Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 47-48 and Revelation 16-17

Ezekiel 47 – A stream is described coming out from under the Temple threshold, flowing eastward. Ezekiel’s guide takes him to the stream and has him wade across it at different points; it swells in size, becoming “a river impossible to cross” (47:5).

“Wherever the river flow, all living creatures teeming in it will live” (47:9).  Life will flourish along the banks of this river.

The frontiers of the lands allotted to the various tribes are described here too. “You are to divide it into inheritances for yourselves and the aliens settled among you who have begotten children with you, since you are to treat them as citizens of Israel” (47:22). The division is made according to Ezekiel’s vision – horizontal tracts for all the tribes and for the sanctuary and the prince that all extend from the Mediterranean to the eastern border.

Ezekiel 48 – The tribes are listed and the lands assigned to them. The order of the tracts that all run from the Mediterranean to the eastern frontier are as follows: Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and Judah; then comes the land dedicated to the sanctuary and the prince; then the tracts of Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun and Gad.

The new name of this great city will be “Yahweh sham” [sounds a little like Jerusalem] and it means “Yahweh-is-there” (48:35).

I think it is really important to remember how important the book of Ezekiel is. It is, with Jeremiah, the first glimpse we have of the new vision of Judaism that arises from the loss of its territorial focus. The religion of Yahweh will now be an inward faith and Ezekiel believed an inward rooting of religious law.

As Lawrence Boadt points out in his book, religion was no longer to focus on what the community did externally, but was to be rooted in the heart.  Ezekiel stressed the roles of the Sabbath as a day of rest, reflective meditation on the covenant, personal uprightness, purity, and holiness. God would no longer accept people just because they were born Israelites; now they must “decide for God in order to live” (397).

This new vision would allow Israel to practice its religion no matter what happened to the land.  Building on the preaching of Ezekiel, the priests and Levites took the traditions that had been handed down through the Yahwist and Elohist and expanded them with new material gathered from other areas of Israel’s life: the liturgies, songs, family records, and especially the laws that had been worked out over the centuries (398).

Revelation 15 – Next he sees seven angels bringing the seven last plagues that will “exhaust the anger of God” (15:1-2).  The saved stand around with harps, singing a hymn of Moses and the Lamb:

How great and wonderful are all your works,

Lord God Almighty;

Just and true are all your ways,

King of nations.

Who would not revere and praise your name, O Lord?

You alone are holy,

And all the pagans will come and adore you

For the many acts of justice you have shown (15:3-4).

Then the sanctuary opens and the seven angels come out with the plagues. “The smoke from the glory and the power of God filled the temple so that no one could go into it until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed” (15:8).

Revelation 16 – He hears a voice from the sanctuary shouting to the angels to go and empty the bowls of God’s anger on the earth:

           

The first empties his bowl and all those marked with the mark of the beast came down with virulent sores.

           

The second empties his bowl over the sea, and it turns to blood – everything dies.

           

The third empties his bowl, and all the rivers and waters turn to blood. He hears the alter in the sanctuary proclaim the justice of the Lord’s punishments.

           

The fourth empties his bowl over the sun, and the sun scorches people with flames, causing them to curse the name of God.

           

The fifth empties his bowl over the throne of the beast, and the empire is plunged into darkness. They do not repent despite their pain.

           

The sixth empties his bowl over the Euphrates, and the waters dry up. From the jaws of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, three foul spirits come looking like frogs. Able to work miracles they go out to the worlds’ kings to call them to war at Armageddon.

           

Finally, the seventh angel empties his bowl into the air, and a voice shouts that the end has come. There is lightning and thunder and earthquakes. The cities of the world collapse.

All of this kind of apocalyptic rhetoric – here and also in the Book of Daniel – is so hard for me to read and penetrate. How many people have thought this opens to them the mystery of life, of death and of history. Even if one supposed that God might at some point in history have stirred the imaginations of some holy men to deep insights on the destiny of man or the basic nature of God’s plan for us, the audacity anyone might have to claim complete understanding is just too ridiculous. To us today, the thought that God might just wipe out all life as part of some salvation plan is hard for me to appreciate. But that’s just me.

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 46 and Revelation 14

Ezekiel 46 – The east gate of the inner court is always to be shut for the six regular days of the week but opened on the Sabbath. It is also to be opened on the day of the New Moon. The prince must walk through on these days and the priests offer his holocaust and communion sacrifices. The animals to be offered are listed in detail.

The figure who appeared in 40-42 to show Ezekiel the exact dimensions and specifications the new Temple reappears here in verse 19. 

Revelation 14 – Next he sees Mt Zion and a Lamb with 144,000 people with his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads (14:1).

They sing a hymn only they can learn. They are virgin men to be first-fruits for God and the Lamb. “They never allowed a lie to pass their lips and no fault can be found in them” (14:5).

           

An angel comes announcing the Good News of eternity to all. A second announces the fall of Babylon and a third announces the fate of all who have worshipped the beast and his statue. A voice from heaven tells him to write “Happy are those who die in the Lord! Happy indeed, the Spirit says; now they can rest for ever after their work, since their good deeds go with them’” (14:13).

           

Then he sees a white cloud and “one like a son of man” sitting on it with a crown and a sharp sickle in his hand. He gathers the harvest of grapes in and puts them all in God’s winepress.

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 45 and Revelation 13

Ezekiel 45 – In this chapter Ezekiel describes a division of the country into parallel strips. The note says this is he most hypothetical and unrealistic part of his “vision.” The idea is that the land is to be divided – a section devoted to the sanctuary (the sacred portion), a section for the priests to live in.

There is to be a portion for the prince as it was in Solomon’s time; he is exhorted to give up “violence and plundering, [to] practice justice and integrity, [and to] crush my people no more with taxation” (45:8-9). The prince is responsible for providing sacrifices for “sin, oblation, holocaust and communion” sacrifices, which will atone for the sins of the House of Israel (45:17).

On the first day of the first month a young bull without blemish is to be offered to purify the sanctuary. Blood is to be placed on the doorposts of the Temple, the corners of the altar and the doorposts of the gates of the inner court. The same offering is to be made on the seventh of the month for “anyone who has sinned through inadvertence or ignorance” (45:19).  This offering is for unintentional imperfections that we know everyone has.

On the fourteenth of the first month, the Passover offering is to be made. Everyone must eat unleavened loaves for seven days and a series of sacrifices are to be made daily. The Feast of the Tabernacles must have the same series of offerings.

Revelation 13 – John is standing by the sea and he sees a beast come out with seven heads and ten horns. It was like a leopard “with paws like a bear and a mouth like a lion” (13:2). The dragon gave its power to the beast, and the world followed him thinking he is invincible.

For 42 months, he wields power and curses God. Everyone whose name was not “written down since the foundation of the world in the book of life of the sacrificial Lamb” is destroyed.

           

Then a second beast comes out of the ground with two horns but making a dragon’s noise. It was the servant of the first beast and extended his authority everywhere. It was able to perform miracles and gave great power to the beast. “There is need for shrewdness here: if anyone is clever enough he may interpret the number of the beast: it is the number of a man, the number 666” (13:18).

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 44 and Revelation 12

Ezekiel 44 – Meanwhile the east gate of the sanctuary is to be kept shut since the Lord Himself has passed through it. The prince may take his meals there [note says this was connected with the communion sacrifice].

He goes on to describe the rules about who are and who are not to be admitted into the sanctuary. No “rebels,” “aliens,” or those “uncircumcised in heart and body” (44:9) are to be permitted in.  The Levites, who abandoned Yahweh to follow idols, are to guard the gates and serve the Temple but never again shall “perform the priestly office in my presence, or to touch my holy things”(44:12-13).

Only the sons of Zadok, the Levitical priests who remained faithful, shall be permitted to “stand in my presence to offer me the fat and blood” (44:15). They must wear linen vestments, no wool inside the inner court. And they must wear linen caps and breeches – these vestments are to be removed when they leave the Holy Place. He describes how they shall cut their hair, those to whom they are permitted to marry, and what they should do. They may not go near a dead person unless it is a close relative. They may not inherit material things nor are they to receive a “patrimony.” They may not eat anything that has died a natural death.

Revelation 12 – He sees a vision – “a woman adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown” (12:1). She is pregnant and crying out.

A huge red dragon appears with seven heads (each crowned) and ten horns. Its tail pulls a third of all the stars to the earth. The dragon stops to await the woman’s child to eat it.

She gives birth to a child “the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron scepter, and the child was taken straight up to God” (12:5) while the woman escapes into the desert.

           

War breaks out in heaven. Michael and his angels attack the dragon – the “primeval serpent” – is hurled out of heaven. “’Victory and power and empire forever have been won by our God, and all authority for his Christ” (12:10).

“They have triumphed over [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the witness of their martyrdom, because even in the face of death they would not cling to life” (12:11).

Now the devil is down on the earth and he is angry because his days are numbered. He purses the mother of the child, but she is given eagle’s wings to flee him. He cannot catch the mother, so he goes seeking revenge on God’s loyal children.

If the author of this book is the gospel writer of John or if he was of the Johannine school, it seems very likely to me that the allegory taking place here is at least in part a reference to that very important proto-evangelium or ur-promise made in Genesis 3:15 about the “seed” of Eve winning a victory over the primal serpent/dragon/devil. Exactly how the allegory reflected the history of the time or the existential victory of Christ and his Church over the powers of evil in the world, I feel beyond my powers to understand, but the “big picture” seems obvious.

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 43 and Revelation 11

Ezekiel 43 – At the eastern gate of the city, Ezekiel is given a vision of the “glory of the God of Israel approaching from the east” (43:2). It comes in towards the prophet sounding like the ocean and shining like the sun. It is exactly like the vision he had had at the time of Jerusalem’s destruction. The glory of God fills the Temple and a “man” stands beside him. He hears a voice assuring him that this presence will abide among the “sons of Israel forever” (43:7). They will become a faithful people.

The plan described in these chapters is meant to “shame” the Israelites and inspire them to reform. It is something they can “carry out” (43:11) He then goes on to describe the altar in detail. He describes the holocausts that will be offered here: “a young bull as a sacrifice for sin” (43:19), “an unblemished he-goat as the sacrifice for sin” (43:22), and an “unblemished ram” (43:23). After a week in which these are offered, on the 8^th day and thereafter, the priests will off holocausts and communion sacrifices.

Looked in†o some questions I had about this Temple design we are going through here and why it was never used as the design for the Second Temple, and it was interesting. 

This Jewish site was good: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1594241/jewish/Did-the-Jews-Disregard-Ezekiels-Prophecy-of-the-Temple.htm 

It says that the Temple was not built according to Ezekiel’s vision because as it promises here, it was supposed to be an “everlasting edifice,” but the repentance they had at their restoration by the Persians did not suffice to assure that God would not punish them in the future.

The prophets Chaggai (Haggai),  Zechariah and Malachi said NOT to build the new Temple (the 2^nd) according to Ezekiel’s vision because there was only a “partial redemption” during this time of Jewish history. They lacked the Holy Ark, for one thing. Some parts of the description were incorporated into Herod’s Temple, but the edifice remains to be built in the future.

It is sometimes called the “Third Temple,” and is seen by some as what will be built to welcome the Messianic Age. Apparently it plays an important part in some Christian groups’ eschatology. And, of course, talk of it stirs concerns over how Muslims might respond to any real attempt to construct it. The deadline for it to be constructed is the year 6000 of the Jewish calendar or 2240 AD.

Revelation 11 – The prophet is given a cane to use as a measuring rod. He is to measure God’s sanctuary, altar and the congregation gathered.

The pagans in the outer court will trample the holy city for 3 ½ years – the number is taken from Daniel and symbolized any period of persecution.

Two prophets, Joshua and Zerubbabel, the prophets led the restored community in the Old Testament restoration, are seen as olive trees. They have great powers, but the Beast [Angel – ironic] from the Abyss will make war on them and kill them. Their corpses will lie on the main street of the “Great City” where the Lord was crucified. Men from everywhere will see them and celebrate. But after 3½ days, the Lord will raise them up and bring them up to heaven. There will be an earthquake and 7,000 will be killed. This all is the second Trouble.

Then the 7^th angel blows his trumpet and voices in heaven call out, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever” (11:15). The sanctuary of God in heaven is opened and the Ark of the Covenant can be seen in it amidst lightning, thunder, hail and an earthquake.

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 41-42 and Revelation 10

Ezekiel 41 – Ezekiel describes the “Hekal” [Hall] and Debir [Sanctuary] of the new Temple  – its dimensions and place in the vision he has of Jerusalem. He mentions some side structures, the wooden altar and doors.  There are few places in the Scriptures where the writer describes what he is talking about in such excruciating detail: Noah’s ark, the building of the first Temple and now here. I love Ezekiel for his poetry and his amazing vision of what will change in his people’s faith-lives, but these parts are a little boring, and some commentators maintain that the dimensions outlined are not anything like what was built..

Ezekiel 42 – This chapter describes the various buildings outside the Temple and the measurements of the court itself. The impression is that the vision God is giving Ezekiel is precise and something that might actually be used in a building project, but the notes to various parts of the plan indicate that the dates are “obscure” and not necessarily part of the historical Temple that was actually built.

Revelation 10 – Another angel is seen “coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were pillars of fire” (10:1).

“In his hand he had a small scroll, unrolled” (10:1). He places his right foot in the sea and his left foot on the land and shouts so loud “it was like a lion roaring” (10:4). At his roar, there are seven “thunderclaps” and he is told to keep the words of the seven thunderclaps secret because it is not yet the time of their fulfillment.

He says, “The time of waiting is over; at the time when the seventh angel is heard sounding his trumpet, God’s secret intention will be fulfilled, ‘just as he announced in the Good News told to his servants the prophets’” (10:7). The prophet is told to take and eat the small scroll he is offered. It will taste sweet but turn sour in his stomach. He is told to prophesy again but this time to the nations.

The Jerusalem Bible note indicates that when the seventh angel sounds his trumpet the definitive establishment of God’s kingdom – God’s Church; but it is a victory that will still involve suffering.

I have to say I do not understand how these chapters are to be received by modern readers. The one thing that meant something to ME when I first started teaching the biblical narrative to kids at Friends in my Quakerism class, was that the entire book – the Old and New Testaments together – purported to tell the ENTIRE narrative of man’s time on earth and God’s WHOLE dedication to the project from beginning to end. I liked that feel and still do. We can differ on interpretations but the “big picture” is KEY.

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 40 and Revelation 9

Ezekiel 40 – The note in my Jerusalem Bible says that this final section of Ezekiel “is a blueprint for the religious and political rehabilitation of the Israelite nation in Palestine . . . He “assumes the role of organizer intent on realizing . . . long-desired reforms . . . a founding charter for what was shortly to emerge as Judaism, and to provide a basis for all future efforts and aspiration from Ezra to the heavenly Jerusalem of the apocalypse of St John” (1411).

Twenty-five years into their captivity (573 BC), Ezekiel (in Babylon) is taken in a “divine vision” to the land of Israel, to “a very high mountain” (40:2). There he has an encounter with an angelic presence – “a man who seemed to be made of bronze” (40:3). This “man”/angel shows him the future city of Jerusalem and in great detail describes the structures – gates, outer courts and related buildings that will surround the Temple. He shows him the Temple as well but it is not described in such detail as the rest since 1 Kings 6 already has the detail.

Lawrence Boadt’s Reading the Old Testament says that chapters 40 through 48 lay out God’s new plan for the restored city. “At the center of this vision, parallel to the new heart in the first part of the plan, are life-giving waters that flow from the temple to touch every living thing in the land  . . .” (396).

Ezekiel, unlike Jeremiah, lived in exile. He came to see the key of the new covenant in its “interior-ness” (396). What the community was in external things was not so important as what it did from the heart. Those close to God were not the ones who had the priestly bloodlines but those who had decided for God and lived in the spirit of the covenant. “Ezekiel was the last of the great prophets and the first of the new priestly visionaries that would create modern Judaism . . .” (398).

Israel could practice its faith without “having” land or king or outward Temple. They created the “Book” – the Pentateuch - minus Deuteronomy. The “P” edition kept the narrative stories as they had come down but added lists that filled out important themes: census lists, genealogies, inventories, hymns and poems. They added the opening chapter 1 to Genesis, dates and calendars that permitted celebrations to go forward. Important rituals were incorporated. The “P” writers incorporated orderly “ages” and “stages”.

The “interiorization” of religious practice that Ezekiel calls for is a response to the loss of the simple idea that God was going to make of Abraham’s descendants a holy people in a holy land so fruitful they would be as many as the sands on the shore or stars in the heavens. This was GONE. So now the Promised Land would focus on the practice of the Law, the inward faithfulness of the people wherever they were. With the reestablishment of the community by the Persians, a new sense of the covenant evolved and when that was lost, the Messiah brought yet a new path.

How will this story develop over time? Where are we going? 

Revelation 9 – With the fifth trumpet, the prophet “saw a star that had fallen from heaven on to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft leading down to the Abyss” (9:1). The Jerusalem Bible note says this “angel” is probably “Satan.” He is given a key to the Abyss where the other fallen angels are being held.

When he opens the Abyss, smoke pours out of it that blackens the sun and sky; and from the smoke locusts descend to attack men who are not marked by the seal.

These locusts have the pincers of scorpions; they are, like the “locusts” in Joel 1-1 seen as historical enemies - Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans. Their scorpion-like bite brings five hours of excruciating pain. This is the first of the troubles.

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 39 and Revelation 8

Ezekiel 39 – The prophet is again told to prophesy against Gog this time, the prince of kingdoms that have attacked the mountains of Israel – as an agent of God’s wrath against His people.

Now it is they who will be brought low. “I am going to see that my holy name is known among my people Israel, and I will no longer allow my holy name to be profaned; the nations shall learn that I am Yahweh, holy in Israel (39:7).

They shall be slain, and it will take the Israelites seven months of searching to find all the dead and cleanse the land of their corpses.

It sounds like irony to me when the prophet then says the Lord wants him to speak to the birds and beasts of the region and tell them that the Lord is preparing a blood sacrifice on the mountains of Israel for them. They will “eat the flesh of heroes [and] drink the blood of the princes of the world” (39:18).

The prophet concludes his rant against/in praise of Gog by a reassurance that all of this violence is simply part of the way God will make Himself know by “all the nations.” “[T]he nations will learn that the House of Israel was exiled for their sin in behaving so treacherously to me that I had to avert my face from them because they had rebelled against me, and to hand them over to their enemies; and they all perished by the sword. I treated them as their filthy sins deserved and hid my face from them . . . Now I am going to bring back the captives of Jacob, now I am going to take pity on the whole House of Israel and show myself jealous for my holy name. They will forget the disgrace of having so often betrayed me when they were living safely in their own land, . . . When I bring them home from the peoples, when I bring them back from the countries of their enemies, when I reveal my holiness in them for many nations to see, they will know that I am Yahweh their God” (39: 23-27).

All will be made to understand what it is the Lord expects of his people and what the ultimate goal is – to bring his people home and there reveal his holiness to all men. He promises at the end never again to “hide [his] face” from them but instead to “pour out [his] spirit on the House of Israel” (39:29).

Revelation 8 – The seventh seal is broken and there is silence in heaven for about half an hour – a silence that typically preceded prophetic revelation.

Seven angels with seven trumpets are ready to start the end time:

The first angel comes with hail, earthquake and fire. Incense from the altar is thrown down on the earth and brings thunder and lightning. One-third of the earth and the earth’s trees are burned along with all of its grass.

The second angel casts a mountain of fire into the sea, filling one-third the sea is filled with blood and killing one-third of the sea life and one-third of the ships on the sea.

The third angel is a star of fire called “Wormwood” that destroys one-third of the rivers and springs of the earth and fills the water with wormwood.

The fourth angel destroys one-third of the sun and moon and stars; an eagle comes crying out “Trouble, trouble, trouble” (8:12).

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 7

Ezekiel 38 – The footnote introducing this chapter says that this is the earliest apocalyptic, eschatological, vision in scripture. Other examples are Isaiah 24-27, Daniel 7-12, Zechariah 9-14. This type of literature bloomed in the 2^nd c. BC (Book of Enoch, etc.). The countries of Meshech and Tubal were on the Black Sea; Magog is not known. Gog is a “type” of victorious barbarian who will inflict the final ordeals on Israel.

           

In an unspecified future time, Gog will assault Israel after they have been returned for a long while. He will come “like a cloud” and many nations shall come with him. Unaware of being an instrument of Yahweh’s, Gog will work out a wicked plan and march against the peaceful nation Israel will be to plunder them. Jerusalem was thought to be at the center of the world – its navel.

           

Ezekiel is told to prophesy to Gog and say he will be used to “display my holiness to them [Israel]” (38:16). When Gog invades, God’s anger will come and he will bring a fearful quaking of the land. Mountains will fall, cliffs crumble. Men will turn their swords on each other and he will punish them with all kinds of disasters. All of this is designed to display His greatness and make the nations acknowledge Him.

Revelation 7 – Four angels are at the four corners of the earth holding the winds back, ready to devastate the earth. Another angel in the east where the sun rises carries God’s seal and tells them to hold off until the saved can be marked with God’s seal - 144,000 of them.

The “saved” will be of every land and nation. They have been “through the great persecution” (Nero’s) and their robes have been washed white “in the blood of the Lamb” (7:14).

“They will never hunger or thirst again; neither the sun nor scorching wind will ever plague them, because the Lamb who is on the throne will be their shepherd and will lead them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away all tears from their eyes” (7:16-17) Quote echoes Hosea 2 and Isaiah 11.

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 37 and Revelation 6

Ezekiel 37 – The Dry Bones – The hand of the Lord carries Ezekiel to the middle of a valley full of bones. He makes him walk up and down among them.

“He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘You know, Lord Yahweh’. He said, ‘Prophesy over these bones. Say, “Dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh. The Lord Yahweh says this to these bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you. I shall make flesh grow on you. I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and you will learn that I am Yahweh”’ (37:3-7).

As Ezekiel prophesies to the bones, they stir and come back to life – “the bones joined together. I looked, and saw that they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering the, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, ‘The Lord Yahweh says this: Come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead; let them live!’” (37:7-10).

He continues: “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. . .I will put my spirit in you that may live. . .” (37:14).

Ezekiel’s passage on the “dry bones” is all about being spiritually resurrected from the dead, and early Friends understood resurrection. What Ezekiel describes here in 6^th c. Palestine, Christ brought to life in his own resurrection from the dead and it was also what early Friends experienced in 17^th c. England:

Wait to see the law set up within . . .and the rebellious nature yoked.  Wait in patience for the judgment, and let the Lord’s work have its perfect operation in you; and so as you turn to him who has smitten and wounded you; he will bind up and heal.  And give up all to the great slaughter of the Lord, to the Cross . . .And as the earth comes to be plowed up, the seed which is sown comes up; and, the rocks broken, the water gushes out.  You so will see that some promises will arise in you to the Seed which is coming up out of the grave, and so the love of God will appear in you, and you will be stayed, and see hope in the midst of calamity . . .And as you come to be redeemed from under the bondage of sin, and come above the bonds of death, and the pure principle lives in you, there will be a delight in you to do the will of the father, who has redeemed you from sin and its law to righteousness and its law, . . . (Francis Howgill)

.  . . he that hears not the Voice of the Son of God, does not

live but is in death. . .And the hour is come, that they which

have been in the graves have heard the Voice of the Son of

God and do live.  They that do not hear . . .are in the death

and the grave.  They that come to believe in the Light, hear

the Voice of the Son of God. . .and live over death, the grave

and hell, and so come to Life (George Fox).

Ezekiel’s prophecy is of God’s gathering of the loyal remnant.  “I will make them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.  My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”  These words which were so central to the exiled Jews and to the early Christians, who saw in them a prophesy of Christ’s resurrection, and were also so important to Friends who saw the churches of their day as dry bones scattered all throughout Europe are hopefully also applicable to the condition of the church today. I believe they are.  I do believe Christ will gather us all together somehow.  His intention is inextinguishable.  It has been there from the very beginning of creation and I do not believe the world will end until He has brought forth what he meant to bring forth and he’ll do it without violating our freedom.

Revelation 6 – Now the Lamb breaks the seals of the scoll:

First – a white horse appears with a rider holding a bow; he is given a victor’s crown.

Second – a bright red horse whose rider will take peace away and set men killing each other; he has a sword.

Third – a black horse whose rider has scales to weigh out wheat and barley skimpily and who will give no oil or wine.

Fourth – a deathly pale horse with a rider called plague with Hades at his heels.

These four are given authority over a quarter of all the earth to kill with sword, famine, plague and wild beasts (6:8).

Fifth – he sees “underneath the altar the souls of all the people who had been killed on account of the word of God, for witnessing to it” (6:9). They all shout, “’Holy, faithful Master, how much longer will you wait before you pass sentence and take vengeance for our death on the inhabitants of the earth?’” (6:10) They are told to be patient.

Sixth – at the breaking of the sixth seal, there is a violent earthquake and the sun goes black. The moon turns red and the Great Day of God’s anger has arrived. The rich and powerful race to the mountains to hide from the anger of the Lamb.

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 34-36 and Revelation 4-5

Ezekiel 34  – Ezekiel prophesies against the shepherds [leaders spiritual and temporal] of Israel’s people who “feed themselves” instead of feeding their flocks. They have failed to make the weak stronger; they have not cared for the sick or wounded sheep. So they have scattered and have become prey for wild animals. The shepherds will be called to account, but also the Lord will not rely on them any more. He says, “I am going to look after my flock myself and keep all of it in view . . . I myself will show them where to rest . . .I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them” (34:11-16).

           

As for his sheep, the Lord shall judge between them. This is the language Jesus is drawing on when he speaks of separating the sheep from the goats in Matthew 25. And then it goes on to say, “I mean to raise up one shepherd, my servant David, and to put him in charge of them and he will pasture them; he will pasture them and be their shepherd. I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David shall be their ruler” (34:23). Remember that Ezekiel is prophesying in the 6^th c. BC, long after David’s time.

This has to be some of the most important Old Testament language in terms of understanding the mission of Jesus and the significance his disciples saw in his presence among them. David was long gone from Israel’s history, but the promise made by God to David’s “House” in 2 Samuel 7 is invoked here as a reminder that the Messiah would be of this same House.

Ezekiel 35 – This prophesy against the mountains of Seir or Edom precedes a similar oracle concerning the mountains of Israel, mountains that Edom tried to take over along with all of Palestine after 587. The Lord will devastate Edom for things they have done and said about Israel, for slandering Yahweh and rejoicing when Israel was reduced to ashes.

Ezekiel 36 – This oracle is to the mountains of Israel and according to the footnote was likely issued after 587. In this moment of complete desolation Yahweh affirms his eternal commitment to his people. He says to the mountains of Israel that they will again grow trees and branches that bear fruit for God’s people who will one day return to their lands. God will multiply the population living on the mountains and will raise the cities up once again. He will make them even more prosperous than they were before.

People of the House of Israel defiled the land with their conduct (killing babies, worshipping idols) and they have offended God by their conduct in captivity as well, but He will bring them back and cleanse them:

            I shall give you a new heart,

            and put a new spirit in you;

            I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies

            and give you a heart of flesh instead.

            I shall put my spirit in you

            and make you keep my laws,

            and sincerely respect my observances.

            You will live in the land, which I gave your ancestors;

            You shall be my people,

            And I will be your God (36:24-28).

Revelation 4 – A series of prophetic visions follow here: He has a vision of the door of heaven opening and a voice like a trumpet saying, “’Come up here: I will show you what is to come in the future.’” He sees “the One” seated on a throne in heaven” (4:3). It is not an anthropomorphic vision but one of gems and sparkling rainbows and such.

The central throne is surrounded by 24 thrones for the 24 elders who sit in white robes. There are seven flaming lamps between God and the circle of elders. They represent the seven “spirits of God” or angels of his presence.

Before the throne, there are also four creatures with many eyes – a lion (majesty), a bull (strength), a man (wisdom) and an eagle (flight) – each of which has six wings. And there is a sea of glass that looks like crystal between the prophet and the central image.

The note says that from the time of Irenaeus, the four creatures have been seen as representing the gospel writers. The image in Ezekiel is similar in some ways but also unique. There are no wheels here by each animal and the animals in Ezekiel are “of human form” with only four wings – two touching the wings of the next “animal” and two covering it. The vision in Ezekiel 10 is also quite different though some similarities can be found.

The four never stopped singing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty; he was, he is and his is to come’” (4:8), and the twenty-four elders honor the Lord for “He” “made all the universe and it was only by [His] will that everything was made and exists’” (4:11).

Revelation 5 – There is a scroll in God’s right hand written on front and back and sealed with seven seals that cannot be opened by anyone – there is no one worthy. This makes John cry, but an elder reassures him that the “Lion of the tribe of Judah has triumphed” and will be able to open them (5:5).

The Lamb before the throne has seven horns (strength) and seven eyes (omniscience). Everyone is prostrate before him. “You were sacrificed with your blood. You bought men for God of every race, language, people and nation and made them a line of kings and priests, to serve our God and to rule the world”(5:9). Everything that lives praises him.

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 32-33 and Revelation 2-3

Ezekiel 32 – Egypt’s pharaoh is again compared to a crocodile, snorting, churning the waters and muddying its streams (32:2). God’s net will be thrown over this crocodile and its carcass will be scattered, leaving the country in darkness. The world will be shocked at the fate of Egypt.

Egypt will go down to Sheol and there meet with those who have died in battles before – Assyria, Elam [ancient civilization in SW Iran], Meshech, Tubal, Edom, the princes of the North and the Sidonians.

One is reminded of the many works of literature that also are built on the premise that there is a dark abode, beneath the earth and beyond time where the personages of the past may be encountered suffering judgment for all the bad things they did in life. 

Ezekiel 33 - God tells Ezekiel to speak to the nation and tell them that he is meant to be the sentry God has appointed to protect the people of Israel. A sentry is there to warn of coming disasters. If the sentry blows his horn and people ignore him, then they are responsible for their own fate. But if the sentry does not warn them, he is responsible for and will be held responsible for the people’s deaths. In a similar way, if the sentry God has sent – the prophet – warns the people that they are being unfaithful and bringing God’s wrath upon them, and they do not respond to the warning, then they are justly doomed; but if the prophet does not warn them, then he must bear the consequences.

The Lord also says through his prophet, “I take pleasure, not in the death of a wicked man, but in the turning back of a wicked man who changes his ways to win life” (33:11). Past integrity will not save the man who chooses to sin, and similarly, past sins will not consign a man to destruction if he uses his free will to turn from sin. We are free.

At the end of 586 BC, a “fugitive” comes from Jerusalem and tells the prophet that the city has fallen. The night before, the hand of the Lord had been upon him and he was no longer unable to speak. The Lord intends to reduce the land to desolation. People listen to the prophet but do not act on his words – “you are like a love song beautifully sung to music. They listen to your words, but no one puts them into practice” (33:32).

The relationship between God and man is dynamic, not static.  The wicked man can repent and find forgiveness and life through his repentance.  But in a similar way, the man who is righteous can forfeit his “life,” his unity with God, by turning from the path of virtue.  Nothing is settled until death – and who knows after that. 

The New Testament “take” on the Lord’s assessment of our integrity is much harsher (Matthew 5:20-26). Who can escape reproach under this very high standard?  Really, no one.  We are all under condemnation as Calvin (following Paul, I think) noted – condemnation is kind of where we start from.  In a way, the Old Testament reading is more comforting than the New, for it promises that we have a choice between life and death that is not completely unrealistic.  It is within our power to choose the good.  It is our fault when we turn away from it. Still, looking beyond these words to the larger message, our love of Jesus and our faith in his healing death (which is that joining of himself to us despite our sinfulness) can bridge the deep if invisible gap between what God expects from us and what we in our own power can achieve.

Hearing God’s voice, St Catherine of Sienna says in His name, “I will only your well-being and whatever I give, I give it so that you may reach the goal for which I created you.”  Again we see a glimpse into the idea, the reality of God’s faithfulness to His own intention, the original intention or goal He had in our creation – that we would live as His image in the creation.  In a way, we (corporately) were created to be God’s Eve, God’s spouse, God’s companion and helpmate on the earth.  We are “bone of his bone,” and “flesh of his flesh.”  And his faithfulness to us has endured from the very beginning. 

My own conviction is that most of what has been revealed to us by God’s spirit and happened to us and for us through His intervention in our history has been to fulfill this simple intention.  I see it mostly as being in the context of the creation, and in the context of time, but that of course is not to say there is no heaven, no life in some eternal dimension with God.  I believe in fact that there is a realistic hope that this may be so based on the knowledge and faith of those who have known God better than I have yet known Him.  But I do think that sometimes we wander into speculations about things we do not need and cannot in fact know with any certainty.  The Jehovah’s Witnesses and other fundamentalists wander off into speculation about the end-time; Catholics and other mainline Christians seem to me to wander into speculations about after-things too much.  The focus of the scriptures is on the fulfillment of God’s intention with respect to our corporate human life on this earth, in this history we have.  Such clarity as I feel I have relates only to that dimension.

Revelation 2 – The messages that are to go to “the angel” watching over these churches is are as follows:

To Ephesus – The beginning image here is the image of one holding the seven stars in his right hand, surrounded by seven gold lamp-stands. Ephesus was the religious capital. They are praised for their patience and discernment – they tested some who called themselves apostles but were not. They have suffered tirelessly, but the “have less love now than [they] used to” (2:4). They need to repent and be as they were at first.

They loathe what the Nicolaitans are doing, which is good. No certainty exists as to what the Nicolaitans practiced that was thought though some seem to think they were associated with promiscuity. Wikipedia says Hippolytus of Rome (170-235), disciple of Irenaeus, wrote that it was product of a deacon Nicolas, hence the name.

The Ephesians are praised for just sticking to the more ethically conservative gospel that was considered authentic.

To Smyrna: No introductory symbol in this letter unless it is just the resurrected Christ, “the First and the Last, who was dead and has come to life again” (2:8). They are poor and have had many trials. The Jews have accused them unfairly, and they will face an ordeal, but they are encouraged not to be afraid. The ordeal will be short, and “even if you have to die, keep faithful, and I will give you the crown of life for your prize” (2:11).

To Pergamum: Message from the one with the sharp, double-edged sword [judgment]: Satan is enthroned where they live but they hold firmly to Christ. Antipas [the bishop] was killed in Pergamum. Some there are “followers of Balaam” (Nicolaitans); they must repent. To “those who prove victorious I will give the hidden manna and a white stone—a stone with a new name written on it, known only to the man who receives it” (2:17).

To Thyatira: The introductory symbol here is of the burning eyes and feet like burnished bronze [divine knowledge and permanence]: The Thyatirans are charitable and devoted but they encouraged the woman Jezebel, “who claims to be a prophetess,” and she is luring people to eat food sacrificed to idols. It is “I who search heart and loins and give each one of you what your behavior deserves” (2:21).

Revelation 3 – Three other churches are addressed:

To Sardis: The opening symbol is the same as for Ephesus – the one holding the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. This church is “reputed to be alive and yet are dead” (3:1).  

“Wake up; revive what little you have left: it is dying fast” (3:2). “[R]emember how eager you were when you first heard the message. . .Hold on to that. Repent“ (3:3). Individuals from this church who have been faithful will be acknowledged (3:6).

To Philadelphia: From the holy and faithful one “who has the key of David” (3:7). They are not very strong, but have not disobeyed the commandments or “disowned my name” (3:8). “I will keep you safe in the time of trial which is going to come for the whole world, to test the people of the world (7:10).

To Laodicea: The message of “the Amen, the faithful, the true witness, the ultimate source of God’s creation” (3:14).

“You are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or the other, but since you are neither, but only lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth” (3:16). They are satisfied with their wealth and so not seek the “gold that has been tested in the fire to make you really rich” (3:18). “I am the one who reproves and disciples all those he loves: so repent in real earnest. Look, I am standing at the door, knocking. If one of you hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in to share his mean, side by side with him” (3:19-20).