Someone who openly tells you what you have done wrong in front of others is better than someone who likes you, but does not let anyone know. It is better to trust a friend who hurts your feelings than an enemy who tells you that all is going as you wish.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
Indeed He is and I will praise Him every day. I am grateful that His love for me will never end, no matter how often I disappoint Him. I believe His promise and will praise His name.
The writer compares the old covenant under the old priesthood with the new covenant with the new priesthood. Under the old covenant there were many priests because the priests were limited by death. Ultimately, all of those priests died. Under the new covenant there is only one priest because Jesus is that priest and He lives forever. Therefore His priesthood lasts forever. In addition, under the old covenant the priests had to offer sacrifices every day because they had to first sacrifice for their own sins before they could intercede for the people. Under the new covenant Jesus only had to make one sacrifice for all time because He was sinless.
Jesus is the kind of high priest which we need because He is unstained by sin. He was tempted as we are, so He understands the challenges we face. However, He was able to resist that temptation, so He can show us how we too can resist that temptation. He has sacrificed Himself once and for all time for our sins. Now He lives to intercede with God on our behalf.
God is sending judgment upon the nations of this earth and when it comes, the righteous will be only able to save themselves. Even if Noah and Job were alive today they would be unable to save anyone other than themselves. They would be unable to shield even their own sons and daughters. This is the day that is coming. Let us strive to convince our friends and loved ones to turn to God today so that we will not witness their suffering and be unable to help them.
And why is this judgment coming? God had raised up Jerusalem and made it a beacon to the nations. He had given its people treasure and luxuries so that they lived a life of beauty and comfort. Rather than praising God and thanking Him for their wealth, they took their wealth and used it to worship idols. Further, they sacrificed the children which God had given them to those idols. Those children belong to God and He will not forget those who sacrifice them on the altar. Our society is guilty of the same sins. God took the people of this nation and built a great nation, but how do we repay Him for His wonderful gifts to us? We offer our wealth on the altar to numerous idols and we sacrifice the children He gave us on the altar of abortion. God’s judgment is coming. There may still be time, but only if all of God’s people who remain stand in the gaps and pray for His Spirit to transform hearts throughout this land and this world. The time is short.
For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.
Someone who is willing to openly rebuke you for you actions is preferable than someone who loves you, but hides it. Those who care for you may hurt your feelings by what they say and do, but they will do so in an attempt to help you become a better person. In the meantime, your enemies will tell you that your mistakes are triumphs.
Let us praise the Lord with all that we are. No one can praise the Lord as much as He deserves. It is not possible to declare all the wonderful things He has done for us. Let us not think that we are better than the Israelites who rebelled against the Lord in the desert. We too have sinned against Him. And just as God saved the Israelites despite their sins, so He has rescued us. After God repeatedly saved them from the consequences of their rebellion against Him, only then did they finally sing His praises and worship only Him. Let us remember the great things the Lord has done for us and praise His name.
Under the old order priests had to offer sacrifices daily for the sins of both themselves and the people. Jesus offered Himself up as a sacrifice once. In addition, the priests under the old order died and new priests needed to be appointed to take their place. Jesus lives forever and therefore is able to intercede for who come to God through Him for all time. There will never be a need for another high priest to take His place.
Under the old system, there was a class of people set up to be intermediaries between man and God. In order to approach God, people needed to go through these intermediaries. Under Jesus, our intermediary is God. We do not need anyone else to intercede with God for us. We can approach Him directly.
Ezekiel warns that a day of judgement is coming when even the most righteous of people will only be able to save themselves. A day when even if the most righteous people of history were to intercede and pray on behalf of a sinner, it would not be enough. The sinner will still face judgement for their sins. If you have met those who suffer such judgement, you will understand their great wickedness and it will make you feel less bad about the suffering they experience.
Ezekiel talks about how God lifted up the people of Judah and made them prosperous. Yet despite all that God had done for them, they turned away from Him and worshiped idols. I see this on the land around me. The people think that their beauty, fame, and wealth is theirs. They fail to remember that it was all a gift from God. They use the gifts God has given them to set up shrines and make offerings to other gods. All of this arouses God’s anger. But the final straw, the thing which He must bring judgement against, is when they offer their children as sacrifices to those gods. Whenever I read in the Old Testament about the people offering their children as sacrifices, I feel conviction regarding the issue of abortion. The people of our society offer their children as sacrifices on the altar of convenience and argue that it is their right and prerogative. If our society does not turn from this great sin God is going to bring a great judgement against this people, just as He did Judah and Jerusalem. He will not allow to stand a people who sacrifice their children on the altar to their god. Passages such as this are also a judgement on Muslim societies which sacrifice their children as suicide bombers.
I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
Ezekiel prophesies that when God brings judgment upon a country because of the sins of its people, the righteous will be unable to save anyone other than themselves. The time is coming when the sins of nations will be visited upon them. When that day comes, your parent’s righteousness will not spare you from the suffering and your righteousness will not spare your children. However, inherent in this prophecy from Ezekiel is the promise of God that those who righteously serve Him will be spared the coming suffering.
The writer explains that the requirements for joining the old priestly order was set aside because it was incapable of transforming sinful humans into perfect images of God. The law, and the priesthood which it established, were set aside in favor of a more effective system. The old system required a multitude of priests because death ended their service as priests. However, Jesus lives forever and death is unable to end his priesthood.
I will strive to act justly and do what is right because blessings will follow…sometimes just the blessings of knowing that I have done what is right. I will give thanks to the Lord and praise His name because He has cared for me despite my sinfulness. I will ask His Spirit to teach me to do what is right.
It is dangerous to incur someone’s anger or to cause them to lose their temper, but jealousy is the most dangerous emotion. It is more beneficial to receive am open put down than to be loved by someone who will not show it. We are better off when friends tell us we are wrong than when our enemies praise us.
I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I am sorry if my posts are not posted in a timely fashion for the next little while. I have my power back, but I am not able to get online in my normal routine because my Internet service has not been restored. I am able to post by using either the Internet at a friend’s house or by going to someplace that has free Wifi access. I am going to try to get something closer to my normal routine by writing down the passages for the next day and writing the blog offline. however, I usually compose these on my desktop PC and typing them on my laptop is a different experience. Please bear with me as I work to adapt to this disruption of my usual routine.
The Rabbit Who Graciously Shared His Abode With Us After the Storm
Ezekiel prophecies that God is bringing judgment on the people of Israel. God is bringing such a judgment that even men of great righteousness would only be able to save themselves from. The prayers of these men of great righteousness would not even be able to sae their sons and daughters. Yet even though God is bringing such a fierce judgment against the people of Israel, He will preserve a few unto Himself. There will be survivors who will learn to worship God and bring comfort to those who despaired of the people ever turning to God.
Ezekiel then compares the people of Israel to the wood from a vine. Wood from a vine is not suitable to make anything useful. All it is good for is as fuel for a fire. Ezekiel tells us that the people of Jerusalem have made themselves to be like the wood of a vine and thus God will burn them up completely.
Ezekiel then compares the nation of Israel to a baby that was abandoned immediately upon birth. At its infancy God saw it and willed it to live, providing for its needs. When Israel became a young woman, God took her as His wife. He provided her with fine clothes, expensive jewelry and the finest food. Then she became famous for her beauty and trusted in it for her security. Israel took the fine things that God had provided her and gave them to other lovers. Israel took the jewelry that God had given her and used it to create idols to worship in place of God. She dressed those idols in the clothes that God had provided her. She poured out the fine drink and offered the fine food as sacrifices to these idols she worshiped in place of God. She even sacrificed the children that God had given her to these false gods.
I am not normally a fan of reading the United States into prophecies concerning Israel, but I see some of the same patterns here. The United States started out weak and abandoned. When one looked at the early country, there was reason to question whether it could even survive, let alone thrive. But thrive it did, despite its many sins God chose to bless it with wealth and power. Yet the people of the United States have chosen to create their own gods to worship rather than worship the God who has blessed them. They have sacrificed their goods on the altar of selfish pleasure. They have chosen to sacrifice their very children to their idols. This is not just true of abortion where children are killed for convenience and ambition. It is also true of many of our schools where instead of teaching children, they are used as pawns to gain and keep political power. How long until God brings judgment on us as He did on the people of Israel? Was Hurricane Sandy a warning from God for us to turn from our selfishness to Him?
Families Without Electricity Gather at The Church Building to Share a Meal
Continuing the theme about the new priesthood that was established in Jesus, the author tells us that the Law made nothing perfect. This was why it was set aside in favor of a better Law. The priests of the Law existed in greater numbers because they were unable to continue as priests after their deaths. Jesus on the other hand was raised from death and is able to continue as our high priest forever. We need no other priest than Jesus. We need no one else to intercede between ourselves and God. The priests of the Law needed to daily offer up sacrifices for their own sins and for the sins of the people. Jesus, on the other hand, is holy and undefiled by sin so that He needed only offer Himself up once as a sacrifice for our sins.
This is an important lesson for us to pay attention to because we as humans tend to create a priesthood to stand between us and God. We do not need such a priesthood because Jesus is all that we need between us and God. Yet, time and again people start to place some as above them and between themselves and God. Whether they call them “Father”, or “Reverend”, or “Pastor” these are all attempts to say, “This person is better than me, they will stand between me and God and interpret God’s commands for me.” But it is also more than that. It is also an attempt to say that I do not have to follow all of God’s commands, because some of them are for the “clerics” and I am just “laity”.
Let us sing praises to God, for who can tell of all of His wonderful deeds. He will bless us if we keep justice and practice righteousness at all times. We must not make the mistake of thinking that we are better than our ancestors. We sin just as they did. The psalmist tells us that the people of Israel rebelled after God brought them out of Egypt, yet God again performed miracles to save them. When God performed miracles to save them, they turned to Him and worshiped Him. Do we turn to Him and worship Him when He acts to save us? Let me continue to praise the Lord for all that He has done for me. Let me worship Him and keep His commands.
Anger and rage are forces to be feared, but jealousy cannot be reasoned with. I would rather deal with someone who will openly tell me to get lost than someone who secretly wishes I would spend more time with them. When our friends tell us things for our betterment that hurt it is better than when our enemies tell us how wonderful we are.
