Ezekiel 46-48

“I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east ...” (47:1). Ezekiel’s dramatic vision pointed to a restoration for Israel that was much greater than what the exiles imagined. A river flowed from the new Temple, and fruit trees with leaves for healing grew on each bank (47:12; Rev 22). Every tribe (even the lost northern kingdom families) had their allotment (ch 48), and, surprisingly, foreigners in the land were considered “native-born Israelites” and had an inheritance, too (47:22).

“The Lord is There” (48:35). Ezekiel’s vision revealed God’s promise: that in the kingdom ruled by the Messiah, there is living water, healing and restoration, and room for everyone.

Ezekiel 44-45

“They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common ...” (44:23). Ezekiel’s vision of a newly restored Temple emphasized the role of the priests, and the Temple plan included their houses (45:4) and a vast “sacred district” (45:1). His vision pointed to a spiritually restored Israel in which everything centered on worship. Even “the prince” lived near the Temple (45:7), and the priests, who had worshipped idols in Ezekiel’s former vision, lived righteously, depending wholly on their special “inheritance” (44:28) – God Himself.

“I am to be the only inheritance the priests have .... I will be their possession” (44:28). Israel’s priests symbolized what God wants for all His people: to worship, to reflect His holiness, and to place our lives wholly in His hands (I Peter 2:5).

Ezekiel 42-43

“The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. Then the Spirit lifted me up and ... the glory of the Lord filled the temple” (43:4). Ezekiel’s visions occurred during one of the worst eras in Israel’s history. Their rebellion had cost them their land, and Ezekiel’s earlier visions of judgment showed God’s glory departing from Jerusalem’s Temple (10:18). Now, Ezekiel saw in a vision a new Temple, and God’s glory (His presence) returned. He still desired to dwell among His people.

“The land was radiant with His glory” (43:1). God remembers His promises, and His grace shines brightly in our darkness. Through Christ, we become His holy temple, the dwelling place of His Spirit (Ephesians 2:20-21).

I John 4

“Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (2). John urged believers to follow the real Jesus and not to be deceived by people who “spiritualized” Christ but denied or ignored his earthly, bodily existence (3). God “sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (9). Rather than a mystical Savior, Jesus showed us how to live as God’s children in the real world, by loving and serving real people.

“We love because he first loved us” (19). Our own thoughts and imaginations don’t create God. We know God through Jesus, who revealed the Father and taught us to love.

I John 3:11-24

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other” (14). John taught that people who receive new life in Christ experience a core change: new love for other people. Because “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (16), we understand and are motivated by God’s love Saved by grace, we can give grace to others. John reminded believers that God’s grace for them continued. “If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” (20).

God’s will for us is to know and follow His Son closely: “to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us” (23).

I John 3:1-10

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1). John wanted believers to clearly understand what it meant to be “children of God” through Jesus. Although some were teaching that a person could profess Christ and live any way they wanted, John warned: “do not let anyone lead you astray” (7). Jesus came to save us from sin and to destroy sin (8); therefore, “no one who is born of God” will embrace a sinful life (9).

Being God’s child is not a matter of formulaic words or group affiliation. When we put our faith in Jesus, God’s indwelling Spirit directs us to pursue righteousness and love one another (10).

Psalm 139

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me” (1). We take great comfort, the psalmist declared, in God’s intimate, personal knowledge of us. He formed us, He understands our thoughts, and He sees our entire lives from start to finish (13-16). His attention to us is caring and persistent; even if we go to the “far side of the sea” or find ourselves in “darkness”, He is there, holding us (10,12). We do not wander aimlessly, because His hand is on our lives (5).

“Search me ... Lead me in the way everlasting” (23-24). Our prayer is that God, who knows and loves us, will calm our “anxious thoughts” and guide our hearts toward His good and perfect will.

Ezekiel 40-41

“In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain” (40:2). Previously, God had shown Ezekiel (who lived “among the exiles”) a vision in which Israel’s leaders were worshiping idols – even inside God’s Temple (Ezekiel 8)! Consequently, God’s glory had “departed” from the Temple (Ezekiel 10). Now, “fourteen years” after the city and Temple fell (40:1), God again showed Ezekiel a vision of Israel. This time, God was not revealing sin but encouraging His people with promises of the future.

“Tell the people of Israel everything you see” (40:4). God sees beyond the damage of sin to the possibility of restoration. When everything seems wrecked, He speaks a word of hope (Colossians 1:21-22).

Ezekiel 38-39

“I will put my Spirit in you and you will live” (37:14). The Lord showed the prophet Ezekiel a vision of bones that were “very dry” (37:2). Israel was in exile and everything seemed hopeless, dead. But God promised that their sin - damaged circumstances were not the end. He would breathe new life into them and their bones would live – a renewed creation. The divided nation of Israel would become one (37:17), and they would all have “one shepherd” – the Messiah from David’s line (37:24).

“Can these bones live?” (37:3). Only God in His life-giving power can renew what has been destroyed by sin. When we let go of what is dead, we open our hearts to receive resurrection: “life in His name” (John 20:31).

Ezekiel 36-37

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you” (36:26). Although Israel had lost their land due to their sins (36:16-19), God had not forgotten His covenant with Abraham. He promised to gather them from their countries of exile and bring them home – but not just to resettle them. God’s desire was to “sprinkle clean water” on them and to remove their “heart of stone”. He promised to put His Spirit in them so that they would be able to live as His people (36:27).

“The ruins will be rebuilt” (36:33). Starting with our hearts, God wants to restore what has been damaged by sin. Through Christ, His desire for us is full redemption: forgiveness, reconciliation, and a changed life.

I John 2:12-29

“And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming” (28). John wrote to encourage believers who were bombarded by wrong and confusing ideas. John urged them to remain close to Christ. The older ones “knew the Father”; the younger ones had “the Word of God” (14). They had the power to withstand the “antichrist” spirit (false teachers, etc) if they turned away from the self- focused, greedy desires of the world (15-17).

What Jesus has given us is “real, not counterfeit,” and we can have confidence in Him (27). The false promises of sin are “passing away”, but life with Christ is forever (17).

I John 2:1-11

“We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands” (3). John was not talking about being sinless; he reminded believers that when we fail, Jesus forgives us (1-2). John was referring to a new orientation of the heart that we experience when we turn toward Jesus in faith. He warned believers to beware of people who claimed to know Christ but did not exhibit genuine love toward brothers and sisters. “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness” (9). God’s love cannot coexist with hatred.

When we experience God’s love poured out in Christ for us, our hearts are changed toward others – “made complete” (5).

I John 1

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us” (3). The apostle John insisted that God was not just an idea or even a belief; John had actually heard, seen, and touched the “Word of Life”, Jesus (1). Because Jesus came in the flesh, our whole lives matter, not just our souls, and having “fellowship” with God means committing to a new way of life (5-6). Jesus calls us to admit our sin, receive the forgiveness He provides (8-10), and walk in His direction (7).

God is light (5). His aim in saving us through the blood of Christ is that we turn away from darkness and begin to live for Him (7).

Psalm 138

“I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise” (1). The psalmist boldly proclaimed God’s goodness in the midst of competing worldviews – the ‘gods’ of pagan religions. He knew God’s reality because he had relied on Him through many trials. When enemies threatened (7), God’s unfailing love and faithfulness did not fail: “When I called, you answered me” (2-3). The psalmist testified that every other supposed source of power, happiness, or comfort (the ‘gods’) was nothing but emptiness compared to the Lord.

“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life” (7). God shows His love to us through the complex, messy circumstances of our lives, so that we can praise Him.

Ezekiel 34-35

“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them” (34:11). Israel’s “shepherds” had failed to lead them righteously, so the people had strayed and fallen into trouble. God promised to go after the scattered sheep, rescuing them and leading them home to safe pasture. His people were in exile in foreign lands because of their sins, but He promised to free them from their bondage (34:27). “You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God” (34:1).

The Good Shepherd goes after the sheep who stumble or stray. “I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak” (34:16).

Ezekiel 32-33

“You rely on your sword, you do detestable things, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?” (33:26). Just as Ezekiel prophesied doom and destruction for nations like Egypt that defied the Lord, the same consequences fell on Israel. They thought that their connection to Abraham meant they were secure (33:24), but God saw their sins. The land would become a “desolate waste” because of the “detestable things” done there (33:29).

Ezekiel’s frightening prophesies included hope. To Israel and the world, God said, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that they turn from their ways and live” (33:11).

Ezekiel 30-31

“‘Who can be compared with you in majesty? Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest” (31:2-3). Through the prophet Ezekiel, God challenged mighty Egypt’s sense of unbeatable supremacy. Assyria, too, had been an ‘unbeatable’ power; like a mighty cedar, “all the great nations lived in its shade” (31:6). It rivaled the beauty of Eden’s trees in “the garden of God” (31:8-9), yet it was eventually “cast aside” (31:11). Egypt’s dominance could also crumble at any time.

The “splendor and majesty” of military might and economic power, from Assyria to Egypt to today, seem to rule the world (31:18). Yet empires come and go, and God remains the true King. His judgment over the world and our lives is what matters.

Ezekiel 28-29

“Egypt will no longer be a source of confidence for the people of Israel but will be a reminder of their sin in turning to her for help” (29:16). Pharaoh arrogantly claimed, “The Nile is mine; I made it” (29:3,9). Sadly, Israel believed Egypt’s boasts and instead of relying on God, turned to them for support. But Egypt’s so-called strength was “a staff of reed” that splintered; when Israel “leaned on” on Egypt, they were harmed, not helped (29:6).

The God of Abraham is our firm foundation and source of help. The world’s promises of happiness and security are flimsy reeds that break and hurt us, but God supports the full weight of our needs and hopes and gives us real security (28:6).

II Peter 3

“What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ...” (11). Peter reminded his listeners that even though the current world seems changeless, in fact there was a beginning, there have been cataclysmic changes, and there will be an end (5-7). At God’s coming judgment, the earth and “everything done in it” will be “laid bare” or exposed (10). Now is the time, Peter says, to live according to Jesus’ kingdom, the restored creation “where righteousness dwells” (13).

In light of Jesus’ return, Peter urges us to make every effort “to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (14). The world will pass away, but whatever belongs to Jesus’ kingdom lasts forever.

II Peter 2

“These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm” (17). Peter warned against “false prophets” who deliver nothing but trouble. These so-called Christian leaders teach “destructive heresies” and “fabricated stories”; their behavior is marked by “depraved conduct” (2), adultery (14), and greed (3). “They promise them freedom”, Peter says, “while they themselves are slaves of depravity” (19). Peter urged believers to have nothing to do with “bold and arrogant” false teachers whose lives do not match the way of Jesus.

“The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials ...” (9). Rather than conform to the ‘normal’ greed, sexual immorality, and arrogance of our society, God wants to rescue us, cleanse us, and set us on a different path.