Nov 15 Ezekiel 28, Ezekiel 29 Hebrews 12:14-29 Psalm 126:1-6
Ezek 28:15-16
You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
This passage in Ezekiel is incredibly interesting. In this lament of the King of Tyre, something changes. It becomes about something.. or someone else.
Someone who was in the garden of God, a guardian cherub.
The king of Tyre is getting compared to someone else – the Angel who fell, Satan. That’s not a comparison you want in your life.
This section that becomes about Satan is called a lament. That’s something that is said with sadness.
And it’s a terrible tragedy, both when it’s about Satan and when it’s about the King of Tyre. Pride struck them down.
They thought they oddly be like God. They started to believe their own good press.
Pride is a killer. Kill your pride before it kills you. If one who was the guardian cherub can fall through it, you are not the exception to the rule. Don’t think too much of yourself.
Heb 12:15
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
Here’s the problem with bitterness… is festers and grows before you can even see any evidence of it. That’s why it’s referred to here as a root. When we step out of our understanding of the grace of God, when we leave grace behind – it puts us in a dangerous place. We start relying on works. When that happens, we start comparing our works to other people’s.
Bitterness spreads. It infects… and by it. we are told – many become defiled. Sin and giving in to temptation are the things that lead us out of grace… we need to keep an eye on each other. The root grows before the shoot bursts forth – by then, it can be too late to react – you are already dealing with something huge.
One hypocrite in the church can ruin other people. Hold fast to the truth, avoid sin and be on the look out, not so you can haul someone over the coals, but so you can bring them back to grace.
