Monthly Archives: October 2024

Chapter-a-Day

The Dance

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The Dance (CaD Ezk 39) – Wayfarer

“‘On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east of the Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog.”
Ezekiel 39:11 (NIV)

It is an impressive place. The Valley of Jezreel/Megiddo stretches from the Mediterranean on the west to the Jordan River on the east. I stood for a while and gazed at it. This is the fabled place of Armageddon, the site of the prophesied last great battle. It’s a real place and because of its natural topography, it’s been the site of over 30 major conflicts across 4,000 years of human history. Those conflicts include Napoleon as well as David.

Today’s chapter is the second of Ezekiel’s mysterious prophesies concerning a nation called Gog who rallies the nations in a massive invasion of Israel from the north. They are unsuccessful, and in hyperbolic metaphors, Ezekiel describes the aftermath of the great battle. There are so many of the weapons of the enemy left lying around that for seven years the people of Israel don’t need to gather wood for their fires. They simply use the weapons of Gog’s hordes that are lying around everywhere.

In even more raw and graphic metaphors, the dead enemies of God are described in sacrificial terms as if they were the bulls and rams sacrificed on the altar in the sacrificial system of Moses.

When God says that the burial place for Gog and its hordes will be “in the valley of those travel east of the Sea,” the Valley of Megiddo is a natural conclusion.

The chapter concludes with a vision of a restoration of Israel and God pouring out His Spirit on the people.

The challenge, of course, is that nothing like that described in these two chapters has a clear connection to an actual historical event while clear parallels exist to John’s prophetic visions in Revelation.

Along my life journey, I have learned that there is a spiritual dance that happens between the micro and macro, the common and the cosmic, between the everyday events of my life journey and the larger Great Story of which it is a part. God is present and at work in both. There are all sorts of macro-level connections throughout the Great Story that weave their way into a giant storyline. But God also knows the ever-decreasing number of hairs on my head and God is present and intimately involved in everything that happens in my life this day. It is not an “either-or” but a “both and.” This gives me much-needed context for my life journey. My everyday fears and anxieties need the context of the larger Great Story that God is telling in which I can take comfort. Likewise, the larger Great Story informs my daily thoughts, words, and actions. I am part of something bigger than myself and this reminds me that I’m to live this day thinking not about myself, but others and how I can contribute to all that God is doing in this Great Story.

NOTE: I’m on the road tomorrow. See you on Monday!

Chapter-a-Day

The End Times & .38 Special

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The End Times & .38 Special (CaD Ezk 38) – Wayfarer

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars.”
Ezekiel 38:10-11 (NIV)

I once had a professor who was a vain know-it-all. Among the many things that he loved waxing eloquent about in his intellectual pride was the prophesies regarding the end times. Even when a class had nothing to do with the subject, he found ways to bring up the subject. I also noticed that he regularly used the occasion to hawk his recorded messages on the subject.

A number of years ago, I recalled some of the professors assured interpretations that didn’t come to fruition as he said they would. I’ve added it to a mental heap of modern-day prophets and end-times interpreters who made sure-fire predictions and interpretations that turned out to be completely wrong.

Along my spiritual journey, I’ve learned that one has to approach the prophetic with humility. The prophetic is mysterious, and I’ve observed that it’s very easy for people to get lost down the rabbit hole with the vast minions of those who’ve gotten lost in it before them. While it can certainly be an entertaining pursuit, I have never found it to be of much value from a personal, spiritual perspective.

In addition, I constantly remind myself that all of the greatest and most learned scholars and interpreters in Jesus’ day got the Messianic prophecies completely wrong. The Messiah they predicted was almost the exact opposite of who Jesus turned out to be. If all of them got it wrong, why should I expect that all of the modern scholars and interpreters have everything right when it comes to the end times?

This all came to mind today as we enter two of the most mysterious prophetic chapters in the entire Great Story. They speak of a mysterious land of Gog and Magog (Magog may simply mean “leader of Gog”). Today’s chapter speaks of Gog leading the nations in an invasion of Israel. John also references “Gog and Magog” in describing a final great battle against God led by Satan and the “kings of the earth” in Revelation 20:8. So Ezekiel 38-39 are prophetically connected to Revelation. Exactly how and what it all means? There’s a lot of different interpretations and I humbly confess I don’t know for certain.

What I do know, is that as I read today’s chapter it felt a bit like it was ripped from the headlines of the past year. My mind immediately conjured up images of the unsuspecting Kibbutzes in Israel last October 7 as I read:

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.”

I also know that the description in today’s chapter of all the nations of the earth joining in a combined hatred of Israel seems pretty apt when you look at the current political landscape.

So, I know that there are prophecies about how this Great Story ends. I believe them to be true and that they will eventually be proven true in the course of time. This is what’s called faith. I can even share with you various interpretations and schools of thought regarding how it’s going play out and the identity of the mysterious Gog in today’s chapter. I can even muse with you about which of those interpretations are more plausible in my mind. Yet, I will also humbly admit that they could all be wrong.

So when it comes to the prophetic and the end times, I take my interpretive advice from .38 Special: “Hold on loosely, but don’t let go.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

This is the Way

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This is the Way (CaD Ezk 37) – Wayfarer

Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
Ezekiel 37:12 (NIV)

I have mentioned in recent weeks that our local gathering of Jesus’ followers has been journeying through the book of Exodus and the story of God revealing Himself to Moses and leading the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt. It is the very beginning of God’s relationship with the Hebrew people as an entire people, a nation. I gave a message about it this past Sunday. FWIW: You can watch/listen here.

It was not a conscious decision to have our chapter-a-day journey trekking through Ezekiel at the same time, but I’ve been amazed at the parallels. Ezekiel is roughly 1,000 years after Exodus. They are two different stages of history, two different chapters of the Story. Yet the same theme weaves through them both and foreshadows what is yet to come.

Today’s chapter is one of the most iconic prophetic messages in the entire Great Story. If you didn’t actually read the chapter today, I encourage you to take two minutes (that’s all it will take) and read the first 14 verses of Ezekiel 37. It’s an apt passage to read the week of Halloween, by the way. Ezekiel is taken in the Spirit to a valley full of dry bones all across the valley floor. God has Zeke prophesy to the bones and the bones begin connecting themselves, tendons grow to hold them together then flesh grows on top and finally skin completes the bodily resurrection of the bones. God has Zeke prophesy once more and Life is breathed into them.

We have to remember that just a couple of chapters ago, Zeke and the Hebrews living in exile in Babylon got word that their nation was destroyed. Jerusalem was turned to rubble and burned. Solomon’s Temple was razed to the ground. What was left of their people were slaughtered or else they fled. Their hopes are dashed. Their souls are crushed. Their nation is dead. I can hear the wails of Zeke and his compatriots crying out to the Lord… just like a thousand years before:

The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
Exodus 2:23b-25 (NIV)

The Hebrews were hopeless, crushed, and dead in their slavery. God brought ten plagues on Egypt that metaphorically deconstructed the seven days of creation in Genesis. Then, God leads them out of the death of slavery and begins to infuse new life and new ways of living.

Now the same people find themselves crying out a thousand years later. Once again, they are surrounded by death, hopelessness, and despair. The vision God gives Zeke is a repeat of the theme. “Amidst your death, despair, and hopelessness I am going to raise new life.”

Life –> Death –> New Life

God tells Zeke, “Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live…”

As a follower of Jesus, it is impossible not to see God pointing 500 years into the future and foreshadowing the exact thing Paul wrote to Jesus’ followers in Ephesus. Picture Zeke’s valley of dry bones as you read this:

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
Ephesians 2:1-5 (NIV) emphases added

Life –> Death –> New Life

In the quiet this morning, my heart is encouraged, lightened, and hopeful. In one week, our nation will have a Presidential election. On both sides of the aisle, people and pundits are prophesying the death of our nation, the demise of democracy, and the end of all things should the other side win. I have talked to people who are on the brink of despair because of their fear of the outcome. I personally think it’s all overblown fear-mongering that politics has always used to motivate people to action. Please refer to all of human history. But I am also reminded this morning that no matter what happens next Tuesday there is a theme that God has been revealing to humanity over and over and over again for thousands of years that dispels any of my fears. It is amidst death and despair and hopelessness that new life emerges.

Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Yes. Yes, I do.

Life –> Death –> New Life

This is the way.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Holy and the Profane

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The Holy and the Profane (CaD Ezk 36) – Wayfarer

“I had concern for my holy name, which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone.”
Ezekiel 36:21 (NIV)

Growing up, my mother had a set of fine china and a “silver service” of tableware that was actually silver and had to be polished. The entire set was kept in a special box. It only came out on very special occasions. You knew that when mom broke out the fine china a very special meal was about to take place. It was an event.

Imagine, if you will, a Twilight Zone-esque scenario in which I needed to feed our dog, Tuffy. So, I broke open the box of my mom’s fine china and grabbed one of the large plates along with one of her silver serving spoons. I popped open a can of that nasty-looking brown stuff you feed dogs and I dug that gunk out of the can with mom’s silver spoon onto the fine china plate and then threw it on the floor for the dog. Just as I do this my Mom walks in and sees what I’ve just done. How do you think she would have reacted? You are correct, I would very quickly have been living outside in the kennel with Tuffy. Fortunately, I knew better than to feed the dog with mom’s fine china.

Along life’s road, I had heard the word “profanity” many, many times. Usually, it had to do with “bad words” that I wasn’t supposed to use. I was in college before I learned that “profanity” means to “empty something of its meaning.” I’ll never forget watching Professor McFadzean miming the action of dumping something upside down and spilling its contents on the floor. You take something meaningful and treat it as if it’s meaningless.

Taking mom’s fine china and feeding Tuffy with it is the act of profaning it. It has a very special meaning for my mother. It’s exclusive, meant only for rare occasions to serve the finest food for the most worthwhile moments in life. Feeding the dog with it empties it of that meaning. It profanes it.

Back in Exodus, when God revealed Himself to Moses from the burning bush, God told Moses His name: “Yahweh” which means “I Am.” God told His people that this name was holy. It was special. It was sacred. Therefore, they never uttered it. It was too holy to even speak it.

In today’s chapter, God through Ezekiel proclaims that one day He is going to bring all of His people back from exile to the land of Israel. Jerusalem would be rebuilt. God’s people and the land would once again prosper with life. But then God repeatedly tells them that the Hebrew exiles have profaned His name among the nations where they are living in exile. They took something holy and sacred and metaphorically threw it on the ground and stomped on it. He goes on to tell them that when He brings the exiles home and restores the land He is doing it for the sake of His Holy name. In other words, it’s not because God’s people earned it or deserved it. It’s because God is a holy God, love incarnate and full of grace.

In the quiet this morning, I find my mind going down two trails of thought. The first is very simple and straightforward as it relates to what I’ve known to be profanity my entire life. I find it fascinating that in our culture the name of Jesus Christ is used as common swear words. We don’t do that with Buddha, Mohammed, or Krishna. But people routinely take the name that “is above all names” and the name at which demons flee and at which scripture says “every knee will bow and every tongue confess.” We take that name and use it as an empty, meaningless, momentary exclamation of everyday anger. That’s profane to the core.

The other trail my mind went down is to think about what Jesus did for all of us. What God is proclaiming to His people in exile is very much a foreshadowing of what He will do through Jesus. Not restoring and redeeming land and a city, but restoring and redeeming our hearts and souls through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Not because we deserve it or somehow earned it, but because He is Love and full of grace.

And that is holy.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

There’s No Plan B

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There's No Plan B (CaD Ezk 35) – Wayfarer

“‘Because you harbored an ancient hostility and delivered the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their calamity, the time their punishment reached its climax, therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you.”
Ezekiel 35:5-6 (NIV)

I am often amazed at how relevant the ancient prophets can be, even today. For over a year now, since October 7, 2023, the world has witnessed an ancient conflict coming to violent escalation in Israel. This is an ancient conflict, and it didn’t begin with the Zionist movement of the late 19th century. It goes back thousands of years. The current iteration is simply the latest example of it rearing its ugly, ancient head.

The setting for today’s chapter is that Jerusalem has fallen. It has been destroyed just as Ezekiel and Jeremiah had both prophesied would happen. Those who could escape the bloody siege scattered. Many of them scattered directly to the east across the Jordan and entered the land of Edom. But rather than having compassion on the refugees, the Edomites reveled in Jerusalem’s destruction and slaughtered the refugees. Even though the Israelites were family.

The Edomites were descendants of Esau, Jacob’s (aka Israel’s) twin brother. Yes, Esau who surrendered his birthright in exchange for a cup of soup. Israel, the second-born who deceived his blind father into thinking he was Esau in order to receive his father’s blessing of the first-born.

Family feud. Bad blood. Bitterness. Resentment. Ancient wounds and deep scars so fraught with endless reciprocities that over a thousand years later, neither side could see past the history of mutual offenses.

That’s what bitterness does to the human soul. I have observed along my spiritual journey that the institutional church has historically focused on the sins of morality (sex, drugs, alcohol, rock-and-roll, etc.) while ignoring the sins of the spirit that Jesus talked about in His Sermon on the Mount: anger, resentment, lust, lies, violence, bitterness, lack of forgiveness, lack of generosity, pride, greed, judgement, and condemnation. Even as I write these words my mind has filled with the faces of people I’ve known along my own journey who have harbored bitterness for so long and fed angry grudges to the point that their faces and countenance begin to shrivel into a perpetual scowl long after their souls had done the same.

In today’s chapter, God tells Zeke to prophesy against the children of Esau, who refused to have compassion on the Israelite refugees and instead saw it as an opportunity to settle old scores with violent slaughter.

Violence begets violence. Bloodshed begets bloodshed. Or, as Jesus put it, “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.”

In the quiet this morning, I find myself mulling over political and international relationships between nations and people groups. It’s hard to wrap my mind around conflicts that are thousands of years old. It feels futile to even do so.

I’m reminded this morning that Jesus did not come to save nations. He came to save individuals. When Jesus changes my heart of bitterness and resentment into a soul full of forgiveness and grace, that impacts people in my family, my network of friends, and my circles of influence. Other individuals are changed in the wake. Suddenly our circles are influencing our community, our community influences other communities, and eventually our communities influence nations and empires. That is what happened in the first century. But it begins with the individual.

Just as the conflict between Israel and Edom began with individuals, twin brothers, the answer begins with an individual: me. Just as the conflict between Jews and Muslims began with individuals, half-brothers named Isaac and Ishmael, the answer beings with an individual: me.

What grudges am I harboring?
What bitterness am I clinging to?
Who have I refused to forgive?
Who do I hate?
Where is anger ruling my heart?

Peace begins with Jesus in me, and His grace through me.

I’ve read the entire Great Story multiple times.

There’s no Plan B.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Lost Sheep, Living Hope

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Lost Sheep, Living Hope (CaD Ezk 34) – Wayfarer

I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.
Ezekiel 34:15-16 (NIV)

Zeke and his fellow Israelites are strangers in a strange land. Having been forced to make a thousand mile march some ten years before, they have been making due eking out a life for themselves far from home. There’s no temple for worship. The thing around which their entire lives were centered for centuries. There are no pilgrimages. No feasts. No sacrifices. Everything they had is lost. They themselves are lost.

For ten years there was at least the hope of returning home one day. Then, in yesterday’s chapter, word came that Jerusalem had been destroyed. Solomon’s temple had been destroyed. Even the little hope that remained is now lost. There is no longer a home. In short order there will be more exiles arriving. King Zedekiah, his eyes gouged out after witnessing the slaughter of his own children will arrive in chains with the other leaders and “shepherds” of their people.

There are no shepherds. The flock is scattered with no one to protect the lost sheep.

That’s the backstory of today’s chapter. It’s important to know what Zeke and his fellow exiles are feeling as the prophet begins to share his message from God.

God Himself will be their Shepherd. God Himself has always been their Good Shepherd.

The temple and the sacrifices were never really the point in an of themselves. They were an object lesson to point His people to something much larger. He said so Himself in Psalm 50.

I have no need of a bull from your stall
    or of goats from your pens,
for every animal of the forest is mine,
    and the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird in the mountains,
    and the insects in the fields are mine.
If I were hungry I would not tell you,
    for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls
    or drink the blood of goats?

In today’s chapter, God foreshadows the Good Shepherd, the Messiah. There are so many parallels to Jesus’ teaching and parables I hardly know where to begin.

“When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

“I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.”

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

“Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’”

Right at the moment when Zeke and his compatriots are feeling hopeless, God reminds them where their true hope lies. Their hope is ultimately not in an earthly city or a temple made with hands. Their hope is in the living God who has always been a Good Shepherd

Who led Abraham to Canaan and made a covenant with him

Who led His people out of slavery in Egypt.

Who provided for His people for 40 years of wilderness wanderings.

Who led His people to a Promised Land.

They may no longer have a nation, or a city to call home, or a temple around which to worship, but it was never ever about the rituals or the religion. It was always, and still is, about the relationship. They still have a Good Shepherd who will “search for the lost and bring back the strays” who will “bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.”

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking back to stretches of this life journey when I was lost and trying to find my way. I often hear people say that they found God, but the spiritual reality is that God found me. I was the lost sheep, but I have a Good Shepherd and because of that I have a living hope no matter where I find myself, even if like Zeke I find myself a stranger in a strange land.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

A New Phase of Life

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“My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.”
Ezekiel 33:31 (NIV)

Wendy and I really enjoyed her sister’s visit this past week along with her wee ones. There’s nothing like a couple of toddlers to make the house an exciting place. We haven’t had the child gates up in front of the stairs since the kids moved to Des Moines in May. And of course, like a magnet, little Rosie immediately found a couple of the lower outlets that had their child safety plugs removed.

Along my life journey, I’ve observed that parenting changes. This is not because I changed, but because our daughters changed with age. There were tactics required with a toddler like Rosie who is still struggling to comprehend simple rules meant for their safety. The tactics change as children get to the age when they know the rules, they can comprehend them just fine, but they willfully choose to disobey. The tactics change yet again when a child reaches the age of accountability and they must start navigating the world making their own choices and suffering the consequences.

As I have read and studied the Great Story for over 40 years, I have observed that the Story itself is the story of God’s relationship with humanity. I often hear people struggling to understand how God related to humanity in the ancient books. Of course we do, because we live in a different age. Not only are a lot of the historical and cultural contexts lost to us, but also humanity itself has matured over time. It’s silly to think of giving our adult daughters a time-out. In the same way, I have to recognize that humanity itself was at a different age in the days of Ezekiel.

Today’s chapter marks a turning-point in Ezekiel’s life and prophetic works. Until this point, Zeke was only able to speak when God gave him a prophetic message. In today’s chapter, his tongue is freed just a word is on the way that Jerusalem had fallen and was destroyed by the Babylonians just has Zeke had been predicting. Zeke is told that his role has been like that of God’s proxy-parent. If he warns the children of their behavior and the threatens them with the consequences like a good parent, then great. If, however, like a bad parent there is no warning given for playing with fire and kids burn the house down, who’s to blame?

I have observed that fundamentalists typically cling to the tactics of the ancient prophets. They are always yelling and condemning like angry parents threatening the children with hellfire consequences of not obeying Dad “because I said so!” In doing so, they believe that they are “saving” people by urging sinners to repent of their ways, as well saving themselves by warning others just as God described to Zeke in today’s chapter.

But humanity has changed. Humanity is no longer a child. The life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus was a turning point like a child entering the age of accountability.

I sometimes see our adult children making choices that I think they’ll regret. Can I ground them? Give them a time-out? Send them to their room? No, but I can lovingly warn them. I can tell them what I learned from making similar choices when I was their age. Ultimately, an adult child has to learn from the consequences of their own choices. In the same way, Jesus taught His followers that it was time to approach humanity with new tactics for a world emerging into a new phase of life. Love, humility, and servant-hearted acts of goodness are to be daily examples for all to see. It’s kindness, not condemnation, that leads others to repentance. Yes, there are love motivated warnings to give when it is necessary, and even relational consequences in extreme situations. But those are the exceptions, not the general rule. Humanity has matured, so must our love and tactics.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

“Go to Hell!”

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I will throw you on the land
    and hurl you on the open field.
I will let all the birds of the sky settle on you
    and all the animals of the wild gorge themselves on you.
Ezekiel 32:4 (NIV)

A number of years ago I read a fascinating book that has become one of my favorite all-time reads. The book is called Holy Sh*t by Melissa Mohr, and it’s subtitled “A Brief History of Swearing.” I have always been fascinated by words and phrases and their histories along with culture’s mores and taboos regarding what is acceptable and unacceptable to say.

In her book, Mohr explains that there are basically two categories of swear words in the history of English. There are swear words that have to do with that which is sacred (e.g. “Holy”) and then there are swear words that have to do with body parts, bodily acts (especially sex), and excrements (e.g. “Shit”). Mohr goes on to explain that through history these two categories waxed and waned with regard to which was more prominent and fashionable.

I thought of Mohr’s book this morning as I read today’s chapter which contains the final two of Ezekiel’s seven prophetic messages regarding ancient Israel’s former enslaver and millennial nemesis, Pharaoh and his Egyptian empire.

In the first of the final two, Ezekiel writes another song of lament, a funeral dirge, in which God tells Pharaoh that He:

will throw [Pharaoh] on the land
    and hurl you on the open field.
I will let all the birds of the sky settle on you
    and all the animals of the wild gorge themselves on you.

What is easily lost on casual modern readers is the fact that the Egyptians, especially the Pharaohs, had an entire religious belief system around death and the afterlife. All those Egyptian mummies we see in museums come from a highly orchestrated process that was rooted in Egyptian religion. The Egyptians preserved the bodies, the organs, and then buried the Pharaoh with all of his treasures, worldly goods, and sometimes even with dead and mummified servants because they believed that Pharaoh would need all of those things in the ancient Egyptian version of the heavenly afterlife.

When God through Ezekiel proclaims that Pharaoh’s dead body will be thrown into an open field where all of the carrion fowl and wild beasts can feast on his flesh, it means there is nothing to preserve and mummify. God is going to rob Pharaoh of the heavenly afterlife he believes he’s going to have according to his own faith system.

The second and final message to Pharaoh is addressed to both Pharaoh and “his hoards.” God through Ezekiel tells the Egyptian king that he will be drug down to “the pit, the realm of the dead.” When he gets there, he’ll find out that he is joining the leaders and military hoards of a bunch of regional nations like Assyria, Elam, Meshek, Tubal, Edom, and the Sidonians. All of these kingdoms were devastated and destroyed. Pharaoh would have known this.

Instead of ascending to a cushy afterlife with all of his servants and treasures, Zeke’s prophetic messages are telling Pharaoh that just the opposite is going to happen. He will find himself in a very different afterlife with all of the other fallen kings and their empires who had gone before. He’s headed down to the pit. The realm of the dead.

In short, Zeke’s prophetic message is really an ancient form of the same colloquialism that we still use interpersonally today with enemies or individuals with whom we’re angry. . He’s telling Pharaoh “Go to hell” in a much more creative way. I would argue, however, that it would have been just as blunt in Pharaoh’s mind when he received the message.

In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded that history teaches us lessons about evil and about tyrants and dictators and emperors bent on conquest and power. They don’t respond to polite requests to be nicer. Any offer of a joint counseling session to work out the issues and find reconciliation will be rejected, mocked, and laughed at. Those who try the appeasement approach quickly find themselves the next victim. Evil only responds to direct force, and God through Zeke is delivering a direct, forceful message. One of the things that I have learned through the study of both theatre and mass communication is that in certain human situations the use of a well-timed, well-turned expletive is a powerful tool in getting through thick heads and hard hearts.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

An Empire’s Epitaph

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“‘Which of the trees of Eden can be compared with you in splendor and majesty? Yet you, too, will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword.

“‘This is Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
Ezekiel 31:18 (NIV)

I, along with many other people, got swept up in the HBO series Game of Thrones a few years back. Based on the fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, it tells the story of a land called Westeros where a number of kingdoms compete for power and control of their world. It is based, of course, on the real life game of thrones that human kingdoms and empires have been playing throughout history.

The millennium between 1000 B.C. and the life of Jesus was itself a game of thrones and an age of human Empires that rose and fell and competed for power. The ancient nation of Israel and the Hebrew prophets like Ezekiel had front row seats to the competition. They were pawns in the game as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Mede, Persia, Greece, and Rome all made their plays for conquest and power.

In today’s chapter, Ezekiel continues his string of prophetic messages to Egypt, using one of their competing empires as an example. By the time Ezekiel arrived on the scene, the Assyrian empire had already had its glory days and had recently crumbled into nothing. Ezekiel compares the Assyrian empire to a majestic Cedar tree of Lebanon. The Cedars of Lebanon were luxury items in that age of Empires. Every great emperor (including David and Solomon) had Cedars imported for their palaces, gardens, and temples. But in Ezekiel’s metaphorical message, the Cedar representing Assyria is felled and descends into the realm of the dead.

Pharaoh would have gotten the message. Assyria rose, Assyria fell, and Assyria was not going to rise again. The same thing, Ezekiel proclaims, is going to happen to the Egyptian empire. He tells Pharaoh that he and Egypt will ultimately lose the ancient game of thrones. Pharaoh will descend to the dead like Assyria and Ezekiel even proclaims his epitaph: “Here lies Pharaoh and all his hordes.” Ezekiel was correct. Egypt eventually did fall to the Persian empire followed by the Greeks under Alexander the Great and then to the Romans who held sway when Jesus entered the Story.

And, in the quiet this morning, I am reminded that this thousand year game of thrones and age of empires is a precipitous backdrop to the arrival of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Jesus looks nothing like a human emperor, pharaoh, or caesar grabbing power, conquering by force, and clinging to it through intimidation, fear, and violence. That’s what the Hebrews had hoped for and expected. They wanted to be the ultimate human empire and expected the Messiah to be the ultimate champion in a human game of thrones.

But God’s ways aren’t our ways.

Jesus arrived because He gave up His throne. Jesus,

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

The Kingdom of God, Jesus taught, is an eternal Kingdom that is not of this world. It is not a human empire bent on conquest and power, but a heavenly kingdom founded on humility and suffering. In God’s Kingdom, the greatest are not the powerful who claw their way to the top by climbing over others and eliminating the competition. The Messiah revealed that the greatest in God’s Kingdom are those who serve others and put others ahead of themselves. In God’s kingdom wealth is not determined by the amount of things we acquire and hoard, but by the amount we willingly and generously give away. In God’s Kingdom, the game of thrones is not won by clinging to the throne but by surrendering it.

I’m out on business the next two days.
I plan to return on Friday!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Choosing to Know

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Choosing to Know (CaD Ezk 30) – Wayfarer

Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he brandishes it against Egypt.
Ezekiel 30:25b (NIV)

One of the changes in reality of life that I’ve observed along my life journey is how spread out family has become geographically. When my great-grandfather settled in northwest Iowa from the old country, his children all lived within a small geographical area their entire lives. My parents’ generation started spreading out around North America, My generation continued to spread, and our children’s generation has spread around the globe. While technology has made it easier and easier to communicate, there is no doubt that geographic distance makes it more difficult to know and be known.

Yesterday, Wendy and I enjoyed time with family. Our nephew, Elias, celebrated his first birthday. Wendy and I headed to Ankeny where we hung out with five of our nephews and nieces. Wendy’s sister and her two kiddos are back in Iowa from their home in Mazatlan, and we’re feeling really blessed to have them staying with us in Pella for a few days. It was our first opportunity to meet our niece Rosie, and only the second time we’ve been physically present with our nephew, Ian. Of course, the first order of business was for the two of them to get comfortable knowing their Aunt Wendy and Uncle Tom.

We have 15 nephews and nieces. We love them all, but have varying degrees of relationship with them. Some of that is proximity, but some of it is also choices that are made.

One of the overarching themes of the entire Great Story from Genesis to Revelation is God’s expressed desire to be known and to have a relationship with the pinnacle of HIs creation, human beings who have the free will to choose or refuse to be in a relationship. Complicating this is the nature of evil which sets itself up against such a relationship.

In today’s chapter, Ezekiel continues his seven-part prophetic rant against Pharaoh and Egypt. Four times God through Ezekiel says, “Then they will know that I am the LORD.” I was once again struck by the synchronicity with the story of the ten plagues (or “strikes”) against Pharaoh back in the story of Moses, which I talked about in my message yesterday among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers. Pharaoh refused to know or acknowledge the God of Moses, though he had over a thousand gods of Egypt and was considered a god himself. In this, Pharaoh becomes an example of those who choose personal empire over a relationship with the God of Creation. Seven times in the ten plagues God says “then you will know that I am the LORD.”

One thousand years later, Egypt is still refusing to know and be known.

Ezekiel’s prophetic message was fulfilled. The Babylonians did invade Egypt, did defeat Pharaoh, and did a lot of damage. It would be the Persians, however, who would finish the job and complete the prophetic message. Ezekiel’s prediction that “no longer will there be a prince in Egypt” was fulfilled when Pharaoh Nectanebo II became the last Pharaoh ever in 340 B.C. The Pharaohs of Egypt remain an example to this day of hearts that remain hardened in their refusal to acknowledge and know Yahweh.

In the quiet this morning, I fast forward my thinking to Jesus, the Son of God, who came to earth that we might know God. The Story is the same. God inviting His creation to know and be known in an intimate spiritual relationship.

““I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
John 10:14-15 (NIV emphasis added)

Along my spiritual journey, I’ve come to understand that the degree to which I know God is proportionate to my willingness to choose into a relationship with Him and the degree of my refusal to do so.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.