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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, mark out two
roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take, both starting from the same
country. Make a signpost where the road branches off to the city. Mark out one
road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites and another against
Judah and fortified Jerusalem. For the king of Babylon will stop at the fork in
the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He will cast lots
with arrows, he will consult his idols, he will examine the liver.”
“Into his right hand will come the lot for Jerusalem, where
he is to set up battering rams, to give the command to slaughter, to sound the
battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp and to
erect siege works. It will seem like a false omen to those who have sworn
allegiance to him, but he will remind them of their guilt and take them
captive.”
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because
you people have brought to mind your guilt by your open rebellion, revealing
your sins in all that you do—because you have done this, you will be taken
captive.’”
“You profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day has
come, whose time of punishment has reached its climax, this is what the
Sovereign Lord says: ‘Take off the turban, remove the crown. It will not be as
it was: The lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low. A ruin!
A ruin! I will make it a ruin! The crown will not be restored until He to whom
it rightfully belongs shall come; to him I will give it.’”
Ezekiel 21:18-27
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to
God.
What happens when the Lord gets fed up with earthly leaders,
rulers with worldly authority who choose to turn away from God and lead their
people into sin?
In today’s devotion, drawn from the 21st chapter of Ezekiel,
we find the answer as God took action on Old Testament nations who chose to
oppose Him, including the Israelites of Judah. Look again at today’s scripture
passage:
The word of the Lord
came to me: “Son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of
Babylon to take, both starting from the same country. Make a signpost where the
road branches off to the city. Mark out one road for the sword to come against
Rabbah of the Ammonites and another against Judah and fortified Jerusalem. For
the king of Babylon will stop at the fork in the road, at the junction of the
two roads, to seek an omen: He will cast lots with arrows, he will consult his
idols, he will examine the liver.”
“Into his right hand
will come the lot for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering rams, to give
the command to slaughter, to sound the battle cry, to set battering rams
against the gates, to build a ramp and to erect siege works. It will seem like
a false omen to those who have sworn allegiance to him, but he will remind them
of their guilt and take them captive.”
“Therefore this is
what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you people have brought to mind your
guilt by your open rebellion, revealing your sins in all that you do—because
you have done this, you will be taken captive.’”
“You profane and
wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose time of punishment has
reached its climax, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Take off the turban,
remove the crown. It will not be as it was: The lowly will be exalted and the
exalted will be brought low. A ruin! A ruin! I will make it a ruin! The crown
will not be restored until He to whom it rightfully belongs shall come; to him
I will give it.’” Ezekiel 21:18-27
Note we’re way down the road, literally and figuratively, in
regard of God sending judgment on the nations. They had willingly and willfully
chosen to worship pagan gods and idols, despite God’s commands to do otherwise
and His warnings to stop what He labeled “detestable practices”, and so God
took action to address their blatant disobedience and disrespect.
From our study of the Old Testament, we know God sent the
Babylonians forces under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar to carry out His
judgment and as we see in our verses for today, those forces would come to a
place where they could take one of two judgment roads, roads marked out by God’s
prophet, Ezekiel. Going in one direction would lead them to execute God’s
punishment on the Ammonites while the other would take them against Judah and its
fortified city of Jerusalem.
Which path would Nebuchadnezzar take?
Well, God’s word tells us he would stop at the fork in the
road and “seek an omen”, casting lots with arrows, consulting his idols, and
even examining sheep livers to determine which way he should go. God assures
the readers of His word that the lot would fall toward Jerusalem and Judah
where the Babylonians forces would “set battering rams against the gates”, “give
the command to slaughter”, “sound the battle cry”, “build a ramp”, and “erect
siege works”, all in advance of attacking the city and plundering it of its
value before leaving it in smoldering ruins.
Of interest, the Israelites were in an absolute state of
denial. They refused to believe that any assault on them could be successful
because they truly believed they could sin against God openly and still have
His protection. It couldn’t be a more foolish assumption.
For indeed God did bring judgment on His people. If they
wanted to rebel against Him openly and reveal their sinful wickedness in
everything they did, then God would remove His blessing and favor from them
which included taking them away from the holy land He had brought them into.
But note God didn’t stop there because He had some harsh words
for Judah’s leadership.
You’ll recall that a point was reached in the history of God’s
people where they wanted kings instead of judges who were leaders appointed by
God Himself. And so God allowed His people to have kings, most of which chose
to rule in sin and encourage their people to live likewise. Thus instead of
leading the Israelites to a close, intimate relationship with God, a majority
of the kings led them down the road to judgment where, as we have seen in today’s
passage, they finally met up with conquering Babylonians forces, forces who
would have their way with the Israelites as their Assyrian counterparts did
with the northern kingdom of Israel.
So what did God have to say to the Israelite leaders?
Let’s go back to the scriptures:
“You profane and
wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose time of punishment has
reached its climax, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Take off the turban,
remove the crown. It will not be as it was: The lowly will be exalted and the
exalted will be brought low. A ruin! A ruin! I will make it a ruin! The crown
will not be restored until He to whom it rightfully belongs shall come; to him
I will give it.’”
Essentially, the rule of kings was over. Something had to
change and so God removed the crown of royalty from the leaders of His people.
God was destroying all that was and leaving it in ruins, refusing to restore the
crown until the One which it rightfully belonged to came.
Who was God talking about? Who was coming that would be an
authority God could trust with the crown of leadership for His people?
The prophet Isaiah had already given the Israelites a
snapshot of which this would be when He prophesied the following:
For to us a child is
born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He
will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace. Of the greatness of his government
and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his
kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that
time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:6-7
After the attacks of the Assyrians and then the Babylonians,
Israel and Judah were left destroyed and desolate, as lifeless as the faith of
the Israelites who once lived there. Only one leader would be able to breathe
new life into God’s people by showing them the true way to live and the way of
righteousness that God desired. Of course, that leader would be Jesus, the man
who would be known as the King of kings and Lord of lords, the One who would be
the true King that God spoke of.
Today, Jesus still rules over all, given authority over
heaven and earth by God the Father (Matthew 28:18). Anyone who thinks they are
not subject to Him, will soon find themselves disempowered and removed from
reign, like the deposed kings of Israel and Judah and countless leaders after
them who chose to reject and oppose God.
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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