Ezekiel 41 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Stunned by Grace

I've never been surprised by God's judgment, but I'm still stunned by His grace.
God's judgment has never been a problem for me. In fact, it always seemed right. Lightning bolts on Sodom. Fire on Gomorrah. Good job, God! Egyptians swallowed in the Red Sea. They had it coming.
Discipline is easy for me to swallow. Logical to assimilate.
But God's grace? Anything but. Do you need examples? How much time do you have? Peter denied Christ before he preached Christ. Zacchaeus, the crook… the cleanest part of his life was the money he'd laundered. But Jesus still had time for him. The thief on the cross, hung-out to die one minute, heaven-bound and smiling the next.
Story after story. Surprise after surprise! Search the pages. Read the stories! Find one person who came seeking a second chance and left with a stern lecture. Search. You won't find it.
From When God Whispers Your Name

Ezekiel 41

Then the man brought me to the main hall and measured the jambs; the width of the jambs was six cubits[z] on each side.[aa] 2 The entrance was ten cubits[ab] wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were five cubits[ac] wide. He also measured the main hall; it was forty cubits long and twenty cubits wide.[ad]

3 Then he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the jambs of the entrance; each was two cubits[ae] wide. The entrance was six cubits wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were seven cubits[af] wide. 4 And he measured the length of the inner sanctuary; it was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits across the end of the main hall. He said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

5 Then he measured the wall of the temple; it was six cubits thick, and each side room around the temple was four cubits[ag] wide. 6 The side rooms were on three levels, one above another, thirty on each level. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports were not inserted into the wall of the temple. 7 The side rooms all around the temple were wider at each successive level. The structure surrounding the temple was built in ascending stages, so that the rooms widened as one went upward. A stairway went up from the lowest floor to the top floor through the middle floor.

8 I saw that the temple had a raised base all around it, forming the foundation of the side rooms. It was the length of the rod, six long cubits. 9 The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick. The open area between the side rooms of the temple 10 and the priests’ rooms was twenty cubits wide all around the temple. 11 There were entrances to the side rooms from the open area, one on the north and another on the south; and the base adjoining the open area was five cubits wide all around.

12 The building facing the temple courtyard on the west side was seventy cubits[ah] wide. The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.[ai]

13 Then he measured the temple; it was a hundred cubits[aj] long, and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long. 14 The width of the temple courtyard on the east, including the front of the temple, was a hundred cubits.

15 Then he measured the length of the building facing the courtyard at the rear of the temple, including its galleries on each side; it was a hundred cubits.

The main hall, the inner sanctuary and the portico facing the court, 16 as well as the thresholds and the narrow windows and galleries around the three of them—everything beyond and including the threshold was covered with wood. The floor, the wall up to the windows, and the windows were covered. 17 In the space above the outside of the entrance to the inner sanctuary and on the walls at regular intervals all around the inner and outer sanctuary 18 were carved cherubim and palm trees. Palm trees alternated with cherubim. Each cherub had two faces: 19 the face of a human being toward the palm tree on one side and the face of a lion toward the palm tree on the other. They were carved all around the whole temple. 20 From the floor to the area above the entrance, cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall of the main hall.

21 The main hall had a rectangular doorframe, and the one at the front of the Most Holy Place was similar. 22 There was a wooden altar three cubits[ak] high and two cubits square[al]; its corners, its base[am] and its sides were of wood. The man said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.” 23 Both the main hall and the Most Holy Place had double doors. 24 Each door had two leaves—two hinged leaves for each door. 25 And on the doors of the main hall were carved cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls, and there was a wooden overhang on the front of the portico. 26 On the sidewalls of the portico were narrow windows with palm trees carved on each side. The side rooms of the temple also had overhangs.

Ezekiel 41:1 That is, about 11 feet or about 3.2 meters; also in verses 3, 5 and 8
Ezekiel 41:1 One Hebrew manuscript and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts side, the width of the tent
Ezekiel 41:2 That is, about 18 feet or about 5.3 meters
Ezekiel 41:2 That is, about 8 3/4 feet or about 2.7 meters; also in verses 9, 11 and 12
Ezekiel 41:2 That is, about 70 feet long and 35 feet wide or about 21 meters long and 11 meters wide
Ezekiel 41:3 That is, about 3 1/2 feet or about 1.1 meters; also in verse 22
Ezekiel 41:3 That is, about 12 feet or about 3.7 meters
Ezekiel 41:5 That is, about 7 feet or about 2.1 meters
Ezekiel 41:12 That is, about 123 feet or about 37 meters
Ezekiel 41:12 That is, about 158 feet or about 48 meters
Ezekiel 41:13 That is, about 175 feet or about 53 meters; also in verses 14 and 15
Ezekiel 41:22 That is, about 5 1/4 feet or about 1.5 meters
Ezekiel 41:22 Septuagint; Hebrew long
Ezekiel 41:22 Septuagint; Hebrew length


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: John 1:1-18

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[b] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Footnotes:

    John 1:5 Or understood
    John 1:18 Some manuscripts but the only Son, who

Spiritual Plagiarism

 November 25, 2013 — by Julie Ackerman Link

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. —John 1:14

When I teach English composition, I require students to write in class. I know that in-class writing is their own work, so in this way I become familiar with each student’s writing voice and am able to detect if they “borrow” a bit too heavily from another writer. Students are surprised to learn that their writing voice—which includes what they say as well as how they say it—is as distinctive as their speaking voice. Just as the words we speak come from our hearts, so do the words we write. They reveal who we are.

We become familiar with God’s voice in much the same way. By reading what He has written, we learn who He is and how He expresses Himself. Satan, however, tries to make himself sound like God (2 Cor. 11:14). By using God’s words in a slightly altered fashion, he comes up with convincing arguments for things that are untrue. For example, by convincing people to do things that simulate godliness, such as trusting in an outward regimen of self-discipline rather than Christ’s death for salvation (Col. 2:23), Satan has led many astray.

God went to extremes to make sure we’d recognize His voice. He not only gave us His Word, He gave us the Word made flesh—Jesus (John 1:14)—so that we will not be easily deceived or misled.
Instill within my heart, dear Lord,
A deep desire to know Your Word,
I want to learn to hear Your voice
That I may make Your will my choice. —D. DeHaan
Your Word is very pure; therefore Your servant loves it. —Psalm 119:140

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
November 25, 2013

The Secret of Spiritual Consistency

God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14

When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.

State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “. . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Can You Tell What Time It Is? - #7011

Monday, November 25, 2013

Back when my sons were teenagers, they both owned a watch, but you would never know it if you looked at their wrist most of the time. Oh they owned a watch; they seldom wore it. Maybe that's typical of teenage boys. I guess kids live blissfully oblivious to time much of the time. Now some people depend on their cell phone, but you've got to pull that out and check it, and I do like to have it on my wrist. A lot of times our boys would have to ask what time it was, and most of the time they would ask a parent.
Now, I have a watch on right now. I'm never without it. If I forgot it for a day, I'm totally at a loss. But I knew that someday soon my boys were going to be men with men's responsibilities, and they will have to care what time it is. That goes with maturity.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Can You Tell What Time It Is?"
Our word for today from the Word of God is about what time it is; Ecclesiastes 3:1 and some other excerpts from that chapter. "There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven." Some of those times are then given here, "A time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend." God is pointing out here something we know just by looking at nature - that He operates in seasons. A grownup child of God, whatever his age, cares about what time it is on God's clock and then operates accordingly. In fact, you're only asking for frustration when you try to work against what time God says it is, what season God says it is.
Ecclesiastes indicates that there's a time when God wants you to build and to plant and to keep. And then there are other times when He wants you to tear down, to uproot, to throw away. In fact, I believe there are three seasons in God's plan for you and for your family, your church, your organization. Sometimes it's time to cut back. Sometimes it's time to grow. Other times it's time to stand still.
It's probably one of those three times right now for you; time to cut back, time to grow, or time to stand still. In John 15:2, Jesus said, "Every branch that bears fruit He prunes so it will be even more fruitful." That's time to cut back, and those are hard times. But they're designed so you'll produce more than ever before. Maybe God's cutting you back right now. Not so He can hurt you, but so you can ultimately cut loose.
Then sometimes it's time to grow, and those are the fun times. It's time to go out and take risks and leave your safe spot, and don't stay in the same old rut. And then at other times it's time to stand still, to consolidate, to deepen relationships, to gather strength. The frustration and failure comes when we try to move the hands on God's clock.
Maybe He is cutting back right now, but you're trying to push ahead. Or He wants you to stand still and you insist on growing. Maybe He's saying, "Go for it" and you're saying, "Well, it's kind of comfy where I am." See, personal peace is a byproduct of cooperating with God's timing. You'll know by His Word, by circumstances, by prayer, by godly counsel what season it is. Live in His seasons. Cut when He says "cut." Stand still when He says, "stand still." Grow when He says "grow."
When it comes to God's clock for you, can you tell what time it is?