Week 35

A QUICK LOOK BACK The city has fallen. The battle is lost. The exile has begun! We continued to see this terrible event through the eyes of Jeremiah who is left behind in the rubble with other survivors. THE WEEK AHEAD The visions of Ezekiel are tough. They are violent, vengeful, and destructive. After a while, we can grow weary of the aggressive messages given to this prophet by God. Ezekiel is adding a new word to our vocabulary: “apocalypse.” We think that word means “the end of the world”, and it can. But it takes on another meaning. It can also mean a “clearing away” or “a revealing.” Up until now, we have seen the prophetic call ofGod through the work of prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah. They are the ones who point out what is wrong and urge us to change. The prophet’s call is a call to reform, to renewal, and to repair. But as we have seen, sometimes the only way to fix something is to scrap it and start all over from scratch. That is the apocalyptic work ofGod. In other words, God can continue to use white-out to repeatedly correct, or God can crumple up the mistakes and start over with a fresh, clean piece of paper. This is Apocalypse. It is clearing away what has gone utterly wrong and revealing a better way in its place. Is this bad news? Only if you are utterly wrong and standing in the way of the good that God is revealing. This apocalyptic change is good news to those who are the victims of powerful systems of evil and oppression and cannot save themselves. In these strange visions of Ezekiel, God is giving hope to those who cannot defend themselves by clearing away the violent, the powerful, and the oppressive. But there is hope. Even though God is scrapping Jerusalem to start over with a clean sheet of paper, the destruction is not permanent. Ezekiel wanders into a valley of dry sun-bleached bones and is asked whether or not the bones can ever live again. It seems impossible. They are too far gone. This is not a valley of ill patients who, with the right care, might pull through. These are not even skeletons! They are scattered bones. But even these scattered bones are not too far gone for God. As you read, ask yourself these questions. “What in our world is in desperate need of repair? Why is it not being fixed? What in our world can only be fixed by scrapping it and starting over from scratch? Is anything in this world too far gone for God?” Read on…this future of God is being revealed. Ezekiel will give us a glimpse of it! Keep reading and I’ll see you in the Bible! WEEK 35 Aug 27 Ezekiel 1-4 Visions for the Exiles in Babylon Aug 28 Ezekiel 5-8 Prophetic Demonstrations Aug 29 Ezekiel 9-12 Visions To Explain Israel’s Defeat Aug 30 Ezekiel 13-15 Israel Lives With the Consequences Aug 31 Ezekiel 16-17 Israel’s Covenant is a Faithless Marriage Sep 1 Ezekiel 18-19 Covenant Faithfulness Explained Sep 2 Ezekiel 20-21 Prophecies Against Jerusalem