Ezekiel 20:37

Ezekiel 20:37 says, And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:  God said that since the people of Israel would not worship Him when He had given them all they needed and even blessed them with more, that now He was going to allow them to pass under the rod of correction.  He was going to do this so that they might once again return to their covenant relationship with Him and remain true to it.  As Christians, if we allow sin back into our life, God will remove His protective hand from us during that time and we may suffer in the world because of it, but even if we don’t, we will suffer spiritually and God will always be calling us back to our covenant relationship with Him.  I believe this also applies to us as a nation.  If we profess to be a Christian nation but reject God’s laws, He may allow us to feel the rod of correction. 

Verse thirty-eight adds, And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.  God said He would purge those who were not obedient to Him and refused to return to obeying Him out of the nation of Israel and they would not return to the promised land, the land that God had given them.  He said when He did this that they would know that He is God.  One day, everyone is going to know that God is God, but for too many it will be too late for them to accept God’s gift of salvation and enter the spiritual promised land of heaven.   

Verse thirty-nine continues, As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.  God then told the people of Israel to go and serve their false gods, but when they did so to not pollute His Holy name by pretending to be following Him.  Though God will allow us to follow false gods today, even while professing to be a part of His people, He also warns us to not do this and continue to profess to be a part of His people, which would profane His name.  

Verse forty states, For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.  God said that when all the house of Israel served Him and they offered their offerings to Him that He would then accept their offerings and that He would also require their offerings from them.  They could not buy God’s blessings with offerings given for the wrong reasons nor especially to the wrong god when they were not living in accordance with their covenant relationship with Him, and neither can we.  First, they had to repent and start living in accordance with God’s word and their covenant relationship with Him, and today we must first repent and establish a covenant relationship with God, and then He will accept our offerings to Him.  God did not say that once the covenant relationship was reestablished that they would then be free from bringing their offerings, but that He would require them it of them Today, we are still to obey God’s commandments about bringing our offerings to Him, beginning with offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to Him.  If we do that, then we will realize that everything we are or have already belongs to Him.   

Verse forty-one adds, I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.  God said that when the people of Israel returned to their covenant relationship with Him that He would return them from all the places that they had been scattered and bring them back to their land and that they would be sanctified before the heathen. As Christians, we are not all going to gathered to one place here in the world, but wherever we are, we should be spiritually sanctified, or set apart, from the heathen, or lost people, so that God will be glorified.  The only reason the people of Israel were spiritually better than anyone else was because of their covenant relationship with God and the same is true of Christians today.  

Verse forty-two continues, And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.  God said that when He brought them back by faith that He was God. that they would need to acknowledge that He is God.  In order for us to be a part of God’s kingdom, we must first acknowledge that He alone is God, and one day He will call us home to heaven.   

Verse forty-three states, And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.  God said that when this happened that the people of Israel would loathe themselves for the sins they had committed. I believe that once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord that we should loathe our sinful nature that we were living by before so that we do not allow the sins we committed before to come back into our life, but we are also to live as forgiven people and not let our past define who we are now.   

Verse forty-four adds, And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.   God said this restoration was not going to happen because of their wicked ways but according to His mercy instead.  Nothing we do other than accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord is going to save us, and God will never accept us if we try to come to Him by our wicked ways, which would be anything other than accepting His gift of salvation.     

Ezekiel 20:33

Ezekiel 20:33 says, As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:  God said that as surely as He lived that He would rule over the people of Israel with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm.  The people of Israel thought that the best way to survive and prosper was to adopt the ways and gods of the Babylonians, but God told them this was not to happen.  They had not responded to God when He had blessed them with everything that they needed, so now He was going to allow them to feel the oppression of those that they had put their faith in.  Anyone who professes to be a Christian but follows the way of the world instead of following God’s commandments will one day feel God’s punishment because of their disbelief.   

Verse thirty-four adds, And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out.  God said that they were not without hope though if they would turn to Him, but that while He would deliver them, He would rule over them by His power, and they would feel His wrath on their actions instead of feeling His kindness that they had felt when they were obedient too Him.  God will not allow those who are followers of Christ to sin and not one day be held accountable for it even though they are forever saved.  We must take sin seriously and cannot just adapt the ways of the world as our guide.   

Verse thirty-five continues, And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.  God said He would bring them into the wilderness and plead with them face to face.  God may allow us to feel His wrath if we are not obedient to Him and allow us to suffer in the wilderness, which is where the people of Israel were before they entered the promised land by faith, but He will then plead with us face to face.  Even when we are disobedient to God, especially before we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, God is going to plead with each of us individually to accept His gift of salvation and come out of the wilderness of sin and into His kingdom.  If we are Christians and stray away into the wilderness of sin, once more He will call us individually to return to Him.   

Verse thirty-six continues, Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God.  God said that He would plead with them just as He had with their fathers in the wilderness when the left Egypt.  He didn't force them to remain true to Him then, and He was not going to force the people of Israel to be true to Him now, but until they did, they would still be in the wilderness of sin.  God is still going to call us to put our faith in Him, but He will never force us to.  The choice is always up to each individual. 

Ezekiel 20:27

Ezekiel 20:27 says, Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.  God told Ezekiel to tell the people of Israel that when they turned away from worshipping Him and started worshipping other gods when they were called His people that they blasphemed His name.  This was a trespass against God, since they were claiming to have a right to be called His people and live in the promised land when they were not living up to their part in the covenant relationship with Him.  Those who profess to be Christians today and worship other gods instead of worshipping God alone blaspheme the name of God and will one day be held accountable for their sins.   

Verse twenty-eight adds, For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.  God said He gave them the land and yet they began to worship the gods of others instead of worshipping Him, and they even offered sacrifices on every high hill and in every thick growth of trees claiming that they were to God, but they did not offer them according to what God had told them to do.  They were supposed to destroy all these places of false worship, but they begin to be devoted to them instead.  As followers of Christ, we are supposed to destroy everything that comes between God and us, and if we begin to adore them instead, we bring dishonor to God.  When a person has the choice between accepting God’s gift of salvation or following the gods of this world and choose the gods of this world, they are not a part of God’s kingdom, no matter where they were born or who their parents might be.  We may give a lot to God and think that will save us, but if we do not live by faith in Jesus Christ alone, our offerings will do us no good. 

Verse twenty-nine continues, Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name whereof is called Bamah unto this day.  God then asked the name of the high place that the people of Israel went to worship, but He already knew.  God just wanted each person to acknowledge that they knew what they were doing. They were worshipping at sites where the Gentiles offered sacrifices to false gods and even leaving the name of one of these false gods in place and were pleased with themselves for doing so.  As Americans, we live in a land known as a Christian nation, but if we begin to do things that are against God’s will, then we are worshipping at the altar of a false god.   

Verse thirty states, Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?  God asked the people of Israel who were alive then if they followed the ways of their fathers when they were disobedient to Him and followed other gods.  The same question applies to those who profess to be Christians today. 

Verse thirty-one continues, For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be enquired of by you.  God continued to point out the ways that the people of Israel were sinning against Him.  God said that they shouldn’t be deceived by thinking that He was going to hear their inquiries to Him when they were worshipping other gods.  When we come to Jesus Christ for salvation, we will be forgiven and God will hear our prayers.  Those who haven’t may call out to Him for help in times of trouble, but He will not answer if they haven’t accepted His gift of salvation. 

Verse thirty-two concludes, And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.  God said that what they thought was going to happen when they worshipped these false gods was not going to happen.  They thought that if they worshipped the gods of the Gentiles that they would find peace with them.  Some people today may think if they just go along with what the world teaches instead of putting their faith in God that they can to find peace and prosperity, but they will never find true peace.  They may have temporary peace with the world, but they will never have the everlasting peace of God.