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Series: Ezekiel
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 17th May 2015
Passage: Ezekiel 1:1-28
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Good evening all, thanks for being in church with us tonight.
00:00:04 --> 00:00:09 We have been over the last number of weeks looking at the book of Joshua,
00:00:10 --> 00:00:16 developing the Old Testament and particularly seeing there the gradual conquering of the promised land.
00:00:17 --> 00:00:21 We're now fast forwarding a fair bit of biblical history
00:00:21 --> 00:00:26 and we're now seeing how Israel lost that promised land in the book of Ezekiel.
00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 So let's pray and we'll know him.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 Father, we thank you that you are here with us as you promised.
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 We ask, Father, that we would not be like your people,
00:00:38 --> 00:00:42 either passed through the word or learned but hard in their hearts to it.
00:00:43 --> 00:00:48 Father, we ask that you might give us soft and tender and receptive hearts to your word.
00:00:48 --> 00:00:52 Help us to see you and your purpose for us,
00:00:52 --> 00:00:56 that we might love you, we might know you and love you,
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 and be with me, truly blessed you all. Amen.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:05 Since St Thomas More published his book in 15 and 16,
00:01:05 --> 00:01:11 the book Utopia has become a word that's used to describe an idealistic place of perfection.
00:01:12 --> 00:01:17 We all have our utopias, we all have those places
00:01:17 --> 00:01:22 where we like to escape to our concept of what paradise might be.
00:01:22 --> 00:01:28 It might, in fact, be an actual place, it might be an activity, it might be a fancy,
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 it might be a fancy, it might be a go to that spot, do that thing,
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 and everything else kind of switches off for you for a time.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:40 Imagine having that opportunity to eventually escape a place,
00:01:40 --> 00:01:45 to go to paradise, to start a life again, to live a new life,
00:01:45 --> 00:01:50 to a different life, a life that is away from the best, the grind, the chaos,
00:01:50 --> 00:01:53 and the pain that often comes with life in this world.
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 Some people actually do it.
00:01:56 --> 00:02:01 Back in October 1999, there was a train accident in London
00:02:01 --> 00:02:06 that, upon investigation, didn't make a whole lot of sense.
00:02:07 --> 00:02:11 Two commuter trains slammed into each other
00:02:11 --> 00:02:15 with an incredible amount of carnage and loss of life and confusion
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 for a whole heap of people, but particularly the confusion
00:02:18 --> 00:02:23 in amongst all of that, some people took that opportunity
00:02:23 --> 00:02:28 to walk away from the accident, go to Heathrow,
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 board a flight, an international flight,
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 and start a new life somewhere else in the world.
00:02:33 --> 00:02:34 Just like that.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:37 Imagine doing that.
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 You've got so many issues going on in your life,
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 you're involved in an accident like this,
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 everyone assumes you're dead,
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 you get on a plane and just go somewhere else,
00:02:48 --> 00:02:49 start again.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 Running from the issues, keep running,
00:02:52 --> 00:02:53 always looking for something better,
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 always hoping that things will be better.
00:02:57 --> 00:03:01 To a degree, we'd probably all like to do it in moments,
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 and some of us do, in fact, do that.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:06 We escape.
00:03:06 --> 00:03:10 We might not jump on an international flight and escape,
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 but we do escape, escape for some of us,
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 into the fantasy world of soap operas,
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 into the internet, into magazines, into movies.
00:03:19 --> 00:03:23 Or maybe utopia is at the bottom of an ice cream bucket.
00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 We all have our escapes.
00:03:26 --> 00:03:27 Maybe you are, in fact,
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 planning the big overseas trip in search of paradise.
00:03:30 --> 00:03:35 If you feel like a better place exists,
00:03:37 --> 00:03:38 a paradise exists,
00:03:39 --> 00:03:40 then Ezekiel is for you.
00:03:41 --> 00:03:46 Unfortunately, as we begin Ezekiel in chapter one,
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 we see that Ezekiel himself is, in fact,
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 a long way from paradise.
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 He is captive in Babylon.
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 And so we need to just, as we kick off this series,
00:03:56 --> 00:04:00 take a bit of a step back and fill in some of the details
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 of what's happening here in biblical history.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 It's about 600 years before Jesus.
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 It's, in fact, 597 BC.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:13 The Middle East was in turmoil, as it often is.
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 And the regional superpower, Assyria,
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 had pretty much collapsed.
00:04:19 --> 00:04:23 And the kingdom of Babylon had taken over as the superpower.
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 And all the small states around Palestine
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 were spoiling for a fight.
00:04:30 --> 00:04:35 After 150 years of oppression from Assyria,
00:04:35 --> 00:04:36 they wanted their freedom.
00:04:37 --> 00:04:38 They didn't want to be ruled over
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 by this new upstart king called Nebuchadnezzar.
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 And so in 597 BC,
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 the king of Judah, at that time,
00:04:47 --> 00:04:48 a guy named Jehoiakim,
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 decided that he was going to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar.
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 Nebuchadnezzar was not going to have any of that.
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 And so he attacked Jerusalem.
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 Jehoiakim got such a fright
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 that he surrendered the city and conveniently died.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 He was replaced as the king
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 by the person who is the king
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 who's mentioned here in verse 2 of Ezekiel 1,
00:05:14 --> 00:05:14 Jehoiakim.
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 Okay, Jehoiakim, Jehoiakim.
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 M comes before N.
00:05:20 --> 00:05:21 That's how you remember it.
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 Jehoiakim, Jehoiahim.
00:05:24 --> 00:05:25 Something like that.
00:05:25 --> 00:05:26 Anyway, if you ever need to remember that.
00:05:26 --> 00:05:33 To make sure that it wasn't going to happen again,
00:05:33 --> 00:05:37 Nebuchadnezzar took a whole bunch of the elite of Israel
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 back home with him to Babylon.
00:05:41 --> 00:05:42 He took them as hostages,
00:05:42 --> 00:05:51 including the king who ultimately lost the city to Nebuchadnezzar,
00:05:51 --> 00:05:52 that was Jehoiakim,
00:05:52 --> 00:05:53 and Ezekiel.
00:05:53 --> 00:05:58 And he placed on the throne in Jerusalem,
00:05:58 --> 00:05:59 Zedekiah as a puppet king.
00:06:00 --> 00:06:06 And Jeremiah was the prophet in Jerusalem at that time.
00:06:06 --> 00:06:11 So Ezekiel is down in Babylon as a prophet.
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 Jeremiah is back in Jerusalem as the prophet.
00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 That's the political picture.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 But there's a much bigger biblical picture that's going on here,
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 which connects really well what we've just been through in Joshua.
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 Way back in the Old Testament,
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 God made Israel his special people
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 by rescuing them from slavery in Egypt.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 And he took them to a new home,
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 the place that was called the Promised Land.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 That's what we've been saw through Joshua
00:06:38 --> 00:06:39 as they conquered the Promised Land.
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 And when God gave them their new home,
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 he told them that because they were his people
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 and he was their God,
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 they needed to be obedient to him
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 and to love him and to trust him
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 and to honour him and worship him.
00:06:55 --> 00:06:56 And if they did,
00:06:56 --> 00:06:57 life in the Promised Land
00:06:57 --> 00:07:00 would just be a life of blessing.
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 It would be paradise.
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 If, however, they took God for granted
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08 and they treated him badly
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 and lived as if God wasn't such a big deal,
00:07:11 --> 00:07:16 then it was going to be really, really, really bad for them.
00:07:16 --> 00:07:17 In fact, you're going to wish
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 that your mother never met your father.
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 You're going to wish that you were never born.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 And that's exactly what happened.
00:07:25 --> 00:07:31 In effect, what is happening here in Ezekiel
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 with the exile down to Babylon
00:07:33 --> 00:07:37 is similar to what a parent might do
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 in disciplining their child
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 by sending them to their room
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43 or putting them in the time-out chair for a bit.
00:07:44 --> 00:07:47 The idea is put them away into a spot
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 so that they can think about their behaviour for a bit.
00:07:50 --> 00:07:58 God has moved his people to Babylon
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 for 70 years
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 so that they might sit there in the time-out chair
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 and consider what they have done
00:08:05 --> 00:08:09 and what's really important
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 and why it's important.
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 And so Ezekiel's one of these guys
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 down there in Babylon.
00:08:19 --> 00:08:20 What did it feel like
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 to be one of the people of God
00:08:23 --> 00:08:24 in Babylon?
00:08:26 --> 00:08:28 It was, in fact, a huge shock.
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 It was unthinkable
00:08:31 --> 00:08:32 that such a thing could happen
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35 to their city and to their country.
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 They were physically dislocated
00:08:38 --> 00:08:41 from their home by force.
00:08:41 --> 00:08:45 They had been psychologically traumatised.
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 They were spiritually hardened
00:08:47 --> 00:08:50 and they were also theologically baffled.
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 Where is God?
00:08:56 --> 00:09:00 Why has he allowed this to happen to us?
00:09:00 --> 00:09:05 How did they respond?
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 We know from the Old Testament
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 that there are at least four different responses
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 of the people of God,
00:09:13 --> 00:09:14 of what had happened to them.
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 There was backsliding,
00:09:17 --> 00:09:18 there was bravado,
00:09:19 --> 00:09:20 there was bitterness,
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 and there was brokenness.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:24 Four Bs, make it easy.
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 Backsliding, bravado, bitterness, and brokenness.
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 We read in Jeremiah
00:09:29 --> 00:09:30 that there was backsliding.
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 Some thought, in fact,
00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 we're much better off without God.
00:09:36 --> 00:09:37 Serving this Yahweh
00:09:37 --> 00:09:39 hasn't brought us any favours,
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 and so they rejected God altogether.
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 There was bravado back in Jerusalem.
00:09:48 --> 00:09:49 There were the false optimists,
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 people like the prophet Hananiah,
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 who in Jeremiah 28 says,
00:09:55 --> 00:09:56 don't worry,
00:09:57 --> 00:09:58 be happy,
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 it's all going to be all over soon.
00:10:01 --> 00:10:02 It's just a small blip.
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 In other words,
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 they didn't think that there was a lesson to learn.
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 The third response was much more pessimistic.
00:10:13 --> 00:10:14 It was bitterness.
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 There were some who expected
00:10:16 --> 00:10:17 that or accepted
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 that it was in fact God
00:10:19 --> 00:10:20 who had done this to them,
00:10:21 --> 00:10:24 but that God was totally unfair.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:25 He was unreasonable
00:10:25 --> 00:10:26 in doing this to them.
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 And so they just spiraled down into bitterness.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:33 And the fourth response was brokenness.
00:10:34 --> 00:10:35 There were some
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 who accepted that the exile
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 was in fact God's action,
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 and that they concluded
00:10:42 --> 00:10:43 he was right,
00:10:44 --> 00:10:45 we were wrong,
00:10:46 --> 00:10:47 but that there was no hope,
00:10:48 --> 00:10:49 there was no future,
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 no future for Israel,
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 no future for God's people,
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 and that we had brought it upon ourselves.
00:10:57 --> 00:10:58 We deserve what we got.
00:11:00 --> 00:11:01 And perhaps that how
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 Ezekiel felt in chapter 1, verse 1,
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 says that it was the 30th year.
00:11:07 --> 00:11:08 Most likely,
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 it was his 30th year.
00:11:11 --> 00:11:12 In the Old Testament,
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 it says that priests began
00:11:14 --> 00:11:15 their public ministry
00:11:15 --> 00:11:16 at the age of 30.
00:11:16 --> 00:11:17 And perhaps you could imagine
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 this 30-year-old Ezekiel
00:11:19 --> 00:11:22 wandering beside the Kibar River,
00:11:22 --> 00:11:24 thinking about what could have been.
00:11:24 --> 00:11:25 If he'd been back in Jerusalem,
00:11:27 --> 00:11:28 this would have been
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 a time of celebration for him.
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 As the son of Buzi the priest,
00:11:33 --> 00:11:34 he too would have been
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 a priest in this moment.
00:11:37 --> 00:11:38 It's his 30th year.
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 And no doubt his father
00:11:40 --> 00:11:41 had taught him
00:11:41 --> 00:11:42 to look forward to this day
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 ever since he was a young boy.
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 Now would have been a time
00:11:47 --> 00:11:48 when he began
00:11:48 --> 00:11:49 his long-life service of God
00:11:49 --> 00:11:50 in his temple.
00:11:51 --> 00:11:52 But instead,
00:11:52 --> 00:11:53 he finds himself
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 1 kilometres away
00:11:55 --> 00:11:56 in a foreign land
00:11:56 --> 00:11:57 as a captive
00:11:57 --> 00:11:58 in a foreign empire.
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 He was a long way from home,
00:12:01 --> 00:12:02 both physically and spiritually.
00:12:03 --> 00:12:04 And so perhaps he was
00:12:04 --> 00:12:05 a little depressed,
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 certainly disturbed and bewildered
00:12:08 --> 00:12:09 as he wandered aimlessly
00:12:09 --> 00:12:10 along the banks
00:12:10 --> 00:12:11 of the Kibar River,
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 thinking of what could have been
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 back in Jerusalem.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 All that he knew of God
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 was attached to that land,
00:12:20 --> 00:12:21 Israel,
00:12:21 --> 00:12:22 to that city,
00:12:22 --> 00:12:22 Jerusalem,
00:12:22 --> 00:12:23 to that temple
00:12:23 --> 00:12:24 in the middle of the city,
00:12:24 --> 00:12:25 Jerusalem.
00:12:27 --> 00:12:28 But without Israel,
00:12:28 --> 00:12:29 without Jerusalem,
00:12:29 --> 00:12:30 without the city,
00:12:30 --> 00:12:31 without the temple,
00:12:32 --> 00:12:33 what is left?
00:12:33 --> 00:12:38 All of his expectations
00:12:38 --> 00:12:39 about God,
00:12:39 --> 00:12:40 his future,
00:12:40 --> 00:12:41 and the future of God's people
00:12:41 --> 00:12:42 were up in the air.
00:12:42 --> 00:12:44 Nothing was clear,
00:12:44 --> 00:12:45 nothing was certain anymore.
00:12:46 --> 00:12:47 You can imagine him
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 so deep in thought
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 that he didn't even notice
00:12:51 --> 00:12:52 the approaching storm
00:12:52 --> 00:12:53 until it was right upon him.
00:12:53 --> 00:12:54 Verse 4,
00:12:54 --> 00:12:55 I looked,
00:12:57 --> 00:12:58 I saw a windstorm
00:12:58 --> 00:12:59 coming out of the north
00:12:59 --> 00:13:00 and an immense cloud
00:13:00 --> 00:13:01 with flashing lightning
00:13:01 --> 00:13:02 and surrounded
00:13:02 --> 00:13:04 by brilliant light.
00:13:05 --> 00:13:06 Suddenly,
00:13:06 --> 00:13:07 he's plunged
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 into a ferocious storm
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 of thunder and lightning.
00:13:11 --> 00:13:12 And it's right there
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 in that moment
00:13:14 --> 00:13:15 that Ezekiel sees
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 a very strange sight
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 in the most unusual of places.
00:13:20 --> 00:13:24 someone like,
00:13:25 --> 00:13:26 someone like the experience
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 of a Pan Am pilot
00:13:28 --> 00:13:29 as he was approaching
00:13:29 --> 00:13:30 Los Angeles airport
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 back in the 2nd of July 1982.
00:13:34 --> 00:13:35 As he approached to land
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 his jumbo jet,
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 3 metres up in the air,
00:13:40 --> 00:13:41 right in his flight corridor,
00:13:42 --> 00:13:43 was a man
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 lying down on a sun lounge.
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 Can you imagine reporting that?
00:13:50 --> 00:13:52 To air traffic control?
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 It turns out Larry Walters
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 had always wanted to fly.
00:13:58 --> 00:13:59 And so one day,
00:13:59 --> 00:14:00 he packed himself
00:14:00 --> 00:14:01 some sandwiches,
00:14:02 --> 00:14:03 grabbed a few beers,
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 attached 45 helium-filled
00:14:05 --> 00:14:06 weather balloons
00:14:06 --> 00:14:07 to his sun lounge,
00:14:08 --> 00:14:08 cut the ropes,
00:14:09 --> 00:14:09 and flew.
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 He went as far
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 as four and a half kilometres
00:14:16 --> 00:14:17 in the air,
00:14:17 --> 00:14:18 straight through
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 Los Angeles flight corridor,
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 before he eventually
00:14:23 --> 00:14:24 shot some balloons
00:14:24 --> 00:14:25 and landed
00:14:25 --> 00:14:26 his sun lounge
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 and was promptly arrested.
00:14:32 --> 00:14:33 It's somewhat like
00:14:33 --> 00:14:34 Ezekiel's experience.
00:14:36 --> 00:14:37 An incredibly
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 strange sight
00:14:39 --> 00:14:40 in the most
00:14:40 --> 00:14:41 unexpected of places.
00:14:41 --> 00:14:42 Let's read it
00:14:42 --> 00:14:42 from verse 4.
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 The centre of the fire
00:14:44 --> 00:14:45 looked like glowing metal
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 and in the fire
00:14:47 --> 00:14:48 was what looked like
00:14:48 --> 00:14:49 four living creatures.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:51 In appearance,
00:14:51 --> 00:14:52 their form was that
00:14:52 --> 00:14:52 of a man,
00:14:52 --> 00:14:53 but each of them
00:14:53 --> 00:14:54 had four faces
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 and four wings.
00:14:58 --> 00:14:59 There is an incredible
00:14:59 --> 00:15:00 amount of detail
00:15:00 --> 00:15:04 in chapter 1
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 that we just do not
00:15:06 --> 00:15:07 have time to go into
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 what all the little details mean.
00:15:09 --> 00:15:11 verse 1 tells us
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 what Ezekiel saw.
00:15:13 --> 00:15:14 The heavens
00:15:14 --> 00:15:15 were opened
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 and I saw
00:15:17 --> 00:15:18 visions
00:15:18 --> 00:15:19 of God.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:21 That's what he saw.
00:15:22 --> 00:15:23 That's
00:15:23 --> 00:15:24 the unexpected
00:15:24 --> 00:15:25 bit.
00:15:26 --> 00:15:27 On the
00:15:27 --> 00:15:28 Kibar River,
00:15:29 --> 00:15:30 1500 kilometres
00:15:30 --> 00:15:30 from Jerusalem
00:15:30 --> 00:15:31 with no temple,
00:15:31 --> 00:15:32 no priests,
00:15:33 --> 00:15:33 God shows up.
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 God shows up.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:38 Everything
00:15:38 --> 00:15:39 up to this point
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 led Ezekiel
00:15:41 --> 00:15:42 to conclude
00:15:42 --> 00:15:43 that God
00:15:43 --> 00:15:43 had in fact
00:15:43 --> 00:15:44 abandoned
00:15:44 --> 00:15:45 his people.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:47 It's five years
00:15:47 --> 00:15:48 into the exile.
00:15:50 --> 00:15:51 Five years
00:15:51 --> 00:15:52 of questions,
00:15:52 --> 00:15:53 five years
00:15:53 --> 00:15:54 of depression,
00:15:54 --> 00:15:55 five years
00:15:55 --> 00:15:56 of uncertainty
00:15:56 --> 00:15:57 and then God
00:15:57 --> 00:15:58 shows up.
00:16:01 --> 00:16:02 So this is
00:16:02 --> 00:16:03 a very surprising
00:16:03 --> 00:16:04 but also
00:16:04 --> 00:16:05 an incredibly
00:16:05 --> 00:16:06 encouraging sight.
00:16:06 --> 00:16:07 What Ezekiel
00:16:07 --> 00:16:08 saw was a very
00:16:08 --> 00:16:09 strange sight
00:16:09 --> 00:16:09 of four beasts
00:16:09 --> 00:16:10 with odd faces
00:16:10 --> 00:16:11 and wings and hands.
00:16:11 --> 00:16:11 Let's pick it up
00:16:11 --> 00:16:12 in verse 10.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:13 Their faces
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 looked like this.
00:16:15 --> 00:16:16 Each of the four
00:16:16 --> 00:16:16 had the face
00:16:16 --> 00:16:17 of a man
00:16:17 --> 00:16:18 and on the right
00:16:18 --> 00:16:18 side each
00:16:18 --> 00:16:18 had the face
00:16:18 --> 00:16:19 of a lion,
00:16:19 --> 00:16:19 the left
00:16:19 --> 00:16:20 the face
00:16:20 --> 00:16:20 of an ox
00:16:20 --> 00:16:20 and each
00:16:20 --> 00:16:21 also had
00:16:21 --> 00:16:22 the face
00:16:22 --> 00:16:22 of an eagle.
00:16:23 --> 00:16:23 Such
00:16:23 --> 00:16:24 were their
00:16:24 --> 00:16:25 faces.
00:16:26 --> 00:16:27 Ezekiel
00:16:27 --> 00:16:28 saw God
00:16:28 --> 00:16:29 but it's
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 pretty clear
00:16:31 --> 00:16:31 that what he
00:16:31 --> 00:16:32 saw
00:16:32 --> 00:16:32 was weird
00:16:32 --> 00:16:33 and pretty
00:16:33 --> 00:16:34 scary stuff.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:37 Note though
00:16:37 --> 00:16:38 that in this
00:16:38 --> 00:16:39 vision of God
00:16:39 --> 00:16:40 it isn't a
00:16:40 --> 00:16:41 description of
00:16:41 --> 00:16:42 what God
00:16:42 --> 00:16:43 actually looks
00:16:43 --> 00:16:43 like.
00:16:45 --> 00:16:46 God is strange,
00:16:46 --> 00:16:46 God is not
00:16:46 --> 00:16:47 like us,
00:16:47 --> 00:16:47 he's entirely
00:16:47 --> 00:16:48 different than
00:16:48 --> 00:16:49 we are
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 but as Ezekiel
00:16:51 --> 00:16:52 describes what
00:16:52 --> 00:16:52 he sees,
00:16:52 --> 00:16:53 he uses words
00:16:53 --> 00:16:54 like appearance
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 and likeness.
00:16:57 --> 00:16:58 It was like
00:16:58 --> 00:16:59 a throne of
00:16:59 --> 00:16:59 sapphire,
00:16:59 --> 00:17:00 it looked as
00:17:00 --> 00:17:01 if it were
00:17:01 --> 00:17:01 full of
00:17:01 --> 00:17:01 fire.
00:17:03 --> 00:17:04 He tries
00:17:04 --> 00:17:04 to use
00:17:04 --> 00:17:05 the things
00:17:05 --> 00:17:06 of this
00:17:06 --> 00:17:06 world to
00:17:06 --> 00:17:07 describe the
00:17:07 --> 00:17:07 things which
00:17:07 --> 00:17:07 are not
00:17:07 --> 00:17:08 of this
00:17:08 --> 00:17:08 world.
00:17:09 --> 00:17:09 He sees a
00:17:09 --> 00:17:10 weird side
00:17:10 --> 00:17:10 of creatures
00:17:10 --> 00:17:11 that were a
00:17:11 --> 00:17:11 mix of
00:17:11 --> 00:17:11 human and
00:17:11 --> 00:17:12 beasts and
00:17:12 --> 00:17:13 each creature
00:17:13 --> 00:17:14 had faces
00:17:14 --> 00:17:15 made up of
00:17:15 --> 00:17:15 beasts made
00:17:15 --> 00:17:16 by God.
00:17:17 --> 00:17:18 And these
00:17:18 --> 00:17:19 faces were
00:17:19 --> 00:17:20 pointing in
00:17:20 --> 00:17:21 four different
00:17:21 --> 00:17:22 directions all
00:17:22 --> 00:17:23 at the same
00:17:23 --> 00:17:24 time and they
00:17:24 --> 00:17:24 were all looking
00:17:24 --> 00:17:25 to the four
00:17:25 --> 00:17:26 corners of the
00:17:26 --> 00:17:27 earth and a
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 representative of
00:17:29 --> 00:17:30 all the
00:17:30 --> 00:17:31 creatures that
00:17:31 --> 00:17:32 God has
00:17:32 --> 00:17:32 made.
00:17:36 --> 00:17:37 Later on we
00:17:37 --> 00:17:39 see that these
00:17:39 --> 00:17:40 creatures are in
00:17:40 --> 00:17:41 fact carrying the
00:17:41 --> 00:17:42 throne, that is
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 these creatures that
00:17:44 --> 00:17:45 God has made are
00:17:45 --> 00:17:46 servants of God.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49 This vision is
00:17:49 --> 00:17:50 meant to represent
00:17:50 --> 00:17:51 very simply that all
00:17:51 --> 00:17:52 creatures come under
00:17:52 --> 00:17:53 his rule, the
00:17:53 --> 00:17:54 rule of this God,
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 and all creatures
00:17:56 --> 00:17:57 serve this God that
00:17:57 --> 00:17:57 Ezekiel saw.
00:17:58 --> 00:17:59 We also see for
00:17:59 --> 00:18:00 this vision that
00:18:00 --> 00:18:01 this throne on
00:18:01 --> 00:18:02 which the God of
00:18:02 --> 00:18:03 the universe sits
00:18:03 --> 00:18:03 is slightly
00:18:03 --> 00:18:04 different too.
00:18:04 --> 00:18:05 Verse 15,
00:18:05 --> 00:18:06 as I looked at
00:18:06 --> 00:18:07 the living creatures
00:18:07 --> 00:18:08 I saw a wheel on
00:18:08 --> 00:18:09 the ground beside
00:18:09 --> 00:18:10 each creature with
00:18:10 --> 00:18:11 its four faces.
00:18:12 --> 00:18:12 This was the
00:18:12 --> 00:18:13 appearance and the
00:18:13 --> 00:18:14 structure of the
00:18:14 --> 00:18:14 wheels.
00:18:15 --> 00:18:16 They sparkled like
00:18:16 --> 00:18:17 crystallite and all
00:18:17 --> 00:18:18 four looked alike.
00:18:18 --> 00:18:19 Each appeared to
00:18:19 --> 00:18:20 be made like a
00:18:20 --> 00:18:21 wheel intersecting a
00:18:21 --> 00:18:21 wheel.
00:18:22 --> 00:18:23 As they moved
00:18:23 --> 00:18:24 they would go in
00:18:24 --> 00:18:25 any one of the
00:18:25 --> 00:18:26 four directions and
00:18:26 --> 00:18:27 the creatures face
00:18:27 --> 00:18:28 and the wheels did
00:18:28 --> 00:18:29 not turn about as
00:18:29 --> 00:18:30 the creatures went.
00:18:32 --> 00:18:33 I think what we're
00:18:33 --> 00:18:34 meant to do here is
00:18:34 --> 00:18:35 to take off our
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 engineering mind and
00:18:37 --> 00:18:38 put it to one side
00:18:38 --> 00:18:38 and try and work out
00:18:38 --> 00:18:39 how this works.
00:18:40 --> 00:18:41 But the vision, the
00:18:41 --> 00:18:42 overall vision here,
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 the king who sits on
00:18:44 --> 00:18:47 the throne spreads
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49 his rule wherever this
00:18:49 --> 00:18:50 throne goes.
00:18:50 --> 00:18:58 throne goes in all
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 four directions that
00:19:00 --> 00:19:00 the creatures are
00:19:00 --> 00:19:01 facing.
00:19:01 --> 00:19:02 That is to all four
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 corners of the globe.
00:19:09 --> 00:19:12 There is nothing that
00:19:12 --> 00:19:13 is not under this God's
00:19:13 --> 00:19:15 rule that is under his
00:19:15 --> 00:19:15 control.
00:19:16 --> 00:19:17 Notice too the many
00:19:17 --> 00:19:18 eyes on the throne.
00:19:18 --> 00:19:19 In verse 18 their
00:19:19 --> 00:19:20 rims were high and
00:19:20 --> 00:19:21 awesome and all four
00:19:21 --> 00:19:23 rims were full of eyes
00:19:23 --> 00:19:24 all around.
00:19:24 --> 00:19:27 This mobile throne from
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 which God rules is
00:19:29 --> 00:19:30 covered in eyes which
00:19:30 --> 00:19:31 are pointing in all
00:19:31 --> 00:19:32 directions.
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 This God who rules this
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37 world, all creatures in
00:19:37 --> 00:19:38 this world, who oversees
00:19:38 --> 00:19:39 everything in this world,
00:19:40 --> 00:19:42 he sees everything.
00:19:42 --> 00:19:44 There is nothing that is
00:19:44 --> 00:19:44 hidden from him.
00:19:45 --> 00:19:46 There is nothing that he
00:19:46 --> 00:19:46 does not see.
00:19:46 --> 00:19:47 There is nothing that he
00:19:47 --> 00:19:48 does not know.
00:19:48 --> 00:19:49 Nothing takes him by
00:19:49 --> 00:19:50 surprise.
00:19:50 --> 00:19:51 There is nothing that is
00:19:51 --> 00:19:52 outside of his control.
00:19:55 --> 00:19:59 Now, the real surprise
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01 for Ezekiel was that he
00:20:01 --> 00:20:02 was seeing God at all
00:20:02 --> 00:20:05 behind enemy lines in
00:20:05 --> 00:20:06 Babylon.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 The wings, the eyes, the
00:20:08 --> 00:20:09 wheels, that is the
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 straitness of the sight and
00:20:11 --> 00:20:14 the unexpected place of the
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 sight, the vision that he
00:20:16 --> 00:20:19 got only strengthens the
00:20:19 --> 00:20:21 point that God rules all,
00:20:22 --> 00:20:23 including Babylon.
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 What a comforting vision
00:20:28 --> 00:20:31 for a young man and a
00:20:31 --> 00:20:33 nation under the rule of a
00:20:33 --> 00:20:34 foreign power, 1
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 kilometers from home, who
00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 at this point had no hope
00:20:38 --> 00:20:38 for a better future
00:20:38 --> 00:20:39 whatsoever.
00:20:39 --> 00:20:40 God can do anything.
00:20:40 --> 00:20:43 This God can do anything.
00:20:43 --> 00:20:44 He is everywhere and he
00:20:44 --> 00:20:45 knows everything.
00:20:46 --> 00:20:47 It's the picture that we
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 see right throughout the
00:20:49 --> 00:20:50 Bible of God.
00:20:50 --> 00:20:52 The Bible calls God
00:20:52 --> 00:20:52 holy.
00:20:52 --> 00:20:54 It's not that he possesses
00:20:54 --> 00:20:55 holiness, but that he
00:20:55 --> 00:20:57 actual fact is holy.
00:20:57 --> 00:20:59 It signifies everything about
00:20:59 --> 00:21:02 God that sets him apart as
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04 being different to us and
00:21:04 --> 00:21:05 what he made.
00:21:05 --> 00:21:06 And that makes him an
00:21:06 --> 00:21:08 object of awe, makes him
00:21:08 --> 00:21:11 an object of adoration and,
00:21:11 --> 00:21:12 in fact, of dread.
00:21:13 --> 00:21:18 The word holy covers every
00:21:18 --> 00:21:21 part of his total greatness
00:21:21 --> 00:21:22 and moral perfection.
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 It's the sum total of his
00:21:26 --> 00:21:27 attributes.
00:21:28 --> 00:21:30 Every part of his nature and
00:21:30 --> 00:21:33 his character is holy because
00:21:33 --> 00:21:35 of course he is God.
00:21:37 --> 00:21:39 At the core of its concept
00:21:39 --> 00:21:43 is his purity, which cannot
00:21:43 --> 00:21:47 tolerate sin or wrong or evil
00:21:47 --> 00:21:50 or impurity in any form.
00:21:50 --> 00:21:53 And so what happens when a
00:21:53 --> 00:21:54 sinful, imperfect, dweeb of a
00:21:54 --> 00:21:56 human being like me gets
00:21:56 --> 00:21:57 confronted with a God like
00:21:57 --> 00:21:58 this?
00:21:59 --> 00:22:00 Verse 28.
00:22:00 --> 00:22:02 This was the appearance of
00:22:02 --> 00:22:04 the likeness of the glory of
00:22:04 --> 00:22:04 the Lord.
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 And when I saw it, I fell
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 face down.
00:22:10 --> 00:22:11 That's the response.
00:22:12 --> 00:22:13 That's the response that God's
00:22:13 --> 00:22:15 been wanting from his people
00:22:15 --> 00:22:16 the whole time that they're in
00:22:16 --> 00:22:17 the promised land.
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 And the reason that they're
00:22:21 --> 00:22:22 here in Babylon is because
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24 that's not what they did when
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 they were in the promised land.
00:22:26 --> 00:22:28 They took him for granted.
00:22:28 --> 00:22:30 It's the position of
00:22:30 --> 00:22:31 submission.
00:22:31 --> 00:22:33 Humble submission is the only
00:22:33 --> 00:22:33 option.
00:22:33 --> 00:22:36 The vision, the God of God
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 didn't make Ezekiel any more
00:22:38 --> 00:22:40 casual about God.
00:22:42 --> 00:22:44 This is the lesson that Israel,
00:22:44 --> 00:22:45 in fact, had to learn.
00:22:45 --> 00:22:47 We see a similar thing with John,
00:22:47 --> 00:22:48 as Chris read out to us in
00:22:48 --> 00:22:50 Revelation chapter 1.
00:22:50 --> 00:22:52 When he saw the glorified Lord
00:22:52 --> 00:22:57 Jesus, like Ezekiel, bear in
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59 mind that John is Jesus' best
00:22:59 --> 00:23:01 mate when he was here on earth.
00:23:02 --> 00:23:05 John was exiled, the island of
00:23:05 --> 00:23:07 Patmos, a prisoner, just like
00:23:07 --> 00:23:09 Ezekiel, when he received a
00:23:09 --> 00:23:10 vision of Jesus.
00:23:12 --> 00:23:13 And it was a strange and
00:23:13 --> 00:23:14 terrifying sight.
00:23:15 --> 00:23:17 Jesus was there, even in the
00:23:17 --> 00:23:19 island of Patmos.
00:23:19 --> 00:23:20 It was there in the most
00:23:20 --> 00:23:21 unexpected place.
00:23:21 --> 00:23:23 He saw the all-conquering and
00:23:23 --> 00:23:23 ruling Jesus.
00:23:24 --> 00:23:25 And what did John do?
00:23:25 --> 00:23:28 Exactly what Ezekiel did when
00:23:28 --> 00:23:29 confronted with the glory and
00:23:29 --> 00:23:30 holiness of God.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 He fell face down as if dead.
00:23:35 --> 00:23:37 That's the response that he's
00:23:37 --> 00:23:38 been calling from his people all
00:23:38 --> 00:23:38 along.
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43 He was Jesus' best mate.
00:23:43 --> 00:23:47 But he knew that the glorified
00:23:47 --> 00:23:48 Jesus was not to be treated
00:23:48 --> 00:23:49 lightly or carelessly or
00:23:49 --> 00:23:50 recklessly.
00:23:51 --> 00:23:54 The vision of Ezekiel reveals
00:23:54 --> 00:23:58 how terrifying, but also how
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 good God is.
00:24:02 --> 00:24:03 God's people might be in the
00:24:03 --> 00:24:06 time-out chair in Babylon, but he
00:24:06 --> 00:24:07 was not done with his people
00:24:07 --> 00:24:08 despite their failure.
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 And so this vision told Ezekiel
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13 that God is in fact up there,
00:24:14 --> 00:24:16 that God is in fact out there
00:24:16 --> 00:24:20 in control, but also that God is
00:24:20 --> 00:24:21 right here with them right now.
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 Notice right at the very beginning
00:24:26 --> 00:24:29 of the prophecy in verse 3.
00:24:30 --> 00:24:33 By the Kibai River, in the land of
00:24:33 --> 00:24:37 the Babylonians, there the hand of
00:24:37 --> 00:24:39 the Lord was upon him.
00:24:41 --> 00:24:45 Right there, in that place, God
00:24:45 --> 00:24:46 was with his prophet.
00:24:47 --> 00:24:49 If you've got your Bibles open, flick
00:24:49 --> 00:24:53 over 48 chapters later to the very
00:24:53 --> 00:24:54 end of Ezekiel.
00:24:57 --> 00:24:59 Right at the end of the chapters, we're
00:24:59 --> 00:25:00 going to get to this in a few weeks,
00:25:01 --> 00:25:04 the final chapters of Ezekiel are that
00:25:04 --> 00:25:06 there's this wonderful description
00:25:06 --> 00:25:11 of paradise that God has prepared
00:25:11 --> 00:25:12 for his people.
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 It is a perfect place.
00:25:15 --> 00:25:18 The last word of this prophecy,
00:25:18 --> 00:25:21 it's a picture of this paradise,
00:25:21 --> 00:25:22 of this city of perfection.
00:25:23 --> 00:25:26 The last words of this prophecy is
00:25:26 --> 00:25:27 the name of that city.
00:25:29 --> 00:25:31 The Lord is there.
00:25:31 --> 00:25:34 Right there in Babylon,
00:25:35 --> 00:25:38 and right at the end in paradise,
00:25:38 --> 00:25:40 after God has brought his people
00:25:40 --> 00:25:41 into their glorious future,
00:25:42 --> 00:25:45 the city, paradise, is called
00:25:45 --> 00:25:46 the Lord is there.
00:25:47 --> 00:25:48 He's there in Babylon.
00:25:49 --> 00:25:50 He's there in paradise.
00:25:52 --> 00:25:53 You see, Israel thought that the
00:25:53 --> 00:25:55 promised land was paradise.
00:25:55 --> 00:25:57 They thought that the Davidic kingdom,
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58 the kingdom under David, was
00:25:58 --> 00:25:58 paradise.
00:25:59 --> 00:26:00 They thought Jerusalem was
00:26:00 --> 00:26:00 paradise.
00:26:00 --> 00:26:02 They thought the temple in
00:26:02 --> 00:26:03 Jerusalem was paradise.
00:26:05 --> 00:26:07 But strangely, they found real
00:26:07 --> 00:26:09 paradise while in exile in Babylon.
00:26:11 --> 00:26:12 It wasn't Babylon that was
00:26:12 --> 00:26:13 paradise.
00:26:14 --> 00:26:15 It was the Lord.
00:26:16 --> 00:26:18 It was the Lord coming to his
00:26:18 --> 00:26:18 people.
00:26:19 --> 00:26:22 Paradise is not so much a place.
00:26:22 --> 00:26:24 Paradise is where God is.
00:26:25 --> 00:26:26 That's paradise.
00:26:26 --> 00:26:26 Paradise.
00:26:26 --> 00:26:35 It is relationship with God.
00:26:37 --> 00:26:39 It's a relationship of trust and
00:26:39 --> 00:26:40 obedience.
00:26:41 --> 00:26:42 This relationship with him is the
00:26:42 --> 00:26:44 only way that we'll ever find true
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45 paradise.
00:26:45 --> 00:26:47 We can pursue everything in this
00:26:47 --> 00:26:49 world, but we'll only ever find it
00:26:49 --> 00:26:50 in him.
00:26:50 --> 00:26:54 Jesus made it pretty explicit for his
00:26:54 --> 00:26:54 disciples.
00:26:55 --> 00:26:57 When we as Christians think about
00:26:57 --> 00:26:58 paradise, we automatically say
00:26:58 --> 00:26:59 heaven.
00:26:59 --> 00:27:00 That's paradise.
00:27:03 --> 00:27:04 We think of eternal life in heaven.
00:27:05 --> 00:27:07 Jesus said this in John 17, verse 3.
00:27:07 --> 00:27:09 This is eternal life.
00:27:09 --> 00:27:15 That they may know you, the only true
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 God and Jesus Christ whom you have
00:27:17 --> 00:27:18 sent.
00:27:20 --> 00:27:21 What Jesus is saying there is that
00:27:21 --> 00:27:23 paradise isn't so much a destination
00:27:23 --> 00:27:26 as it is a relationship.
00:27:27 --> 00:27:29 Eternal life is to know God through
00:27:29 --> 00:27:30 Jesus Christ.
00:27:30 --> 00:27:34 Heaven is paradise only because God is
00:27:34 --> 00:27:35 there.
00:27:35 --> 00:27:41 The purpose of the prophecy of Ezekiel
00:27:41 --> 00:27:43 is, and Chris has mentioned this at
00:27:43 --> 00:27:46 the beginning, was to reintroduce God
00:27:46 --> 00:27:48 to his people, to reestablish that
00:27:48 --> 00:27:49 relationship.
00:27:50 --> 00:27:52 Again and again throughout the 48
00:27:52 --> 00:27:56 chapters, God says to Ezekiel to speak
00:27:56 --> 00:28:00 to his people that you may know that I
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01 am the Lord.
00:28:01 --> 00:28:07 The exile, all the judgments which
00:28:07 --> 00:28:09 are executed, and we're going to get
00:28:09 --> 00:28:12 into that next week, and all the mercy
00:28:12 --> 00:28:16 that's promised, the whole prophecy has
00:28:16 --> 00:28:21 that one end in mind that they may know
00:28:21 --> 00:28:24 that he is the Lord of all that is.
00:28:28 --> 00:28:30 Ezekiel discovered on that day by the
00:28:30 --> 00:28:33 Kibar River, in all his pain and anguish
00:28:33 --> 00:28:36 and confusion, that paradise was in fact
00:28:36 --> 00:28:37 not lost.
00:28:38 --> 00:28:41 God was there, right there in pagan,
00:28:42 --> 00:28:43 unclean Babylon.
00:28:44 --> 00:28:46 God was there.
00:28:47 --> 00:28:49 He was there for Ezekiel.
00:28:49 --> 00:28:52 He was there for his exiles in Babylon.
00:28:52 --> 00:28:55 He was there for John on Patmos, and he's
00:28:55 --> 00:28:57 right here for you right now.
00:28:57 --> 00:29:02 This, I believe, is a word of comfort and
00:29:02 --> 00:29:04 purpose for Christians living in a rapidly
00:29:04 --> 00:29:05 changing society.
00:29:06 --> 00:29:09 The people of God, in Ezekiel's time,
00:29:09 --> 00:29:12 found themselves in a society not unlike
00:29:12 --> 00:29:15 ours, a society that's not shaped by a
00:29:15 --> 00:29:15 biblical worldview.
00:29:16 --> 00:29:18 It's not shaped by biblical values.
00:29:18 --> 00:29:21 Not that long ago, in the Western world,
00:29:21 --> 00:29:23 a whole bunch of people, most people,
00:29:23 --> 00:29:25 would have called themselves Christian.
00:29:26 --> 00:29:29 Other religions existed, and yes, there
00:29:29 --> 00:29:31 were sceptical philosophers and there were
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33 atheists, but they were kind of regarded as
00:29:33 --> 00:29:36 more bizarre, sometimes even scandalous.
00:29:38 --> 00:29:40 Those were the days of Christendom.
00:29:40 --> 00:29:45 But that is how it used to be.
00:29:45 --> 00:29:46 Christendom's gone.
00:29:48 --> 00:29:49 It's over.
00:29:51 --> 00:29:54 The 20th century saw an incredible reversal.
00:29:55 --> 00:29:59 Tolerance of all ideas is the new idol.
00:30:00 --> 00:30:02 The world has become a global village.
00:30:02 --> 00:30:04 The new society has emerged in the West.
00:30:05 --> 00:30:08 Church spires still exist, but they are dwarfed by the
00:30:08 --> 00:30:11 skyscrapers of contemporary commerce.
00:30:12 --> 00:30:14 Christians are in positions of power, but they are
00:30:14 --> 00:30:15 less influential.
00:30:15 --> 00:30:17 The Christian church has virtually no political
00:30:17 --> 00:30:18 power whatsoever.
00:30:19 --> 00:30:23 And for us, in our own context, SRE is under fire.
00:30:23 --> 00:30:24 Marriage is being redefined.
00:30:24 --> 00:30:27 There's no moral compass in our society.
00:30:28 --> 00:30:29 Christendom is over.
00:30:29 --> 00:30:42 So are we asking ourselves why as the church?
00:30:44 --> 00:30:49 Has God put his church in the West in the time-out chair?
00:30:49 --> 00:30:56 There is a lesson here.
00:30:58 --> 00:31:00 There is no place for bravado.
00:31:02 --> 00:31:06 We are a minority under fire, and there is a temptation,
00:31:06 --> 00:31:08 I believe, for the Christian church to bunker down,
00:31:09 --> 00:31:11 to retreat into a Christian subculture,
00:31:11 --> 00:31:15 take on a siege mentality, wait for Jesus to return,
00:31:15 --> 00:31:16 and to hell with the rest of you.
00:31:16 --> 00:31:26 What did God require his people in exile in Babylon?
00:31:28 --> 00:31:29 Jeremiah 29 tells us.
00:31:32 --> 00:31:35 29 verses 4 to 7, this is God's instruction for his people
00:31:35 --> 00:31:37 living in a foreign land.
00:31:37 --> 00:31:39 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel,
00:31:40 --> 00:31:43 says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
00:31:43 --> 00:31:50 Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.
00:31:50 --> 00:31:55 Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 Don't we treat?
00:32:01 --> 00:32:01 Bless.
00:32:01 --> 00:32:10 And I believe that it's absolutely impossible for us to do that
00:32:10 --> 00:32:15 unless we are totally convinced that God is here with his people,
00:32:15 --> 00:32:20 on his throne, and he's ruling not just us, our lives and our church,
00:32:20 --> 00:32:26 but he rules all of Australia, all this world, governments, people, everyone.
00:32:26 --> 00:32:31 Let me just leave that as a side thought.
00:32:33 --> 00:32:35 Bring it down to something personal.
00:32:36 --> 00:32:38 I think there's a personal word of comfort for us.
00:32:39 --> 00:32:43 Some of us who might be feeling something of the fourth response of the exiles,
00:32:44 --> 00:32:45 and that is the brokenness.
00:32:46 --> 00:32:51 Those who feel that God right now seems just so far away from you.
00:32:51 --> 00:32:57 Maybe you feel that there is no possible hope or future in your life or in your family.
00:32:57 --> 00:33:00 There is, just seems like God's not there.
00:33:02 --> 00:33:05 If God feels a long way from you right now,
00:33:05 --> 00:33:08 take this word as hope and promise.
00:33:09 --> 00:33:12 God is with his people wherever they are.
00:33:12 --> 00:33:16 As Jesus promised,
00:33:17 --> 00:33:20 surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.
00:33:23 --> 00:33:26 God doesn't promise that he will always
00:33:26 --> 00:33:31 take away the difficulty that we're facing immediately.
00:33:32 --> 00:33:35 Ezekiel is about to face another five years
00:33:35 --> 00:33:37 of the most uncomfortable message
00:33:37 --> 00:33:39 that any prophet ever had to bring to the people of God.
00:33:39 --> 00:33:45 But there's also comfort and hope and reassurance of forgiveness.
00:33:46 --> 00:33:46 Why?
00:33:47 --> 00:33:49 Because God was there.
00:33:50 --> 00:33:51 And he was in it.
00:33:52 --> 00:33:53 And when God is there,
00:33:55 --> 00:33:57 paradise is always there.
00:34:00 --> 00:34:01 There is hope.
00:34:02 --> 00:34:04 Our God is still on his throne.
00:34:04 --> 00:34:06 And our God is still in charge of the world.
00:34:06 --> 00:34:10 And our God is right here where we are,
00:34:10 --> 00:34:13 with us in this place, 2015,
00:34:13 --> 00:34:15 and fulfilling his purpose amongst his people.
00:34:18 --> 00:34:19 But personally,
00:34:20 --> 00:34:24 he's not just here in this church where we gather right now,
00:34:24 --> 00:34:27 but he is there with you tomorrow
00:34:27 --> 00:34:30 and the next day and the day after that,
00:34:30 --> 00:34:31 wherever you go
00:34:31 --> 00:34:35 and whatever circumstances you find yourself in,
00:34:36 --> 00:34:37 trust him.
00:34:39 --> 00:34:40 Trust him.
00:34:42 --> 00:34:43 Submit to him.
00:34:44 --> 00:34:45 Obey him.
00:34:45 --> 00:34:46 Love him.
00:34:47 --> 00:34:47 Worship him.
00:34:48 --> 00:34:48 Honor him.
00:34:49 --> 00:34:50 Let's pray.
00:34:50 --> 00:34:56 Father God,
00:34:57 --> 00:34:58 I pray that
00:34:58 --> 00:35:01 we would learn the lesson of the exile
00:35:01 --> 00:35:03 as your people.
00:35:04 --> 00:35:06 We pray that our response to you,
00:35:07 --> 00:35:09 regardless of the circumstances that we face day by day
00:35:09 --> 00:35:10 or even the church collectively,
00:35:11 --> 00:35:12 might indeed be one
00:35:12 --> 00:35:14 of total submission to you.
00:35:14 --> 00:35:18 Change our hearts, Lord,
00:35:18 --> 00:35:21 so that we would not be like your people, Israel.
00:35:22 --> 00:35:24 Help us not to be hardened to your word,
00:35:25 --> 00:35:29 where they took on all kinds of forms of religion.
00:35:30 --> 00:35:31 They were apathetic.
00:35:32 --> 00:35:33 They took you for granted.
00:35:35 --> 00:35:35 Father God,
00:35:35 --> 00:35:36 I pray
00:35:36 --> 00:35:39 that you would change us
00:35:39 --> 00:35:40 and that you would comfort us
00:35:40 --> 00:35:42 and that we might indeed
00:35:42 --> 00:35:44 seek the blessing of many
00:35:44 --> 00:35:45 because you are right here with us.
00:35:47 --> 00:35:47 Father God,
00:35:47 --> 00:35:48 we're tempted in this world
00:35:48 --> 00:35:51 to chase all other kinds of paradises.
00:35:52 --> 00:35:53 Help us to see it.
00:35:53 --> 00:35:54 It is with you
00:35:54 --> 00:35:56 and in relationship with you
00:35:56 --> 00:35:58 that we might indeed find
00:35:58 --> 00:35:59 that place of security
00:35:59 --> 00:36:00 and hope and future.
00:36:00 --> 00:36:01 Amen.
00:36:01 --> 00:36:01 Amen.