SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/29/2014
10:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The
Unfaithful Wife PT-4-5
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
16:48-63
Message of the
verses: We want to look at the last
two sub-points from this very long chapter in Ezekiel that we have been looking
at since the 23rd of this month.
God Names the Sins of Sodom (Ezekiel 16:48-50): “48
"As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "Sodom, your sister
and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49 “Behold,
this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance,
abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. See
note from verse 35. 50 “Thus they were haughty and committed abominations
before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following and as we look at this
quote we can better understand why the sin of homosexuality is happening in our
country today: “The people were proud
and haughty, overfed, idle, unconcerned about the poor and needy, and guilty of
detestable acts, which probably refers to their homosexual lifestyle (Gen.
19). These were abominable sins of
attitude and action, commission and omission; and yet the people of Jerusalem
and Judah were far guiltier than were the people of Sodom!” He goes on to say that the sins of Judah were
worse than the sins of the people of Samaria (the Northern Tribe), and worse
than the sins of Sodom. I believe that
this is because of the light that was given to the people of Judah as they had
the Law which informed them of what sin was and how they were to avoid it, but
they refused to do so.
Dr. Wiersbe goes on to write: “But is the church today any less
guilty? Members of local churches commit
the same sins we read about in the newspapers, but the news doesn’t always get
to the headlines. Congregations are
being torn apart because of professed Christians who are involved in lawsuits,
divorces, immorality, family feuds, crooked business deals, financial scandals,
and a host of other activities that belong to the world. Is it any wonder that lost sinners pay little
attention to our public ministry or our personal witness?” When you take in account that this quote from
Dr. Wiersbe’s book is close to fifteen years old and in the past six years the
sinfulness of our country has grown far worse.
Israel Will Experience a Great Restoration (Ezekiel
16:53-63): “53 “Nevertheless, I will
restore their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, the
captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and along with them your own captivity,
54 in order that you may bear your humiliation and feel ashamed for all that
you have done when you become a consolation to them. 55 “Your sisters, Sodom
with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to their former
state, and you with your daughters will also return to your former state.
56 "As the name of your sister
Sodom was not heard from your lips in your day of pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered, so now
you have become the reproach of the daughters of Edom and of all who are around
her, of the daughters of the Philistines-those surrounding you who despise you.
58 “You have borne the penalty of your lewdness and abominations," the LORD
declares. 59 For thus says the Lord GOD, "I will also do with you as you
have done, you who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.
“60 "Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the
days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
61 "Then you will remember your
ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both your older and your younger;
and I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant.
62 "Thus I will establish My
covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, 63 so that you may remember and be ashamed and
never open your mouth anymore because of your humiliation, when I have forgiven
you for all that you have done," the Lord GOD declares.”
As we look at this prophecy of what the Lord will do with
Judah in the future we must remember as we have written on before that there
are times when it is difficult to understand which time of restoration is the
prophecy about. There are times when the
prophecies speak of the restoration of Judah back to their land around 535 BC
and there are times when the prophecy is speaking about the restoration that
will take place in the future when the 1000 year kingdom takes place, and there
are times when the prophecy is speaking about both. I believe that that may be the case in this
prophecy.
As we look at the prayers of Nehemiah and Daniel and also
look at the great revival that took place after Israel was restored to their
land beginning in 535 BC we know that there was a remnant that loved the Lord
and desired to serve Him, but that revival did not last too long as we read in
the later chapters of the book of Nehemiah.
However when the 1000 year kingdom comes and Jesus Christ is living
again on planet earth leading His Kingdom then righteousness will be seen this
entire time, and sin will be swiftly dealt with during His reign.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: We know that God
is righteous and cannot stand sin and this is the reason that He sent His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to become sin so that those who accept His
forgiveness will receive His righteousness.
We also see that there is always a remnant and that God cares for this
remnant as seen in these latter verses of chapter sixteen, and this brings
comfort to me. I know that the Lord
loves me and cares for me and this was evident to me in what some would say is
a small way yesterday, but not me as I was in great need of the Lord to answer
my prayer and He did. I believe that
there were actually two things that happened to me yesterday that I could see
the hand of the Lord in my life, and one of them was from a message that one of
our Pastors’s preached on yesterday. He
was speaking on money from First Timothy and named nine things about money and
asked us to pick one of them to work on for 2015 and it was the last one that
the Lord seemed to shout to me to pick and that was what is said in 1 Timothy
6:15-16 “15 which He will bring about at
the proper time-He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and
Lord of lords, 16 who alone possesses
immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can
see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” Our Pastor said that from these two verses
that we are to “Treasure God,” and that very morning I was confessing to the
Lord that I needed to love Him more so my steps of faith for this coming New
Year will be to treasure God, to learn how to love Him more. When I first
became a believer in January of 1974 I heard a song on the radio that at the
time did not know that it came from a play that was a blasphemy against the
Lord, and yet that song spoke to my new heart and actually came back to me
early yesterday morning when I was thinking that I needed to love the Lord more
than I do at this time in my life. As I
said the play “Jesus Christ Superstar” is blasphemous to our Lord, and most of the song is too, but the first
part of it is what spoke to my heart in 1974:
“I Don’t know how to love him, what to do, how to move him I've been changed, yes really
changed In these past few days when I see myself, I seem like someone else.” Yes I truly had been changed and in those past
few days after being saved I truly did seem like someone else, and yes I still
am in the process of learning how to Love Him in the way that the Word of God
tells me to.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to treasure God.
Memory verses for the week: 2 Peter 1:5-7.
5 Now for this very reason
also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in
your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge self-control, and in
your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in
your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The second coming of Christ
or the Rapture.”
Today’s Bible
question: “What new name did God give
Jacob?
Answer in our next SD.
12/29/2014 12:01 PM
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