Bible Study: June 5, 2024

Okay, so tonight we will be covering Ezekiel 9 and 10. And just as a reminder or refresher, I guess, before we get into that, of where we were the last time we were together. We talked about Ezekiel 8 and before that, Ezekiel 7. And really from about Ezekiel 6 through tonight and then next week when we cover chapter 11 and 12, there is a prophecy that's going on here that does pertain to the end times.

It did have some fulfillment in the ancient times of Judah, but remember that Ezekiel is out of Judah. He is in Babylon, River Kvar, and he was in the second exile there. So he is prophesying, and many times God tells him to speak to the house of Israel. Israel, of course, had gone into captivity 120 years before this. So the prophecies that we're talking about are for today and the end of the age. In chapter 7, you will remember that there's a prophecy that talks about disaster coming.

And several times in that chapter, we'll look at them again in a little bit. God reminds us, he says, the time is near. The time is near. Disaster has come. And then at the end of the chapter is disaster upon disaster as those things just increase as he withdraws his blessings from a nation that has turned against him. And the consequences of actions and sins that the nation has committed begin to come upon them. In chapter 8 last week, God took Ezekiel and showed him what was going on behind the scenes in the vision, if you will remember.

And God called all those things abominations. He talked about how what the elders were doing in the temple behind closed doors, behind walls that were hiding what was going on. And we talked about abominations of weeping for tammuz, worshipping the sun, if you recall, as he talked about the greater abominations that were going on, and the East Gate, and 25 men face toward the sun. And we talked about some of the things of those vestiges of that society and that Babylonian religion and the paganism that was there that has has hold over even into this day, that we still have with us today.

And so as we came to the end of chapter 8, we talked about, you know, we in the last part of that, it talks about how destruction is going to come upon the land. God is not happy at all with people who bring paganism into his truth and into his sanctuary.

And as we read about a physical temple, we remember that you and I are the spiritual temples that God is building his presence in, his dwelling places in, individually, collectively. And the church around the world, he is building a temple that Jesus Christ will come back to. We are the people he's working with if we continue to yield to him. So as we as we end chapter 8, you know, God makes the statement of verse 18 that we'll go right into chapter 9.

We did read some of chapter 9 last time because it was just a continuity of chapter 8, but I'm going to go back through it. So we'll get more of the flavor of some of the detail that's in chapter 9 and what God is showing us there. So in verse 18, chapter 8 of Ezekiel, he says, So we remember there are consequences for actions. There are consequences and penalties for sins that we commit. God does forgive. Jesus Christ does forgive when we repent. But there are still consequences.

So going on then in chapter 9, after all that Ezekiel has seen that God has revealed to him about what is going on behind the scenes—the corruption, the paganism, the worship of false gods— all while the people were indicating that they were following God, but behind the scenes they really weren't. God goes on in chapter 9 and Ezekiel writes, So God is ready to exact punishment on a nation that has sinned and a city that has sinned here in this case.

And suddenly, suddenly it says in verse 2, six men came from the direction of the upper gate. Now you'll remember in the depiction of the wall that surrounded Jerusalem back in Nehemiah, the upper gate was up on the north side. You had the eastern gate on the eastern side of force. But here God is referring back to these gates that we read about in Nehemiah and that we'll see here later on in chapter 9. Suddenly, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle axe in his hand.

So we've got a weapon of destruction that six messengers come forward with. And they're ready to do what God is saying, remembering He's saying, I have no pity, I won't hear. What they've done is egregious. Always remembering, too, that God is patient. He is ready for people to repent. He gives us time to repent. But in this case, there's a time where God is, you know, they aren't going to repent. They are so steeped in their ways.

Their consciences have become so seared, they cannot see the truth. They cannot turn back. It's reminiscent of Hebrews 10, where it says, you can't trample underfoot again. There's one time that Christ forgives. But if we sin so fervently and sear our consciences and turn our hearts against God and willfully sin over and over, we just can't turn back to Him. And that's what He's dealing with here. So we have these six men coming with a battle axe, ready to do what God has said.

They're coming with these deadly weapons. One man among them was clothed with linen and had a rider's inkhorn at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar. So what you have are seven beings here. They say men, but, you know, these are not men who are coming in. These are messengers of God that are coming in. But one of them, six were armed with a battle axe, but one was clothed with linen. He was different than the other six. He was separate. And he had a rider's inkhorn at his side. So let's just pause for a moment and look at what's clothed with linen.

Because when we read about people clothed with linen, when God says that, it says something about the people. We might think of Revelation 19, where it talks about the Bride of Christ. And it says that the Bride of Christ is clothed in linen bright and clean.

When there's linen involved in the clothing, it's a cleanliness. It's a special thing. The priesthood of old was clothed in linen. When God said, put on your linen trousers when you come before me, wear these things. It's a special thing. So this person, this one of the seven, has that special calling and that special purpose. He's clothed with linen. And just to refresh our minds on that, if we keep our fingers there in Ezekiel 9. Let's go back to Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16.

Revelation 19. So I won't turn there because I think we're familiar with that depiction and the people that wear linen there. But in 16 of Leviticus 3, talking about what the ceremony or ritual that Israel went through during the Day of Atonement. In verse 3, it says, Aaron will come into the Holy Place with the blood of the young bull as a sin offering and of Aram as a burnt offering.

And let me let these two get on. Okay, so we are in Exodus. For those who just joined, we're in Exodus 16 going into verse 4 right now. Leviticus 16. He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body. He will be girded with a linen sash and with the linen turban he will be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore, he shall wash his body in water and put them on. So you can see the significance of wearing linen clothes.

There is something special about that office. The priests of old wore those linen clothing. The Bride of Christ will be in linen, bright and clean. In the book of Daniel, Daniel 10, verse 5. Now this is another one where there's a vision that is here. You can see in these prophecies where God works with his prophets and he reveals these things to him. Daniel was in the first exile from Jerusalem. He was in Babylon. You remember in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, one of the fine young men that Nebuchadnezzar wanted to make part of this court.

God did give several visions to Daniel of prophecies of what to come. You are familiar with some of them. Many of them, actually. The beasts that we see again in Revelation. The statue of gold that depicts the four world ruling kingdoms of the earth. Here in chapter 10, I will just look at verse 5 here. He says he's by the Great River Tigris. He says, I lifted my eyes and looked and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Eufaz.

Then he talks about this vision that he has. It's pretty clear who he is seeing in this vision when you see the description of who he sees clothed in this linen. We see it again in Daniel 12. Here in Daniel 12, clearly talking about the end time. In verse 4, words that we talk about a lot as we see the way we live our lives today. In verse 4, Daniel shut up the words, seal the book, until the time of the end, many will run to and fro, and knowledge will increase. There's never been a time in history where we can run to and fro and literally be on the other side of the country.

You know, in one morning and back on this side of the country, you know, within just a few hours. And of course, knowledge increasing. They say every 12 hours, now knowledge is doubling, which is kind of like mind boggling. But down in verse 7, you know, Daniel sees some messages from God. Verse 6, he says, And swore by him who lives forever that it will be the time, times, and half a time. And of course, that's the three and a half years.

And as we went through the book of Revelation, that time, times, and half a time. That's a major problem. Yep. And so we, you know, so when you see someone clothed in linen, it's someone of God that is there. So in Ezekiel 9, these aren't just men that God raised up from the city to come there. These are our messengers from God. And this one clothed with linen in verse 2 is a special one. He has a writer's inkhorn at his side.

If we go back to Ezekiel 9 in verse 2, Clothed with linen, that kind of tells us who he is. He's of God. And he has a writer's inkhorn at his side. It'll become clear in the next few verses what he's going to do with that writer's inkhorn, because God is going through the city and has him go and look at the people of the sanctuary, look at the people in this area, and put a mark on them.

Put a mark at them. Some of the commentaries suggest that this is that he is even writing in the Book of Life. The Bible doesn't tell us that here, but he there. But he has his writer's inkhorn, so he's doing something with that. He's recording something about the people that God is going to judge in this chapter. And so in verse 2, he's there with linen. He's got his writer's inkhorn at his side. And they went in and they stood beside the bronze altar. The bronze altar is where the burnt offerings were offered.

And it says in verse 3 of Ezekiel 9, The glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where had it been? And this is a reference, if you remember, in the Holy of Holies, where the mercy seat was and the caribs were there. It's talking about he's in, he's there, and this had gone up from the caribs. This glory of the God of Israel. We'll talk about the glory in a little bit. But here, remember, Ezekiel is in a vision at this point. He's not in Jerusalem where the temple is. The temple has been, or has been, the process of being destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

But God is giving him this vision, and this glory comes up from the mercy seat where the cherub, those three caribim are over that mercy seat. It's going up. It's going up from there. And you're going to see movement, movement of the glory of God through that temple as we go through chapter 9. The glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the carib, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. So now it's at the beginning, or the entrance of the temple.

The glory of God moves from Holy Aholah, or that indication, to the entrance of the temple. And he called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer's ink horn at his side. And the eternal, YHWH, said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark, put a mark on the foreheads of men, who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it. Put a mark on their foreheads. Now, we're familiar with marks. I think we might have talked about this last time.

In Revelation 13, when the Beast power, the government that will come upon the earth, that is very autocratic and very anti-God, and very much about idol worship and pagan worship and the physical king worship and doing things exactly the way they say to do them, God warns us, Do not receive the mark of the Beast. But here in this city, there's a mark that's put on the ones who don't participate, who don't go along with the crowd in participating in the abominations that God has defined for us in the prior two chapters. So he says, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men, who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.

So sigh and cry, God is saying, there are people there who see what is going on in Jerusalem, and they're not happy that there's persecution coming. They're not happy that there's consequences that are going to come to the people. They mourn for what is going on there. It reminds me when I sigh and cry that Jesus Christ—I mean, we just talked about this when he was crucified back on Passover Day when he's crucified, and he says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

He didn't call vengeance on God. He didn't speed God's wrath on them. But he sighed and cried because humanity was in that type of sense that they would actually put the Savior to death. And here he's talking about that as well, and it's a lesson for us. You know, when not good things happen to a world that is departed from God, we don't celebrate.

We don't high-five each other. You know, we've read in the book of Isaiah about how the Assyrians and other nations, when Israel would fall or they would have a victory over them, they would high-five each other. We see in the world today, you know, when the little nation of Israel over there, when something happens to them, the Middle East will just be gleeful over whatever tragedy might occur to Israel.

And God hates that. He wants the compassion on fellow human beings. And as he says here, you know, the people who sigh and cry, why do people do this? Why are they getting away from God? Do they know what they're bringing upon themselves as they do that? We take the time. Yeah, well, that's because, you know, Christ talks about this in the Beatitudes as well.

If we go back to Matthew 5, you know, he touches on this as well. As he opens up the Sermon on the Mount, you remember the Beatitudes in chapter 5 of Matthew. And the very second one that he, the first one he mentions is in verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the humble, right? The ones who aren't proud, the ones who realize and are completely submitted to God and recognize Him as the giver of all good things. But the second one he mentions are, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

And it's mourning for the world and what it is going to have to go through and what is going to have to happen as a result of in just actions of mankind who has gone astray and who have allowed themselves to follow, you know, the God of this world, Satan, as opposed to having the character to do what God wants.

So it's notable, you know, we can go through the rest of the Beatitudes, but you can do that. If we go back to chapter 9 of Ezekiel then, there, you know, look at what God is saying. Have compassion, the people, they're going to bring some awful things upon themselves as a result of their actions. Put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it. In the previous chapter, he revealed to Ezekiel many of those abominations that God tests. And through the Bible, we've talked about that before. God lists those abominations.

We can see what is an abomination to him and make sure we steer clear of it and don't allow that to enter into our lives. Verse 5 then, to the others, that's the other six men, right? The man whose clothed in linen, you go through, I'm judging the people, put a mark on their foreheads. They've got the right attitude. They're yielded to God. Put a mark on them. To the other six, he said in my hearing, go after him through the city and kill.

Don't let your eyes spare. Don't have any pity. Exactly the words that God had said back in the last verse of chapter 8. So they are out with their axes, with their deadly weapons, to kill those who have committed these abominations and turn their heart thoroughly against God. Verse 6, he uses adverbs again, utterly, utterly slay old and young men, maidens, and little children and women. But don't come near anyone on whom is the mark. So we have this, you know, as God looks at the hearts of men, what is the intent of their heart?

Is it evil wickedly? Is it doing the paganism thing? Is it being hypocrites and making it look like you are worshiping God while behind the scenes you're really steeped in all the way to the world? Or are their hearts really with God? And he says, spare them. Put the mark on them.

And I will use the term, but the term isn't in the Bible. It's kind of like, put them in a place of safety. Let the others suffer, but these I'm going to protect because of the attitude they have.

So, you can totally slay old and young. You notice he doesn't eliminate anyone here. Young and old, maidens, little children and women, but don't come near anyone on whom is the mark. So, in the words—and as we've been out with the pastors' conferences, Steve Meyers, his section, he talks about this verse right here. Where does God begin? Begin at my sanctuary, begin in my house, begin in my house, the people of the Church of God. 1 Peter 4, 17 says, judgment is now on the house of God. God is looking to see what are we doing now, not what will we do in the future. What are we doing now when he calls us?

Begin at my sanctuary, so they began with the elders who were before the temple. The ones who should have been setting the example, the ones in chapter 8 who were behind closed doors and women weeping for tamoos and people worshipping the sun as it came up in the east. All these other things that we read about, because the elders are supposed to set the standard. We all are teachers. We all are responsible for God's calling. But significantly, God says, go there to the ones, go to the leaders. All who are in those leadership roles—and we are in leadership roles in our homes as well.

In James 3, verse 1, says, don't let many of you be teachers, because for them are the ones, there is the stricter judgment. God holds us accountable for what we know and what we teach. So they began with the elders who were before the temple, and he said to them, verse 7, defile the temple, fill the courts with the slain, go out, and they went out, and they killed in the city. When he says defile the temple, you'll remember that part of the purification. Well, Samantha, do you have a question or comment? Yes, sir. And I'm sorry, this is my first Bible study, so I wasn't sure if I should hold it to the end or if I can just— No, no, no. No, that's fine. You did exactly right. Go ahead and whatever you want to talk about. Awesome. For the verse that we were just talking about, number 6, where it says, you know, stay utterly old and young, the women and the little children. Does that lend any credence to that theological idea of like predestination? Is it like you're either born good or bad? No. Predestination is simply about the calling that God has. It's up to us. God doesn't have any prejudged ideas of that. This one's going to fail, and this one's going to be in the kingdom. It's predestined who he will call in this life, this time, the age that we're in now. But it is up to us to use the Holy Spirit God gives us and to live his way of life. And is there anything in this about like an age of accountability? I know that sometimes I know a lot of people don't baptize infants anymore because they're not aware of things yet, and they have to wait until they know what's going on first. So is there like an age when that should happen?

The church teaches that baptism should be when you are an adult, when you can make a conscious decision to leave your prior life behind and dedicate yourself to following God's way. That you've counted the cost and that you will commit to him for eternity that you will follow him. So, no, this verse isn't indicating anything about infant baptism. What it does do, though, is for parents who are baptized, it shows the responsibility that they have to teach their children in the way of God's way. In the way of God. You know, we've talked about that in Deuteronomy 6. It talks about when you rise up and when you lie down, teach God's way. Have God part of your family so that your children are learning the way of God, and that's inculcated into them from a very young age. As he says, slay old and young, maiden and children, here it's because they have been raised in a place where they have not been raised to honor God. That way they have had paganism mixed with the worship of God. Now, let me say then, too, remember as we read these verses when God says that, his plan of salvation is for every man, woman, and child. So he has first fruits that he calls now that he opens our minds to the truth of God. Well, we repent and we receive the Holy Spirit. We follow him. But for all the rest of humanity, there is a second resurrection. That will be at that time when they understand Jesus Christ and have their minds open to the truth and have an opportunity to accept God's way of life and live it then. For instance, the little children.

So these little children that are being slayed now during the second resurrection, they'll have a chance to realize what they didn't realize the first time? They will. Yes, they will be resurrected and they will have an opportunity to understand the truth and to choose to live that way. All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. OK. OK, so let us what we were in. We were in verse seven, right? He said to them, defile the temple. You remember in the temple, priests, if they came across any dead bodies, they had to go through a period of purification. They couldn't go into the temple until they went through this purification process. You know, as we hear about red heifers over in Israel today and what's going on over there, that's part of that purification process that the Jews over there who still abide by the Old Testament, not recognizing Jesus Christ as Savior, that they have this purification process. But God says, I mean, you would never defile the temple if you were a priest and you had touched a corpse or come in contact with one. You wouldn't go into the temple, but God says, go into the temple and kill. Defile, defile that temple. Fill the courts with the slain. Go out. And they went out and killed in the city. So it was verse eight that while they were killing them, Ezekiel was left alone. And I fell on my face and cried out and said, Now here's Ezekiel. He's seen the practices of people behind the scenes. God has revealed to him those hidden things. He's been told these people will be killed. But then we see Ezekiel doing exactly what God has said in verse four. As he sees what's going on, he's not saying they're getting their just reward. That's exactly what's deserved. What does he do? He falls on his face and cries out and says, Ah, Lord God, will you destroy all the remnants of Israel and pouring out your fury on Jerusalem? Are you going to save some of them? Are you going to just utterly destroy Israel? So you see this compassion that's in his heart. It's reminiscent of Abraham. Remember when Abraham—I think it's in Genesis 18—when God says, I'm going to destroy Sodom. The sin of Sodom has come up before me, and it's a wicked place, and I'm going to destroy Sodom. And Abraham doesn't say, Yeah, you're right. It's a wicked city. Go ahead and do it. They deserve everything you're going to do. He pleads with God. If there's 50 righteous, will you save the city for that? How about 40, 30, 20, 10? There's not even 10 in the city. And you see in the hearts of God's people who he's working with, there's this compassion. That there's compassion. I don't want to see them die. I sigh and cry over them, and I just want them to understand God's way of life when everything is good.

Here we have Ezekiel having exactly the type of reaction that God would want him to have and us to have. Ah, Lord God, will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out your fury on Jerusalem? And then God said to him, The iniquity of the house of Israel. No, remember, the house of Israel no longer exists at the time Ezekiel is alive. So this is a prophecy for a time on the house of Israel. The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. There's one of those adverts again. There's a time where the sin is just so complete and so heinous in God's eyes that it's time that he says, Enough is enough. Yeah, Samantha. Oh, sorry. He says, Enough is enough. The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah, he's referring to two separate kingdoms there, just like we read in the book of, I think it is, Hosea, where he talks about the fall of Israel and Judah in the last days. The iniquity is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity. Now, as we look at our societies today and where they're going, where they were five and ten years ago, well, even before that, you know, where are we today? I mean, we see violence, and we see the word perversity there, what's going on in the world around us today as it becomes a place that we don't even recognize, right?

The city is full of perversity, for they say, the Lord has forsaken the land, and he doesn't see. What that means is, God doesn't do anything. Life just goes on. He's not going to pay any attention to us. We can do whatever we want. He's just, you know, as Peter says in 2 Peter 3, God's up there, but things go on just as they always are. They've forgotten God, and they don't see God either anymore. So you have a society here that has just fallen into complete depravity and has completely separated themselves from God and doesn't really pay that much attention to God anymore. And as for me, also, verse 10, As for me, also, my eye will neither spare nor will I have pity, but I will recompense their deeds on their own head. We see God repeating this, right? You know, God is a merciful God. God is a patient, kind, loving God. He's not willing that any should perish.

We believe that. We know that. We've all experienced it in our lives. That God is patient with us, and He doesn't give us one chance, and then just, you know, block our heads off. But there comes a time when He sees the heart is so thoroughly turned against Him that He will end it. He will end it. And when a society becomes that way, when the iniquity is so complete in a land, God takes that land from them. And here we have that happening with the house of Israel and Judah. They have become so corrupt, so violent, so perverse that God knows there is no, they will not turn back to Him. There is a time where He just knows that, and it's time for things to move on. And He says, at that point, my eye will not spare, and I won't have pity. They will reap the consequences of their actions, of their choices, and they will know, He says several times, that I am God. They will know that He is God and that He did it, and they will understand at that point. Just then, verse 11, the man clothed with linen, who had the inkhorn at his side, reported back and said, I have done as you commanded me. So this is someone that God sent out, a messenger that God sent out, go out. You're in linen, you mark those who sigh and cry. The others you kill and spare not.

And when the job is done, they report back to God and say, we've done it. We've done what you commanded us to do. So it's a very strong chapter. And what 8 and 9 together are really strong chapters when you look at it and see how God feels about His people when we don't do what He wants us to do. He wants us to. That's why He gives us His Holy Spirit. That's why He calls us. That's why He's patient with us. That's why He puts us in a body so that we can work with each other and help each other to remember what our calling is, that there is the kingdom of God. And Jesus Christ will come down to earth. He will be King of Kings, and that's what He is preparing us for.

But there are some who behind closed doors and in hidden things will just play the game, I sometimes say. Check the boxes off and do things, but they don't give their heart to God. Very important that we give our heart to God and ask Him to reveal to us if our heart is somewhere else so that our heart becomes fully engaged and committed to Him.

Anything before we go into chapter 10?

Chapter 10. Yeah, yeah, 10.

Oh, we can't hear you, Ken. At least I can't.

Nope. Let me see if I can unmute you.

Yeah, hit your microphone again. I see that your microphone is off.

Okay, okay. Well, we'll try again. We'll see if I can do it.

No, I can't.

Oh, there you go. Okay, now we can hear you.

Okay. Just a little point there with this wonderful chapter 9. It's also a duality chapter in the sense that there was a minor fulfillment of it in Ezekiel's day.

But of course, you know, the Israelites or the Jews in particular were in captivity already. And there had been a destruction take place already. And there'd be a number of waves of going into the captivity.

So this chapter and also chapter 10 are also very applicable to us in the end time.

And in regard to the place of safety coming up, that this one with the inkhorn will, in the future time, when the place of safety is ready and prepared by God for us, that this person with the inkhorn will also put a mark on our forts.

You know, the beast will have his mark, but God will have his mark for those that sigh and cry in the end time, like we are, of course, in this age, but especially at the time of the place of safety. So this also has a future fulfillment to come.

Yes. Agree. However God works that out. We don't know exactly how, right? But yes, there is a place talked about in Revelation 12 that would indicate that. Yeah, and in Luke 21 verse 36, and in Revelation 3 verse 10, and I was talking about the same attitude of those people. Yeah, very good. Okay. Hey, Becky. Hey there. I've heard of a relationship, like a contrast between the mark of the beast and the mark of God's people being the Sabbath. Sort of like if you have that mark of God the Sabbath, then you're not likely to take the mark of the beast. Sort of like just a symbolic type thing. But I just wondered if that mark of God's people is comparable to this mark that's placed on these people. If it has anything to do with the Sabbath, or people who are keeping the Sabbath about laws, that's the mark? Or do we know what it is? Well, we don't know exactly what the mark is. But I mean, it's more than just keeping the Sabbath. It's Sabbath and the entire law of God, the entire way of life of God giving your heart to Him. Not because a lot of people can just keep the Sabbath, right? There's a whole other church, the Seventh-day Adventist, who just keep the Sabbath, but they keep a lot of pagan things as well, right? They keep all of the pagan holidays as well.

So yeah, and you know, as we get further along, I know the church said that for a while. It's still there. We have to do things God's way. It will certainly be the people who are committed to God and have their hearts with Him and doing the things that are committed to Him. Whatever that mark can be, you know, maybe during COVID we began to see a little bit of what the Satan has in mind in that society, what we would be required to do in that society and say no against, and it might not be just the Sabbath.

It can certainly be that, but we don't know exactly what it is, but it could take a lot of different forms. Yeah, more so, I mean, like the mark is obey, obedience, obeying God and keeping His ways and that being the thing that distinguishes you from the rest of the world and the mark of the beast.

We will be standing up against the beast, whatever it is. Whatever it is, we will be taking a stand and not doing what they say and choosing God, and that will bring their ire down on us. I had just one more quick thing you said about giving God our heart. Proverbs 23, 26, My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways.

It reminded me of that verse. Very good. Very good. Okay. Now, Chapter 10. Oh, Reggie, did you have something you want to say? You're off. Your microphone is on or off. Yep, there you go. Yep, now we can hear you. Anyway, it's very possible that God gives us the Holy Spirit. And that's the other part, big time. It does, if we're using it right, if we're living by it and yielding to it. He knows what it is, and people see the difference in us by the way we live and respond. Yep, could be. Okay. Now, Chapter 10. Chapter 10 is an interesting chapter, and I'm going to put a PowerPoint up here because as God communicates further with Ezekiel, he goes back and puts him in a vision of the throne room again.

And so Chapter 10 will recount many of the things that we read in Chapter 1. I think we mentioned the last time we were at a Bible study or the time before. God has a way of communicating with Ezekiel that you see the vision. In Chapter 1, God gives him this vision of his throne and heaven and the caribim and the wheels and all those things that you remember.

And then later on in Chapter 4 or 5, we see a little bit of it. And here in Chapter 10, after this vision of Chapter 8 and 9, we go back to the throne room of God again. So let me read a few things here that I'm going to pull the slides up just so you can kind of see the parallel between Chapter 10 and Chapter 1. As God repeats things twice, it's just good for us to pay attention.

Chapter 10, verse 1, I looked, I looked, Ezekiel says, and there in the firmament that was above the head of the caribim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne. So let me share. And slideshow from current slide. Okay. I don't know where I wanted to be, but let me move. I got to get something off my screen here. Okay, so what I'm going to do is I go through Chapter 10. These are the actual verses for Chapter 1 from that PowerPoint we used way back when you're in Chapter 1.

So there we have, okay, well, I guess that's the next slide. This is going to talk about the fire. Chapter 2, he spoke to the man clothed with linen and said, Go in among the wheels under the carib, fill your hands with coals of fire from among the caribim, and scatter them over the city. And he went in as they watched. So here they are. We have, you know, as we began Chapter 1, we see a whirlwind coming down with a raging fire engulfing itself.

Here in Chapter 1, we have the firmament above their heads, you know, just as God says here in verse 1, and on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Now the cherubim were standing, verse 3, on the south side of the temple when the man went in and the cloud filled the inner court. So we have the temple of God, and here's something different than what we saw in Chapter 1, this cloud that fills the inner court. And you remember, we're going to go back to Exodus 34, 2 Chronicles 7, you remember when Israel built the tabernacle in the wilderness, and they completed it, and they did it exactly the way that God said to do it. And God was very pleased with what Israel did under the direction of Moses because they followed his instructions explicitly. So if you keep your finger there in Ezekiel 10, let's go back to Exodus 34, and we see a cloud that fills that tabernacle because God is very pleased with it. It's called the Shekinah, the Shekinah glory of God, and when he's pleased with it, he fills the tabernacle with it. Not Ezekiel 34, it's Ezekiel 40, I'm sorry, Ezekiel 40, and verse... Well, it's Shabbi. Yes. That word is a little skeptic, if they use a word to try and...it's kind of shaky, that word that the Jews tend to use to describe the glory in the temple. Okay. Okay, the Shekinah word. Yeah, the Shekinah is not in the Bible. Yeah. We'll just use the words in the Bible. We'll use the word cloud, which is the same one there in Ezekiel. Well, let's look at Ezekiel 40 and verse 34. Did I say...yeah, I'm sorry, it's Exodus. Exodus 30, Exodus 40, verse 34.

So the tabernacle has been completed, and it says...

God was very pleased. His presence was there in that cloud that He showed that He was dwelling in that place that was constructed exactly in accordance with Him.

That's what His will and instructions were. In 2 Chronicles 7, when Solomon's temple is completed, in exactly the instructions given of God, we see the same cloud that fills it at that point. 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 1.

So we see this cloud, this glory of God that fills it. And here we have, if we go back to chapter 10, we have the same thing happening here in verse 3.

So you have Ezekiel, who is there. We have all this going on in 8 and 9. Then we have the glory of God that is being revealed to Him again in this vision God gives Him. Now the sound of the wings, the sound of the wings of the carob and was heard, even in the outer court, like the voice of the Almighty God. And if I can get my... Yeah. Yeah, well, this is burning coals of fire.

And here's the same thing from chapter 1. The sound of their wings, like the noise of many waters. So God is, again, as Ezekiel is in a vision, He's remembering these things, and God has just completed this vision in 8 and 9. So He hears these things. And it happened when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire! Take fire from among the wheels, from among the carobim. And He went and stood beside the wheels. So now He's doing something like this.

I advanced too early, but just remember that. And the carob stretched out His hand from among the carobim to the fire that was among the carobim, and took some of it and put it in the hands of the man clothed with linen, who took it and went out. So He's reaching out to get the fire. This says, The carobim appeared to have the form of a man's hand under their wings. And this refers back to the vision in verse 8, The hands of a man were under their wings on their foresides, and each of the forehead faces and wings.

So we have this vision. God is adding a little bit to it. Now we see the man clothed in linen doing some things with it. Take the fire. It's going to be thrown and scattered on the city.

And He takes it from the carobim that are there because they have these under their wings, they have these hands. Verse 9, When I looked, there were four wheels by the carobim, one wheel by one carob and another wheel by each other carob. The wheels appeared to have the color of a barrel stone. As for their appearance, all four looked alike as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. So remember this artist's depiction of Ezekiel 1, right? They all had these like a wheel within a wheel, and they were all full of eyes, right? All four of them looked the same as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

This is from chapter 1. And then in chapter 1, we remember talking about wherever they went, they just moved in one direction. They could go northeast, west, south, but they could only move in one direction. They all moved in the same direction as God directed them. When they went, verse 11, in chapter 10, they went toward any of their four directions.

They didn't turn aside when they went, but they followed in the direction the head was facing. They did not turn aside when they went. And we talked about that spiritual application for us. When God tells us to move forward, we just keep our eyes on Him. We keep our eyes on the Kingdom. We keep moving forward, or whatever direction that He has us go in. It may not be the direction we think we would go inhumanly, but we follow Him, just like ancient Israel followed Him through the course of 40 years in a very lengthy way to the Promised Land.

They all went together. They were unified, and they followed God in that direction, and they had eyes all around. And their whole body, verse 12, with their back, their hands, their wings, and the wheels that the forehead were full of eyes all around. And as for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, wheel, yep, a circle, whatever that is. Each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub.

Let me see what my next slide is here. Each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. Of a what? Of an eagle, not an angle. Of an eagle. And the cherub and were lifted up. This was the living creature I saw by the river Kavar. So again, he's got this vision. Now that creature is doing something. It's lifted up. So we have these four faces, and you'll remember just as our leader, we had the four faces of the angel.

They had four faces. The man, the lion, the oxen, and the eagle. And from the Matthew Henry commentary, you know, we had what his interpretation that I think is pretty good that shows what the character of that care of that had four faces is. They have the understanding of a man. That would be like the spirit and man that we read about in 1 Corinthians 2 and far more.

A lion excels in strength and boldness. An ox excels in diligence and patience. An unweary discharge of the work he has to do. No, God calls us to be strong and bold and to do his work with boldness and to cry aloud and spare an eye and to be diligent and patient and continue doing his work as long as we are drawing breath. An eagle excels in quickness and piercing sight and in soaring high. And the angels, who excel man in all these respects, put on those appearances. So you have this creature, this creature, and now in Chapter 10, this creature is doing something. When the carob—I'm going back to verse 16 here in Ezekiel 10. When the carobim went, the wheels went beside them, and when the carobim lifted their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also did not turn from beside them. Everything moves in the same direction. Then the glory of the Lord departed.

This glory that filled the temple, the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the carobim. And the carobim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them, and they stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house. And the glory of the God of Israel was above them. So now this creature moves, and it moves to where God would have it be.

Now where the Spirit wanted to go, they went. Okay, talked about that. Now it moves to the east gate. This takes us back to Ezekiel 8. You'll remember as we went through and God was revealing to Ezekiel these hidden things that were being done. And he listened to him as, Ezekiel, here's an abomination, and here's an even greater abomination. And then when he came to that east gate that you see on the right side there, you remember there were 25 men that had their back to the altar, but they were facing and worshipping the sun. And so now God, as this carobim is moving, he moves into the east gate and specifically talks about these 25 men. Some commentary saying it may not be the same 25 men, but it is interesting that there's 25 men in Ezekiel 8. And then as God takes Ezekiel through this vision, the cloud or the carobim moves to the east gate. So let's just leave that there for a while. So let me see. Yeah, when I was 19, the carobim lifted their wings, mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them, and they stood at the door of the east gate to the Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. So you can kind of just picture what Ezekiel is seeing here. Here's the east gate that he has seen in vision before. This is the living creature I saw under the God of Israel by the river Kaibar, and I knew they were carobim. So the vision is taken on a little bit more life as God projects and then shows to Ezekiel what is the future and what is the prophecy that is here. Each one had four faces, each one had four wings, and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. Repeating that. And the likeness of their faces was the same as the faces which I had seen by the river Kaibar, their appearance and their persons. They each went straight forward, always going in the direction that God said, not veering to the left or right, not looking to the left or right, keeping their eyes where they were. So let's just move right into chapter 11. We'll go through a few verses here in chapter 11, then we'll call it a night and pick it up next week. But just to complete here what this vision is that God is giving Ezekiel, and now they're here at the East Gate. And then it says, Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the East Gate of the Lord's house, which faces eastward, and there at the door of the gate were twenty-five men. Just like the twenty-five men in Ezekiel 8, among whom I saw, and here's this name that we talked about last time, Jasaniah.

Now this Jasaniah, if I remember correctly, is the son of a different Jasaniah than we saw in chapter 8. But here is the same name. I saw Jasaniah, the son of Azir, and Pelotiah, the son of Beniah, princes of the people. So now Ezekiel is in this vision. He's watching what's going on.

And God said to me, he says, he, capital H, he said to me, son of man, These are the men who devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city. Ah, this Jasaniah, this Pelotiah, these twenty-five men, these are the people who give wicked counsel in this city. They devise iniquity. So these are not good men. They are leading people away from God. These are people, verse 3, who say, the time is not near. And the old King James says, the time is not near.

Let us build houses. This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat. God says, that isn't the prophecy he gave. Now, we'll pick it up there next time. But you can look in Jeremiah, chapter 29. And you'll see that God, as he moves his people out of Jerusalem and into Babylon, he tells them, build houses there. Have children there. Build a life there. That's where your captivity is. And this, the commentaries, including our UCG commentary, says, they're preaching something different than what God says. God says, you're going into captivity, but here these people are saying, the time's not near. The time is not near, even though, in Ezekiel 7, let's just do take the time since we've got a few minutes here.

Ezekiel 7, we see in that prophecy that God keeps saying, the time is near. The time is near, and these prophets say, no, the time's not near. Go ahead and build houses. Go ahead and do the things that you want to do. And kind of challenging or resisting a little bit of what God has to do. And we'll unwind that a little bit more next time. But in Ezekiel 7 and verse 12, we see in that prophecy where God starts with a singular disaster, and the chapter goes down to disaster upon disaster, as in it just keeps happening.

He says in verse 12, the time has come, the day draws near. And yet these prophets are saying, the time isn't near. Time isn't near. Don't worry about it. So, you know, we have this contrast there. In verse 25, we see the same thing. Destruction comes. They will seek peace, but there shall be none. Disaster will come upon disaster, rumor upon rumor. Well, that isn't what I wanted. Oh, yeah, but that's that.

But I started in...let's go back to verse 7 in chapter 7. Doom has come to you, you who dwell on the land. The time has come. A day of trouble is near. And so God says, you know, just like Mr. Murray said, Luke 21, 36, watch when you see those buds on that prophetic tree opening. No, Christ said, that the time is near. The time is near. Doesn't mean we stop our lives and do nothing, but be aware. That's what he's saying.

The time has come. A day of trouble is near and not of rejoicing in the mountains. Now, verse 8, upon you, I will soon pour out my fury and repay you for all your abominations. So I just wanted to progress into a little bit of chapter 11, just so that we have that continuity into Ezekiel now at that East Gate with the 25 men. And let's stop there. And then next week we will progress through chapter 11 and some of chapter. So let me leave it there and open it up for anyone who wants to talk about it. Mr. Shaby? Yes. Hi, Debbie from Panama City.

Hey, Debbie. So these creatures, could they also be the creatures that are at God's throne? I know they're not called cherubim, but they are called creatures and beasts. Yeah, they are called creatures. And you know, when you look at chapter one, they are appearing there in that vision, right?

They have that vision there that they are in heaven. And so, yes, I would say yes. And then they're appearing here again in chapter 10.

So that could be one of their jobs that God uses them for. Whatever God wants them to do, they do. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Let's move on. Let's see. Hey, Laramie, you got a question or comment? Yeah, you might have already covered this. That cloud that was mentioned in Ezekiel 10, 3, and 4-ish, is that the same cloud that is in Exodus 1420, you know, when ancient Israel came out of Egypt and the clouds stood between the Israelites at the sea? And does it also say that the cloud led them? Yeah, because I think even in chapter 40, right, when it talks about that cloud filling the tabernacle, it'll talk about that cloud being with Israel as they move forward.

So I think it is the glory of God that is with them there. That's all I had. Okay. Okay. I just never heard that before. Yeah. Yeah, verse 36 of chapter 40 talks about when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. But the cloud wasn't taken up, so that cloud was leading them through that time. So, okay. Rich and Diane. Mr. Shaby, in Ezekiel 10, it also appears that God left the temple. Do you want to make a comment on that? Yeah. Tell me the verse you're looking at there. I don't have it right in front of me. I think I know where you are, yeah. He basically, the heading is that he left the temple. Yeah. In 18, it says, the glory of the Lord, you pied it from the threshold of the temple. Remember, it started above the caravan by the mercy seat and moved over to the threshold. But then it moved from the threshold. Yeah, and then went to the east gate. So it just moved from one part of the temple. Well, the east gate was outside of the temple. That was a gate. So yes, yeah, it appears that that's it. Just like the the pilot of Israel moved from the tabernacle, it was time for people to move forward. The judgment of God was going to be at the east gate where those 25 men were. Does that make sense? Okay. Absolutely. Okay, very good. Samantha. Hey, just a quick question. In Ezekiel 10, is that definitely like a literal description of these creatures, or could it possibly be like a symbolic representation, like kind of like with Daniel and the dream? Well, I mean, it is it is a vision. But I, you know, but Daniel is describing it in the terms that he would describe it, right? Much like when you see in Revelation when you have those trumpet plagues and it talks about the scorpions in the air and everything, and the apostle John is describing it in the way he sees it based on what he knows. So I think it's accurate and literal what God is showing him there. And Ezekiel is putting it in the way that he sees it.

Okay, thank you. Hey, Xavier. Hi, your brother Shaby. I was looking. The thing with the seraph and the cherub is that one has four wings and one has six. So usually the context helps you realize which creature, which one of God's servants is talking about here.

And going back to what you were saying that the sin is not yet full. I was looking at it afterwards and the word used where it says in Revelation, was that 18? Where it says, reach as far as heaven? Yes. So God reminds me of what you call it, Babel, where they use something to build the building. Well, the word here for reach is glue. It's glued upon itself. Hence, it's never been cleansed at one time, just keeps building. And again, that's very graphic. Yeah, no, that's a very good and that's kind of what Babylon does, right? It just continues to grow and never dies until Christ comes and puts it to a final end. So that whole system. Oh, yes, Mr Murray.

Yes, it's very interesting when we go through Ezekiel 9 and 10, because it has a future implication too with the prophecy in Daniel 8. Daniel 8 verses 13 and in particular. That's a very tactful discussion between the Logos who became Jesus Christ and our Father, where it says in Daniel 8 verse 13, that I heard a Holy One speaking to another Holy One and that certain Holy One who was speaking asked, how long will the vision be concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot? So it's a question where it appears that Jesus Christ is asking the Father, how long will it be from the time that the sacrifices are set up until the time that the temple is cleansed?

I will return probably through that East Gate and will cleanse the temple. Because the future beast will put a pagan edifice in the temple and will make the temple unclean, maybe a pagan cross or whatever it's going to put in there.

So the Father responds and says in verse 14, and He said unto me, for 2300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed, i.e. you will return. It's kind of a tactful question of Christ asking the Father, when will I return? He's saying from the time the sacrifices are set up, will be 2300 days and then you will return.

We also know that for 1290 days, of course, that's when the beast will come and surround the rest of them and stop the sacrifices. So we know there's going to be a future time where the sacrifices will begin. And we know there's a time when the sacrifices will be stopped by the beast and he'll set up a pagan edifice inside the temple.

So this also has a future implication, what we're reading here in Ezekiel 9, 10 and 11.

That's a whole other subject, the 2300 sacrifices and everything. But yeah, all these chapters, all these prophecies go together. When you look at them, you've got Isaiah, you've got Jeremiah, you've got Daniel, you've got Ezekiel, you've got the minor prophets there. Next week we'll look at Micah. Micah 3 has an implication in some of what we're reading here in Ezekiel as well. But yeah, they all go together so you can kind of see the similarity. God is consistent. God is consistent and has given his message to many of the prophets. And then he has a pre-type, like Ezekiel 9 and 10 are a pre-type of a future type, just as Antiochus Epiphanes when he came in 171 to 165. They were those six and a third years, they were the 2300 days where he did a pre-type of setting up the Jupiter, Zeus, Jupiter, Oedipus in the temple. And he demanded that the Levites satisfy. Yeah, we can learn a lot about the future from what happened in the past. We see a past fulfillment of the 2300 days in Antiochus Epiphanes, but that is just a pre-type of a future type yet to come. Very good. Okay, anything else? Anyone? If not, let me thank you all for being here. It's great to be back. Becky, did you have a comment? I'm sorry, that kind of got my mind somewhere else. I just wondered if anyone had any recent news on those red heifers, because I have not heard anything recently. No, you know, I was just mentioning that when we were gone last week. I said, I haven't heard a thing about those red heifers. Israel had said, right, they were going, they wanted all the talk about those red heifers to die down, right? So I think I saw one clip that said they're just going to do it in secret with no fanfare and whatever. I don't know how they think they're going to get away with it, but they have succeeded in keeping things pretty quiet, it appears. So somewhere, there's two theories out there, and I haven't taken the time to figure out which one is right. I read someplace where they have to be sacrificed before Pentecost, which is just a couple weeks away. The other one is, anytime during their third year, which we give them, I think these heifers were born in September, so sometime before September. So, but I don't know exactly what that is, and I guess the Jews over there know, but now we're going to keep our eyes on that a little bit. Thank you. And if I could just say that that really is a non-event in one sense, in that it's just a cleansing. It's not what we're talking about with the temple sacrifices beginning, because those temple sacrifices need to be morning and evening. That's what's indicated in Daniel 8. So this red heifer's business is really a...

It's a really... Yes. A red herring. It's not a red heifer. It's a red herring. A step in that direction. Is that where you're going? A step toward that direction. Right, exactly. And they have to have that purification in order to be able to begin the sacrifices, and that's what the red heifer's, the significance of them is. So they're not the actual beginning of the daily sacrifices. No. Yeah. Okay.

Okay.

I'm watching my yellow boxes here. Okay. It looks like everyone is good. Thank you for being here. We'll have a very good rest of the week, a very good Sabbath, and we will plan on having a Bible study again next Wednesday. God willing. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. Okay. Good night, everyone. We'll buddy have a good one. Take care. Good night. Good night. Thank you. Bye.