JERUSALEM HAS NO RIVER. Ezekiel 47:1-12; John 4:14.

Great cities are built on the water: New York, Cairo, London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo—but not Jerusalem. This world capital, a sacred destination to billions of Christians, Jews, and Muslims—has no river, no port, no shipping. Jerusalem is landlocked. But in Heaven the New Jerusalem will be the source of the greatest river:

“There was water flowing from under the door of the temple, trickling…. It came to my ankles. A thousand cubits downstream, to my knees. Another thousand cubits, it reached my waist. At one mile it became a river deep enough to swim; it could not be crossed on foot…. I saw a forest of trees along the riverbank. And when the river hit the Dead Sea, it turned that foul sea fresh. Every kind of living creature that swarms will live there and there will be a huge number of fish. Because the river is fresh, there will be LIFE everywhere it flows. Fish of all kinds, animals of all kinds, trees providing food of all kinds during every month of the year. The fruit will be for food and the leaves will be for medicine.” Ezekiel 47:1-12.

That is SOME RIVER in heaven (and a lot of animals!). But this is also a picture of the “river of living water” that flows inside a child of God.

Jesus said, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst again, but that water will become a spring of water inside him bubbling up with eternal life.” John 4:14.

Jesus is the LIVING WATER. If He lives in you, this life-giving river flows in your heart.

Do you see life flowing out of you? Is your heart an underground spring, with life-giving water bubbling up and spilling over? Does your presence bring nourishment and hope and healing to people around you? Is there enough life in you to support other lives—the way a river supports trees, animals, and fish?

Study the word and God will breathe new life into your dry bones, so much life that you will become a great blessing to others.

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Size is Irrelevant. “For Who Has Despised the Day of Small Things?” Ezekiel 42:20.

Solomon’s Temple was not as big as you think. We speak of the glory of Solomon’s Temple as though nothing else like it ever existed. In terms of gold-paneled walls, inlaid jewels, and precious stones, perhaps nothing else like it has existed.

But Solomon’s Temple was probably no bigger than your house.

The Tabernacle came first, a sort of holy tent for God to meet with His people in the wilderness.  It was 1,800 square feet, bigger than my 3-bedroom cottage in the country, but smaller than most American houses (internet sources place the average home between 2,000 and 2,600 square feet). So the tabernacle was smaller than most American houses.

Next came Solomon’s Temple. In contrast to a tent, the temple was a building with a yard that wrapped around it.  The combined footprint of the building and the yard or “outer courts” was only 7,200 square feet—again, a smaller footprint than most residential lots in the United States. Though not as impressive as Solomon’s Temple, Zerubbabel’s Temple—later expanded and re-named Herod’s Temple—was larger, with a total footprint of 135,00 square feet, or about three acres. 

Finally, Ezekiel was shown a vision of the largest temple of all.  Known as Ezekiel’s Temple, this edifice was never built and scholars are not sure what to make of the detailed vision stretching from chapters 40 through 44 of Ezekiel.[1] They can, however, calculate its size. Were it to be built, Ezekiel’s Temple would have a footprint of 562,500 square feet, or about 13 acres. (See Ezekiel 42:20.[1])

Why all this talk about temples?

By today’s standards, these buildings—the most important in the entire nation of Israel—were miniscule. 

The Tabernacle would fit inside most houses. Solomon’s Temple would fit on your next-door neighbor’s lot. Herod’s Temple with all its courts was a little larger than a baseball field. And Ezekiel’s 13-acre temple? The entire thing could rest on the 14-acre roof of Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium.

That’s right, Mercedes-Benz stadium, home of the Passion Conference, dwarfs every temple in the Bible. In fact, the Halo, the ring-shaped video display at the roof, is almost ten times the square footage of Solomon’s Temple.[2]  And God does not care.  He is not in competition with American excess. Nor was He bothered by the impressive cathedrals of the European Renaissance, each one more impressive than any Old Testament temple.

God could have made the temples larger, if He had wanted to. Instead, we can only assume God finds the size of such things IRRELEVANT. 

God is interested in our hearts, not the size of our houses, churches, temples, or bank accounts.

God is omnipresent—the universe cannot contain Him. The size of temples and churches is meaningless to One whose existence is infinite. God can inhabit a grain of rice as easily as He can inhabit our planet. To Him, both are infinitely small.

When Zerubbabel’s Temple was built, old people who remembered Solomon’s Temple from their childhoods were disappointed.  But God rebuked them, telling them to cheer up–size does not matter.

“For who has despised the day of small things?” Zechariah 4:10.

Do you find yourself impressed with the so-called biggest and best (or newest or most expensive)? I can assure you that God is not impressed. “For the Lord looks on the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7.

In my life I have received overwhelming support and applause for some achievements that were not that impressive to me.  Other times, I have accomplished things that I considered incredible, and those achievements received no attention whatsoever. How do I make sense of these things? I remember that God is looking at my heart. He is not impressed by size, by popularity, by likes, by followers.

If I could fill a stadium with 100,000 people and we spent four hours drinking beer and celebrating a sports rivalry, would that be an accomplishment in God’s eyes? By contrast, somewhere in the world right now a missionary, lonely and homesick, is giving his life away trying to win converts to Jesus, one soul at a time. No one will ever know his name. But God knows.  And God will absolutely reward him.

Never despise the day of small things.  The Lord looks on your heart, not the size or notoriety generated by your achievements.

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[1] Some assume Ezekiel’s Temple is a vision for a temple we will see in Heaven.

[1] There are discrepancies among translations. Eleven versions of Ezekiel 42:20 available on BibleGateway(dot)com indicate that Ezekiel’s Temple had outer walls of 875 feet square. Seven versions translate it as 500 cubits (750 feet square). However, one fact is inescapable: even the largest of these temples were small buildings by today’s standards.

[2] Have you ever wondered how tall the Tower of Babel was? I don’t know the answer, but I’m sure it would fit inside Atlanta’s famed football stadium—and every other stadium in America. And God is not challenged by that in any way. The problem at Babel was the rebellious motive of the builders, Genesis 11:1-9.

THAT VERSE I ONCE SHARED WITH COOPER WOLFF…. Ezekiel 44:18-23.

Ezekiel 41-44 is not a passage with a lot of practical application, but I like this part about Israel’s priests:

“They are not to put on anything that makes them sweat…. They may not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must carefully trim their hair. No priest may drink wine before he enters the inner court. He is not to marry a widow or a divorced woman, but must marry a virgin from the House of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. He must teach My people [by WORD and by EXAMPLE] the difference between the holy and the common, and explain to them the difference between the clean and the unclean.” Ezekiel 44:18-23

God holds His priests to a high standard. That makes sense, right? I mean, if priests were ordinary, anyone could be a priest. But God calls them to an EXEMPLARY life.

Do you know the word “exemplary”? It means God wants priests to be “exemplars” or examples—role models.

Don’t wear clothes that make you sweat? That verse says respect the holiness of the temple. But a good haircut? That verse says set a good example. Don’t drink before entering holy places—again: respect God’s temple. Marry only a Hebrew virgin, not a divorced woman, or widow unless she is the widow of a fellow priest? Respect the holiness of the priesthood. Set an example. God allowed men to marry widows, of course. But not priests. He held them to a higher standard.

Don’t you want to be held to a high standard? Don’t you want to be someone God can use as a role model? I do. I want to be an example of God’s best, not of just getting by.

And which verse did I once share with Cooper? Verse 20:

“They must not shave their heads….”

One day I told him to go home and tell it to his father, Chris, my buddy who was shaving his head bald every other day. Chris, whose thick hair was his best feature. Just trying to do my part! Ha ha.

Ask God to help you live an EXEMPLARY LIFE.

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Write This Down! Ezekiel 40:4.

What is with these kids?

Classes began last week.  I had a room full of college kids staring at me as I told them about the class. I told them about myself and the way class would be structured—all the usual things.  They listened but wrote down nothing.

Then we began discussing the law.  And this course, an introduction to the law for undergraduate students, is always a challenge for students. Yet at one point last week, I looked at a row or two of students and was shocked, as I always am, that NO ONE was writing anything down. So I smiled and repeated once again:

“Write this down.  Write everything down.”

But many just sat there, confident that they would do better by NOT writing.  I’m sorry, but unless you have a photographic memory, that is wrong.  What’s really going on? Laziness.  Bad habits.  Possibly some confusion about the value of written notes or the best way to use them when it is time to study later … but mostly laziness.

Ezekiel, one of God’s most remarkable prophets, was commanded to bring his A-game.  To FOCUS, to CONCENTRATE like never before:

“Son of man, look with your eyes, listen with your ears, and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for you have been brought here so that I might show it to you. Report everything you see to the house of Israel” Ezekiel 40:4.

We too should bring our A-Game, our best energy to God’s word. Give it some time and some serious attention. And write down what you are learning! Throughout the Bible men are commanded to listen well and often to write things down; join them.

God told Moses, “Write this in a book.” Exodus 17:14.

Kings were to write their own copy of the scriptures, Deuteronomy 17:18.

Jeremiah was commanded to write God’s words on a scroll, Jeremiah 36:2.

John is commanded to write letters to seven pastors in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.  

How much energy are you bringing to God’s word?

Do you take sermon notes? Do you ever write down things that you read in the Bible? When was the last time you memorized a verse?

Remember, the Bible is God’s love letter to you.  It is also the “owner’s manual” for life on earth—it contains the answers to all of life’s questions, the solutions to all of life’s problems. But you will not find those answers if you are not spending time studying the word. 

Nothing you are doing in your life is more important. 

Nothing.

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God Can Wipe Out Armies With a Word. Ezekiel 39:9

Benjamin Franklin was known to be a deist, believing God to be a distant watch maker who set the planets in orbit, then took no further interest. Yet, as he aged, Franklin’s views appear to have changed. After all–he was an eyewitness to the incredible David vs Goliath victory when the rag-tag Continental army defeated the armies of England, the most powerful nation on earth. Ten years later when the Founding Fathers could do nothing but bicker, making no progress drafting a Constitution, the elder statesman Franklin encouraged the men to begin each day’s meetings with prayer:

“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labor in vain that build it” [Quoting Matthew 10:29 and Psalm 127:1.] I firmly believe this and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed … no better than the builders of Babel.”

When nothing was going right in the summer of 1787, it was Franklin, the old deist, who called the men to prayer. He said he had seen convincing proofs that “God governs in the affairs of men.” Yes, He does! 

God governs in the affairs of men.

After God uses Israel’s enemies to bring judgment, He judges those enemies for their own sins. He slaughters the pagans of Gog and it takes Israel seven months to bury the dead. Then, for SEVEN YEARS, they don’t have to collect firewood.

The inhabitants of Israel’s cities will go out, kindle fires, and burn the weapons—the buckles and shields, bows and arrows, the clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them to make fires. Ezekiel 39:9

Wow. That is a massive army. But “God governs in the affairs of men.” And God defeated a massive army by simply saying the word. He can defeat your enemies too.

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Be Holy. Ezekiel 38:16

God is holy and expects us to be holy. He says, “Be holy, even as I am holy” 1 Peter 1:16, quoting Leviticus 11:44.

And He uses judgment to remind us of His holiness.

Even when that means using our enemies against us. He tells Gog He will send them to attack Israel.

I will bring you against my land so that the nations may know Me when I show myself holy through you in their sight. Ezekiel 38:16.

God will not ignore pride.

The Bible says “God is OPPOSED to the proud,” 1 Peter 5:5.

You don’t want God to be opposed to you. You will not win!

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GHOST STORIES IN THE BIBLE. Ezekiel 37:1-10.

Do you believe in ghosts? There are stories in the Bible that make you wonder—events science can’t explain—or as Hamlet put it after talking to his father’s ghost:

“There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

God brought Ezekiel to a valley filled with dry bones—millions of dry, white bones. God told the prophet to preach to the bones and as he did, there was a rattling noise, the sound as the ‘dry bones rattled.’ Soon the bones stood up and came to life, “a vast army” Ezekiel 37:1-10.

Another story: While Israelites were burying a man, they saw enemy raiders coming, so they quickly threw the dead man’s body into the tomb of Elisha. “As soon as his body touched the bones of Elisha, the man was revived and stood up on his feet” 2 Kings 13:21. What? This dead guy touched the dried-up bones of Elisha and he came back to life? But Elisha remained dead?

What is going on?

And Jesus raised people from the dead: the widow’s son, Jairus’s daughter, and Lazarus.

Finally, consider what happened at the death of Christ:

“At that moment … the earth quaked and the rocks were split. The tombs broke open, and THE BODIES OF MANY SAINTS WHO HAD FALLEN ASLEEP WERE RAISED. After Jesus’s resurrection, when they had come out of the tombs, they entered the holy city and appeared to many people” Matthew 27:51-53.

Dead people came out of their tombs and went into town? Did you know Jesus was only one of many resurrections that Sunday?[1]

(Now THAT is an exclusive club!)

GOD IS SOVEREIGN. He is in control of LIFE AND DEATH. Not us, not doctors, not science. God can do anything—and sometimes we will not be able to explain it with our books or philosophy.

God, help us to see YOUR HAND in life and death. Remind us YOU ARE STILL ON YOUR THRONE. You are in control.

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[1] Technically, only Jesus was resurrected.  Lazarus and all others restored to life are believed to have experienced “resuscitations.”


Dry Bones. Ezekiel 37:1-14.

Have you ever felt dead inside? Maybe that was how the Hebrews felt in Ezekiel 37. So God took Ezekiel out and showed him an entire valley filled with human bones as far as the eye could see. God asks “Can these bones live?,” and Zeke says, “Only you know.” So God tells him to preach to the bones.

“While I was preaching, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. As I looked, tendons appeared, flesh grew, and skin covered them.” Then God told Ezekiel to preach to the breath. “So I preached and the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army.”

God told Ezekiel this Valley of Dry Bones was Israel, and that He would breathe new life into the nation. “I will put My spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land.” Ezekiel 37:1-14.

Ezekiel is a book of prophecy, like Daniel and Revelation, and thus it contains some of the most mysterious passages in the Bible. Some scholars believe this is a picture of the way God restored the Jews to Israel in 1948. Others disagree.

But one thing I know: if you ever feel dead inside, you know THE GOD WHO RESTORES. He can breathe new life into your dry bones. He can save you, wash away your sins, and the guilt and death that go with them, and fill you with joy and energy and passion.

Dear God, we confess our sins. Make us humble and earnest—help us hunger and thirst for righteousness, and Lord, FILL US. Breathe new life into these dead bones! And help us to share that life with others who need Your love so badly.

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What’s My Motivation? Ezekiel 36:22-23.

It’s an old cliché for an actor to ask “What’s my motivation?” But it is an important question. An actor may read lines and think his character is angry, while the director may believe the character to be exaggerating or making a joke or something else entirely.

Here’s your question of the day:

WHAT IS GOD’S MOTIVATION?

Why does God keep rescuing Israel? Why does He deliver these recidivist idol worshippers over and over? Consider the United States. If you were praying for God to bless America, why should He? What is His motivation? Are we a good nation? Do we live righteous lives? Does our criminal justice system treat victims and defendants fairly? Do we glorify God with our free time? Does America—the richest nation in history—honor God with its riches? Does our military honor God? Do our politicians honor God? Do our businesses honor God? (I would answer “no” or “barely” to most of these questions.) Has our nation blessed God? Why should God bless us?

“It is not for your sake that I will act, house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will honor the holiness of My great Name….  The nations will know that I am Yahweh when I demonstrate My holiness through you in their sight” Ezekiel 36:22-23.

God’s motivation is

HIS NAME.

He will honor His own reputation. God says He will bless Israel because blessing Israel will demonstrate His character to other nations. Does this promise apply to the United States?  No. America is not Israel. But to the extent that Americans are seeking to honor God’s name, we can certainly pray that He will bless us and the land in which we live.

Do we honor God’s name? Consider your words. Step one—don’t use His name as an insult or a cuss word (obviously).  Step two—don’t give God credit for saying something to you that you are not ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN He said. American Christians have a terrible habit of carelessly saying “God led me…” and using God’s name to make our own choices sound more respectable. Preachers invoke God’s name when they want people to give more money for some project—whether God is in it or not. Does that honor His Name? Politicians “find religion” around election time and use churchy language to garner votes. Does that honor God’s Name?

Again, America is no Israel.

But we can ask God to bless us the way He blessed Israel: 

God, we ask You to honor Your Holy Name among us. Cleanse us from all impurities and all our idols. Give us a new heart and put a new spirit within us. Remove our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh. Place Your Spirit within us and cause us to follow Your statutes and carefully observe Your ordinances.” Ezekiel 36:25-27.

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A PASTOR/SHEPHERD IS A SERVANT, NOT AN ENTERTAINER. Ezekiel 33-34.

My childhood pastor, John Bisagno, had “a flair for the dramatic.” He was an engaging preacher with a powerful voice and a rich imagination. Sometimes I became so swept up in the moment, I focused more on the delivery than the message. Brother John was not just a preacher, but an orator. I was enthralled.

But preaching is not about fame or celebrity. If anyone is drawn to the ministry by the lure of admiring crowds, he has the wrong motives. Ministry (literally “service”) is hard work. Ministry means giving your life away for others every day—and for so little reward.

“This will be their inheritance: I AM their inheritance. You are to give them no possession in Israel. I AM their possession” Ezekiel 44:28.

A life in ministry means a life finding contentment in God alone. Rather than riches or fame, God gives His servants more of HIMSELF. And He is enough—for those called to such a life. Vocational ministry is a life of sacrifices that never seem to end. (Are you prepared to live that way?) If your goal is to entertain, what real good will that do? God discussed this with Ezekiel:

“To them you are like a singer of love songs who has a beautiful voice and plays skillfully on an instrument. They hear your words, but they don’t obey them” Ezekiel 33:32.

God then rebukes the shepherds of Israel for their failures:

“You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost” Ezekiel 34:4-5.

What does God expect a shepherd (pastor) to do for his flock?

  1. Strengthen the weak.
  2. Heal the sick.
  3. Bandage the injured.
  4. Bring back the strays.
  5. Seek the lost.

A life in vocational ministry means serving hurting people, reaching the lost, counseling the broken, and more. Much of the work is one-on-one, and much of it is NOT glamorous. No one should enter the ministry because he loves fame or a spotlight or admiring crowds. If that’s your thing (and that’s not necessarily bad) try acting or another performance-based vocation. But if you are willing to SPEND YOUR LIFE in service to others, you might consider ministry.

God, help us love our ministers, pray for them, and encourage them in their difficult, selfless occupation.

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