Monday, February 7, 2011: Ezekiel 33:7, 11 (NKJV)
“So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me.
Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
What was to be the watchman’s warning to Israel? Repent (turn away from evil) and live.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011: Ezekiel 33:12 – 13 (NKJV)
“Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’
When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die.
Summarize. Good actions + sin = death; sins + repentance = life.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011: Ezekiel 33:14 – 16 (NKJV)
Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live.
Will the sins of the repentant be forgotten? No: God wills Himself to remember the sins no more.
Thursday, February 10, 2011: Daniel 3:16 – 18 (NKJV)
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
God let the three friends be captured and made eunuchs. What were their present beliefs? The same God was to be worshipped only. They chose sure death to worshipping an idol.
Friday, February 11, 2011: Daniel 3:26 – 27 (NKJV)
Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire.
And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.
Remember that the strong men-of-war, who bound and threw them in, died in the heat. How did the fire affect the three? Fire had no power over their bodies, their hair were not singed, their clothes unaffected, and they did not even smell of smoke!
