Reading from Wednesday, November 24

What up, what up?

Reading for November 24
Ezekiel 47:1-48:35
This is the last chapter of Ezekiel. Before I get into the reading, I want to do a quick recap of my feelings about good old Zeke. His book opened with a terrifying look at God. A monstrous being with multiple heads and bodies. Then it got more in depth into the destruction of Jerusalem and why it was so important for God to do that. God lets Ezekiel in on his feelings of sadness about that event, but tried to convey the reasoning behind it. God begins to reveal his new promises and, though its not referred to in these words in Ezekiel, his new covenant with Israel. This is brought to life through Ezekiel's God-induced vision of the new Temple. The original Temple was constructed during Solomon's reign and for generations stood as the ultimate symbol for the relationship between God and man. The destruction of Jerusalem brought the Temple with it, but this vision of the new Temple was filled with an incredible amount of hope and joy that came through in Ezekiel's retelling of the event.

It's strange. As I've read through the past few prophetic books, they all had a central theme of the destruction of Jerusalem. The destruction was documented at the end of 2 Kings, but not in a way that stuck with me. The prophets get into the why and how of God's plan around the destruction. In fact, when i first read Isaiah I thought that he was chronicling a new event, I didn't even notice that the holy city of God had been destroyed. So throughout these last three books, I have learned of Jerusalem's destruction, but quickly saw the reasons behind it. I saw that Israel as a nation needed humility, needed to fear God once more, and there was no other way to make them listen than for God to send this pain and suffering to them. Ezekiel and Jeremiah reveal that it was painful for him to do so, but he knew that for the nation to grow, it was a necessary evil.

Ezekiel is full of some of possibly the most real and honest portraits of God. We see him described in what he might actually look like, and we also see his heart. What makes it up, where his love comes from and the lengths he would go to for his people.

As I read the first few words of Chapter 47, I was immediately reminded of this sermon from my church. If you want to get right to the point, fast forward to about 11 minutes. The pastor, Christian, gives a fantastic summary of Ezekiel and then begins to talk about this chapter.

In Ezekiel's vision of the new temple, he sees a trickle of water coming out of the base of it. As he walks further and further down the trickle the water gets deeper and deeper until it empties out into the Dead Sea. The water from this river that started at the temple was refreshing the sea which was so full of salt that no creature could live in it so that the sea was surrounded by fishermen catching fish. See the symbolism? God's spirit will revive the like-dead lives of the Israelites. This vision is very similar to the other vision Ezekiel had where he was in a valley of dry bones that were brought back to life - you can read that post here.

There's much more to it than that, and I would seriously recommend listening to that sermon.

Chapter 48 closes the book of Ezekiel with a hopeful schematic. He gives the new dimensions of the land of Jerusalem and talks about the measurements and boundaries of different areas, but closes with this line which is about as joyful a way as you can close a book:

   “And the name of the city from that time on will be:
   THE LORD IS THERE.”

1 Peter 2:11-3:7
Have you ever felt like no matter how much good you do, you always end up getting crapped on? "No good deed goes unpunished" kind of thing? Maybe at work or at home, you feel like your boss/spouse/parents just come down on you no matter how hard you try. I've definitely been there, too, but here in 1 Peter, we see a validation of enduring that type of scenario:

²⁰ But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. ²¹ To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

Now, there's a fine line between following in the steps of our suffering servant and being a doormat. There is a tact to enduring suffering for good deeds, and I'm not quite sure what it is because I tend to lean on the side of doormat, but the other extreme is to blow up on someone for mistreating you and just making a bad situation worse. Obviously that's-a not so good either.

What are your guys thoughts on this one? Hit up the comments.

Psalm 119:49-64
Hey, here's an answer:

⁴⁹ Remember your word to your servant,
   for you have given me hope.
⁵⁰ My comfort in my suffering is this:
   Your promise preserves my life.

Proverbs 28:12-13
 ¹² When the righteous triumph, there is great elation;
   but when the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding.
 ¹³ Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,
   but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

Alright. Getting close to the end, yo...