Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezekiel 21:1-17.  Let’s go!

Ezekiel 21:1-7 (NIV) 
1  The word of the LORD came to me: 
2  “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuary. Prophesy against the land of Israel 
3  and say to her: ‘This is what the LORD says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its scabbard and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. 
4  Because I am going to cut off the righteous and the wicked, my sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north. 
5  Then all people will know that I the LORD have drawn my sword from its scabbard; it will not return again.’ 
6  “Therefore groan, son of man! Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief. 
7  And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every knee become as weak as water.’ It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD.”
 
On verses 1-7:  In case the Israelites did not understand the message Ezekiel was sharing in Ezekiel 20:45-48, God gives Ezekiel an even clearer and more direct message to give the Israelites about the destruction that was coming to Jerusalem and Judah (the kingdom in which Jerusalem was situated). 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezekiel 20:30-49. Let’s go!

Ezekiel 20:30-31 (NIV)
30 “Therefore say to the house of Israel: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Will you defile yourselves the way your fathers did and lust after their vile images?
31 When you offer your gifts–the sacrifice of your sons in the fire–you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. Am I to let you inquire of me, O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I will not let you inquire of me.

On verses 30-31: As part of their idol worship, the Israelites adopted the wicked and horrific practice of sacrificing their children to the idol Molech by burning their infant children in a massive fire pit. The Israelites hoped that by sacrificing their children to Molech, Molech would bless them with prosperity. In response to this heinous crime and horrific sin, God refused to let the elders of Israel inquire of Him.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezekiel 20:1-29. There are many lessons we can learn from this passage. Let’s go!

Ezekiel 20:1-3 (NIV)
1 In the seventh year, in the fifth month on the tenth day, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and they sat down in front of me.
2 Then the word of the LORD came to me:
3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Have you come to inquire of me? As surely as I live, I will not let you inquire of me, declares the Sovereign LORD.’

On verses 1-3: According to many scholars, the date Ezekiel describes in verse 1 can be equated to sometime in August 591 B.C. At that time some elders of Israel come to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord. However, the Lord tells Ezekiel that He refuses to let the elders inquire of Him (v3).

Why would the Lord not let the elders of Israel inquire of Him? In the rest of chapter 20, God will explain in an indirect way His reason for not letting the Israelite elders inquire of Him: it’s because of the Israelites’ tendency to rebel against what God says. Why would God bother telling the Israelites what they should do when the Israelites would refuse to do it?

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezekiel 19:1-14. Let’s go!

Ezekiel 19:1 (NIV)
1 “Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel

On verse 1: Here in chapter 19, God tells Ezekiel to write down a “lament”. A lament is a funeral song honouring someone who has died and expressing the feeling of loss and grief of losing that person. In this case the lament concerns “the princes of Israel”, which is Ezekiel’s term for the kings who led Israel in its most recent history. As we will see, the lament consists of two pictures or parables.

On verses 2-9: The first parable describes how a mother lion raises one of her cubs to be a strong and powerful lion, but that lion cub is trapped and taken to Egypt as a captive. The mother lion then raises another one of her cubs to be an even stronger and more powerful lion, but the nations trap him and take him to Babylon as a captive.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezekiel 18:21-32. Let’s go!

On verses 21-32: When you read these verses, at first you might find a reason for some humanistic hope, thinking, “Okay, so if I clean up my entire act, turn away from my sins and keep God’s decrees, doing what is just and right, I will have eternal life.” But if you really consciously try to keep all of God’s decrees, you’ll find that there is absolutely no way that you can do it. No matter how hard we try, there is no way we can turn away from “all the sins” we have committed (v21) and keep “all” of God’s decrees (v21), for nobody’s perfect. As much as God does not want us to die and be separated from Him eternally, and as much as we don’t want that either, there is no way we could ever be free of sin by our own strength. What we need is a Saviour who can do what we ourselves can’t do. Praise God for Jesus Christ who lived the perfect life on our behalf and suffered death on the cross for our sins, so that through Jesus Christ we can have eternal life.

These verses also show us repeatedly God’s heart, that while God is just and in His justice needs to punish sin, God takes no pleasure in punishing or destroying anyone for their sin. As verse 32 says, “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” (v32, see also verse 23). Rather God delights in giving people a new start with “a new heart and a new spirit” (v31).