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The King Who Gives a New Heart and a New Spirit (Ezekiel) | Thomas R. Schreiner · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome back to the Deep Dive brought to you by Reformed
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Thinking. This is where we take a deep
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look at key texts and ideas to give you a shortcut to being
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truly well informed. And our mission today is to get
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into one of the most visually stunning and theologically dense
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books in the Old Testament, the prophecy of Ezekiel.
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That's right. We'll be drawing heavily from
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the analysis and Thomas R Shriners, The King and His
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Beauty, really focusing on those big themes of covenant,
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judgment, and, thankfully, restoration.
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So to set the scene for you, Ezekiel's work kicks off around
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593 BC, and this is key. He's not in Jerusalem like
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Jeremiah was. No, he's already in exile.
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He's speaking directly to the community that's been forcibly
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relocated to Babylon. Right.
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And these are people who'd already seen a partial judgment,
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but many of them were still, you know, clinging to this false
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hope that Jerusalem and especially the temple could
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never truly fall. They saw it as God's permanent
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address on earth. So our goal in this deep dive is
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to pull out the core truths about God's sovereignty and His
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plan for spiritual restoration from this, let's be honest, very
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challenging book. It really all boils down to 1
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driving question that the whole book is trying to answer, which
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is can this incredibly glorious and holy God continue to live
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among the people who have so totally and systematically
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defiled themselves and His dwelling place?
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And the book's answer starts not with an argument, but with a
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vision. A vision that just sort of stops
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you in your tracks. Right, to even begin to
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understand Ezekiel, you have to grapple with chapter 1.
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It's foundational. So Ezekiel's by the shabbar
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canal in Babylon, and the heavens just tear open.
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What he sees is, well, it's almost indescribable.
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It begins with this huge churning storm cloud.
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And out of the fire within that cloud, he sees 4 living
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creatures. Now, when you read the
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description, it's immediately clear these aren't just any kind
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of angels. No, and the text itself
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clarifies this for us. Later in chapter 10, they are
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identified as cherubim, and that word should immediately trigger
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a whole history for anyone familiar with the Old Testament.
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They're the Guardians. They're the guardians of God's
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perfect holy presence. Yeah, you have them in Genesis
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3, blocking the way back to the Tree of Life.
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And their images were stitched into the curtain of the
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Tabernacle and placed over the Mercy seat on the Ark of the
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Covenant. So their appearance here tells
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you that we are dealing with the very boundary of God's sacred
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space. It's a warning sign in a way.
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And the description of them is just staggering.
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They have wings and they move like lightning, just darting
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back and forth. The text says they were like
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burning coals of fire, and they shown like polished bronze.
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It's not just about being fast. It's about conveying this
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restless, active, almost dangerous energy.
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This is holiness in motion. Then you have the faces.
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Four faces on each one. Yes, the face of a human, a
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lion, an ox, and an eagle. And the analysis here suggests
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this is symbolic of the entirety of creation.
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It is. You've got humanity, the king of
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the wild beasts, the strongest of the domestic animals, and the
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ruler of the birds. It's as if all of creation is
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holding up the platform for God's throne, all moving in His
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single command. And that movement leads to maybe
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the strangest part of the vision, the wheels.
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The wheels. Yes, these huge, intimidating
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wheels right beside the creatures.
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It's described as a wheel within a wheel, moving in perfect sync
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with the cherubim. But the detail that always
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stands out is that the rims of the wheels are covered in eyes.
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And if the movement of the cherubim communicates the the
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power of God's sovereignty, the eyes communicate his
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omniscience. He's total awareness.
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Total awareness. It's not just that God can go
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anywhere, it's that wherever his authority roles, he is
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completely meticulously aware of everything.
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The movement isn't random, it's purposeful.
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So this whole incredible vision builds to its climax, the sight
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of Yahweh himself on a throne above this whole apparatus.
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But even here, Ezekiel's language is very careful, very
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reserved. Schweiner points out that he
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keeps using words like likeness and appearance.
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He's creating distance. Why?
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Because the full weight of God's glory, the reality of His
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Holiness, can't be captured in human language.
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It's just too much. So he sees the appearance of the
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likeness of the glory of the Lord.
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It's transcendence described as best as a human can.
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He sees something like glowing metal and consuming fire.
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And just like Moses and the elders in Exodus 24, the sight
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of this absolute purity is too much.
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Ezekiel just falls on his face. He can't stand.
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So this whole vision serves to establish God's unmatched glory
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and holiness before a single word of prophecy is spoken.
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But there is a crucial, almost hidden take away in all the
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motion. Yes, the whole point of this
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throne being on wheels with cherubim that can move in any
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direction without turning. The whole thing is built to
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move. And as some scholars have put
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it, God is getting ready to move out.
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That's the shocking part, this infinitely glorious God whose
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presence in the temple is the entire basis for Israel's
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identity. He's preparing to leave.
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So the very vision that shows his total dominion over creation
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is also setting up the books Great tragedy.
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The King is leaving his palace because his own people have made
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it uninhabitable. And it's in the face of this
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glory that Ezekiel gives his Commission.
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The Spirit enters him, tells him to stand up.
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Which itself is significant. The message he's about to give
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doesn't come from his own strength or his own insight.
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Not at all. He needs that divine
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empowerment. He's just a vessel.
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And that's driven home by the title God uses for him
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throughout the book 93 times. Son of Man.
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It just highlights his humanity, his frailty compared to the
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glorious being he just saw. He is small and God is great.
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His effectiveness is going to come from the Divine Word put in
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him, not from any personal ability.
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And who is this frail messenger being sent?
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To a rebellious house. That phrase is used over and
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over again in the first few chapters.
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It describes a people in active, hostile opposition to God.
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They're called impudent and stubborn.
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He's told it will be like walking through thorns and
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living among scorpions. So the audience is not just
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indifferent, they are dangerous. And then comes the commissioning
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act with the scroll. He's handed a scroll and told to
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eat it. This is about total obedience,
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about internalizing God's Word so completely that it becomes a
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part of Him. But the scroll has this strange
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dual nature to his it's taste. It's as sweet as honey.
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Because it's the Word of God, and God's Word is inherently
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good. But its contents were
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lamentation, morning and woe. The sweet word was a hard
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message of judgement. Which perfectly sets up his
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role. He's a watchman.
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He has to deliver the warning whether they listen or not.
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He offers life to the repentant and warns of death for the
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wicked. And then there's that
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interesting period of mutinous he's subjected to.
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Yes, the sources suggest this was a symbolic act.
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He was unable to speak words of salvation or hope to them.
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He was a prophet only of doom. Until the doom came, the words
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of grace couldn't apply to that generation until judgement was
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complete. It's only when he gets the news
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that Jerusalem has finally fallen that his mouth is opened
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again to speak of future hope. The judgement had to run its
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course first. So with that Commission, Ezekiel
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begins his ministry, and it's relentless.
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He's trying to convince the Exiles that the final total
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destruction of Jerusalem is coming.
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And he doesn't just use words. No, he engages in what you could
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almost call prophetic street theater, these dramatic physical
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signs. In chapter 4, for instance, he
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takes a brick, scratches an outline of Jerusalem on it, and
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then builds miniature siege ramps and walls around it.
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He's acting out the Babylonian siege right there in the camp of
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the Exiles. It must have been a very strange
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thing to watch. Then he's commanded to lie on
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his side for 390 days on his left side for the punishment of
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the northern Kingdom of Israel. And then 40 days on his right
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for the punishment of Judah. The sheer physical endurance of
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that is hard to imagine. It was a living, breathing
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symbol of the length and weight of God's judgment, and even his
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food became a sign. He had to eat these tiny
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rationed amounts of bread and water.
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Forecasting the terrible famine that was coming for the people
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tracked inside Jerusalem during the siege.
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But the sign in chapter 5 is maybe the most graphic of all.
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He shaves his head and his beard with a sword.
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Right, and then he divides the hair into 3 piles.
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And the fate of each pile represents the fate of the
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people. 1/3 he burns inside his model city on the brick.
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Symbolizing death by plague and famine inside the walls.
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Another third he chops up with a sword around the city.
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Symbolizing those killed in battle trying to flee.
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And the last third he just throws to the wind.
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Symbolizing the survivors who would be scattered violently
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among the nations with God's own judgment pursuing them.
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It's a picture of total, inescapable devastation.
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And he even acts out the exile itself in Chapter 12.
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He packs a bag, digs through the wall of his house at night and
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leaves with his face covered. A living picture of the king and
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the people being carried away, blind to where they are going.
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Every action is designed to say this is real, this is happening.
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So what is the root cause? What has brought all this on?
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The book keeps coming back to one word.
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Abominations. Yes, 93 times.
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It's a word that conveys the absolute horror of Israel's sin
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in God's eyes. And the source material points
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out something really specific about how Ezekiel uses that
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word. It does.
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The term is almost entirely reserved for Israel's sin.
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It's not really used in the oracles against the other
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nations. Why is that?
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Because it's about covenant betrayal.
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Their sin was worse because they were God's chosen people.
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They knew better. It was a defection and that was
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seen as particularly disgusting to God.
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And the specific violations weren't small things.
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They were defiling the sanctuary, running after idols,
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constant social injustice, sexual sin.
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At its core, the charges that they defiled Yahweh's holy name,
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their actions misrepresented who God was to the watching world.
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To really drive this home, Ezekiel uses some very strong
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and graphic language in chapters 16 and 23.
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Shockingly so, he compares Israel's idolatry to adultery to
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prostitution. He paints this picture of
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spiritual whoredom. Chapter 16 is this incredible
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story. Yahweh finds Jerusalem like an
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abandoned baby, rescues her, raises her and then marries her,
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making her beautiful and famous. And then she takes all those
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gifts, all that beauty, and uses it to chase after other gods,
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even sacrificing the children God gave her to these idols.
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And Ezefiel makes the point that she's worse than a normal
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prostitute. Right, because she pays her
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lovers, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon to come to her.
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It's not for gain, it's just pure self-destructive lust for
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things other than God. It's an illustration of how
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irrational and depraved their idolatry had become.
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And all of this wickedness comes to a head in the vision of
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Chapter 8. This is the central scene of the
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first part of the book. The prophet is spiritually
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transported to Jerusalem and he sees what's actually happening
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inside the temple complex. And what he sees is just
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horrifying. It's a series of escalating
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abominations. First, right at the gate,
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there's an image of jealousy. Some physical idol.
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And Yahweh himself says that this alone is enough to drive me
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far from my sanctuary. But it gets worse.
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He's taken into a secret chamber where 70 elders of Israel are
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burning incense to idols of reptiles and beasts carved on
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the walls. These are the leaders, the
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respected men engaged in secret Pagan worship.
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Then he goes to another gate and sees women weeping for Tammuz.
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Who was Tammuz? A Sumerian fertility God who he
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supposedly died and came back to life with the seasons.
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It was a Pagan rite. It was a direct denial of
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Yahweh's sovereignty over life and creation.
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And the final straw is in the Inner Court, the area closest to
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the Holy of Holies. There he sees 25 men, probably
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high-ranking priests with their backs to the temple of Yahweh,
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bowing down to the rising sun in the east.
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They have physically and spiritually turned their backs
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on the God of Israel to worship creation itself.
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After seeing that, you understand why God has to leave.
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His presence cannot remain in a place so thoroughly profaned.
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So Chapter 9 describes the consequence.
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Executioners come, and they start their work of judgment
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right there at the temple with the idolaters.
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Only a small remnant is spared those who are marked because
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they were genuinely grieving over all the sin they saw.
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And then in chapter 10 we see the slow, tragic departure.
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The glory of Yahweh lifts off the Ark of the Covenant.
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Moves to the threshold of the temple.
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The cherubim and the wheels fire up.
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And then in Chapter 11, if the glory leaves, the Temple leaves
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the city and comes to rest on the Mount of Olives to the east,
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looking back at what it has abandoned.
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The visible immediate presence of God is gone.
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Their security blanket is gone. And this all serves the books
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great theological purpose. The source material calls it a
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theocentric perspective. Everything is viewed from the
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standpoint of God's sovereignty and His reputation.
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Which is captured in that other phrase that appears all the time
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in Ezekiel. They will know that I am the
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Lord. 72 times, and it's usually in the context of judgment.
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So the whole point of this disaster isn't just punishment
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for punishment's sake. No, it's for revelation.
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Through this trauma, Israel will be forced to recognize that
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Yahweh is the true king who controls history, not the idols
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of Babylon. And this applies to the other
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nations too, right? Absolutely.
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The oracles against Tyre or Egypt aren't just random.
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They're judged for their pride or for celebrating Israel's
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downfall. So when tires well fails, or
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Egypt is shown to be a broken Reed, it's to demonstrate
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straight to them and to everyone that Yahweh is Lord over all.
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Yes, his great name must be vindicated before all creation.
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The judgement is the means to that end.
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So the judgement is national, it's corporate, but the book
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then makes this really critical shift to talk about individual
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sin and responsibility. It does, but it starts by
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addressing the failure of the law itself in a sense.
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Chapter 20 goes through this history of Israel's rebellion.
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God gave them his laws with the promise do this and live, but
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they just constantly broke them, especially the Sabbath which was
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the sign of the covenant. And then you get this very
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difficult verse where God says he gave them statutes that were
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not good and rules by which they could not have life.
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That sounds like God is criticizing his own law.
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Right, but the source material is very clear on this.
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He's not saying the content of the law was bad.
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The law is holy and good. So what does it mean?
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It means the law failed to produce life in them because
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they were unable to keep it. Their hearts were stone.
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The law could reveal sin, but it couldn't grant the power to
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overcome it. So it's an argument that
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anticipates what Paul says in Romans 7.
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The law shows you the problem, but isn't the solution itself.
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Precisely, it demonstrated their need for a different kind of
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salvation, for a new covenant. And that failure of human
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ability under the law leads straight into the argument in
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Chapter 18. Yes.
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Where Ezekiel confronts this proverb, the Exiles we're using,
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the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth
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are set on edge. They were blaming the previous
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generation for their suffering. It's a way of avoiding any
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personal blame. And Ezekiel just shuts that
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down. He makes it clear that God's
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justice is, at its root, individual.
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The soul who sins is the one who will die.
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A son doesn't die for his father's sin, and a father's
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righteousness doesn't save a wicked son.
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It's a huge shift in focus. You can't blame fate.
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You can't rest on your heritage. It's about you right here, right
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now. Your choices matter.
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And he's clear that even your own past isn't a guarantee.
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A righteous person who turns to evil won't be saved by their
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past good deeds. And mercifully, a wicked person
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who genuinely repents and turns to righteousness can find life.
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The door is always open to repentance.
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And to make sure no one is confused, he lists exactly what
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righteousness looks like in their context.
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Yes, in verses 5 through 9 of chapter 18, he gives this list a
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very practical, concrete actions.
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Things like not eating at Pagan hilltop shrines, not committing
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adultery, returning something taken and pledged to a poor
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person, feeding the hungry. Executing true justice, not
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charging interest on loans, these are all observable
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behaviors that showed where your loyalty really was with Yahweh
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or with the corrupt culture around you.
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And the tragic irony is that as a nation, they fail on every
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single point. But the chapter still ends with
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this plea from God. Have no pleasure in the death of
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anyone, so turn and live. God's desire is not judgement
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but repentance in life. But even with this individual
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focus of the book places a massive amount of blame on
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Israel's leaders. A.
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Huge amount. They had a special
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responsibility and their failure was catastrophic.
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The Princess, the civil rulers are called out for violence and
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shedding blood. The priests, who are supposed to
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be the teachers of holiness, ignore the Torah.
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They didn't keep the Sabbath. And critically, they failed to
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teach the people the difference between the holy and the common,
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the clean and the unclean. That distinction was the bedrock
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of the whole covenant system. It was by blurring those lines
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they let the whole moral and spiritual structure of the
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nation collapse. They made everything profane.
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Then you have the prophets, and they might have been the worst
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of all. They were prophesying from their
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own hearts, not from God. They were telling people what
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they wanted to hear. Shouting peace.
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Peace when destruction was just around the corner.
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Ezekiel compares them to someone putting a wheat coat of
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whitewash over a crumbling wall. It looks good for a moment, but
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it provides no real strength. They failed as Watchmen.
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They didn't repair the wall or call people to prepare for the
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attack. And the spiritual result was
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disastrous. They dishearten the righteous
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and encourage the wicked to stay in their sin.
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They actively worked against repentance.
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And finally, Chapter 34 gives this powerful image of the
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leaders as bad shepherds. Yes, they were supposed to care
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for God's flock, but instead they fed themselves.
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They didn't strengthen the weak or heal the sick or look for the
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ones who were lost. They ruled with brutality and
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harshness, and the result was that the sheep were scattered
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and fell prey to wild animals. It's a complete picture of
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leadership failure from top to bottom.
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So the judgment is total. The leadership has failed.
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But then around chapter 33, after the news of Jerusalem's
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fall arrives, the whole book makes this incredible turn.
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It's a magnificent pivot from judgment to hope, but it's a
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hope that is grounded entirely in God's sovereign grace, not in
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any change in Israel. Well, even during the judgment
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there were hints of it. God always promised to preserve
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a remnant. That's right.
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The destruction was never going to be the final word.
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He promised to regather them. And there's that amazing promise
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in Chapter 11. Even before the temple falls,
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God tells the Exiles that even though they've lost the physical
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sanctuary, he himself would be a sanctuary for them in Babylon.
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That's a staggering act of grace, the very presence they
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defiled and lost. He promises to give them in a
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new, personal way, right where they are.
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But for the full restoration to work, it has to be more than
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just bringing them back to the land.
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It has to be just putting the same people back in the same
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place would lead to the same result.
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So the physical return has to be accompanied by a deep internal
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spiritual renewal. And this is where Ezekiel lays
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out the promise of the new Covenant.
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Yes, in Chapter 11 and then expanded chapter 36, God
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promises to do a divine work on their hearts.
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He will remove their idols, give them a new one heart and a new
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spirit. He'll perform spiritual surgery,
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take out the heart of stone, that hard, rebellious,
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disobedient nature. And give them a heart of flesh,
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a soft, receptive, living heart that is able to respond to him.
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And this is all God's doing. It's a divine action to make
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them able to obey, to make that covenant relationship.
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They will be my people and I will be their God.
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A permanent reality. It's the sovereign grace of God
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directly solving the problem of human inability that was so
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clearly laid out earlier in the book.
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And chapter 36 gets even more specific about how this happens.
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It's through the Spirit. Verses 26 and 27 are some of the
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most important in the Old Testament.
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On this I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk
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in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
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So it's the indwelling Holy Spirit that provides the power,
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the ability that was missing under the Old Covenant.
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Exactly. The Spirit enables the obedience
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that the law demanded but couldn't produce.
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But the source material is very insistent about the motivation
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behind all this. It's not for Israel's sake.
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Not at all. God is explicit about this.
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He says. It is not for your sake, O House
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of Israel, that I'm about to act, but for the sake of my holy
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name. His name, his reputation had
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been profaned among the nations because his people were wicked,
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and we're now scattered in defeat.
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So God acts to vindicate the holiness of His great name.
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His primary goal in salvation is the glory of His own name.
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And this salvation includes a complete cleansing.
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He promises to sprinkle clean water on them.
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But even after being cleansed, the proper response for Israel
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isn't pride, it's humility. They are to loathe themselves
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for their past sins and feel a sense of shame knowing this new
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life is a totally unearned gift. And this idea of God sovereignly
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bringing life out of death leads us to that famous vision in
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chapter 37. The Valley of Dry Bones.
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It's the ultimate picture of national restoration.
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The image is so powerful, Israel in exile is like a valley full
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of skeletons bleached by the sun, very dry.
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All hope is gone. There is no life in them.
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They can't do anything to save themselves.
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And Ezekiel is told to do something that seems absurd.
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He's told to prophecy to the bones.
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To speak the word of the Lord to death itself.
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And as he speaks, the bones rattled together, and sinews and
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flesh come upon them. Then he's told to prophecy, to
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the breath, to the Spirit to come and enter these bodies, and
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they stand up a vast army. It's a perfect illustration.
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The restoration of Israel from the death of exile is a
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sovereign work of God's Word and God's Spirit and nothing else.
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And the spiritual resurrection is what leads to their physical
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return, the reunification of the divided Kingdom, and their
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complete cleansing from sin. It's the ultimate picture of
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what God does for any Sinner. He finds them dead in their sins
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and makes them alive by His grace alone.
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So we have a spiritually renewed people brought back to the land.
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But for this new community to last, it needs righteous
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leadership. It does, and that's where the
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promise of the Davidic Shepherd comes in.
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The Kingdom that was torn away from the last failed King of
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Judah is now promised to be restored to the one to whom
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judgment belongs. It's a clear reference back to
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the ancient promise in Genesis 49 about a ruler from the tribe
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of Judah. Ezekiel is looking forward to a
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future ideal Davidic king. And this king is described as
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both a sovereign and a shepherd. Yes, Chapter 37 says my servant
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David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one
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shepherd, and his rule will be forever.
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Chapter 34 really sets this up well.
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First, Yahweh says he will be their shepherd.
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He will seek the lost and heal the sick.
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And then he says he will appoint his servant David as a Prince
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and shepherd to care for the flock under him.
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So this new David is God's own chosen representative.
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And with this king comes a covenant of peace.
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It brings security, showers of blessing, a time when they can
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live safely in the land. And this future ruler is also
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linked to that image of a sprig that God will plant on Mount
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Zion, which will grow into a huge cedar tree that gives
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shelter to all the birds of the air.
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A picture of a Kingdom that blesses the whole world.
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And of course, the New Testament writers see Jesus as the
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complete fulfillment of all of this.
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Absolutely, John 10. Jesus says I am the Good
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Shepherd, the one who lays down his life for the sheep.
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And that connection is so important.
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Ezekiel puts the cleansing from sin right alongside the arrival
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of the Davidic king. And the New Testament explains
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how the King, the Shepherd, achieves the cleansing of his
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people through his own sacrificial death.
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The two promises are fulfilled in the one person of Christ.
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OK, so before we get to the final vision of the book,
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there's this strange section about a final battle, Gog and
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Magog. Chapters 38 and 39.
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Yes, it feels a bit out of place at first.
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Kagog seems to be this figure from a far off land who leads
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this massive coalition of nations to attack the newly
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restored Israel. Right.
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And they attack at a time when Israel is living securely.
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It shows that even after restoration, God's people will
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face opposition in this world. But the crucial point is that
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God himself is the one orchestrating this, He says.
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He's putting hooks in your jaws to bring GOG against Israel.
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He's drawing this final enemy out into the open, not for
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Israel's sake, but for his own. He is going to use this battle
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to reveal his absolute sovereignty to all the nations
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once and for all. And the battle itself is well,
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it's not much of A battle. It's a stunning failure for Gog.
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Yahweh just unleashes his wrath. Earthquakes, fire, hailstones,
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sulfur. It's a holy war where God fights
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alone for his namesake. The result is that every nation
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is forced to see God's greatness and confess that Yahweh is Lord.
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It's the final vindication of His Holiness on the world stage,
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and it serves as the transition to the final glorious state of
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things. Which is the new temple vision
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that takes up the last 9 chapters of the book.
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A very detailed and very difficult section of Scripture.
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It's full of obsessive architectural detail, but as the
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source material points out, you shouldn't treat it like a
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literal blueprint. You shouldn't if you actually
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try to map it out. Some of the dimensions and
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descriptions don't work in a purely physical space.
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It's describing a spiritual reality using concrete physical
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language. So what is this vision pointing
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to? It's pointing to a new, perfect,
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permanent dwelling place for God with his people.
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It's a new Eden, a cosmic mountain.
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And the most important event in the whole vision is the return
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of God's glory. The very glory that left from
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the east in Chapter 11 now returns from the east in chapter
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43 to fill this new temple forever.
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The exile is officially over. This temple is called God's
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throne, where he will reign forever.
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His presence is now central and permanent.
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And the design of the temple, with all its boundaries and
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gates, emphasizes holiness. The priests are given the strict
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command to teach the people the difference between the holy and
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the profane. And then there's the river.
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A beautiful image. A river flows out from under the
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threshold of the temple. It starts as a trickle, but it
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grows into a massive life giving river without any other streams
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flowing into it. And on its banks are trees, like
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the tree of life whose leaves are for healing, it's life
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flowing directly from the presence of God out into the
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world. And the entire book, which began
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with God's departure, ends with the new name of the city.
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And the name of the city from that time on shall be the Lord
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is there. Yahweh, Shoma.
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It's the perfect end. It points forward to the vision
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in Revelation 21 and 22 where the entire new creation becomes
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the temple because God's presence fills everything.
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Act tag tag outro. So we've gone from this
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terrifying vision of God's majesty through the necessity of
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judgment, and into this incredible hope of a sovereign
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restoration. Let's try to boil this down to a
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few key takeaways for you. I think the first thing is that
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Yahweh's glory had to leave. The physical temple wasn't some
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kind of magical charm. Israel's sin, their idolatry and
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uncleanness defiled it, and a holy God cannot live in a
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defiled house. 2nd The whole book is written from a God
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centered point of view. Everything that happens, both
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judgment and salvation happens so that Israel and all the
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nations will know that I am the Lord.
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It's all about God's reputation. 3rd Salvation is shown to be
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100% an act of sovereign grace. It's not for Israel's sake or
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because they deserved it, but for God's name's sake.
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And this grace includes that spiritual heart surgery, the new
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heart, and the indwelling spirit that makes obedience possible.
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And finally, all of this hope comes together in the return of
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God's presence, which is made possible by the rule of the new
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David, the shepherd King, and is fully realized in a new
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creation, that new temple where God lives with his people
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forever. Right.
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The source material really sees that new creation and the new
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temple as two ways of talking about the same glorious reality,
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the King in his beauty dwelling among his redeemed people.
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So that leaves us with a question to think about.
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If that king now dwells among his people through the Holy
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Spirit, where do we see the evidence of that new heart and
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the rule of the new David in the lives of believers today?
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And what does it look like for us in our own lives and
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communities to take up that command given to the priests in
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the vision, the command to carefully distinguish between
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the holy and the unclean, between the sacred and the
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common in this present age? That's a calling that flows
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directly out of this text, something for us all to
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consider. Until next time, keep digging
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into the word.