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Ezekiel 14 (ESV)

¹ Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. ² And the word of the Lord came to me: ³ “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, ⁵ that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.

REFLECTION:

These are the second group of elders who came to ask Ezekiel. Unlike the first group, they seek God on the surface, but they have already “taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces” (v.3), so they have been far away from the true God. For them, as long as they can predict the future and gain benefits, there is no difference between the true God and false gods. Therefore, God condemns them on worshipping idols in their hearts and dare to come to the true prophets for advice. They worship God on the surface and often go to the temple to offer sacrifices, but they have no sincerity in their hearts. In today’s so-called post-modern era, the pluralism of beliefs prevails in the world, and many people who profess to believe in the Lord have also received various false gods into their hearts. They are double-minded, serving God “fervently” on the one hand, while chasing fame and fortune enthusiastically on the other. People may not be able to see it, but God clearly sees the filth in their hearts, as Isaiah says: “this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13). We should be vigilant not to let ourselves be such a person. In fact, each of us has a favorite person or thing in his mind, so we all have the possibility of idolatry. Ask God to have mercy on us and not let the object of our love replace or weaken our loyalty to God.

PRAYER:

Come to God quietly and ask God to enlighten you so that you can see which things you love in your heart have replaced or weakened God’s position in your heart and become your “stumbling block of your iniquity”; confess your sins to God and ask God to remove these stumbling blocks and strengthen your faith so that you can truly receive God into your heart and be faithful to God in your daily life.

HYMN:

There Is None Like You – youtu.be/EP0Wwn53ZgI

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Ezekiel+013
 

Ezekiel 13 (ESV)

¹ The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’ ³ Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! ⁴ Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel. ⁵ You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the Lord. ⁶ They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘Declares the Lord,’ when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. ⁷ Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, whenever you have said, ‘Declares the Lord,’ although I have not spoken?”

REFLECTION:

This warning is for false prophets. The false prophet’s message did not come from God, but was a pleasant-sounding lie made up to gain fame and fortune. “Prophesy from their own hearts” (v.2) means speaking one’s own words in the name of God. At that time, there were some false prophets in Jerusalem and the exiles to Babylon. They predicted in the name of God that the exiles would soon return to their homeland. They gave the people a false sense of security and made Ezekiel’s work more difficult. False prophets are “like jackals among ruins” (v.4), who are most prosperous in every era of desolation of faith, because they are popular in a devastated society. And God’s true servants can’t just comfort people and help people solve all kinds of problems they see. They must “go up into the breaches” and “build up a walls for the house of Israel” so that every believer will “stand in battle in the day of the Lord” (v. 5), and can stand the judgment of God. Today, we must be careful of those who distort the truth in order to gain personal power and fame. Like the false prophets back then, they are also good at using the Bible as an embellishment, replacing the words of God with their own words and the words of the world; on the surface they are advocating people to be kind and urging others to be good, but in fact they make people stay away from God. We must be wise to see through such people, stay away from them, let alone indulge our own selfish desires, lest we also degenerate into such people.

PRAYER:

Ask God to give you wisdom and not listen to the teachings of false teachers, even if their words may sound good to your ears; ask God to make you more humble and tolerant, and be willing to listen to the truth that is not pleasing to hear, not to lose any opportunity that God use the people around to discipline you; ask God to make you a true servant who speaks the truth with love, and through you to build up the people around you.

HYMN:

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus – youtu.be/5OWWqS1jnOw

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Ezekiel+012
 

Ezekiel 12 (ESV)

²¹ And the word of the Lord came to me: ²² “Son of man, what is this proverb that you have about the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing’? ²³ Tell them therefore, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will put an end to this proverb, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel.’ But say to them, The days are near, and the fulfillment of every vision. ²⁴ For there shall be no more any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. ²⁵ For I am the Lord; I will speak the word that I will speak, and it will be performed. It will no longer be delayed, but in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and perform it, declares the Lord God.”

²⁶ And the word of the Lord came to me: ²⁷ “Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he sees is for many days from now, and he prophesies of times far off.’ ²⁸ Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: None of my words will be delayed any longer, but the word that I speak will be performed, declares the Lord God.”

REFLECTION:

Zedekiah was the last king of Judah (597-586 BC). He reigned in Jerusalem when Ezekiel delivered the message of God’s will. Ezekiel told the people what was going to happen to Zedekiah: Jerusalem would be destroyed again, and Zedekiah would join the exile to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar would gouge out Zedekiah’s eyes and make him blind (cf. 2 Kings 25:3-7; Jeremiah 52:10-11). According to God’s stern message, Ezekiel warned the people that what God said will soon be fulfilled! In less than six years, Jerusalem will be destroyed. But people are still skeptical. Unbelief and a false sense of security make them not believe that such a thing will happen. “‘The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing” (v.22), refers to the passing of time and nothing changed, everything seems to be peaceful. The prophets have prophesied the judgment for more than 900 years since the Exodus, but it has never come. Therefore, some people think that “all visions are lost”, and even turn this sentence into a well-known joke and “slang”. The warnings that satirize the prophet are just cliches. The apostle Peter also encountered this kind of problem in the church (see 2 Peter 3:9). It is very dangerous to say that Christ will not come again, or to think that the Lord’s return is in the distant future and has nothing to do with today. Everything God says will happen!

PRAYER:

Pray for God to enlighten you and make you understand more deeply that the Lord’s return is not something that has nothing to do with you today. Pray for God to give you more vigilance and godliness so that you will no longer be lazy and procrastinate, but work diligently. Live a regular and restrained life, read the Bible, practice daily devotion, pray every day, and stand firm in the turbulent currents of the world.

HYMN:

Number Of My Days – youtu.be/-2oul9dn0JU

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Ezekiel+011
 

Ezekiel 11 (ESV)

¹⁴ And the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁵ “Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.’ ¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.’ ¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ ¹⁸ And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. ¹⁹ And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰ that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹ But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”

REFLECTION:

From God’s perspective, the Judahites who were taken into captivity were a faithful group, while those who remained in Jerusalem were an evil group, which is exactly the opposite of people’s concept. The outward appearance of a person can deceive, but God is the God who searches the heart. Even though idol worshipers worship in the temple in Jerusalem, they cannot find the true sanctuary. However, those loyal exiles will still be protected by God even if they are in a foreign country. Similarly, our external circumstances cannot reflect our true relationship with God. Those who seem to be safe and smooth may be far away from God, while those who have experienced hardships have peace in their spirit with the protection of God. “I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh” (v. 19), this metaphor may have originated from the process of making mummies in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians believed that there was a “judgment of the heart” after death. If the heart is encumbered by guilt, it will face destruction. Therefore, they replaced the heart of the mummy with a stone in the shape of a beetle to prevent the dead from being betrayed by the heart during the judgment and endangering their next life. But God’s heart-changing operation is the opposite of Egypt. He will replace the hard stone heart with a soft flesh heart. This is what David prayed for, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”(Ps. 51:10), which is the new covenant promised by God (see Jeremiah 31:31-34). When the people of God no longer look for false gods, the hard and stubborn “stone heart” will be replaced by a tender, obedient, and responsive flesh heart. This new life is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit. We must realize that this is God’s work and we should strive to escape from sin. When we do this, God will gives us new opportunities to guide us to new growth. Have we received such a “new heart”?

PRAYER:

Ask God to give you more humility and obedience, to make your heart soft and fervent, and to have new acceptance and new growth in God’s words every day; ask God to give you more love and greater faith, so that you will be more sensitive to the life and spiritual needs of relatives and friends around you, take practical actions to care for and guide them, so that they also receive a “new heart” given by God.

HYMN:
Create In Me A Clean Heart O God – youtu.be/2fVliokreqE