The Bible says in Ezekiel 19:13-14, And now she
is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.[14] And fire
is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that
she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This
is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. The key word
in verse 13 is the word now. If you are not right with the Lord Jesus in your
heart, every day you are one day closer to judgment; and some day you will wake
up and it will be your last day and you will be facing the day of your
judgment. It says in Hebrews 9:27, And as
it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Israel had fallen from where she once was. That is what
it is talking about in verse 14 where it says, she hath no
strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. Man failed. Man ruined the opportunity that God had
given. Such is the history of the human race. But God will not fail. The Ruler
shall come out of Israel. His name is Jesus.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 20:1-4, And it came
to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month,
that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat
before me.[2] Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,[3]
Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to inquire of me? As I
live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of
by you.[4] Wilt thou judge them, son of man,
wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the
abominations of their fathers: The elders came to the Lord, but
there was a problem. We must come to the Lord humbly recognizing our sins. The
sin problem must be resolved first and then we can come into fellowship with
God. Until the sin problem is resolved, we are at enmity with God. What
fellowship can exist between sinfulness and holiness? It says in Romans 5:1, Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You have
to get justified by trusting in Christ to save you from your sins. Once that
born again experience happens, then and only then you have peace with God. Many
people claim to believe in God, but they are not right with Him if they have
never repented of their sins.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 20:5-6, And say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I
chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and
made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand
unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;[6] In the day that I lifted
up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land
that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of
all lands: In these verses God is reminding Israel of some of the
things that He did for them. God chose Israel. When you came to Christ, God
chose you. You did not choose Him. He came to you. He convicted you of your
sins. He invited you to Christ. God said that He made myself known unto them in
the land of Egypt. True Christianity is not a
religion. It is a relationship with God. It is knowing
God. When you come to know Christ personally as your Savior, then you are a
true Christian. God is a God who hides Himself. Therefore, if He has revealed
Himself to you, you have been the beneficiary of a great blessing.
In verse 6 God reminded Israel that He
brought them forth of the land of Egypt. The Israelites were slaves in
Egypt. They were not free to live their lives the way they chose. They were
slaves. In a similar way anyone who is not saved by faith in Christ is a slave
to the world around them. They are slaves to the ideas, the teachings, the
entertainments, the pleasures, and the attitudes of the world around them. How
will they get saved from that? They will not get saved unless Jesus saves them.
Jesus is their only hope. Not only did God save them from Egypt, but God also
gave them a much better place to live: a land flowing with milk and honey. It
always works this way. If you go with God, you will end up in a much better
place than where the world will take you. It is one of the countless benefits
of being a Christian: Jesus will give you a much better life than you can ever
have without Him. Jesus said, I am come that they might have life, and that
they might have it more abundantly. You will not be able to reach your
potential without Jesus. You will not have the moral foundation that you need
in this crazy world without Jesus. You will not become the person that you were
meant to be without Jesus. If you let Jesus save you from the world and from
your sins, He will have a wonderful plan for your life.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 20:7-8, Then said I
unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and
defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.[8]
But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every
man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the
idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them to accomplish my
anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
Gods message of the need to repent is to every
man. That is because everyone is a sinner. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. God calls everyone to repent of their sins and turn to
Jesus. That is what is meant in John 1:9 when it says about Jesus, That was the true Light, which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world. Human
nature does not change. In the face of this call from God, what do people do? Today
they do about the same as they did 2500 years ago during the time of Ezekiel.
It says in verse 8, But they rebelled
against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the
abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. What will be the final result of such a terrible decision
to turn away from God? There can be only one result: judgment. And so God says
at the end of verse 8, I will pour out my
fury upon them to accomplish my anger against them. Hell will last forever.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 20:9-12, But I
wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen,
among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing
them forth out of the land of Egypt.[10] Wherefore I caused them to go
forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.[11]
And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do,
he shall even live in them.[12] Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might
know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. But before Gods
judgment came, there was a time of blessing and patience and God continuing to
woo them. God is slow to anger. There are things more important to God than
taking vengeance. For one thing: the honor of His name. That is what He says in
verse 9, But I wrought for my name's sake. God saved them out of Egypt, and God gave them His Word.
That is the same thing that He does for Christians. When a person trusts in
Jesus as Savior, we are saved from our sins and the blindness of the world, and
then we have the Word of God to be a light to our path and a lamp to our feet.
If you want to understand the true
meaning of the Sabbath, then you need to understand verse 12, Moreover also
I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and
them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify
them. First notice that it says sabbaths
in the plural. Saturday was not the only Sabbath. That was the weekly
Sabbath, but there were also other Sabbath days throughout the year. Those who
think they are obeying the Sabbath by their use of Sunday: they are not. The
symbolic meaning of the Sabbath day was its most important purpose. That is why
it says in Exodus, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. It is
important to think about the Sabbath day and what it really meant. The
Sabbath means rest. Jesus is our Sabbath. When we enter into Jesus
spiritually speaking, we enter into our rest. We cease from our own labors and
we rest in Christ. That is the real Sabbath that Christians have. Jesus is our
Sabbath. In Ezekiel 20:12 God tells them that He gave them the Sabbath that they
might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. The main reason for the Sabbath
was to teach something. God wanted the people to know something about Him, and
He wanted them to learn it by thinking about the Sabbath and what it means. The
Sabbath is all about rest: ceasing from work. The Lord sanctifies us. That
means that the Lord makes us holy. He says that we are holy even though we are
not holy by our own actions, deeds, or works. Therefore, we cease from our
works as far as trying to be sanctified by those works. That is what the
Sabbath really means.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 20:13-20, But the
house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my
statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live
in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then
I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.[14]
But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the
heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.[15] Yet also I lifted up my
hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land
which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all
lands;[16] Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my
statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart
went after their idols.[17] Nevertheless mine eye spared them from
destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.[18]
But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes
of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with
their idols:[19] I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep
my judgments, and do them;[20] And hallow my sabbaths;
and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the
LORD your God. In verse 13 God points out that the children of Israel
had already gone bad even before they came into the
promised land. That was hundreds of years before Ezekiels time. And then God
says in verse 14 why He did not destroy Israel back then even though they
deserved it: But I wrought for my name's
sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I
brought them out. God did not want to destroy
His people because evidently God did not want people to be able to say
something like this: Wow, look what God did to His
own people. But as hundreds of years went by, and the people of Israel became
more and more evil, God had no choice. God would have been more than justified
to destroy them back when they were in the wilderness of Sinai, but He did not.
God is always like that: slow to anger, and slow to bring judgment upon the
wicked. Jesus does not want anyone to perish, but to come to repentance and
find forgiveness of sins.
Verse 18 is an interesting verse. God
said to the little children, But I said unto their children in the
wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their
judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: If you come
from a family where your parents did not live for God and did not serve Jesus, you
did not have to be like them. Learn from their mistakes. You do not have to
follow their pattern. The parents have already made their choices. But the
children have their whole life before them. It is easier to reach children than
adults with the gospel because children have not yet made their spiritual
decisions and have not yet hardened their hearts. Jesus loves children. The
earlier that someone gives their heart to Christ, the better. But until you
die, you still have a chance to turn to Jesus, believe in Him, and start
following Him. Bow down before Christ and trust in Him while you can.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2016 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved