The Bible Recap - Day 245 (Ezekiel 21-22) - Year 6

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. God's words to Ezekiel today come down pretty strong. He doesn't sugarcoat these two chapters. Chapter 21 opens with a prophecy about God drawing a sword against the land of Israel. And it's especially unsettling because in verse 4, he says he will cut off both righteous and wicked. The righteous too? Why is that? We won't find out until the end of today's reading,

Starting point is 00:00:33 so put a pin in this, we'll come back to it. Next, God tells Ezekiel to mourn and grieve over what's happening and to spread the word about it to everyone who asks. Knowing Ezekiel, I'm pretty sure this involves some public mourning. After this, it sounds like he's supposed to demonstrate some of God's actions using an actual sword in front of the people. And after the sword, he demonstrates a highway with a fork in the road. The road is coming out of Babylon, and one path leads to Ammon's capital, where the Ammonites live, and the other leads to Jerusalem. God says King Nebi is using divination, that is, seeking the direction of evil spirits,

Starting point is 00:01:08 to determine which path he should take first, i.e. who's getting destroyed first. Survey says Jerusalem. And in verse 27, God says this ruin, ruin, ruin will happen when Zedekiah becomes king, although it doesn't mention him by name. God has promised to judge him and he won't withhold it. We read about his downfall in Jeremiah 52 and it was a ruin, ruin, ruin indeed. Then God tells the Ammonites, they aren't off the hook.

Starting point is 00:01:35 They've been getting false promises and prophecies too, just like Judah, but they're next on the chopping block. In chapter 22, God circles back around to Jerusalem again. He calls them the bloody city because they've killed so many people. God's penalty for murder is death, and he says he's held off their judgment long enough. It's time for him to act. During the time he's given them to repent, their sin has increased. The list of their sins is lengthy.

Starting point is 00:02:01 They're murderers and idolaters. They've shown contempt for their parents. They've extorted the foreigners who live in their land. They've disregarded the needs of the most vulnerable in their society. They've disregarded the Sabbath. They've lied. They've committed sexual impurities of all kinds. Basically, no commandment is left unbroken. But then again, they probably don't even remember the commandments because the priests aren't teaching anyone anything and the prophets are lying and using witchcraft. In fact, things have gotten so bad in Israel that the nations around them shake their heads

Starting point is 00:02:31 in disgust and roll their eyes. These pagan nations have grown to hate Israel because of the magnitude of Israel's wickedness. That's saying a lot. God compares Israel to dross, the impure by-product that comes from refining silver, so he will burn them up. God says they're profaned by their own doing. He's the one destroying them, but it's in response to their own actions. And remember that part we read back at the beginning, how the sword will devour the righteous and the wicked? It seems unfair, right? Before we get to what happens, think back to Genesis 18, where Abraham tried to talk

Starting point is 00:03:09 God out of destroying Sodom if he could just find ten righteous men. But remember how there weren't ten? And God destroyed them, but still mercifully spared Lot and his daughters, despite the fact that they were wicked. We're looking at a similar scenario at the end of chapter 22 today. God gives Israel an even better chance of being spared. He says this time all he needs is one righteous man, and that will be enough to keep him from destroying Jerusalem. But there aren't any righteous men, not even one.

Starting point is 00:03:39 So we finally find out that God isn't being unfair after all, because there actually aren't any righteous people for him to destroy. Today, my God shot was God's wrath towards sin. It's marked out so clearly here. I love that we serve a God who hates sin. Most of us probably hate some sins, but are probably quite fond of some others.

Starting point is 00:04:01 They're like pets we try to keep in a cage and only let out from time to time. And some pets aren't caged at all. They're on the loose. Or maybe we have a love-hate relationship with some of our sins. We really enjoy them in the moment, but feel guilty about it later. But God doesn't know this kind of ambivalence towards sin. He hates it, full stop. He hates it because He loves His glory and He loves His kids, and sin mars both of those things.

Starting point is 00:04:26 But despite God's hatred for our sins, which he most certainly sees, he can also see beyond that, to the righteousness Christ has granted us. So while our sin can affect the intimacy of our relationship with God, it doesn't affect the status of our relationship with God. We're still his kids and he still loves us. His wrath toward the sins of his kids was absorbed by his only begotten son. So we don't have to run from him when we sin,

Starting point is 00:04:53 we can run to him where healing and restoration happen. He's where the joy is. Hey, Bible readers, it's time for our weekly check-in. I don't know how you're feeling about it all, but I just want to say that I think you're doing great. Here you are 245 days into this plan. You're about to finish the Old Testament. You're probably finishing reading books you've never even read at all, or understanding things

Starting point is 00:05:18 you've been confused by if you have, or learning things you never knew. Share one of those things with someone this week in a personal conversation. It's gonna humble you, it's gonna encourage you, and maybe even lead to a great conversation where you learn even more. Keep going.

The Bible Recap - Day 245 (Ezekiel 21-22) - Year 6

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