House of Israel

The Peril of Vain Preaching

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ‘Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, ‘Hear ye the word of the LORD;  ‘Thus saith the Lord GOD; ‘Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!  O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.  Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.  They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, ‘The LORD saith:’ and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.  Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, ‘The LORD saith it;’ albeit I have not spoken?  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; ‘Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.  And Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of My people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.'” Ezekiel 13:1-9 (KJV)

Vain preaching is attempting to preach anything except what God says; and claim the “Thus saith the LORD” authority.  God says, “Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of My people…”  Woe to the preacher; of any  day; who does not preach the Word of God.

-T.A.

The Time is NOW

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Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.’  Therefore say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord GOD; ‘There shall none of My words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done,’ saith the Lord GOD.'” Ezekiel 12:26-28 (KJV)

There is never any time such as the present to hear the Word of God and believe what He has said, and is saying.

-T.A.

The Sweetness of His Word, and His Presence

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And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; and He spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.  Moreover He said unto me, ‘Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.’  So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that roll.  And He said unto me, ‘Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee.’  Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.”  Ezekiel 2:9 – 3:3 (KJV)

How important is the Word of God?  For the Christian it is the very sustenance of life and faith.  For the world it is just as important as is the Creator.

-T.A.

Day 61 – Vision of the Glory of God

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In the reading of the Bible one thing that stands out to me is that God is about His own glory.  Now for a man or woman to be about themselves we call that arrogance, pride, no good even.  Yet, for the Creator who has made all things, and seeing how He also loves the people He has made; and also seeing Him as holy, righteous, and just; we can see that He has every right, even right or power, to promote Himself.  There is no other like Him.

In my reading this morning I only read 11 chapters rather than the usual 14.  I finished the prophecy of Ezekiel.  The judgment which God brought upon Israel/Judah is due to their rebellion, worshipping false gods, erecting idols along side the only God, and the  people being downright unholy, unjust, and unrighteous with God and other people; even their own people.

In chapters 38 – 39 we read five more times, and a sixth which is not worded quite the same;

“Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.” Ezekiel 38:23 (KJV)

“And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.   So will I make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let them pollute My holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.”  39:6-7

“So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.”  39:22

“Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.”  39:28

“And thou shalt come up against My people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against My land, that the heathen may know Me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.” 38:16

Ezekiel is taken by the LORD in a vision to the city of Jerusalem and to the temple.  There he meets a man with measuring rod, and measures the city and the temple.  One of the things we can see about this is that in the worship of the LORD our worship is to be patterned after His design not of our own making.  It is measured out to give God glory, honor, power and blessing.  He will receive no worship which is not after His fashion, in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

In the vision the LORD also gives Ezekiel the land allotments for the twelve tribes, for the city, and for the temple.

The final verse of Ezekiel tells us –

“It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.” 48:35

“The LORD is there”.  What a wonderful name for the place where people of all tribes, tongues and nations will be able to gather to worship the Creator of all that is; both the seen and the unseen.  He has made a way for you to be there by way of the cross of Jesus Christ.  Only through the death, burial and bodily resurrection of Christ will you be able to attend and receive blessing, and rest in His glory.

-Tim A. Blankenship

Day 59 – GOD and the False Prophets

/ Tim A. / 4 Comments

Someone might say, “There are no false prophets today.”  My action toward that remark would be to tell that individual to remove the blindfold.  In reading the prophets of God we find the example of false prophets, and they are quite plentiful today as well.

The true prophet of God seeks first, to glorify God and His message; and second to warn God’s people of their sins; and third to call them to repentance; at whatever the price – even his own life.  The false prophet seeks to ease the hearts of the people through encouragement in their trials and pains that are actually for their chastisement.  I agree that there are times the preacher of God needs to encourage the people; the encouragement we give needs to be according to the Word of the LORD, not fanciful, psychological, mumbo-jumbo seeking to the ease of pain and trial.  The encouragement from God will be to get people to love the Word of God; and loving Him with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength.

In my reading this morning – Ezekiel 10 – 23 – I noticed several instances of God’s rebuke of the false prophets and teachers, and this is what I believe needs addressing.

One of the things I read in Ezekiel is the continued use of a phrase, “[they, you,] shall know that I am the LORD”.  Throughout the prophecy, beginning in chapter six, that phrase is used over sixty times.  The reason, Ezekiel stresses, for Israel’s captivity and judgment is so that they will know that God is the LORD.

God says to the prophet Ezekiel,

“Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.  Therefore say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord GOD; ‘There shall none of My words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done,’ saith the Lord GOD.” Ezekiel 12:26-28 (KJV)

Also hear what the LORD says of the prophet who is deceived, and deceives the people,

“And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel.  And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; that the house of Israel may go no more astray from Me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be My people, and I may be their God,’ saith the Lord GOD.” 14:9-11

If you will notice the people who went seeking the false prophet and his prophecy would be held to the same end as the prophet himself.

At least twice God tells the elders who come to Ezekiel to inquire of him, “I will not be inquired of by you.” (20:3, 31)

Also notice what God says to the priests and the prophets in chapter 22.  I will let you get out the Scriptures and read that for yourself.  Notice the “daubing… with untempered mortar”.  Have you ever seen whitewash.  Can you imagine laying brick, or even patching brickwork with whitewash, yet that is what the false prophets do.

The LORD will not long tolerate the wickedness of the false prophet/preacher.  He will not hold him guiltless who leads people astray, making the evil believe they will live, and making the righteous feel they will die.  The false preacher calls evil good, and good evil.

Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ today.  Repent of your sins, believe and live.

-Tim A. Blankenship