First Baptist Church, Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Devotional: Ezekiel 30

Today’s passage: Ezekiel 30

Helpful thoughts:

  • “The day of the Lord” is a term of judgment.
  • Verses 4-5 contain other nations surrounding Egypt.  Verses 13-19 mention several cities within Egypt.
  • In this judgment, God says He will “break the arms” of the king of Egypt, causing him to drop his sword, and He will “put my sword” in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

Questions to consider:

  1. What phrase do we see over and over at the end of each promise of judgment?  Why is it so important that we are reminded the nations will know that God is the LORD?
  2. How does remembering that God is the LORD help us each day to live for Him?  How can it give us peace?  How can it give us confidence to follow Him?  How can it give us hope in the midst of hardship?

Devotional: Ezekiel 29

Today’s passage: Ezekiel 29

Helpful thoughts:

  • Our attention now turns away from Tyre and on to Egypt for the next few chapters.
  • The Egyptians believed they were responsible for their own greatness (Verse 3) and they sinned against God’s people (Verses 6-9).  For these reasons, judgment was coming…that the people of Egypt would “know that I am the LORD.”
  • Due to the timing of the fulfilment of this prophecy, Ezekiel’s ministry would be vindicated in the eyes of the people in his lifetime (Verse 21).

Questions to consider:

  1. What similarities are found in this chapter and those that came before it?  What were the sins of the leaders and people of Egypt?
  2. Why do we have the good things we have?  Who deserves the praise and thanksgiving for the things we enjoy in this life? (James 1:17)
  3. How can pride in our possessions reveal what our hearts truly value most?  What is the greatest gift God has given us (Ephesians 2:8-9)?  How does that knowledge help us to better evaluate and steward the temporal possessions God would entrust to us?

Devotional: Ezekiel 28

Today’s passage: Ezekiel 28

Helpful thoughts:

  • Men who begin to think themselves gods have a very low view of the true God.  To a man who believes he is a god, the true God says, “You shall die…for I have spoken, declares the Lord.”
  • In verses 12-19 it appears the Lord parallels the fall of the king of Tyre and the fall of Satan.
    • A similar parallel is found in Isaiah 14.
    • Whenever a created being says in his heart, “I will make myself like the Most High,” a great humbling is coming!  The LORD does not share His glory with any other (Isaiah 42:8).
  • Sidon, who will also see God’s judgment is a nearby sister city to Tyre.  They are often mentioned together in other Old Testament texts (e.g. Jeremiah 47:4).

Questions to consider:

  1. What is the danger of having a low (incorrectly thinking less of God than He truly is) view of God?  What does an accurate view of God demand of us (Romans 11:33-12:2)?
  2. What is the result of God’s judgment against the unbelieving nations for His people?  What will the end of all opposition against Israel result in?
  3. God judged Israel and Judah by spreading them out among the nations, what will He do to save and less them in the end (Verse 25)?  How does this gathering also mirror the promise of Christ in Matthew 16:18?  How is God gathering a people for Himself today?

Devotional: Ezekiel 27

Today’s passage: Ezekiel 27

Helpful thoughts:

  • The poetry in this chapter likens the city of Tyre (Surrounded by water) to a beautiful merchant ship.
  • No matter how beautiful the ship, no matter how wonderful the goods it contains, it is no match for the sea.  God would bringing judgment on Tyre and there was no beauty, wealth or international coalition that could stop it.
  • The final verses speak of the dread of all the surrounding peoples who had done business with Tyre.  As Tyre fell, so would the economies of all these other nations who relied so heavily on her.

Questions to consider:

  1. We often view the quality of our own lives by these economic circumstances, but what would 2 Corinthians 5:9 or Matthew 6:33 lead us to focus on?  If my definition of “blessing” is wrapped up in prosperity and ease, how will I begin to evaluate what is a good or evil action?
  2. If our hearts hold God in the right regard, why would the fall of an economic center like Tyre not result in the same “horror” as felt by the people in that region whose hopes were centered around their prosperity?
  3. In what ways has what God promised us in Christ through the Gospel so much better that what we may desire in present prosperity?  How do these truths help us to better handle earthly prosperity should it come?

Devotional: Ezekiel 26

Today’s passage: Ezekiel 26

Helpful thoughts:

  • Today’s pronouncement of judgment is against the city of Tyre.  Chapter 26 is the first of three chapters which are devoted to the destruction of Tyre.
  • Tyre was a wealthy city of international trade surrounded by water just off the coast of modern day Lebanon.  It’s location made the people feel extra secure, safe from any attack.
    • It was conquered originally by Nebuchadnezzar.  Later, Alexander the Great made a causeway to connect the city to the mainland.
  • The chapter could be outlined this way:
    • Verses 1-6 – The reason for judgment
    • Verses 7-14 – The method of judgment
    • Verses 15-18 – The international response to judgment
    • Verses 19-21 – The permanence of the judgment

Questions to consider:

  1. In what ways are we reminded concerning where our safety and our strength comes from?  Who is our safety?  Who is our strength? (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
  2. How does this help us to also redefine strength and safety in ways the world would not understand?  Was Tyre ever truly “safe” simply because of its location?  Was Nebuchadnezzar truly strong because of his own armies? (Daniel 4:29-33)
  3. How does Colossians 3:1-4 help us to answer these questions?  Where are believers hidden in safety for the day when the final victory is won?

Devotional: Ezekiel 25

Today’s passage: Ezekiel 25

Helpful thoughts:

  • With the beginning of chapter 25, we begin a unit in the book of Ezekiel (25-32) which focuses on prophesies concerning surrounding nations. The nations are listed in geographical order clockwise from the northeast to the west.
  • Ammon (Northeast):  The Ammonites rejoiced in the profaning and fall of God’s people.  They would later fall to Babylon and nomads from the east would dwell in their land.
  • Moab (East): The Moabites did not regard Judah (Therefore, they also did not regard Judah’s God).  They would suffer the same consequence as the Ammonites.
  • Edom (South): The Edomites (Descendants of Esau) were great rivals with Israel and Judah.  They would fall to the people they hated most, by God’s decree.
  • Philistia (West): With a rivalry that appears to have equaled that of the Edomites, the Philistines are promised vengeance and wrath.

Questions to consider:

  1. What is the main motive for these judgments?  Whose reputation was/is to be protected?
  2. Who would these nations know and respect at the end of these judgments? (See the end of verses 7, 11, 14, and 17)
  3. These nations believed in many gods.  Their own national gods were to protect them from the gods of other nations.  Did God simply want these people to know he was stronger than their gods?  What does the phrase, “I am the LORD.” seem to indicate?  Even if you don’t believe in God, are you still under His authority and responsible to Him?  How can this truth impact our understanding of the need of evangelism?

Devotional: Jude 24-25

Today’s passage: Jude 24-25

Helpful thoughts:

  • After sharing what false teachers are doing and what their consequence will be, Jude concludes his epistle with what God is doing and what he will receive.
  • Those who are true followers of Christ will not suffer the same judgment as the false teachers Jude has warned us about.  God will present us “blameless before the presence of His glory!”
  • The glory, majesty, dominion and authority that God has had, does have, and will always have should serve as a warning to those who rebel against Him, and as a victory cheer to those who believe and have submitted to His lordship.

Questions to consider:

  1. How does the promise of verse 24 compare with the promises of passages like Philippians 1:6, Romans 8:28-30, and Ephesians 5:25-27?  What is God able to do…and what has He promised to do?
  2. How will the fulfilment of this promise result in our great joy?  Why should it give us joy even now as we wait for that day?
  3. How does the reality of who God is impact the way we see and think about our day, our desires, our relationships, our possessions, etc.?  To whom do we truly belong and for what purpose do we exist?

Devotional: Jude 17-23

Today’s passage: Jude 17-23

Helpful thoughts:

  • It shouldn’t surprise us when false teachers and false Christians stir up division in the church.  The Apostles told us this would happen.
    • This warning gives us reason to be diligent, alert and active in our faith (Verses 20-22).
  • When Jude uses the phrase, “The last time” he is referring to the time of the Church.  We often think of the last time as the Tribulation and Millennial Kingdom (From our vantage point).  But Jude is simply referring to the time after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ…the Church Age.
  • The exhortations in this passage help clarify something for us…being part of a church is not merely a recreational activity.  There is a war being waged (Ephesians 6:10-12).

Questions to consider:

  1. What source of division in the church is mentioned in this passage?  How might division be caused by those mentioned in the book of Jude?  What are some general solutions to church division?
  2. What are the actions given which characterize a person who is being “built up in the most holy faith?”  What kinds of things do Christians do in the midst of the spiritual warfare we are in (Verses 20-23)?
  3. Why is it right (And so very poignant) to call evangelism, “Snatching them out of the fire?”  Though we can not force anyone or argue anyone into repentance, what reality should embolden us to share the Gospel with the lost?

Devotional: Jude 14-16

Today’s passage: Jude 14-16

Helpful thoughts:

  • Enoch is the man who walked with God and then one day, “was not, for God took him.” in Genesis 5:18-24.
    • There is a book called 1 Enoch that is considered “extrabiblical.”  This means that the book is NOT scripture, not God’s authoritative word.  This specific quote that Jude gives does contain truth, but that doesn’t mean the whole book should be included in Scripture.
  • The theme word of this quote, “Ungodly!”
    • God’s response to all the ungodliness will be conviction and judgment.
  • Verse 16 emphasizes the way these false teachers use their words.  Nothing (Outside of themselves) seems good enough for them until they want something from you.  Then they flatter you to manipulate you for their own advantage.

Questions to consider:

  1. What kind of “conviction” is Jude writing about in verse 15?  Is this a conviction that leads to repentance or simply a guilty verdict declared?  Since judgment comes with it, which would it have to be?
  2. What judgment was rendered for those who receive conviction that leads to repentance? (Romans 3:23-26)
  3. How would repentance and love change what is being depicted in verse 16?  Go through the descriptions in the verse and think of what a Christian would “put on” in place of these actions (Ephesians 4:22-24).