00:00 Introduction and Weekly Updates

00:50 Student Ministry Highlights

02:05 Introduction to the Book of Ezekiel

03:28 Ezekiel's Vision of God's Glory

08:18 Ezekiel's Call and Commission

13:35 Ezekiel's Symbolic Actions

16:44 Encouragement to Read Ezekiel

17:51 Closing Prayer and Farewell

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

hey everybody.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

3

Hello.

4

We are back on Wednesday and so we

are jumping into a new book today.

5

We're gonna be in the book of Ezekiel

here in, in just a minute, but

6

hopefully your week's going well.

7

We are week two for a

lot of people in school.

8

So routines are kicking into

gear classes that hadn't started

9

or now started out full swing.

10

I know my kid's taken some dual credit

classes that are just starting this

11

week, so that's always interesting

to see how all that all shakes out.

12

But, man, the last couple

weeks have been fun, man.

13

We've been seeing some

good numbers at church.

14

We've been seeing about 200 in, in our

main service each week and 300 total

15

with kids and volunteers involved.

16

It's awesome.

17

It's getting crowded though.

18

Yeah, we're gonna have to do

something about that pretty soon.

19

Stay tuned to.

20

Figure out what it is we're gonna do,

because we're still thinking about that.

21

We're still noodling on that one.

22

Yeah.

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No we're grateful.

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We're glad for the people that that God's

bringing to the church and visitors that

25

are showing up too, that's a good thing.

26

So yeah, our students are meeting tonight.

27

Don't forget that if you've got

students that are in middle school

28

or high school ministry, they meet

on Wednesday nights, six 30 to 8:00

29

PM And Lewis, who is our director of

student ministry, he's been preaching

30

through Romans and so he is still

early on still, I think in chapter one.

31

That's right.

32

And so it's a, if you're new to the

church or have, are just coming around,

33

this is a perfect time to jump in.

34

Not that there's a bad time to

jump in, but he's still at the very

35

beginning of the study of, I think

he's doing Romans one through eight.

36

I don't think he's doing the whole book.

37

That's right.

38

But yeah, Romans one through eight

and they'll show up, they'll have

39

teaching, they'll have small group time.

40

I think they do a game

at the very beginning.

41

It's a great time.

42

In fact, my son the other day was

just telling me just how much he's

43

loving our student ministry right now.

44

He's a junior this year.

45

And he told me, actually, he said,

it's, our student ministry is at the

46

point now where if you were to ask

me, Hey, would you, have wanted to

47

leave California and come out here

and plant or stay in California.

48

He was like I'm glad we're out here.

49

I would choose, let's go out

there and plant in California

50

or plant in Texas, wow.

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Which is high praise.

52

That is high praise.

53

Yeah.

54

Because he really loved our student

ministry program back there.

55

Who didn't yeah.

56

I don't know.

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I loved it.

58

I didn't have any issues with it.

59

Yeah.

60

Yeah.

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I don't think anybody did.

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It was sincere who did it.

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Yeah.

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It was great.

65

Yeah.

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Anything new?

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Anything going on in

your life, pastor Rod?

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No.

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Nothing I can think of.

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No funny setting mean everything's

back in the regular swing of things.

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Yeah.

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Feeling pretty good

about the season ahead?

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Yeah.

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Everything's going pretty well.

75

Good.

76

Good.

77

That's awesome.

78

Let's jump into Ezekiel then

and let's change that by getting

79

into I do like his bread.

80

Do you though?

81

I do.

82

Because they don't make it the same way.

83

They don't make it the same way.

84

So the bread that I eat made

it the same way from Ezekiel.

85

He's making better bread these days.

86

Yeah, he is all has to do, I

think what it's baked over.

87

Hey, Ezekiel is one of the exilic

prophets and what is interesting here

88

is you may immediately assume, okay,

so this is chronologically after

89

the fall of Jerusalem but it's not.

90

Ezekiel was taken in one of the

previous rounds of captivity,

91

one of the previous deportations.

92

Remember there were three deportations,

so he was probably what, the second

93

deportation would be, my guess.

94

5 97.

95

That's right.

96

Yeah.

97

And so he's.

98

In Babylon already, and yet

Jerusalem's still standing.

99

And that's imperative

that we understand that.

100

Otherwise, what happens in the

book of Ezekiel really doesn't

101

make a whole lot of sense to us.

102

So Gaden meets Ezekiel in exile, and

this is as the book opens in the 30th

103

year and the fourth month, the fifth

day of the month there's some question

104

as to what the 30th year refers to.

105

But if it's connected down to the fifth

year of the exile, king Jehoiachin

106

down in verse two, then we're

dealing with sometime around 5 93 BC

107

would be the reference point here.

108

Is this the 30th year of the prophet?

109

It's possible.

110

Is this the 30th year of

another king That was around?

111

Maybe.

112

But certainly we can grab the fifth

year of the exile of King Jehoiachin

113

for a date, 5 93 bc That's why we know

that Jerusalem has not fallen yet.

114

And we know that also from the context

as the rest of the book unfolds.

115

But the first chapter.

116

It includes this this magnificent

vision of God's glory that

117

starts out with four creatures.

118

And so the way that Ezekiel is going to

describe the glory of the Lord here in,

119

in some ways similar to the way that

Isaiah describes it when he sees it

120

in Isaiah chapter six, is he's gonna.

121

Start from the bottom and

begin to work his way up.

122

And Ezekiel starts from the bottom here,

and it's these four, four creatures.

123

And they're these angelic creatures

that each have a face that is unique

124

with a face of a different animal

and they have wings and that they

125

are moving about supernaturally.

126

There's these wheels that

are associated with them.

127

There's wheels within wheels there's eyes

around these wheels and there's a lot that

128

we'll get into where it's what is this?

129

Stand for?

130

What are the eyes all

around the wheels represent?

131

Is it the omniscience of God?

132

And the fact that the, they

can move anywhere they want to.

133

Is this the omnipresence of God?

134

Is this that, that God is not constrained?

135

God is not restrained by anything

because above these creatures is

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this platform, this expanse as

is described there in verse 22.

137

And on that platform or on that expanse is

the throne, and sitting on the throne is

138

one with a human appearance who had this.

139

Waste that was gleaming metal, like the

appearance of fire enclosed all around.

140

And downward from that, he saw

the appearance of fire and there

141

was brightness all around him.

142

So you'll notice in this opening vision

of what is the glory of God there's a lot

143

of brilliance, there's a lot of light,

and that is something that is often

144

associated in scripture with the glory

of God, that when he shows up, there's

145

light, in fact, in the eternal state.

146

You mentioned, I think in a recent

episode, hey, there's not gonna be a moon.

147

There's not gonna be the sun

if we understand it correctly.

148

Because the lamb is the sun the

presence of God is all the light we

149

will ever need, and there's no night

because the glory of God is gonna be

150

perpetually on display if we assume it.

151

To be what it says there in the text.

152

And so this brilliance is what we

see here and in our fallen state.

153

We can't stand to be in

the presence of this.

154

And the appearance of the glory of the

Lord is so much and this is the experience

155

that his ego has, that the very last verse

of chapter one says that when he saw the

156

glory of the Lord, he fell on his face

until he heard the voice of one speaking.

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And so it's like when you

walk outside after a movie.

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In a dark theater and you see the

brilliance of the summer sun that

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shines off the concrete and it all,

it hurts your eyes to have them open

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when you walk out of a dark room.

161

That's what it is to be

in the presence of God.

162

Even if you were in the brightest,

most brilliant daytime light,

163

when you are in the presence of

God, the contrast is that stark.

164

Yeah.

165

What's really interesting about this

first chapter is we're introduced to

166

a class of angel that we really see

every now and then in the text, but it's

167

curious what they do well here they are.

168

They are part of God's

mobile throne chariot.

169

And so it's hard to figure out what it

looks like, but some really interesting

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artistic renditions are available online.

171

Just Google Ezekiel's Throne

Chariot or something like that.

172

You'll find some interesting takes on what

that could look like, especially when you

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start talking about wheels within wheels.

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We're thinking maybe something gyroscopic

that allowed them to turn wherever.

175

That, that is to say that God's

presence and his power is not limited.

176

Two dimensionally or

even three dimensionally.

177

He's intra dimensional.

178

I guess it could be anywhere he wants.

179

And the wheels convey that.

180

The eyes, as you said, suggesting

his omniscience, his omni presence

181

with the wheels and all those things.

182

But the Cher Beam.

183

The Cher Beam are an

interesting class of angel.

184

We don't know a whole lot about them

except so that they end up showing up.

185

And really critical places where

God's glory is being most manifested.

186

So here to your point, you're seeing them

as one of the representatives or one of

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the associates who attend to God's glory.

188

And so what's interesting about them,

besides the fact that they have multiple

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heads with multiple faces now, and we'll

get a, we'll get a sense about what those

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are in the next couple chapters here.

191

I think we talk about

them again pretty soon.

192

But that's all to say, these guys show

up in some really critical places.

193

You can find them.

194

In the tabernacle.

195

You can find them in the temple.

196

Now remember, they are part of the.

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Ark of the Covenant they're above

the Ark of the Covenant, and then in

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the temple their wings are touching

each other in the Holy of Holies.

199

And so they are some of the most

significant beings, angelically

200

speaking, and they end up in places

where God's glory is concentrated.

201

What that means, what that suggests

besides what we see, I don't know.

202

But it's interesting because they're a

fun class to think about the Cher Beam.

203

Interesting.

204

They show up all over the scriptures.

205

In fact, if you just type in the

word, I see 90 some odd occurrences

206

here, just in my ESV Bible alone,

the especially sanctified version,

207

if you use something else, I'd be

interested to see what that is.

208

But there you go.

209

What stood out to me too on this one,

this time around it was when he says

210

in verse 24, I heard the sound of their

wings, which you were just talking about,

211

their wings, like the sound of many

waters, like the sound of the Almighty.

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So he compares the sound of

their wings to the sound of

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the Lord, to the sound of God.

214

Which is interesting that the connection

there, again, that's one of those things

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that I don't know that I necessarily

have an answer for what he meant

216

by that, other than he's saying the

sound of God's voice later on sounds

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like the rushing of their wings as

they're there moving around in front

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of Ezekiel here in the opening chapter.

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The.

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Chapter two is the call on Ezekiel,

and this is where Ezekiel is

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commissioned, much like the prophets

are, as we've seen that before.

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Isaiah six is that same situation where

Isaiah is before the presence of God.

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And God says, who will go for us?

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And Isaiah says, here I am.

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Send me Ezekiel is going to be called

it says in verse two as he spoke

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to me, the son of or the spirit.

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Entered into me and set me on my feet.

228

So I remember Ezekiel had fallen

down on his face, and so the spirit

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of God comes to Ezekiel, enters into

him and stands him up to be able

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to hear the commissioning from God.

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This is an interesting scene here.

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This is not a permanent and dwelling, and

we know it's not a permanent and dwelling

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because later on it's gonna happen again.

234

Verse 24 of chapter three, but the Spirit

entered into me and set me on my feet,

235

which implies that this is not the spirit.

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Entering into Ezekiel the same

way it happens for a believer

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at the moment of conversion.

238

This is not a ceiling presence

of the spirit, but an equipping

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presence of the spirit.

240

And it seems here that the spirit

is equipping Ezekiel to be able

241

to stand in the presence of the

glory of God and to hear from him

242

and to receive his commission.

243

And that's what God is going to do.

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And God is going to

send him to the nations.

245

Now, when he says to Israel

and to the nations, I think.

246

What we should understand there

is the nations of Israel and

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Judah the nations of the northern

kingdom and the southern kingdom.

248

I don't know that this is

directly that this is a message

249

that's to the gentile nations.

250

I think this is God referring

to the dual nations there of the

251

north and the southern kingdoms

there who have rebelled against me.

252

And the reason being, the reason

for this this commissioning is the

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descendants are imput and stubborn.

254

So their fathers rebelled.

255

And even now, today, they are still.

256

Impudent in stubborn, as

he says in verse four.

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And so they need to hear the words

of God, and that's what Ezekiel has

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commissioned to speak in verse seven.

259

You shall speak my words to them.

260

Whether they hear or refuse to hear

for they are a rebellious house.

261

For that reason, I would agree with you

that he's not talking about nations in

262

general that is including the Gentiles,

but specifically Israel and Judah,

263

because you see here in the context,

he's not talking to just anybody.

264

He's talking about the rebellious house.

265

Same word that he uses, just

a few verses previously that

266

they're a rebellious nation.

267

He calls him hero, rebellious house.

268

So I would agree with you.

269

Now, one quick thing that I forgot

to mention here in chapter one

270

is that Ezekiel's in Babylon?

271

Yeah.

272

This is what's interesting here.

273

Yeah.

274

Ezekiel's in Babylon with

the other exiles, and so he's

275

beginning to see these things.

276

I think, by the way, that the reference

to the 30 is probably his age.

277

He's a priest.

278

He would've been installed

for priestly service at this

279

timeframe, but instead, God send.

280

Sends his spirit to him to equip him.

281

Now for prophetic ministry,

not every priest was a prophet,

282

but in this case Ezekiel is.

283

And so what we have here is a really

unusual depiction of God showcasing

284

his kindness by sending Ezekiel

and talking about the future.

285

For Judah at this point, and remember

this is 5 93, give or take, and

286

so Judah is still in operation.

287

We have a few years before they are

totally leveled by Nebuchadnezzar.

288

So here something gracious,

something kind of God shows an

289

incredible vision and God's still

got a future in store for them.

290

Not all of it is good though.

291

Yeah.

292

And it's interesting, verse seven

sets up chapter three because he says

293

whether they hear or refuse to hear a

year to go and speak my words to them.

294

And so as chapter three opens, God tells

him, son, man, eat whatever you find here.

295

Eat this, scroll and speak

to the house of Israel.

296

So e Ezekiel has given

a scroll to ingest and.

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A scroll, squirrel scroll.

298

He gave him a squirrel to eat.

299

Squirrel.

300

Did I say squirrel?

301

No, just checking.

302

Okay.

303

He's given a scroll to eat.

304

And God is basically telling him, I

want you to ingest my words so that when

305

you speak, you're gonna speak my words.

306

And that's the point of this scroll

eating situation here in chapter three.

307

And that's what?

308

He's gonna do.

309

But then in verse seven he says,

but the house of Israel won't

310

be willing to listen to you.

311

And then in verse 11, he says, go to the

exiles to your people and speak to them

312

and say to them, thus says the Lord,

whether they hear or refuse to hear.

313

So that's a callback to verse

seven of chapter two, whether

314

they hear or refuse to hear.

315

And then from here.

316

He gives this reasoning here.

317

He says, Ezekiel, you have a job.

318

Your job is to warn them as the watchman.

319

Your job is not whether or

not they respond to you.

320

You can't change that.

321

You can't alter that.

322

You can't do something to

help that or hurt that unless

323

you tamper with the message.

324

Your job is to be faithful to the

message, to proclaim it and that's where

325

your responsibility is going to stop.

326

If you don't do this, then God says

in chapter three, when I judge them,

327

I'm gonna hold you accountable for

the fact that you didn't teach them

328

the way they should have been taught.

329

But if you do and their souls

are saved, then you know what?

330

I'm gonna commend you for that because you

did the job that you were supposed to do.

331

But it all comes down to the call that.

332

Ezekiel has received is to

eat my words, speak my words,

333

and trust me with the results.

334

And that's how the chapter ends.

335

In chapter three says, he

who will hear, let him hear.

336

And he who refuses to hear, let him

refuse for they are a rebellious house.

337

But Ezekiel, your job is

to go with my message.

338

I love the imagery that

God uses here with Ezekiel.

339

He makes him eat the scroll, not

the squirrel, the scroll squirrel.

340

He makes him eat it.

341

In other words, I, in order to give it to

others, you need to ingest it yourself.

342

And what a great thing for us to think

about if we're going to utilize the

343

word of God as he intended it, to serve

others and to love others with it.

344

We have to be imbibing it ourselves.

345

We have to be ingesting, intaking

all that we can of the word.

346

And when we do that equips us to

be helpful to other people here.

347

And even though this isn't the

way that God treated all of

348

his prophets here, I love it.

349

He shows him eat this and then

you can give it to others.

350

And it's also the same for you and for I.

351

At chapter four, we get into an

interesting situation that causes

352

us to, to scratch our heads a little

bit because Ezekiel is going to

353

be charged with this again, living

parallel, a parable, much like he got

354

us done before with other prophets.

355

He's gonna call Ezekiel to do the.

356

Thing.

357

And he's gonna take a brick, he's

gonna lay the brick on its side, and

358

he's gonna call the brick Jerusalem.

359

So he's representing the city here, and

he's gonna have to build these siege works

360

up around the wall, up around this brick.

361

And then God is gonna

tell him, you know what?

362

And now I want you to do this, lie

on your left side and you're gonna do

363

this for 390 days equal to the number

of the years of their punishment.

364

And then he's gonna eventually turn

around and lie on his right side,

365

and that's gonna be for 40 days.

366

And that's gonna be for the

years of their punishment.

367

So 390 days, that seems to be

for Israel, 40 days for Judah.

368

And we're not exactly sure how to

make all of these numbers compute in

369

precise ways to be able to point back

and say, this is exactly what it was.

370

'cause some people have said the 390

years represents the northern kingdom.

371

But the northern kingdom, if you

calculate it all out, comes up

372

to, to just shy of three 90 years.

373

I think it's 340 something years

of the divided monarchy there.

374

And so we're not exactly

sure, unless it's.

375

Hearkening back to when Solomon

began to fail as a king.

376

And that's when the 390 years began there.

377

And then the 40 days, or the

40 years that is, are Judahs.

378

That's I think obviously a

callback to the significance of

379

the 40 years in the wilderness.

380

The wilderness wanderings.

381

But God is tasking eel to do this.

382

So the question we have

to ask is this literal?

383

And I think it's literal, although,

as we've talked about before, I don't

384

think this is literal, that he's.

385

Never getting up from the ground

because he's gonna task him after this.

386

As you brought up the bread situation.

387

He's gonna ask task him after this to.

388

Bake this bread, and he's gonna have

him bake this bread and he's gonna

389

have to bake the bread over excrement.

390

And that's representative

of the human excrement.

391

Yeah.

392

And then Ezekiel says, can

I have a substitute please?

393

And God says, yeah, you can

use cow excrement instead.

394

And this is to represent the desperation

of the siege of how desperate

395

people are gonna be, even for food.

396

That they're gonna be willing to do

unthinkable things during the siege.

397

He's baking at some point.

398

He's getting all of these

supplies at some point.

399

So I don't think this is a literal,

he's 24 7 laying on his right side,

400

24 7, laying on his left side.

401

But for a portion of the day, at

least he's doing this to drive

402

home the point to the people.

403

I would agree with that.

404

So there's clearly evidence here that

these numbers are probably, I guess I

405

wouldn't say clearly, they're probably

symbolic and whatever that was.

406

We don't fully know.

407

We have lots of guesses, but the major

point here is that God is utilizing

408

Betty Crocker, Ezekiel here to make signs

such that he's communicating with them

409

and that communication is a warning.

410

It is his mercy and his kindness to speak

to his people with these warnings and say,

411

here's the things that you need to know.

412

Here's how you need to be prepared.

413

I'm coming and there's no

deter me at this point.

414

In fact, some of the wording that Ezekiel

will use, and I'll highlight it later

415

when we get to it for the first time.

416

It is concerning.

417

It's challenging.

418

It challenges my theology, challenges

the way that I understand God.

419

But it says what it says, and so

here God is communicating in a

420

merciful way to say, be prepared.

421

Better yet, change your ways

because something bad is coming.

422

Yeah.

423

Stick with us with Ezekiel.

424

Ezekiel is such a rich book.

425

It can be daunting, but it's a rich book.

426

And when we read it, I think a lot of

it is, it's got a reputation, right?

427

It's oh, the book of Ezekiel.

428

It's got visions of the end times

and it's got this vision of the

429

chariot and the wheel eyes within

the wheels and wheels within wheels.

430

If you'll stick with us and read

it, I think you'll find that, that

431

there's a doctrine of scripture called

the perspicuity of scripture, right?

432

The perspicuity of scripture means that

the Bible is readable and understandable

433

that God has revealed himself to

us in a way that we can understand.

434

So we talked about it

a little bit on Sunday.

435

Sometimes one of the reasons why we

don't like to read the Bible is 'cause

436

it's hard and it is hard sometimes.

437

But there are those resources and helps

that we've been given so that we can

438

understand the things that man Ezekiel was

writing for our benefit as Peter wrote.

439

And so we can use the ESV

Study Bible or the Lham Study,

440

Bible Faith Life Study Bible.

441

We can use these resources to help us

understand these passages in these texts.

442

And we don't have to be

afraid of a book like Ezekiel.

443

So if you will read it with

us, give yourself over to

444

the reading of God's word.

445

I trust that God has revealed himself who

wants to be known by you and giving you

446

the spirit to understand these things will

honor that resolve and that commitment

447

for you, and you will be better off

after coming through the book with us.

448

Let's pray and then we'll be done.

449

God, we do ask if that would be

true, that we would be more like

450

Christ after our time in the book of

Ezekiel than we are on the front end.

451

I pray that you'd help us to understand

the things that are difficult as much as

452

we're able to, and the things that are

yours to understand only I pray that we

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would be able to trust you with those

things and to leave them in your hands.

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And so we thank you for

a book that is so rich.

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We pray that we would do our part

to, to read our part, to ingest

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your words even as you told Ezekiel

that he was to do, we're not gonna.

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Eat the Bible necessarily, but we want to

internalize your truth and hold it dear to

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ourselves, and so we pray that you'd help

us to understand this in Jesus name, amen.

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Amen.

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Keep you in your Bibles tuning

again tomorrow for another edition

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of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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See you folks.

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Bye.

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Bernard: Well, thank you for

listening to another episode of

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the Daily Bible Podcast, folks!

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We're honored to have you join us.

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This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

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You can find out more information

about our Church at compassntx.org.

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We would love for you to leave a

review, to rate, or to share this

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podcast on whatever platform you're

listening on, and we hope to see

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you again tomorrow for another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

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PJ: Yeah.

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I would agree with

everything that you said