S5: Day 250: Ezekiel 25–27

0:00You are listening to a year in the Bible with daily grace. This is Shelby and CJ going through the book of Ezekiel. We hope that you'll leave a comment or review and let us know what you enjoyed about this episode, what you learned. We really appreciate reading those. Okay. Ezekiel 25 through 27 is where we're at today. And CJ, you sneaky skipped a chapter against you keep doing this. So we're actually going to start with chapter 24, which you wrote yesterday. Right. Yeah. I left 24 out because I feel like we went through a lot yesterday. Yeah. So today, and Ezekiel 24, Nebuchadnezzar is finally actually besieging the city. We've heard Ezekiel's threats all throughout the previous chapters. And now finally the time is here. The seizing has happened. And Jerusalem is that boiling pot. And then we get into Ezekiel 25. And we switch gears. So in the back of your head, you have to think, okay, Jerusalem is being besieged.

1:03And now I'm going to read about something else while that is happening. And in Ezekiel 25 through 32, we read about what are called the oracles against the nations. And most of our preferential books have these sections. So Isaiah has it. Jeremiah has it. Ezekiel has it. Some of the minor prophets actually just the entire book is directed at another nation. And in Ezekiel, those chapters are 25 through 32. And it might feel a little weird because Ezekiel's been talking about Israel and Judah and Judas and Jerusalem. And then all of a sudden, we're turning the camera and we're looking at all of these other nations, but they're really, really important in the Old Testament. And they do a few things. Number one, they show that God is in charge. God isn't only in charge of a little corner of the planet. He's not only in charge of this little tiny strip of land over in the Middle East, but he's over all the world's empires. He's over everything. And the other thing is a lot of the criticisms in these oracles against

2:06the nations are what we can call judgments against the nations are they glow over Israel, in Judas and Jerusalem's demise. Sometimes they're even involved in their demise. And because of that, they too will be judged. They'll also be judged for just being socially unjust or for rampant sexual sin or for worshipping other gods or whatever it is. There's a series of things that they're judged for, but it's really important to understand the global scope of God's care for the world. And these oracles against the nations help us see that. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so what do we take away from these episodes? Is there, I think I can see maybe where this is going, but I'm curious what takeaways you have for us from these chapters? Yeah, so the thing that we need to focus on is that judgment is coming and it's coming from God. God is not going to let his people just simply suffer under the hands of Babylon and these surrounding nations, but judgment is coming for those nations too for all the evil things that they've done. And of course, this is actually,

3:10this sounds strange, but this is actually good news for you and me because we're not Israelites. We're not Philistines. We're not, you know, ammonites and these other nations, but through these oracles, we see God's actual care and concern and that his eye is on all these other nations. And it's only through Christ and through Christ's death, resurrection and his impartation of the Holy Spirit to us and the fact that we can partake of all the blessings of Israel that we get to be part of God's people. And sometimes it's a little jarring to read about how all of these other nations are just going to be judged alongside Israel and it seems like God is all about judgment. But I think in them, we see that God cares deeply for how the other nations are acting and operating and how they are responding to him. So that's actually good news for those of us who belong to the nations, but who have a proper heart posture towards God. So praise the Lord. Yeah, absolutely. And I think another takeaway for me from this is it can be easy to forget

4:15about the need for the gospel to spread globally. And so our desire, obviously, is that people hear the gospel and have the opportunity to repent. And so a challenge for me in this was thinking about how am I supporting the spread of the gospel because if God does care globally about all people, about the state of their hearts and those who are not in Christ will be judged one day. Then what is my place as a person who knows the Lord, who knows the gospel and sharing that in places other than obviously want to be involved and sharing it right around us with the people in our sphere of influence, but even beyond that as well. And so that was a challenging thought for myself reading through these chapters. Thank you for breaking down these chapters today, CJ. We'll have more in a Z Kill tomorrow.