Ezekiel 20:27-49
27 "Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "In this too your fathers have blasphemed Me, by being unfaithful to Me. 28 When I brought them into the land concerning which I had raised My hand in an oath to give them, and they saw all the high hills and all the thick trees, there they offered their sacrifices and provoked Me with their offerings. There they also sent up their sweet aroma and poured out their drink offerings. 29 Then I said to them, 'What is this high place to which you go?' So its name is called Bamah to this day."' 30 Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers, and committing harlotry according to their abominations? 31 For when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live," says the Lord GOD, "I will not be inquired of by you. 32 What you have in your mind shall never be, when you say, 'We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.'
33 "As I live," says the Lord GOD, "surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you. 34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. 35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. 36 Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you," says the Lord GOD.
37 "I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; 38 I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
39 "As for you, O house of Israel," thus says the Lord GOD: "Go, serve every one of you his idols—and hereafter—if you will not obey Me; but profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols. 40 For on My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel," says the Lord GOD, "there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me; there I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the firstfruits of your sacrifices, together with all your holy things. 41 I will accept you as a sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered; and I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles. 42 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I raised My hand in an oath to give to your fathers. 43 And there you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have committed. 44 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have dealt with you for My name's sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel," says the Lord GOD.'"
45 Furthermore the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 46 "Son of man, set your face toward the south; preach against the south and prophesy against the forest land, the South, 47 and say to the forest of the South, 'Hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree and every dry tree in you; the blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be scorched by it. 48 All flesh shall see that I, the LORD, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched."'"
49 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! They say of me, 'Does he not speak parables?'"
Sorrow for sin to repentance followed the unfaithfulness of Israel’s blasphemy and corrective discipline. Their spiritual unfaithfulness was the blasphemy which God accused them of, having substituted lifeless and powerless creations of their imagination for the eternal God alone worthy of worship and praise. We must also beware of lesser idols of our own time being put over our attention that we live for as well in our present day since many of us do not love in the Eastern countries still bowing to carved idols of wood and stone passed off as living deities. God forbid that we should line our church windowsills with objects to venerate as diversions to true worship of our Lord either! The first commandment of course still holds morally and spiritually for us, contrary to some who would abolish instead of fulfill the Law in Christ. Our God still yearns jealously for His people (2 Corinthians 6:16, James 4:5) and shares our veneration of Him with no one and nothing else. The harlotry of adulterous idolatry (James 4:4) is as much immortality as the bodily sinful acts that Israel had done both in and out of the temple, and these spiritual ones are what are most hated by God because commitment to Him is not to be given to another in worship or another object pursued by us more than Him. The LORD promised to pull His people out of such abominations in His furious wrath and omnipotent power to speak to them about these things face to face in a sense, to discipline and restore them into a covenant relationship with Himself. Those who refused were given over to their idols with a stern warning not to blaspheme Him by associating themselves with His name if they did these things in their disobedience of adulterous idolatry or coverups of gifts of penitent acts to somehow imagine those would appease Him as some teach even now. Yes, God desires a broken spirit (Psalm 51:17, Isaiah 66:2) of confession and repentance instead. He wants our hearts in complete devotion to Him with sacrifices of praise and prayer burning on the altars of our hearts. That is acceptable sweet smelling worship (Romans 12:1). God dealt with Israel according to His name and glory with grace and mercy and not according to what they deserved for their wicked ways and corrupt doings as Ezekiel 20:44 tells us. This is the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ who pardons sin and restores our worship of Him. God started a cleansing fire in Israel and continues to do so now until Christ’s return. Some only read these things and hear parables with stopped up ears and blind eyes, but those whom He calls are given sight and the ability to listen. Then we are led to sorrow for our sin against Him which leads to repentance by faith in His work according to His word. His hand is powerful enough to pull us out and sustain us forever.
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