Wed.’s Devo - Judgement on Jerusalem and Rabbah

Read: Ezekiel 21:1-22:31; Hebrews 10:1-17; Psalm 108:1-13; Proverbs 27:12 God told Ezekiel to tell the people that He was coming to destroy the righteous and the unrighteous. Everyone in the world would know that He is the Lord. This should scare every human being on the face of the earth. Their spirit would become faint and even the boldest heart would melt with fear. God told Ezekiel to make a map with two routes drawn on it. The two routes would be for the army of Babylon to follow. There was a fork in the road where they could choose to go to Rabbah, the capital of Ammon or to Jerusalem the capital of Judah. When the army got to the fork they would do all their demonic rituals to decide which road to take. They would choose Jerusalem and besiege it. The people of Jerusalem would think that they have a treaty with Babylon and surely they would honor it, but the king of Babylon will remind them of how they rebelled against him breaking their treaty. God spoke judgement against Israel and Ammon. They would be handed over to cruel men who were skilled in destruction. God told Ezekiel to pronounce judgment against Jerusalem and name their sins. They were guilty of murder, idolatry, blood shed and defilement. They were filled with confusion and would be mocked by people far and near. Every leader was bent on murder. They raped women and committed adultery, slandered one another and sent innocent people to their death. They defiled God’s holy things and violated his Sabbath days of rest. Foreigners were forced to pay for protection. Orphans and widows were oppressed. They despised God and treated fathers and mothers with contempt. They committed adultery with women in their own family and hired murderers, loan racketeers, and extortioners to do their dirty work. They didn’t even consider that God was watching and would act. They would all go through God’s refining fire. Everyone was guilty from the prince to the common people. They all oppress the poor, robbed the needy and deprived the foreigners of justice. God had looked for a righteous man, an intercessor to stand in the gap but couldn’t find one. so he would destroy the land and the full penalty of their sins would come upon them. Every year the people of Israel were to come to Jerusalem on the Day of Atonement. They would bring a lamb to sacrifice and pay the penalty of their sins that year. Year after year they had to do this but the sacrifice would only last a year. These sacrifices didn’t take away their sins they only reminded them of them. Jesus offered himself as a final sacrifice which pleased God. It was done once and for all for the sins of the whole earth. Through his sacrifice, the old covenant was done away with and the new covenant stands. In the new covenant, God writes his laws on our hearts and remembers our sins no more. Thank you Lord for your judgments are fair and righteous. Thank you for mercy and grace and salvation.