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A Vision of Living Beings

On July 31 of my thirtieth year, while I was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. This happened during the fifth year of Kingf Johiachin’s captivity. (The Lord gave this message to Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, beside the river Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians, and he felt the hand of the Lord hold him.)

As I looked, I saw a great storm coming from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light. There was fire inside the cloud, and in the middle of the fire glowed something like gleaming amber. From the center of the cloud came four living beings that looked human, except that each had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight, and their feet had hooves like those of a calf and shown like burnished bronze. Under eah of their four wings, I could see human hands. So each of the four beings had four faces and four wings. The wings of each living being touched the wings of the beings beside it. Each one moved straight forward in any direction without turning around. (vv. 1-9, NLT)

Hope in the Lord’s Faithfulness

The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore I hope in Him!”

The Lord is good to those who depend on Him, to those who search for Him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the lord. And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of His discipline. (vv. 9-27, NLT)

For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, He also shows compassion because of the greatness of His unfailing love. For He does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.(vv. 31-33, NLT)

Who can command things to happen without the. Lord’s permission? Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? They why should we, as mere humans complain when we are punished for our sins? Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord. (vv. 37-39, NLT)

A Hymn of Praise to the Lord

The Lord made the earth by His power, and He preserves it by His wisdom. With His own understanding He stretched out the heavens. When He speaks in the thunder, the heavens are filled with water. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from His storehouses.

The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies! On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed. But the God of Israel is not idol! He is the Creator of everything that exists, including His people, His own special possession. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is His name! (vv. 15-19, NLT)

Hope for Restoration

“In that day,” says the Lord,”I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people. This is what the Lord says:

“Those who survive the coming destruction will find blessings even in the barren land, for I will give rest to the people of Israel.”

Long ago, the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, My people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to Myself. I will rebuild you, My virgin Israel. You will be happy again and dance merrily with your tambourines. Again you will plant you vineyards on the mountains of Samaria and eat from your own gardens there. The day will come when watchmen will shout from the hill country of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord our God.'” (vv. 1-6, NLT)

Good and Bad Figs

After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon exiled Jehoichin soin of Jehoiakeim, king of Judah, and all the craftsmen and artisans, the Lord gave me this vision. I saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem. One basket was filled with fresh, ripe figs while the other was filled with bad figs that were too rotten to eath.

Then the Lord said to me, “What do yo see, Jeremiah?”

I replied, “Figs, some very good and some very bad, too rotten to eat.”

Then the Lord gave me this message: “The good figs represent the exiles I sent from Judah to the land of the Babylonians. I will watch over and care for them, and I will bring them back here again. I will build them up and not uproot them. I will give them hearts that recognize Me as the Lord. They will be My people , and I will be their God, for they will return to Me wholeheartedly.”

“But the bad figs,” the Lord said, ‘represent King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, all the people who left Jerusalem, and those who live in Egypt. I will treat them like bad figs, too rotten to eat. I will make the an object of horror and a symbol of evil to every nation on earth. They will be disgraced and mocked, taunted and cursed, wherever I scatter them. And I will send war, famine and disease, until they have vanished from the land of Israel, which I gave to them and their ancestors. (NLTR

The Righteous Descendant

“For the time is coming,” says the Lord, ‘when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. And all this will be in His name: ‘The Lord is Our Righteousness.’In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live safety.”

“In that day,”says the Lord, “when people are taking an oath, they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt. Instead, they will say,’ As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which He had exiled them.: They will live in their own land.”‘ (vv. 5-8, NLT)

But the Lord stands besides me like a great warrior. Before Him my persecutors will stumble. They cannot defeat me. They will fail thoroughly humiliated. Their dishonor will never be forgotten. O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, You test the righteous, and You examine the deepest thoughts and secrets. Let me see Your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to You. Sing unto the Lord! Praise the Lord! For though I was poor and needy, He rescued me from my oppressors. (vv. 11-13, NLT)

Observing the Sabbath

This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the gates of Jerusalem, first in the gate where the king goes in an out, and then in each of the other gates.Say to all the people, ‘Listen to this message from the Lord, you kings of Judah and all you people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem. this is what the Lord says: Listen to My warning! Stope carrying on your trade at Jerusalem’s gates on the Sabbath day. Do not do your work on the Sabbath, but make it a hole day. I gave this command to your ancestors, but they did not listen or obey. They stubbornly refused to pay attention or accept My discipline.

”’But if you obey Me, says the Lord, and do not carry on with. you trade at the gates or work on the Sabbath day, then kings and their officials will go in an d out of the gates forever. There will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. Kings and their officials will always ride in and out among the people of Judah in chariots and on horses, and this city will remain forever.”’ (vv. 19-25, NLT)

”’But if you do not listen to Me and refuse to keep the Sabbath holy, and if you bring loads of merchandise through the gates of Jerusalem just as on other days, I will set fire to these gates. The fire will spread to the palace, and no one will be able to put out the roaring flames. ”’ (v. 27, NLT)

Wisdom from the Lord

This is what the Lord says, “Cursed ar those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.”

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.”

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, and according to what their actions deserve.” (vv. 5-10, NLT)

Jeremiah’s Prayer of Confidence

Lord, You are my strength and fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble! Nations from around the world will come to You and say, “Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage, for they worshiped worthless idols. Can people make their own gods? These are not real gods at all!”

The Lord says, “Now I will show them My power; now I will show them My might. At last they will know and understand that I am the Lord.” (vv. 19-21, NLT)