DAILY REMINDER – Today, September 3’s Bible reading is Ezekiel 16-17.
NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, September 4’s Bible reading is Ezekiel 18-20.
May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.
EZEKIEL MOMENT – (03SEP19)
“I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine… Your fame soon spread throughout the
world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your
beauty, says the Sovereign Lord.
But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a
prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking” (Ezekiel
16:8b, 14-15). The Lord gave Ezekiel a message to give to
Jerusalem concerning the way that they had been unfaithful to Him. He had taken
them from nothing and made them into a great nation. They had not chosen Him,
but He had chosen them to be His people. He had taken them from Egypt when they
were despised , abused, and rejected, and He blessed them to become a nation
within their own right. He gave them a land full of milk and honey, and anyone
who tried to do her harm, the Lord destroyed by the power of His might. Unfortunately,
Israel had become adulterous to the Lord. She gave herself to foreign gods who
could not do anything for her. She took on the ways of the foreign nations and prostituted
herself to the gods of Baal, Asherah, and Molech. The blessings that God gave
to her was what she used to create her abominable images. The Lord was unhappy
with His people, and they were going to pay for what they had done. During the
time of Moses, women who were caught in adultery were punished by stoning. Similarly,
the Lord was going to punish Jerusalem for their unfaithfulness to Him through
the sword, famine, and plagues.
The Lord was repeatedly sending warnings through His
prophets in order to get Israel to turn from their destructive ways. The Lord
could have just destroyed them without any attempt to redirect them, but He
loved them so much that even in His anger, He wanted the best for His children.
Today, God is still sending warnings through His true servants and through
various signs all around us. Hurricanes, tornados, wildfires, shootings, church
scandals, terrorists’ plots, and the decline of basic human decency are just
some of the signs and warnings that the Lord is allowing in order to wake up His
people. There are those who will mock these warnings and consider them, as well
as the messengers, as being over dramatic and repetitive. One thing, however,
that we find when reading the Bible is that the Lord is repetitive to get the
attention of the sinner who is unaware that he is in spiritual distress. It is similar
to having high blood pressure. This disease is called the “silent killer”
because many people are unaware that they have it until there’s a fatal heart
attack resulting from it. Likewise, many people are allowing the silent killer
of sin to destroy their souls, and one day, if there is no change, death may
come knocking at their door, and then it will be too late. May we continuously
pray for those who are caught up in sin to turn to our loving Father. Something
to ponder….
QUESTION
OF THE DAY - (03SEP19) “Then you took your sons and
daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods.
Was your prostitution not enough? Must
you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?” (Ezekiel
16:20-21). The Lord likened the Children of
Israel to a baby who had been abandoned at birth still covered in her blood
with no one to cleanse her. The Lord was the One who saw Israel in such a
helpless state and helped her to grow into a beautiful woman. He watched and
cared for her to protect her from all harm. But she did not give the same care
to the children that He had blessed her with. Israel killed their children by
sacrificing them on the altar to foreign gods. It was not enough that they worshiped
the gods themselves, but they senselessly spilled the innocent blood of their
children who had done nothing wrong other than be born to vile parents. This
angered the Lord because the blood of the innocent was crying out from the
ground. The Bible tells us, in the story of when Cain killed Abel, that when
the blood of the innocent is shed , it cries out to God from the land in which
it was shed . “The LORD said, "What have you
done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground” (Genesis
4:10).
America, and
other parts of the world like China, have been responsible for the death of
millions of innocent children. Many parents in China aborted their babies to be
in keeping with the one-child policy, and those in America oftentimes did it as
a matter of what they call—choice. Nevertheless, do we think that the Lord will
not hold us accountable for the daily slaughter of His children rather they are
one day or nine months old? Yes, we will be called into account for what we
have allowed to be done across this nation—especially as the body of Christ.
The Lord does, however, forgive anyone who made a wrong choice in this matter
if they would truly repent to Him. He is a loving God and wants to forgive us of
all of our sins. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Something to ponder….
EZEKIEL
MOMENT – (03SEP19) “Give them this message from the
Sovereign Lord: ‘A great
eagle with broad wings and long feathers, covered with many-colored plumage, came
to Lebanon. He seized the top of a cedar tree and plucked off its highest
branch. He carried it away to a city filled with merchants. He planted
it in a city of traders. He also took a seedling from the land and
planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside a broad river, where it could
grow like a willow tree’” (Ezekiel 17:3-5). The Lord had Ezekiel to
give this parable to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The first eagle that came represents
King Nebuchadnezzar. He took hold of the top of a cedar and broke off its shoot.
This represents Nebuchadnezzar taking the kingship of Judah from both Jehoiakim
(top of cedar) and his son Jehoachin (cedar’s shoot). Jehoiakim was taken to
Babylon in bronze shackles along with his nobles, and later, when his son
Jehoachin succeeded him to the throne, King Nebuchadnezzar had him removed and
brought to Babylon as well (2 Chronicles 36:5-10). This is what’s represented
in the cedar and it shoot being carried away to a land of merchants being
planted in a city of traders (Babylon). In his place, Nebuchadnezzar installed
Zedekiah as king to rule over both Jerusalem and Judah, which is represented by
the seedlings that was planted in fertile soil. At first, the seed sprouted and became a low
spreading vine, and yielded itself to the eagle. This means that Zedekiah was submissive
to King Nebuchadnezzar in the beginning, but he later rebelled with the second
eagle that represents Egypt, and tried to make alliances with her instead. Due
to Zedekiah breaking the oath that he had made with King Nebuchadnezzar, the
withering of the vine represents him causing the destruction of his kingdom.
King Nebuchadnezzar later return to Jerusalem, destroyed the city, and dethroned
Zedekiah.
How sad it was that Zedekiah did not heed the warnings of the Lord
through Jeremiah the prophet as well as Ezekiel. These were two prophets that
were given warnings regarding the future of the city, and yet, they were not
heeded . History is unfortunately repeating itself. God is giving many warnings
through both His male and female servants, but few people are paying attention.
Many people claim to have no time to read their Bibles. Few people find it
necessary to enter the presence of the Lord apart from their weekly visits at
church. Even more so, very few are finding it important to have an intimate
relationship with Jesus. The world doesn’t want Him. The church tries to
compromise Him. Evangelicals try to excuse Him, and souls die without Him. What
a predicament this world is in. At the end of all things, the Lord will have
done everything He could to save man. Those who are lost will not have anyone
to blame but themselves for not heeding the many warnings. Let us continue to
pray on their behalf for the day of the Lord is at hand. “For
ever since the world was created , people have seen the earth and sky. Through
everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal
power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God” (Romans
1:20). Something to ponder…
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