Wed.’s Devo - The Hall of Faith

Read: Eze. 24:1-25:17; Heb. 11: 1-16; Ps. 110:1-7; Pr. 27:14 It had been nine years to the day that Babylon took over Jerusalem when God spoke this word to Ezekiel. So for nine years God had tried to purge Israel of her sin but she refused to repent and turn to God. Because their hearts were so hard, God was going to judge them harshly. God told Ezekiel that He was going to take from him what he loved and he forbade Ezekiel to mourn or cry but to dress like any other day. I wonder if Ezekiel knew that God was going to take his wife the next day? When the people asked him what his strange behavior was about he was able to give them God’s word. They would experience the same thing. Everything they loved would be taken from them and they would not have time to mourn. God rebuked the Ammonites for being happy over Israel’s misfortune. The Ammonites were the descendent of Lot. They lived outside of the border of Israel and their relationship with Israel was not friendly most of the time. Because they rejoiced when Israel was being judged, they would experience God’s wrath also. We need a week alone on Hebrews 11… otherwise known as the “Hall of Faith. Abel was a type of Jesus, who offered the perfect sacrifice that still speaks today. Enoch was a picture of the resurrected Jesus and the raptured church. Noah is a picture of Jesus who saves us from the storm and judgment on earth. It is a picture of the church that is left after the rapture to go through tribulation. It is also a picture of end-time judgment on the earth. Abraham is the father of God’s children… a picture of God. His job was to walk out the promised land and start a new family of God. He is a picture of the new kingdom that will come after the earth is destroyed. Sarah is a picture of the risen church that will begin a new generation on the new earth. They were seeing a heavenly country even as they lived here on earth. They never saw it in their earthly bodies but they will see it one day. Lord, prepare us for your heavenly kingdom.