Trump gets Covid-19 one month before the election. Coincidence or sign from God? I don’t know. But in November of 2020, EVERYONE was talking about it! If it had happened in ancient Israel, people would have SCRUTINIZED this thing with a jeweler’s loop trying to figure out what it means. People in pre-enlightenment cultures considered everything symbolic and filled with messages. They were a perfect audience for an action-prophet like Ezekiel.
God told Ezekiel to pack his bags. “Get your bags ready and go into exile… while they watch. Perhaps they will understand…. As they watch, scrape through the wall with your fingers [the wall around the city] and take your bags out through the wall.” Ezekiel 12:2-5.
Ezekiel did as God commanded, and the nation watched. And they asked “What are you doing?,” and Ezekiel said:
“I am a sign for you. Just as I have done, so it will be done to Israel… They will go into exile. The prince will go out through the wall, but God will give him over to the Chaldeans, and he will die there.” Ezekiel 12:10-13.
Remember, why street theater? Because the people will not listen to sermons, so God has to reach them another way. Maybe some will repent.
But if not, God still has a remnant who are obeying Him, and He has more blessings in store:
“I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh, so they may obey my laws.” Ezekiel 11:19-20; 36:26.
This is probably THE MOST POPULAR VERSE IN THE BOOK, because it applies so well to believers today. Ask God to give you an obedient heart (and one that can listen to sermons).
God, please remove our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh. Give us obedient hearts! And help us to recognize signs You may place in our lives. But I pray our tender hearts would respond so powerfully to Your word that we would not need to see Your warnings acted out in the lives (or illnesses) of our leaders.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 