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Ezekiel 5 (ESV)

1 “And you, O son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it as a barber’s razor and pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. 2 A third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. And a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will unsheathe the sword after them. 3 And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. 4 And of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.

5 “Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6 And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. 7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, and have not even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, 8 therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. 9 And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. 10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds.

REFLECTION:

Shaving one’s hair and beard represents grief, humiliation or repentance. God asked Ezekiel to shave off his hair and beard and divide them into three parts, symbolizing that something important will happen to the people in Jerusalem. In addition to the verbal prophecy, God also asked Ezekiel to use dramatic behaviour to attract the attention of the people, and imprint an indelible impression on their hearts. During the Republic of China, when Brother John Sung preached the gospel, he put a real coffin on the podium, jumped in and out by himself, symbolizing death from sin and resurrection from the Lord, and it also left a great impression on the people at that time. The deep impression made them feel more real about the Lord’s salvation. Ezekiel put a few hairs into the skirt of his clothes, symbolizing that God wants to protect a small number of faithful people. But even among these people, some will be judged and destroyed because of their insincere faith. Reflect if we can stand up in the coming judgment. Matthew 7:22-23 warns that many people who think they are safe are not protected. It is essential that we make sure that our commitment to God comes from our spirit and honesty. In addition, just as God asked Ezekiel and Brother John Sung to convey God’s message in a creative way, today we can also creatively preach the good news about God to this generation of lost people and save more lost souls.

PRAYER:

Pray for God to examine your heart and give you more obedience, so that you can sincerely follow the Lord every day; pray for God to give you wisdom so that you can use impressive and novel methods to preach the gospel; especially pray for a friend or relative who have not believed in the Lord for a long time, ask God to lead you to share the gospel message to him/her in a more targeted way.

HYMN:

Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me – youtu.be/zundjUFazfg