There were a few things that stood out to me from today's reading:
"You are to do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance; so you are to make atonement for the temple."
Ezekiel 45:20
How many times have we heard our kids say "Oh, I didn't know."? We don't let our kids get away with not knowing, and God doesn't let us go unpunished either. Whether we sin with full knowledge or it's unintentional, it is still sin and it needs to be atoned for. The saying that ignorance is bliss is not going to carry any weight in this area! When in doubt, we should ask ourselves "what is right with what we are doing" instead of asking ourselves "what is wrong with what we are doing".
As I was reading the passage below, I was trying to imagine the excitement that must have come with the vision of the restored temple. I know I was pretty pumped upon hearing and coming to the realization that the Jets were coming back, but to know and recognize God's glory of this magnitude would have been unfathomable.
"When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah,[z] where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
Ezekiel 47:7-12
Like the verse says, where the river flows everything will live. The same goes for our lives. If Christ flows in us, we will live. He is the river of life, and without Him, we are just salt and we become limited in how we can be used.
The passage ended with these words: "And the name of the city from that time on will be:
the Lord is there.” 48:35b
My prayer is that I can live each day and have others recognize that the Lord is there!
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Ezekiel 29:17-30:19, 2 Kings 25:27-30, Jeremiah 52:31-34
1 comment:
I loved the portion about the river of life, and also love the last verse!
The temple was in the center, just like Christ should be the center of our lives.
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