Grace & Truth: A new heart and spirit
Pastor Steve Poole
TEXT: Ezekiel 36:22-36
GRACE: God will save, restore, forgive, bless and establish His people.
TRUTH: God restores and blesses His people to bring glory to His name.
LEV & RUAKH
“...Character, personality, will, mind are modern terms which all reflect something of the meaning of ‘heart’...” (Banwell)
“...ruakh is used to talk about humans, it describes their breath and core qualities.” (Schlimm)
GRACE: God offers a new heart and His Spirit to ALL who believe in Jesus.
NEXT STEPS
1. Believe in Jesus and receive a new lev and ruakh by God’s grace.
2. Consider how God has changed your heart (lev) since your salvation and share a story of God’s faithfulness with someone.
3. Continue reading Ezekiel, following this guide to interpret and apply God’s word to your life
GO DEEPER
A Brief Guide to Apocalyptic Prophecy
Books like Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation are filled with weird symbols and visions. The authors reveal divine truths through imagery that invites us to pay attention to several layers.
Remember this:
Focus on the historical context. The first layer is always the message the author wanted the immediate audience to grasp.
Next study the symbols and imagery as they are used throughout the Bible. The meaning of these symbols remains consistent throughout the Bible.
The next layer is to understand what these passages teach us about God. And in particular, how these prophecies are fulfilled in Jesus.
The final layer asks how these prophecies might be fulfilled again today or in the future.
Be Careful:
Don’t lose the big picture of the battle between good and evil and God’s ultimate victory over evil.
Avoid over-interpreting every detail; instead, focus on the prophetic themes of hope and the establishment of God’s kingdom.
Do not interpret symbolic language literally. The authors describe complex ideas in terms that would have been understandable to the original audience.
Resist the temptation to get carried away by elaborate schemes that assign a specific modern meaning to every symbol.
When we read these books we take the authors at their word when they explain what they hope to tell us. Ezekiel is clear in chapter 1 verse 1: “I saw visions of God.” John is clear in Revelations 1:1 “The revelation of Jesus”
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