OUR FATHER WHO SAVES HIS PEOPLE FROM FALSE PROPHETS

The book of Ezekiel chapter 13 verse 9 says this;

My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.

This verse is a declaration by the Lord that the prophets who tapped into the realm of falsity and were thus reporting false vision and uttering false divination would be barred from the council of God's people. 

They had allowed their imaginations to be leveraged by deceiving spirits and then prophecied these false notions as though they were the words of the Lord.

They would be blotted from the records of Israel and they would be expelled from the kingdom of Israel.l1

Distracted by these deceptions, the prophets failed to shore up the defences of Israel leaving her vulnerable to invasion because her walls were weak and merely covered in whitewash to give the appearance of being strong.

The Lord, in Ezekiel chapter 13 verses 22 - 23,  says;

Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives,  therefore you will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will save my people from your hands. And then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO DEPOSES KINGS AND RAISES UP NEW ONES

The book of Isaiah chapter 19 verse 4 says this;

I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,”  declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

In the judgement against Egypt for their aggression against God's people, the Egyptians were made subject to a harsh taskmaster who had absolute power over the people of Egypt.

As part of the destruction of Egypt's ability to afflict the children of Israel, a new ruler put into place by the Lord and this ruler will  inflict recriminations against the Egyptians which will further demoralize the Egyptian kngdom.

This prophecy, uses the kingdom of Egypt as a stand-in for the worldly system of power that seeks to completely shape the world in the image of man and erase the Lord and His salvation from the knowledge of men.

This emergence of modern 'Egypt' , which is driven by a creed that seeks to decimate the people of the earth even as the Egyptians of old tried to decimate the children of Israel and then rule them harshly with restrictions on what they needed for their work just as the Egyptians of old did by withholding straw from their brick making work.

But the Lord, as described by Isaiah, will visit Egypt and render the kingdom inert with foolishness and economic woe and will orchestrate the placement of a new ruler over them who will act despotically toward his own people.

As Daniel says in the book of Daniel chapter 2 verse 21;

He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO JUDGES FALSE PROPHETS

The book of Ezekiel chapter 13 verse 11 says this;

therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. 

The Lord, speaking of the walls of defence that were built around Jerusalem, gave warning through the prophet Ezekiel that the wall was going to fall.

Just as the wall surrounding the city was flimsy and deceptively covered in whitewash, so were the prophecies of peace being delivered by the false prophets of Israel at the time.

The Lord declared that the wall would fall under the power of the natural forces the Lord unleashed on it.

First, torrential rain would fall on the wall then hailstones would batter the wall and then violent winds would rush in to blow down any standing walls.

The false prophets would themselves be washed away like the false security they were trying to offer to the people.

Jerusalem would also fall when the judgement of a foreign power came to defeat Israel.

The false prophets promised peace out of their own imaginations but there would be no peace.

This reflects the well known scripture found in Jeremiah chapter 6 verse 14 which says;

“They have treated superficially the [bloody] broken wound of My people, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ When there is no peace.

And this is reflected again in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 1 - 4 which says;

Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.

Here, the people of God are advised to be prepared so that even when peace and safety is being declared around them, they would not be caught unawares when destruction comes.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO GAVE WARNING TO ISRAEL.OF THEIR COMING JUDGEMENT

The book of Ezekiel chapter 4 verses 3 - 5 says this;

 Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel.

“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. 

I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.

The prophet Ezekiel was charged by the Lord to bring a word of warning to the people of Israel that judgement was coming to visit them because of their rebellion against their God.

He was commanded to construct a miniature representation of the city of Jerusalem and then he was to enact a siege against the miniature city.

As directed, Ezekiel took an iron pan and placed it to represent an iron wall that protected the city. He then was to turn toward the city and represent the city was under siege.

This was a warning to the people of Israel of what was to come.

Ezekiel was the commanded by the Lord to lie on the ground before the city for 390 days to represent the number of years that Israel had sinned.

For those days, Ezekiel was to bear the sin of the people of Israel in a representation of how the Messiah would bear the sins of the world.

Whereas Ezekiel was mortal, he could only bear the sins in a figurative way and only for a finite period. The Messiah, who is eternal, would actually bear the sins of mankind and thus save mankind from the penalty of death because of our sins.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO PROTECTS US FROM OUR MORTAL ENEMIES

Psalm chapter 17 verse 9 says this;

...from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.

This verse captures a phrase from the prayers of the Lord Jesus just before He was tracked down by His enemies and arrested in the garden of Gethsemane.

Here, Jesus asks His father to guard Him and to hide Him in the Shadow of His wings so that the wicked who were attempting to destroy Him and His mortal enemies who encircled Him, would be unable to defeat Him.

The wicked sought to destroy Him because of His righteousness that shone contrary to them and those who were His mortal enemies sought death for Him because He was life and light exposed them for their hypocrisy.

Even though Jesus had identified Himself to the soldiers when they entered the garden looking for Him,  they surrounded Him to entrap Him in their midst.

The Lord is mighty.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO DEFENDS HIS PEOPLE FROM RUTHLESS MOCKERS

The book of Isaiah chapter 37 verse 4;

 It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.”

This verse carries the hope that King Hezekiah of Judah sent by his servants to the prophet Isaiah along with the report of the threats that the commander of the  Assyrian army named Sennacherib had made against Judah.

The Assyrian commander had taunted the people of Judah telling them that the gods of the other kingdoms that Assyria had already conquered were unable to save them and therefore the God of of the people of Judah would not be able to save them either.

Hezekiah's hope was that the taunts of Sennacherib against the people of Judah would arouse the wrath of the Lord and that the Lord would rebuke them and therefore a remnant of people in Judah would be spared.

When the prophet Isaiah heard this report, he gave this response recorded of Isaiah chapter 37 verses 6 - 7;

Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 

Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’”

Hezekiah's hope was realised when the insults that Sennacherib has leveled against the Lord had been noted in heaven and there was a rebuke that was set in motion to bring about judgement on the Assyrians.

Amen.

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