Ezekiel's Wife Dies

 

 

Ezekiel 24:15-27

 

December 23, 2023

 

Ezekiel's Wife Dies

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke, yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down.  Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.” 

 And the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus?”  Then I said to them, “The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your soul, and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword.  And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.  Your turbans shall be on your heads and your shoes on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall rot away in your iniquities and groan to one another.  Thus, shall Ezekiel be to you a sign; according to all that he has done, you shall do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God.’

“As for you, son of man, surely on the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their soul's desire, and also their sons and daughters, on that day a fugitive will come to you to report to you the news.  On that day, your mouth will be opened to the fugitive, and you shall speak and be no longer mute. So, you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord.”

 

Jan, my wife, is the delight of my life, and we have witnessed many of our friends and acquaintances who have lost the delight of their hearts.  It is not an easy task; some had knowledge it was coming, and others did not, but to my knowledge, none were told by God not to weep or mourn.

 

That is not where Ezekiel finds himself, and I want each of us to understand how blessed we are to tell others about Jesus, to share the Scriptures and our story of His faithfulness.  We live in a time where people need to know that Jesus is the Lord.  That His ways are higher than ours and His thoughts than our thoughts.  Hell is a real place that was designed for the devil and his angels, not for people, but by refusing to ask Jesus into their hearts, they make the choice to go there.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice