SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/18/2015
9:20 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Israel in
the Promised Land
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
20:27-30
Message of the
verses: I think that it is a good
time to review what we have looked at and what we will continue to look at from
the very long chapter in the book of Ezekiel.
I think the best way to do this is to quote Dr. Wiersbe from the beginning
of his commentary as he lays out what we will be seeing in chapter twenty of
Ezekiel and why Ezekiel decided to give this message to the exiles from Judah
that were in Babylon. “Ezekiel delivered
this message on August 14, 591 BC to some of the Jewish elders who came to his
house to ‘inquire of the Lord.’ But the
prophet knew that their hearts were not right with God and that they had no
right to ask the Lord for instruction (vv. 30-32; see 14:1-3; 33:30-33). A willingness to submit and obey is the mark
of the person who can seek God’s guidance and expect to receive it. Ezekiel’s response to their request was to
review the history of the nation of Israel and point out the repeated rebellion
of the people and the gracious long-suffering of the Lord.” Now that we have a better understanding of
why Ezekiel is reviewing the history of Israel we will move on and look at
verses 27-30.
“27 "Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to
them, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed
Me by acting treacherously against Me. 28 “When I had brought them into the
land which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill and every
leafy tree, and they offered there their sacrifices and there they presented
the provocation of their offering. There also they made their soothing aroma
and there they poured out their drink offerings. 29 “Then I said to them, ’What
is the high place to which you go?’ So its name is called Bamah to this
day."’ 30 “Therefore,
say to the house of Israel, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Will you defile yourselves after
the manner of your fathers and play the harlot after their detestable things?”
Now after forty years of wondering in the wilderness God
is ready to use Joshua to lead the people of Israel into the Promised
Land. Now Joshua sends some spies into
the land and that was not a problem like the first time the first generation
sent the spies into the land for Joshua knew that this was the time that God
was going to give the land to the children of Israel. Moses told the children of Israel to go into
the land and destroy the people there and we have looked at why this was going
to happen in an earlier SD. We have to
go back to the 15th chapter of Genesis where the Lord is speaking to
Abraham and tells him that his offspring would go into Egypt and be there for
four hundred years, but after that they would come out of Egypt with much
spoils. This happened as He said it
would. However God also told Abraham
that the iniquity of those who lived in the Promised Land at that time was not
full, but it would be full in 400 years.
God is long-suffering, and He was to the people who lived in Canaan
during Abraham’s life time until Joshua’s life time, but now it was time for
the Lord to bring His wrath on these Canaanites and He would use Israel to do
this.
I have thought about this for some time, that is about
comparing a believer who is rather new in the faith with the children of Israel
coming into the Promised Land. Now God
used Joshua to lead the people into the land.
God is the One who draws us to Himself by the Holy Spirit in order to
save us. Next God, through Moses told
the people that after this initial war with them that it was their job to
continue to attack these Canaanites until they were wiped out and this would
take some time. As believers we have to
fight in the power of the Lord to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord just
as some of the people actually did after the initial war was over. We read about Caleb and man in his 80’s and
how he cleaned out those Canaanites out of the portion of land that was given
to him. God saves us by His power and we
are to do as Paul writes to the Colossians “Therefore as you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”
Walking in Him is done by grace through faith the same way we are saved
and when we have to battle with sinfulness we have to fight it in the power of
the Lord.
As for the answer in verse 30 it was yes, and that is the
reason that Ezekiel is speaking to the hard-headed exiles because of their
worship of idols.
1/18/2015 9:48 PM
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