TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
Ezekiel 20:1-49
Hebrews 9:11-28
Psalm 107:1-43
Proverbs 27:11
Ezekiel 20:3 — ”I will not be enquired of by you” (repeated in Ezekiel 20:31). God won’t be enquired of by the people who said they came to hear Him! Why? They were sinning. God had told them to forsake the idols of Egypt (Ezekiel 20:7, Ezekiel 20:18), but they didn’t (Ezekiel 20:8, Ezekiel 20:21).
Ezekiel 20:11 — We saw the list of sins yesterday. Here we see the message of the Old Covenant. If you can keep the 613 laws of the Torah, then you can live! Repeated in Ezekiel 20:13 and Ezekiel 20:21. Yet, no man can keep the Law. The bad news is that the Law brings death.
Ezekiel 20:26 — The firstborn that belonged to the LORD was burned as an offering to Molech. In 2014 over 49,000 evangelical women murdered their firstborn. This not only violated the 6th Commandment (the first command on the second tablet dealing with man’s relationship with man), but it was also a rejection of God’s ownership.
Ezekiel 20:28 — Just as God’s people took the life that God gave them and gave it to Satan, they took the land God gave them and used it to worship idols, violating the 1st Commandment (the first command of the first tablet dealing with man’s relationship with God).
Ezekiel 20:39 — Echoed in Revelation 3:15 (“I would thou wert cold or hot.”) Worship idols or worship me, but you can’t do both!
Hebrews 9:12 — How can we keep the 613 laws of the Torah? We can’t. We deserve death. As Ezekiel said, obedience is life; if so, then disobedience must be death. But we are redeemed with God’s own blood! This is how we went from the Old Testament to the New Testament (Hebrews 9:15).
Hebrews 9:20 — The Mosaic Covenant was sealed with the blood of calves and goats. The New Covenant was sealed with the blood of Jesus – purging us (Hebrews 9:22), remitting our sins (Hebrews 9:22), and putting away sin once and for all (Hebrews 9:26).
Psalm 107:3 — He gathered. Notice how Ezekiel 20:34 and Ezekiel 20:41 talk about the promise of being regathered today. The Psalmist calls for us to give thanks for being regathered!
Psalm 107:8 — From Earl Martin:
Psalm 107:29 — This is a great verse that must have bothered the disciples (Matthew 8:27)!
Proverbs 27:11 — Want to make your earthly and heavenly fathers glad? Be wise!
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