S5: Day 248: Ezekiel 19–21

0:00Hey, this is Shelby and CJ. You're listening to a year in the Bible with daily grace. We hope that you're listening and learning from us. So leave a comment, leave a review, let us know. That really encourages us. It helps us know what's resonating too so that we can continue to make episodes that hopefully serve you really well as you're reading the Bible in a year with us this year. Okay, Ezekiel chapters 19 through 21 today, CJ. What's going on in these chapters? Yes, when Ezekiel 19, we learn about several kings who did not do what was right in the Lord's eyes. If you want to read more about them, you can go to second kings, chapters 23 through 25, the very end of second kings, and they'll kind of give you the matching story of Ezekiel 19. And then Ezekiel 20, again, we have to remember that Ezekiel is a priest. He cares a lot about priestly things. So naturally, our minds should probably go to Leviticus, which is like the priestly book that we've already covered in our podcast. And in Ezekiel 20, Ezekiel brings up all of these

1:05things from a Leviticus 18 that Israel's guilty of doing. They have not obeyed all of the legislation and all the laws and all of the rules and all of the guidance that it's offered there. And said they've done the opposite. So Ezekiel 20 is just a laundry list of bad things that Israel's up to. And then in Ezekiel 21, Ezekiel gives an oracle against Jerusalem telling them again that judgment is coming. And Ezekiel describes presumably Babylon as a sharpened sword that's flashing in the in the lightning that's flashing in the sunshine that's sharpened and ready to go to come cut them down. So again, it's a it's a pretty action-packed brutal image, but again, that's part and parcel of Ezekiel. And then in the second half of Ezekiel 21, Ezekiel does another show and tell prophecy by drawing a little fork in the road and the dirt and one fork's going to Jerusalem and the other fork's going to this place called Ammon, which is a neighboring kingdom or a neighboring region of Judah. And it says that Nebuchadnezzar is at the fork in the road.

2:09And I think this shows us a lot, even though it's a strange image. Again, Nebuchadnezzar is the leader of Babylon. He's the one who eventually sacks Jerusalem and exiles Israel or exiles the city of Jerusalem and the southern kingdom of Judah. And I think this shows that God is sovereign. In other words, God could tell Nebuchadnezzar to go to Ammon or he could tell him to go to Jerusalem and commit judgment, showing that this isn't just Nebuchadnezzar's doing. This isn't just Nebuchadnezzar deciding to go conquer a kingdom, but that everything that happens in relation to Israel and relation to even world empires is under God's control. And I think this is a really powerful thing to consider when we think about our own lives, when we think about even the small things or the big things or world events. I think this gives us a lot of comfort in knowing that it's God who's in control and it's God who is guiding all of these chess pieces on the board according

3:11to his good will. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, there will always be unrest in the world. And there will always be reasons for us to be afraid maybe about what's happening. But yeah, this is surely my takeaway going through these chapters as well. Just God's sovereignty over the entire situation. And I think we can even see beyond this and we see his sovereignty in that Jesus is going to come to earth one day and he is going to save his people. And so we see sovereignty right here, right now over this empire, this kingdom, over Jerusalem. But we also know that God is sovereign over all time and we've been tracing really since Eden this promise where God said like, hey, one day, sin will no longer be a problem. And so thank you so much for walking us through these chapters, CJ, we'll be back tomorrow with more from Ezekiel.