Ezekiel 19
COMMENTARY:
: 2 And say, What is your mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. (7235 “nourished” [rabah] means rear offspring, be or become great, be or become many, be or become much, be or become numerous or multiply.)
DEVOTION: The nation of Israel was likened to a pride of lions. The lioness has cubs. The cubs were raised to be great. It was the mother’s responsibility to help her cubs become great. The lioness is Israel. Her young lions are her kings.
The chapter ends with the downfall of Israel. The failure of a nation is attributed to bad leadership. When the people accept poor leadership without praying for change,
they end up in captivity. It became a wilderness because of their loss of fellowship with the LORD.
What is involved in rearing offspring? The nation has a responsibility to train her future leaders. It starts in the family. In the case of Israel, the priests were involved. So, there is family and Biblical training involved. If these two sources fail to train the future leaders correctly, then the nation will not succeed.
The first six years of a child’s life are the most important years. They say that 85% of habits are learned in the first six years of life. Children watch their parents. If they encourage, praises, and disciplines them properly – they will have a good outlook on life.
If they discourage them and discipline them mainly – they will have a negative outlook on life. Remember the father has to take the lead in the home.
Some parents don’t discipline at all. Some parents discipline too much. There is a balance and only the LORD can give direction in each family life.
One of the habits that parents need to establish for their children is attendance in a Biblical church that supports the family. Some churches are too legalistic. Others are too easy on sin. There has to be balance in their Christian education.
A bad church can cause children to leave the church later in life. Children need to be taught the whole counsel of God as they are growing up. The future king had to write out his own copy of the first five books of the Old Testament.
There are many people who would like to raise our children. There are many people who think they could do a better job than we are doing.
We raised four children to the best of our ability and the LORD has blessed us with four wonderful children. We are blessed with four Christian spouses. We have twelve, soon to be thirteen, grandchildren who are being raised in the church. We only have the LORD to praise for them. Are they perfect? NO! Are they making good decisions most of the time? YES! There was a balance of freedom from a young age and discipline.
Israel’s princes were not being raised right and they helped the nation go into captivity by their bad leadership.
We need to pray hard for young families with children today. We need strong Biblical families in our churches. That will influence the nation in the right direction. Are we headed to captivity? Are we praying for revival? Remember revival starts with us.
CHALLENGE: Training in a nation affects the future of the nation. Biblical training is necessary for the LORD to bless a nation.
: 5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. (8615 “hope” [tiqvah] means expectation, optimistic outlook, general feeling that some desire will be fulfilled, a confidence in regard to a good and beneficial future or looking forward to.)
DEVOTION: Here we have a nation having confidence in a leader that could or should lead them to a time of prosperity. This was not true in Israel and even today we find that people have false confidence in the leaders because they are choosing individuals who are not true to the LORD.
The nation of Judah was optimistic in the king that was on the throne to help them overcome the nation that was trying to conquer them. However, the nation as a whole was not faithful to the LORD and HE had sent judgment because of the leadership and the general public.
When a nation that is founded on principles given in the Word of God and they wander from those principles God has to judge that nation. Here was Israel being conquered by Babylon because that was the chosen instrument the LORD used to correct HIS people.
Today we have so many people thinking that if they elect the right president the nation can return to its former glory. That will not happen unless there is a general revival of the people who vote.
Too many people are religious in that they worship the false gods of today and sometimes decide to worship the true God of the Bible. That is not how the LORD wants us to worship. HE wants to be exclusive and if HE is not then HE will send judgment.
Some are counting on a new president to turn things around. Only a general revival in our nation could possibly change the thinking of our nation from PC to Biblical standards. Judah had gone too far and the LORD sent judgment. There was going to be a remnant that would be spared.
Our expectations have to be centered on the LORD Jesus Christ every moment of every day. HE is the only one who can give a genuine optimistic outlook. It is one that will last throughout eternity.
CHALLENGE: We need to be part of the remnant in our nation that will honor the LORD no matter what is going on around us. We are to be faithful witnesses to all who will listen.
: 13 And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. (6772 “thirsty” [tsama] means arid, parched ground, or dryness.)
DEVOTION: God had promised the children of Israel a land of milk and honey. The land was given to them by the LORD for them to worship HIM alone. HE promised to bless them if they faithfully served HIM.
This didn’t happen. Throughout the years of their living in the Promised Land the children of Israel continually served false gods. The LORD sent HIS servants the prophets to warn them that judgment was coming.
However, because the LORD was longsuffering, they had the opinion that judgment was never coming. They continued to serve themselves and other gods. They took their blessings for granted.
Now we find that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed and the land was no longer going to be a land of milk and honey but a parched ground with no fruit to show for their labors.
They had settled for the appearance of greatness rather than a reality. Ezekiel was given the command to record the present condition of Israel. Now they were like a people planted in a wilderness. The beauty of the land was gone.
God can provide blessings for any country that serves HIM now. America had been faithful in sending missionaries around the world to encourage nations to become followers of the LORD. Many nations responded to the message. The problem is now these nations are sending more missionaries to America because they have forgotten the message they brought to the nations.
Our nation will have to suffer for their lack of service to the LORD. The church is suffering for its lack of service to the LORD. The families are suffering because of their lack of service to the LORD.
Can this change? Some think that we are too far gone. Others believe that revival is still possible even in America. With God all things are possible. Our prayer should be that our land doesn’t become like Jerusalem. A wilderness that is parched and fruitless.
CHALLENGE: The LORD continually told the children of Israel to turn from their sin and confess their sin and follow HIM. That is still a possibility today. Is that our prayer or are we willing to sit by and watch our nation die?
: 14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which has devoured her fruit, so that she has no strong rod to be a scepter to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. (7015 “lamentation” [qiynah] means dirge, elegy, a song of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person, or funeral song.)
DEVOTION: Judah was responsible to God for their sin against HIM> Now in this chapter we find that because Judah was already spiritually dead, so was its political life dead.
God is judging the nation because of their failure to follow HIM. They thought they could disobey and still be a kingdom that God would bless. They were wrong. HE allowed them to go into captivity because they didn’t want to live by HIS laws.
Today we find that many people who claim to be followers of the LORD but are not willing to live according to the commands of the LORD are going to be surprised to find themselves being judges as others who have never even claimed to be followers of the LORD. Both groups will spend eternity in hell because of their lack of obedience to the commands of the LORD.
There are people who will pretend to be followers of the LORD by attending church and sometimes even speaking the language of salvation but not have a personal relationship with the LORD.
It is only those who have been following the LORD in the Old Testament and those who are in a proper relationship with Jesus Christ in the New Testament that will be blessed of the LORD.
CHALLENGE: Just to have the name of being a Jew in the Old Testament and those who have the name of a church attender in the New Testament will still spend eternity in a place called Hell for eternity.
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Lamentationverses 1, 14
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead – God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Nationsverses 4, 8
Egyptverse 4
King of Babylonverse 9
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Nourishverse 2
Learnedverses 3, 6
Hopeverse 5
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Princes of Israelverses 1-14
Young lions
One of her whelps
Learned to catch the prey
Devoured men
Nations heard of him
Brought with chains to land of Egypt
Mountains of Israelverse 9
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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