When God Goes Away (Ez 10-11)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.919 Him. These chapters eight, nine, ten and eleven hold together as a 2 00:00:08.509 --> 00:00:17.030 block, and splitting these into two. Last time, Ezekiel was taken up 3 00:00:17.109 --> 00:00:20.989 in a vision. Remember, he's in exile, and he was taken up 4 00:00:20.989 --> 00:00:24.059 in a vision to go on a tour of the temple. But this is 5 00:00:24.179 --> 00:00:27.579 not one of your friendly tourist kind of tours. This was a tour of 6 00:00:28.379 --> 00:00:33.299 sin, of abomination. He was going to see the place where God had 7 00:00:33.420 --> 00:00:39.409 set his name, place where people were desecrating, a place that God's own 8 00:00:39.490 --> 00:00:44.170 people is, his rulers, his priests, of people who had been called 9 00:00:44.210 --> 00:00:50.159 to serve him and instead set up Abominations, idols, worshiping false gods, 10 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:55.920 even turning their backs to the Lord to worship the sun and other creatures. 11 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:03.439 The judgment for these things was pictured in the visions that he received, and 12 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:10.790 that vision continues now in chapters ten and ten and eleven. And here we 13 00:01:10.950 --> 00:01:17.950 return. Are Not we returned, but the scripture returns to us that picture 14 00:01:18.030 --> 00:01:21.620 of the Lord seated and ruling on his throne that we read at the beginning 15 00:01:21.659 --> 00:01:26.500 of his ekiel. So let's Care God's word now and his ekiel Ten and 16 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:33.689 eleven. Then I looked and behold on the expanse that was over the heads 17 00:01:33.730 --> 00:01:38.650 of the Cherub beam. There was above them something like a Sapphire in appearance, 18 00:01:38.170 --> 00:01:42.370 like a throne, and he said to the man clothed in linen, 19 00:01:44.129 --> 00:01:49.680 go in among the whirling wheels underneath the Chairubim, fill your hands with burning 20 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:56.719 coals from between the Cherubim and scatter them over the city. And he went 21 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:00.760 in. Before my eyes now, the Cherubeam were standing on the south side 22 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:05.870 of the house when the man went in and a cloud filled the inner court 23 00:02:06.430 --> 00:02:10.189 and the glory of the Lord went up from the Cherubim Cherub to the threshold 24 00:02:10.189 --> 00:02:15.150 of the House and the house was filled with the cloud and the court was 25 00:02:15.270 --> 00:02:20.180 filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord and the sound of the 26 00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:23.500 wings of the Cherubeam, where has heard as far as the outer court like 27 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:29.740 the Voice of God Almighty when he speaks. And when he commanded the man 28 00:02:29.939 --> 00:02:35.610 clothed and when he commanded the man clothed in linen take fire from between the 29 00:02:35.650 --> 00:02:39.409 whirling wheels, from between the Cherubeam, he went in and stood beside a 30 00:02:39.490 --> 00:02:45.560 wheel and a Cherub stretched out his hand from between the Cherubeam to the fire 31 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:50.000 that was between the Cherubeam and took some of it and put it into the 32 00:02:50.039 --> 00:02:53.479 hands of the man clothed and went in linen, who took it and went 33 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:59.189 out. The cherubeam appeared to have the form of a human hand under their 34 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:05.550 wings. And I looked and behold there were four wheels beside the Cherub beam, 35 00:03:06.349 --> 00:03:09.550 one beside each Cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was like sparkling 36 00:03:09.669 --> 00:03:14.819 barrel. And as for the appearance the For all the foe had the same 37 00:03:14.979 --> 00:03:19.780 likeness as if a wheel were in a with a wheel were within a wheel. 38 00:03:20.699 --> 00:03:23.300 When they went, they went in any of their four directions, without 39 00:03:23.340 --> 00:03:28.409 turning as they went, and whatever direction the front wheel face, the others 40 00:03:28.490 --> 00:03:31.569 followed without turning as they went, and their whole body, their rims and 41 00:03:31.650 --> 00:03:36.449 their spokes and their ring wings and the wheels, were full of eyes all 42 00:03:36.530 --> 00:03:39.969 around the wheels that the four of them had. As for the wheels, 43 00:03:40.009 --> 00:03:46.960 they were called in my here hearing the whirling wheels, and everyone had four 44 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:50.960 faces. The first face was like was the face of a Cherub, and 45 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:54.870 the second face was a human face, and the third face of a lion 46 00:03:55.069 --> 00:04:00.430 and the fourth the face of an eagle and the chairub beam, and the 47 00:04:00.469 --> 00:04:04.349 chairbeam mounted up. These were the living creatures that I saw by the Cabar 48 00:04:04.430 --> 00:04:09.629 Canal, and when the Cherubeam went, the wheels went beside them, and 49 00:04:09.710 --> 00:04:12.780 when their chirubeam lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the 50 00:04:12.819 --> 00:04:16.060 wheels did not turn from beside them. When they stood still, these stood 51 00:04:16.100 --> 00:04:19.060 still and when they mounted up, these mounted up, for the spirit of 52 00:04:19.100 --> 00:04:25.129 the living creatures was in them, for the glory of the Lord went out 53 00:04:25.250 --> 00:04:30.410 from the threshold of the House and stood over the Cherubeam and the chairbeam lifted 54 00:04:30.449 --> 00:04:33.410 up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went 55 00:04:33.529 --> 00:04:38.639 out, and the wheels beside them, and they stood at the entrance of 56 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:42.360 the East Gate of the House of the Lord, and the glory of the 57 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:46.120 God of Israel was over them. These were the living creatures that I saw 58 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:51.040 underneath the god of Israel by the Kebar Canal, and I knew that they 59 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:56.029 were chair of Beam. Each had four faces and each had four wings and 60 00:04:56.110 --> 00:05:00.709 under their wings like the likeness of human hands. And as for the likeness 61 00:05:00.709 --> 00:05:03.629 of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by 62 00:05:03.629 --> 00:05:10.540 the Kebar canal. Each one of them went straightforward. The spirit lifted me 63 00:05:10.579 --> 00:05:13.540 up and brought me to the East Gate of the House of the Lord, 64 00:05:13.779 --> 00:05:16.939 which was which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway 65 00:05:17.019 --> 00:05:20.889 there were twenty five men, and I saw among them jazz and I are, 66 00:05:20.930 --> 00:05:25.410 the son of Azure, and Pelatia, the son of Ben and I 67 00:05:25.449 --> 00:05:29.209 IAH, princes of the people. And he said to me, son of 68 00:05:29.290 --> 00:05:33.129 man, these are the wicked who does devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel 69 00:05:33.250 --> 00:05:36.759 in this city, who say the time is not near to build houses. 70 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:42.680 This city is the cauldron and we are the meet. Therefore, prophesy against 71 00:05:42.759 --> 00:05:46.199 them. Prophesy, Oh, son of man, and the spirit of the 72 00:05:46.279 --> 00:05:49.550 Lord fell upon me and he said to me, say, thus says the 73 00:05:49.670 --> 00:05:54.589 Lord. So you think, O House of Israel, for I know the 74 00:05:54.750 --> 00:05:59.350 things that come into your mind. You have multiplied your slain in this city 75 00:05:59.629 --> 00:06:02.509 and if filled its streets with the slain. Therefore, thus says the Lord, 76 00:06:02.589 --> 00:06:05.540 God your slain, whom you have laid in the midst of it. 77 00:06:06.180 --> 00:06:11.420 They are the meat in this city, is the cauldron, but you shall 78 00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:15.459 be brought out of the midst of it. You have feared the sword, 79 00:06:15.500 --> 00:06:17.500 and I will bring the sword upon you. Bring the sword upon you, 80 00:06:17.610 --> 00:06:21.009 declares the Lord God, and I will bring you out of the midst of 81 00:06:21.050 --> 00:06:26.329 it and give you into the hands of foreigners and execute judgments upon you. 82 00:06:26.370 --> 00:06:30.209 You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of 83 00:06:30.370 --> 00:06:35.480 Israel and you shall know that I am the Lord. This city shall not 84 00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:40.240 be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meet meet in the midst of 85 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:43.639 it. I will judge you at the border of Israel and you shall know 86 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:46.829 that I am the Lord, for you do not walked in my statutes nor 87 00:06:46.949 --> 00:06:50.550 obeyed my rules, but have acted according to the rules of the nations that 88 00:06:50.589 --> 00:06:55.149 are around you. And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, 89 00:06:55.269 --> 00:06:58.910 that Pelatia, the son of men and I had died. Then I fell 90 00:06:59.029 --> 00:07:00.699 down on my face and I cried it out with a loud voice and said, 91 00:07:00.740 --> 00:07:04.579 Ah, Lord God, will you make a full end of the remnant 92 00:07:04.660 --> 00:07:10.500 of Israel, and the word of the Lord came to me. Son Of 93 00:07:10.579 --> 00:07:14.819 man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen, the whole house 94 00:07:14.899 --> 00:07:18.009 of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 95 00:07:18.089 --> 00:07:21.889 have said, go far from the Lord to us, this land is 96 00:07:23.009 --> 00:07:27.730 given for a possession. Therefore say thus, as the Lord God, though 97 00:07:27.769 --> 00:07:31.519 I removed them far off among the nations and though I scattered them among the 98 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:35.399 countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the 99 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:40.639 countries where they have gone. Therefore say thus, says the Lord God. 100 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:46.110 I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where 101 00:07:46.189 --> 00:07:48.350 you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 102 00:07:49.149 --> 00:07:53.589 And when they come there, they will remove from it all the detestable things 103 00:07:53.709 --> 00:07:57.829 and all its abominations, and I will give them one heart and a new 104 00:07:57.910 --> 00:08:01.579 spirit. I will put it within them. I will remove the heart of 105 00:08:01.699 --> 00:08:05.339 stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk 106 00:08:05.420 --> 00:08:09.180 in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them, and they shall be 107 00:08:09.300 --> 00:08:13.529 my people and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart 108 00:08:13.569 --> 00:08:18.610 goes, God goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring 109 00:08:18.649 --> 00:08:24.769 their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God. Then the Cherubeam 110 00:08:24.810 --> 00:08:26.959 lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them in the glory of the 111 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:31.959 God of Israel was over them and the glory of the Lord went up from 112 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:35.639 the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east 113 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:39.919 side of the city, and the spirit lifted men me up and brought me, 114 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:43.389 in the vision by the spirit of God, into Chaldea, to the 115 00:08:43.509 --> 00:08:48.509 exiles. Then the vision would that I had seen went up from me and 116 00:08:48.629 --> 00:08:54.789 I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me. May 117 00:08:54.830 --> 00:09:16.450 God bless the reading of his word. So here, as God has a 118 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:20.690 revealed it to Israel, he gives we have the completion of this vision. 119 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:26.799 Remember, Israel is equal as part of those people that have already left Jerusalem. 120 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:31.320 Then exile is already begun. But there are people that are still there, 121 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:35.480 people still in the city, people still in the temple, and is 122 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:39.149 Egul is taken up in a vision to go in to see the things that 123 00:09:39.230 --> 00:09:43.590 are there. He gets to say, in a way, what's going on 124 00:09:43.830 --> 00:09:54.580 behind the scenes in according to according to God's will. One commentator Ian do 125 00:09:54.740 --> 00:09:58.059 good. He compares it to the wizard of Oz but in a backwards way. 126 00:09:58.980 --> 00:10:01.100 He says that in the wizard of Oz a, Dorothy and her friends 127 00:10:01.139 --> 00:10:05.259 at the end of the movie that have been to the book. Book they 128 00:10:05.659 --> 00:10:09.649 revealed what is actually going behind the scenes, and it's a disappointing thing. 129 00:10:09.210 --> 00:10:13.049 We find out that nothing is going beyond beyond the scenes, the great wizard 130 00:10:13.090 --> 00:10:18.250 of Oz is nothing more than a man. It's the opposite kind of thing. 131 00:10:18.330 --> 00:10:24.840 Here, a vision is given. The screen between God's plan and what 132 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.360 is happening in the world is lifted and Ezekiel gets to see what's going on 133 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:35.710 in the heavenly places, what God is doing behind the scenes. And he's 134 00:10:35.750 --> 00:10:39.669 not just a man behind the curtain. He is the Almighty Lord God, 135 00:10:39.870 --> 00:10:46.309 ruling sovereign over everything. He rules powerfully and he and that rule is expressed 136 00:10:48.509 --> 00:10:52.779 in these creatures and these wheels. To remind you of some of the things 137 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:56.139 that we considered at the beginning of is Ekiel and that are repeated here, 138 00:10:56.539 --> 00:11:03.450 we have essentially what is a chariot pictured here, a chariot when which the 139 00:11:03.610 --> 00:11:09.129 wheels which spin around, these whirling wheels are tied to these creatures, these 140 00:11:09.529 --> 00:11:16.809 Cherubeam, that's plural for Cherub, and as they're tied together, God is 141 00:11:18.049 --> 00:11:26.360 ruling and and moving upon this host of Heaven. His war chariot is made 142 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:31.080 up of these creatures who go to war for him, who execute it is 143 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:39.070 his will. And here is Echiel sees the chariot of the Lord. A 144 00:11:39.110 --> 00:11:43.789 chariot of the Lord is not as not only described by these up in terms 145 00:11:43.789 --> 00:11:48.019 of these awesome creatures on which the Lord is seated, but it's also described 146 00:11:48.100 --> 00:11:54.299 as a as a chariot that can go anywhere in any direction. Unlike even 147 00:11:54.539 --> 00:11:58.899 any human vehicle, which is limited in some way to how far I can 148 00:11:58.940 --> 00:12:03.090 go, how fast it can go, what directions it can go, God's 149 00:12:03.090 --> 00:12:07.809 chariot can move any way at once. Up, down, left, right, 150 00:12:09.090 --> 00:12:13.450 back, forth, north, south, east, West. They simply 151 00:12:13.649 --> 00:12:20.279 go where God directs. We see, as God comes in judgment, that 152 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:24.399 he's not bound in any way. The idols of the world are the idols 153 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:28.679 of our imagination. They're always bound to this or that thing. Well, 154 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:31.629 the God of the trees and the God of the stones and the God of 155 00:12:31.629 --> 00:12:37.470 the rivers, not the God who is truly gone. Not only is he 156 00:12:37.629 --> 00:12:41.990 god who is able to move anywhere he likes, be anywhere he likes and 157 00:12:41.110 --> 00:12:48.659 indeed is everywhere at once, he also sees everything at the same time, 158 00:12:48.980 --> 00:12:52.899 and this is pictured in those eyes that are all covering on these wheels and 159 00:12:54.019 --> 00:13:00.009 in the many faces of the Cherub. He sees everything, and that's been 160 00:13:00.090 --> 00:13:03.289 part of the problem in Israel, is that people think he doesn't see. 161 00:13:03.210 --> 00:13:07.850 I can do what I want because God doesn't see. I can worship these 162 00:13:07.929 --> 00:13:11.009 false things in secret, because God doesn't see. I can kill this man, 163 00:13:11.129 --> 00:13:13.840 I can take his vineyard, I can do what I want because God 164 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:24.120 doesn't see. But God does see. He always, always sees, and 165 00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:31.350 as he sees and as he pictures all that has happened, Um Zekiel sees 166 00:13:31.470 --> 00:13:35.110 that God is not going to remain still any longer. He is going to 167 00:13:35.470 --> 00:13:43.419 move forward in judgment. And what is going to happen is what he is 168 00:13:43.539 --> 00:13:50.460 going to cast out of Israel, as he's already begun to do. The 169 00:13:50.620 --> 00:13:56.529 people and Jerusalem itself, the temple itself, the place where he has put 170 00:13:56.610 --> 00:14:01.690 his name, the place where he is said to dwell, would be ruined, 171 00:14:03.809 --> 00:14:09.519 destroyed. You remember when the First Temple was built. When the temple 172 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:13.480 was first built, Solmnon prayed and he said, Lord, you are not 173 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:18.279 bound in anything made by human hands, and yet you have placed your name 174 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:24.710 here, and the Glory Cloud of the Lord descended down on the Temple and 175 00:14:24.870 --> 00:14:31.750 dwelled there. Like Moses, who went up into the cloud of God's glory 176 00:14:31.950 --> 00:14:37.549 on Mount Sinai the priests would go into the cloud of God's glory in the 177 00:14:37.629 --> 00:14:43.779 most holy place. There's a place which was filled with his mystery and his 178 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:48.379 awesomeness and His Majesty. Was the place which Jonah cried out to is he 179 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:52.139 was sinking down into the depths. Oh Lord, that I'd see her temple 180 00:14:52.259 --> 00:14:56.090 again. I'll pay my vows, I'll go to the temple, I'll be 181 00:14:56.289 --> 00:15:01.049 there. There is exactly what Solomon he said, when Peure people are are 182 00:15:01.610 --> 00:15:05.009 lost and your people have gone astray, may they may they look to the 183 00:15:05.129 --> 00:15:09.679 temple and repent, pray and repent, and may you show favor on them. 184 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:16.600 What is happening in this moment? The Lord is leaving the temple. 185 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:22.470 We read in is Echiel ten. First, the spirit that is in the 186 00:15:22.190 --> 00:15:26.990 the inner court, or that is in that holy place, begins to move 187 00:15:26.149 --> 00:15:31.830 out of the temple. It moves out to the threshold of the House. 188 00:15:31.950 --> 00:15:37.259 We read in Verse Four. He moves out to the freshhold of the House. 189 00:15:37.299 --> 00:15:39.139 And then, and as that happens, we read in verse five that 190 00:15:39.179 --> 00:15:43.259 the sound of the wings of the Cherubeam were heard as far as the outer 191 00:15:43.419 --> 00:15:50.850 court. He's commanded. Then the judgment begins. He commands the man in 192 00:15:50.009 --> 00:15:54.049 linen who had previously, remember in the last section, he had gone through 193 00:15:54.049 --> 00:16:00.850 the city and put names on the put names down of those who were repentant 194 00:16:00.929 --> 00:16:04.639 on those who were not. Now the same one is called to take fire 195 00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:11.360 from the whirling wheels, these wheels of judgment, this great fiery chariot, 196 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:17.759 and he is going to cast it on the city. How was Sodom and 197 00:16:17.879 --> 00:16:25.830 go Moura smoked, smitten, destroyed? This is how, in the judgment 198 00:16:26.029 --> 00:16:30.710 and the wrath of the Lord, he reigned his fire down on these awful 199 00:16:30.789 --> 00:16:34.820 places, places that were known for their sexual immorality, places that were known 200 00:16:34.980 --> 00:16:41.019 for seeking after false gods, spaces that were known for total disregard of Hospitality 201 00:16:41.179 --> 00:16:48.570 and justice and every which way. Now that was happening on his very own 202 00:16:48.169 --> 00:16:56.850 temple. Imagine your own house, being so upset with it that you would 203 00:16:56.850 --> 00:17:02.399 just destroy it down to the ground, the place where you live, the 204 00:17:02.519 --> 00:17:06.279 place where you meet people, the place where you invite people into your home 205 00:17:06.440 --> 00:17:11.720 and where there is family in love, but not anymore. We're things have 206 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:19.670 gotten so bad that you are leaving and now destroying the whole thing. And 207 00:17:19.990 --> 00:17:25.750 that's just a human example. This is happening with the Temple of the away 208 00:17:29.069 --> 00:17:30.900 and this is to the ruin of all of those who had, in the 209 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:34.940 temple, been using the temple as kind of a good luck charm. But 210 00:17:36.180 --> 00:17:38.460 what can God do? As long as we're here, we're fine, we're 211 00:17:38.539 --> 00:17:41.740 protected, we got the temple, we're good, we've got Jerusalem, we're 212 00:17:41.779 --> 00:17:47.289 good. And that seems to be what they're saying here in this at least. 213 00:17:47.329 --> 00:17:52.569 It sounds odd to me this this metaphor of the cauldron in the meat. 214 00:17:53.690 --> 00:17:57.599 Whatever how it's a little bit difficult to understand what's going on there. 215 00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:03.000 But whatever is going on there, it's very clear that the leaders in Jerusalem 216 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:07.880 think of this as a positive thing. Were the meat in the cauldron and 217 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:12.910 that's good. Now there's one possible reason. I think that helps make sense 218 00:18:12.950 --> 00:18:18.150 of that. Perhaps what they're saying and what they're thinking is that the good 219 00:18:18.309 --> 00:18:22.509 meat is kept in pot and the bad meat is cast out, and that 220 00:18:22.710 --> 00:18:26.029 sort of the image that they're using there. And so they're saying we're okay, 221 00:18:26.109 --> 00:18:27.700 we're the good meat. Right, we're in the cauldron, so we 222 00:18:27.779 --> 00:18:30.660 know we're good. We're by the temple. We know we're good and we're 223 00:18:30.700 --> 00:18:36.500 safe. We're not like the exiles that were cast out of this place, 224 00:18:36.660 --> 00:18:41.259 the exiles that are in Chaldea, the exiles that are unprotected, unloved, 225 00:18:41.339 --> 00:18:45.250 one cared for. We're by the temple, were gold. Now let's go 226 00:18:45.369 --> 00:18:52.049 worship our false images in the temple. Right. This tends to this seems 227 00:18:52.089 --> 00:18:57.279 to be their perspective, and God hears them saying this, as he tells 228 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:02.079 Ezekiel, he says, go look, see what they're doing. And that's 229 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:07.000 what they're doing there at the threshold of the House. And it is there 230 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:12.470 that the Lord then moves from the threshold of the house out onto the chariot 231 00:19:14.309 --> 00:19:18.869 and the chariot mounts up and they begin to move. We read in Verse 232 00:19:18.910 --> 00:19:22.029 Eighteen. Then the glory of the Lord Wind from the threshold of the House 233 00:19:22.430 --> 00:19:30.619 and stood over the Cherubeam the Lord is sitting down into his chariot. Essentially, 234 00:19:30.660 --> 00:19:34.660 he's moving out of the house and he's sitting down on his chariot of 235 00:19:36.539 --> 00:19:40.809 judgment and of righteousness. And then in verse nineteen, the Cherubeam lift up 236 00:19:40.809 --> 00:19:44.369 their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out, 237 00:19:44.410 --> 00:19:48.089 and the wheels beside them, and they stood at the entrance of the 238 00:19:48.250 --> 00:19:51.609 East Gate of the House of the Lord, and the glory of the Lord, 239 00:19:51.690 --> 00:19:53.720 of God, of the glory of the God of Israel, was over 240 00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:57.480 them. So he moves from with him how in the House to the threshold 241 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:00.839 of the house, and now he's at the East Gate. You See, 242 00:20:00.839 --> 00:20:11.029 he's he's on his way out, he's leaving, and then we read about 243 00:20:11.069 --> 00:20:15.349 those who were there at the threshold of the House. And then, finally, 244 00:20:17.230 --> 00:20:22.420 as we come into the end of Verse Eleven, tracking the Movement of 245 00:20:22.539 --> 00:20:26.019 this the Cherubeam, we read in Verse Twenty Two. Then the Cherubeam lifted 246 00:20:26.059 --> 00:20:29.220 up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the 247 00:20:29.259 --> 00:20:32.779 Lord of Israel, God of Israel, was over them, and the glory 248 00:20:32.859 --> 00:20:34.730 of the Lord went up from the midst of the city. So now he's 249 00:20:34.809 --> 00:20:38.569 moving out of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east 250 00:20:38.809 --> 00:20:48.690 side of the city, the Mount of Olives s where he went. And 251 00:20:48.930 --> 00:21:03.640 so what we see as the presence of God leaving his people. It's at 252 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:07.829 this moment, or right before the Lord moves finally out of the city to 253 00:21:07.869 --> 00:21:17.190 the Mount of Olives, when Pelatia, in verse thirteen dies. He dies 254 00:21:18.309 --> 00:21:22.460 in Ezekiel cries out desperation. All, Lord God, will you make a 255 00:21:22.619 --> 00:21:29.420 full end of the remnant of Israel. You see the perspective he's thinking of 256 00:21:29.579 --> 00:21:33.490 there, that people are already in exile. Here are the only people, 257 00:21:33.529 --> 00:21:36.650 they are left, and now God is leaving. And when the one of 258 00:21:36.690 --> 00:21:41.130 them has just died and he's just told and that all of these others are 259 00:21:41.170 --> 00:21:44.369 going to die with going back to the meat and culture in image, he 260 00:21:44.490 --> 00:21:47.160 said, no, you won't be in the meat, you won't be the 261 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:49.240 meat and the cauldron, but I will cast you out and I will deal 262 00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:55.519 with you at the border of Israel. Remember that. He emphasizes that this 263 00:21:55.720 --> 00:21:59.400 possession that you think you have, this safe place you think you're in, 264 00:22:00.279 --> 00:22:03.910 it's not that way. You will die and you will die out from away 265 00:22:03.990 --> 00:22:11.230 from your possession, out away from the city, at the border of Israel. 266 00:22:11.869 --> 00:22:17.380 ZECOL Christ out in desperation's like, is there anything left? Is this? 267 00:22:17.579 --> 00:22:19.299 It is this the end of the world, as we know, at 268 00:22:19.339 --> 00:22:25.220 the end of God, end of the promises? Has God not been faithful 269 00:22:25.380 --> 00:22:29.579 to his promise to David? Has God not been faithful to his promise to 270 00:22:29.660 --> 00:22:33.930 Abraham that all the families and nations on the Earth would be blessed through him? 271 00:22:34.049 --> 00:22:37.289 All the glories of predicted in the temple, all the things that have 272 00:22:37.410 --> 00:22:42.809 been hoped for, longed for? Is it all over? And then the 273 00:22:42.930 --> 00:22:49.039 Lord comes to him and gives him this very encouraging word and he says, 274 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:53.400 though I have removed verse sixteen, though I have removed them far from among 275 00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:57.400 the nations and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been 276 00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:02.390 a sanctuary to them for a while in the country is where they have gone. 277 00:23:03.750 --> 00:23:10.230 God's presence is still abiding with them, even though they're not in Jerusalem. 278 00:23:12.140 --> 00:23:18.380 That's really good news for people who worship in Tucson, Arizona. We 279 00:23:18.500 --> 00:23:21.579 don't have to. We don't, we are not tied to this place. 280 00:23:22.779 --> 00:23:27.769 The God's presence says he is promised to abide with us anywhere and everywhere. 281 00:23:30.250 --> 00:23:33.730 We have sort of this movement going on. On the one hand, those 282 00:23:33.769 --> 00:23:38.730 who have been unfaithful are being cast out of Israel, and but God promises 283 00:23:38.809 --> 00:23:42.960 that is he goes out, he promises to be with those who belong to 284 00:23:44.039 --> 00:23:49.079 him, and he says, I will gather in verse seventeen you from among 285 00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:52.119 the people's in as Sumbu, will you out of the countries where you've been 286 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:57.069 scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And this time 287 00:23:57.269 --> 00:24:02.789 it's going to be different. This time, he says, I will remove 288 00:24:02.950 --> 00:24:06.509 from it, they will remove from it, the people will remove from it 289 00:24:06.829 --> 00:24:11.619 all the detestable things and all the abominations, and instead of war and bloodshed 290 00:24:11.700 --> 00:24:14.900 and all that was going on, they will have one heart and a new 291 00:24:14.940 --> 00:24:18.619 spirit. I will put with in them. I will remove the heart of 292 00:24:18.779 --> 00:24:22.980 stone, of from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they 293 00:24:22.019 --> 00:24:27.329 may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them and I and 294 00:24:27.490 --> 00:24:33.650 they shall be my people and I will be their God. It's not the 295 00:24:33.769 --> 00:24:38.799 end, easy hell. It's not the end from all of this scattering, 296 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:42.440 from all of this exile, from all of this judgment. I will keep 297 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:48.880 a remnant and I will draw them back into me and when I do, 298 00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:53.589 I will establish a place and a kingdom that is not like it was before 299 00:24:56.029 --> 00:25:00.910 and won't have all of this idolatry, because they will have new hearts. 300 00:25:02.430 --> 00:25:07.380 Instead of fighting against me, they will they will love me and be united 301 00:25:07.819 --> 00:25:11.940 with one another. There will be a bringing back in, and this is 302 00:25:12.220 --> 00:25:18.740 the message we we end in chapter eleven that he tells the exiles. Can 303 00:25:18.779 --> 00:25:26.210 you imagine how encouraging that would be to know that here you are and Caldea 304 00:25:26.769 --> 00:25:30.210 and exile away from the people, knowing the judgment is about to come on 305 00:25:30.289 --> 00:25:33.769 Jerusalem, and hear that God is going to draw in the people that have 306 00:25:33.890 --> 00:25:41.119 been cast out? What good news. And indeed God did do this. 307 00:25:42.519 --> 00:25:51.109 After some time in Babylon, after different trials and all kinds of struggles and 308 00:25:51.269 --> 00:25:56.190 living there for some time, God did raise is up a people and a 309 00:25:56.230 --> 00:26:03.869 king to bring back the land and a new temple was built. But the 310 00:26:03.990 --> 00:26:11.660 prophecy that's fulfilled here wasn't entirely fulfilled. For one the spirit of the glory 311 00:26:11.819 --> 00:26:15.539 of God never came down on that new temple like it did in the old 312 00:26:15.579 --> 00:26:19.730 days. Indeed, there are people, when the new temple is built, 313 00:26:19.769 --> 00:26:29.170 who were crying, saying this isn't like it was hunt. We also know 314 00:26:29.410 --> 00:26:34.599 that by the time Jesus came, things weren't all awesome. In fact, 315 00:26:34.680 --> 00:26:40.319 they were terrible. Jesus goes into the temple and finds a den of robbers. 316 00:26:40.359 --> 00:26:47.390 He finds that the temple has been made an awful place again. Then 317 00:26:47.470 --> 00:26:55.109 in Matthew, Chapter Twenty three, after seven, woes to the scribes into 318 00:26:55.150 --> 00:27:00.630 the pharisee similar kinds of condemnations that come down on the leaders of Israel, 319 00:27:00.670 --> 00:27:04.700 much as it did in Ezekiel. Jesus concludes that chapter by saying this, 320 00:27:04.980 --> 00:27:15.099 Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills prophets and stones those who are 321 00:27:15.140 --> 00:27:19.250 sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a 322 00:27:19.529 --> 00:27:27.170 hen gathers her brood under her wings? And you were not willing see your 323 00:27:27.250 --> 00:27:30.880 house is left to you desolate, for I tell you, you will not 324 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:36.400 see me again until you say bless it is he who comes in the name 325 00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:41.240 of the Lord. Jesus left the temple and was going away, but his 326 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:47.069 disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. They're pointing 327 00:27:47.069 --> 00:27:48.509 to look at this, look at this of the different parts of the temple, 328 00:27:48.710 --> 00:27:51.950 but he answered them. You see all these, do you not? 329 00:27:52.069 --> 00:27:56.750 Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone 330 00:27:56.789 --> 00:28:03.660 upon another that will not be thrown down. Next verse, as he sat 331 00:28:03.779 --> 00:28:11.460 down on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him saying and so 332 00:28:11.579 --> 00:28:15.369 what we see here in this passage in Matthew Chapter Twenty three is the exact 333 00:28:15.450 --> 00:28:19.450 same movement, movement of God that we have an Ezekiel, the Lord, 334 00:28:19.609 --> 00:28:26.410 moving out from the temple, declaring its destruction, up outside of the city 335 00:28:26.049 --> 00:28:32.160 to the Mount of Olives. And here we have this amazing overlap at this 336 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:36.480 moment where there are two temples, but one temple, and I'll try to 337 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:41.400 explain. There are two temples in that we have the physical temple, which 338 00:28:41.430 --> 00:28:44.390 the disciples were pointing to, look all these buildings and this sort of thing, 339 00:28:44.710 --> 00:28:49.349 and then we have Jesus, who John Describes to us as the one 340 00:28:49.470 --> 00:28:57.339 who came and dwelt among us, who was God with us, whom through 341 00:28:57.460 --> 00:29:03.140 whom God made his glory and His light known in all the earth. That's 342 00:29:03.140 --> 00:29:08.019 how they're different temples, but it's the same temple in that it's the old 343 00:29:08.180 --> 00:29:17.130 temple was pointing forward to this new one, and Jesus, as he proclaims 344 00:29:17.130 --> 00:29:22.329 yet again the destruction of the temple, will also say in another place, 345 00:29:22.809 --> 00:29:26.839 but in three days I will cause it to rise again. What they said. 346 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:32.920 How will you cause this entire complex and all these stones to be built 347 00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:34.759 up again? And by the way, what are you talking about? Destroying 348 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:44.789 the temple? But of course no happen. Jesus, the Temple of God, 349 00:29:47.190 --> 00:29:52.859 was hung on a cross and died and all of the wrath and judgment 350 00:29:52.980 --> 00:29:59.980 of God for all the sinful abominations and violence and evil that went on Israel 351 00:30:00.259 --> 00:30:04.380 and has gone on throughout all of the world was poured out on Jesus. 352 00:30:06.420 --> 00:30:11.890 The wrath of God poured out on him on the Cross and he was destroyed. 353 00:30:12.970 --> 00:30:19.930 He died, he was exiled, separated from God, he was left 354 00:30:21.009 --> 00:30:30.400 alone, he became cursed, even as the city became cursed. But by 355 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:36.230 the Holy Spirit of God, according to the righteousness that he had done, 356 00:30:36.230 --> 00:30:44.869 the Lord raised him up, causing the new temple to stand and stand forever. 357 00:30:45.509 --> 00:30:51.420 And now the Lord says, the Bible says, that he is gathering 358 00:30:51.740 --> 00:30:56.460 living stones and building up the Temple of God, with the people of God, 359 00:30:56.579 --> 00:31:02.460 upon Jesus Christ as the cornerstone, a temple in which the glory of 360 00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:08.289 the Lord dwells, the spirit of God dwells and will dwell forever, forever. 361 00:31:11.569 --> 00:31:15.930 Think about it this way. Is the spirit of God going to leave 362 00:31:15.009 --> 00:31:23.240 the resurrected son of God? No, it's impossible, not only because of 363 00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:27.880 Jesus's divinity and the spirit and the son and the father are perfectly one forever, 364 00:31:29.559 --> 00:31:34.430 but also in Jesus's humanity. Jesus accomplished everything that man had always failed 365 00:31:34.470 --> 00:31:40.470 to do. He kept the covenant for us and he kept it perfectly so 366 00:31:40.589 --> 00:31:45.750 that there would be no more condemnation. And so now Jesus is the Christ, 367 00:31:47.339 --> 00:31:52.220 the anointed one, the spirit anointed one, who would stand forever in 368 00:31:52.339 --> 00:31:56.539 the presence of God and with us, in the presence of God. Through 369 00:31:56.700 --> 00:32:07.009 him, Imperfect Union and that new heart there was promised in Ezekiel. It's 370 00:32:07.049 --> 00:32:13.210 ours, it's yours when you put your trust in Jesus Christ, because that 371 00:32:13.410 --> 00:32:19.720 new heart is his heart. It's the spirit of God changing us, causing 372 00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:25.240 us to be reborn, as Jesus describes and in John Three. And so 373 00:32:25.400 --> 00:32:29.000 what we see, and what I'm pointing you to his here, is this 374 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:32.509 presence of the Lord, this abiding of the Lord, though he lives up 375 00:32:32.630 --> 00:32:37.470 and he leaves to go forth in the world in judgment. Ultimately, he 376 00:32:37.670 --> 00:32:43.309 will fulfill the promises that he makes to Ezekiel, the promises he made in 377 00:32:43.390 --> 00:32:46.220 the former covenants, and he brings all of these to come to pass in 378 00:32:46.900 --> 00:32:52.220 Jesus Christ. And that's why, when we want to be close with God, 379 00:32:52.339 --> 00:32:55.660 when we want presence with God, when we want him to abide with 380 00:32:55.779 --> 00:33:01.289 us, we sang this earlier right, abide with me, swift to close, 381 00:33:01.529 --> 00:33:06.490 swift to its close, ebbs out, life's little day, Earth joys 382 00:33:06.609 --> 00:33:10.049 grow dim its glorious path away, pass away, change in decay, and 383 00:33:10.250 --> 00:33:15.880 all around I see, Oh God, Thou changest not abide with me. 384 00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:22.240 I need thy presence every passing hour. What by THY grace can foil the 385 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:25.119 TEMPTER's power? WHO, like thyself, my guide and stay, can be 386 00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:31.910 through cloud and Shun Sunshine? Lord, abide with me. And how will 387 00:33:32.029 --> 00:33:37.589 the Lord abide with us? He does so through Jesus Christ, when we 388 00:33:37.710 --> 00:33:43.579 simply trust him and rest in him and the grace that he has provided for 389 00:33:43.619 --> 00:33:52.059 us. If you want to know the Lord God, this awesome God who 390 00:33:52.140 --> 00:33:57.609 rides on this almost indescribable chariot, if it were not for the descriptions that 391 00:33:57.690 --> 00:34:04.450 God gives himself here, if you want to not be at war with him, 392 00:34:06.130 --> 00:34:09.679 who will slay easily instantly, as he did with this one man here 393 00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:15.760 pelatio, but instead, if you want peace with him, in which is 394 00:34:15.960 --> 00:34:19.800 love is set upon you forever, then trust the one he has given. 395 00:34:20.480 --> 00:34:24.230 Trust the Savior, Jesus Christ, who is our anointed savior and who gives 396 00:34:24.389 --> 00:34:29.429 his life for ours. Let's pray