DAY 244 Read Ezekiel 36 and 37.
Today's reading: Many of Ezekiel's prophecies foretold what God planned for His people if they would truly repent. Chapter 37 may be considered a parable to show that God would restore Israel even if nothing remained but "dry bones."
Memory gem: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you" (Ezekiel 36:26).
Thought for today:
We think of the nation of Israel, God's own people, brought out of the land of Egypt by His mighty power and great miracles, as we read in the first five or six books of the Bible. We see them growing into power under King David and King Solomon; then we see them in apostasy in Babylon; and, even after that lesson, again we see them drifting away from the service of God until Jerusalem was destroyed by Roman armies and this honored people scattered over the earth. Yet here is the promise of God: "I will...do better unto you than at your beginnings: ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel 36:11).
Reading the rest of the chapter, we find that this prophecy was made nearly 600 years before Christ, during the time of Israel's trouble and sorrow. Ezekiel himself was in the land of captivity.
This prophecy was fulfilled in the return of Israel to the Holy Land. God has a way of changing things, even against the will of mighty nations and kings. Had Israel gone on and on in the service of God, this chapter would have been fulfilled in a far more glorious way than it was, for God's promises are almost always based upon conditions. But the time will come when, in its complete spiritual fulfillment, this prophecy will indeed find God's true Israel enjoying more glorious blessings than at their beginning.
In the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh verses, we read of the new heart that will be given--in other words, conversion, the new birth. The promise goes on and includes the entire world in the kingdom of glory which is to come, when God's holy flock will walk by the river of life and enjoy the fruit of the tree of life.
Today's reading: Many of Ezekiel's prophecies foretold what God planned for His people if they would truly repent. Chapter 37 may be considered a parable to show that God would restore Israel even if nothing remained but "dry bones."
Memory gem: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you" (Ezekiel 36:26).
Thought for today:
We think of the nation of Israel, God's own people, brought out of the land of Egypt by His mighty power and great miracles, as we read in the first five or six books of the Bible. We see them growing into power under King David and King Solomon; then we see them in apostasy in Babylon; and, even after that lesson, again we see them drifting away from the service of God until Jerusalem was destroyed by Roman armies and this honored people scattered over the earth. Yet here is the promise of God: "I will...do better unto you than at your beginnings: ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel 36:11).
Reading the rest of the chapter, we find that this prophecy was made nearly 600 years before Christ, during the time of Israel's trouble and sorrow. Ezekiel himself was in the land of captivity.
This prophecy was fulfilled in the return of Israel to the Holy Land. God has a way of changing things, even against the will of mighty nations and kings. Had Israel gone on and on in the service of God, this chapter would have been fulfilled in a far more glorious way than it was, for God's promises are almost always based upon conditions. But the time will come when, in its complete spiritual fulfillment, this prophecy will indeed find God's true Israel enjoying more glorious blessings than at their beginning.
In the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh verses, we read of the new heart that will be given--in other words, conversion, the new birth. The promise goes on and includes the entire world in the kingdom of glory which is to come, when God's holy flock will walk by the river of life and enjoy the fruit of the tree of life.
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