Whisper Of God Ministries

Holy and Common

In Ezekiel 22:26, we have an interesting and telling verse. It says, “Her priest do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common.” As I reread that verse this week, I was caught up in the idea that this verse could certainly be talking to all of us today. We have lost the ability to distinguish between the holy and the common as well. In Biblical times, this was part of the responsibility of the priest to assist the people in knowing what was considered holy and what was not under the law. Today, pastors and teachers help us with this same problem, but we as Christians have God’s complete Word, which we are to use as a guide to help us make this distinction in our own lives.

What distinguishes holy and common? In the Old Testament we have a couple of examples of what we might consider common but are really holy. First, when Moses sees the burning bush he is told that the ground on which he is standing is “holy” ground. The other example is from David’s time. David sinfully tries to transport the ark to Jerusalem on a cart rather than having it carried by hand as commanded by God. When the oxen stumble and the cart starts to tip over, Uzzah simply puts out his hand to help steady the ark to keep it from falling onto the ground. God strikes him dead for touching the ark. What I see here are two stories telling us the same thing. Things are holy when God shows up. He is holy and he makes anywhere he is holy by his presence. Was the dirt Moses stood on holy in and of itself? No, I don’t think so. Would the ark, as the throne of God, been defiled if it had touched the ground? Again, I don’t think so. In this case it was Uzzah who was defiled in his own sinfulness.

How does all this correlate with our verse today? I believe that we loose sight of what is holy by forgetting what God has set up and the arenas in which he works. Our homes are holy because the family is an institution of God. Yet, we treat it very common in our divorce rate and crumbling relationships. The home is just one example as to where we are to train our children up in the Lord. Yet even as Christians, parents pass this responsibility on to the Sunday school or a Christian school. We treat our marriages as common. Couples just say they will divorce if they get tired or bored with their spouse. We treat sexuality as common when God created it for the marriage.

I could go on and on. What I want you to think about this week is: What in your life is holy but you treat as common? Conversely, what is common in your life but you have treated as holy? In Ezekiel, the prophet calls out the Jews about idols in their hearts. Have you elevated an idol to a holy place in your life? Repent and reprioritize your life around what the Bible tells you is holy.

Psalm 73:23-24

Yet I am always with you;
You hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
And afterward you will take me into glory.

In the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, the sphinx’s riddle asks, “What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?” The answer of course was man. The riddle covers the span of a man’s life from crawling on all fours as a baby to walking upright as a man to old age and the assistance of a cane to walk.

As I reflect on these two verses from Psalm 73, I am reminded of this all encompassing riddle. God is with us our entire life. He is there in our infancy, when we first come to know Him. As babes in Christ, we need Him to hold our hands as we move in our new being. As the old nature has passed away and the new nature is formed, we must get used to this new walk and life in Christ. If we move too fast, we are bound to fall. We walk unsteady into life’s issues, depending on Him to steer us in the right direction by taking our hands into His hand.

As we grow in Christ, we find ourselves better able to stand but still dependent on Him. We seek His counsel; we need His wisdom as the Christian faith interacts with the culture of life. As we move from milk to solid food, we seek guidance from the Bible. Through prayer we quiet our hearts to listen to Him. He is our ever present help.

As old age over takes us, those who continue to grow in Him strive to become more Christ-like. There are few things more comforting than to watch a saint grow old in God’s ever expanding grace. The assurance of Heaven begins to cut the strings that hold us to this life. The concerns for family and friends fade in the beginning dawn of the glory to come. Old age should bring rest in God’s providential care. Glory is approaching.

God is our guide throughout all our lives. He meets us where we are. He knows what we need. He promises to take us from this alien world to His home. He is always there with you. In the week ahead, reflect on the level of your dependence on Christ. Are you trying to live that life alone? Do you come to Him only in time of need or are you daily in touch with your Saviour. If you trust completely in Him, it must be a daily walk.

Our next prophetic book is the book of Ezekiel. This priest/prophet lived during a turbulent time in the history of Judah. The Assyrians had conquered Israel in 722 BC, but by Ezekiel’s time, Assyria is declining, and Babylonia is on the move. Ezekiel is taken captive from Jerusalem in 597 BC, with about 10,000 other Jews sent into exile in Babylon. While he is in Babylon, Jerusalem is finally crushed in 586 BC. The temple is burned and the walls are destroyed.

What we know about Ezekiel comes from this prophetic book. While in Babylon, he is called by God to prophecy. We know that he was married and lived in his own house in relative freedom. While there, he ministers to the other exiles that have lost their temple and now live in a foreign land. You will see from his message that Ezekiel was a man with a strong intellect. His knowledge of Jewish culture as well as international affairs is impressive.

For the first eleven years of his ministry in Babylon, Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, foretold of the coming destruction of Jerusalem by God for the sins of his people. He was faithful to God in telling the people that they would not be released in the near future and that the Jerusalem that they loved would be ruined. When Jerusalem was under siege and being destroyed, Ezekiel was told that his wife would soon die. He was informed by God that he could not mourn in public for her as a symbol to the exiles not to mourn for the temple or Jerusalem. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel’s message turned to consolation for the people in exile and to judgments on other nations. Interestingly the book of Ezekiel is full of specific dates – more than any other prophetic book. From archeological records, we can point to very specific dates for many of his prophecies.

Ezekiel is very specific about God’s sovereign rule over all creation. Over 65 times in the book we have some form of the idea that God will make his name known or that they will know that he is the Lord God. Chapters 1-24 show that God will be revealed in the destruction and judgment of Jerusalem. Chapters 25-32 teach that God will be revealed in the judgments on other nations, and chapters 33-48 teach that God will be revealed in the return and the restoration of Jerusalem. God is sovereign everywhere.

Like Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel follows the pattern of judgments against Israel, other nations, and finally consolation to Israel. The uniqueness of this book is in the fact that Ezekiel deals with God’s people as the holy people of his holy temple in his holy city. With their apostasy in worship, God was forced to bring judgment on his people.

Favorite and fascinating passages in the book include the Chariot Throne of God from chapter 1, the allegory of Jerusalem’s unfaithfulness in chapter 16, the passage alluding to Satan in chapter 28, and of course the Valley of the Dry Bones in chapter 37. One final and interesting point is the four creatures found in chapter one show up again in Revelation and, eventually, become the four symbols for the four Evangelist or Gospel writers.

Lamentations

Lamentations tells the story of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians.  Tradition tells us that Jeremiah is the author, but there is no specific evidence identifying the writer found within Lamentations.  The evidence to support his authorship comes from the fact that he was actually an eyewitness to the destruction.  Also, there are literary features such as vocabulary that seem to indicate a similar authorship.  Dating the book is fairly straightforward.  It could not have been written prior to 586 B.C. and the latest possible date is probably 516 B.C. when the exiles returned. 

The book is made up of five laments and is all poetry.  They follow the Hebrew alphabet in terms of most laments having 22 verses.  The alphabet also forms the structure of the book and shows us that these powerful laments were constructed with great care. 

Lamentations is the only Old Testament book to contain only laments.  Psalms has many laments as well as most other books of prophecy.  Laments were a popular form of literature in the Near East.  The book continues to be read in several different traditions including being read aloud at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.  This book reflects a very dark day for the people of Israel.  The destruction of the Holy City, the ending of their rituals, and the fall of the great Temple of Solomon were devastating for all Jews.  The people were removed, mothers and children were starved, and many people were slaughtered.   

The author understood that there was a bigger issue behind this destruction by Babylon.  God was destroying their city because of their sinfulness and idolatry.  He is ultimately using Babylon to carry out His judgment against His people.  Only deep heart-felt repentance will save the people of Judah.  The book rightly ends with such contrition.  The book speaks of the goodness of God, the hope that He brings to those who love and follow Him.  In 3:22-23 we have those powerful verses that tell us that God’s compassions for us never fail and that each day they are renewed in His love for us.  This is a message we all need to hear.

Jeremiah 

The book we now turn to is the prophecy of Jeremiah.  This priest is known to many of us as the “Weeping Prophet” because his message, given to him by God, was to announce the doom of Judah and Jerusalem as God had promised.  Jeremiah’s ministry began about 627 or 626 B.C. in Jerusalem.  It ends about 582 B.C. when the prophet is taken into Egypt.  Other contemporary prophets of his day were Habakkuk and Obadiah.  Ezekiel was ministering in Babylon during this time to the exiles as well.   Daniel and his three friends are taken into Babylon about 605 B.C. from Judah.  We do not know how Jeremiah dies but Jewish tradition tells us that he is stoned to death in Egypt.  Indeed he prophecies that almost all of those who fled the Babylonians and went to Egypt would die there. 

God calls Jeremiah during a very turbulent time.  He begins his ministry during the reign of Josiah.  Josiah was the king of Judah who led a revival after the discovery of the Book of the Law in theTemple.  Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia were all warring against each other for control of this area of the world.  Babylonia and King Nebuchadnezzar eventually overthrew Assyria.  He also defeated the Egyptians who marched out to help the Assyrians.  Puppet kings ruled Judah that Babylon installed in Jerusalem.  In 586 Jerusalem falls and Jeremiah is left in Jerusalem with a few very poor Jews.  At about the age of seventy he is taken into Egypt. 

Jeremiah’s personal Baruch writes much of the book of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah suffers greatly at the hands of the rulers and his enemies in Jerusalem because of his message of coming defeat.  We know much of Jeremiah’s own personality because he writes of his own self-analysis in the book.  He is convinced of God’s call upon his life.  This assurance helps him to endure the many persecutions inflicted on him.  Judgment is the prevailing theme of his book.  For Jeremiah, God is ultimate.  His theology is that God is the creator and sustainer of all there is.  Not only does God rule Judah, He rules all the nations of the world.  Jeremiah and Ezekiel are also known as the “prophets of individual responsibility.”  Jeremiah emphasizes personal accountability before God.  He preached with great strength and conviction. 

Jeremiah is the longest book of the Bible.  It contains more words than any other book in the fifty-two chapters found here in our English Bible.  Much of the book is poetic in form.  Like Isaiah, Jeremiah uses symbolism to make his points.  Favorite Bible verses are found here such as Jeremiah 33:3, 9:23-24, 13:23 and many others.  Jeremiah is a book that will still capture your attention as you sense his passion for his God.

Psalm 71:14  But as for me, I will always have hope;I will praise you more and more. 

Several of my fellow workers were sitting around the lunch table the other day and CNN was on the TV.  One difficult story after another was brought to us in vivid real time drama.  Someone remarked that they should have a station where the only news that was ever reported was good news.  We all laughed at how that would never happen but it would have top ratings.  People are tired of bad news; we become discouraged and lonely even in a crowd as the waves of sadness come beaming into our lives every minute of the day. 

For the Christian, we are called to always have hope.  We are called to constantly praise Him.  How can this be?  Who is capable of having hope when our world is turned upside down and shaken to its very foundations?  The truth is that the lessons of continual hope must be learned in the days of calm.  Foundational truths are never learned in the midst of calamity.   

So few Christian seem willing to invest in the foundational blocks of faith during the good times.  When the sun shines, all is well.  When tragedy strikes, their house is built on sand rather than the rocks of faith.  The grief of the moment sweeps away the hope we thought we had.  Truly, only God can build our faith so that we can say with the Psalmist, “I will always have hope.”  It takes hard work with and in Christ to get there. 

Nancy Gutherie in her wonderful book Holding on to Hope writes about loosing two children to a horrid disease.  Through God’s grace she learned to hold God’s hand in the darkest of circumstances.  She never gave up on God.   

“When we come to these hard places, we discover the real benefit of walking with God and pursuing an intimate relationship with him when there is no tragedy driving us to him.  You see, when we know God, when we know His character by studying His Word, we can trust Him.  We don’t resent His sovereignty, His authority, His plan.  We can embrace it.  We can rest in it.” 

How do we find this foundation of hope?  How do we learn to praise Him more and more in life’s valleys and peaks?  We do so by growing in Him.  There is an old saying – “make hay while the sun shines.”  We all need to build our foundations of hope when life is easier so that when the storms come, and they will for everyone, we can “always have hope.”

One thing God has spoken, Two things have I heard:That you, O God, are strong,And you, O Lord, are loving.(Psalm 62:11&12) As I read these verses, my mind returned to the small round glass topped breakfast table we had when I was a child.  It held just enough people, four in all, so that our family could enjoy a meal together.  My sister always sat across from me, mom to the left, dad to the right.  When it was my time to bless the food I always went to the old reliable blessing I had learned at an early age: 

God is great; God is good; Let us thank him, For our food. Somehow it seemed to rhyme even though it should not have.  I think most every child in a Christian family learned that blessing. 

We take for granted the two characteristics of God in this blessing and these verses.  It is worth thinking about for a moment.  Suppose just for a moment that God was great but not good, or that he was good but not great.  Where would that leave those He has created? An all powerful God who was not good would leave man in an uncertain situation.  God could easily change His mind.  What He expected of us one day could change tomorrow.  Yet He would be powerful enough to inflict any punishment He so desired and no one could stop Him.  He could arbitrarily destroy us all for no logical reason.  Man would live in constant fear, never know what to expect next.  A heavenly dictator would rule with no sense of right and wrong. 

On the other hand, if God were good but not all powerful then He is reduced to a well wishing buddy.  With no power to protect His people, He would pat us on the back and bid us “best of luck” as we made our way through life.  He would hope for the best for us but be powerless to bring that good to pass.  At the end of the movie The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, based on C.S. Lewis’ marvelous book, Lucy asks Mr. Tumnus if Aslan will return.   He says that he will, he will come and go but he says, “You must not press him.  Remember, he is not a tame lion.”  At that, Lucy with tears in her eyes, replies, “yes but he is good.” The psalmist tells us we serve a God who is both all powerful and all good.  Christians get the best of all worlds.  Our living God does want the best for us, and He has the power to bring about that “best”.  We know where God stands; we know what His character is from His Word, and we know that He rules all of creation.  Does He rule your life?