SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/5/2015
11:37 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Exiles in Babylon
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
33:21-22
Message of the
verses: “21 Now in the twelfth year
of our exile, on the fifth of the tenth month, the refugees from Jerusalem came
to me, saying, "The city has been taken." 22 Now the hand of the LORD
had been upon me in the evening, before the refugees came. And He opened my
mouth at the time they came to me in the morning; so my mouth was opened and I
was no longer speechless.”
The date that is spoken of in this section is January 8,
585 BC, which was five months before the Babylonians set fire to the city of Jerusalem
which was on August 14, 586 BC. Now on
this date in January a message came to Ezekiel from the Lord showing him what
had happened and the next day was that one of the refuges from Babylon came to
the camp in Babylonians to tell them the news. Now back in the third chapter of Ezekiel
verses 26-27 we read “26 "Moreover,
I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be
mute and cannot be a man who rebukes them, for they are a rebellious house. 27
“But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you will say to them,
’Thus says the Lord GOD.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let
him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.”
Ezekiel was only allowed to talk to those in exile in Babylon when the
Lord had given him a message from Him, but now we read that he will be able to
speak to them as he wished to. I am sure
that this must have been strange for both Ezekiel and also the exiles however
this is the way that the Lord wanted it to happen. The destruction of Jerusalem proved that
Ezekiel was a true prophet of God which is outlined in Deuteronomy 18:20-22 “20
’But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not
commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that
prophet shall die.’ 21 “You may say in your heart, ’How will we know the word
which the LORD has not spoken?’ 22
"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does
not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken.
The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” These verses show the negative side of when a
prophet tells something that is true, but because the things that Ezekiel spoke
did come true then the people of Israel whose job it was kept his writings so
we can read them today.
Now getting back to the fact that Ezekiel could not speak
to the people freely we know that the exiles did not believe what he had
spoken, but now they know that what he has spoken is true, but they still will
not believe him. We can be sure that the
exiles made fun of Ezekiel and I suppose that this took a toll on him, but he
still had the satisfaction to know that what he was speaking came directly from
the Lord. A day would come when the
things that Ezekiel would all come true.
When the Lord Jesus came to earth many of the people did not believe Him
and so in John 12:48 He said “"He who rejects Me and does not receive My
sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the
last day.”
Dr. Wiersbe concludes with the following paragraph: “Believers today have the Word of God readily
accessible not only in public meetings, but also in literature, on the
Internet, over radio and television, as well as on video and audio tapes and CE’s,
and we will have much to answer for when we see the Lord. The important thing at the Judgment Seat of
Christ won’t be how much Bible we studied or learned, but how much we loved and
obeyed.”
4/6/2015 12:01 AM
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