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Daily Devotions

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 
Day 
Day 201

"Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me"

Text: Ezekiel 20:13

REJECTING THE COVENANT OF GOD

Israel’s response to all that God had done was totally inexcusable! The Lord described candidly what Israel did!

“Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness;
they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments,
‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them’;
and they greatly defiled My Sabbaths.
Then I said I would pour out My fury on them
in the wilderness, to consume them.
But I acted for My name’s sake,
that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles,
in whose sight I had brought them out.”
Ezekiel 20:13-14

1. The unthinkable response of Israel.

a) Israel rebelled against God in the wilderness journey.

i) Complaining again and again.

ii) Challenging God’s power to provide.

iii) Creating unrest and unhappiness.

b) They did not walk in God’s statutes.

i) They refused to obey the Lord.

ii) They despised the judgments of God.

iii) If only they had walked in God’s ways they would have lived well.

c) The Sabbaths were defiled.

i) The heart was not willing to worship.

ii) The Sabbath was not kept.

iii) The people disdained the Sabbaths God had sanctified.

2. The righteous response of God.

a) God had every right to respond in punitive judgment.

b) The Covenant laws warned that God could punish them for breaking the Covenant (Leviticus 26).

3. God withheld His fury.

a) He did not consume Israel (destruction).

b) He restrained His anger and punishment.

c) The name of God was at stake.

i) The Gentiles (Egyptians) had seen the power of God at work.

ii) They would have mocked the name of the Lord if Israel had been destroyed (consumed).

iii) God chose to exercise grace and mercy to an undeserving nation.