Ezekiel 46

Thus says the Lord God: “The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened." v.1

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The east gate of the inner court was to be closed six days of the week and opened on the Sabbath and day of the New Moon.  This was the gate into the inner most court, where the altar of burnt offerings was.  This seems different to the Law of Moses where there was morning and evening sacrifices going on all the time so the doors never shut.  Again this is a continued vision of the Lord to Ezekiel of the future order.  This chapter is continue from the previous chapter of the ordinances of worship at the temple.  It is not that it becomes a religious repetitious worship, but orderly.  
We can't think of this like a church today in that only on Sunday's is when you go to church when the doors are open and the rest of the week it should stay locked up, but it does signify that just as in Genesis man shall labor six days and on the seventh day rest and that rest a day of sole worship and devotion to the Lord.  Worshipping the Lord should happen throughout our week wherever we are working or resting, yet corporate worship is necessary too. Do you have a corporate worship once a week that you desire and can't wait for every week just waiting for the doors to swing wide open?  Or do you dread those doors being opened and forced to enter?  What would need to change  if that's how you feel?

Ezekiel 45

“Moreover, when you divide the land by lot into inheritance, you shall set apart a district for the Lord, a holy section of the land; its length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits, and the width ten thousand. It shall be holy throughout its territory all around." v.1

Read chapter 45
When I first read this chapter in the NIV I thought of the Hunger Games.  Because of the wording "district" and their being a sacred district and everyone else living off from that.  Now it's not the Hunger Games where the capitol district hates the other districts and keeps all the other districts at disadvantages, it's an areas where the sanctuary will be and land of the priests (priest's allotment/inheritance was serving in the temple and teaching all the tribes so were to be in a central location of the temple).  Now we don't know what exactly is a cubit but some commentaries suggest this was around 722 square miles, Butte, Montana is close to this size of 716 sq miles.  This wasnt the size of their promised land when they entered Canaan after Moses, nor was it after exile, so then this must be still to come and this only the land of Israel mentioned in this chapter.  Like the Hunger Games the capitol district was what controlled all the land and governing powers came from, yet to travel to see the capitol will be possible and everyone will be blessed by the laws and judgments that come out of this sacred district yet to come.

Ezekiel 44

They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies; they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat.  v.18

Read chapter 44
I could never be a priest.  I sweat all the time no matter what I wear.  Ok all joking aside this chapter is talking about the line of priest that will be in the future order; yes there will be priest in the Kingdom.   The priests will be from the line of Zadok. They were the priests that didn't go astray to idols and other abominations.  The sons of Zadok were priests in the line of Aaron who were the high priest (different from Levitical priests).  These priests will be clean shaving, trimming their hair and not sweating- a hard thing to do with all the duties of the priest killing the sacrifices, butchering a chicken is hard work that exhausts me, I can imagine bulls, rams, goats, etc.  Yet these linen garments they were to wear when they were in the temple was only for that work and then they were to change; priest have uniforms but also "play" clothes too.  Yet their personality doesn't change from "at work" to  "after work hours."  Priest were to teach the people of what is holy and what is common, they are to be the judges of the people (vv.23-24).  
How have you seen jobs or positions of people that are different during working hours and off hours?  Who do you know that is the same (not working after work hours but consistent in who they are)?  

Ezekiel 43

“Son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, its entire design and all its ordinances, all its forms and all its laws. Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its ordinances, and perform them." vv.11-12 

Read chapter 43
This temple that is chapter describes does not have the same measurements as what the one Solomon built.  This temple is measurements of the temple that will be in the future, when God will dwell among the house of Israel forever (v.7).  When Ezekiel is to describe to Israel the temple it will cause them to be ashamed of their iniquities.  They will realized the perfect pattern of God's design and how they didn't "stay in the lines" of His drawing, not just in building God's house and how they had defiled it but in all matters of God's decrees.  Ezekiel is to write down all the temple's measurements that they may keep it as a reference when and question or doubt come up.  This wasn't the whole Bible that he wrote down for them but the exact measurements of the temple.  I'm no carpenter but have good friends who are and if something is 1/16th of an inch off it can mess up the whole fitting.  Or a friend who's a artist that if one brush stroke is not how she wanted it, she starts all over again with a new canvas.  
How have you drawn outside the lines of God's plan for you and seen the need for God's pattern over your own?

Ezekiel 42

He measured it on the four sides; it had a wall all around, five hundred cubits long and five hundred wide, to separate the holy areas from the common. v.20

Read chapter 42
Ezekiel's vision of the temple continues.  Here we see the dimensions of both the inner and outer courts.  The inner court is more like a rectangle with the dimensions given of the length of the chambers facing the temple and the outer units (50 x 100 cubits).  The out court is a perfect square 500 x 500 cubits. 

The wall that was built outside was to separate the holy areas from the common.  Israelites had access to the outer court but only priests had access to the inner court.  But the wall around was to keep the clean and unclean separate, also a protection again enemies.  Other nations were not allowed to enter the court but I wonder if this is the vision of the heavenly temple what unclean thing will there still need to be protection from?  For even the non Israelite nations will enter the Kingdom and visit the temple.  Yet I think of the vast space in the outer court  and wonder what the people would do there.  Maybe it was used a place of prayer, meditation, worship, gathering with others and a safe place.  Sometimes when one goes to a church today you can get lost or unsure of what place you are to take and how you should act, wondering about going up to the altar or seeking sanctuary somehow.  Do you have a space wherever you are as a place of worship and protection?

Ezekiel 41

"And the galleries all around their three stories opposite the threshold were paneled with wood from the ground to the windows...And it was made with cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between cherub and cherub." vv.17, 18

Read chapter 41
We continue in the visions of God that Ezekiel was taken to.  This chapter is visions of the temple with exact measurements and design.  Every detail is stated, no matter how small it's important.  When I was first reading this chapter I was thinking it sounded like it had a beach house theme because of the palm trees, but then I was thinking it had a rustic, mining theme because of the wood all around the gallery areas.  Think of all the different genre of how people have decorated their homes and how they change over the years.  I mean if you walk in to a house that has orange countertops and orange furniture with yellow wallpaper or tile walls, you know the place was decorated in the 80s.  Yet God's interior and exterior design will never go out of style, it will be a style that is timeless.  And we're not talking about living situations in this chapter but the temple, the center of activity where God's government will be carried out from.  How do you picture architecture and designing in the Kingdom?

Ezekiel 40

And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your mind on everything I show you; for you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel everything you see.” v.4

Read chapter 40
Oh that this experience that Ezekiel has could be said and done to me.  To be taken to see the new city and temple that will be in the Kingdom!  He's even taken to see it in the middle of captivity, the same day the city was destroyed.  Oh how on what seems like my hardest day that I could be taken away by the Lord to see something so much greater then my present moment that it would be worth any hardship in this life.  Ezekiel is told to make sure his whole mind, spirit, soul were set on what he was about to see so that he could reveal it to Israel, this was his specific and unique assignment.  Although this doesn't happen to us today, being taken to see heavenly things, we can still look, hear and fix our minds on everything Christ is showing us.  Can you see Him in any part of your day whether through people or creation or circumstance? Are you listening to Him by reading His word or in prayer?  Are you so fixing your mind on all the truth that has been revealed to you?  Are you declaring what you see, hear, know of God to everyone else? 

For all this is why you were brought here, where you are right now, to bring God glory.  How can you understand your present moment of being purposely brought here? 

Ezekiel 39

 “It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude...“They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it." vv.11,14

Read chapter 39
Housekeepers in heaven!  Men being regularly employed to clean.  Ok so not just cleaning any household mess up but cleaning up dead bodies in the land.  I'm a Housekeeping Supervisor and would love to tell my interns that what they clean up is possible training for Heaven employment;)
What's happening here is that after this great war of the armies of Gog in the future when they're about to attack Israel, God wipes them out.  He'll knock their bow and arrows out of their hands and cause them to fall on the mountain of Israel given for the birds to eat them (vv.3-4).  There will be such a heap of dead bodies that those traveling to the land of Israel will have to detour around it.  Yet this won't be a sad horror thing but a comfort of God's protection, the God of Armies.  A sign that God is no longer silent and all enemies are forever done away with.  
How is this changing your view of what goes on in the future eons?  How would you like being employed as this type of housekeeper?

Ezekiel 38

"You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes...For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence.  ” v.17, 19-20


Read chapter 38
Gog and Magog, sounds like lands from Lord of the Rings.    We read of these two cities in Revelation 20:7-9 when Satan has his little rebellious years after being bound up during the 1,000 year reign of Christ.   Gog is not a good city or person, when you hear of its name it always is of evil.  We don't read of Gog before this chapter in Ezekiel or by any other prophet.  We have to realize that we're dealing with something here in this chapter that takes place in the "latter days" mentioned here in verse seventeen.  We read of various great earthquakes throughout Revelation, a time when earthquakes had stopped for hundreds of years but then start again.  I cannot make an interpretation of most of this but that this is a prophesy of a time yet to come.  Yet how cool to notice that in God's wrath and judgment it will cause people to see that He is Great and Holy.  How cool that not just Israel, but all men, all animals will tremble at God's presence.  Isn't crazy to think that even after living with God for 1,000 years we will still tremble at His presence in awe and respect?!?!

Ezekiel 37

The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones...Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!'... So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. " vv.1,4,7

Read chapter 37
Did you know there are zombies in the Bible?!  Ok just kidding but I did do a devo once on halloween on this chapter about zombies in the Bible, but to talk about the real dead people that come back to life.  
Ezekiel is brought to a valley of dry bones; this is a graveyard although not buried under the ground but lying on top all over the ground.  He is told to prophesy to the bones that breath will enter them to cause them to live again, that is the breath of life or the spirit.  This is God say that the house of Israel will have restoration, they will be resurrected into a holy nation and restore the promise land to them, God's promise to them.  The people of Israel that had died weren't up in heaven but were dead and God gives them the hope and promise of the resurrection of them all.  Ezekiel wasnt just looking at these dry bones from up above but was in the midst of them; definitely not an "on-top-of-the-mountain-experience" I'd say.  And he doesn't just prophesy to them with no response, but the bones start to dance yet still no breath in them so he then prophesies to the breath to enter.  These bones may have been moving but they were still dead without the breath of life, the spirit.  
How are you living among a valley of dry bones, people who are dead to God, and how can you be a witness to them that the spirit may enter in?

Ezekiel 36

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes."  vv.22-23

Read chapter 36
When will we get it?  When will we get that we are not here for ourselves, we were not created to satisfy our own self, but we were created to bring God glory.  He's the only one that can say this and it not be selfish.  God chose one nation, Israel, to carry out His work and will but still continued to chastise them for their sins yet continuing to keep a remnant that His will for salvation of the world may be complete.  God doesn't have to advertise.  God wasn't choosing the perfect nation to do this but using them that He would be seen as the holy God He is through them.  It is through God's people that He uses as instruments to show Himself as the Only True God.  Israel's sin had caused God's name to be profaned among the nations, yet God would still use Israel to sanctify His name.  Israel was not God's favorite nation, as if He had one, but God chose the weak to shame the wise.  Is there any sin in your life that you're unwilling to give up for the sake of others?  How can you look to your purpose not being of yourself but what would bring God glory?

Ezekiel 35

“Because you have had an ancient hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end... Thus I will make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it the one who leaves and the one who returns." vv.5, 7

Read chapter 35
Has anything felt worse then feeling desolate?  Sure there's physical pain that I can't even imagine, but what about pain that goes deeper and last longer than any physical pain?  A person who is desolate is described as lonesome, abandoned in relationships, deprived of human consolation or presence.  
In this chapter about the judgement on Mount Seir it was to be made desolate.  Mount Seir, referring to the people inhabited there, were the people of Edom and are said to have an ancient hatred, a badly pre-eminent bitterness and hatred toward the people Israel.  Remember Esau, from whom came the Edomites, was the brother of Jacob, from where came the twelve tribes of Israel.  Esau sold his birthright and therefore Jacob received the blessing and thus began the bitter anger.  The Edomites were going to become desolate- the land laid waste, uninhabited, solitary; they were never going to be perpetually desolate (v.9), never to be restored to what it once was.
Those that have a continual hatred toward God will also one day be made desolate.  But this isn't always destroyed but to lay waste the evil and never let it return, but can be made new.  
How have you felt desolation in your life?  What result has come of it?  Or if you're current in a state of desolation how can you look for redemption to something better?

Exodus 20

"I am the Lord your God...you shall..." vv.2-17

Read chapter 20
The chapter of the Ten Commandments. Can you say all the ten commandments and in order too?  In the gospels when Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment He responds "the first... and the second..." The two that refer to relationships: love the Lord your God and love your neighbor.  We aren't held by the law to these commandments today as the Israelites were not only in the wilderness, but through hundreds of years that they were to practice the Mosaic Law.  Yet these commands are good to live by as God's desire for us to live in a way of honoring to Him.  It's also the base for how our U.S governmental law was formed.  So which commands are hard for you to carry out?  Which commands are the easiest broken today?  Why do you think the law of these ten commandments are no longer in place today?  Why do you think these ten commandments were chosen over all other types of rules that could've been put in place?

Ezekiel 34

I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd.  And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken. vv.23-24

Read chapter 34
The famous well known King David is back!  This chapter takes place hundreds of years after King David's death yet the Lord says that David will be the prince over Israel.  So how can that be?  This must be a future time when David is raised and all Israel is gathered together again.  We know that when the Kingdom comes all Israel and believers will be raised.  That time will still have leaders as we know the twelve apostles will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  Jesus will take the place as King of kings and be the one and only ruler in the earth, but there will also be a prince under Him and that prince is named here- David.  Some will say that David here means Jesus, but in verse 24 it clearly notes two rulers- Jehovah their God and David a prince.  
David is not just a fictional character of stories of the past, but we will one day seem him among us and as a leader over us, following a leader that is described as a man after God's heart.  What other human leader would you want in God's government?!

Ezekiel 33

Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ v.11

Read chapter 33
Are people predestined to eternal life with God?  Is everyone saved no matter what (universalism)?  
This verse seems to disprove both of these ideas.  God doesn't enjoy people dying.  What gives God pleasure is that the wicked turn from his way and live.  Of course the wicked person is already living so this live here is more than just breathing and walking the streets today but speaking of having eternal life.  Just as Jesus said he came to give life and that to the full.  He wants people to turn their hearts to the Lord, that's why He follows by saying "Turn, Turn."  He pleads with His people.  He doesn't want to damn them to eternal separation from Him, He doesn't want to discipline them with chastening.  That is the merciful and gracious heart of God.
Understanding death is hard and it's easy to take it out on God, but know He's sad too and doesn't take delight in it.  His delight is that any sinner, any soul, turn from his wicked ways unto Him.  
How have you viewed God's means of death? How does this verse challenge your way of thinking of predestination or universalism or any wicked person that repents?

Ezekiel 32

“Pharaoh will see them
And be comforted over all his multitude,
Pharaoh and all his army,
Slain by the sword,”
Says the Lord God. v.31

Read chapter 32
This chapter closes the series of prophesies of foreign nations who were either allies or enemies of Israel.  Its a chapter of lamentation, sorrows, of what the famous and prestigious Pharaoh would become.  The chapter closes with saying that Pharaoh will be comforted over his multitude that had gone down with him, destroyed.  This comfort isn't really a comfort we desire but a sad state of who you got to join you in your destruction to not be alone, it's a fantasy comfort- not real.  Pharaoh is comforted by others receiving the same end as he does- death, going down to the pit, what's comforting about that?  "Come see the destruction of human life."  Humans die fast enough, why gloat over ways to make it even faster to destroy one another?
How often do people take down others with them?  Why is that a false comfort yet the fantasy of it seems real in the moment?  When have you felt comforted in a selfish pity party only to regret later of who you hurt?

Ezekiel 31

The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it;
The fir trees were not like its boughs,
And the chestnut trees were not like its branches;
No tree in the garden of God was like it in beauty.
9 I made it beautiful with a multitude of branches,
So that all the trees of Eden envied it,
That were in the garden of God.’ vv.8-9

Read chapter 31
This picture of a great tree is a picture of the proud exaltation of Egypt.  No other nation or king compared to Assyria, none could out-top. Egypt was not in the garden of Eden but is compared to the trees in God's garden for its greatness and beauty.  God is said to have made it so great and beautiful, not just something we have to wait for heaven on earth to experience.  Trees are often symbolized as kings in scripture and would show here that all kings of the earth envied Egypt for it's greatness.  Matthew Henry's Commentary describes

The falls of others, both into sin and ruin, warn us not to be secure or high-minded. The prophet is to show an instance of one whom the king of Egypt resembled in greatness, the Assyrian, compared to a stately cedar. Those who excel others, make themselves the objects of envy; but the blessings of the heavenly paradise are not liable to such alloy. The utmost security that any creature can give, is but like the shadow of a tree, a scanty and slender protection. But let us flee to God for protection, there we shall be safe. His hand must be owned in the rising of the great men of the earth, and we must not envy them. Though worldly people may seem to have firm prosperity, yet it only seems so.

Where do you find yourself envying someone who God has exalted?

Ezekiel 30

“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and see, it has not been bandaged for healing, nor a splint put on to bind it, to make it strong enough to hold a sword." v.21

Read chapter 30
We continue to read of the destruction and judgement on Egypt.  Here the Lord is saying He's broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  This is most likely referring to what had happened when Pharaoh-hophra tried lifting the siege at Jerusalem from the Chaldeans (Jeremiah 37).  The breaking of the arm refers to the breaking of the power.  The power that Egypt had was soon to be destroyed by the Babylonians, not just a battle lost but a war lost by Egypt.  When one breaks an arm or a leg or a nose or a finger or whatever and doesn't properly bandage it, it heals incorrectly and usually loses its full potential.  So to with Egypt their power was broken and was not receiving proper medical attention and therefore not ever regain its strength it once had.  Egypt was not to be destroyed forever but to not be cured to ever fight again.  She was to receive a blow that she could not recover from.  
Have you received a blow that you haven't been able to recover from or have never been the same strength as you once were (either physically or metaphorically)?  Luckily the Lord heals the broken and broken hearted.  Go to him that you may be stronger than you once were!
"For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
But the Lord upholds the righteous." Ps. 37:17

Ezekiel 29

“Then all the inhabitants of Egypt
Shall know that I am the Lord,
Because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
7 When they took hold of you with the hand,
You broke and tore all their shoulders;
When they leaned on you,
You broke and made all their backs quiver.” vv.6-7

Read chapter 29
Israel turned to depend on Egypt again.  After the Exodus out of Egypt there were told not to go back to Egypt to multiply horse (to build army) yet Israel did turn back to them as their safety and help.  Just like when they complained during the exodus to return back to Egypt and become slaves because they thought it was better and didn't have faith, so here they "returned" back to Egypt for help than to God.  Yet that proved false for them again as the support of the ally they thought Egypt was it fell through.  When they leaned on them they fell.  Judah's dependance on Egypt is described as holding on to a broken reed. I don't know if you've ever tried leaning on a whole or broken reed, but it doesn't support at all, it's ridiculous just as it was for Judah to depend on Egypt, yet they still trusted in her despite.  Israel made an alliance with Egypt as their "backup" to God, yet ultimately God they treated as their backup and turned to them when Egypt could do nothing for them.  
Who or what do you put as your ally over God as your ally?  When do you rely more on your back up then going to God first for help in trouble?  What have you leaned on on to fall and break more than you thought you would?

Ezekiel 28

“You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you." vv.12-15

Read chapter 28

Satan was handsome!  Before he fell from heaven and became the deceiver he was an anointed one, a cherubim.  And when he fell to the earth he didn't become a snake (for one his curse was given him after the fall that he would crawl on his belly) but was still this "seal of perfection" covered with all these amazing jewels.  No wonder Eve was deceived by him.  She wasn't some bimbo believing a talking snake but was smitten by his beauty and charm (just as some many women still are today).  Notice that Satan was created (v.13), he isn't eternal like God is, but he also wasn't born of a woman.  It seems weird that this is a lamentation for the king of Tyre yet we know it's more than that since we know the king of Tyre wasnt in the garden of Eden and that he wasnt the anointed cherub.  But just as Satan once was an anointed one pride became his downfall and so to would happen to the prince of Tyre.  

How might this change your view of Eve being deceived by a beautiful and charming one than a snake that tradition says?

Ezekiel 27

“O Tyre, you have said,
‘I am perfect in beauty.’
4 Your borders are in the midst of the seas.
Your builders have perfected your beauty...
Your oarsmen brought you into many waters,
But the east wind broke you in the midst of the seas." vv.3-4, 27

Read chapter 27

Tyre was a great city.  Well known for it's goods of all commodities and its ships for trading and exporting.  It was built on a rock, good solid foundation.

While Tyre and Sidon were considered Canaanite during the second millennium BC, scholars call the Lebanese coast after the time of the Israelite Conquest of Canaan, Phoenecia. “Phoenicia” was the name given to the region by the Greeks, from their word for purple. The ancient world’s purple dye industry developed from extracting a fluid from a Mediterranean mollusk, the murex. Not only did the people of the Phoenician coast develop this industry, they specialized in shipping this very valuable commodity all over the Mediterranean world. Beginning with David, the Tyrian connection became prominent. Hiram, king of Tyre, offered cedar trees, carpenters and masons to build David’s palace (2 Sm 5:11). (biblearchaeology.com)

The east wind is what brought the destruction of Tyre, this rock island city.  The east wind was the most dangerous wind; most violent in the Mediterranean (Ps. 48:7).  Makes me think of the movie A Perfect Storm where the sailors can't win against the sea of the hurricane that stirred up the waves to over 100 feet high and ultimately swallowed them with no trace left.  As violence of the wind causes shipwrecks so violence of the enemy causes destruction.  Figuratively the east wind is King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who's army will soon destroy the city as we read in chapter 26:7.  

The city was at ease for it's popularity not ready for trouble.  Tyre seems similar to the United States of America today where we are the popular number one nation yet soon our downfall will be from those of the Middle East.

Ezekiel 26

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. 4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock." vv.3-4

Read chapter 26

"The name Tyre means rock, and was given to the city in consequence of its position. This island-rock was the heart of Tyre, and the town upon the continent - called "Old Tyre," possibly as having been the temporary position of the first settlers - was the outgrowth of the island city." (Barnes Notes www.biblehub.com)

Now this city once being called island rock is now bare rock. All the wealth it was filled with had now been washed away completely.  This city was so destroyed that even after the buildings fell they were swept out to see not leaving even a trace of dust where they once inhabited.  The only use of this once city is not a bare rock for fishermen to dry their nets.  Another city boasting in the fall of their enemy which the Lord is not pleased with.  The fall of our enemy should not be happiness but fear in how easily it could happen to us.  What is  remembered of the city is the terror they were and nothing more.  If your home was wiped away what would be remembered of you or your home?

Ezekiel 25

"Say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God: “Because you said, ‘Aha!’ against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity...‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because the Philistines dealt vengefully and took vengeance with a spiteful heart, to destroy because of the old hatred,” vv.3, 15

Read chapter 25
This chapter speaks of four other nations that will receive judgment from the Lord because of they gloating and happiness of Israel's judgement.  The Amorites say "Aha!" that the glory of Israel, the temple, was desecrated; the Moabites look on them as "normal" and no longer of fear; the Edomites took revenge and felt guilty (knowing their wrong); and the Philistines had malice in their hearts, holding grudges from the past.  All this was bitter envy and jealousy towards Israel revealing they wished harm than prosperity.  How often does bitterness and jealousy cause people to wish harm or hardship on others!  How often do you wish hardship on someone that seems like everything is perfect in their life just so they can experience difficulty and suffering?  Even if someone gets what they deserve we ought not to take advantage or gloat over it.  Where do you need to repent of thoughts like these or check yourself of evil hopes towards certain people?

Ezekiel 24

“Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down.  Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead; bind your turban on your head, and put your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips, and do not eat man’s bread of sorrow.”  So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died; and the next morning I did as I was commanded. vv.16-18

Read chapter 24

Ezekiel's wife just died.  Not by natural causes but by the Lord for a sign to the Israelites.  And the hardest part about it, it seems, is that Ezekiel is not allowed to mourn her, at least not publicly.  This was to be a sign that the vastness of those that will be killed will not be properly mourned nor all noticed.  Ezekiel doesn't fight against God, at least we don't read about it, but submits no matter how hard that has to be.  This wasn't just one of many wives that Ezekiel  maybe had no real relationship with but is called his wife (singular) and the desire of his eyes.  Ezekiel surely loved her, she was the object of his love and affection.  So the sign of the temple being the desire of the Israelites and how the Lord was about to have it destroyed and also their sons and daughters will fall by the sword (v.21).

We do not know how soon the desire of our eyes can be taken from us; no one is exempt from death.  How has a death of someone close effected you?  What strikes you about Ezekiel's submission to even the most hardest of things for God's will?  How do you think you would respond?

Ezekiel 23

“Son of man, there were two women,
The daughters of one mother.
3 They committed harlotry in Egypt,
They committed harlotry in their youth;
Their breasts were there embraced,
Their virgin bosom was there pressed.
4 Their names: Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister;
They were Mine,
And they bore sons and daughters.
As for their names,
Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah." vv.2-4

Read chapter 23
This parable of the two daughters is concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.  The cities are personafied as two daughters of the Lord.  Both were capitols in Israel, Jerusalem of the Southern tribes and Samaria of the Northern Tribes, and both went astray from the Lord committing harlotry.  Oholah is the name for Samaria and means Her Own Tabernacle.  Oholibah is the name for Jerusalem and means My Tabernacle is in Her.  Jerusalem is where the Lord chose to place and build His temple for His dwelling.   It's says they committed harlotry in Egypt, in their youth.  When they lived and were enslaved in Egypt for 400 years, God called them out for the first time as a whole people thus "in their youth."  What was engrained in their youth shaped them in to their decisions in their teenage/adult years.
Would such a humbling representation of what your sinful nature shows you are effect you?  How so?  How have you seen decisions made in ones youth continue in their adulthood?

Ezekiel 22

“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the midst of a furnace; they have become dross from silver. " v.18

Read chapter 22
Dross is a waste matter taken off a metal when smelted in fire.    The Lord is saying that Israel has no long become the precious metal they were but now the refuse, the dross to Him.  Mixed metals were often thrown together, so the refiner would throw it in the melting pot or fire that the silver would separate and be brought out.  This silver would be made shinny once the dross was removed.  Thus refining was needed, refining fire.  There was both hope and terror in this process both literally and figuratively.  The fire the Israelites were about to go through was the destruction and captivity under Babylon.  Just as a refiner sits by the fire to make sure the metal is not in the fire any longer than necessary, so God brings His own people into the furnace to purify them.
What dross needs to be melted off in your life?

Ezekiel 21

For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the road, at the fork of the two roads, to use divination: he shakes the arrows, he consults the images, he looks at the liver... And it will be to them like a false divination in the eyes of those who have sworn oaths with them; but he will bring their iniquity to remembrance, that they may be taken. vv.21,23

Read chapter 21
The King of Babylon is "the slayer" from verse eleven that will bring about God's wrath.  Here we see him consulting divination for his decision on which way to go about destroying Israel.  This divination is so false to the Israelites that it brings to remembrance how they had sinned and gone so far astray.  They see the ludicrousness of the king's divination yet it calls them out.  Look at how similar the King's actions here are compared to the ways of the High Priest:

• The King of Babylon shakes the arrows (a way of casting lots and how they fell was the answer from the gods) vs. the high priest would shake the Urim and the Thummim for God's answer
• The king of Babylon consults the images (images of ancestors/heritage) vs. the high priest consults God
• The king of Babylon looks at the liver of sacrificed victims to continue to understand the will of the gods for a sign vs. the high priest need look no further once God's decision made known the first time

Often the thing we hate most about others is the thing we hate most about ourselves.  What is it for you?

Ezekiel 20

"I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out.  And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face." vv.34-35

Read chapter 20
We get a look into the start of the kingdom here. This isn't just when the Israelites get out of captivity since we know this never happened, so must be a future event.  The future scripture talks about when Israel is gathered together again.  We must note that this is a gathering of ISRAEL and not all believers.  This will most likely take place at the beginning of the Kingdom.  The Lord will gather all Israel and bring them out to the wilderness and plead, or more-so judge, Israel.  God's not going to try to coax them but plea like a lawyer presenting all the facts concerning their beginning, their failures, and all His love. This wilderness will be a separation from all other peoples, a special gathering and judgement of Israel.  In the following verses we'll see that not all Israel will get to enter the land of Israel (v.38).  There would be no better place in all the earth than the land of Israel in the Kingdom on earth.
Oh to have the Lord plead this way with you.  What do you think He'd say to you in presenting all the facts of your life and His love?