Short Reflection from Ezekiel 33-48

[Originally posted in a WhatsApp group (LRAU) as a daily reading update (reflection) from each chapter of the Bible]

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟛𝟛:𝟙𝟚

"And you, son of man, say to your fellow citizens, 'The righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.'"

Most people believe that their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds or will at least cancel out their bad deeds. The standard of God is different!

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟛𝟜:𝟙𝟝

""I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest," declares the Lord GOD."

Even if the human shepherds are bad and unfaithful, God will not give up on His church. Somebody said, "If your pastor is bad, don't leave the church so soon, pray him out (let him leave)"

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟛𝟝:𝟙𝟛

"And you have spoken arrogantly against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; I have heard it."

The Lord held them accountable for their words and boasting against God. Many people do the same these days, they too shall be held accountable on Judgment Day!

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟛𝟞:𝟚𝟞, 𝟛𝟙

26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."

31 "Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations."

We need a new heart to loathe sin and love God!

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟛𝟟:𝟜

"Again He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.'""

Preachers when they are with the non-Christians are like this. With the dead ones in sin, whose bones are dried up.

Even many professing Christians are like this. Dead or dried: weakened or broken, God promises the preaching of His words to transform lives!

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟛𝟠:𝟚𝟛

"I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD."

Magnify

Sanctify

Simplify

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟛𝟡:𝟚𝟟

"When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations."

Sure, such action of God will make the other nations want to have a God like Yahweh!

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟜𝟘:𝟜𝟠

"Then he brought me to the porch of the temple and measured each side pillar of the porch, five cubits on each side; and the width of the gate was three cubits on each side."

I’ve read this chapter 4,5 times trying to find a verse that I can meditate upon since no verse caught my attention at first reading. Still, not sure.

Just that one of the most repetitive words in this chapter is “measurement”. God cares that its measurement is known and precise. Not anyhow, there's a rule, a measurement, a standard. Indeed, for every God's action!

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟜𝟙:𝟙

"Then he brought me to the nave and measured the side pillars; six cubits wide on each side was the width of the side pillar."

Measurements are made known. It was important, necessary. If God cares about the physical building, won't He care about how we worship Him?

There’re measurements, rules, standard for how we should do, not anyhow we please!

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟜𝟚:𝟙𝟜

"When the priests enter, then they shall not go out into the outer court from the sanctuary without laying there their garments in which they minister, for they are holy. They shall put on other garments; then they shall approach that which is for the people."

There's such a thing called sacred and secular. There are some dudes, who profess themselves to be wise, who say that everything is sacred and that every day is the Lord's Day, not just Sunday. While I understand their desire for everyone to live every day before the Lord, they are unwittingly robbing the sacred things (Sunday, dressing, manners, prayers, teaching) of their significance. If everyone is important nothing is important. ₹20 denomination is not as important as ₹2000. They will fight tooth and nail for it.

So, there's such thing called holy and defiled clothing, places, etc. Ezekiel says so.

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟜𝟛:𝟟

"He said to me, "Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the corpses of their kings when they die""

It's more wonderful to transform an evil person into a good person than to just execute him.

And it's more wonderful if one can endure the depth of wickedness of someone and still forgive him and transform him.

That's God. He will transform the Israelites again. He is transforming us too, day by day! God is not tired, surprised, or worried.

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟜𝟜:𝟚𝟛

"Moreover, they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean."

There's such thing called clean and unclean; sacred and secular; holy and profane; acceptable and unacceptable; and God's people must be taught and learnt of them.

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟜𝟝:𝟡

"Thus says the Lord GOD, "Enough, you princes of Israel; put away violence and destruction, and practice justice and righteousness. Stop your expropriations from My people," declares the Lord GOD."

Power tends to corrupt, abuse, oppress, and suppress the common people. I have been the victim sometimes. And I must have been the perpetrator in some areas.

Examine yourself in the light of God's word: to repent — both to forgive and to restore.

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟜𝟞:𝟠-𝟡

"When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the porch of the gate and go out by the same way. But when the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, he who enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate. And he who enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. No one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered but shall go straight out."

The exit gates for the prince and the people are different. And the prince is to be an exemplary man of spiritual integrity. Position comes with responsibility.

I as a pastor get to stand up on the stage almost anytime which most church members never get or dare to. And that stage is not there for me to popularize myself. I must be the leading example to demonstrate that I must decrease and Christ must increase.

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟜𝟟:𝟚𝟚-𝟚𝟛

"You shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the aliens who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. And in the tribe with which the alien stays, there you shall give him his inheritance," declares the Lord GOD."

Aliens (non-Israelites) are part of the program of God. Which reminds us to love all people. We must be kind, gracious, and compassionate to all people around us.

 

𝔼𝕫𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕝 𝟜𝟠:𝟛𝟠

"The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about; and the name of the city from that day shall be, 'The LORD is there.'"

The LORD is there. That's it. What is better than that? Heaven will not be heaven if the Lord doesn't dwell there. With the Lord, everything is at its best!