:1-19; Psalm 104:1-23; Proverbs 26:24-26
Ezekiel was the son of the priest Buzi who was a faithful priest of the Lord’s. I have to remind myself that there were a remnant of faithful believers in God in the midst of the rebellious people that Jeremiah prophesied against, just as there were scribes and Pharisees during Jesus time that were pure in heart. Ezekiel was one of these. He left Jerusalem willingly because he believed what Jeremiah said that they were to go with the Babylonians and serve them in their land; one day they would return. God started to speaking to Ezekiel when he was to Babylonia and was camping by the Kebar River.
God took Ezekiel into a bizarre vision much like Daniel would have years later. He saw these four creatures in the midst of a windstorm. They were lit with light and had a forward face of a man, a face of a lion on the right, an ox on the left and an eagle in the back. They were on wheels within wheels so they could travel forward and backwards on one wheel and side to side on the other. So, picture the wheels as an “X” if you were looking down on them. These faces corresponded with powers in the natural then and men who would later rule spiritually.
The man stood for Greece and the man, Luke who wrote his Gospel to the Greeks and his message was that the Messiah was the Son of man. His wheel was connected with the eagle behind him which stood for Rome and the apostle John who wrote his Gospel to the Church. His message was that the Messiah was also the Son of God.
The ox, a creature of burden stood for Persia and the apostle Mark whose audience was the Romans and whose message was that the Messiah was a Servant. He was on the same wheel going side to side with the lion who stood for Assyria and the apostle Matthew whose audience was the Jews and his message was that Jesus was King of the Jews.
Jesus became a man that he might show us the way to heaven. We are born as a man - a sinner but we are saved to soar in the Spirit. We go from man to eagle.
Jesus began as a servant, under the weight of sin. Once we are saved we are resurrected as a king. We serve here on earth just as Jesus did, to be raised kings and queens. We go from ox to lion!. How awesome is that?
In Hebrews we read that Moses was the faithful servant, testifying what was to come in the future. But Christ was the faithful son over the house we are a part of. Moses built the structure but Jesus came and filled it with his Spirit. Hebrews encourages us over and over to just believe. Believe the Word and everything that it says because it is true.
Lord, open the eyes of our understanding to see your great and marvelous plan.
Ezekiel was the son of the priest Buzi who was a faithful priest of the Lord’s. I have to remind myself that there were a remnant of faithful believers in God in the midst of the rebellious people that Jeremiah prophesied against, just as there were scribes and Pharisees during Jesus time that were pure in heart. Ezekiel was one of these. He left Jerusalem willingly because he believed what Jeremiah said that they were to go with the Babylonians and serve them in their land; one day they would return. God started to speaking to Ezekiel when he was to Babylonia and was camping by the Kebar River.
God took Ezekiel into a bizarre vision much like Daniel would have years later. He saw these four creatures in the midst of a windstorm. They were lit with light and had a forward face of a man, a face of a lion on the right, an ox on the left and an eagle in the back. They were on wheels within wheels so they could travel forward and backwards on one wheel and side to side on the other. So, picture the wheels as an “X” if you were looking down on them. These faces corresponded with powers in the natural then and men who would later rule spiritually.
The man stood for Greece and the man, Luke who wrote his Gospel to the Greeks and his message was that the Messiah was the Son of man. His wheel was connected with the eagle behind him which stood for Rome and the apostle John who wrote his Gospel to the Church. His message was that the Messiah was also the Son of God.
The ox, a creature of burden stood for Persia and the apostle Mark whose audience was the Romans and whose message was that the Messiah was a Servant. He was on the same wheel going side to side with the lion who stood for Assyria and the apostle Matthew whose audience was the Jews and his message was that Jesus was King of the Jews.
Jesus became a man that he might show us the way to heaven. We are born as a man - a sinner but we are saved to soar in the Spirit. We go from man to eagle.
Jesus began as a servant, under the weight of sin. Once we are saved we are resurrected as a king. We serve here on earth just as Jesus did, to be raised kings and queens. We go from ox to lion!. How awesome is that?
In Hebrews we read that Moses was the faithful servant, testifying what was to come in the future. But Christ was the faithful son over the house we are a part of. Moses built the structure but Jesus came and filled it with his Spirit. Hebrews encourages us over and over to just believe. Believe the Word and everything that it says because it is true.
Lord, open the eyes of our understanding to see your great and marvelous plan.
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