Ezekiel Part 40

All right, let's pray Lord Jesus again as we open your word We ask the Holy Spirit to help us to rightly understand what you have revealed through your word

So that we may believe rightly that we may do accordingly We ask

Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit to grant us the ability To mortify our sinful flesh and daily walk and repentance.

We ask this in Jesus name. Amen All right So last week in Ezekiel, we were taking a look at the portion of Ezekiel 34 related to God speaking against the shepherds of Israel that weren't doing their jobs.

In fact, they were doing the opposite of their job They were fleecing the sheep taking advantage of them and generally engaging in spiritual abuse which seems to be the normal way in which bad shepherds behave and that we have warnings of similar things in the new and So God says that he's going to seek them out seek out his sheep and he's going to care for them and we have that Good Shepherd imagery that shows up in Good Shepherd Sunday We talked about that last week and now we're going to hear something that's going to sound

Really really really really really like something that isn't here yet or hasn't arrived yet But that is coming and you'll know this is a recurring theme when you read the prophets the prophets will

Speak in terms of law condemning people for their sin rightly so they will speak words of comfort and peace to the penitent call people to repentance and then

God makes these grandiose Promises that you sit there and go when's that gonna happen and it hasn't happened yet Is the best way

I can put it. So here's what it says in Ezekiel 34 25 God says I will make with them a covenant of peace and Banish wild beasts from the land so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods

Oh, look at you can go camping and safety and not have to worry about being eaten by bears Okay, the bear spray people are gonna be out of business in the new earth right and good on it because I always and again, you know,

I I saw a graphic like, you know, like what what are the number one killers of humanity?

Do you know what the number one killer of humanity is aside from like disease? It's mosquitoes And it's like second isn't even close.

I mean everyone's scared of like sharks I mean, there's so few people that get chomped by sharks every year that that you know the chances you're gonna die by shark are very small, but There's a lot of mosquitoes around here, okay, so people dying by mosquitoes

That's that's a big deal. And then the number of people being eaten by bears or attacked by bears and mauls by bears

It's not zero every year. There's a there's a notable number It's not zero, but it's not that huge of a number

Okay, and you know and so I think of those people who you know, who like go like go camping up in,

Canada that's where the Canadians are from by the way, and And you know and you go camping in,

Canada. Not only could you die by a mosquito You could die by a grizzly bear, you know They have to carry bear spray and have to make loud noises while they're on their treks and stuff like this because the last

Thing you want to do is startle a grizzly bear They don't like being startled, you know, and they take very unkindly to that and they get very aggressive

So you'll note that God is talking about a future where there are no wild beasts

Vanishing from that banishing them from the land and I would note the

Hebrew word for land here is the word Eretz now Here's the question that we should ask ourselves

Eretz? Is this talking about the land of Israel or is this talking about Earth I Think it's talking about the new earth and By the way, that's within it's it's it's proper understanding

So if I were going to like Genesis 1 Genesis 1, so just a little Hebrew here

So betta sheet bar ah, so have in the beginning bar ah, he created who created

Well, here's your noun God created and here we have the indicator of the direct object so F so better sheet bar ah

F ha Shemaim God created the Shemaim, which is the heavens and Va F ha edits and he created the

Earth God created the heavens and the earth So Eretz can mean land

But I think because we are dealing in this passage with a promise being made about well a banishing of wild beasts

I can think of a cross -reference to this. Can you guys think of a cross -reference the banishing of wild beasts? Let's see if I could do that Okay, right lamb and wolf and things like that.

Let me do this. I mean, let me come here We'll just do a little search here. Oh, yeah, we're gonna look for I think it's wolf.

Hang on a second here wolf and I want all texts and in specific.

Oh, here we go Isaiah 11 see if this sounds familiar Isaiah 11

Okay, righteous ranch will reign and that day Lord extend his hand.

I'll raise a signal for the nation's. Okay, let's see here Here we go the wolf shall dwell with the lamb

The leopard shall lie down with the young goat Can you imagine leopards being like?

house cats without the claws and the teeth Okay, even house cats they bite and they scratch and things like this

But I mean what our cats going to do in the new earth if they can't if they're not gonna be hunters

Well, I don't know but it sounds like they're going to be grass eaters right the wolf will dwell with the lamb the leopard shall lie down with the young goat the calf and the lion and the fatted calf together and Here we go again a little child shall lead them

Picture of the new earth the cow and the bear shall graze Their young shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox

And the nursing child shall play over the whole of the Cobra and all the women said, ooh

Yeah, gross Right. My wife doesn't like snakes Anyway and the weaned child shall put his hand in the adders den and they shall not hurt or destroy in all of my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea

I'm kind of looking forward to that. All right has that happened yet? No, okay

So we still have to deal with lions and tigers and bears. Oh my so Stuff to deal with them.

So you'll know I Legitimately think if you consider the cross references and what's being said here. This is a picture of the new earth

I will make with them a covenant of peace. I will banish wild beasts from the earth.

I think that's the correct Translation of the Hebrew there, but I guess nobody asked me but I'm just asserting and saying

I think in the context That's what's talking about here so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods

There's gonna be camping in the new earth folks camping Can you believe this? Okay, and I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing

I will send down the showers in their season and they shall be showers of blessing

It's going to rain in the new earth Huh, and it's not going to be like the the storms that we get nowadays okay, so here we are in the middle of the summer and If you look outside and you see those pop -up thunderstorms you're going oh, oh

Okay brace yourself this we're gonna get a lot of rain and Potentially wind that'll blow down the trees and destroy things and just a mess.

Well Gone are tornadoes Gone are destructive rain showers.

The rain showers will come and they will be productive They will give exactly what the land needs they will not result in flooding and destruction of property and You'll know and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit

Oh, there's gonna be fruit trees in the new earth and the earth shall yield its increase and they shall be secure in their land

All right and they shall know that I am Yahweh when I break the bars of their yoke and Deliver them from the hand of those who enslave them.

Well, hang on a second here. Are the tribe of Judah in slavery in Babylon They're not

They're actually free citizens, but they're exiles But they're able to participate in the government there.

They they just are not free to leave But they're not

Enslaved in Babylon, so who's enslaving them the devil, right?

Exactly. Okay. So no God is delivering us from the hand of those who enslave them. That would be

Satan They shall no more be a prey to the nations nor shall the beasts of the land devour them

They shall dwell securely. None shall make them afraid and I will provide for them renowned

Plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations renowned plantations

Huh? Well, it kind of makes sense if you think about it. Okay, what does Christ go to prepare for us a trailer

Does he go to prepare for us a shack? small cabin in the woods What is what is

Christ going to prepare a place for us? What are those again? mansions Huh?

Oh Great. Lots of lots of square footage that we need to vacuum. Okay, not not thrilled with this.

The chores are gonna be terrible Okay Hopefully they'll have robots to do that, right?

All that being said if you put a mansion and there's adjacent agricultural land associated with it

You think it's just one acre I Mean one acre around a mansion is a yard, isn't it?

It says renowned Plantations, I'm having hope that I'll have something to do in the new earth because again when

Jesus shows up I'm totally out of a job. I just had like there's no There's no job for pastors in the new earth because everybody learns directly from Christ like so, you know

I I've got to find I've got to find a new living and so I you know I might call upon some of you who know how to work land and maybe ask for some lessons when we get there

You know, what do I do? Right, but renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land and no longer suffer the reproach of the nation's

Hunger is going to be a thing of the past in a world without Biting wild beasts but behaving wild beasts in a place of peace and love and safety where there is no fear

No fear at all. Can you imagine in the new earth? None of us will experience fear

What a great idea. Okay, and hunger is gone They will no longer suffer the reproach of the nation's

How do God's people suffer the reproach of the nation's? Well, that would be through the persecution of their faith

They shall know that I am Yahweh their God with them and they and that they the house of Israel are my people you

Sit there go. Well, it's talking about the house Israel. You're grafted into Israel. Every one of you is and Christians, right?

That they the house of Israel are my people declares the Lord Yahweh and you are my sheep

Human sheep of my pasture. I love how Ezekiel put that in there sitting there going. Are you saying

I'm stupid? Yes, it's your humanly stupid sheep. Okay, but you get the idea here. I am your

God declares the Lord Yahweh So here God's Word clearly takes sheep and explains we're talking in parables metaphors

We're talking about humans, right? All right. Yes, Mike Yeah Yeah It's the it's the restoration of Eden and here's the thing.

We actually pray for it So when you hear in the liturgy these words as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever.

Amen that that is that is a reference to Genesis to the fact that we are in Christ now and We have a foretaste of what's coming and will be forever

That's that's it's the restoration of Eden and it's it's an Edenic because that a word

It's an Edenic create a new creation and here's the thing You say you ask the question it so are you saying we we haven't bitten into the fruit of you know that we haven't disobeyed

We don't have sin running through our system. The answer is yes, and here's the here's where the wisdom of God comes to play in this you'll note that God doesn't take our sinful flesh and Then make it perfect Okay, he's not in the business of Modifying or improving your sinful flesh.

What's he in the business of doing killing it? Okay, we all including this creation pass through death and then are raised to new life in the new earth with your new body

You never sinned ever in that creation sin will known no existence and will have never been known and Fact God in other places in the

Prophet says that the former things will not come to mind you know because I can tell you this the last thing

I want to do is reflect on all of my time here on this Planet because as I reflect on my time here on this planet

I become keenly aware that if I got what I deserved I Would be sent to hell multiple times just from last month

Forget, you know the over the course of a lifetime, you know, I I look at myself and legitimately say man in me

There's like nothing good. The only good I have comes from God and so that being the case what's being promised here is through death and resurrection a new creation and us being truly restored through resurrection to what

God originally made and intended and With the with with one big difference

The first earth began with two people the new earth begins with the billions who trust in Christ over the last millennium last few millennia and So he's created a kingdom and I think

Christians from like day one are gonna fill the earth All right. I don't know if big cities are gonna be a thing

I have no idea how that's all gonna work But there's gonna be one major city for sure and that's the new Jerusalem come down from heaven.

So yeah So, what do you think is happening? like in people's minds and hearts when they make

There's a lot of media and stories have come out over the years that depict like what they depict heaven

It was like the story is like the main characters, you know dies and goes to heaven It turns out everything's perfect and beautiful and there's no like you described.

Yeah But the main characters dissatisfied with it and he's like This is boring

You know, and so there's this shift like You know, like oh who wants heaven?

It's just a bunch of floating in the clouds and everything's perfect and you're happy, right? That's you know, what do you think that is?

Is that like it seems like that's kind of ties in with like the original sin of where yeah

That's this isn't good enough So so the question is, you know in the media you get stories of people who've died and they've experienced

Imperfection and they get bored with it Okay, I'll tell you what that is. That is a competing religious narrative

You have to see it for what it is Is it competing religious narrative and I would note that when it comes to people dying and having experiences?

there's practically now a competing Bible of people who've had these claims and So what happens is is that somebody dies, you know on the operating room table and they see their they see their body

They float up. They have a conversation with Jesus and and it turns out everybody makes it to heaven and stuff like this, right?

And or or they they have a conversation with their spirit guides

Who they and they begin discussing, you know, what form they will take in their next reincarnation and So here's the thing within Christianity.

You also have that same competing narrative Remember the boy who went to heaven? Right, there's a term that we use in apologetic circles regarding books that you know regarding claims of people who've been to heaven

We call it heavenly tourism Okay, and here's the issue is that the revelation that these people are bringing back from their near -death experiences contradicts the

Word of God and so The question is not did they have a near -death experience?

Of course they did Okay, you can't deny it they can provide the medical proof that that's the case the question is what's the source of the religious information that they're bringing back with them from these experiences and I would note that the source is not

Christ because Christ is not going to contradict his word so I Don't care if my mom dies and comes back from the grave and tells me all these things that are contrary to Scripture I would rebuke my mother and send her away

Paul says it this way even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to a different gospel than the one already preached let him be damned and So the idea here is is that is that so many people in our culture right now?

that the religion the the cash value of Spirituality is based upon your experience

So how do I know I'm following the right religion bull because it makes me feel good Really that that's what that's that's the thing of this

Oh, well, the thing that proves that your religion is true is that people have changed lives? You are familiar that Cassius Clay who became

Muhammad Ali I mean he was a horrible person when he was Cassius Clay and he became a far more moral and Respectable person once he embraced

Islam and became Muhammad Ali are we to say that because he had a

Change and went from being a horrible person as a young man to being a mature Muslim and and Was moral that Islam is true.

No Absolutely, not and you'll note that you don't even need you don't even need an organized religion

All you need is Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous can help you experience behavioral change That's not the proof that something is true

The proof that Christianity is true is not your changed life or the experiences that you have the proof that Christianity is true is

Christ raising himself from the grave on the third day after he was crucified That being the case.

It doesn't matter what anybody else's experiences are. In fact, you'll note that competing cult

Religions that claim to be Christian. They are full of experiences Mormonism For instance you guys familiar with Mormonism Mormonism claims that our

God and his name is Elohim was once a God man who became a god by obedience to his

God and You ask a Mormon. How do I know? How can

I know that the Book of Mormon is true? they say you need to ask Heavenly Father to give you a burning in the bosom a testimony that of its truthfulness and And and and then once you have that burning in the bosom, you'll know that the

Book of Mormon is true Just take some pepsin it'll go away, you know when

I have a burning in my bosom usually I need to take an antacid But you know, I remember

I think I've told the story before but when I was my first year at Concordia, Irvine Barb and I were living in Azusa and I was

I was doing a lot of road travel then I had classes in Irvine I had you come home and work in Pomona at focus on the family and then you know

We had two kids by that time you know Joshua and Christina was just an infant and you know, so I'm doing my first year work at Concordia, Irvine taking

Greek and apologetics and all this kind of stuff and the Mormons show up at our door at our apartment in Azusa and like like an idiot

I let them in and And they talked me into Reading the

Book of Mormon. It's like I'm supposed to read this on top of all this other stuff that I'm doing Yeah, well, you know, okay.

All right, I'll read it But I'm gonna need like a month or a little bit more than that to pull it off Because I got all this other reading

I have to do and so I slogged through the Book of Mormon Oh my goodness that thing will cure insomnia

Okay, are you struggling to go to sleep put the Book of Mormon on it'll put you to sleep in five seconds

You know and immediately and immediately and immediately and immediately and you know, anyway so reading the

Book of Mormon read it and so the Mormon missionaries came back after I informed that I had finished reading it and They came in they sat down and the first thing out of one of the you know elders mouths

How is it that a 19 year old man is is it considered an elder in Mormonism? That just makes no sense

So the the elder spoke to me and he said So, um when you read the Book of Mormon, how did it make you feel?

I? Said I'm glad you asked because it was the weirdest thing every time I would open up the Book of Mormon It was like the lights in the room got dimmer and I could feel a chill in the room

Like evil had just entered the room and he says you're not reading it, right? I Remember the look on his face, you know

What's funny is is that sometimes people ask? Do you did you really say the things you said that in you asked my wife?

She'll tell you I did exactly that and so I said well, it seems like you're he says you're supposed to have a burning in Your bosom that's supposed to Assure you that it's true.

I said well, yeah, I didn't have that. I had something the opposite of that I said, I guess my my experience in your experience cancel each other out

I guess we'll have to look at the evidence all right, and so we steered the conversation in the direction of looking for the

Archaeological evidence to support the claims of a book called the the book I Abraham which is in their doctrine and covenants which is a complete forgery and And I actually was able to contact an

Egyptologist at the University of California, Irvine I had I had found an article from a

Mormon book that had reproduced Photographs of the original document that Joseph Smith had used for the book of Abraham they had found it in a library in New York and and So I had an

Egyptologist ready to offer a translation on what this thing was and when I showed it to it when I showed Him the

Xerox copies. He said this is the book of the dead. This is not the book of Abraham You know, this is this is this is a papyri that oftentimes gets buried with mummies in Egypt and we we were getting ready to meet with these

Mormon missionaries to have a conversation about the actual evidence that I had from this Egyptologist and lo and behold their bishop got involved and sent them to sent them to Arizona We never got to meet with him again, but we had we had met with him for several weeks

But that was that was that was an interesting thing So coming back to it then Hannah this really what you're dealing with when with these people these new death experiences and people's

Religious claims based upon their experiences. You have to see it as a competing narrative to the Bible and it may and here's the thing

What a human being experiences when they are dying. We know this Biologically that once you get to a particular point in the death process death is not an instant death is actually a process that once you get far enough down the line in the process of death all of your synapses in your brain fire off all at once and And when people there's like a common thing where people talk about the fact that their whole life flashed before them in an instant

That would make sense and that actually chemically biologically makes sense. So somebody in the middle of the death process

You can't trust What they're saying is going to have any lucidity because their brain isn't functioning correctly in the in the death process the brain has very predictable things that it does as it as it's offloading stuff and Starving for oxygen and things like this.

So I wouldn't trust anybody's vision of what they've seen in the afterlife

In a near -death experience is any more than I would trust a drunk who you know Who's was doing magic mushrooms and told me about how they had coffee with puff the magic dragon

Okay, it might be as real as real gets within the you know Within the chemistry of the brain and all these kinds of things, but it doesn't represent the sound

Sound theology of Scripture and I would note this that the that in Scripture We do not have any examples of those who have died and been raised to life

Giving accounts of what it is. They experienced in heaven Okay. So for instance

Lazarus after Christ raised him from the dead was not given a book deal By Zondervan and he didn't make the rounds going and telling everybody what it was like to be dead.

In fact, the You'll note the gospel is noticeably silent about what he experienced

Noticeably silent the Apostle Paul who had a true Ecstasis an ecstatic experience by the way, if you ever when you hear the word ecstasis, that's a

Greek word From so from from the Greek word ecstatic stasis. It means to stand outside of oneself

Okay is is so Paul has a true ecstatic experience recorded in 2nd

Corinthians and he Went to the third heaven, which is the abode of God and he says whether in the body or out of the body

I don't know Yeah, he reiterates that whether in the body or out of the body,

I don't know Right, but then what he does say is is that he saw things that men are not permitted to speak

Here in fact, let's take a look at that text This might be a preview of our ask a pastor

Bible study get your questions and now by the way Because this is

I love this little bunny trail that we're on 2nd Corinthians, I think it's gonna be 11, but I'm doing this from memory

Paul and Paul's Apostles. Yes. Here we go. All right, so Paul here is dealing with the so -called

Super Apostles, what a stupid name for a title for yourself. Okay, I I'm not a pastor.

I'm a super pastor They're both the same

You know Use that office meme. I they're both the same photo, you know All right, so Paul goes on Paul in 2nd

Corinthians 12 listen to what he says He says if I must go on boasting though, there is nothing to be gained by it.

I will go on to visions And to revelations of the Lord I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven and here we go

Whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know That's the thing

Paul had a legitimate experience and here's the thing We know from 1st Corinthians 15 when

Paul learned the gospel. He didn't learn it from a human being He did not learn the gospel from Peter.

He didn't learn it from John Definitely didn't have a conversation with Bartholomew or any of the other lesser

Apostles He learned the gospel through a direct revelation of Jesus Christ so Similar to what we see with Isaiah in the in the year that King Uzziah died

I saw the Lord high and lifted up and the row the train of his robe filled the temple, right?

So there's Isaiah mining his own business doing what he does as a priest and all of a sudden the scene

Changes and now he's in the real temple of God. He sees the throne of Christ Okay, similar thing with Paul.

So Paul's here. I don't know how this worked I don't know why I was I was in the body or out of the body I don't know God knows he says so I know that this man and at this point he can't even refer to himself in the first person

Okay, have you all ever heard cat curd talk about how she oh, you know, she goes to heaven like every other day

I think she has a flat there, you know But anyway says I know this man he was caught up into paradise whether in the body or out of the body

I don't know God knows and This guy listen to this. He heard things that cannot be told and Which man may not utter?

So everyone coming back from these near -death experiences and just blabbing on blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

I hear Charlie Brown's teacher wah -wah wah -wah wah -wah wah -wah wah -wah wah -wah, right and Other people hear it go.

Oh, we need to stop believing the Bible. This is the truth No, this is just this is just hot air and it may even be demonic, right?

So whether in the body out of the body, I don't know and he heard things that cannot be told which man may not utter

And notice he doesn't say which a man may not utter He says which man may not utter which means that those who've been to the real third heaven

You know why they don't talk about it They're not allowed to Okay, so on behalf of this man,

I will boast but on my own behalf I will not boast except for my weaknesses though If I should wish to boast

I would not be a fool I would be speaking the truth, but I refrain from it so that no one may think more of me

Then he sees in me or hears from me and you're gonna note here that Paul having truly

Visited the third heaven has he given you any of the details of it? Nope. Not a single one

That's noticeable. And in fact, here's the thing Because he was given the privilege of seeing the third heaven

Christ decided I'm going to have to keep your head from blowing up So so to keep me from becoming conceited

Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations. Well, why don't you tell us what they were Paul? I'm not allowed

Okay, a thorn was given me in the flesh a messenger from Satan to harass me to keep from me from becoming conceited and We don't know what that thorn in the flesh was

There is speculation and that's all it is that maybe he had some kind of a physical ailment

We know from other epistles that Paul seemed to struggle with raging eye infections

Which is kind of a weird thing, but we don't know if that was his if his thorn of the flesh Three times

I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me But he said to me my grace is sufficient for you and my powers made perfect in weakness

Tell that to Kenneth Copeland anyway Boy, he's looking terrible by the way

You know He's one of those people I think is legitimately possessed by a demon and I think the meat suits falling apart

But that's a whole other story. I mean look and he just had Emergency appendicitis had his appendix taken out.

Yeah He's not making it to 120. I'm just saying yeah So you're gonna note here

Paul who legitimately had a vision of the third heaven. What was he able to tell us about it?

Nothing And then you think well, what about John? What about John? Mm -hmm. I would note that John was given permission to say the things that he was that he saw and you'll note that the things

That John reveals in the book of Revelation They're as clear as mud Okay Because the things that he saw they're all encoded encoded in apocalyptic

Symbols and in order to understand what it means you got it You're gonna have to spend some time with other biblical texts and kind of work it all out, right?

so Anyway, I think what that that's as far as I can go today. So I've got to head over to Emmanuel But all right, good question