Ezekiel 1:1-3:15, Hebrews 3:1-19, Psalms 104:1-23, Proverbs 26:24-26
Today is the 1st day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you as we greet the new month while simultaneously greeting a brand-new, sparkly, shiny week. So, this is one of those rare opportunities where we’re…we’re starting all over, like it’s a brand-new start here to the month and the week. And welcome to the 11th month of the year and the 306th day of the year. And on top of all of this newness we have a brand-new book we’re going to move into as we begin a new week and a new month. So, we moved to the prophecies of Jeremiah and then we saw those prophecies come true and then we moved through the book of Lamentations and lamented that all of the stuff that had been prophesied did come true pertaining to the destruction of Jerusalem. And, so, now we find ourselves on the threshold of the book of Ezekiel.
Introduction to the book of Ezekiel:
Ezekiel is another major book of prophecy in the…in the Scriptures in the Old Testament. And here’s what we know about Ezekiel. We know that he was a well-educated person, we know that he was deeply loyal to God. We discover that in this in this text. And we also understand that he was loyal to the traditions of the people, the Hebrew people. He came from a priestly family and…and like Jeremiah he used his prophetic ministry as instructed by God symbolically in a lot of ways. He symbolically acted out what he was prophesying. And Jeremiah had been prophesying previous to Ezekiel, but they also had a time where they were prophesying alongside of each other it’s just they were doing it from two different locations speaking on behalf of God from both sides of a story basically. Jeremiah prophesied from Jerusalem. Ezekiel’s prophecies were from exile in Babylon and there was considerable upheaval in the world of that time, a lot of empires going against other smaller nations and assimilating and conquering them while other empires were fighting…well…empire against Empire. So, Babylon, the Babylonian Empire had conquered the Assyrian Empire. And if we remember from the Scriptures, it was the Assyrian Empire that came and conquered Israel and took the 10 tribes and just deported them. They disappeared from history after that. And then Egypt and Babylon were clashing inside the land of ancient Israel because that was kind of like a land bridge between continents. So, controlling that major trade route is what made this land so important and so valuable. And we’ve watched the different alliances in the Scriptures, especially going through the book of…the book of Kings and Samuel and Chronicles. And, so, there were times where were the Hebrew people were vassals where they paid tribute to Kings who had conquered them then they would rebel and maybe regain their freedom and it was kind of a back-and-forth thing on a continual basis But we also watch in the Scriptures the generational decline of the entire system. So, in 597 B.C. the Babylonians subdued Jerusalem. And they did start deportations, they did take people into exile in order to assimilate them into the empire in different regions. And Ezekiel was among the first to go into exile and then a few years later, Zedekiah who had been installed as the king rebelled against Babylon. This is something that Jeremiah prophesied against as we were going through his…his work in the book of Jeremiah. So then in 588 the Babylonians came back to Jerusalem, laid siege to the rebellious city, and two years later they broke in and conquered Jerusalem and completely destroyed Jerusalem. Up to this point even though things had changed hands and tribute was being paid and all this stuff was going on Jerusalem hadn’t been destroyed. But the Babylonians destroyed it. There…like there’s evidence in Jerusalem until today of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. So, similar to Jeremiah, Ezekiel in his early years of prophecy in exile was prophesying of…of the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah was in Jerusalem prophesying the same thing from Jerusalem. So, we’re just at two sides…like at two different points in the same story. Jeremiah’s in Jerusalem, Ezekiel is in exile in Babylon. But as we just talked about, eventually the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. And, so, after the fall of Jerusalem and the Temple was destroyed then Ezekiel’s prophecies transform and some of the most beautiful hope filled messages of encouragement and restoration in all of the Bible can be found. Things like Ezekiel 37, which has been such an important portion of Scripture in my life and in the life of the Daily Audio Bible – the…the valley of dry bones, the spirit instructing Ezekiel to call to the four winds the breath of life. So, significant. And we’ll get there. Ezekiel also has really interesting imagery, almost like visions that are cinematic. Kind of like Daniel, or even the book of Revelation - apocalyptic literature it’s called as a genre. And, so, Ezekiel shares place along with Daniel and Revelation and many other portions of Scripture for those studying eschatology - the study of the Apocalypse, the end times. And, so, as we go through Ezekiel it's…it’s like going through any of the other books of prophecy. We understand…we have to understand that this is the genre this is a prophetic narrative that includes visions. And, so…well…basically we have to understand that things speak to us in different ways. So, if you’re sitting on a mountaintop and you have a really nice picnic and you’re there with somebody you love and it’s a perfect day and the scenery is wonderful, you can be having your lunch just looking out over it all not saying anything to each other because words don’t need to be said. You’re in this moment and nature is speaking to you, beauty is speaking to you, the power of God and His creation is speaking to you. And then after lunch if you pick up a novel and start reading then that book is gonna speak to you differently than nature did. And then if you read for a while and you pick up the newspaper, well the newspaper’s gonna speak to you in a different way than the novel did. And if you spend the whole day there and you watch the sun go down then the sunset is gonna speak to you different than the newspaper did. So, let’s just invite God to speak to us in whatever way that we’re listening as we move through the book of Ezekiel and to guide us into what we need to hear for the days ahead in our own lives. And, so, let’s begin. We got a brand-new month. We got a brand-new week. We’ll read from the Evangelical Heritage Version of the Scriptures this week. Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 1 through 3 verse 15.
Prayer:
Father we thank You for Your word. We thank You that we have this image of all things new - brand-new week, brand-new month, brand-new territory in the Scriptures - and it brings us a sense of sigh. Like we’ve been through a lot this year and we are here, and You have been faithful, and You continue to lead us forward. We are so deeply grateful. And, so, Father as we move through these days, they have been indeed tumultuous days this year on a number of levels and continue to be on a number of levels right now as we continue to move through this time. May we find comfort and rest under the shadow of Your wings, that we are cradled and protected by Your mighty strong arm, that we are Your children and we are here bearing witness to the birth of new things because You are doing a new thing, You are continually doing a new thing and we want this new thing to continue in our hearts, this transformation, this sanctification, this setting us apart, that we lose our taste for the world and hunger and thirst for Your kingdom. Declaring along with the psalmist, better is one day in Your courts than a thousand anywhere else. And, so, as we move into this final couple months of the year we already know where gonna need You. When do we not? We think we don’t sometimes and then we take things up in our own power and strength and crash them. We’re not doing that anymore. We learned our lesson. We need You and only You. And we need Your ways and only Your ways in our hearts and in our lives. This is what will lead us on the narrow path that leads to life. And its life that we are looking for and life comes from You. You are the source, the source of life. And, so, come Holy Spirit we pray as we…as we consecrate this week and this month to You. Come Jesus in Your mighty name we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
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Man, this is it like not one of my favorite days of the year, not because there’s anything really, really bad going on. It's…it’s…this is the day where in the clocks…the clocks set back. And, so, in the time zone that I live here in Nashville that just makes for…that makes…that makes it dark. It’s gonna be dark maybe a few minutes after 5 PM. By the time Christmas gets here it’ll be dark by 430 in the afternoon and that’s…that’s not my favorite. There’s nothing wrong…everything’s fine…it’s just not my favorite. But I’ll be looking forward to it getting dark in our earlier today as will many of you. And, so, that is what’s going on around here right now, but there are always different things going on in the Daily Audio Bible world especially at the Prayer Wall. It’s an ongoing ever-growing ever-present thing where we can always have a place to go for prayer and always have a place to go and offer prayer. So, be aware of that. That’s in the Community section of the website. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the little Drawer icon. That’s in the upper left-hand corner and you can also get to the Prayer Wall. So, check that out.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hey my friends it’s Mike and I’ve been in this journey with you for over 10 years and when you offer a prayer request you should know that there are people like me who are just instantly praying with you and for you. And when you feel alone you’re not alone and when you feel like you can’t go on and there’s no one in your corner look over your shoulder you got your DAB back there just cheering you on and praying for you and believing with you. So, this…this call is really to challenge and encourage and…and really ask everyone in the DAB to journey through the Daily Audio Proverb for the next 30 days, hopefully for the month of November. Each day invest five minutes in…in the Daily Audio Proverb and you can hit it right there in the app and if you do and if you let it permeate your life, your relationships, how you respond, it will have a dramatic impact. Proverbs 8 says you’ll have more joy, you will find life and grace. And then actually if we don’t get wisdom or if we refuse wisdom that we’re only hurting ourselves. We’re actually moving toward death and not towards life. And I…I found this myself a couple years ago, how I was…I was responding foolishly, and I realized, “wow! I need more wisdom. Where do I get that?” And I heard Brian mention the Daily Audio Proverb. Changed my life. I invite you to take the challenge for the next 30 days, five minutes a day, Daily Audio Proverb. You won’t regret it and you’ll be glad you did. Your Father is madly in love with you any he gave you this gift. I love you guys. Bye.
Good morning my name is __ I am calling in for prayer. I’m having a hard time right now. I need a place to live. I’ve been watching…listening to Brian for about four or five years. It’s my first-time calling in. I would like for all of you to pray for me to help…to ask God to help me find a place to live. I’m kinda down right now but I’m trying to pull myself up and keep going and wait on the Lord to guide me and help me find a place to live. So, please pray for me. I love you all and thank you Brian for what you do every day. Bye.
This prayer goes out to Brian from Australia. I heard his call for prayer about saving his marriage and being patient and stepping up to stay in it and I just wanted to say I’ve been there my brother. The strength you’re showing is amazing. Your love for your wife is amazing and for your family and kids is amazing. I just pray that God directs you and guides you and keeps your family safe and together. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. And good luck brother.
This is Candace from Oregon please join me in prayer is for Radiant Rachel’s stepdaughter Gabby, I believe her name is Gabby. Lord, we ask You to surround this beautiful Young woman. We ask You that she would be completely freed from all foul spirits that have been harassing her in any way and that the only spirit allowed to surround her is the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ over and under her, in front of her, behind her, and on either side. I pray Lord that she would just become free to become everything that You made her to be in all her beauty Lord. I pray that she will take medicines that are helpful, that You will just restore her health by any means You choose Lord, that You give her robust health. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and for His sake. We ask You Lord to bless Radiant Rachel’s entire household. Pour out Your blessing on them Lord and put a hedge of protection around even the building, the house itself and especially guard the hearts of each person and their family. We ask this in Jesus’ name and for His sake and to His honor and glory. May we all become obedient to You Lord, taking every thought captive to the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.