Saturday, May 28, 2016

Year 6, Day 148: Ezekiel 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here


Discipleship Focus: Character

  • Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

Ezekiel 22 speaks greatly to the character of the Hebrew people at the time of the Babylonian exile.  We begin with the leaders.  Do you notice how the leaders are held accountable?  They extort the people.  Their policies are responsible for making widows – in other words, they probably engage in much warfare.  They encourage idol worship.  They ignore God.  They aren’t doing much right.

But it isn’t just the leaders who are suffering from a poor character.  The people extort.  The people commit robbery.  They oppress the poor.  They mistreat the sojourner in their midst.  They don’t care about justice.

But here’s the real kicker.  Up until now, we’ve really been talking more about human nature and sin than we’ve been talking about character.  How does God make His point about character to Ezekiel?  God says it in only a few words.  He looked for someone to stand in the gap and could find nobody.  In a nation full of people that are supposed to be His, He couldn’t find a single person to stand in the gap.

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