Tag: temple

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Ezekiel 5-9

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Monday, March 20

This portion of Ezekiel is, admittedly, difficult to read.  It’s a pretty graphic account of God impending judgment against the city of Jerusalem and his people, Israel.  God tells Ezekiel to shave his head and beard.  This would have been an act of mourning for most people, but it was double disturbing for Ezekiel, since he was a priest and normally forbidden from shaving his head or beard.  Ezekiel was told to burn, take a sword to, and scatter his cut hair.  This was to symbolize what was to happen to Israel.  A few hairs were kept back, symbolic of the remnant who would not be destroyed.

God accuses his people, Israel, the chosen nation, of being worse than the other nations.  They broke the law more than the nations that did not have the law.  God was bringing his judgment against His own people.  The description of the siege almost defies comprehension, including cannibalism of both parents and children.  This was to serve as a warning to the other nations: if this is how God treats his own people for their idolatry, beware of what he will do to you.

In Ezekiel six God makes it clear that their judgement is upon them because of their idolatry. However, there is a remnant that will be spared and live in captivity and will come to repentance.

In Ezekiel seven, a special emphasis is made regarding their idolatrous attachment to gold and silver.  This wealth that they turned to and fashioned into idols will be unable to save them from the coming judgment.  All the money in the world can’t save you from judgment.

In Chapter eight Ezekiel has a vision of the temple in Jerusalem.  This includes the “Idol of jealousy” which we discover is the pagan god Tammuz.  Tammuz was the Sumerian god of food and vegetation.  At the summer solstice there was a period of mourning as the people saw the shortening of days and the approaching drought.  Sacrifices were made to Tammuz at the door of the Jerusalem Temple.  This was an absolute abomination to Israel’s God, YHWH as He made it clear that He alone was to be worshipped as God (see Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

In Chapter Nine an angel is sent out to put a mark on all of the people of the city who did not commit idolatry and worship Tammuz.  They would be spared.  But then all those who did not receive a mark would be destroyed.  This is reminiscent of the story of Exodus, when the doorposts of the Israelites were to be marked with the blood of the sacrificial lamb, and those with the mark were spared their firstborn sons dying when the Angel of Death passed over their houses.  It also points to the future (See Revelation 13) when the beast will cause people to have a mark on their forehead or they would not be able to buy or sell.  This is contrasted with those in Revelation 14 who have the name of God and of the lamb on their foreheads.

God is a God of love and mercy.  God has provided a means for us to be rescued from the consequences of sin.  There is a way for each of us to be spared the final judgment of God that is coming.  Jesus Christ, the lamb of God is the only means by which we can escape judgment.  Along with God’s mercy is His holiness.  God will not allow sin and rebellion to continue on earth forever.  A day of judgment is coming for all the earth just as it did for the nation of Israel.  God tolerated their sin for only so long, and then came the time for judgment.  Mercifully, God spared those who repented by placing His mark upon them.  God has been tolerating sinful rebellion on earth, but a day is coming when He will destroy sin and sinners who have not repented and turned away from their sins and turned to him through Jesus Christ.  Ezekiel’s harsh imagery should remind us that we must not forget that God’s wrath is coming from which we all need to escape, and we need to warn others.  This won’t make us popular, but doing God’s will is seldom popular among the rebellious.

-Pastor Jeff Fletcher

 

(Photo Credit: http://w3ace.com/stardust/)

Camping in Enemy Territory

Ezra 8-10

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Wednesday, December 7

Who would have thought that there would be a story about camping in the Bible.  The book of Ezra goes on to tell about how Ezra went with a company of people and those of Levitical heritage on a journey to the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding area.  They had a long, dangerous trek ahead of them sometimes even camping  in enemy territory.  They did not ask for soldiers or guards to protect them for their journey because they had said to the king that their God would protect them.  They were placing their trust in God to see them through the rough territory and prayed specifically for Him to protect them, their  children, and their possessions.  God honored their trust in Him and protected them.  When they arrived at Jerusalem they were able to give the gifts that King Artexerxes had sent, and able to offer the appropriate sacrifices.  They were also able to deliver the king’s edicts to the governors in the provinces beyond the river, and so Jerusalem’s neighbors began to show support for Jerusalem and the people who inhabited it, and the temple of God.

Then it is brought to Ezra’s attention that God’s people have been intermarrying with the idol worshipping people of the area around Jerusalem.  God had specified that the people should not intermarry as not to become entangled in the worship of other false gods within their homes, and the pagan influence that would be brought upon their children.  God wanted to keep his people from being drawn into pagan idol worship as they were so prone to being drawn into.  Ezra went into a time of mourning for the situation of God’s people.   He pleads with God for forgiveness for the people’s sins of disobedience.   A time of group repentance was held and sacrifices made to pay for the sins of disobedience to God in marrying foreign women who did not worship God thus concluding the book of Ezra.

What caught my eye was that Ezra and his company of people camping along the way decided to ask God for His protection instead of asking the King for a human army of protection.  They could have been attacked at any time by enemy forces, but because they chose to ask God for protection and trust Him – God protected them.  Have you ever asked God for his protection?  Are there times that you have felt God protecting you?  God is faithful to his promise that when we place our trust in Him, He will bring us through whatever situation we find ourselves in.    Key thought:  Place your trust in God because he is faithful to his promises.

-Merry Peterson

 

 

 

 

Some People Lift You Up – Others Bring You Down

Ezra 5-7

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Tuesday, December 6

Some people really make your day, others – well they can really make your day worse.  With so much discouragement for the Jews in rebuilding the city of Jerusalem God decided to send several prophets to encourage the people in finishing work on the temple.  The prophets  Haggai and Zechariah were especially influential in bringing God’s encouragement to the workers rebuilding the temple.  A governor named Tattenai from beyond the river tried to put a stop to the rebuilding process by asking who had given them permission to rebuild the temple.    He wanted a detailed, official report from King Darius of who had truly funded this rebuilding project,  why this temple was being rebuilt and any details that might cast a negative light on the Jews rebuilding of their city.  King Darius looked into the matter and discovered that king Cyrus had indeed been moved by God to let the Jews rebuild the temple and their city with part of the bill being paid by the Babylonian empire.  Darius was so moved by the reading of the documents that he decreed that anyone who opposed the rebuilding project should be put to death and their home destroyed.  So the Jews were able to complete the rebuilding of God’s temple in Jerusalem with the encouragement of Haggai and Zechariah.

The city was beginning to take shape, and this is where Ezra whom the book is named after  comes onto the scene.  He was a priest and scribe in Babylon who had favor with the Babylonian king after Darius which was king Artaxerxes.  Ezra was decreed by the King to go to Jerusalem and select men who would be rulers over the city and set up the civil government of the city, appointing magistrates and judges for the people.  But King Artaxerxes didn’t send them empty handed.  He sent them with many gifts to embellish the temple and many measures of wheat, wine, oil, and salt that would be needed.  He even gave authorization to use the royal treasury money for whatever else they needed to ensure that proper temple worship could be accomplished.  This greatly encouraged Ezra and the people of God in Jerusalem.

Thinking about the many players in this account of the rebuilding of the temple it seems to me that there are those who are determined to bring the people encouragement and those who are determined to bring the people discouragement.  Are there people like that in your life too?  You may have noticed that there are some people who lift up your spirit, and some people who bring your spirit low.  Notice how God knew the discouraging people who brought the people down, and would send someone like Haggai or Ezra along to lift the people’s spirits up again?  Does God do this for us too?  Has he ever sent someone to encourage you and lift up your spirit when you were discouraged?  Maybe He has used you to help lift up the spirits of someone else just like he used Zechariah,  Haggai and Ezra.  They brought an encouraging word to the people.  Will you let God help you to be an encourager to someone else this week?   Key thought:  Ask God to help you be a person who lifts others up rather than a person who brings others down.

-Merry Peterson

The Day God Needed a U-Haul Truck!

Ezra 1-4

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Monday, November 5

God could have used a U-Haul truck when His people were allowed to go back to Jerusalem after being taken captive into Babylon for 70 years.  God moved King Cyrus of Persia to allow the repatriation of the Jews back to their home in Jerusalem.  There were a lot of people who went , especially those who were from priestly lineage.  To find out just how many people went on this journey back to Jerusalem take a calculator and add up the number of people listed in chapter 2 verses 2-65!  They also had to pack up all the dishes that were to be used in the house of God that had been previously ransacked from God’s temple in Jerusalem some 70 years before.  That’s a lot of people, and things, to move all at once.

When the Jews did return to Jerusalem they began to re-instate the priestly duties of sacrifices even though the foundation of the new temple had not yet been poured.   They also began to celebrate their festivals as was their religious custom.  Cyrus had agreed to help them build the temple so orders for the cedar wood from Lebanon which was to be used, were issued.  The main contractor of this building project was a man by the name of Zerubbabel.  His job was to take this pile of rubble and figure out how to help make it into a beautiful place for God’s temple once again.  The people were overjoyed when the foundation of the new temple was laid and a celebration was held.  Things seemed to be looking up for God’s people but then some of their jealous neighbors in the land began to complain.  They sent complaints to Cyrus and the following kings of Persia making up all sorts of claims about the Jews who had returned which were not necessarily true.  So, with the distractions of unhappy neighbors in the land, and many hassles and arguments about the rebuilding that the Jews were doing, soon they became discouraged and left the project of rebuilding God’s house undone.  Not until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia did the completion of the temple happen.

Having been through a recent cross country move myself what caught my eye was all those dishes that were to be used in God’s temple that had to be transported.  5,400 to be exact!  They were made of gold and silver so they would have to be packed very carefully as not to be scratched or broken.  This gives dish duty a whole new meaning.  In my move a few of my dishes broke.  Thinking about this it makes me think of how broken the city was and the temple of God was when the people returned to their beloved city.  They must have been excited at first at the prospect of going back, but once there I’m sure that seeing all the brokenness of the city must have been very discouraging.

Think about one of the greatest things God can do — He can fix what is broken.  Sometimes we may feel broken , or tossed about by the circumstances in our lives.  So did the Jews.  The good news is that God can fix what is broken.  He helped the Jews to rebuild the temple to Him, and their lives after being exiled for so long – He made them beautiful again.  He can help us too by fixing the broken parts of our lives and shaping it into something beautiful.  Key thought:  Think about how God has helped to fix the broken parts of your life and think about how He chooses to make it beautiful.

-Merry Peterson

Lessons from the Kings

2 Chronicles 26-29

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Thursday, December 1

In today’s passage, three out of four kings are more good than bad for a change, however one intriguing thing happens during the time of a bad king, while two good kings have different experiences in the Temple of God.

 

During the time of evil King Ahaz, Israel wins victories over Judah, but when they intend to treat people from Judah as slaves. a prophet of God who lives in Israel, then leaders of Ephraim also defend the captives (2 Chronicles 28:8-18). This shows that there can be people who fear God amongst those who do not. Think about how difficult it was for them to live amongst a rebellious people.

 

Two kings have different experiences in the Temple. Uzziah begins to reign at the age of 16 and starts out great, but becomes arrogant as he became more powerful. He decides that he will offer incense in the Temple, even though only the priests are supposed to do so. He ends up being afflicted by leprosy. In the end of today’s reading we read about Hezekiah’s great effort to purify the Temple. We might read both and wonder why God places so much emphasis upon ritual. I think it is good to take time to think about this. When we get to our readings in Hebrews we will read much more about this, but for now, just take time to think about why God gives such specific teaching about how the Temple is to be maintained.

-Greg Demmitt

If and Then

2 Chronicles 5-7

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Friday, November 25

Sitting by my nephew tonight during our Thanksgiving meal I witnessed a typical ‘If and Then’ moment. “If you finish your turkey, then you can have dessert.” It’s a generally easy concept to understand and often times harder to live. Do you recall “If you eat of the tree, then you will surely die?”

These chapters in Chronicles hold many if and then scenarios. The Temple is built and praise is lavished upon God and Solomon alike. God offers that if the people who are called by his name keep their covenants then he will bless them. If the people reject him and break covenant with Him, then he will turn away from blessing them.

In the beginning God walked with His son. His creation. His love. God was not interested in Kings and Temples. What He desired was a one on one relationship with individuals. God relented and gave Israel a King. God allowed the Temple to be built, but it was not His plan, but David’s.

In Chapter 6:20 Solomon instructs the people to pray toward the Temple. God is being put into a box where He can be contained in the mind of Solomon and as a result the people of Israel. Solomon was creating a divide between men and his creator. God always lets us know He is longing for intimate contact and consistently seeks ways to bring us back into a relationship that centers on looking toward Him.

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication over the temple is worth the read. There is more ‘if’ and ‘then’ bargaining going on. Most end with if (when) you sin, then turn again to God and repent. He wasn’t referring to a turning toward the Temple where he surmised God would dwell, but turn toward God’s goodness and mercy and see His rightness against any sin or ‘wrongness’.

God specifically told David He did not need or want a house built, that His preference was to walk with the people as they traveled about. God inhabited the praises of His people as they worshiped at the Temple, but the Temple was more about Israel’s need to have a place to point toward than a place where God wanted to dwell. God replies to Solomon’s prayer of dedication over the Temple with a response of His own. After many ‘if’ statements regarding specific behaviors and consequences God ends with a popular verse all of us have heard.

II Chronicles 7:14~ If My people who are called by My name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face,  and turn from their wicked ways; Then will I hear FROM HEAVEN , and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

The if and then list that finishes out the chapter describes in detail the consequences of following after other gods and building idols for them to dwell among them. God wants to walk with us daily, just as He did in the beginning of time with Adam and Eve. Anything that prevents taking that daily walk or trying to box God into a safe space to visit occasionally is simply an idol and false worship.

‘If’ and ‘then’ is still at work in our lives today. If you call upon His name, then He will hear and begin the healing that needs to take place. God is still looking for a place to live. Make room in your life today.

-Glennis Walters

 

Counted Faithful: Are You a Grain of Sand or a Star in the Sky?

 

(I Chronicles 27-29)

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Wednesday, November 23

“And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead–a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.” Hebrews 11:12

When I was around 8 years old I heard a pastor give a message titled “Are you a man or a mouse?” That title stuck with me because of the imaging that went on in my mind. Reading through I Chronicles 27-29 I kept wondering if I would be considered a star in the night sky or a grain of sand along the seashore.

King David had ordered a census of Israel, but in Chapter 27:23 we learn, “but David didn’t take the number of them from twenty years old and under, because Yahweh had said He would increase Israel like the stars of the sky.” They could have been counted to arrive at a number, but the faith of Abraham was still at work and was not to be discounted in the mind of David. He was looking expectantly toward the future and all who were to be added to that number.

We are a part of that number. And since I am beyond 20 years, I am wondering if my place is among the sands of the sea. I hope you all realize this is a bit tongue and cheek; but it does leave an image in my mind worth exploring. The idea of movement and brightness and dancing across the sky is a lot like children full of laughter chasing fireflies in the night.f

Lying on the ground as a grain of sand among the masses; with life washing over us and moving us along to different moments, circumstances and even settling among different groups of individuals does seem to fit my post 20 years a bit easier. Even the idea of being trampled upon by those unable to realize we are foundational to their days of relaxation seems to fit many of my days.

But the promise of God was not in counting the value of days, or the counting of the value in people. It was a counting of the faithfulness of God and what He is able to produce in the lives of those who trust in Him. It was a recounting of His giving life from what was impending death.

King David was not allowed to build the Temple for Yahweh, but that didn’t prevent him from gathering necessary provisions and having them ready for the project his son Solomon would oversee as King. Throughout Chapter 29 David acknowledges that all we have to offer back to God was given to us by God in the first place and still belongs to God. David’s reign was coming to an end, but he had faith in what God had promised and the life that was yet to come.

 

            “I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things.”  King David                1 Chronicles 29:17

 

As we offer up ourselves and seek to build the Temple of God in our lives, keep in mind all we have to give is God’s already. We can count all our moments shining like a star in the heavens or count the days pressed along the edge of powerful events that truly are out of our control. We can even count our resources down to the penny. Or, we can live in faith, trusting God to supply our needs and fulfill His plans for our life as we give ourselves back to Him.

Keep shining the glory of God in purposeful ways throughout your day. And if you feel walked upon, know that God is looking at your heart and He wants to count you faithful.

Glennis Walters

What Causes the People to Perish? (2 Kings 21-23)

Saturday, November 12

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Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, is the next king of Judah.  And he does not take after his father.  Manasseh built pagan altars in the Lord’s temple and even sacrificed his own son in the fire to Molek – a pagan practice to a foreign false god.  Judah did more evil under Manasseh than the nations that were removed from the land before God established Judah (2 Kings 21:9).  God is not pleased and he foretells a coming “cleansing” of the land: “I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. I will …give them into the the hands of enemies.” (2 Kings 21:13,14).

Manasseh’s son, Amon, is the next wicked ruler.  He is assassinated.  His assassinators are then assassinated and his 8 year old son, Josiah, is given the crown.  It seems a certain recipe for disaster – civil unrest, kingly assassinations, violence, the son and grandson of some of the worst kings is handed the kingship at the age of 8.  However, somehow, with all these strikes against him, Josiah rises above his past and current circumstances.  It appears he has the benefit of some godly advisors, for we learn, “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord… not turning aside to the right or to the left.” (2 Kings 22:2).  Eighteen years into his reign he commissions the cleaning of the temple.  A most valuable treasure is found – the forgotten, neglected, Book of the Law.  When it is read to Josiah he tears his robes, humbles himself and seeks the Lord for he sees how far the people had strayed from God’s will as well as realizing that punishment was getting closer.  Josiah leaps to action.  He calls together all of Judah and reads the holy words to them.  He calls for the people to repent and renew their covenant to the Almighty.  He jumps into action, purging Judah of idolatry and replacing it with the worship of the One True God.

Without God’s Word the people perish – both then and now.  In many communities and lives today God’s Word is forgotten, neglected, absent, dusty.  People are busy serving themselves and false gods.  They will be caught completely unprepared for the “cleansing” that will come.  How can you respond like Josiah?  After reading God’s words – who will you share them with?  How will you jump into action seeking to purge idolatry (in your own life first) and to then replace it with sincere and pleasing  worship of God Almighty?

Seek Him – Seek His Word – And Do it

Marcia Railton

UNfailing Love from the Promise Keeper (1 Kings 8-9)

Sunday, October 30 – start of week 15

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Melissa New

I love to picture in my mind the great King Solomon, in his prime, standing humbly before the newly finished temple. With his hands raised to Yahweh, he is the epitome of a great spiritual leader in that moment. And what a prayer! First, he recognizes that there is no God like our God. Then, he is grateful to Him for keeping his covenant. Solomon knows that it’s a precious privilege for him and the Israelites to have a permanent place to go to worship God and offer sacrifices. Next, he petitions for Yahweh to always hear and forgive when His people confess and repent. And Solomon wants this not only for the Israelites, but for any foreigners who would come to the Temple because they have heard of “your great name.” Finally, at the end of his remarkable dedication, he reminds the “O Sovereign LORD” that He had set Israel apart to be His “own special possession.” How cleverly and beautifully worded! It’s a reminder to all of the Israelites listening that they need to confess and repent when they do wrong for “who has never sinned?” he asks. It is vital, too, that we ask for forgiveness when we do wrong. We need to acknowledge our sin as the wickedness that it is, turn away from it, and instead turn with our whole hearts to God. There is comfort in knowing that we are His special possession too; and He will hear our heartfelt prayers and forgive.
Melissa New attends the McGintytown Church of God of Abrahamic Faith in Arkansas. She is pleased to be a part of this community of COG bloggers and is already feeling much blessed by it! Her favorite verse is Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Giving God His Due

Saturday, October 29

Sherry Alcumbrack

Yesterday my father was able to participate in a program called The Honor Flight, they do this all over the United States. They take veterans free of charge on a flight to Washington DC and they visit the war memorials. They give them a t-shirt, hat, etc. and everything is free. Then when they come home they encourage a huge crowd to come and meet them at the airport, there were about 500 people that came to cheer them on. Many of them were family members but also people who just wanted to show their appreciation for the service these men had provided. We sang God Bless the USA and the National Anthem. There were honor guards, boy scouts, policemen, and other veterans there to show their support of these heroes. At the end they announce their names and everyone cheers for them. It was a great honor for all of the American heroes.

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I was thinking as reading these chapters about how Solomon wanted to honor God by building Him a temple in Jerusalem. He spared no expense, it was huge. He had the cedar trees brought from Lebanon because they were the best. It said the whole temple was overlaid with gold. He hired craftsmen known for their work to come to the temple, they worked with bronze, gold, silver, stone masons, and carvers. They all had a part in the building of the temple, they all did what they were good at. This also parallels how it is in our churches today, in 1 Corinthians 12:12 it says “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” We can all work in our church in some way, for the good of the rest of the body.  It took 7 years to build the temple. The reason King Solomon was so particular about building this house for God was that he wanted to honor Him.
Just like in the last chapter of the Bible there are some verses that have been repeated over and over as we have been reading the Old Testament, God repeats it again to King Solomon so I think it is something that we need to understand. I know when I have something important for my children’s future good, I will repeat it over and over, even if they think I am being annoying. This is important to the Israelites future and it’s also important for our future. We are all looking forward to the day that Jesus returns and sets up his kingdom on the Earth. It is a wonderful future that we are looking forward to and that is why God keeps telling them how to live a life that is pleasing to him. It is for our own good and for our future. I hope you are enjoying these stories and applying the lessons we are learning in our lives.

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