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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, this is what
the Sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel”:
“The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the
land! The end is now upon you, and I will unleash my anger against you. I will
judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable
practices. I will not look on you with pity; I will not spare you. I will
surely repay you for your conduct and for the detestable practices among you. Then
you will know that I am the Lord.”
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“Disaster! Unheard-of disaster! See, it comes! The end has
come! The end has come! It has roused itself against you. See, it comes! Doom
has come upon you, upon you who dwell in the land. The time has come! The day
is near! There is panic, not joy, on the mountains. I am about to pour out My
wrath on you and spend My anger against you. I will judge you according to your
conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. I will not look on you
with pity; I will not spare you. I will repay you for your conduct and for the
detestable practices among you. Then you will know that it is I the Lord who
strikes you.”
“See, the day! See, it comes! Doom has burst forth, the rod
has budded, arrogance has blossomed! Violence has arisen, a rod to punish the
wicked. None of the people will be left, none of that crowd—none of their
wealth, nothing of value. The time has come! The day has arrived! Let not the
buyer rejoice nor the seller grieve, for My wrath is on the whole crowd. The
seller will not recover the property that was sold—as long as both buyer and
seller live. For the vision concerning the whole crowd will not be reversed. Because
of their sins, not one of them will preserve their life.”
“They have blown the trumpet, they have made all things
ready, but no one will go into battle, for My wrath is on the whole crowd. Outside
is the sword; inside are plague and famine. Those in the country will die by
the sword; those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague. The
fugitives who escape will flee to the mountains. Like doves of the valleys, they
will all moan, each for their own sins. Every hand will go limp; every leg will
be wet with urine. They will put on sackcloth and be clothed with terror. Every
face will be covered with shame, and every head will be shaved.”
“They will throw their silver into the streets, and their
gold will be treated as a thing unclean. Their silver and gold will not be able
to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath. It will not satisfy their
hunger or fill their stomachs, for it has caused them to stumble into sin. They
took pride in their beautiful jewelry and used it to make their detestable
idols. They made it into vile images; therefore I will make it a thing unclean
for them. I will give their wealth as plunder to foreigners and as loot to the
wicked of the earth, who will defile it. I will turn My face away from the
people, and robbers will desecrate the place I treasure.
They will enter it and will defile it.”
They will enter it and will defile it.”
“Prepare chains! For the land is full of bloodshed, and the
city is full of violence. I will bring the most wicked of nations to take
possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the mighty, and
their sanctuaries will be desecrated. When terror comes, they will seek peace
in vain. Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumor upon rumor. They will go
searching for a vision from the prophet, priestly instruction in the law will
cease, the counsel of the elders will come to an end. The king will mourn, the
prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land
will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and by their
own standards I will judge them.”
“Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Ezekiel 7
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
God was not happy with His people. Not by
a long shot.
He had devoted Himself fully to them and
had delivered them from harm over and over and over again. No one could question
His commitment to keeping His promises. Yet, despite His dedication to the
Israelites, they were far from dedicated to Him. In fact, as we learned from
reading Ezekiel 6 in yesterday’s devotion, God’s people completely turned away
from Him, choosing to worship false gods and idols instead. They did in spite
of His commandments to not do so.
There was no greater showing of
disrespect the Israelites could have chosen. They dishonored the God they had
every reason to honor, the God they should have honored.
And so God started to take action,
promising to destroy every place the Israelites bowed down to images God
referred to as “detestable” while He was exacting judgment on His people who
had pushed God to the point where He declared that the end had come, an end
that would be remembered through the wrath He poured out on His people.
What did God promise would happen at this
endpoint?
We find the following answers in the
seventh chapter of Ezekiel, the central text for today’s message:
1. His judgment would come unmercifully.
The word of the Lord
came to me: “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to the land of
Israel”:
“The end! The end has
come upon the four corners of the land! The end is now upon you, and I will
unleash my anger against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and
repay you for all your detestable practices. I will not look on you with pity; I
will not spare you. I will surely repay you for your conduct and for the
detestable practices among you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”
The Israelites pushed God to His breaking point. His
patience had run out and He was ready to unleash His anger against His people
who He would judge according to their conduct, sending His consequences as a
response to the Israelites’ “detestable practices” and sinful conduct. Note
that God would have no remorse over the penalties He would impose and would
neither pity nor spare His people. They would receive full repayment for their
sinful actions and when God was done, there would be no doubt that He was the
Lord.
2. Disaster and doom were on the judgment menu.
“This is what the
Sovereign Lord says:
“Disaster! Unheard-of
disaster! See, it comes! The end has come! The end has come! It has roused
itself against you. See, it comes! Doom has come upon you, upon you who dwell
in the land. The time has come! The day is near! There is panic, not joy, on
the mountains. I am about to pour out My wrath on you and spend My anger
against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all
your detestable practices. I will not look on you with pity; I will not spare
you. I will repay you for your conduct and for the detestable practices among
you. Then you will know that it is I the Lord who strikes you.”
God promised unheard of disaster on His people and it came
in full measure as the kingdom of Judah and its beloved, holy city of Jerusalem
were attacked and left in ruins by the Babylonians forces under the command of
King Nebuchadnezzar. The onslaught was so severe that mass panic set in among
the people who found themselves helpless against their assailants. And just so
the people wouldn’t lose sight of who was sanctioning their punishment, the
Lord reminded them that it was He who was striking them. He was just using the
Babylonians as instruments of His judgment.
3. Severe violence and loss would happen.
“See, the day! See,
it comes! Doom has burst forth, the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed! Violence
has arisen, a rod to punish the wicked. None of the people will be left, none
of that crowd—none of their wealth, nothing of value. The time has come! The
day has arrived! Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller grieve, for My wrath
is on the whole crowd. The seller will not recover the property that was sold—as
long as both buyer and seller live. For the vision concerning the whole crowd will
not be reversed. Because of their sins, not one of them will preserve their
life.”
As God’s patience ran out and He pronounced the end was
near, He caused violence to rise up against His people as the Babylonians brought
doom and destruction to Judah. But note that they did more than just tear
everything up. They also stripped the kingdom bare, hauling away anything of
worth that the Israelites owned. Nothing of value was left behind as God’s
wrath came upon all the Israelites, no matter their role or place in society.
The people would lose everything they had, their entire livelihood, before
being taken into exile.
4. Everyone would face death or despair.
“They have blown the
trumpet, they have made all things ready, but no one will go into battle, for My
wrath is on the whole crowd. Outside is the sword; inside are plague and
famine. Those in the country will die by the sword; those in the city will be
devoured by famine and plague. The fugitives who escape will flee to the
mountains. Like doves of the valleys, they will all moan, each for their own
sins. Every hand will go limp; every leg will be wet with urine. They will put
on sackcloth and be clothed with terror. Every face will be covered with shame,
and every head will be shaved.”
The Israelites, once able to ward off any danger because they
had God on their side, now found themselves helpless and vulnerable. And it
didn’t matter where they abided.
The people of God who lived in the country would die by the
sword while those who may have believed they were safe within the walls of
Jerusalem found themselves “devoured by famine and plague”. Anyone who was
fortunate to escape would be running to nowhere essentially. As God suggests
through His prophet, they would most probably head to the mountains but what
would they have there? They still would have left everything they had behind to
spare their lives and would be relegated to putting on sackcloth, shaving, and
living with the shame of their sins.
5. Wealth would not spare the people from starving.
“They will throw
their silver into the streets, and their gold will be treated as a thing
unclean. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of
the Lord’s wrath. It will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs, for
it has caused them to stumble into sin. They took pride in their beautiful
jewelry and used it to make their detestable idols. They made it into vile
images; therefore I will make it a thing unclean for them. I will give their
wealth as plunder to foreigners and as loot to the wicked of the earth, who
will defile it. I will turn My face away from the people, and robbers will
desecrate the place I treasure. They will enter it and will defile it.”
The Israelites had wealth but none of it would be worth
anything anymore after God’s judgment. The people would suffer a great famine
and neither silver nor gold would nourish them. You see, it was the misuse of
the silver and gold that got the Israelites in trouble in the first place. They
had melted it down to make the detestable idols they chose to worship over God.
The people used their wealth to form vile images, defiling the precious gifts
God had provided them, so God promised that the wealth would be worthless
because it caused them to stumble into sin.
6. The wicked would come to exact judgment on the wicked.
“Prepare chains! For
the land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of violence. I will bring
the most wicked of nations to take possession of their houses. I will put an
end to the pride of the mighty, and their sanctuaries will be desecrated. When
terror comes, they will seek peace in vain. Calamity upon calamity will come, and
rumor upon rumor. They will go searching for a vision from the prophet, priestly
instruction in the law will cease, the counsel of the elders will come to an
end. The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the
hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according
to their conduct, and by their own standards I will judge them.”
“Then they will know
that I am the Lord.”
It wasn’t that the Babylonians were any
less sinful than the Israelites. They were even worse actually and as we know
from history, they experienced God’s judgment themselves as the mighty empire of
Babylon fell to the Persians.
But before that, the Babylonians had
their way with the Israelites and God allowed all of it to occur. What was once
a sacred land was full of bloodshed and the divine city of Jerusalem a hotbed
for violence. Even the sanctuaries were desecrated, looted, and then
demolished. God systematically removed the peace from His people and sucked away
their pride. They would consult their false prophets and get no useful counsel.
Everyone would be at a loss as to what to do, even the king who scripture tells
us would be left in mourning along with the princes who were in despair.
And to cap off His judgment, God would
have His people suffer the ultimate humiliation, hauled away into captivity in a
foreign land for seventy years. Indeed, the end had come to life as the
Israelites had known it.
Yes, the end was not pretty for God’s
people when it came back in the days of Judah and it’s not going to be pretty
when Jesus returns either. For we have been given an assurance through the word
of God that another end is coming, an end when everything as we know it today
will be no more. Look at these words from the Book of Revelation:
Then
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth
had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully
dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with
them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their
God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or
mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He
who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Revelation
21:1-5a
When Jesus returns, He is coming back to
judge the world and all those who placed their belief and trust in Him will be
taken by Him to be the first residents of the New Jerusalem on the new earth
and under the new heavens that will come to be as God makes all things new. For
them it will the best day ever, the day when they realized and experienced the
promise of eternal life come to pass.
Meanwhile, for those who chose to not
accept Jesus as Savior, well, the end will truly come for them. They will
perish with the old heaven and earth, never to be seen again. They could have
had salvation but instead they chose utter annihilation. It will be their worst
day ever by far.
So with this, one question comes to mind,
one we had all better consider carefully given what we know is coming in regard
to God’s final judgment through His Son Jesus:
What will happen to you when the end
comes?
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
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