Daily Bread for Aug 31, Eze 5-8

Today's readings are Eze 5-8.

In Eze 5, we learn a terrifying truth about God. His wrath must be satisfied. God is a God of grace and love, but He is also holy and just. Because His justice is perfect, it must be entirely satisfied. He demands righteousness from His people. However, they have exhibited spiritual pride and arrogance rather than righteousness. They believe they are superior to those around them, but God declares them to be worse. Judgment will fall on them for their disobedience, Jerusalem will be destroyed, and her people scattered (Eze 5:7-12).

Their offenses are named in Eze 6. They suffer from pride and idolatry. Their arrogance (pride) has caused them to turn away from God and worship other Gods, themselves and, as we will see, their belongings (idolatry). 

The situation is dire, the punishment severe. Yet, there is hope. God is not abandoning His children. They will pay a price for their unholy behavior but, God will preserve them. A remnant will repent and return to Him (Eze 6:8-10).

For those who refuse to turn back toward God, their hopeless nature is described in Eze 7. God will judge them according to their ways (Eze 7:3). The worldly things they valued and depended upon will not save them (Eze 7:17-20). Even the religious leaders have been corrupted (Eze 7:24-27).

Their worship is empty, and the Temple has been defiled by their idolatry (Eze 8).

In short, these people who have been chosen by God to be His representatives on earth have been busy representing themselves and pleasing themselves, even becoming like the world and, in many ways, worse than the world. They have even turned their back on the one tangible thing that set them apart, God's dwelling.

None of what they are doing and none of the things they have accumulated will save them because they have forsaken God for their own interests. This is sin, and God has promised, repeatedly, to punish sin by venting His unbridled wrath upon it. His wrath is an expression of His perfect justice. For God to remain holy and just, sin must be atoned for.

What the people are failing to see is that their religion has, over time, become a self-centered religion that focuses on them instead of God. It's deteriorated into a faith and worship that relies on what they get out it instead of Who they get it from. They no longer truly worship God, they worship themselves and their "blessings."

Their self-worship has violated God's law. Without someone to absorb His wrath for their sin, they must bear the full burden of it themselves.

This expression of His justice and the wrath that will pour out on all sin should give us a greater appreciation for what we, as believers, have been saved from. Without Christ as our mediator, without Him taking on the wrath of God for us, we are hopelessly doomed.