sharpened and polished

Posted on September 27, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220927

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sharpened and polished

Ezekiel 21:1-13 (JDV)

Ezekiel 21:1 The word of Yahveh happened to me again. This is what it said:
Ezekiel 21:2 “Son of Adam, face Jerusalem and preach against the devoted places. Prophesy against the land of Israel,
Ezekiel 21:3 and say to it, ‘This is what Yahveh says: Notice I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the guilty.
Ezekiel 21:4 Since I will cut off both the righteous and the guilty, my sword will therefore come out of its sheath against all people from the south to the north.
Ezekiel 21:5 So all people will know that I, Yahveh, have taken my sword from its sheath – it will not be sheathed again.’
Ezekiel 21:6 “But you, son of Adam, groan! Groan bitterly with a broken heart right before their eyes.
Ezekiel 21:7 And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning? ‘ then say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, and every hand will become weak. Every breath will be discouraged, and all knees will run with urine. Notice, it is coming and it will happen. This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.'”
Ezekiel 21:8 The word of Yahveh happened to me:
Ezekiel 21:9 “Son of Adam, prophesy, ‘This is what Yahveh says! ‘ You are to proclaim, ‘A sword! A sword is sharpened and also polished.
Ezekiel 21:10 It is sharpened for slaughter, polished to flash like lightning! Should we be glad? The scepter of my son, the sword thinks lightly of every tree.
Ezekiel 21:11 The sword is given to be polished, to be grasped in the hand. It is sharpened, and it is polished, to be put in the hand of the slayer.’
Ezekiel 21:12 “Cry out and wail, son of Adam, for it is against my people. It is against all the princes of Israel! They are given over to the sword with my people. Therefore slap your thigh in grief.
Ezekiel 21:13 Surely it will be a test! And what if the sword thinks lightly of even the scepter? The scepter will not continue.” This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.

sharpened and polished

He is a heartbroken God who lets loose a sharpened and polished sword upon his own people. Their rebellion is too great — their sin too dark for the Almighty to let it be. Thus the prophet is told to groan bitterly with a broken heart right before their eyes. He is to be a symbol of the Lord’s pain — a pain that cannot be eased without judgment.

LORD, open our eyes to your coming judgment. Help us to snatch people from Gehenna’s fire.

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made-up stories

Posted on September 26, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220926

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made-up stories

Ezekiel 20:45-49 (JDV)

Ezekiel 20:45 The word of Yahveh happened to me:
Ezekiel 20:46 “Son of Adam, face the south and preach against it. Prophesy against the forest land in the Negev,
Ezekiel 20:47 and say to the forest there, ‘Hear the word of Yahveh! This is what the Lord Yahveh says: Notice I am about to ignite a fire in you, and it will devour every green tree and every dry tree in you. The blazing flame will not be extinguished, and every face from the south to the north will be scorched by it.
Ezekiel 20:48 Then all people will see that I, Yahveh, have kindled it. It will not be extinguished.'”
Ezekiel 20:49 Then I said, “Oh, Lord God, they are saying of me, ‘Isn’t he just making parables? ‘”

made-up stories

Ezekiel faced a nation fed up with his stories. They refused to acknowledge that every word coming from the prophet was breathed out by Almighty God.

How our generation follows in those footsteps. We seek insight from every book but God’s book. We have rejected the word as just a bunch of made-up stories.

LORD, we want turn back to you. Give us an appreciation of your word that is proper for it.

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self-perspective, God-awareness

Posted on September 25, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220925

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self-perspective, God-awareness

Ezekiel 20:39-44 (JDV)

Ezekiel 20:39 ” ‘As for you, house of Israel, this is what the Lord Yahveh says: Go and serve your idols, each of you. But afterward, you will surely listen to me, and you will no longer defile my devoted name with your gifts and idols.
Ezekiel 20:40 For on my devoted mountain, Israel’s high mountain – the declaration of the Lord Yahveh – there the entire house of Israel, all of them, will serve me in the land. There I will accept them and will require your contributions and first gifts, all your devoted offerings.
Ezekiel 20:41 When I bring you from the peoples and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered, I will accept you as a pleasing aroma. And I will demonstrate my devotion through you in the sight of the nations.
Ezekiel 20:42 When I lead you into the land of Israel, the land I swore to give your fathers, you will know that I am Yahveh.
Ezekiel 20:43 There you will remember your ways and all your deeds by which you have defiled yourself, and you will detest yourselves for all the evil things you have done.
Ezekiel 20:44 You will know that I am Yahveh, house of Israel when I have dealt with you for the sake of my name rather than according to your evil ways and corrupt acts. This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.'”

self-perspective, God-awareness

Note the two things that God expects to happen as a result of the exile. First, his people will learn to see themselves as they really are. They will detest themselves because of their idolatry and compromise.

Second, they will learn to see God as who he really is. They will know that God is unique.

LORD, give us true knowledge of ourselves and a true appreciation of you.

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new wilderness

Posted on September 24, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220924

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new wilderness

Ezekiel 20:33-38 (JDV)

Ezekiel 20:33 As I live – the declaration of the Lord Yahveh – I will reign over you with a strong hand, an arm stretched out, and wrath poured out.
Ezekiel 20:34 I will bring you from the peoples and gather you from the countries where you were scattered, with a strong hand, an arm stretched out, and wrath poured out.
Ezekiel 20:35 I will lead you into the open country of the peoples and enter into judgment with you there face to face.
Ezekiel 20:36 Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the open country of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you. This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.
Ezekiel 20:37 I will make you pass under the branch and will bring you into the bond of the covenant.
Ezekiel 20:38 I will purge you of those who rebel and transgress against me. I will bring them out of the land where they live as foreign residents, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am Yahveh.

new wilderness

Ezekiel predicted a new wilderness experience for his people. Just as they were taken out of Egypt and judged in the open county, so not they will be taken out of the promised land and judged in exile. Only those who purge themselves of their idolatry will be rescued. Many will die in the new wilderness.

Are you living in God’s promised land today, or are you in the open country? Is there still some dross to melt away? Let your repentance be a complete turn — away from sin and toward God. Let your faith be full power.

LORD, change us.

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zero toleration of toleration

Posted on September 23, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220923

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zero toleration of toleration

Ezekiel 20:30-32 (JDV)

Ezekiel 20:30 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord Yahveh says: Are you defiling yourselves the way your fathers did, and prostituting yourselves with their repulsive things?
Ezekiel 20:31 When you offer your gifts, sacrificing your children in the fire, you still continue to defile yourselves with all your idols today. So should I let you investigate me, house of Israel? As I live – this is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh – I will not let you investigate me!
Ezekiel 20:32 ” ‘When you say, “Let us be like the nations, like the clans of other countries, serving wood and stone,” what is on your breath will never happen.

zero toleration of toleration

There is one thing our Lord will not tolerate, and it seems to be the very thing many in this generation seek to do. Our Lord does not tolerate compromise by those who claim to belong to him.

We cannot even come close enough to investigate him if we insist on following the world in its pursuit of idols.

LORD, purge us of our hypocrisy and open the door once again to a right relationship with you.

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this high place

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220922

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this high place

Ezekiel 20:27-29 (JDV)

Ezekiel 20:27 “Therefore, son of Adam, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahveh says: In this way also your fathers blasphemed me by committing treachery against me:
Ezekiel 20:28 When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices and presented their offensive offerings there. They also sent up their pleasing aromas and poured out their drink offerings there.
Ezekiel 20:29 So I asked them, “What is this high place you are going to?” And it is still called Bamah today.’

this high place

Another tradition that the people in Hosea’s time had adopted is the worship of false gods at high places throughout the land. God confronts them with a question about that curious tradition. God wanted worship only directed toward him and performed at his temple.

Believers today are not restricted as to where we worship. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that the place of worship no longer matters, but what matters is worshiping in spirit and truth.

So, why did it matter to God then? It mattered because the high place was a place to worship another god. That is always wrong.

You and I need to be careful about the traditions we adopt. Some of them can lead us away from God,\ rather than towards him.

LORD, give us the courage to scrap all traditions that challenge our exclusive devotion to you.

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inappropriate prescriptions

Posted on September 21, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220921

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inappropriate prescriptions

Ezekiel 20:21b-26 (JDV)

So I considered pouring out my wrath on them and exhausting my anger against them in the open country.
Ezekiel 20:22 But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name so that it would not be polluted in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I brought them out.
Ezekiel 20:23 However, I swore to them in the open country that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter them among the countries.
Ezekiel 20:24 You see, they did not practice my rules but rejected my prescriptions and polluted my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols.
Ezekiel 20:25 I also gave them prescriptions that were not good and rules they could not live by.
Ezekiel 20:26 When they sacrificed every firstborn in the fire, I defiled them through their gifts in order to devastate them so they would know that I am Yahveh.’

inappropriate prescriptions

Is Ezekiel saying in verse 25 that God slipped some inappropriate prescriptions into his holy laws? Nope. He’s talking about the human traditions that emerged in Judaism. Idolatry had become commonplace among his people. Verse 26 refers to one of those inappropriate prescriptions. God never commanded child sacrifice. But since Ezekiel’s people had rejected his law, God gave them over to inappropriate prescriptions like this.

Occasionally on the news, I hear of doctors who lose their license to practice because they make money feeding addiction rather than addressing real medical problems. The same thing happens in religion. If people don’t want to do what God wants, they become susceptible to self-destructive traditions.

Jesus taught that many follow the path to self-destruction and that only a few follow the path to life. Being a religious person is not enough. Religion itself is not the answer. Too many religious leaders are engaged in malpractice.

LORD, show us how to root out the inappropriate prescriptions our culture has accepted that keep us from following Christ.

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their rules

Posted on September 20, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220920

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their rules

Ezekiel 20:18-21a (JDV)

Ezekiel 20:18 ” ‘Then I said to their children in the open country, “Don’t follow the prescriptions of your fathers, defile yourselves with their idols, or keep their rules.
Ezekiel 20:19 I am Yahveh your God. Follow my prescriptions, keep my rules, and practice them.
Ezekiel 20:20 Keep my Sabbaths devoted, and they will be a sign between me and you, so you may know that I am Yahveh your God.”
Ezekiel 20:21a ” ‘But the children rebelled against me. They did not follow my prescriptions or carefully keep my rules – the person who does them will live by them. They also polluted my Sabbaths.

their rules

God was trying to get the attention of the Israelites in the open country. Instead of following him, they were following the rules of their own generation. Their own people were keeping them from entering the promised land.

The struggle to be an authentic Christian can also be marked by the same problem. Our society may encourage us to like Jesus, but not to pay much attention to what he actually said.

In order to break free from that counterfeit faith, we need to get back into the Bible and discover what Jesus actually teaches. We also need to recognize the rules of our culture which contradict those teachings.

LORD, give us the wisdom to understand what you have taught, and the courage to reject the cultural traditions that tempt us to ignore your commands.

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the guidance of grace

Posted on September 19, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220919

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the guidance of grace

Ezekiel 20:13b-17 (JDV)

Ezekiel 20:13b So I considered pouring out my wrath on them in the open country to put an end to them.
Ezekiel 20:14 But I acted for the sake of my name so that it would not be polluted in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
Ezekiel 20:15 However, I swore to them in the open country that I would not bring them into the land I had given them – the most beautiful of all lands, flowing with milk and honey –
Ezekiel 20:16 because they rejected my rules, polluted my Sabbaths, and did not follow my prescriptions. You see, their hearts went after their idols.
Ezekiel 20:17 Yet my eye compassionately spared them from destruction and did not bring them to an end in the open country.

the guidance of grace

That is our God. He patiently guides us in the open country, despite our failure to follow his commands. If we got what we deserved, there would be nothing left to save. But our God is a God of compassion and grace.

LORD, may we learn from your patience and grace, and repent of our sins before our time is up.

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his Sabbaths

Posted on September 18, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220918

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his Sabbaths

Ezekiel 20:8b-13a (JDV)

Ezekiel 20:8b So I considered pouring out my wrath on them, exhausting my anger against them within the land of Egypt.
Ezekiel 20:9 But I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be polluted in the eyes of the nations they were living among, in whose sight I had made myself known to Israel by bringing them out of Egypt.
Ezekiel 20:10 ” ‘So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them into the open country.
Ezekiel 20:11 Then I gave them my prescriptions and explained my rules to them – the person who does them will live by them.
Ezekiel 20:12 I also gave them my Sabbaths to serve as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I am Yahveh who consecrates them.
Ezekiel 20:13a ” ‘But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the open country. They did not follow my prescriptions and they rejected my rules – the person who does them will live by them. They also completely polluted my Sabbaths.

his Sabbaths

The purpose of the Sabbaths in the Old Testament is laid out here. They were not supposed to be a permanent ordinance for all nations. They were designed to teach Israel that their God consecrates them.

I am not a sabbatarian. I do not believe Christians today are obligated to worship on a particular day. But when we do worship, whether it is on a Saturday or a Sunday, we should recognize that our worship is a chance to recognize that our God has consecrated us to himself. When we come together, we should encourage each other to be a consecrated people. Taking time out of our ordinary schedules to devote to God, his word, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit — that is always appropriate.

LORD, give us time devoted to you so that you can empower us to share your gospel.

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