August 25
August 25
The severe warnings in Scripture were not just for the people of that time; they are God’s tools of protecting grace for us as well.
The apostle Paul declares that all Scripture is profitable (2 Tim. 3:16). This means that there are no useless, unneeded parts of God’s word. Everything that God intended to be written down and preserved for us has been recorded because it is spiritually beneficial for us in some way. There are no passages that you should buzz through or skip over. Everything is there because your Lord of wisdom and grace knew that you would benefit from it. It is not up to us to decide what is useful; God has already made that decision for us. So, as you read and study Scripture, you should always be asking questions: How does God intend for me to benefit from this portion of his word? What does it reveal about God, about myself, about the nature of sin, about life in this fallen world, about his grace, about the enemy of my soul, or about what I have in Christ or about my future hope?
So why has this terrifying warning in Ezekiel been recorded and retained for us?
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. Wherever you dwell, the cities shall be waste and the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined, your idols broken and destroyed, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” (Ezek. 6:1–7)
First, this passage reveals the complete and perfect holiness of God. In the perfection of his holiness, he cannot and will not tolerate the sin of his people. Second, it reveals his love. Because he has taken these people as his own and showered them with his love, he will not share them with another. Third, these verses reveal God’s grace. Every warning is an invitation to confess our sin and turn from it.
Finally, this passage, which reveals the waywardness and disloyalty of the human heart, is a powerful argument for the person and work of Jesus. Because my heart is capable of this kind of idolatry, I have no hope, in this life or the one to come, apart from the rescuing, forgiving, and delivering grace of Jesus.