Bible Reading

Ezekiel Chapter 20

Written by

Meditating in the field

17 Jul 2024

4 min read

Holy day, holi-day, holiday…

Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy (Ezekiel 20: 12)

In a conversation with a colleague’s wife, she explained he did not take a single day off in the pre-tenure years. He worked every single day. Holy day, holi-day, holiday… in my head I counted away the number of holi-days he missed. There are 52 Sabbaths per year. The pre-tenure years were 7 years. 52 times 7 makes 364 days. That’s 364 days (one day short of a year) of paid holi-days forfeited! To put it another way, for every 7 years, one would work for another year for free! Why would anyone want to do that?! Or, maybe we often would, or cannot help but, do exactly that?

What is so special about the holi-days?

It is the seventh day of the week, when God rested from His work of creating the world (Gen 2:3). Yet God rested not because He was tired. In the Book of Mark Jesus explained, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath” (2: 27, 28). Very curiously, in the Chinese lunar calendar, the seventh day of the first month is also designated the “human day” (人日). Ancient civilizations may be culturally distinct and yet conceptually similar. In other words, there is an interlocking relationship between God, humans, and the Sabbath. God is greater than the humans, who are greater than the Sabbath (God >humans>Sabbath). God designed and designated the Sabbath for the humans so they can lead a humane lifestyle. But it does not mean the humans can abolish or act freely on the Sabbath. After all, God is Lord of the Sabbath, not humans.

Through the various bible passages, we understand the Sabbath is holy, solemn, and sanctified. To maintain the sanctity of this special day, humans rest from their labor ( Exo 20:8-11; Lev 23:3; Deu 5: 12-14). In the stillness that comes through resting, God wants all to know that He is God (Psa 46: 10) and He is the one that saves (Deu 5: 15). The Sabbath was made not to constrain or burden the humans, but rather to liberate, nurture, and heal (Mat 12:12; Luk 13: 10-17). God explicitly states in the Book of Isaiah:

If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken (58: 13 and 14).

Isn’t this something?! The Lord has spoken. If we keep His holi-days there will be blessing galore. Even a president cannot guarantee the citizens that they would be blessed if they rested on the National Day. I mean resting in itself is already a blessing. But God is saying on top of getting a good rest, there will be plenty other benefits (which we might not yet fully realise or comprehend).

God’s foresight is immeasurable. He is the maker of time. Every single breath of ours keeps count of its passage. Right from day one of the world, God already knew one day the logic of capitalist economy would take over. Rest will be stolen. People will be busy making more of everything that they will not have time to rest. His people will be dehumanized. More is good, more is prosperous, more is successful. Within this logic, God has no place. The world spins fast and furious. Humans invent machines to increase product yield and convenience, and to save time (because time is money). Yet humans end up working like machines. Lethargy, fatigue, chronic physical sickness, mental ill health, broken personal relationships, exploitation subsequently ensue. Through the Sabbath, God mandates time for resting. He insists on us to slow down, pause, reflect and return to resist social forces that dehumanize.

While God has shown us Sabbath keeping as the way towards a better life, it is also a reminder of our own mortality. Yes, sooner or later all of us, with no exception, will see death in the eyes. The Sabbath is a sign between God and observers of Sabbath that one day they will enter eternal rest (Heb 4:11). Limited by our own finite being, it is challenging for humans to fully understand what infinite rest means. Through Sabbath, God allows us to get a foretaste of what being still in His presence might be like.

Mid-year resolution: go sleep by 10pm on Fridays…

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Ezekiel Chapter 47

God subjected Ezekiel through an immersive experience in the vision of walking in the river. From Ezekiel’s first account that the water reaches his ankle, to the next encounter where the waters reaches his knees, to the point that the waters reaches his waist and finally when the waters became so deep that it was impossible to walk but one needs to swim, and even so the currents are so strong that one cannot swim across. From our personal experiences, such first-hand experiential activities leave a deeper and more lasting impressions, as compared to just seeing (visual) and listening (audial). So why did God use this approach? What key and essential message did He want to impart to Ezekiel? And what bearing does it have for us today? “And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.” “And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.” The power and significance of the river can be seen through the effects. The teeming vitality, the abundance of life brought about by the healing powers of the river. Jesus proclaimed on the last day of the feast (John 7:38 – 39), “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” And the scriptures continued to explain that the river of living water refers to the Holy Spirit. Paul also declared to us “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor 6: 19 – 20) Is this same power that God revealed to Ezekiel manifested in us as well. Do we bring God’s healing power to the people that we meet each day. Do we live up to God’s expectations of us? Have we truly and sincerely do all that we can to repay God for His great love and mercy towards us. There is definitely still much that we must do. Let us continue to stir up and encourage one another as we see the day of the Lord approaching. “But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt.” Alas, we do see also that there are areas that the healing power of God do not reach. Let us however not be mistaken thinking that it is the limitation to the power of God. Rather, it is sadly the deplorable state of man’s heart as Stephen declared in Acts 7:51, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.” Let us thus guard our hearts with all diligence, that we do not fall in the same error in our ways. Let us not be the barren fig tree that waste the ground (Luke 13:6 – 9), nor should we be the enlightened but to fall away and put our Lord to open shame (Heb 6: 4 – 8).

Daniel Chapter 4 - Let the Most High God Reign in Your Life

The story in Daniel Chapter 4 is perhaps not unfamiliar to many of us. King Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of the great Babylonian empire, the king of kings, being turned into a beast, how spectacular is that? It's not until we read through this chapter for ourselves that we realise something even more spectacular: this whole chapter is told by King Nebuchadnezzar himself. Daniel Chapter 4 is King Nebuchadnezzar's own personal testimony! Isn't King Nebuchadnezzar the infamous evil king? How is it that in this chapter he gives praise to the almighty God? 1) Most High Rules Over the Kingdom of Man Perhaps the first thing that should catch our attention from today's chapter is the repeated phrase in verses 17 and 32. The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He wills. This phrase can even be said to be the theme of the whole Book of Daniel. This book is mostly set in the time of exile, when there seemingly was no longer any king over the people of God. Yet, in the Book of Daniel we see that though there was no earthly king ruling over Israel, God made it clear to these foreign kings that He is the almighty God. He was still the one who was truly the King. The outcome of this is that the evil king Nebuchadnezzar, probably the greatest and most powerful man during his time, writes this testimony for all peoples, nations, and languages to hear (Daniel 4:1-3). Imagine being a subject in the Babylonian empire, and receiving this declaration from king Nebuchadnezzar praising and glorifying the God of Israel. Though God's people sin against Him and are punished by being taken into exile, the name of God is still magnified. God is not put to shame. Today through baptism we have entered into the Kingdom of God. Yet, it is key for us to consider whether God truly is the King of our lives. It's natural to make many plans for our future, out of a desire to lead our dream lives. But for us Christians, the sovereignty and authority of God is something that we must be well-aware of and fully willing to submit to. If God doesn't let me get that job, are we able to accept it? If God closes the path towards our dreams, are we will to say "Let Thy will be done"? If God takes away all that we have, are we able to be like Job and say "Blessed be the name of the Lord"? If all this is causing us to struggle, remember this: God loves us. He knows what's best for us, He knows what we need. He has already given His life for us, and given us His precious Spirit to dwell within us. Having faith in God's love towards us gives us strength to submit to our King with full assurance that this is the best path for us, this is the way to blessing and to eternal life. 2) Praising God Since our God is the highest and rules over the kingdom of man, what then should our response ought to be? Nebuchadnezzar begins and ends his testimony by praising and glorifying God. Giving praises to God is something that we have been often taught but perhaps we have not given enough thought to or taken seriously enough. Yet, throughout the Bible, it's clear that praises are a key part of our worship to God (just read the Book of Psalms). What might we praise God for? Like Nebuchadnezzar, we can praise God for His greatness and His almightiness. Just consider the stars, or the intricacies of the human body. We can praise God for His love and wisdom as seen in His creation as well as in His word. The more we study into the holy scriptures, the more we are filled with awe at how complete, connected, and wonderful these life-giving words are. We can also glorify God for His salvation which He has so freely given to us. Imagine how different our lives might be today if not for His grace and mercy! It's when we decide to finally take the importance of praising God seriously and intentionally set aside some time in our daily prayers to praise God, that we truly experience the blessing that comes along with it. We go through life being filled with joy and gratitude, knowing that we have such a great and powerful Heavenly Father who loves us. In fact, it was when Nebuchadnezzar took the glory for Himself rather than giving all glory to God, that the infamous transformation into a beast took place. 3) Pride This brings us nicely to the final point of reflection for this devotional. Pride - when we take glory for ourselves rather than giving glory to God. Nebuchadnezzar's testimony serves as a stark warning for us. Even just a sentence or thought of pride can greatly displease God. How often have we unknowingly taken credit for ourselves for any achievements we have, or for any divine work that we do? Being puffed up with pride and not keeping to one's proper domain is precisely the sin of satan (1 Tim 3:6, Jude 6-7). If we are filled with pride, what difference is there between us and satan? In fact, while satan exalted himself, God on the contrary lowered Himself, coming in the likeness of man and humbling Himself even to the point of death (Phil 2:5-8). Whose example do we want to follow, that of God or of satan? Let us take warning from the story of Nebuchadnezzar and carefully consider who's example we want to follow. Indeed, God opposes the proud while giving grace to the humble. He blesses the meek, that they might inherit the earth.

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