Read the Bible in a Year (04SEP19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, September 4’s Bible reading is Ezekiel 18-20.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, September 5’s Bible reading is Ezekiel 21-22. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

EZEKIEL MOMENT – (04SEP19) “Why do you quote this proverb concerning the land of Israel: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste’? As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you will not quote this proverb anymore in Israel. For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:2-4). The people of Israel had been very defiant when it came to the things of God. They paid no mind to the prophets nor were they interested in spiritual reform. They figured that they would not suffer the consequences of their sins during their lifetime, but the judgments would be for future generations. They were probably of this mindset because of the Lord’s delayed judgments in the past. For example, when King Solomon sinned through his idolatry, the Lord allowed the kingdom to be divided into Jerusalem and Judah as punishment after he had died. The Bible says: “The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord… He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command. So now the Lord said to him, ‘Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city’” (1 Kings 11:9-13). The Lord also did this with King Hezekiah when the envoys from Babylon came to visit and instead of Him crediting God for his blessings, he showed them all that he had out of pride (2 Kings 20:16-19). Due to seeing how merciful the Lord had been in times’ past, Israel was of the mindset that their children would be the ones to be the recipients of the judgments instead of themselves, which was very selfish of them. Yet, these are the same people who sacrificed their children on the altars of Baal and Molech, so they had no respect for the innocent; therefore, the Lord was putting and end to their proverb. Every person was going to be responsible for their sins individually. The children would not be responsible for the sins of the parents, and the parents would not be responsible for the sins of their children. Everyone was to be accountable for their own actions.

Unlike Israel, we are to care for the well-being of the next generation. We should never want our children, nieces, nephews, or other innocent ones to suffer for the sins that we have done. Whatever mistakes that we have made in the past should be an incentive for us to teach the next generation the ways of the Lord so they will know right from wrong. The Bible says: “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). In teaching children good biblical principles, we help them to have a relationship with Jesus for themselves, so that they may have a future with Him. Each generation becomes more wicked than the last when we do not teach them to honor the Lord. Today, we hear of politicians campaigning for stricter gun laws to prevent mass shootings, but why is it that this was not an issue in previous generations? Could it be that more parents were prone to teach their children about Jesus, have prayer in schools, homes had both parents present, disrespect towards anyone in authority was rebuked and not celebrated, and moral values were taught according to the Bible even if the person did not consider themselves to be a Christian? I would dare to say that this is why we have a degenerate generation that will only get worse and not better should we fail to do our job in bringing the teachings of the Lord back into society. Something to ponder….

QUESTION OF THE DAY - (04SEP19) Is there a such thing as “Once saved Always saved”? The Bible says: “However, if righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins” (Ezekiel 18:24). There are many Christians who feel as if they can live whatever way they choose and still make it to Heaven. They argue, fuss, and fight anyone who will bring them into accountability regarding sin because after all, they are once saved always saved Christians. This topic needs to be taught correctly in today’s churches because many compromised believers are of the opinion that once a person walks down the aisle and accepts Jesus that not only are they permanently saved, but their names can never be removed from the Book of Life. The Bible says: “Erase their names from the Book of Life; don’t let them be counted among the righteous” (Psalm 69:28). The psalmist was speaking of those who continued in their sins against the Lord, for their names to be erased from the Book of Life, which keeps record of every saved individual. Now, let’s take a moment to understand this. In order for someone’s name to be “erased” that would mean that at some point, it was there to begin with. So, what does this tell us? A believer’s name can be blotted out of the Book of Life; therefore, if that name is not found at the time of the end, that person will be LOST.

In the book of Revelation, the Lord rebukes the church in Sardis for being death. He tells them to repent and do their first works again, but those who were victorious would never have their names erased from the Book of Life. “Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief. ‘Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine’” (Revelation 3:3-5). Once again, the Lord makes it clear that a person’s name can be erased, or He would not have mentioned it if it were not possible.

The Lord does not want anyone to perish in their sins. As believers who claim to follow Christ, we should not be looking for a way to slide into Heaven hopefully unnoticed in our sins. We should look to resemble His true character every day in our lives and in our dealings with others. When we take on the character of Christ, we lose a taste for the things of this world, and our walk in Him grows stronger daily. The Bible says: “And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: ‘A dog returns to its vomit.’ And another says, ‘A washed pig returns to the mud’” (2 Peter 2:20-22). Let us keep this text in mind, so we do not forget that being in Christ is a daily journey and not a one-time confession of faith where we turn back to our old sinful ways. Something to ponder…. 

EZEKIEL MOMENT – (04SEP19) “But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt” (Ezekiel 20:8). The Lord had promised Abraham that he was going to be the father of many nations, but with that promise came the prophecy that his descendants would be enslaved for four-hundred years; after which, He would free them from their oppressors (Genesis 15:13-14). We know that the Lord was going to punish the Amorites through them, but what was the reason for the Children of Israel being enslaved in the first place for that length of time? We can see from God’s message to Ezekiel that the Children of Israel had begun to worship Egyptian idols while they were living in Egypt. Jacob had moved his family to Egypt during the time of the famine after his son Joseph had been made Egypt’s governor. From that time till the time his descendants became slaves, they had grown in mass numbers. The new Pharaoh feared the Hebrews’ ability to overpower their country if they joined forces with their enemies (Exodus 1:8-11). For this reason, Pharaoh enslaved them, but the Lord allowed it because the Israelites had begun to worship idols and had disregarded the Lord’s rebuke; therefore, their four-hundred years of slavery was a result of their defiance against the Lord.

So then, we see in chapter 19 of Ezekiel that the Lord likened Israel to the lioness who had been amongst the lions (heathen nations) with her cubs. She raised one of them up (Jehoahaz) to be a powerful king, but he was dethroned by Pharaoh and taken away to Egypt as part of the nation’s punishment (2 Kings 23:31). Then the lioness (Israel) raised up another cub (Jehoiakim) to take the other’s place, but he too was taken away. He was dethroned by Babylon, the Ammonites, Arameans, and Moabites, and taken as prisoner to Babylon (2 Kings 24:1-2). Israel was like a vine that blossomed but was uprooted during the reign of Zedekiah. She did not have any more strong branches and was left to wither after being planted in the desert (Babylon). Israel’s rebellion against the Lord had taken place for centuries and they still had not learned their lesson.  Nevertheless, the Lord had a righteous remnant whom He would bless to return to the land, and they would follow in His ways as the generations before them failed to do.

The Lord hates rebellion. He wants us to be obedient to His decrees. When we serve the Lord out of love, we are then able to be obedient to Him. The Lord desires we do so with our whole hearts and minds. Anything less than total submission would be like wavering back and forth in between two opinions as the Children of Israel did. Will you dedicate your life in full humility to the service of the Lord? “Therefore, I will judge each of you, O people of Israel, according to your actions, says the Sovereign Lord. Repent, and turn from your sins. Don’t let them destroy you!  Put all your rebellion behind you, and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O people of Israel?  I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live!” (Ezekiel 18:30-32). Something to ponder….