Prophecy

Father God, as we have gone through this series on your self-revelation throughout history,

we pray that we would heed the warning of Israel who listened to you,

even delighted to listen to you, and yet ignored what you said.

So as we come to your word now, we ask, Father, that you would, by your spirit,

help us to see it as light and truth and hope, and that we would be motivated to obey it.

And we ask it for your sake. Amen.

On the eve of Operation Desert Storm in January 1991, President Bush Sr. said it was America's responsibility

to protecuate because we are the leaders of the world.

Fairly arrogant thing to say, really.

Typically American, but fairly arrogant thing to say.

Because they were on the winning side of World War II, they were the economic powerhouse of the world,

they've got Hollywood and Arnold Schwarzenegger,

in their arrogance, they just assumed that they would always be on top of the world,

that they would always be right and that they are always victorious.

The fact is, though, that they'd only been a major world player for around about 80, 90 years.

In that time, they'd been defeated in Vietnam,

been sorely bruised in Korea and Somalia,

and now in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yet, in their arrogance, they think they will never be defeated,

they will always be on top of the world.

Why?

It's got to be linked to the thought that God is on our side

as we battle the forces of evil.

If you've ever visited America, you'll know what I mean.

The first thing you encounter when going into the United States

is US customs, homeland security.

They're the guys dressed up in black paramilitary stuff

with bulletproof vests and guns.

They're the guys who wanted to go to Iraq but got given a desk job instead.

And so they are looking for someone to shoot.

I remember coming one day from Canada into the United States.

Must be the riskiest border in the world.

And I was going in with someone with an Australian passport,

also a couple of people.

One person with an American passport,

two others with Australian passports.

And one of them needed to get the green card.

And so we pulled in, hopped out of the car, went in and stood in line.

One person stepped over the yellow line accidentally,

was just standing on the wrong side of the yellow line.

And the customs guy comes right up into his face and says,

back off over the line.

It's like, whoa, we're in a major security risk area here.

Another person was standing in the line.

We were standing there for 45 minutes and the line didn't go anywhere in 45 minutes.

And there was a man dressed up in a suit heading down into the US.

And as the customs guy walked along the line, he said to him,

excuse me, sir, how long will this take?

And he said, how long are you expecting to live?

And he said, well, I don't really know,

but this seems to be taking a while.

And he said to him, that's the price you pay to come to the United States.

And of course, he comes to me and I whip out my Australian passport.

Coalition of the willing, coalition of the willing.

Coalition of the willing.

The US has little reason for its arrogance,

but by the time of the monarchy in Israel,

they did have good reason.

With the promised land and the temple and the Ark of the King,

Israel had been on top for over a thousand years.

Their history was pretty impressive.

We started this series on the kingdom of God back in the book of Genesis,

right at the beginning.

And the framework for understanding the kingdom of God

and therefore the kingdom of Israel was established in the garden.

God's people in God's special place under the rule of God.

And God ruled them through his mighty word.

Genesis 3, however, reveals rebellion against God's word and his rule.

It's sin.

It's people who have no right to rule,

rising up against the one who has the right to rule,

ignoring his word and doing their own thing.

And the outcome is expulsion from God's presence and everything is cursed.

The good news is, we discovered very quickly,

that God has not abandoned his world.

He even gives Adam and Eve a very small glimpse there

that he will one day rise up someone who will crush the head of Satan.

And as we see, the Bible progresses,

God has a plan to undo and reverse the impact of their rebellion.

In Genesis 12, God makes a promise that he will undo Genesis 3

through one man and his descendants.

And God's plan is to bless this man and his descendants

by giving them a special place

where he will rule over them and dwell with them.

The plan was for the whole world to be blessed through these special people.

And in Exodus 19, as we saw, expands on it,

explains that the way God was going to bless this world

was to set apart a bunch of people who would be different than everyone else.

They were people who would be obedient to God's word.

The way that they would be different is that they would wholeheartedly love God

and that they would obey him

and that they would love their neighbours as themselves.

The book of Joshua takes us into the beginning of the conquest

of this special place of God, his promised land.

It was hard and slow because of the numerous enemies which occupied the land

and the numerous enemies of their heart which they did battle on on the inside.

And we saw last week in 2 Samuel 7

that they did finally rid the land of all of God's enemies under King David.

The promised land is here.

It's ours.

Fulfillment.

We have arrived at the destination.

And David's son Solomon sets about building a permanent temple in Jerusalem

with the Ark of the Covenant in its place in its permanent home

and God would be a permanent fixture.

Israel is on top of the world.

And they thought that they would always be on top of the world

because in the middle of their land was the city of Jerusalem.

In the middle of the city of Jerusalem stood a permanent temple

and in the middle of the permanent temple was the Ark of the Covenant

which held the word of God and God's presence was assured.

Such was the arrogance of the people of Israel.

And it isn't long and we see the enemy within is still a problem.

1 Kings 10, the Queen of Sheba comes and Solomon shares the wisdom he has gained from God.

That is, the people of Israel are now blessing the nations.

That's in 1 Kings 10.

And the beginning of 1 Kings 11 we read,

Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in his love.

Turns out they are no different than anyone else.

Ezekiel 33 gives us a glimpse into the attitude of the people of God

as they consistently ignore the word of God.

As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls at the doors and the houses

saying to each other,

Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.

And so my people come to you as they usually do

and sit before you to listen to your words.

But they do not put them into practice.

With their mouths they express devotion

but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.

Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice

and plays an instrument well

for they hear your words

but they do not put them into practice.

The people of God would simultaneously sit, hear and enjoy the word of God

and then ignore it like it was just some kind of a love song.

They would go through all the motions of worship

but their hearts were far from God.

And so throughout Israel's history for the time of Samuel onwards

the prophetic office was closely linked to the conditions laid down by God

for enjoyment of covenant blessings.

Although Israel's salvation has for its basis

God's gracious act of saving the people out of Egypt

there is a close link between the enjoyment of the final outcome of that salvation

and Israel's obedience.

Now on the surface

that appears to mean that Israel's salvation

was achieved by obedience to the law

but that is not the case.

Grace first comes in the saving acts of God

and then the law binds the saved people to God as his people.

And should these people refuse to accept their responsibility

to live as God's people

then they must suffer removal from the land of blessing.

Exile

in the same way that they had previously experienced out of Eden.

The relationship of good works to salvation

is essentially the same in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

In both salvation is by grace

but grace never stands alone with our good works.

To put it another way

we may say that no one is saved because of obedience

but no one is saved without obedience.

So the ministry of the prophets

was calling the people of God back

to covenant obedience.

Even when the kingdom of Israel split under Solomon

and they start to slide into destruction

the ministries of the likes of Elijah and Elisha

combined in an effort

to bring the people back to covenant obedience.

In their arrogance though

the people of God by and large

refused to obey

and listen to the word of God

from the mouth of the prophets.

Their sinful hearts were far from God.

And it gets that bad

that by Ezekiel

by the time of the prophets of Ezekiel

and other pre-exilic and post-exilic prophets

they were defiling God's temple

with idolatrous worship.

A defilement that spread everywhere in the land.

In other words

God's special promised land

was now viewed as putrid

by God

according to Ezekiel 6 and 7.

And the penalty for this defilement

was expulsion

out of the land.

Israel had chosen uncleanliness

they have chosen

to ignore the word of God

and so they will have uncleanliness

in its full measure.

They will be driven out of God's land

into an unclean land.

Uncleanliness

will not just be their hearts

but uncleanliness

will be their total environment.

And so the unthinkable happens

in Ezekiel 10.

The thing that Israel thought

would never happen

God

leaves

his temple.

And now it is no more

than a few stones

heaped on top of one another

and with his departure

God hands the city

and the nation

over to be destroyed

and it happened in 586 BC.

According to

chapter 1 of Ezekiel

Ezekiel is one of God's people

that's been kicked out of God's place

and wondering

at this point

what has happened

to all the promises of God.

all our hope

was

wrapped up in this land

in this temple

in this ark

and now

it is all gone.

God

what have

you done?

Perhaps you can imagine

the 30 year old Ezekiel

wandering beside the Kibar River

thinking about his future.

As a 30 year old man

son of Busi

the priest

he would have began

his priestly ministry

in the temple

and now

he's 800 kilometers

from home

in a foreign land

under the rule

of a foreign empire

he was a captive

he was a slave

he was a long way

from home

both physically

and spiritually.

All of he knew

about God

and his promises

were 800 kilometers away

the temple

was the center

of God's activity

with his people

but without a land

and without a Jerusalem

and without a temple

without an ark

what is left

is God dead?

Has God abandoned

his promises?

Has God forgotten

about his people?

Good questions.

And yet

in Ezekiel 1 verse 1

Ezekiel 1:1

tells us that

Ezekiel saw

the heavens opened

and I saw

visions of God

on the Kiba River

800 kilometers

away from Jerusalem

in a foreign land

as a captive

no priest

no temple

only a few

of the people

of God

Ezekiel gets

a really

strange sight

he gets

a vision

of God

where God

should not be

God shows up

God has not

forgotten

his covenant

promises

to Abraham

and David

yes

right now

the people

of God

were put

in the time

out corner

for their

rebellion

their sin

and their

impurity

and even

though

the majority

of the

messages

of the

prophets

is one

of judgment

it is also

a message

of hope

in Ezekiel 36

God makes

a remarkable

promise

he says

for I will

take you

out of the

nations

I will

gather you

from all

the countries

and bring

you back

into your

own land

I will

sprinkle

clean water

on you

and you

will be

clean

I will

cleanse you

from all

your impurities

and from

all your

idols

I will

give you

a new

heart

and put

a new

spirit

in you

I will

remove

from you

your heart

of stone

and give

you a heart

of flesh

and I will

put my

spirit in

you

and move

you

from the

inside

that is

to follow

my decrees

and to be

careful

to keep

my laws

and so

through the

mouth of

this prophet

God reaffirms

his covenant

prophecies

to his

exiled

people

the people

of God

are now

looking

forward

to a

new

age

and the

new

age

will be

an age

in which

God

says

I

will

clean

you

I

will

purify

you

from

your

defilement

and your

impurities

I

will

take

the

initiative

to deal

with

the

problem

and the

problem

is

your

heart

I

will

pronounce

you

clean

Jeremiah

prophesies

at the

same

kind

of

time

and

calls

it

full

and

complete

forgiveness

in

Jeremiah

31

that

is

what

they're

looking

forward

to

in

this

new

age

and

central

this

new

age

will

be

the

ruach

the

wind

major

theme

running

through

the

prophets

looking

at

this

time

the

wind

which

is

translated

the

spirit

the

new

age

that

Ezekiel

and

others

prophesy

about

will

be

the

age

and

with

the

spirit

God's

spirit

God's

wind

will

be

placed

within

God's

people

changing

them

from

the

inside

so

that

they

will

be

responsive

and

that

they

will

delight

to

obey

the

word

of

the

Lord

we

notice

in

chapter

37

we

see

how

this

will

be

done

with

Ezekiel's

remarkable

vision

of the

valley

of

dry

bones

as

Ezekiel

prophesies

the word

of God

the

spirit

goes

out

and

breathes

into

the

dead

bones

and a

miracle

happens

dead

people

come

to

life

through

the

spirit

of

God

working

through

the

word

of

God

it's

a

miracle

the

nation

which

is

dead

through

God's

spirit

going out

through

his

word

now

comes

alive

life

and the

work of

the

spirit

and the

word

will be

inseparable

in the

new

age

the

word

and the

spirit

together

will bring

about

new

life

and so

what is

the

final

goal

of this

new

life

that

these

new

people

are

looking

forward

to

in

this

new

age

it's

seen

in the

very

last

chapters

of

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 40 · chapter mention

chapters

40

to

48

and

God

shows

Ezekiel

a new

and

permanent

temple

and

chapter

43

of

Ezekiel

we

read

this

then

the

man

brought

me

to

the

gate

facing

east

and

I

saw

the

glory

of

the

God

of

Israel

coming

from

the

east

his

voice

was

like

the

roar

of

rushing

waters

and

the

land

was

radiant

with

his

glory

the

vision

I

saw

was

like

the

vision

I

had

seen

when

he

came

to

destroy

the

city

and

like

the

visions

I

had

seen

by

the

Kibar

river

when

I

fell

face

down

the

glory

of

the

Lord

entered

the

temple

through

the

gates

facing

east

and

then

the

spirit

came

and

lifted

me

up

and

brought

me

in

to

the

inner

court

of

the

temple

and

the

glory

of

the

Lord

filled

the

temple

God

and

his

people

through

the

spirit

are

now

united

as

one

that's

the

glory

of

the

new

age

the

Ezekiel

who

saw

the

glory

of

God

depart

in

chapter

10

and

11

now

watches

God

return

in

this

new

age

and

he

himself

is

wrapped

up

in

it

and

taken

into

the

inner

court

the

final

verse

of

Ezekiel

is

the

whole

thing

in

a

nutshell

and

the

name

of

the

city

from

that

time

on

will

be

the

Lord

is

there

the

Lord

is

there

God

will

now

be

forever

with

his

people

because

he

has

purified

them

and

made

them

fit

for

his

presence

they

are

clean

they

have

the

spirit

and

they

are

now

united

with

God

forever

so

how

is

he

going

to

do

that

how

does

he

deal

with

the

sin

that

separates

them

in

the

first

place

Ezekiel

doesn't

say a

lot

about

it

but

he

does

give

us

some

hints

hints

is

when

God

calls

Ezekiel

the

son

of

man

and

the

son

of

man

symbolizes

the

bearing

of

the

sin

on

his

body

when

Ezekiel

is

told

to

lie

on

his

side

in

chapter

4

and

in

chapter

16

God

promises

a

time

when

he

himself

will

make

atonement

for

the

faithless

Israel

that

is

God

himself

will

purify

their

sin

and

God

also

promises

a

time

when

he

will

judge

the

people's

useless

shepherds

as it

says

in chapter

34

and place

over them

one shepherd

my servant

David

don't forget

the promises

we heard last

week from

2 Tamerals

chapter 7

that God

says the

descendant of

David will

sit on my throne

forever

and so here

we have in

chapter 34

I will place

over them

one shepherd

my servant

David

and he

will

tend

them

and he

will

tend

them

and be

their

shepherd

I

the

Lord

will

be

their

God

and my

servant

David

will be

prince

among

them

the shepherd

who tends

the sheep

is none

other than

the good

shepherd

the Lord

Jesus

Christ

who picks

up from

Ezekiel

34

in John

John 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10

and refers

to himself

as the good

shepherd

and why

is he the

good shepherd

shepherd

because he

lays down

his life

for the

sheep

he is

the

sacrificial

lamb

and it's

because of

his sacrifice

that God

is able to

pass over

our sins

as we saw

in the second

sermon of

this series

and so

through Christ

we are

purified

the spirit

of God

comes

and we

are united

with God

right now

in the

heavenly realms

right now

people of God

right now

and yet

we look

forward to

it too

we look

forward to

the complete

complete

fulfilment

of that

perfection

of being

in the

inner

sanctuary

with God

and actually

seeing him

face to face

and so

right now

this side

of heaven

we who

are purified

by Christ

live in an

impure world

and we live

by faith

and not by sight

and we live

in impure

bodies

and that

means

this side

of heaven

it's a

struggle

both in the

flesh

and in our

souls

when you

don't feel

pure

can I

trust God's

promise

that he has

in fact

dealt with

my sins

and that I

have complete

access to God

the Father

when I

don't feel

like it

when what

is before

me

consistently

that I

see is

my own

sinfulness

Romans 7

puts it

like this

for in my

inner being

I delight

in God's

law

but I

see another

law at work

in the

members of

my body

waging war

against the

law of my

mind

and making

me a

prisoner of

the law

of sin

at work

within my

members

what a

wretched

man I

am

what's

the answer

to this

struggle of

being pure

and impure

next verse

who will

rescue me

from this

body of

death

and take

me to the

perfection

of heaven

where there's

no tears

when it's

all clean

when I'll

not just

do it by

faith but

experience it

physically

thanks be

to God

through

Jesus

Christ

and so

I live

by faith

in Christ

2 Corinthians

5 talks

about the

same groaning

as we

long for

heaven

and that's

where it

says in

verse 7

we live

by faith

and not

by sight

the battle

is to deal

with our

sin and

to trust

in the

promises

of God

so all

these promises

of the

gift of

the spirit

the purification

of sins

eternal

life

are not

meant to

make me

apathetic

they are

not meant

to cause

me to be

lazy

this side

of heaven

there is a

battle of

endurance

and holiness

and faith

raging

this side

of heaven

and the

promises are

there as

in 1 John

1 John 1:7

chapter 1

verse 7

if we walk

in the light

as he is

in the light

we have

fellowship

with one

another

and the

blood of

Jesus

his son

purifies

us from

all sin

if we

confess our

sins

he is

faithful and

just

will

forgive us

our sins

and purify

us from

all

unrighteousness

he is the

atoning sacrifice

for our sins

not only for

ours but also

for the sins

of the whole

world

and yet

don't just

sit there

because the

very next

verse says

we know

that we have

come to

know him

that is if

we've come

to enjoy

in all this

purity and

forgiveness

of sins

if we

obey

his

commands

the man

who says

I know

him but

does not

do what

he says

is a liar

and the

truth is

not in

him

but if

anyone

obeys

his word

God's

love is

truly made

complete in

him

whoever claims

to live in

him must

walk as

Jesus did

in other

words

don't make

the mistake

of Israel's

history

listen to

Jesus the

good shepherd

when he

leads us

with his

words

words like

Sam just

read out to

us

not everyone

who says

to me

Lord Lord

will enter

the kingdom

of heaven

not but

only he

who does

the will

of my

father who

is in

heaven

many will

say to

me on

that day

Lord Lord

did we

not prophesy

in your

name and

in your

name drive

out demons

and perform

many miracles

and then I

will tell

them

plainly I

never knew

you away

from me you

evil doers

therefore

application

everyone who

hears these

words of

mine and

puts them

into practice

is like the

wise man who

built his

house on the

rock

Jesus says

don't make

the mistake

of the people

of God have

made in the

past listen

to my word

and obey

my word

you see the

people of

God

in the

time of

the monarchy

were tempted

to trust

their wealth

and their

political

stability in

the Davidic

line and

even in the

temple itself

while ignoring

the word of

God

they slipped

into apathy

because they

thought that

they had

actually arrived

at the

complete

kingdom

and the

warning from

their time

and the

mouth of

Jesus

is be

careful

of enjoy

listening

to the

word of

God

while

ignoring

its call

to

obedience

and my

friends I

would love

to see

revival come

to St

Paul's

but revivals

don't happen

by talking

about them

true revivals

have happened

only when

people have

gained a

right idea

of God

and his

majesty

and his

holiness

revivals

have happened

when people

grew in

their sense

of accountability

before God

when they

grew in

their sense

of their

sin

and when

they grew

in their

sense of

Christ's

completed

saving work

on the

cross

all those

things together

in their

understanding

also of

their call

to

obedience

to

Christ

these

are the

times

when God

visits his

church

pours out

his spirit

and dead

bones

come alive

amen

them

150

to

this

in

Jesus