SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/2/2015
10:09 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
Judah A Doomed People
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
22:13-22
Message of the
verses: “13 “‘I will surely strike
my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have
shed in your midst. 14 Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the
day I deal with you? I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it. 15 I will
disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I
will put an end to your uncleanness. 16 When you have been defiled in the eyes
of the nations, you will know that I am the LORD.’"
“17 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 18
“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are the
copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of
silver. 19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Because you have
all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. 20 As men gather silver,
copper, iron, lead and tin into a furnace to melt it with a fiery blast, so
will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt
you. 21 I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you
will be melted inside her. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be
melted inside her, and you will know that I the LORD have poured out my wrath
upon you.’"”
One of the problems that we have in our churches today is
that people do not know the attributes of God, thus they really do not know God
as well as they should. Many people
inside the church today will say things like “God would not do that,” and what
they are actually doing is putting God into a box, and this is sinful. We see in this section God speaking through
Ezekiel about His wrath and that He would take His wrath out on those who lived
in Judah, especially in Jerusalem. Wrath
is one of the attributes of God along with justice. Now think about this statement
“We could not become believers without the wrath and justice of God.” I say this because when you look at the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ and those six hours while He was on the cross in
darkness God was taking His wrath that we deserve out on His Son and at the end
of that time our Lord gave up His life for us.
God’s justice and wrath were taken out our Jesus Christ and that is how
I can say without God’s attributes of wrath and justice no one could be saved.
In the section we are looking at this evening we see that
God’s wrath was taken out on Judah because they had sinned against the Lord and
also had broken the covenant that God had with them, so God’s long-suffering
ran out and He had to act otherwise His name would be tarnished, and that was
not going to ever happen.
In verses 13-16 we see God would disperse some of His
people to other nations, and the people that Ezekiel is talking to are a proof
that this had happened. We see that this
was prophesied in Lev. 26:27-39 and in Deut. 28:64-68. Dr. Wiersbe writes that “God would humiliate
His people before the eyes of the Gentiles and through this experience bring
His people back to Himself.”
Next comes the judgment of fire as seen in 22:17-22, the
destruction of the Jews beloved city of Jerusalem and also their temple, a
temple that was turned into a place where the Jews worshiped idols. When Ezekiel speaks of dross he is speaking
of slag, and I have seen many thousands of tons of slag in my lifetime when
working at a foundry. Slag is what comes
of the metal when it is refined in a furnace and the people of Jerusalem though
that they were the iron and the slag was the people in exile, but the reverse
is true. We saw another “furnace
experience” for Israel when they lived in Egypt, and God used that experience
to take a family and turn it into a nation.
However this is different, for this furnace experience is divine
judgment on the people of Jerusalem. Dr.
Wiersbe writes “Two key words in this passage are ‘melt’ and ‘gather.’ The people had gathered in Jerusalem for
safety, but it was the Lord who gathered them so He could melt them in His
furnace as He poured His fury upon them.
The same image will be discussed in Ezekiel 24:1-14.”
2/2/2015 10:37 PM
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