Willing to Pronounce Judgment
Ezekiel 23:36 – The LORD said to me: “Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds! 37 – For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me, they have passed through the fire as food to their idols. 38 – Moreover, they have done this to me: In the very same day they desecrated my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths.
Take the time, if you dare, to read all of Ezekiel 23. It was disturbing. I felt like I was in a courtroom and all the graphic testimony was on display regarding the crimes of the two sisters Oholah and Oholibah who represented Samaria and Jerusalem.
God brought up the sinful practices of Samaria and Jerusalem and asked Ezekiel: Are you willing to pronounce judgment on them? Are we willing to have all our secret deeds brought to light and to have judgment pronounced on us? I really don’t want that to happen.
I’m certain King David felt really uncomfortable when the prophet Nathan exposed the sin he committed against Bathsheba and Uriah. What will we do with that discomfort of knowing we are exposed before Jesus?
Reading these verses reminded me of something Solomon said in closing verses of Ecclesiastes 12: Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. there is no end to the making of many books, and much study is exhausting to the body. Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion: Fear God and keep his commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. For God will evaluate every deed, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. – 12-14.
Don’t be discouraged and lose hope. Read what the Apostle Paul has to say in Romans 6:19-23:
For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am thankful for the messengers commissioned by God to bear uncomfortable messages of judgment to those He loves. Let’s humbly receive the rebuke and discipline and earnestly repent. The gift of God through our friend and Savior, Jesus Christ, is waiting!
Where two are gathered 