The Lord's Concern for His Holy Name

 

Ezekiel 36:16-21

 

January 29, 2024

 

The Lord's Concern for His Holy Name

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity.  So, I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it.  I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds, I judged them.  But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’  But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

Is the Lord still concerned for His Holy Name?  Scripture tells us God changes not, in Hebrews 13:8, The Bible tells us that God is unchanging. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Malachi 3:6 says, “I am the Lord, and I do not change…”While everything around us changes, we can depend on God continually showing us His grace, love, and compassion.  

 

His chosen disgraced His holy Name, and we the Church can do the same. We were not the chosen, but we the wild vine grafted into the Vine that is Christ.  We are now God’s children and called to bring praise to His Holy Name, not shame.  1 Peter2:9-10, ^“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. “  

 

How that the good news, but it comes with you having a funeral, the old you died, but you got your needs met outside of Christ, before you by faith came to the understanding that you needed a Redeemer, someone to make you in right standing with God.  It was not a religious act, you did, but a confession of your sinful life, and your entering into a relationship with Christ.  Your desire for the old you should have changed, the things that once were ok, should no longer be ok, you are a new creation in Christ, and He has sent the Holy Spirit to live in you and guide you.

 

Now some warning size that you may be a religious person and not a child of God, do you seek Him, do you study His written Word, so that you learn how to have fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Do you take a stand, against evil, and do you call what God calls evil, evil?  If not, you missed the mark, you may be a pastor, a deacon, or the person at the church building all the time, but you need to examine yourself, to see if you are in Christ. If you are not seeking a deeper walk, you must ask why, and God will show you.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice