Reading for Today:

• Ezekiel 9:1 Chapter 9 1 Then he cried in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause ye them that have charge over the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. –10:22
• Psalms 121:1-8 Chapter 121 1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: From whence shall my help come? 2 My help `cometh' from Jehovah, Who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber. 4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 Jehovah is thy keeper: Jehovah is thy shade upon thy right hand. 6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, Nor the moon by night. 7 Jehovah will keep thee from all evil; He will keep thy soul. 8 Jehovah will keep thy going out and thy coming in From this time forth and for evermore. Psalm 122 A Song of Ascents; of David.
• Proverbs 28:16 16 The prince that lacketh understanding is also a great oppressor; `But' he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days.
• Hebrews 5:1-14 Chapter 5 1 For every high priest, being taken from among men, is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: 2 who can bear gently with the ignorant and erring, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity; 3 and by reason thereof is bound, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. 4 And no man taketh the honor unto himself, but when he is called of God, even as was Aaron. 5 So Christ also glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he that spake unto him, Thou art my Son, This day have I begotten thee: 6 as he saith also in another `place,' Thou art a priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek. 7 Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear, 8 though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 and having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation; 10 named of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. 11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard of interpretation, seeing ye are become dull of hearing. 12 For when by reason of the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again that some one teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food. 13 For every one that partaketh of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. 14 But solid food is for fullgrown men, `even' those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.

Notes:

Ezekiel 9:3 the glory…had gone up. The glory of God departs before the destruction of the city and temple. The gradual departure of God from His temple is depicted in stages: the glory resides in the temple’s Most Holy Place, between the wings of the cherubs on each side of the ark of the covenant over the mercy seat, then leaves to the front door (9:3; 10:4), later to the east gate by the outer wall (10:18, 19), and finally to the Mount of Olives to the east, having fully departed (11:22, 23). The glory will return in the future kingdom of Messiah (43:2–7).

Ezekiel 10:2 fill…with coals. God specifies that the marking angel (9:2, 11) reach into the war machine and fill his hands with fiery coals in the presence of the angels of chapter 1. These coals picture the fires of judgment which God’s angels are to “scatter” on Jerusalem. In Isaiah 6 Chapter 6 1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 and he touched my mouth with it, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven. 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me. 9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they sea with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed. 11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until cities be waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land become utterly waste, 12 and Jehovah have removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land. 13 And if there be yet a tenth in it, it also shall in turn be eaten up: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remaineth, when they are felled; so the holy seed is the stock thereof. , “coals” were used for the purification of the prophet; here they were for the destruction of the wicked (Heb. 12:29). Fire did destroy Jerusalem in 586 B.C.

Ezekiel 10:9–17 wheels by the cherubim. This whole section is similar to 1:4–21. Four wheels on God’s chariot mingled with the 4 angels (1:15–21) coordinated with each other in precision, and each with a different one of the cherubim. All looked so much alike that it was as if one wheel blended entirely with another (v. 10). As their appearance was so unified, their action was in unison and instant (v. 11). The cherubim had bodies like men and their chariot wheels were full of eyes denoting full perception both to see the sinners and their fitting judgment. The color beryl is a sparkling yellow or gold.

Hebrews 5:11 dull. The Hebrews’ spiritual lethargy and slow response to gospel teaching prevented additional teaching at this time. This is a reminder that failure to appropriate the truth of the gospel produces stagnation in spiritual advancement and the inability to understand or assimilate additional teaching ( John 16:12 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. ). Such a situation exists also among the Gentiles who have received revelatory truth (natural or general revelation) from God in the creation (Rom. 1:18–20). Rejection of that revelation results in a process of hardening (Rom. 1:21–32). The Hebrews had not only received the same general revelation, they had also received special revelation consisting of the Old Testament scriptures (Rom. 9:4), the Messiah Himself (Rom. 9:5), and the teaching of the apostles (2:3, 4). Until the Hebrews obeyed the revelation they had received and obtained eternal salvation (v. 8), additional teaching about the Messiah’s Melchizedekan priesthood would be of no profit to them.

DAY 9: Why does it say that Jesus “learned obedience”?

The context of Hebrews 5:7 7 Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear, makes it clear that “who, in the days of His flesh” refers back to Christ, the main subject in v. 5. In Gethsemane, Jesus agonized and wept, but committed Himself to do the Father’s will in accepting the cup of suffering which would bring His death (Matt. 26:38–46; Luke 22:44 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground. , 45). Anticipating bearing the burden of judgment for sin, Jesus felt its fullest pain and grief (Is. 52:14; 53:3–5, 10). Though He bore the penalty in silence and did not seek to deliver Himself from it (Is. 53:7), He did cry out from the agony of the fury of God’s wrath poured on His perfectly holy and obedient Person (Matt. 27:46; 2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus asked to be saved from remaining in death, i.e., to be resurrected (Ps. 16:9, 10).

“Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (v. 8). Christ did not need to suffer in order to conquer or correct any disobedience. In His deity (as the Son of God), He understood obedience completely. As the incarnate Lord, He humbled Himself to learn ( Luke 2:52 52 And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. ). He learned obedience for the same reasons He bore temptation: to confirm His humanity and experience its sufferings to the fullest (2:10; Luke 2:52 52 And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. ; Phil. 2:8). Christ’s obedience was also necessary so that He could fulfill all righteousness (Matt. 5:13) and thus prove to be the perfect sacrifice to take the place of sinners (1 Pet. 3:18). He was the perfectly righteous One, whose righteousness would be imputed to sinners (Rom. 3:24–26).

“And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation” (v. 9). Because of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ and His perfect sacrifice for sin, He became the cause of salvation. True salvation evidences itself in obedience to Christ, from the initial obedience to the gospel command to repent and believe ( Acts 5:32 32 And we are witnesses of these things; and `so is' the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him. ; Rom. 1:5; 2 Thess. 1:8; 1 Pet. 1:2, 22; 4:17) to a life pattern of obedience to the Word (Rom. 6:16).

From The MacArthur Daily Bible Copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson Bibles, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc, Nashville, TN 37214, www.thomasnelson.com.

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