Ezekiel 20:21 says, Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. The people of Israel thought that they were above other people simply because they were born in Israel. God said that they had been above other people spiritually because of their covenant relationship with Him, but now they had turned away from following His laws and keeping His sabbath holy. There are people today in America who believe that they are superior to all other people simply because they were born in America, and some take this thought even further by believing that they are superior to even other Americans because they were born into a particular ethnic group. When they believe this, they have already turned away from God’s law. God said He would pour out His fury on the people of Israel because of their disobedience, and I believe that even if we profess to be a Christian nation that God will never bless us if we don’t put our faith in Him and obey His commandments.
Verse twenty-two adds, Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth. God said He didn’t destroy the people of Israel because if He had, after He had just delivered them, so that His name would not be polluted among the heathen that they now dwelled amongst. If we profess to be a Christian nation but continue to disobey His commandments He will remove His protective hand from us, even if He doesn't just destroy us.
Verse twenty-three continues, I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries; Instead of bringing the nation of Israel together into the promised land and keeping them there, because of their disobedience, God said He allowed them to be scattered through the heathen and dispersed to all countries. We cannot believe that God is going to always protect us as individuals or as a nation if we do not obey His laws. First, we must acknowledge that He alone is God, and then we must love our neighbor as ourselves, and we have been told that our neighbor includes everyone that we come into contact with and not just those who are like us by ethnic group or by the country that they were born in.
Verse twenty-four states, Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. God said this was happening because the nation of Isreal overall had not obeyed His laws, had polluted His sabbaths, and had started to worship the idols that their fathers had worshipped. God will never allow even those who profess to be Christians to not be held accountable for their actions one day, whether He scatters them throughout the world today or not.
Verse twenty-five adds, Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; Though this seems to say that God gave them statutes that were not good and judgments that could not bring them life spiritually, I believe that it means that God allowed them to choose these things. I don't believe God will ever call us to follow any laws that are bad, but He will allow us to choose to obey those that are.
Verse twenty-six continues, And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord. God said He allowed this to happen so that they would know that He is God. He had placed the nation of Israel in the promised land so that they would live as His people and reach the rest of the world and call them to Him, but they had turned away from Him, so they were once again going to be scattered throughout the land, If we as people of America are to be a Christian nation, we can never believe that we are somehow morally superior to other people, but we must obey God's commandments so that we can be a shining light of His love and we must reach out to all other people with His love.
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