Ezekiel 16

WEEK   10                                           Ezekiel 16

SATURDAY  Reflections

Jerusalem and its people couldn’t claim any special honor that wasn't given by God. They weren't anything pure or desirable from their very beginning. Yet, God had mercy and made them something special. The special relationship God had with His people is illustrated in the marriage covenant. God called the people his bride.

 

In return for His mercy and the way God elevated them, the people of God were unfaithful to Him. God uses the image not just as an unfaithful wife but a woman who leaves her loving, wealthy husband to be a harlot. Instead of accepting what God would have given her, Israel is like a harlot living off of scraps. They have been so bad that God says they are worse than Sodom, whom He destroyed. The message is clear; God is right in His judgment.

Eze 16:1-63
(1)  Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
(2)  Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
(3)  And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.
(4)  And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
(5)  None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.
(6)  And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.
(7)  I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.
(8)  Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.
(9)  Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
(10)  I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
(11)  I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
(12)  And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
(13)  Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
(14)  And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.
(15)  But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
(16)  And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
(17)  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
(18)  And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
(19)  My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.
(20)  Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,
(21)  That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?
(22)  And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.
(23)  And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;)
(24)  That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.
(25)  Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.
(26)  Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.
(27)  Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.
(28)  Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.
(29)  Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.
(30)  How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;
(31)  In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;
(32)  But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!
(33)  They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.
(34)  And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.
(35)  Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:
(36)  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;
(37)  Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.
(38)  And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
(39)  And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.
(40)  They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.
(41)  And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.
(42)  So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.
(43)  Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.
(44)  Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.
(45)  Thou art thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.
(46)  And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
(47)  Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.
(48)  As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.
(49)  Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
(50)  And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
(51)  Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.
(52)  Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.
(53)  When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:
(54)  That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.
(55)  When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.
(56)  For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride,
(57)  Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about.
(58)  Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD.
(59)  For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
(60)  Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.
(61)  Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.
(62)  And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:
(63)  That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.

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Micah 7

WEEK   10                                        Micah 7

FRIDAY  Reflections

Yes, God is a God who requires justice and judgment, but He is also a God of mercy and forgiveness. The prophet ends with a promise. The promise God will forgive and restore. God is going to keep His promises; this is the final word. God is not a God who is looking for a fight. He is looking for a reason to forgive and restore. He is a God of mercy and love.

Mic 7:1-20
(1)  Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.
(2)  The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
(3)  That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.
(4)  The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.
(5)  Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
(6)  For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
(7)  Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
(8)  Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
(9)  I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
(10)  Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
(11)  In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed.
(12)  In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
(13)  Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
(14)  Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
(15)  According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.
(16)  The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
(17)  They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.
(18)  Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
(19)  He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
(20)  Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

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2 Corinthians 6

WEEK   10                                      2 Corinthians 6

THURSDAY  Reflections

A yoke binds two things together. Paul advises the people of Corinth and us not to be yoked (bound) to unbelievers. This isn't saying we can't be friends with the unsaved, because without interaction, how can people come to Christ? Just being a friend to an unbeliever isn’t what Paul is talking about.

Two bound animals can't go separate ways; either they move together, the stronger pulls the weaker along (never a good thing), or they go nowhere. If we are bound to unbelievers, then Paul's concern isn't that we will bring them to God but the other way around.

This scripture is used most often in marriage, but I believe business deals, oath-bound organizations, and other binding arrangements would do well to take Paul's words to heart. We are here to reach the world. How can we do that if we are bound to something which denigrates the name or work of Jesus?

2Co 6:1-18
(1)  We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
(2)  (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
(3)  Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:
(4)  But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
(5)  In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;
(6)  By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
(7)  By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
(8)  By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
(9)  As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
(10)  As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
(11)  O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
(12)  Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.
(13)  Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.
(14)  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
(15)  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
(16)  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(17)  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
(18)  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

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Micah 6

WEEK  10                                          Micah 6

WEDNESDAY  Reflections

God lays out his case against Israel. The question we ask is what can we give. The problem is God really doesn't want people to offer sacrifice for guidance and direction. He wants a people to live as he commanded. The summary of how to live is found in verse 8, "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (NIV). Many see this command to act justly in regard to social justice, but God wants us to live rightly with him and others.

 

In the bigger picture of Scripture, God wants us to be people who walk humbly and do justly. Not a people who are trying to follow rules, but a people whose hearts have been changed to be like His. 



Mic 6:1-16
(1)  Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
(2)  Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.
(3)  O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.
(4)  For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
(5)  O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD.
(6)  Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
(7)  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
(8)  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
(9)  The LORD'S voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
(10)  Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
(11)  Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
(12)  For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
(13)  Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.
(14)  Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.
(15)  Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.
(16)  For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

Micah 5

WEEK 10                                              Micah 5

TUESDAY  Reflections

This chapter contains the promise that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. This is scripture the leaders of the Jews referred to when Herod asked them where the king would be born. It was also why some didn't originally believe Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus came from Nazareth, and thus they assumed he was born there. Many interpreted this scripture as a military leader, which wasn't Jesus' mission on his first coming; some had trouble accepting Jesus as the messiah. 

 

What got people in trouble is they assumed they understood what God was doing perfectly from the prophecy. God was and is going to fulfill all of the prophecies, but not as they thought. This, to me, is a warning when we come to the final book of the Bible; Revelation. We should concern ourselves with what we know is being taught rather than what we think might happen.

Mic 5:1-15
(1)  Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
(2)  But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
(3)  Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
(4)  And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
(5)  And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
(6)  And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.
(7)  And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.
(8)  And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
(9)  Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.
(10)  And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots:
(11)  And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds:
(12)  And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:
(13)  Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.
(14)  And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.
(15)  And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.

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