Transcript

Since today is Friday we’re going to read from one of the prophetic books of the Bible, and we are currently in the book of Ezekiel. We’ll read chapters 7-12, and after the reading I’ll have some comments. I’m calling today’s episode “Don’t Push It.”

The message that God gave to Ezekiel would have been difficult to deliver and difficult to hear, wouldn’t it? 

If you’ve been listening for a while, you no doubt remember that we recently read about the building of the tabernacle and of the temple, and God’s very specific instructions on the various sacrifices and other activities that were to take place in these places. Here in Ezekiel, it is truly sobering to hear how far the people had fallen. It’s actually a testament to God’s grace to see for how long He waited to take action against them, don’t you think?

But the people, in their sinful and fallen state, instead took God’s inaction as indifference and absence. 

Ultimately, as we heard in chapter 11, God’s presence was withdrawn from the temple because of Israel’s worship of other Gods, and the behavior that came with it. How tragic.

Let this be a lesson to us, beloved. Just because we seem to be getting away with sin, we must not be fooled. Don’t assume that God doesn’t care. I’m sure you have heard the old saying, “Give him enough rope to hang himself.” Well, let Israel’s fate constantly remind us that there is no getting away from God’s attention. Beloved, at the end of my life and stand before God, I don’t want to know that I got there by the skin of my teeth. Instead, I want to hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

How about you?

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 7-12 CEB

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Steve Webb 0:00
Give him enough rope to hang himself

Steve Webb 0:09
This is the Lifespring family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, podcasting since 2004. I’m your OG God caster Steve Webb, welcome. Great to see you. This is a daily podcast and we’re reading through the entire Bible in a year. If this is your first time here, make yourself at home. We don’t have listeners here, by the way, we have family. If you listen to the show more than once you’re part of the Lifespring family. So take your shoes off and relax. Since today’s Friday, we’re going to read from one of the prophetic books of the Bible. And we’re currently in the book of Ezekiel, who will read chapters seven through 12. And after the reading, of course, I’ll have some comments, calling today’s episode. Don’t push it. The show notes page for today’s episode is it Lifespring media.com/s 12 e 170. And I invite you to leave a comment. You can also email me at Steve at Lifespring media.com. Are you ready? Let’s get going.

Steve Webb 1:05
Ezekiel chapter seven.

Steve Webb 1:07
The Lord’s word came to me, you human one. This is what the Lord God proclaims to the land of Israel. And and the end has come to the four corners of the earth. Even now the end is upon you. I’ll send my anger against you. I’ll judge you according to your ways. And I’ll turn all your detestable practices against you. I won’t shed a tear for you or show you any pity. Instead, I’ll turn your ways against you. And your detestable practices will stay with you. Then you will know that I am the LORD. The LORD God proclaims disaster, a singular disaster. Look, it comes. The end is come Oh yes, it has come. It has come to you. Look, it’s here. You who live on the earth, you’re finally caught in your own trap. The time has come. The day draws near. On the hills, panic, not glory. And now it’s near against you. I will pour out my wrath, and my anger will be satisfied. I’ll judge you according to your ways, and turn all your detestable practices against you. I won’t shed a tear or show any pity when I turn your ways against you. And your detestable practices stay with you. Then you will know that I the Lord and the one who strikes you, look the day. Look it comes Doom has arrived. The staff blossoms and pride springs up. Violence rises up as a wicked master. It isn’t from others or their armies or their violence. It hasn’t loomed up because of them. The time is coming. The day draws near. No buyer should rejoice. And no seller should mourn because wrath overcomes the whole crowd. The seller will never get back what was sold, even if both of them survive. The Vision concerns the whole crowd, it won’t be revoked, and the guilty ones they won’t even be able to hang on to their lives. They have blown the horn and everything is ready. But no one goes to battle because my wrath overcomes the whole crowd. Outside the sword inside plague and famine. Whoever is out in the field will die by the sword. Whoever is in the city, plague and famine will consume them and those who flee, they will turn up on the hills like Valley doves all of them mourning those guilty ones. Every hand will hang limp. Urine will run down every leg. They will put on mourning clothes and horror will cover them on every face shame on all their heads baldness. They will hurl their silver into the street and their gold will seem unclean. Their silver and their gold won’t deliver them on the day of the Lord’s anger. They won’t satisfy their appetites or fill their bellies. Their guilt will bring them down from their beautiful ornament in which they took pride. They have made horrible and detestable images. Therefore, I’ve declared it an unclean thing for them. I’ll hand it over to foreigners is loot taken in war to the earth wicked ones is plunder they will defile it. When I hide my face for my people, foreigners will defile my treasured place. Violent intruders will invade it. They will defile it. Make a chain. The earth is full of perverted justice, the city full of violence. I’ll bring up the cruelest nations and they will seize their houses break their proud strength and their sanctuaries will be defiled. Disaster it is come they seek peace but there is none. One disaster comes after another and rumor follows rumor. They seek a vision from the Prophet instruction disappears from the priest and counsel from the elders. The King will go into mourning the prince will clothe himself in despair and the hands of the lands people will tremble. When I do to them as they have done and judge them by their own justice. They will know that I am the LORD

Steve Webb 5:01
Ezekiel chapter eight.

Steve Webb 5:03
In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house and Judas elders were sitting with me when the Lord God’s power overcame me. I looked and there was a form that looked like fire. Below it looked like his waist was fire, but above his waist, it looked like gold, like gleaming Amber, he stretched out the form of a hand and picked me up by the hair of my head. A wind lifted me up between earth and heaven. And in a divine vision. It brought me to Jerusalem, to the north facing entrance of the gate to the inner court. That was where the pedestal was for the outrageous image that incites outrage. There I saw the glory of Israel’s God exactly like what I had seen in the valley. He said to me, human one, look toward the north. So I looked north and there north of the altar gate was this outrageous image in the entrance? He said to me, human one, do you see what they’re doing that terribly detestable practices that the house of Israel is doing here that drive me far from my sanctuary, yet you will see even more detestable practices than these. Then he brought me to the court entrance. When I looked, I saw a hole in the wall. He said to me, human one, dig through the wall. So I dug through the wall and I discovered a doorway. And there he said to me, go in and see what wicked detestable things they’re doing in there. So I went in and looked, and I saw every form of loathsome beasts and creeping things and all the idols of the house of Israel engraved on the walls all around. The 70 elders of the house of Israel were standing in front of them, and all of them were holding sensors in their hands. Jay has an eye a shamans son was standing right there with him. And the set of the incense cloud rose up. He said to me, human one, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, every one of them in their rooms full of sculptured images. They say, The Lord doesn’t see us. The Lord has abandoned the land. He said to me, you will see them performing even more detestable practices. He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the temple, where women were sitting and performing the tamaraws limit. He said to me, human one, do you see yet you will see even more detestable practices than these? He brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s temple. There at the entrance to the Lord’s temple between the porch and the altar, were 25 men facing toward the east with their backs to the Lord’s temple. They were bowing to the sun in the East. He said to me, do you see human one? Isn’t it enough that the house of Judah has observed here all these detestable things, they have filled the land with violence, and they continue to provoke my fury. Look at them. They even put the branch to their noses. I will certainly respond with wrath. I won’t spare or pity anyone. Even though they call out loudly to me in my hearing, I won’t listen to them.

Steve Webb 8:01
Ezekiel chapter nine.

Steve Webb 8:03
Then in my hearing, he called out loudly, draw near you Guardians of the city and bring your weapons of destruction. Suddenly, six men came from the upper gate that faces north, all of them were holding weapons of destruction. Among them was another man who was dressed in linen, and had a writing case at his side. When they came in and stood beside the bronze altar, the glory of Israel’s God rose from above the winged creatures where he had been, and moved toward the temples threshold, the Lord called to the man who was dressed in linen with a writing case at his side, go through the city through Jerusalem, and mark the foreheads of those who sigh and groan because of all the detestable practices that have been conducted in it. To the others. He said in my hearing, go through the city after him and attack, spare no one, be merciless, kill them all old men, young men and women, babies and mothers, only don’t touch anyone who has the mark, begin at my sanctuary. So they began with the men, the elders in front of the temple. He said to them, make the temple unclean, fill the courts with the slain, go, and they went out and attack the city. While they were attacking, I was left alone, I fell on my face and I cried out, oh, Lord God, when you pour out Your wrath on Jerusalem, will you destroy all that is left of Israel? He said to me, Judah and the house of Israel are very, very guilty. The land is filled with blood in the city is full of injustice. They have said, The Lord has forsaken the land, the Lord sees nothing. I most definitely won’t spare or pity anyone. I will hold them accountable for their ways. Just then the man who was dressed in linen with the writing case that his side returned and said, I’ve done just as you command it.

Steve Webb 9:50
Ezekiel Chapter 10.

Unknown Speaker 9:52
At that moment, I saw a form of a throne in the dome above the heads of the winged creatures. It appeared above them and it looked like lapis lazuli, he said to the man clothed in linen go in between the wheels under the winged creatures. Fill your hands with fiery coals from between the winged creatures and scatter them over the city. As I watched, he went in. Now the winged creatures were standing to the right of the temple when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard. Then the Lord’s glory rose from above the winged creatures and moved toward the temples threshold. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with a brightness of the Lord’s glory. The sound of the winged creatures wings could be heard as far as the outer courtyard. It was like the sound of God Almighty when He speaks. When he instructed the man clothed in linen to take fire from between the winged creatures and their wheels. The man went and stood next to the wheel. Then one of the winged creatures stretched a hand between the winged creatures into the fire that was between them, and he drew out some of it and set it in the palm of the one closed in linen. He took it in went out, it appeared that the winged creatures had the form of a human hand under their wings. Suddenly, I saw four wheels next to the winged creatures. There was a wheel next to each winged creature, and the appearance of the wheels was like sparkling topaz, it appeared that there was one shape for all four of them, as if one wheel were inside another. When they moved in any of the four directions, they moved without swerving. Whichever way the leading one faced, they moved in that direction without swerving. Their whole body backs, hands and wings, as well as their wheels, all four of them were covered with eyes all around. It was these wheels that were called the wheels in my hearing, each winged creature had four phases. The first phase was that of a winged creature. The second face was that of a human being, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle, the winged creatures rose up the same creatures that I’d seen at the key bar River. When the winged creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them. When the winged creatures lifted their wings to ascend above the Earth, the wheels remained beside them without swerving. When they stood still, the wheels stood still, when they rose up, they rose up with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in them. Then the Lord’s glory went out from above the temples threshold, and it stood over the winged creatures. While I watched, the winged creatures raised their wings and rose from the ground to leave with their wheels beside them. They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the temple, and the glory of Israel’s God was up above them. These were the same living creatures that I saw underneath Israel’s God at the key bar River, and I realized that they were winged creatures. Each had four faces and four wings with the form of a human hand under their wings. The forms of their faces were the same faces that I saw at the key bar River. Their appearance was also the same. All four of them moved straight ahead.

Steve Webb 13:04
Ezekiel chapter 11.

Unknown Speaker 13:07
A wind lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple. There at the entrance to the gate were 25 men and I saw that two officials of the people jazz Anya, as their son, and Pelotonia Binay his son were with them. He said to me, human one, these men devise evil plans and give wicked advice in this city. They are the ones who say the nearest relatives aren’t building houses. The city is the cooking pot, and we are the meat, Therefore prophesy against them human one prophesy, the Lord Spirit took hold of me. And he said to me, say, This is what the Lord God proclaims. So you have said house of Israel, but I know what you really mean. You continue to commit murder in this city, and you fill it streets with the slain. Therefore, the Lord God proclaims the city is the cooking pot. And the ones who have slain in it are the meat, but you will be taken out of it. You fear the sword, so I will bring the sword against you. This is what the Lord God says, I will lead you out of the city, hand you over to foreigners and execute judgments against you. You will fall by the sword at Israel’s borders, I will judge you and you will know that I am the Lord. The city won’t be your cooking pot, and you won’t be the meat in it. At Israel’s borders, I will judge you. You will know that I am the LORD whose regulations you didn’t observe, and whose case laws you didn’t follow. Instead, you followed the case laws of the nations around you. While I was prophesying Vinay, his son Pelotonia dropped dead. I fell on my face and I wailed and said, oh, Lord God, are you finishing off even the Israelites who are left? The Lord’s word came to me, human one, when the people living in Jerusalem said they’ve gone far from the Lord and we’ve been given the land as an inheritance. They were talking about your family, your nearest

Steve Webb 15:00
relatives, the whole house of Israel, all of it. Therefore say the Lord God proclaims, even though I’ve made them go far away from among the nations and cause them to scatter throughout the earth, I’ve provided some sanctuary for them and the countries to which they’ve gone. Therefore say, The Lord God proclaims, I will gather you from the nations assemble you from the countries from where you were scattered, and I will give you Israel’s fertile land, they will enter the land, and they will remove from it all it’s disgusting and detestable things. I will give them a single heart, and I will put a new spirit in them. I will remove the stony hearts from their bodies and give them hearts of flesh so that they may follow my regulations and carefully observe my case laws, they will be my people, and I will be their God. As for those whose hearts continued to go after their disgusting and detestable things, I will hold them accountable for their ways. This is what the Lord God says.

Steve Webb 15:59
Then the winged creatures raised their wings, the wheels were next to them, and the glory of Israel’s God was above them. The Lord’s glory ascended from the middle of the city, and it stopped at the mountain east of the city. And the wind lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Cal dia through a vision with a divine wind. When the vision I had seen left me I spoke to the exiles about everything the Lord had shown me.

Steve Webb 16:24
Ezekiel chapter 12.

Unknown Speaker 16:26
The Lord’s word came to me, human one, you live in a household of rebels, they have eyes to see but they don’t see ears to hear but they don’t hear because they are a household of rebels. But you human one, prepare a backpack for going into exile. In the daytime while they watch go into exile, while they watch go out from your place to another. Even though they are a household of rebels, perhaps they will understand in the daytime while they watch, carry your backpack as if for exile. At twilight while they watch go out like those who are led out to exile while they watch, dig a hole through the wall and take your backpack out through it while they watch shoulder your backpack and carry it out in the dark. Cover your face so that you can’t see the land because I’m making you a sign for the house of Israel. So I did as I was commanded. I carried out my backpack like an exiles backpack in the daytime. At night, I dug a hole through the wall with my hands. In the darkness, I shouldered my backpack and carried it out while they watched.

Steve Webb 17:34
In the morning, the Lord’s word came to me, human one has the house of Israel, that household of rebels asked you, what are you doing? Say to them, The Lord God proclaims. This concerns the prince in Jerusalem long with the entire house of Israel in it. Say, I’m your sign, just as I have done so it will be done to them. They will go into captivity in exile. Their prince will shoulder his backpack at night and go out. They will dig through the wall to lead him out through it. And he will cover his face so that his eyes won’t see the land. But I will spread my net over him, catch him in my trap and bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans. He won’t see it but he will die there. As for all those who are in league with him, I will scatter his helpers and all his troops to the winds and let the sword loose after them. They will know that I am the Lord when I dispersed them among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. But I will preserve a few of their number from the sword famine and plague so that they may confess all their detestable practices among the nations where they go, then they will know that I am the Lord. The Lord’s word came to me human one, Eat your bread and trembling and drink your water in anxious agitation. Say to the lands people, the Lord God proclaims to those living in Jerusalem regarding Israel’s fertile land. As they anxiously eat up their bread and drink up their water and dismay, the land will be emptied of everything in it because of the violence of all who lived there. The inhabited cities will be laid waste the land left desolate, and you will know that I am the Lord.

Steve Webb 19:16
The Lord’s word came to me, human one. What is this proverb of your people concerning Israel’s fertile land they say the days go by and every vision vanishes. Therefore say to them, The Lord God proclaims, I’ll put an end to this proverb. It will never again be uttered in Israel. Tell them instead, the days are coming soon for the fulfillment of every vision. Never again will there be any worthless vision or deceptive destination in the house of Israel. I am the Lord. The word that I speak is the word that I will speak it will happen and be delayed no longer in your own days household of rebels. I speak a word and make it happen. This is what the Lord God’s says, The Lord’s word came to me, human one, the house of Israel is now saying, the vision that he sees is for distant days, he prophesies about future times. Therefore say to them, The Lord God proclaims, it will be delayed no longer, every word of mine that I’ve spoken is certain, and it will happen. This is what the Lord God says.

Steve Webb 20:25
Well, the message that God gave to Ezekiel would have been difficult to deliver and difficult to hear, wouldn’t it? If you’ve been listening for a while you no doubt, remember that we recently read about the building of the tabernacle and of the temple, and God’s very specific instructions on the various sacrifices and other activities that were to take place in these places. In here and Ezekiel, it is truly sobering to hear how far the people had fallen. It’s actually a testament to God’s grace to think about how long he waited to take action against them, don’t you think? But the people in their sinful and fallen state instead took God’s inaction as the indifference and absence? Well, ultimately, as we heard in chapter 11, God’s presence was withdrawn from the temple because of Israel’s worship of other gods and the behavior that came with it. Talk about tragic. Well let this be a lesson to us, beloved, jazz, because we seem to be getting away with sin, we must not be fooled. Don’t assume that God doesn’t care. I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, give him enough rope to hang himself. So we should let Israel’s fate constantly remind us that there is no getting away from God’s attention. Beloved, at the end of my life, when I stand before God, I don’t want to know that I got there just by the skin of my teeth. Instead, I want to hear him say, Well done, good and faithful servant. How about you? Comment at Lifespring media.com/s 12 e 170. Our reading tomorrow will be from one of the gospels were in the book of Luke and we’ll read chapters 13 and 14.

Steve Webb 22:15
On this date in church history, February 18 1546, Martin Luther died. He of course, was the German Augustinian priest and reformer. In 1517, he symbolically inaugurated the Protestant Reformation and remained its leader until his death. Luther also translated the Bible into German and penned the wonderful hymn, A Mighty Fortress.

Steve Webb 23:08
And on this date in church history 1678 John Bunyan’s the Pilgrims Progress was first published, he was frequently imprisoned between 1660 and 1672 for preaching without a license, and he used these times to collect the ideas he used in his masterpiece of Christian literature, the Pilgrims Progress.

Steve Webb 23:41
Let’s pray. Our Father in heaven hold us close. Help us to keep our heart tender to you. Help us to respond when your Holy Spirit speaks to us. Help us to quickly feel the pangs of guilt and remorse when we fail you when we sin. Help us to quickly repent and seek your forgiveness. Don’t let us become comfortable with any distance between you and us. We want to feel your near presence Father, Jesus remind us daily of the price you paid for our salvation. Holy Spirit. Help us to hear you when you speak to us and guide us. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Beloved, send in your prayer requests and your praises. I’ll pray for you in my daily private prayer time. I’ll pray for you on the show. And we’ll rejoice together with your praises.

Steve Webb 24:38
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