✍️💦 THE 📖OF EZEKIEL
Days: 180 Ezekiel: 13 – 16
Sunday: 10.01.2021

Listen to what I’m saying
Ezekiel 13:1-16 “God talk” gives us reason to think carefully about how we use phrases like these:

“God has been speaking to me…”
“I’ve been praying about this…”
“The Lord has laid this on my heart…”
“God told me to say…”
“I was led to come to you…”
“God revealed to me…”
“God reminded me of a Scripture…”
“God called to my mind…”

“Trees of the forest.” Ezekiel 15:1-6
What truth is implicit in Ezekiel’s choice of the vine to point the lesson he desires to teach?
Ezekiel calls the vine a tree and compares it as such with the “ trees of the forest.” The vine is not a tree but a plant, the stem of which requires support. The flexible stem is fit only for firewood, and the prophet does not mention the delicious fruit that makes the vine worth cultivating. The truth implied in this omission is that man’s desire for peace (represented by the “inhabitants of Jerusalem”) is sometimes misdirected and in that way destroyed. Everything should serve the use to which it is best suited.

The Overwhelming Grace of God Ezekiel 16
Glorified
Finally, the Lord speaks to Jerusalem of her adornment, and the richness of her provision. It is not for nothing that Jerusalem is described as “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth” (Psalms 48.2).
The Lord had made her beautiful. Yet we, too, in the purposes of God, have also been adorned. We see the fulfilment of it at the close of the book of Revelation, in chapter 21, where John sees “the holy city, new Jerusalem…prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”. It is not coincidence, then, that we can see such parallels in this passage, because what God did for the earthly Jerusalem He has done in far greater measure for us as a part of the Bride, the New Jerusalem.

We are reminded of M’Cheyne’s hymn:
When I stand before the throne,
Dressed in beauty not mine own…
Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
Not till then, how much I owe;

for at the end we are reminded again that it is all of grace and all of God.

✍️💦Mrs. Kalaiselvi Balakrishnan in Jesus Christ 💦✍️

ALIVE!
Ezekiel 13-16

No eye pitied you, … And when I passed by you and saw you … I said to you …, ‘Live!’ I said to you …, ‘Live!’ [Eze 16:5-6]

Ezekiel 16, gives us a picture of who we were as sons of Adam – dead in our trespasses & sin, filthy… then Jesus came to us and said, Live! [Rf Ezk 16:6, John 10:10]

✝️ Jesus carried the weight & punishment of our sin, so that we might be cleansed, brought back to the Father… no longer discarded “orphans”. [2 Cor 5:21, 1 Cor 1:30]

✝️ Jesus HIMSELF dwells in us through the Holy Spirit to change us from selfish brats into mature sons of God. In Him, we have ALL that we need to stop partnering with evil; to walk with God to bring peace & blessing to those around us. [Col 2:9-10, 2 Pet 1:3-4]

✝️ Because we are fully loved & fully accepted, and strengthened by the love of God, we can look past our own needs & desires to seek the well-being of others and love them into wholeness. (Love is the opposite of selfishness) [Rom 5:5]

In Luke 19:11-27, all the stewards were given 10 minas each… equal. Those who used/invested it – ALL experienced multiplication. The one who buried it lost the little he had too.

Israel took the Law, and buried it. She did not use it to build her nation, community, families… Consequence: she became so corrupt, that God had to punish her…

In Christ, WE ALL have received the 📖+ 🕊️ equally … what are WE doing with it?

God used the Babylonian captivity to work in the hearts of His people – to reveal His love to them and turn their hearts back to Him. We know that God raised up people like Ezra and Nehemiah in Babylon.

Ezra went on to lay the foundations of the synagogue & rabbi system to train people in the Word. That system prepared the hearts of the people, making them hungry for the things of God, thus they responded eagerly to John the Baptist.

How are you & I using this window of grace?
The pandemic has shown us that our immediate family is our biggest “vineyard”.

Are we using this time to grow our families in the love of God?
Is there a gap between our words & actions that would cause family members to turn away from Christ?

Do I put my needs & desires above the well-being of my family?
Do I see myself as God’s agent of grace, specifically placed in my family to bring His love & healing to them … OR… is it all about ”Me, my need, my pride, my comfort, my fulfillment”?

All around the world, abuse & divorce has grown through the pandemic.

🔑 God has given put us in this pandemic “exile”, so that we are forced to stay indoors, lay aside our pride & selfishness, and learn to serve one another with the love of Christ.

🔑 We’ve been given new life, so that we might bring life, love & healing to others, and like John the Baptist, prepare the way for them to see the Lord and run to Him.

🔑 Remember Christ is IN US, and He says, ”Come, I will teach you how to walk with the rhythms of grace”

Abba Father, anoint us to be pipelines of Your love, truth, grace, comfort, healing, blessing and peace into the lives of others. May all that You have placed in us bear fruit that blesses others. In Jesus Name. Amen

AD