IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

“they Will Remember Me”

Date: Aug. 6, 2024

Passage

Ezekiel 6:1-14 (ESV)

The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. Wherever you dwell, the cities shall be waste and the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined, your idols broken and destroyed, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

“Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the LORD. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”

11 Thus says the Lord GOD: “Clap your hands and stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. 12 He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. Thus I will spend my fury upon them. 13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. 14 And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land desolate and waste, in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to Riblah. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Daily Bread

Key Verse: 6:9

then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations.

The Lord had Ezekiel prophecy the complete destruction of the nation Israel, which would cleanse the people of idolatry. This sin breaks the most important commandment: Worship God alone. The land was covered with the elements of idol worship: high places, idols, and incense altars. Because of the people’s hard-heartedness, this judgment was the only way to break Israel of her idol worship. Both the idols and the people who worshiped them would be destroyed (4).

Among those who survived this judgment, there would finally be repentance (8). Verse 9 describes so well what repentance means: to remember God and how we have grieved his heart, and to loathe ourselves for the wicked things we have done. It is terrible that this judgment was necessary to produce genuine repentance in the remnant of Israel.

When people today hear God’s word, that is God’s grace giving them the opportunity to repent before such a judgment comes on them. Thank God for those who have repented of past sinful lives and come to Jesus. Let’s always be ready to cast out idols that try to take root in our hearts.

Prayer: Father, thank you for warning us about the judgment that comes due to idolatry. Help me remember you whenever I am tempted by some idolatrous desire.

One Word: Turn from idols to the Lord

Daily Bread

Holy to the Lord

Zechariah 14:1-21

Key Verse: 14:20

And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the LORD.” And the pots in the house of the LORD shall be as the bowls before the altar.

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