Sun.’s Devo - God’s Wrath Had Come

Read: Ezekiel 21:1-22:31; Hebrews 10:1-17; Psalm 108:1-13; Proverbs 27:12
Ezekiel spoke first of the sword of the Lord which was coming to slay the wicked of his own people who refused to turn to him. He said it would strike three times: (1) The taking of Zedekiah (to whom the "rod," or scepter, may refer); (2) the taking of the city; (3) the removal of all those who remained with Gedaliah. Then he spoke of the road the Babylonians would take. It would branch off into two roads. One led south to the land of the Ammonites (where Jerusalem had adopted many of their idols) and the other lead north to Jerusalem. At the fork, the king of Babylon would seek an omen to tell him which one to take. To decide this they would take two arrows and mark them either Rabbah or Jerusalem, put them in a quiver and shake it. Whichever one they drew out first would determine which way they would go. They also would use a liver from a sacrifice and see if it was healthy or not. In other words, they left everything to chance and superstition.
His omens would lead him north to Jerusalem. There he would set up a siege with battering rams. His army will think it was a bad idea to go against Jerusalem, but the king would remind his army of this nation’s sins and they would agree to take them captive.
In Chapter 22, God made it very clear that it was their sin that had determined this horrible fate. Then he revealed the ugliness of their sin, just in case they thought they had done these things without being noticed. God was no longer speaking in parables, he was spelling it out very clearly so they would know it was their own fault this was happening.
One of the big signs of God’s indignation on their nation was their lack of the latter and the spring rains. Rain was a sign of God’s blessing on the land and they had had no rain. Their prophets had prophesied blessing even though nature was showing them their words were false. This was the day of wrath, not blessing.
Hebrews explains that the law was good in that it promised atonement from sin but it was only to be a shadow of what was coming and we now have through Jesus. It was impossible for the blood of animals to take away sin; it only covered it. The blood of Jesus takes away sin forever.
Lord, thank you that we are not living in the day of your wrath but we are determining the future for the next generation. May we leave a legacy of truth and faithfulness to the next generation and may we train them in righteousness and the fear of the Lord.