 “You can’t have God’s mercy & grace without His wrath & His justice.” —Pastor Doug Wiebe. At our Easter service at Aldergrove Alliance Church, Pastor Doug went on to explain that without Jesus Christ's finished work on the cross, God's justice (wrath) would "ruin us" because in our fallen state of sin, we can not survive the presence of God without the atoning sacrifice of our Lord & savior, Jesus Christ. What better book of the Bible to demonstrate pastor Doug's point than Ezekiel? I pray that we all learn from this important history & humbly accept the gift of God's mercy & grace, His son, our redeemer & advocate, amen. In chapter 9, verse 9 of Ezekiel, it is written: "The iniquity of the house of Israel & Judah is very, very great..." & yet God shows His mercy, sparing those "who sigh & groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst." (Ezekiel 9:4-6). However, towards those committing atrocities, He says: “Now the end is upon you, and I shall send My anger against you; I shall judge you according to your ways, and I shall bring all your abominations upon you. In Chapter 11, God expresses His promise to help us choose Him & remain steadfast in His ways: “And I shall give them one heart, and shall put a new spirit within them. And I shall take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, God instructed & equipped Ezekiel to repeatedly warn the people of Israel in numerous ways, throughout a period of about twenty years, of the coming consequences of their sins! "Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God, ... Say, 'I am a sign to you...." (Ezekiel 12:10-11). Furthermore, He promises to protect a 'remnant' who go on to share with other nations about the saving grace & miraculous sustaining power of God: “But I shall spare a few of them from the sword, the famine, and the pestilence that they may tell all their abominations among the nations where they go, and may know that I am the LORD.” Ezekiel 12:16 However, towards those committing brutal atrocities against God, who do not listen to warnings to change, there is no escape: “As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out My wrath on you.” Ezekiel 22:22 “And your lewdness will be requited upon you, and you will bear the penalty of worshiping your idols; thus you will know that I am the Lord God.” Ezekiel 23:49 “Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of your slayer, although you are a man and not God, in the hands of those who wound you?” Ezekiel 28:9 God pleads with His created fallen ones that they turn from their destructive actions & idolatries but He knows they have fallen too far away from Him to do so: “Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’ Ezekiel 33:11 May their deaths at least continue to serve as more than a warning for others to heed & respond to: “But as for you, son of man, your fellow citizens who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, ‘Come now, and hear what the message is which comes forth from the Lord.’ Ezekiel 33:30 In today's modern world, so many of us are raised without any notion of the necessity for reliance on God. Science, culture & other forces have taught us that Bible scripture & even God is nothing more than a fairy tale of superstitions from the past when people were ignorant of what is really going on. To many, the Bible describes a time when, to make sense of things, people had to make up outrageous stories. But actually, the same atrocities that took place back then, are still occurring today. The violent wars, bloodshed, corruption, oppression & other forms of "hard-heartedness" toward God & His guidance persist despite His patient protection & pleas for us to get our 'stuff' together & choose Him over all else. Science nor culture; nothing of this world can save us from evil, our own or otherwise. But the good Lord God can, will & does everyday, amen. “I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest” declares the Lord God. According to Biblehub.com 'the fat & strong' mean "prosperity which begets hardness of heart and forgetfulness of God". https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ezekiel/34-16.htm God teaches us with dire warnings from the past & ultimately graciously gave us His son, Jesus Christ; 'showers of blessing' (Ezekiel 34:26) in which the choice to partake is ours: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.” Ezekiel 36:25 “And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever.” Ezekiel 37:26
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