Comfort in Failure?

“Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.” (Eze 32:31 AV)

The context here is a bit confusing in the sense that we think we cannot relate.  Pharaoh, upon his own death is comforted in that fact that his nation, as well as other oppressors of Israel are in the same boat as he is.  That is, a devil’s hell for all of eternity.  For some odd reason, it brings a hater of God great comfort to see that he is not the only one who is suffering.  It brings him great comfort in knowing that even those whom he led are suffering for following him.  John Gill puts it best when he writes, “…when Pharaoh is brought to the grave, and into the state of the dead, he shall look about him, and see who lie by him; and he shall behold the above mentioned kings of Assyria, Persia, Idumea, and the princes of Tyre and Zidon, and all their mighty armies, generals and soldiers, in the same condition with himself; and this shall be some solace to him in his own death, and at the loss of so great a kingdom, such numerous subjects, and a vast army, that others as rich, as powerful as himself, lie in the same low and miserable condition; though such comfort as this must be poor comfort indeed! and yet this is all the comfort wicked men have in hell, that they have company with them there…”

Believe it or not, I have seen this in marriages and even in churches.  If one party cannot control the relationship, they will make sure the other cannot either.  The other night, my wife and I were watching a show that had a similar theme.  A scientist had invented the ultimate doomsday weapon.  A weapon of mutually assured destruction.  It was designed to automatically engage if normal weaponry failed to deter counter attacks.  It was designed to wipe out all human life on the planet.  If one cannot rule, then no one will.  The verse above is after the fact.  It is the only feeling left after total rebellion fails.  The heart above is the heart of a completely helpless rebel.  Knowing there is no satisfaction from victory in rebellion, the only solace is that all others who failed share in the same fate.  I have seen churches die both a quick and slow death because they cannot agree on authority.  One party tries to control the other and the other is so embittered they destroy the church on the way out the door.  I have seen this in marriages.  A struggle of the will that only results in the destruction of both.

In the case of our rebellion against God, God cannot be destroyed.  He cannot lose.  This is just not a possibility.  He is an immovable object.  He is absolute.  What is really sad is the reality all those who try will have only one comfort for the rest of eternity.  At least they didn’t fail alone.  What a feeling.  How truly pitiful.  “I am a loser.  But at least I am not the only one.”  That is the only comfort those who reject God will have for all of eternity as they share the torments of a devil’s hell.  For the saint who believes he or she can bargain with God, you cannot.  God wins every time.  When you come to the end of yourself you can think one of two things.  Like the prodigal, you can either return to the LORD, or you can find comfort in the company of the swine.  The choice is yours.

Eradicated Irritation

“And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.” (Eze 28:24 AV)

The last dozen or so chapters of Ezekiel, the LORD has pronounced judgement upon those neighbors of Israel that rejoiced when the LORD brought chastisement upon them.  They took advantage of a weakened Israel at the time of God’s dealing with them.  They goaded them.  They mocked them.  They were the ones who enticed Israel into wickedness, then backed away to laugh at their calamity.   Well, there will come a time when God will deal with them.  There will come a time when influences like this no longer exist.  There will come a time when the LORD returns, and through Israel, will reign over all her neighbors.  No more will there be an annoying prickling brier in the form of a neighbor whose joy comes from causing irritation, pain, and even death.  No more of it!

Being a hunter, irritation is a way of life.  One of those irritations is seeds that stick to one’s clothing.  My bestest hunting partner, outside of my son, shared with me his lease that was infested with such plants.  One of those plants, velvetleaf ticktrefoil, had a seed that stuck to everything.  As the name indicates, the leaves and seed pods have a velvety surface to them.  As long as the seeds were fresh and green, they were soft enough where they did not cause irritation.  But once they dried out, the became a serious issue.  They literally got everywhere.  As anyone in similar circumstances knows, they are quite a chore to clean from one’s clothes.  At first, they do not stick too hardily.  Picking them off in their green condition isn’t too challenging.  Once they dry, it is a different story altogether.  What a picture of the principle mentioned above.

When the saint walks among the world, he is constantly attacked by annoying little temptations that at first, do not seem all that irritating.  They have a velvety surface and if we were not looking for them, probably wouldn’t even notice them.  That is the way it is with the velvetleaf.  Not until we get home and look at how covered we were, did we realize how infested we were.  If we allow those seemingly harmless and pesky little influences to stick around, they become dry, irritating, and harder to remove.  The nation of Israel was not careful to rid themselves of the influence of the world.  It takes regular discipline to remain free.  We can do nothing about the fact we are forced to live among a wicked world.  We can do little to be free from total influence from it.  But we can do something about removing.  The verse above promises there will be a time when those little annoying and pesky temptations are a thing of the past.  They will be removed.  Permanently!  For the saint, upon the rapture of the church of the death of the saint.  We have a guaranteed time of freedom.  No more!  For Israel, the reign of Christ will once and for all free them from the velvet covered temptations that turn to an irritation.  What a day that will be!  Glory!

Not Your Friend

“Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed.” (Eze 22:5 AV)

Those that cause the saint to fall, mocking them as a result, never mock themselves for the same behavior.  Israel and Judah went after the life style of their pagan neighbors.  They took up their idols and their vices.  When the consequences of their sin came upon them, the tempters ridiculed the righteous for their fall.  Even though they were guilty of the same.  The saint must realize Romans 1:32 is still true.  Misery loves company.  The thing is, there is more enjoyment of the wicked when the righteous fall than there is when they fall.

What child has not been enticed into foolish behavior by a companion?  They are caught by the authority all the while their companion seemed to escape the trap of justice.  The one who was once a good friend is not off on the sidelines, laughing at the calamity he or she has caused.  I remember when one of my brothers was taken into custody and brought to our father for reckless actions.  His good friend enticed my brother to stand on a train trestle, throwing snowballs as cars that would pass under.  One of those cars was a police patrol car.  Bad move.  My brother’s friend realized what happened and took off.  My brother froze.  He stood there and was taken by the police.  His friend was relieved that he got away and teased my brother for being slow.  It was not my brother’s idea.  But he followed.  In doing so, he got caught while his tempter got off scot-free.

It goes without saying that a man’s reputation, or in this case, the saint’s testimony is all that he really has.  All the material things of life will pass with the using.  But what he has and can control within the bounds of his own will is his testimony.  The friends that we think we have may not be friends at all.  If we think they will be there to support us when things go bad, we have another thing coming.  They will not be there with hearts of compassion, understanding, and relief.  They will be there to laugh at us that we are ignorant or foolish as they.  The name and testimony of the saints of God an His Church is so important.  We are not perfect.  We will fail.  It is part of being human.  We have the sin nature to battle and we often loose.  But we do not have to lose in front of an audience.  Especially those who led us that way as a form of entertainment.

More Than A Day of Rest

“Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.” (Eze 20:12 AV)

The Sabbath was intended to be more than a day of rest.  When the LORD rested in the seventh day, it was for the purpose of fellowship with Adam and Eve.  It was for the purpose of walking in the cool of the day in the midst of the garden.  It was a time when man was separated from all other creation to a relationship that he alone could have with the Creator.  It wasn’t just a day of rest.  It was a day of identification.  It was a day of relationship.  It was a day of worship.  We have lost this over the years.  With our goal-oriented mentality, we have structured our worship services to accomplish a goal.  It went from goal oriented to rote practice.  Our service structure never varies.  We are too concerned with imposing on the attention span of our audience rather than our attitude and spirit during our services.  Something has changed and it is not for the better.

God gave the Sabbath to Israel as a sign that verified the covenant between He and them.  That covenant, simply stated, made God their God and Israel His people.  The Sabbath was the sign.  How is that?  How can a day be a sign of a covenant?  How can gathering together be the indication that God has made a promise?  What do the two have in common?  What is the connection?

A certain youth camp that ran a four-week camp would intermix the children from their different groups to make new groups.  They would break up the children from a particular church and place them with other children.  The idea was to build relationships.  They were given colored shirts to indicate their team identification.  They would spend their time together as a team.  They would sleep in the same cabins.  They would compete as a team.  How, an interesting thing happened on a particular day.  It was Pastor’s day.  It was the day their Youth Pastor or Senior Pastor came for a day to visit with his sheep.  When he did, the team identifications were all forgotten.  All the team building was put on hold.  No longer were they a member of the green team or orange team.  They were a member of a family with a shepherd who loved them.  No team cheers.  No team competition.  Just a day to spend with someone whose relationship was based on love rather than on goals or objectives.  It was a day to come apart from other relationships and identifications and enjoy the one that mattered the most.

The LORD saved me in the early eighties.  It was different back then.  Our worship services were always Spirit filled.  No one watched the clock.  Our services lasted two hours.  Something that would be considered anathema today.  I remember distinctly how much music there was.  We sang and sang.  At least six congregational hymns, if not more.  Every aspect of the service had special music in between.  The service opened with the choir.  What a way to open a service.  Then there was a congregational.  Then the opening prayer.  Then another congregational.  Then a special.  Then the announcements.  Another hymn.  The offering with a special.  The choir.  A hymn and greeting.  Another special.  A hymn.  A special.  Then the preaching.  The preaching lasted an hour.  It was equal or greater in length than all the music.  We were not in a rush to go home.  We had no more important place to be.  We were there because we were not in the world.  It was not just praising God for who and what He is.  It was more than that.  It was who we were as a people.  We need to get back to this!  We need to see the Sabbath as our declaration to the world, to ourselves, and to God that we belong to Him!

Apocalyptic Appetite

“Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.” (Eze 16:28 AV)

Our appetite is our undoing.  We live in a generation that can never be content in limited pleasure of sin.  There always has to be more.  Addiction is at an all-time high.  It doesn’t matter if it is illegal or legal.  The fact that we cannot shut off the desire for more and more pleasure leads us down a path that will not end well.  Most addictions are not seen as a bad thing.  At least by most.  There is not a week that goes by in which I do not see people walking in front of my church looking at their mobile phones trying to find and imaginary object.  They do not have a clue as to what is happening around them at any one time.  Their faces are glued to a screen.  It was reported recently that a young man died from complications of playing video games, non-stop, without sleep, liquids, or nourishment.  The part of us which we inherited from Adam is a man of sin that must be conquered by the blood of Christ and discipline in the word of God.  Or, the outcome is complete and total destruction.

The animal kingdom behaves the same way.  Many species are geared toward a very limited diet.  Whether is the ash beetle or the termite, they are programmed to consume a single staple.  When that staple is gone, the colony ceases to exist.  The animal kingdom does not have enough sense to keep moving so it can survive.  It consumes until it is gone.  Mankind, in our carnal state, does the same.  We consume.  This causes us to cross imaginary lines of morality and propriety.  Look at what is happening in our world today.  Lines are blurred or disappearing altogether.  Prior to 1963, it was illegal to kill a child in the womb.  Now, it is legal to kill a child outside of the womb.  It used to be same-gender relationships were something hid in a closet.  Then homosexuality was tolerated.  It went from there to celebrated.  Not, immorality has gone far beyond tolerance to exploring every and all deviant behavior.  Look at the violence that is rocking the world.  It used to be peaceful protests.  Now, there is violence for towards opposing views.  This is all happening for the simple reason that mankind cannot tell themselves ‘no’.

But this truth has an application to God’s people as well.  This is to whom this passage was written.  It was written to Israel and Judah.  They were enticed by the temptations of their neighbors.  They could not say ‘no’ to idol worship and sodomy.  They could not say ‘no’ to profits on the Sabbath.  They could not say ‘no’ to intermarrying with the pagan nations.  They simply lost all ability to say ‘no’.  This is why the LORD had to deal with them so harshly.  I fear the same will happen to the church.  When things like sports, leisure, electronic entertainment, and social media become more important that spiritual things, we are in trouble.  When attendance to the house of God is steadily dropping off because we are not entertained by the preaching, we are in deep water.  The old man has to die.  Otherwise, we become captives to that which has enticed us all along.

Christ Is Coming? Meh

“Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off. Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.” (Eze 12:27-28 AV)

For almost two millennia, the church has believed it was always in the last days.  In fact, reading the statements of our Savior and of Paul, it would appear as though from the time of Jesus’ ascension, the church was potentially in the last days.  This has led to an apathetic attitude towards the LORD’s appearing which is becoming somewhat of a concern.  Our newest generation is accusing the older generation of being alarmists to the point of trepidation leading to the lack of effort on our part to build the work of God.  They do have a point.  It is one thing to expect the second coming at any moment.  Quite another to allow that expectation to freeze us in a state of anticipation to the point we no longer strive for the kingdom of God.  Be that as it may, someone has to be the generation which experiences the rapture.  The passage above describes this paradox pretty well.  For such a long time, the prophets have been warning Israel and Judah that God will withdraw His hand of grace, allowing the hand of chastisement to fall in the form of captivity to their enemies.  One generation after another has come and gone without this event transpiring.  No doubt, as each generation passed without the chastening of God, the more they became complacent in their wickedness.  But here’s the thing.  God’s hand did eventually come.  And, it came on the generation that least expected it.

How many have gone on a road trip and passed speed trap after speed trap only to see someone else get pulled over.  We play the game of slowing to the legal limit, hoping the radar was not focused on us when we surpassed that legal limit.  There is one stretch of Ohio that is famously known as a speed trap heaven.  No matter how many times I have traveled that stretch of road, I have never seen it free from speed traps.  It amazes me when I see a driver pulled over.  What made them think they were immune to the law?  Have you ever gone on a stretch of road like that and someone passes you going twenty miles over the limit and in the back of your mind, you hope he gets pulled over?  Then, a few miles up the road, there are the blinking lights with the driver on the shoulder of the road with a trooper at his window.  What went through the mind of that driver?  “So many other drivers when through here and I don’t see them pulled over.”  “I have done this dozens of times and never been given a ticket.”  “There are not going to waste their time with me when the guy behind me is pushing me to get out of his way so that he can go even faster.”

There has to be the generation that is raptured.  There has to be the generation that goes through the tribulation.  There has to be that last generation of the age of grace.  There has to be the generation to who all the warnings come to a head.  Israel and Judah were caught in the idea that it will always be the next generation.  Not this one.  Prophecy used to be a common subject matter a generation ago.  Not so much anymore.  Why?  Because, like Judah, we just don’t think it will be us.  It will be some future generation.  It can’t be us.  We have been saying Christ is returning for so long, we have gotten used to the idea He won’t come back in our lifetime.  Perhaps.  But perhaps not!  It has to be someone.  Best to be prepared.

At Our Age? Really?

“Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.” (Eze 8:12 AV)

That which caught my attention this morning is the generation that is at fault here.  It isn’t the younger generation that is hiding the basement of the temple worshipping all sorts of false gods.  It isn’t the young ladies who are out in the courtyard weeping for a pagan god.  It isn’t the up and coming generation that is following after wickedness.  It is the ancient.  The oldest of society.  The more mature and experienced.  Those who have claimed to have walked with God all their lives are not what they seem to be.  Those who have suffered through the hard lessons of disobedience are the ones who have not repented and changed.  It just goes to show that age and maturity doesn’t always result in spiritual growth.  Just because someone has celebrated many birthdays does not necessarily mean they are right with God.  This is a sobering thought.

Although we could make application when considering the origins of the modern contemporary movement, we will forego the obvious observation of a past generation returning to their pop culture roots, bringing it into the church.  Which has now resulted in a new generation using God’s house as a den of worldly entertainment.  Rather, we will contemplate the danger of maturity.  That danger is getting to a point where we cease to spiritual mature.  Something happens when we age.  We get to a point where we think there isn’t much left to learn.  Or, we get tired of the battle and just give up.  We struggle through study and discipline, only to go to the LORD, asking forgiveness for the same over and again.  Rather than continue the challenge, we succumb to temptation thinking things will never improve.  Why battle something that cannot be defeated until the time of our death?  What is worse, like the ancients mentioned above, we hide while indulging, thinking God will not see.  We see the space for repentance given as an indication that God isn’t going to do anything about our disobedience.  We misread the calm before the storm as though the storm is never going to come.

I guess as one who is approaching the ancient of age, I am embarrassed at the revelation this behavior is possible.  I would expect it out of a less disciplined generation.  But not of myself or others of my generation.  We know better.  We have seen much.  We have experienced the highs and lows of walking with God.  Surely, we are not susceptible to such lapses of discipline.  According to the passage above, we are apparently not immune to the fall of the flesh.  This should be embarrassing.  This should be a shame.  Even if we are not there yet, the possibility of being there should shame us into not going there to begin with.  May God have mercy on us and may the ministry of the Holy Spirit prohibit us from finding ourselves in the basement of life, practicing wickedness, thinking neither God nor man sees us.