What’s In A Name?

It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.

Ezekiel 48:35

I do not confess to know everything about the book of Ezekiel.  In fact, there are many, many things in the book that deal with prophecy that I do not understand.  Being a prophetic book, there are many things contained in it that have not yet happened.  Of course I do not understand all of those things.  This is the last verse in the book of Ezekiel and, while I do not understand everything about it, (or about the preceding 34 verses) I do get a wonderful picture of this city just by the name that it will be given: “The LORD is there.”

Prophetically, I believe that this is the city spoken of Revelation 21.  Practically and devotionally, it should be every city in which Christians reside today.  The new heaven and new earth spoken of in the Revelation will be wonderful beyond words.  And this city which is described for us will also be wonderful beyond words.  But think about the name that the city is given: “The LORD is there.”  In that future city, the Lord will literally and physically be there.  But even today, it could be said of every city in which you find a Christian.  You could say about my city “The Lord is there” because I am here and the Holy Spirit dwells within me.  If you are a Christian, it could be said of your city, “The Lord is there.”  What a great thought!

As I was thinking about this, a convicting thought came to me: would anyone actually say “The Lord is there?”  Could someone come to where I live and notice that there is something different?  How much a difference has He made in my life, and by extension, the life of the community around me?  That is a tough question.

Teach them the Difference

And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

Ezekiel 44:23

This verse is talking about the priests that will minister in the future temple in Jerusalem.  It is a prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled, but I think that we can use the principle it deals with today.  That principle is one of differentiating between the holy and the profane, between the clean and the unclean.

These priests are going to “teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane.”  They are going to “cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.”  Those are things that we, as Christians, are supposed to be doing ourselves and teaching others to do.  We need to have the ability to discern between the holy and the profane.  Of course that would include the ability to discern between right and wrong.  We should all be able to do that.  God has given us a Bible and a conscience to help with that.  Even an unsaved person has some ability to distinguish between right and wrong.  Being able to distinguish between the holy and the profane takes a little more work.

Until I actually paid attention to it, I always just assumed the word “profane” meant “evil.”  I assumed that it was just another synonym for “sin.”  But when I took the time to look up the meaning of “profane” in the dictionary, the first definition was simply “not religious; secular.”  “Profane” does have a bit of a negative connotation, also meaning “irreverent.”  The word “unclean” is somewhat similar.  We might also think of “unclean” as being a synonym for “evil” or “sin.”  But something being unclean does not necessarily make it evil.  For example, according to the Levitical law, pigs were unclean.  Now, does that mean that pigs were evil?  No.  There was nothing wrong with pigs, they were just considered to be an unclean animal that the Jews were not allowed to eat.

Therein lies the discernment that is needed.  God’s people need to learn to distinguish between the holy and the profane.  Some things, while not exactly sinful or “wrong” are not holy and right either.  Discerning among those things is going to take some prayer and some faith.  May the Lord help each of us in this matter!

The Valley of Dry Bones, Part VI

So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.  And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.  Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Ezekiel 37:7-10

We have seen Ezekiel being taken to the valley of dry bones.  We have seen the question that the Lord asked him about whether the dry bones could live.  We have seen the answer that he gave to that question.  We have seen the Lord command him to preach to those bones.  We have seen the miracle that the Lord performed in brining those bones together.  We have seen that the Lord did everything for these dry bones.  There is only one remaining thing that we haven’t seen. 

At this point in the story (verse 8), the people were standing.  The bones had come together, and the sinews and flesh and skin had come upon them.  There was but one problem remaining: they had no breath, which means they had no life.

In verse 9, the Lord caused the breath of life to enter into them, and they lived.  In the scriptures, the wind is often used as a picture of the Holy Spirit.  That is the case here: we are spiritually dead until, by faith, we receive Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit comes to live in us.  This entire story is a great picture of us and what the Lord has done for us.

Verse 10 ends the story by saying, “…they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”  If we are alive in Christ, we need to stand up, and join that “exceeding great army.”  Stand up, go forth, and serve Him!

The Valley of Dry Bones, Part V

And he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.  Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will ay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.  So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

Ezekiel 37:4-7

As we continue on in our study of the story of Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones, we could title this post “What If…”  Ezekiel had just been given a very strange assignment – he was told to prophesy to a valley full of very dry bones.  He was told exactly what to tell them.  He was not told what the result of this would be.  God had asked him if he thought that the bones could live, and he had answered that only God knew that.  He did not know if the bones could or would live or not.  He was given a job to do by the Lord.  And he did it.

This assignment was strange.  What if Ezekiel had said that he didn’t understand what was going on?  What if Ezekiel had thought that this was a crazy scheme and he was not going to do what the Lord told him to do?  What if?  Well, had Ezekiel not obeyed the Lord, he would not have seen the miracle that the Lord performed.  He would not have felt the shaking and would not have seen the awesome sight of the bones coming together.  He would have missed it all.

The same could be said of us.  Sometimes we don’t understand what the Lord wants us to do.  But we can be guaranteed that we will miss a tremendous blessing if we don’t obey Him.

The Valley of Dry Bones, Part IV

Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.  Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel 37:4-6

In this part of the story of Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones, we see the message that the Lord wants Ezekiel to give to the dry bones.  And what a great message it is!

“Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.”

Notice who is doing what in this message: God says that He is going to give them breath, He is going to cause them to live, He is going to lay sinews on them, He is going to cover them with skin, He is going to give them breath.  In short, He is going to do it all.  The dry bones can not do any of these things for themselves.  They are dead.  He is going to do it for them.  Just like we were dead in trespasses and sins and He did everything for us.  We are nothing without Him, but we have everything in Him.  Acts 17:28 tells us that “…in him we live, and move, and have our being…”  He is everything.

Now notice what the dry bones are going to do: “ye shall live,” and “ye shall know that I am the LORD.”  The only thing that the dry bones are going to do are 1) Live (because the Lord gave them life) and 2) Know that they are alive because of the Lord.

Think of what the Lord has done for us.  He did everything for us.  We live and we love Him for it.

The Valley of Dry Bones, Part III

And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?  And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.  Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

Ezekiel 37:3-4

Yesterday, we looked at verse three and Ezekiel’s response to God’s interesting question.  Ezekiel saw only a valley full of very dry bones.  He couldn’t see what God saw.  Ezekiel didn’t know if the bones could live or not, but he knew that God did know whether or not they could live.  We can understand that the Lord knows things we don’t know.  But verse four goes even farther into the realm of the unbelievable.  (at least, unbelievable for our human understanding)

In verse four, God told Ezekiel to “Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.”  Ezekiel is supposed to preach to these dry bones and he is supposed to tell them to “hear the word of the LORD.”  I’m no doctor, but I do know that dry bones can’t hear.  They can’t “hear the word of the LORD.”  They are dead, dry bones.  You can take a skeleton and preach to it all you want, and it’s still going to be a skeleton.  This is one of the reasons I like Ezekiel – he doesn’t even hesitate.  God says to preach to the dry bones, so Ezekiel preaches to the dry bones.

This story may seem incredible at first, but, when you stop to think about it, this is exactly what we do when tell someone about the Lord.  We are preaching to someone who is described as being spiritually dead.  We are preaching to dry bones.  When we tell someone to listen to Word of God when it says that Jesus Christ went to the cross to die for them and to save them from their sin, we are, just like Ezekiel, telling dry bones to “hear the word of the LORD.”  

Will those dry bones that we speak to live?  Thou knowest.

The Valley of Dry Bones, Part II

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,  And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.  And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?  And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.

Ezekiel 37:1-3

Yesterday, we introduced the story of Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones.  We compared the literal valley of dry bones that he saw with the way that we are figuratively surrounded by dry bones – people who are dead spiritually.  Today, we will look at one simple question and one simple answer and how they apply to us.

The question is posed to Ezekiel by the Lord “Son of man, can these bones live?”  That is a simple, straightforward question.  Call me crazy, but if I were to find myself in a valley full of dry bones and were asked if I thought they could live, I would probably immediately and obviously respond “no.”  And, of course, I would be wrong.  Humanly, there is no way that bones can live.  In fact, they are not just described as “bones,” but they are described as being “very dry.”  Very dry bones do not have life.

But, Ezekiel’s answer is brilliant, and it should be our answer to the same question: “O Lord GOD, thou knowest.”  When we look around at the “dry bones” surrounding us, it’s hard to think that they would ever live.  It’s hard to look at a hardened sinner and see that same person humbling themself before the Lord.  It’s hard to see vile, wicked man becoming a praying saint.  But we don’t know.  We can’t see all of that.  But there is One who can.  We, like Ezekiel, should defer to that One. 

God knows all about the bones in the valley.  In fact, at one point, we were dry bones in that valley.  He gave us life; and He can do it for others, too!

The Valley of Dry Bones, Part I

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

Ezekiel 37:1-2

I think that “Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones” is one of the most fascinating stories in the entire Bible.  If I could somehow go back in time and be an eyewitness to anything that happened in the Bible, I don’t know what I would pick.  But I do know that this would be on my “short list.”  While I am fascinated by the story itself, I also that that there are many good lessons for us to learn from it.  Lord willing, we will look at several parts of this story this week.

I like the imagery of a “valley which was full of bones.”  Of the bones, Ezekiel says “there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.”  There were many bones in the valley and they were very dry.  Does that sound like our culture today?

There are many people today who are spiritually nothing but dry bones.  There are a number of Christians who are weak and anemic Christians, but they do have life.  How many people all around us have no knowledge of God?  How many people around us don’t even give a thought to the things of God and the things of eternity?  We are truly living in the midst of valley of dry bones. 

But, no matter how bleak things may look around us, we know that, like Ezekiel, God put us here and He put us here for a reason.  To paraphrase, He “set us down in the midst of this valley, which was full of bones.”  God used Ezekiel as the human instrument to make these bones live and He can use us as the human instrument to make some of the dry bones around us live.  God did something great through Ezekiel, and He can do something great through us, too!

Self Esteem or Christ Esteem

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall kep my judgments, and do them.

Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquitites and for your abominations.

Ezekiel 36:25-27, 31

In this passage, we get a crystal clear look at what we really are and at what Jesus Christ has done for us.  In verses 25-27 (and continuing on through verse 30), the Bible tells us all that Jesus has done for us.  He has cleansed us from our filthiness.  He has taken away our heart of stone and has given us a new heart.  And He has given us His Spirit to dwell within us.  What more could we ask for?  He has done everything for us.  In Him, we have everything that we need.  Everything good about us is because of Him.

On the other hand, we also get a clear look at what we are.  There is much said today about “self-esteem.”  When I look at myself without Jesus Christ, I see a rotting pile of sin and filth.  But when I look at myself with Jesus Christ, I see a soul that He loved enough to die for.  I see a “child of the king.”  I see someone with the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.  I see someone “accepted in the Beloved.”  What makes the difference?  Jesus Christ.  While my “self-esteem” may be a little low, I want my  “Christ-esteem” to be very high. 

What are we “esteeming?” Ourselves or Jesus?

Showers of Blessing

And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.

Ezekiel 34:26

I have always sang the song “Showers of Blessing,” and I suppose I always assumed that the phrase was in the Bible, but I didn’t know where exactly it was until I came across it here.  The hymn, if you haven’t heard it, goes like this:

There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.

Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.

There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain.

There shall be showers of blessing;
Send them upon us, O Lord;
Grant to us now a refreshing,
Come, and now honor Thy Word.

There shall be showers of blessing:
Oh, that today they might fall,
Now as to God we’re confessing,
Now as on Jesus we call!

Normally, I save the hymns for Sunday, but I thought this one would be appropriate for today.  God has promised to send “showers of blessing.”  Are we praying for those showers?  Are we looking for those showers?  Are we ready for those showers?  Will we be thankful for them when they do come? 

I can’t even describe how many blessings the Lord has given me.  I can’t even start to thank Him for His blessings of mercy and forgiveness.  He has been so good to me, and I’m sure that you can say the same.  He is wonderful and He has sent us showers of blessing!