Be Faithful

[Christsdaughter]

Be Faithful

Wednesday April 6, 2011


In reading the book of Ezekiel, I have learned about how Ezekiel obeyed God down to the tiniest detail knowing that he would be rejected just as Jeremiah had. God told Ezekiel in chapter 3 that the Israelites would not listen to him because they will not listen to God Himself, but that He (God) would make Ezekiel “as unyielding and hardened as they are”. I pray that I will obey the Lord in the smallest detail like Ezekiel even when I expect to be rejected.

Also in chapter 3, God appointed Ezekiel as a spiritual watchman. His job was to warn the people of the coming judgment. God told Ezekiel that He would hold him responsible to what happened to the people if he did not obey God by warning them. He will also hold us accountable today if we fail to share the Gospel, warn people of judgment, etc. I am very much guilty of not being faithful in sharing the Gospel today, especially in person, because I get so caught up in the events of my own life and because of my fears and shy personality.

I also learned in chapter 3 that Ezekiel literally could not speak unless God gave Him a message to share. I imagine that this helped people to know that whenever Ezekiel spoke, it was only by God’s authority that he was speaking. In chapter 5, I also observed how God had Ezekiel symbolically act out His messages to the people. It seems strange, but God knows what methods work best for everyone to understand His messages. An example of God having Ezekiel act out His messages is when He had Ezekiel shave his head and beard. Then God told him to burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city, strike a third with a sword all around the city, scatter a third into the wind so that God would pursue them with the sword, and to take a few strands and preserve them in the folds of his garment. These strands put in Ezekiel’s garment symbolized the small remnant of faithful people that God would preserve, while He destroyed the rest. This offered a little hope in the midst of all these promises of judgment. God will never turn His back on those who are truly faithful to Him.

This morning I read chapter 6 where God gives Ezekiel a message about how He planned to bring judgments against the mountains of Israel because that is where the people where sacrificing to other gods.

“1The word of the LORD came to me: 2“Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them 3and say: ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign LORD. This is what the Sovereign LORD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.” (Eze 6:1-3)

“8“‘But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations. 9Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices. 10And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them.”

Then God promises to spare a remnant once He was finished judging them. They would not be destroyed completely, but they would have to learn some hard lessons. They would hate themselves for the evil that they had done. The same is true today. God must judge every person for his/her sin, but He will not completely destroy those who turn to Him. He will relent after He teaches him/her some hard lessons.

“5“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Disaster! An unheard-of£ disaster is coming. 6The end has come! The end has come! It has roused itself against you. It has come! 7Doom has come upon you—you who dwell in the land. The time has come, the day is near; there is panic, not joy, upon the mountains. 8I am about to pour out my wrath on you and spend my anger against you; I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. 9I will not look on you with pity or spare you; I will repay you in accordance with your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you will know that it is I the LORD who strikes the blow.

10“The day is here! It has come! Doom has burst forth, the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed!11Violence has grown into£ a rod to punish wickedness; none of the people will be left, none of that crowd—no wealth, nothing of value. 12The time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller grieve, for wrath is upon the whole crowd. 13The seller will not recover the land he has sold as long as both of them live, for the vision concerning the whole crowd will not be reversed. Because of their sins, not one of them will preserve his life. 14Though they blow the trumpet and get everything ready, no one will go into battle, for my wrath is upon the whole crowd.

15“Outside is the sword, inside are plague and famine; those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague. 16All who survive and escape will be in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valleys, each because of his sins. 17Every hand will go limp, and every knee will become as weak as water. 18They will put on sackcloth and be clothed with terror. Their faces will be covered with shame and their heads will be shaved. 19They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be an unclean thing. Their silver and gold will not be able to save them in the day of the LORD’s wrath. They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it, for it has made them stumble into sin. 20They were proud of their beautiful jewelry and used it to make their detestable idols and vile images. Therefore I will turn these into an unclean thing for them. 21I will hand it all over as plunder to foreigners and as loot to the wicked of the earth, and they will defile it. 22I will turn my face away from them, and they will desecrate my treasured place; robbers will enter it and desecrate it.

23“Prepare chains, because the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of violence. 24I will bring the most wicked of the nations to take possession of their houses; I will put an end to the pride of the mighty, and their sanctuaries will be desecrated. 25When terror comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none. 26Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumor upon rumor. They will try to get a vision from the prophet; the teaching of the law by the priest will be lost, as will the counsel of the elders. 27The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and by their own standards I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Verses 5-27 were God’s message to those who would not turn to Him. They would be destroyed completely. Everything that they chose to put their trust in instead of God would be destroyed and they would each die by sword, famine, or plague; no one would be spared. The will be true in the End Times. All who refuse to turn to the Lord will be destroyed and thrown into the fiery pit of hell, but His remnant (those who will turn to Him) will inherit eternal life in heaven and experience God’s mercy and compassion in the midst of all the trials. If you have not done yet done so, turn to the Lord today. Confess that you are a sinner in need of salvation and confess that you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins that separated you from God, rose from the dead to give you victory over sin and death, and ascended into heaven to be at the right hand of the throne of God. Then you must repent of your sins, become a living sacrifice for Him, and no longer conform to the standards of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.