LEARNING DAILY

Romans 14:11, for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God."

Ezekiel 6:7, 10, And you [they] shall know that I am the Lord.

The day is coming when Romans 14:11 will happen. For Believers this will certainly be a day of rejoicing. For those who have denied Jesus Christ and lived selfishly and to serve only their own purposes, this day will not be a good day for them. Those who do not read and study God’s Word today are no different from those who ignored the warnings of the Old Testament prophets.

In reading and studying the writings of Ezekiel, I have been struck with the number of times Ezekiel writes, “And you [they] shall know that I am the Lord.” God warned His people many times, through different prophets about what He would do if they did not stop worshipping idols, living as the Gentiles around them, and just refusing to follow Him as He demanded. Let me give you some things God did to try to get the attention of His people to turn and follow Him. The land of Israel became unprofitable for producing what it once had (Ez. 6:14); jobs were lost the economy began to fail. Ezekiel 7:27 states that the people would reap what they had sown; because they would not remove the idols and pagan altars and shrines, God would use the Babylonians to bring disaster on Israel. In Ezekiel 12, God said, “He would scatter His people among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries.” Men and women would die by the sword (Ez. 26:6). God would send pestilence and allow violence in the streets (Ez. 28:23). God will allow Babylon to come into Israel and scatter the Egyptians (who Israel went to for protection instead of God). Do you understand what God allowed or caused to happen to His chosen people when they disobeyed Him and chose to follow after the gods and lifestyle of foreign people.

The phrase written by Ezekiel followed warnings about what God would do because He would not accept nor tolerate what His chosen people were doing. His Word states God does not change. Is it not clear what God will not tolerate? If God did not tolerate this way of life, then, and He will not tolerate this today. Consider how much our country relies on other countries; our country has gotten away from providing for much of the world. Jobs have been lost, and our economy has seen better days. When a country turns away from God, He cannot bless them – they reap what they sow. We have seen and continue to see the results of pestilence and violence in our streets. Defund the police, overcrowded prisons are a problem. Corrupt politicians and judges are setting violent offenders free from prisons. And who knows how many enemies have infiltrated our country through open borders.

Can history be repeating itself? Does it not look like people, not only in this country, but around the world are doing what Ezekiel warned the people about in his day? God did not allow the people to get away with this when Ezekiel lived; it won’t happen today either. Is there a positive message in this? We will explore that tomorrow.