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As parents of children, we all try to be patient with our children. We all tend to have a certain threshold of tolerance when our children rebel, but once that threshold is crossed, we feel the need to discipline our children. Our goal is to raise them up to be the kind of people that both God and society will accept, love, and benefit from.
In today's lesson, we see God (our parent) witnessing such rebellion from His children where He admits the threshold has been crossed and He's ready to discipline. The people of Jerusalem had become spiritually and morally bankrupt. They were supposed to be a witness to the world about God and His love for every man, woman, and child. But they had failed miserably. They failed to produce the kind of spiritual fruit God had expected from them. As such, there was nothing left to do but punish them. God had sent His prophets to warn them of their wicked way, but they refused to believe these God-sent prophets and went right on sinning in wicked ways - even more wicked than what we see in our modern world today.
So, what do you do with worthless things like pens without ink, burned out light bulbs, and shirts that are tattered and torn? You throw them away! In a sense, that's what God felt He needed to do with the people of Jerusalem. He needed to throw them away from their precious land that He had promised them and allowed for them to be exiled into Babylonia where many of them would die in a foreign land - never to see their homeland again.
How about you? What is your FQ - Faithfulness Quotient? Are you being faithful to Him? Are you open to allow His Spirit to work in you and through you?
A Demonstration Of Impending Doom:
In Chapter 12, God commands Ezekiel to exercise a demonstration of what foolish efforts King Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem will do to escape the Babylonian army. He tells Ezekiel to create a stage-show, if you will, showing the people of how they will blacken their faces, pack their bags, and scratch their way through a hole in the wall of Jerusalem to secretly escape at night. So, Ezekiel did just that. As he packed his bags and put ashes on his face, he explained to the people that God was now ready to act and that in the days ahead this is exactly what they will be doing - but with fear and trembling.
In 12:21, God tells them that their old proverb, "Time passes, making a liar of every prophet" will come to an end. The threshold of God's patience had been crossed! God now wanted everyone to know that all of the prophecies that Ezekiel would share would soon come to pass - every single one of them!
Noah, Daniel, and Job Couldn't Save Them!
The people of the land had the utmost respect for Godly men like Noah, Daniel, and Job. However, God warns the people through Ezekiel that even these three Godly men couldn't save them from what was about to happen. In chapter 13 and 14, God warns them that He is about to send 4 horrible events:
1) A famine that would immediately cut off of their food supply
2) An invasion of wild animals that would go on a ravenous attack against human flesh.
3) An invading army that would destroy the land and take everyone captive.
4) A pandemic of disease that would create sickness and death like they've never known before.
In spite of these warnings, they still didn't repent of their sins.
God also warns 3 groups of people of impending disasters!
First, He warns the false prophets! God's disdain for those who speak on His behalf who say, "The Lord says..." when God didn't tell them anything, is about to be revealed. God can't stand false prophets!
Secondly, He warns the women who make charms! Many of the women had become corrupt and were starting to make good luck charms - much like we have today - to give the people a false sense of protection. God was about to attack these women because only God can provide real protection from harm!
Third, He condemned the leaders of Jerusalem! These leaders had allowed the entire population to fall into sin by worshipping false gods.
In chapter 15, God comes right to the point. He explains how useless they had become! He uses a grapevine as an example - showing that once it had become dead that it wasn't even good for the fire.
God is a patient God, but His does have a limit to His patience. What about you? Are you wearing thin God's patience? You might want to examine your heart, your thoughts, and your life to see if they are bearing Godly fruit unto the glory of the Almighty God. If not, repent, and seek God's forgiveness right now. Turn from your laziness and wicked ways, and start living for the glory of God!
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