In the last entry, we considered what occurred with God's people in a particular gap. That gap involved a physical location between two mountains, but it was a spiritual gap as well, as God's people turned away from Him. It comes up again in this entry.
Ezekiel was a very unusual prophet. He was carried away into captivity from Judah, Israel to Babylon with thousands of others. He was trained as a priest, but in captivity, he was physically separated from the Temple in Jerusalem, and the service for which he, and his fathers before him, had been trained. His father's name was Buzi, meaning "contempt, despised, shame", and this was the condition of the priesthood in Israel. So, looking at Ezekiel's situation in the natural, we would think that he had lost everything. However, Ezekiel tells us that his home in captivity in Babylon was by the River Chebar (Ez. 1:1). This is important because Chebar means "far off, length of space, continuance of time, already, long ago, formerly, now, joining together, length". The very length of the river was used to express the connection between past, present, and future, and between near, and far away. The picture this river gives us is of a connection among those things, and a lack of limitation or boundary between them. Ezekiel's prophetic visions were of the same nature. He saw into places that were far in distance, and he saw into the spiritual realm in a way that few others experienced.
The elders of Judah in captivity would come to Ezekiel and ask for the word of the LORD. In chapter 8, Ezekiel is given a vision of what is occurring at the Temple in Jerusalem, many hundreds of miles away. There were bizarre idol images and worship within the Temple walls. Elders that remained in Jerusalem, including Jaazaniah ("The LORD Hears"), were burning incense, waiving their censors in front of the abominable images. They were practicing abominable things in private as well saying, "The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land" (Ez. 8:12). They were practicing sun worship from the Temple site, as they faced eastward (v. 16). The land became filled with violence as a result. Yet, here was Ezekiel, far away in the land of captivity, "seeing" everything they were doing, whether in public, or private, because the LORD did indeed see it.
As we go to chapter 22 in Ezekiel, the physical and spiritual condition of Jerusalem and Judah has continued to decline with their idolatry, presumably because they continued to think that the LORD did not see. The land was filled with violence, injustice, greed so brutal that souls are destroyed, and evil, debauched sexual behavior from the princes who govern, to the priesthood, to the prophets who prophesy falsely. They looked at other men and women as prey for their greed, use and abuse.
The description from this chapter sounds very similar to what we have become in our country. We also live as though we believe that the LORD does not see, that we also can do as we please in the secrecy of our minds, in our private chambers, and even in the open places.
Then the LORD says something pitiful:
"So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one." Ez. 22:30
The LORD wasn't looking for thousands. All it would have taken was a single man who would stand and intercede in this spiritual gap. He couldn't find even that one.
Could it be possible that Jaazaniah, the only person Ezekiel specifically mentioned by name, whose name means "The LORD Hears", was one of those who had been called and purposed to stand in the gap? If he had been standing in the gap, would the LORD have heard, stopped the judgment, and healed the land? We don't know for sure, but instead of standing in the gap, he was waving a burning incense censor (representing prayer) before abominable idols with the others-idols that couldn't hear, and couldn't save.
The LORD says in another place to the prophet Jeremiah:
"Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; see now and know; and seek in her open places if you can find a man, if there is anyone who executes judgment (justice), who seeks the truth, and I will pardon her." Jer. 5:1
He is looking for a person who does not just talk, but whose heart, desires and actions are to seek God. It just takes one.
The scriptures say of Moses:
"Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses, His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them." Ps. 106:23
How did Moses make this intercession for the people? How did He move the LORD to spare hundreds of thousands from destruction after they chose to worship idols instead of God? Moses said to the LORD:
"Yet now, if You will forgive their sin-but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which you have written." Ex. 32:32
Words are easy. Sacrifice is not. Moses interceded, stood in the gap, from a place of self-sacrifice.
In another place in scripture, we are told that in order to stand in the gap for our land, we who are called by His name must humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our own wicked ways (2 Chron. 7:14). It requires more from us in order to stand in that position. The prophet Isaiah was a tremendous prophet of God, one of the greatest in scripture, who had the devastating and humbling experience of having his spiritual uncleanness revealed to him. His cleansing took the form of a spiritual hot coal taken from the altar in heaven and touched to Isaiah's unclean lips. Only at that point, could Isaiah volunteer to fill the need and say, "Send me." (Isa. 6:1-8).
We might say, "But this is the Old Testament. Jesus already sacrificed Himself to stand in the gap for us." However, the Apostle Paul tells us to let this same mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus, being that Jesus humbled Himself, became of no reputation, leaving kingship to become a servant, obedient to death, even a humiliating death (Phil. 2:5-8). So even after Christ died for us, we are still expected to have the same mind regarding our purpose. Our purpose involves walking in His character.
I am not talking about a physical death here for us, but I think it does require more than the words that come so easily out of our mouths. This is probably why it is so difficult for the LORD to find someone who is spiritually prepared, to do it. It just takes one.
Our nation, according to the path it has rebelliously chosen while believing that God does not see, may soon come to the point of impending destruction as a result. God will look, is looking now, for someone who will make a wall, and stand in the gap. I need to develop the spiritual character necessary for that coming moment now, otherwise, I will not be ready and able to do it.
Our Father is asking, "Is there any man who would make a wall, and stand in the gap?"
"PRAY"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC4kbteMLCg&sns=em
"Take Me Into the Holy of Holies"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfZp8ev1MD0
The LORD brings us to different physical and spiritual places. He has us ascend to high places, and descend to low places. He brings us to dry places, and to well watered places. What we learn and do in those various places changes us, and brings change to those places.
This is a story about God's people who were brought to a low place. That place was called Shittim, or the Acacia Grove (Num. 25). By its Hebrew meaning, it is a place of thorns, scourging, flogging. In that place, there were also people of idolatry, the Moabites and Midianites, and their false god, Ba'al Peor, "lord of the gap". This gap can mean a low place, or opening, between mountains. The gap of this name can also refer to a wide opened or gaping mouth, like a mouth opened wide in terror, or opened wide to swallow up.
It is at this place of thorns and scourging that God's people began to join with the women of Moab, and also joined (fastened, be bound, attach) themselves with the false god that the women worshipped, Ba'al. In Ba'al worship, when one is in difficulty and distress, one cuts himself to draw blood, and in severe situations, even offers his oldest child to be burned in fire in order to appease Ba'al, and receive a remedy to the distress. Since Israel was in the spiritual place of acacias or thorns, we can assume that in joining themselves with Ba'al, their blood and their children were offered to Ba'al at this place of distress (Ezek. 20:6). We can also assume this kind of activity was going on because the LORD became extremely angry, and a plague (judgment) of death broke out. Moses told the leaders or judges among the people to execute all who had joined themselves to Ba'al, so that the anger of the LORD would be turned away from Israel. There was great weeping in the presence of the LORD, as the resulting plague that broke out upon them took 24,000 lives.
In the middle of this ongoing plague and weeping, a young man stood in front of Moses and all of Israel with one of these women of Ba'al worship. He was the son of the leader of the tribe of Simeon. Simeon, in Hebrew, means to hear and obey. The young man's name was Zimri ("my music, sing psalms, sing praise, play instruments"). His leader father was Salu, which means "weighed in a balance". Salu had not obeyed by delivering his son for judgment. The woman was one of the Midianite ("strife, brawling, contention, discord") women who had brought Ba'al worship to the Israelites. Her name was Cozbi ("my lie, liar, vain, deceive, proven liar"). She also was the child of a ruler of the Midianites.
Phinehas, a priest of Israel, took a javelin and sent it through Zimri and Cozbi. The javelin ran through Cozbi's belly ("to malign, pierce, perforate, stab with words, to curse"). From within her came "piercing with curses" in her worship of Ba'al, and she, in turn, was pierced by the javelin. When Phinehas pierced these two people with the javelin, the plague of judgment was stopped. The name Phinehas in Hebrew means "mouth (break in pieces) of brass (serpent, snake, fleeing serpent, enchantment, divination)". He destroyed the root of the evil Leviathan spirit (Isa. 27:1) that had come into the middle of the Israelites with their worship of Ba'al Peor. As a result, the LORD promised Phinehas a covenant of peace, and for his descendants, an everlasting priesthood (Num. 25:12-13). If Phinehas hadn't come forward, all of the Israelites would have been destroyed by the plague (Num. 25:11).
Looking back a short distance of time just before this all happened, a seer, Balaam, had been brought to this very place of Peor for the purpose of cursing God's people for the Moabite King, Balak:
"So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks the wasteland (wilderness, desolation, to ruin, solitary). Num. 23:28
Sacrifices were made by Balak at this place at Peor to try to bring the curse against God's people (Num. 23:29-30). Balaam was unable to curse Israel, but he did instruct Balak how to destroy Israel by putting the women of Ba'al among them to tempt them away from their God, YHWH (Num. 31:16, Rev. 2:14).
When God's people are in the place of thorns, in the gap of Peor between high places, in the place which faces the desolate, solitary wilderness, it is a place where they are tempted by the enemy to turn to destructive, false alternatives for relief. Jesus was tempted in just such a place, and resisted the temptation with the Word of God (Lk. 4:1-13). He had not been taken to that place by the enemy, but by the Holy Spirit, and when He returned from that place, He came in the power of the Holy Spirit (Lk. 4:14). It is not a pleasant place to be, but it is a place where we have a purpose. Despite all the best laid plans of the enemy, evil can be rooted out and driven out, and in its place, a covenant of peace, and an everlasting priesthood can be established. Let us pray for and encourage one another.
Our Father will bring us to spiritual gaps and acacia groves.
"Embrace This Place" by Among Thorns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgQeTqvR0ic
"Come Holy Spirit" by Among Thorns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uoCoIR-1SE
"Breath of Life" by Among Thorns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ragzYfChorY
The prophet Jeremiah describes an amazing transformation that takes place to a desolate wasteland in chapter 33. The transformation is accomplished through "voices". These voices are the voice of mirth (also meaning an ointment used in a banquet), the voice of gladness (as found in a joyful banquet), the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and the voices of those who will say, "Praise the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for His mercy endures forever." (Jer. 33:11). The Hebrew word for voice is "qowl". It means voice, noise, sound, thunder, proclamation, send out, call aloud, bleating, cry, sing, yell, sound of a multitude, sound of water. These five voices are brought to a place that has been made desolate (laid waste, decayed, drought, destruction, parching heat, dried up, sword, knife, slay, destroyer). There is no life, not even animal life, left in this place (v. 10), however, these voices sound in the desolation.
After the voices sound, not only do inhabitants return to the land, but the LORD brings the fulfillment of a Messianic prophecy of the One who will "execute judgment and righteousness in the earth" (v. 15). In that day, Jerusalem and Judah will be called "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (v. 16). The place transforms from desolation into Messianic kingdom reign.
It might be said that the voices, including that of the bridegroom and bride, precipitated the change. It should also be noted that the voice of the Bridegroom and bride are listed together as a couple, not as separate individuals.
The opposite is also true. The removal of these voices by the LORD caused the desolation in the first place:
"Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate." Jer. 7:34
"For thus says the LORD God of Israel:" Behold, I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride." Jer. 16:9
"Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones (grinding grain, or prosperity) and the light of the lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment." Jer. 25:10-11a
It is interesting that when the LORD destroys the stronghold/city of Mystery Babylon in the Book of Revelation, He also describes it in terms of removing many sounds including the sounds mentioned above: "...the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore. The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore." Rev. 18:22b-23
The term "light of a lamp" brings to mind its connection to a wedding, and the coming of Himself as the bridegroom that Jesus teaches (Mt. 25:6-7). The voice of the bride and bridegroom play an essential role in spiritual desolation and renewal, as we see in the verses above.
As John the Baptist explained his relationship to the Messiah, he said, "I have been sent before Him. He (speaking of Messiah) who has the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled." Jn. 3:28b-29
John is described as "a voice crying in the wilderness", or desolate, parched land (Mt. 3:2, Mk. 1:3, Lk. 3:4, Jn. 1:23). He is crying out in order to prepare the way of the Lord, or the coming of Messiah. John also connects the hearing of the bridegroom's voice with joy. Along with the voices of the bridegroom and bride in all of the above verses, come the voices of mirth and gladness. The prophet Isaiah also connects the transformation of a wilderness place into an Eden with "joy and gladness, thanksgiving and the voice of melody (psalm, sing forth praises)" (Isa. 51:3).
The concept of bride and bridegroom have spiritual importance, as well as a Messianic connection. The word bridegroom in Hebrew is "chathan". It refers to a marriage covenant or agreement, the law, husband, and circumcision. The word for bride, "kallah" means betrothed, made perfect, completed, to crown".
As the prophet Joel called the congregation to assemble for repentance in order to intercede or change the course of the judgment of God against the land, he made sure to call forth the bride and bridegroom specifically (Joel 2:16). Joel has prophetically seen the desolation and destruction. So he calls forth prophetically, renewal and restoration through repentance, and then commands the people and the land to "be glad", and "rejoice" (2:21, 23). Not only is restoration on its way (2:25-26), but the pouring out of the Spirit of God (2:28-29), and the salvation and deliverance, or Messianic kingdom reign in Zion (2:32). As with Jeremiah's prophecies, "the captives" are also returned at this time (3:1).
As the Church, our relationship with Christ is one of Bride and Bridegroom, so we should find the bridal role involved with desolation and renewal very important to us.
At the removal of the bridegroom's and bride's voice, the destroyer ("charab"), desolation moves in. The various Hebrew words used for "destroyer" mean: violently destroy, corrupt, waster, spoiler, robber, ravenous, violent one. The destroyer has its own sound, or voice:
"Dreadful sounds are in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him." Job. 15:21
David remarked that his own words and the spoken words of the LORD (the voice of the Bridegroom), had an effect on the destroyer:
"I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Concerning the works of men, by the word of Your lips, I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer." Ps. 17:3-4
The Apostle Paul warned the Church:
"...nor let us tempt Christ...nor complain (murmur) as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer." 1 Cor. 10:9-10
As Paul warned, if those who are to be the voice of the Bride, instead speak with the same voice and sound of the world and the destroyer, then the necessary voice of the bride has been removed from the land, and the destroyer rushes in. What is the voice of the Bride to be saying? She says the same thing as the voice of the Bridegroom. They speak as one (echad). For example, the Bridegroom says, "Behold, I am coming quickly..." (Rev. 22:12). The Bride along with the Spirit responds to Him, "Come!" (Rev. 22:17).
As Jeremiah tells us, these voices say, "Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good, for His mercy endureth for ever." The two, Bridegroom and Bride, speak with one accord.
Our Father uses the voice of the Bridegroom and the voice of the Bride.
"Hear the Song of Your Bride"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnMoiq_H1Ak
"Mystery of the Heavenly Bridegroom and the Bride-The Khatan and the Kalah"
(teaching by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrPIxFwVUNQ
"Behind the Veil"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPmJhmEIBL4
