WEEK # 7 QUESTION # 6 (?)

SHARING:

 

On question 6 I really didn't understand it because it didn't say who (them) was; I read chapter 13 this morning and saw this

 

Nehemiah 13:10-11

"¹⁰ And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field.

¹¹ Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place."

 

 

That was a good question, amen!  The question was………….

 

When Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall what did he ask them?

 

"Why is the house of God forsaken?"

 

They had left building the House of God, the Temple at this time.

 

"Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?"

Haggai said this! (Haggai 1:4), and then he said this "Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?" (Haggai 2:3).

 

Let's think back now to Ezekiel………………

This section of Ezekiel is a sad era in the history of Israel. The Glory of the Lord led Israel out of Egypt. The Glory of the Lord appeared to Moses, in the burning bush on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 3:3-4).  He appeared to them in a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night, the very presence of God, He nurtured Israel in the wilderness providing food and water. 

 

Four hundred years after Israel took possession of the land, they were instructed to build a House for the presence of God in Jerusalem.   Solomon completed this Temple in 960 B.C., the presence of God, the Glory of the Lord, affirmed and blessed the House, by filling it with His presence.   

"10 And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord,11" so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. I Kings 8:10-11   

  

Here in Ezekiel chapters eight to eleven reveals how the presence of God, leaves His Temple, Solomon's Temple, because of the sins taking place.  Before He leaves, Ezekiel is brought to the Temple to witness why God's presence is leaving the Temple.  Ezekiel testified to what the nation's leaders are doing in secret, thinking God did not know.  He witnesses the idolatry taking place in secret how the nation's leaders worshipped abominations in the Temple.  God asks Ezekiel, "Have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness" (Ezekiel 8:12).

God then allows Ezekiel to see the events in the spiritual realms; God calls His angelic "Guards" to slay the idolaters in the city (Ezekiel 9).  This action is later fulfilled when the armies of Babylon destroy the city and slay its inhabitants in 586 B.C. 

After witnessing the slaughter and judgment in the spiritual realms, Ezekiel cries out asking God, "Ah, Lord God! Will You make a complete end of the remnant of Israel?" (Ezekiel 11:12). God responds by promising a day of restoration, even though they are judged, they will be restored, God will bring them back to the land and put a "New Spirit in them", they will be given a "heart of flesh", they will then be "my people".  Even though the events seem bleak for the nation, God is not done with Israel, they will be restored.

This restoration of obedience will take place in the last days, the end-times, when Israel comes to know their Messiah.  Ezekiel 36 to 48 deals with these progression of events.

 

 Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit right now, and if we defile it God will remove His Holy Spirit, spiritually, amen.