Ezekiel 24-26
Our God is God. The Creator of the Universe and the Author of all things good. He is the beginning and the end.
The day will come when there will no longer be any evil because our pure, holy God will rid His creation of Satan and all who follow him. He is all good; He is also all-powerful.
When we read the current chapters of Ezekiel, it gets pretty heavy, because we don’t normally think in terms of judgment. We think of God as a loving Father – which He is. But He is also holy. If God were to judge everything according to His standards today, there wouldn’t be much left. But there will come a day when it’s all over.
I’ve always thought that if anyone really understood who Jesus was and what He did for us, they would receive Him. His love is unconditional, but we have to receive it. We have to know Him personally and allow Him to order our steps.
Our choices are clear. Light versus dark. Life versus death. Love versus hate. Good versus evil.
I choose Jesus with all the light, life, love and good He brings.
I Peter 1
All of the letters we have read so far have been written by the apostle Paul, who never saw Jesus in the flesh.
Remember, he was called by the Lord when he was on the way to arrest some Christians. Then for three years he spent time with the Lord, re-reading the Old Testament scriptures and understanding God’s plan of redemption. During this time, God revealed to Paul what had been hidden up to that point, that is the new birth and the Holy Spirit now living within the hearts of man.
Peter had a different perspective. He not only knew Jesus; Peter was one of the three disciples who were with Him in the most eye-opening times. (The transfiguration and when He raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead). One of Jesus’s closest disciples.
Yet throughout the three plus years Peter was following Jesus, he never really understood what was about to take place. Actually it takes the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to people, so the full understanding couldn’t come until after Jesus was resurrected and Peter was born again.
When we read the letters from Peter, we get a little different slant of the same message. The new birth, the living hope, the promises which are here now and the ones to come.
Peter addresses those who are currently suffering for their faith. There are various trials which people are going through, but their faith is compared to precious gold to be revealed at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
I’d like to point out one very encouraging word, encouraging to us when we have loved ones who just don’t seem to “get it.” Peter speaks of the fact that we have been “born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living Word of God.”(V. 23)
When we have shared the gospel of Jesus with someone, that seed is imperishable seed planted in their heart. They might not pay any attention to us at the time, but that seed has been planted and it won’t go away. It will never die.
At the right moment that person, knowing they need help beyond their own abilities, may reach out to God. And in that moment, that imperishable seed of God’s Word is still there within them reminding them of God’s plan of redemption.
I have seen this happen many times. I have shared the gospel with someone who seemed to ignore what I was saying, only to find later that they had received the Lord. And I have seen parents who have shared with their children, only to find them going astray. Yet at the right moment, that Word would cause the young ones to turn around and receive the Lord.
Once the Word of God is shared, it will not go away. It may lie dormant for a long time, but the Word is there, and it will spring forth at the right time.
That brings great hope to those of us who are praying for our loved ones. Hopefully, we will never give up!
