{"id":250,"date":"2016-01-08T00:15:16","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T00:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/?p=250"},"modified":"2018-01-20T03:32:32","modified_gmt":"2018-01-20T03:32:32","slug":"the-things-of-the-spirit-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/?p=250","title":{"rendered":"The Things of the Spirit, Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h3>\n

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.\u00a0 Romans 8:5<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We’ve covered specific things (of the Spirit)\u00a0that can be done, or must be done in the Spirit or through the Spirit.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Beginning in the Spirit<\/li>\n
  2. Praying in the Spirit<\/li>\n
  3. Worshipping in the Spirit<\/li>\n
  4. Waiting in the Spirit<\/li>\n
  5. Sowing to the Spirit\u00a0& Reaping of the Spirit<\/li>\n
  6. Speaking and Preaching in the Spirit<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We add one more to our study:\u00a0 Carried Away in the Spirit<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,\u00a0 Revelation 21:10<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Carried away in the Spirit.\u00a0 There’s three areas (or people) in the bible that this concept or idea present itself:\u00a0 Ezekiel, Jesus, and John. \u00a0And all three are almost supernatural, out of body type experiences.\u00a0 There’s no doubt about that.\u00a0 I’m not going to try to diminish that aspect of it. \u00a0The focus must be not on the experience itself, but the means of that: the Spirit of Almighty God.\u00a0 By studying these things and learning about being “carried away” in the Spirit, we learn about the character and workings and ways of the Holy Ghost.\u00a0 In other words, we cover these things not so that we can endeavor to have some miraculous spiritual experience, but that we endeavor to know God, to know God the Holy Ghost.<\/p>\n

    \"fourlivingcreatures\"Ezekiel<\/h2>\n

    The first of the three people in the bible I want to look at is the prophet Ezekiel.\u00a0 In the book of Ezekiel, chapter 39, the passage regarding the valley of the dry bones, Ezekiel says, “The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD…”\u00a0 So we’re going to look at Ezekiel and this passage to learn more of the Holy Ghost.<\/p>\n

    \n

    The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was<\/i> full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were<\/i> very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were<\/i> very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am<\/i> the LORD.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    First, before we get into this passage.\u00a0 I want to give you a little bit of information regarding Ezekiel.\u00a0 Ezekiel is one of the five major books of the prophets; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and\u00a0Daniel being the others.\u00a0 Ezekiel is probably best know for it’s prophetic imagery throughout the book:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • (Chapter 1) The four living creatures<\/strong>.\u00a0 They had the likeness of man, had four faces and four wings;\u00a0they had calf’s feet that shone like brass;\u00a0they had the face of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle;\u00a0their appearance was like burning coals of fire.<\/li>\n
    • (Chapter 8) The hole in wall<\/strong>.\u00a0 Ezekiel digs through the hole in the wall and finds the worship of every creeping things, the women weeping for Tammuz, and the worship of the sun.<\/li>\n
    • (Chapter 9) The six men with the slaughter weapon and the man with the inkhorn<\/strong>.\u00a0 Before God sent out the six men to slaughter he sent out the man with the inkhorn to set a mark on the foreheads of those that lamented and wept over the sins of Israel and they were all spared from the men of slaughter.<\/li>\n
    • (Chapter 17) The riddle of the great eagle<\/strong>.\u00a0 The great eagle with great wings, longwinded, full of feathers, and divers colours.<\/li>\n
    • (Chapter 23) Aholah and Aholibah<\/strong>.\u00a0 The two daughters that represented both Judah and Israel.<\/li>\n
    • (Chapter 24) Ezekiel’s wife<\/strong>.\u00a0 The Lord told Ezekiel “…behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke..”\u00a0 The bible says that in the morning Ezekiel spoke and in the evening his wife died.<\/li>\n
    • (Chapter 28) The king of Tyre<\/strong>.\u00a0 Long has this passage been used to describe the fallen angel, Lucifer.\u00a0 Whether it is or not, we remember the king of Tyre.<\/li>\n
    • (Chapter 33) The watchman<\/strong>.\u00a0 The bible says, “But if the watchmen see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned… blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.”<\/li>\n
    • (Chapter 36) The stony heart<\/strong>.\u00a0 The wonderful intentions of God upon the sinful:\u00a0 “A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and\u00a0I will give you an heart of flesh.”<\/li>\n
    • (Chapter 37) The valley of the dry bones<\/strong>.\u00a0 This is the passage that we’re looking at today.\u00a0 “Oh ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.”<\/li>\n
    • (Chapter 38) Gog and Magog<\/strong>.\u00a0 These are always associated with endtime prophecy.\u00a0\u00a0Brings to mind visions of the book of The\u00a0Revelation, and the battle of Armageddon, and the Day of the LORD.<\/li>\n
    • (Chapter 40-48) Visions of the temple, the prince, the rivers of water, and the holy city<\/strong>.\u00a0 Not as well known, but nevertheless a major portion of the book of Ezekiel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      We recognize all these images from the book of Ezekiel.\u00a0 We don’t ever really hear a lot of preaching out of this book.\u00a0 It’s very similar to the book of The Revelation.\u00a0 People are somewhat hesitant sometimes to get into these.\u00a0 It is beneficial to understand the history of the kings, and of the captivity, and of other prophets, and other lands like Assyria and Babylon, and things like that in order to get a better understanding of the book.\u00a0 It’s not a must, but it’s helpful.\u00a0 There’s some amazing lessons and topics in this book.\u00a0 One thing to consider is that all these images (There’s many more that what I just listed) were given to Ezekiel while, as the bible says, “the hand of the Lord” was upon him.\u00a0 In fact, an overall consideration that should dictate our understanding of this book is the very first verse:<\/p>\n

      \n

      Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month<\/i>, in the fifth day<\/i> of the month, as I was<\/i> among the captives by the river of Chebar, that<\/i> the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      Do you remember what Stephen, filled with the Holy Ghost, said as they stoned him there?\u00a0 He said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”\u00a0 What happened when Jesus came up out of the River Jordan, and the Holy Ghost descended upon him?\u00a0 The bible says that the heavens opened; and the voice of God came out of there.\u00a0 Ezekiel said, “I saw visions of God.”\u00a0 Let ask you this:\u00a0 Does God reveal himself to his people today?\u00a0 Ezekiel was given all these visions of God and the visions of things to come, while under heavy influence of the Spirit of God.\u00a0 Ezekiel was “under the influence” so to speak.\u00a0 However, he was not filled with wine wherein is excess, but he was filled with the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Remember, what did Peter tell us in the New Testament regarding the prophets?<\/p>\n

      \n

      For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were<\/i> moved by the Holy Ghost.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      So when we read the book of Ezekiel we should mind the fact that this is a recording of a personal powerful\u00a0experience with God.\u00a0 The heavens were opened, and Ezekiel looked into heaven and God revealed these things to him; gave him these visions, these images.\u00a0 And Ezekiel lived to tell us about it!\u00a0 This is what happened to Ezekiel in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month.\u00a0 What we are reading is Ezekiel’s personal experience with God and the Spirit of God on that day.<\/p>\n

      So we look at the book of Ezekiel today, not necessarily to know the interpretations of all the historical details of the prophecies; or to understand which prophecy has come to pass or will come to pass; or to guess about the future and things to come. Not today, at least.\u00a0 We look at the impact of the Spirit of God on the prophet Ezekiel.\u00a0 What can we learn about the Spirit of God through the experiences of Ezekiel?\u00a0 What kind of things happen to Ezekiel when he’s “carried away” in the Spirit?\u00a0 Why do need to know this?\u00a0 Because, they walk after the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit.<\/p>\n

      The Hand of the LORD<\/h3>\n

      With this in mind, we go back to the valley of the dry bones, where Ezekiel was carried away\u00a0by the Spirit of the LORD.\u00a0 The first thing I want us to\u00a0cover is something you see through out all of Ezekiel’s experience.\u00a0 There’s eight different places through out the book of prophecy that speak directly concerning Ezekiel’s experience.\u00a0 The valley of the dry bones is just one of them.\u00a0 Five out of the eight times something happens, Ezekiel always seems to mention something:\u00a0 “the hand of God.”\u00a0 It must be important for him to mention it so much.<\/p>\n

      The Word of the LORD Comes Expressly<\/h3>\n

      The very beginning of the book, when the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, when the heavens were first opened to him, the bible says that the “hand of the LORD was there upon him.”\u00a0 I want to bring your attention to how the word of the LORD came.\u00a0 The bible says in verse three, “The word of the LORD came expressly<\/strong> unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river of Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.”\u00a0 The word of the LORD came expressly.\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 It means clearly, directly, plainly, distinctly, unambiguously, unequivocally, absolutely, emphatically.\u00a0 When God is speaking to you, and the hand of God is upon you, you will know without a shadow of a doubt that God is talking to you.\u00a0 The word of the LORD came expressly.\u00a0 The Hebrew word for “came” is hayoh<\/em>.\u00a0 The Hebrew word for “expressly” is the same word pronounced hayah<\/em>.\u00a0 There really isn’t a word in Hebrew for expressly.\u00a0 By repeating the word, it conveys the meaning “expressly.”\u00a0 So in Hebrew “expressly came” is translated hayah hayoh<\/em>.\u00a0 They just repeat the word.\u00a0 In Hebrew you’re actually saying the word of the LORD came came<\/em>.\u00a0 The word of the LORD double came!\u00a0 It’s like when we say, “I DOUBLE dare you!”\u00a0 You are actually saying\u00a0I emphatically dare you.\u00a0 Or I expressly dare you.\u00a0 When God touches you, when God puts his hand upon you, you’re gonna know it.\u00a0 One effect of the hand of God, is the word of the LORD comes expressly.<\/p>\n

      Those two on the road to Emmaus, after Jesus had spoken to them, they said, “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures?”\u00a0 They knew there was something different when Jesus talked with them along the way.\u00a0 All I’m saying is that God is not going to reveal anything to you until he places his wonderful, powerful, merciful, blessed hand upon you.\u00a0 Isaiah said, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”\u00a0 Do you know what’s at the end of the arm of God?\u00a0 The hand of God.\u00a0 Can\u00a0I say this:\u00a0 No arm, no report.\u00a0 No hand, no word.\u00a0 When you put the hand of God to the word of God, then you’ll have the work of God.\u00a0 What are saying preacher?\u00a0 You’ll know when God takes hold of the word of God.\u00a0 Let me put it like this:\u00a0 You’ll know when hand of the LORD wields the sword of the LORD.<\/p>\n

      The Spirit of the LORD is Strong<\/h3>\n

      One of the more popular passages in Ezekiel is the one concerning the watchman. This is found in Chapter 3 and also Chapter 33.\u00a0 We’ll be in Chapter 3:14.\u00a0 I’m not going to read the warning to the watchman.\u00a0 What I’m going to read is what happened right before Ezekiel was delivered this warning.\u00a0 In fact, this is before God gives Ezekiel any of these visions and prophecies.\u00a0 God’s just getting started.\u00a0 Ezekiel just been called to preach.\u00a0\u00a0He’s seen the four living creatures; he’s seen the throne of God and the glory of God; he had to eat that roll (not a bread roll, but a scroll roll).\u00a0 God has told him to “go, get thee to them of the captivity… and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God…” \u00a0He told them not to worry about their looks.\u00a0 Don’t be afraid.\u00a0 Now, he hadn’t done any preaching yet.\u00a0 In fact, I want you to hear this (vs 12,13):\u00a0 “I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing… I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures… the noise of the wheels… and a noise of a great rushing.”\u00a0 What was it that Peter and the disciples heard in the upper room as they were endued with power on high?\u00a0 What was it that they heard as they were filled with the Holy Ghost?\u00a0 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.”\u00a0 Let me ask you this:\u00a0 Is it possible that they heard what Ezekiel heard?<\/p>\n

      It was the first time that Peter preached.\u00a0 Jesus told them to “tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.”\u00a0 So with power from on high, Peter preached his first sermon.\u00a0\u00a0What’s another word for power?\u00a0 Strength.\u00a0 I want you to see this in verse 14:\u00a0 “So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong<\/strong> upon me.” Another characteristic\u00a0of the hand of God is strength and power from on high.\u00a0 Now this power manifests itself differently at different times in different people.\u00a0 When Peter was endued, he stood up and preached.\u00a0 But look what happened to Ezekiel (vs 15,16) “Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.\u00a0 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me…”\u00a0 Verse 14 said while the hand of the LORD was strong upon him, he was in bitterness and in the heat of his spirit.\u00a0 That means, in the anger of his spirit, the fury and wrath of his spirit.\u00a0 He sat there at the river and sat where they sat and was astonished seven days.\u00a0 That means to be filled with consternation, dismay and distress.\u00a0 They say that the power of God will give you holy boldness like Peter.\u00a0 But Ezekiel, it wasn’t boldness, it was bitterness.\u00a0 He didn’t stand up and preach.\u00a0 He sat down and wept.<\/p>\n

      What was the impact of the Spirit of God on the prophet Ezekiel?\u00a0 I’ll say this: everybody’s experience with God is different, but it’s the same hand of God; the same Spirit of strength and power.\u00a0 God’s power is going to manifest itself differently at different times in different people. \u00a0Interestingly,\u00a0look at the message that God gave him after those seven days.\u00a0 After that great experience with God, after he saw the glory of God and God told him to go, and after he sat seven days with the sinful people of the captivity, waiting to give them the word of God, when\u00a0finally the message came, it wasn’t a message for them.\u00a0 It was a message for Ezekiel himself.\u00a0 God said, “You better warn the wicked to turn from their wicked ways, or I’ll require their blood from YOUR hands!”\u00a0 To whom much is given, much will be required.\u00a0 Yes, the hand of God\u00a0is strong and powerful, but to be carried away in the Spirit is to be brought to a purpose and\u00a0with it comes responsibility.<\/p>\n

      The Glory of the LORD is Remembered<\/h3>\n

      This really gets more interesting as we look the hand of the Lord in Ezekiel’s experiences.\u00a0 So he’s been commissioned\u00a0to go the people of the captivity, and tell them, “Thus saith the LORD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.\u00a0\u00a0And the first message he gets to preach is not to them, but to himself.\u00a0 That alone ought to be a message to us.\u00a0 Nevertheless, his experience with God goes on.\u00a0 The next one, (3:22) begins with hand of the LORD.\u00a0 “And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee.\u00a0 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of LORD stood there<\/strong>, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.”\u00a0 Now I don’t know how much time passed between verse 21 and 22, but apparently some time has passed.\u00a0 What we see here is that he’s now come to a place in the plain where the glory of the LORD is.\u00a0 And he makes it known that it’s “as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar…”\u00a0 He said “It’s just like it was back when I was at the river.”\u00a0 He remembered back when the heavens were opened up before him at the river of Chebar.\u00a0 He remembered the four living creatures, and the wheels in the sky, and the throne of God and glory of God.\u00a0 (1:28)\u00a0“This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.\u00a0 And when I saw it, I fell upon my face…”\u00a0 And when the hand of the LORD was upon him and brought him to that plain,\u00a0the bible said, “…behold, the glory of the LORD stood there.”\u00a0 And he said, “Hey, that’s the glory of God and it’s\u00a0just like it was before.”<\/p>\n

      Can I say this:\u00a0 God doesn’t change.\u00a0 “Jesus Christ is same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”\u00a0 Hey I remember that day I got saved.\u00a0 I remember when I had a head on collision with glory of God.\u00a0 I remember in the wretchedness of my sin, I met God.\u00a0 I remember when I fell on my face.\u00a0 It was horrible to be lost.\u00a0 It was horrible to be without hope.\u00a0 It was terror to before a\u00a0Holy God.\u00a0 But can I say this:\u00a0 It was glorious.\u00a0 It\u00a0was an experience filled with the glory of God.\u00a0 Oh it was glorious when Jesus whispered in my ear that he loved me and wanted to save me.\u00a0 It was glorious to finally, for the first time in my life, fall on my face and call upon the name of the Lord; and cast myself on the mercy of God.\u00a0 \u00a0It was glorious.\u00a0 And I thank God that sometimes, the hand of the LORD still brings me to\u00a0a place where I find God and I can say, “That’s the same glory which I saw by the river of Chebar.”\u00a0 And I can still fall on my face before the glory of God.\u00a0 We can grow cold on God.\u00a0 It’s easy to do.\u00a0 Ah!\u00a0 Like that old songs says: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love…”\u00a0 But by the hand of God, he brings us back to that place; a place where we can worship him before his glory.\u00a0 And we need to go to a place like that.<\/p>\n

      I don’t know about anybody else, but I had times I’ve told God, “I need to hear from you Lord!\u00a0 I need something.\u00a0 I need to see something or I don’t think can go on anymore like this.”\u00a0 I remember when Patty was pregnant with Carina.\u00a0 We didn’t know what we were going to do.\u00a0 We didn’t have no doctor, no midwife, nothing.\u00a0 We didn’t want a doctor.\u00a0 We didn’t trust any.\u00a0 We still don’t.\u00a0 So I was scared.\u00a0 I was scared we’d lose the baby; and with no doctor and no midwife, if something went wrong, I was scared we’d lose all our kids.\u00a0\u00a0I didn’t tell God, “Thy will be done.\u00a0 Whatever your will be Lord, I’ll be okay with it.”\u00a0 No I didn’t say that.\u00a0 I said, “Lord, if we lose this baby, I’m not gonna make it.\u00a0 I won’t have the strength to press on.\u00a0 I’ll be done.”\u00a0 But by the hand of God, the glory of God stood there.\u00a0 I couldn’t fall on my face, I was driving to work.\u00a0 But if I could, I would have.\u00a0 I needed that.\u00a0 And God knows we need that.\u00a0 I don’t know what you’re going through, but I know there’s no peace like the presence of God.\u00a0 God knows we need that.\u00a0 Ezekiel needed that.\u00a0 Look at what happens next to him.<\/p>\n

      \n

      (vs 24-26) Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house. But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them: And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are<\/i> a rebellious house.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      Thou shalt be dumb?\u00a0 If I was Ezekiel, I would have gone nuts.\u00a0 Lord, you called me to preach!\u00a0 Lord you told me to go!\u00a0 Lord you even\u00a0warned me of the consequences if I didn’t go!\u00a0 Lord why are you making me dumb?\u00a0 Why are you taking away my speech if you want me to preach?\u00a0 But that’s not what he said.\u00a0 Listen, it doesn’t have to make sense if the glory of God is there.\u00a0 It doesn’t have to make sense if the hand of the LORD is there upon you.\u00a0 That’s the only reason Ezekiel didn’t go mad; because he knew it was of God because he remembered the glory.<\/p>\n

      The Work of the LORD is Uncomfortable.<\/h3>\n

      (8:1) “And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month<\/i>, in the fifth day<\/i> of the month, as<\/i> I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me<\/strong>, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.”\u00a0 You know, we try to worship God in church.\u00a0 We praise God in church.\u00a0 People lift up their hands, they cry, they shout, they drop down to ground in prayer.\u00a0 I mean there’s not a lot of that here, but in some churches, there’s a lot of what Jonathan Edwards called, religious affections.\u00a0 Jonathan Edwards, one of the great preachers of the Great Awakening was greatly criticized because during his services they said there was much swooning, and emotional outbursts, and things like that.\u00a0 And then we try to worship God alone in prayer.\u00a0 Some people actually have a secret place, a place where they can get alone and talk to God.\u00a0 And in your prayer closet, you can kinda open up and let go so to speak.\u00a0 You don’t have to be self-conscience about\u00a0how you behave before God; there’s nobody looking.\u00a0 You can weep, shout, and lift up holy hands before the Lord.\u00a0 You can be like Hannah; incoherent.\u00a0 The Lord knows what you’re trying to say.<\/p>\n

      What I’m saying is that there’s an appointed time and place for all this. But that’s not the case for Ezekiel.\u00a0 He had the elders of Judah over to his house. I really don’t know what they there for.\u00a0 This was during the captivity.\u00a0 Maybe they were having a political meeting.\u00a0 Maybe they were discussing important concerns of the people: food, shelter, their captors, their condition.\u00a0 Who knows?\u00a0 Nevertheless, Ezekiel had these people over, and in the middle of this party, the hand of the LORD falls upon him.\u00a0 Remember, God called Ezekiel to preach to these people.\u00a0 Ezekiel was God’s servant.\u00a0 And in the middle of this gathering, God said, “We’re going to have one of those visions right now!”\u00a0 The work of the LORD is uncomfortable.\u00a0 “We’re not going to do this in the temple, or by the river Chebar, or even out in a plain. No, in your house and before the elders of Judah that sit before you.\u00a0 Right now, we’re going to open up heaven, and you’re going to get your vision right now.”<\/p>\n

      I want you to notice, that it says, “… the hand of the Lord GOD fell<\/strong> there upon me.” I don’t want you to think that God just gently touched Ezekiel on the back and whisper a little something in his ear.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 The hand of the Lord GOD fell upon Ezekiel.\u00a0 That means it was sudden.\u00a0 That means it was heavy.\u00a0 That means it had weight.\u00a0 That words means to collapse.\u00a0 In other parts of the bible that word means to attack,\u00a0like in the book of Job.\u00a0 When Job lost all his cattle. The Sabeans fell upon them, and the servants were slain by the sword.\u00a0 The hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon Ezekiel.\u00a0 Walking after the Spirit, serving God in the Spirit, being carried away in the Spirit, is not necessarily going to take us places that are comfortable and put us in situations that are\u00a0comfortable.\u00a0 Ezekiel didn’t exactly blend in with the crowd.\u00a0 No. We’re supposed to be a that city upon a hill, the candle upon the candlestick.\u00a0 You’re out there where everyone can see.<\/p>\n

      Notice also the actual vision.\u00a0 He saw a likeness as the appearance of fire.\u00a0 It was fire in the shape of a man.\u00a0 “And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven.”\u00a0 I don’t know about you, but I don’t appreciate someone pulling me a long by my hair; much less lifting me up between heaven and earth.\u00a0 Hey that hurts!\u00a0 Wouldn’t you say that being lifted up by your hair is uncomfortable?\u00a0 The flesh is comfortable.\u00a0 The flesh is normal.\u00a0 Walking after the flesh means nothing changes in your life.\u00a0 It will always be that even keel.\u00a0 There’s no rocking the boat.\u00a0 I tell you this:\u00a0 The bible says, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them<\/i>, because they are spiritually discerned.”\u00a0 They that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit.\u00a0 The things of the Spirit are not for the natural man.\u00a0 If you want to stay carnal, if you want to keep walking after the flesh, then just do nothing.\u00a0 Believe nothing.\u00a0 Don’t rock the boat.\u00a0 Don’t put yourself into any discomfort.\u00a0 Let the only thing that guides your “so-called” walk with God be your comfort.\u00a0 Phillipians 3:18-19 “(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are<\/i> the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is<\/i> destruction, whose God is their<\/i> belly, and whose<\/i> glory is<\/i> in their shame, who mind earthly things.)”\u00a0 Romans 8:7, Paul says that the carnal mind is enmity against God.\u00a0 Follow after your own belly.\u00a0 Follow after your own comforts, the earthly things, and you’ll be an enemy of God.\u00a0 No. Walking after the Spirit, being carried away by the Spirit, is not comfortable.\u00a0 It may even hurt.<\/p>\n

      And then look at the actual vision:\u00a0 This was the vision of the seat of the image of jealousy.\u00a0 This is where God took Ezekiel to that little hole in the wall.\u00a0 And he dug, and he found a door, and Ezekiel went in.\u00a0 What did he see?\u00a0 He saw seventy elders of Israel worshipping ever creeping and abominable beast.\u00a0 He saw Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan in the midst of them.\u00a0 Who was Jaazaniah?\u00a0 Shaphan was a scribe to Hilkiah the high priest during the reign of Josiah.\u00a0 Josiah was the king that brought revival back to Israel.\u00a0 They found the word of God again during the reign of Josiah.\u00a0 Josiah tore down the altars to false gods and did good in the sight of the LORD.\u00a0 Well, when they found that old bible and brought it to Hilkiah the high priest, he gave to Shaphan to read to the people.\u00a0 Shaphan was there when Israel turned to God.\u00a0 Shaphan knew hand of God and the mercy of God.\u00a0 So what must have it felt, when Ezekiel looked into that door and saw the son of Shaphan, Jaazaniah worshipping beasts?\u00a0 Jaazaniah was a ruler.\u00a0 His father had done good in the sight of God.\u00a0 But his son had forsaken God and gone after other Gods.\u00a0 What else did he see?\u00a0 He saw the women of Israel weeping for Tammuz.\u00a0 Tammuz was a false god.\u00a0 They were observing a ritual where they worshipped this god by weeping for Tammuz.\u00a0 It was\u00a0a funeral of this god.\u00a0 In Babylonia, there’s even a month named after this god and that’s when they performed this funeral for Tammuz and wept over the false god.\u00a0 Well Ezekiel found the women of Israel weeping for Tammuz.\u00a0 What else did he see?\u00a0 Verse 16 “And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were<\/i> about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.”<\/p>\n

      These were not from some foreign nation.\u00a0 These were not the Assyrian or the Babylonians.\u00a0 These were his own people.\u00a0 These were the elders of Israel.\u00a0 These were the rulers, the scribes.\u00a0 These were the women of Israel.\u00a0 These were not strangers, people that Ezekiel didn’t know.\u00a0 They were people he knew, and people he saw every day.\u00a0 He knew their names.\u00a0It was people in his own house.\u00a0 “I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.” \u00a0There’s nothing more uncomfortable than the people of your own house that are strangers to God.\u00a0 It’s one thing to see a stranger in sin; but it’s another thing when it’s your brother or your sister in the depths of sin, or your mother or father that is carried away in iniquity, or your own children in sin.\u00a0 The bible says that judgement must begin in the house of God.\u00a0 This country is in dire straits.\u00a0 And the problems we face are not in white house. It’s not in the school house.\u00a0 But it’s in the church house.\u00a0 There isn’t anything comfortable about that.<\/p>\n

      The Servant of the LORD is Vindicated<\/h3>\n

      (33:21) “And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month<\/i>, in the fifth day<\/i> of the month, that<\/i> one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten. Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.”\u00a0 In the twelfth year of our captivity.\u00a0 For twelve years, or at the most twelve years, God has given vision to Ezekiel.\u00a0 And all these visions were concerning the nation of Israel and city Jerusalem.\u00a0 There’s some visions of other nations.\u00a0 But the primary subject were the nation of Israel.\u00a0 The fall of the nation of Israel did not just happen overnight.\u00a0 There were two halves of the nation.\u00a0 There was the\u00a0northern kingdom and then there was the southern kingdom.\u00a0 The north was the first to fall.\u00a0\u00a0Many of them were carried away into captivity.\u00a0 And then the southern kingdom\u00a0did not just fall overnight.\u00a0 There was a time when they paid tribute to\u00a0another nation.\u00a0 That is a pictured of a conquered nation, but not necessarily a desolate nation.\u00a0\u00a0The southern kingdom, Judah, with Jerusalem as her capitol with every king lost more and more power; lost more and more sovereignty,\u00a0until finally, the city was smitten.<\/p>\n

      \n

      (2 Kings 25:8-11) And in the fifth month, on the seventh day<\/i> of the month, which is<\/i> the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s<\/i> house burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with<\/i> the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. Now the rest of the people that were<\/i> left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      So all this time that Ezekiel was getting visions of God while he was in captivity, Jerusalem and the temple were still in alive and kicking.\u00a0 But the visions that God gave him were foretelling the fall of Jerusalem.\u00a0 You look at the two visions of the two sisters Aholah and Aholibah.\u00a0 Ahola was the elder.\u00a0 Ahola was Samaria, the northern kingdom.\u00a0 She committed whoredoms and was judged, but the little sister Aholibah didn’t learn from the elder.\u00a0 Aholibah which was Jerusalem also went after other gods.\u00a0 There was time to repent.\u00a0 There was time to turn from that wickedness.\u00a0\u00a0Ezekiel wasn’t the only prophet.\u00a0 They were warned not to go down that path, but they did anyway.\u00a0 The visions that God gave Ezekiel were a foretelling of the fall of Jerusalem:<\/p>\n

      \n

      (12:17-20) Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness; And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and<\/i> of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am<\/i> the LORD.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      So now (In Chapter\u00a033) the hand of the LORD was upon Ezekiel again, and something happened.\u00a0 One of those fugitives from Jerusalem escaped and came to Ezekiel and gave him the news:\u00a0 The city is smitten.\u00a0\u00a0He gave him the news that\u00a0city of Jerusalem had fallen and was made desolate.\u00a0 The word of the LORD had come to pass.\u00a0\u00a0If we put our trust and faith in the word of GOD and believe what he’s telling us,\u00a0we can rest assured that\u00a0His word will come to pass.\u00a0 Whatever God says will come, will come to pass.\u00a0 One day, in that\u00a0sweet forever, we’ll be on the other side of this bible.\u00a0 We’re going to know it.\u00a0 And they’re going to know it.\u00a0\u00a0(33:33) “And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.”\u00a0 There’s\u00a0vindication by the hand of God.<\/p>\n

      All the people that looked down upon\u00a0you because you didn’t want to go their way will know.\u00a0 All the people that criticized you for trying to follow God will know.\u00a0 Even all the people that agreed with you, but didn’t heed the warning will know.\u00a0 (33:31) “And they come unto\u00a0thee as the people\u00a0cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear\u00a0thy words, but they will not do them…”\u00a0 \u00a0All the times you doubted will be erased away.\u00a0 All the times you questioned God and didn’t understand where all this was going will be washed away by the hand of the LORD.<\/p>\n

      Conclusion<\/h3>\n

      This brings us back to Chapter 37, back to the valley of the dry bones where Ezekiel is carried out in the spirit of the LORD.\u00a0 We’re using this passage as a sort of outline to detail and catalogue Ezekiel’s experience with God.\u00a0\u00a0Remember the book of Ezekiel is a recording of a personal powerful\u00a0experience with God.\u00a0 The heavens were opened, and Ezekiel looked into heaven and God revealed these things to him; gave him these visions, these images.\u00a0 This is what happened to Ezekiel in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month.\u00a0 What we are reading is Ezekiel’s personal experience with God and the Spirit of God on that day.\u00a0 We looked at the book of Ezekiel today, not necessarily to know the interpretations of all the historical details of the prophecies or to understand which prophecy has come to pass or will come to pass; but\u00a0we looked at the impact of the Spirit of God on the prophet Ezekiel.\u00a0 We learn about the Spirit of God through the experiences of Ezekiel because\u00a0they that walk after the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit.<\/p>\n

      Working Outline<\/h3>\n

      Here’s a section of the my current working outline out of this study of Romans, just in case anyone is wondering how I got so far from Romans:<\/p>\n

      Romans 8:5 The Things of the Spirit<\/h4>\n
        \n
      1. Beginning in the Spirit<\/li>\n
      2. Praying in the Spirit<\/li>\n
      3. Worshipping in the Spirit<\/li>\n
      4. Waiting in the Spirit<\/li>\n
      5. Sowing to the Spirit\u00a0& Reaping of the Spirit<\/li>\n
      6. Speaking and Preaching in the Spirit<\/li>\n
      7. Carried Away in the Spirit<\/strong>\n
          \n
        1. Ezekiel<\/strong> (37) The Valley of the Dry Bones\n
            \n
          1. The Hand of the Lord “The Hand of the LORD was upon me…”<\/em>\n
              \n
            1. The Word of the LORD Comes Expressly (1:3)<\/li>\n
            2. The Spirit of the LORD is Strong (3:14)<\/li>\n
            3. The Glory of the LORD is Remembered (3:22,23)<\/li>\n
            4. The Work of the LORD is Uncomfortable (8:1)<\/li>\n
            5. The Servant of the LORD is Vindicated (33:21)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
            6. The Whereabouts of Ezekiel “…and set me down in the midst of the valley…”<\/em><\/li>\n
            7. The Words of Ezekiel “And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.”<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
            8. Jesus<\/strong><\/li>\n
            9. John<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
            10. Love in the Spirit<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

               <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              So when we read the book of Ezekiel we should mind the fact that this is a recording of a personal powerful experience with God. The heavens were opened, and Ezekiel looked into heaven and God revealed these things to him; gave him these visions, these images. And Ezekiel live to tell us about it! This is what happened to Ezekiel in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month. What we are reading is Ezekiel’s personal experience with God and the Spirit of God on that day.<\/p>\n

              So we look at the book of Ezekiel today, not necessarily to know the interpretations of all the historical details of the prophecies; or to understand which prophecy has come to pass or will come to pass; or to guess about the future and things to come. Not today, at least. We look at the impact of the Spirit of God on the prophet Ezekiel. What can we learn about the Spirit of God through the experiences of Ezekiel? What kind of things happen to Ezekiel when he’s “carried away” in the Spirit? Why do need to know this? Because, they that walk after the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-romans8","category-romanscommentary"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/fourlivingcreatures.jpg?fit=300%2C273&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7qg4l-42","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions\/279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}