Daily reading

Today’s reading is: Ezek. 14-16

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Ezekiel Chapter Fourteen

  1. The elders of Judah came to Ezekiel, but their hearts were not right (Ezek. 14:1-3).
  2. The Lord made it quite clear that approaching Him with an impure heart will result in immediate judgment (Ezek. 14:4-11).
    1. It is a trampling of His courts (Isa. 1:12).
    2. It is a regarding as unclean His holy blood (Heb. 10:29).
    3. God sees through such double-mindedness (Jer. 7:9-11).
  3. The Lord describes a “hypothetical nation” (Judah, historically & prophetically) that was so wicked that not even the presence of Noah, Daniel, & Job combined could spare that nation from God’s coming wrath (Ezek. 14:12-23).

Ezekiel Chapter Fifteen

  1. Chapter 15 begins a series of three parables to the exiles in Babylon.
    1. The parable of the vine (Ezek. 15).
    2. The parable of the harlot (Ezek. 16).
    3. The parable of the two eagles & the vine (Ezek. 17).
  2. A series of “prophetic rhetorical” questions teaches the lesson (Ezek. 15:2-5).
    1. How is vine “wood” better than tree branch wood from the forest? (v.2)  It’s not!  You can’t make anything out of it—not even a single peg (v.3).  It is useless.
    2. What if you burn that vine wood, so that it is consumed and charred?  Can you make anything out of it now? (vv.4,5)  Of course not!  It is now worse than useless.
  3. Judah is the consumed and charred vine wood (Ezek. 15:6-8).  They are worse than useless.
  4. Lessons to learn from this parable:
    1. The wood of the vine has no value to the carpenter.  He considers it as the unbeliever regards God’s Word (1st Cor. 1:18,21,23,25; 2:14; 4:10).
    2. The only value that the vine possesses is the fruit that it bears (Jn. 15:1-11; Isa. 5:1-7).
    3. The goal of every believer is to be useful for service (2nd Tim. 2:15,21-22; 3:16-17; Heb. 13:21).
    4. God is the One who makes the useless to be useful (2nd Cor. 2:16; 3:5-6).

Ezekiel Chapter Sixteen

  1. In this parable, Israel is a woman who has received unbelievable grace and who has performed unbelievable evil.
  2. Her birth is described (Ezek. 16:3-5).
    1. She had abusive parents (v.3).
    2. She was left to die (vv.4,5).
  3. Her life was saved (Ezek. 16:6-7).
  4. Her Savior returned & married her (Ezek. 16:8-14).
  5. Her beauty imbued her with pride, and she played the harlot (Ezek. 16:15-34).
    1. She engaged in multiple affairs (v.15).
    2. She financed her adulteries with her husband’s own wealth (vv.16-19).
    3. She sacrificed her own children in the pursuit of more adultery (vv.20-21).
    4. She totally lost sight of the grace that had given her everything (v.22).
    5. She accelerated her harlotry to highly profitable levels (vv.23-29).
    6. She made herself more and more miserable the harder she worked to make herself happy (vv.30-34).
  6. Her harlotry will be judged (Ezek. 16:35-43).
  7. Her story will be a proverb for future generations (Ezek. 16:44-52).
  8. Her sisters (who were also quite evil) will be restored to serve her (Ezek. 16:53-59).
  9. Her own restoration will be a time for humble recognition of her husband’s grace (Ezek. 16:60-63).