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...

Reading from Tuesday, November 23

Reading for November 23
Ezekiel 45:13-46:24
This is more detail about the new Temple. Pretty boring and uneventful. Skip.

1 Peter 1:13-2:10
Its weird to see this type of talk in the New Testament

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

That type of language is generally used when an author is speaking about Israel. The Israelites were God's chosen people. I've heard it said that God chooses you to be saved and all you have to do is accept it. That conclusion bothers me because of people who aren't Christians or don't have an opportunity to know about him will be sent to hell for not knowing him.

A couple days ago, a friend of mine was telling me about his wife's take on the idea of God.  She believed that God manifests himself to you in a way that makes sense to you. So if that means you are touched by the story of Jesus, then that's how you perceive God. If you are inspired by the Gods of Hinduism, then that's the way God makes himself real to you.

The peaceful, "can't-we-all-just-get-along" side of me loves this theory. Looking at it from a Biblical perspective, it's blasphemy, technically. But when you think about it, if every religious text claims to be absolute truth, then they're all blasphemy when held against one another. At the same time, all the major religions boil down to the same ideals: be kind to one another, be charitable with what you have, and strive for peace. So take out the place of worship and the names of the God(s) that are praised, and put a Jew, a Christian, a Muslim, a Hindu and a Buddhist in a room together - better yet, start a society with families from each faith - all devout practitioners. What does that look like? Assume they don't get into philosophical arguments about religion and they are likely to be kind to one another. They are likely to be charitable to the poor, banding together for a greater good. Helping those who are in need of help and worshiping their vision of God peacefully.

I don't know. I'm really just spitballing here, but what do you guys think about that? Hit up the comments.

Psalm 119:33-48
Really interesting couple lines here:

³⁶ Turn my heart toward your statutes
   and not toward selfish gain.
³⁷ Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
   preserve my life according to your word.^[b]
38 Fulfill your promise to your servant,
   so that you may be feared.

Verses 36 and 37 are extremely wise things to ask of God - instead of praying for a new car or to win the lottery, the Psalmist asks to be kept within the law of God and to help him not want "worthless things". But verse 38 is where I want to dig a little.

Since the beginning of this project I have been very curious about the idea of fearing God. Its an extremely important and prominent piece of Christianity and Judaism. Ultimately, I think the answer to why we should fear God comes to us through the destruction of Jerusalem. The Israelites had become too comfortable and too "fat and happy" if you will, to even consider needing God, much less fear him. God, reminding them of his awesome power, destroyed their city but immediately began plans to rebuild it because they feared God once again. They were humbled. This guy is going as far as praying to fear God. He knows that through the fear of God, we are humbled and that builds character and fosters kindness and love within us.

Proverbs 28:11
Or, you can take everything I just said about the last psalm and say it like this:

¹¹ The rich are wise in their own eyes;
   one who is poor and discerning sees how deluded they are.

Reading from Monday, November 22

Reading for November 22
Ezekiel 44:1-45:12
This reading outlines what the priests of the New Temple are to do and not do. The way this is written is a throwback to the old books of Law in the Old Testament, the only difference being that these rules only apply to these new priests. One of the more interesting rules is this one:

²⁸ “‘I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession.

This sounds like suicide - no house? No food? But God goes on to explain that they are to receive the best of the fruits of Israel and the grain offerings. Essentially they are surviving on the donations of the people in exchange for serving God and relying fully on him. My pastor lives this way and it is wholly inspirational. With two kids no less. 

1 Peter 1:1-12
Justifying faith.

⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Yes. I agree. But I would like to break down an overused bit of Christianese in this reading: "Salvation of your souls". What does that mean? Well salvation means "saving from something" and the soul is something that I believe can be described in this quote from CS Lewis

You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.

So it's our selves that are being saved from something. The key question is, then, from what are we being saved? Death? That's the Sunday school answer. But it's true in a couple of ways. In the Biblical sense of how Adam and Eve experienced "death" - not actually dying right away but being apart from the full and eternal grace of God. But my belief is that we're also saved from the clammy hand of death. We will apparently and hopefully experience an afterlife of great joy and peace.

That's what salvation of your souls means. To me anyway...

Psalm 119:17-32
²⁰ My soul is consumed with longing
   for your laws at all times.
²⁴ Your statutes are my delight;
   they are my counselors.

If only I could have that kind of zeal for God's laws.

Proverbs 28:8-10
 ⁸ Whoever increases wealth by taking interest or profit from the poor
   amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.
 ⁹ If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction,
   even their prayers are detestable.
 ¹⁰ Whoever leads the upright along an evil path
   will fall into their own trap,
   but the blameless will receive a good inheritance.

That's four posts tonight. I'm satisfied with that. 

Reading from Sunday, November 21

What is up.

Reading for November 21
Ezekiel 42:1-43:27
God comes home.

So in my last post, I spoke about how significant it would be for this Temple to be rebuilt. Ezekiel's vision of this new Temple concludes with God actually coming back into it in a beautifully exciting scene.

² and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. ³ The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he^[j] came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.

There have been clues here and there throughout the Bible that show that God's passion for mercy is equal to his rage, and this is another clue. Ezekiel compares God's return to the temple to another vision he had where God came to destroy Jerusalem. God then speaks to Zeke and delivers another earth shattering promise.

⁷ He said: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The people of Israel will never again defile my holy name [...] they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger. ⁹ Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings, and I will live among them forever.

He's back baby.

James 5:1-20

Warning to Rich Oppressors

 ¹ Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. ² Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. ⁴ Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. ⁵ You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Capitalism.

Psalm 119:1-16
¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes
   as one rejoices in great riches.

If we could all hope to follow God's laws instead of hope for a bigger paycheck we would be better off.

Proverbs 28:6-7
Strange how there are so many "anti-money" verses now that I'm looking for them...

 ⁶ Better the poor whose walk is blameless
   than the rich whose ways are perverse.
 ⁷ A discerning son heeds instruction,
   but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.

Reading from Saturday, November 20

Hey hey.

So last night, Jilly and I watched a documentary called Bloodline. It was a sort of real-life follow up to the DaVinci Code. The main idea of the story in the DaVinci Code was that Jesus had in fact married Mary Magdalene and had actually fathered children with her, which isn't very controversial. The controversy comes from the assertion that these things took place after his supposed "death" and that the crucifixion was somehow staged and Jesus and Mary Mag escaped to Europe to live out the rest of their days together. That's the bit that would challenge someone's faith in Christ. If that is the case, then that means that Jesus was in fact just a man with some really great ideas. Not divine. Not God incarnate. Just a really great dude.

I started to think about the possibility of that being real, and what it would mean for my faith. I've already concluded that if I ever come to a place where I no longer believe in God, or that its proven that this whole bit with Jesus and Mary is actually true, I would probably still live my life according to the Bible, and even though it would be slightly absurd, I would probably still label myself as a Christian. I would still want to follow the teachings of Christ and attempt to live my life in a way that would be - or would have been pleasing to him.

As of now, I still believe that Jesus is real and divine and rose from the dead and the whole thing. I'm just sort of planning ahead in case that turns out to be false. Wow. That's kind of depressing when I think about it.

Reading for November 20
Ezekiel 40:28-41:26
NO! I thought I was done with this!

As you may remember earlier in the Old Testament we went through two extremely detailed chunks of text that described the Temple of God - from the measurements of the walls to the building materials used, we were privy to the exciting blueprints in print form. Well, in the Babylonian attack on Jerusalem, that Temple which the authors went to so much trouble to detail, was destroyed. Burnt to the ground.

Ezekiel here has a vision from God of the New Temple which will be built. There are some significant things in this prophecy that I have only begun to research. But apparently the measurements given of the New Temple are larger than the entire original city of Jerusalem and ten miles north of the original location. If anyone knows more about this so called "Millenial Temple" please let me know, I'm really very interested.

I think in the same way that the Biblical authors conveyed the importance of the original Temple by laying out every detail for the reader, Ezekiel is trying to convey the same level of importance of his vision of this New Temple, and I would certainly agree that there is a huge symbolic importance to this new temple. The first one was God's home and he hired out its destruction, effectively abandoning Israel. And now he is coming back - the Israelites must have been incredibly excited to hear Ezekiel's prophecy. Their father was coming home and returning them to his protection and blessings.

James 4:1-17
There is a significant amount of wisdom in this reading, but it all boils down to the last verse:

¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

If this is true, I am extremely guilty. So many times I have been in a situation where I could be charitable or good with what I have and have decided to spend that time or money or talent on myself. There are a few times I can think on that make me proud, but many more that I wish I could forget about. I have walked past more homeless people than I care to count. I have known that people needed someone to talk to and I chose to sit and play video games instead of reaching out and giving them a call.

I hope to do better in this area, and I hope everyone hopes the same for themselves.

Psalm 118:19-29
I'm starting to dislike the Psalms. So many of them are the same and really offer no ideas on how to deal with life. They are songs of praise. Candy. James is meat and potatoes. Psalms are nice things to put on a plaque and hang in your office.

Needless to say, I didn't find interesting in this one...

Proverbs 28:3-5
 ³ A ruler who oppresses the poor
   is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.
 ⁴ Those who forsake instruction praise the wicked,
   but those who heed it resist them.
 ⁵ Evildoers do not understand what is right,
   but those who seek the LORD understand it fully.

Verse 3 sounds very familiar. Ahem. Recession. Ahem. 

Reading from Friday, November 19

Keep the train rollin...

Reading for November 19
Ezekiel 39:1-40:27
I'm not quite sure what to make of this yet, but it seems fairly important. God is instructing Ezekiel to prophecy against this nation called Gog and then instructs him to tell all the Israelites to go into the mountains and...well, just read...

Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. ¹⁸ You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan. ¹⁹ At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. ²⁰ At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind,’ declares the Sovereign LORD.  

At first this sounds like an obvious prelude to Jesus life and ministry since he very symbolically asked his disciples to eat his flesh and drink his blood in remembrance of him.  But as these verses in Ezekiel go on, I am more convinced that God is being quite literal with his instructions. They will literally be eating horses and their riders. Isn't it like illegal to eat a horse?

This chapter eventually gets more straight forward and less crazy-horse-eatty.

Another one of God's fantastic, restorative promises caps off this chapter, and there is something so key within it:

²⁵ “Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will now restore the fortunes of Jacob^[d] and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. ²⁶ They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid.

I think what happened was that God had given his people too much. He had essentially spoiled them. He gave them a land that was well protected with rich, fertile soil; access to water and materials - they didn't need God. He gave them more than enough to be self sufficient. But remember that God needs to be worshiped. In a way, they were doing fine without God. They could have survived and gone on without him. But because of God's selfish need to have his name be recognized and praised, he had to bring fear back into his people. If they feared nothing, they needed nothing.

Think about it. If you have food, you don't fear going hungry; if you have money, you don't fear losing all your money; if you live in a city that is well protected, you may not even worry about war or attacks from other nations. But God needs his praise juice from his people so he had the Babylonians come in and wipe them out so they would need him again.

At the same time, there is an obvious benefit in a nation's humility. People generally become more compassionate, selfless and kind to one another when humility takes hold. If you ask me, America could use some humiliation right now, well the "better half" at least. We have become like Israel - self reliant, overindulgent, self-worshiping, selfish, compassionless monsters. Maybe monsters is an exaggeration, but remember the kindness and goodness that came out of everyone after 9/11? Restaurants were giving food away, people were going out of their way to help others, people were just nice. Because we had been humbled on that day. In no way am I wishing that something like that would ever happen again, but its obvious that humility is the key to kindness and compassion, and we as a nation need to be humbled.

So event though you could see it as God being selfish and needing praise, you could see it as knowing what needed to be done to make his people good again...

James 2:18-3:18
I'll admit it. The reason I'm on this "America needs humility" kick is because I just watched "Capitalism: A Love Story" by Michael Moore. I know, I know. He's controversial and hated by conservatives and likely cleverly edits his footage to make things seem worse than they are, but there was a piece in the middle of the movie I want to mention. He went and spoke to several priests and pastors in the Christian/Catholic church. They all agreed that Capitalism is completely counter to the message of Christ. The way big business takes advantage of people, sometimes to intentionally harm them, is just awful. That's just a couple priests in a movie though. Probably left wing dems right? Well, James has something to say on that very subject:

 ¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵ Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

That's a Biblical author claiming that selfish ambition, or, if I may make this leap of logic, "Capitalism", is demonic. Demonic. And this isn't a democrat or republican thing, this is an American thing. This is how our country is built and it's near impossible to change it.

Like I said, I know this is controversial and I'm totally open for discussion about this. What are your thoughts? Hit up the comments.

Psalm 118:1-18
 ⁸ It is better to take refuge in the LORD
   than to trust in humans.

We are pretty atrocious creatures sometimes.

Proverbs 28:2
 ² When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers,
   but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order.

Reading from Thursday, November 18

Hey friends. So here's the plan. Today is the first day of December and I am still about two weeks behind on this thing. So I'm going take the month of December off of my game blog so I can focus on finishing the Bible by the end of the year. Jilly and I are also moving on December 15 so that will add an additional layer of difficulty to the whole thing. Wish me luck, gang.

Reading for November 18
Ezekiel 37:1-38:23
Chapter 37 opens with a really strange vision. Ezekiel is in a yard with dry human bones everywhere. God tells him to command the bones to come to life. Ezekiel does as God commands and the bones join together and flesh forms around them, springing to life from a valley of death. At first this sounds like a pretty unbelievable story, but then God provides the symbolism behind it:

“Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”

This is kind of the same thing God has been promising since the mid-point of Ezekiel and Jeremiah, but presented in a much more symbolic fashion. There's something so powerful about the idea of dead bodies rising up and being completely restored to life. This is what God promises to Israel, but I think this promise also carries over to modern Christianity. People who are spiritually long dead like this valley of bones, can be restored to life just as dramatically as this fantastic scene from Ezekiel.

James 1:19-2:17
This is why James is my favorite book of the Bible:

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

For the past  ten books of the New Testament we have heard that faith is more important than works. Your works will not save you and faith alone in Jesus is what you need to have. The problem that James points out is that having this faith in Jesus should inherently change a person. It should drive them to want to go out and feed the homeless and donate to charity. So as James says in the last line there, if you claim to have faith, but you just sit on it and talk about it, your faith is dead. For our faith to be alive we have to let it influence our everyday. We have to take the grace we were given and give it to others. We have to let the love and kindness bestowed upon us make us be kind and loving to others.

Psalm 117:1-2

This one is tiny:

¹ Praise the LORD, all you nations;
   extol him, all you peoples.
² For great is his love toward us,
   and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.    Praise the LORD.

That's the whole thing...

Proverbs 28:1
 ¹ The wicked flee though no one pursues,
   but the righteous are as bold as a lion.