Mon.’s Devo - The Power of the New Covenant

Read: Ezekiel 20:1-49; Hebrews 9:11-28; Psalm 107:1-43; Proverbs 27:11

They were seven years and five months and ten days into their 70 year count down. It began when Jehoiachin was taken to Babylon. The elders of Israel came to Ezekiel to ask for a word from the Lord. 

Ezekiel gave them a history lesson of their past. God had chosen them to be his people and he was to be their god, but they lusted after the gods of the lands around them. They forsook the one who rescued them from Egypt and went after the idols of Egypt, their captors. 

God brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness and gave them his laws and his way of worship. They rejected his laws and refused to worship him. Instead they worshiped their idols and profaned his Sabbaths. For his own name’s sake, God brought them through the wilderness and gave them the land he had promised them. When they continued to reject the Lord, he gave them over to the gods they chose to worship. Now, God will not hear them or let them ask him for help. 

After they have learned their lesson, God will bring them out of all the nations he scattered them to. He will bring them into the wilderness where they will be judged face to face. There he will purge out the rebels and they will not return to Israel. 

So God told them to go and worship their idols because they would not listen to him. He would not let his holy name continue to be profaned by their gifts and their idols. 

At the appointed time those that repented will meet God on his holy mountain and he will accept them and their gifts. He will manifest his holiness among them and bring them into the land of Israel. They will remember their sins and be ashamed.  

God gave a word for the land to the south in the Negeb and said that he would start a fire to devour all of them. He was saying he would bring all sorts of judgments on Jerusalem and the southern kingdom. It will fall on everyone and no one would escape his judgments.

In Hebrews it is explained that when Christ died he took his own blood into the temple in heaven and cleansed the holy place just like the priests did on earth on the Day of Atonement. His blood had the power to purify our consciences from our sins. 

Christ mediated a new covenant that we may receive the promise of eternal inheritance sealed with his blood. Christ appeared before God once and for all to put away sin through the sacrifice of himself. When he appears the second time, it will not be to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Lord, may we be eagerly waiting for your salvation. Thank you that you dealt with sin and we can walk with a clear conscience. Thank you for your blood that cleansed us and made us able to come to God face to face.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Sun.’s Devo - Choose Life -

Read: Ezekiel 18:1-19:14; Hebrews 9:1-10; Psalm 106:32-48; Proverbs 27:10

There was a saying in Israel that “the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. This meant that whatever sin the fathers did it would affect the children. God told them to stop saying that because it wasn’t true. He judged each man according to his own life. A person couldn’t blame his parents for his decisions, he was responsible for his own choices. Anyone who sins and does not repent will die for his own sins and anyone who repents and changes his ways will be given life. 

God appealed to the people to choose life and stop sinning and make for themselves a new heart and a new spirit. 

God told Ezekiel to lament for the princes who watched as Jehoiachin’s mother, who worshiped idols, was taken in chains to Egypt. Jehoahaz, one of her sons was also carried captive from Riblah to Egypt by Pharaoh-necho. Then Jehoiakim, brother of Jehoahaz, was placed on the throne of Judah by the Pharaoh. He was just as evil as his brother. He was eventually taken to Babylon in a cage. That was the end of their strong kings.

In Hebrews, the sections of the tabernacle were explained. In the first section of the tabernacle was the lamp stand and the table of showbread. It was called the Holy Place. Behind the veil was the altar of incense and the ark of the covenant which held the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded and the tablets of the covenant. This was the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies.

The priests would go regularly into the Holy Place and do their rituals, but only the high priest would go into the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement and make intercession for the sins of the nation with blood offered for himself and the people. 

The tabernacle was symbolic for that present age. Only the priest could enter into the Holy Place and only the high priest into the Most Holy Place. They offered gifts and sacrifices but they could not cleanse the conscience of the sinner. It was just a picture of what was to come through Jesus who would cleanse us totally from our sins and set us free from the power of sin. 

Lord, thank you for the new covenant we are in where your blood has made us priests and cleansed us from our sins. We look forward to the kingdom age we are entering into where you will make us kings also where we will rule with you.

Sat.’s Devo - Our New Covenant

Read: Ezekiel 16:43-17:24; Hebrews 8:1-13; Psalm 106:13-31; Proverbs 27:7-9

God told Ezekiel to tell the people that they were like their mother who was a Hittite and their father who was an Amorite. And they were like their older sister Samaria and their younger sister Sodom. They joined in the worship of all these nation’s idolatry. But, Judah was even more sinful than all of them. They were full of pride and lived in excessive ease and did nothing to help the poor and the needy. Judah was so sinful they made Sodom and Samaria look righteous.

They had despised the covenant they made with God, but the day was coming when they would remember it and be filled with shame and remorse. 

In Chapter 17 God gave Ezekiel a parable of a great eagle who came to Lebanon and took the top most branch and carried it along with the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil beside abundant waters. There it became a vine that sprouted and grew and prospered.

Another great eagle came forth and the vine reached out to this eagle, so it would be nourished by this eagle and become a fruitful vine and flourish also. The Lord said it would be pulled up by its rood and cut off so that it wouldn’t produce fruit. 

The first eagle was the king of Babylon who came and took Jehoiachin with him to Babylon along with the best people of the land. There they would flourish and thrive. The second eagle was Egypt, who Zedekiah reached out to to help them against the king of Babylon. Zedekiah broke his covenant with Nebuchadnezzar and made a new covenant with the Pharaoh of Egypt. This was a very bad decision. The people wouldn’t thrive or be nourished there. They would die and wither away.

Then God gave his plan of redemption. He would plant the Messiah himself on his mountain and it would bear much fruit. It would bring to life those who were hopeless and bring down those who were proud. 

Hebrews explains that the priests of the Old Testament were pictures of Jesus our High Priest and what he would do for us. Moses was told to make the tabernacle just like the one he was shown in heaven. Everything in the tabernacle was to be run like God’s tabernacle in heaven was run. But, the ministry of Christ is much more excellent ministry than that of the old covenant. The old covenant was given to Moses and written on tablets of stone, but the new covenant is written on our hearts and in our minds. All can know the Lord. 

Lord, thank you for being our High Priest. May we know your as we walk in your covenant and hear your voice.

Fri.’s Devo - Judgment Now

Read: Ezekiel 14:12-16:42; Hebrews 7:18-28; Psalm 106:1-12; Proverbs 27:4-6

God said that when a land sins against him and he acts against that land, nothing can save it. Even if three of the most righteous men lived in the land: Noah, Daniel, and Job, he would only save them. He gave four different scenarios of his judgement - war, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence. Only a few would survive and when their deeds are exposed, everyone will see why God had to bring judgment. 

God uses the vine to make his point. The wood from a vine cannot be used for anything. It is only good for firewood and that is how he sees his people at that time. There was no good in them. 

Ezekiel was told to remind the people of their humble beginnings and how God took them from nothing and made them into a great and prosperous people. But, instead of being the example of a people who served the Lord, they prostituted themselves with every god from all the nations around them. They were like the adulterous wife who went looking for lovers to pay to be her lover. Because they gave themselves and the blood of their children to these gods, God would expose their nakedness to other nations. They would rule over them and take everything they have. They would stone them and burn their houses and then they will stop playing the whore and return to the Lord.

Hebrew explains that the law had to be set aside because it proved weak and useless. It didn’t make them perfect and the priests were made priests with an oath. Now, God promises that all may be priests because Jesus ushered in a better covenant.

Under the old covenant, they had to replace the priests because they died. Under the new covenant Jesus remains our high priest forever because he will never die. He is perfect and remains perfect forever. He is always making intercession for us.

Lord, thank you for becoming our perfect sacrifice. Thank you that our sins are forgiven and we are now priests with you and can offer intercession for ourselves, our families, our friends, our enemies, our nation, etc. Help us to pray successfully and powerfully. 

Thurs.’s Devo - The Change in the Priesthood -

 Read: Ezekiel 12:1-14:11; Hebrews 7:1-17; Psalm 105:37-45; Proverbs 27:3

Ezekiel was in Chedar when he had this vision. He traveled in the Spirit to Jerusalem as he carried out the assignment in Chedar. He was to carry his baggage out of the city through a hole he had dug in the wall. He was to cover his face so he could not see Jerusalem as he left. This was to show the people in exile what was going to happen to the king. He would try to escape through a hole in the wall and he would not ever see Jerusalem again. King Zedekiah would never see, period, again because Nebuchadnezzar had his eyes gouged out. This prophecy was also for the people living in exile to show them that they were not returning to Jerusalem any time soon. 

Then God told Ezekiel to eat and drink with trembling and to act very anxious because that would be what would happen to the people in Jerusalem when they witnessed all the violence in their streets. The people had complained about his prophesies that never seemed to happen, but they would not complain any longer because the time for them to manifest was very soon. 

Ezekiel was to rebuke the false prophets who gave them lies and false hope of peace. They had repaired the breaches in the wall with whitewash which would not stand against God’s anger. They were like the whitewashed walls. They and their words would not stand against what God was sending. They were like the scribes and Pharisees Jesus met in his day. He called them whitewashed walls also.

God called out their abominations. They were using witchcraft and divination to help them which would not help them against God. The elders came to Ezekiel wanting a word from the Lord and he told them to tell them that their idols would be a curse to them and they would be judged because of them. The house of Israel would be judged until they stopped defiling themselves with idols and made the Lord their God.

In Hebrews, the writer explained that Melchizedek was the king of Salem which means “Peace.” Abraham gave him a tenth of his spoils of war. Melchizedek was also the king of righteousness. He was a type of Jesus who would be God’s priest forever. 

The writer makes is clear that this priest was greater than Abraham. He blessed Abraham who was the father of Israel. Levi who became the leader of the priesthood on earth also paid tithes to Melchizedek because he was in the wound of Abraham. 

The law was given through the Levitical priesthood but Jesus would be a priest in Melchizedek’s order so there would have to be a change of priesthood. They would need to change the law also since the law only allowed the Levites to minister to the Lord. Jesus came from the lineage of Judah which was not the priestly tribe. Jesus became our High Priest because God said it. 

We are all priests to the Lord whether we are Jews or Gentiles because a change has been made and a new covenant was written when Jesus came. He made us his priests and gave us two commandments: Love God and love others. 

Lord, may we carry out out two commandments with all our hearts. This is a day by day process that takes much dying to self and choosing to follow You. Thank you for your Spirit that helps us and strengthens us daily.

Wed.’s Devo - Endure Till the End -

Read: Ezekiel 10:1-11:25; hebrews 6:1-20; Psalm 105:16-36; Proverbs 27:1-2

Yesterday we read that God had called in the executioners of heaven and a heavenly priest to mark the heads of those who were righteous and were not idolators. Once he finished marking them, God told the man in linen to go fill his hands with burning coals from between the wheels of the four living creatures. He was to take the coals and scatter them over the city. The glory followed the Lord as he entered the temple. Everywhere he went in the temple, it was filled with the brightness and cloud of God’s glory. 

When the man in linen had taken the coals, the cherubim rose up from the earth and levitated above the temple. The glory of the Lord left the temple and they all stood at the gate of the temple with the glory over them. These were the four living creatures Ezekiel had seen before. 

Ezekiel was taken to the east gate of the temple and saw 25 men at the entrance of the gate. Among them was Jaazaniah and Pelatiah who were princes of the people. The Lord said that these were wicked men who devised wicked counsel to the people. They told the people not to build houses because this city was a cauldron and they were the meat. God told Ezekiel to prophecy against what they said.

The Spirit of God fell on Ezekiel and he told the people that they were thinking wrong. It was not them that was the meat, it was the ones they killed who were the meat. They would be brought out of the city and judged by foreigners at the border of Israel. This city will not be their cauldron. They will be judged for their sins because they refused to walk in the ways and obey the rules of the Lord. 

While Ezekiel was saying these things, Pelatiah died. Ezekiel fell on his face and cried out to the Lord because he was witnessing the remnant dying. 

God said that he would scatter them throughout the nations but one day he would gather them and give them a heart of flesh that they would want to walk in his ways and keep his commandments. But, the ones who went after idols and detestable things, they would be judged for their deeds.

Then the cherubim lifted up from the city and the glory of the Lord went with them and stood on the mountain to the east. God brought Ezekiel back to Chaldea with the exiles and he told them all that he had seen.

In Hebrews, the writer says that once a person has been enlightened and tasted the gift of salvation and shared in the Holy Spirit, and tasted the goodness of his Word and the powers of the age to come, if he falls away, it is impossible to restore them to repentance. It would be to hold Jesus in contempt. This man would be like a barren land full of thorns and thistles. 

But, in our case, God has better things in store. God is not unjust and sees our works. We must endure to the end to inherit God’s promises. God cannot lie and Jesus is our high priest who anchors our soul and gives us hope. 

Lord, our hope is in you. We believe all your promises and wait patiently for them to manifest on the earth. 

Tues.’s Devo - Ezekiel’s Vision

Read: Ezekiel 7:1-9:11; Hebrews 5:1-14; Psalm 105:1-15; Proverbs 26:28

God sent Ezekiel a message that the time had come to judge all their abominations. He gives Ezekiel a picture of what the siege will look like. All who go out of the city to fight will die by the sword and all who stay in the city will die because of famine and pestilence. Their gold and silver will be worthless. They won’t be able to buy food that is not there. Robbers will be everywhere. 

Chapter 8 begins a new series of Ezekiel’s prophecies. He has finished lying on both his sides. It has been six years since Jehoiachin was taken with the elders to Babylon. Through all this, Judah had not repented and returned to the Lord. Ezekiel is sitting with the elders by the river Chedar when he sees a vision of a glorious form which took him by his hair and took him by the spirit to Jerusalem. It led him to the temple where he saw an idol he calls “the image of jealousy.” It was an abomination to God. Then God brought Ezekiel into the court of the Temple and told him to dig a hole through the wall and took him into a room where there were all sorts of evil forms of beasts were on the wall. Seventy men of the elders of Israel were there offering incense to their gods.

Then, Ezekiel was taken through the north gate of the temple and saw women weeping for Tammuz. Next, he was taken to the inner court of the temple and showed 25 men with their backs to the temple and their faces toward the east worshiping the sun. God said that even if they cried to him with a shout, he would not hear them because of their abominations.

Then God shouted to Ezekiel and called forth the executioners of the city who stood before him and six men appeared from the upper gate which faces north. Each had a weapon in their hand and with them was a man in linen with a writing case.

God told the man with the writing case to go and mark the heads of every person who groaned over the abominations that were being committed. These people would be spared. He told the executioners to follow this man. When he had finished his task, they were to go in and kill all who did not have the mark on their foreheads. They were to began with the elders in the temple. Ezekiel cried out as he watched so many slain. He asked the Lord if he was going to destroy all the remnant of Israel. 

God said that their sin was great and the city was full of injustice. He would not have pity on the guilty. The man with the writing case returned to the Lord and said he had finished his job. 

In Hebrews, the writer explains that the job of the high priest was to act on behalf of mankind. He was to offer gifts and sacrifices for their sins. He was qualified because he was also a man who had weaknesses and would judge rightly. His place was given hm by God. 

Christ also was honored by God and given the ministry of being our High Priest. All throughout Jesus’ life, he acted as a high priest as he prayed for the people. He himself had to learn to obey by the suffering he went through. His obedience qualified him to become the source of our eternal salvation for all who would obey him. 

His desire for us is that we grow beyond being a child and needing milk, to becoming a mature Christian who has learned to discern good from evil. 

Lord, may we grow to maturity where we can rightly discern good from evil. May we grow beyond always needing prayer to the ones who offer prayers for others. Thank you, Jesus, that you are our High Priest who is always praying and making intercession on our behalf.