“Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes,” Ezekiel 21:6.
“For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season,” 2 Corinthians 7:8.
In my first study of these two verses, I looked at the message and ministry of Ezekiel the prophet.
I believe it true to say that few believed the message of Ezekiel and the judgment he spoke of fell on the nation.
I turn to the second chapter I read that day, 18th September inst, — 2 Corinthians 7.
It begins with a reference to the cleansing power of the Word of God.
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God,” verse 1.
The Saviour spoke to His disciples of the sanctifying power of His Word. “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you,” John 15:3. He also prayed to His Heavenly Father that He might cleanse His people by that Word.
“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth,” John 17:15-17.
The preaching of the Word of God and obedience of it, is the means, used by God ,whereby Christians, while in this world, are kept from its evil influences.
Where a people, professing faith in Christ, show a conformity to this world, then it is because God’s Word is not being preached or it is not being obeyed or both! (more…)
