OUR LORD WHO INTERVENES ON OUR BEHALF

Joel chapter 1 verse 14 says this;

Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.

In the face of a devastating famine that was beginning to torment the land, the Lord counseled His people to ameliorate the upcoming harsh conditions by declaring a holy fast, calling a sacred assembly,  gathering all the elders and the people to the house of the Lord and then crying out to the Lord.

Sincerely and humbly asking for His intervention can cause Him to have mercy and bring His power to bear in the  protection of His people.

As the nation started to feel the effects of food shortages, the Lord, in Joel chapter 2 rises to the defence of His people with a mighty army mustered for war.

The forces of darkness that had gained control over the systems of this world, attempted to use  that control to gain power over all the people of the earth.

It is at this point that the army of God heard the command of the Lord and the forces of darkness were torn apart under the unrelenting and disciplined attacks by the kingdom of righteousness.

Bless the Lord who intervenes on our behalf.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO RESTORES US

Joel chapter 1 verse 12 says this;

The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree—all the trees of the field—are dried up.

Surely the people’s joy  is withered away.

This chapter speaks of the destruction that is inexorably descending on Israel because they did not guard the land against invaders.

Ruin rushed into the land with tragic and regrettable results. Food shortages were the most marked effects of the dissolution of the nation of Israel.

Verse 12 of Joel chapter 1 describes the final stages of this national decay.

The fruit trees of the land which were the nation's  spiritual and nutritional mainstays, dried up and with them, the joy of the people from the house of the Lord withered away.

The nation was left despondent and the only hope they had was to humbly  cry out to the Lord for reprieve.

Bless the Lord who restores us when we humble ourselves and pray.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO JUDGES CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Amos chapter 1 verse 13 says this;

This is what the Lord says:

“For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not relent. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders,

The book of  Amos chapter 1 lists 5 atrocities for which  the Lord would not relent in his judgement. Of the five, the atrocities that the spiritual kingdom of Ammon demanded and committed were particularly egregious.

In order for this kingdom to expand its spiritual borders, they used a campaign of terror where they sought the pregnant women of the land and cut them open to kill the children and their mothers in the most cruel way imaginable to gain cultic power.

For using this tactic of intimidation, the Lord judged the spiritual kingdom of Ammon with utter destruction and the king and officials of Ammon went into exile without reprieve.

The pursuits of cruelty against other human beings and especially crimes against children  will invite inescapable judgement from the Lord.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO RELENTS WHEN THE HUMBLE REPENT

Joel chapter 2 verse 13 says this;

Rend your heart and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

This excerpt from Joel chapter 2 offers mankind a means of persuading the Lord to relent from his anger.

Instead of carrying out an outward show of remorse and repentance, the recommendation is to have sincere inner remorse for wrongdoing where people weep and mourn for their sins.

The wrath of God is terrible to experience but Joel promises that even at the lateness of the hour, people can still return to God.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO SETS US FREE

Genesis chapter 9 verse 4 says this;

“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.

This instruction given to Noah after the flood is a qualifier on the allowance that God gave mankind to eat animal meat. Human beings were allowed to eat meat but the meat  they ate could not contain blood. 

This instruction, given in the time of Noah, well before the formal dietary laws were instituted by the prophet Moses, was one of the very few laws adopted by the early Christian's.

The book of Acts chapter 15 speaks of early Christian leaders grappling with which laws the gentiles needed to adopt when they became Christians.

Verse 29 says;

You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

Here, we see the apostles settling on a few restrictions that they believed were necessary to live a Christian life. Of all the laws that could be replicated from any part of the old testament, this law from Noah's time was on the very short list  of items.

Bless our Lord who makes known to us deep mysteries.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO IS GATHERING HIS MIGHTY ARMY

Joel chapter 3 verse 10 says this;

Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, “I am strong!”

This exhortation for God's people to go onto a war footing directs everyone to use their economic resources to get ready for war.

This verse also contains the well-known scriptural reference to the 'weak' saying that they are strong.

In this amassing army of God, the weakest conscript will be as strong as David as it says in Zachariah chapter 12 verse 8;

On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD going before them.

Bless the Lord who is gathering His army in the spiritual realm to battle in the heavenlies.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO SUMMONS HIS ARMY

Joel chapter 3 verse 9 reads this way;

Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war!

Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.

This verse is a command by the Lord to proclaim the call to all His spiritual people around the world  to prepare for war.

The verse then commands that the warriors be roused. The verse then commands that fighting men draw near and attack.

In quick succession, five  commands are issued by the Lord.

This dynamic communication stirs up the people whom God has prepared for war to quickly step up in the spirit and enter the arena of battle.

Bless the Lord who commands His people.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE GREAT POWER SHAPED THE EARTH

Genesis chapter 1 verse 9 says this;

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.

This astonishing decree by the Lord set a chain of events in motion.

The whole globe, being covered in water, would have to change its shape in order for water to gather in one place. Some parts of the planet would have to depress while other parts would have to rise so that dry land would be exposed and water be accumulated in confined areas.

Such an event would have been breath-taking to witness as it would require gargantuan quantities of energy to deform the whole earth to fulfil the decree of God.

Bless the Lord who has the power to shape the the earth by decree.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO CAN KNOW OUR DREAMS

Daniel chapter 2 verse 11 says this;

What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among humans.”

This verse records the response of the wise men of Babylon to King Nubchadnezzar's request that they tell nor merely the meaning of the dream that he had but what the dream actually was.

The magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers of Babylon did not believe it was possible to know what a person's dream was and so they implored the king to tell them his dream and then they would interpret  it for him.

The king was angry because the wise men of his court were evading the task he had set before them and he accused them of being fraudulent and ordered that they be put to death.

The wise men were almost right about one thing: No one can reveal the dream of a person except the gods. To be more precise, only the God of Israel could accomplish such a thing.

Dreams are vaporous at the best of times and easily fade from memory and record. Only the eternal God of heaven and earth would have the infrastructure in place that could document the king's dreams so that it could described back the the king.

In this chapter, Daniel, a prophet of the God of Israel, asked the king to stay the order of execution and that he would bring the details of the dream and then its interpretation.

And when the king agreed, Daniel brought the king the dream and then gave its meaning.

Such is the power of the God of Israel.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO REQUIRES US TO WATCH AND PRAY

Joel chapter 1  is a prophecy given about an imminent catastrophe about to befall the nation of Israel. Verses 11 - 12 reads this way;

Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree— all the trees of the field—are dried up. 

Surely the people’s joy is withered away.

In this passage, the specific plague that strikes the nation is an economic  disaster. The staple crops fail and the grape harvest is destroyed. Fruit trees and palms trees dry up and wither way and the people's joy follows suit.

Whereas they could always count on plentiful and reliable harvests, suddenly, every sector of the agricultural economy was in shambles, leaving people grieving and despondent.

The judgement comes upon  the land because a destructive enemy had been allowed to invade the land while the people, in their drunken stupor, slept.

Joel chapter 1 verse 5 -7 records it this way;

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips.

A nation has invaded my land, a mighty army without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees.

It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.

Leaving the nation undefended while the powers of darkness invaded to bring wanton destruction on the kingdom of God, brought the  judgement of the Lord on the people.  The mighty army of darkness brought ruin to the Lord's vines (I am the Vine and you are the branches) and did damage to the fig tree which represents the nation of Israel.

As the scriptures adjure us in Mathew 26 verse 41 where Jesus wakes up his sleeping disciples while the enemy encircled them;

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO GIVES US FAVOR WITH GOD AND WITH MEN

Genesis chapter 3 verses 5 - 6 says this;

 I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’”

When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."

This passage captures the roller coaster ride that Jacob experienced when he returned to the land of his fathers from the land of his father-in-law.

As he approached his homeland, he came close to the territory of his brother Esau with whom he had a strained relationship because of how Jacob had tricked Esau out of his birthright. 

Because of this, Jacob was not sure how Esau would receive him after all the years that had passed.

The passage starts with Jacob seeking to mend fences with his brother by sending envoys with a message of reconciliation and promises of gifts of goats and camels.

The envoys returned with a message that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men.

Upon hearing this, Jacob went into distress mode as he tried to work out how to placate his brother or if his brother attacked, how at least some of his family  could escape?

In a state of fear, Jacob turned to the God of his grandfather and the God of his father. Jacob's prayer in Genesis chapter 32 verses 9 - 12 reads this way;

 “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness  you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”

 Jacob's humble prayer for God's intervention stood on the promises that the Lord had given him to prosper Him and give him as many descendants as there were grains of sand of the sea because he knew that for those promises to be fulfilled, his children could not be slain.

And the Lord did intervene and save Jacob's children by bringing peace to Esau's heart and the two brothers reconciled and were at peace.

Amen.  

OUR LORD WHO FIRST REVEALS HIS PLAN TO HIS PROPHETS

Ezekiel chapter 5 verses 1 - 4 says this; 

“Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard.Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 

When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword.

But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.

As instructed by the Lord, a model of the city of Jerusalem was constructed and placed under siege by the prophet Ezekiel. This was to be a prophetic image  of a future siege that was coming to the actual city of Jerusalem.

While Ezekiel was laying siege against the model of the city, the Lord instructed Ezekiel to take a sharp sword and use it to shave his head and his beard. He was to take the hair and use a scale to divide it up into three equal parts for use at the end of the siege.

One part, he was to burn inside  the city of Jerusalem.

The second part of hair,  Ezekiel was strike with the sword all around the city.

The rest, he was to scatter to the wind. 

These actions symbolized the dangers that were looming over the people of Jerusalem. 

The burning of the hair within the city signified the approaching destruction.

The striking of the hair over Jerusalem represented the sword of war being raised against them from every direction.

The scattering of the hair in the wind represented the scattering of the people of Jerusalem as they fled their attackers.

These symbolic actions were designed to convey the jeopardy that Jerusalem was in due to their rebellion against God.

Graphic illustrations were meticulously  enacted by the Lord's prophet Ezekiel within the sight of the people to give them fair warning. 

Ezekiel was also instructed to take a few hairs and hide them in the folds of his garment. Of those, he was to take a few and burn them and that the fire would spread to the rest of Israel.

The few hairs that were set aside represent a remnant of the people that the Lord reserved for Himself and of those, some are set on fire representing the fire of the Spirit of God which would go on to set the whole nation ablaze.

Bless our Lord who reveals His plans to His prophets as it says in Amos chapter 3 verse 7;

Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO CAN HEAL OUR LAND

Isaiah chapter 3 verses 4 - 9 are words spoken against Jerusalem and Judah by the Lord for their evil deeds and their evil words against Him. The passage reads this way;

“I will make mere youths their officials; children will rule over them.”

People will oppress each other—man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored.

A man will seize one of his brothers in his father’s house, and say, “You have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!”

But in that day he will cry out, “I have no remedy. I have no food or clothing in my house; do not make me the leader of the people.”

Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling their words  and deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it.

Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.

The declaration of the dismal condition of God's people reveals a desperate and collapsing society.

The symptoms of a decaying society are listed as the experience of Jerusalem and Judah.

This society is shown to be in serious trouble because adults do not want the responsibility of leadership. Children, with their lack of knowledge and wisdom, find themselves being propelled into positions of rulership. 

Citizens lose civility and oppress each other. The youth mistreat the elderly and the honored people are besmirched by the dishonourable.

When social disollution reaches this far, people will seek those who have even slight advantages (like possesing clothes) and try to make them their rulers. But even these will decline because of how intractable the problems are.

When a people strives against the Lord, their society gradually dissolves and weakens and falls into the hands of enemies or just decays into abject ruin.

However, as it says in 2 Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14,  "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Amen.

OUR LORD REVEALS HIS NEW TEMPLE TO HIS PEOPLE

Ezekiel chapter 41 verses 9 - 10 says this;

 The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick. The open area between the side rooms of the temple  and the priests’ rooms was twenty cubits wide all around the temple.

This is an exerpt from the design specifications for the new temple given in Ezekiel chapter 41 to chapter 48. The measurements are given in cubits which are 18 inches each so can be given in feet by multiplying 18 by the number of cubits and then dividing by 12.

These particular details speak of the side rooms that surround the temple and their outer walls were 7.5 feet thick.

There was an open space all around the temple between the side rooms and the priests' rooms that were 30 feet wide.

Such were the dimensions of the outer walls of the side rooms and the space around the temple  between the side rooms and the priests' rooms.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO MITIGATES UNFAIRNESS AGAINST US

Genesis chapter 31 verses 9 - 10 says this;

So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me.

“In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. 

This chapter contains the words of Jacob to his wives Leah and Rachel as he explained to them why he wanted to leave their father's household and go back to his own household.

In this particular passage, Jacob was illustrating that the crisis was triggered when he started  prospering while his wive's father was losing wealth.

Whenever his father-in-law said that the speckled goats would be Jacob's wages, the flock would give birth to speckled goats and whenever his father-in-law said that streaked goats would be his wages, the flock began producing streaked goats abundantly.

It was this pattern that helped Jacob see that the Lord was helping him prosper.

In Genesis 31 verses 11 - 12, an angel in a dream clarified this for Jacob.

The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.

This favour on Jacob was predicated by his father-in-law's unfairness towards him and the Lord intervened on his behalf to prosper him inspite of the unfairness he was enduring. This favour ended up becoming so evident that animosity against Jacob began to fester in the hearts of his in-laws.

Bless our lord who helps us overcome injustice.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO AVENGES HIS PEOPLE

Joel chapter 3 verses 4 - 5 records the words of the Lord against the kingdoms who had raided  and enslaved His people;

 “Now what have you against me, Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done 

For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples.

This passage is aimed at Tyre, Sidon  and the areas of Philistia and to the spiritual kingdoms  over-shadowing them.

These kingdoms had dared to raid the Lord's people and take the Lord's silver and gold and his treasures to put them in their own temples. They then sold God's people into slavery.

What these kingdoms had done to the people of Israel, the Lord said He would do to them. 

As Joel chapter 3 verses 7 - 8 says;

“See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done. I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.” The Lord has spoken.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE ENEMIES ARE COMPLETELY DEFEATED

In the book of Ezekiel chapter 39, the Lord instructs Ezekiel to invite every kind of bird and wild animal to assemble on the mountains of Israel for there would be a feast of the armies of the powers of darkness. The mighty men and princes and all their horses would be slain and would be given as food to all the scavengers. Ezekiel chapter 39 verse 19 says this;

At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. 

This verse records a pointed warning against the army of darkness who attacked the Lord's people. As powerful as these forces are, they will be crushed and their remains will be a bounty for birds and wild animals to eat. 

Such is the fate of the spiritual rulers and powers who will mount an assault against the Lord's people.

Amen.

 OUR LORD IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE

Isaiah chapter  43 verse 10 is a rare meta  declaration by the Lord God giving  an unequivocal statement about His own unique place as  the only and eternal God. In this passage, speaking to His people, the Lord says this;

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.

From the perspective of an omniscient God, to categorically declare that there is no other who existed before Him or after Him would have to be the  definitive statement of facts. In the eternal timeline from eternity past and eternity future, there exists no other God.

 Another meta declaration is found in Isaiah chapter 44 verse 8;

You are my witnesses. Is there any god besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”

Here, the Lord God rhetorically  asks if there is any god besides Himself and He declares again that he does not know of any such being in any spatial location  or dimension.

This all encompassing statement of the Lord's uniqueness leads us to conclude that He is our only possible saviour. Isaiah chapter 43 verse 11 says this;

I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior.

The declaration by the Lord that there is no saviour apart from Him is equally definitive.

This is why the apostle Peter proclaimed this about the Lord Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 4 verse 12;

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Amen.

Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/

OUR LORD WHO GIVES CLEAR WARNINGS OF DANGER

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.

Having already instructed Ezekiel to make a small scale  model  of Jerusalem, the Lord told Ezekiel to create a miniturized  siege against the city complete with siege works, battering rams, ramps and encampments. The Lord then directed Ezekiel to  take an iron pan and place it between the city and himself to enact the siege.

The passage then records that the Lord instructed Ezekiel to lie on the ground  on his left side facing the model of Jerusalem  and to take the sin of Israel onto himself for 390 days which was one day for each year of their sin.

 Ezekiel chapter 4 verse 6 then records Ezekiel being instructed to lie down on his right side but this time, it would be to bear the sin of Judah for 40 days with a day for each year of Judah's sin. The verse reads this way;

“After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.

For a total of 430 days, Ezekiel was to lie facing the scale model of Jerusalem bearing the sin of Israel and of Judah.

This way, the unmistakable message of the impending siege was communicated to the people of Israel and Judah warning of the dreadful conditions that would befall them when the food and water supplies were cut off.

The Lord warned his people with graphic depictions of imminent danger so that they could be prepared.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO SIGNALS HIS FORCES INTO ACTION

Isaiah chapter 13 verses 1 - 3 reads this way;

A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw: Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,  shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles. 

I have commanded those I prepared for battle; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath—those who rejoice in my triumph.

Isaiah watched the prophetic scene unfold capturing it vividly in this chapter. 

Babylon, the future world system, is quiety being besieged but she is not aware of the mounting danger.

What is underway is that the Lord's warriors are being prepared and positioned to topple the power structures of Babylon.

When all is set, a signal banner, which is a silent signal, is lifted up on a prominent high point. A shout goes forth commanding the Lord's special task forces to enter the gates of the headquaters of the kingdom of Babylon.

This sudden and precisely timed incursion into the nerve centers of the Babylonian hierarchy is the beginning of the end of Babylon's world system.

This initial move then makes way for the Lord's massive army to begin operations, this time signalled by a loud trumpet in Zion. The stealth operation is over and the overt invasion begins.

Joel chapter 2 verse 2 says this;

Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO GIVES WARNING THROUGH HIS PROPHETS.

Ezekiel chapter 12 verses 12 -13 says this;

“The prince among them will put his things on his shoulder at dusk and leave, and a hole will be dug in the wall for him to go through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land. I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylonia, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die.

This passage describes the meaning of the actions that the Lord told Ezekiel the prophet to take. Ezekiel was to pack his belongings in the sight of all the people to represent that he was going into exile. He was then to dig a hole in the perimeter wall with his hands and leave with his belongings through the hole in the wall with his face covered so that he could not see the land as he left.

This somber prophetic object lesson was to be a message to the prince of Jerusalem and all the Israelites who were in the city. The prince was going to have his things put on his shoulders and he would leave through a hole on the wall and he would not see the land as he left to go to Babylonia where he would die.

Ezekiel enacted the exile scene in the sight of all the people as a sign to them of what would happen to them. Surprisingly, the people of Israel were indifferent to what Ezekiel was doing and did not ask him what it meant.

The Lord, seeing that the people of Israel did not ask, told Ezekiel to say to the people that what he was doing would happen to them and that they would be going into captivity.

Ezekiel chapter 12 verse 11 reads like this; 

 Say to them, ‘I am a sign to you.’ “As I have done, so it will be done to them. They will go into exile as captives.

Even when the people ignored the warning message, the Lord instructed Ezekiel to explain to people what it meant so that they were adequately warned.

As it says in Amos chapter 3 verse 7; Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO GRANTS US MERCY

Ezekiel chapter 14 verses 1 - 2 says this;

Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me. Then the word of the Lord came to me:

This verse describes a scene where Ezekiel the prophet was approached by some of the elders of Israel and they sat before him waiting to inquire of the Lord through the prophet.

While they sat, a word of the Lord came to Ezekiel but this word was a word of knowledge about the men who had come before him that revealed that these men had idols in their hearts and had placed wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Ezekiel chapter 14 verse 3 says it this way;

“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all?

Here, the Lord privately revealed this word about the elders to Ezekiel and then asked him if he, the Lord, should let the consultation continue in light of the revelation of what was in the hearts of the elders of Israel.

The Lord Himself provided the answer to the question with a course of action and instructed Ezekiel to reveal to the elders that the idols in their hearts and the stumbling blocks before their faces  needed to be repented of and renounced as Ezekiel chapter 14 verse 6 says;

 “Therefore say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!

The Lord's direct response to the inquiry by the people in calling them to repent is designed to capture the hearts of the people who had abandoned their God to go after idols.

As Ezekiel chapter 14 verse 5 says;

 I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.’

The Lord's willingness to forgive extends to all those who deserted him but were willing to repent.

Bless the Lord who grant's us all mercy.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO KINDLES A FIRE OF RETRIBUTION AND PURIFICATION

Ezekiel chapter 24 verse 9 says this;

 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘Woe to the city of bloodshed!  I, too, will pile the wood high.

This verse is a description of the judgement that is brought upon Jerusalem because of the murders in the city.

Because of the blood that they shed in their midst, the Lord declares that He himself will pile on the wood that represents the judgement of fire that will be brought to that city.

The killings of people that were committed in Jerusalem will be rettributed when the fiery judgement of God is leveled against the city.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE ARMY OVERWHELMS THE ENEMY

Ezekiel chapter 26 verse 10 says this;

His horses will be so many that they will cover you with dust. Your walls will tremble at the noise of the warhorses, wagons and chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city whose walls have been broken through.

This verse paints the picture of a total invasion of the kingdom of Tyre by the chariots and horsemen of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon.

This massive assault was triggered when Tyre looked upon Jerusalem and the nations who were her allies and saw that they were undefended because the gates were broken and the doors left wide open.

The king of Tyre opportunistically attacked Jerusalem and as he did so, found himself facing a gigantic army that suddenly appeared in a surprise counter-attack  against him.

After laying siege on Tyre and smashing its walls with battering rams, the swarming army thundered into Tyre bringing destruction and quickly razing the whole kingdom to bare rock.

After witnessing the crushing of Tyre, the princes who were allies to Tyre were so traumatized  that they immediately surrendered to the invading army.

As Ezekiel chapter 26 verse 16 says;

Then all the princes of the coast will step down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered garments. Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled at you. 

This metaphoric narrative could be read like this;

 The army invading Tyre would be the Kingdom of Light invading the kingdom of darkness. 

The conquering army could be seen as the army of the saints of the Lord defeating the kingdom of  darkness and Tyre's allies could be understood to be the kingdoms of this world who cooperate with the kingdom of darkness to attempt to establish the dominion of evil on the whole earth. 

These events are part of the same invasion that is described by the prophets Joel and Isaiah ;

 Joel chapter 2 verse 2;

Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.

and Isaiah chapter 13 verse 4;

Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war.

The Lord musters His army and it is fearsome to behold.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO LEADS HIS MIGHTY ARMY

Joel chapter 2 verses 9 - 10 says this;

They rush upon the city; they run along the wall.

They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows.

Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.

This passage tells of an unprecedented assault on the kingdom of darkness by the army of the Lord after the trumpet in Zion is sounded.

Disciplined and unrelenting, this swarming force sweeps through cities and houses leaving smouldering destruction behind them.

The effect of this ground movement is so profound that nature itself reels  and the earth shakes , the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened and the starless night sky is pitch black.

The Lord, at the head of His vast and mighty army, thunders His commands which His forces take heed to obey.

Even at this juncture, as it says in Joel chapter 2 verses 12 - 13, the Lord offers a chance to his people to return to Him. 

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. 

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

How mighty the Lord is and how gracious He is.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO GATHERS THE NATIONS FOR JUDGEMENT

Joel chapter 4 verses 2 - 9 says this;

I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment with them on behalf of my people, my heritage, Israel;

Because they scattered them among the nations they divided up my land. For my people they cast lots trading a young boy for the price of a prostitute, exchanging a young girl for the wine they drank.

Moreover, what are you doing to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are, I will very quickly turn your deeds back upon your own head. You took my silver and my gold and brought my priceless treasures into your temples! You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, taking them far from their own country! 

Look! I am rousing them from the place to which you sold them, and I will turn your deeds back upon your own head. I will sell your sons and daughters to the Judahites who will sell them to the Sabeans, a distant nation. The Lord has spoken!

Announce this to the nations: Proclaim a holy war! Alert the warriors! Let all the soldiers  report and march!

This passage begins by specifying the arena of judgement which will be at the Valley of Jehosephat which is also called the Kidron Valley which is between the city of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives.

This judgment against the nations is predicated by what they did to God's people, the children of Israel. 

God's people were scattered, the land divided up, their children sold for prostitutes and wine.

The Lord's gold and silver implements were taken and placed in foreign temples. The people of Judah and Jerusalem  were sold to the Greeks so that they were far from their homes.

For these actions against the Lord and the enslavement of His people, these scriptures are a call to alert the army of God. 

Let all the soldiers report and march!

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO BRINGS DOWN THE PRINCES OF DARKNESS

Ezekiel chapter 39 verse 4 says this;

On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals.

This passage  references the spiritual kingdom of Meshek and Tubal led by a spiritual prince named Gog.

The prophecy written by Ezekiel against Gog describes how he is dragged from the far north and compelled to move against the mountains of Israel. 

Here, Gog is disarmed and he falls along with all his troops and all the nations aligned with him. His remains are given to vultures and scavenger animals as food.

This passage illustrates how the hierarchy of the kingdom of darkness is systematically brought to utter ruin by the God of Israel. 

Mighty princes are corralled into inescapable strategic positions and their weapons taken from them. They and their allies are then destroyed.

Such is the fate of those who rally against the Lord God Almighty and who disregard His offer of salvation through belief in Jesus Christ who paid by His death to redeem mankind.

Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO HEARS HIS PROPHETS IN JUDGEMENT

Amos chapter 7 verses 7 - 8 reads as follows;

This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”

“A plumb line,” I replied.

Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

The previous judgements against Israel that were shown to Amos were aimed at the entire nation. 

The locusts swarms that the Lord showed Amos, were going to devour the crops of all the people of Israel and destroy the whole country. Amos asked that the Lord spare Israel and the Lord relented.

Next, the Lord showed Amos the judgement of fire that was going to dry out the great deep and devour the land. The totality of the destruction caused Amos to ask the Lord to allay the judgement of fire and the Lord relented.

The plumb line in this passage represents the measuring of Israel's alignment to God's standard of righteousness and this was the means that the Lord showed to Amos that did not bring complete ruin to Israel.

This tool was the means by which judgement was to be aimed precisely at those who were causing Israel to be out of alignment. 

When the Lord held the plumb line among the people of Israel,  He named the following areas in Amos chapter 7 verse 9 as those that would be targeted for destruction;

“The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.”

The Lord heard the pleas of His prophet Amos and relented on His total  judgement of Israel and instead, aimed ruin against the religious and political leadership of the country that was  leading people into error.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO BRINGS RETRIBUTION ON THOSE WHO COMMIT ATROCITIES

Amos chapter 1 verse 7 says this;

I will send fire on the walls of Gaza that will consume her fortresses.

Here, in a prophetic utterance by the prophet Amos, the Lord speaks judgement on Gaza, which is the land Southwest of Israel, because they took entire communities captive and sold them to the kingdom of Edom.

Because of their wholesale cruelty, their walls and fortresses were burned down. A fire was ignited along the perimeter of their cities and it spread to their fortresses and destroyed them.

Without fortresses, these cities were exposed to attacks that would result in those who dwelled in them being taken as captives and sold as slaves.

Their leaders in their main cities, Ashdod and Ashkelon, were slain because of their part in wiping out whole communities for profit by selling them to Edom. For this,  the Lord set his hand to wipe out every last Philistine in Gaza.

This judgement on Gaza is reciprocal in that the evil that they did to others is visited upon them. 

As the Lord Jesus said in Mathew 7 verse 12, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO KNOWS OUR FRAME

Ezekiel chapter 4 verses 13 -14 is a excerpt from a conversation between Ezekiel the prophet and the Lord in which the Lord is instructing Ezekiel to lie down for 390 days  in the sight of the people Jerusalem and eat food cooked over human excrement. This action is to be a prophecy of the defiled food the people of Israel will eat when they are sent into exile.  The passage goes like this;

The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”

Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.”

Ezekiel responds to the Lord by objecting to eating food cooked over human excrement. He mentions to the Lord that he has never defiled himself by eating animals found dead or those torn apart  by wild animals and that he has never eaten impure meat.

Ezekiel equates eating bread cooked over human excrement with eating defiled meat which  means that the exposing bread to burning human excrement defiles it in the same way that the meat of animals torn apart by wild animals is defiled or how the meat of animals that die of natural or unknown causes is defiled.

The Lord gives Ezekiel a reprieve by allowing him to use cow dung instead of human waste to cook his bread which transmits the same prophetic message  to the observers but without bringing  defilement to Ezekiel. 

Let us bless the Lord who remembers that we are but dust and who lightens our burdens that he  gives us so that we can bear them. 

Amen.