Old Testament

Ezekiel 33: A new people (part two)

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On Monday we looked at the background to Ezekiel’s prophetic message, and the big picture of a promised reboot of God’s people. If you’re just joining us, it’s best to start there and work your way forward. Today, we continue looking at the text of Ezekiel chapter 33.

Yesterday, we saw how God can’t be accused of being unjust. In the past, he’s appointed countless watchmen to warn Jerusalem—and they’ve all done their job. But still, Jerusalem didn’t repent. And here, among the exiles on the Kebar river, he’s set Ezekiel as his watchman who’s now about to do his job.

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Ezekiel 33: A new people (part one)

/ timmacbride

Yesterday we looked at the background to Ezekiel’s prophetic message, and the big picture of a promised reboot of God’s people. If you’re just joining us, it’s best to start there. Today, we look at the text of Ezekiel chapter 33.

Ezekiel the watchman

Let’s look at the first half of the chapter to see what it was saying to those who originally heard it back in the early 6th century BC – those exiles by the Kebar river, waiting for word on the fate of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 33:1-2 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man…”

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Ezekiel 33: God’s people, rebooted

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Today, we begin a four week series through several important chapters in the book of Ezekiel (33-37). You can listen to it from the sermon audio section of this site, or enjoy it in the traditional, text-based format we all know and love…

Wouldn’t it be good if you could reboot life like you can reboot a computer? This relationship isn’t going so well; control, alt, delete—reboot. Done. I hate my career choices; hold down the power key for one second and press restart. Done.

Wouldn’t it be good if you could reboot your life when you make a mess of it? When your history is cluttered with the evidence of your bad choices; when you’ve stored too many negative thoughts in your memory and it’s crowding out your ability to function; when life freezes on the blue screen of sin and death. Wouldn’t it be great to reboot and start over again?

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Hannah’s Song – Part Five (1 Sam 3)

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We’re  continuing in our series in the first three chapters of 1 Samuel. If you’re just joining us, it’s probably best to begin with the first post in the series, last Wednesday.

Today, we come to the outworking of Hannah’s song: where her little story and God’s big story intersect. It’s a famous one – a Sunday School favourite. That’s because the central human character is a child. But there’s something quite profound going on in the story.

1 Samuel 3:1 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

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Hannah’s Song – Part Four (1 Sam 2)

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We’re  continuing in our series in the first three chapters of 1 Samuel. If you’re just joining us, it’s probably best to begin with the first post in the series, last Wednesday.

God the great reverser

As we saw yesterday, God is the great rescuer. Having been rescued, we become part of God’s rescue plan. But Hannah’s song also praises him as the great reverser. That is, those who are powerful but unfaithful will be brought low; those who are weak but faithful will be raised up to be used in God’s service:

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