Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Protection
- Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One. Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us. Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us. Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear. We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.
This is a
tough chapter to hear. It begins with
God telling Ezekiel to confront these people in their idolatry. Confrontation is never easy. Confronting elders and respected people is
even less easy. But God gives a stern
warning. If the people continue to part
from God in order to be with their idols, then God threatens to part with them.
After this,
we hear a series of harsh prophesies.
Because of their idolatry, God will not save them. Even if Noah, Daniel and Job were among them,
God would not save them! God is
comparing these people to the time of the flood, when God destroyed the
population of the world because of their sin.
Yet, there
is something interesting in these passages.
If Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, they would save their own
lives. And here we get a truth about God’s
protection. God may bring judgment
against a nation, but He does not overlook the righteous ones in their
midst. Judah may be falling to Babylon,
but God will spare a righteous remnant.
Of course, we know this to be true because we have studied the book of
Jeremiah. God spared Jeremiah even when
the city fell completely.
God will
remove His protection when we fall as a community. But He will continue to walk with the
righteous even when the community falls.
He is a righteous God in His protection.
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