{"id":10555,"date":"2020-07-30T20:00:33","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T03:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=10555"},"modified":"2020-07-26T19:13:48","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T02:13:48","slug":"ezekiel-20_1-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ezekiel-20_1-29\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebellious Israel Purged"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ezekiel 20:1-29\u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ezekiel 20:1-29.\u00a0 There are many lessons we can learn from this passage.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ezekiel 20:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the seventh year, in the fifth month on the tenth day, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the\u00a0LORD, and they sat down in front of me.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to me:
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: Have you come to inquire of me? As surely as I live, I will not let you inquire of me, declares the Sovereign\u00a0LORD.’<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-3:\u00a0 According to many scholars, the date Ezekiel describes in verse 1 can be equated to sometime in August 591 B.C.\u00a0 At that time some elders of Israel come to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord.\u00a0 However, the Lord tells Ezekiel that He refuses to let the elders inquire of Him (v3).<\/p>\n

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\u2019s because of the Israelites\u2019 tendency to rebel against what God says.\u00a0 Why would God bother telling the Israelites what they should do when the Israelites would refuse to do it?<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s no use trying to inquire of God when we are simultaneously worshiping other gods or hanging onto our own agenda.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0So whenever you inquire of God, first take a moment to search your heart.\u00a0 Repent of any sins that you struggle with, lay down your own agenda and commit yourself to doing what God says even before He tells you what He wants you to do.\u00a0 By taking these steps first, you position your heart to hear much more easily from God.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(For a similar scene, see Ezekiel 14:1-11.)<\/p>\n

Ezekiel 20:4-10 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Will you judge them? Will you judge them, son of man? Then confront them with the detestable practices of their fathers
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: On the day I chose Israel, I swore with uplifted hand to the descendants of the house of Jacob and revealed myself to them in Egypt. With uplifted hand I said to them, “I am the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God.”
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of Egypt into a land I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And I said to them, “Each of you, get rid of the vile images you have set your eyes on, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God.”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘But they rebelled against me and would not listen to me; they did not get rid of the vile images they had set their eyes on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in Egypt.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations they lived among and in whose sight I had revealed myself to the Israelites by bringing them out of Egypt.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore I led them out of Egypt and brought them into the desert.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 4-10:\u00a0 When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, this was God showing tremendous mercy and undeserved grace to a people prone to rebelling against Him.\u00a0 God had every right to abandon the Israelites because of their rebellion and unbelief, but for the sake of His name, so as not to let His name be defamed among the nations, He still led the Israelites out of Egypt, despite their rebellious tendencies.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Here are two lessons I learn:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Just as the Israelites were rescued out of slavery in Egypt not because of their own merit and goodness but because of God\u2019s mercy and grace, so God rescued us from slavery to sin not because we deserved it but because of God\u2019s mercy and grace.\u00a0 \u201cIt is by grace we have been saved, through faith, and this not from ourselves; it is the gift of God.\u201d (Ephesians 2:8)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. One of the key repeated phrases in Ezekiel 20 is \u201cfor the sake of my name\u201d (see verses 9, 14 and 22).\u00a0 The fact that God would still lead the rebellious Israelites out of Egypt \u201cfor the sake of my name\u201d (v9) shows us that\u00a0God cares about how His name is treated.\u00a0 That is because God\u2019s name is also a reflection of God\u2019s character, so God will go out of His way to uphold His name and reputation<\/strong>.Psalm 138:2 says \u201c[Y]ou have exalted above all things\u00a0your<\/em>\u00a0name<\/em>\u00a0and your word.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, God places the highest value on His name and His word.\u00a0 He is grieved when His name or His Word are brought into disrepute.\u00a0 \u00a0That is why when God gave Moses the ten commandments, He said, \u201cYou shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name.\u201d (Exodus 20:7)How careful are you to uphold the worth of God\u2019s name?\u00a0 Do you misuse God\u2019s name?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s for this reason that, for example, I would urge you not to say, \u201cOh my God\u201d unless you\u2019re actually praying\u00a0to\u00a0<\/em>God.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t use God\u2019s name in vain.\u00a0 Rather, hold the name of God in high regard.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Ezekiel 20:11 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
      \n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I gave them my decrees and made known to them my laws, for the man who obeys them will\u00a0live\u00a0by them.<\/em><\/p>\n

      On verse 11:\u00a0 A good parent does not lay down rules for their child simply for the sake of rules, but to protect and train their child so that the child can ultimately grow up to live life to the fullest.\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0why does God give us His decrees and make known to us His laws?\u00a0 It\u2019s not to condemn us, to kill our joy or to cap our happiness.\u00a0 Rather, God gives us His commands so that we would be able to live life to its fullest<\/strong>, so that \u201cthe man who obeys them will\u00a0live\u00a0<\/em>by them\u201d.\u00a0 As Jesus says in John 10:10, \u201cI have come that they may have life, and life to the full.\u201d\u00a0 God\u2019s commands are not prison bars that ruin your life but are more like guardrails on a highway that protect your life.<\/p>\n

      Ezekiel 20:12 (NIV)<\/strong>
      \n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the\u00a0LORD\u00a0made them holy.
      \n<\/em>
      \nOn verse 12:\u00a0 What was the purpose of God commanding the Israelites to take a Sabbath day and rest from their work (Exodus 20:8-11)?\u00a0 It was to remind the Israelites that it is God\u2019s grace, not their work, that brings them near to God and enables them to enjoy His presence.\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0may you rest in the finished work that Jesus Christ completed on the cross to bring you to God, instead of relying on your own continual and imperfect effort to please God<\/strong>.\u00a0 Also,\u00a0may you learn to incorporate regular rest into your work schedule<\/strong>\u00a0so that you can be refreshed by, and reminded of, God\u2019s grace in your life.<\/p>\n

      Ezekiel 20:13-17 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
      \n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Yet the people of Israel rebelled against me in the desert. They did not follow my decrees but rejected my laws–although the man who obeys them will live by them–and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and destroy them in the desert.
      \n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But for the sake of my name<\/strong>\u00a0I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
      \n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would not bring them into the land I had given them–a land flowing with milk and honey, most beautiful of all lands–
      \n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths. For their hearts were devoted to their idols.
      \n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Yet I looked on them with pity<\/strong>\u00a0and did not destroy them or put an end to them in the desert.<\/em><\/p>\n

      On verses 13-17:\u00a0 Here the Lord speaks of how the Israelites continued to rebel against Him even after He had rescued them from slavery in Egypt.\u00a0 Their rebellion came in the form of refusing to obey God\u2019s commands, refusing to honour His designated Sabbath days, and devoting their hearts to idols (v16).\u00a0 Yet for two reasons \u2013 \u201cfor the sake of my name\u201d (v14) and because God had pity or compassion on the Israelites (v17) \u2013 God did not put an end to the Israelites in the desert on their way to the promised land.\u00a0 Rather, God spared the next generation of Israelites and promised to take them, if not their parents, to the promised land.<\/p>\n

      Likewise, when God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins, God did it for two reasons: (1) to uphold the trustworthiness of His name; and (2) out of compassion for you and me.<\/p>\n

      Ezekiel 20:18-20 (NIV)<\/strong>
      \n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I said to their children in the desert, “Do not follow the statutes of your fathers or keep their laws or defile yourselves with their idols.
      \n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I am the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God; follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
      \n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God.”<\/em><\/p>\n

      On verses 18-20:\u00a0 Notice that God tells the next generation of Israelites in the desert, \u201cDo not follow the statutes\u00a0of<\/em>\u00a0your fathers<\/em>\u00a0or keep\u00a0their\u00a0<\/em>laws or defile yourselves with\u00a0their\u00a0<\/em>idols\u201d (v18).\u00a0 Instead, He tells them to \u201cfollow\u00a0my\u00a0<\/em>decrees and be careful to keep\u00a0my\u00a0<\/em>laws\u201d (v19) and \u201ckeep\u00a0my\u00a0<\/em>Sabbaths holy\u201d (v20).\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0each of us needs to choose\u00a0whose<\/em>\u00a0laws we are going to follow: we can insist on following\u00a0our\u00a0<\/em>laws<\/strong>\u00a0(\u201cI am my own king.\u00a0 My body belongs to me, not God. I\u2019ll do whatever I feel like and whatever I want.\u00a0 I am my own law\u201d).\u00a0Or we can follow God\u2019s laws.<\/strong>\u00a0 We can worship\u00a0our<\/em>\u00a0idols, or we can worship God.\u00a0 Of course, the consequences of doing one or the other are huge.\u00a0 May we be careful to follow God\u2019s Word and not just our own made up laws.<\/p>\n

      Ezekiel 20:21-24 (NIV)<\/strong>
      \n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘But the children rebelled against me: They did not follow my decrees, they were not careful to keep my laws–although the man who obeys them will live by them–and they desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in the desert.
      \n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But I withheld my hand, and\u00a0for the sake of my name<\/strong>\u00a0I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
      \n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries,
      \n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0because they had not obeyed my laws but had rejected my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes [lusted] after their fathers’ idols.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

      On verses 21-24:\u00a0 Sadly, the next generation of Israelites followed in their fathers\u2019 footsteps.\u00a0 They rebelled against God just as much as their fathers did, even while God was trying to lead them to the promised land.\u00a0 But once again, for the sake of His name (v22) the Lord did not destroy them, but showed them great mercy, warning them that they would be dispersed and scattered among the nations if they continued in their rebellion (v23-24).<\/p>\n

      Ezekiel 20:25-26 (NIV)<\/strong>
      \n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and laws they could not live by;
      \n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I let them become defiled through their gifts–the sacrifice of every firstborn–that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the\u00a0LORD.’<\/em><\/p>\n

      On verses 25-26:\u00a0 One reason God allows people to sin and to reject Him is because God wants people to choose to love Him, as an act of their will.\u00a0 But here we learn another reason why God allows people to sin: it is so that hopefully people will realize that their own ways do not lead to life, that their ways are like \u201claws they could not live by\u201d (v25) and that life God\u2019s way is so much better than life our way.<\/p>\n

      Ezekiel 20:27-29 (NIV)<\/strong>
      \n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Therefore, son of man, speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: In this also your fathers blasphemed me by forsaking me:
      \n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When I brought them into the land I had sworn to give them and they saw any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, made offerings that provoked me to anger, presented their fragrant incense and poured out their drink offerings.
      \n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then I said to them: What is this high place you go to?'” (It is called Bamah to this day.)<\/em><\/p>\n

      On verses 27-29:\u00a0 Here God describes how the Israelites\u2019 pattern of rebellion continued into their time in the promised land, as they used the land God had given them to offer sacrifices to idols (v28).<\/p>\n

      Notice that in every environment where the Israelites lived, whether as slaves in Egypt or as pilgrims in the desert or as residents of the promised land itself, the Israelites\u2019 sinful, idolatrous tendencies reared their ugly head.\u00a0 It goes to show that\u00a0our tendency to sin cannot be fully removed just by changing our environment.\u00a0 What we need is a change of heart<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0That is why in the book of Ezekiel God no longer promises the Israelites a new environment, but a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 11:19)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

      God does the same for us. When we were prone to sin against God no matter where we are, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for all of our sins past, present and future.\u00a0 He also sent us His Holy Spirit to give us a new heart and a new spirit.\u00a0 Praise God that in Jesus Christ we are a new creation, empowered by God to live the life He calls us to live.<\/p>\n

      Heavenly Father, please forgive me for the times when I have misused Your name, not being careful to treat Your name with the highest honour.\u00a0 For You have exalted above all things Your name and Your Word (Psalm 138:2).\u00a0 Thank You that when my work was not enough to qualify me for heaven, when a new environment couldn\u2019t change the old sinner in me, You sent Your son Jesus Christ to do a work that I could not do, and usher in a change that a change of environment could never bring, a change that is from the inside out.\u00a0 Holy Spirit, fill me today.\u00a0 May I hold Your name in the highest regard.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

      Today\u2019s passage is Ezekiel 20:1-29. There are many lessons we can learn from this passage. Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

      Ezekiel 20:1-3 (NIV)
      \n1 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.
      \n2 Then the word of the LORD came to me:
      \n3 “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.’<\/p>\n

      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).<\/p>\n

      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\u2019s because of the Israelites\u2019 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?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10555"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10558,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10555\/revisions\/10558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}