Departure of the Glory of God (Walk Thru the Bible Week 33)

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Welcome to Walk Through the Bible, Susan Michael's 12-month journey through the most exciting

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book on the planet.

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It will transform your life one page at a time.

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Be sure to subscribe for future episodes that will ignite your faith and bring your Bible

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to life.

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Now, let's join our host, Susan Michael.

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Well, hey there, we are back.

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This is Walk Through the Bible Week 33.

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This week we are reading in the Daily Bible the dates of August 13-19 or what are the

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pages of 1026 to 1067.

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Yahoo!

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We are really making progress.

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Alright, let's review quickly.

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So last week we saw where Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles.

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Well, this week Jeremiah is going to send another letter.

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This one to Babylon.

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I mean this Jeremiah, he doesn't give up, does he?

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Very bold and very brave.

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And Jeremiah 50 is where we read about this letter that he sends to Babylon where he predicts

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the end of Babylon and that Nebuchadnezzar will be punished.

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But he ends with that ray of hope, but Israel and Judah will be forgiven.

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Let's take a look at it.

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According in Jeremiah 50, verse 17, Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased

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away.

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The first to devour them was the king of Assyria.

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The last to crush their bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

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Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says, I will punish the

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king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.

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But I will bring Israel back to their own pasture and they will graze on Carmel and

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Bishon.

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Their appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.

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In those days at that time, declares the Lord, search will be made for Israel's guilt,

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but there will be none.

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And for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare.

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And then I want to go on to verses 33 through 34 because this has a beautiful concept here.

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The people of Israel are oppressed and the people of Judah as well.

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All their captives hold them fast, refusing to let them go.

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Yet, their Redeemer is strong.

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The Lord Almighty is his name.

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So don't you worry about the people of Israel and Judah.

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Their Redeemer is strong and the Lord Almighty is his name.

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My friend, no matter what you're facing, don't worry because your Redeemer is strong and

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the Lord Almighty is his name.

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The next chapter in Jeremiah 51 verse 5, another beautiful verse, for Israel and Judah

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have not been forsaken by their God, the Lord Almighty, though their land is full of guilt

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before the Holy One of Israel.

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So the prophets are very clear and here Jeremiah could not be more clear that whereas God had

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used this mighty Babylon empire that He was going to judge them for what they'd done

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to His people and that one day His people are going to come home and they're going

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to be forgiven, He has not forsaken them even though they went into exile, even though they

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sinned and they rejected Him and He had to punish them and He had to take them into exile

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and they've had to suffer this, He has not forsaken His people.

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Now at this time we want to turn to the story of Ezekiel and what Jeremiah is to Judah,

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Ezekiel is to the captives in Babylon.

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And as I went over last year, chronology, Jeremiah is the elder of the three prophets

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but then in the first wave of exiles was Daniel who became a prophet in Babylon and he knew

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of Jeremiah and he read in Jeremiah about the 70 years of captivity.

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Well Ezekiel was in the second wave of exiles which was the largest deportation in 597 and

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he also knew of Jeremiah and he knew of Daniel and so he mentions them in his book.

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So here Ezekiel 1 tells us about God's call of Ezekiel and it says that it happened in

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this 30th year and some scholars debate was it Ezekiel's 30th year or was it the 30th

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year since something happened but I think most of them settle on that it was Ezekiel

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was 30 years old, it was in his 30th year.

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Ezekiel was of a family of priests and so at 30 years of age Ezekiel should have begun

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his priesthood in the temple in Jerusalem and here he is sitting by the rivers of Babylon

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in exile.

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And so it's at that point that God appears to him and calls him to serve him but it's

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not going to be as a priest in the temple, it's going to be as a prophet.

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And in the beginning of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 1 through 24, we have his prophecies and his

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warnings about Judah, the announcement of Judah and about what is coming.

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And in chapter 24 then the book of Ezekiel and the story of Ezekiel takes a change and

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what happens in chapter 24 we're going to deal with next week.

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So this week we're dealing with this first part of Ezekiel's ministry leading up to

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that moment.

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And also remember now Jerusalem has not yet fallen at this point.

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The call of Ezekiel into ministry probably took place around 593 so the temple is still

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in place for another seven years.

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But he's not there, he's in exile so God raises him up as a prophet to speak to his

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people.

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Ezekiel has four visions in his book and in his ministry, four major visions I should say.

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And the first vision is at the time of his calling which we're going to read about this

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week.

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And the second vision is when the Lord actually, it says he takes him to Jerusalem and he

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sees the temple.

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And an amazing vision which we're going to talk about this week.

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And then the third vision which we'll cover later is of the Valley of Dry Bones and the

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last one of course is of the renewed temple.

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And Ezekiel is known as an apocryphal type of book.

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Of the visions are full of symbolism and sometimes it's hard for us to relate to all of this

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elaborate symbolism.

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But it is a certain prophetic style and the symbols all have meaning.

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It's just a matter of us studying what they are and what those meanings are.

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So this week we're going to be covering in the book of Ezekiel from chapters 1 to 23.

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Now I want to focus on not his calling and the vision there as much as the second vision.

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When God takes him by vision to Jerusalem and he sees the idolatry in the temple and

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then he sees this amazing lifting of the glory of God.

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So I want to read this for you here.

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This is starting here with verse 18.

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Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above

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the cherubim.

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While I watched the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground and as they

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went the wheels went with them.

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They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord's house.

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And the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

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Skipping down to verse 22.

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On the cherubim with the wheels beside them spread their wings and the glory of the God

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of Israel was above them.

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The glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east

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of it.

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The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Babylonia in the vision given

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by the Spirit of God.

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Now I want us to stop here.

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Let's talk about what we just read because this is a phenomenal vision and something

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you don't hear talked about a lot.

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Ezekiel is seeing the glory of God lift up out of the temple.

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That's where the presence of God resided.

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That's where he met with his people.

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And the glory of God was visibly seen there and experienced there.

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Where that glory is lifting and it's leaving the temple and it's going east, first it

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stops over the eastern gate and then it goes over the mountain to the east of the city

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before it's gone and then the vision is over and Ezekiel is back in Babylon.

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So what is this eastern gate and what is this mountain to the east of the city?

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Well, the mountain to the east of the city is the Mount of Olives.

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You've heard me mention it many times.

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You have the temple mount here, the key drawn valley and then it goes up to the Mount of

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Olives.

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So the Spirit of God rested, it stopped over the Mount of Olives before it left and of

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course Jesus also stopped and ascended from the Mount of Olives.

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And the disciples were told by angels, he will come back just as you've seen him go.

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And I believe that means he's going to come back to the Mount of Olives because the Prophet

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Zechariah saw the Lord come down on to the Mount of Olives.

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So this is an amazing, amazing concept here when you think about it, that the presence

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of God left from the Mount of Olives and then it came back to earth in the person of

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Jesus and here it left again from the Mount of Olives.

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But one day it will return and of course once again in the person of Jesus.

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Now the eastern gate of the temple, there was an eastern gate where you entered the

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temple mount and then there was an eastern gate that actually entered the temple itself.

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But the eastern gate is another very interesting story, the eastern gate of the temple mount.

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You've seen it in many pictures.

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It is a closed gate.

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It's been all bricked over and no one uses it.

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No one comes or goes from the eastern gate today.

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It's just a part of the wall.

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And the story is that back in the, I think, 1500s when the Ottoman Empire had ordered

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for the walls of Jerusalem to be rebuilt and so the Muslim Ottoman Turks were there building

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the walls of Jerusalem.

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First of all they made a mistake and they didn't realize that the ancient city of David

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should have been included in the walls.

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So that's why today the wall goes, it stays up on top of the hill and to go to the ancient

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archaeological dig of the city of David you actually are outside of today's city walls

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because these walls were built by the Ottomans, the walls that you see today are 600 years

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old, 500 years old and built by the Ottomans.

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So that's point number one.

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Point number two is the story is, and I don't know that this is really well documented,

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but the story is that the Sultan had been told that this eastern gate of the temple

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mount that it was rumored that a Jewish messiah was going to come back and he was going to

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enter the temple from there, the temple area from there, and he was going to be the ruler

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of the area.

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Well this area is under the Ottoman Empire and they didn't want this to happen and so

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the Sultan ordered that the gates be closed.

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And so after the walls were built then the gate was sealed shut and that they placed

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a Muslim graveyard right below that gate so you can't get to the gate without treading

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over Muslim graves and they felt that that also would keep the Jewish messiah out because

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he would not defile himself by treading over graves.

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And so today when you go with me to Israel and please sign up down below in the show

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notes we have a tour interest list.

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Please get on the list as soon as we're able to make plans and set dates for a tour.

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We'll let you know when that will be.

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But go ahead and just start saving your money now because we will go.

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We don't know if it'll be next year or if we'll have to wait longer with all the travel

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restrictions but do sign up and when you go you'll see the Eastern Gate all barred up

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and the Muslim gravesite right there in front of it.

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Of course none of that is going to keep Jesus from returning.

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The Book of Zechariah mentions a great earthquake and a splitting of the mountain and I believe

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all that's just going to open up.

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The messiah will be able to enter the temple area if he's not going to be kept out by this

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gate or the graves.

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Of course today there is not a temple on the Temple Mount and I'm going to leave that

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for a whole other conversation at another time.

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But that is this amazing vision that Ezekiel had of the glory of God leaving through the

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Eastern Gate and through from the Eastern Mountain.

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Now we read another interesting scripture this week in Ezekiel 11 verse 16 and here

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the Lord is saying that amongst the exiles that he said I have been a sanctuary for them.

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And this is a really key verse for the Jewish people they found a lot of significance in

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this why because the exiles are away from the temple.

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At this point the temple is still in operation and then of course after that it's completely

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destroyed and here these exiles are they're in a foreign land and they don't know what

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are they supposed to do how are they supposed to worship and here God says I have been a

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sanctuary for them.

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And this word sanctuary is one that some rabbis have pointed back to that this was the beginning

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of a movement of synagogues that the synagogues never replaced the temple.

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The synagogues had a slightly different function even but they were like a little sanctuary.

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The synagogues were not a place of worship or of sacrifice or all that took place in

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the temple and the synagogues were largely a place of learning and a community gathering

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place and a place where they were taught and but some rabbis point back to this verse

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as sort of the beginning where they had little sanctuaries there in exile and by the time

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of the New Testament synagogues are just everywhere.

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Now there's another concept that I want to touch on which I'm not you know this would

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take a whole teaching really to really dissect this but I want to acknowledge attention that's

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taking place in our story and some of you have may even felt it on the inside and some

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of you may have questioned this like why is it saying this and doesn't you know is that

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true it's like there's something here so I want to just acknowledge it and get it out

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on the table as we walk through this and this is the whole idea of the judgment for corporate

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sins versus the judgment for the personal the individual sins and how were these people

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punished for the sins of a previous king and so I want to mention this because in 2 Kings

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chapter 23 and in 24 and in Jeremiah 15 they all three mention that this judgment is coming

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because of the sins of Manasseh and we know Manasseh was an evil king and he really led

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the nation astray but then we heard about the good king Josiah and so it's like how

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could God still judge his people from an assay if just if Joshua Josiah came along and tried

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to lead them in the right way and he got rid of paganism he got rid of the idolatry he

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cleaned out the temple so wouldn't that have turned away the judgment and even in our different

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books there's a little bit of tension about this so whereas 2 Kings twice kind of put

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the blame on Manasseh in chronicles which also tells the same story we go back and forth

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between kings and chronicles because they're telling the same stories they never put blame

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on Manasseh the writer of chronicles is chronicling the sins of each king and putting blame on

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who's ruling then and how their people are behaving then and then we have the prophet

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Ezekiel comes out and he really says that the punishment is for the one who sins so

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I want to read that it's in Ezekiel 18 says the word of the Lord came to me what do you

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people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel and this is the proverb

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the parents eat sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge so this means that what

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the parents do affects the children and so here as surely as I live declares the sovereign

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Lord you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel for everyone belongs to me the parent

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as well as the child both alike belong to me and the one who sins is the one who will

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die the one who sins is the one who will die jumping down now to verse 20 the one who

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sins is the one who will die the child will not share the guilt to the parent nor will the parents

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share the guilt of the child the righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them

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and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them verse 30 therefore you Israelites

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I will judge each of you according to your own ways declares the sovereign Lord repent

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turn away from all your offenses then sin will not be your downfall rid yourselves of all the

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offenses you have committed and get a new heart and a new spirit why will you die people of Israel

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for I take no pleasure in the death of anyone declares the sovereign Lord repent and live

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so the prophet Ezekiel here puts it on record this judgment is because of your sin so how do

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we reconcile this what is second kings talking about and all I can do is attempt in my own feeble

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wording here is to try to describe a situation where menace brought tremendous evil into the kingdom

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and he led the people into evil and into idolatry and so he began a major descent here into judgment

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it is true that Josiah came along and he wiped out the public worship of the idols he reinstated

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and stated true worship of the god of Israel in the temple he went throughout the land

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and destroyed the public worship sites but what we now know from archaeology is that during the

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time of Josiah that people still had idols in their homes so publicly they were going along with this

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but they were still worshiping the idols in private and this is something that we don't

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read specifically in our narrative but it's coming out in archaeology they're finding a lot of idols

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from that time period and so then even though Josiah is the high point it wasn't high enough

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the people still deserve judgment and then of course after Josiah the reign of the next four kings

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took Israel deeper and deeper and deeper into sin and they deserved the judgment so

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I want to be clear they weren't being judged because it's something that happened you know

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50 years earlier they were very much a part of it and they were judged because of it and here the

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prophet Ezekiel sets the record straight now one last verse I'll mention as we bring this week to a

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close in Ezekiel 21 27 the Lord here says that because of this judgment and because Zedekiah is

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going to lose his crown it says the crown will not be restored until given to he to whom it

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rightfully belongs shall come to him I will give it and who do you think that that might be but

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Messiah King Jesus who came in fulfillment of God's promises to David and to sit on the throne

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of David he is the one that that crown belongs to and here the Lord tells Ezekiel the crown will

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not be restored until it's given to he to whom it rightfully belongs and he comes to him I will

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give it what a beautiful beautiful expectation of the coming king that's going to sit on the throne

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of David and the nations will learn more no more and will sit at his feet and worship in peace and

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in true true peace and prosperity for the earth that's a day we all look for and long for so

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enjoy your reading this week and I'll see you back here next week when it all comes to an end for

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Judah until then God bless you we hope you have enjoyed this episode of out of Zion with Susan

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Michael be sure to subscribe to out of Zion now on apple podcasts cpnshows.com youtube or wherever

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you like to listen and learn out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJ USA all rights

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reserved