Let’s go back 2,618 years to September 17, 592 BC. and pick up where we left off in Ezekiel’s vision with the Lord and His Cherubim Chariot hovering over the Eastern Gate.
Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the East Gate
of the Lord’s house, which faces eastward...
The East Gate was the most prominent gate to the temple.
It’s been destroyed or damaged and rebuilt multiple times.
Before this chapter is over, we’ll see the Lord depart
from the Eastern Gate.
About 600 years after our time here in Ezekiel, Jesus came
and went in and out through the Eastern Gate.
Most famously, He rode the donkey into Jerusalem
through the Eastern Gate and was hailed King and Messiah, as the masses shouted,
“Hail to the Son of David, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Matt. 21:8-9.
Most of them had no idea that He was fulfilling, to
the day,
a 483-year-old prophecy from Daniel 9:25.
That Palm Sunday was
such a big deal that we still remember and celebrate it nearly 2,000 years later.
Many believe the Lord will return through the Eastern
Gate. (We’ll discuss more about that when/if, we ever get to Ezekiel 43:1-5,
44:1-2).
The Muslims believed it so strongly that about 485
years ago (1541) they sealed up the Eastern Gate with 16 feet of concrete. It’s
still there today.
As if that could stop the One who spoke the world into
existence. The One, death, the grave, the tombstone, the Roman seal, the gates
of hell, the devil and all his demons, couldn’t stop...
But 16’ of concrete, yeah, that oughta do it—His
kryptonite?
Oh, and just in case that wasn’t enough, if you go
there today, you’ll see they planted a cemetery around the entrance of the
Eastern Gate, thinking the Messiah would never defile Himself by walking among
the dead.
Newsflash: Jesus delivered the world by
walking among the dead.
The Lord just laughs...
Psalm
2:1-4
Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”
4 He
who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
Ezekiel 11:1b ...and there at the door of the gate were twenty-five
men, among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah
the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
Jaazaniah:
Yahweh hears.
Pelatiah:
Yahweh delivers.
The devil is a deceiver, a truth twister, he loves to
take that which is meant for good and pervert it and turn it toward evil.
That’s what he did to these men. Born with potential. Named with hope of
holiness. Yet, they willingly yielded to the truth twister and are now forever
tormented.
The truth-twister is still around today, taunting and
tempting you, please do not make, their same mistake.
Twenty-five princes, probably
not the same twenty-five priests we saw earlier worshipping
the sun between the temple and the altar. Ezekiel 8:16.
These are princes, civic leaders, movers and
shakers, corrupt politicians, basement, backroom, bedroom, deal makers, rogue
judges, crooked congress, puppets of the truth-twister...
You don’t have to take my word for it, listen to what God
says about them:
2 And He said to me: “Son of man, these are the men who devise
iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city,
These devise iniquity and give wicked
counsel.
See? Truth-twisting politicians.
Interesting note:
As Justice is coming to JerUSAlem, God is exposing
crooked politicians.
The Bible is timeless, alive, ever timely.
God is speaking.
Not gossiping.
Calling out iniquity, exposing wicked counsel, is not
being judgy or gossipy.
It’s demanding accountability, calling for repentance,
setting a standard of holiness.
If we did this from the start, we’d avoid much trouble,
individually and nationally.
Nip sin in the bud. Address lawlessness before it
grows into a raging inferno.
God shows us how it should be done.
He confronted Cain’s sin while it was still in its
infancy, just a bad attitude.
Gen. 4:6, Why
are you mad, why such a grumpy face?
Gen. 4:7, If you do well, will you not be
accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is
for you, but you must (mashal, master, govern, have dominion), rule
over it.
Solomon tells us in Proverbs 22:6, Train up a child
in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani cut crime dramatically and kept it
under control, using these Biblical principals.
The first rock, first snowball, first
brick, first broken window, changes a lawful assembly to a lawless riot, that
warrants riot control law enforcement and arrests.
Stop lawlessness while it’s small, before it grows out
of control.
In Matthew 24:12, Jesus teaches that in the last days,
lawlessness will abound.
Today many “princes” mayors, governors, members
of congress, disguised as angels of light, devise iniquity and give
wicked counsel.
They encourage lawlessness, a wildfire that spreads from,
screaming, threatening doxing, and whistle blowing, which is obstruction of
justice because it impedes communication creating chaos and confusion. The fire
quickly jumps to, spitting on the law, and destroying property.
That’s just the start.
From there it has exploded into physical harm.
Vehicles are weaponized with road blocking and vehicle
ramming (3,200% increase).
1,347% increase in physical assaults against ICE
officers.
8,000% increase in death threats against ICE.
Injuries include concussions, severe lacerations
requiring stitches, and legs crushed by vehicles.
That’s just what we see at street level.
Recently exposed behind the scenes is a deeper,
darker, wickedness.
These “peaceful protests” are actually organized teams
with surveillance systems and strategies, for tracking law enforcement.
They use tactics and training only available with
well-funded, established riot for hire militia groups, deployed to trigger
insurrection and chaos for the purpose of toppling governments, regime changes
and corrupting elections.
This is no grassroots, organic, uprising. It is a
serious assault against US sovereignty.
For Christians, all of these things are sinful,
lawless, and completely contrary to the will of God and completely in line with what the Word of God says will happen in the last days.
NO
CHRISTIAN WILL ENGAGE OR PROMOTE OR SUPPORT ANY SUCH BEHAVIOR.
Many claim to be Christian while doing these
lawless deeds. They willingly reject the Truth and deceive themselves into
following the truth-twister.
Jesus spoke of them saying:
Matthew
7:22-23
Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your
name?’ 23 And then I will declare to
them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Speaking of lawlessness.
There is a distinction between the function of the law enforcement and Christianity.
Law Enforcement:
The Law must stop lawlessness when it
happens.
Romans
13:1-4
Let
every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no
authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed
by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance
of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For
rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid
of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4
For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he
does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to
execute wrath on him who practices evil.
In this environment, at the first act of lawless
behavior, local law enforcement should immediately shut it down, with arrests
and fines to the fullest extent of the law, including all participants and
especially those behind the scene princes, who were in any way complicit
in organizing, promoting and funding.
To not do so is dereliction of God given authority and
duty at best, but most likely guilty of complicity in sinful, criminal activity.
Christianity:
To do Christianity right means stopping
lawlessness before it happens.
That means shutting it down before
the first act.
That happens inside our soul. Our mind, our will, our
emotions. Our thoughts, intentions, desires.
James 1:14-15, But each one is tempted
when he is drawn away by his own desires (lusts)
and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin,
when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
Temptation is NOT sin. Yielding to it, is.
Temptation is simply evidence of an area of weakness.
Shut it down while it’s still a seed inside, a
thought, a desire, an emotion, an intention.
Much of the time that simply means bridling our
tongue.
James 2:2-6. For we all stumble
in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect
(teleios:
like a telescope extended to full strength, complete, mature, full-grown)
man, able also to bridle the whole body.
3 Indeed, we
put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole
body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and
are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the
pilot desires.
5 Even
so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See
how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a
fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among
our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire
the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
Lord, we pray, Psalm 19:14.
Let
the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your
sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
Bridling our tongue does not only mean biting our
tongue, but also to use our tongue to speak the Word of God.
As Jesus did when He was tempted.
The Word of God is the only weapon of God
in the armor of God.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, a
light unto my path. Ps. 119:105.
In the beginning was the Word and
the Word was with God and the Word was God... and the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us... John
1:1,14.
Jesus is the Word.
I can do all things through Christ (the
Word) who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13.
In this world you will have tribulation
but be of good cheer, I (the Word) have overcome the
world. John 16:33.
One temptation, one step, one bite, at a time, with
Christ Jesus, the Word.
When we fail, fall, sin. We must check our heart. Do we
feel miserable when we sin?
Feeling bad, is good.
If sinning doesn’t make us sad, if what grieves the
heart of God doesn’t grieve ours, then our Christianity is in question.
It is a very dangerous place where the heart is so seared
it continues to sin without conviction. The heart that claims to be, good
and pretti, but practices lawlessness, is on the slippery slope through the wide gate that leads straight to hell.
Like the princes in our text who devise
iniquity and give wicked counsel.
The Good news is no one needs to go that route. God
doesn’t give up easy and before the end of this chapter, we’ll see that He knows
how to soften hearts.
Ezekiel
11:19-20
Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and
take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, 20
that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they
shall be My people, and I will be their God.
Let’s pray.
Thank You for not giving up on US, even though
our hearts have grown hard. Help us Lord to walk in Your ways through the narrow gate, that leads straight to You. So, of US You can also say: “they shall be My people, and I will be their God.”
Thank You.
We love You, forever.
Amen.
Prayer Requests:
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13:10-16
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Hebrews 13:10-16
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