Bible Study: June 12, 2024

We'll get into Ezekiel 11 here in a minute, but I want to go back to Ezekiel 5. Someone that's on our Bible studies pointed something out to me this week that I thought was very interesting.

I thought we'd just pass it on. Something that I didn't pick up on when we were in Ezekiel 5. You remember Ezekiel 5 is the chapter where God is talking about Israel going into captivity.

In verse 3, he talks about the context. Verse 1 says, You, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber's razor, and pass it over your head and your beard, and take scales to weigh and divide the hair. You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city when the days of the seed are finished. Take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind. I will draw out a sword after them. And you remember I was talking about how that picture is Israel and how God will scatter, and they will reap the consequences of what they have. Then in verse 3 says, You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment.

And so, um, I'm binding them to the edge of your garment. Is this where I wanted to be? Yes, it is.

It was pointed out to me that when you look at that and it says take the small number of them and bind them in your garment, it's pointing to the fact, as we talked about, that God is going to protect his people. But they drew it back to, they drew it back to Psalm 93. And I'm doing this for memory, so I didn't write it down. I just, I remembered it as we were coming on, on the side, maybe Psalm 93. Hold on just a minute. Well, I'm looking for the Psalm where it talks about God gathering us together like a bird gathers her young under her wings. I thought that was Psalm 91.

Oh, yes, yes, Psalm 91 verse 4. He shall cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you shall take refuge. He is truth will be your shield and buckler. And in Ezekiel 5 verse 3, that is referring back to that verse that shows that God is going to bind us together in the edge of his garment. It's the protective element of the bird taking care of its young, the father taking care of his children. And I didn't write down the Hebrew word that is exactly the same in those two verses, but maybe someone can do that, and we can look at that later. But I just thought it was a very interesting point that he made as we were just...he gave it later, earlier in the week, but I just thought of it as we came on the air. And it's always good to look back at those Hebrew words and see exactly what God is saying, because when he uses the same word in two verses, it kind of gives us a picture into what he is doing. So anyway, with that aside, let us go ahead and proceed in Ezekiel 11. In Ezekiel 11, we're going to complete the vision that was begun in chapter 8. And if you remember in chapter 8, Ezekiel is sitting down with the elders of Judah when you look at chapter 8 verse 1. And then God puts him in a vision as God shows him, again, the visions of in heaven, the thrones, the wheels. And in chapter 8, God reveals to Ezekiel the sins, the abominations that are being done in Israel. Chapter 9, he talks about how he will put a mark on the forehead of those who sigh and cry over the abominations of Israel, but that he will kill all those who are committing these abominations, and he'll start at his sanctuary. So we have this vengeance of God. We see where he is talking about the evil that's in Judah, the evil that's going on among his people, the evil that's going on among the elders. We came to chapter 10, and we spent last week looking at the similarity between chapter 10 and chapter 1, where Israel, not Israel, Ezekiel, is in the vision in God's throne room. And in chapter 10, things begin to move. We see the cloud of God, the image of God, or the glory of God, as it says, move from above the cherubim to other places as God moves throughout that temple and begins to exact his vengeance. And then we come to chapter 11, and we conclude the vision in this chapter, and it's a pretty dramatic conclusion, just like we've seen in chapters 8, 9, and 10.

We looked at a few verses in chapter 11 last week, but let's look at those again to just get the context and to ensure that we're all on the same page here. So chapter 11, again, he's still in vision in this chapter. Then the Spirit, it says, lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord's house, which faces eastward, and there is the door of the gate where the 25 men among whom I saw Jazaniah and Pelotiah, the son of Beniah, princes of the people.

So just so we remember what the east gate was, let me bring up this. Again, you'll remember back in Ezekiel 8, as God was taking Ezekiel through the abominations of Israel, we saw that the greatest abominations was there at the right side of your screen, at the east gate. You had these 25 men of evil counsel, and they had their backs to the sanctuary, their backs to the temple, worshiping the sun. So in chapter 11 now, we're coming back to that, and God is coming back to these 25 men that he called the greatest of the abominations that were there at the time that he was showing Ezekiel the abominations of Judah. And among those men were Jazaniah. This is a different Jazaniah than we talked about in, I believe it was chapter 8. This is Jazaniah, the son of Azir, and the other one was, I forget his name, but he was the son of someone else. And then we have Pelotiah. Pelotiah was among those, and we're going to see him later on, specifically mentioned in chapter 11. So we have now God moving Israel, not Israel, Ezekiel to this east gate where he has this vision before. In verse 2 it says, He, that's God, said to me, son of men, these are the men who devised iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city. They are the ones who are giving the people the wrong information, they're giving them the wrong advice. And throughout the Bible, you see prophets who just tell people the wrong thing. And God will warn people, you know, make sure the voice is from him. When you're receiving counsel and it's a responsibility of every minister and everyone who's giving counsel to someone, make sure it's of God. Support things from God's word, not your ideas, not our thoughts on how things should be done, but how does God do it? So here we have these 25 men who are giving wicked counsel to the people in the city. And remember, we've talked about this last week, you say, the time is not near. Indeed, God was saying through Ezekiel, the time is near. And if you remember last week, we did go back to Ezekiel 7, and that's the chapter that talks about a singular disaster will come. And then early on in the chapter, it'll say, the end is near. And it'll say the day has come. And then it progresses through some more things. And as you get to the end of the chapter, it'll talk about disaster upon disaster as God brings the punishment upon the people who will not yield to him and who do not yield to him. And he says the time is near two or three times in that chapter, the time is near. But then you have these people, these counselors, these elders, if you will, in Babylon there at the east gate, who are telling them the time isn't near. The exact opposite of what God is saying. The time is not near. And they say, let us build houses. Well, God was showing the time is near. And so they say, let us build houses. Let's establish ourselves in this city. Let's hunker down here. The city is the cauldron, and we are the meat. Now, that's an interesting, must have been a quite a common phrase back then in the time that the Bible or the in the time of Babylon. But the cauldron is this large pot. And so the essence of this phrase is that this city is the cauldron. It's a huge iron pot that cannot be dented. The fire can't come upon us. Remember that God made these pronouncements like one third shall be cast into the fire. One third this, one third that. But they're saying, this city is a fortress. This city is a cauldron. And we're the meat. No fire is going to touch us. We're safe in this big huge iron pot or whatever the pot is made of. It can't touch us. So what they're saying is the exact opposite of what God is saying.

Therefore, verse 4, prophesy against them. Prophesy, O Son of Man. They're giving the people falsehoods. They're giving them false testimony. You, Ezekiel, you go back and tell them exactly what is going to happen as God says it is going to happen. And then in verse 5, the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me. Now, fell upon me is an interesting thing for God to say. It's like God put that thought into Ezekiel's mind. Here he is. Ezekiel's in a vision. God is working through things with him, showing him what is going to be. And then he says, you prophesy. Prophesy to them, Ezekiel. And the Spirit falls upon him and tells him, basically, as God puts the thought in his mind through his Spirit, this is what you say. Speak. Thus says the attorney. Thus you have said, O house of Israel, for I know the things that come into your mind. So God is saying there, you know, I know how mad he is. I know the way your mind thinks. It isn't the way that I think. Your thoughts are not my thoughts. Your ways are not my ways. But I know the way that you think. Tracy, did you have a comment or question? Yes, there is a microphone on somewhere.

It's making your voice go in and out. Oh, really? Okay, well, let me... Okay, I'm going to mute everyone. And that will take care of that. But you can press your microphone when you want to want to say something. Okay, so he goes, I know, I know the things that have come into your mind. God knows how we think. He knows, you know, this is kind of what man is going to do. And here he knows they were going to say those things. But, you know, if we keep your finger there in Ezekiel, God says a similar thing back in Ezekiel 38. This is after the resurrection at the time of the temple. People are living in peace. Jerusalem is not a walled city at this time. And you'll remember in chapter 38 that there's a thought that comes into the minds of Gog and Vaygog. Ah, here's a village. Here's an unwalled village. Here's the people that are unprotected.

And a thought comes into their mind. It says, it's the same phrase that God says about them. Here's some, you know, we're going to be safe. We're going to be safe in the city. But in Isaiah 38 verse 10, we see the same thing. Thus says the Lord God, on that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind and you will make an evil plan. When we lead you to our own thoughts and our own ways of doing things, evil plans are what result. We think we can get around what God has said. We have a way out. You know, when Nimrod and his band of men decided they would build a tower of Babel and they had this evil plan, we'll build a tower that will raise to heaven. No water. No water will be able to exceed the height of this tower of Babel. The evil plans that man have have in mind. And this is what God is comparing them to there in verse five, where these elders are saying, you're safe. You're safe. The time isn't near. We got lots of time. You know, we're good. We're good. God says, no, they're not. And then we go back to chapter 11. We see, you know, that God says, you know, he's going to give them the straight word, the straight word of what is going to happen. Thus you have said, I'll read verse five again, thus you have said, O house of Israel. Now notice there, it's O house of Israel. When we see O house of Israel, remember that Israel has gone into captivity 120 years before this. They never returned to the Promised Land. Judah is in the process of being captured. Ezekiel was in the second, I believe it is, deportation from Jerusalem. And Nebuchadnezzar is going to completely defeat Judah in 586 B.C. It's in the process of happening. But Israel is already gone. So when God says to Ezekiel, this is what you say, O house of Israel, Israel is already gone. Israel is already gone. So this is a prophetic verse for later. O house of Israel, I know the things that come into your mind. You have multiplied your slain in this city. You have trusted in the walls of this city. You have trusted in your own life. You have trusted in your own way of doing things. You haven't been listening to me. You haven't been listening to the warnings. You aren't seeing what I have talked about and what prophecy says that is going to befall you. If you don't turn back to me, you have multiplied your slain in this city. And you have filled its streets with the slain. The nation becomes violent. The nation becomes corrupt. The nation becomes all these things that we read about in the Bible.

If you go back and look at the time of Noah, it becomes just a corrupt, corrupt nation. As Israel, the ancient nation of Israel did as well. They became so corrupt, they adopted all the ways of the nations around them, and God led them into captivity. And so, God says the same thing will happen in Israel today as we don't listen to Him as we progress further and further down the road, further and further away from God. You have filled the streets with the slain. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, you're slain. You're slain. Look at my notes here. You have, therefore, thus says the Lord, you have your slain, whom you have laid in its midst. They are the meat, and this city is the cauldron, but I shall bring you out of the midst of it. This is where you will die. They are dead. It has reached them. It has created their death by staying here in this and not turning back to God. Now, let me go back to... Let's go to Micah 3 for a moment, because Micah also kind of voices the same sentiment when talking about the house of Israel. So in Micah 3, Micah comes right after the book of Jonah, right after Amos.

And we'll just read through, but you'll see the similarity here, what Micah is saying. Remember God's prophets speak the same thing. They live in different places. Even if they're about the same time, they don't have internet. They're not on the phone with each other, saying, what did God tell you? I'll say the same thing. God is giving these words to people independently. And so it validates everything that God is saying by the mouth of these witnesses who say the same thing. Micah 3, verse 1, says, Here now, O heads of Jacob, and you rulers of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know justice? You who hate good and love evil, who strip the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones, who also eat the flesh of my people, flay their skin from them, break their bones, and chop them in pieces like meat for the pot, like flesh in the cauldron.

You're doing this to yourselves, is what God said. Yeah, Tracy, do you have something?

I'm sorry to bother you again. Jolene is having a little trouble with her computer. Are you able to help her? Yeah, I've been muting her. I've been muting her as I see her come on.

Yeah, she's struggling with something. She's trying to get those picked on or something. Yeah, I have a feeling she's probably not hearing, and she's thinking it's the microphone, but she's going to have to sign off and maybe sign in again. Okay, I'm sorry to interrupt. Okay, Xavier, do you have something? Oh yeah, I was going to mention this to Jolene.

And the secondary is Matthew chapter 23. It's like a summer from the beginning so far, where our Lord said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who killed the prophets and stolen those who were sent to you, how often I would have gathered your children even as a hen or frog under her wings, which you have refused. That's the history. Israel just doesn't listen. Judah just doesn't listen. Though, as we look at Micah, we see this meat and the cauldron, again, the same analogy, the same symbolism that God is using there in Ezekiel 11. That says in verse 4, they will cry to the Lord, but he won't hear them. He'll even hide his face from them at that time because they have been evil in their deeds. So, you know, I don't know that we need to read through the rest of the chapter, but you might, after the Bible study, will look through that and see it's the same thing that God is saying here that he's talking about to Ezekiel, about the house of Israel back here in Ezekiel 11. We see the similarities there among these things, and as God does this. Now, as I'm looking at my notes here, and I need to look at my notes so that we don't miss something, I want to go back to verse 3 again, where it talked about building houses. In the book of Jeremiah, we have a prophet, we have God saying, you know, go to this place of Babylon and make for yourself houses there. Let's turn to Jeremiah 29 again so we can kind of see the similarity of what prophets of the same time frame are talking as God says it. Jeremiah 29, you know, they're going to be carried away. Judah is going to fall. Babylon is going to conquer them. They're going to be carried away to captivity, and God tells them, when you go to Babylon, make a life there. Make a life there. And as you read through the book of Jeremiah, you see some people like, no, we're not leaving. God will bless us right here in Jerusalem, and they pay a steep price for that. But here in Jeremiah 29, here's where God is saying the same type thing that he's saying to Ezekiel here in Ezekiel 11. We'll begin in verse 4.

So God is saying, it's awful, but you brought it upon yourself that you're going to be carried away to a captive, to a foreign land. But make your life there. Make your life there. Don't think you're coming back to Jerusalem. Don't stay there. And yet the people of that day, a group of them stayed in Jerusalem and just determined they were going to be there. The same attitude in Ezekiel, the same attitude that we can see today. Bill, do you have a comment?

Well, I really have a question because you brought up something. I heard a sermon at the feast in 23, not where I was. But this guy in the sermon, I won't give you his name, obviously, but he was using that verse that you gave about the unwalled cities, thoughts coming into the mind. And he was saying that at that time, there was an assault early on in the millennium by Gog and Magog. Now, I've talked to several other people about it, like I talked to Mr. Light, and he didn't see it that way. But I just wondered what your take on that was. Oh, there is. No, there is. In the millennium, there is an assault on the unwalled villages in Ezekiel 38, after the return of Christ.

And that's not the one talking about at the end? No, that revelation is a different one. Oh, well, I guess I need to talk to a few people.

Give them your opinion. It's interesting, because as I look at YouTube and whatever, just to see what is being posted, there are a few ministers, not in the church, right? Other ministers. There's a lot going on about the Ezekiel 38 prophecy, and they're saying, as it applies to Israel today, and it doesn't apply to Israel today, it applies later. And so there is that misinformation out there. But no, there is the one in the millennium. That's Ezekiel 38. The one in Revelation is the one at the end of the millennium.

Oh, well, the people I talked to a couple of were ministers, and I'm not saying you're wrong, because when the guy said it, I kind of believed it. But anyway, that makes it pretty clear you see it the same way. And I'm not saying you know everything, but that's not conjecture, right? It's not conjecture, no. I mean, it is. Okay, good. No, it's it's it is. Mr. Murray, did you have a comment? Yes, just in full support of what you're saying, Mr. Shaby. I mean, I was I learned about that even as a teenager in the church, that that is true. There will be a time of unrest in the beginning of the kingdom, and there will be a time when possibly the nation of Eurasia, that's Gog and Magog, will come and attack the so-called unwell villages. And of course, then there's the time at the end of the millennium when Satan is released for a short season, and he goes out to the nations of Gog and Magog again, primarily, but other nations too. And he deceives the nations and they come as the sand of the sea as it speaks of their relation. So there seems to be two occasions in the millennium when there is this invasion, one of a minor, well, relatively minor, but it's not possibly as big as the one at the end of the millennium. Hard to believe in the time of great peace in the millennium. Still pretty big, though, because right when they talk about, the God talks about how long they're going to be able to heat their villages, right? With the wood and everything of that.

But yeah, there are clearly two. So maybe we need to talk about that among some pastors so we are all under the same understanding. That has been taught in the church from... That's what I remember hearing it for... It's not something new. And also, it's interesting that there will be that unrest because it seems like even Egypt and other nations may not come up to keep the Feast of the Tabernacles and they'll have a drought upon them in Zechariah 14th Bix. And then, and perhaps if they don't then still heat and come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, they'll even have a pestilence upon them. So there may be a period of a number of years in the millennium. And something that I've heard when I was a young person in the church is that possibly those 10 days between trumpets and atonement is symbolic of the years. Perhaps it will be about 10 years of possible unrest at the beginning of the millennium. Yeah, those 10 days mean something. We don't know exactly what they mean yet, but there is a period of time and people are going to have to unlearn. Just like you mentioned, Egypt, people are going to have to learn. God means what he says. If you're not going to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, no rain, right? The blessings come when you do what God says, not just by asking him for them, but by doing what he says to do and following him. Okay, so let's go back to... Hey, Jim?

Just by way of context, is this not the divorce of Israel? God is writing her off, throwing her out the window. Somebody likes a bad diagnostic, but that's what she's getting here, and God's done with it. He takes the Sheikah and the Glory away. So I'm just wondering, is this not the divorce of Israel? Well, in Jeremiah, God does talk about, I've divorced you, right? I mean, they cheated on God. If we put it in the modern veranacular, going after every other God except him. And so he does call it divorce. He still loves them, but there is a divorce. They broke the covenant.

Okay, let's continue in Ezekiel 11. Ezekiel 11, and we would have been... Okay, we read verse 7. So we've got these slain in the streets. The people have decided, ah, we're just going to stay in this cauldron where we'll be protected, but it didn't work out that way. The slain are there in the street. It wasn't the protected place they needed to be. He says in verse 8, So here he's talking about the land going into captivity. And so he says, you know, you're afraid of the sword. You think you're going to just keep yourself in this city and be protected from all of it. But the sword is going to come upon you, and I am going to deliver you into the hands of strangers, and you will be brought out of this city. And I will execute judgments on you. Again, when we depart from God, when we do not do what God says, and he says these things are going to happen, they are going to happen. And so they did happen. Now, as we look at this chapter, we can look at where we are today. And we can see modern-day nations of Israel headed further and further away from God. They're not listening. They're not listening. And just moving in directions that it's hard. It would have been hard to imagine the directions that were going in, you know, five and ten years ago. You look at Judah, you know, Judah, little Israel over there. And while they claim to be the people of God, there's a lot of perversity, and there's a lot of evil in that nation as well. And so they're faced with extinction. They've got the Middle Eastern nations, they've got Iran and the people around them, the Palestinians, all wanting their, you know, them to be gone. You've got a world in upset. You've got people who want America gone. You've got people who want Israel gone. We're living in a time, kind of what this nation was back there. Now, if we remember that Ezekiel, Ezekiel, remember, he's in Babylon. Jerusalem hasn't been conquered just yet. But God is, Jerusalem is going to fall, you know, in the next few years of when Ezekiel, when Ezekiel writes this, that God gives him this. And they're going to fall on me. It's the same way that it says here. Also prophetic of how things are going to be in the future.

When God says, Verse 10.

And so you have this border of Israel, and you have, remember in Jeremiah, God says, I'll bring the armies or I'll bring the enemy from the north, and he will conquer you. And that's Babylon. And so here we have God saying, you're going to be conquered at the border. You're coming out of the city, and you are going to fall at that border of Israel. Now, in Jeremiah, let me get my verse together here. Jeremiah 52.

We see this border of Israel, the northern border. And God's saying the same thing here through Jeremiah. Jeremiah 52 is generally considered to be a future prophecy. But notice what it says here in Jeremiah 52. It does talk about Zedekiah. He was one of the last, if not the last, king of Judah. He was one of the last. And there's a whole story about him that we could do an entire Bible study or more on. And they are led into captivity. But look at verse 9. Verse 9 here. Let's look at verse 8. 8, 9, and 10 is what we'll look at. Jeremiah 52.

Now, Hamath and Riblah are at the border of Israel. They're right just north of the border of Judah and Israel. They're in that northern kingdom. So there it says, you know, there they took the king. They brought him up to the border, to Riblah and Hamath. And there they pronounced judgment on him. Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. So they were brought out of Jerusalem, but God exacted vengeance on them at the border. Brought them to the border where the princes were killed and Zedekiah had his eyes put out. And so we see this very prophecy in verse 10. It was fulfilled back then. If the timing is right, I think Ezekiel was in Babylon around 592. Jerusalem actually fell in 586. So we have that here. But this is also, since it's talking about Israel and it's talking about the house of Israel, there's a prophetic sign here, too. What does that mean for the future? Is it the same type thing that will happen at that time? Will there be people gathered in one city and then they end up going to places? Is this something that God is looking at in the future fall of Judah that is prophesied in the book of Hosea? Rita Swanson, do you have a question or comment?

Yes, this is her niece. But why the border? I don't understand that. Just because they're out of the city, they're out of the city, they're at the edge of their land and it's taken from there at that point.

It's just they were counting on the city to protect them, but God brought them out and they fell at the thing. That was about the only thing I could see or read that was the significance of the border. God brought them to the end of the land and they fell there. Okay, thank you. So, verse 11. If we go back to Ezekiel 11. This city, where the temple is, Jerusalem, this city shall not be your cauldron. God is saying it's not going to be your place of safety.

Jerusalem is not going to be the place. Don't sit there. You think you're going to be in this big iron pot where you can't be touched by the fire. You can't be touched by the sword. This city will not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in its midst. Again, we think of a cauldron and the meat getting cooked in the midst. And yet what they're saying is the fire wouldn't hit the meat. They were the meat was going to be safe inside the cauldron. It's kind of a strange analogy for us today, but that's what they're saying.

He says, this place isn't going to be your place of safety if we want to use that term. You won't be the meat in its midst. I'm not going to protect you. This isn't the place where I protect you underneath my wings like the mother bird does her pens or her chicks, right? This isn't where it's going to be. Nor shall you be the meat that is missed.

I will judge you at the border of Israel. I will bring you out. The sword will bring you out. You are going to be vulnerable. You're going to be on the border of your enemies. So there's a significant sense that God has of this as he says, you think you're safe here, you're not. You're not. You're going to fall in a place that you don't want to be where you're not in the midst of what you consider a safe haven.

And you shall know, you shall know, verse 12, that I am the Lord. So God gives these prophecies. They come to pass. And if people are listening, and when they come to pass, it's like God said that. God said that. It happened exactly the way he said. Now, they didn't listen. They didn't listen to God. They didn't heed his warnings. They didn't do what he said. But they learned. It is exactly what God said.

And it's a lesson for you that we don't make the same mistakes that people did. If God says it, it's going to happen. There is no safety in the lands that we live in today.

There is no safety in our governments. There's nothing that we put our trust in except God. We don't make the same mistake, or we shouldn't make the same mistake that these people of old did. You shall know that I am the Lord. And then he says why it's happening to them. You have not walked in my statutes. You haven't executed my judgments.

But you have done according to the customs of the Gentiles, which are all around you. You did everything I told you, God said. In Deuteronomy 12, verses 29-32, I told you don't look at the way they worship their gods. Don't do the things the way they do. Do things and worship me the way that I tell you in my words.

And yet, Israel and Judah went right out and did exactly what God told them not to, and they suffered the consequences. Again, the lesson for us is, and the lesson for America, the lesson for Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Israel over there in the Middle East. When you depart from God, there are consequences, and the prophecies written are going to come to pass.

Do what God says. You have done according to the customs of the Gentiles, which are all around you. Now, what happened, verse 13, it happened while I was prophesying that Pelotia, the son of Aniah, died. This is the same Pelotia that we just read about in chapter 11, verse 1. So, as God is showing Ezekiel in the vision what is going to happen, Pelotia dies.

And when Ezekiel sees Pelotia die, he has the same reaction that he did in chapter 9, where he asks, God, are you going to destroy everyone? Ah, Lord God! He says, I fell on my face and cried with a loud voice and said, Ah, Lord God! Will you make a complete end of the remnant of Israel? Will you leave anyone alive?

Are you going to completely wipe Israel out? Here we have the sighing and crying again that we saw Ezekiel demonstrate back in chapter 9. Are you going to completely wipe them out? And it's interesting because when you read the commentaries, including our Bible commentary, the fact that Pelotia, when he sees Pelotia die, is it because he sees one elder die and he recognizes? Or is it because all those elders, all those 25, was he the last one?

Another commentary, or a few commentaries, will reference the fact that Pelotia means the hope of Israel. So is this something where Ezekiel, when he sees it, is the hope of Israel gone? Is it all gone when he sees Pelotia? Is that what God is saying there? The answer with God is no. There is hope. But hope is not in cities. The hope is not in man's government or kings or its princes.

The hope is in God. The hope that's placed in man dies. But the hope that is in God always survives. And so there could be any one of a few things that prompt this response out of Ezekiel when he sees Pelotia, the son of Baniadai. Is it the hope? Or maybe it's all three. When he sees God actually killing, that these men are being killed, it's, whoa, are you, they're really going to be killed?

Was he the 25th? Or was it the hope? But we see the heart of Ezekiel. He loves people, just like God loves the people. God punishes. God allows people to die. He does exact vengeance, vengeance and the consequences on people when they depart from sin. But always remember, he's not willing. That isn't what he wants. We bring it upon ourselves. It's us who does to lead God to that. It says he's not willing that any should perish.

All he wants is people to turn to him with their heart, mind and soul. It says in Ezekiel 18. We'll get to that here in a month or so. Turn to me and live. Israel, why would you die? Just turn to me. I'm not willing that any died. I don't want this to happen. You're making it happen. Turn to me.

Verse 14, again, the Word of the Lord came to me, Ezekiel, saying, Son of man, your brethren, your relatives, your countrymen, and all the house of Israel in its entirety.

Now, this is all the house of Israel in its entirety? These are all scattered, right? They've all been taken captive. They've all been dispersed throughout the countries when Israel was conquered by Assyria.

Your brethren, your relatives, your countrymen, and all the house of Israel in its entirety are those about whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get far away from the Lord. This land has been given to us as a possession.

Now, it's an interesting verse that's there, but what it in essence is saying is they're all gone, and Judah is saying, Get away from us. You're gone. You're gone. This is our land. Don't touch. Don't touch our land is basically what they are saying here.

See, I've got a verse of, yeah, this land. This land is ours. Get away from us. Get away from the Lord. This land has been given to us as a possession.

You can see, you kind of see there, just this is ours. This is ours, and the attitude that's there. Verse 16, God's response that he gives to Ezekiel is, Therefore say, Thus says the Lord God, Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, they're gone. They've been scattered into the countries. They won't return to this land. Although I have cast them off, far off among the Gentiles, so we know this was written after Israel was conquered. Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them and the countries that where they have gone. Even in their dispersal throughout the world, even though they've lost everything, even though they turned against God, God says they will still find a little sanctuary for me in me there. If they will just seek God, they will find some peace. They will find that solace that comes from them. I think it's our, the UCG Bible commentary even suggests that maybe it is the small church of God, you know, the true church of God that may be being talked about here because Christ says it will be a small flock. It'll be a little flock. Is that what God is talking about here? That his presence is still here with the church that is commissioned to do what his will is? But so is that God hasn't forgotten Israel just because they've been cast off, just because they no longer have a land, and they continue to live apart from him. He hasn't forgotten them.

And as you remember in the book of Israel, the book of Isaiah, no, God will bring Israel back to his promised land. And we're going to see that at the end of this chapter as well. God hasn't forgotten. He never forgets his people. We turn from him, but he never forgets who we are and what it is that he never forgets his people and has a plan to bring them back.

Sheod I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone. Therefore, say, verse 17, Thus says the Lord God, I will gather you... This is where he's talking about bringing them back after Christ's return, bringing them back to the land of Israel. I will gather you from the peoples. I will assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. There's that promise. There's that hope. There's that future. I'll bring you back. I'll bring you back. Not before Jesus Christ returns, but they will have the land that he gave them. He gave them that land, and they will have it again. And they will go there, verse 18, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there.

They've been scattered. They've been beaten. There's a remnant of them left. They've gone through some horrific things as a result of disobeying God. And they know now that it is God. They know they sinned against him. In Ezekiel 20, but also in Ezekiel 6, you'll remember that it says that they will loathe themselves for what they have done. Let me just read verse 9. I'll be right with you. Chapter 6, verse 9.

And yet, all we do is turn against God. All we do is minimize him, reject him, do the opposite of what he said. And when the people of this land learn and understand, they did it to themselves. Everything God blessed us with, it was our fault. Not anyone else's fault. It is our fault when the nation falls, and they will loathe themselves when they realize, look what we did. And they will have, as we're going to read here in verses the rest of the chapter here, an attitude when they come back of turning to God and being loyal to him. But yeah, Reggie, or Sandy, you've got a comment. It's me, Mr. Shaby. It was interesting. Two weeks ago here in Fortless, we had a sort of retreat. And the thing was, I was there at 6-8, and I was talking about turning to God and walking justly, and loving mercy, and being humble to God. And that's our thing two weeks ago when we got there. That's very good. Things that we should always do. Micah 6-8. Oh, Micah 6-8, yes. Yeah. Yeah, all right. Yeah, very good. We all need to remember that. We are God's people. We need to be doing exactly what God said. The nation around us might go in one direction, but more than ever, you'll probably hear me say more and more, we need to come out of this world and be separate. We need to be living God's way of life, and not just kind of in the world and adopting some of the things of the world, divorcing ourselves more and more from them. Mr. Marie.

Yes, that is very exciting. Thank you, Mr. Shavey. And thank you, Reggie. It's a good theme there in Micah because at the feast we regularly quote Isaiah chapter 2 and verses 3 and 4, and also Micah chapter 4 verse 2, where the law will go out from Zion. And it's interesting that we'll be the ones who will take the law out from Jerusalem to the world, and that this fulfillment here in verse 20 will be fulfilled in the millennium. Yep. We'll be the ones teaching it, right? Means we have to be living it now, and it has to be in our hearts. Mr. Elliott. Yes, thank you very much. Going back to something you mentioned a while ago, I find very interesting, and that is in verse 16, where it says, God said, Although I have cast them far off from among the Gentiles, and though I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.

You mentioned that little sanctuary. The margin there says, a holy place. And it just reminds me back in Isaiah chapter 8, that we covered some time ago, in verse 14, he will be as a sanctuary, the same word, sanctuary. But then it goes on in verse 14, But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and many of them shall stumble, be snared and taken.

And God says he's hiding his face from Jacob. Of course, some of that is partly referring to Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ is the head of the church, this little group. And I think that fits very well with what you were talking about.

I just wanted to point that out. Yeah, that's very good. It's like, you know, by day 814, that's, they tied it, they tied together when we, when we look at where God says these things twice. Very good. Good point. Okay, Tracy? I have what I hope is not a stupid question, but when we read about them going to different countries and being sent into exile, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel and all of them get down on their faces, and they say we have had this appointee or a bit of an abomination to you and things like that.

That's fine. I'm not sure which way. Does God actually separate out from the cloud that there are people that are trying to be as well? Are they kind of all clumped in the same nation, although a whole basket is rotten? Does that make sense? Why I'm asking? Are you, are you asking if everyone kind of repents before God? Or there's everyone considered bad, including God's people for the state of this country?

Well, he doesn't consider us bad. Yeah, we may suffer along with the, we may suffer along since we live in this country, right? See if we have our, our, but he doesn't, he's punishing the nation, and it'll be the nation.

I remember, you know, in Revelation, Revelation 12, there is, there is that indication that those who are, who are very closely walking with God, whose heart is completely with them, that he will keep them from that time. We don't put our stock all in that, and whatever God means by that, but it is, it is important that even though we live in this country, we are not becoming like this country. We don't let the ideas and the thoughts and the compromises sink into our heads and think, oh, that's okay. Yeah, that's not so bad. Yeah, it is bad. If it's against the Bible, we just do what the Bible says.

So, yeah, I mean, there will, there will be, there will be some who suffer along with the nation, but not, but let me just leave it at that. So. Okay, and those abominations we went through in Ezekiel 8 with the temple, did that continue to this day that those abominations are taking place from today? I think that, well, I think what God is showing is among His people, there are things going on behind the scenes that we may not see, but there is corruption, there is evil, and God sees everything, right?

We may not see it. Hypocrisy is alive and well in this nation, and even in the church as well, right? But God says, I see. And look, Ezekiel, look at what's happening, look at what's happening here, look at the abominations that are being reaped here. So it applies, it applies to all times. There's always something going on behind the scenes that God is not pleased with. Doesn't mean every single person is participating it, but it is part of what's going on among His people.

I'm so sad. It makes me cry. Yeah, no, it is sad. We should all know better, right? We all came and we all came, we all responded to God, we all said we would follow Him. What happens to us that we would actually fall into a situation like that and turn against Him? It's just a matter of complacency and not keeping ourselves zealous for the Word of God. Yeah. Thank you. Hey, Mr Murray.

Yes, well, once again, in support of what you're saying, then, Mr Shaby, remember, we went through Ezekiel 9 and 10, speaking of the one with the inkhorn and how He places a mark on those that sigh and cry for the way of God in that sense, we are those people. And God, as Mr Shaby pointed out in those studies there, that God, in that sense, at the end time, will place like a spiritual mark on us, like He will say these ones that have been called by Me and who are, you know, we are called and we are chosen, we receive God's Holy Spirit and we are the faithful.

And that's spoken of in Revelation 17 verse 14. So that's very encouraging. And also, Mr Shaby quoted from Psalm 92. And there's a key factor there in Psalm 91, I should say, sorry, Psalm 91 verse 9. There's a key description of those people that will be protected and will have that spiritual mark upon them in verse 9 and 10 of Psalm 91, which says, because you have made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high, your habitation, in other words, the people of God who have stayed close to God, who really do love God, who really do respect and revere God, who really love God's way of life.

Just not live it by obedience, but really love God's commandments and His way of life. Those people who make God their habitation, there shall no evil befall them, neither shall any plague come near their dwelling, for God shall give His angels charge over them to keep you in all your ways. So we have that wonderful assurance. So we won't suffer as the rest of our nation's will for the sins that we have committed.

It doesn't have to be a place, right? There's a place where it says a thousand will fall at your right side, ten thousand at your left, or maybe vice versa, but it won't come near you. So even in the midst of it, God can protect us.

Like tornadoes! Exactly. In Revelation 12, it says, and we go to the place that God has prepared. So God has prepared a place. We don't know where that is. It's a wilderness place. We know in Ezekiel 33, we know our bread and waters will be sure. We know that. We don't know where it is, but it will probably be revealed to us.

Maybe it will be revealed to us by the two witnesses or whatever at the time appropriate when it's to go to that place that God has prepared. Whenever God determines, He will reveal what we need to know. Okay, let's go back to chapter 11. We read verse 18. They will go back. When God brings them back, they're going to take away all the detestable things and all its abominations from there.

You know, we could think back to King Josiah, for instance. When we read the books of the kings, some of those kings, God says they're good kings. Right? In Josiah, when the books were opened to him and he understood, he went through the land and he got rid of the high places and the altars and all those things, he cleared the lands. Just like God expects us to claim, you know, clear the landscapes of our hearts. Get rid of those idols. Get rid of those high places. Help, you know, just give it to God. So they will take away all the detestable things and all its abominations from there.

In verse 19, it says, I then, God, will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them and take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh. And that's a beautiful verse because, you know, God, here's a people that have been humbled. They have lost everything. They have gone through a lot. They know it was God.

When God says, then they will know that I, it was me, they will know and they will be ready to repent and turn to God and recognize what they have done. God says, I'll give them one heart. You know, we're just a few days away from Pentecost. And I think one of the beautiful meanings of Pentecost or one of the beautiful pictures that God places at Pentecost among the many that you'll hear about, you know, you're probably reading about, thinking about, praying about, and you'll hear over the next weekend, Sabbath and Pentecost, is that they were all in one accord in one place.

They were perfectly united. They came together with God with singleness of heart. When those people were there on that first day of Pentecost, they were as one. They were as one. And that's what God has in mind for us. Baptized, it says in Ephesians 4, baptized into one spirit, baptized into one Father, all part of the same body.

Let me get to you in a minute here, Bill. Let's go to Acts 2. Acts 2 and verse 46. In that chapter that, you know, we'll be in, certainly, on Pentecost, it talks about the church at that time. And of course, you know, verse 1 of Acts 2 talks about they were all in one accord in one place. But as it talks about the church, I can never find Acts 2 here, it talks about the singleness of heart they had as that church came together.

Acts 2 and verse 46. Someone waiting? Okay. Acts 2 and verse 46 says, so continuing daily, continuing daily with one accord, with one accord in the temple, we keep coming back to one altogether, speaking the same thing, doing the same things, worshipping the same God, led by the same spirit. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. That word simplicity, you know, could just have easily been translated singleness. They ate their food with gladness and singleness of heart. They were all there for the same person, for the same purpose. They were all there with the same mission, the same view of God, worshipping God, had given themselves to it, came out of the world and did all those things.

That's what God wants in us. And as he talks here in Ezekiel 11 about bringing the people back, and they will have one heart. They will be serving God with a singleness of purpose. In Jeremiah, God talks about this singleness of heart as well. Let's go to Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah 32 and verse 37. Here Jeremiah, who's in Jerusalem, at this time, he is saying the same thing.

Behold, he says, verse 37, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in my anger, in my fury, and in great wrath. I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be my people, and I will be their God. Then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever. Notice how he says this. The same thing he says in Deuteronomy. For the good of them and their children after them.

The way of God is for our good. And that's one thing to remember. In Deuteronomy, chapter 11, Deuteronomy, chapter 8, he says, I will give them my law for their own good. I won't turn back to 2 Chronicles, but 2 Chronicles 30. Remember Hezekiah? We talked about Hezekiah when we were going through the book of Isaiah.

When Hezekiah was turning completely to God and having the people turn to God, it says that God blessed them because they were there on that Passover and during that unleavened bread season with singleness of heart. That's what we strive for. That's what God wants in us. And that's what He will have in the people that He brings back and puts in the land that He promised to Abraham. Yes, go ahead, Bill.

There's a scripture, and I don't remember where it is. I think it might be in Zechariah, where the Jews, when they realize who Christ was, they accept Him as a son and don't they cry and just really get upset? They do repent, right? When they recognize who God is, yeah, His people will. That's not happening today, but it will. I'm not sure where that verse is you're talking about either. Is it in Nehemiah?

Might be. Do you have a verse in mind? No, just a book. Sorry. Okay, good thought. Tracy? I'm sorry I have so many questions. I don't understand any books if I read them by myself.

So I don't know if it's the same lines or not. I hope it is. But I've always heard growing up, and I don't know if it's true, that we, in our spirit, will have jobs. And what we learn today prepares us for those jobs. Like when we suffer, we learn from passion. When we go through, like, for example, I'm going through the nursing home and all that kind of thing. And I will understand the needs of the disabled thing to be able to put those offices into practice and things in the new world, things they don't have today. Is that accurate or is that just something I'm always to teach me? No, it's accurate. Let me just turn to a scripture that shows you that. Yeah, what we go through today, God is preparing us. We are accumulation of the experiences that He gives us, and He puts us through things so that we learn. And He teaches us things so that we can help others. You know, 2 Corinthians 1, verse 3, it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Who comforts us in all our tribulation? Why? That we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. So He does teach us things to give us those experiences today so that we can help others in whatever manner He has in mind for us in the future. Don't think God isn't watching what's going on in our lives. And that's why Paul says, count it all joy when you fall into trials. God is working with you. He is preparing you. There are things we are learning through all those things that we will understand in the future exactly why we live through them. Well, thank you. OK. Yeah, Mr. Marie? Yes, that's so true. That's well put. And, you know, there's this incredible calling that we have now in 1 Peter 2, verse 9. And I think sometimes I'm not sure that everyone in the church really grasps this and the incredible calling we've been given. But we are a chosen generation. We're a royal priesthood in training. We are now in training to be kings and priests, we know, in Revelation 5, 10 in the kingdom of God. And sometimes I've even heard it when I've been talking with people. I say, oh, well, you know, what am I? I'm just a nobody. You know, I'm not a minister. I'm not a deaconess. I'm not a deacon. I'm not a whatever in the church. So hang on.

We are a royal priesthood. We've been specially chosen. We've been specially called out to the train now. And as you've quite rightly said there, Tracy and Mr. Shaby, we are learning by the trials and experiences we're going through just as Christ perfected perfection. He, by the things which he suffered, you know, he became, you know, our great Savior. So we are also learning through the things that we suffer, the trials that we go through. So that, as you said, Tracy and Mr. Shaby was saying, we'll be the ones who'll be able to have that kind of empathy and sympathy and understanding and compassion for people in the kingdom of God. Because even as Isaiah 40 verses 10 and 11, I believe, speaks of how Christ, yes, he's going to rule with a rut of iron. He's going to gently lead those with young, like as a shepherd holds a little young lamb in his arms, you know? So we're going to have that kind of approach, the same approach as Jesus Christ. Very good. Very good. Okay, let's go back to chapter 11. So one heart, right, takes the stony heart that's rebellious, that's hard, that doesn't want to listen to God. Give him a heart of flesh. Tender. We'll listen. We'll listen to God. And that they, in verse 20, that they, that's Israel that's brought back, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my judgments and do them. And they shall be my people and I will be their God. So that is exactly what Mr. Murray was talking about in 1 Peter 2 9. We are his people today. We are to do those things. And that's the way that we'll be taught in the millennium. Walking in his statutes, keeping his judgments. But there are a group of people who won't even listen then, as it shows us in verse 21. As for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads, says the Lord God. So there will be, you know, you would hope that every single person would see the truth and the love of God, but not every single person will. That's why it says in Revelation, you know, not everyone will see, even in the Second Resurrection. And there will be those who are cast into the lake of fire because they simply will not follow God. God, you know, when we repent before God and he gives us the Holy Spirit, he gives us that spirit of, or that heart of flesh.

We just have to keep it alive and not allow the cares and concerns of this world to take us away and forget who God is. So we come to the end of the vision here. And the final four verses we see then God bringing Ezekiel back down, sitting in front of those elders that he was sitting in front of in Ezekiel 8.1 when this vision began.

So the cherubim lifted up their wings. Again, remember, we see the Spirit of God or the glory of God moving from place to place during this vision. So the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was high above them. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain, which is on the east side of the city. So he's removed from there. The vision is done. Go on back up to heaven. And then the Spirit took me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, which is Babylon, to those in captivity. And the vision that I had seen went up from me. So here's the vision. Then God showed him. Here's what's going on. So I spoke to those in captivity of all the things the Lord had shown me. So we come right back down to the end of the vision, and then we see, you know, then we'll begin. We'll take up Chapter 12 next week.