Hearing from God through the prophet Ezekiel: An introduction

How should Israel respond?

God’s cover of protection removed from the land

The purposes of God

Ezekiel: Father of modern Judaism

Don’t be distracted from the greatest sign of Jesus’ soon return

The promise of a new covenant

Christians called to support Jews in every way they can

God’s call to intercession.

The Feast of Purim was celebrated in Jewish congregations last week. The Feast recalls the deliverance of the Jews at the time of Esther. Esther is often used as an inspiration for intercessory prayer. She was called, prepared and dared to go into the presence of the King to intercede for her people who were facing destruction under the hand of Haman.

How appropriate it is, therefore, to consider our own call at this time. The people of the UK are seeking deliverance from the EU, and we are also entering a time in the entire world when the rise of anti-Christian powers are threatening the survival of both Christians and Jews. This, then, is a time when many of us will receive the call to draw near to God.

In so doing, we will become intercessors on behalf of our people and become available to hear the prophetic word of understanding that can be shared with others.

God Looks at the Heart

This is a ministry that requires deep commitment and purity of lifestyle. The character of those whom God calls can be found in the scriptures. For example, in Isaiah 66:2, “on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.” Such character is not made in a moment, but is often the result of a lifetime’s walk with God.

It is a costly walk which results in a broken heart for others, such as when Jeremiah wept at what was to befall his own people. The Jews were about to go into Babylonian captivity – “Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jer 9:1).

This character in us reflects the character of the Lord Jesus, who wept over Jerusalem because of what was coming upon it, and of whom it was said that “in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and was heard because of his godly fear…he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb 5:7, 7:25).

We live in a time when many of us will receive the call to draw near to God in intercession.

The Ministry of Intercession

The ministry of intercession was given to the Priests of the Old Covenant, who were called into the Holy Place of the Tabernacle and Temple to make intercession for the people, to hear from God and to go out to teach the people what God was saying. At the time of Ezekiel their ministry was corrupted (Ezek 22:26-31) and this had kindled God’s wrath. Regarding their role of intercession, God said, “I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it, but found no-one.”

This is how important the ministry of intercession is. It is a priestly calling that God expects to be taken up. For us, it is not the Levitical priesthood, but the priesthood of all believers (1 Pet 2:9). Jesus is our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. As we read in Hebrews 7:1-4, this means that Jesus the Messiah, like the Priest Melchizedek in Genesis 14, was appointed by God directly and did not inherit his ministry by being from the Tribe of Levi, as with all the Priests of the Old Covenant.

It was Jesus who answered the deepest call to be intercessor for his people: “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his own arm brought salvation for him; and his own righteousness, it sustained him” (Isa 59:15-17).

Called into God’s Presence

His call is now for us to join him in his intercessions for the people of this world. John 15:1-8 is a key passage, where we are called to abide in Jesus. Or, using another metaphor, just as Jesus clothed himself in his own salvation and righteousness, so we are to put on the full armour of Ephesians 6 and so put on Jesus (Rom 13:14). In this place of abiding in him or wearing him, we receive the inspiration of God so that our prayers can be in accord with Jesus’ own intercessions (verse 7).

It is in this place of inspired prayer that we can be sure that our prayers will be answered, not according to our human logic but according to the prompting of his Spirit. As such, our prayers are prophetic in nature. In the place of inspired and answered prayer, we will find the prompting of the Holy Spirit as to how to pray, sometimes in “groans that cannot be uttered” (Rom 8:26-27).

What a privilege to be called into the very heart of God to fulfil this calling so utterly needful in the world that is shaking about us more and more every day. Like Esther, we must prepare ourselves to enter into the King’s presence and so fulfil our priestly calling on behalf of our people.

You may also be interested in: Prophets as Intercessors and Purim.

Is there any hope for Britain?

Over the New Year holiday, I spent some time seeking the Lord for his word to Britain and I was strongly led to what God said to Ezekiel at a time when Jerusalem was in turmoil. He said, “Son of man you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.”

This message meant that people could not see what should have been blindingly obvious. The nation was facing disaster but her leaders, both religious and secular, were running around like headless chickens, fighting one another but not taking any positive steps to deal with the situation.

Jeremiah (unlike Ezekiel) was actually in the city. He was driven to despair. “Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you,” he said. “My people are fools…They have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good” (Jer 4:18-22). Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah knew that the nation was under judgment which the people had brought upon themselves by deliberately turning away from the truth of the word of God.

In Britain, we are in a similar situation. The scenes of turmoil in the House of Commons in the run-up to Christmas were a vivid illustration of the mood in the nation – it is a mood of dissatisfaction with everything; yet no-one has any idea what to do about it! It is in this situation of major disagreement among our political leaders that the voices of the mob in Westminster streets calling for a ‘people’s vote’ should be ringing alarm bells everywhere. Such a vote would spread dissension and conflict across the land.

People bring judgment upon themselves when they deliberately turn away from the truth of the word of God.

Social Problems Side-lined

The Brexit debates in Parliament for the past two months have been so all-consuming that major social issues affecting the welfare of the nation have been woefully neglected. A review of school exclusions was delayed which could have helped to deal with the crisis of knife crime that claimed the lives of more than a hundred young people on the streets of London in 2018.

The Green Paper on social care was also kicked into touch despite the crisis in the NHS, the shortage of beds and elderly people not being cared for in the community. Many other urgent social issues have been side-lined by the Brexit rows that have split the Conservative Party and exposed the weakness of the Opposition.

These are all signs of the serious moral and spiritual issues that underlie the great Brexit debate that is dividing the country. What is being exposed is the lack of an overriding standard of truth by which all issues can be judged.

It is because truth has been eroded from the public square and the forces of darkness have been allowed to spread deception that we are seeing the very thing that both Ezekiel and Jeremiah saw in Jerusalem. 500 years later Jesus saw the same thing when he wept over Jerusalem that both leaders and people were blinded by deceit. He said “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (Matt 13:13).

Good for Evil, Evil for Good

In Britain, we have not only abandoned truth, but we have actually embraced lies and deception. Even our language has changed to accommodate opposite values. Children and young people call good things ‘wicked’ and evil things that are harmful to them are celebrated as good. It is a rebellious generation that has no understanding of ultimate values. This is why we are seeing knife crime ruling city streets, as gang life is substituted for family life; loyalty to the gang for the love of parents and siblings.

Urgent social issues have been side-lined by the Brexit rows, which have split the country and exposed its lack of an overriding standard of truth.

Also driving society deeper into deception are the false values of LGBTQ+ that have been embraced by politicians from all our political parties. We are led by a Prime Minister who was the chief architect of radical changes when she was Home Secretary, driving the Same-Sex Marriage Bill through Parliament despite the opposition of more than a hundred MPs of her own party and all the warnings that were sounded across the nation.

That legislation, more than five years ago, marked a tipping-point in the nation: Britain went from at least nominally acknowledging the biblical foundations of its social value system to adopting a system based upon the total denial of truth. It was ignoring the clear warnings given in the Bible – “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isa 5:20).

You cannot ignore fundamental standards of truth that are part of the creation of the universe without bringing disaster upon society. But this is exactly what we have done in Britain and this is the reason why we are seeing the turmoil in our Parliament that is reflected across the nation.

The plain fact is we have brought judgment upon ourselves, one of the consequences of which is listed in Deuteronomy 28:28 as “madness, blindness and confusion of mind”, which we can see clearly by watching the debates in Parliament.

Hope for the New Year

But the Bible does not only warn us of the consequences of rejecting truth. It also sets out the remedy. Jeremiah was given a promise from God that applies to any nation at any time: “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned” (Jer 18:7).

The circumstances of the giving this promise should give us great hope and encouragement as a message for the New Year.

You cannot ignore fundamental standards of truth that are part of the creation of the universe without bringing disaster upon society.

Jeremiah was told to go to the potter’s shop where he watched the potter at work. The clay he was using simply did not run in his hands so he was unable to form it into the shape in his mind. He stopped the wheel and Jeremiah probably expected to see him throw that obstinate bit of clay into the dust across the floor of his workshop. But instead, the potter patiently kneaded it back into a ball, put it on the wheel and carefully made it into a pot. It was not the beautiful vase he originally envisioned but it was a useful pot that would no doubt serve a busy housewife.

From this, Jeremiah learned a message about God’s love and forgiveness. We all of us mess up our lives at some point; but God never abandons us, in the same way as the potter did not throw away that bit of clay. When we confess our sinfulness and our need of his love, he immediately re-makes our lives, as the potter re-shaped the clay.

This is the message of hope that God wishes to convey to us for 2019.