Ezekiel 43 is a picture of the glory of God, and a beautiful promise that one day we will surrounded by His presence and the glory that comes with it. Truly, we will be awestruck, in every sense of the word.
Rayburn says:
When the Lord promises us here a future dominated by his presence, he is promising us everything: human life in its complete and perfect fulfillment; human happiness, joy, and satisfaction so complete that we can scarcely imagine it. And this one thing more, we will be holy. We will not sin. And we can scarcely imagine what it will be like to be a human being without sin, without sin in the heart, in the attitudes, in the thoughts, in the words, or in the deeds. Love, purity, goodness all the way down and all the way out. That, my friends, is something to look forward to!
And what better way to look forward to it and to have more anticipations of it now than simply to strive as hard as we can to live now the way we are going to live then. It is highly likely, it is law of God’s kingdom and of his mercy, that those who strive to do that will also experience more now of what they will experience then. And since that experience is going to be everything that we long for, every little bit of it we can enjoy now is worth whatever effort it requires.
This verse also jumped out at me and tied into our NT passage perfectly.....
Ezekiel 44:24 In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments
We are to judge according to God's standards - not by our own misguided notions of right and wrong. We cannot do as Pilate did, and allow fear, or anything else, to cause us to waiver from what we know to be true.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Ezekiel 45-46; John 19:23-42
4 comments:
If stood out to me as I read the passage in John, how unsure Pilate was of Jesus. I think he could tell their was something special about Him, but wasn't sure. On the other hand, Pilate also didn't want to lose his position of authority by not doing what the Jewish leaders wanted - to kill Jesus. Ultimately Pilate made the wrong choice. I pray we don't give in to worldly pressure and chose wrong.
Hi Tammy,
I found your blog through Tiffany. Our church talks about bringing heaven to earth. We have a deep longing for the time when there is no sin and joy without sorrow but we are to strive to bring heaven here. The more we strive to bring heaven to earth the more we experience His presence. I agree.
This stood out for me:
23 They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.
We live in a society of grey. No real difference between right and wrong because people should choose for themselves. How are we different from the common? Are we striving to be holy?
and from the NT:
6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”
Pilate found not guilt in Jesus and yet sent him to be killed anyway. Buckling to peer pressure is too often the fall back when it comes to difficult to decisions. May be stand tall in the face of hard things!
I also found it interesting how Pilate knew one thing and yet did nothing about it. I pray that I would stand up for what I believe in and not fall to the pressure of the majority.
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