Read: Ezekiel 20:1-49; Hebrews 9:11-28; Psalm 107:1-43; Proverbs 27:11
It is the seventh year of Jehoiachin’s exile and the seventh year of their 70 that they would be in captivity. Ezekiel gives five times that Israel rebelled and provoked God to bring judgement: in Egypt when God was ready to bring them out and they wouldn’t get rid of their idols, the wilderness when they refused to honor his laws, on the borders of Canaan when a new generation arose because the old generation would not trust God to bring them into Canaan, in Canaan when they chose the gods of the people of the land over God, and in the time of the prophet where once again they had chosen the gods of the heathens. They had compelled God to let them know him as a powerful judge since they were unwilling to know him as a gracious Father.
In verse 33, Ezekiel begins giving them what God purposes for them. Their 70 years would be like Israel’s 40 years in the desert with the intention purifying them and preparing them to reoccupy the land of their promise.
In the end of Ezekiel’s prophecy, Ezekiel tells the Lord that the people mock him for his parables so in the next chapter God allows him to spell it out clearly and plainly so they can’t complain that they don’t understand.
In Hebrews, God explains that Jesus is now our eternal High Priest who presides in the Temple of God in heaven. The Temple on earth and the priests on earth were just types of the Temple in heaven and the priests in heaven. The earthly priests had to sprinkle blood on everything to cleanse it from sin and they had to repeat it every year. But, Jesus shed his blood once and for all on the cross and his blood is eternally washing us of sin. Jesus will come back to earth again to bring total salvation for those who have applied his blood to their sins.
Lord, help us to consider your great love for your people. There is power in the blood of Christ.
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