Tag: Prophecy

Posted on

Journal entry from Ezekiel in 593 bc

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“On July 31 of my thirtieth year, while I was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. This happened during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity. (The Lord gave this message to Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, beside the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians, and he felt the hand of the Lord take hold of him.)” Ezekiel‬ ‭1:1-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​On a nice, warm, summer day back in 593 bc Ezekiel is out by a river in Babylon. He tells us that they had been in captivity or exile for five years at this point. We are reading a journal entry of a man that lived over 2600 years ago! He writes about this extraordinary vision as he looks over the river and up into the sky. And, he knows it’s a message and feels the hand of God on him. Chilling right? Then, for the next several verses, Ezekiel describes what he sees.

I’ve got to tell you, I read this as a new believer and could not make any sense of it AT ALL. And, I remember thinking, “who CAN make sense out of this?” It kind of blew my mind when a special speaker came through our church and asked us, “as an ancient observer, how would you have described something “futuristic,” maybe something that would not exist for thousands of years ahead.” Like a vision from someone who travels through time? Whoa. I would never have imagined something so syfi, so cool.

I mean 593 bc could not have had, would not have had any modern day equipment, especially something that could fly! This was a theory I had never thought about – and I liked it! Is it true? I have no idea. Could Ezekiel have been describing a modern Black Hawk helicopter? The guest speaker seemed to think it could have been. Ezekiel could only use words of things that existed in his time to describe what he saw – most of which are animals with a mixture of human faces or features that only the great beasts of his day had. Rotor blades back then could only be described as wings – like a giant dragonfly!

It turns out the modern helicopter may have been designed by studying the dragonfly (The world’s leading helicopter manufacturer, Sikorsky, finished the design of one of their helicopters by taking the dragonfly as a model, IBM, which assisted Sikorsky in this project, started by putting a model of a dragonfly in a computer (IBM 3081)).

Yeah, Ezekiel could have been seeing a futuristic scene of a war and God was telling him to write it down and even share it with the leaders of Israel. This was not just a fanciful dream and Ezekiel wasn’t trippin on some wild mushrooms. There was a reason for it. Many of Ezekiel’s visions were straight out of scenes from the apocalypse, the end times, the final days of the earth and its struggle against evil.

There have been so many possible interpretations and theories of these stunning visions and when they come true in real life, folks will be able to say, “oh, that’s what Ezekiel saw!” So, if you just recently turned thirty, just know this is the kind visionary of stuff you can look forward to! j/k.

Unless I’m joining God as a warrior in his army, I’m not sure I want to be there when this future scene takes place, especially if it’s some kind of global world war. Either way, I know God has got this, He’s in control.

PRAYER:

Dad,
Wow! These Ezekiel (and others) visions are so amazing. We can only wait and watch as you bring about the finality of your grand story, the epic war and peace, the ultimate love and justice of all things! It’s all there – all written out beforehand for everyone, anyone to read and see for themselves. Either folks have heard or have seen your truth and make a decision. All of us have been given ample time and opportunity to do so. I am so very grateful for your Word and the plans you have for me and the entire world.

Posted on

God-memos make it all the way to the King

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“During the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king in Judah, the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: “Get a scroll, and write down all my messages against Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Begin with the first message back in the days of Josiah, and write down every message, right up to the present time. Perhaps the people of Judah will repent when they hear again all the terrible things I have planned for them. Then I will be able to forgive their sins and wrongdoings.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭36:1-3‬‬

​What a hard life for a spokesperson for God. We have the book of Jeremiah because he was told to write things down. And, Jeremiah being obedient, did just that.

He had a scribe (which by the way ended up becoming Pharisees in the New Testament, (LONG story) write down everything that God had told him. All the “prophetic” words of warning, future possibilities and what God was thinking about and communicating to his people at that time.

Whoa! This long line of communication style, from Adam to Noah, Abraham to Moses and now to Prophets, Judges and even Kings was an amazing precursor to Jesus speaking as God Himself!

So Baruch wrote them on a scroll. Then after writing down all these memos from God, Jeremiah tells Baruch, “get down to the temple and read these things to the leaders over Israel, Judah AND “other” nations. These words need a larger audience BECAUSE there’s a chance, a hope, a possibility that people will hear the words (and warnings) and REPENT.

Why would they repent, because the stuff that God says he will do to them will be terrible! That ought to get their attention, right? Well, just about the time we, the reader might think, “yeah, this is going to work!” People will hear the FUTURE and change their ways. Alas, not so much.

Baruch does read and gets not one but two interested audiences. One is a more public reading, the other a private one.

In the private reading two things happen. First the guys tell Baruch, HIDE! What? Yeah, you and Jeremiah hide and don’t tell anyone where you are. Second, we’ve got to read these to King Jehoiakim immediately.

The scrolls make it all the way to the palace! Jeremiah records what happens when the God-memos make it all the way to the King. The next scene reads right out of some ancient, gothic novel (36:22-24) – “It was late autumn, and the king was in a winterized part of the palace, sitting in front of a fire to keep warm. Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king took a knife and cut off that section of the scroll. He then THREW IT INTO THE FIRE 🔥 , section by section, until the whole scroll was burned up. Neither the king nor his attendants showed any signs of fear or repentance at what they heard.”

What? You’ve got to kidding me. Can you even imagine the creator of the entire universe sending you a personal letter telling you what is going to happen and giving you fair warning to get your act together for your sake and the entire country and you casually, but defiantly cut it up piece by piece and flippantly fling it into the royal fireplace? OMG.

We are such a piece of work! That takes some kind of huge human cojones to openly defy God himself. At some point, it seems so ridiculously dark but humorous! Who do we think we are?

Yet, even in that amount of shear audacity of arrogance, God goes through with his plans to save and redeem us. Even guys like King joker-Jehoiakim. This puts a whole new look on Paul’s words to the churches in Rome (5:8), “EVEN while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!” And, sadly there those, even though they are warned about the future, their future, will take the words of God, sit in front of their cozy fireplace and smugly cut and throw his words into the fire. God help us!

PRAYER

Dad,
Again, I have to see this all in the reality of my own life. I can be aghast at the behaviors of old, egotistical even maniacal kings and think, what a loser. But the truth is so hard. I look into the perfect mirror of your word and see reflections of my own will, selfishness and stubbornness.

Even knowing the warnings and the effects of my own sin, yet still I fail. I am so thankful for your grace and mercy. I am so thankful for confession and repentance. I am also unworthy, yet you still love me.