KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Monday, September 03, 2018
Chapters: Ezekiel 23-24
Message: Judgment In God’s House
Hello My Friend,
I have been reading the Bible through from cover to cover every year since 2007, but the last couple of years God placed it on my heart to read it through as the events took place, doing this has given me so much insight as there is so much history contained within the prophetic books, they do more than foretell God’s judgments and restorations, but also of the amazing coming on His Son and great sacrifice He would make. Anyone who has a heart reading through these books will get a sense of despair and grief upon reading the state of Israel at that time, realizing that what we are seeing in our own country today is frighteningly comparable, and if we do not get our act together we are going to face similar repercussions. Believe it or not, America was founded on Christian principles, in fact, the constitution was written with those very principles in mind, which is why it faced so many challenges over the years, and prospered greatly, through it, but as the sins of the world overtake it it is in great danger of being judged just like Israel, in fact, the warning signs are here already. “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” – Matthew 24:7-8.
While all the earth will be judged, there are two types of Christians that will bring judgment upon our nations first, the worldly and the unsaved. What is the difference? An unsaved “Christian” is one that knows of God, rejects the Word of God, and follows religion rather than what God says. Furthermore, they have never received Christ as their Saviour nor do they encourage it, yet they proclaim they are a Christian, and yet their works have no reflection of Christ let alone being Godly. Both types of Christians are so close in relation to Israel in the way they pick and choose what they believe from the Word of God that it is down right scary. Ezekiel continues God’s message about Israel’s unfaithfulness, as we know Israel has been divided into two nations, Samaria and Judah, God compares these two nations as sisters who live the life of harlots. First, we come to Aholah, which means her tabernacle, and she represents Samaria, we would compare her to the unsaved “Christian”.
“And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours, Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself. Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her. Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted. These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.” – Ezekiel 23:5-10.
“Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers,” God puts judgment on the unsaved “Christian” in that He steps back and lets them fall into the likes of their own sin. No one can blame God for the destruction of the false churches out there and the decline of so many within them, they bring it upon themselves as they create a god in their own image, even making themselves equal, and if not, above God Himself. Sound familiar? That is the devil himself, and he will continue to fool, the unsaved souls that refuse to acknowledge Christ, and let them fall into the abyss of their own sins. “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:” – Romans 1:21-24.
Now, we come to Aholibah, Samaria’s sister, meaning, my tabernacle, represents Judah, Aholibah not only followed her sister in worldly living, she became even more corrupt, if you can imagine that and she represents the worldly Christian, these are those who are, in fact, saved, they know the Word of God, yet they choose what want to follow from it, perhaps they live themselves, encourage, and or condone sinful behavior in their church.
“And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms. She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men. Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way, And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side; The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses. And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments.” – Ezekiel 23:11-14,22-24.
“and they shall judge thee according to their judgments.” Judgment always begins at the house of God, all those religions that proclaim Christ and has made a mockery of Christ’s church by allowing and or condoning sin within the church will be judged according to their judgments. God again, explains why they are being judged, and what manner of judgment will receive, and He is talking to ones who refuse to repent after the siege.
“The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations; That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them. Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house. For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled. And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.” – Ezekiel 23:36-39,46-49.
“Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land,” Usually the only way to get a nation to repent is by bringing catastrophes, and I stress usually because some just do not get it and only get worse, which is the case of Jerusalem. No one likes to hear about all the crazy mass shootings, storms, floods, and diseases that are overtaking our nations, it is truly heartbreaking to see so many lives lost, but these things are allowed by God to bring people to the truth about His Son. God keeps us in the world (not makes us of the world) to test and use us by One, bringing others to Christ, not tempting and turning them away from Him, it is to remind us that Two, We need Him at all times. And Three, We do not want to be where we use to be. Jesus says this about His faithful believers as He prays to His Father on our behalf, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” – John 17:16-19.
While God can and really does intervene in our lives, even if we were living in sin, He allows the suffering in order to purify our heart, to remove that desire to walk in the flesh. Did you ever boil a pot of meat on the stove? If you have than you have seen the nasty scum of dried up blood rising to the top of the pot as it cooks. In this rather odd illustration, God tells Ezekiel to get a pot of water, put some choice meat in it and boil it. God uses this to explain that through His judgments He was purging Jerusalem from the filthiness that defiled them.
“And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it: Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein. Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it. For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust; That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered. She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire. In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.” – Ezekiel 24:3-8,12-13.
“and whose scum is not gone out of it!” Once the scum is skimmed from the top of that boiling broth it becomes a clear, and is useful for so many things. The second we accept the Lord, Jesus Christ as our Saviour, He skims that scum of sin off of us, but in order for us to be useful He must purge us to get rid of anything that defiles us. To do this, He will put us on the fire and heat us up a bit, sometimes a lot if we are stubborn. You know, gold is very valuable, but when it is found is rugged and dirty, in order to get that shine we know so well, it must be purged. Jesus does the same thing with us to remove the scum from our lives, He loves us too much to let us remain in the scum. The second He saves us we become new, we cannot continue to live the same life without facing affliction for it, one way or another Jesus will show us that we need to get rid of everything that defiles us.
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” – I Corinthians 6:9-11,15,19-20.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.” – Ezekiel 24:27.
Today’s Prayer: God, We love You because You first loved us. You love us so much that You gave Your one and only Son to die for our sins so that we would not spend eternity in hell. Thank You for salvation by grace, as our relationship with You grows, give us Your love, mercy, grace, and strength to remain faithful to you no matter who or what tries to get in between us. Lord, give us Your power, wisdom, and guidance to be faithful in our walk with You, help us to never forget just how much You love us, and use us to be a Godly testimony to bring others to Your Son. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: http://imfollowingjesus.com/index.html
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/byhisstrength
Copyright © 2018 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.