SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/29/2015
1:57 PM
My Worship Time Focus: God Directs
the Army
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel 21:18-27
Message of the
verses: “18 The word of the LORD
came to me saying, 19 “As for you, son of man, make two ways for the sword of
the king of Babylon to come; both of them will go out of one land. And make a
signpost; make it at the head of the way to the city. 20 “You shall mark a way for the
sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah into fortified
Jerusalem. 21 “For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way,
at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he
consults the household idols, he looks at the liver. 22 "Into his right hand came the
divination, ’Jerusalem,’ to set battering rams, to open the mouth for
slaughter, to lift up the voice with a battle cry, to set battering rams against
the gates, to cast up ramps, to build a siege wall. 23 “And it will be to them
like a false divination in their eyes; they have sworn solemn oaths. But he
brings iniquity to remembrance, that they may be seized. 24 “Therefore, thus
says the Lord GOD, ’Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in
that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins
appear-because you have come to remembrance, you will be seized with the hand.
25 ’And you, O slain, wicked one, the
prince of Israel, whose
day has come, in the time of the punishment of the end,’ 26 thus says the Lord GOD, ’Remove the turban
and take off the crown; this will no longer be the same. Exalt that which is
low and abase that which is high. 27 ’A ruin, a ruin, a ruin, I will make it.
This also will be no more until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it
to Him.’”
I am amaze as I look at the prophecies found in the Word
of God. Let me explain what I am
thinking at this time. When God called
Israel who came through a man named Abram who was later renamed Abraham God
told Abraham that he would have a son with his wife Sara who was 65 years old
when God called Abraham. Not much was
said for a lot of years and then when Abraham was 100 years old and Sara was 90
years old the prophecy was fulfilled and they had a child which the named
Isaac. God had told Abraham that his
descendants would be in a land for four hundred years and then He would bring
them out which He did. Moses wrote in
the book of Deuteronomy that Israel would not keep their covenant with the Lord
and the Lord would have to take them out of the land, which He did. He also wrote that they would come back and
be taken out of the land again, which happened in 70 AD. Ezekiel is writing to the exiles telling them
about what was going to happen to Jerusalem step by step and this also
happened. However when we look back to
some of the history of Israel God would send prophets to tell them that they
were not doing right in the eyes of the Lord breaking the Covenant with the
Lord, but they would not listen. The
exiles who Ezekiel is writing to at this time though that Ezekiel was a bit
strange and did not know what he was talking about. They would not believe his message even
though it was happening right in front of their eyes. I see the attributes of long-suffering and
also wrath in all of this. You know it
has been said that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. I have seen this with people I know when I
present the gospel with them, leading them to water, but they refuse to drink.
We see the word “divination” in this section which is
ways to show someone what they should do in the future. Dr. Wiersbe writes the following in an end
not on the different kinds of divination used:
“Several kinds of divination are mentioned in verse 21: selecting an
arrow from the quiver, as if drawing straws; consulting small images of the
gods; and inspecting the entrails of an animal sacrifice. Perhaps verse 22 is describing the casting of
lots (see NIV).” “22 Into his right hand
will come the lot for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering-rams, to give
the command to slaughter, to sound the battle cry, to set battering-rams
against the gates, to build a ramp and to erect siege works (NIV).” The divination here was to determine whether
the Babylonian army was to go to Jerusalem or to the capital of Ammon, and
attack the Ammonites. It is like there
is a “Y” in the road and they needed to determine which fork to take. God wanted them to go to Jerusalem so that is
how it worked out for them.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Ezekiel paused to give a special
message to Zedekiah, whom he refuses to call king but refers to as a
prince. He calls him profane and wicked,
a man who has committed iniquity and will suffer because of it. He would lose his crown and his throne. The day had arrived when God would turn
everything upside down. Those who were ‘great
and mighty’ would be humbled, and those who were humble would be exalted. The word translated ‘overturn’ (‘ruin,’ (NIV)
is awwa, and we just can hear Ezekiel
lamenting: ‘Awwa-awwa-awwa.’”
Now let us again look at verse 27 and see some hope given
to his audience: “27 ’A ruin, a ruin, a
ruin, I will make it. This also will be no more until He comes whose right it is, and I
will give it to Him.’” Dr. Wiersbe
concludes “The phrase ‘whose right it is’ takes us back to Genesis 49:8-12, a
messianic promise that we met in Ezekiel 19 when we studied the images of the
lion and the vine.”
1/29/2015 2:30 PM
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