June 23, 2024

Passage Read: Ezekiel 8-11
Meditation Verses: 11:17-21

Thought

The exiles are considered by those still in Jerusalem to be those rejected by God, but God has instead removed them from the land in order to protect them from the disaster He has planned against those who refuse to believe and obey Him. He will preserve the exiles, then bring them back to the land, when He is finished punishing those who remain in the land. When they return, they will cleanse the land of the abominations left by those whom God destroyed, and the Lord will give them a new heart and spirit so that they will walk in God's ways and obey His commands. But those who refuse to obey the Lord, who go after their detestable things and abominations, He will punish them in accordance with their evil deeds.

Application

The Lord saves a people in order for them to walk in His ways. He destroys people who refuse to obey Him and live by His commands. And after He has done so, and He redeems a people who should know to walk in obedience to Him, if there are still those who have not learned to do what is good and right in His eyes, they will also be destroyed. So it is today. We were redeemed and given a new heart and a new spirit that moves us to walk in humility and obedience to the Lord. If it is not so, we are in grave danger. We are not redeemed, but marked for destruction. Repentance and a change of behavior is the mark of the redeemed. Claiming forgiveness of sins through Christ yet continuing to live in the ways of the world is the mark of the doomed. God will not be mocked. If I have truly believed in Jesus Christ, I have been made new, so as to walk in obedience to His Word and likeness, so I had better do so.