Ezekiel Ch 9 & 10
Sermon at CCP on 2025-10-19
by Pastor Barry Forder

Transcribed with model “Medium”

Alright, turn with me, if you will, to the book of Ezekiel.

 And we're going to pick up in chapter 9, this is where we got to as far as the end of chapter 8 last week.

 If you remember last week, what we saw was the historical context of what Israel were going through, the way that Ezekiel was speaking into their situation and telling them of their need to repent, because God was going to bring judgment.

 And the parallels with what we read in the book of Revelation, particularly of what's coming on this earth, were striking.

 So many of the things that Ezekiel was acting out and proclaiming are the same things that John says in the book of Revelation, particularly chapter 6 onwards, are the things that we're going to see in this world.

 And yet even before we get to the time of Revelation chapter 6, that's into the beginning of the tribulation, there are things here that are applicable to the church.

 The way that God is going to bring judgment on the church before the rapture.

 And just to give you the biblical context of that, Peter says that the time or the season of judgment will begin at the house of God.

 And in Matthew 13, we're told very clearly that there are tears sown amongst the wheat, the wheat representing the true church, the tears representing those within the church that are in all appearance the same, and yet underneath there is deceit, there is deception, there's lies.

 And of course, the disciples, when Jesus gives them this parable in Matthew 13, they say, well, should we just go uproot the tears? And Jesus says, no, because if you do that, you might damage the wheat as well.

 And that's why we even to this day amongst the Christian church, in every facet we find deception.

 We find those that would speak things as if they were true, and yet clearly when we go back to scripture, we realize that it's not rooted in God's word.

 That's why we have to be so careful with opinions, with ideas, and particularly in the world we live now where we can access so many things online.

 We need to always go back and check those things against scripture.

 

And in Matthew 13, what we find is as we get to the time of judgment, the tears are gathered into bundles.

 What does that mean? It means they're grouped together.

 What do we see in the world? What we see, apostates grouping together, forming agreements, alliances, and so on.

 And then once the tears are gathered together, we have this wonderful declaration that the wheat are going to be gathered into his barn.

 Picture of the rapture, the rapture of the church.

 But we are living in those days when God is bringing this judgment now upon the church, and we're going to see it in all sorts of ways.

 I think we're seeing it with what's going on with the Anglican church in this country, the Church of England.

 I mean, I can't imagine what some of those great saints of old would think.

 Some of the people that were at the time that Henry VIII, and of course Henry VIII had no desire for a biblically centered church.

 He was just looking for convenience for himself.

 But there were wonderful people around, Thomas Cromwell and others at that time who saw this as an incredible opportunity to have a church in this country that was centered on the word of God.

 And there were some wonderful, wonderful people.

 And of course that challenge lasted for many years, and we have this to and fro between monarchs who were very supportive of the Catholic church, even after Henry VIII, and others then who were very supportive and wanted to promote a church of England.

 And yet now when you go through those 39 articles of the Church of England, and pretty much this current Church of England has just walked away.

 No regard for those things, no regard for the word of God.

 Everything is about popularity, convenience, being something that's acceptable to people.

 Well, Christianity's never been acceptable.

 Jesus made that declaration that he came to bring a sword in terms of dividing even families because of the truth.

 That's what the truth does.

 The truth will bring division.

 

And so we're seeing Ezekiel talk about the things in his day that are so parallel to what we're seeing.

 Now, just to give you a quick reminder of what we saw last time in chapter seven, Israel's inescapable doom was declared, and we saw those four short oracles from verse 1 to 13.

 Then the way that God was going to bring about this destruction, Ezekiel says, is already happening.

 In chapter eight, he saw the idolatry that was taking place in Jerusalem.

 He has his vision, and in his vision he's transported back from Babylon to Jerusalem, and he sees these incredible things that must have taken him as a godly, god-fearing priest.

 Effectively, he was of the tribe of Levi.

 He was in that position, looking at these other priests doing these things.

 It must have been shocking for him.

 And that kind of constant refrain, God says, you think that's bad? I'm going to show you something even worse.

 And then he goes on to the next thing.

 And it's a little bit like in this country, we see one thing and we think it's bad, and then all of a sudden on the news we hear something else, he's like, really? As we go into chapter nine, Ezekiel is going to speak of the slaughter of Jerusalem that was coming.

 But at the same time, there's a hope because he speaks of the fact that the righteous are going to be preserved, protected.

 And this is God's mode of operation throughout scripture.

 Always when God brings judgment, he protects his own.

 I mean, right from the time of Noah, God protects his own.

 Noah, his family, were safely in the ark before the judgment came.

 

Even with Lot and Solomon Gamorra, Lot and his family, of course his wife, look back and look at the world.

 She loved the things of this world more.

 But God brought Lot and his daughters out of Solomon Gamorra before he brought the judgment.

 In fact, the declaration is that God couldn't bring the judgment until he was out, because God, as Abraham had concluded, God is a righteous, just God.

 He can't judge the wicked and the just, not together.

 But the righteous had to be removed.

 And we see it all the way through.

 Even with the removing of Israel from the land to Egypt, from the land of Israel, they were taken to Egypt, and God would allow the iniquity of the Ammonites and those in the land to come to fullness.

 But he moves his people out, and then of course the people come back and under Joshua, they conquer the land.

 They bring that justice and judgment that God foretold.

 And in here we're seeing that God will remove the righteous before the judgment will come on Jerusalem.

 All the way through the Bible, we see the same things.

 

And of course, it's a wonderful picture of the rapture of the church, that the righteous, the saints will be taken out of the way before God's wrath is poured out.

 And once again, for clarity, Jesus did speak about tribulation for believers.

 But understand, that's the kind of struggle, the persecution that we experience.

 The really important thing to differentiate is the source.

 The Bible, Jesus, the New Testament tells us that those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, will suffer tribulation, if you like.

 Because we believe in Jesus.

 The world doesn't like it.

 And the source of that is coming from the world, the flesh, the devil.

 But when we come to the time of tribulation, it's distinct, it's different.

 The source of that judgment is from God.

 So the tribulation that we experience as Christians, the source of that is from the world, effectively, from the devil.

 And sometimes from our own selves.

 But the tribulation that is coming upon the earth, that specific season, the source of that is from God.

 They're two very distinct and different things.

 And in chapter 10, we're going to see these coals of fire, as it were, idiomatically kind of cast over Jerusalem.

 We're going to find that it's going to be burnt, which literally it was.

 And then also that the glory of God will depart from the temple.

 And then maybe we'll get on to chapter 11 as well.

 Let's see how far we go.

 Let's jump into chapter 9.

 Let me just read the introduction to this.

 God's punishment of Jerusalem was illustrated by a vision in which God sent his executioners to carry out his work of judgment on the sinful people, speaking, of course, of the Babylonians.

 First, however, he sent a special servant to put a mark on those who oppose the city's wickedness, that they might be preserved through the coming bloodshed.

 We'll talk about this in a moment.

 This is fascinating, again, in terms of what we read in Revelation.

 The first place where the judgment fell was the temple, where the nation's leaders had led the people astray with their wickedness and idolatry.

 The temple was soon defiled with the corpses scattered around its courts.

 Notice again, what I said a moment ago, what scripture tells us, what Peter tells us, the judgment will begin at the house of God.

 Where did judgment begin? Ezekiel? The temple.

 See, God is always consistent.

 The parallels are just breathtaking.

 The Northern Kingdom had been destroyed way, way back.

 They'd been taken captive by the Assyrian army, and now many from the Southern Kingdom were also killed or taken captive, and Ezekiel feared that with the slaughter in Jerusalem, the last remains of the ancient nation would be wiped out.

 An understandable concern on his part.

 So God assures him that this judgment was just, and that the people acted as if God did not matter, but now they were going to suffer the consequences.

 The safety, as we said a moment ago, is guaranteed for those believers who stood firm for God amid this nationwide ungodliness.

 So we jump into verse one.

 He cried also in mine ears with an odd voice saying, cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.

 Now it's interesting because behold, six men came from the way of the High Gate.

 I mean, he's calling out for everyone, anyone, and just six come.

 Interestingly, six represent the number of man, so there's a significant number there, but just six that come.

 

It says, behold, six men came from the way of the High Gate, which lies toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand.

 And one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's ink on by his side.

 And they went in and stood beside the brazen author.

 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house.

 And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's ink on by his side.

 And the Lord said unto him, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

 So this is incredibly similar to what we read in Revelation chapter seven.

 Revelation chapter seven, during the first part of the tribulation, God is going to have 144,000 Jews that have a particular mark placed upon them, to single them out in the same way to call them out.

 These are the righteous ones who are going to be protected during that time.

 They are not the Jehovah's Witnesses.

 How Jehovah's Witnesses can read this in Revelation chapter seven and so on, and come to the conclusion they do is mind-blowing.

 Clearly they are Jews, 12,000 from each tribe of Israel.

 They have a song that no one else can sing but themselves.

 If a Jehovah's Witness ever comes to your door, and if they do claim to be a part of 144,000, I think most of them are now already in that category.

 I don't know if there's any more that can be added.

 Ask them what the song is.

 Ask them if they can sing it for you.

 They won't be able to sing it, of course, but the 144,000 that are spoken of, the real ones, they do know this song.

 Only they can sing it.

 It's a song of praise worship to God, seemingly.

 

And in Revelation, from what we understand, and most scholars tend to agree, that those 144,000 Jews will be sent out around the world to witness, to bear testimony to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

 It's going to be a period of incredible evangelism on earth after the church is gone so that whosoever, those who have ears to hear may repent and put their faith and trust in Jesus before that door closes.

 But here, back in Ezekiel, these six people, this man with this ink horn, and with this kind of pen, as it were, quill, whatever, to go and mark these Jews, go through the city, and anybody that has not been given over to the last, the idolatry, the abominations, and everything else, again, the category it says, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry because of the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

 And to the others, he said in my hearing, go ye after him through the city and smite, let not your eyes spare, neither have ye pity.

 Slay, utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women, but come not near any man upon whom is the mark, and begin at my sanctuary.

 Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house, and he said unto them, defile the house and fill the courts with the slain.

 Go ye forth, and they went forth and slew in the city.

 It's interesting that people get so attached to their religion, and Jesus, or God here, is showing that that religion is worthless if it's outside the context of the relationship that God wants.

 It means nothing on its own.

 He says, defile the house.

 No doubt the Jews as they were hearing this, as Ezekiel is proclaiming this, were aghast.

 It came to pass while they were, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face and cried and said, oh Lord God, will that destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem.

 So Ezekiel, like us probably, as he's saying this, he's also thinking about what's being said as he's declaring it.

 It's touching his heart.

 He's going, but hang on Lord, are you going to destroy all of them? If I may just go back to that previous verse, verse six, because that should make us a little uncomfortable.

 Slight usly, old and young, both maids and little children and women.

 This is where some people say, hang on, how can your God be a God of love if we read these kind of things? God allow this, but again, remember what we saw last time, the abominations, the terrible things that were taking place.

 We talked last time about the violence that there is in the world today, the number of murders that are committed on a daily basis, the number of young babies in their mother's wounds whose lives are ended purely for convenience sake.

 And you start to get a picture as we looked last week and maybe just go back review last week's teaching again and just consider how bad the situation really was.

 There was an interview recently that I saw a broadcaster news journalist, I'm not really sure these titles fit them because they're not really fitting the descriptions of what a journalist should do.

 They should be relatively impartial, but clearly most of the moment are not.

 And she was interviewing an individual, I believe it was a Jew who she was interviewing and asking the questions about, is it right that the IDF have killed children? And she cited a particular incident and the person that was being interviewed came back and said, but this young child was armed and was about to fire on Israeli troops.

 And I'm sure you've seen, if you've not seen, the children in Gaza have been brought up to believe that Israel is the enemy.

 I saw a shocking thing this week where young children, younger than Sharia's age, were saying, I want to die as a martyr.

 I want to kill Jews.

 And they were saying they believe that to be a good thing to do.

 And some of them are even given weapons to do these acts.

 But this isn't new stuff that you probably have heard this stuff before you've maybe seen these things.

 And maybe things like that help you to understand when we see declarations like this, God's saying slay us silly old and young, both maids and little children.

 God is not a barbaric, cruel God.

 But there comes a point where lines are crossed and God will bring judgment.

 You know, and this individual, this news reporter saying, yes, but this person was a child, should they have been shot by the IDF? And the response kept coming back.

 It's irrelevant what age they were.

 They were armed with a gun, assault rifle, and they were about to open fire on Israeli troops.

 Yes, but it was a child.

 Yeah.

 You see the power of the Israeli army, the power of the Israeli army.

 It was a child.

 Yeah.

 You see the problem.

 It becomes very emotive and people get very invested in the anti-Israel propaganda.

 But again, just the context of this, understand, that's just things that we know that are going on now.

 God is not unloving.

 God is not unjust.

 Throughout scripture, we're constantly told that God is a good God, a just God, a righteous God.

 In fact, one of my favorite verses, and I repeat it so frequently, you should all know it off by heart, Psalm 119 verse 68, which says, God is good and does good.

 That's it.

 That should be your foundation, your building block on everything else you believe, because God is good.

 God cannot do things that are not good.

 If somebody broke into my house and was about to attack my children, would I be a good father if I ignored it and sat back? No, it wouldn't be good to ignore that.

 If I went to defend them, I would be acting in love.

 So you understand the context of these things.

 

Let's just read these two verses again, 8 and 9.

 And it came to pass that while they were slaying them when I was left, that I fell on my face and cried and said, Oh Lord God, will thou destroy all the residue of Israel in the pouring out of the fury upon Jerusalem? Then he said to me, that the iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great and the land is full of blood.

 Okay, so God is trying to explain to Ezekiel here why this is happening.

 And the city is full of perverseness.

 It's full of things that are abhorrent.

 There's murder.

 There's all sorts of things taking place.

 For they say, the Lord has forsaken the earth, the Lord sees not.

 And that's what so many in this world, that's their view, their opinion.

 God, there is no God.

 God doesn't see us.

 We can do what we want.

 Verse 10.

 And as for me also, mine eyes shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head.

 That is the really key thing to notice.

 God is bringing them a proportionate response for their actions.

 And behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the ink on by his side, reported the matter saying, I have done as thou has commanded.

 Chapter 10, give an introduction to this.

 In the series of visions, the fiery chariot throne of God was in the court of the temple.

 And the glory of God, that's the symbolic form of God over the throne, had risen from the throne and had come to rest on the threshold of the temple.

 From there, God had directed his agents in the execution of the citizens of Jerusalem.

 And from the same position on the temple threshold, God now gave further commands to the man who had previously sealed the faithful for preservation.

 And God told him to go and take some coals from the vacant chariot throne and scatter them over the city of Jerusalem.

 And that was to symbolize the coming fiery destruction that the Babylonians would soon bring on Jerusalem that God himself had declared.

 And the man then went to the chariot throne to carry out God's commands.

 And as Ezekiel describes how one of the cherubim helped the man collect the coals, he adds a note to explain that the cherubim had hands.

 And this is how he helps him to pick up these coals.

 Ezekiel must have been so interested in the details of the chariot throne that he repeated much of the description that we see in the opening chapter.

 So we'll see this again.

 He apparently wanted to impress upon the readers that this chariot throne that he's seeing, he saw at the temple, was the same that he's seen in the vision.

 I remember that vision initially, God reveals to Ezekiel so that Ezekiel is in a sense overwhelmed by the majesty, the glory of God.

 It's the same here.

 He then saw God return to his chariot throne and begin to leave the temple.

 This is significant.

 But as if unwilling to leave, he moved only as far as the temple gate and then stopped.

 An additional note explains that the living creatures that Ezekiel described earlier were cherubim.

 These incredible heavenly beings, cherubim with these winged creatures who guarded the ark, if you remember, way back in Exodus.

 That image that was created with these cherubim sitting above the mercy seat, above the lid, the top of the ark of the covenant.

 In other words, God, the God whom Ezekiel saw enthroned above the cherubim was the same God who was enthroned above the mercy seat.

 And this God, this covenant-keeping God of Israel, Yahweh, was the one who was now about to leave his temple and allow the slaughter of his people and destroy the city.

 Again, direct response in proportion to their iniquity.

 So chapter 10, verse 1, then I looked and behold in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

 This is the same throne that we've seen already described previously.

 And he spoke unto the man clothed with linen and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thy hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city.

 And he went in in my sight.

 So again, this whole is kind of acting out this dramatic way that God is showing his people what's going to come upon them.

 Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house.

 And when the man went in and the cloud filled the iniquities, then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherubim stood over the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud.

 And the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory.

 Okay, this is what we call the Shekinah glory of God.

 We see this throughout the scripture.

 We'll talk about it a little bit more in a moment.

 And the sound of the cherubim's wings was heard even to the outer court.

 Again, Ezekiel already mentioned this, the noise they made was just incredible.

 As the voice of Almighty God when he speaks.

 And it came to pass that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen saying, take fire from between the wheels and from between the cherubs, then he went in and stood beside the wheels.

 And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims into the fire that was between the cherubims and took thereof and put it into the hands of him who was clothed with linen, who took it and went out.

 So this angelic being, the cherubim, is taking some of the coal and placing it in the hand of this man, this Ezekiel seeing in the vision.

 And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand under their wings.

 And when I looked, behold, the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by the cherub and another wheel by another cherub.

 And the appearance of the wheels was as the color of a barrel of stones.

 Again, just reiterating the image that we've already seen and we described back in chapter two and three.

 And as for their like, their appearance, they had, they four had the likeness, one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.

 When they went, they went up on the four sides and they turned not as they went, but to the place where the head looked, they followed it and turned not as they went.

 And as I said, you know, it's a little bit like a castle if you're playing chess.

 You can only kind of go upwards or left and right, but it can't go diagonally.

 And that's seemingly the way these heavenly creatures are moving.

 Verse 12, and their whole body and their backs and their hands and their wings and the wheels were full of eyes around about even the wheels that they had, sorry, that they four had as the wheels, as for the wheels, it was carried unto them in my hearing a wheel.

 And everyone had four faces.

 Now we're going to be told the same thing.

 We've saw this previously.

 The first face was the face of a cherub.

 The second face was the face of a man.

 The third face, the face of a lion and the fourth, the face of an eagle.

 As we said back in chapter two and three, each of these faces speaking of the character, the person of Jesus, and these ideas, these images occur throughout scripture in different ways with the camp of Israel, with the details of the four gospels and so on.

 And we see it in Revelation also.

 And again, each of these faces, the first face being the face of a cherub, we're told, something angelic being, second face, the face of a man.

 Speaking of the humanity of Christ, the face of a lion, the fact that Christ is a king to rule over all and the fourth, the face of an eagle.

 The face of a cherub is here described as the face of a cherub, but it's the one in the previous explanation, the face of an ox or a beast of burden.

 Of course, Christ came to serve.

 And again, it just maps out the four gospels.

 Matthew presents Jesus as the king.

 Mark presents Jesus as the servant.

 Luke presents Jesus as the son of man, because Luke was a doctor and he speaks of his humanity.

 And then John presents Jesus as the son of God.

 Verse 15, now the cherubim were lifted up.

 This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Jebus.

 So Ezekiel was just saying that this is the same image, the same creature, the same incredible vision that I saw.

 And when the cherubim went, the wheels went by them.

 And when the cherubim lifted up their wings to the mount, up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.

 When they stood, these stood, when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves.

 Also for the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

 Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubim.

 This is significant.

 And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight.

 When they went, the wheels also were beside them and everyone stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house.

 And the glory of the Lord of Israel was over them above.

 What we're seeing here is the glory of God.

 That he said, in fact, when Solomon dedicated the temple, if you remember, at the dedication, the temple was filled of God's glory and God's presence.

 So much so that the priests had to stop ministering.

 This cloud was just overwhelming and they literally had to kind of vacate and stop doing what they were doing.

 God's presence was just so tangible.

 But now, because of their iniquity, God's presence was leaving them.

 There's an interesting kind of parallel in a sense with Saul.

 Saul, of course, received that indwelling, that presence of God upon him, that anointing for ministry.

 Remember, Saul prophesied as Samuel praised for him.

 But very shortly afterwards, Saul, a number of different issues, but the most significant one was they were waiting.

 He was waiting for Samuel to arrive to offer a sacrifice before they were about to go and attack the Philistines.

 Samuel was a little late getting there and Saul was just concerned about the fact that some of the troops were getting edgy and starting to leave the battlefield.

 And so he decides he's
 going to step in.

 He was a benjamite and he decides to step into the Levitical priestly office and offer the sacrifice himself, negating this blood sacrifice.

 And as a result of that, Samuel, when he arrives, is just distraught but also angry with Saul.

 Samuel declares that the kingdom is going to be taken away and that anointing departs from him and instead a spirit, a troubling spirit is sent to him.

 And we maybe miss the import of that.

 And so we get to Psalm 51 and of course David, who then followed on from Saul, 

he also had that anointing from God.

 Remember, Samuel goes when he's there with his brothers and his brothers are all brought in a line.

 Jesse, their father, brings them there and Samuel comes and he goes for every one of them and they look at the tallest, the oldest, and he thinks, surely this is the one.

 Of course, that wasn't the one.

 And eventually Samuel says to Jesse, David's father, is this all your sons? And he says, well, there is the youngest one, but he's out in the field with the sheep.

 And so they send for David, David comes and of course Saul says, this is the one.

 Sorry, Samuel says, this is the one.

 And there's that great declaration where God declares to Samuel that the Lord sees not as man sees because man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.

 And so David is the one who is then chosen.

 He becomes the king.

 But after David's transgression with Bathsheba, and of course he has Uriah, the Hittite killed and so on, David's in that state of repentance, repentance, right to Psalm 51.

 And there's a wonderful line in Psalm 51 where David, even though he sinned against, you know, obviously Uriah, he sinned against Bathsheba, Hittite, all these other individuals, the family members and everything else, and his own nation really, David begins, he says, against you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight.

 That the biggest crime of all was that he'd not been obedient and faithful to God.

 And David there cries for God not to take the Holy Spirit from him.

 He pleads and says, take not thy Holy Spirit from me, knowing full well what had happened to Saul.

 Saul had had this incredible privilege of God's Spirit working in and through him and then he blew it.

 And God's Spirit had been taken away.

 And David was so worried that he may be in the same position that Saul was.

 And praise.

 And maybe it's hard for us to appreciate just how life would be without the Holy Spirit.

 Because each of us have become beneficiaries of this incredible gift that we read about that John, in John's gospel, Jesus declared that he was going back to heaven.

 If he was to go, he was going to send us another comforter.

 And the word in Greek that's used there, 

it means another of the same kind.

 There's various different Greek words that could be used.

 But it's like, if I was writing with a pencil and I slapped the pencil and I said, oh, can you give me another? I could mean, can you just give me another writing implement? You might give me a pen.

 But if I was specific and I said the particular Greek word that's used in John of the Holy Spirit coming, it would be another of the same kind.

 I want another pencil is what I mean, not another writing implement.

 You see? And Jesus says that if he was to go, he would give us another of the same kind, one like him.

 And so the Holy Spirit has been given to the church.

 Jesus says, he will be in you and will dwell with you forever.

 I mean, that's an incredible honor and privilege that the church has.

 And I honestly don't think we appreciate just how much our lives are totally transformed because of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

 There are times, there are moments when we are in a situation and the Holy Spirit will check us, will stop us.

 Maybe we're about to say something and we'll suddenly go, no, that's not the right thing to say.

 I shouldn't say that.

 That's the Holy Spirit.

 There may be times that we're about to do something or go somewhere and we'll feel the Holy Spirit say, no, don't do that.

 There may be times that the Holy Spirit will prompt us to say something.

 And sometimes we're a bit hesitant.

 And yet we feel the Holy Spirit really urging us to do it.

 And we say something and yeah, the Lord was working in that moment, that situation.

 How many times have you been in a situation where suddenly you've just been reminded of somebody for no apparent reason and you think, I need to pray for that person.

 And then later you find out that something was going on with that individual at that moment.

 Well, the Holy Spirit does all of these things in us and with us and through us.

 The Holy Spirit is at work in the church today.

 He's been given to the church.

 And I honestly don't think we appreciate just how incredible his presence is.

 I remember hearing a teaching many years ago about Joshua and the way that he led the children of Israel across the river Jordan into the promised land.

 And there was the, because as had been through the wilderness wanderings, the pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, the children of Israel, their journey.

 That was the glory of God, leading them, directing them.

 The teaching was just talking about the fact that for the church, we don't have a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night because that power, that presence of God now indwells the believer.

 It's now within us.

 It's the Holy Spirit who is working in us to sanctify us, to set us apart, to get us ready for the rapture.

 Ephesians talks about the fact that the church at the time of Jesus coming for us will be without spot, without blemish.

 We can't do that in our own strength.

 It's through the working and the agency of the Holy Spirit in our lives that God is doing this incredible work right now.

 Even understanding scripture, we need the Holy Spirit to help us understand things.

 We need spiritual insight because as Paul tells us, the natural mind doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God, nor can he know their foolishness to him.

 The Holy Spirit will teach us of the things of God.

 So I don't think we appreciate just how incredible the Holy Spirit is until you see things, situations like this.

 Now look, we are in the incredible privileged position that the Holy Spirit will not be taken from us.

Part of me rejoices in that fact.

 Part of me feels incredibly uncomfortable.

 When I look back and I see the situation here with Israel, we think of people like Saul and we think, but how many times have we grieved the Holy Spirit in our lives? How concerned are we about those things? How concerned are we about the things we allow into our minds and our hearts? And do we ever stop to consider that those things can grieve the Holy Spirit of God? And yet the Holy Spirit will not leave us because Jesus has promised that he will remain with us.

 There are seven, there may be more, but there's at least seven occasions in scripture where we see this glory of God departing.

 The first occasion is right back at the beginning.

 Adam and Eve, when they were created, were created perfect.

 So they walked with God.

 The fellowship that God ultimately desired for mankind.

 And God will get there because in Revelation, when we get to the end, guess what? That walk will be resumed.

 Man will walk with God.

 He will be our God, we'll be his people.

 We'll all be restored.

 We've just gone through an incredible period.

 It'll be ultimately 7,000 years by the time we get there.

 And God will accomplish what he set out for man and God to have this wonderful walk and unity.

 But in the Garden of Eden, there was this wonderful fellowship.

 And we're told that Adam and Eve were naked and they weren't ashamed.

Why? Because they were clothed with the glory of God.

 And then what happens as they eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and gnavel? Suddenly, God's glory departs.

 Suddenly they become aware that their clothing, that spiritual clothing had gone.

 Because we're told suddenly they became aware that they were naked.

 So that means that they were aware beforehand they were clothed with something because suddenly they're aware that that clothing is gone.

 And so they go and try and make temporary coverings.

 That's what religion is.

 Trying to make some sort of covering for our sin.

That's the first time we find this in scripture.

We see a similar situation with Samson.

 In Judges 16-20, we read of the situation that Samson had been called of God.

 Now, he's not the best ideal character to do a case study on his scripture of a righteous individual, but God had still chosen to bless him and fill him with his Holy Spirit.

 He had this unusual power because of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

 And yet he'd been told very clearly that God wanted him to take this valve and azarite.

 And one of the conditions was he wouldn't cut his hair.

 Of course, the allure of the world comes in and Delilah winds him, wears him down and ends up having his hair cut.

 And the incredible thing is that Samson gets up as if before and suddenly he recognizes he realizes he's powerless without God.

 I just wish we would realize that without him we can do nothing.

 All that we do is through the power of the Holy Spirit.

 It's not through our own ability.

 You know, I'm constantly amazed and aware even when we worship, when we play.

 You want to hear sometimes when I'm practicing at home, it sounds like cats are being strangled.

 It's awful.

 And yet we come together and the Lord does something.

 And the Lord can knit us together.

 Even teaching God's word, I'm very aware that this is not my ability.

 This is God through his Holy Spirit just using me as a vessel.

 And God uses each of us in these ways.

 Never think it's because of your brilliance or your ability.

 God is simply looking for availability.

 God is simply looking for availability.

But Samson gets up, he realizes that the power is gone.

 But what happens after his hair grows back? Well, God does allow that glory to return.

 But certainly for the initial situation after his hair is cut that glory departs.

 There's another example with Ichabod.

 Sure you all know about Ichabod.

 Yes.

 First Samuel chapter 421.

 This is a situation.

 These were the sons of Eli.

And one of the sons of Eli, his wife was pregnant.

 And this all is around the time.

 The sons of Eli were wicked.

 People were bringing offerings and they were taking the meat and they were keeping it for themselves.

 And it was a horrible thing.

 There was all sorts of horrible perverse things going on at that time.

 And God speaks about it.

 And of course, when Samuel was young, Eli has this disturbance of the night as he hears Samuel calling out.

 And eventually Eli is wise enough to realize it was God that was speaking to Samuel.

 And when eventually Eli says, well, tell me what did God say? And Samuel, as this young boy, says that God is effectively going to bring judgment upon you because of the wickedness and upon Israel.

 And sometime later, this is exactly what happens.

 And the Ark of the Covenant is captured by the Philistines.

 And at this particular occasion, Eli was a larger rotunda gentleman, falls back off his chair and dies, breaks his neck.

 And his sons or his daughter-in-law gives birth at this time and they named the child Ichabod.

 And Ichabod, we're told in the text, means that the glory has departed.

 It is significant that what was in the Ark, well, there are a number of things that are in the Ark, but the Ten Commandments specifically were in there, which really were a great summary of the law.

 We may say the Word of God that had been spoken to them.

 When the Word of God is removed, the glory will depart.

 We're seeing that, we have seen that with the Church of England.

 The glory of God has departed.

 And look at the state.

 But this situation, 1 Samuel chapter 421, another one of these situations where God's glory departed because the Ark had been taken.

 There's the one that I've already explained to you, Saul, 1 Samuel chapter 13, 2 Samuel 7 verse 14, and so on, are some of the references if you want to look at the details afterwards.

 And then there's the one we're looking at here where the nation itself has largely rejected Yahweh.

 And as a result, God removes his glory from the nation.

 There's another one that I believe we could cite, and that's the crucifixion in Matthew 27.

 As this national rejection of Yeshua as their Messiah, the glory departs.

 The world itself turns to darkness.

 And there's another one coming, which is the harpazzo.

 Because just as God's presence left the temple, left the nation, so when the Church are removed, and bear in mind the Holy Spirit indwells believers, when we are removed at the time of the rapture, God's presence on earth in the way it is now will also be removed.

 That's why in 2 Thessalonians we're told very clearly of the mystery of iniquity that for now is being restrained.

 We think things are bad now, but think of how many millions of Christians around the world are praying.

 We're praying for our governments.

 We're praying for the state of the world that we're in.

 When suddenly the Church is removed, when the Holy Spirit is taken out, and of course the Church at the same time, this world is going to plummet.

 Again, that mystery of iniquity is at work.

 But when he that restrains, we're told in 2 Thessalonians, is removed, then it's just going to explode on earth.

 So those are the seven.

 Again, there may be others you can think of in Scripture, clear situations where God's presence, God's glory is removed.

 Let me just read this couple of Scriptures just to kind of conclude what we're saying here.

 And I will pray this is from John 14.

 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another, that's what I said earlier, another of the same kind, another comforter.

 That's what the Holy Spirit does.

 He comforts us that he may abide with you forever.

 Those are some of the most wonderful words in Scripture.

 Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it sees him not, neither knows him.

 But you know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you.

 Please note that the Holy Spirit is not, as the Jehovah's Witnesses and others say, some impersonal force.

 The Holy Spirit is part of the Godhead.

 He is the third person of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

 The Holy Spirit is to us now exactly as Jesus was to the disciples when Jesus walked with them in that time of ministry for three, three and a half years or so.

 And that's why we've been given the Holy Spirit, that we can carry on that work.

 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 21 and 22 says, Now he which establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who has sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, that sealed us, that's marked us as his own.

 We read earlier of those individuals that had been sealed to protect them.

 And here we're told that for every believer, we also have been sealed by God.

 How have we been sealed? Because of the Holy Spirit given to us in our hearts.

 It's to stamp, if you like, as the Greek word implies, with a signet or a private mark for security or preservation.

 And again, that and give it the earnest of the Spirit.

 That word is a pledge.

 So the Greek word means it is part of the purchase money or the property given in advance of security for the rest.

 That's what we've been told here, what Paul is saying to the Corinthian believers and also to us, that a pledge in a sense has been given that the rest of the deal will be done.

 And the fact that we have been given this assurance of our salvation and the evidence of it is that we've been given the Holy Spirit as the purchase money or the proof in a sense that the rest of the job will be completed.

 That we will spend eternity with Jesus.

 Our salvation is assured.

 It's a wonderful thing.

 A guarantee.

Let's just conclude this chapter, the last three verses.

Everyone's straightforward.

 We'll pick it up from there next time.

 Let's bow our hearts.

 Well, Father God, we just come before you and we just want to say thank you this morning for your Holy Spirit.

 Lord, I pray you forgive us if we have neglected the relationship that we should have with him.

 The way that each day should be a joy as we wake knowing that he is with us.

 That you have given him to us, to dwell with us, to teach us, to aid us in our worship, to help us in our prayer, to help us be transformed.

 Or so Lord, may we treasure the relationship we can have right now with your Holy Spirit.

 And Father, may we allow him to work in us and through us, to lead us, to direct our steps and our paths.

 That Lord, we may live lives of glory to you.

 We ask these things this morning in Jesus name.

 Amen.

 Okay, may God richly bless you.

 Let's spend some time fellowshiping over some teas and coffees.

 God bless you.

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Alright, turn with me, if you will, to the book of Ezekiel.

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And we're going to pick up in chapter 9, this is where we got to as far as the end of chapter 8 last week.

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If you remember last week, what we saw was the historical context of what Israel were going through,

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the way that Ezekiel was speaking into their situation and telling them of their need to repent,

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because God was going to bring judgment.

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And the parallels with what we read in the book of Revelation, particularly of what's coming on this earth,

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were striking.

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So many of the things that Ezekiel was acting out and proclaiming are the same things that John says

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in the book of Revelation, particularly chapter 6 onwards, are the things that we're going to see in this world.

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And yet even before we get to the time of Revelation chapter 6, that's into the beginning of the tribulation,

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there are things here that are applicable to the church.

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The way that God is going to bring judgment on the church before the rapture.

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And just to give you the biblical context of that,

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Peter says that the time or the season of judgment will begin at the house of God.

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And in Matthew 13, we're told very clearly that there are tears sown amongst the wheat,

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the wheat representing the true church, the tears representing those within the church

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that are in all appearance the same, and yet underneath there is deceit, there is deception, there's lies.

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And of course, the disciples, when Jesus gives them this parable in Matthew 13,

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they say, well, should we just go uproot the tears? And Jesus says, no, because if you do that, you might damage the wheat as well.

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And that's why we even to this day amongst the Christian church, in every facet we find deception.

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We find those that would speak things as if they were true, and yet clearly when we go back to

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scripture, we realize that it's not rooted in God's word. That's why we have to be so careful with

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opinions, with ideas, and particularly in the world we live now where we can access so many things

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online. We need to always go back and check those things against scripture.

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And in Matthew 13, what we find is as we get to the time of judgment, the tears are gathered into

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bundles. What does that mean? It means they're grouped together. What do we see in the world?

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What we see, apostates grouping together, forming agreements, alliances, and so on.

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And then once the tears are gathered together, we have this wonderful declaration that the

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wheat are going to be gathered into his barn. Picture of the rapture, the rapture of the church.

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But we are living in those days when God is bringing this judgment now upon the church,

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and we're going to see it in all sorts of ways. I think we're seeing it with what's going on with

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the Anglican church in this country, the Church of England. I mean, I can't imagine what some of those

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great saints of old would think. Some of the people that were at the time that Henry VIII,

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and of course Henry VIII had no desire for a biblically centered church. He was just looking

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for convenience for himself. But there were wonderful people around, Thomas Cromwell and others

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at that time who saw this as an incredible opportunity to have a church in this country

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that was centered on the word of God. And there were some wonderful, wonderful people.

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And of course that challenge lasted for many years, and we have this to and fro between

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monarchs who were very supportive of the Catholic church, even after Henry VIII,

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and others then who were very supportive and wanted to promote a church of England.

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And yet now when you go through those 39 articles of the Church of England,

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and pretty much this current Church of England has just walked away.

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No regard for those things, no regard for the word of God. Everything is about popularity,

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convenience, being something that's acceptable to people. Well, Christianity's never been acceptable.

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Jesus made that declaration that he came to bring a sword in terms of dividing

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even families because of the truth. That's what the truth does. The truth will bring division.

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And so we're seeing Ezekiel talk about the things in his day that are so parallel to what we're

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seeing. Now, just to give you a quick reminder of what we saw last time in chapter seven,

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Israel's inescapable doom was declared, and we saw those four short oracles from verse 1 to 13.

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Then the way that God was going to bring about this destruction, Ezekiel says, is already happening.

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In chapter eight, he saw the idolatry that was taking place in Jerusalem. He has his vision,

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and in his vision he's transported back from Babylon to Jerusalem,

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and he sees these incredible things that must have taken him as a godly, god-fearing

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priest. Effectively, he was of the tribe of Levi. He was in that position,

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looking at these other priests doing these things. It must have been shocking for him.

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And that kind of constant refrain, God says, you think that's bad? I'm going to show you something

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even worse. And then he goes on to the next thing. And it's a little bit like in this country,

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we see one thing and we think it's bad, and then all of a sudden on the news we hear something else,

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he's like, really? As we go into chapter nine, Ezekiel is going to speak of the slaughter of

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Jerusalem that was coming. But at the same time, there's a hope because he speaks of the fact that

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the righteous are going to be preserved, protected. And this is God's mode of operation throughout

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scripture. Always when God brings judgment, he protects his own. I mean, right from the time of

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Noah, God protects his own. Noah, his family, were safely in the ark before the judgment came.

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Even with Lot and Solomon Gamorra, Lot and his family, of course his wife, look back and

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look at the world. She loved the things of this world more. But God brought Lot and his daughters

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out of Solomon Gamorra before he brought the judgment. In fact, the declaration is that God

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couldn't bring the judgment until he was out, because God, as Abraham had concluded, God is a

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righteous, just God. He can't judge the wicked and the just, not together. But the righteous had to

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be removed. And we see it all the way through. Even with the removing of Israel from the land to

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Egypt, from the land of Israel, they were taken to Egypt, and God would allow the iniquity of the

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Ammonites and those in the land to come to fullness. But he moves his people out, and then of course

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the people come back and under Joshua, they conquer the land. They bring that justice and judgment

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that God foretold. And in here we're seeing that God will remove the righteous

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before the judgment will come on Jerusalem. All the way through the Bible, we see the same things.

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And of course, it's a wonderful picture of the rapture of the church, that the righteous,

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the saints will be taken out of the way before God's wrath is poured out. And once again,

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for clarity, Jesus did speak about tribulation for believers. But understand, that's the kind of

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struggle, the persecution that we experience. The really important thing to differentiate is the

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source. The Bible, Jesus, the New Testament tells us that those who live godly in Christ Jesus will

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suffer persecution, will suffer tribulation, if you like. Because we believe in Jesus. The world

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doesn't like it. And the source of that is coming from the world, the flesh, the devil.

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But when we come to the time of tribulation, it's distinct, it's different. The source of that

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judgment is from God. So the tribulation that we experience as Christians, the source of that is

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from the world, effectively, from the devil. And sometimes from our own selves. But the tribulation

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that is coming upon the earth, that specific season, the source of that is from God. They're

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two very distinct and different things. And in chapter 10, we're going to see these coals of

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fire, as it were, idiomatically kind of cast over Jerusalem. We're going to find that it's going to

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be burnt, which literally it was. And then also that the glory of God will depart from the temple.

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And then maybe we'll get on to chapter 11 as well. Let's see how far we go. Let's jump into

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chapter 9. Let me just read the introduction to this. God's punishment of Jerusalem was illustrated

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by a vision in which God sent his executioners to carry out his work of judgment on the sinful people,

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speaking, of course, of the Babylonians. First, however, he sent a special servant

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to put a mark on those who oppose the city's wickedness, that they might be preserved through

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the coming bloodshed. We'll talk about this in a moment. This is fascinating, again, in terms of

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what we read in Revelation. The first place where the judgment fell was the temple,

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where the nation's leaders had led the people astray with their wickedness and idolatry. The

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temple was soon defiled with the corpses scattered around its courts. Notice again, what I said a

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moment ago, what scripture tells us, what Peter tells us, the judgment will begin at the house of

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God. Where did judgment begin? Ezekiel? The temple. See, God is always consistent. The parallels are

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just breathtaking. The Northern Kingdom had been destroyed way, way back. They'd been taken captive

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by the Assyrian army, and now many from the Southern Kingdom were also killed or taken captive,

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and Ezekiel feared that with the slaughter in Jerusalem, the last remains of the ancient

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nation would be wiped out. An understandable concern on his part. So God assures him

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that this judgment was just, and that the people acted as if God did not matter, but now they were

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going to suffer the consequences. The safety, as we said a moment ago, is guaranteed for those

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believers who stood firm for God amid this nationwide ungodliness. So we jump into verse one.

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He cried also in mine ears with an odd voice saying, cause them that have charge over the city

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to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.

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Now it's interesting because behold, six men came from the way of the High Gate. I mean, he's calling

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out for everyone, anyone, and just six come. Interestingly, six represent the number of man,

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so there's a significant number there, but just six that come.

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It says, behold, six men came from the way of the High Gate, which lies toward the north,

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and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand. And one man among them was clothed with linen,

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with a writer's ink on by his side. And they went in and stood beside the brazen

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author. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was,

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to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's

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ink on by his side. And the Lord said unto him, go through the midst of the city, through the midst

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of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the

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abominations that be done in the midst thereof. So this is incredibly similar to what we read in

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Revelation chapter seven. Revelation chapter seven, during the first part of the tribulation,

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God is going to have 144,000 Jews that have a particular mark placed upon them,

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to single them out in the same way to call them out. These are the righteous ones who are going

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to be protected during that time. They are not the Jehovah's Witnesses. How Jehovah's Witnesses

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can read this in Revelation chapter seven and so on, and come to the conclusion they do is

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mind-blowing. Clearly they are Jews, 12,000 from each tribe of Israel. They have a song that no

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one else can sing but themselves. If a Jehovah's Witness ever comes to your door, and if they do

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claim to be a part of 144,000, I think most of them are now already in that category.

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I don't know if there's any more that can be added. Ask them what the song is. Ask them if they can sing it

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for you. They won't be able to sing it, of course, but the 144,000 that are spoken of, the real ones,

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they do know this song. Only they can sing it. It's a song of praise worship to God, seemingly.

00:13:27.599 --> 00:13:33.280
And in Revelation, from what we understand, and most scholars tend to agree, that those 144,000

00:13:33.280 --> 00:13:40.400
Jews will be sent out around the world to witness, to bear testimony to the God of Abraham,

00:13:40.400 --> 00:13:46.240
Isaac, and Jacob. It's going to be a period of incredible evangelism on earth after the church

00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:55.839
is gone so that whosoever, those who have ears to hear may repent and put their faith and trust in

00:13:55.840 --> 00:14:04.320
Jesus before that door closes. But here, back in Ezekiel, these six people, this man with this

00:14:04.880 --> 00:14:10.640
ink horn, and with this kind of pen, as it were, quill, whatever, to go and mark these Jews,

00:14:10.640 --> 00:14:17.120
go through the city, and anybody that has not been given over to the last, the idolatry,

00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:22.880
the abominations, and everything else, again, the category it says, and set a mark upon the foreheads

00:14:22.880 --> 00:14:30.320
of the men that sigh and that cry because of the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

00:14:31.439 --> 00:14:35.680
And to the others, he said in my hearing, go ye after him through the city and smite, let not your

00:14:35.680 --> 00:14:42.160
eyes spare, neither have ye pity. Slay, utterly old and young, both maids and little children and

00:14:42.160 --> 00:14:50.400
women, but come not near any man upon whom is the mark, and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at

00:14:50.400 --> 00:14:56.480
the ancient men which were before the house, and he said unto them, defile the house and fill the

00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:01.600
courts with the slain. Go ye forth, and they went forth and slew in the city. It's interesting that

00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:10.000
people get so attached to their religion, and Jesus, or God here, is showing that that religion

00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:18.000
is worthless if it's outside the context of the relationship that God wants. It means nothing on

00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:25.920
its own. He says, defile the house. No doubt the Jews as they were hearing this, as Ezekiel is

00:15:25.920 --> 00:15:34.080
proclaiming this, were aghast. It came to pass while they were, while they were slaying them,

00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:39.600
and I was left, that I fell upon my face and cried and said, oh Lord God, will that destroy all the

00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:47.520
residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem. So Ezekiel, like us probably,

00:15:48.800 --> 00:15:52.080
as he's saying this, he's also thinking about what's being said as he's declaring it.

00:15:52.640 --> 00:15:56.480
It's touching his heart. He's going, but hang on Lord, are you going to destroy all of them?

00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:03.600
If I may just go back to that previous verse, verse six, because that should make us a little

00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:08.000
uncomfortable. Slight usly, old and young, both maids and little children and women.

00:16:09.920 --> 00:16:15.440
This is where some people say, hang on, how can your God be a God of love if we read these kind

00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:21.040
of things? God allow this, but again, remember what we saw last time, the abominations, the

00:16:21.040 --> 00:16:26.240
terrible things that were taking place. We talked last time about the violence that there is in the

00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:33.840
world today, the number of murders that are committed on a daily basis, the number of young

00:16:34.880 --> 00:16:40.720
babies in their mother's wounds whose lives are ended purely for convenience sake.

00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:44.640
And you start to get a picture as we looked last week and maybe just go back review last week's

00:16:44.640 --> 00:16:54.080
teaching again and just consider how bad the situation really was. There was an interview

00:16:54.080 --> 00:17:02.640
recently that I saw a broadcaster news journalist, I'm not really sure these titles fit them because

00:17:02.640 --> 00:17:07.839
they're not really fitting the descriptions of what a journalist should do. They should be

00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:12.319
relatively impartial, but clearly most of the moment are not. And she was interviewing an

00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:17.359
individual, I believe it was a Jew who she was interviewing and asking the questions about,

00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:29.040
is it right that the IDF have killed children? And she cited a particular incident and the

00:17:29.040 --> 00:17:34.639
person that was being interviewed came back and said, but this young child was armed

00:17:34.800 --> 00:17:41.760
and was about to fire on Israeli troops. And I'm sure you've seen, if you've not seen,

00:17:43.040 --> 00:17:50.080
the children in Gaza have been brought up to believe that Israel is the enemy.

00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:58.080
I saw a shocking thing this week where young children, younger than Sharia's age, were saying,

00:17:58.560 --> 00:18:06.320
I want to die as a martyr. I want to kill Jews. And they were saying they believe that to be a

00:18:06.320 --> 00:18:14.720
good thing to do. And some of them are even given weapons to do these acts. But this isn't new

00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:18.080
stuff that you probably have heard this stuff before you've maybe seen these things.

00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:27.280
And maybe things like that help you to understand when we see declarations like this,

00:18:27.280 --> 00:18:31.360
God's saying slay us silly old and young, both maids and little children.

00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:40.800
God is not a barbaric, cruel God. But there comes a point where lines are crossed and God will bring

00:18:40.800 --> 00:18:45.919
judgment. You know, and this individual, this news reporter saying, yes, but this person was a child,

00:18:45.919 --> 00:18:52.000
should they have been shot by the IDF? And the response kept coming back. It's irrelevant what

00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:58.159
age they were. They were armed with a gun, assault rifle, and they were about to open fire on Israeli

00:18:58.159 --> 00:19:06.000
troops. Yes, but it was a child. Yeah. You see the power of the Israeli army, the power of the

00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:13.200
Israeli army. It was a child. Yeah. You see the problem. It becomes very emotive and people get very

00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:22.800
invested in the anti-Israel propaganda. But again, just the context of this, understand,

00:19:22.800 --> 00:19:28.720
that's just things that we know that are going on now. God is not unloving. God is not unjust.

00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:34.720
Throughout scripture, we're constantly told that God is a good God, a just God, a righteous God.

00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:39.200
In fact, one of my favorite verses, and I repeat it so frequently, you should all know it off by

00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:49.200
heart, Psalm 119 verse 68, which says, God is good and does good. That's it. That should be your

00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:55.760
foundation, your building block on everything else you believe, because God is good. God cannot do

00:19:55.760 --> 00:20:04.400
things that are not good. If somebody broke into my house and was about to attack my children,

00:20:05.520 --> 00:20:14.560
would I be a good father if I ignored it and sat back? No, it wouldn't be good to ignore that.

00:20:15.360 --> 00:20:22.400
If I went to defend them, I would be acting in love. So you understand the context of these things.

00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:28.720
Let's just read these two verses again, 8 and 9. And it came to pass that while they were slaying

00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:32.480
them when I was left, that I fell on my face and cried and said, Oh Lord God, will thou destroy

00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:37.120
all the residue of Israel in the pouring out of the fury upon Jerusalem? Then he said to me,

00:20:37.120 --> 00:20:42.160
that the iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great and the land is full of blood.

00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:48.640
Okay, so God is trying to explain to Ezekiel here why this is happening. And the city is full of

00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:54.160
perverseness. It's full of things that are abhorrent. There's murder. There's all sorts of things

00:20:54.160 --> 00:21:02.400
taking place. For they say, the Lord has forsaken the earth, the Lord sees not. And that's what so

00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:06.400
many in this world, that's their view, their opinion. God, there is no God. God doesn't see us.

00:21:07.120 --> 00:21:13.440
We can do what we want. Verse 10. And as for me also, mine eyes shall not spare, neither will

00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:20.080
I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head. That is the really key thing to notice.

00:21:20.080 --> 00:21:27.200
God is bringing them a proportionate response for their actions. And behold, the man clothed with

00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:32.000
linen, which had the ink on by his side, reported the matter saying, I have done as thou has commanded.

00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:40.960
Chapter 10, give an introduction to this. In the series of visions, the fiery chariot throne of God

00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:47.440
was in the court of the temple. And the glory of God, that's the symbolic form of God over the

00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:53.280
throne, had risen from the throne and had come to rest on the threshold of the temple. From there,

00:21:53.280 --> 00:22:00.800
God had directed his agents in the execution of the citizens of Jerusalem. And from the same position

00:22:00.800 --> 00:22:05.600
on the temple threshold, God now gave further commands to the man who had previously sealed the

00:22:05.600 --> 00:22:11.600
faithful for preservation. And God told him to go and take some coals from the vacant chariot throne

00:22:11.600 --> 00:22:17.600
and scatter them over the city of Jerusalem. And that was to symbolize the coming fiery destruction

00:22:17.600 --> 00:22:22.000
that the Babylonians would soon bring on Jerusalem that God himself had declared.

00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:29.600
And the man then went to the chariot throne to carry out God's commands. And as Ezekiel describes

00:22:29.600 --> 00:22:35.040
how one of the cherubim helped the man collect the coals, he adds a note to explain that the

00:22:35.040 --> 00:22:41.919
cherubim had hands. And this is how he helps him to pick up these coals. Ezekiel must have been so

00:22:41.919 --> 00:22:45.919
interested in the details of the chariot throne that he repeated much of the description that we

00:22:45.919 --> 00:22:50.480
see in the opening chapter. So we'll see this again. He apparently wanted to impress upon the

00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:56.080
readers that this chariot throne that he's seeing, he saw at the temple, was the same that he's seen

00:22:56.080 --> 00:23:01.439
in the vision. I remember that vision initially, God reveals to Ezekiel so that Ezekiel is in a

00:23:01.439 --> 00:23:08.159
sense overwhelmed by the majesty, the glory of God. It's the same here. He then saw God return to his

00:23:08.159 --> 00:23:13.840
chariot throne and begin to leave the temple. This is significant. But as if unwilling to leave,

00:23:13.840 --> 00:23:19.040
he moved only as far as the temple gate and then stopped. An additional note explains that the

00:23:19.040 --> 00:23:24.960
living creatures that Ezekiel described earlier were cherubim. These incredible heavenly beings,

00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:30.080
cherubim with these winged creatures who guarded the ark, if you remember, way back in Exodus.

00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:39.040
That image that was created with these cherubim sitting above the mercy seat, above the lid,

00:23:39.040 --> 00:23:44.880
the top of the ark of the covenant. In other words, God, the God whom Ezekiel saw enthroned

00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:50.640
above the cherubim was the same God who was enthroned above the mercy seat. And this God,

00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:57.600
this covenant-keeping God of Israel, Yahweh, was the one who was now about to leave his temple

00:23:58.560 --> 00:24:05.360
and allow the slaughter of his people and destroy the city. Again, direct response in proportion to

00:24:05.360 --> 00:24:10.480
their iniquity. So chapter 10, verse 1, then I looked and behold in the firmament that was above

00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:15.040
the head of the cherubim, there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone as the appearance of

00:24:15.040 --> 00:24:19.280
the likeness of a throne. This is the same throne that we've seen already described previously.

00:24:19.840 --> 00:24:23.680
And he spoke unto the man clothed with linen and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the

00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:27.920
cherub, and fill thy hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the

00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:34.560
city. And he went in in my sight. So again, this whole is kind of acting out this dramatic way that

00:24:34.560 --> 00:24:40.480
God is showing his people what's going to come upon them. Now the cherubim stood on the right

00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:45.840
side of the house. And when the man went in and the cloud filled the iniquities, then the glory

00:24:45.840 --> 00:24:49.679
of the Lord went up from the cherubim stood over the threshold of the house, and the house was

00:24:49.679 --> 00:24:55.919
filled with the cloud. And the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory. Okay, this is

00:24:55.919 --> 00:25:00.480
what we call the Shekinah glory of God. We see this throughout the scripture. We'll talk about

00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:05.199
it a little bit more in a moment. And the sound of the cherubim's wings was heard even to the outer

00:25:05.199 --> 00:25:11.600
court. Again, Ezekiel already mentioned this, the noise they made was just incredible. As the voice

00:25:11.600 --> 00:25:17.120
of Almighty God when he speaks. And it came to pass that when he had commanded the man clothed

00:25:17.120 --> 00:25:21.600
with linen saying, take fire from between the wheels and from between the cherubs, then he went

00:25:21.600 --> 00:25:27.600
in and stood beside the wheels. And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims

00:25:27.600 --> 00:25:31.760
into the fire that was between the cherubims and took thereof and put it into the hands of him who

00:25:31.760 --> 00:25:38.399
was clothed with linen, who took it and went out. So this angelic being, the cherubim, is taking some

00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:43.920
of the coal and placing it in the hand of this man, this Ezekiel seeing in the vision. And there

00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:48.160
appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand under their wings. And when I looked, behold,

00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:52.720
the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by the cherub and another wheel by another cherub. And

00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:57.840
the appearance of the wheels was as the color of a barrel of stones. Again, just reiterating the image

00:25:57.840 --> 00:26:04.480
that we've already seen and we described back in chapter two and three. And as for their like,

00:26:04.560 --> 00:26:09.600
their appearance, they had, they four had the likeness, one likeness, as if a wheel had been

00:26:09.600 --> 00:26:13.680
in the midst of a wheel. When they went, they went up on the four sides and they turned not as they

00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:17.760
went, but to the place where the head looked, they followed it and turned not as they went. And as I

00:26:17.760 --> 00:26:21.920
said, you know, it's a little bit like a castle if you're playing chess. You can only kind of go

00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:25.760
upwards or left and right, but it can't go diagonally. And that's seemingly the way these

00:26:25.760 --> 00:26:30.080
heavenly creatures are moving. Verse 12, and their whole body and their backs and their hands and

00:26:30.080 --> 00:26:36.000
their wings and the wheels were full of eyes around about even the wheels that they had, sorry,

00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:42.480
that they four had as the wheels, as for the wheels, it was carried unto them in my hearing a wheel.

00:26:43.199 --> 00:26:48.240
And everyone had four faces. Now we're going to be told the same thing. We've saw this previously.

00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:53.040
The first face was the face of a cherub. The second face was the face of a man. The third face,

00:26:53.040 --> 00:26:58.080
the face of a lion and the fourth, the face of an eagle. As we said back in chapter two and three,

00:26:58.080 --> 00:27:04.720
each of these faces speaking of the character, the person of Jesus, and these ideas, these images

00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:11.280
occur throughout scripture in different ways with the camp of Israel, with the details of the four

00:27:11.280 --> 00:27:17.919
gospels and so on. And we see it in Revelation also. And again, each of these faces, the first

00:27:17.919 --> 00:27:23.919
face being the face of a cherub, we're told, something angelic being, second face, the face

00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:29.280
of a man. Speaking of the humanity of Christ, the face of a lion, the fact that Christ is a king to

00:27:29.280 --> 00:27:35.040
rule over all and the fourth, the face of an eagle. The face of a cherub is here described as the face

00:27:35.040 --> 00:27:39.760
of a cherub, but it's the one in the previous explanation, the face of an ox or a beast of

00:27:39.760 --> 00:27:45.680
burden. Of course, Christ came to serve. And again, it just maps out the four gospels. Matthew presents

00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:52.400
Jesus as the king. Mark presents Jesus as the servant. Luke presents Jesus as the son of man,

00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:57.280
because Luke was a doctor and he speaks of his humanity. And then John presents Jesus as the son

00:27:57.280 --> 00:28:03.520
of God. Verse 15, now the cherubim were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by

00:28:03.520 --> 00:28:07.920
the river of Jebus. So Ezekiel was just saying that this is the same image, the same creature,

00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:14.320
the same incredible vision that I saw. And when the cherubim went, the wheels went by them.

00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:19.200
And when the cherubim lifted up their wings to the mount, up from the earth, the same wheels also

00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:26.320
turned not from beside them. When they stood, these stood, when they were lifted up, these lifted

00:28:26.320 --> 00:28:30.320
up themselves. Also for the spirit of the living creatures was in them. Then the glory of the Lord

00:28:30.320 --> 00:28:35.920
departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubim. This is significant.

00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:42.000
And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went,

00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:46.320
the wheels also were beside them and everyone stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's

00:28:46.320 --> 00:28:51.520
house. And the glory of the Lord of Israel was over them above. What we're seeing here

00:28:52.399 --> 00:28:58.320
is the glory of God. That he said, in fact, when Solomon dedicated the temple, if you remember,

00:28:58.879 --> 00:29:03.679
at the dedication, the temple was filled of God's glory and God's presence. So much so that the

00:29:03.679 --> 00:29:09.600
priests had to stop ministering. This cloud was just overwhelming and they literally had to kind

00:29:09.600 --> 00:29:17.840
of vacate and stop doing what they were doing. God's presence was just so tangible. But now,

00:29:17.840 --> 00:29:24.560
because of their iniquity, God's presence was leaving them. There's an interesting kind of

00:29:24.560 --> 00:29:31.840
parallel in a sense with Saul. Saul, of course, received that indwelling, that presence of God

00:29:31.840 --> 00:29:38.159
upon him, that anointing for ministry. Remember, Saul prophesied as Samuel praised for him.

00:29:38.800 --> 00:29:45.600
But very shortly afterwards, Saul, a number of different issues, but the most significant one

00:29:45.600 --> 00:29:50.000
was they were waiting. He was waiting for Samuel to arrive to offer a sacrifice before they were

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:56.560
about to go and attack the Philistines. Samuel was a little late getting there and Saul was

00:29:56.560 --> 00:30:00.080
just concerned about the fact that some of the troops were getting edgy and starting to leave

00:30:00.080 --> 00:30:04.960
the battlefield. And so he decides he's going to step in. He was a benjamite and he decides to step

00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:11.840
into the Levitical priestly office and offer the sacrifice himself, negating this blood sacrifice.

00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:20.800
And as a result of that, Samuel, when he arrives, is just distraught but also angry with

00:30:22.560 --> 00:30:30.080
Saul. Samuel declares that the kingdom is going to be taken away and that anointing departs from him

00:30:31.040 --> 00:30:40.080
and instead a spirit, a troubling spirit is sent to him. And we maybe miss the import of that.

00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:47.199
And so we get to Psalm 51 and of course David, who then followed on from Saul,

00:30:49.199 --> 00:30:54.240
he also had that anointing from God. Remember, Samuel goes when he's there with his brothers

00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:58.720
and his brothers are all brought in a line. Jesse, their father, brings them there and

00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:03.200
Samuel comes and he goes for every one of them and they look at the tallest, the oldest, and he

00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:09.040
thinks, surely this is the one. Of course, that wasn't the one. And eventually Samuel says to

00:31:09.040 --> 00:31:13.360
Jesse, David's father, is this all your sons? And he says, well, there is the youngest one,

00:31:13.360 --> 00:31:17.680
but he's out in the field with the sheep. And so they send for David, David comes and of course

00:31:18.320 --> 00:31:21.760
Saul says, this is the one. Sorry, Samuel says, this is the one.

00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:31.280
And there's that great declaration where God declares to Samuel that the Lord sees not as man

00:31:31.280 --> 00:31:36.960
sees because man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. And so David is the

00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:43.360
one who is then chosen. He becomes the king. But after David's transgression with Bathsheba,

00:31:43.360 --> 00:31:50.879
and of course he has Uriah, the Hittite killed and so on, David's in that state of repentance,

00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:59.280
repentance, right to Psalm 51. And there's a wonderful line in Psalm 51 where David,

00:31:59.280 --> 00:32:04.160
even though he sinned against, you know, obviously Uriah, he sinned against Bathsheba, Hittite,

00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:09.040
all these other individuals, the family members and everything else, and his own nation really,

00:32:10.320 --> 00:32:14.480
David begins, he says, against you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight.

00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:22.960
That the biggest crime of all was that he'd not been obedient and faithful to God. And David there

00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:30.800
cries for God not to take the Holy Spirit from him. He pleads and says, take not thy Holy Spirit

00:32:30.800 --> 00:32:39.600
from me, knowing full well what had happened to Saul. Saul had had this incredible privilege

00:32:39.760 --> 00:32:42.639
of God's Spirit working in and through him and then he blew it.

00:32:43.760 --> 00:32:50.719
And God's Spirit had been taken away. And David was so worried that he may be in the same position

00:32:51.600 --> 00:33:01.040
that Saul was. And praise. And maybe it's hard for us to appreciate just how life would be

00:33:01.760 --> 00:33:09.680
without the Holy Spirit. Because each of us have become beneficiaries of this incredible gift

00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:16.639
that we read about that John, in John's gospel, Jesus declared that he was going back to heaven.

00:33:16.639 --> 00:33:22.560
If he was to go, he was going to send us another comforter. And the word in Greek that's used there,

00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:29.520
it means another of the same kind. There's various different Greek words that could be used.

00:33:31.360 --> 00:33:35.760
But it's like, if I was writing with a pencil and I slapped the pencil and I said,

00:33:35.760 --> 00:33:39.840
oh, can you give me another? I could mean, can you just give me another writing implement? You

00:33:39.840 --> 00:33:44.720
might give me a pen. But if I was specific and I said the particular Greek word that's used in John

00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:49.280
of the Holy Spirit coming, it would be another of the same kind. I want another pencil is what I mean,

00:33:49.280 --> 00:33:54.720
not another writing implement. You see? And Jesus says that if he was to go, he would give us another

00:33:54.720 --> 00:34:03.040
of the same kind, one like him. And so the Holy Spirit has been given to the church. Jesus says,

00:34:03.040 --> 00:34:09.920
he will be in you and will dwell with you forever. I mean, that's an incredible honor and privilege

00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:17.120
that the church has. And I honestly don't think we appreciate just how much our lives are totally

00:34:17.120 --> 00:34:22.480
transformed because of the indwelling Holy Spirit. There are times, there are moments when we are in

00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:28.719
a situation and the Holy Spirit will check us, will stop us. Maybe we're about to say something

00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:32.719
and we'll suddenly go, no, that's not the right thing to say. I shouldn't say that. That's the

00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:38.480
Holy Spirit. There may be times that we're about to do something or go somewhere and we'll feel the

00:34:38.480 --> 00:34:44.159
Holy Spirit say, no, don't do that. There may be times that the Holy Spirit will prompt us to say

00:34:44.159 --> 00:34:48.719
something. And sometimes we're a bit hesitant. And yet we feel the Holy Spirit really urging us to do

00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:52.799
it. And we say something and yeah, the Lord was working in that moment, that situation.

00:34:54.560 --> 00:34:58.480
How many times have you been in a situation where suddenly you've just been reminded of somebody

00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:02.879
for no apparent reason and you think, I need to pray for that person. And then later you find out

00:35:02.879 --> 00:35:07.680
that something was going on with that individual at that moment. Well, the Holy Spirit does all of

00:35:07.680 --> 00:35:13.680
these things in us and with us and through us. The Holy Spirit is at work in the church today.

00:35:13.680 --> 00:35:19.600
He's been given to the church. And I honestly don't think we appreciate just how incredible

00:35:20.399 --> 00:35:29.120
his presence is. I remember hearing a teaching many years ago about Joshua and the way that he

00:35:29.120 --> 00:35:34.399
led the children of Israel across the river Jordan into the promised land. And there was the,

00:35:34.399 --> 00:35:39.440
because as had been through the wilderness wanderings, the pillar of cloud by day,

00:35:39.600 --> 00:35:45.520
the pillar of fire by night, the children of Israel, their journey. That was the glory of God,

00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:52.960
leading them, directing them. The teaching was just talking about the fact that for the church,

00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:57.200
we don't have a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night because that power,

00:35:57.200 --> 00:36:02.320
that presence of God now indwells the believer. It's now within us.

00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:12.000
It's the Holy Spirit who is working in us to sanctify us, to set us apart, to get us ready for

00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:17.440
the rapture. Ephesians talks about the fact that the church at the time of Jesus coming for us

00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:25.440
will be without spot, without blemish. We can't do that in our own strength. It's through the working

00:36:25.440 --> 00:36:31.120
and the agency of the Holy Spirit in our lives that God is doing this incredible work right now.

00:36:32.640 --> 00:36:37.280
Even understanding scripture, we need the Holy Spirit to help us understand things.

00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:42.640
We need spiritual insight because as Paul tells us, the natural mind doesn't receive the things of

00:36:42.640 --> 00:36:48.880
the Spirit of God, nor can he know their foolishness to him. The Holy Spirit will teach us of the things

00:36:48.880 --> 00:36:58.080
of God. So I don't think we appreciate just how incredible the Holy Spirit is until you see

00:36:58.080 --> 00:37:03.759
things, situations like this. Now look, we are in the incredible privileged position

00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:07.279
that the Holy Spirit will not be taken from us.

00:37:09.759 --> 00:37:15.040
Part of me rejoices in that fact. Part of me feels incredibly uncomfortable.

00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:22.480
When I look back and I see the situation here with Israel, we think of people like Saul and we think,

00:37:22.480 --> 00:37:26.320
but how many times have we grieved the Holy Spirit in our lives?

00:37:28.160 --> 00:37:33.680
How concerned are we about those things? How concerned are we about the things we allow

00:37:33.680 --> 00:37:40.160
into our minds and our hearts? And do we ever stop to consider that those things can grieve

00:37:40.160 --> 00:37:49.200
the Holy Spirit of God? And yet the Holy Spirit will not leave us because Jesus has promised

00:37:49.200 --> 00:37:59.759
that he will remain with us. There are seven, there may be more, but there's at least seven

00:37:59.759 --> 00:38:08.480
occasions in scripture where we see this glory of God departing. The first occasion is right back

00:38:08.480 --> 00:38:13.759
at the beginning. Adam and Eve, when they were created, were created perfect. So they walked

00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:20.320
with God. The fellowship that God ultimately desired for mankind. And God will get there

00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:25.200
because in Revelation, when we get to the end, guess what? That walk will be resumed. Man will

00:38:25.200 --> 00:38:30.400
walk with God. He will be our God, we'll be his people. We'll all be restored. We've just gone

00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:37.600
through an incredible period. It'll be ultimately 7,000 years by the time we get there. And God will

00:38:37.600 --> 00:38:44.000
accomplish what he set out for man and God to have this wonderful walk and unity.

00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:48.160
But in the Garden of Eden, there was this wonderful fellowship.

00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:52.720
And we're told that Adam and Eve were naked and they weren't ashamed.

00:38:54.880 --> 00:39:03.920
Why? Because they were clothed with the glory of God. And then what happens as they eat of the fruit

00:39:03.920 --> 00:39:13.200
of the tree of knowledge and gnavel? Suddenly, God's glory departs. Suddenly they become aware

00:39:13.760 --> 00:39:18.720
that their clothing, that spiritual clothing had gone. Because we're told suddenly they became

00:39:18.720 --> 00:39:22.880
aware that they were naked. So that means that they were aware beforehand they were clothed

00:39:22.880 --> 00:39:29.040
with something because suddenly they're aware that that clothing is gone. And so they go and try and

00:39:29.040 --> 00:39:34.800
make temporary coverings. That's what religion is. Trying to make some sort of covering for our sin.

00:39:37.680 --> 00:39:39.520
That's the first time we find this in scripture.

00:39:41.680 --> 00:39:49.040
We see a similar situation with Samson. In Judges 16-20, we read of the situation that Samson had

00:39:49.040 --> 00:39:54.000
been called of God. Now, he's not the best ideal character to do a case study on his scripture of

00:39:54.000 --> 00:39:59.680
a righteous individual, but God had still chosen to bless him and fill him with his Holy Spirit.

00:39:59.680 --> 00:40:06.480
He had this unusual power because of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And yet he'd been told very clearly

00:40:06.480 --> 00:40:13.680
that God wanted him to take this valve and azarite. And one of the conditions was he wouldn't cut his

00:40:13.680 --> 00:40:22.480
hair. Of course, the allure of the world comes in and Delilah winds him, wears him down and ends up

00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:29.360
having his hair cut. And the incredible thing is that Samson gets up as if before and suddenly

00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:37.840
he recognizes he realizes he's powerless without God. I just wish we would realize that without

00:40:37.840 --> 00:40:47.920
him we can do nothing. All that we do is through the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not through

00:40:47.920 --> 00:40:58.640
our own ability. You know, I'm constantly amazed and aware even when we worship, when we play.

00:41:00.320 --> 00:41:04.800
You want to hear sometimes when I'm practicing at home, it sounds like cats are being strangled.

00:41:05.680 --> 00:41:13.680
It's awful. And yet we come together and the Lord does something. And the Lord can knit us together.

00:41:14.080 --> 00:41:22.640
Even teaching God's word, I'm very aware that this is not my ability. This is God through his Holy

00:41:22.640 --> 00:41:31.040
Spirit just using me as a vessel. And God uses each of us in these ways. Never think it's because

00:41:31.040 --> 00:41:37.040
of your brilliance or your ability. God is simply looking for availability.

00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:40.560
God is simply looking for availability.

00:41:42.880 --> 00:41:47.920
But Samson gets up, he realizes that the power is gone. But what happens after his hair grows back?

00:41:47.920 --> 00:41:53.279
Well, God does allow that glory to return. But certainly for the initial situation after his

00:41:53.279 --> 00:42:00.560
hair is cut that glory departs. There's another example with Ichabod. Sure you all know about

00:42:01.279 --> 00:42:09.279
Ichabod. Yes. First Samuel chapter 421. This is a situation. These were the sons of Eli.

00:42:11.680 --> 00:42:19.279
And one of the sons of Eli, his wife was pregnant. And this all is around the time.

00:42:19.279 --> 00:42:23.440
The sons of Eli were wicked. People were bringing offerings and they were taking the meat and they

00:42:23.440 --> 00:42:28.080
were keeping it for themselves. And it was a horrible thing. There was all sorts of horrible

00:42:28.080 --> 00:42:32.080
perverse things going on at that time. And God speaks about it. And of course,

00:42:33.759 --> 00:42:44.400
when Samuel was young, Eli has this disturbance of the night as he hears Samuel calling out.

00:42:45.120 --> 00:42:50.720
And eventually Eli is wise enough to realize it was God that was speaking to Samuel. And when

00:42:50.720 --> 00:42:57.279
eventually Eli says, well, tell me what did God say? And Samuel, as this young boy,

00:42:57.279 --> 00:43:01.120
says that God is effectively going to bring judgment upon you because of the wickedness

00:43:01.120 --> 00:43:06.799
and upon Israel. And sometime later, this is exactly what happens. And the Ark of the Covenant

00:43:06.799 --> 00:43:17.120
is captured by the Philistines. And at this particular occasion, Eli was a larger rotunda

00:43:17.120 --> 00:43:27.520
gentleman, falls back off his chair and dies, breaks his neck. And his sons or his daughter-in-law

00:43:28.560 --> 00:43:36.080
gives birth at this time and they named the child Ichabod. And Ichabod, we're told in the text,

00:43:36.080 --> 00:43:43.359
means that the glory has departed. It is significant that what was in the Ark,

00:43:43.360 --> 00:43:47.120
well, there are a number of things that are in the Ark, but the Ten Commandments specifically

00:43:47.120 --> 00:43:54.160
were in there, which really were a great summary of the law. We may say the Word of God that had

00:43:54.160 --> 00:44:02.560
been spoken to them. When the Word of God is removed, the glory will depart. We're seeing

00:44:02.560 --> 00:44:11.120
that, we have seen that with the Church of England. The glory of God has departed. And

00:44:12.080 --> 00:44:18.080
look at the state. But this situation, 1 Samuel chapter 421, another one of these situations

00:44:18.080 --> 00:44:23.759
where God's glory departed because the Ark had been taken. There's the one that I've already

00:44:23.759 --> 00:44:29.600
explained to you, Saul, 1 Samuel chapter 13, 2 Samuel 7 verse 14, and so on, are some of the

00:44:29.600 --> 00:44:33.440
references if you want to look at the details afterwards. And then there's the one we're looking

00:44:33.440 --> 00:44:41.040
at here where the nation itself has largely rejected Yahweh. And as a result, God removes

00:44:41.040 --> 00:44:45.520
his glory from the nation. There's another one that I believe we could cite, and that's the

00:44:45.520 --> 00:44:54.320
crucifixion in Matthew 27. As this national rejection of Yeshua as their Messiah, the glory

00:44:54.320 --> 00:45:05.120
departs. The world itself turns to darkness. And there's another one coming, which is the

00:45:05.120 --> 00:45:16.320
harpazzo. Because just as God's presence left the temple, left the nation, so when the Church are

00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:22.800
removed, and bear in mind the Holy Spirit indwells believers, when we are removed at the time of the

00:45:22.800 --> 00:45:32.560
rapture, God's presence on earth in the way it is now will also be removed. That's why in 2 Thessalonians

00:45:33.200 --> 00:45:40.000
we're told very clearly of the mystery of iniquity that for now is being restrained.

00:45:40.800 --> 00:45:46.720
We think things are bad now, but think of how many millions of Christians around the world are praying.

00:45:47.520 --> 00:45:51.520
We're praying for our governments. We're praying for the state of the world that we're in.

00:45:52.880 --> 00:45:57.120
When suddenly the Church is removed, when the Holy Spirit is taken out, and of course the Church at

00:45:57.120 --> 00:46:05.840
the same time, this world is going to plummet. Again, that mystery of iniquity is at work.

00:46:06.720 --> 00:46:13.200
But when he that restrains, we're told in 2 Thessalonians, is removed, then it's just going to

00:46:15.040 --> 00:46:22.320
explode on earth. So those are the seven. Again, there may be others you can think of in Scripture,

00:46:22.720 --> 00:46:28.880
clear situations where God's presence, God's glory is removed. Let me just read this couple

00:46:28.880 --> 00:46:33.680
of Scriptures just to kind of conclude what we're saying here. And I will pray this is from John

00:46:33.680 --> 00:46:38.880
14. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another, that's what I said earlier, another of

00:46:38.880 --> 00:46:44.320
the same kind, another comforter. That's what the Holy Spirit does. He comforts us that he may abide

00:46:44.320 --> 00:46:51.760
with you forever. Those are some of the most wonderful words in Scripture. Even the Spirit

00:46:51.760 --> 00:46:58.240
of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it sees him not, neither knows him. But you

00:46:58.240 --> 00:47:03.760
know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you. Please note that the Holy Spirit is not,

00:47:03.760 --> 00:47:09.680
as the Jehovah's Witnesses and others say, some impersonal force. The Holy Spirit is part of the

00:47:09.680 --> 00:47:19.839
Godhead. He is the third person of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit

00:47:19.839 --> 00:47:25.759
is to us now exactly as Jesus was to the disciples when Jesus walked with them

00:47:26.480 --> 00:47:31.440
in that time of ministry for three, three and a half years or so. And that's why we've been

00:47:31.440 --> 00:47:41.360
given the Holy Spirit, that we can carry on that work. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 21 and 22

00:47:41.360 --> 00:47:50.000
says, Now he which establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who has sealed

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:58.640
us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, that sealed us, that's marked us as his own.

00:47:59.359 --> 00:48:07.040
We read earlier of those individuals that had been sealed to protect them. And here we're told

00:48:07.040 --> 00:48:16.080
that for every believer, we also have been sealed by God. How have we been sealed? Because of the

00:48:16.080 --> 00:48:25.680
Holy Spirit given to us in our hearts. It's to stamp, if you like, as the Greek word implies,

00:48:25.680 --> 00:48:32.240
with a signet or a private mark for security or preservation. And again, that and give it the

00:48:32.240 --> 00:48:38.640
earnest of the Spirit. That word is a pledge. So the Greek word means it is part of the purchase

00:48:38.640 --> 00:48:44.879
money or the property given in advance of security for the rest. That's what we've been told here,

00:48:44.879 --> 00:48:50.000
what Paul is saying to the Corinthian believers and also to us, that a pledge in a sense has

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.240
been given that the rest of the deal will be done. And the fact that we have been given this

00:48:54.240 --> 00:49:00.080
assurance of our salvation and the evidence of it is that we've been given the Holy Spirit

00:49:00.080 --> 00:49:05.520
as the purchase money or the proof in a sense that the rest of the job will be completed.

00:49:06.399 --> 00:49:13.439
That we will spend eternity with Jesus. Our salvation is assured. It's a wonderful thing.

00:49:14.240 --> 00:49:15.040
A guarantee.

00:49:18.640 --> 00:49:22.640
Let's just conclude this chapter, the last three verses.

00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:48.160
Everyone's straightforward. We'll pick it up from there next time. Let's bow our hearts.

00:49:48.800 --> 00:49:53.440
Well, Father God, we just come before you and we just want to say thank you this morning

00:49:54.000 --> 00:50:00.720
for your Holy Spirit. Lord, I pray you forgive us if we have neglected the relationship that we

00:50:00.720 --> 00:50:08.720
should have with him. The way that each day should be a joy as we wake knowing that he is with us.

00:50:08.879 --> 00:50:15.680
That you have given him to us, to dwell with us, to teach us, to aid us in our worship,

00:50:15.680 --> 00:50:23.040
to help us in our prayer, to help us be transformed. Or so Lord, may we treasure

00:50:24.319 --> 00:50:32.080
the relationship we can have right now with your Holy Spirit. And Father, may we allow him to work

00:50:32.080 --> 00:50:38.240
in us and through us, to lead us, to direct our steps and our paths.

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:47.440
That Lord, we may live lives of glory to you. We ask these things this morning in Jesus name.

00:50:48.000 --> 00:50:51.759
Amen. Okay, may God richly bless you. Let's spend some time

00:50:51.760 --> 00:50:55.520
fellowshiping over some teas and coffees. God bless you.