Aug 17
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Ezekiel 11:1-13: People Stew

The demon in power is pride. — Richard Foster (The Challenge of the Disciplined Life) In chapter 10, Ezekiel saw how Jerusalem would be destroyed. He witnessed the future. Now we see the present described. Between the time when a number of Israelites were killed or deported (Ezekiel being one of them), and the time when [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Aug 11
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Ezekiel 10:9-22: Outta Here

Ezechiel, in Chapter 1 and 10, gives a remarkably accurate description of a flying saucer which visited him as an agent of God. — R. L. Dione (God Drives a Flying Saucer). I was browsing through a second hand bookstore in college when I saw a slim mass-market paperback entitled God Drives a Flying Saucer [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Aug 09
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Ezekiel 10:1-8: Golden Cherubim

He will have purity. It is not that the fire will burn us if we do not worship thus; but that the fire will burn us until we worship thus. — George MacDonald (Unspoken Sermons) When Ezekiel first saw a vision of God back in chapter one, he was at a loss for words. The vision [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Aug 04
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Ezekiel 9:8-11: Impotent Intercession

The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer but unoffered prayer. — F. B. Meyer Ezekiel was shell-shocked.  He had already suffered the violence of deportation.  He had already heard God describe the form his judgment would take: now he sees it. The God whom he dedicated his life to serving was now slaughtering [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Aug 03
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Ezekiel 9:1-7: Judgment Begins

Love is not blind; that is the last thing it is. Love is bound; and the more it is bound the less it is blind. — G. K. Chesterton (Orthodoxy) The time for talking is over.  God’s love constrains him to act. Ezekiel witnessed atrocities that made his priestly blood curdle: There was a statue [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jul 28
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Ezekiel 8:16-18: Solar Cult

Thou burning sun with golden beam, Thou silver moon with softer gleam! O praise Him! O praise Him! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! — St. Francis of Assisi (All Creatures of Our God and King) Repentance is a key concept throughout scripture.  Biblical repentance can be understood as a two-part movement.  You need to turn away from [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jul 26
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Ezekiel 8:14-15: Fisher-King

[Christ's] righteousness is greater than the sins of all men, his life stronger than death, his salvation more invincible than hell. — Martin Luther (The Freedom of a Christian) Tammuz is only mentioned here in the Old Testament.  All Ezekiel tells us is that women were sitting around weeping for him. In order to find [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jul 22
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Ezekiel 8:7-13: Loathsome Animals

It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things. — Henry David Thoreau (Walden) Jerusalem’s civic leaders were doing desperate things. They had usurped the authority of the priesthood and set up stalls of worship to a multitude of false gods.  The city officials knew that they were in danger.  Citizens had already [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jul 18
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Ezekiel 8:5-6: Look, Mortal

God the Creator is ontologically not part of the world, nor is the world part of God. — Diogenes Allen (Philosophy for Understanding Theology) The betrayed Lover has taken action.  He has dragged his prophet to Jerusalem and will now show Ezekiel just how far the betrayal has gone.  In four scenes, God will reveal [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jul 13
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Ezekiel 8:1-4: Outrageous Jealousy

Your cheatin’ heart will make you weep, You’ll cry and cry and try to sleep. But sleep won’t come the whole night through, Your cheatin’ heart will tell on you. — Hank Williams (“Your Cheatin’ Heart” © 1952 by Fred Rose Music, Inc.) Imagine a couple that have been married for 30 years. The husband [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley