Ezekiel 32:1-32
‘Pride goes before
destruction’ (Proverbs 16:18). ‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt’ was arrogant and
ruthless: ‘You are like a lion among the nations;you are like a monster
in the seas, thrashing about in your streams, churning the water with
your feet and muddying the streams’ (Ezekiel 32:2). Soon, it would be
‘the day of his downfall’: ‘The sword of Babylon will come against
you... Pharaoh and all his hordes will be killed by the sword’ (Ezekiel
10-11,32). Teach us. Lord, not to be like the rich fool - ‘You have
plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink
and be merry’. He couldn’t have been more wrong! - You said to him,
‘You fool! I will demand your life from you tonight!' Help us, Lord to
hear and heed Your Word of warning: 'This is how it will be with anyone
who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God’ (Luke
12:19-21).
Ezekiel 33:1-33
Ezekiel was to be ‘a watchman for
the house of Israel’: ‘whenever you hear a Word from My mouth, you shall
give them warning from Me.’ He was to ‘warn the wicked to turn from his
way’ (Ezekiel 33:7-9). This, Lord, is Your warning of love. You love
us. It is because You love us that You ‘have no pleasure in the death of
the wicked.’ In Your love, You show us our sin so that we might come to
You with a real confession of sin: ‘Our sins are upon us.’ In Your
love, You create in us a desire for Your salvation: ‘How then can we
live?’ In Your love, You call us to return to You: ‘Turn back from your
evil ways.’ You love us. You do not want us to ‘die’: ‘Why will you
die?’ (Ezekiel 33:10-11). In love, You show us our sin - ‘The wages of
sin is death.’ We thank You, Lord, that You also call us to receive Your
‘free gift’ - ‘eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 6:23).
Ezekiel 34:1-31
Lord, You speak to us in love. You say to us, ‘I Myself will be the
Shepherd of My sheep’ (Ezekiel 34:15). We rejoice in Your love. We say,
‘The Lord is my Shepherd’ (Psalm 23:1). We thank You that Jesus is our
Shepherd. He is ‘the good Shepherd’. He laid down His life for us that
we might receive the forgiveness of our sins. ‘Christ died for our
sins’. We thank You that Your Son, Jesus - ‘the Righteous’ - died for us
- ‘the unrighteous’ - ‘to bring us to You’ (John 10:11; 1 Corinthians
15:3; 1 Peter 3:18). He is ‘the great Shepherd’. He was ‘raised’ from
the dead.’ Through His resurrection, we receive eternal life. We thank
You that He says to us, ‘Because I live you will live also’ (Hebrews
13:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:4; John 14:19). He is ‘the chief Shepherd.’
We thank You that He will come again with ‘the unfading crown of glory’
for His ‘good and faithful servants’ (1 Peter 5:4; Matthew 25:21).
