Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 833. Bible Study: Ezekiel 11 (God is serious about judgement and the return of Christ)

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833. Bible Study: Ezekiel 11 (God is serious about judgement and the return of Christ) · Faith by annm2705

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Chapter 11 from the book of Ezekiel.
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Dear Lord, first let's pray. Dear Lord, please be with us as
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we read through this chapter. Please open our eyes and give us
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wisdom to what you have to say to us.
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And please let us take what we hear and apply it to our lives
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in any way that we can. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
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It begins the. Then the Spirit lifted me up and
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brought me to the gate of the House of the Lord that faces E
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There at the entrance of the gate were 25 men, and I saw
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among them Jazanaya, son of Azur, and Pelletaya, son of
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Beninaya, leaders of the people. The Lord said to me, son of man,
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these are the men who are plotting evil and grieving
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wicked advice or giving wicked advice in the city.
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They say, haven't our houses been recently rebuilt?
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This city is a pot and we are the meat in it.
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Therefore, prophecy against them.
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Prophecy, Son of man. I'm going to pause here because
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this whole pot and meat thing needs to be explained and
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luckily the study Bible explains it.
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So it says, why did the leaders or what did the leaders mean by
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calling Jerusalem a pot and themselves meet?
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The wicked leaders, perhaps using a familiar proverb,
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suggested that they belonged in Jerusalem just as the meat
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belongs in a pot. They may have been urging people
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to make long term plans to live there, or they may have thought
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Jerusalem's buildings could offer protection from the
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Babylonians. Either way, their counsel was
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opposed to God's purposes and would bring even greater
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destruction. Few more questions and answers.
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Who was Jayaznia son of Azur? This was not the same Jayaz
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Anaya mentioned in chapter 8, verse 11.
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All that is known of these two men is that they wielded
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considerable power and LED the people to defy the Lord.
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They proclaimed peace and safety when God's message to the people
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was one of judgment and destruction.
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See, that's something else that we we'll hear about.
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Well, we have heard in the Bible that that's what is prophesied
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in the future, that there's going to be people saying that,
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oh, we're in peace and safety. But it says, you know, when
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there's, when they say peace and safety and prophecy, then comes
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sudden destruction, 'cause there's deceived people who are
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saying things that are not of God.
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So it's important to observe things and make sure that we
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align things with Scripture that are happening in the world right
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now. So why is Ezekiel called Son of
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Man? Used some 90 times in the book
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of Ezekiel, this label underscores Ezekiel's humanity
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and his dependence on God's supernatural power.
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It may have also. It may also have reminded
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Ezekiel that his job was to convey, not create the message.
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OK, continuing with verse 5. Then the Spirit of the Lord came
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on me and he told me to say this is what the Lord says.
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That is what you are saying, you leaders in Jerusalem.
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But I know what is going through your mind.
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You have killed many people in this city and filled its streets
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with the dead. Therefore, this is what the Lord
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says. The bodies you have thrown there
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are the meat, and this city is the pot, but I will drive you
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out of it. You fear the sword, and the
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sword is what I will bring against you, declares the Lord.
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I will drive you out of the city and deliver you into the hands
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of foreigners and inflict punishment on you.
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You will fall by the sword, and I will execute judgement on you
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at the borders of Israel. Then you will know that I am the
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Lord. This city will not be a pot for
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you, nor will you be the meat in it.
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I will execute judgement on you at the borders of Israel, and
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you will know that I am the Lord.
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For you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws, but
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have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.
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So God again is giving His reason.
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He, he wants to be known. And he's reminding them that you
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know, this is all happening because you have not followed my
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decrees or kept my laws and you conform to the standards of the
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nations around you. And so I thought it was
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interesting that in both of these, he repeated it twice that
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he was going to bring judgement on you at the borders of Israel.
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That just, I don't know what the significance of that is.
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But as soon as I read that, it just reminded me of what
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happened in Gaza on October 7th, 2023.
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I have no idea if that has any relation at all, but it it just
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brought that to mind when I read it, which is terrible.
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But so we in real life could imagine what was going on back
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then if the same thing happened. So verse 13 Now as I was
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prophesying, Pelletiah son of Beniah died.
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Then I fell face down and I cried out in a loud voice, At
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last, sovereign Lord, will you completely destroy the remnant
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of Israel? So God is bringing forth a
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significant judgment upon people.
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In the study Bible it says who killed whom in Jerusalem.
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This was a prediction of what would happen because of the
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corruption of Jerusalem's leaders.
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Though the leaders had executed many, King Manasseh filled
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Jerusalem with innocent blood. We read that in Second Kings
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chapter 24, verse 4. God would avenge the deaths of
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the innocent with the lives of the disobedient rulers.
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Second Kings 25, verses 18 through 21, what were the
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standards of the nations around them?
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Some of the things, the nations surrounding, some of the things
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the surrounding nations practiced were idolatry,
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exploitation of the poor, ritual sex, astrology, and human
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sacrifice, all as part of their worship.
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And that's found in Second Kings chapter 23, verses 4 through 10.
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So who was Pelletaya and why was Ezekiel so distressed over his
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death? Pelletaya means Yahweh has built
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up. We are not sure of his identity
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or why his death elicited such a strong reaction from Ezekiel.
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Pelletaya was most likely an elder of the city, and his fate
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may have been indicative of what was coming to many of the elders
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of the city. Ezekiel was horrified at the
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severity of the Lord's retribution.
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So going back to the book of Ezekiel, verse 14, the word of
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the Lord came to me, Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have
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said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, they
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are far from me. Lord, this land was given to us
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as a possession. That's kind of interesting too,
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because Israel was saying, you know, you gave us this land.
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We still have this battle going on today about whose land is it?
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But here in the Bible, Ezekiel affirms that again, that this
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land is Israel's. The disputed land over in the
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Middle East is what we're referring to, or Jerusalem is.
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So verse 16 from Ezekiel Chapter 11 therefore say this is what
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the sovereign Lord says. Although I sent them far away
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among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet
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for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the
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countries where they have gone. Therefore, this is what the
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Sovereign Lord says. I will gather you from the
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nations and bring you back from the countries where you have
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been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel
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again. Now I think this is actually a
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way future prophecy for them and a future prophecy for us because
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of the next things that it says. Verse 18.
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They will return to it and remove all its vile images and
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detestable idols. I will give them an undivided
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heart and put a new spirit in them.
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I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a
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heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees
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and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people and I
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will be their God. But As for those whose hearts
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are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will
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bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares
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the Sovereign Lord. Then the cherubim with the
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wheels besides them spread their wings, and the glory of the God
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of Israel was above them. The glory of the Lord went up
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from the city and stopped above the mountain east of it.
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The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the Exiles in
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Babylonia in the vision given by the Spirit of God.
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Then the vision I had seen went up from me, and I told the
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Exiles everything the Lord had shown me.
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That's the end of Chapter 11, so I will read the remaining
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explanations that are given in the study Bible.
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So who were those far away from the Lord?
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Those in Jerusalem who initially escaped exile and death thought
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that they were more favored by God than those who have been
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carried off to for faraway lands because they still had the
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temple. But the Lord promised to be a
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sanctuary for those exiled in foreign countries.
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And I also remember, if you remember too, that he said
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anybody who stayed in Jerusalem was actually going to die by
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sword. And that was prophesied, I
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believe, by Jeremiah. How was the Lord a sanctuary?
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This is a critical verse here for understanding the book of
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Ezekiel. Before the time of the exile,
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God's people associated Jerusalem and the temple with
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God's presence among them. Now God revealed to his people
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that He Himself could be their sanctuary.
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God cannot be confined geographically.
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God would be with them in their exile, even in Pagan Babylon.
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Later Jesus came to replace the temple, referring to John
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chapter 2 verses 19 through 21. I thought this that response
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question and answer was interesting because as I put
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forth before, it seems like God actually gives certain
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territories to certain potentially spiritual beings
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just because these certain lands that from way back continue to
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be at odds with Israel. If you look, you know, like
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Elam, Iran is against Israel, Egypt is backed and back and
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forth with Israel and you look at, you know, Turkey is not a
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friend of Israel. You know, if you talk about
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Assyria, so and then Syria too is another one.
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So there's lots of different similarities.
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And even the land of Gaza, that's where the Philistines
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were and the Philistines were the, the giants, I guess the
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Nephilim offspring that lived there that Israel was at war
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with. So there's there's quite a bit
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of history repeating itself. And so On the contrary, all
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these other entities that these people in these areas worshipped
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other beings. God is omnipresent, He is
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everywhere. You can't hide from him.
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You can't go to a different territory and get away from Him,
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not that you'd want to, but if you are, if he was pursuing you,
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you can't get away from Him. And, and he's everywhere.
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So even if you are not in Jerusalem with the temple, you
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know the land that God claims as his and says that he will.
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You know Jesus will reign from Jerusalem if if someone isn't in
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Jerusalem, that doesn't mean that God is not present.
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He is omnipresent everywhere and no matter where we are, we will
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feel the presence of God and that is is significant.
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The the part where, well, OK, I'm going to read a little bit
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more. How would the returning exiles
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do away with idolatry, which had been practiced for centuries?
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When the Jews began to return to Jerusalem in 538 BC, the people
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living in Jerusalem were still practicing false religions.
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Although it took more than 100 years after their return to
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correct the abuses and promote true worship and obedience to
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God's law, the tide was turned. By the time of Christ, the Jews
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no longer were involved with idol worship.
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So that's interesting because I kind of still see idol worship
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happening and like the Bible, like the ancient deities that
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were worshipped back then, I see their replicas at concerts and
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other things around the world. And so whether it's, you know,
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it's not necessarily a temple that's been set up, but then
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when you look at every religion that has another entity besides
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the one true God, those are all false religions and those are
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all still being practiced today. So I don't, I don't know that I
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agree necessarily with what the study Bible says.
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I think there still is idolatry out there.
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And and then I don't know, like certainly God is giving his Holy
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Spirit to people. There's no question about it.
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But you know, it says I will give them an undivided heart and
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put a new spirit in them. Yes, but if if that has
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happened, that hasn't happened yet for everyone because people
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don't believe in Jesus and I don't believe Jesus is the Son
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of God and it's the Spirit that testifies that he is the Son of
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God. So if they are not testifying
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that Jesus is the Son of God, that means they don't have the
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Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is received
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when we believe in Jesus and Jesus knows that with sincerity
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that we believe in what he did for us and we've repented.
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So when that come when that happens, we have the Holy
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Spirit. But I think there's could be a
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lot of people who maybe think they have a spirit, but maybe
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they don't. When you start looking at what
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the Bible tells us is a result of someone having the spirit,
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it, it produces actions in a person.
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It's not just a feeling or an experience that somebody gets
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one time and they said, Oh yeah, I got it.
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And you know, and then they live life contrary to what Jesus
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taught. It's once you know, you see that
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people are changing and living more and more like Jesus, then
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you can see, well, they probably have the Holy Spirit in them,
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But and that's discernment, not judgment.
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So I think we need to be careful about saying, Oh, you can't, you
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know, do that. I mean, I think you're foolish
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if you don't try to discern if someone has the Holy Spirit or
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if they don't, because if they have the Holy Spirit, then you
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should be able to expect better things from them.
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Then if they don't have the Spirit, then they need to learn
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more about God, about Jesus, and so that they can receive the
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Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit, as
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Jesus said was, is so important for somebody to get into the
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Kingdom of God because he said that no one can see the, no one
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can enter the Kingdom of God unless they're born again, born
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of the water and born of the Spirit.
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So that is something that we all need if we want to be in God's
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Kingdom. So then it says what is a heart
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of stone? What is a heart of flesh?
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These terms are recurring theme in Ezekiel and Jeremiah.
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They describe the radical spiritual change that leads to
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genuine obedience. See that?
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Obedience of God's laws. So if somebody's calling
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themselves a Christian, but they're deliberately disobeying
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God, you kind of have to wonder, is the Holy Spirit functioning
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in their life? Have they surrendered to God?
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Have they made God Lord of their life, or are they still battling
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with God? So as the Exiles repeated, that
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means turning your mindset away from those things and took steps
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to demonstrate their repentance. That's the other thing, taking
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steps forward in a new life, such as removing idol worship.
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God gave them hearts of flesh, tender hearts that were open to
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him. And that's what the Holy Spirit
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does. The Holy Spirit does soften our
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hearts to God because initially when we see like the the wrath
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of God, you know, it offends most people and and people
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don't. They only want to think about
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the loving God, but in all honesty, the wrath is a result
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of his love because he cannot let evil continue.
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So he has to do something about that.
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And until we, our eyes are open to that, perhaps because the
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Holy Spirit helps us to understand that that really
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makes sense, then we're we're thinking that it was like, you
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know, people are concerned about God being that way, but that is
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how God is. So I have one more thing that I
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wanted to talk about or read from in Exploring Ezekiel.
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It's from the book of Amir Sarfati and it's called
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Exploring Ezekiel. You can get it on Amazon.
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It's a really good, easy read book that kind of talks about
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some of these things, But there's a few things in here
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that he said that I I thought was very interesting.
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So he talked about OK, the phrase little sanctuary in verse
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16 is a translation of the Hebrew phrase mikdashmiat.
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The word mikdash means temple. So a mikdashmiat is a little
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temple. God told the Israelites that no
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matter where his people went, he would dwell in the holy places
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they created for him. It is from this specific
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prophecy that the entire concept of synagogues arose.
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Synagogue is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bek
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Knesset, which. Both of which mean House of
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gathering or place of gathering. So I didn't know that about
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synagogues. And I think that's interesting
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there. And then I want to read kind of
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the very end of Amir's book because just the things he says
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are so good to remind ourselves of here.
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So he says on page 68 of Exploring Ezekiel.
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The third and final element of this promise jumps ahead to a
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future time when God will gather his chosen people to prepare
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them for Yeshua's millennial reign quote.
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Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit
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within them, and take the Stony flesh out of their, the Stony
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heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that
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they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them,
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and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
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Verses 19 through 20. What a wonderful promise.
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The day is coming when the entire Jewish people will be
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right with God, loving Him and serving Him as was intended from
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the day the promise was given to Abraham.
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But Amir, why are you saying this is in the future?
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Isn't this exactly what God did when he brought the Exiles back
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to Jerusalem? Unfortunately, no.
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Otherwise there would have not been a need for Zechariah to
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tell the returnees to get their acts together and a Haggai to
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push them to get off their backsides and get the temple
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built. And when you read Nehemiah and
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especially Ezra, it's very clear that there are a people who are
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much better. There are a people who are much
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better than they used to be. However, they are far from being
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what they will one day become. Ezekiel himself points to a
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distant future nature of his promise later in chapter 36 of
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his book, as we'll see in more detail when we get there, one
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more regathering of God's people will take place in the land of
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Israel. It is then that the spiritual
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transformation will take place and God will be able to say that
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both in name and in relationship.
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Quote, They shall be my people, and I will be their God.
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Verse 20 With these final prophecies stated, it was time
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for the glory of God to let the hand of His people slip from His
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own, so that he could turn his back and leave and quote.
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This is quote, and the glory of the Lord went up from the midst
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of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east
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side of the city. Verse 23.
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One last look from the Mount of Olives and the glory was gone.
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The vision ended. Ezekiel found himself back with
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the other exiles, and he told them of the long, strange
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adventure he had experienced. It's a tragic story, but let me
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add a happy coda to the sad Symphony of separation.
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When the glory of the Lord lifted from the Ark of the
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Covenant set between the cherubim, it rose above the
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temple, then travelled to the Eastgate.
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After pausing, the glory moved to the Mount of Olives, from
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which it then rose to heaven. For some of you, that location
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may already have you. Your prophecy censors pinging.
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God wasn't done with the people of Israel.
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He still had a plan for them. He had taken His glory from
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them, but He would bring it back twice.
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A little more than 600 years later, a man sat on the donkey
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as the animal cantered down that same Mount of Olives.
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The writer who was astride the animal was more than just a man.
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He was the God Man, Jesus the Messiah in his human body.
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In his human body resided the full glory of the Lord as Jesus
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rode toward Jerusalem and the people called out to him.
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Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the
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name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest, Matthew
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21, verse 9. As they directed their praises
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to heaven, they didn't realize that the recipient of the worst
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of their worship was right in front of them.
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When the Lord reached Jerusalem, he went straight to the temple.
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Once there, he angrily turned over the tables of those who
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were profiting off the worship of God.
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Crying, It is written, My house shall be called a House of
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prayer, but you have made it into a den of thieves.
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Verse 13. The glory of the Lord had
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returned to the temple and sadly found it in found it still in a
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state of spiritual disarray. Rather than being awash with
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idolatry and adultery, it was drowning in profiteering and
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religiosity. His time at the place dedicated
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to his name was short. Soon he was back on the Mount of
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Olives, from which he once again left, taking his glory with him.
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From Acts verse 1, chapter 1, verses 6 through 12.
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The first return was not intended to be a permanent
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residency. It was merely A visitation.
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A day is coming when he will be back to stay, when the glory of
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the Lord returns once again in the person of the resurrected
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Christ. To where will it come?
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The same location that it left, then came back to, then left
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again the Mount of Olives. Quote.
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In that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which
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faces Jerusalem on the east and on the mountain.
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The and and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east
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to West, making a very large valley.
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Half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it
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toward the South. Zechariah 14, verse 4.
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It is that it is at that final return that Jerusalem will
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become the home of the eternal King and the glory of the Lord
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will reside in the holy city forever.
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It's a kind of a nice way to leave that chapter.
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So that's all I have for Chapter 11.
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I hope you come back for chapter 12 the next time.