Sun.’s Devo - Why Now?

Read: Ezekiel 10:1-11:25; Hebrews 6:1-20; Psalm 105:16-36; Proverbs 27:1-2
After all the prophesies about what would happen, finally happens. God called it “the end” which is a picture of the final end. Everyone was being judged according to their works. In James 2:20 says that faith without works is dead. The way a person conducts their lives reveals whether they have faith. Walking down an aisle and repeating a prayer is not salvation. Salvation comes by faith. What happens after a person walks out of that service will prove his salvation.
Today, in Ezekiel’s life everything had turned to doom and the rod had budded and arrogance had blossomed. It was the reverse of Aaron’s rod. This was like Satan’s rod blossoming. In other words, sin had come to its complete stage. No one from that crowd of sinners would be left.
Those who went out of the city of Jerusalem would die by the sword, those left inside would die of famine and disease. Those who escaped to the mountains would moan their sin. All of their gold and silver would not be able to save them.
In the 6th year, while Ezekiel was sitting with he elders of the city, he is taken up in a vision. God suspended him between earth and heaven and let him see the north gate of Jerusalem. There saw the statue of Baal and his wife Asherah. Josiah had had torn this idol of Baal down during his reformation, but they had rebuilt it.
Then Ezekiel was taken to the wall where there was a small hole in the wall of this temple of Baal. He dug into the wall and found a doorway. God told him to crawl in and look at what went on in this temple. He did and say all the horrid engravings on the wall. He saw the 70 elders of Israel inside this abominable temple offering incense to Baal.
Next he was shown the women mourning for Tammuz, or Adonis. Instead of weeping for the sins of their nation, they were weeping for this idol. His next stop was God’s temple. Inside were 25 priests who were on their knees with their backs to the altar and facing the east worshipping the sun god, Ormuzd who was a Persian god.
Ezekiel saw “the man in linen” throughout his life. These men in linen are the priests of God’s temple in heaven. Today, the man in linen had a writing kit at his side. He was to mark all the people on their foreheads who were mourning and repenting of their sins. This was the practice that Satan will copy in the last days when he will mark his followers with his own mark. Satan is not original and only counterfeits God.
God showed Ezekiel all this sin and abomination so he would understand why he had to bring judgment now.
In Hebrews, God explains why Jesus had to come to earth in order to be our High Priest in Heaven. He had to understand temptation and humanity first hand so he would have compassion on the weak and ignorant. Jesus became a priest like Melchizedek, God’s High Priest. Melchizedek walked the earth in the day of Abraham but he was not born of a human or did he die as a human.
Jesus had to learn obedience from what he suffered in life just as we do. Jesus was made perfect so he could be our Savior.
Lord, forgive us for complaining when things don’t go our way. Help us to see that everything works a good work in us so that we too can learn to obey and be perfected in love.