 Yeah, now we have the recording. Okay, we will begin with today's class. So we did two of the major prophets last week. We looked at Isaiah and Jeremiah. Today we'll cover the remaining three major prophets, which would be Lamentations, Ezekiel and Daniel. So maybe we can start off with Lamentations. What exactly are Lamentations? They are people crying out to God, expressing their pain, expressing their suffering, asking Him to help them. So these are the things which would be mentioned in a lament. In the Psalms, you have many laments. For example, Psalm 10 is a lament Psalm in which the Psalmist is crying out to God and He is lamenting. Let's look at that as an example, Psalm 10. Then we will have a better understanding of what exactly Lamentations involve. So if we were to turn in our... And if we could have someone read out for us just the first two verses, Psalm 10, verses one and two, what do we see written over there? Psalm 10, verse one and two. Why do you stand afar off, O Lord? Why do you hide in times of trouble? The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor. Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised. Yeah. So here in these first two verses, the Psalmist begins his lament by saying, why do you stand far off, O Lord? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? He says, the wicked people are hunting down the weak. They are scheming against the helpless people. So Lord, why are you so far away? Why don't you come and bring justice? Why don't you help us? So a lament is like a cry of protest saying, Lord, we are suffering. Please could you act? Please could you do something on our behalf? So a lament will have a cry of protest. It will also have a cry saying, Lord, please come and do something. Act on our behalf. So in Psalm 10, that would basically be verse 12 where the Psalmist says, Arise, Lord, lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. So it's crying out to God to come and intervene. A lament will also usually have words of hope. So not only is it the person crying out and protesting, not only is he saying, Lord, come and do something. He also expresses trust and faith like here in Psalm 10. If you were to look at verses 17 and 18, here the Psalmist says, Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted. You encourage them and you listen to their cry. So he's asserting his faith and saying, I know, Lord, that we are going through a difficult time right now, but I know you will hear our cry and you will respond. So laments are something that are familiar and that are common in the Bible. And here in the Book of Lamentations, you have an entire book devoted to this form of writing, this lament form of writing. So here in the Book of Lamentations, we see the people crying out and protest because they have now been exiled. They have been taken away by Nebuchadnezzar as slaves and many have been killed. In fact, when the invasion took place, a lot of people were killed. And before the invasion, for two years, there was complete starvation because a siege had been laid all around Jerusalem City. So they've gone through very tough times. So now they are crying out in this Book of Lamentations and saying, Lord, why did you allow all this? Why have you put us under such oppression? It's also a way of expressing their emotions, all the pain that is there in their heart. A lot of people feel better when they express it out loud in words rather than just keeping the feelings inside. When someone expresses it out verbally in words or puts it down in writing, it makes them feel a little better. It's a way to vent your emotions, to allow what is inside to come out, and it makes you feel a little better. So lamentation is also a cry of emotions where you are bringing it all out and expressing it before God. And of course, it's also, laments also express a lot of confusion because the person is wondering, why am I going through this? What is happening? Why is God not hearing? Why is he not answering? So a lament is something that you and I can also write today. Of course, it will not be entered into the Bible. It will not be considered an inspired scripture, but it is a good way of expressing ourselves. All you need are these three ingredients where you frankly express your confusion before God and say, Lord, why is this happening? No, what's going on? So you express your confusion before the Lord and you also express your emotions. You say, Lord, I'm feeling this. If you're feeling angry, you express your anger. If you're feeling hurt about something, you express your hurt. So you express your emotions and then you end with words of hope saying, Lord, I'm going through this. But one thing I know Lord, I know who you are. I know your character. I know your faithfulness. So Lord, even though I'm going through this, I know that one day you will bring me out of this. So you can write your own lament. You don't have to be a poet. It doesn't have to rhyme. In English, there's a lot of emphasis on rhyme, because at least earlier English rhymes had to rhyme. The last word of each line has to rhyme. For instance, twinkle, twinkle, little star. It has to go with, I wonder who you are. So star and R have to rhyme. But in most, even included in Hebrew poetry, they couldn't care less about rhyming the words. For them, it's more parallel thoughts. One thought has to match the next thought. So it's for them, it's that kind of poetry. So a lament is a healthy way of expressing what we are feeling inside. It's a prayer almost of us crying out to God. And if you put in scriptural words of hope in it, it is also biblical in the sense, you're not just giving in to despair. You're also affirming your faith and saying, yes, I'm feeling all these emotions. Yes, I'm going through all this confusion. But at the end of it, I know who you are. I know what you will do for me. So a lament can become a beautiful form of prayer. And this is what we see over here in the book of Lamentations, where Jeremiah is writing out this book almost as if it is a kind of a funeral song. In those days, when someone passes away, when someone dies, they would, you know, if that person is important, they would compose a song in his honor and they would sing it out. So here, it's almost as if Jeremiah is writing a funeral song for Jerusalem, which has fallen, Jerusalem, which has been destroyed. It is his funeral song, which he is composed for Jerusalem. And God is weeping through him because this is not just a song written by a human, this is inspired scripture. So it's like as if God himself is crying out for Jerusalem through this man, Jeremiah, who has written this book of Lamentations. So we not only see the pain of the people reflected in these words, we can almost hear God himself feeling the hurt of what has happened to his city and his beloved people. Alright, so we should look at the book of Lamentations from that angle, where even the Lord is involved in the process of mourning for this fallen city. Coming to the structure of Lamentations. Now this is Lamentations was bi-hearted by the people, you know, once Jeremiah wrote it, the people in exile bi-hearted they would recite it, they would sing it out. So for the sake of memory, you know, they composed each of the chapters in a crostic form. We looked at that word, a crostic, we defined it. And does anyone remember what an acrostic is? An acrostic is basically where you're using an alphabetical order, which makes it easier to remember. So in the Psalms, you have acrostic Psalms, where you have each alphabet being used to start that particular verse. So here in Lamentations as well, we have an acrostic form being used in chapters 1, chapter 2, in chapter 4. In chapter 3, also you have acrostic, but then there are 66 verses. So every third verse will start the next alphabet. So they were composed in this manner, so that people will be able to bi-heart them and be able to sing them, remember them. So in Lamentations 1, you basically have the picture of Jerusalem as a woman. She is called the daughter of Zion. And she's also described as a widow. It's like as if her husband has, you know, left her and gone away. The Lord who has, who chose to enter into a covenant with her has now left her and he is gone. So it's as if now she has become a widow and she no longer has support. And so this daughter of Zion is weeping and crying. So if you look at that entire chapter, it's like as if she's crying out and she's expressing her pain and saying, Lord, once upon a time, I had so many friends, I had so many lovers, because you see, she was an adulterous woman, this Jerusalem, instead of saying, staying faithful to the Lord God, she went after the idols, she went after other pagan gods. So she's saying once upon a time, I had so many friends, I had so many lovers. Now nobody even looks at me even though I'm crying out for help. So if you look at that entire chapter one, there's so much emotion, there's so much pain, there's so much despair being expressed by this daughter of Zion who has reduced herself to this state. Maybe we could have someone read out just the two verses, Lamentations chapter one versus one and two. This is how the entire book of Lamentations starts off, Lamentations one versus one and two please. How lonely sits the city that was full of people, how like a widow is she, how was great among the nation, the princes among the provinces has become a slave. She beeps bitterly in the night, her tears are on her cheeks, among all her lovers she has none to comfort her, all her friends have dealt previously with her, they have become her enemies. Yeah, so it says bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks but all her friends have betrayed her, they have become her enemies. So Lamentations chapter one is talking about Jerusalem as though she is a person. Lamentations two, the main focus is upon the anger of God, the judgment of God. Whenever in the Bible we talk about the anger of God, it's not God just having a temper tantrum. It's not just God being shot tempered. God is never shot tempered like he clearly explains in Exodus, he's long tempered. It takes a long time for him to become angry. He patiently waits. So whenever we talk about God's anger, it's not God just bursting out whenever he's in a bad mood. It is God expressing justice when the time comes for judgment. Until then he holds himself back however upset he may be with the people, he does not take it out on them. He waits for the appointed time and only then his anger and broth is expressed. So here in Lamentations two we see that the time came for the judgment to arrive because the people again and again refused to repent and so now finally God expresses his anger because you see in all the nations which were surrounding Israel at that time, they would have all these gods and goddesses which they were shipped in those nations and those gods and goddesses were quite a bad tempered lot. They would get into fights with each other. They would take out their anger on human beings by sending lightning. So these are the kind of stories and legends which they had in their religions but Yahweh was very very different. His anger was only expressed when the correct time came to bring judgment, to bring justice. So we see that the Lord's anger is very different from the kind of anger which the other religions believed in. Lamentations three is like at the center of this book because Lamentations three is where it talks about the words of hope. It is a prayer asking for the mercy of the Lord. So we'll come back to that. Lamentations three is at the very center. We have words and phrases in this particular chapter taken from Job chapter three from Psalm 22, from Psalm 69, from Isaiah 53. Small terms and phrases have been picked up from the different scriptures and used over here in this Lamentations chapter three and then you move into Lamentations chapter four where you have a description of what happened during those two years when the Babylonians laid a siege around the city. They blocked off the entrances. Nobody could go out. Nobody could come in without the permission of the Babylonians which is why the food supply inside the city began to run out slowly till finally there was complete famine, complete shortage. People were like literally starving. So during those two years when all this was going on, the people are trapped inside. The Babylonian army is strong and powerful waiting outside and Jeremiah is prophesying in that kind of a situation and saying surrender, surrender, go outside to the gates, surrender to the Babylonians. And that is why the king is so angry and he says, why are you talking against your own people? Why are you asking us to surrender to our enemy? And Jeremiah says it is because the time for your judgment has come, submit to the Lord because now is the time of judgment. And so the people are angry with him at that point of time. So Lamentations four talks about what happened during those two years off siege when they were trapped inside the city. It gives a contrast of different things how the rich became poor, how the powerful are now weak and helpless. Maybe we can just look at one example. Chapter four versus four to five if someone could read out Lamentations four, four and five. The tongue of the infant clings to the roof of its mouth for thirst. The young children ask for bread but no one break it for them. Those who ate it delicious are desolate in the street. Those who were brought up in scarlet embrace are shapes. So here in verses four and five you have a contrast being drawn between how the children were before and in what condition the children are now. So the royal children, you know they were clothed in royal purple and they were eating delicacies. They were eating the best food. Now what are those children doing? They are begging for bread. So you know and in verses seven and eight there's a contrast drawn between the nobles and the aristocrats. It describes them as being whiter than milk earlier. But now in verse eight it says they are blacker than suit. Suit is basically you know when you have when you have when you light a fire and then you have the black residue which forms on the sides you know because of the smoke which is coming that smoke you know residue that's basically called suit. So earlier they were like whiter than milk now they are blacker than suit and then it says their skin has shriveled on their bones. It has become as dry as a stick whereas earlier their bodies were the word used over there is R U D D Y just basically means they were healthy and plump and strong whereas now they're you know their skin has shriveled up and it's sticking to their bones. So Lamentations four describes the two years of siege which was there around Jerusalem and then finally you come to Lamentations five it's it's like a prayer being offered to God saying Lord we have gone through all this so kindly please restore us. And so in you know chapter five if you could just read out verses one and two chapter five verses one and two. Remember oh Lord what has come upon us look and behold our reproach our inheritance has been turned over to Iliansh and our house to foreigners. Yeah so the prayer begins with these words remember Lord what has happened to us look and see our disgrace our inheritance has been turned over to strangers other people have taken over our land so oh Lord please look upon us and you know help us and then in the if you look at the ending that this is how the book of Lamentations ends with these words if someone could read out verses 19 to 22 chapter five verses 19 to 22. You oh Lord remain forever you're thrown from generation to generation why do you forget us forever and forsake us for so long a time turn us back to you oh Lord and we will be restored the new days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are very angry with us. So the end of the book of Lamentations doesn't really end with positive words it ends with a question mark Lord are you so angry with us that you're going to forget us forever but Lord we are hoping that you will restore us it just kind of ends like that you know where it says restore us to yourself Lord you know the writer says in verse 21 and then verse 22 unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure unless that is the case could you please restore us so it's like as if these people for five chapters they have cried out to the Lord expressed all their pain expressed all their confusion and now in the in the end they're saying now Lord we have poured out our heart and yes we admit that we have been sinful now Lord the ball is in your court now it's up to you you decide in your justice and wisdom what you want to do with us if you have if you will have mercy upon us please restore us so this I think is a healthy way to approach the Lord we should not go to him and make demands and say Lord you should do this for me you know you must work out things for me in this particular way it's good for us to pour out everything there is in our heart our hopes our shattered dreams the pain that we are feeling the you know the wrong things that have been done to us by the enemies everything we pour it all out and then we conclude and say Lord do it your way I'm leaving it in your hands you know so I think that is probably a positive way of leaving things in the Lord's hands for him to do his almighty will so lamentations actually ends in that manner now at the very center of the book of lamentations is basically where you have lamentations chapter three where you have these words beautiful words which are so familiar I mean we're all very familiar about the mercies of the Lord being new every morning right I mean it's there in our songs we use it in our sermons this is basically where that thing comes in from from lamentations chapter three so in lamentations chapter three if you look at verses 16 to 21 over there it's like as if a man you know he's he's crying out it's like the in the first chapter it was daughter Zion who was crying out here you have the picture of a man who's like in a completely broken down condition and he is crying out to God so these are his words this is how it is expressed so this this person in verse 16 he's saying he has you know he's talking about what the Lord has done to him and over here of course you know his personifying the entire nation so it's not just him it's the entire nation which upon which judgment has come and this is what this person says he says here the writer is writing the Lord has broken my teeth with gravel he has trampled me in the dust now this is the picture of a person who's like literally being crushed into the ground so you know you can imagine the enemy comes like you know on the battlefield when someone falls to the ground what does the enemy do he comes and literally crushes them with his you know with his shoes he just crushes them into the ground so it's like a face is pressed into the ground and the the dirt and the gravel which is there on the ground is breaking your teeth it's gone into your mouth and so that is the imagery over here so it's talking about complete crushing he has broken my teeth with gravel that is your face is pressed into the ground and that's why the gravel is going into your mouth and breaking your teeth and he has trampled me in the dust and then in verse 10 I mean verse 18 it says so I say my splendor is gone all that I hoped for from the Lord you know it's all gone I mean so he's talking about the his complete you know downtrodden condition where all the splendor which he had earlier all the hopes which he had entertained earlier all of that is completely gone and then he says in verse 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering yeah and and he says in verse 20 I remember them and my soul is downcast so he says I've gone through all this my face was pressed into the mud the gravel actually went into my mouth and broke my teeth all this has happened to me and when I remember all that I have gone through he says you know my affliction when I remember it my soul is downcast so this is the way I am right now this is the kind of judgment that came upon me and now this is the condition I am in and every time I think about all the things that were done to me by the Lord I feel very very downcast then come these amazing words verse 21 yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope so when I am feeling in this helpless broken state at that time yet this is what I remember this is what I recall to my mind and this is what gives me hope what is it that gives him hope verse 22 it says because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed for his compassion's never fail they are new every morning great is your faithfulness so he admits all that he has gone through and he admits that when he thinks about what has happened to him his soul is downcast and when he's feeling depressed in that way he doesn't give in to the depression and say oh my life is finished no when he's in the depressed downcast condition he says yet I call to mind you know who the Lord is what kind of a God he is and he says this is the kind of God this is what he's reminding himself of and he says yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope because the Lord's great love you know is never consumed his compassion's never fail and the thing about his faithfulness is about his mercies is every morning there will be some new mercy you may be in the most downtrodden condition but every morning there will be a new set of mercies awaiting you this is the faithfulness of our God and he then he goes on to say in verse 24 I say to myself the Lord is my portion therefore I will wait for him you know who is our inheritance it's not the wealth and the power and the influence the Lord himself is our inheritance so because the Lord is my inheritance therefore I will wait for him yes I'm being punished right now you know this is the you know the people of Jerusalem it's like as if they are speaking so they are saying it's true that we have been punished by the Lord but we will wait because we know one thing the compassion's of the Lord they will not fail his mercies will be new every morning so he says I will patiently wait and then you know it goes on to say in verse 27 it is good for a man to hear to to to bear the yoke while he is young let him sit alone in silence for the Lord has laid it on him let him bury his face in the dust they may yet be hope let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him so he's saying okay we are going through this time of punishment and judgment yes Lord we will submit to it we are the ones who brought this upon ourselves again and again you gave us a chance to repent we chose not to so therefore this has come upon us now we will humbly submit to this we will be like the young man who sits in silence and allows the judgment to come upon him why because he is paying the price for what he did he chose to ignore the Lord's voice which is why this has now happened to him but he continues to hold on to this thought he says why am I willing to submit like this verse 31 for no one is cast off by the Lord forever the Lord never casts anybody off forever and then he says though the Lord brings grief he will show compassion so great is his unfailing love and then this is beautiful verse in verse 33 where it says for the Lord does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone it's a fact the Lord does not willingly bring grief to anyone it's only either because we have done something and now temporarily we are suffering the consequences of what we have done or it may be something that God permits like in the case of Joe because there are bigger things factors at work and we do not do not know we are not aware of all that is involved but the point is this God does not willingly make anyone suffer he only allows it for a temporary season to accomplish whatever purpose for which it has been permitted but beyond that his mercies are still there his compassion is still there so at the at the heart of this book of lamentations is this passage of great hope and so this should be our attitude during our times of trial and suffering now sometimes the suffering may come as a result of our own wrong decisions the wrong choices that we have made it can even be because the sin that we have been living in so you know we are suffering the consequences of that sometimes it may be innocent it may be other people who are evil who are doing bad things to us so it could be different cases but in all of our suffering this is a good way to approach the Lord it is good to remember that he is this kind of a compassionate God and we can assure ourselves and say even though he brings grief he will show compassion so great is his unfailing love for he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone we can have these words of assurance always no matter what our circumstances may be so the book of lamentations is actually a book of much hope even though it is focusing on pain and suffering it is a book which is offering us a kind of pattern that we can use you know when we are approaching the Lord why because we see that Jeremiah wrote this book under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to show us that when we are in pain God weeps along with us and God also wants us to continue to have hope and so later you know Jeremiah is not the only one who wept over Jerusalem there was someone else also who came in the future and he also wept over Jerusalem of course we are talking about Jesus you know in Luke chapter 19 verses 41 to 44 that is basically where we see that Jesus also weeps over the city and he talks about in Luke 19 verse 43 he says the enemies will build an embankment against you you know they will come and surround you it says and encircle you and hem you in on every side so what happened in the time of the Babylonians it will happen again so Jesus says you know and it actually was fulfilled what Jesus told was fulfilled in AD 70 when the Romans come they surround the city they burn the temple so you know whatever Jesus prophesied it all came to pass but Jesus was not happy about it he wept when he when he prophesied about what's going to happen and you know that's basically where he speaks you know those words of hope and he says how many times I wanted to gather you under my wings but you people were not interested and because of that this is going to come upon you know so both Jeremiah and Jesus weep over Jerusalem they express love towards Jerusalem and hope for the future so yes right now judgment will be coming but still in spite of all that is going to happen there is still hope for the future that is what is expressed over here so we were able to very briefly look at the book of lamentations let's move into the book of Ezekiel now Ezekiel is considered by most people a rather complicated book simply because it has all these visions in which it describes all kinds of strange creatures with multiple wings and multiple eyes and multiple heads even and multiple wheels and all kinds of things which are difficult to describe in human words so the things which Ezekiel sees in his vision are so complicated and so unlike anything that we that exists over here in our earthly realm that he's unable to even find the correct words to express what to describe what he is seeing so it's that kind of a complicated vision which Ezekiel has so maybe to start off with who was Ezekiel as we know Nebuchadnezzar comes three times takes away the people from from Judah and Jerusalem in three different batches in the very first batch when the main aristocrats and officials are being taken away Daniel also is taken away in the second batch when people are being taken away that is when you have Ezekiel being taken away so he's basically from the priestly clan and so you know chapter one was three we get to know that he's the son of Buzi a priest and so in the second batch Ezekiel is taken away as an exile which means the third final collapse of Jerusalem has not yet happened so this this book of Ezekiel is being written in that kind of time period all right so so from 592 BC up to 585 BC is probably when he wrote the first 39 chapters all right so then they say that most probably the last few chapters chapter 40 to 48 would have been written at a much later period of time is what most of the commentaries will say so the first portion we know which was written chapters 1 to 39 in the first three chapters you see him being commissioned by God to go and prophesy then chapters 4 to 24 you have a series of parables of judgment different kinds of parables are used to talk about the judgment which will come upon Jerusalem very very soon okay so you have many parables in chapters 4 to 24 then in chapters 25 to 32 judgment is given against seven Gentile nations so chapters 25 to 32 is a series of judgments spoken against seven nations Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia and the others then chapters 33 to 39 is where Ezekiel speaks about how God will restore in the future so it talks it provides words of hope which will occur later on in the future and so in this small section chapters 33 to 39 that is basically where you have that famous passage about the valley of the dry bones so that is a vision which is given to Ezekiel so in chapter 37 he sees as if he's standing in a valley and he can see the bones scattered all over the valley and how he describes the bones is he says these are very dry bones is the description which is given so let's talk about chicken when you cut chicken and you know you are the you know you eat the chicken and then you throw the bones the bone is still very wet very moist especially the marrow which is there inside the bone that is still moist and wet now you leave it out there for one year in the mud and after one year you look at that bone now that bone is not just dry on the outside it's even dried up on the inside it's so completely dried up that you can in no way can you call it a living thing anymore so these bones are in that condition this is the valley of extremely dry bones so what has happened the flesh is the skin is gone the flesh is gone finally even the bone has become so dry that the marrow inside the bone has dried up that is the condition of the bones which are lying over there in that valley and God asks the question God asks Ezekiel do you think these bones can live and Ezekiel being a very wise man he answers in the correct manner maybe we can look at Ezekiel chapter 37 verse 3 if someone could read out Ezekiel chapter 37 verse 3 and he said to me son of man can these bones live so I answered oh Lord God you know he doesn't say yes or no because he doesn't know whether bones which are in that condition is it even possible for them to live is this Lord you know I mean I don't know Lord only you know whether these bones can be restored or not so over here in this vision these bones are being compared to the nation of Israel they have been subjected to punishment God has now brought Nebuchadnezzar is already taken away two batches of people so now all hope is gone it's like as if the nation has become dry bones so now God is saying your nation is in this condition do you think your nation will live again and Ezekiel says Lord you know I mean you decide you know what is best and so in you know if you were to read maybe if someone could read out Ezekiel chapter 6 verse 7 Ezekiel 6 verse 7 the slain self fall in your midst and you shall know that I am Lord yeah so the Lord is basically saying when I raise up these dry bones you know in this vision of chapter 37 when I raise up these dry bones it will prove to you that nothing is impossible to me I can take even the driest deadest bones and I can bring them back to life so you people are thinking Nebuchadnezzar has come two times has taken away two batches of people now there's no hope left but you know what a day will come when I can take these dry bones and make it into a living army that is the kind of power I have because when I breathe out my power into this nation once again there will be people who will rise up in righteousness yes there will be people who know who will not repent who will you know just fade into the judgment but there will be a remnant which will survive because God will breathe into that remnant help them to recognize him as the Lord and Savior and accept him and then you know that remnant will grow into a new Israel into a new restored Israel so this vision of dry bones is actually talking about the nation of Israel and how one day even though complete judgment is going to come down upon them Nebuchadnezzar will come a third time he will finish the job which he has started the judgment will be completed but one day God will restore so that is basically what this vision of value of bones is talking about you know people take this passage and bring all kinds of other meanings to it but this is basically what the passage is talking about in its actual context so chapters 40 to 48 they talk about end time events they talk about the coming of the Messiah they talk about the new temple which will one day be established about you know the kingdom of God which will be established in the end times all those things are mentioned in your chapters 40 to 48 now exactly with what purpose was Ezekiel called into this prophetic ministry what did God want him to achieve so for that we need to understand a little background we know most of the background because of the book of Jeremiah we talked about all the things which were which happened in the last few years you know before Nebuchadnezzar comes for the third time and burns up the place so we already are familiar with the details but just for us to go back to Jeremiah chapter 28 where you get to know a little bit of what was going on in those last days so at this time I know the siege has already been laid all right so the Babylonian army is already surrounding the city so at that time you have a false prophet named Hananaya very influential man everyone believes him everyone trusts in him so he's been you know giving false prophecies and this is basically what he has been saying so in Jeremiah chapter 28 verse 3 we see that this is what he is saying he's saying or maybe someone can read out versus 3 and 4 Jeremiah 28 3 and 4 within two full years I'll bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord's house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon and I'll bring back to this place Jechunaya the son of Jehoiakam king of Judah will all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon say the Lord for I'll break the yoke of the king of Babylon so Hananaya has been happily going around and telling everyone don't worry it's true that he has come and attacked two times but God is going to break the yoke of Babylon so in two years time everything that we have lost will come back all the you know golden silver articles which have which were taken from the temple they will all be restored back to us Jehoiakam who was taken away as a prisoner he'll also come back all the exiles who went they will all come back and so these are the kind of prophecies which are being given and these prophecies are being transmitted all the way to the exiles who are living right now in Babylon so the people over there who are in exile are feeling very happy they're thinking oh good two years we can manage somehow at the end of two years we'll be able to go back home but what has Jeremiah been telling them you're going to be here away for a very very long time and they're not believing him they're believing the false prophets and so at that time in Jeremiah chapter 28 you know Jeremiah comes with an object lesson he literally is wearing a yoke on his back and so he comes to Hananaya and he says you know what this is what God is saying because you are giving false prophecies God is saying that the people will be in under a yoke of Babylon for a long time and you who are giving false prophecies you will be dead within one year and then it says in verse 17 in the seventh month of the same year Hananaya the prophet died so these were the kind of false prophecies which were being given creating hope in the exiles who are living out there and so the exiles are kind of getting ready to start a strike to start a rebellion to somehow start a fight and go back to their own nation but what has God said don't rebel settle down accept the fact that punishment has come and you have to endure it for a long time to come but they are not accepting the word of the Lord they want to start a rebellion because false hope has been created by the false prophets and so in that situation Jeremiah in in Jeremiah chapters 28 and 29 we get to know that Jeremiah sends a letter from here to the exiles who are living in Babylon and he says to them please settle down in the land don't create any confusion pray for the peace of Babylon and start building your houses because you're going to be over there for 70 years and God is not doing this to you because he hates you he has a hope and a future for you know Jeremiah 29 11 we kind of pull it out of context and we use it for just about everything we feel like using it for but this is the actual context where God is telling them something very painful which they don't want to hear they've been listening to the false prophets and they have been feeling very happy oh in two years we'll come back to our land but God says accept my judgment submit to me start praying for the peace of Babylon don't rebel against it settle down build your houses because you're going to be here for 70 years and that sounds very bad that you're going to be in a foreign land for 70 years but don't worry I'm not doing this to you to destroy you I'm doing this to give you a future and a hope and what God said God fulfilled at the end of 70 years they were in such a nice state they didn't want to come back to Jerusalem most of the people you know they don't even return back only a small percentage actually come back to them to the land of Jerusalem because now God has blessed them so much in the land of punishment so this Jeremiah 29 11 is actually a very amazing verse which is saying even though I'm doing these bad things to you right now continue to trust me continue to obey me submit to me because if you do that you will discover I'm not telling this unpleasant thing to you to to harm you I'm telling it to bless you for your own good so that actually is the message you know of Jeremiah 29 11 and so at that time Ezekiel rises up as a prophet over there in Babylon to tell the people to listen to the Lord and not create confusion so around that time is when Ezekiel would have started his ministry and how does his ministry start it starts with a you know very spectacular vision and that's basically as he's having the vision God talks to him God commissions him God tells him I need you to become a prophet and speak to these people all the things which are going to happen to them the truth not what the false prophets are saying I will give you true words of prophecy of judgment which will happen and you must convey that to the people who are living here in exile so this entire book happens not in Jerusalem it's happening in Babylon in the place of exile before the final attack the final attack of Nebuchadnezzar has not yet happened the temple is still standing the walls of Jerusalem are still secure at that time this book of Ezekiel has been you know the words of prophecy over here have been given at least the first 39 chapters you know are given at this particular point of time so we'll come back from our break and look at this book in further detail thank you