Psalm 23

What Psalm is more recognizable than this?  None!  Thus we need to ask God to help us to meditate truly and deeply on it.  Familiarity breeds contempt.  It breeds a casual approach, or pride that says “I have benefited from this one many times; there is no more to learn.”  May we say the obvious: none of us has EVER studied this Psalm in the life-context of this moment?  We will find today fresh and unique applications of what our Lord and Shepherd provides for us.  

Often our familiarity comes from what someone else said.  We have perhaps heard Psalm 23 at nearly every funeral service we ever attended.  Or maybe it was committed to memory back in the recesses of our childhood minds.  We would do well to ask: have you really studied this Psalm?  

With this in mind we will ask you to fill in some blanks that require at the very least thinking about each of the phrases.  The point of the Psalm is that we have such a Shepherd as Jesus, the Good Shepherd, that as sheep we never lack anything.  And may I say, by the way, that Jesus is Israel’s Shepherd.  In Ezekiel 34:23-24 Jesus is the future Davidic Shepherd who will care for Israel.  The “Good Shepherd” sermon of John 10 is initially directed at the woeful shepherds of Israel, with Jesus saying that He will have sheep both from the fold of Israel and the fold of the Church (Jn. 10:16).  Remember Jesus is preeminent over all; He is both King of Israel and Head of the Body.

I have filled in the first and last blanks.  Please do the rest, answering the question “I shall not want for ….”  And by all means meditate on the word!  What issue in your life today has been a source of complaint to you because you have not followed your Shepherd?  Submit yourself to the One who has given us everything for life and godliness, in Whom we have every spiritual blessing!

      "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want" for...

He makes me to lie down in green pastures	Rest
He leads me beside the still waters
He restores my soul
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil
For You are with me
Your rod and Your staff they comfort me
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies
You anoint my head with oil
My cup runs over
Surely goodness & mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever	Ever

Ezekiel 24

We mentioned in yesterday’s study how graphic the sermon was in referring to the prostitute sisters.  But that pales in comparison to the graphic illustration of the death of Ezekiel’s wife as well as the announcement to the Jews in Babylon that the siege of Jerusalem had begun.  It’s about two and a half years later than the last sermon (cf. Ezek. 20:1 with 24:1).  Apparently there are still people who think Jerusalem will stand and they will soon be able to return.  But such is not the case and Ezekiel’s message from God makes this clear.

This chapter is linked by the date with the announcement of judgment on four nations that surround Israel (Ch. 25). This is followed up by a sermon of judgment on Tyre (Ch. 26-28) and six sermons announcing judgment on Egypt (Ch. 29-33).    At that point the siege of Jerusalem comes to a conclusion and the city is captured (33:21-22).  So what is coming are the messages concerning other nations. 

But first, in Ezek. 24, a final sermon concerning Jerusalem.

·        24:1-14: the parable of the cooking pot.  The day the siege of Jerusalem began (January of 587 or 588 BC) became a day of fasting during the time of the captivity (Zech. 8:19).  On that day this parable was told, of a pot filled with meat cooking over a fire.  The fire is so hot that not only is the meat burned; the scum on the pot is burned as well.  The point is not hard to understand.  The pot is Jerusalem, the bloody city.  God stokes the fire.  And the meat and scum is His people.  In the end the pot, Jerusalem, is cleansed.  So the lesson is that there are two ways to be cleansed: by repentance, but if not in that way, then it will be through judgment.

·        24:15-27: the death of the prophet’s wife.  What a powerful statement!  It is a statement about the sovereign power of God and of the extent to which God would speak through the prophet.  The prophet’s faithfulness extends even to the way he grieves in the loss of the “desire of his eyes.”  ) Ezekiel’s wife represented the Sanctuary (v20-24).  In order to cause the people to feel the significance of the loss of the Temple, the place of God’s dwelling, the place that set Israel apart from all other nations, nothing would portray that sense of loss like the death of Ezekiel’s wife.  That is how sad it would be for God’s people.  And yet, like Ezekiel, they would not mourn that loss.

Listen to the Spirit of God as you meditate on this amazing sermon.  Perhaps you will consider what it means to obediently serve God.  You may be reminded of God’s claim on our lives and all we have.  We exist for His glory and how we glorify Him is ultimately in His hands.  Perhaps you will think about God’s faithfulness in keeping His word.  One might reflect as well on the precious experience of fellowship with God.  He created us for this, to enjoy being in His presence.  Perhaps this will be a stark reminder as to why you no longer or have never enjoyed that fellowship.  Hear what the Spirit says through God’s word!

Ezekiel 23

When we talk about Ezekiel’s “graphic” sermons, this one is near the top.  What a picture God has painted to make clear that Judah and Jerusalem deserve God’s fury.  Not only have they been obstinate by ignoring the warnings of Scripture (Ch. 22); they have ignored what happened to the northern kingdom of Samaria when they followed their own way into idolatry.  The picture God uses is of two prostitute sisters.

·        23:1-4: Who are these sisters? Oholah, meaning her own tabernacle, is Samaria who from the start established her own idolatrous religion around the gold calves of Dan and Bethel.  Oholibah, meaning my tabernacle is in her, is Jerusalem where God had His dwelling at the Temple of Solomon.

·        23:5-21: What had these sisters done?  Oholah had lusted after the Assyrians, seeking military help from them and seeking to link their economies.  She did this instead of trusting God.  Thus she was given into the hand of the Assyrians some one hundred years before.  Oholibah became even more corrupt.  Ignoring the judgment of Oholah she lusted also for the Assyrians and then the Babylonians, hanging on to an unfaithfulness that extended back to the days in Egypt (v3,8,19-21,27). 

·        23:22-35: What would happen to Oholibah?  Like Oholah, her lovers would become her tormentors.  God would use Babylon, as He was in the process of doing, to judge adulterous Jerusalem.  The bottom line sin is profoundly described in v35: “Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back.”  His people had placed Him in that place behind the back that is unreachable.  Thus they would pay the penalty!

·        23:36-49: What were the abominations of Oholah and Oholibah?  God calls on Ezekiel to specifically declare the abominations that characterized their relationship with God.  They profaned the place they were to meet with God by both sacrificing their children in the idolatrous fires and then coming to the Sanctuary to worship on the same day (v36-39).  Then they adorned themselves and invited the nations to be their lovers (v40-44).  Thus the judgment would be appropriate under the law for adulteresses (v45-49).  The one positive is that the lewdness would cease from the land.

Friend, the picture is graphic because all other strong warnings have been ignored.  God seeks to get their attention.  What can we say of ourselves?  In what ways do we profane the holy?  Are we professing believers who are trusting in untempered mortar to build a wall of protection for our lives?  Do we lust after things, pleasure or power in an attempt to find satisfaction in our souls (1 John 2:15-17)?  Have we forgotten God and cast Him behind our backs?  Are we ignoring His attempts to get our attention?