Sunday Sharing: The Lord Punishes But Warns First

I started reading the book of Ezekiel and it reads like a fantasy book!  God called Ezekiel to be a prophet to Israel when they were in captivity and Ezekiel saw lots of different visions.  So far I have read chapters 1-9 and found them to be quite interesting.  In chapter 1 he saw a living creature with four faces:  one side a man, one a lion, one an ox and one an eagle.  This just got things started off with a bang for me.  My interest was piqued to see what other visions God showed Ezekiel.

It's kind of hard to pick a key verse of the week as a highlight because all the chapters so far are God telling Ezekiel how he will punish the Israel for turning against Him and insulting Him.  Here is one passage that stood out to me in Ezekiel 3:12 & 18 which says:

(v. 12) Then the spirit lifted me up and I heard a loud rumbling sound behind me.  A voice said, "PRAISE GOD IN HEAVEN." (v. 18) When I say to an evil person "you will surely die" you must warn him.  If you don't speak out to warn the evil person to leave his evil way, he will die in his sin.  But I will hold you responsible for his death.

Whoa!  Poor Ezekiel!  Wouldn't that be so scary?  I wonder how the people will react when Ezekiel warns them to turn from their sin back to God.  I wonder if they will accuse him of being judgmental like people accuse Christians so often today if we speak out against sin.  This makes me wonder if God will hold Christians responsible for the people we know who die in sin without hearing about God's love and gift of salvation if they are willing to repent of their sins and put their faith in Him as their personal Savior who died for them and rose from the grave.

I'd love to hear a scripture highlight that impressed you this week! Or, feel free to comment on this post. Have you ever read Ezekiel?

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