EZEKIEL 7: 1-19...
1+++Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me saying,
2+++“And you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land.
3+++‘Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and bring all your abominations upon you.
4+++‘For My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare you, but I will bring your ways upon you, and your abominations will be among you; then you will know that I am the LORD!’
5+++“Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘A disaster, unique disaster, behold it is coming!
6+++‘An end is coming; the end has come! It has awakened against you; behold, it has come!
7+++‘Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come, the day is near—tumult rather than joyful shouting on the mountains.
8+++‘Now I will shortly pour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you; judge you according to your ways and bring on you all your abominations.
9+++‘My eye will show no pity nor will I spare. I will repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the LORD, do the smiting.
10+++‘Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! Your doom has gone forth; the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed.
11+++‘Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their people, none of their wealth, nor anything eminent among them.
12+++‘The time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn; for wrath is against all their multitude.
13+++‘Indeed, the seller will not regain what he sold as long as they both live; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not be averted, nor will any of them maintain his life by his iniquity.
14+++‘They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all their multitude.
15+++‘The sword is outside and the plague and the famine are within. He who is in the field will die by the sword; famine and the plague will also consume those in the city.
16+++‘Even when their survivors escape, they will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, each over his own iniquity.
17+++‘All hands will hang limp and all knees will become like water.
18+++‘They will gird themselves with sackcloth and shuddering will overwhelm them; and shame will be on all faces and baldness on all their heads.
19+++‘They will fling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetite nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling.
The abruptness of this prophecy, and the many repetitions, show that the prophet was deeply affected by the prospect of these calamities. Such will the destruction of sinners be; for none can avoid it. Oh that the wickedness of the wicked might end before it bring them to an end! Trouble is to the impenitent only an evil, it hardens their hearts, and stirs up their corruptions; but there are those to whom it is sanctified by the grace of God, and made a means of much good...
Sooner or later, sin will cause sorrow; and those who will not repent of their sin, may justly be left to pine away in it. There are many whose wealth is their snare and ruin; and the gaining the world is the losing of their souls. Riches profit not in the day of wrath. The wealth of this world has not that in it which will answer the desires of the soul, or be any satisfaction to it in a day of distress. God's temple shall stand them in no stead. Those are unworthy to be honoured with the form of godliness, who will not be governed by its power.
FEW, and even fewer want to hear, or know THE TRUTH, as it is FAR varied from what the world has proclaimed, taught, or believed, HOWEVER, THE TRUTH SHALL PREVAIL, now, and forever!!!
1 THESSALONIANS 5: 1-3...
1+++Now about the times and seasons, brothers, we do not need to write to you.
2+++For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
3+++While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
It is needless or useless to ask about the particular time of Christ's coming. Christ did not reveal this to the apostles. There are times and seasons for us to work in, and these are our duty and interest to know and observe; but as to the time when we must give up our account, we know it not, nor is it needful that we should. The coming of Christ will be a great surprise to men. Our Lord himself said so. As the hour of death is the same to each person that the judgment will be to mankind in general, so the same remarks answer for both. Christ's coming will be terrible to the ungodly. Their destruction will overtake them while they dream of happiness, and please themselves with vain amusements. There will be no means to escape the terror or the punishment of that day. This day will be a happy day to the righteous. They are not in darkness; they are the children of the light. It is the happy condition of all true Christians. But how many are speaking peace and safety to themselves, over whose heads utter destruction is hovering! Let us endeavour to awaken ourselves and each other, and guard against our spiritual enemies.
Ah, as long as there is this GIFT of a day, there is HOPE, and there is OPPORTUNITY TO TURN TO THE LORD *GOD* ALMIGHTY!!!
EZEKIEL 18: 21-32 (MATTHEW 16 & MATTHEW 25)...
21+++“But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
22+++“All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced, he will live.
23+++“Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord GOD, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?
24+++“But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die.
25+++“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ Hear now, O house of Israel! Is My way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right?
26+++“When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and dies because of it, for his iniquity which he has committed he will die.
27+++“Again, when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life.
28+++“Because he considered and turned away from all his transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
29+++“But the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ Are My ways not right, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not right?
30+++“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct,” declares the Lord GOD. “Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you.
31+++“Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel?
32+++“For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord GOD. “Therefore, repent and live.”
The wicked man would be saved, if he turned from his evil ways. The true penitent is a true believer. None of his former transgressions shall be mentioned unto him, but in the righteousness which he has done, as the fruit of faith and the effect of conversion, he shall surely live. The question is not whether the truly righteous ever become apostates. It is certain that many who for a time were thought to be righteous, do so, while ver. 26,27 speaks the fullness of pardoning mercy: when sin is forgiven, it is blotted out, it is remembered no more. In their righteousness they shall live; not for their righteousness, as if that were an atonement for their sins, but in their righteousness, which is one of the blessings purchased by the Mediator. What encouragement a repenting, returning sinner has to hope for pardon and life according to this promise! In verse 28 is the beginning and progress of repentance. True believers watch and pray, and continue to the end, and they are saved. In all our disputes with God, he is in the right, and we are in the wrong.
The Lord will judge each of the Israelites according to his ways. On this is grounded an exhortation to repent, and to make them a new heart and a new spirit. God does not command what cannot be done, but admonishes us to do what is in our power, and to pray for what is not. Ordinances and means are appointed, directions and promises are given, that those who desire this change may seek it from God.
People fight for freedom all the time, but that freedom of choosing THE LORD *GOD* OVER all else is one most do not want, or care to consider; they want to be able to exist as they like, and believe they are in the right, even though they are aware that this is not true! More than not would RUN from TRUTH than to meld with it, regardless of the knowledge of the price to pay, and which HAS BEEN PAID BY CHRIST JESUS for each and every soul who TURNS TO HIM!!!
We CAN SEE that things are rapidly going bad all around us, and so, the signs we SHOULD HEED, and consider, and HOPEFULLY, WILL inspire, and incline more to THINK about the fact that THIS time is NOTHING IN ALL TIME, and consequences DO demand payment, now, and forever! We HAVE been told, and we KNOW THE LORD HAS SPOKEN according to HIS WILL concerning BLESSINGS, and CURSES, and there is NO excuse whatsoever IF one remains stubborn to the unknown end of time as we know it!!!
LWINSOR © 2020
BIBLICAL, and/or other references marked BOLDLY IN COLOURS
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