Day 245 (Ezekiel 21-22) - Year 4
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. As you know, we're launching into the New Testament in less than a month, and lots of you have been asking about our plans for next year as well. So while we aren't spilling all the future beans just yet, we'll fill you in on a few exciting things at the end of today's episode. So stay tuned.

God's words to Ezekiel today come down pretty strong. He doesn't sugarcoat these two chapters. Chapter 21 opens with a prophecy about God drawing a sword against the land of Israel. And it's especially unsettling because in verse 4, he says he will cut off both righteous and wicked. The righteous too? Why's that?

We won't find out until the end of today's reading, so put a pin in this, we'll come back to it. Next, God tells Ezekiel to mourn and grieve over what's happening and to spread the word about it to everyone who asks. Knowing Ezekiel, I'm pretty sure this involves some public mourning. After this, it sounds like he's supposed to demonstrate some of God's actions using an actual sword in front of the people. And after the sword, he demonstrates a highway with a fork in the road.

The road is coming out of Babylon, and one path leads to Ammon's capital, where the Ammonites live, and the other leads to Jerusalem. God says King Nebi is using divination, that is, seeking the direction of evil spirits, to determine which path he should take first, i.e., who's getting destroyed first. Survey says, Jerusalem. And in verse 27, God says this ruin, ruin, ruin will happen when Zedekiah becomes king, although it doesn't mention him by name.

God has promised to judge him, and he won't withhold it. We read about his downfall in Jeremiah 52, and it was a ruin, ruin, ruin indeed. Then God tells the Ammonites they aren't off the hook. They've been getting false promises and prophecies too, just like Judah, but they're next on the chopping block. In chapter 22, God circles back around to Jerusalem again. He calls them the bloody city because they've killed so many people.

God's penalty for murder is death, and he says he's held off their judgment long enough. It's time for him to act.

During the time he's given them to repent, their sin has increased. The list of their sins is lengthy. They're murderers and idolaters. They've shown contempt for their parents. They've extorted the foreigners who live in their land. They've disregarded the needs of the most vulnerable in their society. They've disregarded the Sabbath. They've lied. They've committed sexual impurities of all kinds. Basically, no commandment is left unbroken.

But then again, they probably don't even remember the commandments because the priests aren't teaching anyone anything and the prophets are lying and using witchcraft. In fact, things have gotten so bad in Israel that the nations around them shake their heads in disgust and roll their eyes. These pagan nations have grown to hate Israel because of the magnitude of Israel's wickedness. That's saying a lot.

God compares Israel to dross, the impure byproduct that comes from refining silver. So he will burn them up. God says they're profaned by their own doing. He's the one destroying them, but it's in response to their own actions. And remember that part we read back at the beginning, how the sword will devour the righteous and the wicked? It seems unfair, right?

Before we get to what happens, think back to Genesis 18, where Abraham tried to talk God out of destroying Sodom if he could just find 10 righteous men. But remember how there weren't 10? And God destroyed them, but still mercifully spared Lot and his daughters, despite the fact that they were wicked.

We're looking at a similar scenario at the end of chapter 22 today. God gives Israel an even better chance of being spared. He says this time all he needs is one righteous man, and that will be enough to keep him from destroying Jerusalem. But there aren't any righteous men, not even one. So we finally find out that God isn't being unfair after all, because there actually aren't any righteous people for him to destroy.

Today, my God shot was God's wrath towards sin. It's marked out so clearly here. I love that we serve a God who hates sin. Most of us probably hate some sins, but are probably quite fond of some others. They're like pets we try to keep in a cage and only let out from time to time. And some pets aren't caged at all. They're on the loose. Or maybe we have a love-hate relationship with some of our sins. We really enjoy them in the moment, but feel guilty about it later.

But God doesn't know this kind of ambivalence towards sin. He hates it, full stop.

He hates it because he loves his glory and he loves his kids, and sin mars both of those things. But despite God's hatred for our sins, which he most certainly sees, he can also see beyond that, to the righteousness Christ has granted us. So while our sin can affect the intimacy of our relationship with God, it doesn't affect the status of our relationship with God. We're still his kids and he still loves us.

His wrath toward the sins of his kids was absorbed by his only begotten son. So we don't have to run from him when we sin. We can run to him where healing and restoration happen. He's where the joy is.

You guys are really curious about what's on deck for next year. And that makes me so happy because that means you want us to still be here. You want to stay in the word with us. We have a lot of things planned for you and we're going to roll out a few bonus episodes over the next few weeks to fill you in on it. So be sure to listen to those. There'll be new info in each of them, but we do want to give you some info now because some of this is time sensitive.

Now, of course, we'll still be here reading through the Bible with you all over again next year. We'll post the episodes again daily, just like we did this year. Because as I'm sure you figured out by now, reading scripture is a lifelong daily relationship, not just a one-time goal. It's not something we check off our bucket list and move on. So first, in addition to daily Bible reading, we also want to help you engage in a habit of daily prayer. So if you didn't join us this year for our bonus daily prayer podcast, that's a great next step for you.

It partners with our reading plan and podcast. It's about one minute long each day, and it's how we're praying through the Bible each year as we read through it. We love a good pun around here, so we've called that second daily podcast, The Bible Kneecap. Knee, like kneeling in prayer. Anyway, when you sign up for this, you'll get a private podcast link that only works for you. And you can add that link to most podcatcher apps, so the podcast will come straight to you every day, just like the Bible recap. This private feed is only available through our Patreon group.

If you want to hear a free sample first, visit our website and click on the kneecap link. And if you like what you hear, click through to our Patreon page to join us. Second, we want your church to join us in reading through the Bible too. So if you know someone on church staff, mention the Bible Recap and suggest us as a way to help your whole church community read through scripture next year.

Let them know how much it has changed your own walk with God and how surprisingly doable it is. You can also point them to the church page of our website, thebiblerecap.com forward slash church.

And finally, we have a weekly discussion guide to help with your study of His Word. This has roughly 10 questions per week that are designed to foster a good group conversation around what we've learned that week. The New Testament version of these are already available through the store on our site. You'll want to order now so you can get it by the time we launch the New Testament on October 1st. So to get your copy or see a sample page, check out the store at thebiblerecap.com or click the link in the show notes.

Okay, now on to our weekly check-in. I don't know how you're feeling about it all, but I just want to say that I think you're doing great. Here you are 245 days into this plan. You're about to finish the Old Testament. You're probably finishing books you've never read or understanding things you've been confused by if you have or learning new things you never knew.

Share one of those things with someone this week in a personal conversation. It will humble you and encourage you and maybe even lead to a great conversation where you learn even more and where they're encouraged by all God has done in your life.