January 30, 2023
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Reading along with us in Ezekiel? Here’s today’s reading:
Ezekiel 21 (NIV)
Babylon as God’s Sword of Judgment
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuary. Prophesy against the land of Israel 3 and say to her: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.............Continue Reading
This chapter talks about the wrath of God coming for His people as a result of their generations of stubborn, evil, and disobedient ways. This is the side of God that we don’t like to think about. We prefer the forgiving, merciful, and loving side but the reality is when we chose sin the wage is death and God as a good Father will correct when He must.
Ezekiel 20
It is scary to think about God unsheathing a sword and brandishing it for the sake of judgement, but that is what the people of Judah have brought Him to. He gives vivid imagery here of the destruction He will bring and He will use Babylon to do it. We can’t miss though that God asks Ezekiel to groan with a broken heart and bitter grief. Ezekiel should be sad about the destruction coming not rejoicing or laughing. I think it’s because God’s heart breaks too! He doesn’t want to do this. If He did, He would have done it from the start. But He always gives us what we need and deserve. And for Judah, judgement is the order of the day….
Ezekiel 22
The poor will be exalted and the rich will be brought very low.
The Lord said over and over you have sinned openly and unashamed. He destroyed them in their own country. You will be the fuel for the fire. He said you will be utterly wiped out and your memory lost in history.
Ezekiel 21
Ezekiel 21
Reflection on Galatians 2:15-16: We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
Paul repeats his message several times to get his point across:
• A person is not considered righteous by God based on their own performance. They are
considered righteous through faith in Jesus.
• We believe in Jesus Christ, so we are justified by God because of our faith. Our
righteousness is not dependent on our obedience to the law.
• Noone will be justified who thinks that his salvation is dependent on human effort to follow the
law and/or by his own good deeds.
Ezekiel 21
The sword of the Lord comes against the princes of Israel.