Mike Sirignano: Good evening, brothers and sisters, and welcome to the next episode of the Route 66 series.
Mike Sirignano: Tonight, we are going to be looking at the book of Ezekiel, and it is an honor and a privilege to be able to serve the Lord in this manner.
Mike Sirignano: Before we get started, let's pray.
Mike Sirignano: Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Old Testament prophets whom you ordained to send a message to the people of Israel and, in turn, send a message to us believers through your word.
Mike Sirignano: Help us to gain a clear understanding of what you're trying to tell us and help us to apply it to our lives.
Mike Sirignano: In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
Mike Sirignano: Now the book of Ezekiel.
Mike Sirignano: The name Ezekiel means strengthened by God, which is indeed appropriate for the work that God commissioned him to do.
Mike Sirignano: His authorship is declared in the first verse of the book, where he references himself in regards to his age.
Mike Sirignano: He says in my 30th year, which is the age that priests started their ministry.
Mike Sirignano: Chapter 1 and verse 3 says the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, the priest.
Mike Sirignano: Now, a priest was a man that represented the people to God, yet he was also a prophet, a person that God used to represent him to the people.
Mike Sirignano: This would put him in the rare company of men who functioned in both roles.
Mike Sirignano: Ezekiel received his call to prophesy in 593 BC in Babylon, during the fifth year of King Jehoiakim's captivity, which would have taken place in 597 BC.
Mike Sirignano: This was the second of three deportations led by Nebuchadnezzar as he took possession of Jerusalem.
Mike Sirignano: In that year, ezekiel, along with 10,000 other Jews, were exiled.
Mike Sirignano: 10,000 other Jews were exiled.
Mike Sirignano: His ministry lasted about 22 years, ending in approximately 571 BC.
Mike Sirignano: He was a contemporary of Jeremiah, who was about 20 years older, and of Daniel, who was about the same age.
Mike Sirignano: Now, ezekiel is a unique book in that he uses visions, prophecies, parables, signs and symbols to proclaim and dramatize the message of God to the exiles in Israel.
Mike Sirignano: But if we look closely, god is also speaking to us and in our talk tonight we're going to cover certain key sections, discussing not only their original meaning but also the significance and how they relate to us in today's world.
Mike Sirignano: We'll start with chapters one to three, which cover the preparation and commission of Ezekiel.
Mike Sirignano: The opening verse in the book identifies Ezekiel as being among the exiles.
Mike Sirignano: The Israelites had been ripped from their homeland and stripped of everything they knew, and the concept that God would come to them was foreign.
Mike Sirignano: But indeed God does speak to them.
Mike Sirignano: While they're in exile and despite the judgment that lies ahead, there is hope that God will restore them as a nation.
Mike Sirignano: But what of us living in today's world?
Mike Sirignano: We know nothing of being in exile, or do we?
Mike Sirignano: Yes, israel lived in a land that was not their own, but are we ourselves really at home in this world?
Mike Sirignano: The Israelites felt isolated in their exile, but do we as Christians not experience isolation in the same way?
Mike Sirignano: In reality, we are citizens in a foreign land.
Mike Sirignano: We are exiled here on earth, but God promises to restore us to our true home, which is waiting for us in eternity.
Mike Sirignano: In the past, god spoke to the exiles through his prophets.
Mike Sirignano: Today, he speaks to us through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mike Sirignano: Just as the Israelites could not see the restoration that was prophesied, we cannot comprehend the full glory that awaits us as we begin.
Mike Sirignano: Chapter one, ezekiel sees a stunning vision of the majesty of God, with a chariot of living creatures and a glorious throne.
Mike Sirignano: The chariot is made up of four living winged creatures, each with a wheel that can move in any direction.
Mike Sirignano: These creatures symbolize God's majesty and glory.
Mike Sirignano: The fact that their movement has no limit means that God is not confined to the temple, but in the same way, his judgment is not confined either.
Mike Sirignano: The wheels of the chariot are covered with eyes.
Mike Sirignano: The significance is that God knows all and sees all.
Mike Sirignano: We cannot run or hide from God's wrath.
Mike Sirignano: Now, before we look further at Ezekiel's calling, I wanted to find the term son of man, which God uses to address Ezekiel 93 times in the book.
Mike Sirignano: The Hebrew translation is ben adam, which simply means human being.
Mike Sirignano: Now, this is different from how the term is used in the New Testament.
Mike Sirignano: Here Christ uses the term the Son of man to describe himself as the Messiah.
Mike Sirignano: Ezekiel's first vision begins the process of communicating God's judgment to Israel.
Mike Sirignano: They saw God as limited to a box in the temple, but here we see he is right there in their midst, in the temple.
Mike Sirignano: But here we see he is right there in their midst.
Mike Sirignano: However, his presence among his people is not always good news, as we shall see later in the book.
Mike Sirignano: God goes on to explain to Ezekiel that he is sending him to prophesy to the Israelites who are rebellious to God.
Mike Sirignano: They are obstinate and stubborn and they are not likely to listen to him.
Mike Sirignano: First he warns Ezekiel not to be afraid of them.
Mike Sirignano: Then he hands Ezekiel a scroll and commands him to eat it and then go and speak what God says to the people.
Mike Sirignano: Now, ezekiel did not eat this scroll in a literal sense.
Mike Sirignano: This was part of a vision, and there is a lesson in here for us in order to speak God's word, we have to know it.
Mike Sirignano: The symbolic eating of the scroll in this vision is telling us that we must internalize the word of God by reading and studying in order to proclaim the truth of the gospel.
Mike Sirignano: God knows that the Israelites will be stubborn and stiff-necked, so he must strengthen Ezekiel to deal with this.
Mike Sirignano: And what of our calling to evangelize in the world today?
Mike Sirignano: Is it much different?
Mike Sirignano: Just as Ezekiel was, we are called and sent to a people who are stubborn and obstinate.
Mike Sirignano: God moves us to be obedient to his call, but our evangelism does not always provide a happy outcome.
Mike Sirignano: Sometimes he will save someone in spite of our meager efforts, while other times, even the most eloquent presentation will fall on deaf ears.
Mike Sirignano: Now it is important for us to pray before we evangelize, or we may become self-reliant instead of depending on God.
Mike Sirignano: We need to pray and seek the power of the Holy Spirit.
Mike Sirignano: It is not about being more active, but for the Spirit to become more active in and through us.
Mike Sirignano: But for the Spirit to become more active in and through us.
Mike Sirignano: And what about this responsibility God gives to us?
Mike Sirignano: To evangelize the lost.
Mike Sirignano: At the end of chapter 3, god calls Ezekiel to be a watchman for the house of Israel.
Mike Sirignano: Now, what's interesting about this passage is not so much the change in the people who hear his message, but the responsibility laid on Ezekiel to preach to all, regardless of their response.
Mike Sirignano: He is commanded to bring the message of judgment to all people, whether wicked or righteous, whether they listen or not.
Mike Sirignano: And along with this command, god sets the consequences for Ezekiel should he fail to carry out his responsibility For the people.
Mike Sirignano: They either hear, respond and live, or they ignore and die.
Mike Sirignano: But inside the message is hope for those who ignore that there is still time for them to hear the word and live.
Mike Sirignano: It's time for them to hear the word and live.
Mike Sirignano: In the same way, the righteous must continue to listen and heed the warning given to them lest they die.
Mike Sirignano: Ezekiel must practice what he preaches.
Mike Sirignano: If he is faithful and obeys God's command to proclaim the warning, he will live.
Mike Sirignano: But if he fails to warn them.
Mike Sirignano: God will hold him responsible for the people he failed to warn and he too will die Like Ezekiel.
Mike Sirignano: We are the watchmen of today.
Mike Sirignano: God calls us not only to proclaim the good news of the gospel, but also to warn people of the bad news that time is running out and that judgment is coming, and we are to bring this news to everyone without distinction.
Mike Sirignano: It is not ours to decide who is deserving of it and who is not.
Mike Sirignano: It is God's work to sort that out.
Mike Sirignano: We must be faithful heralds of God's word, or the blood of the people will be on our hands.
Mike Sirignano: Moving along.
Mike Sirignano: Chapters 8 to 11 contain the second of Ezekiel's visions.
Mike Sirignano: While he is living in exile in Babylon, ezekiel is transported in a vision to the temple in Jerusalem by God himself.
Mike Sirignano: God intends to show Ezekiel and the leaders in the exile community why he will not save Jerusalem.
Mike Sirignano: In this vision, there are four examples of idolatry that God finds detestable.
Mike Sirignano: Ezekiel has been shown the sinful nature of Jerusalem.
Mike Sirignano: Their sin extends from outside the city gate to the inner courtyards of the temple.
Mike Sirignano: It involves both men and women, including the 70 elders of the temple leadership.
Mike Sirignano: It includes idolatrous worship imported from the surrounding nations, involving all kinds of gods.
Mike Sirignano: It is a mix of many religions, similar to a multi-faith worship service.
Mike Sirignano: It is an offensive rejection of God that is a foretaste of the future.
Mike Sirignano: So let's fast forward to today.
Mike Sirignano: How many times do we hear people tell us but we all serve the same God?
Mike Sirignano: Well, we don't.
Mike Sirignano: Christianity is radically different from the world and our God is a jealous God commanding us to serve no other.
Mike Sirignano: Ezekiel's vision condemns such idolatry.
Mike Sirignano: Everything he sees is an example of people turning their backs on the Lord, and we see this in many so-called churches that claim obedience to the Bible.
Mike Sirignano: There should be no compromise in our church.
Mike Sirignano: We must be totally committed to the Lord in every way.
Mike Sirignano: We must preach biblical truth that confronts the comfortable idolatry of a multi-faith religion, or we will face the same judgment that will come upon all idolaters.
Mike Sirignano: And we see the result of this idolatry at the end of chapter 11.
Mike Sirignano: God's glory rises up from the temple and exits the city.
Mike Sirignano: His chariot transports him to the Mount of Olives, where he makes his final departure from Jerusalem before heading east towards Babylon.
Mike Sirignano: Israel's idolatry became so blatant and offensive that God decided to leave his own temple, the.
Mike Sirignano: The Israelites had driven their God away and he gave the city and temple over to destruction.
Mike Sirignano: But God has not abandoned his people.
Mike Sirignano: Rather, he goes into exile with them and at the end of the vision, god promises that he will return a remnant of Israel back to the land.
Mike Sirignano: He will transform them by removing their heart of stone and giving them a new, soft heart of flesh so that they can love and follow their God.
Mike Sirignano: But let us not be fooled into thinking, as the Israelites did, we come to church here in a building.
Mike Sirignano: But just as the temple was, it is just a building.
Mike Sirignano: How many so-called churches are out there, filled with people of an idolatrous nature worshiping and praising an idolatrous God?
Mike Sirignano: Because the true God of the universe has abandoned that building, just as he abandoned the temple.
Mike Sirignano: If we turn our backs on God, he will turn his back on us.
Mike Sirignano: God's presence can be in this building, but only through the Holy Spirit that indwells in us.
Mike Sirignano: He will reside in us wherever we go, even into exile, and that is a promise we can count on.
Mike Sirignano: Chapters 12 to 24 focus on God's coming judgment for Israel.
Mike Sirignano: There are several sign experiences in this section where Ezekiel acts out the message God wants him to deliver.
Mike Sirignano: But in the interest of time, we're just going to focus on the main two.
Mike Sirignano: Chapter 12 starts off with a dramatic demonstration of how the exile will occur.
Mike Sirignano: Ezekiel was to pack sparingly during the day, as if trying to escape captivity.
Mike Sirignano: In the evening he was to go out and dig through the wall of his house by hand and crawl through it with his belongings, all while the Israelites were watching.
Mike Sirignano: This was to depict the attempted escape and capture of Zedekiah.
Mike Sirignano: We're going to read verses 10 to 14, and the AB team was gracious enough to put the scriptures up on the screen.
Mike Sirignano: Say to them this is what the Lord, god, says.
Mike Sirignano: This pronouncement concerns the prince in Jerusalem and the whole house of Israel living there.
Mike Sirignano: You are to say, the prince, who is among them, will lift his bags to his shoulder in the dark and go out.
Mike Sirignano: They will dig through the wall to bring him out through it.
Mike Sirignano: He will cover his face so he cannot see the land with his eyes, but I will spread my net over him and he will be caught in my snare.
Mike Sirignano: I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans.
Mike Sirignano: Yet he will not see it and he will die there.
Mike Sirignano: I will also scatter all the attendants who surround him and all his troops to every direction of the wind, and I will draw a sword to chase after them Now.
Mike Sirignano: In addition, god tells Ezekiel to eat and drink, with trembling and shuddering, showing the anxiety that the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah will feel.
Mike Sirignano: Showing the anxiety that the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah will feel Through Ezekiel's actions and God's words.
Mike Sirignano: A message of judgment was made clear to those listening and that God was the one who brought it about.
Mike Sirignano: We need not dig through a wall like Ezekiel in order to get the message of the gospel across.
Mike Sirignano: God's word explains the meaning of our actions, while our actions underline the reality of God's word.
Mike Sirignano: It shows that the word and deed can work together to penetrate the heart.
Mike Sirignano: And in chapter 24, as this section ends, we see the death of Ezekiel's wife ends, we see the death of Ezekiel's wife.
Mike Sirignano: It is the only mention of her in the book.
Mike Sirignano: God describes her to Ezekiel as the delight of your eyes.
Mike Sirignano: God tells him in advance that his wife will die and instructs him on how to act In verses 16 and 17,.
Mike Sirignano: God tells him how to act In verses 16 and 17,.
Mike Sirignano: God tells him Son of man, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you with a fatal blow.
Mike Sirignano: But you must not lament or weep or let your tears flow.
Mike Sirignano: Groan quietly, do not observe mourning rites for the dead, put on your turban and strap your sandals on your feet, do not cover your mustache or eat the bread of mourners.
Mike Sirignano: Now, this strange behavior is a sign to the people of what is to come.
Mike Sirignano: The temple in Jerusalem was the delight of their eyes.
Mike Sirignano: It was to be destroyed along with the families of the exiles that had been left behind.
Mike Sirignano: Yet the people would not weep outwardly, because the judgment would be so overwhelming that only inward grief would be possible.
Mike Sirignano: But what does that have to do with us?
Mike Sirignano: When judgment comes, it will always be a shock, no matter how clearly and often we have been warned.
Mike Sirignano: And God, as our Creator, has the right to do that.
Mike Sirignano: And he has that right because he willingly gave up the delight of his eyes, his only son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mike Sirignano: Since God did not spare his own son, the Lord Jesus Christ, since God did not spare his own son, we should be willing to spare whatever is the delight of our eyes.
Mike Sirignano: Sometimes God takes from us what is most precious to us.
Mike Sirignano: It is in those times that his grace will enable us to say not my will, but yours be done, lord.
Mike Sirignano: Grace will enable us to say, not my will, but yours be done, lord.
Mike Sirignano: So we see that God is tough on the people of Israel, just as he is tough on us.
Mike Sirignano: But as we move to the next section of the book in chapters 25 to 32, he is also tough on the enemies of Israel.
Mike Sirignano: He is also tough on the enemies of Israel.
Mike Sirignano: God judges the nations that surround Israel, specifically Ammon, moab, edom and Philistia.
Mike Sirignano: All of these nations, at some point in time, had mocked and fought against Israel and therefore against God himself.
Mike Sirignano: When Israel was judged by God, some of these nations rejoiced in her downfall and also added to that by stepping on Israel when she was down.
Mike Sirignano: So how does that apply to us?
Mike Sirignano: Let's look at ourselves for a moment and understand that we may have acted like these nations.
Mike Sirignano: So I'm going to throw out a few questions for us to consider, and I'll confess to you that they cut me to the core.
Mike Sirignano: So have we ever rejoiced at the judgment of others.
Mike Sirignano: Have we ever said good for them or they deserve it?
Mike Sirignano: When someone gets taken down, do we sometimes have a righteous pride that we are better than those who have fallen?
Mike Sirignano: Sadly, I know what my answers would be.
Mike Sirignano: The nation of Tyre was also like this.
Mike Sirignano: They not only kicked Israel when she was down, but sought to replace her as the center of the universe.
Mike Sirignano: The seductive lure of beauty, power and wisdom made Tyre an attractive alternative to the fallen Jerusalem, and in chapter 28, in verse 2, god admonishes the king of Tyre your heart is proud and you have said I am a God.
Mike Sirignano: I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.
Mike Sirignano: Yet you are a man and not a God, though you have regarded your heart as that of a God.
Mike Sirignano: So here are a few more questions.
Mike Sirignano: Do we ever look at a person or a situation and make a judgment based on looks instead of substance?
Mike Sirignano: How about power?
Mike Sirignano: Does our quest for power in any situation ever cause us to stumble into sin and the folly of wisdom?
Mike Sirignano: Worldly wisdom how often do we blindly follow it?
Mike Sirignano: And what about our wisdom?
Mike Sirignano: How often do we proudly brag about it?
Mike Sirignano: And then there is God's wisdom.
Mike Sirignano: How often do we ignore it?
Mike Sirignano: Again?
Mike Sirignano: For myself, the answer is hurt.
Mike Sirignano: And finally, we look at Egypt With this illusion of a superpower.
Mike Sirignano: It was an attractive ally for Israel, but when it came time to back up that alliance, egypt was nowhere to be found, leaving Israel to its fate.
Mike Sirignano: The problems came in that Israel placed its trust in Egypt instead of in God.
Mike Sirignano: There were numerous times in history that this idolatrous relationship caused problems for the nation of Israel, and now God would judge Egypt for its hand in that.
Mike Sirignano: So too for us.
Mike Sirignano: The world has many powerful attractions that seem to offer us easy routes to security and success.
Mike Sirignano: Again, I ask how often do the pursuits of security and success have us look to the world instead of God?
Mike Sirignano: Are we sacrificing for worldly gain rather than taking up our cross and following Jesus?
Mike Sirignano: On the dollar bill, it says in God we trust.
Mike Sirignano: But what do we trust more?
Mike Sirignano: The slogan or the paper that it's printed on?
Mike Sirignano: Again, my answers can be very sad indeed.
Mike Sirignano: Now, while a good deal of Ezekiel deals with God's wrath and judgment, the remaining third of the book speaks of restoration, hope and the promise of new life.
Mike Sirignano: Let's look at God's promise in chapter 36, verses 24 to 30.
Mike Sirignano: For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and will bring you into your own land.
Mike Sirignano: I will also sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean.
Mike Sirignano: I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.
Mike Sirignano: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
Mike Sirignano: I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Mike Sirignano: I will place my spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances.
Mike Sirignano: You will live in the land that I gave your ancestors.
Mike Sirignano: You will be my people and I will be your God.
Mike Sirignano: I will save you from all your uncleanness, and then in verses 33 to 36, so that you will no longer experience reproach among the nations on account of famine.
Mike Sirignano: And then in verses 33 to 36,.
Mike Sirignano: This is what the Lord, god, says On the day I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the ruins will be rebuilt.
Mike Sirignano: The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of everyone who passes by.
Mike Sirignano: They will say this land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden.
Mike Sirignano: The cities that were once ruined, desolate and demolished are now fortified and inhabited, then the nations that remain around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt what is demolished and have replanted what was desolate.
Mike Sirignano: I, the Lord, have spoken and I will do it.
Mike Sirignano: Judgment followed by mercy.
Mike Sirignano: God did not destroy Israel completely, but his mercy was not done out of compassion, as one might think.
Mike Sirignano: It was done out of concern for his holy name.
Mike Sirignano: The Lord will act not for Israel's sake but for the sake of his own name.
Mike Sirignano: His action of restoring his people is not grounded in love but in a demonstration of his holiness.
Mike Sirignano: And that brings us into chapter 37 and probably the most well-known portion of scripture in the book, and that is the valley of the dry bones.
Mike Sirignano: He takes Ezekiel in a vision to a scene of total desolation where he is confronted with a scene of total death.
Mike Sirignano: He is led back and forth over piles of bones.
Mike Sirignano: The valley is not filled with slain corpses but with skeletal remains, and those bones were very dry.
Mike Sirignano: The bones signify God's people who have been utterly destroyed for their sin.
Mike Sirignano: No life remains in those bones.
Mike Sirignano: In verse 3, god asks Ezekiel, son of man can these bones live?
Mike Sirignano: Now imagine being confronted by God with that question.
Mike Sirignano: Although the scene tells him otherwise, ezekiel is afraid to give a negative answer, but in view of God's overwhelming wrath, he cannot simply say of course.
Mike Sirignano: So he turns it back over to God by responding O sovereign Lord, you alone know God certainly has the power to bring the dry bones back to life.
Mike Sirignano: Regeneration is brought about through the infusion of the Holy Spirit.
Mike Sirignano: In response to the prophecy of God's word, ezekiel is told to prophesy to the bones and require them to listen to God's word.
Mike Sirignano: In response, the Lord will make breath, enter them and bring them back to life, not as a ghostly skeleton, but as living flesh.
Mike Sirignano: Now there is a precedent for this.
Mike Sirignano: Let's look at Genesis, chapter 2 and verse 7.
Mike Sirignano: And how does this relate to us?
Mike Sirignano: We were those dry bones.
Mike Sirignano: We were dead in our transgressions and sin.
Mike Sirignano: It is a spiritual condition that, by nature, we all share.
Mike Sirignano: We were alive physically, but cut off from the life-giving presence of God and therefore without hope.
Mike Sirignano: From the life-giving presence of God and therefore without hope.
Mike Sirignano: No matter how we felt physically, good or bad, we were all equally dead.
Mike Sirignano: So the question is not can God raise us to life, but will he raise us to life?
Mike Sirignano: And that answer is yes, just like it was for Israel, and it is through our union with Christ.
Mike Sirignano: In Christ, there is life for the spiritually dead.
Mike Sirignano: Jesus himself took on our death when he died on the cross.
Mike Sirignano: He took on our sins and was cut off from God for them.
Mike Sirignano: But just as the dry bones in Ezekiel did not remain dead, so also did Christ not remain in the tomb.
Mike Sirignano: He burst forward with resurrection power, raised from the dead by God, and because of that we are now made alive in Christ.
Mike Sirignano: Our sins are forgiven.
Mike Sirignano: Nailed to the cross, we are not dry bones any longer, but living, breathing, spirit-infused children of God.
Mike Sirignano: What Ezekiel saw in his vision has now become a reality.
Mike Sirignano: So, yes, god has restored Israel, but there will be no end to the attacks on this nation.
Mike Sirignano: In fact, these attacks will continue until the second coming of Christ.
Mike Sirignano: In chapters 38 and 39, we see Ezekiel prophesied to Gog from the land of Magog.
Mike Sirignano: In chapter 38, verses 14 to 16, god speaks of this coming invasion.
Mike Sirignano: Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog.
Mike Sirignano: This is what the Lord, god, says On that day when my people, israel, are dwelling securely.
Mike Sirignano: Will you not know this and come from your place in the remotest parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, who are all riding horses, a huge assembly, a powerful army.
Mike Sirignano: You will advance against my people, israel, like a cloud covering the land.
Mike Sirignano: It will happen in the last days, gog, that I will bring you against my land so that the nations may know me when I demonstrate my holiness through you in their sight.
Mike Sirignano: So who is this Gog and where is Magog Now?
Mike Sirignano: There are no historical records of such a person or place, but the term Gog has come to refer to a title for an enemy of God's people.
Mike Sirignano: Now, the battle that is spoken of could be seen as the final battle of Armageddon and Gog as the Antichrist, but we can also see it as the ongoing battles that believers face from day to day.
Mike Sirignano: Gog and his army seek to destroy the restored Israel are simply the ultimate expression of Satan as he seeks to destroy Christians in the present day.
Mike Sirignano: So why should we feel confident in this battle?
Mike Sirignano: First, although this world is in tribulation, god is in control.
Mike Sirignano: Satan can achieve nothing other than what God allows for his purpose.
Mike Sirignano: Second, god has the victory, no matter how strong the opposition, no matter what Satan throws at the church, his plans will come to nothing.
Mike Sirignano: Third, God's victory will mean the ultimate destruction of all those who oppose him.
Mike Sirignano: Satan and his minions will be cast into the lake of fire.
Mike Sirignano: And lastly, god's victory means security for those who trust in him.
Mike Sirignano: The God who will defeat Satan will take care of his people.
Mike Sirignano: Romans, chapter 8 and verse 35 asks who can separate us from the love of Christ?
Mike Sirignano: The answer is nobody.
Mike Sirignano: Now, as we come to the last nine chapters, we see Ezekiel's final vision, and it is the climax of the entire book.
Mike Sirignano: In chapters 40 to 48, we see a detailed description of a future temple where genuine worship will take place and where God's presence will be.
Mike Sirignano: Where genuine worship will take place and where God's presence will be.
Mike Sirignano: This is and will be fulfilled in the coming of the true temple and true place of eternal worship, jesus Christ.
Mike Sirignano: This description does not point to some physical temple structure.
Mike Sirignano: Instead, god always intended these chapters to literally point to Jesus himself.
Mike Sirignano: Unlike a physical temple, there are no walls or curtains that keep us out of God's presence, not because we are more holy than the people in Ezekiel's time, but because of the once and for all sacrifice of our Lord, jesus Christ.
Mike Sirignano: But let us ask ourselves is he our true focus?
Mike Sirignano: Are we examining our hearts to see where our true focus is?
Mike Sirignano: Do we live our lives for our own glory or for God's glory?
Mike Sirignano: Now, in chapter 47, we see Ezekiel's focus turn from the temple to the surrounding land.
Mike Sirignano: We see Ezekiel's focus turn from the temple to the surrounding land.
Mike Sirignano: This is expressed in a vision of a life-giving river that flows out from the temple.
Mike Sirignano: It starts out as a trickle and gradually grows to a river deep enough to swim in.
Mike Sirignano: So we have this swelling water flowing from the temple.
Mike Sirignano: But that is still not the best part.
Mike Sirignano: God then tells us the purpose of the water In chapter 47.
Mike Sirignano: In verse 9, it says Every kind of living creature that swarms will live wherever the river flows, and there will be a huge number of fish because this water goes there.
Mike Sirignano: Since the water will become fresh, there will be life everywhere the river goes.
Mike Sirignano: And in verse 12, all kinds of trees providing food will grow along both banks of the river.
Mike Sirignano: Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail Each month.
Mike Sirignano: They will bear fresh fruit because the water comes from the sanctuary.
Mike Sirignano: Their fruit will be used for eating and their leaves.
Mike Sirignano: In John, chapter 2 and John 4, jesus strongly points us to seeing him as the fulfillment of God's promised temple.
Mike Sirignano: He says he's the temple, the giver of living water and the Messiah who brings in the time where people no longer worship in the physical temple but in him, in spirit and in truth.
Mike Sirignano: So undoubtedly he is God's temple.
Mike Sirignano: In Revelation, chapter 21, the Apostle John refers to the main street of the heavenly city.
Mike Sirignano: He says I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord, god the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
Mike Sirignano: This then brings us to Revelation 22 and begins with a description of the river of the water of life.
Mike Sirignano: In verses one to two of this final chapter of the Bible, john writes then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as a crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the city's main street.
Mike Sirignano: The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month.
Mike Sirignano: The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations.
Mike Sirignano: This water is the fulfillment of the water which flowed from the temple in Ezekiel 47.
Mike Sirignano: The water is flowing from Christ.
Mike Sirignano: He is the temple from where the water flows.
Mike Sirignano: From Christ, he is the temple from where the water flows.
Mike Sirignano: Now, in conclusion, we must realize that this world is not our home.
Mike Sirignano: Like the exiles of Ezekiel, we are resident aliens whose hearts and home are elsewhere.
Mike Sirignano: As we wait, we are to live lives completely centered on the new covenant temple, the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Mike Sirignano: It's truly wonderful, isn't it?
Mike Sirignano: It's truly all about Jesus.
Mike Sirignano: This is why the Old Testament promises exist.
Mike Sirignano: This is why the book of Ezekiel exists, with its description of judgment, restoration, god's presence and God's glory.
Mike Sirignano: We can look forward to the day when we will sit down to feast with one another in the heavenly city and God will be in our midst.
Mike Sirignano: Then, indeed, the new Jerusalem will bear the name that Ezekiel gave it Yahweh Shammah.
Mike Sirignano: The Lord is there.
Mike Sirignano: Let's pray, heavenly Father.
Mike Sirignano: We thank you, lord, for this time spent in your word.
Mike Sirignano: We thank you for giving us clarity and understanding to see that all things point to Jesus and that, in the end, he has the victory.
Mike Sirignano: In this, you will receive all the honor and all the glory, amen.