About Holy GhostTheEvangel

Does God Exist? - Part 1

Abstract

In the New Testament, the highly schooled members of the Council could not hide their surprise at the level of intelligence and depth of knowledge possessed by the apostles just because they had spent some time with Jesus. After all, these were mere artisans at best. This is the kind of wisdom to be gained from taking time to study a man like Prophet Ezekiel. He reveals that God is a covenant keeping God. He is the Almighty God, and nothing is impossible for Him. Ezekiel is the only person other than Jesus Christ that God addresses as “Son of man”. In the 21st Century, we still have physically existing evidence of the manifestation of his prophecies. Ezekiel exposes us to the workings of the Holy Ghost and especially, the prophetic ministry.

Ezekiel’s Exposes God’s Purpose By Predicting The History of Mankind

I see great fulfillment or at least similarities in the prophecy of Ezekiel in chapter 37: 20-28 to post-1948 Israel with the star of David - a nation committed to the unknown God. Prime Minister Netanyahu campaigns thus:

“ever since Abraham and Sarah made their journey to the promised land nearly 4000 years ago the land of Israel has been our homeland. It is the place where Isaac, and Rebecca, Jacob, Leah, and Rachel carried on their eternal covenant with God.

It is where Joshua made us a sovereign nation. Where David ruled, and Isaiah preached; where the Maccabees fought and where Masada fell.

It's the place from which we were exiled, and to which we returned, rebuilding our ancient and eternal capital Jerusalem.

I could not be more proud to represent my country Israel. I'm proud that we've made Israel a global technological power of breathtaking creativity in information technology in precision agriculture.

You know what that is? We target the fertilizer and the water down to the individual plant, not field, not part of a field, down to the plant.

I'm proud of these geniuses that bring these unbelievable developments in water management, in cybersecurity, in autonomous vehicles, in digital health, and medical devices, and in so many other fields that are improving the lives of billions of people around the world” Benjamin Netanyahu, 2019.

I have a strong urge to call the Book of Ezekiel the center of the Bible. Its theme reveals to man the very omnipresence of God in all ages (Ezekiel 11). Ezekiel not only reminds us of history, but he also uses advanced poetry, complex imagery, and dynamic theatrics to demonstrate the simple relationship between man and God. He takes us through history from before the creation of man, through the reason for choosing Israel as the model or relatable entity that God uses to demonstrate His love for man – His creation. That is, Israel as an example for all men, His entire creation.

We see the Almighty God expose relevant parts of Himself as glory to flesh enough for us to identify Him. He also desires our understanding of how much He cherishes His super-creation, man. Yet, He is still a jealous God, a pure God that abhors stains. He would not allow man to come close enough to stain Him through man’s addiction to sin. However, with repentance comes forgiveness and welcome. A constant message of all prophets: compare Netanyahu’s statement above with Ezekiel 36:8-12 to fully appreciate how He fulfills His promises – the prophecies from His called prophets.

The book appears long and tortuous. Yet, for it to be admitted into biblical literature confirms its relevance in explaining the mind of God to man across all generations. Ezekiel shows us how far God will go to win us back, if only we could return to Him; remain under His banner instead of straying away into sin, deceived by the lust that life constantly throws at us. For example, how does it become a problem if a man chooses to go enjoy himself at the casino or play golf in the evening depending upon which day it happens to be? Is it a sin that he chose the casino over Bible study or prayer meeting? Prophet Ezekiel gives us the tools for working out personal answers to questions of routine living such as these.

The Book of Ezekiel is a synopsis of 20 years of ministry with three major doses of significant prophetic ministrations. This book is rarely taught, and in fact rarely used because its complex poetic style can be challenging to decode. The most used chapters of the book are chapter 37, famous for the promise of resurrection as dead bones rise again; chapter 34 famously used for admonition at ordinations; chapter 47 meant to challenge the spiritual maturity of born-again Christians and chapter 18 which talks about individual responsibility for their personal deeds on Judgement Day. Yet, the Book of Ezekiel alone contains at least 27 percent of biblical prophecies, most of which have been fulfilled to the letter. Turning points in Ezekiel include his dramatic call, the death of his wife which coincides with the destruction of Jerusalem, and the prophecies of turnaround hope and restoration of Jerusalem. Ezekiel died at age of 50. He never made it back to Jerusalem.

When asked for evidence that the Bible is true and must be respected as scripture, the Word of God that must be faithfully kept and trusted as passed on by other men, I love to refer people to the prophecy about city of Tyre, the fulfillment of that prophecy and the physical evidence that we see culminating in at least 3,000 years after that prophecy. That is, in addition to other testimonies of the presence of the Holy Ghost, history and physical evidence here remain undeniable. Therefore, if we must agree that based on this alone, Ezekiel was a prophet of God, then other prophets can be vindicated, prophecies can be vindicated, and the Word of God can be held as truth in all ages (Ezekiel 26:19; Hank Hanegraaff).

God’s Reset Buttons For His Man

With Israel as the focal sample, we can get glimpses into how God feels about man from the musings and life of Prophet Ezekiel.

Today, when we look at the revelations from Prophet Ezekiel it is possible to surmise a series of reset buttons that God pulls for man. Each click revealing God’s urgent plea for man to reconsider his ways and return to his groom – the Creator. Sinning is a pull-away from God, a stain that keeps God at a distance, making God unable to touch or to come near His bride. That is, what constitutes sin is man’s decision to use life’s provision in ways that does not please God.

To clarify, a casino is a building where people play games for leisure. A church building is a place where people study or worship God. Chess and monopoly are board games just other like games played in a casino. All apparently, innocent. In fact, many of these games played at casino are played elsewhere, including at home without the input of bets. Yet, the mention of casino introduces certain suspicions, mostly negative. The mention of the casino equally conjures up the lures of liquor and immoral associations. Hence, the casino is a building loaded with extras that constitute invitations to sin. Going to the casino is responding to invitation to sin. This is a major difference between the church building or even our homes. Hence, pastors advise you to avoid places like the casino and come to church instead.

I understand that this illustration is simple, since casinos could be in the church building, particularly, when we give too much of our mind to carnality rather than to the worship of God. Even Ezekiel confirms that idolatry, including the worship of Molek was taking place in the Temple in Jerusalem, therefore, the glory of God, the deposit of His very essence had to leave Jerusalem. This explains how easily we can be distracted by what appears to be routine living into crossing the line with God. The issue is not about going into a building but what happens within the building, and what happens after we leave the building that may become sinful. This is how Prophet Ezekiel connects the dots from creation to eternal life. Later, Jesus will also whoop out irreverent sellers from the Synagogue.

In Ezekiel’s complicated script, we are taken from before the beginning of time, through creation of man, and through the reason for the flood that wiped recalcitrant humanhood off the surface of the God’s footstool, the earth. Only Noah’s family survived that flood. Then, we are reminded of God’s promise to Abraham, the father of nations because God trusted that will train his children in the way of the Lord. We are also reminded about the birth of Jacob, and its nucleation of Israel as God’s model for point humanity.

Therefore, there was the time of Adam and Eve up through the promise to Abraham that God dealt directly with man’s entire population. He visited directly with individuals. Then, He decided to choose a representative sample to illustrate His true intention and ability for others to emulate. The Hebrews multiplied so rapidly as God kept His covenant of blessing. For example, Pharaoh challenged by their spreading population exclaimed, “they are like sand over the earth” (Exodus 1:9-10). One thing was clear, they kept their faith. They had become different from their hosts and were so strict in their devotion to their faith that even Moses was challenged to present himself as God’s chosen when deliverance time came.

That same mass of people became rebellious in the desert. The aroma of freedom made them to succumb to various forms of idolatry, and the population was wiped out with only Caleb and Joshua surviving the exodus out of Egypt into Canaan. Ezekiel also takes us through the installation and reign of the kings with David at the epicenter, all the way until the evacuation of the Jews to Babylon, up to the destruction of Jerusalem. He reminds us that only remnants of Judah were left out the original twelve tribes.

Ezekiel then takes us into the future prophesying the restoration of Jerusalem, its Temple and a people led by a king, who is also a priest as well as a prophet – a messianic king (Ezekiel 36:33-36). It is rare combination for a personality; hence we believe that can only be Jesus Christ. Ezekiel also talks about dispensation of the Holy Ghost among all men, not just Jews, but the whole world until Judgement Day and end of time. That means eternity when time disappears. A new dispensation when the time dimension becomes of no essence. In other words, the dispensation of time began with the creation of the earth with recorded as, “In the beginning, …” and Ezekiel outlines the timeline until the end of time, when everything becomes eternal again as time disappears.