OUR FATHER WHOSE JUDGEMENT CAN BE TRIGGERED WHEN EVIL IN A LOCALLITY CROSSES A THRESHOLD
Verse 9 in the book of Ezekiel chapter 22 in the Amplified vpersion, says this;
In you are men who slander for the purpose of shedding blood, and in your presence they have eaten [food offered to idols] at the mountain shrines; in your midst they have committed acts of lewdness.
The city of Jerusalem, having deteriorated morally and was engaged in every manner of evil so as to be seen as a city of ill-repute.
The deeds that were done in Jerusalem had attracted the judgement of capture and so the prophetic voice of Ezekiel was stirred up by the Lord to declare to the people that they had maxxed out their allowance and that judgement was now inevitable.
These are the deeds that invited the calamity of judgement upon Jerusalem;
OUR FATHER WHOSE JUDGEMENT BEGINS AMONG HIS OWN PEOPLE
The book of Ezekiel chapter 21 verses 10 - 11 says this;
“‘A sword, a sword, sharpened and polished—sharpened for the slaughter, polished to flash like lightning!
“‘Shall we rejoice in the scepter of my royal son? The sword despises every such stick.
“‘The sword is appointed to be olished, to be grasped with the hand; it is sharpened and polished, made ready for the hand of the slayer.
Chapter 21 of the book of Ezekiel captures the words of the Lord declaring judgement over Israel and warning of the arrival of the Babylonians to conquer them.
This particular passage speaks of the sword that is prepared for use against Israel which is a metaphor representing authorization of the use of military force to override the sovereign authority of Israel.
The carrier of the sword in this case is Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar and they were positioned to engulf the kingdom of Israel and to bring about the utter dissolution of the society because they had rejected the ordinances of God, profaned the Lord's Sabbaths and had persisted in their pursuit of idols.
Thus the sword was sharpened and polished to bring about judgement and the people of God were defeated by their enemies.
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OUR FATHER WHO CREATED ALL THINGS AND IS WORTHY OF GLORY AND HONOR FOREVER
The book of Revelation chapter 4 verse 11 says this;
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
The Apostle John, having been summoned into heaven in the spirit, found himself in the midst of an extraordinary scene where a person whose appearance was like that of Jasper and ruby, sat upon a heavenly throne. An arch of emerald spanned over the throne and peals of thunder and flashes of lightening emanated from it.
Before the throne were seven brightly burning lampstands which are the sevenfold Spirits of God. As well, a transparent sea of glass was also in front of the throne.
Close around the throne were four remarkable six - winged living creatures that were covered with eyes on all sides. One was like a lion, the other like a bull. Yet another one was like a human and the fourth was like an eagle.
Around the throne were twenty-four thrones on which 24 elders sat and these were dressed in white attire and wore gold crowns.
The four creatures continually said these words out of Revelation chapter 4 verse 8;
“‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”
Each time the four creatures spoke these words, the 24 elders would fall prostrate before the throne to worship the One who was upon it and they laid down their crowns before Him who sat on the throne and said;
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
These words declared the absolute supremacy of the eternal Lord Jesus and the centrality of His will in the creation of everything that exists.
Amen.
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OUR FATHER WHO MAKES LIVING WATER AVAILABLE TO US
The book of John chapter 4 verses 9 - 10 says this;
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
The Lord Jesus and His disciples, travelling back to Gallilee from Judea, had to pass through Samaria and they came to the water well near the town of Sychar called Jacob's well.
The travellers came up to the well and as Jesus stopped to rest, disciples went off to the town to buy food.
Presently, a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water for herself and Jesus, against custom, asked her for a drink of water.
The woman, surprised by the request, brought up the cultural norms of the area citing the tradition that forbid the Jews from associating with Samaritans and they were not even supposed to interact casually with each other.
Jesus responded to her objection by saying this;
“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
This response identified a hithertofore unknown commodity named 'living water'.
This water has these properties:
This bubbling spring within those to whom Jesus gives eternal life is what makes them able to eat all diets whether clean or unclean and by extension, associate with any type of people whether cultural norms forbid it or not.
The book of Leviticus chapter 11 lists the various types of clean and unclean animals and practices like touching dead animals but in verse 36, it is mentioned that a spring or a cistern of water cannot be contaminated by any types of unclean thing.
A spring, however, or a cistern for collecting water remains clean, but anyone who touches one of these carcasses is unclean.
It is therefore made clear why those to whom the Lord Jesus has given eternal life are exempt from the rules of contact with ceremonially unclean things.
They are themselves springs that continuosly bubble with living water and thus cannot be contaminated.
Amen.
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OUR FATHER JUDGES THOSE WHO RETAIN THEIR IDOLS
The book of Ezekiel chapter 20 verse 4 says this;
“Will you judge them? Will you judge them, son of man? Then confront them with the detestable practices of their ancestors
This verse, captures an excerpt of the Lord speaking to the prophet Ezekiel where the Lord asks Ezekiel whether he would judge the elders of Israel who had come to his house to inquire of the Lord.
The Lord then told Ezekiel to confront the elders of Israel with the practices that were done by their ancestors that they too were engaging in.
They had been looking upon the vile images of idols and desecrating the Sabbaths of the Lord. They had burned incense to idols and had sacrificed their children in fire to their idols.
The Lord had held up His hand as he swore a covenant with the people of Israel to bring them out of slavery and into a good land and yet they retained their practices of idol worship and thus the Lord refused to be inquired of by the elders.
As Ezekiel chapter 20 verse 31 says;
When you offer your gifts—the sacrifice of your children in the fire—you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. Am I to let you inquire of me, you Israelites? As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will not let you inquire of me.
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OUR FATHER WHO MAKES ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM AND ARE CALLED ACCORING TO HIS PURPOSES
The book of Ezekiel chapter 19 verse 4 says this;
The nations heard about him, and he was trapped in their pit.
They led him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
This verse gives some insight into what happened to Joseph the son of Jacob when he was sold by his brothers into slave traders who took him to Egypt.
Behind the scenes, the spiritual kingdoms detected that Joseph was destined to a great role in the kingdom of Israel.
Because these surrounding kingdoms did not want Israel to gain strength over them, they orchestrated a plot that filled Joseph's brothers with hatred for Joseph and they threw him in a pit. As they were deciding what to do to him, some traders happened to pass by and they struck on the idea of selling him instead of killing him outright.
The traders bound Joseph with ankle shackles and dragged him to Egypt.
This verse shows us how the spiritual kingdoms manipulate human beings to perform their will and alter the courses of nations.
Even though Joseph was enslaved, his great destiny played out as intended by God and to the benefit of the nation of Israel and ultimately the whole world.
This brings to mind the scripture in Romans chapter 8 verse 28 that says;
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Amen
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