Fri.’s Devo - God’s Parable

Read: Ezekiel 23:1-49; Hebrews 10:18-39; Psalm 109:1-31; Proverbs 27:13 God gave Ezekiel a parable to share with the people of Israel and Judah. In the parable there were two sisters: Oholah who stood for Israel and Oholibah who represented Judah. Oholah was the older sister and both became prostitutes at a young age. Oholah was attracted to men of Assyria so God turned Israel over to her Assyrian idols who she defiled herself with. They stripped her and took her children as slaves, then killed her. Ohlibah followed her example with the Assyrians but then saw pictures of the Babylonian soldiers and lusted after them. She soon prostituted herself with them, thus Judah worshipped the idols of the Babylonians. God would punish Judah by sending her lovers against her. They would rob her and leave her with nothing just like what happened to Israel. God told Ezekiel to proclaim their sins and declare what will happen to them. Their enemies would come to terrorize and plunder them putting an end to their spiritual prostitution. Hebrews tells us that once sin has been forgiven, we no longer need another sacrifice for sin. Jesus did this on the cross. Now, we can boldly come into God’s presence rejoicing because he has cleansed our bodies and our consciences with his pure water. To keep strong in our hope we need to encourage others to acts of love and good works. If we do what Oholah and Oholibah did after we have know Christ and his love then we will experience God’s judgment but if we keep our eyes on Jesus and our hearts pure, we will see the salvation of our Lord. Thank you Lord, that in just a little while we will see your coming. We are your faithful ones, who will endure till the end. Thank you for your grace to believe.