Daily Devotions
Ezekiel
"And you shall know that I am the LORD"
Text: Ezekiel 11:12
JUDGMENT RATHER THAN BLESSSING
Judah believed that it would always be blessed. They trusted that their devotion to the idols they worshipped would result in blessings. The LORD warned that they would be judged and not blessed!
“This city shall not be your cauldron,
nor shall you be the meat in its midst.
I will judge you at the border of Israel.
And you shall know that I am the LORD;
for you have not walked in My statutes nor executed My judgments,
but have done according to the customs of the Gentiles
which are all around you.”
Ezekiel 11:11-12
1. The cauldron imagery.
a) The city of Jerusalem is the cauldron.
b) But the people in them would not be the meat in the cauldron.
c) The meat would be the ones slain by the Babylonians.
2. Divine judgment would be meted out.
a) Some would be slain in the city.
b) Those who escaped from the city would not be spared.
c) They would be stopped at the borders of the country.
3. Acknowledgment of the LORD.
a) The LORD had given the people a special covenant.
b) The people were supposed to fulfil their part of the covenant.
i) To worship God alone.
ii) To obey the Lord.
iii) To walk in paths of righteousness.
c) But Jerusalem and Judah had failed miserably!
4. Lessons from the Judgments of God.
a) They will know the LORD in the following ways:
i) They will see His power.
ii) They will face the judgment of God.
b) They will realise their folly.
i) In rejecting the statutes and judgments of God.
ii) In embracing the false and wicked customs of the Gentiles.