Ezekiel 14:12-16:41; Hebrews 7:18-28; Psalms 106:1-12; Proverbs 27:4-6
Today is the sixth day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. And I’m glad we can take the next step forward in the Scriptures together. And that next step will be in the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament and the book of Hebrews in the New. So, let’ dive in. We’re reading from the Good News translation this week. Ezekiel 14 verse 12 through 16 verse 41.
Commentary:
Okay. So, let’s touch on Hebrews first and then move our way backward to Ezekiel. The last couple of days we’ve been just kind of talking about Melchizedek, just trying to figure out why this obscure figure from the book of Genesis shows up in the book of Hebrews with a bit of a cameo appearance in Psalm 110. And all of that discussion wasn’t to make a theological statement, it was just to say, who is Melchizedek and what is his significance? How does this obscure figure become a significant person that gets mentioned again in the New Testament with more information than we had in the Old? And we talked a little bit yesterday about Psalm 110 where Melchizedek shows up in verse four - the Lord is taken an oath and will not break his vow, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. We talked about Melchizedek being a priestly king that was not from the tribe of Levi. And then we talked about different literature that showed us that Melchizedek was still in the thought of the Hebrew people right through until Jesus time. And at Jesus time they were really looking for a Messiah. They weren’t necessarily naming or looking for Jesus in particular, but they were looking for this kind of person to show up. And Psalm 110 was one of those references that they would use that prophetically speaks of such a person. So, in the book of Hebrews today that’s made explicit, that the writer of Hebrews is clearly looking at Psalm 110 as a prophetic foreshadowing of the Messiah and then declaring that that Messiah was Jesus. And Hebrews kind of finishes off at that thought today. So, we can see that whether King David, when now penning Psalm 110, thought anything different than that this was about himself, over time it was definitely perceived as a prophetic utterance. And for the writer of Hebrews, in a Hebrew culture, writing to Hebrew people, it was apparent that Jesus closed the loop, that He is a priestly king who sacrificed himself once and for all and now lives as priest forever on behalf of us all. And all of that discussion has a cultural and contextual background, and we talked about that. But the larger story or the bigger narrative that’s going on in Hebrews is intended to show how God is doing a new thing, a new thing that they were expecting, but a new thing that they didn’t recognize, and showing that Jesus is this new thing. And, so, for devout Jews the Torah, the law, is the thing. But Hebrews is saying there were things going on before there was a law, those things predate the law, they’re not under the law, the law didn’t exist, and those things matter. Which is how Melchizedek winds its way into the story and sets precedent for God doing new things, things beyond the Mosaic law, not because the law is evil, of course, but the laws purpose is to expose failings and sin. It’s to show and reveal when we’ve stepped out of bounds, but Jesus appearance in the story changes everything. He fulfills the law and becomes the high priest forever, on behalf of us all. Very, very similar to the kinds of things the apostle Paul wrote about, especially in the book of Romans, but all throughout his teachings. So, we can get lost in all kinds of thoughts about Melchizedek, but Melchizedek is a part of a larger point and that point is that Jesus is the son of God came to take away the sins of the world and that the law cannot do it because no one can achieve perfection in it. And, so, that’s kind of where we sit in the book of Hebrews.
In the book of Ezekiel, God has been telling what’s coming. He’s been telling people what’s about to descend upon them, and none of it is good. And in the narrative, we can see what seems to be frustration on God’s part, like how He is exasperated, and how He has tried. And then we reached a portion of Scripture that I find to be one of the most riveting portions of Scripture in the Bible. And I encourage you to take some time to reread it yourself. It’s Ezekiel chapter 16 verses 3 through 34, where God is very, very descriptive about the story as He sees it with His people. And He describes an orphaned and tossed away beauty left to die in a field just after birth, covered in blood, and no one cared for this little girl. She was left to die. She was unloved when God came along and found her and nourished her and cared for her and raised her and watched her grow and watched her become beautiful and entered into a covenant of marriage with her and offspring were born and it was beautiful, except that she began to notice her own beauty and flaunt her own beauty and over time to give herself to others. In other words, to break the covenant. And then the trajectory just spins out of control. She’s not only giving herself away to other gods and idols, she is giving yourself away to other nations, and she’s destroying God’s children by sacrificing them to other idols, and basically this has to stop. That’s essentially what God is saying. This has to stop and I’m going to stop it. And you’re not going to like it, but this has to stop if you’re ever going to turn around and return to me. I find it heartbreaking because of the imagery that God chose to use because it’s imagery of betrayal and heartbreak and jealousy and loss and all of the angst and unrest that comes when a relationship disintegrates through betrayal and adultery. And, so, many of us could read that passage and see ourselves there, know those emotions, and whether you’ve been betrayed or not you can still understand what that would be like. And, so, what we’re seeing is less of a vengeful, angry, irritated, tyrannical God and more the heart of a lovesick, brokenhearted God. And it starts to make sense because we can see the we would feel the same way. And it gives us a lot to think about in our own relationship because so often we think our relationship with God, the only emotion in any of it is our own, God doesn’t feel anything, he doesn’t really care, he’s just quick to forgive and that’s that. It doesn’t matter what we do and he’s just always on, he’s always available to us to turn to but we only really turn to him when we need him to do something. And we can imagine what that feels like. And we have to imagine what it feels like for God for us to really enter into this relationship with him. So, going back through that passage of Scripture will be helpful and healthy as we contemplate our relationships with God.
Prayer:
Father, we see in this imagery Your heart toward us. We see why You are a jealous God. We just rarely can bring ourselves to the level of value that You do. We don’t value ourselves the way You do. We don’t see ourselves as the treasure that You do. And, so, sometimes we can’t even imagine that You could feel this way about us and yet we’re reading it right off the page, the Scriptures. You spoke this thousands of years ago and things haven’t changed. You are smitten with us. Why, is beyond our comprehension, but You created us and I guess that matters a lot. You know everything about us, every cell that makes us who we are, every hair on our head, every experience that we’ve had, all of the choices that we’ve made, and You’ve still loved us. And put in these terms, found in the book of Ezekiel, we are stopped in our tracks as we realize what our behavior does to Your heart. So, come Holy Spirit, wash us clean, restore us, make us new again, we run back into your arms. There is no other hope but You, and we thank You for Your patience and kindness, long-suffering, and love for us. Amen.
Song:
Ezekiel by Gungor
Lyrics
http://www.lyricshall.com/lyrics/Gungor/Ezekiel/
I found you naked
I found you lying there in blood
Your mother left you
Your father threw you out unloved
I clothed your body
I washed the blood and earth from your hair
I gave you jewelry
I gave you everything I had
I gave my heart
My heart, my love
I gave my heart
My heart, my love
You became mine
You were a stunning bride
The world they saw you and how you loved their eyes my bride
You broke my heart
My heart, my love
You broke my heart
My heart, my love
You sold your body exposed yourself to all my love
You slept with strangers; you gave them everything we had
Come back my love
My love come back
Come back my love
My love come back