Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 41.4
He said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

Reflection: From The Most Holy Place
By John Tillman

Ezekiel is led on a tour of a temple by “a man whose appearance is like bronze.” (Ezekiel 40.3-4) He matches the appearance of angelic beings or of Jesus when he appears in visions. The man leads Ezekiel around the outer buildings, then up to the portico and into the main hall. (Ezekiel 40.48-49) From there the door of the most holy place is measured and Ezekiel is led inside.

The man tells Ezekiel that what he sees is to be reported to the Israelites in exile. No one in Israel, other than the high priest, would ever see this room, but Ezekiel and his readers, including us, are ushered in. “This is the Most Holy Place.” 

Ezekiel’s temple is neither past nor future. (It does not match Solomon’s, Nehemiah’s, or John’s from Revelation.) It existed as a beautiful hope for the exiles he was writing to. This vision is also for us today. This is part of our beautiful hope. There is a temple, not made by human hands. It exists and will exist. In it we will always be with the Lord. Its doors will all be open to us. We will access “the most holy place” and directly experience the creator of our universe.

But there is another hope. A present hope. An inner hope.

The same Spirit that makes the most holy place holy has been sent to “tabernacle” within us. Each Christian filled with the Holy Spirit possesses, in our inner being, a “most holy place.” The man with the appearance of bronze escorted Ezekiel into this temple, even though his body was in exile in Babylon. No matter where we find ourselves in exile, we are escorted by Jesus into God’s presence.

In this place, we can pray, repent, and be cleansed. In this place, we can find worship, wisdom, and the work God calls us to. From the most holy place we are sent to proclaim truth, enact justice, and announce God’s mercy. 

After priests entered the holy of holies, they exited announcing that the sacrifice had been made and God had blotted out the sins of his people. Every time we exit our times of worship and prayer, we can enter the world of our exile, repeating this message. God has blotted out the sin of his people. With repentance, forgiveness is available to all who will receive it.

Proclaim this message today.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Hallelujah! Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. — Psalm 106.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 41 (Listen 4:40) 
1 Peter 4 (Listen 2:50)

Read more about A Temple for Exiles
Watching this new, improved temple being measured must have been an incredibly moving experience for Ezekiel.

Read more about Christ our Temple, River, and City
Christ himself is our temple. He is the gate, the doorway, through which we enter to worship.

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 39.9-10
9 Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up—the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel. 10 They will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel.

From John: Today voters in the United States go to the polls in mid-term elections amid concerns of violence either at the polls or afterward when results are known. We continue to pray that Christians would distinguish ourselves as people of peace in contrast to the world and that the results of elections would be clear, legal, and accepted by all candidates and parties without violent speech or actions. We repost today this reflection on how God can and will repurpose the weapons wielded by violent people.

Reflection: Repurposed Weapons
By John Tillman

Ezekiel describes a future war against God’s people that is ended through supernatural means and has an unlikely outcome.

John, in Revelation (Revelation 20.7-11), makes direct reference to this earlier prophecy from Ezekiel, revealing that it is Satan that deceives Gog and Magog, leading them in warfare to their destruction. (Revelation 20.9)

This apocalyptic prophecy is full of poetic symbolism without a simple, decipherable, literal interpretation. An interesting detail is that the weapons left behind by the fallen enemy army will be used as fuel by God’s people for seven years. 

We don’t often cook over fires anymore and modern weapons would not leave much wood behind but that does not mean this vision is unfulfilled. This image is part of a repeated theme in prophecy that humanity’s tools of warfare and destruction will be remade into implements of peace and cultivation. 

What is intended for evil will be used for good. Wooden weaponry will be fuel for cooking fires. Swords will be beaten into plows. God takes weapons that are intended to end life and turns them into tools that bring life. Look at what he did with the cross. 

The Romans and religious leaders thought the cross would end Jesus’ life. The Roman Empire thought that if crucifying Jesus wasn’t enough, they’d crucify thousands of his followers. But the cross couldn’t end the life of the church any more than it could end the life of Jesus. 

The wooden weapon of the cross became a symbol that fuels hope. Every empire that has opposed it has fallen. Hundreds of Empires since have thought that violence by blade, fire, or bullet could stop the church and the gospel. Yet, every empire that opposes it will fall.  The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God. (Revelation 11.15)

Our world, and Satan who rules it, wants us, like Gog and Magog, to be their weapons. “Used in their wars. Used for their gain.” (Rich Mullins, “Higher Education and the Book of Love”) Tragically, we are often deceived and march to war with them, but in Christ we, who have been weaponized, can be remade, recycled, and repurposed. 

May we no longer be swords and shields but basins and towels. (John 13.5) 
No longer murderers but nourishers.
No longer aggressors but comforters.
No longer destroyers but cultivators.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life. — Psalm 90.14

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 39 (Listen 4:51) 
1 Peter 2 (Listen 3:48)

Read more about Unprecedented Peace
“Beat your plowshares into swords” is not a call for God’s people to answer…God will put an end to war.

Read more about Already But Not Yet
Weapons of war are turned into agricultural tools. It is a transition from death-dealing to life-giving.

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 38.21-23
21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. 23 And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’

Reflection: Peacefully Resisting Gog and Magog
By John Tillman

The identity of Gog and Magog is one of those mysteries well-meaning Christians have spent much energy deciphering without success. 

Ezekiel used symbolic names (Oholah and Oholibah) for Israel and Judah. Gog and Magog could be symbolic names as well. However, Ezekiel pronounced judgments by name against nation after nation, including Egypt, Sidon, and Tyre. He didn’t have a problem putting them on blast. It makes sense that Gog and Magog are metaphors for many kings and kingdoms rather than having specific symbolism.

Gog and Magog show us how nations and powers align themselves against God’s people wherever they settle. Ezekiel tells us the thoughts in the invaders minds. “The villages have no walls. The people are peaceful. The land is unsuspecting. Once we loot them, we will prosper at merchants who will buy what we steal.” (Ezekiel 38.10-13) God’s people seem like an easy target. These invaders come against a land that seems defenseless but they face destruction they have no defense against. Gog’s swordsmen will turn on themselves. Magog’s hellish aggression will fall on his own troops. (Ezekiel 38.21-22). 

Perhaps Gog and Magog were intended to represent specific kingdoms but it seems more likely, and more useful to our discipleship, to see Gog and Magog standing in for all kingdoms. They might represent any nation or powerful group.

The Gog and Magog that come against us today are not necessarily physical kingdoms. They can be kingdoms of ideas and agendas armed with misinformation and conspiracy theories. They think us easy marks. They expect to conquer us, using us to enrich themselves. They expect us to defend ourselves adopting their tactics and weapons.

We can frustrate the kingdoms of this world by refusing to meet these expectations. We don’t live in the dreamy world of idyllic safety and peace that Ezekiel describes, yet; we can resist hostility and aggression with spiritual defenses.

By simply living under our own vine and fig tree and refusing to be made afraid, we nullify arguments based on fear. By living in openness and hospitality, we destroy weaponized racism and division. By treating enemies with grace, we conquer them with kindness. 

Powers aligned against God’s people will always think us an easy target. But God is our defender and hope. When we rely on him we do not need to let anyone make us afraid and we will bring glory to him no matter the outcome.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; you are my crag and my stronghold. — Psalm 71.3

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 38 (Listen 4:23) 
1 Peter 1 (Listen 3:53)

Read more about Of Pride and The Sword
In scripture the sword is not inanimate. The sword is hungry…The sword is wielded by kings and empires and then cuts them down.

Read more about God of all Nations
It seems ludicrous that we must keep repeating that the God of the Bible is not American, not White, and not partial to any race.

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 35.5-15
5 “ ‘Because you harbored an ancient hostility and delivered the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their calamity, the time their punishment reached its climax, 6 therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you. 7 I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste and cut off from it all who come and go. 8 I will fill your mountains with the slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines. 9 I will make you desolate forever; your towns will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 

10 “‘Because you have said, “These two nations and countries will be ours and we will take possession of them,” even though I the Lord was there, 11 therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will treat you in accordance with the anger and jealousy you showed in your hatred of them and I will make myself known among them when I judge you. 12 Then you will know that I the Lord have heard all the contemptible things you have said against the mountains of Israel. You said, “They have been laid waste and have been given over to us to devour.” 13 You boasted against me and spoke against me without restraint, and I heard it. 14 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. 15 Because you rejoiced when the inheritance of Israel became desolate, that is how I will treat you. You will be desolate, Mount Seir, you and all of Edom. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”

Reflection: God Hears What We Celebrate
By John Tillman

Edom, to whom this prophecy is directed, was family to Israel. Esau and Jacob were brothers. They were very different from each other, yet remained family. Esau was a burly outdoorsman. Jacob, who would become Israel, was a soft-skinned homebody. Esau was a skilled hunter in the wilderness. Jacob was a skilled cook in the kitchen.

They were separated from each other by guile and deception. They harmed each other and spent years apart due to anger and hatred. God brought about their reconciliation. But their descendants never gave up the old conflict. 

“Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you.”

God often allows or even orders violence against those who have brought violence on the Earth. He allows and even encourages tyrants to depose other tyrants. He “whistles for” empires to crush other empires as a man might whistle for a dog to retrieve slain game from a field. (Isaiah 5.26; 7.18-20) 

Often, when we find a particularly harsh and violent judgment from God, it doesn’t seem as harsh once we consider history. Multiple times in Israel’s history, Edom had the chance to behave like a brother, like family. Instead, they behaved like an enemy. Even when they did not directly attack Israel or Judah, they cheered on those who did and swept in to wipe out the survivors, enslaving or abusing them.

The bloodshed that Edom cheered when it was directed at their enemy, Israel, would turn and follow them. What they desired to happen to others would happen to them and God would set this in motion.

We need to be careful about what we love and what we hate. We need to be careful about what we approve and what we cheer.

God doesn’t slumber. God won’t sleep on us rejoicing in harm, violence, or threats upon others. He will not look away when we harbor ancient, or new, hostilities.

God hears our boastful cheers. Our boasts of power. Our boasts of gain. Our boasts of personal freedom. Our boasts of what we deserve. Our boasts of what our enemies deserve.

Rather than follow the path of Edom, and reap the judgment they sowed, let us sow differently.
Let us bless rather than curse.
Let us choose to behave like brothers, like family.
And even if our enemy stumbles, let us not be proud or rejoice. (Proverbs 24.17-18)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Keep watch over my life, for I am faithful; save your servant whose trust is in you. — Psalm 86.2

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 35 (Listen 2:21)
Titus 1 (Listen 2:24)

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 36 (Listen 6:40) Titus 2 (Listen 2:01)
Ezekiel 37 (Listen 5:07) Titus 3 (Listen 2:05)

Read more about Lesson of Edom
There are some who seem to take pleasure in the carnage of organizations stricken by scandal.

Read more about Running to Forgive
Esau running to meet Jacob and the prodigal’s father running to meet his son, are extraordinarily similar scenes.