Day 429: Ezekiel 6- Know Who Is LORD

The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, 3 and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. 5 And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you dwell, the cities shall be waste and the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined, your idols broken and destroyed, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. 7 And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
8 “Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, 9 then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the Lord. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”
11 Thus says the Lord God: “Clap your hands and stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. 12 He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. Thus I will spend my fury upon them. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. 14 And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land desolate and waste, in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to Riblah. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

​Meditation
God reveals Himself in everything. God wants you to know He is Lord. Like a Father, God’s love is sometimes shown in discipline. As a Savior, God took our judgment and resurrects our life. In judgment and restoration God wants to reveal that He is the Lord.
 
The focus of God’s wrath against sin turns to the mountains of Israel where there were high places used for the worship of idols (1-5). “Idols on every high hill and on all the mountain tops, under every green tree …wherever they offered pleasing aroma to their idols” (13).  Judgment is harsh. Four times God reveals His motive- “You shall know that I am the Lord.”
 
Ezekiel will speak to the Mountains again, this time a message of restoration. Ezekiel will say to the mountains “You shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people, for they will come home… they shall multiply and be fruitful… then you will know I am the Lord” (36:8-11).
 
God reveals Himself in everything, in both judgment and restoration. The message of the Lord moves from judgment to hope, death to life, and discipline to dwelling in the presence of the Lord because God Himself would come and take the judgment of the sin of His people. God Himself dies and rises so we can be forgiven and resurrected with Him.
 
In Judgment God reveals His love and justice. In redemption and restoration God reveals His faithfulness and goodness. In all things God wants you to know He is the Lord.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What are the difficult parts of judgment from this chapter? How do they deepen your appreciation for Christ’s work on the cross?
 
-Restoration from judgment is found through the work of Christ alone. How can we focus our hope and healing more on Him?
 
Key Verse
14 And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land desolate and waste, in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to Riblah. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”