365 Reflections

We cannot go beyond what God allows, even in our moments of rebellion. This is the lesson the people of Israel needed to learn while in Babylon. They ended up there due to the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar, and it’s likely they despised every part of that experience. However, their presence in Babylon was part of God’s plan and foreknowledge; He was placing His people under discipline. Despite this, they sought to escape the path that the Lord had set for them. In response, Ezekiel is given a parable about their rebellion against the Lord’s discipline in Ezekiel 17. The parable goes like this.  A great eagle, symbolizing King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, plucks the topmost shoot of a cedar tree, which represents Jehoiachin, the king of Judah. He then plants it in fertile soil in Babylon. From this land, a seed grows into a vine, representing Zedekiah, a puppet king placed by Babylon. This vine spreads low, symbolizing dependence and submission to Babylon.  Then, another great eagle...

Here’s a thought-provoking question: Can rebellious believers, when fully consumed by sin, become even more depraved than those who never believed? According to Ezekiel, that’s precisely what happened to Israel. Despite being entrusted with the Law, the promises, the land, the kings, and the prophets, they descended into such profound corruption that they surpassed the wickedness of the very nations God had called them to reach. Israel's history, from her humble beginnings to the zenith of her power under Solomon, is a tragic tale of deterioration. Ezekiel 16 paints a picture of her gradual descent over the centuries, until she resembled the very people from whom God had called her out.  Ezekiel 16:47–48 (ESV) Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 48 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done...

Ezekiel 16 is a long narrative describing Israel's past from God's perspective. The terms are not flattering to this faltering nation. They began ignominiously, they failed continually, and by every estimation they did not deserve the grace God showed them again and again.  Ezekiel 16:1–5 (ESV)  Again the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born. The first 5 verses include terms that we generally would not find in the Genesis ac...

The Lord asks Ezekiel a question in the beginning of chapter 15: Ezekiel 15:2 (ESV) “Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? The image of a vine is an often-used picture of Israel. God planted her, dressed her, and built a wall around her. Isaiah describes in detail what the Lord did for Israel as His chosen vine in Isaiah 5:1-7.  A vine is not a thick tree with very useful wood. It's thin, and its only use is in what it produces, the fruit of the vine. Israel had ceased bearing fruit and, therefore, had become useless to the Lord's intentions for her.  Ezekiel 15:3 (ESV) Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? Never forget, the Lord calls and saves to see fruitfulness and contribution to the world. Israel, though their existence alone was God's purpose, had forgotten to bless and inform the nations about Him and, therefore, were no longer usef...

Ezekiel is told the land will be devoured and the people thrown down or thrown out. The end has come, and there's no turning back on God's plan and purpose. To illustrate, the Lord references three righteous men who, if they had lived in this time, would have only escaped by themselves.  Ezekiel 14:12–14 (ESV) And the word of the LORD came to me: 13 “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, 14 even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD. The Lord repeated this stipulation three more times in the chapter to cover the four judgments on the land.  Famine would follow the ravaging of animals, then sword and pestilence.  Ezekiel 14:21–22 (ESV) “For thus says the Lord GOD: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous...

False leaders who act spiritual while being utterly bankrupt inside is one of the great scourges on the faith from ancient times to this day. The world has no shortage of those who would venture to speak for God without a true and right relationship with Him. In Ezekiel's day, the elders practiced spirituality to impress the crowds, but they did not fool the Lord.  Ezekiel 14:1–3 (ESV) 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? Notice the description. The leaders of Israel had idols in their hearts. An idol is any object or person we love instead of the Lord. More than that, notice the phrase, "set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces." What does that mean? The New Living Translation has it: Ezekiel 14:3 (NLT)...

The first part of Ezekiel 13 condemns the false promises of the false prophets in Israel. The second half condemns the women who practice witchcraft and magic arts in the nation.  Ezekiel 13:17–18 (ESV) “And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own hearts. Prophesy against them 18 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive? The wording of their actions is essential. Verse 18 speaks of tying the hands of those who come to them and veiling the eyes. That is what witchcraft and immoral women do to a person (or nation). They blind and bind them.  Consider the story of Samson. His obsession with an immoral woman led to him being just that—blinded and bound in the pit of the Philistines. Spiritual oppression comes upon a man ...

False teachers are expected in every season of the Church. They existed even in ancient Israel as the time of judgment quickly approached. Ezekiel 13:1–3 (ESV)  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! Ezekiel, like Jeremiah before him, describes in great detail the actions of these distorted ambassadors of the Lord.  First, their prophesy comes from their hearts, not a vision or visitation from the Lord. They are following what Jeremiah called the most deceptive part of the human body—the emotional will, identified as the "heart."  Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV)  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Ezekiel continues: Ezekiel 13:6 (ESV) They have seen false visions and lying ...