DAY 236    Read Ezekiel 29:1-16; 30:1-19; 2 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36:17-21; Jeremiah 52.

Today's reading:  The persistent sins of God's people, despite repeated appeals for reformation and warnings of disaster, finally brought about their ruin.  Beautiful Jerusalem was utterly broken up.

Memory gem:  "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become a widow!"  (Lamentations 1:1).

Thought for today:
Over in England a man owned a great python.  He had captured it when it was just a tiny snake in the jungle.  And, as the snake grew into a large serpent, twelve to fifteen feet long, with power enough to crush a man in its coils, he demonstrated his power over it in public exhibitions.  He had trained it to wrap itself around his body until nothing of the man showed except a part of his face.  He would give the command: "Wind!"  And the snake would wind itself around and around his body.  Then he would give the command: "Unwind!" and the snake would unwind itself from his body.  It obeyed him implicitly.

Someone remonstrated with him, "Someday that snake will fail to unwind itself, and will crush you to death."

But he only laughed.  "I have had him ever since he was a baby.  I can make him mind me.  I am the master, and he must obey."

But there came a night when the man commanded the snake to wind about his body.  It obeyed.  And then he commanded it to unwind.  The spectators saw a strange motion like a great wave over the snake--the man's eyes began to bulge--and people heard a dull, snapping sound as of bones breaking.

The snake had turned back to the law of the jungle.  He had sensed the good meal that the thing he was wrapped around would make.  The snake was still a snake--it had not changed.

And so it is with sin, friends--any sin!

NOTE:  Evil Merodach (2 Kings 25:27 and elsewhere) is called Amel-Marduk in secular history.  He was the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar.

DAY 235    Read Jeremiah 37:16 through chapter 39.

Today's reading:  Weak-kneed King Zedekiah knew what he should do, but he feared the wicked nobles--he just couldn't make a stand for the right.  But Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch, acted to rescue Jeremiah.

Memory gem:  "But Jeremiah said,...Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee; so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live"  (Jeremiah 38:20).

Thought for today:
"Even to the last hour, God made plain His willingness to show mercy to those who should choose to submit to His just requirements.  Had the king chosen to obey, the lives of the people might have been spared, and the city saved from conflagration; but he thought he had gone too far to retrace his steps.  He was afraid of the Jews, afraid of ridicule, afraid for his life.  After years of rebellion against God, Zedekiah thought it too humiliating to say to his people, I accept the word of the Lord, as spoken through the prophet Jeremiah; I dare not venture to war against the enemy in the face of all these warnings.

"With tears Jeremiah entreated Zedekiah to save himself and his people.  With anguish of spirit he assured him that unless he should heed the counsel of God, he could not escape with his life, and all his possessions would fall to the Babylonians.  But the king had started on the wrong course, and he would not retrace his steps.  He decided to follow the counsel of the false prophets, and of men whom he really despised, and who ridiculed his weakness in yielding so readily to their wishes.  He sacrificed the noble freedom of his manhood, and became a cringing slave to public opinion.  With no fixed purpose to do evil, he was also without resolution to stand boldly for the right.  Convicted though he was of the value of the counsel given by Jeremiah, he had not the moral stamina to obey; and as a consequence he advanced steadily in the wrong direction."--Prophets and Kings, pp. 457, 458.

----------------
Difficult or obscure words:
Jeremiah 38:6.  "Dungeon"--literally "pit" or "cistern."
Jeremiah 38:11.  "Clouts"--an old English word for "rags."

DAY 234    Read Jeremiah 32:26-44; Chapter 33; Ezekiel 24 and 25.

Memory gem:  "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not"  (Jeremiah 33:3).

Thought for today:
The prophet Jeremiah was at one time shut up in prison by the king of Judah, while Jerusalem was being besieged by the armies of Babylon.  It was a dark and terrible time.  In this discouraging hour, the word of God came to Jeremiah in the prison where he was confined.  Here is the message:

"Thus saith the Lord, the maker thereof [that is, the maker of heavens and earth], the Lord that formed it, to establish it; the Lord is his name; call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not"  (Jeremiah 33:2, 3).  The original words for "great and mighty things" mean literally "incomprehensible" or "mysterious" or "hidden" things.

God did show wonderful things, hidden things, which the world did not yet know because these events had not yet happened.  But God, who sees the end from the beginning, sees the future as well as He knows the past, better than we know it.  The prophecies of Holy Scripture outline many of the events of the future in order to give us faith in the Word of God.

As was said by a wise men centuries ago, "Man proposes, but God disposes."  There are many things contained in the Bible which skeptics have denied and held up to ridicule.  But later on, after the excavation of some biblical site, the Bible statements have been proved true.

My friend, you can trust the Bible.  You can lean hard upon it, and it will not fail you.

----------------
Difficult or obscure words:
Ezekiel 24:6.  "Scum"--better: rust.  The words represent Jerusalem as an iron pot corroded with rust.
Ezekiel 24:17.  "Bread of men"--probably meaning a funeral feast.

DAY 232    Read Ezekiel 22 and 23.

Today's reading:  These chapters point out some of the sins that brought disaster on Judah's people.  In chapter 22, verses 18 and 22, pure metal is melted in the furnace.

Memory gem:  "The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times"  (Psalm 12:6).

Thought for today:
"In these days of peril shall we show less devotion to the truth of God, and less fervent attachment to His law, than in former years?  The very condition of things exists which Christ declared would be, prior to His second coming in power and glory.  The prevailing ungodliness tends to paralyze and even to destroy true faith and piety.  But this is the very time when the gold of Christian integrity will shine brightest, in contrast to the dross of hypocrisy and corruption.  Now is the time for Christ's chosen to show their devotion to His service--the time for all His followers to bear the noblest testimony for their Master by standing firm against the prevailing current of evil.

"As we see the results which have followed a disregard of God's law--dishonesty, theft, licentiousness, drunkenness, and murder--we are prepared to say with the psalmist, 'I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold'; 'in keeping of them, there is great reward.'  When the divine law is set aside, the greatest misery will result, both to families and to society.  Our only hope of better things is to be found in a faithful adherence to the precepts of Jehovah."--Sons and Daughters of God, p. 54.

DAY 231    Read Ezekiel 20 and 21.

Today's reading:  In chapter 20 the Lord reviews His dealings with Israel through the centuries, showing the efforts He had made to keep the people from evil.

Memory gem:  "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them"  (Ezekiel 20:12).

Thought for today:
Not only is the Sabbath a memorial of Creation, but it is also a sign between God and His people  (see Exodus 31:13).

Sanctifying power is in God and not in us.  We have it only as a gift from Him.  Unfortunately, the ancient church drifted into error on this point.  It made the mistake of trusting to power possessed by man for sanctification, and righteousness provided by human works; and this is a common modern error too.


We often hear or read the doctrine that everyone has a power within him with which he can in some way work out his own salvation, that our evolving, inherent abilities are leading us from a lower to a higher state.

These perverted notions lead to the natural conclusion that man does not need a personal Saviour and are just as definitely idolatry and unbelief as any that has ever appeared in the world.  In fact, they make man his own savior, his own god.

But the Sabbath was given to deliver from such false philosophy.  It is a recurring sign that God possesses sanctifying, redeeming power.

We look to the Maker of man, the Creator of man, as our Redeemer.  We can trust in Him who has creative power, possessed by God and God alone, to save us by creating us anew.

Knowing these facts, it seems difficult to imagine any other reasons for a weekly rest day.  The Sabbath stands upon an unchanging foundation.  It is part of an eternal law, and it is a memorial for all generations.  It is an everlasting sign of sanctifying, redeeming power; power that makes man righteous, which comes only from God, and not from man's works at all.  It is a perpetual defense against apostasy and atheism.  It will be a blessing to every child of God who comes to know its place in the great plan of salvation.

----------------
Difficult or obscure words:
Ezekiel 21:21.  "Make his arrows bright"--rather: shook arrows together, a common method of divination.
Ezekiel 21:27.  "Overturn"--the threefold repetition of the word (literally "a ruin, a ruin, a ruin") is a Hebrew device to indicate intensity.

DAY 230    Read Ezekiel 17 through 19.

Today's reading:  These chapters contain some unusual parables and prophecies.  Chapter 18 gives a clear explanation of God's method of dealing with sin and repentance.

Memory gem:  "I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye"  (Ezekiel 18:32).

Thought for today:
In Ezekiel 18, verse 2 and 20, we are plainly told that when a son sees all his father's sins, but turns away from them and does right he shall surely live.  After telling us that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" and "the sons shall not bear the iniquity of the father," the Lord says:  "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.  Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"  (verses 30, 31).

Families and nations die out when sin flourishes.  In Ezekiel 16:49 we are told that Sodom was filled with pride, fullness of bread, and idleness.  You see, sin will destroy itself eventually.

But, is there hope for us and our children?  Yes.  If God has His way with us, all sin and suffering, even death, would be gone  (see Matthew 4:23; 8:16; Luke 4:40; Matthew 10:1).

Let us be thankful for the last part of the second commandment.  Not only is the iniquity of the fathers to exert its influence unto the third and fourth generation of them that continue to hate God, but He shows mercy unto thousands of them that love Him and keep His commandments (see Exodus 20:5, 6).

God is able and willing to deliver us from our sins and from the effects of our sins.  The only question is, Is it best for Him to do so under all circumstances?  We know that God will forgive our sins and give us His justifying grace whenever we turn to Him.  There is no doubt about that, and there is no time limit on it.  But, as to the effects of sin, we know that they will all be taken away when the earth is made new.  Every one of us must give account of himself to God, and every one of us may have a place in the kingdom of Christ.  Will you not make your decision for Him today?

DAY 229    Read Ezekiel 15 and 16.

Today's reading:  God uses an allegory to illustrate the folly of His people's apostasy.  He adopts an infant, gives her security and riches, and brings her fame; then she turns her back on Him.  Still God loves her!

Memory gem:  "I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord"  (Ezekiel 16:62).

Thought for today:
An interesting story came out some years ago about an old man who was found half dead in one of the streets of New York City.  The authorities picked him up and took him to Bellevue Hospital.  During the twenty-six days he was there he wouldn't tell them who he was or anything about his friends or life.  He just said he had lost all his money or it had been stolen from him, and that he wanted to go back to Serbia to die.

He died there in the hospital.  As they were getting him ready to be buried in a potter's field, someone suggested that they ought to look in his dirty clothes.  They did so and found his pockets full of money, stocks, and bonds.  Then, when his clothes were ripped apart, they were found to be filled with money and other valuables.

Why had he lived and died as a pauper?  No one knows.  He suffered privation and sickness and practically starved himself.

But how many people in this world are like that in spiritual things!  They don't live up to their opportunities.  They live a pauperized life.  To them life doesn't amount to much--just a succession of days.  Life is to know and to feel and to do.  It is to have the deep love of God in the heart.  Life, my friend, is what we make it with God.

DAY 228    Read Ezekiel 12 through 14.

Today's reading:  Ezekiel goes through some more play-acting to drive home the Lord's warnings against wickedness.  In chapter 14, verses 3 and 4, he points out that idolatry is often a matter hidden in the heart.

Memory gem:  "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"  (Jeremiah 17:9).

Thought for today:
When men decide in their hearts that they will not obey God their prayers are of no avail until they repent and surrender to the Lord.  When a man sets up his idols in his heart and then prays to God, God will answer him according to his idols.

If we persistently slight God's truth and God's mercy, His Spirit will finally go from us.  There will be no conviction of sin, no true repentance, no forgiveness.

Suppose that late on some dark night you see my home on fire, and to save my life you try to ring my telephone.  But no warning call is possible because I have disconnected the phone that my sleep may not be disturbed.  I sleep on--to fiery destruction.  So God sends warning and conviction to men by the Holy Spirit.

We may set the alarm clock; but if we pay no attention to it or turn it off a few times, soon we can sleep right through its clatter.  We become hardened to its warning.

So in spiritual things, many are "past feeling"  (Ephesians 4:19).  Their hearts become "fully set in them to do evil"  (Ecclestiastes 8:11).  In Christ's day the leaders of His nation rejected the Light of the world, and their house, the beautiful temple, was left unto them "desolate"  (Luke 13:35).  The presence of God had departed.  So in the last days, the great world multitude will turn away from the Spirit of God and be carried away with a strong delusion.

Some reading these words may hear God's call to repent.  Don't say No.  Make it Yes.  Don't delay.  Saying Yes to God means choosing everlasting life.

----------------
Difficult or obscure words:
Ezekiel 13:10.  "Untempered mortar"--Whitewash, which might make a wall look all right without strengthening it.

DAY 227    Read Ezekiel 8 through 11.

Today's reading:  Temple worship sank to new depths of degradation during the reign of Judah's last king, giving reason for the impending doom.  Still God looked for a genuine reformation.

Memory gem:  "I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and I will give them an heart of flesh"  (Ezekiel 11:19).

Thought for today:
"In the sixth year of the reign of Zedekiah, the Lord revealed to Ezekiel in vision some of the abominations that were being practiced in Jerusalem, and within the gate of the Lord's house, and even in the inner court.  The chambers of images, and the pictured idols,...in rapid succession passed before the astonished gaze of the prophet.

"Those who should have been spiritual leaders among the people...were seen offering incense before the idolatrous representations that had been introduced into hidden chambers within the sacred precincts of the temple court....

"There were still 'greater abominations' for the prophet to behold.  At a gate leading from the outer to the inner court he was shown 'women weeping for Tammuz' and within 'the inner court of the Lord's house,...at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east.'

"And now the glorious Being who accompanied Ezekiel throughout this astonishing vision of wickedness in high places in the land of Judah, inquired of the prophet: 'Hast thou seen this, O son of man?  Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke Me to anger.' "--Prophets and Kings, pp. 448, 449.

DAY 226    Read Ezekiel 4 through 7.

Today's reading:  After Ezekiel received his commission as a prophet, the Lord began sending stern rebukes and solemn warnings--often to be acted out in symbolism--to the ease-loving inhabitants still in Jerusalem before its final overthrow.

Memory gem:  "Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death"  (Proverbs 11:4).

Thought for today:
With several friends, I was privileged to visit the "throne room" of one of the great banks of the world, but not in my own country.  There I saw a blaze of riches in gold and precious stones almost beyond the dreams of avarice--crowns, scepters, and jewelry set with diamonds, rubies, and pearls worth millions and millions of dollars.

Is it safe in that guarded strong room below the surface of the earth?  Is anything safe today except a soul that rests itself in God?  During the last few years great revolutions have taken place.  New hands took over the levers of the world.  Possessors of riches became refugees.   Wealth gathered through the ages was dissipated, lost, destroyed, or changed hands overnight.

There is a day coming when "they shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their sliver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls,...it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity"  (Ezekiel 7:19).

No man can enter through the gates of the heavenly city burdened with things of this earth.  One's love must not be on these things.  Money is not a burden if it is dedicated to God to be used as He directs to be a blessing to humanity and to His cause.  But if a man worships these things, if his love is upon them, then they are a burden that will destroy him at last.

Will you not today consecrate not only your heart, but all that you have to God?  If you do this, you will never have to worry about a bank failure, for your treasure will be in the bank of heaven, which never fails.

NOTE:  The prophetic periods of 390 and 40 days (prophetic years) of Ezekiel 4:5, 6 cannot be determined, because no clue is given as to the beginning point or points.