Galatians 1:10-24

The false teachers had told the Galatians that Paul was not a reliable teacher. No matter how false the accusations, Paul knew they would have an effect on the Galatians if they went unanswered. They need to know that Paul was a true apostle, and that both he and the gospel could be trusted. If they thought that Paul was a charlatan then they would not have believed the gospel either. It is also important to remember that in believing the gospel the Galatians were not adopting a well established or respected religion, but going out on a limb. Therefore, it would not be surprising if they felt somewhat insecure.

It is not possible to be absolutely sure what the exact arguments were that the false teachers used were, but they may have gone something like this:

Paul derived his authority from the Jerusalem church (1:12,17; 2:6), but that in saying circumcision was not necessary he was acting on his own initiative and had no right to do so. They said his teaching was man-made (1:11), in contradistinction to the Law. They may also have said that Paul was just trying to please men (1:10), so he preached non-circumcision to the Gentiles, but did preach it to others (5:11). In addition, they may have implied that Paul was a "failed" Jew.

In these verses Paul stresses that far from being taught by men he received the gospel by direct revelation from God (1:11,12,16). In particular he did not receive direct instruction from Jerusalem (1:17-24). On a more general level Paul was certainly not a failed Jew (1:13,14), nor was he a man-pleaser (1:10). While Paul came to the gospel independently, he was welcomed by the church (1:23)

We need to recognise that what people think of us will influence what they think of the gospel. Like it or not we are witnesses and examples. How we live matters.

Galatians 1:6-9

In seeking to understand the Bible it is important that we do not treat it as a purely academic work, for that is not what the Bible is. Paul did give deep theological teaching, but to understand what he is saying it can be helpful to try and put ourselves in his shoes, and sometimes in the shoes of his readers.

Paul is clearly emotionally involved. He is angered and dismayed at the fact that at least some of the Galatians are turning to a "different gospel". Note that the "different gospel" would on the surface at least, not look that much different from the real gospel, yet Paul declares it to be no gospel at all.

Why is Paul so angry? The answer is two fold: (i) it rendered Christ's work on the cross meaningless; and (ii) it would do nothing to help save the Galatians. In turning to the false gospel they were not merely choosing a different set of ideas, but were deserting Christ.

Paul declares that those who preach a false gospel should be under God's curse. Now we often think of a curse as a kind of spell. That is not the meaning here. A good working definition of curse is "God's judgement on man's sin". We will see that this helps us to understand things later in Galatians. Here it means that Paul is calling for these people to be under God's judgement.

Galatians 1:1-5

Galatians in many ways is the ideal book in the New Testament to use to learn how to study the Bible, for their are three main strands to the letter. It deals with personal issues relating to Paul, includes important theological arguments, and has direct practical application. Moreover it is important to note that while the first chapter and part of the second deal with personal issues, the middle with deep theological ones, and the latter part with direct practical matters; all three strands are interwoven and interdependent.

Paul is dealing primarily with a theological problem, but we must not think that this a theological book in the sense that we might find one in a University library. Theology was never an academic matter for Paul, but something he was deeply passionate about, and which he knew would vitally affect the lives of his readers. He also had a deep personal concern for his readers, in some cases being personally responsible for their conversion. There is a tendency today to talk about things being academic or theological in a disparaging manner, but what we think affects how we live.

Furthermore, theological issues are never purely theological. There are always personal issues behind them as well. The Judaisers in Galatia were arguing that the Gentile Christians needed to be circumcised to be full members of God's family, but they didn't just advance this as a theological argument, they also attacked the person of Paul. If they could discredit Paul, then this would help to discredit the gospel. This is why Paul spends the first part of the book dealing with personal matters.

In the first two verses Paul stresses that he was appointed by Christ, not by men. he will expand on this in the succeeding verses. The "and all the brothers with me" also carries the implicit message that he is not a lone voice. The Judaisers would have tried to cast Paul as a bit of a looney, not representative of the church as a whole.

When reading Paul's letters we should be sure that we do not read them as a text book, or a paper in a learned journal. Paul was a man of passion, and he wrote his letters with passion. A passion for the gospel, for Jesus Christ, and for the people he was writing to.

Verse 4 spells out the purpose for which Jesus Christ came. He gave himself up for our sins so that we could be rescued from the present evil age. He did all this according to the will of the Father.

Galatians - Wright, Piper, and the New Perspective

Paul was dealing with pivotal controversies in his day, much later Galatians was crucial in inspiring Luther. Today there are still controversies around issues in Galatians (and related matters elsewhere, such as in Romans). They do not seem to be of the same magnitude nor importance (the issues are, the differences are not), but they are relevant none the less. This is the "old" versus "new" perspective. Now the only "new perspective" writer I have read is N T Wright (or Tom Wright), so any comments I make are based only on his writings, and I no doubt there are some less reliable or balanced exponents of the new perspective. I have also read some of John Piper's response to this. I also need to read more of what they say, and to read again what I have already read. So please do not take what I say here as full and guaranteed summaries of their views, it is only my current perception of what they are saying, which needs to develop a lot more. Best of all, go and read it yourself! I will give a couple of references at the end. Let me also say that I enjoy reading and listening to both of them.

So what is the "new" and "old"? The "old" is what might be called the traditional evangelical or reformed view of justification and righteousness, namely that Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, or that God looks on us as if we are morally righteous because of Jesus. Now it is important to point out that Wright is not saying that sin is not the basic problem, nor that Christ needed to die on the cross for our sins. What he does say include the following:

• Being righteous in the context of Galatians means being part of God's family and being justified means being counted as part of God's family. This status is acquired through faith. Conversely, the "old perspective" focuses on the individual.
• Wright sees the "righteousness of God" as referring primarily to God's covenant faithfulness. Ie God made promises, and God will keep them. Piper defines it as God's concern for God's glory.
  

• Piper also says that Wright views justification as the prospect that we will become righteous.

On the first of these it seems that Wright is looking at the big picture, whereas Piper is focusing on the individual, and there is value in looking at things from both angles. This is not by any means the whole of the argument, but is part of it.

On the second point there is a lot to be said for it. If we look at the Bible God has got a big problem. He chose man, and man sinned; then He chose Israel, and Israel became a basket case, (and the church is often not the best advertisement for God). How on earth is God going to succeed, or has He got things hopelessly wrong? God's plans will work, Israel will become the faithful people of God, the whole world will be blessed through Israel, and all this is achieved through Christ. It is interesting in Ezekiel 20:44 says "you will know that I deal with you for my name's sake, not according to your evil ways", and in other parts of Ezekiel God says that He will do His saving acts for "his name's sake". So when our lives are transformed by God, it is proof that He is right.

On the last point I am not sure if Wright is actually saying this, but it is not a point that should be dismissed out of hand. What can we agree on? Before we were saved we were sinners. After Jesus comes back God will have completed the work He started in us, we will be transformed to be just like Jesus, we will then be perfect. In between times we are being transformed from one degree of glory to the next, ie we are continually changing, becoming more Christlike. So if Wright is saying this, then maybe he has a point.

Anyway, enough of this. Go and read the stuff yourself. Read both Piper and Wright, they are both excellent. Here are two good books, and two good websites:

Tom Wright, "Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision", SPCK, 2009
John Piper, "The Future of Justification: A Response to N T Wright",IVP, 2007

Web pages can be found by following the links below.
Tom Wright
John Piper

Galatians - Introduction

Galatians - Introduction

Galatians is one of the most important letters in the New Testament. It dealt with crucial events in Paul's day, and was one of the key letters in establishing the basis of salvation. Martin Luther was deeply influenced by Galatians. Indeed it was his reading and understanding of Galatians that led him to become the fundamental figure in the Reformation that he was.

It was probably written in the early 50's or even earlier. However, there is debate about where it was sent. The answer might seem obvious, the Galatians. However, there is debate over whether it was sent to North or South Galatia. North Galatia was the region where “ethnic” Galatians lived. South Galatia was an administrative region in the Roman empire, and included several people groups (included Pisidians, Phrygians, Lycaonians, Jews and Greeks).

Acts tells of Paul’s missionary trip to south Galatia (Acts 14), but makes no mention of north Galatia.

Some of the arguments for the two alternatives are:

North Galatia

• The view of the Early Church.
  
• The term “Galatians” would only be used of ethnic Galatians.
• The characteristics of the people is typical of Gauls.
• The circumstances alluded to in the letter do not match with those described in Acts 14 (which refers to south Galatia).
• Acts allows for unrecorded missionary trips.
• Paul assumes that the majority are Gentiles. South Galatia had a significant Jewish population, so North is more likely.
• The sorts of problems dealt with in Galatians are more likely to have arisen in the north. In the south they would have been an issue from the very beginning

South Galatia

• There is no direct evidence for a church in North Galatia.
• “Galatians” is the most obvious common name for Paul to have used in addressing the people of south Galatia.
• It is more likely that the Judaisers would have pursued
  
• Paul to the south, rather than the remote northern regions.
• Seems to fit the details given in Acts, e.g. Barnabas is known to them.
• Paul’s list of delegates who accompanied him to Jerusalem (Acts 20:4) includes two from south Galatia, but none from the north.
• Paul’s supposed trip to north Galatia is unlikely.

For what it is worth, I think the south is more likely. The significance of the destination is in how relevant the information in Acts is to helping understand it. If the letter went to the south, then Acts is more relevant.

Galatians is probably the earliest of Paul’s letters, maybe before AD49. The most important factor is whether it was written before or after the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). It seems likely that it was written before this, otherwise one wonders why Paul did not refer to the Council’s decision in Galatians.

More information can be found in commentaries on Galatians, such as the following book from which much of the above information comes.

R.A. Cole, Galatians, IVP,Leicester, 1983.

The book deals primarily with the question of the place of Gentile Christians in the church, and in particular did they need to keep the Law. The Judaizers were Jewish Christians who argued strongly that they did, and in the process attacked the apostleship if Paul. Paul argues the specific points, but also brings out what the gospel is all about, primarily that we are justified by faith and nothing else.

Ezekiel 40-48

I am afraid that I am going to cover all these chapters in a single go as I think it is more useful to look at the broad theme than intricate details about the temple.

There are four main lines of interpretation that are used for these chapters. One is to assume that it relates directly to the building of the temple after the return from exile, laying out a blueprint for this. Another is to assume that it is referring to sometime in the future in the last days. This notion seems ridiculous as it seems to necessitate Israel reinstituting the sacrificial system, when the whole point of the last days is that they will eventually realise who Jesus is, and that He is the one true sacrifice. The fourth, and the one I prefer, is to see it as symbolic.

The most popular chapter in this section is chapter 47, which talks about the river flowing from the temple. The water is living water, bringing life wherever it goes. This is reminds one of Jesus's words that whosoever believes in Him, then living waters will flow from within him (John 7:38). Now we are temples of the Holy Spirit. There is also allusion to this in Revelation (Rev 22:2).

It is clear from these chapters that God has everything worked out, in every detail. When we are called to follow Jesus, or to commit to Him in a new and deeper way, we often ask "what about this" or "what about that". We can be sure that God has worked out every detail. We are not called to work out our how to save ourselves, we are called to trust God and to follow Him. When we do this we will find that He has all the details taken care of, and we will become a source of life and blessing to others. (Matthew 6:33; Gen 12:2).

Ezekiel 39:17-29

All of creation is invited to a great feast, mixed in with terminology of a sacrifice. Note that when animals were sacrificed, the people ate the animals, so there is nothing unusual about them eating here. There is also the idea of the supposed mighty men being defeated.

On that day the nations will see that Israel went into exile because of her sin. The nations thought they were getting the better of Israel, as some may think today. But they are blind, because we cannot understand events unless the Lord's righteousness is our guiding light.All the politics and military developments were serving God's purpose.

The final paragraph speaks more of Israel's restoration. They will forget their shame and unfaithfulness. The Lord will be zealous for His glory. This is a key feature of God's work of salvation. If we just have a man-centred view then we will miss things. The Lord will also pour our His Spiirt on the nation.

Ezekiel 39:1-16

Gog will be called down from the north to attack Israel, but then she will find that all her weapons are useless. Her troops will die in the open and become food for vultures.

The key feature of this time will be that Israel knows the Lord and that the nations will see know that He is the God of Israel. Both these aspects are important. Israel can do what it likes, but will get nowhere until it turns to the Lord and recognises who Jesus is. We need to respect Israel, but need to know that the focus of our attitude to them must be to witness to the Lord. But see also that in the last days the nations will not just have to admit that the Lord is God, but that He is the God of Israel. Most nations hold Israel in varying degrees of contempt, but ultimately they will have to acknowledge that she belongs to God.

The destruction will be so great that Israel will use the weapons for fuel, and there will be hoards of dead people. It will take many months for the Israelites to clean up the land. The focus on the clearing of all remnants of the dead from the land is to do with ritually cleansing the land.

Ezekiel 38:17-22

"The one I spoke of long ago" is probably a reference to former prophecies of God's judgement on nations that opposed Israel. When they attack Israel, God's anger will be aroused. Notice how this differs from His attitude to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The attack by Babylon was all part of His plan, it was necessary because of Israel's sin. But with this attack God would be against the attacker.

The key here is the difference in God's attitude for this attack, and for the Babylonian attack. If God is for us it does not matter two hoots who attacks us. Conversely, if God is against us it does not matter what we do. it will be completely futile and we will be defeated.

So the lesson is that we need to walk in the Spirit, following Jesus, If we do this then we need have no fear at all.

Ezekiel 38:1-16

We now come to two chapters that are apocalyptic in nature. Ie they talk about stuff that is at least partly related to the last days. This also means there will be more nonsense spoken about these chapters than others.

These two chapters have several oracles, each introduced by "This is what the sovereign Lord says ..", or something similar. The first oracle is verses 1-9. It tells of a future time when God will call out a vast army that will attack Israel. Attempts have been made to identify Gog with Russia, but these are speculative at best. Revelation 20 refers to Gog and Magog, and this is Satan's last attempt to attack Israel after the millennium. This is almost certainly what Ezekiel is referring to here. Note that it refers to the people having returned to Israel, and "living in safety". This means that it cannot refer to now, as although there has been a return to Israel, they are not living in safety at the moment.

The land would be at peace, and would seem to be vulnerable, not having any walls to protect its villages. The people will have been living at peace. The evil king would see this as an opportunity to loot and plunder. But all this would be according to the Lord's plan. Now in the rest of Ezekiel God has already spoken of Him bring Babylon against Israel. That time it was to execute judgement on Israel, this time it will be radically different as we shall see, and it will demonstrate God's glory to the nations.

Ezekiel 37:15-28

For many years the nation of Israel had been divided, but now the land would be reunited. Note that this was not a result of a "political settlement", but of God working people's hearts. When God works in the hearts of people, age old enmities can be resolved. Note also, that if one had looked at the history of Judah and Ephraim one could find plenty of reasons as to why there was disunity, and about who was to blame, etc. When God works, this became of no account. In the church as a whole there are many divisions, with lots of history, and lots of good reasons why there are divisions, and about who is most to blame. However, God's word says there is one body, and at the completion of His work there will be one church.

Notice the emphasis on one king, one nation etc. Compare this with Ephesians 4:4-6. God then makes reference to their idol worship and backsliding. While we make many excuses and explanations of division, idol worship and sin are actually at the root of most of them.

David will be king (v24), This means that Jesus will be king. The unity comes about because there is one shepherd, or one head of the church, and because the people are dedicated to obeying God's ways.

The unity will be a sign to the world of God's blessing. This applies to the church as well (John 11:35), but also to Israel.

Ezekiel 37:1-14

We must remember that chapter 37 comes straight after chapter 36. (In fact this is one of the most useful tips in understanding the Bible better. If you want to know what one passage means, ask yourself what has the writer just said, or what has just happened. This will often shed light on things.) Ezekiel has spent several years prophesying doom and being shown just how low the people, particularly the leaders, of Jerusalem had sunk. Then in chapter 36 he is suddenly prophesying prosperity and fruitfulness. This naturally raises the question of how can this possibly be? God answers this question with the vision of the dry bones.

The vision is well known, and starts with God leading Ezekiel back and forth through the valley of dry bones. This is a parallel to what He has been doing with Ezekiel in the first part of his life, showing him how spiritually dead Israel was.

So Ezekiel is told to prophesy to the bones. He is to prophesy life to them. The Lord will make breath enter them (the Hebrew word for breath can also mean spirit), and He will put flesh on the bones. They will come to life and will know that the Lord is God. This is what Ezekiel has just been prophesying to the exiles.

At first the bones started to rattle, and then tendons and flesh appeared, but no breath had entered them. When God does a new thing it is often the case that at first we may just see a lot of activity, but the true life is yet to come. Note also that in the prophesy God mentions breath first, but it does not come till later. The Spirit is the most important thing, but He may not become evident until later.

Ezekiel then, in response to the Lord's command, prophesied that breath should enter them, and it did so. The bones then came to life and formed a vast army. People, in the UK at least, often get worried about numbers. We complain that churches become impersonal, or that we prefer the intimacy of small churches. However, the simple fact is that God is into big numbers. It is God's will that multitudes get saved. Now it is absolutely right that we must never treat people just as numbers, for God has a personal relationship with each one, and we are to treat each other as individuals. Also we must never presume that God works only through big churches, or that size in itself is everything. However, the church is meant to have a big impact on the world.

God then makes it clear to Ezekiel that the vision is a parable of what He will do with the nation. They have lost all hope and are in exile. But God is a God who raises the dead and does the impossible.

Ezekiel 36:16-38

God now explains His actions. The people had defiled the land by their conduct. When they were scattered they profaned the Lord's name wherever they went. Ie the circumstances changed, but it made no difference to the fruit of the people. In our own lives the fruit we produce is not determined by our circumstances, but by our hearts. On the one hand it is no use blaming circumstances, for changing them will not change us, and so will not change the fruit. On the other, we need never fear, for circumstances do not determine the outcome of our lives. Our hearts determine the outcome of our lives. If our hearts are in tune with God's heart, then we will be overcomers, whatever the circumstances.

God then states quite clearly that the things he is about to do are done for the sake of His name, not for our sake. At first this may offend us, or make us think that this then is just a selfish act on God's behalf and that He doesn't really care about us. However, we get a better picture of what God means if we consider the words of Jesus when He tells us that if we try to save our lives we will lose them, but if we lose our lives for His sake we will find them. The root of the fall, of rebellion, is thinking that we can live life by our own efforts, by our own wisdom. When we do this we have to "live for our sake", we become self-centred. We focus everything on "me", not always in a selfish manner, but we think we are the centre of it all. When we come to God, we are to make Him the centre of it all. We live for Him, we make Him the focus and the centre. We are not to worry about our own reputation, but only about His Name. Paradoxically, when we do this we find that we have more freedom, more independence, more life. Just as Jesus says we will.

God outlines what He will do, and we see that it is actually for our good. He will restore us, and cleanse us. He will give us a new heart, a heart of flesh. He will give His Spirit to us, and the Spirit will lead us to do His will. We see all this in the gospel. Christ died for our sins, and we are cleansed by His blood. Moreover, He gives us the Holy Spirit, who comes to live within us and we are born again.

This will lead to fruitfulness in our lives. God again emphasises that He is not doing this for our sake. Why does He say this? Well, we often see people whose lives benefit from something God does, they may even have been believers. But then they think that God has done this for their sake, and they once again start to live life for their own sake, in their own strength. We can only live if we live for God.

When we do turn to God it brings complete restoration, and we become people who spread blessing around us.

Ezekiel 36:1-15

God has just spoken to the mountains of Edom, now He addresses the mountains of Israel. The enemies of Israel thought that they had won, that they would now take over the land, and note that Israel has suffered severe judgement from God because of her sin. There may be times when everything seems to be going wrong in our lives, sometimes even deservedly so, and many, including our own thoughts, may proclaim our defeat. This is not so. The Lord's plans for our lives are beyond understanding, and we should never give up.

In fact, the greater glee with which others declare our defeat, the greater the blessing from God will actually be. For God states clearly here that the nations that gloated over Israel will suffer and will see the Lord restore Israel.

Moreover, Israel will become fruitful. Now they were in exile, and they had to go into exile in order to learn the lessons of the heart, but their fruitfulness would come when they returned to their home. Multiplication and prosperity will be theirs.

See what God is doing here. The land of Israel had become a wasteland, a place of desolate towns and villages. Why? Because of the sin of God's people, because they failed to follow His ways. So God took the people out of the land, He did a work in their hearts, and then sent them back to the land, so that the land would then become prosperous and fruitful. God wants us to bring fruitfulness and prosperity to the land we live in, the neighbourhood we inhabit, the family we are in, the place where we work or study. And when our hearts are right with God, then the earth will work in harmony with us (verse 12).

You see again, the circumstances were not the problem. The land had been depriving them of children, but the land was not the problem. The heart of the people of Israel was the problem. In areas of our lives where we experience barrenness the circumstances are not the problem, the solution lies in letting God work in our hearts.

Ezekiel 35

Ezekiel now turns to Edom. This rather stands out as the final sections of Ezekiel are concerned almost entirely with Israel. Why is this included here, rather than in the middle section of Ezekiel where he is prophesying against various nations?

Maybe the answer is something like this. When the hope of restoration comes one of the things that usually happens is that enemies or things from the past still seem to pose a threat, or mock us. Edom had long been an enemy of Israel (35:5), and had gloated over Israel's demise. God is assuring Israel that the restoration will include the destruction of her enemies.

When someone or something mocks the people of God, they are also mocking God Himself. Now note also that at the time Edom was mocking Israel, Israel was in the wrong, she was disobeying God, and she was receiving her just deserts. When we have turned from God and eventually hear the call back we can wonder if we have slipped too far. When taunted we may fear because we know we deserved much of the stuff that we suffered from. Even so, when God calls us back we are completely free to come back.The only thing that is required of us is that we repent and turn to the Lord. God will take care of all the seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Ezekiel 34

The latter half of this chapter is clearly alluded to in Jesus' teaching on the good shepherd. First Ezekiel what is wrong with the old shepherds. There are many failings:

• They looked after their own interests rather than that of the flock.
• They despised the weak instead of helping them.
• They did not look out for the lost, seeking to bring them back.
• They ruled harshly.

As a result the sheep in reality had no shepherds and wandered around aimlessly. Sadly we have to admit that there are still examples of this type of shepherding today. In fact there is always a temptation to go down this road, so if we are in leadership of any kind we need to watch ourselves very carefully.

The bad shepherds may have been able to lord it over the flock, but they could not lord it over God, and so would be judged by Him.

Since the shepherds failed so badly, the Lord will do the job Himself, reversing all the shepherd's failings. When the Lord is shepherding the weak are cared for, the lost found, and the flock live in peace and prosperity.

Verses 17-19 remind one of Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats, and it is significant that in that parable it is concern and care for the weak that is the essence of the difference between the sheep and the goats. Some get bogged down in whether or not it is teaching a salvation by works, but the parable is clearly alluding to these words of Ezekiel.

Verses 20-24 are one example of why the Messiah is thought of as a son of David.

The final verses show what life is meant to be like. We are meant to live under the covering of the Lord (see Psalm 91).

Ezekiel 33

The chapter starts with what is more or less a repeat of the message God gave to Ezekiel earlier on in his career. Namely that he had the responsibility of a watchman to warn the people, and that if people repented then they would be saved.

Why did God repeat the message? Well what is the crucial difference between now and then? It is that Jerusalem had fallen as Ezekiel finds out in verse 21. This momentous event had actually changed nothing. Ezekiel had the same task, and the message was the same. The fundamental problem was that Israel needed a change of heart, that was the problem before the fall of Jerusalem, and it was the problem after the fall. On a more positive note, the solution was the same. The apparent disaster of Jerusalem falling actually made no difference to their chances of salvation. If they turned away from the Lord they would not be saved, if they did turn to Him then they would be saved.

We can apply this to ourselves. From time to time various events happen in our lives, sometimes it seems that they spell disaster for us, but this is never true. It is always the case that if we turn to the Lord then we will live. Note too that God says that this applies to those who have been evil as well. If they turn from their evil ways and turn instead to God then they will live. So even if we have sinned and so experienced some disaster, if we repent and turn to God we will find a path to life.

Ezekiel had been silent for some time, but just before the messenger arrived the Lord opened his mouth again. The people in Jerusalem were still relying on their Abrahamic ancestry, but God tells them it is worth nothing because of their evil behaviour. Jesus encountered the same attitude, as shown in John’s gospel.

Even in the midst of disaster the people in Jerusalem were holding on to hope, but this was not a heroic attitude, but plain stupidity. The people in exile were no better, for they said they wanted to hear the word of God, they had no intention of acting upon it. They were like the people in Jesus’ parable who built their life upon the sand.

One of the things that strikes me about Ezekiel is how much of it is reflected in the life of Jesus. I don’t think there are any direct quotes from Ezekiel by Jesus, but the message is repeated and fulfilled in many ways in His life.

Ezekiel 30-32

There then follows three chapters detailing various aspects of Egypt’s demise. The destruction would be devastating and would encompass the surrounding nations as well. Egypt would be left bereft of leaders. Even the parts of Egypt that had the longest and most glorious of histories would be destroyed.

Pharaoh himself would be left utterly helpless, unable to do anything.

Egypt is reminded of what happened to Assyria. Assyria once rose tall and powerful, but she was brought low. So it would be with Egypt.

Egypt claimed to be great, thinking that she was powerful, but in reality she just muddied the waters. Godless men do nothing to enhance the world.

Ezekiel 29

Having spent three chapters on Tyre, God now devotes four chapters to Egypt. Egypt was the place that Israel had spent many years in captivity in. Very soon after escaping she longed to go back, and Egypt had an enduring pull on Israel. Israel frequently went back to Egypt for help, and this nearly always ended in disaster. This, of course, is a pattern that we see repeated in the lives of individuals, including ourselves.

Egypt relied on the Nile for its well being, but began to think that the Nile belonged to her. God would show her that she had no control over it. God would show himself to Egypt. One of the reasons was that Egypt had let Israel down. Now Israel was never meant to have relied on Egypt, but Egypt is still judged for letting her down. We are meant to be people of our word at all times.

Egypt would suffer badly, but would then be restored to a degree. However, she would not be a major power again, so that Israel was not tempted to trust in her again.

Nebuchadnezzar would be given Egypt as a reward. I think this has to be viewed as how it would seem to the nations, rather than as a “reward for good behaviour”.

Ezekiel 28

Now there is even more on Tyre. Why does Ezekiel devote so much time to Tyre, remembering that this message was actually heard by the Jews in exile? There al least two reasons.

The first is that when we are in trouble one of our reactions is to look at other people who seem to be “doing OK”. We may feel envious of them or think if only we could be like them we could get out of this mess. God is making clear to Israel that no other nation, and Tyre in particular, who seemed so strong and self-assured, is safe.

Tyre in particular is castigated for thinking she was a god. Now today people may not say that explicitly, but whenever someone thinks they can manage without any help from anyone else, that they are completely in control of their own destiny, they are in effect claiming to be a god. This is a very dangerous place to be in, for God brings down the proud. In Tyre’s case He would amass the Babylonian army, and there would be nothing that Tyre could do about it.

The second reason in contained in the second part of the chapter, from verse 11 onwards. Here the tone changes and God starts talking about Tyre having been in Eden, and her being adorned as an angelic guardian. She is spoken of as if she was a fallen angel, cast down to the earth for rebellion in heaven. What does this teach us? It seems to say that there is more to the power structures and earthly powers than meets the eye. Now I must admit my immediate reaction when people start talking about territorial powers or angels is to start from a point of scepticism. For people who talk about these things are often talking nonsense, and such talk can be used to delude people. However, the Bible does teach clearly that there are spiritual powers at work in the world. Here we see that behind the earthly kingdom of Tyre was a spiritual power.

What are we to make of all this? Well at the end of verse 19 God says, “You have come to a terrible end, and you are no more”. Spiritual power or human power will both come to a sticky end. We need fear neither. Moreover, the commands of God are that we should love mercy, act justly and walk humbly with our God.

One other city, Sidon, is singled out for judgement. Then the chapter closes with words of restoration for Israel. God will reveal His glory to the world. Note that He does this by revealing His holiness amongst His people. As it says in Hebrews, without holiness no one will see the Lord. Holiness is a pre-requisite and the means by which God’s glory is revealed to the world.

Ezekiel 27

This chapter expands upon Tyre’s destruction. It is clear from this passage that Tyre had an excellent reputation, being highly regarded by all the surrounding nations for her economic prowess. Moreover, Tyre herself boasted of her success, and her trading extended far and wide. She was a highly advanced society for her day, making everything of the best quality materials.

As well as good materials, she had excellent craftsmen, and she took men from other nations to serve in her. She made alliances and agreements with other nations. She was able to do this because of the high quality goods she was able to trade in.

The nations that traded with her included Israel and Judah. In fact she was clearly the hub of economic activity in the world at that time.

But everything is about to collapse, her oarsmen (those who steer the society) are taking the nation into a hurricane. Ruin is about to come upon the nation, and she will be able to do nothing about it. All the nations that once traded with her will look on in horror and amazement.

Men have always been captivated by the economic success of nations. Once it was Germany and Japan, though their economic fortunes seem to be on the wane now. America has of course long been the most powerful nation in all sorts of ways, once it was Britain. China and India are heralded as economic powers of the future. We need to beware that we are not captivated by economic success, for it is all transitory.

Ezekiel 26

Tyre was a successful coastal trading nation. The primary reason given for the judgement about to come down on her is that she gloated over the fall of Jerusalem and saw this as an opportunity to further increase her prosperity. There is a very modern day lesson here for us. Jerusalem was about to suffer because of her sin, she deserved the fate that about to befall her, but the nations must beware their reaction. The purpose of the Lord was to cleanse Jerusalem and eventually to restore her. Today Israel is still a key political issue. Now Israel does many things wrong, and sometimes may deservedly suffer because of it, but other nations must not view Israel from a purely expedient perspective, seeing what political or economic advantage they can gain. Israel is still God’s nation, He is still working in her, and His plans have not yet been fulfilled. We should have an attitude of justice and mercy towards Israel (and towards her neighbours as well), but always bearing in mind God’s eternal purpose.

Many nations would come against Tyre, but led by Nebuchadnezzar in particular. She would be utterly laid to waste. This actually happened. Babylon laid siege to the Tyre for thirteen years. Other nations would look to her to rise again, but it would not happen.

We have a great tendency today to venerate economic power, but no amount of any economic power is worth anything if a nation is unrighteous, and even the most prosperous of nations will eventually fall.

Ezekiel 25

There is now something of an interlude. Ezekiel has just told them that Jerusalem was under siege, there is now a silence in terms of words directly about Israel. This is resumed in chapter 33. In between is a series of oracles against surrounding nations.

Why does Ezekiel prophecy about them? They would not hear the words themselves, so the purpose must have been for the exiles themselves to hear, along with later generations. God was never just the God of the Jews, just as there is no such thing as the Christian God. There is one Lord, and He is the Lord of All. Judgement begins with the house of God, but extends to the other peoples as well.

This chapter deals with four nations, Ammon, Moab, Edom and Philistia. One of the recurring themes is their gloating over Jerusalem's defeat. We must never revel in someone else's downfall, especially someone who belongs to God. For we have no idea what God's long term plans are.

In all cases the nations will eventually realise who the Lord is. Events will prove that God is God. In an increasingly secular society we have no need to fear. For at some point God will do something that demonstrates the futility of man's thinking, and wisdom of God.

Ezekiel 24

Remember that Ezekiel was in exile, so neither he nor the people would know exactly what was happening in Jerusalem. God informs him that the siege of Jerusalem has started.

In order to make the message more graphic, Ezekiel is told to put on a cooking pot, and put various pieces of meat into it. He is then to take them out. This is all to signify the terrible destruction that would take place. There would be great suffering within Jerusalem itself, and people would also be taken out of the city.

This is representing the impurity of Jerusalem, her refusal to be cleansed by the Lord.

Now the message gets even more dramatic, and more personal for Ezekiel. Ezekiel's wife would die, and Ezekiel is instructed not to mourn for her. Today we often talk too glibly of being a prophet, and sometimes see it more as entertainment than anything else. Now there is a place for prophecy amongst all the members of the church, which is used for encouraging and building up the church, indeed we are to eagerly desire this gift (1 Cor 14:1), but the office of a prophet is in a different league. A prophet like Ezekiel (or Hosea) becomes much more closely and intimately involved with God's message, sometimes at enormous personal cost.

Ezekiel loved his wife, but was not allowed to mourn her. In the same way God loved Jerusalem, but did not mourn the destruction. The destruction had to happen, there was no alternative. This would be a sign to the people in exile. Ezekiel would be silent, letting the message sink in. Then people from Jerusalem would start to arrive, and Ezekiel would speak again. This will demonstrate that Ezekiel was indeed speaking the word of God.

We do well to consider the great price Ezekiel had to pay, and the great commitment he had to make. He really had to believe the message.

Ezekiel 23

This chapter is in a similar vein to chapter 16, except using even more lurid language. In this chapter it is quite explicit about what the allegory is portraying. First Israel (the northern kingdom) had formed alliances with Egypt and Assyria, then these nations attacked her and Assyria took over the nation.

Next, Judah (the southern kingdom) copied Israel, making alliances at times with Assyria, Egypt and Babylon. Babylon would turn on her with ferocious fury.

In fact it would be the Lord Himself who would stir up the nations against Judah. His purpose would be to put an end to Judah's conduct, so that she would no longer long for Egypt.

The question still remains as to why God uses such lurid language to describe all this. Today we talk of two organisations or nations "getting into bed with each other" when they enter agreement, but God goes much further than this. The reason partly harks back to that mentioned in chapter 16, ie that giving our trust to the wrong person or thing is the spiritual equivalent of adultery, but there is more to it than that. It describes the way we react and seek out allurement. We are always being tempted to put our trust in something other than God. The thing seeking our trust puts on a display seeking to draw us in, but worse than that we may actively seek out to be allured. Sometimes we want to be tempted. We will go to great lengths to put our trust in the wrong thing, when the real solution, faith in God, is close at hand.

When we do put our trust in the wrong thing in the end it will let us down at best, and at worst turn upon us and do great harm. Yet there is a deep seated desire to trust in anything other than God. God works to root out this desire.

Ezekiel 22:17-30

When people are seemingly becoming successful by their own means they become proud, but Israel's methods were unjust, and so God would call time on them.When He did this they would not look so clever. Many times it seems that unworthy people of one sort or another seem to get away with it, but every time there will come a point where they are found out.

The people of Israel had become dross to the Lord. This is the exact opposite of what Israel thought she was in the Lord's eyes. The people thought Jerusalem was the city of God, they thought it was the place which God would protect and so they would be safe. Instead it would indeed be the focus of God's attention, but it would be the place where God utterly destroyed them. Again we see that it is utterly futile to put our faith in the trappings of religion.

God then criticises the leaders, both civic and religious. The political leaders exploited the people, especially the poor, the religious leaders had no respect for the Lord. The priests made no distinction between holy and unholy, between right and wrong. We very much need to be on our guard in this respect today. It is easy to think this is just a failing of the Church of England, Church of Scotland, and other traditional churches, but the attitude in society is pervasive, and we all need to keep a careful watch upon ourselves.

The Lord looked for someone to correct the situation, but the nation failed to respond. Therefore judgement would rain down on them.

Ezekiel 22:1-16

This chapter starts with an outlining of Israel's sins. The first 5 verses summarise the situation. There were two key aspects to Israel's sin: bloodshed and idolatry. We talk a lot today about what some does in their private life is their affair and has no bearing on public life. This is nonsense. Now there should be respect for privacy, but what I do with any part of my life affects all of my life. The bloodshed and idolatry went together.

Israel's actions had brought her days to a close. The judgement that was about to come upon her was entirely her fault.

The following verses then expand the list of wrongs. It is interesting to see the breadth of sins covered. There are ones related to sexual behaviour, ones related to exploitation of the poor, one related to treatment of foreigners, ones related to family life, ones relating to idol worship.

As human beings we are complete, one of area of our life affects other areas. There is a load of nonsense often spoken of saying sexual sins really do not matter when we consider the scale of human suffering in wars, famines etc. There are at least two things that can be said in response to this. One is that sexual sins matter in themselves. They cause harm to the direct participants, and to others. The second is that they often go together with a bunch of other sins. Sexual promiscuity, exploitation of women, drugs and other crime are closely related. Sexual sin breeds an atmosphere that leads to other crimes, other crimes lead to sexual abuse of women. The most extreme example of the latter is in war, which often involves massive numbers of rapes of women.

For all this God would judge them and disperse them amongst the nations. Only then would stubborn Israel recognise who the Lord is.

Ezekiel 21:25-32

The prince of Israel is Zedekiah and he is told that his time of judgement has come. The turban is elsewhere mentioned only as priestly wear (Eg Ex 28:4), so there may be a more general application than just Zedekiah. Both the rulers and priesthood of Israel would lose their power. Things will be different from now on.

"The lowly will be exalted and the exalted brought low". This reminds one of the saying uttered by Jesus on several occasions (eg Matthew 19:30) about the first being last and the last first. The crown would be restored to its rightful wearer. This of course is Jesus. When Saul became king God had warned them not to have a king, and said to Samuel that the people were rebelling against Him. Israel will only find its true fulfilment when they turn to the Lord.

When Babylon was at the fork in the path and chose to attack Judah rather than Ammon they no doubt felt relieved, furthermore they gloated over Jerusalem God tells them that there is no place for their gloating, for they too will be judged.

Ezekiel 21:18-24

God now gives some specific details of what would happen. God is in control of all events and knows what is going to happen. At one point Babylon would be faced with a choice, whether to attack Judah and Jerusalem or Rabbah of the Ammonites. At that point Nebuchadnezzar would seek an omen to guide his next steps. He would use three different methods of divination to seek advice.

Babylon would chose to attack Jerusalem. The leaders in Jerusalem would say it was a false omen, possibly arguing he had sought advice from false gods (which indeed he had) and so meant nothing. Jerusalem would still be saved, they would say. But the encouragement the people in Jerusalem would mean nothing as their hearts were not right with God.

Verse 24 sums up the situation. Since they had rebelled against the Lord they would be taken captive. There is a great tendency among humans to put faith in things. Sometimes these things are associated with God and we think we are putting faith in God, but we are not we are putting faith in the thing. There is an excellent example of this in 1 Samuel 4. Philistine attacked Israel, Israel brought out the ark of the covenant and it seemed as though this would bring them victory, but they were defeated and the ark was captured. Why did this happen? Because they were living in disobedience.

Conversely, we can have a superstitious fear, thinking something will go wrong because we have or have not done something (yes, as Christians we can still act superstitiously sometimes). What counts, and what determines our future is the condition of our heart and our obedience to God.