SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/1/2014
3:29 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Declaring the Word of the Lord PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
3:4-9
Message of the
verses: We begin the last main point
from the first chapter of the outline that Dr. Wiersbe has in his commentary on
the book of Ezekiel, which is the outline that I am following as I study this
book.
I think that it is good to look at the book of Ezekiel in
the time line that it is in so we can better understand it. When we studied the book of Isaiah earlier
this year we found it was written about a hundred years before the fall of
Judah, and then when we studied the book of Jeremiah we saw that at the end of
that book Judah had completely fallen to the Babylonians. Now that we are in the book of Ezekiel we see
that Judah had not yet fallen and that Ezekiel was ministering to the exiles
who had been taken to Babylon either in 605 or in 597. It was the ministry of Ezekiel that was given
to him by the Lord to minister to those exiles, and we have already learned
that this is a rebellious people that Ezekiel is dealing with. Now we learned from the book of Jeremiah that
the people of Judah were listening to false prophets who were telling them that
Judah would not completely fall because of the covenant that the Lord had made
with David, that a man would sit on David’s throne forever. Dr. Wiersbe writes the following: “The human heart would rather hear lies that
bring comfort than truths that bring conviction and cleansing. Ezekiel declared God’s Word as a messenger
(Ezek. 3:4-10), a sufferer (vv. 10-15), a watchman (vv. 16-21), and a sign (vv.
22-27).” We look at the messenger in our
SD today.
The Messenger (Ezek. 3:4-9): “4 Then He said to me, "Son of man, go
to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. 5 “For you are not being sent to
a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of
Israel, 6 nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language,
whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you;
7 yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are
not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and
obstinate. 8 “Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your
forehead as hard as their foreheads. 9 “Like emery harder than flint I have
made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though
they are a rebellious house."”
We will break this passage into three sections to better
understand it. The first section is
Ezekiel’s speaking the word that the Lord had given him to say. In ancient times a king would send a herald
to give his people a message and one of the words used to preach from the NT is
the heralding of God’s Word to his audience.
In order for Ezekiel to be a faithful herald of God’s word he had to
speak exactly what the Lord told him to speak.
(v.4)
Next we look at verses five through seven and see the
second element which is receiving, and to receive God’s Word means to
understand God’s Word. God was not
sending Ezekiel to a people who did not understand His Word, for Ezekiel was
speaking in the language of the people of Israel, that is the Hebrew
language. I would suppose if God would
have sent Ezekiel to a people who did not understand the Hebrew language and he
had an interrupter so they would understand him they would have listened to
him, but not Israel. Israel turned a
deaf ear to God’s message, and they were a people who had been blessed by the
Lord very much.
Lastly from verses 7-9 we see the element of obeying. As we have studied the books of Isaiah and
Jeremiah, and also in the past the books of 1 & 2 Kings we have seen that
for the most part there has not been a lot of obeying on the part of Israel and
Judah, and even when the people were in captivity there is not a lot of
obeying, but mostly rebellion. Dr.
Wiersbe writes these very insightful words “Like the people of Israel, many
people today hear God’s Word but won’t try to understand, or if they do
understand, they refuse to obey.”
He goes on to write “God assured His prophet that He
would give him all he needed to withstand their opposition and
disobedience. In Ezekiel 3:8, there is a
play on words involving Ezekiel’s name which means ‘God is strong’ or ‘God
strengthens.’ It also means ‘God
hardens.’ If the people harden their
hearts and faces, God will harden His servant and keep him faithful to his
mission. He gave a similar promise to
Jeremiah (Jer. 1:17).” “"Now, gird
up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be
dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Perhaps it is
easier to understand the Word of God than to obey it. I truly desire to understand and obey the
Word of God.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Obey the Word of God.
Memory verses for the
week: Colossians 3:8-11.
8 But now you also, put
them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your
mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its
evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true
knowledge according to the image of the One who created him- 11 a renewal in
which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and
uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and
in all.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The Pharisees” (Mark 15:14).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘Can there be any good
thing come out of Nazareth’?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/1/2014 5:21 PM
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