Anglican Devotional 9 August 2022 – A Promise Of Restoration

The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 9 August 2022 – Have Faith, Your Dried Bones Shall Live!

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TOPIC: A Promise Of Restoration

TEXT: Ezekiel 37:15-28 (NKJV)

15. Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
16. “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and [for] all the house of Israel, his companions.’
17. “Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.
18. ” And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you [mean] by these?’ —
19. “say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which [is] in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ‘
20. “And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.
21. “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;
22. “and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.
23. “They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
24. ” David My servant [shall be] king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.
25. “Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David [shall be] their prince forever.
26. “Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.
27. “My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
28. “The nations also will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

THE MESSAGE:

Kingdoms (I Kings 12). One was called Israel, occasionally Ephraim; the other was called Judah. They were known also as Northern and Southern kingdoms respectively. When the Northern kingdom sinned against God and refused to repent, God allowed them to be carried into exile. Judah did not learn any lesson from the experience of Israel, she committed sin which provoked God to anger. They too were carried into exile. While in exile, they lost hope; they thought God had forsaken them and they were saying, “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost…” (verse 11). God now promised that the two kingdoms would be reunited as one kingdom, with one king ruling over them. The Northern kingdom, Israel, and the Southern kingdom, Judah, would become one kingdom.

The king to rule over them be the descendant of David and the fulfilment of Davidic covenant (II Samuel 7:16). This Person is Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.Today’s passage shows that God’s anger does not last forever. Even while He is angry with His people because of their sins, God still has good plan for their restoration. What God requires from a sinner is total repentance and confession of sins. “Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face” (A&M 181:4, lines 3&4).

PRAYER: Pray that God will help you rise from where you have fallen short of His glory.