FOR THE SAKE OF HIS HOLY NAME

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.’”

Ezekiel 36:22-23

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s devotion, we saw a case of good news, bad news when it came to the plight of the Israelites.

On one hand, they had sinned against God on many levels which included the worshiping of false gods and idols, something God labeled as “detestable practices”. Surely, the actions of God’s people sent a message that they neither respected Him nor had any regard for Him as their Maker and Master. They openly and willfully profaned His holy name by rejecting Him and pursuing their own desires.

And so God did something about it. He sent His judgment on His people, first those in the northern kingdom of Israel who were attacked and decimated by the Assyrians, and then the people of the southern kingdom of Judah and its hallowed city of Jerusalem who were ransacked and destroyed by the Babylonians. The entire nation, whether north or south, was plundered and left in ruins. Even God’s holy temple in Jerusalem was demolished but not before He had removed His presence from it, symbolically representing He had withdrawn His favor from His people. As for the people, they were hauled away into a seventy-year captivity in Babylon, seventy years of enslavement and oppression at the hands of their enemies.  

That’s a lot of bad news.

So where is the good?

We saw that in yesterday’s devotion as God assured His people that a day was coming when they would return home and get to rebuild their homes, their lives, and their relationship with Him. And we know for a fact that this happened after the seventy-year exile when the Persians defeated the Babylonians and the Persian King Cyrus allowed the Israelites to return to their homeland. You can read all about it in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, another great account of God’s deliverance and restoration of His people.

It’s important for us to recap this “good news, bad news” story because it serves as a backdrop for today’s scripture as we continue our study of Ezekiel 36. Read these verses again here:

“Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.’”  Ezekiel 36:22-23

Note a couple of key points here.

The first is that the actions of the Israelites did not serve to bring honor to the name of the Lord. Not even close. Rather, their behavior served as a mockery of everything righteous that God stood for, something they did in plain sight of all the other nations who knew of them. This leads to the second point.

For when God brought His punishment on the Israelites, it was not just a matter of correcting them and teaching a lesson. It was an action taken for the sake of His holy name. God needed to reestablish His supremacy and show all other countries that He was still the Almighty Author and Authority over all creation and even His own people would be subject to the severest of consequences if they violated His word, will, and way.

Indeed, the nations would once again be reminded that the Sovereign God was the Holy Lord of lords and no one would get away with standing against Him in opposition or sinfulness.

Friends, we had better be paying close attention to what the Lord is saying to us today. For in the end translation, He is reminding us where our focus is to be and it’s not on ourselves. Rather, we are to fix our life’s attention on Him and Him alone, seeking to magnify and glorify His holy name in everything we do. Our lives are to be dedicated to the sake of supporting and upholding His holy name.

God expects us to not repeat the mistakes of the Old Testament Israelites of Ezekiel’s day. That one reason He has given us His Holy Word and the power of His Holy Spirit, so we could learn from the sins of those who have gone before us. We can show the Lord we have learned something if we commit ourselves to not profaning His holy name but rather uplifting and honoring it in everything we do.

It’s an obligation we need to take seriously through every day the Lord blesses us with.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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