Gilbert House Fellowship

GOD'S REASONS for His judgment against the apostate kingdom of Judah is the focus of this week's study. It reads like a list of charges against a defendant in a court case, a summary of the sins of the Israelites going all the way back to the Exodus. Of course, it's important to remember that God doesn't grade sin on a curve. On the only report card that matters, without Jesus, we all fail. ------...

THE HARSHEST criticism of Israel we've encountered so far is the focus of this week's study. God calls the people of Judah a prostitute -- except that prostitutes get paid, and Judah, said God, had been whoring with other gods for free. Worse, God said His people had actually taken the gifts He'd given them, including children, and sacrificed them to other gods. And yet, God said a day would come...

THE FAITHLESS prophets and elders of Israel were singled out by Yahweh for special condemnation in this week's reading. We discuss those who should have been looking after the spiritual health of God's chosen people, but who allowed Israel and Judah to fall into forbidden religious practices. One of these was the "hunt for souls," something the women of Judah engaged in that was apparently related...

BACK TO the throne room of God this week as we discuss another visit by Ezekiel to the throne room of God. We discuss the cherubim and ophanim, the supernatural guardians of the throne, and why the cherubim depicted on most models of the Ark of the Covenant are wrong. We also discuss the links between Ezekiel and the Revelation to John, the deeper meaning of the seal applied to the faithful in Eze...

PROPHETIC THEATER is one way to describe the commands Ezekiel received from God. The 430 days the prophet was commanded to lie on his sides with a model of Jerusalem, which was soon to be destroyed by the army of Nebuchadnezzar, were a visual warning of God's imminent judgment on the idolatrous kingdom of Judah, and of His future punishment of an unbelieving world in the Day of Yahweh. We also dis...

THE TRUE test of prophets is whether they have "stood in the council of YHWH to see and hear His word." (Jer. 23:18) This week, we discuss the calling of Ezekiel and God's first commands to the prophet -- to prophesy to "a rebellious house," the scattered people of Israel, and to do so in a rather unpleasant way. ---------- Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store...

EZEKIEL DID not see a spacecraft. Those who think he did are mistaken. We conclude our study of the Book of Lamentations, which describes the desperate conditions of those in Jerusalem at the time of its destruction by Babylon. We note the parallel between "kings of the earth" in Lamentations 4:12 and Canaanite texts that refer to the "Rephaim of the earth" (i.e., a possible reference by Jeremiah...

THERE ARE times when God brings correction into our lives, although not always as drastically as He did to the kingdom of Judah in 586 B.C. The Book of Lamentations is a series of five poems, possibly written by the prophet Jeremiah, in the wake of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem by Babylon. Today, we look at the first three chapters, which are filled with heart-rending grief and loneline...

JEREMIAH'S PROPHECY of doom against Babylon concludes this week as he declares the kingdom's destruction at the hands of the Medes. The prophecy was fulfilled some fifty years later in 539 B.C. Digging deeper into the prophecy, we see more evidence for the divine council in action, especially God's decree of judgment on the fallen bene elohim and demonic spirits behind the pantheon of Babylon. The...

PROPHECIES AGAINST Ammon, Edom, and Babylon are the focus of this week's study. Again we find that by looking closely, we see references to rebellious supernatural entities: Milcom (or Molech), the national god of the Ammonites, and Marduk, king of the pantheon in Babylon, as well as demonic entities known in ancient Israel such as Pachad ("terror"). We discuss the near-term fulfillment to Jeremia...

THE SOJOURN in Egypt was such a defining moment in the history of Israel and Judah that you would think the last thing Judeans would want is to go back there. You would be wrong. This week's study begins with the immediate aftermath of Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of the Temple. A remnant in Judah, afraid of retribution from Babylon because of the assassination of the governor appointed by Nebucha...

THE LAMENT of Habakkuk and his vision of supernatural war are the focus of this week's study. The prophet, who wrote in the second half of the 7th century B.C. (probably 640-615 B.C.), was shown the destruction coming to the kingdom of Judah from Babylon. But he was also given a vision of God's victories over chaos -- Tiamat, represented by the sea (the god Yamm in Canaanite religion) -- and the r...

THE LAST king of Judah, Zedekiah, was obviously more afraid of his countrymen than he was of Nebuchadnezzar -- or God, for that matter. This week's study covers the last couple years of the kingdom of Judah before Nebuchadnezzar lost patience and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple altogether. Zedekiah appears to have been sympathetic to Jeremiah, but he was intimidated by nationalist Judeans into...

SPEAKING TRUTH can be dangerous. The last days of Judah's independence before the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar are chronicled in this week's study of the book of Jeremiah. We discuss the message given to the prophet by God and what happened as a result. It's a reminder that preaching the actual Word of God is not a path to popularity and prosperity. Book Three of Sharon's series of...

JEREMIAH'S LIFE wasn't easy. His message was so unpopular that he was put in stocks and later imprisoned, and he had to live through two invasions by the Babylonians. Of course, that could explain why his message wasn't well received: "Yahweh says we're being punished, so settle into your exile for the next seventy years and pray for the pagan cities in which you've been settled." But even then, G...

THE PROPHETS didn't have easy lives. Today's study follows Jeremiah through the last years of the kingdom of Judah, and the message God gave the prophet wasn't popular. Because of his warnings of the imminent invasion by Babylon, Jeremiah was mocked and threatened with death even after Nebuchadnezzar had carried off the king of Judah and most of the country's ruling elites! We discuss parallels wi...

JEREMIAH'S PROPHECIES get even darker this week, and God tells him to proclaim famine, destruction, and pestilence for the rebellious kingdom of Judah. The words given to him by the Lord are so dark that Pashhur, a priest whose father was in charge of temple supplies, had Jeremiah beaten and locked up in stocks. The calling of a true prophet is often unpleasant from a human perspective. Book Two o...

CONDEMNATION AND promise are the themes of Jeremiah's prophecy against Judah in this week's study. Continue reading →

THE HEARTBREAK of Jeremiah at the prophesied destruction of Jerusalem is evident in this week's reading: My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Continue reading →

YOU'D THINK that prophets of Yahweh during the reign of good king Josiah would have been a little more upbeat. Not so much. Continue reading →

JOSIAH IS remembered as one of the best kings of the House of David — indeed, he was the last good king of Israel. Continue reading →

ISAIAH'S PROPHECY of a new heaven and new Earth is the focus of this week's Old Testament study. We note sections where Isaiah is cited by later prophets, highlight another example of the divine council worldview (God's condemnation of a ritual meal for the Canaanite gods Gad and Meni), and discuss the parallels between the last chapters of Isaiah and the last chapters of Revelation. Continue read...

THE DESTRUCTION of Assyria and the prophetic implications of its destruction are the focus of this week's study. Continue reading →

GOD ALLOWED Assyria and Babylon to oppress His people because they had turned away from Him. In our study this week, we discuss Isaiah's prophecy of a day when the world will come to Israel to bring tribute to the Lord. Continue reading →

ALTHOUGH ISAIAH had been told by the Lord that judgment was coming to the house of Israel, it would not be forever. This week's study includes condemnation for unjust rulers but also a promise of future redemption and restoration on the holy mountain of God. Continue reading →