Ezekiel 11 

The spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of the Lord, which faces east. There, at the entrance of the gateway, were twenty-five men; among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur, and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people. He said to me, “Mortal, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city; they say, ‘The time is not near to build houses; this city is the pot, and we are the meat.’ Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O mortal.”

Then the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the Lord: This is what you think, O house of Israel; I know the things that come into your mind. You have killed many in this city, and have filled its streets with the slain. Therefore thus says the Lord God: The slain whom you have placed within it are the meat, and this city is the pot; but you shall be taken out of it. You have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword upon you, says the Lord God. I will take you out of it and give you over to the hands of foreigners, and execute judgments upon you. You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord. This city shall not be your pot, and you shall not be the meat inside it; I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed, and whose ordinances you have not kept, but you have acted according to the ordinances of the nations that are around you.”

Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down on my face, cried with a loud voice, and said, “Ah Lord God! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

Then the word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, your kinsfolk, your own kin, your fellow exiles, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, “They have gone far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.” Therefore say: Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far away among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries where they have gone. Therefore say: Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. When they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, says the Lord God.

Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. And the glory of the Lord ascended from the middle of the city, and stopped on the mountain east of the city. The spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen left me. And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.

In this passage the prophet Ezekiel shares with us a vision he receives from the Lord. In it he describes a city and its inhabitants. The Lord shows him their mischievous and wicked ways. He tells of their hearts of stone and that they are heathens who do not walk in His statutes and also execute poor judgment. He knows their every thought. The city that they inhabit is like a giant pot and they are the flesh that fills it.

So it is for us today in the world we live in. We are surrounded by these evil people who seek to disobey the Word of the Lord and constantly strive to slay those around them and boil them in their giant pot. As God’s people, the world will not be our pot and we will not be the flesh consumed within. He admonishes us to prophesy to those around us and let them know that we know what the future holds for both the believers and the non-believers. God tells us that if we seek His guidance and follow Him,

He will put a new spirit within us and replace our stony hearts with hearts of flesh. He will unite those of us who follow Him and give us one heart. We will be His people and He will be our God. He will be our sanctuary in the midst of all the chaos. He will lift us up from this evil world we live in and deliver vengeance upon those who don’t follow Him. Trust God this day to deliver you from the evil of this world and let His Glory fall over you!

Prayer for Reflection

Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
Psalm 30
Rev. 1:4-8
John 20:19-31