Mon.’s Devo - The Watchmen

Read: Ezekiel 33:1-34:31; Hebrews 13:1-25; Psalm 115:1-18; Proverbs 27:21-22 Watchmen were prophets who could discern the future. They could see what was coming and were responsible for telling the people so they could prepare spiritually and physically. If they saw what was coming and didn’t warn the people then they would be held responsible by God. If the watchman told the people then it was the people’s responsibility to do their part and the watchman would not be held responsible. The only thing that turns God’s wrath away is repentance. A man is measured by how he ends up. If he ends up living righteously, then he is saved. If a man has been warned and he dies living in willful disobedience, he will not be saved in death. During the 12th year of their captivity, a man returned from Jerusalem and reported to Ezekiel that the city of Jerusalem had fallen. God told Ezekiel to give the Jews a word from Him. They had believed that because the land was given to Abraham, that they were entitled to it. God said that they had eaten meat with blood in it, worshipped idols, murdered innocent children, committed adultery and not repented. Why would they think they deserved the land that God promised Abraham. All of the land would be destroyed and then they would come to hear what Ezekiel said and maybe they would choose to obey. God rebuked the shepherds who were suppose to feed the Word of the Lord to the people. Instead, they took their money, spent in on their own lusts, and led the people in idolatry. The shepherds would be held responsible for the people’s sins. Now they would eat justice. The people would be rescued, but the leaders would be judged for leading the people astray. God would protect and feed his people. He promised to shower down blessing upon them and break their chains of bondage. Their land would become famous because of their crops and they would never suffer from famines or the insults of foreign nations. They would then recognize the Lord as their God and He would call them as his people. In Hebrews, God tells us to keep on loving one another and empathizing with each other’s pains and struggles. God said to honor marriage and to not love money. God has promised never to fail us but to help us, so there is nothing to fear in love. In the old system, the animal’s bodies were burned outside the camp but their blood was brought into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin. Jesus’ body was crucified outside the city but his blood was brought into heaven and offered on the holy altar of heaven. Jesus’ believers were cast out of the sanctuary and had to bear the disgrace of that just like Jesus. They offer praise instead of the sacrifice of blood to the Lord. Father, thank you that you gave us our new covenant of grace and forgiveness in the blood of your son.