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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.
“Suppose he has a violent son, who sheds blood or does any
of these other things (though the father has done none of
them):”
“He eats at the mountain shrines. He defiles his neighbor’s
wife. He oppresses the poor and needy. He commits robbery. He does not return
what he took in pledge. He looks to the idols. He does detestable things. He
lends at interest and takes a profit.”
“Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all
these detestable things, he is to be put to death; his blood will be on his own
head.”
Ezekiel 18:10-13
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Yesterday, God gave us a glimpse into what the actions of a righteous
person might look like and as we see today, He didn’t stop there as we continue
to study the 18th chapter of Ezekiel. For in today’s scripture passage, God
turns His attention to the wicked and shows us the kind of person none of us
should want to be. Look at His words again here:
“Suppose he has a
violent son, who sheds blood or does any of these other things (though
the father has done none of them):”
“He eats at the
mountain shrines. He defiles his neighbor’s wife. He oppresses the poor and
needy. He commits robbery. He does not return what he took in pledge. He looks
to the idols. He does detestable things. He lends at interest and takes a
profit.”
“Will such a man
live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he is to be
put to death; his blood will be on his own head.” Ezekiel 18:10-13
You’ll remember at the beginning of this chapter, God made
it clear that everyone is responsible for their own actions and will be
corrected accordingly. Thus, it would be a foolish for any person to claim they
were being punished for actions committed by their parents for God made it
clear that every one of His children would be held accountable for what they
have done.
I bring this back up because God again makes an emphasis
that a parent can have a child who resorts to all kind of wicked actions, even
though the parent hadn’t engaged in any of those actions before. The wicked son
in this instance is representative of anyone who might choose wickedness over
righteousness. In fact, God could be speaking about any one of us. All He would
have to do is modify the indictments to match our sinful deeds.
So what did wickedness look like in the way the son lived?
God broke it down to us, itemizing each point of evil
committed. They included:
1. Eating at mountain
shrines and looking to idols.
Idolatry was the number one reason the Israelites had fallen
out of favor with God. He had commanded them to have no other gods before Him
but they chose to ignore His decree and so what they wanted to do. They turned
their devotion toward false gods and idols, abandoning God and so He sent them
away into exile so they could find out just hard life would be without the God
who had provided for their every need.
And so the first major indicator that a person has chosen
wickedness over righteousness is found in their turning away from God to
worship the things of the world or their own desires.
2. Defiling his
neighbor’s wife.
The order to not worship other gods was not the only
commandment God had given His people. He also had ordered them to never commit
adultery. Thus, it should be of little surprise that anyone who would have an
affair with their neighbor’s wife, defiling her in the process, would be placed
in the wicked category.
3. Oppressing the
poor and needy.
God sees all His children as equal. There is no ranking or
hierarchy or favoritism by status or stature. So if God sees everyone this way,
then He expects His people to do the same and treat everyone with equity and
fairness. This includes ensuring everyone is cared for, especially the poor and
needy. Neglect the needs of the less fortunate and even create situations where
they are downgraded and degraded more in society and you will be viewed as an
instrument of wickedness in God’s sight.
4. Committing robbery.
On the surface, most of us might think we get a free pass on
this one. After all, not everyone has stolen something, right? But what if we
expand the idea of robbery beyond the breaking in/taking or holdup and steal or
shoplift variety? What about the times we take another’s idea or claim someone
else thought as our own? How about the times someone has taken away someone
else’s boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse from another? Are these not acts that
could be considered robbery as well?
It’s definitely food for thought but the bottom line is that
God does not want us to take anything from anyone that is not rightfully ours.
To do such a thing is nothing short of wickedness.
5. Not returning what
he took in pledge or lending at interest and taking a profit.
.
We looked at this a little in yesterday’s devotion and it’s
more the latter than the former that we might engage in today. For note that
the Lord does not want for anyone to lend with interest involved or to take a
profit. Makes you wonder how the Lord sees the banks and financing companies of
today because there is no doubt they seek to profit off the business of lending
people money, something the Lord calls out as wickedness.
6. Doing detestable
things.
This final point pretty much sums up the five that preceded
it and any others the Lord might have added. For if you look up the word “detestable”,
here’s what you find:
Deserving intense dislike, loathsome, despicable, disgusting,
distasteful, horrible, awful, or reprehensible.
In other words, detestable things are not good works and
certainly not actions or behaviors that the Lord favors. In fact, you could
actually replace the word “detestable” with the word “wicked” and not lose any
meaning from the point the Lord is making.
So where does your life measure up when the Lord looks at
it?
Does it look like a life defined by righteousness as we saw
in yesterday’s devotion or does it represent wickedness, a life punctuated by
sin committed willfully and willingly in plain sight of God?
If you are in the latter category, I would recommend you
turn from your wickedness and return to the righteousness He expects you to
live by because in the closing verse in today’s passage, God provides the following
warning:
“Will such a man
live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he is to be
put to death; his blood will be on his own head.”
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
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