September 2014 – Page 2 – Michelle Lesley

These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 37 ~ Sep. 7-13
Ezekiel 35-48, Joel
Dem Bones

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:27

The most beautiful thing about the Old Testament is that Jesus’ fingerprints are all over it. The imagery and symbolism displaying His life and the gospel pop out from the least expected places to surprise and delight us. And at the same time we see the “far,” New Testament application, of Old Testament passages, we can also see the “near,” or immediate application the passage has for the Bible characters the story is literally happening to. It’s like getting two lessons in one.

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Something Old
God sent this vision to Ezekiel the night before the messenger came with word of the fall of Jerusalem. The people of Israel were devastated and fearful, and this vision was meant to comfort and reassure them.

The valley (1) represented the areas of the world to which Israel and Judah had been (or would shortly be) exiled. As the skeletons were scattered all over the valley, so God’s people were scattered in various parts of the world.

The bones (2-3, 11) are a picture of death. With exile impending, Israel felt that all hope was dead and gone. The fact that the bones in the valley were “very dry” means that they had been there for quite a while, just as Israel would be in exile for seventy long years. It was the death of life as they knew it.

The prophecy (4-10, 12-14, Jeremiah 3:12, Isaiah 54:8, Psalm 30:5) this time, after so many prophecies of God’s coming wrath, was a prophecy of hope and restoration. God would breathe the breath of life and hope back into Israel. He would raise them up out of the grave of those pagan lands and resurrect them to a new life back in the Promised Land.

Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord; I will not be angry forever. (Jer.)

In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer. (Is.)

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. (Ps.)

What a kind and compassionate God! He justly executes judgment, but graciously forgives sin when His people repent.

Something New
The first layer of our lesson today was the “near” application– the literal, immediate application to Israel. From that, we’ve learned that God will not tolerate idolatry, that He is patient with His children, but does discipline them, and that He is merciful and forgiving towards Israel.

The second layer of the story is the “far,” or New Testament layer. It takes those attributes of God and redemption that we’ve just learned about in Israel’s story and shows us how Jesus “fleshed them out.”

The valley (1) could be anywhere. People are scattered over the whole earth just the way the bones were scattered across the valley.

The bones (2-3, 11, Ephesians 2:1-2a, John 15:16; 6:44, Hebrews 11:6, Romans 6:23) are people who are still dead in sin and have never come to repentant faith in Jesus Christ.

Let’s take a look at Ephesians 2:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.

Prior to salvation, we are spiritually dead. Just like a corpse can’t move, act, think, or decide, we can’t do anything to choose God (Jn. 15), or please Him (Heb.), or decide on our own to get saved (Jn. 6).

And not only are we spiritually dead during our time on earth, but eternal death awaits us when our earthly lives are over (Rom.). Without Christ, we are born dead, live dead, and die unto eternal death.

Gives you kind of a hopeless feeling (like the Israelites had) doesn’t it?

The prophecy (4-10, 12-14, Matthew 13:57, John 11:25-26; 3:6-7; 16:7; 20:22, 2 Timothy 3:16, Romans 6:4, Ephesians 2:4-7, 2 Corinthians 1:22)
Just like God sent the prophet Ezekiel -“Son of Man” (God calls him this 93 times)- to his people with the good news of the hope of new life, He sent His Son -also called the “Son of Man” (87 times in the New Testament)- the greatest prophet (Matt.), not just to proclaim the good news of new life, but to become that good news by giving His life on the cross so that we might not die, but live.

Verse 6 says: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

At Lazarus’ tomb, “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn. 11)

Just as Ezekiel prophesied to the bones (7-10) and they were born again from the dead, Jesus preached, “You must be born again.” (Jn. 3:7). And just as the bodies in verse 8 were fully fleshed out but had no spirit in them, Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (Jn. 3:6)

Ezekiel prophesied to the breath and it entered the dead bodies and brought them to life. You may have a footnote in your Bible on the word “breath” in verse 5, 6, 9, or 10 that says “or spirit.” The Hebrew (the Old Testament was written in Hebrew) word ruah is the same for “breath” or “spirit.”

In John 16, Jesus prophesied to His disciples that the Holy Spirit would come and fill them: “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

And in John 20: “…he [Jesus] breathed on them [the disciples] and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Interestingly, the Greek (the New Testament was written in Greek) word pneuma means both “spirit” and “breath.” You probably recognize this Greek word as the root of our English word “pneumonia,” a disease of the lungs, or “breath.” The branch of theology that deals with the study of the Holy Spirit is called pneumatology. When 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God…” the word translated “inspired” is theopneustos, or God (theo) breathed (pneustos). It is not until the Holy Spirit, the breath of life, enters us that we are “raised to walk in newness of life.” (Rom.)

As God said to Israel in verses 13-14, “And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

so He says to us in Ephesians 2, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

“and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” (2 Cor.)

Something Borrowed, Just for You
We have seen the “near” application to the Israelites, and the “far” application to the gospel, so what is the “now” application for us? What can we “borrow” from this passage to do in our own walk with the Lord?

We are to follow in the footsteps of Ezekiel and Jesus and preach (share) the gospel of the resurrection to new life to dry, dead bones, and pray God to do His mighty work of raising sinners from the dead.

Can these bones live? Oh, Lord God, You know.

Faith, Gospel, Salvation, Sin, Throwback Thursday, Tragedy

Throwback Thursday ~ Never Forget…

September 11, 2014October 28, 2014 Michelle Lesley

Originally Published September 11, 2013

Never forget.

We will remember.

The words jump off the page, off the screen, from our lips. A haunting breath whispering of unspeakable tragedy and heart rending grief.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 did something to this country. It changed our history. It changed us.

It was a despicable act of cruelty. People innocent of any crime against their executioners were brutally slaughtered in service to a god who demands the death of infidels.

It was egregious. Horrific. Abominable. And we will never forget. Nor should we.

Do this in remembrance of Me.

The words lie quietly on the page, beckoning us back to another day. A day dusty with the passing of centuries. But it changed our history. It changed us.

It was a despicable act of cruelty. Jesus, innocent of any crime, was brutally slaughtered by executioners serving a God who demands the death of infidels.

But this was no infidel. This was no innocent victim dying needlessly and for no one. This was God Himself laying down His life to take the place of the infidel. You. Me. He satisfied His own wrath against us by pouring it out on His Son.

The cross drove a stake into the heart of sin and death that day and shouted across the expanse of creation, “NO MORE.”

It was egregiously beautiful. A horrific triumph. Abominably liberating. And we will never forget. Nor should we.

Evangelism, Gospel, Old Testament, Sunday School

Watching and Warning with Ezekiel ~ Sunday School Lesson ~ 9-7-14

September 8, 2014April 5, 2019 Michelle Lesley

These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 36 ~ Aug. 31- Sep. 6
Ezekiel 16-34
Watching and Warning with Ezekiel

Well, Ezekiel is still prophesying (and he’ll still be prophesying until Saturday :0) God is still sending out the same message through him. Again and again, God chastises His people, trying to shake some sense into them so they will repent and turn back to Him. Not because He wants to exercise judgment on them but so “they will know that I am the Lord.” (That phrase is used 74 times in the book of Ezekiel.) No one could say God was unfair because He didn’t warn them of His coming judgment or that He hadn’t given them enough time or that he hadn’t been clear.

Ezekiel 33:1-16

What’s a Watchman?
As we’ve talked about in the past, large or important cities normally fortified themselves against their enemies by constructing a tall, thick wall (sometimes an inner and an outer wall as we saw with Jericho) around the perimeter. These are great for keeping the enemy out once they get there, but not so great for being able to see whether or not the enemy is coming in the first place. We’re talking low visibility. So they would often build high watchtowers at various intervals around the city wall (sometimes outside the wall in a field or on a hill, but fairly close to the city). A watchman would be stationed in the watchtower, and it was his job to alert the higher ups that the enemy was approaching, a messenger was arriving, etc. To be good at his job, he needed good eyes. He needed to be able to discern a messenger from an enemy. He needed to stay alert and vigilant. He needed to act quickly and decisively. He needed to be able to rapidly and clearly convey an urgent message to the right person at the right time. And if he failed even once in any of these duties, he could likely kiss his life goodbye.

33:1-9- Ezekiel: Israel’s Spiritual Watchman (Matthew 23:37a)

If we’ve learned anything from studying these prophetic books, we’ve learned that being a prophet was not some cushy job. Most of the time, God did not have good news for His people, and most of the time, the people did not want to hear it. Jesus even said,

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” (Matt.)

But Israel needed a watchman, and God said, “Ezekiel, you’re it.” (7)

Every time God had a message of warning for the people, Ezekiel was to faithfully proclaim it without delay. He was not to hold back from speaking harsh truths to scary people just because he was afraid. If the person Ezekiel was speaking to chose to reject God’s message, that was on that person’s head (9). But if Ezekiel kept his mouth shut, he was being just like that watchman on the wall who didn’t do his job right, and God would hold him accountable for the death of the intended hearers, who would still die in their sin (8).

33:10- What Was the Warning? (Ezekiel 18:4)
What was the warning? It was the warning to repent before God’s coming judgment. Verse 10 gives us a small glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe God’s message was getting through to a few people:

“Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them.”

EXACTLY. Israel’s sin and transgressions are bringing God’s wrath upon her. That is what has caused all this calamity and the continuing sermons of doom from His prophets. As God had already told the people back in chapter 18, “The soul that sins shall die.” (18:4). But the story doesn’t end there.

33:10-16- Good News!
Look at the people’s hopelessness in verse 10:

How then can we live?

Their sin has done them in, and now they’re coming to grips with a horrifying reality: they have transgressed a holy God. They recognize that they deserve any punishment God wants to dole out and that He will be justified in pouring out His wrath upon them. What hope could they possibly have?

They have the hope of a God who is not only perfectly just, but rich in mercy and forgiveness and grace. A God who has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” (11)

“Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (11) He pleads with them. This God who pleads with them now, and has been for nearly 800 years, is not the cruel, selfish, and vindictive god some portray Him as, but the tender, compassionate Father who will move heaven and earth to keep His children from destroying themselves.

Turn away from your evil ways and turn to My mercy and forgiveness, and you will live, He says. “None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him.”

But remember, it’s your repentance and reliance on my mercy that saves you, God tells them. Don’t think you can get by on your past good deeds. “…if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.”

None of the people are so bad that God won’t save them and none of them are so good that they don’t need God to save them.

Following in Ezekiel’s Footsteps
Although we’re not prophets, God has given us a similar charge to the one he gave Ezekiel. We, too, who have the good news of the gospel are to be spiritual watchmen for all those in our circle of influence. We have God’s word, we know what it says, and He has commissioned us to carry that message to people. Like the watchman, we need to stay alert and vigilant for opportunities to share the gospel. We often need to act quickly and decisively to share the gospel before the moment slips away. We need to be able to clearly convey the urgent message of salvation to the right person at the right time. And we need to take this duty deadly seriously.

What? A Warning?
Sometimes when people present the gospel, they do it by using what salesmen call a “hook,” a promise of what the product will do for the person or how it will make his life better. “Want to go to Heaven when you die?” “Jesus will make your life awesome!” But that’s not our message. Jesus isn’t a product we’re trying to convince people to buy.

Like Ezekiel, our first job is to warn people that they have broken God’s law, and that the penalty for breaking His law is God’s wrath, an eternity in hell. God doesn’t just automatically forgive everybody when they die (that’s a false teaching called Universalism). And, just like Ezekiel told the people, you can’t get by on your own good deeds. The warning always has to come first. People don’t know they need to flee to safety if they don’t know they’re in danger.

Our Good News
But as soon as the person we’re sharing with begins to feel like the Israelites– Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live? (10) –we have the unbelievable privilege of telling them the beautiful news of God’s mercy and grace for sinners like you and me:

As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die? (11)

None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live. (16)

How could we ever keep such wonderful news to ourselves?

Top 10

Top Ten: Favorite Passages from Isaiah

September 5, 2014September 4, 2014 Michelle Lesley

1. Isaiah 53:2-5
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.

2. Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

3. Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

4. Isaiah 64:6
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

5. Isaiah 55:6-9
“Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

6. Isaiah 53:6
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7. Isaiah 30:18
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.

8. Isaiah 49:13
Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.

9. Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.

10. Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Those are some of my favorites.
Do you have a favorite verse from Isaiah?

Wednesday's Word

Wednesday’s Word ~ Mark 1

September 3, 2014January 4, 2022 Michelle Lesley

For further study on the book of Mark, try my study, Mark: God’s Good News for the Gentiles, from which this lesson is excerpted.

Mark 1

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
    ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight,’”

4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying,“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

29 And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43 And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

Questions to Consider:

1. What is the theme or purpose of the book of Mark? What is the historical backdrop for the book of Mark?

2. What two titles does Mark ascribe to Jesus in verse 1? What does the word “Christ” mean, and why is it an important title for Jesus? What does it mean that Jesus is the “Son of God“? How do verses 21-45 demonstrate that Jesus is, indeed, the promised Messiah, and that He is divine? How does Mark 1:1-20 “credentialize” Jesus and lay the foundation for what he does in verses 21-45?

3. How does John’s message of repentance preceding Jesus’ message of the gospel demonstrate that repentance is a crucial aspect of saving faith in Christ? (1-15) Would God have sent John to preach the message of repentance if He did not consider it a vital part of salvation? What does Mark indicate was the theme of the message Jesus preached? (15) Some people say repentance is not necessary for salvation- that only belief in Jesus is necessary. Did Jesus consider repentance to be part of the gospel? (15)

4. Examine verses 9-11. Since Jesus was without sin, why did He take part in a baptism of repentance? How does Jesus’ baptism set an example for believers to follow Him in being baptized? How does this passage reveal the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit) to us? How does this passage refute the false teaching of modalism/Sabellianism and show us that God is one God in three Persons?

5. What are the three main categories of ministry Jesus engages in in 21-45? Do you think Jesus would have preferred to be known more for His teaching or for His miracles? Why?