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August 20 - Morning
"Prepare chains!
For the land is full of bloodshed,
and the city is full of violence.
I will bring the most wicked of nations
to take possession of their houses.
I will put an end to the pride of the mighty,
and their sanctuaries will be desecrated.
When terror comes, they will seek peace in vain.
Calamity upon calamity will come,
and rumor upon rumor.
They will go searching for a vision from the prophet,
priestly instruction in the law will cease,
the counsel of the elders will come to an end.
The king will mourn,
the prince will be clothed with despair,
and the hands of the people of the land will tremble.
I will deal with them according to their conduct,
and by their own standards I will judge them.
‘Then they will know that I am the Lord.’
- Ezekiel 6-7 |
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| Disciplined by the Lord in Order to Know the Lord |
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In chapter 6 and 7 the Lord gives several warnings and uses the phrase, “Then you will know that I am the Lord,” seven times.
The warnings include:
- Bringing the sword against the mountains of Israel, destroying high places, altars and incense altars and scattering the slain people of Israel in front of idols in the towns that have been laid waste. (“you will know that I am the Lord.” – 6:7)
- But, also, the Lord says that he will spare some of Israel’s people in order to scatter them among the nations. There in the foreign lands they will remember the Lord. (“they will know that I am the Lord.” - 6:10).
This continues through chapter 6 and 7. At the end of chapter 7 (Ezekiel 7:23-27) the final warning is given when the Lord says through Ezekiel:
- Prepare chains
- The culture is violent
- A more wicked culture will be brought to destroy and take possession of Israel
When these things begin to happen the Israelites will look for answers and try to resolve their problems that are terrorizing them, but “there will be none” (7:25). There will be no answers and no way to resolve their deadly problems.
When the people cannot unravel the conflict with their own ability and political negotiations, they will seek spiritual guidance from prophets, priests and elders.
- Visions from prophets
- Teaching from the priest
- Counsel from the elders
But, once again, the Lord will not answer. The result will be:
- Mourning by the king
- Clothes of despair for the prince
- Trembling hands of the people
The Lord promises to:
- Deal with them according to their conduct
- Judge them by their own standards
Now, for the seventh time, the Lord says the results of all this will be:
“Then they will know that I am the Lord.” - Ezekiel 7:27
In the midst of this unimaginable suffering and destruction, the Lord plans to use all of these things to ultimately bring this people to a place that they personally know the Lord.
When these stages of discipline happen, “Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
When they know the Lord it will be time to remove the discipline and restore the people of Israel. |
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“It is shortsighted idolatry for a church to follow the cowardly spirit of this age
and neglect teaching the
Word of God.”
- Galyn Wiemers |
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Around 2000 BC God
asks Job,
“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen
Orion’s belt?”
- Job 38:31
Today astronomers tell us that the Pleiades star cluster is gravitationally bound, while the Orion star cluster is loose and disintegrating because the gravity of the cluster is not enough to bind the group together. So, it is true God has bound Pleiades with chains (or gravity) and has loosen Orion’s belt by giving it a weak gravitational attraction of the dust and gas, which is similar to the gravitation force of fog. The Orion Nebula has very low density which gives it the gravity force near zero. |
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Chepets (Hb) - pleasure (Eng) - The Hebrew word chepets means “pleasure,” “delight,” and “request.” Chepets is used in a variety of ways as can be seen in these verses:
1 Samuel 15:22 – “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams."
Ecclesiastes 12:10 – “The Preacher sought to find words of delight,
and uprightly he wrote words of truth."
Proverbs 31:13 – “She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands."
2 Samuel 23:5 – (grant a request) “For does not my house stand so with God?
For he has made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and secure.
For will he not cause to prosper
all my help and my desire?" |
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Paul’s letters Galatians,
1-2 Thessalonians, Corinthians, Romans, discuss and explain the resurrection of Jesus. These letters were written in the years 49-57 AD. If Jesus was crucified and resurrected in 30 AD then Paul was writing within 19-27 years of this event having taken place. There is little reasonable dispute concerning the authenticity of these letters. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul even gives a list of people (including a crowd of 500) who were still alive in 55 AD twenty-five years after the crucifixion that had seen Jesus alive after his resurrection. |
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| I will seek to know the Lord, and not merely know religion or mere catchphrases about the Lord. |
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"Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare."
- Proverbs 20:13 |
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Children |
Love and selflessness |
University Students |
Malawi |
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| Reps & Sets is a daily Bible devotional for Christians from Generation Word Bible Teaching used each morning and evening. |
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