Bible Devotion

Meditative Reflection
No Need to Please the Crowd

“And if the prophet is enticed to utter a prophecy, I the Lord have enticed the prophet and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel.” (Ezek. 14:9)

Although Ezekiel has not made plain why the elders in exile have come before him to inquire of the Lord, “evidently (they have come) with the intention of obtaining, through him, a word of God concerning the future of Jerusalem or the fate of the kingdom of Judah” (K&D, 102). However, their intention is definitely not one of obedience (14:3), because the Lord points out the following:

- They have set up idols in their heart, meaning that they have yet to learn a lesson from their exile and have yet to repent from their idol worship (14:6).

- Thus, they have continued to be stumbled by their wickedness.

However, God also warns Ezekiel and any other prophets that they are not even to answer their inquiry at all for these reasons:

- Should they oblige their request, it would be out of enticement to please them with prophesies inconsistent with what God has already pronounced—that of judgment and not of hope.

- If somehow, they find some vision based on which to prophesy, it will be God who entices them, like the incident in 1 Kings 22:20 ff in which a lying spirit is sent by God to fool the false prophets.

Indeed, in our effort to convince the skeptics and those who are bent on opposing the unchangeable standards of the Word of God, we need to be careful not to invent new ideas that are inconsistent with what God has already pronounced in the Bible, lest we are guilty of the same sin the Lord warns Ezekiel and other prophets of his time against.

Meditative Reflection
God Does Nothing without Cause

“ 'You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause', declares the Sovereign Lord.” (Ezek. 14:23)

While we have no idea when the Lord gave Ezekiel the message concerning the four types of disasters that would befall an unfaithful nation, “it appears to have been delivered in response to the principles of divine retribution espoused by Ezekiel. The comprehensiveness of the judgment on Israel that he was predicting appears to have cast doubt on the justice of God” (NICOT, 442).

As a result, the Lord uses three distinguished men in the Bible known for their righteousness—Noah and Job of old, and Daniel, their contemporary — to contrast the wickedness of Jerusalem and to highlight the full justification of God’s relentless punishment which incidentally carries the following two theological motifs:

- Righteousness (and thus salvation) cannot be carried from one person to another. We all have to answer for our lives before God personally.

- In spite of the well-deserved judgment pronounced by God on Jerusalem, God will, out of pure grace and mercy on His part, preserve a remnant whose changed conduct
(which has already been shown previously as a result of a new God-given spirit in 11:19) will show that God has done nothing without cause (14:23).

I was deeply touched by the last message recently, as I experienced unexplainable hardship concerning a series of events in my life. On the one hand, as I brought my problems before the Lord every day, I had peace knowing that God was in absolute control over these issues. Yet the unusual nature of these hardships did drive me crazy, until one day I came across these words of Ezekiel, “for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause” (14:23). Of course, my problems paled in light of the hardship faced by the audience of Ezekiel; just the same, now that these series of very challenging events have passed, I can firmly testify that God knows exactly what He is doing in our lives, and everything in our lives does happen for a reason and that is to accomplish His good, pleasing and perfect will (Rom. 12:2). It is for the ultimate good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).

Meditative Reflection
God’s Choice Vine

“How is wood of a vine better than that of a branch on any of the trees in the forest?” (Ezek. 15:2)

“Although the burden of this oracle is to reinforce the message of 14:12-23, two specific implications of the metaphor deserve notice:

"First, the claim to divine election is not  substitute for covenant faithfulness. This oracle disputes Israel’s false claim to security based on their being the royal vine, the privileged people of God. However, they must respond to the call to this high role with willing obedience to the divine King who has called them to Himself. Grace places high demands on its recipients, and unless one matches one’s claims with adherence to His will, one may well wake up one day to the reality that far from being his or her protector and patron. God has actually become the adversary.

"Second, the judgment visited up those who do not match profession with faithfulness is severe.  In obvious dependence on this text, Jesus warns His disciples of the fate of useless branches: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit…Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch, and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.” (Jn. 15:1-2a, 6, NRSV). The call to vine status is a call to bearing the fruit of obedience to the covenant Lord (cf. Jn. 15:8-17).”
(NICOT, Ezekiel, 459)

Meditative Reflection
Amazing Love, Unthinkable Betrayal!

“Such things should not happen, nor should they ever occur.” (Ezek. 16:16)

In reading this allegory about the unfaithfulness of Israel, one cannot help but feel the deep pain and hurt of this husband who has poured his love over this bride who is of the utmost humble origin. But it is even more alarming to realize that this husband is none other than the Almighty God; it even more stunning to realize that this loving deliverance and subsequent taking of Israel is accomplished through the death of the Son of God on the cross, so that Israel can truly become His (16:8).

As much as the betrayal of Israel, as a result, seems unthinkable and unforgivable, she is simply a picture of all humankind, including you and me.

Had Christ not come to die for us, we would have been left to die like a baby thrown out and left to die in the open field (16:5)!

Had Christ not come to die for us, we would have been naked and bare, living in open shame of our sins and wickedness.

Had Christ not come to die of us, we would have been enslaved by Satan and lived a life of self-destruction, self-deception and great misery.

In response of such amazing love and grace, this is how the Apostle Paul resolved to live: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)

Meditative Reflection
The Ultimate Judgment

“Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you: I will be calm and no longer angry.” (Ezek. 16:42)

The wrath of God toward the detestable practices of Israel is expressed using the analogy of a husband who is deeply hurt by his adulterous wife. When we are reading the painful ranting of the Lord, we cannot help but sense that is it more than an analogy but actual hurt and pain inflicted in an intimate love relationship. At the end of the pronouncement of His judgment in this section, God declares that His wrath, as a result, will subside and His jealous anger will turn away. Honestly, I was wondering if God was such a God of vengeance that He would only be satisfied after inflicting injuries on Israel. I have found one of the opinions that Calvin refers to rather helpful in this respect:

“We stopped yesterday at the passage where God pronounces that His rivalry should depart from the Jews. Some interpret this of jealousy, and this sense does not please me; for we know that God has hitherto spoken in the character of a husband. But when a husband avenges the injury which he has suffered, he is enflamed with jealousy. Hence he has no moderation in his wrath; but when he begins to despise his wife because she is defiled, and to think her unworthy of further notice, then his anger and indignation is allayed. So, therefore, some understand it, My jealousy shalt depart from thee, that is Thou shalt be no longer esteemed as my wife, but I shall despise as if thou wert altogether strange and unknown to me…”
(Calvin’s Commentaries, XII, 147)

In other words, it is not the vengeance that God is satisfied with and is appeased by, but the separation of the relationship that ends His pain and hurt which is ultimate judgment of the unfaithful Israel.

“Great, Almighty God, since Thou hast hitherto sustained us, and since we are worthy of being utterly destroyed a hundred times—Grant, I say, that we may repent of ourselves that horrible judgment of which Thou settest before us a specimen in Thine ancient people; and may we so devote ourselves to Thee in the true chastity of faith, that we may experience the course of Thy goodness until we enjoy the eternal inheritance which Thine only-begotten Son has acquired for us by His blood. Amen.” (Ditto)

Meditative Reflection
No Better than Sodom

“'As surely as I live', declares the Sovereign Lord, 'you sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done'.” (Ezek. 16:48)

As we read the accounts in Genesis, we have come to understand how wicked the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were. Consider the following:

- The Lord Himself says of the cities: “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sins so grievous” (Gen. 18:20) that He had no choice but to do something rather unheard of even in ancient times, the exercise of temporal judgment on the cities  “rain[ing] down burning sulfur" to completely destroy their cities (Gen. 19:24).

- The Genesis account also highlights the blatant homosexual rape that the men of the cities intended to inflict on the angels of the Lord.

- The Book of Jude sums up their sins also with these words, “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion” (Jude 7).

But sexual perversion, as wicked as it is, is not the only sin of Sodom; Ezekiel adds that they were: “arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me (i.e. the Lord)” (16:49-50).

As wicked as Sodom was, Ezekiel chastises the people of Judah as more wicked and the Lord also rebukes the people of Capernaum of His days that “For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.” (Matt. 11:23).

The reason for such rebukes it obvious: Sodom did not have the Law of Moses and the prophets that Judah had, and in the case of the Jews of Jesus’ times, Sodom did not see the miracles that Jesus performed!

Since that was the case with Judah and the Jews in Jesus’ times, the world today has no excuse because we not only have what the people of Jews of old had, but also the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the entire gospel of the New Testament which points us to the only “Way, Truth and Life” of salvation who is Jesus Christ.

Meditative Reflection
The Triumph of Grace

“Then when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation.” (Ezek. 16:63)

We have to admit that in the first 16 chapters that we have read so far, the messages through Ezekiel are overwhelmingly that of rebukes and warnings of coming judgment, and in the current chapter, the ranting and raving of the Lord like a jealous husband leaves us in no doubt of the fate of Jerusalem. As a result, the message in the last part of the chapter comes as a total surprise in that Jerusalem will eventually come to be ashamed of all she has done not because of the severe judgments, but because of God’s promise of restoration, not only of Jerusalem, but also of Sodom and Samaria (16:53).

Daniel Block is right as he entitles this section as “The Good Good News: The Triumph of Grace”. His remarks about the initial choosing of Israel apply equally to the final restoration of Israel:

“(They) offer one of the most vivid pictures of the grace of God in the entire Bible. Several dimensions of divine grace stand out:

(1) The source and motivation of divine love lies entirely in God Himself — nothing in the human person calls for or warrants such grace. Divine favor is unconditional and unaffected by the impressive quality or potential utility of the object (cf. Deut. 7:7-9; Rom. 5:6-11).

(2) The reach of divine love knows no limits. God not only rescue the destitute from death, He also lavishes on them His gifts with unrestrained generosity (Eph. 1:1-6).

(3) The seriousness of divine love is expressed in the covenantal relationship He establishes with those to whom He reaches out to. In God’s covenant faithfulness the helpless may find perfect security.

(4) The power of divine love is displayed in its ability to transform a wretched filthy person into the most beautiful trophy of grace, a glorious witness for all the world to see. Apart from God’s love one is nothing, but as its object one is elevated to the status of royalty to showcase the divine splendor.”

(NICOT, Ezekiel, 521)