EZEKIEL 11

I love, love, love that right smack dab in the middle of pronouncing judgment on Israel's sinful, willful disobedience, God interjects His word of hope for their future. In chapter 11 verse 16, God promises that in their banishment (when they no longer have the temple) He will be their sanctuary, and then He goes on to say He will gather them back and give them a new heart, and affirms in verse 20: "And they shall be my people, and I will be their God."

While I exult in the resoundingly happy ending, God's promise continues with a but.... "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." Forthright. Emphatic. True.

There are so many parallels that could be made to our world today. We have taken God's grace for granted, but the Age of Grace is nearly at its end. Divine retribution is coming. All of the prophecies of the Bible relating to Ezekiel's time were fulfilled and those pertaining to the End of Time will be fulfilled. God's Word never returns to Him void.

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I love that right in the middle of pronouncing judgment on a sinful world, God made a way of salvation by coming in the flesh to bear the punishment for the sin that we deserve to pay for, by paying the price Himself. He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might be made righteous in Him - - just as if we had never sinned! He offers His gift of life freely - but it costs something. The price is giving up my 'right' to be my own boss. I'm very glad to relinquish that to you, Lord. Help me walk in your footsteps today....

(Righteous means doing right according to God's standard - something we cannot achieve on our own. It is Christ living in us that makes us righteous in God's eyes, for when He looks at us, He sees us through the filter of Jesus' blood shed on the cross, and all our sins are washed away beneath that cleansing flow.)