The Crimson Thread - May I Gently Suggest?

This is a lament by God over His faithless bride, Jerusalem. The metaphor here is of a young attractive bride and a stable but older husband. She craves excitement and variety where He provides stability, respectability and wealth. As the metaphor continues, she ages and finally reaches the point where she must hire her lovers.

The month of Elul begins the 40 day count down to Yom Kippur. It is a time to take stock of ourselves and prepare for a meeting with the King. What have we accomplished during the past year? What are our hopes and plans for the coming year? Who do you need to forgive?

Ezekiel speaks against the elders of Israel who worship idols and yet come to inquire of the prophet. He says that God will deceive false prophets and will not speak clearly to the idolatrous. He also says that Jerusalem's sin is so severe that if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they would only be able to deliver themselves. Everyone else would perish.

The prophetic books of the Bible serve several purposes; one of which is to provide 'clues' to God's mysteries. Some of those mysteries having to do with Christ's first appearance have been revealed. Some are still unfolding and have not yet been explained. In the meantime, prophecy provides us with context and encouragement.

Metaphorically God had been a wall protecting His people. When Israel became idolatrous, they breached that wall. False prophets had arisen who, instead of repairing the wall by calling the nation back to God, had plastered over the breaches. This plaster made the 'wall' appear solid and reliable, but when it was tested, the wall would fail.

In Luke 16 there is a bridge passage between the parable of the dishonest manager and Lazarus and the rich man. This bridge explains the source of the violent conflict between Y'shua and the Pharisees over the nature of the Kingdom of God. The problem was that the religious authorities, through oral Torah, had turned Moses into an idol which had allowed them to enrich themselves unjustly.

In Chapter 10 Ezekiel witnesses the Glory of the Lord depart from Jerusalem in the same heavenly 'chariot' that he saw in chapter 1. Chapter 11 concludes with the New Covenant expressed with the metaphor of removing a heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh.

God asks that we love Him with our whole heart, soul and might. A love that doesn't touch your wealth is no love at all. It is a 'love' with some things reserved out of the union. You would not accept that in a marriage, nor should you approach your relationship with God with reservations.

Ezekiel's vision occurs over a year after the first. In the spirit he is taken to Jerusalem where he is shown all of the abominations of the remnant left after Nebuchadnezzar's first invasion. In this vision, God appoints a scribe to mark those who are faithful to Him and then sends six destroyers into the city to kill everyone else. God makes it very clear that this destruction is measure for mea...

On Tisha B'Av we remember the destruction of the first and second Temples and the exiles from the Land of Israel. In both cases the calamity was brought on by internal strife which weakened the nation. We are seeing much the same situation in the United States today.

Israel was deep into idol worship. They had become more corrupt that even the pagan nations around them. God's message was that their iniquity had become ripe and their doom was coming.

The tongue is unique in that it is half hidden and half public. It is the organ by which the heart expresses itself. It has the ability either to cause great harm or to build healthy solid relationships. Learning to guard the tongue is of greatest importance, both for the individual and for the community.

Ezekiel performs an elaborate pantomime showing the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The iron griddle between his face and the model city shows God hardening Himself to their prayers. Chapter 5 also explains why God's attitude is just and necessary.

Law is the only lasting basis for liberty. The American Revolution was a reaction to the British Parliament changing laws without the consent of the American colonies. Without the stable rule of law, tyranny quickly follows.

The first part of Ezekiel takes place during the interval between the first and second Babylonian invasions of Israel. The prophecy begins with the appearance of God riding in a mysterious vehicle with four cherubs. It is here that Ezekiel is called to be a prophet.

The US is undergoing a 'Great Awokening' where secular culture is attacking Christian culture with religious fervor. The central fixture of this movement is a set of shifting standards of what is a 'sin'. This creates fear because one never knows what past or present behavior will be labeled a heresy and get one excommunicated. One point of the Torah being written in stone is that it does not chan...

In this final session Y'shua frees a woman whom Satan had bound for 18 years and heals a man of dropsy - both on the Sabbath. He then explains that the Kingdom social order will not be the same as the earthly order. Prominent people in Israel should not assume that they will also be honored in the kingdom.

As much as we try to order the events in our lives, often things happen that are beyond our control. That happened to Joseph. He was jumped by his brothers, sold as a slave and then framed for attempted rape by his master's wife and thrown into prison. He had every opportunity to become bitter and lapse into helpless victimhood. He did neither of those things because he was able discern a meaning...

In Luke 15, Y'shua tells three parables about the determination of one who has lost something valuable to find it. The parables intensify from one sheep in a hundred to one coin in ten and finally to one son. The point of the parables is that just as people will work hard to recover what is lost, so too will the Father sacrifice greatly to recover what He has lost.

Fear has been used by every aspiring slave master from Satan on down to the present. Looking at the past year's events in the news from Covid to cancel culture it is evident that the goal is to keep people fearful, divided and uncertain. That is why God in Scripture tells us over and over not to be afraid - fear clouds your judgment and makes you easy to enslave.

In Luke 13 and 14 Y'shua tells parables about God's reaching out, first to Israel and then to the nations. In the parable of the banquet those who were invited refuse to show up, telling transparent lies as excuses. This causes the master to send his servants first to the poor and then to the nations to fill his hall with guests.

In the Bible humility is regarded as one of the central virtues. In the Jewish mussar tradition it is the foundation upon which character rests. Both Moses and Y'shua are described as humble, so humility is clearly a trait to be cultivated.

In Luke 16, the conflict between Y'shua and the Pharisees over money continues. His perspective is that one cannot serve both mammon and God simultaneously. Their perspective is that they are exemplars of service to God and that they should be wealthy. His ensuing comments on divorce and the parable of Lazarus and the rich man demonstrate that they are not nearly so righteous as they assume.

In the book of Malachi, God decried Israel's religious establishment for its cynicism and corruption. Their problem was that they did not see themselves and their behavior in the same way. There was, however, a remnant that feared God and spoke correctly about Him. These people are written in a book of remembrance that God will consult when He makes up His treasured possessions. Our nation today i...

The parable of the dishonest manager in Luke 16 is difficult because Y'shua praises the behavior of a man who cheats his employer so that he will look good in the community and not have to do menial labor once he is fired. The key seems to be that the manager is a shrewd judge of the master's character and commits himself to that understanding without reservation.