Love your Neighbor!

Ezekiel 25

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, July 1.

Ezekiel 25 moves your attention from God’s judgment of Judah to that of their immediate neighbors, the small nation-states of Ammon (1-7), Moab (8-11), Edom (12-14), and Philistia (15-17). Each oracle of judgment follows the because-therefore pattern, whereas a prophecy cites the sin that prompted God’s judgment and then describes what God was going to do about it. An example of this pattern is concisely stated in the oracle against Ammon in verses 6-7:

Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced with all the scorn of your soul against the land of Israel, therefore, behold, I have stretched out My hand against you and I will give you for spoil to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and make you perish from the lands; I will destroy you. Thus you will know that I am the Lord. [emphasis added]

The basis of judgment against the surrounding nations was the Abrahamic covenant, given in Genesis 12, from which verse 3 stated, “I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Regardless of whether those living under the Abrahamic covenant were under God’s judgment for sin themselves, the nations that cursed them were to be cursed. That’s because God had a plan for His chosen people, that through them the Messiah would offer salvation to all, near or far. Because of God’s mercy and grace through Jesus, Christians are now “Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29); therefore, behold, bless and do not curse your neighbors, regardless of whether they are near or far, so that the world may know through my love that Jesus Christ is Lord (Romans 12:14-21; John 13:34-35).

Seize the moment and “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40).

God bless you!

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YOUTUBE:

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