20 His beautiful ornament they used for pride, and they made their abominable images and their detestable things of it. Therefore I make it an unclean thing to them. 21 And I will give it into the hands of foreigners for prey, and to the wicked of the earth for spoil, and they shall profane it. 22 I will turn my face from them, and they shall profane my treasured place. Robbers shall enter and profane it.
23 “Forge a chain! For the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence. 24 I will bring the worst of the nations to take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the strong, and their holy places shall be profaned. 25 When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there shall be none. 26 Disaster comes upon disaster; rumor follows rumor. They seek a vision from the prophet, while the law perishes from the priest and counsel from the elders. 27 The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.”
REFLECTION:
God gave people gold, silver and all kinds of gorgeous materials, but people used them to make idols. The resources God gives us should be used to do God’s work and carry out God’s will. Sometimes, like the Israelites back then, we often use them to show our own glory and satisfy our desires. When we abuse God’s gifts or selfishly use resources, we lose the true purpose of worshiping God and are as proud and short-sighted as idolaters. The people of Jerusalem are very proud of their buildings, and the temple itself has become their proud capital. After the evil and unbelieving Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the Holy Land, this pride was completely shattered. Reflect what desires I have today has turned into my idol. What capital do I have become a source of my pride? May God destroy our idols, stop our pride, and keep us from falling into the situation of the Israelites.
PRAYER:
Pray for the church, asking God to make the church conform to God’s will in all its ministries, without mixing people’s desires, not promoting human pride, not robbing God’s glory, especially not creating all kinds of tangible and intangible idols; Pray that God will enable you to have a deeper understanding of holiness in the church ministry you participate in, and be willing to live a more holy life.
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, 3 and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. 5 And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you dwell, the cities shall be waste and the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined, your idols broken and destroyed, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. 7 And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
REFLECTION:
Chapters 6 to 7 use two messages to prophesy the fate of Israel. This chapter is the first message, declaring that God will attack the idol-worshiping people. At that time, there were high places for worshipping Baal everywhere in the “mountains and hills” of Israel, and the “ravines and valleys” also became places of abominable idolatry rituals. The people offered children to Molech in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom (cf. Jer. 32: 35). Therefore, God declared that He would attack the “mountains of Israel” and cleanse the defiled Promised Land. The cleansing work that God did with the “sword” was exactly what He did when He commanded the Israelites to enter Canaan: “destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places.” (Num. 33:52). But now the people who use the sword are not the people of God, but the army of Babylon; it is not the Canaanites who are destroyed, but the Israelites. What a huge irony and a bitter lesson. “Yahweh” is a self-revelation name when God makes a covenant with the people. Now, the people do not have the position of the covenant God in their hearts. Therefore, the covenant God allows the people to be killed in front of the idols they worship, so that they know that idols are vanity; and the rebellious people know to fear God only after they experience the discipline themselves. Today, if we call ourselves children of God but do not have the place of God in our hearts, God will also give us severe lessons to let us know that He is Yahweh, a jealous God, and our lifelong trust.
PRAYER:
Come to God in awe and ask God to enlighten you and examine your heart, so that you can see what position God occupies in your heart today. Do you still have the influence of various idols in your heart that have not been cleaned up? Pray for God to purify you so that you will only respect the Lord in your heart, obey God’s will throughout your life, and behave in accordance with God’s will.
1 “And you, O son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it as a barber’s razor and pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. 2 A third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. And a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will unsheathe the sword after them. 3 And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. 4 And of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.
5 “Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6 And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. 7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, and have not even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, 8 therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. 9 And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. 10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds.
REFLECTION:
Shaving one’s hair and beard represents grief, humiliation or repentance. God asked Ezekiel to shave off his hair and beard and divide them into three parts, symbolizing that something important will happen to the people in Jerusalem. In addition to the verbal prophecy, God also asked Ezekiel to use dramatic behaviour to attract the attention of the people, and imprint an indelible impression on their hearts. During the Republic of China, when Brother John Sung preached the gospel, he put a real coffin on the podium, jumped in and out by himself, symbolizing death from sin and resurrection from the Lord, and it also left a great impression on the people at that time. The deep impression made them feel more real about the Lord’s salvation. Ezekiel put a few hairs into the skirt of his clothes, symbolizing that God wants to protect a small number of faithful people. But even among these people, some will be judged and destroyed because of their insincere faith. Reflect if we can stand up in the coming judgment. Matthew 7:22-23 warns that many people who think they are safe are not protected. It is essential that we make sure that our commitment to God comes from our spirit and honesty. In addition, just as God asked Ezekiel and Brother John Sung to convey God’s message in a creative way, today we can also creatively preach the good news about God to this generation of lost people and save more lost souls.
PRAYER:
Pray for God to examine your heart and give you more obedience, so that you can sincerely follow the Lord every day; pray for God to give you wisdom so that you can use impressive and creative methods to preach the gospel; especially pray for a friend or relative who have not believed in the Lord for a long time, ask God to lead you to share the gospel message to him/her in a more targeted way.
