SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/18/2015
9:34 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
Introduction to God Judges the Nations
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
25-28
Message of the
verses: Now before we begin to look
at the introduction to these chapters in the book of Ezekiel I want to post a
quote from Steward Briscoe on what he wrote about the death of Ezekiel’s
wife. “It is impossible for us to
imagine Ezekiel’s anguish the day his wife died so suddenly. He attracted great attention to himself by
his failure to engage in the traditional forms of mourning and his apparent
unconcern about his own bereavement. It
should be no surprise to us by now that his behavior was a sign from God to the
people which, at their request, he interpreted to them.
“It was related to the impending calamity, but the Lord
added a poignant touch by reminding the people that when Jerusalem and the
temple finally fell, they and the Lord would be losing a treasure as irreplaceable
and precious as the wife that Ezekiel had just lost. Furthermore, the people would be son stunned
by the immensity of the tragedy that they, like Ezekiel, would be incapable of
mourning. They would be numbed by the immensity
of their loss.” As I read this quote and
found nothing in it or in what Warren Wiersbe had to say about what I wrote
that the death of Ezekiel’s wife had something to do with God’s marriage with
Israel one way or another.
When the Lord called the nation of Israel into existence
there were several reasons that He did this.
He wanted the people to receive His Law, to move into the Promised Land
and defeat the nations that were there in order for Israel to be a witness to
them about Himself. We know that they
failed in that part, but they did keep a record of the Scripture which we
read. Through the nation of Israel, in
particular the tribe of Judah and then the family of David God would bring the
Messiah into the world and this to was accomplished. Now when the city of Jerusalem and the temple
fell the Gentile nations around them were happy because they thought that the
God of Israel was not as powerful as their idols, and they even saw Israel
worshiping idols too, so they must have also though that Israel gave up on
their God too. They probably also
remembered when David was in charge and the defeat that he gave to their
nations and this too would make them happy.
We can see their happiness in some of the other prophets that are found
in the Scripture.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “What the nations didn’t realize was
that the destruction of Jerusalem wasn’t just a punishment of the Jews; it was
also a warning to the Gentiles. ‘If the
righteous will be recompensed on the earth, how much more the wicked and the
sinner?’ (Prov. 11:21, NKJV) For if God displays His wrath against His own
people, ‘What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?’ (1 Peter 4:17) There’s a great difference between a loving parent chastening a child
and a judge punishing a guilty criminal.
Israel knew God’s Word and therefore had sinned against a flood of
light, but the Gentiles had the clear witness of creation (Rom. 1:18-32; Ps.
19) and conscience (Rom. 2:11-16) and were without excuse. But God was also judging the Gentiles for the
way they had treated His people, because this was the covenant promise He had
made with Abraham.” Now we want to look
at the endnote Dr. Wiersbe has after this last statement: “In Amos 1:3-2:3, the prophet passed judgment
on the Gentile nations on the basis of their inhumanity, their barbaric
treatment of their enemies; but when Amos came to judging the Jewish people, it
was on the basis of God’s law and their covenant relationship to Him (Amos2:4,
10; 3:1).”
Now as we look at these quotes and the Scripture that is
involved in them we can give an answer to the person who is asking about the
heathen or the person who has never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I might add that most people who ask that question
care little or nothing about the person who has not heard the Gospel.
One more thing we can look at as we are about to complete
this SD and that is Ezekiel did not bring a judgment against the Babylonians,
but other prophets did. Tomorrow we will
begin to look at the nations that Ezekiel did bring judgment against.
2/18/2015 10:00 PM
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