Wed.’s Devo- God’s Message

Read: Ezekiel 20:1-49; Hebrews 9:11-28; Psalm 107:1-43; Proverbs 27:11 In the seventh year of Jehoiachin’s captivity, the fifth month and the tenth day, the leaders came to Ezekiel to ask them what God was saying. They waited till God gave Ezekiel a message. God did have a message for them. He reminded them that He was the one who delivered them from Egypt’s oppression and brought them out and gave them a new land. When they were living in Egypt, he had sent messengers to tell them to rid themselves of the idols of Egypt or his fury would be poured out on them. God brought his people out of Egypt and into he wilderness where he could teach them his laws and the way he wanted them to worship him. He gave them his sabbaths which would be a sign between God and them. But they rebelled against him in the wilderness and wouldn’t follow his rules and they polluted his sabbaths. He wanted to pour out his anger and kill them in the wilderness but for his name sake, he spared them by giving the land to their children. The parents all died in the wilderness. The children then did the same thing and worshipped other gods. For God’s name’s sake, he didn’t want his name to be polluted in the sight of the heathen so he allowed them to live and be scattered throughout the nations. God gave them over to their idols and allowed them to make their firstborn pass through the fire. How different was this from the day he delivered their firstborn from the death angel and the heathen lost their first-born in Egypt. Egypt mourned over the loss of their first-born while Israel freely gave their first-born to foreign gods. How perverse things had gotten. The name of the place they worshipped their foreign gods was called Bamah where we get the name O-Bama. Ezekiel asked the leaders why they would continue to worship these abominable gods and then come and ask him to inquire of God, who they had abandoned. They had argued that they wanted to be like the nations around them who served idols of wood and stone, but God said that He would not allow it. He would discipline them with his strong iron fist and bring them back to him. He would hold them to the covenant that they made with him and take them back to the wilderness where he would judge them face to face. There they would be examined and held to the terms of the covenant. They would be purged and brought out of the countries they were held in exile, but they would not be allowed to return to their own land of Israel. One day, when their ancestors were brought back to their land, they would they would know that He was their Lord. God would have mercy on them even though they didn’t deserve it. God told Ezekiel to turn toward the south to the brush lands of the Negev and prophesy that it would burn with fire. The leaders told Ezekiel that he spoke in riddles. He had made it plain as day, but their minds were so deceived they couldn’t understand. They had eyes but couldn’t see and ears but couldn’t hear. Hebrews tells us that when Jesus died, he became our High Priest in heaven. He entered the Holy of Holies in heaven with his own blood and secured our redemption forever. The old covenant could only cleanse a person’s body, but the blood of Christ purified our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the Lord. His blood set us free from the penalty of sin. Christ offered his body the first time to bear our sins but when he comes again he will remove all sin and bring salvation. Lord, we earnestly look forward to that day. May we be strong during these final days and not forsake your covenant or your Words. You have the Words of life.