Yesterday I mentioned the protests that have taken place in this country over the past few months. I have mentioned before that I do not support these protests. I do not believe they accomplish anything of value. Those who are born again Christians should be able to see that they have no place in these protests. The environment and the language used in them is no place for those who know the true and living God. We can see from the official response to the latest protest of this weekend, that the officials have no interest in allowing counter views to be heard or seen in a peaceful manner. The heavy police presence at this recent event was clearly there to try to intimidate those who would come to that event. They were there to try to get people to push back against them so that they could arrest them and charge them with resistance, etc. It is a shame to see how the majority of the police are more concerned with money and power; that they are willing to break the law to please their bosses. There have been reports of the police boasting and laughing about the brutality they have used against unarmed citizens.
It is obvious that we no longer have the freedom that our forefathers fought to protect in the first and second world wars. We have crumbled into a similar environment here in our own country, to what our parents and grandparents fled in the hope of finding greater freedom.
What was missing in that flight and what is missing today is the understanding of where freedom comes from. When God does not have the heart of the people, there is no freedom. Ezekiel was directed by God to address the spiritual depravity of his own people. Israel had been blessed by God in so many ways. They had a wonderful homeland. They were protected from external corruption by laws that were given by God to protect them from corruption. Law keeping could not save them. Law keeping cannot save us today. The laws that God gave the nation of Israel were designed to show them the need to know the Law Giver.
The Priesthood was established to give a picture of the need of a mediator between God and men. They were also to teach the law of God to the people. That would require the priests to believe in the true God. They were not to be politically motivated. They were not to be inventors of law. They were not to break the law. However, the priesthood soon became corrupted and they adopted the pagan ways of the nations around them. Jeremiah 17:9-10 tells us:

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

We must understand that even without the pagan nations around Israel, the heart of the Israeli people was just as wicked as the hearts of the nations around them. If they did not turn to the true God in repentance and put their faith in the promise of a Redeemer and understand that the Levitical system was a picture of that Redeemer, they would be pagans as well.
Within the corruption that dominated the nation of Israel for many years prior to Ezekiel’s day, there were a few faithful believers in the true God such as Ezekiel and Daniel, Mishael, Azariah, and Hananiah. God has always had a remnant of those who turn to Him and believe in Him. God does not force anyone to believe in Him. It is a mystery as to what causes one person to embrace the God of truth and yet others around that person reject that same God. It is a testimony to the mercy and grace of God.
Ezekiel was called upon to prophesy regarding the future of the nation of Israel and of the nations of the world that would affect Israel.
In verse 13, God continued to speak of the attack that would come against Israel in the future. Ezekiel was not told how long it would be before that attack. We can know that it has been over 2,000 years from the time the prophecy was given to the time we are living in. To this day, we are still looking into the future for the fulfilment of this prophecy. We know it will come when Israel is living in relative peace and when they will have their guard down. The Bible describes that time as the time when the anti-christ arrives on the scene. As he develops his position as ruler of the world, he will reveal his true nature and the peace will be gone.
Sheba and Dedan were located in what is today known as Saudi Arabia. Tarshish is along the Mediterranean Sea and includes Lebanon or Cyprus. In verse 13 God asked these people a question regarding their plans and actions. Again this is a prophetic question to what is yet coming. The purpose of the future advancement against Israel will be to take a spoil. There is speculation as to what that spoil might be. Some have speculated that it will be for the vast minerals that are in the Dead Sea. Others have speculated that it will be the oil and gas reserves that have been found under the surface of the land of Israel. We are told that they will be coming to take away silver and gold and cattle and other goods. It is described as “a great spoil.”
In verse 14 we see that this message is still directed to Gog. As we mentioned in the past, it is important to pay attention to what is going on in the Middle East and in particular in Israel. The attention of the world has been on that area for many years. Most presidents of the U.S. have tried to make a name for themselves in trying to resolve the conflict in that area of the world. None have succeeded. Gog will be aware of the vulnerability that Israel will be living in at that time and they will seek to take advantage of it.
It is always a danger to let ones guard down. We are reminded many times of the fact that those who are saved are in a spiritual warfare and that we need to be fully equipped to fend off the wiles of the devil. The devil never takes a break. I recall the first church I pastored where they were accustomed to run a much more relaxed summer program than they did during the rest of the year. During the summer months they shut down the Sunday School and the Wednesday night Bible study because they said so many people wanted to take a vacation and would be away so they would be short of workers and the attendance would be down. I was not aware of this before we went to that church, but I asked them if they thought the devil took a holiday? The answer to that is rather obvious and thus we did not cancel any services just because it was summer time. In fact we added a VBS program through which we were able to reach many children in that community.
Paul told Timothy to give attendance to doctrine. False doctrine can creep in so easily. I spoke with a man recently who is being taught that Old Testament people were law keepers and New Testament people live by grace. That is a distorted view that has been around a long time, but it is still just as false today as it ever was. We need to know the truth and we need to teach the truth faithfully. Man has never been saved by law keeping. God’s salvation has always been by faith in Him. The obedience He demands is the result of trusting in Him for salvation.

(continued in part 2)