Friday, May 06 2011
Ezekiel 23
Verse of the Week: V35 “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.”
1. Israel Forgot God (V1-10)
V4 “And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.”
Aholah, the people of Israel in Samaria, had forgotten and despised their true and living God who had delivered them from idolatry and slavery in Egypt. Instead of worshipping their God, they worshipped the gods of the Assyrians, their enemies as well as neighbours.
V5 “And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,”
2. Judah Forgot God (V11-34)
V11 “And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.”
Not only Aholah, the people of Israel, had forgotten and despised God, even her younger sister Aholibah, the people of Judah in Jerusalem, had also forgotten their God. In fact, Aholibah committed immorality and wickedness far worse than Aholah. Instead of being an example of the world, the two sisters became the stumbling block of the world.
V30 “I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.”
3. All Have Forgotten God (V35-49)
V35 “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.”
Not only the people of God had forgotten and despised their God, all the people of the world had also forgotten and despised God. No wonder the Almighty God had to severely judge the world for their immorality and wickedness. In spite of the doom and gloom, there was a ray of light and hope as the loving God had prepared His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, to come and die for the sins of the whole world.
V49 “And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.”
Prayer of the Week
Dearest God, please help me to remember You as my great God and loving Savior all the days of my life.
