TWO WOMEN
Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 23
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
Located at the Parliament of Greece is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The bronze shields on the walls commemorate military victories since the Greek War of Independence (1821). The monument was unveiled on 25 March 1932 (Greek Independence Day). It is guarded 24 hours a day by two members of the Presidential Guard, an elite, specially chosen unit of the Greek Army. The army of the Kingdom of Greece under the personal leadership of their king, Alexander the Great, criss-crossed the lands of Israel 200 years after Ezekiel’s time, defeating the Persians and the armies of the countries beyond Persia (Iran) as far as India.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verses: Ezekiel 23:35
Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
“Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back,
Therefore, you shall bear the penalty
Of your lewdness and your harlotry.”
In yesterday’s blog we were challenged to think of reasons why God would bother to give prophecies to prophets He had called into this unusual ministry. Please feel free to put your thoughts on this “Make You Think” challenge on the response pages. Here are some of my thoughts…
(1) We can be sure He didn’t do this in order to provide work for modern “Prophecy” teachers (Dr. Hal Lindsay is a favourite. He sold over 30,000,000 copies of “The Late Great Planet Earth” book. It’s an important work. Moira Brown, who was a successful secular TV and radio personality, came to faith, to a large extent, through this book). Click here for a short bio of Moira, and here for info on Hal Lindsay.
(2) We can also be sure that He didn’t give true prophecy just to satisfy people’s curiosity about the future. As God is outside “time,” He sees the entirety of time (a human concept) from creation to the time when it is prophesied that “the elements will burn with fervent heat,” and our planet will literally “dissolve” (read 2 Peter 3:8-12). Included in Peter’s prophecy is this statement, “A day with the Lord is as a thousand years.” Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and Modern Quantum Physics give some insight as to how the Great Creator, as our First Nations refer to God, must, of necessity, be outside of “time.”
(This blog is already too long, but please stick with me)
(3) Prophecy, as in the testimony of Moira Brown, proves the fact that only God could describe events before they happened and share these predictions with His prophets in amazing detail. If these things are true (and they are), then it follows that the rest of the Bible is also trustworthy in its revelation of God’s love and His plan for our eternal salvation and Heaven.
(4) Prophecy also serves, when spoken or written by a human person, to invite God into the realm of man’s “dominion.” God gave rulership over the earth to us, and we’ve surely messed up badly. The spoken word by a representative of the human family gives authority back to God for His intervention. There are plenty of prophetic words in the Bible (one third of its content) for God to do all He knows is needed. Of course the greatest intervention of God which, as prophesied over and over again, is all about the “Son of God.” All the events of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection were prophesied in great detail (Genesis 1:26-27, Isaiah 53).
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, You gave me “dominion” (dominus=lord), and every day I give this responsibility and authority back to You! You may trust me with some decisions today, and I pray fervently that I’ll make the right ones. I believe in You Lord, and I thank You for believing in me. I pray for lots and lots of grace so as not to let You down, and so as not to disappoint You. I pray this in the Name of the One Who, as “Son of Man,” never disappointed You, Jesus Christ! Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I have not commented on the content of today’s reading. The “two women” provide Ezekiel powerful examples of the unfaithfulness of Israel, both the Northern Tribes and Judah in the south. Rather than concentrating on them, I’d like to refer to two other women, my wife, Norma-Jean, and my daughter Elaine Stacey, who visited us for a few days. Here is a picture of Norma-Jean at a beautiful flowering tree, and then I gave my wife the iPhone and she took one of Elaine and me (photos below). The trees and shrubs are beautiful here and I appreciate the glorious creations of the flowers, but nothing here on Earth can match the beauty I see in these two women! What a contrast to the women that Ezekiel describes.
Yours for the “Beauty of Jesus to be seen in us!” (click here for a Korean choir singing a medley of “Oh How He Loves You and Me” and “Let the Beauty of Jesus Be Seen In Me”),
David
